Analysis Of Kristin Hannah's 'The Nightingale'

During the Holocaust, 1.5 million children were killed, of whom at least one million were natural-born German citizens (“Children During the Holocaust”). In The Nightingale, Isabelle and Vianne Rossignol are safe from the Holocaust. The French sisters could not be more different, but find themselves thrown together when the war forces Isabelle to leave London. Isabelle wants to have an impact on the war and fate the fate of her country, and while living with Vianne and her daughter, Isabelle refuses to sit idly while Nazis tear her county apart. Isabelle joins the movement of the Free French. She adopts the name Juliette Gervais, and the code name Nightingale. Under this alias, she rescues hundreds of Ally soldiers by leading them through
Hannah sets the scene by using words to make the reader feel like they are immersed in the world of a 1940’s war-torn France. She writes passages such as “Pandemonium. There were buses lined up in a row, disgorging passengers --- all of whom wore a yellow star. Women and children were being forced, herded into the square.” (Hannah 417). The author uses bleak describing words to portray the anguish of those who are deported and those who are left behind. Hannah also helps the reader to visualize the thoughts and emotions of her characters. When a sojourning German soldier named Wolfgang Beck coerces Vianne to compile a list of Jewish teachers and unknowingly adds them to the registry, Vianne’s best friend Rachel is among them. When Rachel asks Vianne to adopt her son, Ari, and is deported, Vianne is overcome with grief. Hannah writes: “She made Sophie and Ari supper (What had she made? She couldn’t remember.) and put them to bed, but once the house was quiet and dark, she couldn’t suppress her emotions. She was angry --- howlingly so --- and devastated.” (Hannah 348). Hannah is able to expertly submerse the reader in the vivid world of The
The reader comes to know Isabelle, not as a reckless teenage girl, but as a war hero, certain of herself and her duty to her country. She shows her strength and unrelenting nature when she returns to Paris, pushing her father to let her stay. Adversely, Isabelle displays compassion and warmth around her sister and when she is saved by Gaetan, who is both a member of the resistance and the man she loves. Isabelle asks him questions “If we weren’t here --- hiding in a safe house --- if the world weren’t ripping itself apart, if this was just an ordinary day in an ordinary world, would you want there to be an us, Gaetan?” (Hannah 404). Upon further evaluation, the reader begins to see prominent similarities in the Rossignol sisters. While Vianne is motherly and softer in nature, Isabelle is brash and bold. Isabelle is a prominent member of the Free French, while Vianne rescues children in her small, innocuous town. However, both of the women care deeply for their cause and are willing to put themselves at risk for the good of others. Vianne says, of a Jewish boy thrust into his arms by a desperate mother: “We have to try and save him or we are as bad as they are.” Despite the obvious danger of being caught with a disguised Jewish child, she says with resolve, “I have to save this boy.” (Hannah 418). Upon evaluation, both sisters are