Topic > Literature Analysis of "The Nightingale" by Kristin Hannah

Kristin Hannah was born on September 25, 1960 in Garden Grove, California. Kristin is married to Benjamin Hannah and has a 23-year-old son, Tucker. When Hannah was in law school, her mother was diagnosed with cancer and visited her every day. One day her mother told her not to worry about law school because she would become a writer anyway. At that point she and her mother decided to write a book together. Hannah was inspired to write The Nightingale while she was writing her previous book Winter Garden, she found information about a resistance group and how a brave young girl was helping fallen pilots in the Pyrenees to safety. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Form, Structure, and Plot The Nightingale has a total of 438 pages, all divided into 39 chapters. Most of the chapters are in the present, what is happening to Isabelle (The Nightingale) and Vianne during the war. Overall, in most chapters Vianne and/or Isabelle talk about their experiences and how they feel about what is happening in their lives. Other chapters are dialogues that go back and forth between Vianne and Antonie, Vianne and Isabelle, Vianne and Sophie, Vianne and Rachel, Vianne and Captain Beck, or Isabelle talking to her resistance group. The novel retraces the journey of Vianne and Isabelle in difficulty during the Second World War. Antonie is drafted from the war, Rachel and Sarah both die, Vianne and Isabelle's father is killed, Vianne kills Captain Beck to protect Isabelle, Isabelle is captured by the Nazis and is sent to a concentration camp, and Rachel's son, Ari, now has to change his identity so that Vianne could keep him safe and as her son. Point of View The book is written from two different points of view, which is very effective for the author and does not reveal which sister is talking in the first chapter. Vainne's chapters in the year 1995 are in the first point of view and she talks about her feelings about her past as her life is coming to an end. However, most of the novel is written from the third-person omniscient point of view. The novel describes the current events that are happening to Vianne and Isabelle during the war. There are a few in the novel where Vianne or Isabelle have flashbacks and/or memories about their life as children and their father's abandonment. Through much of the novel the author allows the reader to understand each character and their story.SettingThe novel is set at the beginning of the Second World War in Europe. Hannah describes it as if everyone in the town of Carriveau seemed to not really be aware of anything that was going on in the towns around them. The story begins with Vianne, her husband Antonie and their daughter going out for a picnic, then during the picnic Antonie talks about the war and how she would have to fight sooner or later. Vianne hates war because it destroyed her family many years ago. This brings the rest of the story into play. Symbolism The novel contains symbols such as the nightingale and threads of cloth that represent the love that Vianne and Sophie have lost. In the story The Nightingale the nightingale represents loss and courage. It represents love and loss because Isabelle has courage and does what she thinks is right and that is to stop Hitler and save those who are hurt. It represents defeat because Isabelle must leave her sister to save those who are hurt. The nightingale is an important symbol in the novel. The pieces of fabric that Vianne hands to Sophie and ties them to the branch of their tree represent all the loves that.