In addition to its advantages, however, being a woman incurs specific risks, as Vianne’s repeated brutal rape at the hands of Sturmbannführer Von Richter demonstrates all too clearly.Ī second important theme the novel introduces is how love changes during wartime. When she is finally caught for her work as the Nightingale, the Nazis are convinced that a woman could not be the Nightingale, a belief that saves her life.

Because the Nazis do not expect resistance fighters to be women, Isabelle is able to do things that may have gotten her caught and killed if she were a man. Not only does Isabelle prove society wrong, but she also uses her gender to her advantage. Gaëtan, whom Isabelle meets in the woods as she flees Paris, is one of the first people to see her as “more than a girl,” as capable of things that society does not expect from women. However, because she is a woman, society considers her rebellious, hard to deal with, and incapable of fighting in the war. Many of Isabelle’s character traits-her boldness, her willingness to fight, and her refusal to tolerate what she believes is wrong-are traits often celebrated in men.

The three most important aspects of The Nightingale: One important aspect of The Nightingale is its exploration of gender and the societal expectations of women. Major Symbols: Cold and heat books cancer pregnancy and infertility names and the power of naming Major Thematic Topics: The changing nature of love in wartime ways of expressing (or failing to express) love loyalty gender inequality and cultural expectations complicity with evil the humanity of enemies what makes a life worth living

Main Characters: Vianne Mauriac Isabelle Rossignol Julien Rossignol Wolfgang Beck Sturmbannführer Von Richter Gaëtan Dubois Settings (secondary): Paris, France Oregon, USA various French towns Spain Germany Years later, an elderly Vianne remembers these experiences and attends an event in her sister’s honor. Isabelle spends the remainder of the war in a Nazi prison camp, and she dies shortly after being freed. Claiming to be the Nightingale, her estranged father, Julien, rescues her but is executed in her place. Isabelle is captured by the Nazis and interrogated. When the Holocaust puts Vianne’s Jewish best friend’s son at risk, she adopts the boy and begins forging false identity papers for other Jewish children so they can be hidden in the local Catholic orphanage.

For her work, she adopts the codename the Nightingale. Isabelle, who refuses to live passively under German authority, joins the French resistance movement and begins guiding Allied airmen out of France after their planes are shot down. Vianne continues to follow the rules even when it means allowing a Nazi officer to live in her home and the abuse and arrest of her Jewish neighbors. The Nazi invasion of France heightens these differences. Vianne, the older sister, is a rule-follower, whereas Isabelle is rebellious and speaks her mind. Since their mother died when they were children, Vianne and Isabelle have always been at odds. Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale tells the story of Vianne (Rossignol) Mauriac and Isabelle Rossignol, two French sisters who resist the occupying Nazi forces during World War II (WWII) by hiding Jewish children so they are not taken to concentration camps (the Holocaust) and by leading the escape of Allied pilots whose planes have been shot down over France.

Nightingale book