Breaking Stalin's Nose Foreignness and the Other Quotes

Nina Petrovna uses this cruel taunt to emphasize Four-Eyes's outsider status, and also to encourage feelings of being part of the "in" crowd among the rest of the students. Anyone who does not laugh at Four-Eyes would likely have been suspect (just like Sasha was when he refused to throw snowballs at Borka).

Now this is interesting logic on Four-Eyes's part (he is, after all, supposed to be super smart, you know), and gives us a big hint as to the mysterious fate of Sasha's mom. Check out how as soon as Sasha tells Four-Eyes that his mom was American (an outsider with a capital O), Four-Eyes immediately assumes she has been "arrested and shot." Big Foreshadowing Alert here: the Senior Lieutenant of State Security later tells Sasha that his dad turned in his wife (Sasha's mom) for being a traitor. So, instead of dying in a hospital from being sick (as his dad tells him), Sasha's mom was more than likely executed.

This is one of the central lessons of the book—and basically the default operating system of Sasha's society: survive at all cost and let others take the blame. Sasha knows that Four-Eyes did not break the nose off of the statue, but he lets him take the flack, anyway. There's also some nice irony buried here. Even though Vovka is being sarcastic, he's actually right on. Most of the people in the book are raised on "the Pioneer spirit," and yet everyone seems willing to sell out their own family if necessary to save their own skin.