How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph), (Chapter.Figure)
Quote #4
"She wasn't a spy! She was a real Communist."
"My mom and dad are real Communists, too," Four-Eyes says. "They are in Lubyanka prison now—enemies of the people." (14.16-17)
#thingsthatmakeSashagohmm. This conversation is one of the first moments where Sasha has the chance to learn A Major Lesson. So, if you can be a good Communist and still get thrown in prison, what is that really saying about the system?
Quote #5
First, I will never become a Pioneer. Second, the principal will telephone the State Security to report an act of terrorism in his school [...] Son of a hero and a Communist, I have become an enemy of the people, a wrecker [...] I have defaced a sacred statue of Stalin. (16.2)
Sasha has definitely drunk roughly a gallon of Communist Kool-Aid. We know that this action was just an accident, but any punishment will be completely out of all proportion to the perceived crime. Sasha has truly internalized this society's paranoia.
Quote #6
What's hard to believe is this: Vovka's dad, an enemy of the people? When Vovka and I were friends, I went to his apartment hundreds of times. I liked his dad. He was a good Soviet citizen, modest, a devoted Communist. How could he be a wrecker? I start thinking about it but get nowhere. It's just too confusing. Then I remember what my dad used to say: "There's no smoke without a fire." If someone is arrested and executed, there must be a good reason for it. The State Security wouldn't be shooting people for nothing. What about my dad, then? He was arrested. (23.3)
Sasha has a hard time believing that Vovka's dad is a criminal. He knew the guy, and what he knew doesn't quite jibe with what he's accused of. This leads him to consider his own father's situation. The next logical step, then, is to accept that yes: sometimes there is indeed "smoke" without "fire." People can be wrongly accused of something they did not do. #majorinsight.