How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph), (Chapter.Figure)
Quote #4
Communism is just over the horizon; soon there will be plenty of food for everyone. But still, it's good to have something tasty to eat now and then. I wonder what it's like in the capitalist countries. I wouldn't be surprised if children there had never even tasted a carrot. (3.2)
What do you think the purpose is for constantly saying "Communism is just over the horizon" or "When you grow up, you'll be living in Communism" (9.6)? Why is it not yet here? How does constantly looking forward make people do what the State wants them to do?
Quote #5
Wreckers are enemies of the people and want to destroy our precious Soviet property. I can't imagine anybody who would dare to damage a monument to Comrade Stalin, but there are some bad characters out there. Obviously, they're always caught. (5.4)
Sasha can't imagine this, because under Soviet totalitarianism any dissent was criminal and ruthlessly put down. We also get a major foreshadowing alert with an added bonus of irony: precisely the same thing ends up happening to Sasha when he destroys the statue of Stalin later, and it's very clear that he, himself, is definitely not a "bad character." It's a total accident, but this system doesn't believe in accidents.
Quote #6
His steady eyes track a legion of shiny black dots zipping up and down the snow-white streets. The dots grow larger and larger, until they turn into shiny black automobiles made of black metal and bulletproof glass. These beautiful machines belong to our State Security. I know because my dad has one. Night after night, Stalin's urgent orders drive these automobiles past our house, but tonight one turns into our courtyard. (5.5)
Check out the symbolism here: the black automobiles of the State Security agency are highly mobile, fast, and at work 24/7. They're sturdy and strong, "made of black metal and bulletproof glass." Stalin's statue literally oversees these vehicles of terror, similar to how the real Stalin gives his State Security agents their orders. This nifty technique is called synecdoche, which means that an object that is closely associated with a thing (the car) ends up symbolizing that thing (Soviet totalitarianism). The cars are stand-ins for State Security and all of the horrible things that it represents.