How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
They were criminals, the two of them, them against the world. It was time to consummate this new relationship. (4.40.8)
Untimely deaths aside, Leo and Raisa are like a Russian Bonnie and Clyde. As it happens, that's the best thing that could have happened to their relationship: it forces them to actually work as a team for the first time.
Quote #8
Families were broken up in the Gulags, sent to opposite sides of the country [...] The only relationship which matter was a person's relationship with the state. (4.45.6)
It's pretty messed up, but it works. If you can break down the social bonds between people, it's a lot easier to fill them up with state-sponsored propaganda. Good thing this didn't actually work on Leo and Raisa.
Quote #9
He'd followed the rules accordingly, marrying a woman who'd dutifully given birth to two children—the minimum acceptable if no questions were to be asked (4.49.1)
This embodies the difference between Leo and Vasili. Leo loves his family more than anything—they're his reason for living. For Vasili, on the other hand, a family is just a means to an end—yet another way to prove himself to the State. The dude even ratted his brother out for trash-talking Stalin once while he was tipsy.