Alex

Character Analysis

Alex is pretty much the Luke Skywalker of The Wild Children. Though he begins the story as a young kid shattered by the sudden loss of his family, he eventually grows up and becomes a straight-up hero. We're just bummed that Chewie doesn't make a guest appearance.

It's a Trap

Alex's life is changed forever when his family is abruptly arrested by the Soviet secret police. Before that fateful day, he lived the typical life of a twelve-year-old boy: He went to school and hung out with his friends; he got into fights with his sister; he sometimes even beefed with his parents, although he was "accustomed to obeying" their orders "without protest" (1.1). It's pretty typical stuff. Still, this day-to-day routine gets thrown out the window when his whole family disappears in the middle of the night.

This forces Alex to make some big decisions—and fast. Should he trust Katriana Sergyeva, his favorite teacher in the whole entire world? Should he escape to Moscow to live with his Uncle Dmitri? Or should he just call it quits and binge-watch episodes of Adventure Time until the secret police lock him up, too? Unsurprisingly, Alex chooses the first two options, setting into motion a chain of events that upend his life for the second time in a matter of days.

Alex… I Am Your Father

To make a long story short, Alex's plans don't work out too well. After discovering Uncle Dmitri has been arrested by the government as well, Alex is forced to live on the streets and steal just to scrape by. He feels woefully unprepared to live life on his own, comparing it to "being clawed by wolves and left bleeding in the snow, a nightmare of his childhood" (2.6). The kid's only twelve, after all, and he still doesn't have the maturity or experience to handle this ordeal on his lonesome.

That's where Peter and his merry band come in. Peter has "an authority that was almost like […] a father's" (3.48) and helps Alex when no one else will. That's huge, especially for a boy who just lost his entire family in the matter of a week. What's more, Alex becomes a father figure himself for a few members of the crew, such as young Miska, whom he reads bedtime stories to every night. If that's not evidence of Alex's personal growth, then we don't know what is.

The Soviets Strike Back

There are plenty of bumps along the way, however. There's the famine that strikes Moscow, forcing the group to head south in the hopes of surviving the brutal Russian winter. There's also Boris and Grigory's betrayal of the group, which ends with the whole lot of them being arrested for crimes they didn't commit (thanks for nothing, Boris and Grigory). And then, most tragically, there's the death of Miska. Everyone in the group is shaken by Miska's death, but Alex is particularly devastated by this heartbreaking turn of events.

But Alex refuses to let this tragedy bring him and his friends down. In fact, Miska's death prompts Alex to become more outspoken than ever about the way kids like them are abused by the government, arguing that even though they are "free," they have no idea "what [they] can […] do with [their] freedom" (10.100) Frankly, it's the most inspiring speech we've heard since Braveheart. What's more, it also shows that Alex has truly matured a great deal over the course of his adventures, as this event would have killed his sprits had it happened just a few weeks prior.

A New Hope

This rousing speech leads the group to make its most ambitious move ever: escaping from the Soviet Union. This is a massive deal, since it will give these kids opportunities they'd never be afforded if they stayed in the Soviet Union. And it's all thanks to Alex. When we think back to how much he's grown since we first met him, we can't help but feel proud of the person he's become. For him, leaving the Soviet Union is as monumental as destroying the Death Star.