How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph), (Chapter.Figure)
Quote #1
[My dad] told me if I see a suspicious character on the street, I should follow him and observe his activities; he might be a spy. It's wise to be suspicious. The enemies are everywhere. (4.1)
This belief that "enemies are everywhere" creates a super paranoid society, where citizens couldn't be sure who they could trust—not even family members.
Quote #2
When I hear him yell "Death to the enemy of the people!" I freeze. (12.2)
What a surprise to hear something like this yelled out during an innocent snowball fight. But is this playground game really so innocent? Who seems to be in control of the game? How is the game supporting Soviet patriotism?
Quote #3
"Up, Sobakin!" calls Nina Petrovna. "How dare you repeat the sacred laws after Zaichik? Into the corner, criminal!" (13.10)
Here's just one example of how even the most innocent of actions can have a guy labeled "criminal." Vovka isn't doing anything but following the teacher's instructions, but he's excluded from the group activity because his dad's been arrested. Classic case of guilt by association.
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.
Quote #7
"Finkelstein didn't do it," Vovka says.
"Not my problem. He confessed." Sergei Ivanych shuffles papers on his desk, then looks up at Vovka. (23.19-20)
Sergei Ivanych's words here really reinforce that The Powers That Be are not even remotely interested in finding out who really committed the crime; they just want someone to confess and so they get go about their business. Four-Eyes confessed, and that's all that matters. That a complete injustice was committed is hardly of the principal's concern.
Quote #8
"There's no place for the likes of you in our class," Nina Petrovna says. "Go sit in the back and don't stick your spy nose into anything." (26.1)
Welcome to Kolyma, kid. Hope you like cold weather, little food, and hard labor. After being The Golden Child for so long, it comes as a cold shock to Sasha to be stuck in the back row and labeled a "spy" when he has done nothing wrong. The experiences Sasha is having with injustice progressively get more and more personal: first Four-Eyes, then Vovka's dad, then Sasha's parents (as revealed by the Senior Lieutenant), and now it's happening to Sasha personally.
Quote #9
The guards twist Nina Petrovna's arms and drag her to the door. She screams and kicks and tries to hold on to nearby kids. They duck under her arms, laughing. (26.16)
Even though it's cruel, a type of justice is being carried out here. Nina Petrovna did not commit the crime that Vovka framed her for, but she's getting some poetic justice served to her because she's getting a taste of what she's so freely given out to others over the years. Still, we can't help but to feel the slightest twinge of pity for her.
Quote #10
"Nina Petrovna did not break off the nose," I say.
"That woman is no longer my responsibility," [Sergei Ivanych] says, and keeps walking.
"Finkelstein didn't break it, either."
"Finkelstein confessed in front of everybody."
"He did it to get into Lubyanka to look for his parents."
"His parents were executed," he says, and shrugs. "Somebody should have told him." (27.7)
Again, the system is not concerned with getting to The Truth; they only want a scapegoat or someone that can be held up as an example of someone who is anti-Communist. It reinforces the fear that keeps the citizens in line. Plus, you get an added bonus of heartless cruelty from the principal, who could care less that a child's parents have been executed (the shrugging is a dead give away).