Looking into his crammed, unkempt communal apartment, Sasha keeps on believing in communism and Stalin trying to look past all of the negative aspects of his daily life in USSR. Knocking on his aunt’s door with his eyes gleaming of hope, she shuts him down pained to do so, but it’s her only option. Running into a sacred Stalin statue, Sasha realizes he could be in great danger. The purpose of historical fiction is to not only show the facts, but to show human behavior and emotion in historical times. Breaking Stalin’s Nose satisfies this goal as well as other purposes for historical fiction such as educating readers about the past, analyzing human behavior in extreme situations, and examining social change in hindsight. Mainly, this book educates the reader about the past. When Sasha entered his communal apartment you got to see all of their living conditions with 12 families in their small apartment and what they had during Communism. The reader seeing all of these hardships in Sasha’s …show more content…
When Sasha’s dad gets arrested and Sasha has nowhere to go, his own aunt is fearful to let him stay with them and denies him shelter because she afraid. Sasha is in an extreme situation; his dad has been arrested and is classified as an enemy of the people, and his own aunt still won’t help him. Her behavior in this event and time period shows that she was fearing for her safety because if she helps a child of the enemy of the people she could get in trouble with the State Security. While some may think that dthis is an extreme situation he is in no immediate danger and he was never kicked out of his apartment. He still has shelter and an education. Although he’s in no immediate danger his dad has been yanked out of life and is in prison, and Sasha has no guardian, almost no money, and he is a child of an enemy of the people. This has got to be classified as an extreme
Codrescu goes more in depth on his mother’s bereft when she left from Romania and her immense pain when she first arrived in the US. She explains to him about her loss of culture and her identity and traumatizing childhood. His mother’s imponderable of buying organic food and her dislike of the social isolation. His mother goes on a
A character’s relationship to another character or their surroundings determines their behavior. In looking at these relationships in literature, it is possible to determine how characters are transformed with regards to the world around them. Global issues, societal hypocrisy, personal difficulties contribute to the ways in which characters react to situations they face. Insight into one’s priorities, or the world’s problems, causes the characters in Candide, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and The Metamorphosis to question their motives and change their ways of thinking in reaction to the defining events of their lives. The events transform the characters as well as their bonds with others.
Has your skin ever tasted the scorching coldness to the point of actually flavoring death, has your stomach ever craved for even a gram of anything that can keep you alive, has your deep-down core ever been so disturbed by profound fear? No never, because the deep-freeze, starvation, and horror that Kolya and Lev experienced were far worse to the point of trauma. In the novel, City Of Thieves, author David Benioff describes the devastating and surreal situations and emotions that occurred to Benioff’s grandfather, Lev and Lev’s friend, Kolya, during WWII the Siege of Leningrad in Leningrad, Russia. Both Lev and Kolya share some similarities such as their knowledge of literature; even so, they are very contrastive individuals who oppose
This book teaches the importance of self-expression and independence. If we did not have these necessities, then life would be like those in this novel. Empty, redundant, and fearful of what is going on. The quotes above show how different life can be without our basic freedoms. This novel was very interesting and it shows, no matter how dismal a situation is, there is always a way out if you never give up, even if you have to do it alone.
In Anzia Yezierska’s novel entitled Bread Givers, there is an apparent conflict between Reb Smolinsky, a devout Orthodox rabbi of the Old World, and his daughter Sara who yearns to associate and belong to the New World. Throughout the story, one learns about the hardships of living in poverty, the unjust treatment of women, and the growth of a very strong willed and determined young woman—Sara Smolinsky.
The composer has aimed this text for general reading by all people over the age of ten. However as this publication is the young reader’s edition, it is targeted at young readers. People who may wish to read the book may be able to attain it through mediums such as book stores and libraries etc. Although this publication of the novel is the young reader’s edition, there is a publication aimed at adults.
The author targets the emotions of parents who are forced to think about losing their children as result of the war. Moreover, readers are overcome with sadness due to their emotional bond established with the character in the previous chapters. The passage relates to the author’s purpose in that particular chapter by providing a window into the hours after the Khost tragedy.
Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin received the John Newbery Honor in 2012. Narrated by ten-year-old Sasha Zaichik, this novel depicts life for children growing up during the peak of Joseph Stalin’s reign over the Soviet Union. Within this text, themes such as injustice, corruption, and Communism are discussed through a child’s lens.
The process of becoming an adult takes more time for children who enjoy freedom. When the kid is still young, one’s parents or guardians would not mind whatever the child does. But when one grows up, one’s hobby and attitude has to change according to one’s age. The Fall of a City is a short story written by Alden Nowlan to illustrate the forced maturation of the 11-year-old child under the influence of his relatives. It is a piece of writing full of pathos, where the protagonist ends up destroying the creation of his childish imagination because of his uncle and aunt’s judgment. Once they discovered what Teddy has been doing up in the attic, he decides to follow the course of his fate. He leaves his imaginary world, where he is the almighty king, to face the much more challenging real world. The Fall of a City is written by Alden Nowlan in order to express his vision of the transition from youth to manhood because of societal pressure, and the hardship is shown through the critique of Teddy’ uncle and aunt about their nephew’s character traits and the diverse conflicts which the protagonist faces within the story.
The horrors of Hitler and the Holocaust are well known events during World War II, but many people don’t know that Stalin killed over 20 million people in the same time frame, either by murder or starving them to death in Siberian work camps. Between Shades of Gray uncovers the lost story of the millions of Lithuanian, Estonian, Latvian, and Finnish lives lost. The Baltic states annexation, the harsh conditions of Siberia, and the fearful lives they had to lead after being freed are wonderfully depicted in the novel.
During the 14th century in England Feudalism took place which left many europeans poor and with very little freedoms. Avi demonstrates what life is like to be living in this time period through the voice of Crispin, a thirteen year old boy that is wanted for a crime he did not commit. The life of Crispin demonstrates how political, social and economic aspects were when the nobles provided protection for the lands that was not owned but used by the citizens.
Ivan's wife is also self-centered and exhibits great disdain for her husband, who she considers more of a nuisance and hassle than anything else. Ivan's last days are spent in terrible physical agony, as he uncontrollably screams and moans in pain. When Ivan's friends come to pay their respects to his widow, we see in her comments to them that she never reall...
Storytelling has been a common pastime for centuries. Over the years it has evolved into different styles containing different themes. Kate Chopin, a well-known author of the 20th century, wrote stories about the secrets in women’s lives that no one dared to speak of. Her work was not always appreciated and even considered scandalous, but it opened up a world that others were too afraid to touch. In Chopin’s story “The Storm,” a woman has an affair that causes an unlikely effect. The story’s two themes are portrayed greatly through an abundance of imagery and symbolism, along with the two main characters themselves.
One of his fellow communists, Vladimir Lenin created the Young Soviet Pioneers school, which is the school Sasha is in right now. Absentmindedly he chips the nose off a Stalin bust. Now, after his father got jailed, Sasha is scared that he too will be taken to jail. Not by the anti-communists, like his father, but by Communists, the people he is with. On page number 74 it says, “First, I will never become a Pioneer. Second, the principal will telephone the State Security to report an act of terrorism in his school. Third, everyone will find out who did it. Next, the guards will arrive to arrest me.” This shows how he feels vulnerable to himself. He also continues to say that he will be jailed like his father, but for a real cause. Not just being a communist. This is important because if there is one thing that Sasha has to believe in, it is hope. He is already giving up hope, and is sure that people will know it is him. He is taking an accident, and after not thinking, he is waiting for his punishment, even though nobody suspects it is him--yet. If he had hope, maybe he could find a way to redeem himself or stay away from
The novel, A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, is a very detailed and graphic description of one man’s life struggle in a Stalinist work camp. It is the story of Ivan Denisovich’s, most often going by the name of Shukhov, determination and strength to endure the hardships of imprisonment and dehumanization. The most memorable scene shows Shukhov’s determination to survive and adapt to his life. The meal scenes of the novel are where he demonstrates that he has learned to adjust in order to survive. “When you worked for the knowing you gave them quality; when you worked for a fool you simply gave him eyewash” (page 26). This is the most important quote in the novel because it is the law of which Shukhov lives and survives by. This novel is an account of one day of a man’s struggle with the life that has been dealt to him.