Breaking Stalin's Nose

Sasha beds down in the basement of Aunt Larisa’s building and thinks about the last time his father dropped him off there when he took Sasha’s mother to the hospital. She died, and there was no funeral. Upon Zaichik’s return to retrieve Sasha, Aunt Larisa declares, “You look guilty, not sad” (44). Sasha knows everything will be better the next day at the Young Pioneer ceremony.

This chapter includes an illustration that depicts leaking pipes like those described in the basement where Sasha spends the night.

Sasha wakes up late and manages to catch an overcrowded streetcar to school. On the fast ride to school, Sasha hangs onto the outside of the streetcar and laughs at the thrill it gives him.

This chapter’s illustration shows an overcrowded streetcar rushing along a wintry scene with passengers hanging out of the open doorways.

At school, Sasha’s best friend-turned-enemy, Vovka Sobakin, calls him Amerikanetz. He regrets telling Vovka that his mother was American. The children all pick on a Jewish child named Borka Finkelstein. They shout, “Death to the enemy of the people,” as they hurl snowballs at him (49). Vovka tells Sasha to throw an icy snowball at Borka and threatens him with anti-Stalinist chants until he relents and throws the snowball, which shatters Borka’s glasses.

Chapter 12 includes an Illustration of a schoolyard snowball fight and a second illustration of broken glasses.

Sasha is a star pupil and sits at a desk at the front of the class in the most favored position. Sasha recalls how Vovka was once the star pupil, though he is now at the bottom of the class. Vovka sits at the back of the room in a row they nickname “Kolyma” after the gulags in the far-away Kolyma region of Siberia. Their teacher, Nina Petrovna, tells them Sasha’s dad will be at the Young Pioneer ceremony later in the day. Sasha is asked to recite Communist doctrine, but Petrovna prevents Vovka’s participation, calls him a criminal, and sends him to the corner. Sasha beams with pride that his father will appear at the ceremony. Borka enters, refuses to say who broke his glasses, and the teacher asks the class to vote on whether to send him to the principal. All of the students vote in favor except for Sasha. The teacher threatens to take away his position as a banner bearer if he doesn’t vote with the majority, so he changes his vote.

This chapter contains an illustration of a classroom full of children with their hands raised.

Sasha goes to the storage room to see Matveich, the janitor, to collect the banner. His paperwork is missing a stamp, so Matveich, who displays extreme paranoia, refuses the request. Sasha rushes to the principal’s office where Borka waits outside. He smiles at Sasha and asks why Vovka calls him Amerikanetz. Sasha explains that his mother was an American who believed in communism and came to the Soviet Union to support it. Borka asks if she was shot as a spy. Borka says his parents are in prison, and that his aunt believes they were executed already. He asks Sasha to ask his father to help him sneak into the State Security building to visit his parents. Sasha hesitates, and Borka says he’ll do it alone if he has to.

This chapter’s illustration shows Borka Finkelstein sitting on a bench with a sad expression on his face and his arms wrapped around his torso.

Back at the supply closet, Matveich gives Sasha the banner and Sasha goes into the hallway and unfurls the banner. He admires its beauty and marches around the hallway is a fervor of the Communist dream, which he believes the Soviet Union will someday realize because of young people like him. He imagines he is atop a float in a parade before Stalin and yells out to the leader that his State Security mistakenly arrested his father. Stalin, enraged, demands Zaichik’s release. Suddenly, the crowd in his dream disperses, and Sasha is back in the hallway running towards Stalin’s statue. The pointy pole bearing the banner knocks Stalin’s nose off the statue.

This chapter contains four illustrations: one depicts the banner bearing Stalin’s face, the words “Always Ready” in Cyrillic, and the hammer and sickle; another shows Sasha’s daydream of himself on the float waving the banner and talking to Stalin; a third shows the banner’s pointy tip approaching Stalin’s statue in the school’s hall.

The fourth illustration is of a broken plaster nose on the ground.