Breaking Stalin's Nose

Sasha finally understands that his father is not coming and that he is no longer part of the bright communist future. In the hallway, he hears the literature teacher ask the students about the Russian classic, “The Nose,” in which a nose is dressed in a uniform and the town treats him like any other person. The teacher, who Sasha thinks is odd, explains that “when we blindly believe in someone else’s idea of what is right or wrong for us as individuals, sooner or later our refusal to make our own choices could lead to the collapse of the entire political system” (112). Sasha decides to run away but runs right into the lieutenant who arrested his father.

This chapter’s illustration depicts Sasha with his hand on the stairwell banister. Below him, several State Security officers march up the stairs.

Sasha hides in the biology lab, which has been empty since the teacher’s arrest as a spy. The state police pass by the room and suddenly a voice behind him draws his attention. Stalin’s nose smokes a pipe and speaks to Sasha. The nose chastises him for not reporting his father’s crimes and for being weak in not renouncing his father. The nose tells a story about how everyone confesses to their crimes, guilty or not, and concludes that Sasha will never see his father again.

In this chapter’s illustration, a sentient nose sits on a chair. It has a mustache like Stalin’s and wears a uniform. A pipe and large black boots rest nearby.

Sasha is back in Petrovna’s class, cold and seated in “Kolyma,” the name the students gave the back row, with the other disgraced students. He will no longer participate in the Pioneer ceremony. Angry, Sasha picks up the banner, climbs onto Petrovna’s desk, and sings as he waves the flag and jumps from desk to desk. Petrovna manages to tackle him to the ground as the state police enter with Vovka in tow. The authorities demand the name of the traitor. Sasha is certain Vovka will denounce him. Instead, Vovka points at Petrovna’s desk. The state police dump out her desk drawers and find Stalin’s nose, which Vovka must have hidden. As they haul her away, the students laugh.

The illustration in this chapter shows the banner lying on the floor with the contents of Petrovna’s desk scattered everywhere.

The principal pulls Sasha toward the basement, and Sasha says it wasn’t Borka who did it. The principal says Borka’s parents were executed.

The principal knocks on the storage room, and then unlocks the door and pushes Sasha in. It’s dark, but Sasha sees the broken Stalin statue amid other relics, including class photos with all the students scratched out. The lieutenant waits in the dark room. He greets Sasha and tells him to sit, then he reads the letter Sasha wrote to Stalin, which state security found in his father’s briefcase. In light of the letter, the lieutenant asks Sasha to be his spy and report on his classmates and teachers. When Sasha hesitates, the lieutenant says it was Sasha’s father who reported his wife, Sasha’s mother, as a spy. He offers Sasha two choices: report on his school or be taken to prison. Sasha chooses to snitch.

This chapter includes an illustration of a disorderly room full of statues, artwork, flags, and other communist symbols and an illustration of the lieutenant, his arm across Sasha’s shoulders, and Sasha with an uncertain expression on his face.

Outside the main hall, Sasha waits with the banner. For agreeing to work for the State Security, the lieutenant restores this great honor to Sasha. Although this was once his dream, it now feels hollow. As the drums beat and the whole school waits, Sasha props the banner against the wall and runs out of the school. He no longer wants to be a Pioneer.

This chapter’s illustration shows the hall through a partially closed doorway where the Young Pioneers ceremony takes place. The banner leans against the corner next to the partially open doorway.

Sasha goes to the prison and finds a line of thousands of people waiting to see loved ones. A woman in line ahead of him gives him a hot baked potato and a scarf she made for her incarcerated son. She says it will take three days to reach the front of the line. Sasha admits he is now unhoused, with no family, and nowhere to go. The woman offers him her son’s cot and says at some point they’ll sort out the mess.

This chapter includes an illustration of Sasha approaching Lubyanka in the snow, hands in pockets, and an illustration of a long line of men, women, and children that extends across five pages and fades into a blur on the final page.