At the beginning of the story from Arina’s Children, Chapter 15, page 221, the narrating girl says, “My father became the best hunter in the kolkhoz, and my mother, the first shock-worker. Nobody worked harder than she did. No other family had as many labor days as we did. That’s when some people started envying us and wishing us ill–people, like Bugarikha, who pretended to be activists but only liked to talk, not work.” so when her family is exiled, she does not understand why. Although the political system has nothing to do with the young girl, it will change her life forever. Dekulakization was running rampant through the Soviet Union, and her parents knew it was coming to the village. Although they had many kids, they had been working so hard for many years that they believed that they would be protected. Do you think the bewilderment and fear that this young girl is feeling are entirely the fault of her government, or does any of the responsibility of her parents for not taking any of the warnings?
