Child 44

Words: 1028
Pages: 5
Open Document
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith is set in a Stalinized Soviet Russia surrounded by conspiracy, corruption, desperation, and suspicion. While the country is distracted by these four things, a serial killer takes advantage of this system and starts his killing spree. If the reader does not know much about Soviet Russia’s murderers it is easy to think that Andrei, the serial killer, is just a fictional character. However, the book is based on fact, Andrei Chikatilo was a real person and he did in fact have multiple victims. An examination of the novel reveals that the book accurately accounts the corruption, desperation, and suspicion during this time period. through these distractions Andrei Chikatilo took advantage of the system that failed to acknowledge …show more content…
For example, in Child 44, Leo and Vasili are office competitors in the MGB, otherwise known as the Ministry of State Security, because of this Vasili decides to push Leo out of the way by taking control of the security team, and eventually pushing Leo out of the way. “Vasili must have guaranteed the driver immunity, a guarantee that would only hold up if Leo failed. Leo wondered how many other members of his team had more invested in his failure than his success.” (Smith, 72). Vasili also secures his job by accusing Leo’s wife of being a spy and asks him to denounce her, this is something Leo would never do: “If this was a test of Leo’s character then Raisa would also be spared. And she would never need to know. If she was a spy then these men already had the evidence and were waiting to see if Leo was working with her …. The only course of action was to denounce his wife …. —Leo Stepanovich, we have reason to believe your wife is working for foreign agencies. You personally are not suspected of any crimes. This is the reason we’ve asked you to investigate the allegations. Please tell us what you have found …. —Leo? … —My wife is innocent.” (“Child 44.” Pg. 86.) This is corruption because beforehand the only ‘proof’ that they have from this is a false statement from a veterinarian after he had been injected with camphor oil which causes the injected to go into “a seizure. [And while they are in that seizure they] will not have the ability to lie.” (“Child 44.” Pg. 114.) A fact that is most probably fictional. It is not hard to imagine that similar things happened in the real Soviet Russia during Stalin’s rule but have been either long ‘forgotten’ or sealed in documents never to see the light of day again. Due to the fact of the movie of Child 44 is banned in Russia it is not hard to believe that this is the case. Andrei could have easily taken advantage of this
Show More

Related Documents: Child 44

Impact of Global and Local Media Advertisement on Children Essay

Those children demand advertised food products and toys while moving in market with their parents. Children ranging in between 6 to 11 years of age watch TV commercials 3 hours a day and it is estimated that over the period of a year average child see about 20,000 advertisements (Adler et al, 1980). Most of the research in consumer behavior and specially on advertisement impact on children has focused two major points :(1) impact of TV commercials in shaping behavior and its positive or negative…

Words 2539 - Pages 11

Escaping The Childhood Fantasies In Blackberries Essay

who’s experiencing lots of different thoughts and feelings along the twisted road of growing up. Norris depicts a huge character contrast between the young boy's parents, and but still signifies that both parents are helpful, caring, and aiding the child in their own unique way. Whether you have good intentions or not, if executed poorly, will mean nothing and will pave the road to misfortunes and torment, and the fact that seemingly meaningless occasions can affect you as a person or open your mind…

Words 1057 - Pages 5

THE COVENANT OF CIRCUMCISION 1 1 Essay

scholars have claimed that the early Greek manuscripts, giving an example of the LXX, which is an old Latin witness to Genesis 17:14, it is affirmed that the day was clearly mentioned to be the eighth day from the day the child was born and if the child is not circumcised, the child is cut from his people. Wevers, however, claim that the LXX is a secondary material, given its proximity to the eighth day (Wyatt 410). Other scholars also argue that the LXX has a freer translation of Genesis than any other…

Words 1171 - Pages 5

Rhetorical Analysis Of Florence Kelley's Speech

While discussing child labor laws with her fellow women’s rights activists, Florence Kelley wrote a speech made to strike guilt and empathy in the hearts of the women that heard her speak. In this speech, she used guilt driven sentimental appeals and colorful diction to persuade the audience to consider the possibilities of women being given more political involvement. Her presented facts and opinions were an influential tool in elaborating her message; her audience was overflowing with women, bubbling…

Words 598 - Pages 3

Describe And Evaluate Two Theories In Developmental Psychology

2012). As part of this thinking, he undertook an experiment, now known as ‘Little Albert’, whereby he conditioned an 11 month old baby to associate a loud noise with a rat by scaring the child in its presence. This was done several times, until the loud noise was removed and only the rat was introduced. The child, on introduction of only the rat became scared and cried; Watson believed that learning had taken place. This was backed up by behaviourists Dollard and Millar, (1950), who believed that…

Words 1291 - Pages 6

Madeline LSI Essay

could cause confusion and lose the attention of a child Style (+) Supplemental info: The page at the end of the book provides information about the Eiffel Tower that the majority of young children are not going to know about The dust jacket Color Scheme 8 pages with color The yellow agrees with the tone of the story… happy; does a good job of connecting an emotion to a color Book length Good: stays within the standard amount 30 sentences and 44 pages Layout The layout is integrated the picture…

Words 692 - Pages 3

Is Abortion Ethical

every two seconds (Statistics, n.d.). Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice you are still killing an innocent unborn child. Furthermore, many people believe that it is a women’s entitlement to choose particularly in specific circumstances, such as rape, or wellbeing issues debilitating the mother’s life. A fetus and or embryo should have the right to life, aborting an unborn child is unethical because the methods which are carried out to uproot the fetus are awful, abortion is not a form of contraception…

Words 1048 - Pages 5

Chinese Adolescents: Effects Of Parental Rejection And Self-Esteem

Child Youth Care Forum (2015) 44:43–57 DOI 10.1007/s10566-014-9269-7 ORIGINAL PAPER Materialistic Values Among Chinese Adolescents: Effects of Parental Rejection and Self-esteem Xinyuan Fu • Yu Kou • Ying Yang Published online: 8 July 2014 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014 Abstract Background Materialistic values among today’s adolescents have been a concern around the world, yet few studies concerning Chinese adolescents’ materialistic values have been conducted. Additionally…

Words 7027 - Pages 29

John Steinbeck: What's Wrong With Lennie?

is one of the main characters of the John Steinbeck's book. Thesis Statement:Lennie has an intellectual disability known as autism, his poor ability to communicate, his intense interest in tending to rabbits, and the fact that he has the mind of a child are signs of it. “Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental disability; signs typically appear during early childhood and affect a person’s ability to communicate, and interact with others” (About Autism | Autism Society).…

Words 349 - Pages 2

The Dark Knight Essay

Solution: So many married couples who can't have kids waiting to adopt one. Why not have the child and make a family happy? Give it up for adoption. Problem number two: abortion may lead to many side effects, the most common being mental problems. According to wisconsinrighttolife.org In a study of post abortion patients, 44% of patients complained of nervous disorders 36% had experienced sleep disturbances 31% had…

Words 625 - Pages 3