(Page 17)

She always wears a brown suede necklace with a silver charm, she has loose waves with short hair, likes nature, misses nature and the birds.

(Page 19-20)

Page 2: Christians father works a twelve hour shift, six days a week at a furniture factory.

Page 3: Christian stays to himself, he likes english, poetry and philosophy. Christians likes to do his own thing.

Page 12: Christian is also said to be intelligent and quietly observant.

"Life in an apartemnt block felt like living in a chest of drawers" Page 25.

The place is cold, dark, discomforting, and sad.

Page 18: "streetlights. I said But guess what in other countries I think they actually work."

Page 18: "As a result, electricity and food were rationed."

Page 20: "I looked at the cement apartments blocks we passed. Some weren't even finished yet.

Page 24: For months I'd been trying to talk to Liliana Pavel.

page 24: We were finally alone, talking, agreeing to see each other on saturday Night and instead of being elated, I was suspicious?

I was prepared. I had written everything down in my notebook, reviewed it, and decided things in advance I would tell him. 'The mother speaks Spanish to her son. The father appears tired. The son has blond hair and blue eyes, sport shoes called air Jordans...'

'What is the interaction between Van Dorn and his wife?'

'They interacted like parents i guess.'

...'Anything else?'

'Yes, the medicine for me bunu.'

'Write down everything you just told me.'

he wanted an official handwritten statement. Of course. That way he had proof.

I wrote a simple list, bullet points, and slanted my letters to the left intead of the right to disguise my handwriting.

...Filing through my mental notes.

He smoked Bts He wore no wedding ring. His fingernails were... cleaned and buffed. Peaking from the pocket of his black lather jacket... Steau.

... I know knew more about him.... I knew how to proceed."

This dialogue and internal dialogue shows that the character is intelligent and knows what he's doing. He is observant and strategic.

"'This never knowing, it weakens us... It's a form of control. They know exactly what they're doing.'" Page 69

"'Do you see the lunacy of all this? They've got us brainwashed, standing in front of lines for hours, grateful for rotten beans. But what is the cost of self-worth?'" Page 76

These excerpts show that the characters are fighting the government/higher control and the way they set up their society. In the book, the way they live is sad, and they are all being controlled, eating out-of-date food, no heaters, under surveillance all the time, everyone is a potential threat, no one can trust each other. And that's exactly what their government wants them to do. They look at "American Movies" and see how privileged they are there, compared to where they live now. They soon realize they're living in hell; due to the governments urge to control them.

"'See, this is why Mama and I constantly tell you to stay quiet. You never know who's watching and reporting.' Guilt rose within my already sour stomach. 'You're right.' I said. 'You never know.'" Page 91

This shows the characters guilt and shame he has for having to keep secrets on his own family and friends, not being able to say anything to them and having to record everything. It shows how he is betraying his family, though he really wishes he didn't have to, but there was no other choice. He is torn between doing his job and choosing to not betray his family and everyone he loves, while also having an identity crisis and not trusting anyone around him, or really himself.

Page 122

Words like "Breathe", "Squeezing", "Can't", "losing", "Help", and "obey", all reveal the tone of darkness, trapped, desperate. This shows how the character feels alone and trapped no matter what he does in the story. It shows how when people are put in such a situation, it can cause them to feel deep loneliness and emptiness, along with intense negative emotions that could affect them greatly. "Losing" represents a tone of loss, and no other choice, which the character does not have.

I passed Mirel, standing in his familiar spot near the building. I nodded to him.

'Sorry', he said.

I shrugged. What was he sorry for?

My feet stopped.

The candles. The cross.

No.

Bunu?"

Page 152

This excerpt from the book is showing a tone of realization from the main character. He realizes his grandfather is dead, though at first, he didn't realize. The pauses in the line represent the characters realization and the suspense. It also lets the reader realize what it is going on too. It shows the anxiety the main character can be going through, and the stomach drop he felt in the moment. He uses the short lengths of the sentence to show that the character is connecting dots, while creating a rising action type dynamic. The periods at the end of each short sentence represent extra suspense too.

Also page 56, when Cristian is talking about getting Lilliana a coke bottle for Christmas. The coke wasn't just a coke it represented a fun memory between them.

"what did she share? Study notes? I shook my head and dropped my voice beneath a whisper. A coke Cici stared at me. She blinked. She mouthed the words "A Coke"? I nodded. "It was her Christmas present."

In the story Cristian is is tired of being where he is. Cristian is in Romania where they are suffering. Cristian and is family live in a very small area, with limited food, and are constantly in fear. Due to the fact that Cristian and his family live in Romania, his parents are constantly working. Causing him and his family to be quite distant, besides Cristian and his grandfather Bunu. Also, due to where Cristian lived, the only way to get medicine for Bunu was to be an informer on an American family.

"They don't even need weapons to control. Our own fear is more than enough." page 99

Throughout the story Cristian is constantly overthinking. Cristian questions himself, he questions others, and he questions why Romania is like this. He question why does their leader just allow all this to happen to them.

"Were there signs that Liliana was an informer? Maybe. She was quiet. Private. She asked odd questions. And the very first day we walked home together, she was behind me, which meant she left school after I did. Which could mean she had been meeting with the Secu herself. Did Liliana care about me or did she just need information." Page 89

"Ceausescu and his family were free to travel to every continent and experience all the world had to offer, but kept his people caged within the country's borders, working, full of fear, terrorized if they inquired about a passport. " Page 108

You are a Liar"

You are everything I despise.

You are an informer.

I switched off the flashlight. Invisible Hands appeared in the darkness. One hand gripped my hair. The other pressed down over my nose and mouth, And then it pressed again. Harder.

"You are a Liar"

I couldn't breathe

"You are everything I despise"

I was suffocating

"You are an informer."

Shocks of blue flashed behind my eyes. My mouth pulled dry with panic." 118 and 119

This represents a very intense tone. As you can see Cristian starts to freak out because the girl that is everything to him wants nothing to do with him. Between each line Cristian is reading you can really imagine how he is feeling, and how as he continued to read it increasingly gets worse for him.

Page 147 "I wanted freedom. I wanted Romania to fight back. I filled my notebook with statements, lists, and information about our country, cries for help that I hoped Mr. Van Dorn would share with others.

Cristian believes that if this notebook he has been writing in, gets out, that people will see how terrible Romania is. Allowing them to get help.

"But I had to try. As the saying goes, better to die standing than live kneeling."

Page 148

The noteook that the main character writes in is symbolism because the notbook represents the truth, and freedom. He puts his thoughts in there along with whats really going on in Bucherest, and it having a chance to save them and get justice.

In the story there is a lot of betrayal occuring within the characters. For example Luca betrayed Cristian in many ways. Luca was informering on Cristian when they were supposedly friends. Also, while he was informing on him he was trying to get with Cristian's girl, Lillian.

Page 161: "was this a sick joke? My best friend turns me in to the Securitate and tries to steal my girlfriend?

Sepetys explains that in some to most situations, you truly cannot trust anyone because you never know what situation they're in or what their intentions are.