Soldier X

Given that Tamara and X are children when they meet, how is childhood part of Tamara and X’s relationship? Are they ever children around one another, or do they have an entirely adult relationship due to the pressures of war?

How does Wulffson balance using descriptive imagery of violence and injury to the characters with the genre of children’s and YA literature? Does the gruesomeness of the novel contradict its place as a book for young people?

How are the patriarchy and masculinity presented in the novel? What about femininity and the role of women in 1940s Europe? How does the traditional role of men and women in Nazi Germany harm and motivate X and the other soldiers?

X and Tamara overtly reject both the Communists and the Nazis at several points within the novel. What does this say about the intended audience of the book? How would it have changed the book for them to be more sympathetic to their governments? Use specific examples in your answer.

World War II romances are very popular novels, such as the YA novel This Light Between Us. Choose a theme from the novel. How does the romance between X and Tamara shape and develop that theme? How would the novel be different if the central relationship had been a platonic relationship, such as between X and Hals?

Is there a difference between how the novel presents the Russians versus the Germans? Is one treated with more sympathy than the other? How about the Americans? Use examples of specific characters in your answer.

Consider the names and careers of X and Tamara’s children. What does each choice of name and child’s career signify about the future? How does it explore hope after the brutality of war?

What do each of the boys in part one of the novel contribute to the development of the theme and plot? Do they function as individual characters, symbols, or both? Could you separate German heritage from any of these soldiers and have them make sense as characters?