Essay Questions

Why is the Northern Government training children to fight a war? Who is the war against?

The Northern Government is training children because they cannot let the adults know what lays behind the wall. The people will rebel if they know that they were lied to and that their land was stolen by the rich people on the south side of the wall. The people will also want to return and those in charge in the North only want the riches of the South for themselves not the poor of the North.

The war is against the rich of the south so that those in power in the North can have the luxuries and natural world in the south.

Why do the people on the North side of the Wall not know about the luxury and the thriving nature in the south?

The people in the North were tricked into leaving their homes by the rich. They were told that there was an animal plague, so they fled to the North behind a wall built to protect them. The people live in a concrete jungle with no trees or animals. The rich told the people this so that they could take their homes and stop the destruction of the natural world.

Why does Kobi feel that he made a mistake by not continuing to go to the arcade? Why do the adults treat him like a hero?

Kobi is upset because he feels that he abandoned his friends to a horrible fate. He believes that he should be with them and feels guilty that he escaped the plot of the Northern government. He is lonely and wants the connection that the army has with his friends.

The adults in the North treat Kobi like a hero because he was not captured by the government and forced into their army. He was smart enough figure out that the arcade game was a trap set by the government. They see him as a symbol of the future that will be free of repression and government control.