Soldier X Sparknotes

A German soldier, trapped, watching as Russian forces overpower them and take their fort. In the story Soldier X by Don Wulffson, the main character, Erik, both Russian and German, is drafted into a war between Russia and Germany at just 16 years old. He continuously shows the lengths he's willing to go to to ensure his survival, such as switching uniforms with a Russian soldier and posing as a Russian soldier at the hospital,
In Soldier X, Erik’s experience switching uniforms with a dead Russian soldier shows his desire to survive. At the end of the battle, when Erik was hit, he was sent into a trench as the Russians took over. He was looking at his surroundings until he heard “A lumbering oaf of a foot soldier, using a bayonet, was dispatching other Germans…many of those he was bayoneting looked already dead; he was just making sure.” (Wulffson, Page 74) Erik knew that even if he pretended he was dead, there was a high possibility he would be stabbed. At that moment, Erik decides on the way he’ll survive. “In that cramped charnel house beneath the tank, I removed

When Erik is being carried in the stretcher, the Russian soldiers are asking him questions about where he was from and who he is, then he thinks, “It's best not to remember anything, I told myself…”I don't know who I am!” I told him with half-feigned terror.” (Wulffson, Page 86) He used quick thinking to save himself by pretending he has amnesia. Then, once he's up and working in the hospital, he's working next to Mikhos and slips up. “I idly commented that the kitchen reminded me of home” Then, once Mikhos started asking him questions, he played along and said, “We owned a restaurant!” “I told Mikhos exuberantly...I frowned falsely. “But that's all I remember” (Wulffson, Page 120) In the hospital, he keeps up his story and is tricking everyone, even his friends, all to