City of Thieves

As a coming-of-age story about a teenage boy, the novel particularly focuses on the transition from boy to man and the nature of manhood. Lev frequently expresses his desire to conform to traditional social norms, particularly the culture of the warrior-hero, a desire that has been exacerbated by the presence of war and the threat of attack. Lev reveals that his desire to embody the warrior-hero’s traits and virtues has altered his relationship with his mother, causing him to assert himself and splinter the family unit:

The night before [my mother and sister] left I fought with my mother, the only fight we’d ever had—or, more precisely, the only time I ever fought back. She wanted me to go with them […] But I wasn’t leaving Piter. I was a man. I would defend my city, I would be a Nevsky for the twentieth century (11-12).

Lev’s domestic role in the family unit is therefore overthrown by his need to adopt a new role of man/hero and serve his community on a grand scale: “I was seventeen, flooded with a belief in my own heroic destiny” (13). He wishes to be a member of society rather than just a member of a family, and he regards his rebellion against his mother as his first step to manhood.