Is this the government? The teachers? The adults? Those adult figures in this child's life who are supposed to protect the child and provide safety? These figures are no more than children themselves, convincing one another of the signs of an attack, providing near useless suggestions such as sitting under a "frail [...] slab of wood." Each and every citizen suffers from the same paralyzing fear of death, and the ever ominous warfare plaguing the world's safety, wellbeing and peace after the world was shattered in WWII.

There is a sharp contrast between the youth and adult approach. The child accepts fate, and understands "reality's gloom" and the dangers that could instantaneously "zoom" through the sky. The adults are unaccepting and instead make every effort to control the situation by feeble attempts to "instruct" faulty principles that will disintegrate the moment the "piercing shriek" sounds.

Listening, always listening, a theme commonly associated with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, especially upon the launching of the Soviet satellite Sputnik, who would send out radio signals that would appear on local radio stations, an ominous beep, beep, beep. The theme no less ominous, A-bombs are not eery beeping, rather a sound so sharp it "pierces" through the sky and through the defenses of people's confidence.

This child understands the danger of the situation, the Cold War, and has full knowledge of the utter lack of power over the situation. "Pretending" is often something adults will do to make a situation a game, or to soften the edges of a harsh reality. This child's insight that the desk, the infrastructure of life as they know it, none of it will protect them, demonstrating a loss of childhood innocence due to the bitter cruelties of war.