Doctor Zhivago’s Uniquely Realistic Qualities

To Squeeze a Lemon Dry: How Princess Dashkova’s Memoir Reveals Common Themes Among Russia’s History

Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich utilizes an authentic narrative told through a modest authorial voice to show the reader what life is like in a Soviet labor camp in the harsh winter of 1951. In this book, space and language converged in an austere union that rendered time the most defining theme, and yet also utterly meaningless. Language is the unifying force that retains the characters’ humanity, yet ironically also strips them of it in certain contexts. Solzhenitsyn conveys space through the brutal cold of the Russian tundra that cuts through every character and every scene alike, ever-present and implacable. Time is the oppressive force driving the plot just as the guards drive the prisoners – forward, step by step, each minute of each hour that passes controlled from above by the powers that be. Themes like those of human dignity, unjust punishment, camaraderie, steadfast faith, and the unforgiving cold emerged, perpetuated through the use of these facets of language, space, and time, to tell the story of one day in the life of one man: Ivan Denisovich Shukhov.

The Great Terror was one of the single greatest loss of lives in the history of the world. It was a crusade of political tyranny in the Soviet Union that transpired during the late 1930’s. The Terrors implicated a wide spread cleansing of the Communist Party and government officials, control of peasants and the Red Army headship, extensive police over watch, suspicion of saboteurs, counter-revolutionaries, and illogical slayings. Opportunely, some good did come from the terrors nonetheless. Two of those goods being Sofia Petrovna and Requiem. Both works allow history to peer back into the Stalin Era and bear witness to the travesties that came with it. Through the use of fictional story telling and thematic devises Sofia Petrovna and Requiem, respectively, paint a grim yet descriptive picture in a very efficient manner.

Anton Chekhov hardly restrained from writing the dreary aspects of life during his writing career. Noted as one of Russia’s most prominent realist writers of the late 19th century, Chekhov’s work ranged from critical issues concerning the mental health system in “Ward No.6” to illustrating the tiresome cycle occurring for ordinary people sensing they are incomplete with their dull, normal life in “The Lady with the Dog.” “The Lady with the Dog,” in particular portrays characters of Chekhov’s facing an unreachable desire; Gurov and Anna. This desire emulates two contrasting forces represented by the double-lives the couple lives, one being that of realism and boredom, and the other of strict passion and romanticism. Gurov and “the lady with

In One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn shows how Soviet prisoners, known as Zeks, are treated while being in the gulag for one day through the eyes of the protagonist and omniscient narrator named Ivan Denisovich Shukhov. Despite being in an environment such as the Soviet Union, where there is harsh tundra and not much food to eat, Shukhov tries to make good use of what he has received while trying to keep himself alive. The purpose of Solzhenitsyn’s portrayal of food is to show its overall significance and that it is used as a means of trade and survival. Over time, the power of food reveals its significance to the Zeks and especially to Shukhov and food allows both groups understanding towards the necessity of food for their vitality and well-being additionally.

This essay shall address the issue of how the far the brutality of Bolshevik Regime ensured the maintaining of it’s power between the years of 1917-24. This essay shall explore topics concerning the ‘Dictatorship Of The Proletariat’, The Cheka, War Communism, The Red Terror and other potential reasons for the Bolsheviks remaining in power. This essay shall also explore the various views put forth by various Historians such as Robert Conquest and Richard Pipes.

‘The optimists believe that imperial Russia was ruined by the First World War. The pessimists maintain that the war provided merely the last mighty push to bring the whole rotten structure tumbling down.’ When Russia become engulfed in World War I, the Russian army mobilized 15.5 million men and suffered great casualties. This leads to the shortage of workers for the factories and farms and thus cause a widespread shortages of food and materials. As supply decreases and demand is increasing, this causes the prices of goods to increase dramatically, causing unrest among people, leading to revolt and labor riots. Soon, famine hit Russian cities. The worst of all is that Nicholas II held fast to his anachronistic political faith in unfettered

It is hard to imagine what living life in constant fear of death and arrest would be like, knowing that any slight slip in actions or speech could result in the end of one’s life as they knew it. Eugenia Ginzburg is an active communist member who finds herself on the wrong side of this situation. Arrested for over exaggerated claims of being a trotskyist terrorist, she is immediately thrust into a spiral of events that will dramatically change her, her ideals, and the entire state of communism. However, while in the prisons and labor camps it is interesting to note how her perceptions of life and reality change, including her affiliation to the state. This naturally begs the question; How do Ginzburg's perceptions of Communism and the Stalinist regime change throughout

Were it a testimony to the rigors and cruelness of human nature, it would be crushing. As it is, it shatters our perception of man and ourselves as no other book, besides perhaps Anne Franke`s diary and the testimony of Elie Wiesl, could ever have done. The prisoners of the labor camp, as in Shukhov?s predicament, were required to behave as Soviets or face severe punishment. In an almost satirical tone Buinovsky exclaims to the squadron that ?You?re not behaving like Soviet People,? and went on saying, ?You?re not behaving like communist.? (28) This type of internal monologue clearly persuades a tone of aggravation and sarcasm directly associated to the oppression?s of communism.

Doctor Zhivago, a 1965 film based on a Russian novel of the same name, tells the story of Yuri Zhivago and how his life was constantly changed throughout the Russian revolution. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich describes the daily routine that Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, an inmate in a labor camp, goes through for eight years to fulfill his sentence.

These thoughts and feelings give us a deeper understanding of his actions and why he chooses such hardships. In Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak creates a metaphor for life's joys and happiness, through Yurii Zhivago's desperate pursuit of Lana and the internal conflicts that follow. Zhivago first starts to have this conflict within himself in Varykino, where he

Coincidence plays a huge role in the story, as much of the major events in Zhivago’s life occur because of coincidence. Coincidence is the driving force that moves Zhivago and Lara’s relationship along, because despite Russia being a vast country, fate continues to bring them together. One example of this is when Yuri and Lara are randomly sent to work at the same hospital during World War I. Coincidence again plays in their favor when Yuri and Tonya travel to Varykino and Yuri just happens to see Lara at a library there. The fact that Zhivago carries with him, the image of Lara’s candle in the window, before he even knows Lara, hints that there is some greater plan at work for these characters. But Pasternak’s ultimate fate for these characters

While this may be the case for the more information-limited Soviet historians, the more modern, revisionist historians such as Edward Acton, Robert Service, Harold Shukman and Steven Smith have had great exposure to much of the confidential literature, kept secret by the many Soviet Purges and the prolific ‘Iron Curtain’. In the view of Acton “Russia’s workers were

Reading # 8 Pages 137-154 Reading Log Strategy: Analyze a character Poleshuk 5 The author, Fraser, introduces the character of the Russian nobleman, Pencherjevsky, for the purpose of further illustrating the cruelty towards the serfs and to assist the plot development for Flashman. Flashman goes into detail about how Pencherjevsky considered himself to be a kind master for although he beats and sends his closest servants to Siberia for minor infractions: “ ‘I never touch a serf-women’ ” (140). The cruelty towards the serfs directly led to the russian revolution. Pencherjevsky speaks of Karl Marx as, “ ‘Vomiting his venom over Europe’ ” (141).

Throughout Dr Zhivago we see Pasternaks protagonist experience a loss of idealism and hope for what Revolution meant to his people and his country. At the beginning of the revolution, Pasternak seems to embody Zhivago himself in regards to his idealism towards revolution as he writes, “I watched a meeting last night. An astounding spectacle, Mother Russia has begun to move, she won’t stay put, she walks and never tires of walking, she talks and can’t talk enough. And it’s not as if only people are talking. Stars and trees come together and converse, night flowers philosophize and stone buildings hold meetings.” (Pasternak 170). However, this idealism