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Summary Of The Symbolism InNovostroika By Maria Reva

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For many, governments offer guidance and reliance; citizens enjoy security, order, and direction from their political leaders. Yet some forms of government — specifically Communism — cause instability, confusion, and distraction in the lives of their citizens. In Maria Reva’s short story “Novostroika,” she depicts the animosity of a young Ukrainian man, Daniil Blinov, who battles the oppressions of Communist life. In his position, Danill struggles to keep his family satiated under the dominion of the U.S.S.R. This leads to various dilemmas throughout the piece. Within this story, Reva incorporates a space heater, a symbol of hope, and a coffin, a symbol of oppression, to convey how Communism crushes the hope of its citizens.
Reva establishes this short-lived hope within the first symbol: a space heater. In doing so, she shifts from a persistent defeated outlook to an encouraging perspective on the characters’ dilemmas. The Blinov family procures the space heater with Daniel's grandfather’s life savings, which he had “been keeping for hard times, and hard times had arrived” (Reva 227). Congruently, they had “enough [...] to buy one space heater,” allowing the situation to resemble fate. At this moment, the symbol emerges within the story. Now, the characters have a tangible item to prosper from, to grant them perseverance. In this story, set in 1988, the U.S.S.R. began to rapidly decay. With Mikhail Gorbachev’s new reform in place, the people found a new voice. In turn,

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