Have you ever wondered what it was like in Soviet Russia, during the 1950s? In the realistic fiction novel Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin, young Sasha Zaichik, who wants to be a part of the Young Soviet Pioneers, gets faced with a lot of trouble when he accidently chips the nose off a statue of Joseph Stalin, the communist leader. The theme of this story is that Sometimes you only have 2 options, one can be to take hope and one can be to take fear, and often times people choose fear, and especially when something so valuable is at stake. When Sasha accidently chips off the nose of a statue of Stalin, he is in constant fear of his life and punishment of the communists, but really he needs hope and love to control him. One reason is that Sasha fears that he will be …show more content…
taken to jail like his father because of his “crime”. Also, After Sasha accidently chips off Stalin's nose, all the communist students go crazy, and Sasha is worried he might be caught. Finally, Sasha really wants to go to the Young Soviet Pioneers school, but is now reluctant because of this event. The leader of communism, if you don't know, is Joseph Stalin.
One of his fellow communists, Vladimir Lenin created the Young Soviet Pioneers school, which is the school Sasha is in right now. Absentmindedly he chips the nose off a Stalin bust. Now, after his father got jailed, Sasha is scared that he too will be taken to jail. Not by the anti-communists, like his father, but by Communists, the people he is with. On page number 74 it says, “First, I will never become a Pioneer. Second, the principal will telephone the State Security to report an act of terrorism in his school. Third, everyone will find out who did it. Next, the guards will arrive to arrest me.” This shows how he feels vulnerable to himself. He also continues to say that he will be jailed like his father, but for a real cause. Not just being a communist. This is important because if there is one thing that Sasha has to believe in, it is hope. He is already giving up hope, and is sure that people will know it is him. He is taking an accident, and after not thinking, he is waiting for his punishment, even though nobody suspects it is him--yet. If he had hope, maybe he could find a way to redeem himself or stay away from
punishment. Next, Sasha fears he may be caught. You may think this is similar to what I just said, but it isn't. Before , I said Sasha needed hope to guide him. Now I am saying that Sasha needs to get rid of his fears, and drive the hope in. Let me explain. After Sasha chips of Stalin's nose, everyone starts making accusations about people, and most people think it is someone named Vovka. We know it's Sasha however. All that Sasha thinks is that he is going to get caught. But then something catches Sasha by surprise. Four-Eyed Finkelstein admits to breaking the statue. (Finkelstein is just another character) Now Sasha feels safe, for now. Sasha then feels sorry for Finkelstein, and then feels glad for him because he will see his jailed father in prison.(finkelstein’s father was also jailed) On page 92 it states, “I imagine the car stopping at Lubyanka gates, the guard stepping up, looking inside. He studies [Finkelstein], waves the gates open. Is Finkelstein scared? He must be scared, wondering what will happen.” This is important because now that Sasha is not scared of getting caught, he can pursue his dream of being a Young Soviet Pioneer. Finally, now that Sasha is done with fear of what he did, he can easily go to the Young Soviet Pioneers school. Right? But Sasha has a feeling of dread, he has the guilt of Finkelstein taking the blame, and he also learns that Vovka knows Sasha did it, how can he give the lead speech? He was asked to fly around a banner while opening a speech to get into the Young Soviet Pioneers. Because of him breaking the nose, he is having second thoughts on going to this school. What if his secret leaked out? On page 111 of the book it shows how Sasha is excluding himself from communism, “Everyone is being useful to our country. Everything is marching toward Communism, everyone but me. I am no longer a part of the Communism “WE”” This is significant because it is telling the readers that Sasha is not accepting who he is in Communism. But since Sasha wants to be in Communism, he needs to accept who he is. He needs to find this hope to drive him forwards. Therefore, the theme of this story is that Sometimes you only have 2 options, one can be to take hope and one can be to take fear, and often times people choose fear, and especially when something so valuable is at stake. Sasha needs to get rid of his fear of getting jailed, just because of an accident. He needs to stop worrying he will get caught, and he needs to have hope to help him get forwards, and get a good reputation at the Young Soviet Pioneers school, and must forget about his past events. If Sasha can do all this, he should be able to get away from the accusations of breaking the statue. But sadly, when given a choice, Sasha is overcome by fear that he just wants to see his father, so he goes to the prison where his father is being kept. We never actually see him with his father, but we are sure that his dad is there, because the principal of the school himself has acknowledged it. He had a choice to be a person who watches over people incase they are not being “good” communists, but instead of filling with hope and choosing that, he goes on to see his dad.
During the Communist Party, if people were to resist and speak up about any grievance that they had, they would be incarcerated and possibly executed. In her memoir, Kovály stated “By 1951, the atmosphere in Prague was almost as bad as it had been during the war. No one dared to speak out loud, and hardly a week passed without news of someone’s arrest” (101). This statement further explains how constantly were people arrested, and how people were so fearful that they were afraid to express themselves about anything publicly. In order to stay out of danger, “People no longer aspired toward things but away from them. All they wanted was to avoid trouble. They tried not to be seen anywhere, not to talk to anyone, not to attract any attention” (Margolius-Kovály 126). This statement also shows how people were living their lives at this point and how the inability to freely express themselves impaired the way that they interacted with others. The amount of fear that people had during the communist regime in Czechoslovakia discouraged them from resisting, especially since they could potentially be affected -- or in other words arrested and
Tucker, Robert C. "Stalinism as Revolution from Above". Stalinism. Edited by Robert C. Tucker. New York: American Council of Learned Societies, 1999.
Lydia Chekovskaya wrote about Sofia Petrovna and the transformation she had undergone to closely reflect the state of mind and changes experienced by citizens of the Soviet Union during that time. As people began to suffer from the purges and other hardships due to Stalin’s incompetence, their minds and logic, much like Sofia Petrovna’s, became impaired leading them to try their best to rationalize Stalin’s actions. They believed in the party wholeheartedly, but when they finally realized the wrongdoing of the party, it was far too late.
Joseph Stalin said, “Ideas are far more powerful than guns. We don 't let our people have guns. Why should we let them have ideas?”. Stalin was a dictator of the USSR from 1929 to 1953. Under his dictatorship, the Soviet Union began to transform from a poor economy to an industrial and military based one. While still a teen, Stalin secretly read Karl Marx 's book the “Communist Manifesto”, and became more interested in his teachings. When Stalin gained power, he ruled his nations using terror and fear, eliminating those who did not comply with his governance.
In conclusion, many soviets citizens appeared to believe that Stalin’s positive contributions to the U.S.S.R. far outweigh his monstrous acts. These crimes have been down played by many of Stalin’s successors as they stress his achievements as collectivizer, industrializer, and war leader. Among those citizens who harbor feelings of nostalgia, Stalin’s strength, authority , and achievement contrast sharply with the pain and suffering of post-revolutionary Russia.
Under a backdrop of systematic fear and terror, the Stalinist juggernaut flourished. Stalin’s purges, otherwise known as the “Great Terror”, grew from his obsession and desire for sole dictatorship, marking a period of extreme persecution and oppression in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s. “The purges did not merely remove potential enemies. They also raised up a new ruling elite which Stalin had reason to think he would find more dependable.” (Historian David Christian, 1994). While Stalin purged virtually all his potential enemies, he not only profited from removing his long-term opponents, but in doing so, also caused fear in future ones. This created a party that had virtually no opposition, a new ruling elite that would be unstoppable, and in turn negatively impacted a range of sections such as the Communist Party, the people of Russia and the progress in the Soviet community, as well as the military in late 1930 Soviet society.
Shukhov is a likeable and yet somewhat naïve fellow who is just like everybody else. In fact, what really makes this book remarkable is not Shukhov himself. What makes it special is that, even though at first glance the story may seem to be about Shukhov, it is actually a tale of events and common occurrences that could happen to anyone. The book is not just a detail of one day in the life of Ivan, it is a relatable story of what could happen to anyone shoved into a Russian prison camp. Ivan’s life in the book is shown to be nothing more than a picture of the thousands of lives that were lost or destroyed in the Stalinist camps. Ivan Denisovich Shukhov is not one character, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov is the picture of “anyman.” Using the depiction of the beliefs, hopes, and need to survive that would arise in a common prisoner Solzhenitsyn creates a story of the victory of humane principles over corruption.
In 1934, Sergey Kirov a rival to Stalin was murdered. Stalin is believed to have been behind the assassination, he used it as a pretext to arrest thousands of his other opponents who in his words might have been responsible for Kirov’s murder. These purges not only affected those who openly opposed Stalin but ordinary people too. During the rule of Stain o...
Following the beginning of the Second World War, Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany and Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union would start what would become two of the worst genocides in world history. These totalitarian governments would “welcome” people all across Europe into a new domain. A domain in which they would learn, in the utmost tragic manner, the astonishing capabilities that mankind possesses. Nazis and Soviets gradually acquired the ability to wipe millions of people from the face of the Earth. Throughout the war they would continue to kill millions of people, from both their home country and Europe. This was an effort to rid the Earth of people seen as unfit to live in their ideal society. These atrocities often went unacknowledged and forgotten by the rest of the world, leaving little hope for those who suffered. Yet optimism was not completely dead in the hearts of the few and the strong. Reading Man is Wolf to Man: Surviving the Gulag by Janusz Bardach and Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi help one capture this vivid sense of resistance toward the brutality of the German concentration and Soviet work camps. Both Bardach and Levi provide a commendable account of their long nightmarish experience including the impact it had on their lives and the lives of others. The willingness to survive was what drove these two men to achieve their goals and prevent their oppressors from achieving theirs. Even after surviving the camps, their mission continued on in hopes of spreading their story and preventing any future occurrence of such tragic events. “To have endurance to survive what left millions dead and millions more shattered in spirit is heroic enough. To gather the strength from that experience for a life devoted to caring for oth...
Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin received the John Newbery Honor in 2012. Narrated by ten-year-old Sasha Zaichik, this novel depicts life for children growing up during the peak of Joseph Stalin’s reign over the Soviet Union. Within this text, themes such as injustice, corruption, and Communism are discussed through a child’s lens.
Solzhenitsyn believed that it was nearly impossible to have truly free thoughts under the prison camp conditions described in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, or in any situation where there is an authoritarian ruler. In a pris...
To further transform the Soviet Union, state officials encouraged citizens to help improve the literacy rate and recognize the many heroes of the socialist state. These heroes, including Joseph Stalin, “received huge amounts of fan mail and were lionized on appearances throughout the country” (72). They also encouraged the remaking of individuals, particularly through work. Before the transformation, many did not enjoy working, but “under socialism, it was the thing that filled life with meaning” (75). Numerous interviews an author had with “transformed” felons, illustrated that even criminals could be transformed into good citizens through work (76). However, Sheila Fitzpatrick argues that these interviews were “clearly a propaganda project.”
Similarly, Stalin used propaganda and extreme nationalism to brainwash the peoples of Russia. He channeled their beliefs into a passion for Soviet ideals and a love of Stalin. In both cases, love for anything but the Party is the biggest threat to the regime. The stability of the Party and Stalin’s regime directly depended upon loyalty to the government above all else. By drawing upon the close relationships between the two Orwellian societies, we can examine just how dangerous love is to the Party.
During Stalin’s regime, the individual Russian was the center of his grand plan for better or worse. Stalin wanted all of his people to be treated the same. In the factory the top producer and the worst producer made the same pay. He wanted everyone to be treated as equals. His goal to bring the Soviet Union into the industrial age put tremendous pressure on his people. Through violence and oppression Stalin tried to maintain an absurd vision that he saw for the Soviet Union. Even as individuals were looked at as being equals, they also were viewed as equals in other ways. There was no one who could be exempt when the system wanted someone imprisoned, killed, or vanished. From the poorest of the poor, to the riches of the rich, everyone was at the mercy of the regime. Millions of individuals had fake trumped up charges brought upon them, either by the government or by others who had called them o...
... a change in this image to a realization that Stalin’s suppression of dissidents and opposition had real effects on soviet society and can not be justified by Marxist and Leninist Ideology instead they were just Stalin looking to maintain his autocracy.