Comparing Matryona's Home And An Incident At Krechetovka

Alexander Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken writer, who used his short stories to be vocal about the reality of Soviet society. Many pieces of Soviet literature were regulated, in which the reality was masked by Soviet Union propaganda. Solzhenitsyn broke past this wall barrier in his two short stories, Matryona’s Home and An Incident at Krechetovka Station. Both novellas describe the harsh reality of Soviet life, the former in rural Russia, and the latter during World War II at an army station. While having different and distinct plots and characters, both pieces of literature play on key themes of the real Soviet life. Matryona’s Home emphasizes Soviet society’s blatant disregard of Russian tradition, while An Incident at Krechetovka comments

Before the Bolshevik Revolution, a common theme in Russian society was community, where all should contribute to better society. Matryona, in Solzhenitsyn’s novella, was the figure of Old Russian tradition, in which she always wanted to contribute to the community and help others. Matryona constantly was aiding others in her village “without a trace of envy” (Matryona’s Home 34). She did not expect payment, and even refused it at times. Matryona additionally expressed another characteristic of the Old Russia; “her strongest beliefs were superstitious” (Matryona’s Home 35). Many scholars classify Russian individuals as superstitious, and believe it is part of the Slavic culture. Solzhenitsyn adds this characteristic of Matryona to further solidify the connection between the main character and Old Russian

Because of the mass starvation happening all around the Soviet Union, many individuals took it upon themselves to steal. Zotov witnesses this happening, and a fellow Soviet officer shot and “had hit one of the returnees in the head and killed him right there on top of the flour sacks” (An Incident at Krechetovka Station 180). Zotov justifies this situation, and believes that shooting the returnee was justifiable because order needed to be maintained at the train station to avoid chaos. He additionally does not believe killing the returnee was irrational decision, and further thinks that individuals defying the Soviet party should have the same consequence. Zotov cites one individual, Samorukov, who is a greedy sergeant major, should be shot and killed “right outside the ration store, in front of a crowd of people” due to his lack of commitment to the Soviet party (An Incident at Krechetovka Station 209). The blind trust that Zotov and Soviet society had for the Soviet party shows that usually horrible situations could be justified for