Cardenas 1
Luis Cardenas Martinez
Mrs. Thompson
English II
23 April 2017
Multicultural Novel Journal Response
The Kitchen Boy
Pages 1-50
Setting
The novel’s setting is essential for the novel’s historical context and the development of the story. The Kitchen Boy takes place, in majority, in the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, Russia, a house described as hot and uncomfortable on multiple occasions by our protagonist, Leonka, and the captive Tsar family of Nicholas II. Bolshevik troops keep watch of every corner of the house, creating a constant state of tension between members of the royal family as they attempt to smuggle notes to Rasputin’s daughter in an attempt to be freed from “The House of Special Purpose.” This constant monitoring of
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all the royal Russian family’s actions plays an important role in the plot, as Leonka’s job as a middleman between the rescuers and the captives becomes more difficult as security tightens, and he must resort to more creative methods of communicating with the outside. It’s worth noting that the setting taking place during a world-turning event like the Russian Revolution, a well documented event, provides a deeper level of description to the story, as more details on real historical events are told to add a hint of Cardenas 2 realism to the novel. The combination of all these elements creates an anxious atmosphere and a truly immersive experience as the novel progresses. Characterization Our protagonist, Leonka, is introduced as a man in his late years under a new name and country, attempting to spill the beans to his granddaughter, Katya, about his involvement in the Ipatiev House as the fabled kitchen boy, a secret long kept that has only ever been told to his wife, so that she may know what to do with everything he’ll leave behind after his death and understand why she must fulfill his will. “He had to set her on a mission, his mission, otherwise he feared she might flounder in confusion, even despair, and perhaps stumble upon… upon… No, thought Misha, he couldn’t let that happen” Though it may seem like it’s for his own benefit and peace of mind, this older Leonka shows obvious interest in the wellbeing of his granddaughter, and moreover how his actions will affect her. This is proven by his willingness to tell a story that has been kept secret for decad so that he may not leave everyone with the burden of his deeds. He is very obviously afraid of his Cardenas 3 relatives finding something related to his past, something he has been holding for decades, hinting at a strong, resilient personality. “It didn’t feel right, the likes of me sitting across the table from Nikolai Aleksandrovich, even if he was now the former Tsar” Leonka feels a great deal of respect for the Tsar, even if that title means nothing now. He doesn’t respect the Tsar for being the Tsar, but he respects him because he’s close enough to see that he really is a good man on top of being the ruler of one of the most powerful countries in the world. Being surrounded by such influence, however, leads him to believe he’s in a far lower status than he really is. This low self-image continues when he finally becomes the sender and receiver of the Tsar’s secret messages, and adds to the stress of this role. “There really wasn’t any question in my mind simply because of what the Reds had done to my Uncle Vanya just a month earlier.” Leonka is willing to take a task as dangerous as handling the Tsar’s secret escape notes, a task that could potentially lead to his death, or the death of the Tsar and his family. He, however, is revealed now to not only be spiteful towards the Bolsheviks decades later, but already had a Cardenas 4 strong anger towards them which contributes to his motivation to ultimately free the Tsar’s family. Leonka takes a justifyingly reckless attitude toward Russia’s most crucial task at hand. Rhetorical Analysis Robert D. Zimmerman (Pen name Robert Alexander) writes dialogue that’s simple to follow and relate with, and thoughtful exposition that provides depth to the characters and setting. “Would that I could change one thing.. Just that one small thing.” Zimmerman sets the precedent of leaving extremely strong hints of foreshadowing through the use of punctuation and ambiguous statements. Though not subtle, it certainly fulfills its purpose of keeping a tension in the story and a sense of mystery that can only be quenched by reading on. “...windows were painted over with lime and we weren’t allowed to open a single one of them. It was like being surrounded by a thick fog.” The creative description of a “thick fog” that correlates with “lime” stained windows is not only used to give a vivid description of the environment the Tsar and his family are living in, but also used to develop the true situation of complete isolation felt in the Ipatiev House. The Cardenas 5 surroundings of the royal family play a crucial role in the story’s progression and conflict, and a thick fog is the most accurate of descriptions, as the family can’t see anything beyond the jail they’re captive in, literally and metaphorically. “Da-s. Xhorosho.
Good.”
Hints of Russian language are left about the novel to contribute to the vivid, real Russian environment of the novel. These words are also used to give a clear reminder during times that may seem peaceful of the dangerous setting our characters are in: the midst of the Russian Revolution, one of the bloodiest, and harshest events in history the world has ever seen. Zimmerman achieves all this with a few simple words from another dialect.
“What a nightmare, that the Germans are supposed to save everyone and establish order. What could be worse and more degrading than that? ...God save and help Russia!
-Aleksandra Feodorovna”
Zimmerman occasionally slips in real letters by the Russian royalty that add important exposition to the story. This seemingly extra information actually makes the royal family seem like real people, and also supports the arguments Leonka makes in favor of the family and against the
Cardenas 6
Bolsheviks. Inserting pieces of information from the archives in Moscow are crucial to understanding Leonka’s motivations for helping the royal family and also to understanding their troubles.
Theme
The novel has so far centered around two main themes, issues beyond status, and the importance of
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responsibility. “On the other hand, [Alexsei] was compassionate because he knew pain, real pain, and real suffering too... That poor child travelled to the bottom of life and back again” Despite Aleksei’s wealth and status in Russian society, he still faces the challenge of Hemophilia which was beyond anyone’s power to heal at the time. Aleksei, despite most Russians believing royalty lived a life of luxury and comfort, lived with the constant threat of a hemorrhage at the slightest hit, and experienced more pain in his short life than people of lower status do in their whole lives. “Nikolai-- well, he found his wisdom to late to save his family...And Nikolai, well, he made an enormous mistake by taking control of the armies during the Great War.” Cardenas 7 Tsar Nicholas II was a good father, and did love his homeland of Russia, but he made many irresponsible actions that ultimately led to the demise of his country and his family. He was unable to take on the responsibility of ruling a whole nation, and Leonka states this several times throughout the novel, from being too proud to have an assistant to having the Tsaritsa take over the government while he was away. His inability to notice that he needed to change with the times and “separate family matters from those of the country” both showed his lack of ability to take on the large responsibility of ruling the vast land of Russia. “Oh, such a mistake I made! Gospodi Pimilooi -the Lord have mercy- the Romanovs all died because of me.” Though it remains unrevealed at this point in the novel, somehow Leonka wasn’t able to take on the responsibility of being the courier between the Romanovs and their freedom. This was foreshadowed by Nikolai’s emphasis on the importance of the mission they were handing him, which Leonka knew, but somehow had a shortcoming. And as a result of not being able to live up to his huge responsibility, has caused decades of guilt and the death of the Romanov family. Characters Cardenas 8 Leonka, the Kitchen Boy, is the protagonist of the story and must serve as the courier to bring and send the notes needed for the Romanovs to escape the Ipatiev House.
Nikolai is the former Tsar of the Russian Empire, and the caring father of the Romanov family. Alekesandra Fyoforovna is the calm mother of the Romanov family, and is wary of anything that happens to her son. Alekesei is the lively and only Romanov son, and suffers from Hemophilia, being able to die from a bleeding episode from any minor bruise. Anastasiya is the mischievous youngest daughter of the Romanov family, who Leonka said that if any of the Romanovs were to escape, it would be her. Komendant Aydeyev is the “Bolshevik pig” ; fat, greasy, disrespectful, old man who looks over the Ipatiev house and who Nikolai
despises. Summary Leonka is an old man who has been carrying the burden of being the cause of the Romanov family's death, and is in fact the ‘Kitchen Boy’ that resided in the Ipatiev House where they were kept captive by the Bolsheviks. He now wants to tell the secrets of the Russian Revolution he experienced to his granddaughter so she can carry out the mission left in his will. His story tells the daily lives of the Romanov family in the Ipatiev household, and how he Cardenas 9 became the courier of the Romanov’s letters sent in an effort to escape from ‘The House of Special Purpose.’
In chapter one we are introduced to our narrator, Ponyboy. Ponyboy is raised by his two older brothers Darry and Soda. They’re all apart of a gang called the “greasers” which is joined by Dally, Johnny, Two-bit, and Steve. There is another group called “ socs” which stands for socials, and everyone in that group is very wealthy. One day Ponyboy got jumped by a socs group, but luckily Darry was there to help before anything too serious happened. The first element of literature is characterization. Ponyboy is a keen observer, trying to make sense of the complexities of those around him. At the beginning of the story, he stops and spends several pages giving us brief character description on Steve, Two-Bit, Dally, and Johnny. This is also known as direct characterization. He tells us that Steve is "cocky and smart" ( Hinton 9). Two-Bit can 't stop joking around and goes to school for "kicks" (Hinton 10) rather than to learn. Dallas, he says, is "tougher, colder, meaner" ( Hinton 10) than the rest of them.
In the early eighteenth-century, a letter from Peter the Great’s court was sent to Russian publishers declaring that all material must be printed with the intention to maintain “The glory of the great sovereign and his tsardom and for the general usefulness and profit of the nation” (The Cambridge History of Russia). The effects of this proclamation reverberated throughout Russia for centuries and laid the foundation on which future rulers such as Catherine the Great and later Alexander III fortified the position of the censor. The strengthening of the Russian censor, consequently, manipulated and stifled the country’s most influential wordsmiths. No Russian writer was safe from the censor, not even a master like Leo Tolstoy. Specifically,
1) Adams, Arthur E. The Russian Revolution and Bolshevik Victory: Why and How? Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1960.
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On July 16, 1918, the Russian imperial family, the Romanovs, were executed in the basement of the Ipatiev House by the Bolshevik political party. While The Kitchen Boy, by Robert Alexander, follows the point of view of the family’s young kitchen boy during this event, along with a different possible ending to history, it also follows the boy through the poor treatment of the royal family long before they were killed. During their stay in the House of Special Purpose under control of the Bolsheviks, the Romanov family endured physical, psychological, and spiritual mistreatments.
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This essay asks for the comparison of the three historical monographs, which offer different interpretations of the same or related topic. This essay will focus on writings about the Russian Revolution (1818-1919) particularly concentrating on the October Revolution in 1917 and the leadership of Vladimir Lenin during this period. The goal of this essay is to examine how three historians, from three separate schools of thought, have interpreted these events and how their particular political views, evidence and personal experiences have influenced these interpretations. This will be achieved by analysing the works of Richard Pipes; a western liberal-conservative, Dmitri Volkogonov; a soviet-revisionist and John Reed; a socialist.
Wood, A. (1986). The Russian Revolution. Seminar Studies in History. (2) Longman, p 1-98. ISBSN 0582355591, 9780582355590
̳The fall of the monarchy‘ [map] in M. Gilbert (ed.), The Routledge atlas of Russian history, 4th ed. (London, 2007), map 86.
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1-27. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Dragomirov, M.I. & Co., Ltd. "Dragomirov on Prince Andrey and the Art of War". Tolstoy: The Critical Heritage.