Analysis Of Nathan Rosen's The Unconscious In Vanka

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Like the bishop, to provide himself an escape from his suffering, Vanka looks to his past memories and tries to implant his present self in his past living situation. For example, he imagines what his grandfather is doing at the exact moment he is writing the letter to him: “He is probably standing at the gate by now, squinting his eyes at the bright red windows of the village church, stamping his felt boots, and bantering with the servants (Chekhov, Vanka 46). Vanka’s vivid imagination when conjuring up his past indicates how he is resisting his current situation in the hopes that he will be reunited with his grandfather and freed from his hardships. Similarly, in another flashback, Vanka recalls how the young mistress, Olga Ignatievna, “having nothing to do, taught him to read, to write, to count to a hundred, …show more content…

In his article The Unconscious in Vanka, Nathan Rosen argues that “Vanka’s trust in Olga’s love for him is misguided and...Olga’s interest in Vanka..was due to little else than boredom” (Rosen 443). This claim further highlights Vanka’s innocence as well as the contradictory nature of the situation because it calls for him to subconsciously skew the truth in order to preserve hope. Now, not only is Vanka not free from force, he is also not free from lies; the former impacts the latter because Vanka's subjection to force leads to his subjection to lies. Nevertheless, in his situation, the lies fuel his will to live. His newfound hope will inevitably be snuffed out because of the fact that he addresses his letter “to grandpa in the village” (Chekhov, Vanka 48). However, Vanka is not aware that his letter will not reach his grandfather and that he will be forced to stay in his current situation. For now, he is consoled by his false hope has minutely alleviated his

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