Once transformed from dog to man, the reader witnesses the dog who has appreciated the doctor’s hospitality and prestige in the beginning for taking him in, giving him a new collar which makes him feel important rather than just another stray dog on the street, to the new soviet man when he is transformed. Soon all the respect he had for Preobrazhensky and his way of life disappeared, instead the new proletarian way of thinking and acting takes over Sharikov. He mocks the doctor openly with table manners and saying “Everythings here’s like on parade, the napkin here the tie there, and ‘excuse me’ … you torment yourselves as though you were still under the tsar” (49). Sharikov drinks, smokes and gropes at women, and still is accepted by the …show more content…
In the story Heart of a Dog, the reader can tell that the Preobrazhensky dislikes the new revolutionary life and way of thinking, how he misses how it once was. He remarks how people have just become thieves in his society now, referencing galoshes disappearing from his hall ever since the revolution started. But before then it was no problem. The pre-revoultionary society had tittles and prestige that people had worked for, Preobrazhensky is an educated individual with advanced studies which puts him above most of the population which had come to power. In this new society, everyone is equal, the doctor and the person who has the task of cleaning up the stray city cats. While before the revolution, they would have been on two different levels of prestige based on occupation and …show more content…
In Evgeny Zamyatin’s We, the reader witnesses a transformation in D-503. The transformation turns D-503 from a logical and obedient servant to the One state, to a chaotic minded rebel working against it and for MEPHI toward the end. As chief architect of the Integral, D-503 documents his life in the One State through journal entries and makes it clear early how his life is broken down into a table of hours, where he is given free time to spend with his two sexual partners O-90 and I-330. He has two partners as a way for the One State to limit feelings of love and emotion towards each other, but I-330 is different and is able to plant a seed in D-503’s mind, a seed of chaos. D-503 goes from being a well ordered individual to being a chaotic part of the revolution almost immediately after having the first encounter with I-330. I-330 who represents chaos to order in the novel, smokes, drinks, and even dresses differently, D-503 threatens to report her, but he doesn’t and it becomes clear to the reader that I-330 has gotten to him and that he may be falling for her. I-330 opened D-503’s mind, exposing him to life beyond the green wall, the idea that revolution will never stop, that the One State will be defeated. Soon D-503 begins to accept this and starts to turn in the direction of the rebellion against the One State after seeing how oppressing it is, and what life could be. But in the end the One State reigns supreme, killing his “love” I-330 and brainwashing him back to
D-503’s discovery of Mephi leads him to doubt his conformity to State power. His uncertainty is apparent when he questions: “maybe I’m a microbe… pretending like me to be phagocytes”. Since microbes are organisms that cause disease, the comparison of the rebels to microbes suggests that D-503 views his irrationality as an illness and threat. Through Tthe metaphor indicates, the repression of Numbers is indicated, since OneState attempts to contain them with through the force of the metaphorical ‘phagocytes’, who kill the disease: the rebellion, forcing them to comply to OneStates. Hence, Zamyatin criticises the State’s repression of individuality by alluding to the totalitarian control of the Russian government in the 20th Century. Moreover, juxtaposing the two contrasting microorganism’s highlights that whilst D-503 believes he is breaking State law, the rebels think oppositely. Consequently, they reverse the roles of microbes and phagocytes: depicting ‘disease’ as those that follow the authoritarian rule of the Benefactor, hence defying governmental control for rebellion. Therefore, D-503’s similarity to the rebels allows himself to doubt his conformity to the
As the story unfolds, Dostoevsky introduces the reader to Raskolnikov, a troubled young man who is extremely isolated from those who surround him. He lives in a small, dingy, dusty, and dirty room in a small unattractive house. He lives in an abstract world neglecting the real. He is quite separate from all the people with whom he has contact. In the opening chapter, Raskolnikov is said to be, "so completely absorbed in himself, and isolated from his fellows that he dreaded meeting, not only his landlady, but any one at all" (1). People come physically close to him, but everyone is forced to remain distant mentally. He walks through the crowded, noisy, dirty streets of St. Petersburg physically but somehow he never does so mentally, moving through the streets like a zombie, not a man. He is not aware of his location and often jostles bewildered pedestrians. Therefore, at the outset of the novel Dostoevsky illustrates the apparent schism between the mind and body of Raskolnikov.
Zamyatin's We is a story set far into the future. There is only one country, OneState, and the government controls everything. The story is actually a diary written by the main character, D-503, that is to be sent aboard a space shuttle to other planets in order to describe the greatness of OneState. The diary details the changes that take place in D-503's life and way of thinking. A woman who was known as I-330 brought about these changes. This anarchistic woman corrupts D-503, throughout the story and steals him away from the woman who loves him, O-90. These two women, and especially I-330, have major roles in the story that documents D-503's gaining of a soul.
In Jeannette Walls’ novel Half Broke Horses, the main character Lily Casey Smith faces many moral convictions throughout the story; from traveling all on her own at a young age while encountering all the obstacles she did, as well as making her trek to a new location. She never backed down and molded to what people wanted her to. Lily Casey was a dedicated woman and was going to do what she thought was right no matter what the consequences were. Lily made it very clear when she believed what she was doing was for the best, “You deputies may think you run Yavapai Country, but I run my classroom, and I’ll discipline wayward kids as I see fit . Got it?” ( Wall 180). This is a perfect example of Lily 's strength, she stood up to people because
The protagonist D-503 is a loyal member of the one state. He lives his day as the lead engineer of the integral. He hopes that the benefactor will one day be able to control every minute of everyone’s lives. Zamyatin creates D-503 to be see beauty and understanding in the non-freedom society “Why is this dance beautiful? The answer: because it is non-free movement, because the whole profound point of this dance lies precisely in its absolute, aesthetic subordination, its perfect non-freedom” (Zamyatin 1921, p6) Zamyatin pairs up the words with positive connotations with words with a negative impact on a society, D-503 has a limited understanding of what living is like if you are uncontrolled of your own thoughts and emotions “from the earliest of times, is inherently characteristic of humankind, and we, in our very contemporary life, are simply more conscious …” (Zamyatin 1921, p6).
In the story, The Lady with the Dog, Chekhov uses the characters to demonstrate how humans deal with the emotional complexities of love, dissatisfaction, and freedom. To demonstrate the complexities of emotions, the author uses the complicated affair of Dmitri Gurov and Anna Sergeyevna. In The Lady with the Dog the emotional complexities of the characters prove that emotions can be painful and difficult like a battle.
Dostoevsky’s St. Petersburg is a large, uncaring city which fosters a western style of individualism. As Peter Lowe notes, “The city is crowded, but there is no communality in its crowds, no sense of being part of some greater ‘whole.’” Mrs. Raskolnikov initially notices a change in her son marked by his current state of desperate depression, but she fails to realize the full extent of these changes, even after he is convicted for the murder. The conditions and influences are also noticed by Raskolnikov’s mother who comments on the heat and the enclosed environment which is present throughout the city. When visiting Raskolnikov, she exclaims "I'm sure...
Have you ever wondered how social conformity can affect someone’s life? Social conformity is an influence in which somebody will change their beliefs or lifestyle to fit in with a certain group. In The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Ivan lived a life which conformed to the social norms instead of living a life in which he enjoyed. Ivan who is the main character in the novella becomes very sick and soon realizes that his whole life has been miserable because of social conformity. In this essay I will be discussing three times where Ivan puts himself into unhealthy situations, because of social conformity.
The story Heart of a Dog brings us to the flat of an outstanding surgeon of 20s, Philip Philipovich Preobrashenzky, who makes money by rejuvenation operations. One day he decides to experiment with his work on restoring youth by injecting hypophysis of a dead man into the brain of the stray dog Sharik. However, everything goes completely wrong when Sharik starts to turn into human. Unexpected transformation leads to an arrogant and ungrateful person Poligraf Poligrafovich Sharikov. He is rude with people, drinks a lot, harasses women, and with all that is firmly convinced in his rightness. Sharikov gets acquainted with the prolet...
Though the similarities and differences of characterization in Chekhov and Oates’s different versions of “The Lady with the Pet Dog” are evident, the purpose only becomes clear for the reader when the two versions are read and compared. The stories have different settings, but the characters in the story remain the same. There is Anna, Dmitry, and their families. Although their families are mentioned, each member remains without any description and therefore they begin to seem almost unimportant.
One of the most profound and obvious changes in Raskolnikov’s character can be seen in the newfound appreciation for other people and human relationships he discovers at the end of the novel. When the reader is first introduced to Raskolnikov, Dostoevsky quickly makes it apparent that he has little to no regard for others, writing on the very first page that Raskolnikov was “so completely absorbed in himself, and isolated from his fellows that he dreaded meeting, not only his landlady, but anyone at all” (1). Indeed, in Raskolnikov’s mind, “to be forced to listen to [the landlady’s] trivial, irrelevant gossip […] and to rack his brains for excuses, to prevaricate, to lie” is the most loathsome thing imaginable (1). His disdain toward other people is so great that the mere thought of interacting with anyone for any length of time repulses him. On some occasions...
This man is the absolute opposite of everything society holds to be acceptable. Here is a man, with intelligent insight, lucid perception, who is self-admitted to being sick, depraved, and hateful. A man who at every turn is determined to thwart every chance fate offers him to be happy and content. A man who actively seeks to punish and humiliate himself. Dostoyevsky is showing the reader that man is not governed by values which society holds to be all important.
Raskolnikov first meets Marmeladov at a dirty tavern. His clothes are ragged and soiled and he has a "yellow, even greenish face, swollen with constant drinking" (12). Despite this crumpled appearance, Marmeladov's "eyes seemed even to be lit with rapture" (12). The proprietor and patrons of the bar view Marmeladov as a "funnyman" (14) and an object of ridicule as he gets more inebriated, yet Raskolnikov is drawn to him even though the downtrodden Raskolnikov has, for weeks, fled all company.
Akaky Akakievich is a low class man and he works hard for his money, yet his materialistic co-workers torment him because of his shabby, worn-out overcoat. Consequently he goes out and purchases a new overcoat. Quickly people begin to respect him more as he wears the new coat, and it creates for him a new identity. Akaky no longer is the blunt of office jokes, for he is now dressed more fashionably in the eyes of his colleagues. As Akaky walks down the street, he begins to see things in a new light. From the women that pass him by, to what he sees inside the store windows. Things seem to have a new meaning in his world, all because of his new overcoat. Akaky cares so much about his coat because it cost him quite a lot of money, but more importantly it made him feel more confident, more accepted by those around him. The overcoat was friend to him because it was there for him. It gave him a sense of security and it protected him in the frigid Petersburg climate.
Firs Nikolayevitch is Madame Ranevsky’s servant who is eighty-seven years old. He might be a little bit senile but he is still the only link to the estate’s happier past. Firs is always commenting on how life on the estate used to be much more pleasant. He explains how his master once went to Paris on a “post-chaise,” which is a horse, instead of traveling on a train as they do presently. He also talks about how life was before the serfs were freed and even though he was born a slave on Madame Ranevsky’s property and was freed, he stayed on the estate because he had no where else to go like many others. They had been given the freedom but they lacked the tools to be successful on their own. Firs questions the effectiveness of the Liberation: “And when the Liberation came I was already chief valet. But I wouldn’t have any Liberation then; I stayed with the master. I remember how happy everyone else was, but why they were happy they didn’t know themselves.” He is living proof of this because society has changed and he is still locked in the past. Lopakhin, who comes from a background similar to Firs, has been able to adapt to the modern society and become a success. Firs represents the old classic system and the times that have past.