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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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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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
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,
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.
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.
The Art of the Chekhovian Language escapes from the personal intentions. Reality is neither embellished nor blackened, altered or "signified" through a restrictive conceptual vision.
Dostoyevsky's writing in this book is such that the characters and setting around the main subject, Raskolnikov, are used with powerful consequences. The setting is both symbolic and has a power that affects all whom reside there, most notably Raskolnikov. An effective Structure is also used to show changes to the plot's direction and Raskolnikov's character. To add to this, the author's word choice and imagery are often extremely descriptive, and enhance the impact at every stage of Raskolnikov's changing fortunes and character. All of these features aid in the portrayal of Raskolnikov's downfall and subsequent rise.
The first fourteen months of the war had been a debacle of monumental proportions for the Russians. During this time, the Germans had occupied more than a...
Racism is the first major theme in the novel because the racism is shown in the novel through how the White Southerners address the African-Americans by
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.
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...
Wood, A. (1986). The Russian Revolution. Seminar Studies in History. (2) Longman, p 1-98. ISBSN 0582355591, 9780582355590
1) Adams, Arthur E. The Russian Revolution and Bolshevik Victory: Why and How? Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1960.
It incorporates the obvious themes of alienation and racism. However, it
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.
̳The fall of the monarchy‘ [map] in M. Gilbert (ed.), The Routledge atlas of Russian history, 4th ed. (London, 2007), map 86.