Yo yo yo. What is up?
Comin' at ya is Chapter Three: "The Sventitskys' Christmas Party" (which is pages 62-90 in my copy of Doctor Zhivago). Read this section, then come back here and answer the following questions as a comment to this post:
1. Briefly compare & contrast Lara and Yura. Think about their dispositions, backgrounds, motivations, etc. It becomes pretty clear the two of them will be intimately linked throughout the story; what do you make of this/them? What kind of people are they?
2. What about all this talk of marriage? Why do people get married in early 20th century Russia? Who is getting married or talking about getting married in this chapter, and why?
3. What is the significance of Anna Ivanova's illness & death? And what of Yura's response--first, his comforting words when she is at death's door, and second, how he responds when she has actually died?
4. What the heck is Lara's problem? Jeeze. (Oh. Right. It's all the stupid MEN in her life. THAT'S her problem.) Who does Lara love? Anyone? Who does Lara hate? Who does Lara shoot? Why?
5. What didn't you understand in this part? Or, maybe the better question is, what DID you understand?
(Don't forget to check back and respond to what other people have said!)
1) Yura is more calm than Lara is. Lara is also much more controlled by her emotions than Yura is. This is due to Yura being SCIENTIFIC and he understands most of the world through that medium. I feel like this will be one of those 'opposites attract' things where they'll be drawn to one another due to their differences.
ReplyDelete2)People get married using arranged marriages in early 20th century Russia. The ones talking of getting married are Yura and Tonya because of Annas' wishes.
3)The significance is that she brings Tonya and Yura together, first by betrothing them then by having them grieve together. Yura tries to comfort her because she asks him to, and he gives a lecture of the disintegration and resurrection of the body saying that all that ever remains in the consciousness. Then says she won't die in the internal sense because she'll always be with someone in memory. When she dies he's reminded of his mother and how she died, and is reminded of the blizzard when he was kid.
4)In a way I think Lara loves creepy man. But at the same time she hates him. Lara tries to shoot him but misses and shoots Koka's father.
5) I don't understand what Yura means when he's trying to comfort Anna. It seems like he just went off on a tangent.
He didn't go off on a tangent. Every word of his has meaning of the highest degree. Reading it again would help to understand the message he was trying to get across.
Delete1. Lara seems to be more stressed and emotional than Yura.
ReplyDelete2. Marriages were arranged such as when Anna arranged Tonya and Yura's marriage.
3. The significance is that it reminds Yura of his mothers death. When Anna actually dies it helps him deal with his mothers death.
4. She plans on shooting Komarovsky who she hates. She ends up shooting Kornakov by mistake.
5. I don't understand how Yura feels about Anna's death.
1. Yura is impressionable, more scientific than Lara, and wants to something socially useful in his life. He tries to see a second meaning in things like the candle in the window. Lara has a lot of things on her mind like Kologrivov and money. She is more violent than Yura (as seen at the end of the chapter) and she is more social than Yura. I think them being together isn’t a good idea.
ReplyDelete2. People got married in 20th century Russia for the money. Yura and Tonia probably started thinking about marriage because of Anna Ivanova’s last words to them. Second, Lara and Pasha. Pasha has always wanted to marry Lara and now, Lara thinks that marrying Pasha would help her to get out of her bad situations.
3. Anna Ivanova’s illness and death were significant in that it “engaged” Yura and Tonia. The words he said to her when she was still alive gave the reader an idea of Yura’s religious view and it also gave Academic Decathlon participants a good example of an impromptu speech. After she dies, Yura starts to think about the death of his mother. The atmosphere at this point becomes the same as at the beginning of the book.
4. Lara’s problem is that….well, ONE of her problems is that she didn‘t feel welcome in the house she was living because Lipa was grown up so she felt like a burden, to herself and others. She doesn’t really love anyone, but she pretends to love Pasha so he‘ll marry her. She hates Kologrivov…a lot. She accidentally pumps Boria Kornakov full of iron. She was aiming at Kologrivov, but missed.
5. One thing that I caught while reading was that the candle Yura saw while riding through the snow was probably the candle Lara lit when she was talking to Pasha.
You've got some really great answers. I never noticed that bit with the candle but that makes sense. Nice job :)
DeleteHaha, "accidentally pumps Boria Kornakov full of iron." Nice visual there! Though I have to disagree, I don't think she was aiming at Kologrivov, because he wasn't mentioned being in the room when she shot the gun; are you talking about Komarovsky instead?
DeleteBut I do agree with Scout that the connection with the candle makes sense. I can't believe I didn't catch that the first time - great job!
1. Yura and Lara share a lot of similarities within their backgrounds. They have both experienced a lot of trauma with their families. Yura's mother died when he was ten and he grew up without a father who later committed suicide. Lara's father died when she was sixteen and she had to deal with her depressed mother who tried to commit suicide. They also both have motivation to preform well at school but for different reasons. I think that Lara is more reckless than Yura in that she tries to kill Komarovsky without thinking about what the consequences will be whereas Yura likes to think about his words and actions. I also sense that they will be intimately linked later on in the story.
ReplyDelete2. Many people got married in early 20th century Russia because of their morals. It wasn't like today were a lot of people start a family and then get married. I know that many people in Russia during early 20th century (before the bolshevik revolution) were Russian Orthodox or catholic and it would be in their religious beliefs to marry and start a family. Another reason may be that women from quite working class backgrounds would be encouraged to marry for money.
Yura and Tonya are thinking of marriage because of Anna's wishes for them to do so and Lara wants to marry Pasha.
3. The significance of Anna's illness/death is that she pushes Tonya and Yura together. She makes them see each other in a way they hadn't before. Yura comforts Anna because she is afraid of dying, sad by the thought that her whole life, everything she has ever thought, said and done will be gone just like that. Yura says "You have been in others and you will remain in others". She will still live in the memories of others. Yura's memories of his feelings when his mother died are triggered when he learns of Anna's death. He watched Tonya grieve her mother and remembers how he "wept inconsolably".
4. Sometimes I think that Lara actually loves Pasha but I'm not sure if she is in love with how he feels about her (if that makes any sense) or if she is not actually in love with him but is happy that she has control over his decisions. Lara hates Komarovsky. When she goes to the party to talk to him, she sees him give a girl a look just like he did to her. This increases her hatred for him and results in her attempting to shoot him. However, she misses and shoots Kornakov.
5. I also had trouble understanding parts of Yura's lecture to Anna.
1. Aside from the obvious difference in gender, Yura and Lara were raised in different settings and backgrounds. Yura spent more time with a class of people higher up than those Lara was acquainted with. The revolutions occurring in Russia also had an impact on both of them, but was more prevalent in Lara's life due to the fact that her mother owned a factory near the railways. Lara's more emotional and confused about life than Yura, and acts on her feelings (ex: goes after Komarovsky with a gun), while Yura has more self-control. He's forced to become more independent at a younger age with the loss of his mother. However, despite these differences, they are both hardworking and put a genuine effort in pursuing an education (at least in the beginning). They're both not very faith-driven, though resort to religion when trying to find meaning in their lives.
ReplyDelete2. I think people married during this time out of emotion, though possible economic/social benefits could have played a hand in interests. For Lara, she plans on marrying Pasha for stability while Pasha wants to marry her because he loves her sincerely. Anna Ivanovna speaks out her own desire for Tonia and Yura to marry, which I think she voiced because she was at her deathbed and had suspicions that she didn't have many days left to enjoy the two of them.
3. Anna Ivanovna's illness helps Yura establish his belief in death which, in a way, helps him also come to terms with the universe and its arbitrary nature. Anna's death reminds Yura of his mother's death, but affects him differently; he had lost his mother at a young and vulnerable age, and he doesn't feel the same weakness when Anna dies.
4. Lara is trapped in some crazy identity crisis. She doesn't really love anyone; she talks about marriage with Pasha, but I think it's because she needs someone in her life. She hates herself, her brother Rodia for the debt he caused, and possibly Komarovsky for their past affair. She did bring a gun with her, just in case she needed to use it against Komarovsky; she shoots at him after seeing him flirt with another girl, but ends up hitting Kornakov.
5. Was Lara aiming at Komarovsky or Kornakov? She says Kornakov's name after realizing who he is, but originally came for Komarovsky with a gun she intended to use if necessary. Maybe it was Kornakov she was aiming at all along, despite Komarovsky's conviction that it was him?
I like what you put for the 3rd question.
ReplyDelete1. Lara seems to have a lot more anxiety and emotional problems than Yura, who sems to be more stress free and such
ReplyDelete2. Marriages were arranged back then, usually dependent on status and money.
3. It reminds Yura of his mothers death, and when Anna dies it helps him move on from his mother's death.
4. She plans on shooting Komarovsky, but she accidently shoots Kornakov by mistake.
5. I didn't understand it when Yura lectured Anna.