A fresh new assignment for this last week in June...
Read Ch. 4: "The Advent of the Inevitable", then thoughtfully answer the following questions:
1. Describe Lara's character throughout this chapter. Does she sometimes do things that are impulsive or is she more indecisive or both? Is she a likable character? Do you think we will be able to talk about Lara as the heroine of this novel?
2. Why do Pasha and Lara decide to get married? How does this marriage go?
3. Choose either A or B:
A. There are two rather philosophical discussions in this chapter. One is on the nature of war and modern warfare. What is Yury's opinion of war? How does his being a doctor affect this opinion?
B. As I said, there are two rather philosophical discussions in this chapter. The other is about religion. What is said about religion? Using your prior knowledge (or do some quick internet research) how did the Soviets (who will become, as we know, the leaders after the Revolution) feel about religion? What did they attempt to do about religion? How does this compare with what Yury and Misha say about religion?
4. Describe the events that take place both to the main characters (Lara and Yury at this point) and nationally at the end of this chapter. How are they significant? Were they inevitable as the title suggests?
5. What did you not understand about this chapter? Is the novel becoming less confusing for you or not yet?
1. Lara seems more implusive than indecisive. I think that she is a likealbe character. I think she might be the heroine of the novel.
ReplyDelete2. They decided to get married because Lara had tried to kill a man and they decided to get married immediatly.
3.B Not much is said about religion. The soviets were the first state to eliminate religion and replace it with Atheism. The characters don't seem to be very religious.
4. Yury is knocked unconsious by an explosion and his son is born. Lara becomes a nurse and her husband is missing.
5. It is confusing about what happened to Lara's husband. The novel has become less confusing
I didn't know that the soviets eliminated religion. Nice answers :) and I don't really know what happened to Lara's husband either but I'm guessing it's bad seeing as Galiullin couldn't face telling Lara the truth.
DeletePasha is supposedly dead.
DeleteYes, one of the main tenets of Soviet communism is atheism, so once the Soviet government was in control, the Church was out.
1. Lara developed a more caring side, which is shown in this chapter by her becoming a nurse. Because of her relationship with Komarovsky, I think it will be hard for me to picture her as a heroine.
ReplyDelete2. Pasha and Lara decide to get married because Lara needed to get away from her troubling feelings and start over in her life. This relationship is made complicated by the war because it separated them.
3A. Yurii doesn't like the war. A doctor's job is to keep people alive so he probably thinks all the killing going on isn't worth it.
4. At the end of the chapter, the characters all meet in the hospital place. I think the meeting of these characters, who are probably going to be the main characters throughout the rest of the book, was inevitable because it would be really weird if the main characters in a book had nothing to do with each other.
Interesting answers...why do you find Lara's relationship with Komarovsky troubling to her heroine status?
Delete1. I find Lara to be impulsive rather than indecisive. This is shown when she marries Pasha without haste and when she decides to become a nurse to find out what happened to her husband. Lara could turn out to be a likeable character. I don't dislike her but she hasn't done anything that has made me be in awe of her which also gives my opinion on will she be the heroine of the novel........no. Well, not for now anyway, it's still early days.
ReplyDelete2. Lara decides to marry Pasha because Lara has strange feelings about the events that have occurred and she is not thinking straight. Pasha decides to marry Lara because he is in love with her (or at least he thinks he is) and is afraid he will lose her if he doesn't marry her immediately. Their marriage is complicated in that Pasha feels that they are trying to out do each other in nobility and he realises that she has control over him. He decides to fight in the war to escape from his feelings about Lara.
3A. Yuri thinks the war is terrible and feels pity for the suffering the jews have to endure during this time. From the point of view of a doctor, Yuri can see firsthand the effects of the war. The effects of violence and hatred. This furthers his disliking of the war.
4. Yuri's wife gives birth to a baby boy. Lara and pasha marry and are both offered jobs in the same town. They have a baby girl. Lara's husband joins the army and after Lara hasn't heard from him in a while, she becomes on a nurse to find out what has become of her husband. At the end of the chapter, Yuri is knocked unconscious by an explosion and meets Lara at the hospital. I feel that their meeting was inevitable because Yuri is so intrigued by Lara every time he sees her, that he was bound to actually meet her. From the first time Yuri saw Lara, I thought it was obvious that they would later be intimately linked later in the novel.
5. Yes, the novel is becoming less confusing.
Your thoughts on Yuri's opinion of war really flesh him out as a character of goodness, which was the first trait that came to mind when reading that scene - could that have been a small factor leading to him becoming a doctor, possibly? Scout, your responses are really in depth!
DeleteExcellent answers, Scout...you got it! I'm glad the novel is becoming less confusing.
DeleteI was thinking the same thing when reading your answers; do you think maybe that Pasha survived and will come back to haunt Lara?
ReplyDeleteHmmm...that would make things complicated, wouldn't it?
Delete1. Lara is both indecisive and impulsive, a combination that lessens in intensity as she matures into a family woman. Marrying Pasha was a decision she took on a whim but while she was still trying to figure out where she stood in her life. Eventually, she has other things to worry about, like the role a wife, mother and later on, a nurse. To me, she is a likable character, though she has her flaws. I like a female character who takes action but hate that she leaves behind her daughter. But because of her actions, I do think Lara will be the heroine of the novel.
ReplyDelete2. Pasha decided to marry Lara from the very beginning - he has an almost obsessive infatuation with her that has lasted since childhood. Lara didn't know what she wanted. I think she married Pasha because of the uncertainty that would persist by NOT marrying him. They both needed to make the definite decision of whether to marry soon "if they were not to go insane."
3. B: Misha has his own ideas on religion, expressing his opinion of Russia after witnessing a Jewish man being harassed by a group of Cossacks. He also criticizes Christianity for "proposing" instead of "making assertions," stating that the conversions are more important than the "loyalty to ancient principles." He believes that the Gospel is more significant as a way to transform society, opposed to stating its "facts," which are common knowledge among the people. The facts are meaningless without the actual transformation based on faith.
The Soviets tried to eliminate all religion, including Christianity, Judaism, and even Islam. They attempted to spread a policy of state atheism by heavily campaigning against worshiping, shutting down churches, and generally being intolerant towards religious followers. In comparison, though Yura had lost his faith when he lost his mother, he still continued to believe religion as meaningful and long integrated into humanity; religion has been around since the beginning of civilization. Misha, on the other hand, feels strongly for religion. He is against what the Soviets do to the faithful, stating that the Jewish people have gone through enough dishonor over the centuries they have been unable to attain a national identity.
4. Yura and Lara both get married - Yura to Tonia, with the birth of their daughter described; and Lara to Pasha, along with the family life they have with their own daughter. Shortly after Tonia gives birth, Yura is sent to work as a doctor in the front lines (where Misha joins him for a brief period of time). Pasha also joins the war because of the overwhelming dissatisfaction he has with his home life, and Lara follows in search of him as a nurse. Yura and Lara meet once more at the hospital Yura is staying at after his village is attacked.
Nationally, the country is at war with European forces. Life after the marriages begins with war, and is affected by it until the moment Yura and Lara meet; then, it continues on with a revolution within Russia that takes over the city streets. The significance of the events that take place in both Russia and the lives of the main characters is that they coincide, with the bigger affecting the smaller lives of Yura and Lara. I think the events were inevitable in both cases; for Russia, revolution was bound to happen, and already had with the worker strikes previously (but failed). For Yura and Lara, the national events were causing a chain reaction in their lives that led to them meeting each other in the hospital.
5. Thankfully, the book is less confusing now that I can get the characters' names straight. It can be a pain to have to keep up with all the variations of one character's name - and there has to be at least twenty of them throughout the entire chapter! But the more we read, the more I remember. Also, the multiple plots make more sense, especially when we see the connections between them. I only have problems when following the long monologues, but it's becoming less of a hassle.
Great answers, Maria, especially for #3...think about what kinds of effects the government basically outlawing religion in a previously religious society could have on the people. I'm glad the book is getting less confusing, I know there are a lot of characters with weird/difficult names, and lots of complicated plots interwoven, but you're doing great, and know that these are traits of 19th/20th century Russian literature in general.
Delete1. Lara seems to rely heavily on instinct. yes.
ReplyDelete2. They decided to get married because Lara had attempted to murder someone. it was an immediate marriage.
3.
B) Religion is not talked about very much. The Soviets were the first to get rid of religion and instead bring out Atheism.
4. Yuri is knocked unconsious by an explosion and his wife gives birth to his son.