How We Survived Communism And Even Laughed Essay

of cheese, ten pounds of flour, less than half a pound each of coffee and butter.” (18) Their lives had been controlled all the way down to the measurements and types of food given each month. Along with controlling food, communists also controlled beauty; in the third chapter, Drakulic discusses women’s beauty and materialistic desires during their time under communism. One poignant lines states, “Even if hungry, women still wanted to be beautiful.” (23) The Soviets had created the states fashion by a “lack of products and a lack of choice.” (26) A common theme throughout How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed is that deprivation decreases individuality: it is difficult to be unique among everyone else with such a lack of makeup or clothing