In 1983, being a Christian in Communist Russia was dangerous and risky. In his essay, "Men Have Forgotten God," Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn argues that this situation is the result of men forgetting God and abandoning the Biblical standards that the people of Russia used to live by. Solzhenitsyn wrote his essay in order to inform people about the persecution of Christians occurring in Russia and offer a solution to return the love of God to the people of Russia. Basing his information off of experience and knowledge, Solzhenitsyn writes an essay that is both compelling and informative to the reader.…
The book begins on a cold winter morning in a Siberian labor camp. One of the prisoners, a man named Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, starts his usually “normal” morning with a fever and some pain. Not feeling well at all, he hopes a nice guard is on duty and sleeps in a little bit. “In camp, the squad leader is everything: a good one will give you a second life; a bad one will put you in your coffin” (Alexander Tvardovsky 7). I picked this quote because the author pointed out how important it was to get a good leader. However, the odds were not in his favor, and he gets punished with three day in a solitary confinement cell. Shukhov does not take his punishment seriously when he realized that all he had to do was clean. After finishing his work and…
Two separate arguments take place: the old vs the present, and then the present vs the new. The old is denounced with statements such as “those times have passed” (Tolstoy & Katz 137) and “What barbarous views of women and marriage!” (Tolstoy & Katz 139). Then Pozdnyshev jumps into the aftermath of this first argument and shakes them all up with his statement about how love is always temporary: “this preference for one [person] may last for years…more often for months, or perhaps for weeks, days, or hours” (Tolstoy & Katz 140). Pozdnyshev is portrayed as winning this argument, as he is given the last…
An analysis of Robert Schwartz “Autonomy, Futility, and the Limits of Medicine” reveals that physicians are not required to give patients treatment that has been proven to be effective, and they are not morally obligated to provide treatment that is not in-line with practice of medicine. Schwartz explains although our autonomy is respected, there are limitations on our request.…
Emerald Heart tells us the story and tragedies of ambition and grees surrounding Cesar Augusto Salvatierra and His family. Cesar Augusto, owner of the Salvatierra consortium, has been accumulating power, fortune, and failed marriages over the years. Even though, His biggest regret is to have lost Marina Lozano, his only true love when she discovered she was pregnant of their child.…
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel, Crime and Punishment, riddles its characters with physical, sexual, and psychological violence. Thomas C. Foster asserts in the chapter “More than it’s Going to Hurt You: Concerning Violence” of How to Read Literature like a Professor that no violence exists for its own sake; Rather, violence is useful in contributing to the novel’s overall message. Crime and Punishment is powerful demonstrating the control of conscience, guilt and otherwise, over the life of man. Quite typically violence erupts due to a sick combination of id and ego. The relationship between Semyon Zaharovitch Marmeladov, a town drunk of St. Petersburg, and his children and spouse, Katerina Ivanovna, is built upon a myriad of violence catalyzed by guilt. This relationship is the quintessence of lives tyrannized by guilt resulting in a vicious circle of ferocity.…
His family beings to make the trip back to Moscow, begging for money along the way. Peasants' view of the peasantry is depiction of hate, anger, and spitefulness. In no way would the savages represented in the novel be seen as the key to Russian…
Frida Kahlo was a Mexican surrealist artist born on July 6th 1907, in Coyoacán, Mexico. Kahlo is best known for her self-portraits that were usually created with the purpose of depicting her physical and mental struggles. Kahlo is also known as one of the first feminist icons. Her unconventional characteristic and behaviour, that would have been seen as rebellious in the early 1900’s, inspired countless other female artists and influenced feminist movements around the world.…
Lina also uses her passion for art to remain connected to the outside world by putting her drawings in a wooden box and burying it for someone on the outside to discover. It is the discovery of this box that leads to this novel being written and the memories of those who survived Stalin’s cleansing of the Baltic region. Lina’s family made the right decision by refusing to “confess” to counterrevolutionary activities. There was no promise of freedom even if they did sign. However, those who did sign did not get moved. Lina’s family also made the right decision because they did not want to agree to the conditions of the contract. They were not criminals and if they signed the paperwork they were agreeing to be just that. Mother refused to sign as a show of dignity and pride. These attributes are nonmaterial things that the guards could not take away from Lina’s mother. This story is about compassion, determination, love, hope, and miracles. I chose compassion because of the shocking ending in which the guard is the one that really helps the prisoners to survive. Even in the face of total hopelessness, there are people who still have a sense of compassion. I chose determination because that is what the family displayed in surviving their…
The sun and the moon has long been seen as a dichotomy through many cultures and many people’s eyes. Day and night, hot and cold, the list can continue with different interpretations between individuals. But, in a Gulag labour camp where “a convict’s thoughts are no freer than he is” (40) – a man whose mind is only subjected to the unjust oppression by the Soviet Government – his ideas of what the sun and the moon can mean is significantly repressed to misfortunes that is perpetuated by the camp. In Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s novel, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, the sun and the moon are symbols of three ideas that were derived from the Ivan Denisovich’s experience in the Gulag camp: incarceration and liberty . Although the sun is…
In a piece written by Igor Stravinsky, a renowned composer, he comments on the fraud of orchestral conductors. This “conductor fraud” is juxtaposed to that of political treachery. By intertwining music and politics, Stravinsky asserts negatively charged words and sarcasm to refute his disapproval for both. These feelings are also manifest in his use of comparisons towards the facade of these conductors.…
Semyonova’s bleak account of Russian peasantry stands in stark contrast to the romanticized view so common among upper-class Russians. Peasant villages were places of brutal violence, death, sickness, and hard labor. Yet this is the view we need to see and understand. At the time Semyonova performed her research, Russia was barely twenty years away from the most significant period of change in its history – and a revolution that would change the world. By virtue of their numbers, the peasants (and those who claimed to speak for them) would come to play a major role in the decades of turmoil…
Cited: Fruchtman, Jack, Jr. “A Voice from Russia’s Past,” . Solzhenitsyn at Harvard : The Addresses, Twelve Early Responses, and Six Later Reflections .Ed. Ronald Berman. Ethics and Public Policy Center, 1980. 43-48. PDF…
The last paragraph on pg.477 in Solzhenitsyn’s The Evolution of Our Character it has a very deep focus with betrayal and lying. “An overpowering plume of betrayal. It was unavoidable. If you wanted to survive, lie. Lie and Pretend.” That is a quote I will be focusing and elaborating in the essay as well as tying that quote down from the reading of Our Muzzled Freedom from The Gulag Archipelago. During the ruling period of the Bolsheviks, which were, led by Stalin there was a lot to fear in the government. Reasons for people to fear, lie and to betray others as well. In a way, the Bolsheviks made betrayal and the lie into forms of existence within their government.…
Wolfgang Keller was a hands on manager who making all of the decisions necessary to turn them around as quickly as possible. He turned a failing food products manufacturer into a profitable company and saved another subsidy of the company within two years. In less than three years Keller changed the marketing strategy, restructured the sales force and these bring Keller a high reputation as a successful hands on manager. Also, Keller has tremendous capacity and enthusiasm for work and he always try to make sure that Konigsbrau comes out the top because he love and enjoyed his job. Keller was a man of strong action; he convinced the new commercial strategy required a closer, hands-on management style. That is why I believe Keller is an effective leader.…