At the beginning, the game was played with peach baskets or 18 inch square boxes hanging on the balconies of the running tracks of most indoor facilities. During that time the height of the basket was set at 10 feet, which still is today. Apparently, the game has slowed down by the peach baskets and boxes since the ball had to be taken out from them after every goal, either by someone on the running track or by ladder. Heavy woven wire rims replaced the peach baskets first in 1892. Then, after a year, in 1893 cast iron rims were used.
She reformed Russia culturally through her Enlightenment ideals as well as physically through the building of infrastructure. She built hospitals, schools, a museum, and a library. Along with rebuilding the infrastructure, she rebuilt the Russian navy to a level so good that she defeated the Ottomans with it. Her Enlightenment ideals reformed Russia through the laws that she created, two of which were: no torture and the need for education. Her awareness of diseases and the need for healthcare helped her when she faced two epidemics during her rule.
During his reign, he established churches and universities and enforced compulsory education so that his people could be educated and help in the development of Russia. One of the major changes in Russian culture was the shaving of the beards. He wanted to import western manners, dress and style into Russian society. Therefore, when he returned from the west, he demanded that beards be cut and foreign dress be worn.
In the Notes from the Underground several themes are shown about the human psyche. Human suffering, destruction and the fear of accomplishing something are just to name a few. What made this work so great was that these particular themes were seen and made sense with what the fellow was going through. Of course, the Underground Man was evidently mentally ill, but he was a well read man and made a few good points throughout his notes. Whenever he says that people like “suffering”, he means that when we see anything or anyone in pain, we become compassionate; therefore we love to suffer because we want to be compassionate.
The nature of Russian society is characterized by a sense of idealism. Russia’s beliefs of the potential for an ideal future have been pervasive throughout history. In 1920, Yevgeny Zamyatin wrote the short story “The Cave” during the midst of the Russian Civil War, a time when nationalism was at an all time low and people were hoping for a brighter future. In contrast to the goals that sparked the revolution, Zamyatin argues that the Russian Civil War will result in a primitive and decimated society that is ultimately worse off than the society that existed prior to the rebellion.
Personal Reactions: I liked how Lev’s character was developed throughout the story. Lev’s main focus in the beginning of the book is to escape from his “kidnappers” and be tithed like his parents wanted, but he is so focused on obeying his parents that he doesn’t notice the people who he thinks kidnapped him are trying to save him from being unwound. As the story progresses it’s obvious Lev no longer feels the same way, this is shown on page 226 when Shusterman states, “Once he landed in the safe-house network, he quickly made it known that he was not a guy to be trifled with. He didn’t tell them he was a tithe.
Underground Men’s Eloquence and Ellipses The stream-of-consciousness modernist novel is incomplete without ellipses. In Dostoevsky’s Notes from the Underground, they are a marker of the nameless protagonist’s immense interiority; yet in Wright’s rewriting of the novel, they are a sign of the protagonist’s failure to communicate with those aboveground. From this distinction, Wright diverges from existentialism to a discourse on the condition of the marginalised.
Violence is never the answer, unless it is in literature. The work of Crime and Punishment is one of the greatest examples of how violence moves along the storyline. The scenes of violence in Crime and Punishment contribute to the work because it drives the characters insane, impacts the lives of the characters, and finally it was used as a way for our main character to prove himself as an above-average person. The act of murdering the pawnbroker and her sister caused Raskolnikov’s to spiral into insanity. Soon after the crimes were committed Raskolnikov found it difficult to stay conscious because he experienced multiple fainting spells.
Liza, for example, treasures the qualities of romantic love while the Underground Man is incapable of love. The Underground Man’s consistent theme of contradiction is exemplified throughout the story where he experiences a multitude of emotions ranging from narcissistic and egocentric to embarrassment and humiliation. Although the Underground Man envisions himself challenging those who have wronged him, he does not have the “moral courage” to stand up for himself. By remaining in the underground, the Underground Man is able to escape from reality where is able to manufacture his own world. An argument can be made that Dostoevsky used the personal aspects of the Underground Man to show the pattern of similarities between him and contemporary society.
“ I stood before her, crushed, humiliated, abominably ashamed” (Dostoevsky 773).Now to many readers these just seem like petty things and virtually ridiculous to even get upset about. However through the eyes of the Underground man, its logical. Its real and he has a legitimate reason to be upset. The realism in this piece is often found in the reactions of the Underground man in response to the actions of society and vice versa. To both parties they feel as though it is logical for them to feel the way that they do, which is in essence at the heart of realism.
There Is More Than One Type of Hero In “Notes from the Underground”, a fiction book by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the Underground Man is not like the traditional main character in most other fiction books. Often books have a tragic hero where he or she either saves the days or unfortunately is killed. But that is not the case for this book, the main character shows characteristics that do not fit along the lines of a tragic hero at all. This paper argues that the Underground Man is most definitely not the tragic hero, but instead an anti-hero.
In particular, the Underground Man experienced a traumatic incident where he was lifted from his shoulders and removed from the path of an officer (Dostoevsky 49). As a result of this incident, it created a profound feeling that he is meaningless to society. This act was not only humiliating but also stripped the Underground Man from his masculinity. “I could even have forgiven a beating, but I simply could not forgive his moving me and in the end just not noticing me” (Dostoevsky 49). His masculinity grants him a personal sense of power, but that had been taken from him.
Raskolnikov confronts reality and can never again legitimize his activities in light of political perspectives. The writer of Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky composed this book uncovering some of his own perspectives on legislative issues and consolidating them all through the story. Like Raskolnikov, Dostoyevsky was captured by the administration and punished for his offense. He was rebuffed for his radical communist positions, just to later reject these thoughts. Through the story, the creator fuses a solid message of exactly how intense the legislature is and the solid impact of governmental issues.
Saint Petersburg, the setting of Crime and Punishment, plays a major role in the formation in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s acclaimed novel. Dostoyevsky’s novels focus on the theme of man as a subject of his environment. Dostoyevsky paints 1860s St. Petersburg as an overcrowded, filthy, and chaotic city. It is because of Saint Petersburg that Raskolnikov is able to foster in his immoral thoughts and satisfy his evil inclinations. It is only when Raskolnikov is removed from the disorderly city and taken to the remoteness of Siberia that he can once again be at peace.
Moving on to the idea of nationalism, Ernest Gellner (1997) understood nationalism as a product of industrial society. He defines nationalism as “primarily a political principle, which holds that the political and national unit should be congruent” (Guibernau and Rex 1997: 52). Nationalism, Gellner says is either a product of feeling of anger when the principle discussed above is not fulfilled or a product of feeling of satisfaction aroused by its fulfilment. Therefore, “nationalism is a theory of political legitimacy” (Guibernau and Rex 1997: 52). Gellner justifies the repercussions of the idea of “nationalism is a theory of political legitimacy” by discussing how the political effectiveness of national sentiment impairs the sensibility of the nationalists to realise the wrong committed by the nation.
