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The Bronze Horseman Analysis

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The concept of freedom constantly rings throughout the texts of Alexander Pushkin’s The Bronze Horseman and Nikolai Gogol’s The Overcoat. These stories are both key elements of Russian literature and Russian history. During 19th century Russia, there was a prominent distinction that many peasants and people of lower class didn’t have the rights that the bourgeoisie potentially possessed. There are also freedoms that do reign on the main characters of these pieces as they go along in their respective plots. Points of freedom resonate with the protagonists as well as a dissolution of freedom that is constantly referenced throughout the stories, respectively. Both of these pieces contain moments of limited and exuberated freedoms that are portrayed …show more content…

Petersburg, a prosperous Russian port that was established by Peter the Great following the conclusion of the Great Northern War, where Russia obtained land from the falling Swedish Empire. This area was an opportunity for the Russians, as Peter saw a great city located on the Baltic Sea, with access available to the Atlantic Ocean and the rest of Europe. There was now a freedom to expand the empire and the power that Russia could and would soon possess. This piece of historical significance is referenced in introduction of The Bronze Horseman. Peter the Great is standing at the edge of the River Neva. The city was now free and able to reside on its own, with the people who inhibit the city given St. Petersburg different characteristics of a typical Russian city. Evgenii is the main character of this story who is witnessing the river become very vibrant and becoming rougher through the storm. “The river is tossing and turning like a sick man in his troubled bed” (2. 5-6). A sick man lying in his bed doesn’t have a lot of freedom by his side, just like the main character was about to experience. This storm will soon set a precept of the way the story goes and the violent nature that is occurring. Evgenii was in love with a women and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He thought

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This conversation is a great example of how freedom is one of the themes in the

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He had an army of over 100,000 men. So Peter went to war with the Ottoman Empire wanting access to the Baltic Sea and warm-water ports. He won, so he named St. Petersburg Russia’s new capital, which is right next to the water. This allowed Russia to strengthen their navy, which is exactly what happened. Lastly, Peter the Great expanded Russia’s borders by gaining control of the warm-water ports, Poland, parts of Austria, and Manchuria all with treaties or war.

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In analysis of Vera Figner’s Memoirs of a Revolutionist, Figner expressed a few political goals that led her to assume violence as the only answer to the economic, political, and social injustices forced upon the peasants, by the government authority and Russian traditions. All of Figner’s energy was spent in effort to achieve these goals at any cost. These goals were to use influential propaganda, to educate the peasants1, and to kill the Tsar. All of which, were used to motivate a peasant uprising, to remove2 the suppressive Tsarist regime and to give birth to democratically3 free institutions4. To justify her violent means, she used her personal belief that there were no other peaceful ways, that they had not tried, to provide liberty and justice for the peasants.5

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Their military was lacking as well. To fix this Peter the Great moved Russia’s capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg. This decision was made because of the water access that St.Petersburg has. Peter built up a Navy for Russia along St.Petersburg’s coast. According to Document 3, Peter also improved Russia’s ground military to protect trade routes.

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It was one of his main goals, as well as the most important, wanted to have a strong army to be able to win battles and defend Russia. Peter the Great always knew he would have to fight many wars and win warm water ports, but even though the leader's greatest goal was to have a strong and successful army, Peter knew that his army was not trained or equipped to fight in battles. The war began in 1700 and continued into 1709 and Russia gained land around the Baltic Sea and eventually acquired warm water ports. Peter made a splash during his 43-year reign in Russia. Peter died in 1725 at the age of 52, which is quite young but still accomplished more than any Russian ruler before him.

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Having a warm water port year round had a huge impact on Russia’s import and export rate. This provided the country with many new trading opportunities. Peter after a long time did manage to strengthen the country’s army. By doing so he was able to conquer many areas like territory along the Baltic Sea. Towards the beginning of Peter's rule in 1695 the country’s army included around 30,000 men, by 1675 the Russian army had 300,000 strong army men.

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Throughout the novels Indian Horse written by Richard Wagamese and Merchant of Venice written by Shakespeare, being regarded as the enemy of society, having a fear for the events that will come and the quest for an individual or power to gain power and control are apparent and occurring themes that affect characters differently. In both novels individuals are considered to be an enemy of society based on discrimination rather than being an actual threat to society. “When your innocence is stripped from you, when your people are denigrated, when the family you came from is denounced and your tribal ways and rituals are pronounced backward, primitive, savage, you come to see yourself as less than human. That is hell on earth, that sense of unworthiness.

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It is quite evident that tyrannical governments often deprive its citizens of their inviolable rights as humans. While some struggle to grasp the gravity of this suppression, Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies provides a way of better comprehending the corruption behind the denial of these entitlements such as freedom of expression, liberty, and no discrimination. In this story, Alvarez intertwines the real life tragedy of the Mirabal sisters with fictional writing to fully connect the reader to the evilness of dictatorships. Her use of characterization and admiring descriptions of the Mirabals lead to her readers being emotionally connected to each sister, prompting a better response to her message.

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In general, the contrast between human nature in Gogol’s Ukrainian tales and human nature in his Petersburg tales is striking. Whereas in his Ukrainian tales Gogol is genuinely fulsome in his praise of the ways of ordinary Ukrainian people, in his Petersburg tales Gogol is unsparing in his criticism of high social stations. This, however, should not be interpreted that Gogol praised all Ukrainians and ridiculed all Russians. Instead, he lauded the ways of common people and criticized the coxcombry of the bureaucrats and

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In this short story, Zamyatin uses the cave setting to symbolize Russia’s retreat from modern civilization. What was once the booming city of St. Petersburg now resembles an obliterated war zone. Large Mammoths walk the streets. The people live in run down apartments. The town has no electricity, no running water, and the sole source of heat for the main characters is a small cast iron stove that the people idolize.

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This highlights the still present class system in Russia. Even though serfs had been freed they were still being treated as the lowest class, but in turn they were still free to vote and do everything any other free Russian citizen could do, in theory. Things were still unequal and life was hard for the serfs. Serfs who had recently been freed had no means for income and struggled to provide for their families. This arrangement worked in favor for the Russian government because the freed unemployed serfs would join the army and help Russia fight.

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Freedom within Hills like White Elephants and Story of an Hour Freedom: the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Many people strive for it, but it is nerveless undefined. Everyone wants to be free,

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Another story that triggers the thoughts of the reader is the exploration of the Russian soldier that was responsible for the Russian Revolution, which was made possible by his consumption of

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Petersburg is a labyrinthine city whose streets mirror the maze-like jumble of thoughts ever-present in Raskolnikov’s mind and work to remove his sense of free will. Whenever Raskolnikov leaves a small space, such as his apartment, or someone else’s apartment building, he loses the ability to navigate from one place to another in an ordinary fashion of his own free will. His feet take him places he does not consciously intend to go. For example, Dostoevsky writes, as Raskolnikov walks home through the Haymarket as opposed to by a more direct route, “it had happened to him dozens of times that he would return home without remembering what streets he had taken.” The streets, like the new utilitarian ideas, are inorganic and have a tendency to discombobulate the pedestrian protagonist.

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It portrays the 1917 Russian Revolution atmosphere with the replacement of Russia into Animal Farm. The characters also did not fail to resemble the real people involved in the revolution. Power leads to greed, used to take advantage and manipulate. A person with absolute power tends to choose greediness after a certain time period, despite having followed a wise person’s vision and

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