Free Russian Culture In “Tales Of Belkin” By Aleksandr Pushkin Essay Sample

Aleksandr Pushkin wrote his “The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin” in 1830 and introduced it to the readers in the form of 5 short stories that are not connected with each other by the plot. The author allegedly presented these tales from the words of an interesting and mystery landowner Ivan Belkin who liked to collect exiting stories of life of different people. Short story “The Blizzard” or “The Snow Storm” that was taken for the analysis is the second chapter of the “Tales”. It emphasizes the features of Russian culture in the context of Russians’ attitude towards the importance of accidental events, it also shows the strength of Russian spirit in front of war, and finally, this story demonstrates writer’s decision to make the heroes’ resistance to blizzard as the symbol of an individual’s fight for personal happiness.
The plot of “The Blizzard” revolves around aristocratic young woman Marya Gavrilovna who falls in love with ordinary officer Vladimir Nikolayevich. Her parents do not approve of their relationships since the gap between social statuses of the girl and the man is considered to be a barrier for their love and consequently for their marriage. Strict social hierarchy of that time allowed people of only equal social statuses to marry, aristocratic girl thus could not build relationships with ordinary soldier. However, the lovers decide to get married secretly and this creates the drama in the story. Pushkin presents Russian man as persistent and stubborn person who always gets what he wants, even if it contradicts the social system of the nation. At the same time, loyalty of Russian people to the nation is enormous and it is demonstrated here with the help of the storyline about the war with French in 1812 and the Russian victory in this war: “Time never to be forgotten! Time of glory and enthusiasm! How throbbed the Russian heart at the word "Fatherland!" How sweet were the tears of meeting! With what unanimity did we unite feelings of national pride with love for the Czar!” (Pushkin “The Snow Storm”). Selfless dedication to the Fatherland is one of the distinctive features of Russian culture that has been occupying people’s hearts during a very long time and still continues to occupy to this day.
Meanwhile, along with the demonstration of people’s love of country, Pushkin seeks to express the meaning of human struggle with fate through the heroes’ struggle with the element (the blizzard) – they both are nonsensical. Pushkin believed in strength and importance of accidental events and thought that they could change person’s life. That is why, no matter how person tries to escape from his destiny or confront all difficulties, there are cases when nothing can be changed by human – only by higher powers. These higher powers mostly were associated with God since Russians were, and still are, deeply religious nation. And that is another distinctive feature of Russian culture – their faith in God is steadfast, and their love for God is enormous, so in times of trouble people often turn to the Lord for help as well as they believe that God guides them to the right path with the help of accidental events and signs.
This short story is considered to be a significant example of the distinctive features of Russian culture – with people’s love for Russia, their devotion to the people they are in love with, and their attitude towards the accidental events that are associated with God’s signs and that can drastically change people’s lives. A special place in the tale is taken by the forces of nature (here, it is the invincible element of nature – the blizzard) – the author wants to demonstrate that Russian spirit cannot be broken neither by the powers of nature, nor by the serious difficulties that happen in their lives. I agree with Aleksandr Pushkin because he made a good choice when decided to show Russians’ strength and emphasize the particularities of Russian culture in this way. It was important for me to read tale “The Blizzard” as I found out about some of nation’s characteristics through the words of one of the most prominent writers of Russia.

Works Cited

Pushkin, Aleksandr. “The Snow Storm”. Web. 31 Jan. 2015. <http://www.cadytech.com/dumas/related/snow_storm.php>