Genre
A novel
Setting and Context
The events of the story take place in Petrograd in the 1920s. A bourgeois family tries to adjust to a new life in Soviet Russia.
Narrator and Point of View
The story is told from the third-person point of view by an omniscient narrator.
Tone and Mood
The tone is somber while the mood is depressing.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Kira Argounova is the protagonist of the story. The Soviet Russia is the antagonist.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is person vs. state.
Climax
Andrei Taganov’s death is the climax of the story.
Foreshadowing
“Child,” said Vasili Ivanovitch,” what are you doing in Soviet Russia?”
“That,” said Kira, “is what I’m wondering about.”
This short dialogue foreshadows the events of the novel. It is clear as a day that a free-spirited girl like Kira will be destroyed by the state she despises so much.
Understatement
I know that, perhaps, it is a living hell.
Andrei underestimates seriousness of the situation. Millions of people will perish for a dream that is doomed to fail.
Allusions
The novel alludes to the Soviet Russia, the Russian Revolution of 1917, the civil war in the Russian Empire, the Red Army, the White Army, V. Lenin and so on.
Imagery
There is an imagery of darkness that stands for the uncertain future.
Paradox
She said “no” to the words he spoke, and “yes” to the voice that spoke them.
Parallelism
Who is not with us – is against us!
Metonymy and Synecdoche
A hand opened the door without knocking. (A hand is synecdoche that stands for a whole person.)
“Are you going to build for the Red State?” asked Victor. (The Red State is metonymy that stands for the Soviet Russia.)
Personification
After a long sleep, Nevsky was opening its eyes slowly.
