Boris by Candlelight: Analysis
The narrator speaks of this girl, Natasha who is supposedly someone who serves as a partner (or someone significant) to the narrator. The narrator seems to think that the girl is becoming a distraction to him. Instead on trying to focus on his battles under the command of this “Fearless Leader”, his heart wavers at the sight of this woman, and in his mind he knows that he cannot risk losing himself in the midst of his cause. Despite that, he does not make little of his feelings of attraction towards this girl, perhaps trying to compensate for what he is trying to make the girl realize. He tries to explain his ideals to the girl, making her understand the value and importance of what he is advocating – which is the reclamation of his land and what’s left of it from the hands of those who try to squeeze out all of its resources.
The context of this story can be related to the period of time when Russia had experienced extreme poverty and economic losses due to measures imposed by the western countries (As stated in the poem, America). This period’s problem was known to be “shock therapy” where the goal was to stabilize the Russia’s budget. Since such measures were considered successful in other countries, it was assumed that the same would happen to Russia, however it appeared as though there was no forthcoming “therapy” to the shock. And it is at this point where I think the narrator writes this poem. He realizes that something must be done in order to reclaim what is rightfully theirs and not succumb in totality to the ideas and suggestions of the western lands. It can be assumed that Natasha is simply an embodiment of lesser important priorities which fog the view of the much more important issue at hand which makes it easier to emphasize the importance of his goal and how it should be seen by the citizens concerned.
Works Cited
Nesnera, Andre De. Russia: Shock Therapy. 2 December 1999. 12 February 2013
