Winter Oak - Yuri Nagibin
Uploaded by frolix on Apr 27, 2000
1.a) Our gut reaction to Winter Oak is that it had a lot of meaning, but was dull and tedious. Some words and phrases we used to relate our thoughts on the story are as follows:
- Boring.
- Monotonous.
- No real conflict.
- No feeling.
- No real plot.
- Didn’t invoke a strong reaction.
- There was a definite lesson to be learned.
1.b) Yuri Nagibin used different devices to evoke various reactions in us, some of these were:
The dialogue; it was concise yet boring but realistic for example, when Anna Vasilyevna was trying to teach the children their nouns. “A noun is a part of speech that denotes an object. In grammar an…” (Nagibin 59). Much of this dialogue is unnecessary; we the reader understands what goes on in the classroom, and two pages are not needed to establish nouns. Also, through dialogue Anna proved to be a snob. “’Good morning Anna Vasilyevna!’ Frolov raised his fur hat above his solid, close-cropped head. ‘what are you doing! Put it back on it’s freezing!’ Frolov probably wanted to pull his fur over his eyes himself…” (Nagibin 58). Anna feels as though she is high and mighty, and will not even acknowledge Frolov’s attempt of respect towards her. There were very powerful images present in the forest, such as the gigantic winter oak. The image of Savushkin standing in front of the Winter Oak, in utter awe of its splendor and Anna Vasilyevna realizing the beauty of the winter oak appeals to the sight, because it is easy to picture in our minds.
stood an oak as enormous and magnificent as a cathedral. The trees seemed to part respectfully to allow their older companion to spread out in full force. Its lower branches stretched out in a tent over the clearing. The snow had filled the deep crevices of the bark, and the trunk, which was so wide that it would have taken three men to get their arms around it, looked as if it were shot through with silver thread. It had hardly shed any of its foliage which had dried up during the fall; the oak was covered with snow-capped leaves to the very top. (Nagibin 65)
We experienced an unexpected plot twist when the stern Anna Vasilyevna went into the forest, and understood Savushkin’s point of view about the winter oak, and why he was late everyday. “’My God!’ Anna Vasilyevna thought painfully. ‘What clearer way of admitting my impotence?’ She remembered that...