Sunday, March 1, 2009
Misha Vainburg
Misha Vainburg is a character that represents the parts of all of us that we are ashamed to admit we have. He has all our darkest traits, gluttony, hatred, sadness, despair, cynicism, the list goes on. Although he does seem to have moments of extreme generosity, sadly they can only be attributed to his want for a sense of self fulfillment, and he seems to only care for those that cross his immediate path. Even these moments of generosity are punctuated by his biting sarcastic narrative that seems to find the darker parts of everyone. That being said it is this dark narrative that highlights the very few good things he has to say to people. It is almost as if he is waging some kind a light vs dark war for his soul. The dark is the atmosphere and depression of russian life fighting against his natural good. Sadly from what I have read it would seem that the dark is winning in his life. Misha Vainburg is obviously a metaphor trying to show the rest of the world what life in russia does to the people and how it turns them into the self serving people they are portrayed to be in his book. But I see a message of hope in him. For all his downfalls he is at least trying, however little it may be, to save what is left of his natural good.
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ReplyDeleteMisha is a example of many of the "seven deadly sins" and I feel like most of us contain many parts of him within us. He is just unrepentive for his flaws and doesn't seem to care what people think of him.
ReplyDeleteI feel like there is alot more to Misha's generosity than you have given him credis for.
SPOILER ALERT: He actually does set up the fund Misha's Children around page 130.
Good point about the light vs. dark sides in Misha, he does seem torn between the two.
ReplyDeleteI like your point about how we all have a little Misha in us because its true we all make mistakes only his are more noticeable. Also maybe the part of him that wants to go to America represents his good side but the part of him that lives in Russia is the bad side. I feel this way because he seems like he would be more at home in America and he would probably fit in much better, considering he is pretty much the only person in this book who likes hip hop (besides Aloysha-Bob).
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