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Chapter 12
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Sofia Petrovna, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Uncertainty and Disbelief
Patriotism and Fanaticism
Pride, Status, and Moral Superiority
Loyalty, Political Allegiance, and Truth
Summary
Analysis
Sofia goes to work the next day in a daze. She hardly slept the night before, so she decides to get up from her desk during lunch in an attempt to avoid falling asleep. It’s at this point that she sees a newspaper article on the bulletin board. The article is by Anna Grigorievna, who attacks Comrade Timofeyev for letting so many saboteurs go unnoticed in the publishing house. The next article is by an anonymous contributor, who writes extensively about Sofia’s behavior at the last meeting. The author condemns her for defending Natasha, ultimately implying that she sympathizes with saboteurs.
Sofia’s association with Natasha now comes back to haunt her, especially because she stood up for her at the last company meeting. She previously thought that she’d spoken well enough to avoid upsetting anyone or attracting suspicion to herself. Now, though, she learns that it doesn’t matter how she spoke: in the tense social and political climate of the Soviet Union in the 1930s, simply voicing support for someone who had been ostracized was a dangerous thing to do.
Themes
When Sofia goes home that evening, she falls asleep and only wakes when Natasha comes to see her. She tells Natasha about the article, but Natasha doesn’t respond. Instead, she informs her that Alik has been arrested.
The tense atmosphere in Leningrad has been slowly building for a while, but now things accelerate quite suddenly for Sofia Petrovna. Not only does she herself come under fire for defending Natasha, but she also learns that Alik has been arrested. Nobody, it seems, is safe from the Soviet government’s persecution.
Themes
