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Chapter 2
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
It’s a long time before Sofia gets a vacation. She looks forward to using her free time to do various chores and purchase a nice coat for Kolya. When she finally goes on vacation, though, she quickly gets bored and wishes she were back at work. She spends most of her time in the evenings with Natasha, asking her about the latest gossip at work.
Again, it’s clear that Sofia’s job gives meaning and structure to her life. Without it, she’s unsure of what to do with herself. Because she takes pride in her role as a senior typist at the publishing house, she has no problem working long hours. Simply put, she finds her job rewarding, partially because she thinks she’s contributing to the Soviet Union’s cultural advancement by working at a prominent publishing house.
Themes
Sofia doesn’t see much of Kolya, who’s always in the library with Alik. They’re both getting ready to go to college to study mechanical engineering, and Kolya is passionately committed to the Komsomol, speaking frequently to Sofia about politics and communism. He has a strong sense of right and wrong, so when Sofia complains about the fact that their family apartment now houses multiple families, he tries to show her that putting extra tenants into large “bourgeois apartments” is the right thing to do—it’s revolutionary, he insists. Sofia agrees, but she still dislikes it when the other families are messy. One consolation, though, is that the tenants elect her to be the official representative of the apartment.
With the onset of communism after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, communal apartments appeared throughout the Soviet Union. The idea was to take large apartments and turn them into dwelling spaces for multiple families, thus emphasizing the needs of the collective and creating a more egalitarian housing landscape—something that was especially important because many urban areas in the Soviet Union were facing housing shortages. In this passage, it becomes clear that Sofia and her husband owned a large apartment that was, in the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution, repurposed to serve multiple tenants. Sofia appears to have had some trouble with this sacrifice, suggesting that her commitment to the Communist Party doesn’t have much to do with her actual belief in communism itself.
Themes
Serving as the official apartment representative pleases Sofia. She likes telling the others to keep things tidy, and she generally gets along with them quite well. She often spends time with the wife of one of her tenants. The tenant is Degtyarenko, and he works as a police officer. Degtyarenko’s wife makes jam and often brings it to Sofia and chats with her, sometimes gossiping about a nurse who lives in the apartment. Degtyarenko’s wife insists that the nurse must be terrible at her job. The nurse also has a daughter, who often yells at her parents and uses language that shocks Sofia. Otherwise, though, the apartment functions relatively well, unlike some of the other units in the building.
Sofia’s problems with her fellow tenants seem pretty average, as it’s quite normal for people living in close proximity to get on one another’s nerves. Still, serving as the official apartment representative helps Sofia deal with these minor grievances. Once again, then, having a small amount of authority lends purpose and a sense of importance to her life, illustrating that she likes the feeling of possessing a little bit of power.
Themes
Finally, Sofia returns to work. It’s a relief to be back, though she still finds herself resentful of Erna Semyonovna, intimidated by the party secretary, Comrade Timofeyev, and contemptuous of the Mestkom chairman. But she’s fond of the director and wishes she could be his secretary. During this period, Kolya and Alik pass their entrance exams for the mechanical engineering institute. They decide to build a radio together as a celebration. Sofia doesn’t love the idea at first, since Kolya and Alik have embarked on ambitious building projects before, and the projects always clutter Sofia and Kolya’s room with materials. But when they finish the radio, she sees what a luxury it is to listen to music and the various programs in the morning.
At this point in the novel, everything is still going quite well for Sofia. There are some minor annoyances in her life, like the fact that Erna Semyonovna makes so many mistakes at work, but she’s mostly content with her existence. Similarly, Kolya and Alik are on track to become successful engineers and are quite pleased with their current circumstances. At this stage, then, the current landscape of the Soviet Union seems—for all intents and purposes—perfectly harmonious, showing few signs of the turmoil to come.
Themes
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Natasha often comes over to listen to the radio with Sofia. However, Sofia is uninterested in listening to the news, though Kolya tries to show her the importance of keeping track of current events. He tells her about the rise of fascism in the west, but she only listens to humor him.
Again, Sofia doesn’t show much interest in politics. Her support of the Communist Party is therefore mainly an act of conformity, not necessarily an indication that she strongly believes in communist ideals.
Themes
