Bulgakovs heart of a Dog

             In the first half of the twentieth century, the Soviet State was undergoing changes in all aspects of life, including both political and economical reforms. Within Soviet society, there was a reform of another type taking place. In particular, the lower members of society, such as the proletariat, were being forced to become a new, more civilized class of men. For this assignment, I chose to take a look at how the author Mikhail Bulgakov, uses the novel Heart of a Dog and the character Polygraph Polygraphovich as a vehicle for conducting satire of the Soviet Union during the rule of Joseph Stalin. Within the novel, Bulgakov uses the character Polygraph Polygraphovich as he addresses the many downfalls of the Stalin Revolution including things such as the housing shortages, food shortages and class merges. During the period when Bulgakov did his writings, there was an extremely high level of censorship taking place throughout Soviet society. In order to express his own personal opinions without having his work cut or censored, Bulgakov was forced to use satire and other subtle techniques to express views within his work. He was able to do so through such techniques as metaphoric denigration. With this technique Bulgakov basically hints at the role a character is supposed to represent through events or themes. Then he relates or portrays the character as an item with well known characteristics. When doing this he would use certain animals, objects and even plants. In the case of Heart of a Dog, Bulgakov transforms the character Polygraph Polygraphovich into a dog after he had hinted that the character was to represent the old style proletariat.
             The second Russian Revolution is also known as the "Stalin Revolution" and refers changes undergone by the Soviet State mainly during the period of the late 1920's and early 1930's. It was during this time that Joseph Stalin imposed upon the country new forms of social, eco...

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Bulgakovs heart of a Dog. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 06:14, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/14316.html