Author: Natalia Morozova

Course: ENGL 098

Instructor: Edna Burow
Researcher: Corie
Summary: Edna recounts her life in Soviet Russia before immigrating
to the United States. She recalls her time as a child living amongst a
Communist community, one where religion was ridiculed and punished
by the KGB. During a holiday trip to Moscow for the New Year, Natalia
meets her neighbor, Poline, who asks her if she and her family are
Christian. After adamantly saying no, she explained that she was a
“Pioneer” (a young member of the Communist Party). After some
convincing, Natalia agrees to become baptized in the Christian faith,
while Poline takes the role of her godmother. Over the next several
years, Natalia grows strong in her faith, which guides her through all the
stressful and heartbreaking times that lie ahead.

Codes:
Critical Incident:
“I agreed and the next day went to a real church for the first time in my life” (line
55, par 6).

Religious Adaption:

“The knowledge of how powerful a prayer is fortified my spirit when I was lonely
in foreign countries; when the ground was shaking during the 1994 earthquake;
when my mother passed away; and when my close friends in Russia got killed”
(line 120, par. 16).

“My son knows prayers, too, and every year he waits to sing Christmas carols with
me” (line 124, par. 16).

Themes of Power - Dictatorship -Religious Control:

“For the sake of their communist ideals, these new prophets raised to the ground
the most magnificent cathedrals and the majority of ordinary churches… banned
church choir music, preventing people from listening to spiritual liturgies…
persecuted and executed priests of the Orthadox Christian Church…” (line 10, par.
1).

Positive Familial Influence - Difference in Religious Practice:

“She spiritually connected me to my ancestors through their words, thoughts, and

music. Moreover, she introduced me to the world of prayers which later helped me
overcome depression and fear, to find strength to help people when I was weak
myself, to implore God to forgive my sins, and to be grateful for the happiness
given” (line 115, par. 15).

Cultural Boundaries - Religion:

“We were a generation of kids without Christmas. Neither I nor any of my friends
knew the meaning of this obsolete (for modern Socialistic society) word” (line 1,
par. 1).

“We could not imagine the existence of such an event because we were churchless.
The people who called themselves Communists wanted us to know only one
religion--the one they invented to force everybody to believe in the omnipotence of
the Communist Party, with its new saints, bishops, and priests, though renamed in
revolutionary equivalents for decency” (line 6, par. 1).