The Prussian Bride

Final

Russian 2335.01

April 20, 2017

In Yuri Buida’s, the Prussian Bride, characters tell multiple stories from their perspective about living in a small post WWII town that used to be German, but is now Russian. Many of the Characters living in this town experience suffering because of the war. Buida’s conveys suffering through multiple stories in many forms such as: being lonely, abuse, death, detachment, and countless others. The characters in this book are forced to live their lives suffering as there is no other way to live. A few particular characters suffering has stood out significantly through the course of the book. In this paper, I will analyze the character’s suffering, and explain the causes of that suffering to show how war can affect the livelihood and morals of humans.

In the beginning, the book tells the story of Name of Lev. We are introduced to a man by the name, Name of Lev, he was a barber and a referee on Sundays. He was well known in his town for making accurate calls when it came to soccer. Soccer was this town’s one and only source of joy. One day Name of Lev made a call, and a player argued against it. This turned the whole town against him because it was like he took away the town’s one and only joy. Which he did, since they no longer played soccer on Sundays. Name of Lev lived in exile until he changed his name, and grew a beard; He faked his own death. But he did not have to because the town had already killed him socially. Years go by, and we see Name of Lev become accepted by the town after his fake death. In the end, he reveals his true name, and again becomes a referee to have one last game of soccer to defend his name. Name of Lev dies in this game of soccer defending his name and title, but ultimately never ending his suffering. Name of Lev’s suffering comes from alienation by the town. He is forced to change himself in order to live a regular life, but the regular life he lives is not his. When he realizes his death is upon him only then does he try to end his suffering. Name of Lev had to bare the alienation of a whole town because they felt he took away their one joy. When Name of Lev died, so did this town’s joy. Not only did the Name of Lev suffer because of soccer, but the town did too.

Rita Schmidt Whoever is a story about a girl named Rita that lives a horrible and crude life simply because she has German heritage. Rita was abandoned by her Jewish German parents as baby, and was raised by two sisters Martha and Maria. Martha and Maria gave her the life of a house slave, and did the bare minimum to keep her sustained while beating her horribly. Rita at first lived this life of being a house slave until she was 16. When Maria committed suicide, it led to Martha’s attempt to kill Rita. Rita flees for her life till she finds refuge at Fuffy’s house. Fuffy is an old war veteran. He treats her worse than Martha and Maria. She becomes not only a house slave, but a sex slave to this old war veteran because she has no other option. Rita will never know what happiness is. She lived an abused life for having ties with something she knew nothing of. Rita truly did not deserve the suffering she lived through during her life. It is obvious the root of her suffering stemmed from her parent’s abandonment. Her parents were more than likely fleeing from the war, and the eradication of Jews. If her parents had not been so careless to give their baby’s life to strangers maybe Rita could have lived a full, regular life. She was abused by Martha and Maria because of their twisted morals about Germans and Jewish people. After the war people looked down on German people for their heinous crimes against humanity. Poor Rita had only been born by German people, and lived the life of a Russian. Because of the war, Rita suffered tremendously during her life in Russia.

In the story, Merry Gertrude, we are introduced to a war hero by the name Sergei. Sergei was injured while lighting a cigarette for his