Alyosha’s Attitude towards Women and Sexuality
...otte’s rape takes place in “Central Asia” and not in Russia, coupled with the fact that the brutal victimization of woman by Beria takes place in Russia signifies that is not where this objectification of woman takes place that is significant, rather it symbolize that it can take place anywhere. As identified previously all human being are capable of objectifying another human being, and open to fantasize about it, however when the fantasize becomes materialized it is something altogether more sinister. This is a theme the author himself identifies, “So, there is a being within me that can contemplate these rapes. It is possible for me to order it to b silent but it is still there”(164), yet it is the fact that author is still a child which enables him to feel so torture over this fact; he doesn’t realize that ‘this being’ is not with only in him, but in everyone. There is a very dangerously thin line between fantasy and reality, however it becomes abundantly clear to the reader that the author is not is risk of crossing this line. What brings this to light is the fact that while the author dreams about being indifferent to woman and simple desiring and possessing them, he equally empathizes with “as the father, or the fiancé, or the husband of that young woman”(162). Furthermore, when fantasizing about Beria condemning those women, the author describes his brain being on fire as opposed to his heart, rather the only time he mentions his heart is when he learns of his grandmothers and he describes, “The pain being so great that within my breast I felt the burning shape of my heart”(168). Metaphorically, while there is “a being within” Alyosha it does not live within in his breast, within his heart. The author’s grandmother, Charlotte, has throughout the book been the author’s only window of escape, and much like a place where you go on vacation, Charlotte is revered, a tranquil image of idealism. It is because Charlotte is the authors one and only escape, I would go as far to say she is where his heart is. The fact that she’s French means therefore France is his symbolic emotional epic-center, if you will, and that’s why he turns Russian. The thought of his grandmother being raped; having to endure “the cries, the lamentations, sobs, groans, supplications, and curses” (163), is simply too much. By becoming Russian it allows the author to block France from his mind, and therefore block the images of grandmother being raped as a means of not having to deal with his emotions. Russia is the reality, but it is easy. By that I mean by assimilating into the Soviet culture in which he lives, he’s told how to think, what to feel, it’s something he himself doesn’t have to endure and discover for himself. Thinking as opposed to actually feeling is “blessedly simple” (170). It is in no way a co...