Chapter Eleven: The Two Ivans
Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 6:47 am
MM11 The Two Ivans
Bulgakov here provides a masterful investigation into the schizoid mind produced by communism.
Ivan is ensconced in his asylum, where he is trying to write an account of the bizarre case of the death of Mr Berlioz. He wants his writing to be convincing. Unfortunately, the facts of the case make that objective difficult. The theme here is that when the starting point of a story is unbelievable, try as one might, the narrator cannot make a plausible account. A diabolical cat who jumps aboard street cars, a devilish stranger who explains details of the conversation between Christ and Pilate and then accurately predicts details of a gruesome accidental death. With material such as this, one must sympathise with the schizoid dilemmas that Ivan faces in trying to work out where to start.
Again as before, this amusing tale is a parable for the difficult fate of ordinary moral people trying to explain the evil events of Bolshevism. One can imagine them starting their story - the Romanov Tsar was in great difficulty, but then monsters appeared who butchered him and all the royal family in a basement. The revered royal family had become objects of hatred from the masses. They were shot, bayoneted and clubbed to death in Yekaterinburg in July 1918. Their bodies were then stripped, mutilated, burned and disposed of in a field, at Lenin’s express orders, and then Lenin spun a web of lies for years about this gruesome deed. This incident gave licence to the descent into depravity that characterised the communist regime.
This is the sort of event that seems to be on Bulgakov’s mind as he presents the effort of Ivan to overcome his cognitive dissonance. As his efforts at coherence break down, and after the nurse arranges an injection and some hot milk, Ivan finds himself succumbing to Stockholm Syndrome, siding with his jailers, saying the clinic is not such a bad place, the doctors are smart, and famous and pleasant, and what is more, the evening air smells fresh after the storm.
What is happening here? The parable reflects how ordinary people must make the best of incomprehensible circumstances. Rather than accept that they have enabled a monstrous barbarity, the Russian people come to love their tormentors, avuncular Uncle Joe as father of the people.
Bulgakov here provides a masterful investigation into the schizoid mind produced by communism.
Ivan is ensconced in his asylum, where he is trying to write an account of the bizarre case of the death of Mr Berlioz. He wants his writing to be convincing. Unfortunately, the facts of the case make that objective difficult. The theme here is that when the starting point of a story is unbelievable, try as one might, the narrator cannot make a plausible account. A diabolical cat who jumps aboard street cars, a devilish stranger who explains details of the conversation between Christ and Pilate and then accurately predicts details of a gruesome accidental death. With material such as this, one must sympathise with the schizoid dilemmas that Ivan faces in trying to work out where to start.
Again as before, this amusing tale is a parable for the difficult fate of ordinary moral people trying to explain the evil events of Bolshevism. One can imagine them starting their story - the Romanov Tsar was in great difficulty, but then monsters appeared who butchered him and all the royal family in a basement. The revered royal family had become objects of hatred from the masses. They were shot, bayoneted and clubbed to death in Yekaterinburg in July 1918. Their bodies were then stripped, mutilated, burned and disposed of in a field, at Lenin’s express orders, and then Lenin spun a web of lies for years about this gruesome deed. This incident gave licence to the descent into depravity that characterised the communist regime.
This is the sort of event that seems to be on Bulgakov’s mind as he presents the effort of Ivan to overcome his cognitive dissonance. As his efforts at coherence break down, and after the nurse arranges an injection and some hot milk, Ivan finds himself succumbing to Stockholm Syndrome, siding with his jailers, saying the clinic is not such a bad place, the doctors are smart, and famous and pleasant, and what is more, the evening air smells fresh after the storm.
What is happening here? The parable reflects how ordinary people must make the best of incomprehensible circumstances. Rather than accept that they have enabled a monstrous barbarity, the Russian people come to love their tormentors, avuncular Uncle Joe as father of the people.