Outside Reading, Week 7, Post A

Vocab
hovel (244) : a small, very humble dwelling house; a wretched hut

gestate (266): to carry in the womb during the period from conception to delivery

Figurative Language
"The twins swayed shoulder to shoulder in the back seat of the Gaz as it bounced and yawed like a cannonball across the ice, Ivan brawling with the wheel while Anya screeched oaths and clutched dramatically at things" (249).

In this passage, Pierre uses a simile to compare the way the Gaz crosses the ice to Kuzhnisk to the way a cannonball would do the same thing. It seems that the comparison exists solely to help the reader envision Blair and Bunny's situation, not to provide any hidden meaning.

"They rolled like a pair of urchins in a fight, robes and belts flying, and disappeared with a thud into a drift at the bottom of the ramp" (270).

Pierre uses a simile yet again to the way Bunny tackles Blair down the hill to the way a pair of urchins would do the same thing. While it helps the reader visualize the situation, I think that it also alludes to the fact that there is still a lot of sibling rivalry between Bunny and Blair and that even though Blair acts sophisticated, he still has a lot of base emotions.

"Ludmila didn't look at her brother. Her face broke like sunshine over cloud as the cage door creaked open, and she burrowed a hand under the sleeping kitten" (316).

In this excerpt, Pierre uses a simile to compare the way a smile broke on Ludmila's face to the way sunshine breaks over clouds. It seems that this simile is meant more to be symbolic of Ludmila's joy at last and ending her strife. Throughout the sections in Kuzhnisk, Pierre devotes many lines to describing the bleak and dreary landscape, as well as the constantly overcast sky. Ludmila's "sunny" face breaks her previous hardship in Kuzhnisk by breaking the overcast sky.

Quote
"Still a nervous flutter ran through him. It was because he felt part of nothing. He was no longer a part of the Albion community. And still not a part of any community inside it" (322).

This quote describes Bunny's attitude at the end of the book towards finding a family that loves you and community that supports you. Blair and Bunny had many struggles and quarrels over their relationship and finally ended up happy together (with the exception of Blair getting shot). Bunny now realizes that you don't have to have a family with just your blood relatives: that anyone who you love and truly care about can be apart of your family. So, he is happy giving up membership in his community because now he had Ludmila, Maks, and Madron.

Theme
There was a big change in the them over the last section. There were a lot sacrifices for others and deaths, culminating in a final showdown at Ludmila's house. Blair sacrificed himself to save Bunny, as did Kiska for the Inspector. There seems to be this new theme that you really only need to find people who love you and care about your, doing anything you can to reach that goal. Blair takes a bullet for Bunny, so that he, Ludmila, and Maks can live a normal life together. Also, Kiska takes a bullet for the Inspector, so that he can protect the family.