Week 13 Essay

So for my unit this week I read Russian Folktales. I felt compelled to read this unit because one of my roommates is majoring in Russia and is ALWAYS talking about Russia, so I thought I would learn a little about the culture so that I could understand her a little more when she talks about things. One motif I noticed in almost every single story were corpses. There were always corpses or witches or warlocks or some dead corpse running around causing problems. I also noticed that women are not really portrayed in a very positive light.

I’m not really sure why Russians are so fascinated with corpses. I thought it was interesting that every time, except once, the corpses were evil and trying to kill people. I wonder if the idea of the corpses being evil sheds any light on how Russians feel about the afterlife. Maybe they think that once you die, since your soul is no longer in your body your body is just a vessel that can run around and do evil things? I don’t even know if that is anything the Russians believe. I will probably go and talk to my roommate and find out how Russians actually feel about death and the afterlife.

I also noticed that the women in these stories are usually not particularly good. They are either witches running around at night and killing innocent townsfolk or terrorizing their husbands and then getting sent to Hell. I know that in some cultures women are seen as unequal to men, but in these stories it makes it seem like the Russian think that women are all just evil witches. I wonder if the women in Russia are just rougher that women of other cultures and so are shown as evil in the stories.

Vasilisa. Russian Fairy Tale