When someone is a central part of a community, how does the community react when they die? Aleksandr Solzhenitzyn’s Matryona’s Home is a saddening tale detailing the daily life of Matryona Vasilyevna until her death. The narrator, Ignatich, lives with an elderly Matryona after reentering Russia, and details his life with her. Matryona inspires Ignatich with her hard working spirit, caring attitude, and her story.
Martyona is incredibly hard working, and hardly lets anything get her down. One example of this is how Matryona collects grass to make hay for her goat every day. Since she couldn’t cut grass from the railways, the woods, or the kolkhoz, Matryona has to get her grass elsewhere. “She took her sickle and a sack and went off early in the morning to places where she knew there was grass growing – round the edges of fields, on the roadside, on hummocks in the bog. When she had stuffed her sack with heavy fresh grass she dragged it home and spread it …show more content…
She had wanted to marry the first man to court her, Faddey, but couldn’t when he didn’t come back from the German war. She instead married Faddey’s brother, Efim. When Faddey suddenly returned long after the war he was lost in, he discovered they were married. When he found out, Faddey told Efim and Matryona, “If it wasn’t my own brother, I’d take my ax to the both of you” (870) and, “I’ll look for one of the same name as you, a second Matryona” (870). Matryona was also unable to raise any of the children she birthed. “One daughter, Elena, was born and was alive when they washed her, and then she died right after…. My wedding was on St. Peter’s day, and it was St. Peter’s day I buried my sixth, Alexander” (871). Another war took Efim away to serve in the army, but he never came back to the village. Kira was the only child, though not her own, that Matryona was able to raise. “So she begged from the other Matryona… a child of her womb, the youngest daughter Kira”
Martyona is incredibly hard working, and hardly lets anything get her down. One example of this is how Matryona collects grass to make hay for her goat every day. Since she couldn’t cut grass from the railways, the woods, or the kolkhoz, Matryona has to get her grass elsewhere. “She took her sickle and a sack and went off early in the morning to places where she knew there was grass growing – round the edges of fields, on the roadside, on hummocks in the bog. When she had stuffed her sack with heavy fresh grass she dragged it home and spread it …show more content…
She had wanted to marry the first man to court her, Faddey, but couldn’t when he didn’t come back from the German war. She instead married Faddey’s brother, Efim. When Faddey suddenly returned long after the war he was lost in, he discovered they were married. When he found out, Faddey told Efim and Matryona, “If it wasn’t my own brother, I’d take my ax to the both of you” (870) and, “I’ll look for one of the same name as you, a second Matryona” (870). Matryona was also unable to raise any of the children she birthed. “One daughter, Elena, was born and was alive when they washed her, and then she died right after…. My wedding was on St. Peter’s day, and it was St. Peter’s day I buried my sixth, Alexander” (871). Another war took Efim away to serve in the army, but he never came back to the village. Kira was the only child, though not her own, that Matryona was able to raise. “So she begged from the other Matryona… a child of her womb, the youngest daughter Kira”