How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed was written by author and main character Slavenka Drakulic. Drakulic is a renowned Croatian journalist, novelist and non-fiction writer who, in this book, writes about her and other females experiences of suffering under communism. Eastern Europe was ruled by the Soviet Union for a long time and then a couple other communist tyrants after that. During this time, communism reformed the mindset of many Eastern Europeans. It deprived them of hope, and of the ability to expect that things would get better in life. A theme throughout the book is that communism is not merely a political system, but a mindset and that the mindset outlived the regimes that produced it. Communism made it hard to be a individual
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Talking about how there was only so many different things to buy to separate yourself from the pack, and how the communist idea was so engrained into the mind that everyone had the same hopeless thoughts about life. Every family looked the same, dad goes and works in the factory, mom cooks and cleans, and everyone lives with their grandparents. Drakulic quotes a newly divorced lady in one of her chapters saying, “when there is no place in society to express your individuality, the family becomes the only territory in which you can form it... but a family is too limiting... “(Drakulic 107). This quote shows how the suppressive behaviors of the communist government towards individualism affected the personal lives of everyone to the point where there was no escape. Talking about the mindset of the people, Drakulic has a lot to say. It was a life style, and mentality that, for generations, people grew up with no hope of change. “...Communism instilled in us was precisely this immobility, this absence of a future, the absence of a dream... we learned to think: this will go on forever...we can’t change it... we were brought up with the idea that it is impossible to modify the system...” (Drakulic 7). It just shows the helplessness of a better life even to the point where people don't even try to change the system they were brought up under. This is what it looks like when there are no …show more content…
People have seen it in some way in every society, but when it comes to communism, it just started out for basic rights. In the communist country it may be hard to get feminine products, which is something most people can’t fathom due to the fact they can go down the road and get them, or simply because they are males with juvenile perception. They also couldn't get various other beauty items, and if they could, they could only get on kind: one perfume, one color of hair dye, on kind of eye liner. Drakulic says, “Without a choice in cosmetics and clothes, with bad food and hard work and no spare time...” (Drakulic 23). There was even time to apply products if they had them, because the “communist ideal was a robust woman who didn't look much different from a man. A nicely dressed woman was subject to suspicion...” This was obviously an idea started from men who just want to make money, and that want to control everything about everything. Feminist were not seen in a good light, since it went against everything the government was trying to control. She and her friends continued to pursue the vision of equality for the sexes. “That didn't stop us from deciding to form our own group, the first feminist group in Yugosalvia.” (Drakulic 128). The women organized and published articles, but they were soon attacked by other woman organizations. Drakulic remembers how the feminists were treated, as an enemy of the state.
Talking about how there was only so many different things to buy to separate yourself from the pack, and how the communist idea was so engrained into the mind that everyone had the same hopeless thoughts about life. Every family looked the same, dad goes and works in the factory, mom cooks and cleans, and everyone lives with their grandparents. Drakulic quotes a newly divorced lady in one of her chapters saying, “when there is no place in society to express your individuality, the family becomes the only territory in which you can form it... but a family is too limiting... “(Drakulic 107). This quote shows how the suppressive behaviors of the communist government towards individualism affected the personal lives of everyone to the point where there was no escape. Talking about the mindset of the people, Drakulic has a lot to say. It was a life style, and mentality that, for generations, people grew up with no hope of change. “...Communism instilled in us was precisely this immobility, this absence of a future, the absence of a dream... we learned to think: this will go on forever...we can’t change it... we were brought up with the idea that it is impossible to modify the system...” (Drakulic 7). It just shows the helplessness of a better life even to the point where people don't even try to change the system they were brought up under. This is what it looks like when there are no …show more content…
People have seen it in some way in every society, but when it comes to communism, it just started out for basic rights. In the communist country it may be hard to get feminine products, which is something most people can’t fathom due to the fact they can go down the road and get them, or simply because they are males with juvenile perception. They also couldn't get various other beauty items, and if they could, they could only get on kind: one perfume, one color of hair dye, on kind of eye liner. Drakulic says, “Without a choice in cosmetics and clothes, with bad food and hard work and no spare time...” (Drakulic 23). There was even time to apply products if they had them, because the “communist ideal was a robust woman who didn't look much different from a man. A nicely dressed woman was subject to suspicion...” This was obviously an idea started from men who just want to make money, and that want to control everything about everything. Feminist were not seen in a good light, since it went against everything the government was trying to control. She and her friends continued to pursue the vision of equality for the sexes. “That didn't stop us from deciding to form our own group, the first feminist group in Yugosalvia.” (Drakulic 128). The women organized and published articles, but they were soon attacked by other woman organizations. Drakulic remembers how the feminists were treated, as an enemy of the state.