Passion Of Pussy Riot Character Analysis

Masha Gessen author of “Words Will Break Cement: Passion of Pussy Riot”, writes about a Russian, punk group called Pussy Riot and the stories and challenges that the group has faced when protesting against the political issues in Russia. Two main characters from that she focuses on are Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yetaterina Samutsevich, or better known as Nadya and Kat. Both women were introduced early in the book and allowed Gessen to reveal many stories regarding Nadya and Kat, and how working together has influenced each other’s lives. Most notably, Nadya and Kat are very different women as they both pursued different educational careers, had different parental influence, and how their appearance sets them apart, yet both can work well with …show more content…
For example, Nadya’s father, Andrey who was a big influence on Nadya as he was able to inspire her to become rebellious and strong headed at a young age. For example, when spending a weekend with her father, Nadya is shown to have a changed personality, “To know what Andrei had done to the child: a wallflower had been transformed into a rebel” (23). This shows that Andrei influenced Nadya enough to change her personality from a quiet child to rebellious girl. Kat’s mother and father influenced Kat the most with their different ideas on the role of what Kat should fulfill in the future. For example, Kat’s mother believed that her daughter would most likely follow in her footsteps on becoming a housewife with no aspiration to achieve anything as she said, “Your life is going to be like this. You’ll spend it in the kitchen” (48). Revealing that her mother did not see any future for her daughter which supports the idea that Kat’s mother was not very supportive. Unlike her mother, Kat’s father is shown to be more invested in Kat’s education such as when “He steered Yekaterina toward his own field of computer programming” (48). The different parental influences that Nadya and Kat have reflected on who they become as both parents from each character played a role in shaping their child. In spite of Kat, whose parents were trying to influence her with …show more content…
When Nadya was given her first description by her husband, Petya, as he introduces Nadya as a symbol of perfection by stating, “She looked perfect-like a circle drawn with a compass looks perfectly round” (29). The first impression that the audience is given is that Nadya is perfect due to the words describing her such as “perfect-like” and “perfectly round” showing that he believes Nadya is true perfect human. Later in the book, Kat’s appearance was first introduced by her father when Gessen was describing the life of Kat from her childhood to adulthood. In detail, her father said, “Yekaterina was five feet tall and had broad hips. She had an angular way about her and could sometimes look awkward” (47). The type of words he used to describe his own daughter made it seem as if she was an uninteresting person or dull as he uses terms like “broad” or “awkward” as if he does not see beauty in his own daughter. Gessen may be implying that Kat is very plain compared to Nadya due to the descriptions that the book gives on both characters this enforces the idea of how Nadya is superior to Kat.
In essence, Nadya and Kat share different qualities that construct their identities and personalities such as their educational careers, influences from their parents, and their individual appearances. However, those differences also