The Protagonist: Elena Rudina

All characters in this tale are faced with countless conflicts; physical, emotional, logical and moral. Protagonist, Elena Rudina, faced many moral conflicts on her journey. The largest, and most recurring started when Cat and Elena switched lives, leaving Ellena on Cat’s train. Unsure what to do, Elena makes a choice that alters her whole life. When unable to jump Elena resolves to stay on the train imitating a sick Cat, until she can get off. To me this is a blameless act, Elena only wants to get home to take care of her sick mother, a natural human instinct. However, as Elena fails to get off the train she resolves to ask the Tsar to release Luka, which is, in my opinion, less moral than getting off the train but still ethical. Time wears …show more content…
Cat’s chamber. Her chamber.” (127) As clearly stated in the quote, Elena believes that what was once Cat’s is now hers, “her chamber.” By just believing in the possibility that she could live Cat’s live, Elena sacrifices her ethical reason for staying on the train. For now instead of staying on the train because she can’t get off, Elena, if only partly, remains on the train for the splendor that surrounds her; a completely amoral decision. Yet, she is discovered, as Elena and not a sick Cat, by the butler and governess, all of whom concoct a plan for Elena to run away. Though when,she is scheduled to run, Elena doesn’t. Her desire to keep Cat's life and see thetsar overwhelms her wish to go back to her village and by giving into this desire, Elena morals turn very sour and quite unlike the moral she had when initially stranded on the train. Elena has no regret for her decisions until she meets up with Cat, who is furious that Elena stole her life and allows Elena be dragged off to prison for impersonation. Seeing the error in her ways, after Elena, cat, Anton, and Baba Yaga return from their expedition, she departs back to her downcast village, with