The Non-Russian as the Other
Russian literature often depicts an image of the non-Russian as “the Other.” In Michail Lermontov’s “Bela,” Lev Tolstoy’s Hadji-Murat, and Nikolai Gogol’s Taras Bulba, we are presented with multiple images of this Other, this non-Russian, who is in some way different. These three texts explore different questions and ideas such as the role of women, the exploration of warring cultures, the culturally-specific definition of heroism, and the non-Russian as the Other. All these things help to paint a better picture of Russian culture, and the way people viewed these strangers, these people who were different than them.
“Bela” shows a view of the Noble Savage – a less civilized, inferior race that, though it will never be as good as the Russians, can be turned into a miniature version of the Russian. Bela’s brother is more than willing to give up his sister for a horse. Bela is then taken in by the Russians and “tamed.” Thus she becomes something of pleasure to the Russians, something to look at until they get bored. She is constantly compared to animals – she is even said at one point to be no worse-looking than a horse. Lermontov paints a picture of the way Russians view these Others: as people who can be taken in and tamed because while they are savages, there is still hope for them, and the Russians can help them if they are feeling kind.
While “Bela” only appears to be quietly making fun of the way people think and act, Hadji-Murat is blunt in its point. It questions just how different the Other is from the Russian. The story focuses on a Chechen man, who the reader becomes sympathetic with. Throughout the story, the Russian leader (tsar Nicolas I) and the Chechen leader (Shamil) both make decisions for no political reasons, but rather because they feel like it. There is pointless violence from both sides, with Hadji Murat being stuck in the middle of it all. Tolstoy is showing the reader how similar the Russian and the Other truly are.
Taras Bulba depicts a warring nation and culture. From the very beginning when Taras Bulba meets his sons after a long absence and decides to fight with them, the text shows how much emphasis is put on fighting and strength. Taras and his sons are Cossacks who go to fight against the Poles. The story focuses on how important war is to the people, and that the cause is more important than the self.
The role of women is clearly portrayed in all three texts. In “Bela,” Bela is clearly there to please others. When she is taken away from her home, she becomes just someone to look at. Finally, she gives in to her captor and grows to love him as he says he loves her. She is depicted as simple and easy to manipulate. In Taras Bulba, the woman is seen as the unnecessary soft parent and person. In a culture that lives for war, the woman is seen as overprotective and against fighting. At one point, Taras Bulba says, “Don’t listen to your mother, my lad; she is a woman, and knows nothing.” In Hadji-Murat, the women of the Chechens are not looked down on as much; however, their job is to serve the men. “She did not look at the guests, but it was evident that she sensed their presence” (Gogol 9). Here the woman is doing her job of bringing out food and provisions, almost like a servant. It appears that all three share the feeling that the woman’s role is to be the mother and the overprotecting, kind, gentle one. Her job is to please the men.
Taras Bulba shows a nation that is very focused on fighting. After fighting with his older son, Taras Bulba exclaims, “Yes, he fights wellâÂ?¦ he will make a good Cossack!” With this statement, Taras shows fighting and being a Cossack as being inexorably linked. Hadji-Murat focuses on pointless violence. Throughout the entire text, the leaders of both the Russians and the Other make decisions of no political basis, and bring on unnecessary violence, as if for their own amusement. As calmly as Shamil contemplates different tortures for Hadji Murat and his family, tsar Nicholas I considers making a man run a gauntlet of “a thousand men, twelve times” (Tolstoy 76-77). “Bela” shows just how much a man will do for a horse. Kazbich does not hesitate to use violence to get revenge on an animal, even if it means hurting a human being. The three texts are clear in their message – there is useless corruption and violence in the Other. Gogol goes on to suggest that this violence is mirrored in the Russians, and that they are not as different as they believe themselves to be.
Heroism is also viewed differently in the three texts. Taras Bulba places his cause before himself and his family. When his son betrays him and goes with a Polish girl, Bulba does not hesitate to kill him. He makes it seem as a noble deed, placing himself completely and wholly into what he stands for. Bela’s brother gives her up for a horse, and while this is not truly seen as heroic, it is depicted as being the normal custom of the Other. All this points to a view of the Other as being immoral, and having a set of beliefs and values that are very different from the Russians, and therefore very wrong by their standards.
The three texts provide examples of the way Russians saw non-Russians. The Other was thought to be different from the Russians, less civilized, and in need of “help” from the “kind Russian.” The Others were thought to be savages, but ones who, with a little work, may possibly be “tamed” and become almost suitable to be inferior versions of Russians. Gogol, Lermontov, and Tolstoy all exaggerate the views of the Russians, creating works that, whether it was intended or not, make fun and criticize the way the Russians felt and thought about these Noble Savages. Tolstoy is specifically pointing out just how similar the Russians and the Others are. In fact, he makes the Russian appear even worse – making fun of Russian nobles, and making the protagonist a kind Chechen man, one of the Others himself. He appears to be saying, how can the Russians take themselves seriously, when they themselves are worse than the very people they call savages?
