Sofia Petrovna 1-7
pg. 3 — Sofia Petrovna
A typist in the Soviet Union in 1937. Although she only starts working in order to provide for herself and her son Nikolai after her husband dies, she takes great pride in her work and is a diligent perfectionist. She is a very proud mother as well; her cheerful and studious son is the center of her life. She enjoys the advances and recognition she receives for her dutiful work, as she is placed in charge of the typing pool, elected representative of her communal apartment, and in charge of gathering party fees. She works diligently to keep up her appearances as well, dressing in a clean black smock with a collar of genuine lace, she curls her hair and adds bluing to her wash water to keep her grey hair looking clean. She is quickly learning to integrate into the new Soviet System until she is plunged into an abruptly different reality when her son is arrested. The name "Sofia" comes from the Greek "sofía" (σοφία) meaning wisdom. It is a fitting name for our narrator that guides us through this harrowing world, enlightening us about the hardships of the Great Purge. "Petrovna" means rock or stone, which reflects Sofia's groundedness, at least up until she breaks under the stress at the end of the novella.
pg. 3 — Kolya (Nikolai)
Sofia's son. He is a young man who wholeheartedly embraces the ideals of the communist party as a member of the komsomol and who, in political and cultural terms, represents the epitome of the socialist realist hero. He has a clean-cut, athletic, controlled appearance: handsome, grey eyes and black brows, tall, confident, calm, and cheerful with a “military way about him”. He is an exceptionally hard worker, obtaining a degree in mechanical engineering, a field promoted by the industrializing Soviet state, and just beginning a promising career, even recognized by the official newspaper of the Soviet Union's Communist Party. In addition to his central role in driving the narrative, Kolia acts as his mother’s connection to the state, articulating its values and justifying its actions to the less politically engaged Sofia Petrovna.
pg. 3 — Fyodor Ivanovich
Sofia's deceased husband, previously a successful husband. He seems to have been a good husband to Sofia, and placed great importance on education.
pg. 3 — Leningrad
The setting for this novella, and the home of the author, Chukovskaya. Formerly Russia's capital city, St. Petersburg and Petrograd, it was renamed after Lenin's death in 1924, but remained of huge cultural, scientific and economic importance. The city additionally had a historically independent spirit as the cradle of the 1917 Revolution and significant Russian intelligentsia. In the early 20th century, after Lenin’s death, it was a stronghold of Stalin’s rivals Grigorii Zinoviev and later Sergey Kirov. Due to this seeming threat, it is suspected that Stalin was involved in the assassination of Kirov in 1934. This assassination became the pretext for the Great Purge during which approximately 40,000 Leningradians were executed.
pg. 3 — The Publishing House
Where Sofia Petrovna works as a typist -- somewhat skilled position, mostly staffed by women at the time. The author, Chukovskaya, herself worked as an editor at a publishing house at the start of the Great Purge, so this detail is somewhat autobiographical.
pg. 4 — The Director’s Secretary
A polite elderly lady
pg. 5 — Erna Semyonova
One of the young typists with whom Sofia Petrovna works. She annoys Sofia greatly because she makes mistakes frequently, smokes, and chatters. She seems to have an in with the local branch of the Communist party because she is sometimes summoned to type up secret party documents. Her role seems to demonstrate flaws in the system and the party's hypocrisy in the application of its foundational ideals because Erna does not represent the ideal worker that the party praises.
pg. 5 — Fanny (Sofia Petrovna’s maid)
She is used as an example of an insolent and poor worker. Sofia compares the undisciplined Erna to her maid, perhaps reflecting her disdain for insolence in addition to perhaps exposing some of her class-based prejudices.
pg. 5 — Natasha Frolenko
The typist that Sofia likes best and with whom she eventually becomes quite close. She is described as modest and homely with a sickly complexion, but an outstanding and very precise typist. She is well read on party issues, and an avid supporter of the communist cause, despite her family's previous high status that has prevented her acceptance into the party officially.
pg. 5 — The accountant
One of several connections Sofia Petrovna makes in her early days at the publishing house. The accountant is sedate and bald, but relatively young. He knew Fyodor Ivanovich, and invites Sofia to join his Western European dance club.
pg. 5 — “A well-known writer”
This particular author, one of the many authors Sofia Petrovna gets the opportunity to talk with in her position managing the typists, is handsome and grey haired, with a set of false teeth. It is implied he is well-off with his beaver fur hat, monogrammed briefcase, and personal car. She is quite flattered to be the first to read new manuscripts from great authors, in spite of the fact that she does not greatly appreciate such literature.
pg. 6 — Timofeyev
The party secretary, an unshaven sullen man, who walks with a limp.
pg. 6 — “The party”
Stalin's communist party, the All-Union Communist Party. It was founded on Marxism–Leninism which aimed to erase all traces of the capitalism that had entered under the New Economic Policy and transform the Soviet Union into a socialist state via the creation of a one-party totalitarian state, rapid industrialization, and collectivization of agriculture.
pg. 6 — The director (of the publishing house)
A relatively young man of about thirty five, he is handsome, well dressed, and neatly shaven. He has a pretty wife and a young daughter. Sofia Petrovna admires him, for his gracious manner in work dealings and his kind manner when caring for his daughter at the office party, and sees him as a role model for Kolya.
pg. 7— “The burning of the Reichstag in Germany”
The Reichstag building was built for the purpose of serving the “Imperial Diet” which was the Parliament of Germany. It served this purpose from its inception in 1894 until it was burned down in 1933.
pg. 7 — Thaelman
The German Communist leader, he lived from 1886-1944. He was a committed Stalinist and gained support for the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) through a close association with the Soviet Union; from 1928 the party was largely controlled and funded by Stalin's government. Under Thaelman’s leadership the KPD fought to overthrow the liberal democracy in the Weimar Republic (the German State).
pg. 7 — MOPR
The International Aid to Revolutionaries Organization. This organization was established by the Communist International in 1922 to function as a sort of political Red Cross. It provided material and moral aid to radical "class war" political prisoners and the “captives” of capitalism around the world.
