Sonechka 53-59
Jasia's mother was condemned to Kazakhstan for her Polish Communist background. In the middle of the twentieth century, Poland was invaded by Germany and the Soviet Union where hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed, raped, and deported. Jasia's family fled from Poland, but her mother was caught and condemned to Kazakhstan.
pg. 55 — Orenburg
Orenburg is a city in Southern Siberia where "Orenburg" means a fortress along the River Or.
pg. 58 — Krylov's Fables
Ivan Krylov was a fabulist (someone who writes fables) and dramatist who lived from 1769 to 1844. He was known for his comedic and satirical works that were sometimes inspired by historical events in Russian history (such as "The Wolf in the Kennel" and "The Swan, the Pike and the Crawfish"). Jasia has dreams of attending drama school and practices many traditional dramas and texts, although there is little mention of these dreams ever going anywhere.
pg. 58 — Prospero's daughter Miranda
In Shakespeare's The Tempest, which Jasia references in her preparations for drama school, Prospero and his daughter Miranda are banished to an island at an early age. The latter is characterized by her naïveté and gender, as she is the only female character in the play. There are a few similarities between Jasia and Miranda, as both exist in strongly patriarchal worlds; Jasia, who often depends on her sexuality and men to escape Kazakhstan and survive in Russia, and Miranda, whose father dictates much of her life.
pg. 58 — Marina, daughter of Pericles
Pericles is another of Shakespeare's plays referenced by Jasia in her ardent preparation for drama school. Marina is the beautiful daughter of Pericles and Thaisa who nearly dies. In one scene, Marina is nearly raped in a brothel but avoids this fate and becomes well-known for her artistic talents. In the end, she ends up marrying a city governor Lysimachus. One could read Jasia as a young woman who finds an escape from reality through plays and drama, just as Sonechka did when she was younger.
