the siege_chapter 17 and 18

8/14/2019 The Siege_Chapter 17 and 18

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The Siege

Chapter 17


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Characters mentioned

Anna

Kolya

Marina Petrovna

Mikhail

Kolyasfriends- Alyosha and Shura

Andrei

Vera


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Summary

Winter has arrived. Anna usually greets the first October snow with an alm

childish delight, but not this year. Weve just had a chapter during which sh

Marina have decided to acquire a wood-burning stove, and Anna has taken

sledge to collect it. It is to cost a lot of money, a large proportion of their r

sugar and lard rations and Marina has given up the only ring she ever we

offered if necessary as a last resort. Marinas role seems to be a kind of cho

common sense. She knows the way things are going long before Anna has

it through, and has come out with wise old saws like You cant eat money

first arrival at the flat.


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Striking lines PAGE 152-

1. The snow will wipe away all mistakes

2. ..and the park is eerily luminous

3. But nothing again will have the freshness, exhilaration and loneliness of the first snowfall.

PAGE 153-

1. But not this year.

2. The snow is silent, but ominous.

3. whether it will be an enemy or a friend.

4. A ring of siege grips the city. Nothing comes in, nothing goes out.

5. like wolves at the mouth of a cave.

6. This is blockade.

7. they are well-muscled and healthy

8. They write letters to their families, saying that theyll be home soon, when they have won the war. Behindunbroken supply lines stretch all the way back to Berlin.

9. An iron ring squeezes around the besieged city, slowly throttling it.


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Striking lines

PAGE 154-

1. He lies back against her shoulder, eyes shut, exhausted. She chafes his hands.

2. There is no fuel. The electricity is off. The apartment is cold with the kind of cold you usually encouncoming home..oblivion.

3. Her eyes tire quickly, and the lines of print fizz and dazzle. I am turning into an old woman.

4. The moneys no problem. Ive got that.

5. You cant have much left.

6. Three times a day she smears a chunk with sunflower oil, then scatters a thick icing of sugar on it. Kosugar. They have only two kilo bags left

PAGE 155-

1. The price of these little stoves is shooting up every day

2. until it gets colder, the price will go up.

3. Theyll all be wrapped up, just like you.

4. Because of the Germans.

5. you got some of her special drink.


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Striking lines PAGE 156-

1. He hasnt managed to get up today. It isnt that hes given up again, its just that hes so weak.

2. Although theres no electricity today,..

3. We cant possibly keep more than one room warm.

4. because we cant waste matches.

5. Isnt that a sign of malnutrition?

PAGE 157-

1. At least he didnt develop a chest infection. As long as she can keep his chest clear, his asthma wont She needs goose-fat to rub on his chest at night.

2. The shapes of his ribs is clear under her hands.

3. They are well-off, compared to many.

4. Theres no more fake intimacy, no pretending.

5. If theyre going to survive, theyll only survive together.

6. her father eats very little.

7. He wants life more than hes ever done,..

8. Conserve your energy.


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Striking lines Pg.158-

1. My soul.

2. my bird

3. .glow with a life

4. failing of her fathers voice.

5. bathed in meaning

6. my little pigeon, my blossom, my treasure trove.

7. They are not impatient.

8. He believes he can hear their thoughts.

Pg 159-

1. swallowed on air.

2. He knew who he was.

3. each time he brought back he empty tea-glass with a few.sucked blissfully.

4. The roubles,sugar, lard and bread are in a cotton bag tied around her waist.

5. ..which you can wear under an overcoat is safer.shopping bag


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Striking lines

Pg 160-

1. But I dont think he needs to know.

2. I wish you werent going alone.

3. so they dont see it.

4. But take care who sees it.


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The Siege

Chapter 18


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Characters mentioned

Anna

Klavdia

Kolya and his friends Alyosha and Shura

Evgenia

Galya

Tanya and her siblings, Seryozha and Masha

Marina

Vera


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Summary

This chapter is about Annas search for a burzhuika to prevent her family ffreezing to death. Her weakness due to the hunger is brought out. At first, market only gives her deals she cannot afford, leaving her in despair, beforeEvgenia, the street smart woman from the trenches cuts through the crowd

wrangles Anna a good deal for a burzhuika. Evgenia is also used to present

people revert to acts ethically wrong when they are backed into a corner, asgame for food (despite not being interested in men). Other factors like theprotection the sellers need area also depicted, as well as the continuous shechapter ends by depicting the attitude needed to survive, the can-do, self-ceattitude.


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Striking lines Pg 162-

1. The wind has dropped

2. The shell-bursts are just irregular enough to tear nerves.

3. The streets are quiet. A few figures struggle along.

4. ..the northern sides of the streets are said to be the most dangerous.

5. This is the theory. The facts of life have been torn up and scattered, so youas well believe in theory and rumour as anything else.

6. Everyone has stories of people a few metres from the site of explosion whmiraculously thrown clear, unharmed.

7. If you started trying to find logic in any of it, youd go crazy

8. It is hard work walking through the snow.

9. .a sweat of weakness starts out over her body..


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Striking lines

Pg 163-

1.Winter suits her

2. Annas not even sure that shes moving forward.

3. She forces herself on. Shes so hungry.

4. Youre weak, but you dont understand how weak until you try to do somethindemands energy. You move slowly, and rest a lot, like an invalid.

5. But out here its frightening. She mustnt rest, not even for a minute, or the col

6. You can easily imagine things.7. Heads down

8. If she collapsed, no one would be able to help her. No one has the strength. Itto survive

9. But Im fine


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Striking lines

Pg 164-

1. The prices are never fixed. Here, the laws of supply and demand apply in their purest form.

2. As Anna moves close to the stalls, she sees a stallholder flip an offered gold locket with his fingbread to sell.

3. Ill give you a hundred grammes for it, thats all. Take it or leave it

4. No one says, Ill sell you this bread. They say, Ill give you this bread.5. Hand over everything, and I might give you life for another half a day.

6. You can be separated from your life so easily. It might happen in the street, or in the bread queyoure typing or while youre sleeping.

7. You can die so casually these days.


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Striking lines

Pg 165-

1. The stallholder attends to another customerin the past few weeks.

2. Making eye contact with no one

3. She walks on, lowering her eyes, dragging the empty sledge.she were pulling th

4. You frightened me

5. Dont go near there again. Hes dangerous

6. Dont look

7. They wont take money, you know.


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Striking lines

Pg 166-

1. realize that we might not all die.

2. unless she treats me right. Im not going to die.

3. The planes of her face are flattened by hunger

4. Evgenia will live, and not die.5. Dont let him out. The streets round here arent safe for kids.

6. She doesnt want any of rubbish either.

7. Lizards are cold-blooded.


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Striking lines

Pg 167-

1. Dont make me laugh. I could get twice that.

2. You could, but it wouldnt do you any good.

3. Are you threatening me?4. Weve all got to help each other, thats the way it goes.

5. so the stove-seller wont see the contents of her bag when she op

6. That sections cracked. Do you have to poison her?


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Striking lines

Pg 168-

1. I want my payment first.

2. Youll get your payment when my friends got her stove fixed on her sledge.

3. Watch what youre saying.

4. I know what Im saying5. You mind what I say, Galya

6. The stove feels heavy, but already snow is falling on to the sheets that cover it, d

7. Youd better get off home quick.


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Striking lines

Pg 169-

1. Hes had this same cough everyones had.

2. If that woman had been on her own, Id have taken the stove, knocked her into the srun.

3. If even a nice girl like you is thinking of bashing Galya over the head and running ofstoves, therell be plenty whod do much more than think about it. Me, for a kick off.

4. I mean, youve got money? Youre still working?5. Mind you, they say hunger slows down the brain.

6. You can guess what type of man has two hundred grammes to spare these days. Theyportrait gallery.

7. if you dont eat, you end up dead.


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Striking lines

Pg 170-

1. Dont you even think about going in for what Im doing.

2. No one is clearing the streets.

3. They havent got the strength to come out

4. But now the neighbour is ill herself, and cannot come5. the old woman feels nothing much, except that she is very weak.

6. It hurts to breathe deeply

7. It consoled her seventy years ago, when she was in the womb. It consoles


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Striking lines Pg 171-

1. She will burn for a while, and then shell die down.

2. Where are they going, and why so happy?

3. but they have disappeared.

4. Masha was evacuated.

5. Yes, all the pipes are frozen.

6. Youve still got water?

Pg 172-

1. Starvation has catapulted her into old age.

2. Suddenly she looks a long way down, like someone at the bottom of a cliff. Will she ever be able to climb back up those ste

3. she just cant do all those journeys up and down the stairs on top of this.

4. Is it just the snow falling, or is she losing her balance?

5. like an animal


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Striking lines

Pg 173-

1. Its all right, it wasnt close. Just the usual shelling.

2. Were managing. We have to improvise.

3. She will put food in his mouth, whatever it takes.

4. she shouts at the grey sky.

5. See if I care.

the siege_chapter 17 and 18

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