I think that “The Story of How One Russian Peasant Fed Two Generals” is easily my favorite story that I have read in this class this semester so far.  The sheer relentlessness of the work is what really stands out to me. The comedic moments, such as the one in which the Generals suddenly decide to resort to cannibalism, are given virtually no build up. What little lead up there is to such moments gradually becomes shorter and shorter. At the same time, the generally non-existent presence of basic cause and effect becomes increasingly less existent as the story goes on. By the end of the tale, I actually laughed whenever the narrator suddenly declared some sort of fact which radically and conveniently altered the Generals’ situation. (This is epitomized by the moment in which the narrator states that the peasant started “doing things” for the general.)

“The Story of How One Russian Peasant Fed Two Generals” seems to be making fun of the Russian class system, illustrating the ridiculous way in which two men simply assume that a peasant would appear in their hour of need. It is interesting to me how utterly helpless they truly are without the peasant. Perhaps then that this story is meant to shine the light on the irony of the Russian class system. Perhaps the upper classes are supposed to assume their own superiority, and are yet helpless without various creature comforts provided by the supposedly lowly lower classes.