After close examination of Lake Baikal in Rasputin\u2019s essay, there seems to be great variability between the moral and heavenly descriptions of Lake Baikal, versus mysterious and sometimes deceptive illustrations of what Rasputin and his colleagues observe within the region.<\/p>\n
From the beginning of this piece, descriptions of \u201cthe sacred sea,\u201d \u201cthe sacred lake,\u201d \u201c the sacred water,\u201d illustrate Lake Baikal as a region closely connected with the divine. It is said to be \u201cconsidered enlightened\u201d by those who frequent it, and Rasputin states that this part of Russian is \u201cwrought by God\u201d (188). Here, there is a connotation of spiritual goodness paired alongside Lake Baikal. Later, the accounts of the colleague\u2019s miraculous transformation after visiting the region similarly associate a divine and everlasting power with the region. This colleague states that his \u201cspirits have been lifted\u201d by Baikal, and that he now addresses the lake formally as \u201cFather Baikal\u201d (191). Spiritual imagery, specifically the epithet \u201cFather,\u201d implies Lake Baikal becomes a heavenly force for those who witness it. Now with that supernatural, divine connotation comes a sense of morality mention on page 193\u2014Baikal\u2019s heavenly abundance is evidenced by its vast nature, which in itself \u201cis always moral.\u201d Furthermore, Rasputin states that Baikal \u201chas never refused to help human beings,\u201d even despite their constant utilization of its resources. By use of notions like morality and unconditional support of Russian people, Lake Baikal and its heavenly nature suggest moral and spiritual goodness.<\/p>\n
With these various (and seemingly harmless) characteristics of Lake Baikal, such as spiritual enlightenment and even its physically bright, blossoming rocks, there is surprisingly also a notion of deception and mystery portrayed through Rasputin\u2019s observations. In the beginning of this piece, it is mentioned that Baikal noticeably \u201cdumbfounds\u201d its visitors due to its otherworldly nature (188). Specifically, \u201cits rocks seem to blossom\u201d and its snowy mountains are accentuated so much so that the human \u201ceye perceives\u201d them \u201cas many times closer than they actually are\u201d (189). Here, there is a deceptive component to the Baikal region, which almost tricks its visitors into imagining scenery different than it really is. Another scene that depicts similar deceptive notions is during winter when \u201cthe transparent ice seems so thin\u201d that one is \u201cafraid to step on it\u201d even though it \u201cmight be over one meter thick\u201d (191). This second excerpt and its imagery of ice and transparency coincides the moral goodness of the Baikal region; however, the fact that frozen lake is so clear that it deceives its visitor contradicts the region’s divine, moral goodness.<\/p>\n
In sum, Lake Baikal in Rasputin\u2019s essay seems to encompass both moral and divine notions yet simultaneously comes across as deceptive and mysterious. Do you think these characteristics should mutually co-exist? Perhaps they enhance one another, and purposely portray the region as complicated: spiritually divine and moral, yet also deceptive, a force to be reckoned with. I would love to hear your thoughts!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After close examination of Lake Baikal in Rasputin\u2019s essay, there seems to be great variability between the moral and heavenly descriptions of Lake Baikal, versus mysterious and sometimes deceptive illustrations of what Rasputin and his colleagues observe within the region. From the beginning of this piece, descriptions of \u201cthe sacred sea,\u201d \u201cthe sacred lake,\u201d \u201c […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":400,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[124,133],"class_list":["post-503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-calamities-of-ice-and-water","tag-baikal","tag-rasputin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2447-fall-2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2447-fall-2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2447-fall-2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2447-fall-2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/400"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2447-fall-2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2447-fall-2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2447-fall-2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2447-fall-2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2447-fall-2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}