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Crime or Punishment: Russian Narratives of Incarceration

"After the Ball"

"After the Ball"
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy
1903 (completed) / 1911 (first published)
Kazan'

PLOT SUMMARY: Ivan Vasilyevich begins telling a story from his youth. Years ago, he falls in love with a young woman with the last name Varenka. She is described as enchanting, graceful, and tall. Her father, the provincial marshal, is holding a ball during Butter Week which Ivan attends. Despite the overall magnificence of the ball setting, Ivan regrets not having the first dance, the mazurka, with Varenka; he is late while attempting to improve his apparel. However, he and Varenka end up dancing together most of the night to the waltz and other music. They flirt happily. Later in the night, Varenka’s father and Varenka share a dance. Throughout, Ivan can’t help but admire the general’s stately appearance, humbleness, and military manners.

After the ball, upon his arrival at home, Ivan is restless and can’t stop thinking about Varenka. He leaves the house and walks to Varenka’s house. At the field, he observes a large, dark mass and drum beating. A blacksmith next to Ivan informs him that they are beating a Tartar for deserting the army. As Ivan looks closer, he sees Varenka’s father urging the soldiers to beat the Tartar even harder despite the Tartar’s pleas to have mercy. The Tartar is beaten to the point of looking only like a bloody mass. When the general sees Ivan from afar, he ignores him and Ivan looks away in shame. From that night onwards, Ivan’s love for Varenka begins to fade.

ANALYSIS: Captivity and punishment are deeper themes hidden beneath this story of young love. Ivan is first portrayed in a nontraditional form of captivity. During the ball, he falls captive to the alluring physical appearance of both Varenka and her glamorous ball outfit. And he is not the only one; Ivan recounts the numerous ball attendees who also admire Varenka “[outshining] them all” (273). Because the attraction is so physical, Ivan’s admiration for Varenka is thus extended to her father as well, as he idealizes the colonel as the perfect husband, father, and man. The emphasis placed on Varenka’s temporary beauty represents the ease at which humans can become fixated on outward appearance and wealth. Similarly, the attention and praise given by Ivan to Varenka’s father for his status as a colonel indicates the power and trust that is sometimes involuntarily and unconsciously given to the military, guards, or the government. This is almost foreshadowing of the blind faith some Russian citizens had in their government throughout the Great Purge.

However, once the spell of the ball is broken, Ivan is able to see the cruelty performed on a non-member of the wealthy class. The soldiers surrounding the Tartar are described as a black mass. In addition, the beaten Tartar’s back is unrecognizable as a “motley, wet, red, and unnatural” (278) thing. Not only are the people carrying out the punishment defamiliarized to Ivan and the reader, but the victim is also obscured from the common eye. They have simply become foreign objects to humankind. This suggests that although punishments in Russia such as these may have been carried out in public, many turned a blind eye or believed it to be for the best. In addition, the colonel’s refusal to acknowledge Ivan or the cruelty symbolizes the strength and influence of the corrupt justice system present in Russia. In the end, Ivan’s fading affections prove that feelings of love can’t overpower feelings of disgust and shame.

KEY QUOTATIONS:

“He was beautifully built, with strong shoulders, and long shapely legs, and a broad chest adorned with just a few medals and thrust forward in military fashion.” (274)

“I was so ashamed that without knowing where to look, as if I had been caught in a most shameful act, I lowered my eyes and hurried away home.” (278)

“But no matter how hard I tried … I couldn't enter military service, as I had formerly wanted to, and so I didn't serve in the military nor in the civil service… ” (279)

BIOGRAPHY: Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, came from a well-known Russian household in 1828. Tolstoy was born on the large family estate in Yasnaya Polyana, and was the fourth among five siblings. He experienced a lot of loss throughout his childhood; both his parents passed away before he was ten, and he and his siblings moved from their home to Kazan when their legal guardian also died. Before the age of 18, Tolstoy was homeschooled by French and German tutors. When he finally entered the University of Kazan in 1844, he left in 1847 without a degree due to his poor grades and excessive partying habits. Following this, Tolstoy led a relaxing lifestyle in Moscow, Tula, and St. Petersburg. He also began writing at this time, while racking up debt from gambling on the side.

Tolstoy’s shift from an affluent author to a peaceful radical was marked by his time in the army (1851-1856) and trips around Europe (1857, 1860-61). He witnessed many horrors including deaths in war and public executions, that shaped his political and literary views and direction. After the trips in 1862, Tolstoy married Sophia Andreevna Behrs, daughter of a court physician; their marriage was initially happy, and Sophia acted as his editor and manager. Tolstoy’s most famous works were written in this latter half of his life. He attempted to portray Russian society and combat as realistically as possible, but he wasn’t afraid to criticize them. In addition, he drew inspiration from his own life experiences and those around him. Two of his greatest novels, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, were published in 1869 and 1878 respectively. Tolstoy’s writing style earned him the praise of authors such as Fyodor Dostoevsky and Anton Chekhov. In addition to his writing, Tolstoy had gained a following for his religious beliefs, ideals of love and nonviolence, and renouncing the aristocratic ways. His final hours were spent at the Astapovo train station, where he died of pneumonia at the age of 82 in 1910.

Bibliography

“Leo Tolstoy.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 16 Jan. 2019, https://www.biography.com/scholar/leo-tolstoy.

“Leo Tolstoy.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Mar. 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy.

FURTHER READING:

Wirtschafter, Elise Kimerling. “Justice with Order: Autocratic Values and Military Discipline.” From Serf to Russian Soldier, Princeton University Press, 1990, pp. 96–119.
This is an excerpt of a book by Elise Kimerling Wirtschafter on the power dynamic and system within the Russian military. It questions and analyzes the extent to which soldiers had to obey their superiors, and the consequences of criminal soldier actions such as desertion or questioning authority.

Frierson, Cathy. “Crime and Punishment in the Russian Village: Rural Concepts of Criminality at the End of the Nineteenth Century.” Slavic Review, vol. 46, no. 1, 1987, pp. 55–69.
In this article by Frieson, she covers the cruel punishments inflicted on criminals in the 19th century. She also explains these in the context of crime and how both criminality and law were perceived by the poor working class societies of Russia.

Crawford, Lawrence. “Viktor Shklovskij: Différance in Defamiliarization.” Comparative Literature, vol. 36, no. 3, 1984, pp. 209–219.
This paper about Shklovskij discusses the reasons for utilizing defamiliarization as a literary tool to make objects look different. Crawford explains how defamiliarization works to change the readers’ perceptions of the text’s topic, and how it forces readers to become more aware of the language presented by the author.

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Methodology

My annotations for Leo Tolstoy's short story "After the Ball" (1903), can be understood as a guide to how the text is working to point to its central idea - that is, artifice, luxury, and social privilege are founded on state-sanctioned violence and force. The Russian writer believed violence served to maintain a social order that benefited only the wealthy and ruling classes, a sentiment which is clearly expressed in a draft of his essay, The Kingdom of God is Within You, when he writes:
"Every box at the theater, every bottle of champagne, every luxury book is that many lashes, that many days in prison, that much blood, that many groans and tears" (quoted in O'Bell 590).
Tolstoy's critique of state violence is born from the profound moral crisis and subsequent spiritual awakening he experienced in the 1870s, following the publication of his novel Anna Karenina. His turn to Christianity would lead him to develop "an unequivocal and unconditional form of pacifism that rejected not only war but all forms of individual and collective violence" (Atack 82). All these ideas are made manifest in "After the Ball" in which Tolstoy relies on parallel imagery that actively links social privilege with state violence. Offering a blend of both context and interpretive analysis, I present and annotate key areas in the short story that support this idea.

pg. 271

Ivan Vasilyevich

The protagonist and narrator of the story. Handsome, well-off, and predicted to have a military career, the young Ivan Vasilyevich falls in love with Varenka B and her father, both of whom represent the possibility of upward mobility and social privilege.

Varenka B.

A young noblewoman and daughter of Colonel B with whom Ivan Vasilyevich falls in love with during the ball. Throughout "After the Ball," Ivan Vasilyevich remarks on her whiteness, fragility, and ethereality. As a result, Varenka is less a body but more of an idea; for the narrator, she is the embodiment of high culture.

pg. 272

Butter Week

Also known as Maslenitsa, Butter Week is the last week before Russian Orthodox Lent. Marking the end of winter and the arrival of spring, the religious/folk holiday is spent basking in worldly delights before fasting from meat. In "After the Ball," we see Ivan not only indulge in food, but also the luxury and artifice of elite Russian society - social privileges, as we recognize later in the text, that are founded on state-sanctioned violence and force. Additionally, Butter Week and its connection to Easter serves as the frame for the short story's religious allusions, namely the Crucifixion and Christ's suffering.

Quadrille

A fashionable late 18th-19th-century dance for four couples, with each pair forming a single side of a square. Consisting of four to five contredanses (i.e., the repeated execution of a predefined sequence of floor patterns, also known as figures), the quadrille depended on the cooperative execution of intertwining figures rather than intricate step work.

Waltz

A highly popular ballroom dance that is characterized by a step, slide, and step in 3/4 time. The waltz is performed in closed position, in which partners embrace while facing toward each other.

Polka

A lively courtship dance characterized by three quick steps and a hop, danced to music in 2/4 time.

pg. 273

Mazurka

A folk dance for a circle of couples, characterized by a lively tempo of 3/4 or 3/8 time, stamping feet, and clicking heels. The short story's emphasis of music and dance directly parallel and contrast the highly coordinated movements of soldiers and the harsh "music" of the military's fife and drums in the second half of the text.

"The more deeply I was in love, the less she seemed to me just a body..."

In this moment, Varenka becomes the embodiment of all that Ivan Vasilyevich longs for - social privilege, luxury, and materiality. She symbolizes high culture and its implied elegance, refinement, and, ultimately, artificiality.

pg. 274

Epaulettes

A type of ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia of rank by armed forces. The narrator's close attention to materiality, such as Varenka's dress and the Colonel's epaulettes, not only reflect a desire for upward mobility and its luxuries, but also the intersection between high culture and militarism, or the ways in which artifice, luxury, and materiality both covers and is rooted in state violence.

Colonel B.

Just as Varenka is the embodiment of privilege and social mobility, Colonel B. embodies Russian military rule. The narrator links both Varenka and her father, further cementing that social privilege and militarism are inextricably connected.

Nikolay I

The Emperor of Russia, King of Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1825-1855. His rule was one of militarism and bureaucracy, installing the military in all key positions in the country and reorganizing many government departments along military lines. As a result, the government was permeated by the military spirit of direct orders, absolute obedience, and precision. Varenka's father is frequently associated with/likened to Nikolay I, sharing the same military discipline and force.

pg. 275

"It was apparent that at one time he had danced quite well ... everyone loudly began to applaud..."

While Ivan Vasilyevich describes Colonel B's dance movements as deft, he also notes the difficulty of his movements. This may be a subtle metaphor for the decline or fall of the old ideas of militarism and its failure to mask its incongruous place in society.

pg. 277

Fife and drum
Instruments part of military field music. The fife and drum served as a melodic communication system to order the soldiers' day and set vital communications such as preparatory and execution signals through battle. Their "unpleasant, shrill melody" both parallel and contrast the music of the ball.

"Black uniformed soldiers..."

The uniform of the soldiers serves to starkly contrast the finery of upper-class dress, and the formation of the soldiers—echoing the coordinated movements of the quadrille, polka, mazurka, and waltz—is yet another contrast to the dancing couples of the ball. Given the structure of "After the Ball," punishment, violence, and militarism are what lurk beneath artifice, luxury, and social privilege. The parallels between the gauntlet and ball also blur the lines between brutality and high society, further suggesting the union between social privilege and militarism.

Tatar

A person hailing from Northern and Central Asia. The term was frequently used to describe Mongol and Turkic invaders of Russia. In "After the Ball," the unnamed Tatar is punished for desertion. Framed as a Christ-like figure, he is flogged by soldiers as he runs the gauntlet, alluding to the Crucifixion and Christ's suffering.

"His whole body twitching, his feet tramping through the melting snow ... And ever at his side there walked with a firm, bobbing step that tall officer..."

This moment in the text describes "running the gauntlet," a form of corporal punishment in which the condemned is forced to run between two rows of soldiers, who strike out and attack with sticks or rods or knotted rope. To prevent the condemned from dodging the blows, the runner's hands are tied around a rifle and is then led forward by a soldier. For desertion, a soldier could face 1,500-6,000 blows when running the gauntlet. Because the punished would be unable to stand this many blows in a single session, blows were delivered in portions, with the runner healing his back in the hospital in between sessions. This type of punishment was banned in 1863.

pg. 278

"Have mercy on me, lads..."

Another biblical allusion meant to evoke the concept of Divine Mercy, or God's compassion.

"...I caught the sight of the back of the man being punished..."

The narrator's description of the Tatar's body, which is painted as "motley, wet, red, and unnatural," uses elements of the grotesque to elicit both discomfort and empathy from the reader. Additionally, the pink sash Varenka dons around her dress directly parallels the unnamed Tatar's bloodied back, reinforcing the idea that social privilege and state violence are inseparable.

Willow sticks

Sharp, thin branches used by soldiers to whip and beat the bare back of one who is running the gauntlet. This could be a subversive allusion to the crown of thorns Christ was forced to wear during the Crucifixion.

Works Cited

Atack, Iain. “Tolstoy's Pacifism and the Critique of State Violence.” Pacifism's Appeal, edited by Jorg Kustermans, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, Switzerland, 2019, pp. 81–102.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "mazurka". Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 Mar. 2016, https://www.britannica.com/art/mazurka.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "polka". Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 Jun. 2013, https://www.britannica.com/art/polka.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "quadrille". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Mar. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/art/quadrille-dance.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "waltz". Encyclopedia Britannica, 25 Sep. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/art/waltz.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Tatar". Encyclopedia Britannica, 16 Apr. 2014, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tatar.

McKibben, Margaret. “Carnival, Shrovetide, Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, Maslenitsa.” Russian Folk Group of Seattle, WA USA, http://www.scn.org/arts/russfolk/maslenitsa.htm.

National Park Service. “Material Culture: The Fife and Drum.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 2 Nov. 2018, https://www.nps.gov/teachers/classrooms/material-culture-the-fife-and-drum.htm.

Navy Department Library. “Epaulettes and Shoulder Straps.” Naval History and Heritage Command, 13 May 2014, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/w/naval-traditions-names-of-rank/officer/epaulettes-and-shoulder-straps.html.

O'Bell, Leslie. “‘After the Ball’: Tolstoy Revisits ‘Childhood.’” The Slavic and East European Journal, vol. 58, no. 4, 2014, pp. 590–605. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44474468.

Riasanovsky, Nicholas V.. "Nicholas I". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Jul. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nicholas-I-tsar-of-Russia.

Tolstoy, Leo. “After the Ball.” Tolstoy's Short Fiction, edited by Michael R. Katz, Second ed., W.W. Norton, New York, NY, 2008, pp. 271–279.
Contents of this reply:
1. "After the Ball"
  "After the Ball"
  Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy
  1903 (completed) / 1911 (first published)
  Kazan'
  PLOT SUMMARY: Ivan Vasilyevich begins telling a story from his youth. Years ago, he falls in love with a young woman with the last name Varenka. She is described as enchanting, graceful, and tall. Her father, the provincial marshal, is holding a ball during Butter Week which Ivan attends. Despite the overall magnificence of the ball setting, Ivan regrets not having the first dance, the mazurka, with Varenka; he is late while attempting to improve his apparel. However, he and Varenka end up dancing together most of the night to the waltz and other music. They flirt happily. Later in the night, Varenka’s father and Varenka share a dance. Throughout, Ivan can’t help but admire the general’s stately appearance, humbleness, and military manners.
  After the ball, upon his arrival at home, Ivan is restless and can’t stop thinking about Varenka. He leaves the house and walks to Varenka’s house. At the field, he observes a large, dark mass and drum beating. A blacksmith next to Ivan informs him that they are beating a Tartar for deserting the army. As Ivan looks closer, he sees Varenka’s father urging the soldiers to beat the Tartar even harder despite the Tartar’s pleas to have mercy. The Tartar is beaten to the point of looking only like a bloody mass. When the general sees Ivan from afar, he ignores him and Ivan looks away in shame. From that night onwards, Ivan’s love for Varenka begins to fade.
  ANALYSIS: Captivity and punishment are deeper themes hidden beneath this story of young love. Ivan is first portrayed in a nontraditional form of captivity. During the ball, he falls captive to the alluring physical appearance of both Varenka and her glamorous ball outfit. And he is not the only one; Ivan recounts the numerous ball attendees who also admire Varenka “[outshining] them all” (273). Because the attraction is so physical, Ivan’s admiration for Varenka is thus extended to her father as well, as he idealizes the colonel as the perfect husband, father, and man. The emphasis placed on Varenka’s temporary beauty represents the ease at which humans can become fixated on outward appearance and wealth. Similarly, the attention and praise given by Ivan to Varenka’s father for his status as a colonel indicates the power and trust that is sometimes involuntarily and unconsciously given to the military, guards, or the government. This is almost foreshadowing of the blind faith some Russian citizens had in their government throughout the Great Purge.
  However, once the spell of the ball is broken, Ivan is able to see the cruelty performed on a non-member of the wealthy class. The soldiers surrounding the Tartar are described as a black mass. In addition, the beaten Tartar’s back is unrecognizable as a “motley, wet, red, and unnatural” (278) thing. Not only are the people carrying out the punishment defamiliarized to Ivan and the reader, but the victim is also obscured from the common eye. They have simply become foreign objects to humankind. This suggests that although punishments in Russia such as these may have been carried out in public, many turned a blind eye or believed it to be for the best. In addition, the colonel’s refusal to acknowledge Ivan or the cruelty symbolizes the strength and influence of the corrupt justice system present in Russia. In the end, Ivan’s fading affections prove that feelings of love can’t overpower feelings of disgust and shame.
  KEY QUOTATIONS:
  “He was beautifully built, with strong shoulders, and long shapely legs, and a broad chest adorned with just a few medals and thrust forward in military fashion.” (274)
  “I was so ashamed that without knowing where to look, as if I had been caught in a most shameful act, I lowered my eyes and hurried away home.” (278)
  “But no matter how hard I tried … I couldn't enter military service, as I had formerly wanted to, and so I didn't serve in the military nor in the civil service… ” (279)
  BIOGRAPHY: Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, came from a well-known Russian household in 1828. Tolstoy was born on the large family estate in Yasnaya Polyana, and was the fourth among five siblings. He experienced a lot of loss throughout his childhood; both his parents passed away before he was ten, and he and his siblings moved from their home to Kazan when their legal guardian also died. Before the age of 18, Tolstoy was homeschooled by French and German tutors. When he finally entered the University of Kazan in 1844, he left in 1847 without a degree due to his poor grades and excessive partying habits. Following this, Tolstoy led a relaxing lifestyle in Moscow, Tula, and St. Petersburg. He also began writing at this time, while racking up debt from gambling on the side.
  Tolstoy’s shift from an affluent author to a peaceful radical was marked by his time in the army (1851-1856) and trips around Europe (1857, 1860-61). He witnessed many horrors including deaths in war and public executions, that shaped his political and literary views and direction. After the trips in 1862, Tolstoy married Sophia Andreevna Behrs, daughter of a court physician; their marriage was initially happy, and Sophia acted as his editor and manager. Tolstoy’s most famous works were written in this latter half of his life. He attempted to portray Russian society and combat as realistically as possible, but he wasn’t afraid to criticize them. In addition, he drew inspiration from his own life experiences and those around him. Two of his greatest novels, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, were published in 1869 and 1878 respectively. Tolstoy’s writing style earned him the praise of authors such as Fyodor Dostoevsky and Anton Chekhov. In addition to his writing, Tolstoy had gained a following for his religious beliefs, ideals of love and nonviolence, and renouncing the aristocratic ways. His final hours were spent at the Astapovo train station, where he died of pneumonia at the age of 82 in 1910.
  Bibliography
  “Leo Tolstoy.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 16 Jan. 2019, https://www.biography.com/scholar/leo-tolstoy.
  “Leo Tolstoy.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Mar. 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy.
  FURTHER READING:
  Wirtschafter, Elise Kimerling. “Justice with Order: Autocratic Values and Military Discipline.” From Serf to Russian Soldier, Princeton University Press, 1990, pp. 96–119.
  This is an excerpt of a book by Elise Kimerling Wirtschafter on the power dynamic and system within the Russian military. It questions and analyzes the extent to which soldiers had to obey their superiors, and the consequences of criminal soldier actions such as desertion or questioning authority.
  Frierson, Cathy. “Crime and Punishment in the Russian Village: Rural Concepts of Criminality at the End of the Nineteenth Century.” Slavic Review, vol. 46, no. 1, 1987, pp. 55–69.
  In this article by Frieson, she covers the cruel punishments inflicted on criminals in the 19th century. She also explains these in the context of crime and how both criminality and law were perceived by the poor working class societies of Russia.
  Crawford, Lawrence. “Viktor Shklovskij: Différance in Defamiliarization.” Comparative Literature, vol. 36, no. 3, 1984, pp. 209–219.
  This paper about Shklovskij discusses the reasons for utilizing defamiliarization as a literary tool to make objects look different. Crawford explains how defamiliarization works to change the readers’ perceptions of the text’s topic, and how it forces readers to become more aware of the language presented by the author.