Zhivago's Reservations

Title: “Flying Demon”

Artist: Mikhail Vrubel

While much of the country was enthralled in the mission of the Bolsheviks and the Revolution, there were some with their doubts or hesitations. Yury Zhivago was one of these intellectuals who did not give himself whole-heartedly to the revolution. For instance, when speaking with the deaf-mute on the train, they are talking about the twisted sorts of ‘social experiments’ that the deaf-mute is performing, as with Zybushino. Yury is against these sorts of experiments. When talking about the chaos and disintegration that comes with these experiments, Zhivago states, “The country has to get over one upheaval before plunging into another.”

            In Chapter 6, when Yury returns to Moscow, he feels alienated from many of his old friends. “How effortlessly, how happily that had given up independent thought.” They seem to have abandoned all originality and individuality in light of the revolution, and Yury is greatly troubled by this.

            Similarly, this painting (the last from Vrubel’s Demon Series) holds feelings of uncertainty, doubt, and foreboding. The dark colors along with the snow-capped mountains in the background again represent the cold atmosphere of the revolution in Russia. The most important aspect of the painting is the face of the demon, which gazes ahead with a look of uncertainty, reflecting Yury’s reservations about the Bolshevik revolution.