Similarly, Akhmatova uses irony in her poems to express the people’s reaction to the horrors of Stalin’s oppressive political regime. In I Am Not One of Those Who Left the Land Akhmatova refers to the countless Russians who “left the land/to the mercy of its enemies” and proudly asserts her patriotism as she stayed and suffered, believing “the reckoning will be made/after the passing of the cloud” (Lines 1-2, 13-14). Akhmatova uses irony to communicate her patriotic views, suggesting that those who remained in Russia may be suffering extreme social and political oppression but they are better off than the “half-dead” felons (Line 6). Akhmatova also uses irony in the title and first line of her poem Why is This Age Worse..? to suggest that Russian history is defined by collective suffering. Akhmatova and Allende both use irony in their writing to highlight the theme of political and social oppression.
Another literary technique used by both writers to explore the theme of political and/or social oppression is the writer’s voice. Akhmatova dedicates many of her poems to Stalin’s victims, both the living and the dead. Despite the government opposition towards her work and the horrific conditions of life in Russian during Stalinism, Akhmatova did not abandon her country. She proudly states: “I am not one of those who left the land/to the mercy of its enemies” (Line 1-2). In the poem Why is This Age Worse..? Akhmatova expresses the people’s “grief and dread” and the history of self-destruction that has defined her country. This is symbolised using paradox and alliteration in the lines “have we not fingered the foulest wounds/and left them unhealed by our hands?” (Lines 3-4). Allende also uses the writer’s voice to reveal the racial discrimination and social oppression of Westerners towards the Amazon Indians, who were forced to accept their religion and culture: “They could not understand the simplicity of the foreigners’ religion; they said it was the same story over and over, while they had many stories of gods and demons, and spirits of sky and earth” (p81). The writer’s voice comes through clearly in City of the Beasts where Allende positions her reader to reassess western views and attitudes towards civilised races and a history of colonisation and exploitation. Both Allende and Akhmatova employ the writer’s voice to expose their negative views towards social and political oppression at the hands of the powerful.
Juxtapositioning is another powerful literary technique used by these writers to explore the theme of political and social oppression. Allende juxtaposes the self-serving Western civilisation with the nurturing and spiritual Indian civilisation. The Indians are depicted as a spiritual race who support each other and live like an extended family: “They all lived together, sharing everything from food to the care of children” (p117). Conversely, the Westerners are depicted as violent, destructive and selfish beings who are determined to kill the Indians and exploit their natural environment. Allende explains that soldiers who monitored the border were “supposed to protect native peoples against abuses of settlers and adventurers, but in practice, they never did” (p64). This political and social oppression at the hands of the west is further reinforced in her quote:
Foreigners… pushed the Indians farther and farther toward impenetrable jungle, or killed them, with no fear of being punished (p64).
In her poem Why Is This Age Worse…? Akhmatova also uses juxtapositioning to compare two civilisations and expose the political and social oppression that existed in Russia. She successfully juxtaposes a sense of hope in the West with a sense of overwhelming doom, death and destruction in the East:
In the west the falling light still glows,
and the clustered housetops glitter in the sun, (Line 5-6)
but here Death is already chalking the doors with crosses,
and calling the ravens, and the ravens are flying in. (Line 7-8)
In her poem I Am Not One Of Those Who Left The Land Akhmatova juxtaposes the courage and loyalty of the survivors with the weakness of the ‘felons’ who abandoned their country during the war. “straighter than you… more proud…” (Line 16), “Their flattery leaves me cold” (Line 3) is juxtaposed with her sentiments: “dark is your path, wanderer; wormwood infects your foreign bread” (Lines 7-8). Set in a climate of long-standing political and social oppression, Akhmatova’s poems suggest that leaving one’s country “to the mercy of its enemies” (Line 2) is a fate worse than death. Juxtaposition is uses by both Allende and Akhmatova to compare the oppressed and the oppressors.
Isabel Allende and Anna Akhmatova express their views about political and social oppression by adopting an ironic tone, using a strong writer’s voice and exploiting the technique of juxtapositioning. In her novel City of the Beast Allende positions her reader to realise that the Indian civilisation has been historically oppressed by the West for the sole purpose of exploiting its natural resources. Akhmatova’s poems I Am Not One of Those Who Left the Land and Why is This Age Worse..? reflect the horrors associated with Stalin’s political oppression and the strength of those who did not abandon Russia. The theme of political and social oppression affects so many people that it continues to provide writers with inspiration for their literary work.
