The Winter Oak - How does Anna Vasilevna change by the end of the story from what she is like at the beginning? Explain the part Savushkin plays in these changes and how the language of the story helps us to understand them.

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The Winter Oak - Yuri Nagibin

. How does Anna Vasilevna change by the end of the story from what she is like at the beginning? Explain the part Savushkin plays in these changes and how the language of the story helps us to understand them.

In 'The Winter Oak', Anna Vasilevna changes in many ways and Savushkin is the key to these changes. In the opening few paragraphs of 'The Winter Oak' the reader learns a great deal about Anna Vasilevna's initial personality. For example, when Nagibin writes, "The piercing bell that announced the beginning of the school had hardly died down when Anna Vasilevna came into the class-room," we learn that Anna Vasilevna is obviously a very punctual person. She is presented in a fairly stereotypical way by Nagibin. This stereotype is continued when Nagibin writes of Anna Vasilevna "pushing a hair pin back into her heavy knot of hair," because a bun is viewed as a conventional hairstyle for strict teachers. A key theme in the story is learning and this is the focus of Anna's change. The beginning of the story is set in a classroom, where Anna Vasilevna is teaching. As Anna Vasilevna announces to the class that, "Today we are going to continue learning about parts of speech" we see Anna's intention to teach the class, however it is ironic as the English lesson is not the only lesson that Anna will be a part of that day.

When Savushkin enters the classroom, we are able to see how important he is to Anna's change. Savushkin is rebelling against the conformities of school by being late to his lesson and this goes against Anna Vasilevna's legalist ideology of conformity. Anna Vasilevna is annoyed by Savushkin's refusal to conform. She is part of the restrictive school system and she abides by the rules, so why shouldn't he? Later on in the lesson, when the class are asked to call out examples of nouns, Savushkin contributes, "winter oak," he says which the reader knows must be significant as it is the title of the story. When Nagibin describes the manner with which Savushkin announces his noun, we begin to see how important Savushkin is to the story. Savushkin speaks "Just as if he had woken up out of a dream," which suggests to the reader that even though Savushkin has arrived at school physically, his mind is still in his 'dream world.' We also learn about how sure of himself and confident Savushkin is. He contributes his noun by shouting it, and we are told that "The children began to laugh," they are ridiculing him for his effort but Savushkin notices neither the laughter of the children nor the admonishment of Anna Vasilevna. However Anna Vasilevna is willing to give Savushkin a chance, this is perhaps the start of Anna Vasilevna's change as she is able to see that this rule breaking late little boy may have something to contribute that would not come to the other children for a number of years. We learn more of Savushkin as Nagibin goes on to write "The words were torn out of his soul" suggesting that Savushkin's "joyful secret" is very much a part of him. Savushkin says "winter oak" as a "confession" this tells us of his sinful guilt about being consistently delayed by the tree which shows that however individual and independent Savushkin may be, he still has some regard, however little for rules. As the part of the story set in the classroom comes to an end we see that although Anna Vasilevna does not yet understand Savushkin's "strange excitement" she is on her way to sharing it with him as they enter the forest together later in the story. Also, at this early point in the story, when Anna Vasilevna says, "Oak is a noun" we know that at present it means nothing more to her than grammar however it soon will mean much more to her as the story progresses.
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The part of the story set in the staff room of the school shows the beginning of both characters changes. As Savushkin talks, he spreads his hands in a "grown-up way," this tells the reader that the role reversal between pupil and teacher has begun. Anna Vasilevna clearly still has her mind on the grammar lesson of that morning as she corrects Savushkin in his explanation of his route to school; "Not straighting, straight," this shows the reader that even though she has begun to change, she still maintains some of her adult qualities.

As the pair ...

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