of this study—Pelagea’s reactions towards Pavel’s cause. Meanwhile, the second section is concerned with the covert content of the novel.
The basic idea of this section is to see the changes in Pelagea as her actual reactions towards Pavel’s movement. In the story, Pelagea has undergone changes in
both her attitude and beliefs. To understand Pelagea’s changes towards Pavel’s movement, we will follow her step-by-step process: from being introduced to a
completely new way of conduct, then comprehending Pavel’s idea the criticism to the current feudalism social structure, and finally to being completely internalized in
the movement. Basically, the reactions of Pelagea manifest in her changes of attitude and beliefs geared from her meeting with various circumstances of dealing with Pavel
and his friends’ cause. Those changes reflect Pelagea’s affinity toward the ideas that Pavel brings.
4.2.1.1. Pelagea as a Simple and Ignorant Woman
The very conditions in the settlement—miserable, hopeless and wearisome— inevitably affect the life of Pelagea Nilovna. In fact, she is a victim of the conditions.
Mikhail Vlassov, her husband, is no difference from other factory workers in the settlement—getting drunk in the evening and finding relief of his hopelessness in
beating and cursing his wife and son. As a woman and a mother, Pelagea’s life is so wretched. Women are degraded because they are trapped in a condition that makes
men brutal and cruel. For mothers like Pelagea, receiving beatings from their husbands is a regular and normal occurence. Therefore she lives in constant fear but
sees no hope of relief. Her everyday life is simply for pleasing her husband and evading his beatings. The character of Pelagea can be summarized from Pavel’s
impression of his mother, “She was all softness and sadness and submissiveness…” 17.
As a mother, there is nothing much she can do except sink into prayers. Her hardship in life has made her passive, hopeless, and fearful of new ideas and
differences. She maintains that any differences would increase her suffering. To her, it seems that women are born to be slaves for men. What she knows is only pleasing
and serving her husband. For a simple an ignorant woman like Pelagea, there is seemingly no relief from her condition except by being religious.
4.2.1.2. Pelagea is Afraid of Pavel’s Different Behaviors
After the death of her husband, Pelagea’s attention is directed to her only son, Pavel, whom during Pelagea’s marriage with Mikhail, receives little attention from
the mother. Her role as a mother is missing during her marriage so that she barely touches Pavel. Although at first, Pavel looks like a normal young person—going to
parties and getting drunk—but after some time his behavior is radically unusual. She senses the unusual behaviors of Pavel and feels terrified. She senses Pavel’s
becoming less and less intent upon going to parties, and he always comes home sober PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
on the weekends. He becomes thinner and begins to be more serious. Her motherly instinct is alert to these changes and this makes her feel rather confused.
The clues of Pelagea’s characterization in the novel are dominated by Gorky’s narration, as in the following passage showing the reaction of the mother to the
differences in Pavel: His mother was glad her son was not like the rest of the young people
at the factory, but vague fears stirred within her as she saw the stubborn efforts he was making to steer his course away from the dark
stream of the common life. 18 The mother notices that Pavel begins to talk less and less and begins to read books in
the evenings, and at the same time he grows cleaner, simpler and more helpful. “She was worried by these inexplicable changes …[since] [n]obody else in the settlement
ever did that” 19. In short, the changes in Pavel make the mother somewhat confused; she is both pleased and worry because she senses something positive in
Pavel, but, at the same time, she also senses something inexplicable.
4.2.1.3. Pelagea Senses Something Positive about Pavel’s Idea
