Brain Pain discussion

This discussion covers Part Two, Chapter XIX – XXV, p. 185 – 263


So begins Part Two, where we meet Margarita, a woman left lonely. She encounters a red-headed stranger at the Kremlin wall, who gives her a container of cream (with a cream like that, who needs a husband??!). Margarita goes sweeping over the Russian countryside and takes a dip in a moonlit river. Back in Moscow, Margarita rubs Woland the right way. Attired in pink and red with a diamond tiara, Margarita plays the perfect hostess at Satan’s Ball. Afterwards, she has a restorative repast with Woland (and friends), who restores the Master and their basement bliss. A storm rages over Yershalaim, and after it passes, Pilate shares a meal with his secret service man and gives him a special task for the night.


(Note: Chapter XXV might be better to discuss next week.)

To avoid spoilers, please restrict your comments to Part Two, pages 185 – 263 (and the previous pages)

I'm waiting until tomorrow, Monday, April 1st, which is the final week of our discussion. I have so much to say about this novel, but due to the fact that I read it prior to the discussion I've been afraid of posting spoilers.

SO, I will be sharing all of my thoughts this week.

And I learned my lesson. From now on I'm going to read the books at the same time as the group. (I've done that in the past, but have fallen behind sometimes when my work starts getting too hectic and I don't have much time to read, but I'm finding that I enjoy the discussions here more when I'm reading at the same time as the discussion posts.)

Well, I am certainly enjoying this book but a little confused as to piecing it together. I have a feeling I'll be surprised at the end.

Soooo, thinking out loud ........... obviously Margarita has made a pact with the devil (since the devil/demons have assisted her in exchange for her presence at the ball, and usually they are causing chaos and destruction in the lives of people they meet). Yet when the Master is liberated, he is not at all appreciative, does not seem to want his novel back or to continue with his work. I was waiting for come terrible repercussions to fall upon him based on his ungrateful responses but this did not happen. Since the Master to a certain extent is supposed to be symbolic of Bulgakov and since he did burn his manuscript, did Bulgakov (or his wife) perceive in some way that he/she made a pact with the devil to bring it back (out of his head, in reality)? Did he really not want to finish it, yet his wife pressed him to? Is this linked (or how is it linked) to the bigger picture that the roles the four (Woland, Krokowski, Azazello & Hella) play within the scope of Stalinist Russia? What does all this have to do with Faust, other than the obvious? Am I thinking too much? ;-)

Wow, this book certainly has generated more questions than answers so far.

Cleo wrote: "Well, I am certainly enjoying this book but a little confused as to piecing it together. I have a feeling I'll be surprised at the end.

Soooo, thinking out loud ........... obviously Margarita ha..."

Hi, Cleo. I've said before this is a difficult book to discuss in pieces, and once you've finished it's almost impossible to discuss prior sections as if you hadn't. So, please, keep on thinking too much, and I'm looking forward to the discussion at the end. Sounds like Barbara will be meeting us there as well.

I will say as far as the manuscript, the Master did finish it, but then got condemned for it when he tried to publish. His despair at the reception and fall-out is what led him to burn the manuscripts and lapse into the lassitude we find him in. (Along, one presumes, with his imprisonment, an occurrence that complete passed me by without the notes to point out the cryptic clues.)

Whitney wrote: "I will say as far as the manuscript, the Master did finish it, but then got condemned for it when he tried to publish. His despair at the reception and fall-out is what led him to burn the manuscripts and lapse into the lassitude we find him in. (Along, one presumes, with his imprisonment, an occurrence that complete passed me by without the notes to point out the cryptic clues.) ..."

Aaaah ..... okay .......... this makes a little more sense now.

Okay, I will keep plugging along. Thanks for your encouragement, Whitney, and for always being quick to respond with your enlightening comments!

Whitney wrote: "Cleo wrote: "Well, I am certainly enjoying this book but a little confused as to piecing it together. I have a feeling I'll be surprised at the end.

Soooo, thinking out loud ........... obviously..."

Hi Cleo! Yes, I agree with Whitney. Enjoy the book while you're still reading it, and once you're done we will be able to discuss the entire book without worrying about spoilers.

Cleo wrote: "Well, I am certainly enjoying this book but a little confused as to piecing it together. I have a feeling I'll be surprised at the end.

Soooo, thinking out loud ........... obviously Margarita ha..."

I also felt that the Master did not seem as appreciative as I thought he should have been.

Barbara wrote: "Cleo wrote: "Well, I am certainly enjoying this book but a little confused as to piecing it together. I have a feeling I'll be surprised at the end.

Soooo, thinking out loud ........... obviously..."

Any thoughts about the Devil's Ball? Why did they kiss her right knee? I liked the small detail that they provided a lavender arm rest for Margarita in case she got tired of standing for so long.

Jim wrote: "Any thoughts about the Devil's Ball? Why did they kiss her right knee?"

I wonder if it has anything to do with the Devil having a sore knee? By the end of the night Margarita's knee was sore as well.

Jim wrote: "Barbara wrote: "Cleo wrote: "Well, I am certainly enjoying this book but a little confused as to piecing it together. I have a feeling I'll be surprised at the end.

Soooo, thinking out loud ........"

I thought "The Great Ball at Satan's" was a fun chapter, although there were many parts of this chapter that were disturbing and over-the-top.

The lavender arm rest was a very clever device for Margarita when she was tired of standing so long.

I don't know why they kissed Margarita's right knee. (The last time I attended a devil's ball was around 820 years ago, so I'm a bit rusty on the details.)

But David has a good point -- the Devil has a sore knee, and then Margarita had a sore knee by the end of the evening. I'm not sure if this is a clue as to the reasoning for kissing her knee.

Many of the descriptions in this chapter were beautiful, and many were very disturbing (yes, this is the second time I've used the word "disturbing" but it's the only appropriate word I can think of.)

Barbara wrote: "I don't know why they kissed Margarita's right knee. (The last time I attended a devil's ball was around 820 years ago, so I'm a bit rusty on the details.)..."

LOL!

Here's what I found in one reference: "The Northern Symphony (1904) of Andrei Bely ends with a feast at which the kings of the North drink blood from golden cups. Like Margarita, the queen kneels on one knee to welcome the guests, who kiss her hand and her knee."

According to Wikipedia, Bely is considered by some to be the James Joyce of Russia. His novel 'Petersberg' "was regarded by Vladimir Nabokov as one of the four greatest "masterpieces of twentieth century prose", after Ulysses and The Metamorphosis, and before In Search of Lost Time."

Whitney wrote: "Here's what I found in one reference: "The Northern Symphony (1904) of Andrei Bely ends with a feast at which the kings of the North drink blood from golden cups. Like Margarita, the queen kneels on one knee to welcome the guests, who kiss her hand and her knee.".."

Thanks Whitney! I'm sure Bulgakov would have known Bely's work.

Barbara wrote: "Cleo wrote: "Well, I am certainly enjoying this book but a little confused as to piecing it together. I have a feeling I'll be surprised at the end.

Soooo, thinking out loud ........... obviously..."

I think he was depressed.

Well, this is what I got out of the sore knee thing. All the people at Satan's Ball are sinners, some infamously so. I think Margarita, being noted as such a sympathetic,compassionate and unselfish person by Woland, is there to provide compassion for the sinners and their various sinful acts. She accepts their kisses as a token of her sympathy for them, and somehow a bit of their regret, remorsefulness, penance, is transferred to her knee, thus making it sore. Woland has the same affliction.

Anyone got a theory on why Margarita has to be naked?

Some of this I am transferring from what I know of Milton's Paradise Lost. Milton states n Book I that the purpose of Satan's existence is to heap humanity's sins on himself, as he will be the one to forever acquire the totality of God's wrath--since he was the first and most prideful sinner.

I like this one connection I noticed(imagined?)--the dramatic fireplace entrances. I think JK Rowling read this and borrowed the idea in Harry Potter.

Tracy wrote: "Anyone got a theory on why Margarita has to be naked?..."

Outside of The Garden, nakedness is shameful.