Ignorance and Knowledge

The physically small narrator of "My First Goose" possesses a law school education; he reads, writes, and wears glasses. Representing knowledge and culture, he is set in opposition to the Cossacks, who cannot read or write. Yet in this story Cossacks possess the greater power. Though the narrator knows Leninist politics, the very reason for the war, it is he who must prove his worth to those fighting for it. This theme relates to the complex political moment during which the story is set. The revolutionary cause for which the Red Army is fighting is not a factor on the front lines, populated by illiterate Cossacks merely willing to plunder. It is the narrator who must gain power and learn to kill and survive on the front. The narrator must suppress his intellectual and emotional sensibilities to have the power to forward the socialist cause. He...