Themes
The novel has been interpreted both as a satire on the Communist attempts to create a New Soviet man and as a criticism of eugenics. One commonly accepted interpretation is that Bulgakov was trying to show all the inconsistencies of the system in which Sharikov, a man with a dog's intelligence, could become an important part. Sharik is seen as "a reincarnation of the repellent proletarian," and the professor represents a "hyperbolic vision of the bourgeois dream," according to J.A.E. Curtis.
Names figure prominently in the story. Preobrazhensky's name is derived from the Russian word for "transfiguration." "Sharik" is a common name for dogs in Russia, equivalent to "Spot."
The name and patronymic "Poligraf Poligrafovich" translate roughly as "Rotogravure, Son of Rotogravure" and echoes a tradition of nonsense double names in Russian literature that goes back to Gogol's hero Akakii Akakievich in "The Overcoat". The name is also a satire on new naming conventions in the early Soviet Union. Nevertheless, the name was chosen according to the old Russian tradition, of "consulting the calendar," with Poligraf's name day being March 4.
The name of the donor of the human implants, an alcoholic and bum, is Chugunkin ("chugun" is cast iron) which can be seen as parody on the name of Stalin ("stal'" is steel).
Read more about this topic: Heart Of A Dog
Famous quotes containing the word themes:
“In economics, we borrowed from the Bourbons; in foreign policy, we drew on themes fashioned by the nomad warriors of the Eurasian steppes. In spiritual matters, we emulated the braying intolerance of our archenemies, the Shi’ite fundamentalists.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
“I suppose you think that persons who are as old as your father and myself are always thinking about very grave things, but I know that we are meditating the same old themes that we did when we were ten years old, only we go more gravely about it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)