Hate Exposed at Babi Yar - 930 During the course of World War II, more than one hundred thousand Jews, Gypsies and Russian prisoners of war were brutally murdered. However, what is unique about this particular perspective is that the narrator is not a Jew, but a mere observer appalled by the atrocities that took place during the Holocaust. It is through allusions, as well as other literary devices, that Yevtushenko caustically elucidates the absurdities of the hatred that provoked the Holocaust, in addition to the narrator's identification with the Jews and their history of 'oppression. Perhaps the most effective literary device used in “Babi Yar” is allusion. The first clear allusion seen in the poem is that concerning Egypt (line 6). This reference recalls the slavery of the Jews in Egypt before they became a nation. In line 7, the narrator refers to how so many Jews perished on the cross. The reason for these early allusions in the first section is clear. Yevtushenko is establishing the history of the Jewish people, a history of oppression, prejudice and innocent victims. The poem's next illusion is a reference to the Dreyfus Affair, a more modern demonstration of irrational and greedy anti-Semitism. It was in the Dreyfus affair that an innocent man was accused of espionage and sent to prison for over ten years, despite an overwhelming amount of evidence demonstrating his innocence, simply because he was Jewish. Yevtushenko uses these allusions to support his point. to its reference to a boy from Bielostok who is murdered by the Russian people...... middle of paper ...... transcends race, religion, color and gender, and involves the entire human race. Yevtushenko powerfully portrays the tragedy of the absurdity of the long-standing unfounded hatred that many people feel toward the Jewish people as a whole. Furthermore, the narrator addresses each reader as if he were Jewish, not in the sense of having lived the experience, but rather in the sense of being part of the process of remembering, of human society which feels a moral feeling. obligation to acknowledge what happened and learn from this experience, lest humanity be condemned to repeat the unthinkable. It is perhaps more appropriate that Yevtushenko concludes the poem with the ironic accusation that only when all anti-Semitic and hate-motivated people are hated and "spit on" can the narrator truly be a " Russian”, the standard. for true humanity.

Essay / Hate Exposed at Babi Yar - 930 During the course of World War II, more than one hundred thousand Jews, Gypsies and Russian prisoners of war were brutally murdered. However, what is unique about this particular perspective is that the narrator is not a Jew, but a mere observer appalled by the atrocities that took place during the Holocaust. It is through allusions, as well as other literary devices, that Yevtushenko caustically elucidates the absurdities of the hatred that provoked the Holocaust, in addition to the narrator's identification with the Jews and their history of 'oppression. Perhaps the most effective literary device used in “Babi Yar” is allusion. The first clear allusion seen in the poem is that concerning Egypt (line 6). This reference recalls the slavery of the Jews in Egypt before they became a nation. In line 7, the narrator refers to how so many Jews perished on the cross. The reason for these early allusions in the first section is clear. Yevtushenko is establishing the history of the Jewish people, a history of oppression, prejudice and innocent victims. The poem's next illusion is a reference to the Dreyfus Affair, a more modern demonstration of irrational and greedy anti-Semitism. It was in the Dreyfus affair that an innocent man was accused of espionage and sent to prison for over ten years, despite an overwhelming amount of evidence demonstrating his innocence, simply because he was Jewish. Yevtushenko uses these allusions to support his point. to its reference to a boy from Bielostok who is murdered by the Russian people...... middle of paper ...... transcends race, religion, color and gender, and involves the entire human race. Yevtushenko powerfully portrays the tragedy of the absurdity of the long-standing unfounded hatred that many people feel toward the Jewish people as a whole. Furthermore, the narrator addresses each reader as if he were Jewish, not in the sense of having lived the experience, but rather in the sense of being part of the process of remembering, of human society which feels a moral feeling. obligation to acknowledge what happened and learn from this experience, lest humanity be condemned to repeat the unthinkable. It is perhaps more appropriate that Yevtushenko concludes the poem with the ironic accusation that only when all anti-Semitic and hate-motivated people are hated and "spit on" can the narrator truly be a " Russian”, the standard. for true humanity.

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