The House of the Dead
65 pages • 2-hour read
Fyodor DostoevskyThe House of the Dead
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Symbols & Motifs
Content Warning: This section includes discussion of physical abuse, animal cruelty, animal death, and death.
The Prison Camp
The prison camp is not only the setting for the majority of the novel but also an important physical symbol of The Problem of Violence in Society—in particular, the nature of violence and government oppression in Tsarist Russia. Alexander’s detailed descriptions of the prison camp in the opening paragraph illustrate the centrality of the camp to the idea of punishment itself. The location of the prison camp in remote Siberia means the majority of inmates are geographically removed from their familiar environments. They are sent to the periphery of the country, just as they are pushed to the periphery of society itself.
The cramped nature of the barracks is a constant refrain in Alexander’s writing. The overcrowded facilities are just one way in which small privileges and rights, such as privacy or solitude, are denied to the prisoners. The barracks and the bathhouses are a culture shock to Alexander who, as a noble, must adjust to the sudden close proximity of so many people. The lack of privacy in the prison camp is a symbolic demonstration of the many ways in which the prisoners’ lives are curtailed.
The physical location of the prison camp also has an important symbolic meaning in terms of the idea of exile. Prisoners like Alexander cannot always immediately return to society, as prisoners are sometimes expected to remain in a Siberian town for a specified period of time upon release. In the Introduction, the unnamed narrator describes how he saw Alexander in a small town in Siberia. Alexander is much changed from the man who narrates the memoirs. The prison becomes an obsession for Alexander, prompting him to spend the rest of his life trying to convey to potential readers how the system dehumanizes people through violence and control, thus rendering prison both a physical place and a state of mind.
Fetters and Chains
Life in the prison camp means a life spent in fetters and chains, which become an important motif reflecting The Experience of Dehumanization and Dignity in Prison. The prisoners must wear their fetters at all times and, during moments when they are under additional scrutiny, they are placed in chains. These constraints have a practical purpose in that they limit the prisoners’ movement, but they also function as a symbolic reminder of the nature of incarceration. In every moment and every action, the prisoners are reminded that their freedoms are limited.
Even in the brief excursions to places like the bathhouse or on religious holidays such as Christmas, the prisoners are always locked up in their fetters. These fetters are still used even when the prisoners go to the hospital. The fetters are not needed to restrain dying or sick men, since these men often lack the strength to move, but the authorities deny even the ill comfort and relief from this restraint. Alexander describes the corpse of one man who has recently died. As well as a religious cross placed on his dead body, there are fetters which bind the dead man’s limbs. Even in death, the prisoner remains constrained.
The removal of the fetters is the final act that symbolizes the end of Alexander’s sentence. After bidding farewell to acquaintances and leaving behind everything he has known for years, the removal of the fetters carries such an important symbolic meaning that Alexander chooses to end his memoirs with this scene. While he may face additional or different problems in the future, the fetters will no longer constrain him. Alexander is a free man.
Animals
Though Notes from a Dead House is primarily concerned with people and humanity, animals play an important role in Alexander’s depiction of life in the prison camp, becoming a key motif. The various animals show a more humane side of the prisoners. Alexander is a dog lover, and he is one of the few prisoners who is willing to show affection to Sharik, the dog which lives in and around the camp.
The treatment of the goat and the eagle are more instructive in a symbolic sense. The goat, Vaska, accompanies the men on work duties, and they take great pleasure in dressing up the goat on ceremonial occasions. For a group of condemned criminals, Vaska offers an opportunity to exhibit a level of care and affection which is not typically exhibited in their interhuman relations. The nursing of the injured eagle also shows that the prisoners are capable of compassion. Finding the injured eagle, they resolve to help. When the eagle is deemed healthy enough to leave the camp, the prisoners invest the bird with their own vicarious desires for freedom by carefully setting it free.
While the presence of animals in the camp offers an opportunity to show the prisoners’ humanity, Alexander does not shy away from portraying the complexity of the prisoners’ characters. The major orders the goat to be slaughtered; the prisoners grumble briefly, but they also consume the goat meat. Their capacity for affection is infused with a pragmatic acceptance of suffering and violence. Similarly, the dogs around the prison inspire some humanity and compassion, but not all the prisoners feel the same way, such as when Neustroev kills a puppy to line a pair of new boots with its fur.
The purchase of the horse is also a symbolic moment. When the old horse dies, the prisoners are sad. Since the prisoners are entrusted with the responsibility of purchasing a new horse, they seize the chance to show off their knowledge and to exercise some agency. They appreciate being given responsibility, rather than having a new horse given to them by the authorities. It is a small gesture, but a significant one for men who have been dehumanized and stripped of their dignity by a violent system.
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