A theme that is becoming more apparent to me in this class is the role of the human body. As we discussed in the group class, revolutionaries would often dig up the graves of saints in order to prove that the dead bodies do in fact decay, contrary to religious belief. While this is a very literal example, there are also examples in literature that we can observe. For example, Rakhmetov devotes an enormous amount of time to improving his body.Like the previously mentioned revolutionaries, he stresses the importance of present carnal strength and potential rather than the role of the body after death.

Yet another example lies in “We.” The protagonist becomes concerned when he begins to “grow a soul.” I cannot personally identify a religion that presents the soul as post-birth trait. Generally speaking, it is something that already exists at the time of birth (and usually before). In “We,” it would appear that yet again the body is completely tied to the present. It’s role in the after life becomes very unclear.

Perhaps what we can identify from these examples is that the struggles and goals during  revolutionary Russia were so entirely carnal that the philosophical perspective among the country became more agnostic, if not atheistic  We know that there was a rise in anti-religious groups (and instances of violence against groups that maintained religion) throughout Russia. But how subconscious was this rise in perspective? That is the question I would be curious to explore further.