A christmas tree and a wedding

Fyodor Dostoevsky Discussion Questions Fyodor was born on October 30, 1821 and died January 29, 1881

Russian novelists

Used characters who were emotionally and spiritually distressed and liked to think about the psychological mindset of the characters in his stories


This title refers to the Christmas Tree and the Wedding because they are the two relating factors throughout this story

The Christmas Tree stands for the innocent little girl the narrator met at the New Years Eve party and the older Yulin Mastakovitch

The Wedding is the bond between that same little girl the narrator had seen five years ago and Mastakovitch
The title "A Christmas Tree and a Wedding" The Christmas tree and the Wedding are related because at the party when he sees the tree the narrator also sees Yulian, the little girl, and their interactions.
Once he sees the bride and groom at the wedding, he realizes that the groom is Yulian, and leaves us to assume the bride is the little girl from the party.
The narrator remembers the Christmas tree because of the wedding

How are the Christmas Tree and the Wedding related? Fyodor tended to write stories that involved harsh social backgrounds
In this story he expresses social status by first saying that the kids with the most money got the finest toys and it continued to decrease
"He longed to play with the other children, but did not dare; it was evident that he already felt and understood his position"
When the narrator says this we know that this child is of poor social status impacting the way he plays and associates with the other children
Another example when Fyodor expresses harsh social backgrounds is when Yulin is in shock when the rich little girl is playing with the poor red headed boy and he tells the little boy to "go away" repeatedly How does Social status play a role in this story 1. Why do you think Yulin acts the way he does towards the poor red-headed boy?

2. Why does the narrator think about the Christmas Tree when he happens to stumble upon the wedding?

3. How can you tell that the bride still feels the same way towards Yulin as she did at the party, even when she is about to become his wife?

4. What clues does the narrator give us to allow us to predict that Yulin and the little girl will eventually become husband and wife? Continued.... "Three hundred...three hundred. Eleven ..twelve ...thirteen.....sixteen - five years! Supposing times twelve is sixty; yes, to that sixty... well, in five years we may assume it will be four hundred." (Christmas tree)

"People were saying that she was only just sixteen ... I heard people saying in the crowd that the bride was an heiress, that she had a dowry of five hundred thousand." (Wedding)
Works Cited Solove'ev, Eugenii. Dostoievsky, His Life and LiteraryActivity. London: Allen & Unwin, 1916. Hathi Trust. Web. 29 Oct. 2012.

"Fyodor Dostoevsky - Biography." Fyodor Dostoevsky. The European Graduate School, n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2012. <http://www.egs.edu/library/fyodor-dostoevsky/biography/>.

Carr, Edward H. Dostoevsky (1821-1881) : A New Biography. Boston: H. Mifflin, 1931. Hathi Trust. Web. 29 Oct. 2012.

Yarmolinsky, Avarhm. Dostoievsky, a Study in His Ideology. New York: n.p., 1921. Hathi Trust. Web. 29 Oct. 2012.