A Precocious Autobiography by Yevgeny Yevtushenko proved to be somewhat of an inspirational story for myself as I can definitely relate to childhood bullying referred to in the excerpt. Yevtushenko told an incredibly conventional story through the use of detailed imagery depicting the troublesome events of his childhood. Only once did Yevtushenko briefly mention that his parents had left him alone in Moscow, signifying that he has moved on and accepted the fact that he is alone. Yevtushenko’s childhood was difficult enough due to the absence oh his parents without having to live on the streets as well. He told his incredible story of his love for poetry and the consequences that he faced because of his artistic ability and passion. Despite his troubles Yevtushenko had a positive attitude and was certain to overcome his fear the street leader or bully known as Red. His efforts to become stronger paid off as he essentially defeated Red, knocking down the power within the hierarchy of Chetvertaya Meshchanskaya. Although I don’t necessarily believe that fighting back with violence is the best solution I most definitely understand the pain that was caused by Red and his lack of appreciation for the arts or in particular, poetry. The term Identification in literature defined by Brian Moon (2010) is described as someone becoming emotionally attached with a character or a reader forming a bond with a character in the text. It also enables readers to think about their own experiences from the characters perspective. (Moon, 2010). This is definitely the case with my relationship to the text. All through primary and secondary school for that matter I was always the subject of bullying because of my interest in the arts and in particular acting. I can relate directly to the pain inflicted upon Yevtushenko, and although my bullying was never physical I understand how upsetting it can be when you feel you are not appreciated. Eventually the bullying stopped as people began to see me as who I truly was and that I was still a human being, it was only my interests that differed from theirs. Once I overcome the bullying I simply merged into the crowd while still being able to pursue my passion for theatre. I simply cannot even begin to imagine how much more difficult the situation would have been with the absence of my parents or my home.
I believe that everyone at some point in his or her lives would have experienced bullying directly or at least indirectly. I think that is why the reading was quite popular in-group discussion. Everybody was able to relate to the reading in some way shape of form but most obviously everybody was able to feel his pain and then share in his glory of triumph over street leader Red. Unlike some readings A Precocious Autobiography by Yevgeny Yevtushenko is extremely conventional. Yevtushenko tells the story like it is, from the point of view of the victim. There are no gaps to fill in or assumptions to make; everything that happened in this chapter of his life is well told and enforced with incredibly strong imagery. As a generally non-resistant reader I enjoy being able to feel the story and follow the story line every second of the way just as it was intended by the author. I don’t want to challenge the reading because I am enjoying the story that is being told, but even if I wanted to challenge the reading I couldn’t because of its precise conventional methods.
The aim of creating a biography is to inform people of your life challenges or successes and that is exactly what Yevtushenko has done. His story is definitely an inspirational one showing that although he was made to believe that poetry or artistic culture isn’t acceptable in his kind of environment he continued to do what he loved and decided to overcome the normal expectation of a typical street kid. His success story is absolute inspiration to anyone whether it is an adult reflecting back on his or her childhood or a child who is going through similar situations of bullying. I believe that Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s A Precocious Autobiography is a great conventional text that could be incorporated into the education system as an example of fine literature, telling the story of a child’s incredible courage, strength and determination to follow his dreams on the road to poetry.
