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my cat died through the night. he got hit. i've never felt this helpless or this... i dont even know. the tears wont stop coming. i remember when i had to have him sleep with me for the first few weeks so that he'd learn to potty train and sleep through the night
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Josilyn Gagnon
6/7/04
Every human being in this world is different, unique, but we all have something in common. Every person came from somewhere. Every person had a mother and a father. Some people may not know who their parents are, but they know they had to have a set of parents. To most people family is important. They are the people who help you stand when you are not strong enough. They give you unconditional love no matter what you do. They are your blood; they are a part of you. In Robert Alexander’s book, “The Kitchen Boy”, family is a key role to keeping an entire royal family alive. Without each other the Romanov’s would not have lasted for as long as they did.
“The Kitchen Boy”, is one of many stories about the Romanov family. They were the last Imperial family of Russia before the Revolution. For a long time no one knew what had happened to them. There were stories that one of the four Romanov daughters could still be alive. In this book it was Grand Duchess Maria. In the animated movie, “Anastasia”, it was Grand Duchess Anastasyia (the Russian spelling) that had been the sole survivor.
In the book the Romanov family was being held under house arrest. They were not allowed to look out windows to go outside except for an hour a day. The Tsar his wife their four daughters and one son, the heir, were kept captive in this house, “The House of Special Purpose”. The house was basically comfortable prison. The seven family members and five servants lived miserably. But the family never faltered. Together the seven of them were strong, they were a unit.
The Romanov family was like a lot of the families found in Russia around the Revolution, their family came first of all and then Russia, “the most honest thing one can say about them was that they had a warm, devoted family. And the truest thing one can say about them was the nothing was more important to them than the well being of their Mother Russia” (32). They were a tight nit family that stayed strong by being a unit. The Romanov’s were not like regular Russian’s however, they were Royalty. And they were not the same as most Royalty, they honestly loved one another. Even the Tsar and his wife were in love with one another, “Yes, this I know without a doubt: never have a king and queen loved each other more then Nikolai and Aleksandra”(22).
The Reds, the people who took over Russia and had exiled the family, had made living conditions in the House of Special Purposes as difficult as they could. They did little things that insulted the family. Besides the Reds ransacking their belongings they would also take the family’s silverware. It is a small thing to take a few spoons or a knife but it did much damage. But the family together dealt with it, with out any complaints.
“I thought the shortage of utensils very mean, very humiliating, but Nikolai and
Aleksandra dealt with such rudeness without complaint, they did. Nikolai simply
accepted it as his fate, for his saint’s day was the day of Job, the long suffering,
while Aleksandra found it her duty to follow her husband’s example. And those
five royal children likewise complied, never once complaining” (26).
There were other cruel things that the Reds did to the family. Much crueler things. After a night of drunkenness some of the soldiers had gone into the one bathroom in the house and in black paint drew vulgar pictures and vulgar things,
“To all his peoples Nikolai said
As for a Republic, go fuck yourselves instead
So our Russian Tsar called Nick
We dragged from his throne by his dick” (97).
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Maybe it was because of their Royalty they did not let others know how much they were being affected by things. Or it could be a mix of their Royalty an their family ties, but for the most part the family was always calm and collected. If they were suffering in their prison of a house no one knew about it. They always played it cool in front of others,
“And yet they were a kindly family, those royals. During those last months and
even last weeks I recall no outbursts among the family members, no screaming or tantrums. There was no fighting, not even among the children. And never once did
I hear a raised voice between Nikolai and Aleksandra. No, never” (32).
They made it seem as though they were the perfect family.
The family stayed strong because of their religion not only their love for one another. Aleksandra had many pictures of the saints. She would line them out on tables; they were of the few possession she took with her when her family was exiled. Nikolai would fight with the guards to have services at the house so that his family could pray together. Aleksandra wrote to her friend once,
“The spirits of the whole family are good. God is very near us, we feel His
support, and are often amazed that we endure events and separations which once
might have killed us. Although we suffer horribly still there is peace in our
souls” (38).
Some people say that is was Empress Aledsandra’s fault that Russia became the way that it did. That it was her fault that Russia called for a revolt and that there was war in their country now. Horrible lies and stories were made up about her sleeping with other men and being a traitor to Russia. Leonka, the kitchen boy, says, “What first astounded me was the number of photographs, pictures of aunts and uncles and cousins and children that covered the walls literally every tabletop. Such was the importance of family to her” (50-51). Even if the Empress wasn’t the best leader she was a loving mother.
Every person, every family has their limits. The Romanov’s were not even allowed to see through windows. The windows had lime put on them and were glued shut. Finally one day the Reds opened a single window. It can only be imagined how excited and how much hope this brought to the family. They know had cool fresh air coming into their prison. The entire family rushed to the window. Anastasyia put her head out the window because she was so excited. And then a guard shot a gun at her. Leonka describes the scene,
“I stumbled back, plastering myself against the wall. Before my eyes Aleksandra
made a frantic examination of her youngest daughter- limbs, head, torso-but, no,
Anastasyia was not wounded, she was unscathed, merely terrified. As the girl
broke into a flow of tears, Aleksandra clutched her daughter to her chest, cradling
her and sobbing as well. A moment later the three other grand duchesses fell upon
them, and this heap of womanhood shook like a volcano until finally for the first
time, they erupted. All this time, all these months, not one of them had broken
down, not one of them had let go, and now... now they bellowed forth” (70).
The Komendant came running into the room accusing of one of them trying to escape, that the Tsar would actually leave his family. The Tsar replied with, “I... I... would never... never leave my family” (71).
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There is no doubt that the Romanov family was strong. They together kept each other alive. Their love for one another supported them through their miserable situation. They gave hope and reason to live to one another. Some say it does not matter that they were there for each other because in the end they die. But we all have to die soon or later it is how we live our lives that matter. They lived their lives as fully and happily as they could, which would not have been possible without each other. They gave the meaning of life to one another.
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