Radiation
“As their white blood cell counts collapsed, infection crawled across the skin of the young operators and firemen: Thick black blisters of herpes simplex encrusted their lips and the inside of their mouths. Candida rendered their gums red and lacy, and the skin peeled back, leaving them the color of raw meat. Painful ulcers developed on their arms, legs, and torsos, where they had been burned by beta particles.”
The image of the results of the radiation is depicted in the novel with vivid details, and provokes nothing but horror and pity. The image appeals to one’s senses, and to one's humanity.
The sham
The catastrophe at Chernobyl took the lives of many people, but at the same time it had wider consequences concerning politics, as “the Soviet public began to discover how deeply it had been misled—not only about the accident and its consequences but also about the ideology and identity upon which their society was founded”. The government failed, and could not properly protect the population of the country, and finally the illusion that “the USSR was a global superpower armed with technology that led the world” began to be scattered to pieces. The Chernobyl catastrophe opened eyes of the citizens of the Soviet Union, and showed that “their leaders were corrupt and that the Communist dream was a sham.” The image shows the consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe for the entire world, as it was the starting moment of the USSR’s end as a country.
Sense of humour
“They lined the floor of the cabins with the four- and five-millimeter-thick sheets and filled the wells of their seats—designed to accommodate parachute packs—from the bags of shot. They even had a rhyme about it: “If you want to be a dad, cover your balls in lead.”
The image shows that Russian people never lose the sense of humor,which is one of the main characteristics of the nation. An ability to find something funny in any situation is essential part of surviving, as it helps one not to lose hope.
