Old Europe versus new
Hungarian life can be seen as a salient portrait of life in Europe before the industrialization of weaponry and the outbreak of 20th century wars. In old Europe, the basic idea of life is to live off the land in a harmonious way with one's village or town, and to behave in a socially acceptable way. In other words, the imagery of Hungary is noticeably traditional and olden. The Soviet imagery is like a bull in that traditional China-shop, so to speak. The Soviet way of life is fiercely new. They threaten to destroy the cultural inheritance of Europe to make a new age that suits their philosophy more closely.
Technology and war
This book belongs to an important genre of historical books that are recent enough to contain informative information about the way certain modes of thought and governmental philosophy interact with radically changing technologies. The warfare of the 20th century is undeniably defined by that introduction of technology. Notice the critical use of imagery in the Budapest scenes when rebels attempt to obey their instinctual directive to defend their habitat, but to no avail—the tanks are too powerful for flesh and blood to defeat.
Revolution
The book clearly depicts concrete happenings from history and explains the abstract quality of that imagery by showing how humans reacted and what the feeling was among the people. A lot of people flee in terror from the brutal dominion of invading Russians, and many stay and resist however they can. Together, that shows the dynamic that leads to the need for revolution, and it also shows the abstract quality of revolutionary imagery (which is often forgotten in studies of human history) which is horrifying, deathly, and apocalyptic.
Budapest and Europe
The European flavor of this story is obvious, but the reader will likely appreciate the scenes in Budapest especially because of the fame and historical importance of that city. The roots of Hungary go back to the sixteenth century at least, so the city is a powerful imagery pointing to the past, the rural context of European history, and the hope for peace. Budapest is at an important crossroads in Europe, and it sometimes is treated as a doorway between Eastern Europe and Western Europe, so when Russia invades Hungary, lots of European people suddenly realize that the threat might be an attempt to invade Western nations.
