Crossing the moral boundary as a plot-forming factor in «Harassment» by K. Yarmysh*

Abstract

The article studies how the principle of plot construction, based on the hero’s violation of moral norms, is implemented in practice. The portrayal of contradictory characters who make difficult moral choices, often wrong ones, is one of the main features of the novel genre. The plot is a chain of events, and an event is the character’s crossing of a certain boundary one way or another, and therefore the chronotope of the threshold (and perhaps not literally realized) becomes more important in the novel. The heroine of the novel «Harassment» constantly finds herself on the threshold of a moral choice. The plot of the novel is based on the principle of cumulation: the heroine’s actions become more and more ambiguous from a moral point of view, until, finally, a catastrophe occurs. The heroine’s «fall» is not an isolated incident, but the result of moral degradation. In that sense, the woman depicted in the modern novel differs significantly from classical heroines, who were often considered a moral ideal, especially in comparison with male heroes. At the same time, the author remains in line with the Russian literary tradition, being an impartial depicting subject; as a creator, she gives the heroine the opportunity to experience not only collapse and punishment, but also repentance and rebirth.