A School for Fools: Analysis of Major Characters
"A School for Fools" is a novel characterized by its exploration of the mind of a schizophrenic adolescent, who serves as the narrator, known as Nymphea alba. The story unfolds primarily through his fragmented perceptions and internal dialogues, highlighting his challenges with time and character recognition. His familial backdrop includes a father who is a chief prosecutor, whose impatience and intolerance may exacerbate the narrator's condition, and a mother who strives for harmony but lacks a vivid imagination. The school setting introduces a range of significant characters, including Pavel Petrovich Norvegov, an eccentric geography instructor whom the narrator idolizes, and Veta Arcadievna Acatova, a strict biology teacher whom he romantically fantasizes about. Other notable figures include Arcady Arcadievich Acatov, a retired entomologist with a troubled past, and Nikolai Gorimirovich Perillo, the oppressive principal of the special school. The narrative also features Sheina Solomonova Trachtenberg, an assistant principal who opposes Norvegov, and Doctor Zauze, the psychiatrist treating the narrator’s schizophrenia. Together, these characters contribute to a nuanced examination of mental illness and the complexities of human relationships within the confines of education and family dynamics.
A School for Fools: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Sasha Sokolov
First published: Shkola dlia durakov, 1976 (English translation, 1977)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Moscow and a nearby summer cottage settlement
Plot: Psychological realism
Time: The early 1960's
The narrator, also known as Nymphea alba and Those Who Came, a schizophrenic adolescent. His mental illness is diagnosed as hereditary, though his family situation probably has aggravated it. He has spent some time in a mental hospital but is later enrolled at a special school for students unable to meet the demands of a regular education. The peculiarities of his affliction most obvious in his narrative are his complete lack of a sense of time and his inability to delineate completely the characters of others. The novel is, for the most part, a dialogue between the two selves of his personality. One self yearns to become an engineer, whereas the other is interested in entomology.
The narrator's father, the town's chief prosecutor, a large, impatient man who perhaps aggravates, by his lack of tolerance, his son's affliction. He cannot stand disorder or drunkenness and is forever suspicious of freeloaders, including musicians and sponging in-laws. He owns a dacha in the suburbs of Moscow where much of the action takes place.
The narrator's mother, a housewife who has not worked since her mentally disturbed son first went off to school. She constantly tries to reconcile the son and his father. Good-hearted, though lacking in imagination, she is the only character in the novel whose physical attributes are described. She is “almost grey-haired,” with green eyes and glasses with thin gold frames.
Pavel Petrovich Norvegov (PAH-vehl peh-TROH-vihch nohr-VEH-gov), also known as Savl (SAHV-ehl), a geography instructor at the narrator's special school. He is “the most prominent turner of the cardboard globe.” He is an eccentric dresser: The narrator describes him as barefoot and wearing a laboratory coat both at the dacha and at the school. The narrator considers him his mentor and idolizes him.
Veta Arcadievna Acatova (VEE-tah ahr-kah-DIH-yehvnah ah-KAH-toh-vah), a strict teacher of biology, botany, and anatomy at the special school. The narrator imagines that she is his beloved and fantasizes a happy future with her. Aside from his claim that she was the inspiration for Leo-nardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, the narrator does not describe her further.
Arcady Arcadievich Acatov (ahr-KAH-dee), Veta's father, a retired, world-renowned entomologist. His early work was challenged by the Soviet government for reasons unspecified by the narrator. He apparently was put in prison or an asylum and physically abused. Later released, he was allowed to continue his research. Now an old man, he is stooped, weary, and hard of hearing.
Nikolai Gorimirovich Perillo (nih-koh-LAY goh-rih-MIHroh-vihch peh-RIH-loh), the principal of the special school. Middle-aged, gloomy, and punctilious, he has instituted meaningless regulations that oppress both faculty and students.
Sheina Solomonova Trachtenberg (SHAY-nah soh-lohMOH-noh-vah), also known as Tinbergen, the assistant principal and curriculum director at the special school. She is the nemesis of Norvegov. A Jewish widow, she is confused with a Moscow neighbor of the narrator and his family.
Mikheev (mih-KHAY-yehv), the postman in the dacha district, also known as Medvedev (MEHD-veh-dehv) and called The Sender and The Sender of Winds by Norvegov and the narrator. He is a pensioner who delivers the mail by bicycle.
Doctor Zauze (ZOW-zeh), the psychiatrist at the mental hospital who treats the narrator's schizophrenia.