Natasha Frolenko Character Analysis in Sofia Petrovna

Natasha is a young woman who works as a typist at the publishing house with Sofia Petrovna. Sofia takes a liking to Natasha because of her flawless typing skills, diligent work ethic, and kind, unassuming nature. A quiet woman, she lets Sofia go on at length whenever they stay late at work, giving Sofia the opportunity to talk about her life or gossip about their coworkers. Natasha is a devoted communist, but her application to the Komsomol (a communist youth organization) is denied multiple times because her father was a bourgeois landowner and decorated member of the pre-communist military. Because of her family background, then, the Communist Party doubts that she genuinely believes in socialist principles, assuming that she thinks that her own family deserves more wealth, land, and power than everyone else. In reality, Natasha’s father died when she was very young, forcing her and her mother to move in with a relative. Both her relative and her mother died before Natasha was very old, so she has spent the entirety of her young adult life in relative poverty. In other words, she has never truly lived the life of a bourgeois anti-communist. To the contrary, she believes wholeheartedly in the Communist Party and wants more than anything to join the Komsomol. Amid the hysteria at the publishing house, though, she gets fired for accidentally typing “the Ret Army” instead of “the Red Army” in a company document—a mistake that her superiors claim reveals her intent to undermine the Communist Party. Without a job, Natasha devotes herself to helping Sofia find more information about Kolya. She’s especially invested in helping Sofia because she’s in love with Kolya. When it’s clear that trying to free Kolya is futile, though, she takes her own life.

Natasha Frolenko Quotes in Sofia Petrovna

The Sofia Petrovna quotes below are all either spoken by Natasha Frolenko or refer to Natasha Frolenko. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Sofia Petrovna even wrote to Kolya about the injustice Natasha had suffered. But Kolya replied that injustice was a class concept and vigilance was essential. Natasha did after all come from a bourgeois, landowning family. Vile fascist hirelings, of the kind that had murdered comrade Kirov, had still not been entirely eradicated from the country. The class struggle was still going on, and therefore it was essential to exercise the utmost vigilance when admitting people to the party and the Komsomol.

Related Characters: Sofia Petrovna, Natasha Frolenko, Kolya

Page Number and Citation: 24

Explanation and Analysis:

“They say our director has been abroad,” Natasha recalled. “Also on a mission. Remember Marya Ivanovna, the elevator woman, told us that he’d brought his wife a light-blue knitted suit from Berlin?”

Related Characters: Natasha Frolenko (speaker), Sofia Petrovna, The Director (Zakharov)

Page Number and Citation: 41

Explanation and Analysis:

“And who is this Frolenko? She’s the daughter of a colonel who under the old regime was the owner of a so-called estate. What, it is asked, was citizeness Frolenko doing in our publishing house, the daughter of an alien element, appointed to her job by the bandit Zakharov? Another document will tell us about that. Under the wing of Zakharov, citizeness Frolenko learned to blacken our beloved Red Army of workers and peasants, to strike counterrevolutionary blows: she calls the Red Army, the Rat Army…”

Related Characters: Comrade Timofeyev (speaker), Natasha Frolenko, The Director (Zakharov)

Page Number and Citation: 64

Explanation and Analysis:

“You’re still very young, I assure you, you’re mistaken. It’s all a question of tact. For instance, yesterday I defended Natalia Sergeyevna at the meeting. And the result? Nothing’s happened to me because of it. Believe me, this business with Kolya is a nightmare to me. I’m his mother. But I understand it’s a temporary misunderstanding, exaggerations, disagreement…One has to be patient.

Related Characters: Sofia Petrovna (speaker), Natasha Frolenko, Alik Finkelstein, Kolya

Page Number and Citation: 73

Explanation and Analysis:

Natasha Frolenko Character Timeline in Sofia Petrovna

The timeline below shows where the character Natasha Frolenko appears in Sofia Petrovna. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Pride, Status, and Moral Superiority Theme Icon

...late husband. But there are also people at work whom Sofia really likes, such as Natasha Frolenko, who is a wonderful worker and a great typist. (full context)

In the coming months, Sofia Petrovna spends all of her free time with Natasha Frolenko. Mostly, though, she works. Her son, Kolya, jokes about how devoted she is to... (full context)

Sofia and Natasha frequently stay at work late. Alone in the darkened typing pool, Sofia enjoys talking while... (full context)

Natasha’s father was a wealthy colonel who died when she was a child, at which point... (full context)

...she were back at work. She spends most of her time in the evenings with Natasha, asking her about the latest gossip at work. (full context)

Natasha often comes over to listen to the radio with Sofia. However, Sofia is uninterested in... (full context)

...have his own room, but they can’t afford a bigger place. While Sofia complains to Natasha one day about how Kolya should have his own space, Natasha points out in a... (full context)

...more time at work. When she’s not working overtime, she goes to the movies with Natasha. They both enjoy films depicting acts of great patriotism. Natasha is particularly fervent about supporting... (full context)

Kolya thinks the Komsomol will let Natasha in after a few years. He, for his part, is quite excited about the work... (full context)

A couple days later, there’s an article in the newspaper praising Kolya’s ingenuity. Natasha rushes to Sofia’s apartment and shows her the article and begs to send Kolya a... (full context)

...the employees at the publishing house, and Sofia is tasked with organizing it. She and Natasha work together to find good gifts for all of the children, disagreeing only when Sofia... (full context)

That month, Sofia starts actually reading the newspapers and tracking current events. She and Natasha read every day about fascists infiltrating the Soviet Union and how it’s necessary to arrest... (full context)

...“enemy of the people” because his uncle had been arrested for the same thing. When Natasha asks what, exactly, the supervisor did, Anna Grigorievna indignantly reiterates that he was the nephew... (full context)

...is Zakharov, was arrested for being a saboteur. In fact, she doesn’t believe it, but Natasha insists that it could be true. She and Sofia talk about the matter after work,... (full context)

Natasha says that what happened to the citizen in the newspaper article could easily have happened... (full context)

As Natasha is preparing to leave, the doorbell rings. It’s Alik, who bursts into the house in... (full context)

...tried. Instead of rushing off, she should get a good night’s sleep. In the morning, Natasha will tell the people at the publishing house that she’s sick, enabling her to go... (full context)

...to go home. She collapses into a chair in her apartment, and though Alik and Natasha are eagerly waiting for her to explain what happened, she finds herself unable to say... (full context)

...and he appoints Erna Semyonovna to take Sofia’s place while she’s gone. Sofia suggests that Natasha should be the one to fill her spot, since Erna Semyonovna makes so many mistakes,... (full context)

One day, Comrade Timofeyev tells Sofia to send Natasha to his office. Then, at the end of the day, Natasha tells her that she... (full context)

The publishing house holds a mandatory meeting for employees. Comrade Timofeyev outlines that Natasha was hired by the director himself—something Timofeyev thinks is proof of Natasha’s wrongdoing. He also... (full context)

Kolya’s case has finally made its way to the prosecutor. Alik and Natasha get in line early for Sofia, who refuses to leave to rest once she gets... (full context)

Once Sofia is there to stand in line, Natasha leaves. Alik explains to Sofia that times are hard for Natasha, who can’t find anywhere... (full context)

...writes extensively about Sofia’s behavior at the last meeting. The author condemns her for defending Natasha, ultimately implying that she sympathizes with saboteurs. (full context)

When Sofia goes home that evening, she falls asleep and only wakes when Natasha comes to see her. She tells Natasha about the article, but Natasha doesn’t respond. Instead,... (full context)

...assumes it was Erna Semyonovna, though she doubts Erna can write so well. One evening, Natasha comes to her apartment and starts speaking very quickly, which is out of character because... (full context)

Natasha wonders why Kolya confessed. She knows that it’s possible for an adept investigator to “trip... (full context)

...the women in the typing pool. On her way home, she decides to go to Natasha’s apartment. When she arrives, though, Natasha’s neighbor answers the door and informs her that Natasha... (full context)

...time Sofia waits in line at the prison, there’s nobody there to save her spot. Natasha is buried in a grave not far from where Sofia’s husband lies, and Alik is... (full context)

The night before she died, Natasha told Sofia that she should send money to Alik in prison. But Sofia recently spoke... (full context)

Sofia Petrovna

Natasha Frolenko Character Analysis

Natasha Frolenko Quotes in Sofia Petrovna

Chapter 5 Quotes

Chapter 8 Quotes

Chapter 11 Quotes

Chapter 12 Quotes

Natasha Frolenko Character Timeline in Sofia Petrovna