13-17 (Cracked Wristwatch)

It is pretty exciting to finally meet the mysterious Margarita and even learn a bit about him.  Other than that, I noticed quite a few themes in these chapters.  For one, I saw quite a few allusions to the Faustian concept of selling one’s soul.  For starters, the Master even asks Homeless if has ever “even heard the opera Faust?” (page 152).  Later on, the Master seems to imply that the process of writing his book (which would require an enormous amount of knowledge, perhaps only attainable from the devil) coupled with the failure of the book, required him to sell his soul.  In his own words, “It was as though the monstrous failure of my novel had taken out a large chunk of my soul” (page 162).  When he speaks of his spiraling depression he also claims that “[he] was no longer is possession of [himself],” and if he is not in possession of himself, then perhaps the devil is (page 163).  It also seemed as though Rimsky and Varenukha were possessed by something (presumably Woland), which suggest that they too might have sold their souls in some way.  Perhaps when someone gives into evil and temptation he sells his soul?  That is not quite the Faustian way, but I’m just brainstorming…

Other reoccurring themes I noticed were those of “eyes” and the colors violet and yellow.  In almost every character description the nature character’s eyes were mentioned (and they were generally crazed or livid).  Typically, the eyes are considered to be windows to the soul, which might somehow tie into the idea of so many characters selling their souls.  I also looked up the symbolism of yellow and violet, and they are colors generally associated with Easter because of the crocus flower.  This makes a good deal of sense seeing as the book takes place in the days preceding Easter, but I’m still not completely sure of the significance.  Another thing I noticed was that in these chapters God seemed to be mentioned quite a bit.  These allusions to God were generally just in interjections, but previously almost every interjection involved the Devil.  I wonder if this foreshadows God taking on a greater presence in the book (since we were just talking today about how we haven’t seen him as a character yet).
-Cracked Wristwatch