MODERN AGE FALL 2016 Party. Rubashov has been required on two occasions during the past two years to reaffirm his loyalty and devotion in writing- the political trials of Party members have begun. He is not at all surprised on the morning of his arrest when the loud knock on the door comes-he has been dreaming about the moment for years. He expects that he will be shot. Rubashov also calls the Party a "mass of bleeding flesh." During his first interrogation, he levels a critique against the current leadership of the Party and the evolution of the revolutionary project as a whole. This introspection and judgment is made possible by two character traits to which the narrator of the novel explicitly refers. Both are extremely noteworthy in that each seems to call into question Rubashov's suitability for the role he has played in this radical political movement. We discover the first very early in the novel, when Rubashov has just protested the fact that he has not received his breakfast ration. He has banged on his cell door, summoning the warder and Officer Gletkin. The latter laconically listens to his complaints, refusing to satisfy them. He also demands that Rubashov clean up his cell and stand before addressing him. In their brief encounter, Rubashov can barely conceal his contempt for Gletkin. After the warder and Gletkin depart, Rubashov paces back and forth in his cell and attempts to relive the unpleasant encounter. He wants to enliven his hatred for Gletkin, as he thinks this will help prepare him properly for the battles to come. But he cannot. Instead, Rubashov "fell once more under the familiar and fatal constraint" of placing himself in the position of his antagonist.16 He sees himself through the eyes of Gletkin, imagining the pathetic figure he must cut in front of this younger officer. He nearly convinces himself that he really must clean his cell. 54 moder nagejour nal .comhttp://www.modernagejournal.com