Vasenka Townspeople

The Vasenka Townspeople narrate both Alfonso and Sonya's story in Act One and Momma Galya's story in Act Two from a collective third person point of view. Throughout the majority of these poems, the townspeople are depicted as a unified whole, a group of people resisting the occupying soldiers' presence and authority. In Act One, they see Alfonso as a symbol of courage. After his death, they look to Momma Galya, in Act Two, for this same courage and defiance. However, the more people the soldiers arrest and kill, the more fearful the townspeople become. The retreat into their silence, rather than defending their neighbors and friends.

Alfonso Barabinski

Alfonso Barabinski is the first person speaker in all of the "I" poems from Act One. His wife is Sonya Barabinski, and his daughter is Anushka. His cousin is Petya, the young deaf boy killed in "Gunshot," the...