Originally Posted by Karen 2nd October 2006


Matula, a megalomaniac at 24 had been at war 5 years, was snorting cocaine, having sex with the land Captain's wife while the land Captain had his breakfast downstairs, was belittling and terrifying his soldiers, all while obsessed by the loss of horses and in fact someone ate his horse.

What do you think Meek was telling us about Matula by writing him so he is so obsessed with his horses?

Why do you think Matula singled out Mutz and constantly referred to him as a "judge'?

Nurseanne8


Matula has no real concern for the men under his command-he views himself as a great soldier-the possession of a beautiful and powerful horse for battle are essential to ensure his position as Captain of the Legion. Meek goes into great detail describing Matula to convince the reader that he has no desire to return to his homeland-he wants to establish himself as a sort of a dictator of the villege and the Legion will provide the force necessary for his complete takeover especially with the rumored pending advancement of the Red army. Meek also establishes horses as an important component of the visions of the Shaman and the religious beliefs of the peasants of the era. Matula talks of his Slavic origins and gives credance to the visions of the dead Shaman and when five of the horses disappear his superstitious nature fears his control of the Legion will be compromised.

Mutz witnessed but did not stop Matula's slaughter of hundreds of unarmed prisoners at Staraya Krepost and even saved Matula's life during the attack. Matula knows that Mutz is a man with a moral code and fears that he will open an investigation of the slaughter at Staraya Krepost so he taunts him continually as "judging" all the members of the Legion and their behaviors to ensure Mutz's continued silence. The members of the Legion respect Mutz and have faith in his vision to return to their homeland-Matula demeans Mutz's Jewish origins (a common theme of the revolution in Russia at the time) to further aggravate the feelings of allegiance for Mutz. Bottom line a major confirmation is brewing between Matula and Mutz and each is watching his back to be ready for the event. Meek plants these seeds with Mutz's description of Matula's reaction to the death of the Shaman and continues when Matula places the rabid sable's face with its fangs bared and saliva dripping everywhere into Mutz's face as a clue to the volatile relationship between these two characters. Meek's chapter title" Matula" provides many clues to upcoming events in the book-review it-to appreciate the climax of the novel. Anne r

Deppraved


Mutz is Matula's main threat to his ambitions, and what better way to bring him down without touching him than to turn the legion against him by arrousing suspicion? It very nearly worked.

nurseanne's answer was so comprehensive!

Herestoyou


Yes, nurseanne's response was very complete, I don't really have anything to add. It's definitely the man with a conscience vs. one that doesn't have a conscience which is why I believe he's more evil than Samarin in many ways.

Nurseanne8


I really got into the chapter on Matula-I will not be so wordy on the other questions for today-my fantasy cast is JD playing Matula and Balashov. Anne r

Herestoyou


Oh please, keep being wordy, I really enjoyed reading your response! Interesting how you really were hooked by the chapter on Matula. That might be a future question to discuss, "What was the most involving/intriguing chapter for you and why?" I know I definitely have a couple that just really got an emotional response from me, and I'm sure the rest of you have your own, too.