Research Paper on:
Nina and Alik in The Funeral Party by Ulitskya

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alright, because he has a myriad of visitors, from his wife to his mistresses, to his fellow Russian immigrant friends. In Faulkner-esque style, Ulitskaya brings about a view of the  life of an immigrant man during the second Russian Revolution and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Everyone has handled immigration differently, but none seem to have handled it so  differently as Alik and his wife, Nina. It has been said that all great characters have similar situations which bring out their innate characteristics, strengths and tragic flaws. This  form generally begins with the introduction of the character. In The Funeral, the reader is introduced to Alik whose vision continues to focus and blur. There is something about the  character that is compelling and there is something about them with which the reader can identify with. Aliks universal relation is that he is struggling with his own belief system  and how he has lived his life. This forms one of the major sources of conflict between he and his wife, Nina. He is Jewish (though a lapsed one) and  Nina is Christian. Secondly, the writer typically, introduces the foil or the obstacle that lies in the characters way of obtaining their goals. Nina is Aliks obstacle. He wishes  to speak to a Rabbi, but she wont hear of it. She continues to stand in the way of his speaking with the Rabbi. He also becomes her foil in  that he steadfastly holds to his Russian attitudes, even when he has let go of most of the other things that had defined him as Russian. She has become totally  Americanized. As various friends and acquaintances file past to see him one last time, Alik remarks about how much he loves America. It would seem that living as he