The Snowstorm: Ashley's thoughts:

In Pushkin's "The Snowstorm" two young people plan to elope but are thwarted by a snowstorm; the girl accidentally marries a stranger whom she later falls in love with. I found "The Snowstorm" to be very entertaining and fun, but by the end of the story there were a few questions that bothered me. For instance, why did Bourmin agree to marry a young woman whom he did not know and he knew could not have been intending to marry him? After all, even if he was confused one would assume that at some point he would realize what was going on and put a stop to the entire business. Also, I don't know enough of Russian culture or Orthodox Christianity to be certain of this, but it seems to me that a marriage made on false pretenses under fake names between two people who did not even know each other would be invalid or at the very least easily annulled. However, Bourmin seems to consider it legally binding to the extent that he thinks he cannot marry Maria, whom he loves, and Maria's refusal of any and all suitors leads one to believe that she considered the marriage to be binding as well. As a reader I found this most curious. The other obvious question is why did Vladimar refuse to marry Maria once he had gotten her parents consent and choose to join the armies instead? One assumes that he got to the church just in time to see his beloved married to another man and that this is what drove him to such grief.