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comment by elizabeth
elizabeth  ·  3940 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Scifi club: Roadside Picnic discussion/suggestions for club #2

Definitely has a lot to resemblance to Chernobyl. It's crazy how fiction predicts the future so accurately sometimes.

His attitude towards the Zone is very much how a lot of people saw the USSR. There is this word in Russian "родина" which roughly translates to "motherland" that I find encompasses the general feeling I get from this story. He can't leave because it's his motherland that he loves to hate.

It reminds me of this old russian joke:

A little worm asks his mom

"mom, is it nice to live in an apple?"

"yes, it is"

"is it nice to live in a cherry?"

"yes of course it is"

"then why are we living in shit?"

"because it's our home, son"

That's why Red can't leave. It's home.