Imperceptible at First, but Tremendous Indeed
Is there any connection between religion and “Jamilya”? How religion was possible during the USSR time, the time of atheism? How it influenced the characters of “Jamilya”? To answer these not easy questions it is necessary to think of period of time and place where the story goes, religion as to a whole kyrgyz nomadic folk, religion as a part of traditions.
First of all, let’s think of time period when the story of Seit takes place. It was the third year of the War, collectivization had already arrived, to be short, it was the time of USSR. Everyone is aware of the attitude of USSR rulers’ to religion of any type. Only atheism was pleased in that place, while other religions were prohibited. Thus it is quite hard to imagine that there is connection between religion, which is banned, and “Jamilya”, a story of those years. Secondly, the content of “Jamilya” is far from the story about religion. In fact, it is the story of a young woman, whose husband was summoned to the army, and later who came across a great love and left everything except her beloved. Can you see? No mention of religion. To oppose this statement it is necessary to think and contemplate deeper and pay attention for details. Actually it is not very hard. Even if the government prohibited any type of religion, in our case it is Islam, it did not make the nomadic folk totally forget it. Because religion is your belief. No one, moreover government, is able to make people drop their belief, their religion like a hot potato. So it is impossible to say there is no influence of religion in “Jamilya”. In fact, there is two types of this influence, let them be direct and indirect. The direct influence is the influence of religion, which is most obviously distinguished. For instance, on the very first page of the story it is written that Jamilya’s father