# XX: I Set Out on a Mission explained — Yashka > Chapter companion for Yashka by Maria Bochkareva. ## What happens Maria Bochkareva leaves her mother and the invalids of her Battalion of Death in the village of Tutalsk, then travels eastward with her sister Nadia toward Vladivostok. Along the way she encounters former acquaintances, evades Red Guard searches, and is briefly detained in Khabarovsk. During a train journey she witnesses a remarkable change in the soldiers, who now curse Bolshevism and express willingness to fight the Germans again, leading her to conceive the idea of going to America to seek Allied help. ## Themes in this chapter ### Revolution and Disillusionment Soldiers express disillusionment with Bolshevism, cursing Lenin and Trotsky, and lament that the revolution has brought hunger and plunder rather than liberation. ### Survival and Agency Maria navigates Red Guard searches, detention, and poverty, using her wits and the help of sympathetic soldiers to continue her mission. ### Patriotism and Sacrifice Maria's plan to go to America to seek Allied aid for Russia reflects her continued devotion to her country despite the collapse of the front. ## Character check-ins ### Maria Bochkareva Leaves her mother and the invalids of her Battalion of Death in Tutalsk, travels east with her sister Nadia, is detained in Khabarovsk, and arrives in Vladivostok with only five roubles and seventy kopecks. ### Nadia Maria's youngest sister, accompanies her to America; is harassed by Red Guards in Khabarovsk while Maria is locked up. ### Nastasia Leontievna Fuchsman Maria's mother, who mourned her as dead after receiving Petrukhin's letter, is overjoyed at her return but uneasy about the thirty invalids Maria brings to the hut. ### Avdotia Ivanovna Kitova Old Kitova, who had accompanied her husband into exile at the same time as Maria went with Yasha; her daughter is found at Irkutsk station with two children, and Maria gives her money. ### Yasha Buk Mentioned as having married a Yakut woman and still living in Amga, according to Kitova's daughter. ### Daria Maximovna Vasilieva Madame Vasilieva lends Maria money in Vladivostok to go to Petrograd to fetch her medals and crosses. ### Ivan Ivanovitch Petrukhin His letter to Maria's mother caused her to mourn Maria as dead for six weeks. ### Colonel Ivanov A fellow-traveller to whom Maria entrusts the Consul's letter for safekeeping; he later defends her before the Khabarovsk Soviet. ## Key lines > I decided to take my youngest sister, Nadia, with me to America. Accompanied to the station by my parents, the thirty girls, and half the community, I started eastward, for Irkutsk and Vladivostok, dressed once more as a woman. Maria chooses to bring her sister Nadia to America and departs for Irkutsk and Vladivostok, wearing women's clothing again, with her parents, the thirty invalids, and many villagers seeing her off. _Highlights Maria's shift from military commander to civilian traveler and her family ties._ > The soldiers were actually cursing Bolshevism, denouncing Lenin and Trotsky! ... 'Because the Germans are advancing on Moscow, and Lenin and Trotsky don't even raise a finger to stop them,' came the answer. The soldiers on the train openly curse Bolshevism and blame Lenin and Trotsky for failing to stop the German advance on Moscow. _Shows the growing popular backlash against Bolshevik leadership in early 1918._ > At this moment, the idea of going to America originated in my mind. During the conversation with the soldiers, Maria first conceives the plan to travel to America. _A pivotal moment that sets the course for the rest of the narrative._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/yashka_se/chapters/xx-i-set-out-on-a-mission - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/yashka_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/yashka_se/chapters