Hysteria Ruth Pierce Character Analysis

Ruth Pierce was an American citizen who found herself in Kiev during the time of the Soviet Union. In her book Trapped in “Black Russia” Pierce collected the diary entries and letters she wrote to her parents, between the time of June 30, 1915 to sometime in November 1915. Though her stay in Kiev she was arrested for espionage, forcing her to delay her travels in the fight to get her passport back. In these letters and diary entries she explains what is going on in Kiev, other parts of Europe, the negotiation with military officers, and the struggles she faces. Remarkable personality traits are revealed from Pierce in her writing from her humanity, her significant other, Peter, and her constant update on war time needs without focusing the
Kiev did not show the signs of the war efforts, as there was still plenty to eat, and abundance of young men that could volunteer to join the military (Pierce, 16). Only when the Germans started to approach did fear strike the citizens of Kiev. Hysteria swept to through the people, each of them wanting to run and hide. They crowded the square before the railway station, trying to secure a place on the train that leaves for Petrograd or Odessa (Pierce, 95). Only the Governor of Kiev could drive Pierce to feelings of enmity, as she wrote his actions down in a diary entry: “At the station a special train was waiting to take the Governor’s things to a place of safety - and the crowds were waiting to escape with their lives” (Pierce, 99). Even the Governor was afraid of the Germans, as he even shipped out his inestimable items before the Germans landed. Despite her fear, Pierce felt sympathy for the Germans as she wrote: “The Germans - After all, they are human beings like the Russians. They, too, have their wounded and dying” (Pierce, 94). Pierce was afraid of the Germans too, but in her heart she knew that they were people
Pierce along with the French Consul's wife, Mme. C-, went to the camp and were shocked at the state the Jewish people were living in. Pierce and Mme. C- walked through the hundreds of Jews, Pierce described their looks as: “Some stared at us vacantly; other lowered their eyelids and rubbed their hands together softly, with a terrible subservience. If we brushed close to one, he cringed like a dog who fear a kick” (Pierce, 45/46). The camp was run on communistic principles, with The Jewish Ladies’ Benevolent Society providing meat, vegetables and bread for the inmates. Pierce sympathy for them was shown in her writing: “ ‘They are human beings,’ I said to myself ‘I am one with them.’ But their isolation was complete. I could not even begin to conceive the persecution and suffering of age that separated us ” (Pierce, 46). When her letter was translated to Russian, Pierce was questioned by the head of the secret police. He asked her if she had Jewish blood in her line, and read off her letter, asking where she got all this information. Pierce explained that she witnessed it, or was told by someone she could not name. The officer asked the most pointed question, of why Pierce showed so much sympathy for them and her answer was simple: “Because they are suffering” (Pierce, 90). Her morals held high throughout her stay in Kiev, but she could not stay tranquil when the Germans approached Kiev and what atrocity they