u/Able-Light-890

In case spoiler text doesn’t work I’m putting some text up here,

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&gt;!I’m so afraid that poor Becka will be lobotomized!<

&gt;!The early seasons of Handmaids Tale were filled with gruesome punishments for fertile women who were needed alive for their wombs only. Janine could still make babies without her eye. Emily could still make babies without her cl!toris.!<

&gt;!”You need help, Becka. They’re taking you to a doctor.”!<

&gt;!They may say poor Becka has lost her mind, but they won’t let her womb go to waste. So they will lobotomize her and transition her into a handmaid. !<

&gt;!Perhaps Agnes’ parents’ own handmaid!!<

&gt;!Becka would smile and look right through the love of her life, not even recognizing her, not understanding that she’d lost her soul…!<

It seems like every time I read something by a Russian author, gambling plays a big role in the story.

It’s usually tied to a character’s downfall and portrayed as an irresistible yet TERRIBLE vice that leads to UTTER DESTRUCTION. Rather like we Americans talk about opioids.

This depiction seems rather overblown when compared to how gambling is portrayed in other cultures. Gambling exists everywhere, no?

Here are some examples:

“The Queen of Spades” by Alexander Pushkin.

A man named Hermann becomes obsessed with learning the secret of three winning cards from an old countess. He frightens her while trying to force the secret from her, and she dies. Her ghost haunts him, and Hermann ends up financially ruining himself with gambling. Ruined past the point of insanity!

*War and Peace*
Young aristocrat Nikolai gets sort of… seduced… into gambling against his will. His family is financially unstable and teetering off the upper crust, but for some reason, the young man can’t resist risking it all in an unregulated game. Even if the game seems spontaneous and unofficial, the debt is real, enforceable, and deadly serious.

Of course, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s *The Gambler*… what more can be said about that one…

Tonight my son was reading an old folk tale to me, wherein a Russian deserter receives a pack of cards from Jesus himself. With these cards, the deserter can never lose, and his gambling is actually a blessing. Thanks, Jesus!

So what’s the deal with gambling in old Russian stories? Did a lot of people famously get ruined that way? Did a lot of people famously get rich that way?