Sofia Petrovna

Felt boots are associated with the women waiting overnight in the various lines for information of their “purged” relatives—those imprisoned or murdered in the course of Stalin’s Great Terror. The unstylish boots symbolize the ostracism these women suffer as the relatives of supposed saboteurs.

When she first visits the prison, Sofia is surprised to see that many of the woman waiting outside are wearing felt boots—she reasons they must’ve worn the warm boots to wait overnight. After weeks of waiting overnight in these lines, Sofia adopts the boots she once disparaged: “It was essential to take a warm scarf and put on felt boots, because even though it was thawing, one’s feet would freeze between three and six in the morning” (56). Felt boots are the sign of someone suffering the anguish of not knowing where their loved ones are.

The symbolism of felt boots is highlighted in one of Sofia’s encounters with Mrs. Kiparisova, the wife of Kolya’s godfather. Sofia is astonished at the decline in Mrs. Kiparisova’s appearance in the weeks since her husband’s arrest: “Her face is so dark and wrinkled […] the felt boots, the cane, the scarf…It’s very important for a woman not to let herself go, to take care of herself.