In this article, we examine the similarities and differences in the images of two girls - characters of Maxim Gorky («The Girl») and Fedor Dostoevsky (Svidrigailov’s nightmare in «Crime and Punishment»). The aim of our research is to compare images through positions of each author in creating the image of a child and its subtext. In examining the text, we employ the comparative-typological method, which allows us to establish the similarities of these characters and their functions. Both Gorky and Dostoevsky use the image of a child to demonstrate the child's fragility and dependence on adults. In Dostoevsky's novel this imagery serves an auxiliary role, adding to the characterisation of the main character, moreover, the child appears in a nightmare; in Gorky's short story the image of the child is self-sufficient. This imagery plays an important role in character development of Svidrigailov and the narrator of Gorky’s novel and vividly illustrates the way each author relates to the theme of childhood.
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