On Brit Marling’s instagram a while ago she posted this photo. I thought it was interesting how similar this person looked to Prairie so I did some research. This is the cover of a Russian fairytale, Vasilisa the Beautiful. Already there’s links to Prairie because it’s Russian!
The story doesn’t directly mirror OA’s story but there are similarities. It starts off with a merchant who has a single daughter, Vasilisa. Her mother died when she was 8, just like OA’s mother died when she was young. This means that they were both raised by just their fathers.
The next part of the story doesn’t link 100% but in Vasilisa the Beautiful, her father remarries to a woman with 2 children already, young men came to the house interested in marrying one of the daughters, and then the father has to go on a journey so they move to a gloomy hut. This could link to OA’s story because her father also left (and OA says multiple times that she doesn’t believe he is dead). After this, she went to live with her aunt and some children in what we think was a brothel, which would link to the men coming to the house in search of marriage (or in this case, sex). She says ‘for the first time, my blindness felt like a prison’ showing she was extremely unhappy there, like Vasilisa would be unhappy in the gloomy hut. Moving to the gloomy hut could also be Prairie moving in with Nancy and Abel since she was unhappy there as well.
The three children (Vasilisa and her two stepsisters) were given a task to put out all the fires except a single candle, but the oldest stepsister puts out the candle which means Vasilisa is sent to get some light from Baba Yaga’s hut. In Prairie’s premonitions there are candles there, and the premonition is the thing that sends her to the Statue of Liberty, and Hap
There is a part of the story where two mysterious horse riders, one white and one red, ride past her. The white one represents day, and the red one represents the sun. I’m not sure how this links to OA’s story but I thought it was interesting.
A 3rd rider then rides past, and this one is black (which represents night). It turns dark and Vasilisa is too scared to run so she gets taken by Baba Yaga. In my theory, I’m assuming that Baba Yaga is Hap, although I also considered she may be Khatun (that’d probably be an entire different post though). Baba Yaga makes Vasilisa perform tasks such a cleaning and doing her laundry, just like Hap makes Prairie. She also makes Vasilisa prepare her a meal like how Prairie prepares the broth for Hap.
Now is probably a good time to mention that when Vasilisa’s mother died she gave her a doll. Dolls are shown a lot in The OA (like when French is in her house he sees them) but they haven’t been commented on much. I think Khatun could be a representation of the doll, since throughout the story it gives Vasilisa advice such as to go to Baba Yaga’s house. When Vasilisa is at Baba Yaga’s house she is given the task of separating poppy seeds from grains of soil which is an impossible thing to do. The doll then says that it will do it while Vasilisa sleeps, meaning she has a change of escaping Baba Yaga’s house. In The OA Prairie has the task of escaping which seems impossible. Once she meets Khatun again she gets the first movement which is part of letting her escape. In both the stories, the protagonists are given an impossible task and need to escape. Both the doll and Khatun are the things who help them with escaping.
Near the end of the story, Baba Yaga finds out that Vasilisa has completed all the tasks and asks her how she did it. Vasilisa answers that she did it by her mothers blessing, referencing to the doll that her mother gave her. Angered by this because she wants nobody with any kind of blessing in her presence Baba Yaga throws Vasilisa out of her house. This obviously links to Hap being angry at OA and abandoning her on the side of the road.
The ending of the story doesn’t seem to link but if anyone else reads the story and can find more similarities then feel free to add them.
