# Afanasy Bochkarev — Yashka character guide

> Afanasy Bochkarev in Yashka by Maria Bochkareva.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Bochkarev, Afanasy

**First appearance:** 0003-i-my-childhood-of-toil

## Snapshot

Maria's father, a former sergeant whose drinking and cruelty turn the family's hard-won respectability into a household of fear.

## Who they are

Afanasy returns from the Russo-Turkish War with medals and literacy, courting Olga with the first shoes she has ever owned. But poverty and drink soon make him morose and violent, beating his wife and darkening the home Maria grows up in. His descent from decorated soldier to domestic tyrant shapes Maria's earliest understanding of what discipline without mercy looks like.

## In the story

### [Yashka](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/yashka)

Forced upon Maria as a husband after her abandonment by Lazov; a brutal and drunken man.

### [Part I: Youth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/part-i-youth)

Maria's abusive husband in a forced marriage.

### [II: Marriage at Fifteen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/ii-marriage-at-fifteen)

A coarse soldier Maria marries to escape her father; he becomes abusive, steals her savings, and drives her to attempt murder.

### [VI: I Enlist by the Grace of the Tsar](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/vi-i-enlist-by-the-grace-of-the-tsar)

Mentioned as Maria's first husband; reported to have been drafted and taken prisoner by the Germans.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/characters/afanasy_bochkarev
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/characters