# V explained — Futility

> Chapter companion for Futility by William Gerhardie.

## What happens

Fanny Ivanovna confides in Andrei Andreiech, recounting her eleven-year relationship with Nikolai Vasilievich, the sacrifice of her own respectability for his children, and the devastating revelation that he intends to marry a seventeen-year-old girl named Zina.

## Themes in this chapter

### Sacrifice and Respectability

Fanny sacrificed her own respectability and the chance of marriage to keep Nikolai's children, only to face betrayal.

### Love and Illusion

Fanny's love for Nikolai is intertwined with the illusion of a stable family, shattered by his decision to marry a younger woman.

## Character check-ins

### Fanny Ivanovna

Reveals her past as Nikolai's mistress, her sacrifice for his children, and her heartbreak over his plan to marry Zina.

### Andrei Andreiech

The listener to Fanny's confession, asking questions about the children and Vera.

### Nikolai Vasilievich

Fanny's long-term partner who now intends to marry a young girl, Zina, despite his promises to Fanny.

### Zina

The seventeen-year-old girl Nikolai plans to marry, a classmate of his daughter Sonia.

### Eisenstein

The Jewish dentist with whom Nikolai's wife ran away, and who wasted her money on stock speculation.

## Key lines

> I thought: if only I could marry a man who was respectable and rich, who would be willing to support my family! My heart craved for the title, the status, of a married woman because that title was denied me.

Fanny longed for the respectability and security of marriage, which she had been denied.

_Fanny explains her initial motivation for seeking a husband._

> He said, 'It is love,' he said very seriously. 'It has come late, but still it has come at last, and I am proud—don't laugh—I am proud that at my age I should be capable of such love.'

Nikolai claimed that his love for Zina was a late but genuine and magnificent passion.

_Nikolai's justification to Fanny for his decision to marry Zina._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/futility_se/chapters/v
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/futility_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/futility_se/chapters