Memoirs of a Revolutionist · Chapter
II explained
Kropotkin recounts his earliest memory: the death of his mother from consumption when he was three and a half years old.
What happens
Kropotkin recounts his earliest memory: the death of his mother from consumption when he was three and a half years old. He describes the scene of being brought to her bedside for a final treat, her sudden tears and coughing, and the subsequent removal of himself and his brother Alexander to a small house in the courtyard. Their nurses, Madame Búrman and Uliana, prepare black mourning shirts and eventually reveal that their mother has gone to the sky. Kropotkin notes that his elder siblings, Nicholas and Hélène, were already at school and that he and Alexander were left in the care of the nurses, with their father seldom seen.
Characters to notice
- Peter Kropotkin
The narrator, recalling his earliest memory at age three and a half.
- Alexander Kropotkin
Peter's older brother, not yet five, who is with him during their mother's final moments and afterward.
- Hélène
Peter's elder sister, age eleven, already at school and not closely known to him.
- Father
Seldom seen by the children after their mother's death.
- Uliana
Russian nurse who, along with Madame Búrman, cares for Peter and Alexander after their mother's death.
Key passages
“Our mother was dying of consumption; she was only thirty-five years old. Before parting with us forever, she had wished to have us by her side, to caress us, to feel happy for a moment in our joys, and she had arranged this little treat by the side of her bed, which she could leave no more.”
Kropotkin's mother, suffering from tuberculosis at age thirty-five, arranged a final gathering with her children by her bedside, wanting to experience a moment of happiness with them before her death.
This passage establishes the emotional core of the chapter: the mother's love and the children's early encounter with loss.
“We jumped out of our beds, asking, 'Where is mamma? Where is mamma?' Both of them burst into sobs, and began to pat our curly heads, calling us 'poor orphans,' until Uliana could hold out no longer, and said, 'Your mother is gone there—to the sky, to the angels.'”
The children, confused and frightened, demand to know where their mother is, and their nurse Uliana tearfully tells them she has gone to heaven.
This moment captures the children's dawning awareness of death and the nurses' grief.