On the Eve · Chapter
Chapter XXXV explained
Following Insarov's death, Elena arranges with the Dalmatian sailor Renditch to transport his body across the sea to Zara.
What happens
Following Insarov's death, Elena arranges with the Dalmatian sailor Renditch to transport his body across the sea to Zara. She writes a farewell letter to her parents, renouncing Russia and dedicating herself to Insarov's cause. The chapter concludes with an epilogue summarizing the fates of the other characters years later.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Sacrifice
Elena's devotion to Insarov leads her to abandon her family and country, transporting his body and dedicating herself to his cause.
Fate and Idealism
Elena reflects on fate bringing her and Insarov together and accepts death as a possible outcome of her idealistic commitment.
Patriotism and Revolution
Insarov's cause and Elena's decision to join the Sisters of Mercy in a region preparing for war highlight revolutionary patriotism.
Characters to notice
- Elena Nikolaevna Stahova
Grief-stricken after Insarov's death, she arranges to transport his body to Zara and writes a farewell letter to her parents, vowing to serve his cause.
- Dmitri Nikanorovitch Insarov
Lies in his coffin; his death is the central event of the chapter.
- Renditch
A Dalmatian sailor and friend of Insarov who helps Elena transport the body to Zara.
- Anna Vassilyevna Stahova
Mentioned in Elena's letter; she has aged and become more wretched after the loss of her daughter.
- Nikolai Artemyevitch Stahov
Mentioned in the epilogue; he has aged, parted from Augustina Christianovna, and now abuses everything foreign.
- Pavel Yakovlitch Shubin
Mentioned in the epilogue; he is in Rome, a successful sculptor, and writes to Uvar Ivanovitch.
Key passages
“Each of us is guilty by the fact that he lives; and there is no one so great a thinker, so great a benefactor of mankind that he might hope to have a right to live for the service he has done.”
Living itself is a kind of guilt, and no person, no matter how wise or benevolent, can claim they deserve to live based on their contributions.
Elena's internal reflection on guilt and the unearned nature of life.
“Death is like a fisher who catches fish in his net and leaves them for a while in the water; the fish is still swimming but the net is round him, and the fisher will draw him up—when he thinks fit.”
Death is like a fisherman who nets fish but lets them swim temporarily; the fish are already caught and will be pulled in at the fisherman's chosen moment.
Narrator's philosophical metaphor about the inevitability of death.
“I have been brought to the edge of the precipice and I must fall over. Fate did not bring us together for nothing; who knows?—perhaps I killed him; now it is his turn to draw me after him.”
I have been led to the brink of destruction and must fall; our meeting was fated, and perhaps I caused his death, so now he pulls me toward my own end.
Elena's letter expressing her sense of fatalistic inevitability and guilt.