# Chapter XXXV explained — On the Eve

> Chapter companion for On the Eve by Ivan Turgenev.

## 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.

## Character check-ins

### 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 lines

> 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._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_eve_se/chapters/xxxv
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_eve_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_eve_se/chapters