Poor Folk · Chapter
July 8th: My Dearest Barbara Alexievna explained
Makar Alexievitch returns a book sent by Barbara and expresses his distress and indignation at its portrayal of a poor clerk.
What happens
Makar Alexievitch returns a book sent by Barbara and expresses his distress and indignation at its portrayal of a poor clerk. He defends his own thirty years of irreproachable service, his humility, and his acceptance of his lowly station as ordained by God. He argues that the book's depiction is unrealistic and slanderous, fearing that such literature will expose his private life to ridicule and gossip. He insists that he lives quietly, without harming anyone, and that the world's hierarchy of rank and abuse is natural. He concludes by pleading with Barbara not to have sent him such a work.
Themes in this chapter
Human Dignity and Self-Worth
Makar's fierce defense of his thirty years of irreproachable service and his insistence on being respected despite his low rank highlight his struggle to maintain personal dignity in a dehumanizing bureaucratic system.
Literature and Self-Expression
The chapter centers on Makar's reaction to a book, revealing how literature can both reflect and threaten one's sense of self. Makar fears that the story will expose his private life to public ridicule, showing the power of narrative to shape identity.
Characters to notice
- Makar Alexievitch Dievushkin
Writes a defensive and agitated letter to Barbara, returning the book she sent. He justifies his life of humble service, fears public ridicule, and protests against the book's portrayal of a clerk.
- Barbara Alexievna Dobroselova
The recipient of Makar's letter; she had sent him a book (likely Pushkin's 'The Station Overseer') which he now returns, feeling insulted and exposed by its content.
- Thedor Thedorovitch
Makar uses him as an example of a subordinate official who endures insults and abuse, implicitly referring to himself and his own situation at work.
- Ivan Prokofievitch
Mentioned briefly as a colleague whose handwriting is similar to Makar's, illustrating Makar's pride in his clerical skills.
Key passages
“Our lots in life are apportioned by the Almighty according to our human deserts. To such a one He assigns a life in a general’s epaulets or as a privy councillor—to such a one, I say, He assigns a life of command; whereas to another one, He allots only a life of unmurmuring toil and suffering.”
Makar believes that God assigns each person their station in life—some are destined for high rank and command, others for humble labor and suffering—and he accepts his own lowly position as divinely ordained.
Makar expresses a fatalistic acceptance of social hierarchy, justifying his own subordinate role as part of a divine order.
“What? In future I am not to go on living peacefully in my little corner, poor though that corner be I am not to go on living, as the proverb has it, without muddying the water, or hurting anyone, or forgetting the fear of the Lord God and of oneself?”
Makar asks whether he can no longer live quietly in his humble home, harming no one and minding his own business, as he has always done.
He feels that the book has threatened his peaceful, unobtrusive existence by exposing him to public scrutiny.
“Yet I am surprised that our Thedor should continue to overlook insults of the kind that he endures.”
Makar expresses astonishment that Thedor Thedorovitch (a stand-in for himself) puts up with the constant insults and abuse from his superiors without defending himself.
This reveals Makar's internal conflict between his desire to maintain dignity and his resignation to the hierarchical system.
“How, therefore, could you bring yourself to send me that book, my beloved? It is a badly conceived work, Barbara, and also unreal, for the reason that in creation such a chinovnik does not exist.”
Makar reproaches Barbara for sending him the book, claiming it is poorly written and unrealistic because no such clerk as depicted actually exists.
His denial of the book's realism suggests his fear that it hits too close to home, revealing truths about his own life that he wishes to keep hidden.
