# XXXII explained — Resurrection

> Chapter companion for Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy.

## What happens

Máslova returns to the prison cell after her trial, sharing food and vodka with fellow prisoners Korabléva and Khoroshávka. She recounts how men stared at her in court and later in prison. A fight breaks out between Korabléva and a red-haired woman, which is broken up by the warder. Later, Máslova struggles to accept her conviction and hard labor sentence, while the red-haired woman sobs quietly, and Máslova feels pity for her.

## Themes in this chapter

### Injustice of the Legal System

Máslova's struggle to accept her conviction as a convict condemned to hard labor highlights the harsh and arbitrary nature of the legal system.

### Social Class and Inequality

The 'aristocracy' of the cell—those with money—share resources, while the red-haired woman's desperation for vodka underscores class divisions even among prisoners.

## Character check-ins

### Katerina Maslova

Returns to the cell after trial, shares food and vodka, recounts being stared at by men, and struggles to accept her conviction.

### Korableva

Accepts the coupon from Máslova, shares vodka, fights with the red-haired woman, and tries to comfort Máslova.

### Theodosia Birukoff

Offers Máslova tea that she had kept for her.

### Khoroshavka

Identifies the coupon's value, knows prison gossip about Scheglóff, and helps pull apart the fighting women.

## Key lines

> Máslova kept thinking that she was now a convict condemned to hard labour, and had twice been reminded of this—once by Bótchkova and once by the red-haired woman—and she could not reconcile herself to the thought.

Máslova could not accept that she was now a convict sentenced to hard labor, a fact that had been pointed out to her twice.

_Highlights Máslova's internal struggle with her new identity as a convict._

> The red-haired woman was crying because she had been abused and had not got any of the vodka she wanted so badly; also because she remembered how all her life she had been abused, mocked at, offended, beaten.

The red-haired woman wept from the pain of being insulted and denied vodka, and from recalling a lifetime of mistreatment.

_Reveals the red-haired woman's tragic backstory and evokes pity._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/resurrection_se/chapters/xxxii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/resurrection_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/resurrection_se/chapters