Resurrection · Chapter
Chapter XXXIV explained
Nekhlúdoff attends a second day of court, witnessing the trial of a young boy for burglary.
What happens
Nekhlúdoff attends a second day of court, witnessing the trial of a young boy for burglary. He is struck by the absurdity and cruelty of a system that punishes individuals while ignoring the social conditions that create criminals. He reflects on how society spends enormous resources on punishment instead of prevention, and feels horror at his own complicity.
Themes in this chapter
Injustice of the Legal System
Nekhlúdoff sees the trial as a 'comedy' that punishes the victim of social conditions while ignoring the root causes of crime.
Social Class and Inequality
The contrast between the comfortable judges and the destitute boy highlights class-based injustice.
Characters to notice
- Prince Dmitri Ivanovich Nekhludoff
Serves as a juror, reflects on the injustice of the legal system and his own moral guilt.
- Peter Gerasimovitch
A fellow juryman whose familiarity and laughter now do not annoy Nekhlúdoff.
- The Judges
Preside over the trial with the same solemnity as the previous day.
Key passages
“Supposing we spent one-hundredth of these efforts helping these castaways, whom we now only regard as hands and bodies, required by us for our own peace and comfort.”
If we used even a tiny fraction of our resources to help these outcasts, whom we see only as tools for our convenience.
Nekhlúdoff's internal critique of society's priorities.
“Terrible! It is difficult to say whether the cruelty or the absurdity is greater, but the one and the other seem to reach their climax.”
It's horrifying—it's hard to tell if the cruelty or the absurdity is worse, but both are at their peak.
Nekhlúdoff's reaction to the trial's futility and harshness.