# Chapter XXXIV explained — Resurrection

> Chapter companion for Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy.

## 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.

## Character check-ins

### 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 lines

> 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._

## Links

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