The Little Demon · Chapter
Chapter XXV explained
Peredonov's paranoia intensifies as he becomes convinced that the Princess is hiding in playing cards and that spies are everywhere.
What happens
Peredonov's paranoia intensifies as he becomes convinced that the Princess is hiding in playing cards and that spies are everywhere. He burns the cards, sees the Princess rise from the flames, smears glue on the floor to trap the nedotikomka, writes denunciations, splits a table with an axe, cuts the heads off court cards, stabs the wallpaper with an awl believing he has killed a spy, and sets traps around the house. He also writes a letter to the Princess expressing a cold, corpse-like love.
Themes in this chapter
Madness and Paranoia
Peredonov's hallucinations of the nedotikomka, card figures, and spies behind the wallpaper dominate the chapter, driving him to violent acts.
Pervasive Evil
The nedotikomka and card phantasms embody a relentless, malevolent force that torments Peredonov, reflecting a world saturated with evil.
Desire and Obsession
Peredonov's repulsion and allurement toward the Princess, mingled with a corpse-like fantasy, reveal a twisted obsession.
Characters to notice
- Peredonov
Descends deeper into madness, burning cards, stabbing wallpaper, and writing denunciations; writes a letter to the Princess.
- Varvara
Suffers from Peredonov's glue prank, answers for him about the inspector job, and hides behind doors to mock him.
- Pavel Volodin
Peredonov watches him with special attention and searches his papers when he is away.
- Princess Volchanskaya
Peredonov imagines her as a cold, corpse-like old woman in the cards and writes her a love letter.
- Prepolovenskaya
Taunts Peredonov about the inspector job with a derisive smile.
Key passages
“She's an almost cold little old woman, she smells slightly of a corpse”
He imagines her as a nearly cold, corpse-like old woman.
Peredonov's macabre fantasy about the Princess.
“I love you, because you are cold and remote. Varvara perspires, it is hot to sleep with her, it is like the breath of an oven. I would like to have a cold and remote love.”
He writes that he loves her for her coldness and distance, contrasting her with Varvara's heat.
Peredonov's letter to the Princess expressing his twisted desire.
“He struck the wallpaper impetuously with the awl. A shiver ran over the wall.”
He stabbed the wallpaper with an awl, believing he had killed a spy.
Peredonov's violent act against an imagined enemy.
“The ancient Cain—overlaid by many generations—found gratification in his breaking and damaging property”
A primal, murderous instinct from ancient times found satisfaction in his destruction.
Narrator's reflection on the deep roots of Peredonov's violence.