# II explained — The Village

> Chapter companion for The Village by Ivan Bunin.

## What happens

Kuzma and Tikhon abandon shopkeeping and become traders, traveling among the Little Russians and to Voronezh. Kuzma maintains his friendship with Balashkin, who gives him books and engages him in passionate, intellectual arguments about Russian literature, enlightenment, and the national character. Balashkin, a cynical and imposing old man, rails against the mistreatment of Russian writers and dismisses Kuzma's idealization of the Russian people, even mocking his brother Tikhon. The chapter reflects on Kuzma's five years of peddling, his thirst for education, and the harsh, wearying conditions of his itinerant life.

## Themes in this chapter

### Search for Meaning and Faith

Kuzma's quest for education and understanding, and the debate with Balashkin about the nature of the Russian people and their ideals.

### Class and Social Hierarchy

The brothers' rise from shopkeeping to trading, and Balashkin's critique of the narod and its types, including the peasant ideal.

## Character check-ins

### Kuzma

Engages in intellectual debates with Balashkin, reads avidly, and reflects on his years of peddling and desire for education.

### Tikhon Ilitch

Mentioned as Kuzma's brother, who also reads but forgets books quickly, and is later mocked by Balashkin as 'Tishka Krasoff'.

### Old Balashkin

Kuzma's intellectual mentor, a cynical old man who argues passionately about Russian literature and the fate of its writers.

## Key lines

> Why, then, when he comprehended the words of Dobroliuboff, did he disfigure his speech in the bazaar and say “khvakt” instead of “fact”?

Despite understanding intellectual ideas, Kuzma still spoke in a crude, uneducated manner in public.

_Highlights the gap between Kuzma's intellectual aspirations and his actual social condition._

> “Jaw of an ass! What’s that you’re jabbering? Have you ever considered what our ‘enlightenment without education’ signifies? The death of Zhadovskaya⁠—that’s its devilish symbol!”

Balashkin angrily dismisses Kuzma's idea of innate enlightenment, citing the poetess Zhadovskaya's suicide as a symbol of its failure.

_Balashkin's cynicism about the value of uneducated, natural wisdom._

> “Then what, in your opinion, ought to be done?” shouted Kuzma. “Blindfold our eyes and rush to the ends of the world?”

Kuzma asks Balashkin what action should be taken, suggesting a desperate, blind leap into the unknown.

_Reflects the intellectual despair and search for direction among the characters._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_village_se/chapters/part-ii-ii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_village_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_village_se/chapters