The Village · Chapter
IV explained
Kuzma reflects on twelve barren years of wandering and work, his brief Tolstoyan phase, and a transformative trip to Kiev where he gets drunk after a confrontation with a gendarme over three wolf-bitten peasants.
What happens
Kuzma reflects on twelve barren years of wandering and work, his brief Tolstoyan phase, and a transformative trip to Kiev where he gets drunk after a confrontation with a gendarme over three wolf-bitten peasants. He later falls to his lowest point, publishing a book of verses and nearly becoming a buffoon, before a moment of humiliation saves him. He resolves to live a simple, laborious life and return home.
Themes in this chapter
Search for Meaning and Faith
Kuzma's brief adherence to Tolstoy's teachings and his spiritual turmoil during his drunken episode in Kiev reflect his ongoing quest for meaning.
Isolation and Loneliness
Kuzma's solitary wanderings and his sense of being an outsider, even in a crowd, highlight his profound loneliness.
Class and Social Hierarchy
The encounter with the gendarme and the treatment of the peasant Little Russians illustrate the rigid class divisions and the powerlessness of the lower classes.
Characters to notice
- Kuzma
Reflects on his past twelve years, his Tolstoyan phase, his drunken episode in Kiev, and his subsequent decline and resolution to live simply.
- Little Russians
Three peasants bitten by a mad wolf, encountered at a train station, who inspire Kuzma's rage and drunken fervor.
- The Gipsy
Mentioned as part of the Krasoffs' lineage, though not directly present in this chapter.
Key passages
“He had become a passionate follower of Tolstoy: for about a year he did not smoke, never took a drop of vodka, ate no meat, never parted with My Confession and The Gospels, wanted to emigrate to the Caucasus and join the Dukhobortzy.”
Kuzma had embraced Tolstoy's teachings, giving up smoking, drinking, and meat, and even considered joining the Dukhobors in the Caucasus.
Highlights Kuzma's spiritual seeking and his attempt to find a moral path.
“And, on learning that they were not to be taken aboard now, because the train was called an express train, Kuzma suddenly flew into a rage and, to the accompaniment of approving yells from the Jews in the throng, began to bawl and stamp his feet at the gendarme.”
When Kuzma learned that the injured peasants couldn't board the express train, he erupted in anger, shouting and stamping at the gendarme, cheered on by the crowd.
Shows Kuzma's impulsive rebellion against authority and his empathy for the downtrodden.
“Lower than that there was no place to fall. But precisely that was what saved him.”
Kuzma had hit rock bottom, but that very low point became his salvation, prompting him to change his life.
Captures the turning point in Kuzma's life, where despair leads to a resolve for renewal.