VII explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Rural Poverty and Decline

  The chapter vividly depicts the squalor and misery of rural life, from the sickly peasants to the dilapidated cottages and the hopelessness of the people.

• Isolation and Loneliness

  Kuzma's journey through the desolate landscape emphasizes the isolation of the countryside and the loneliness of its inhabitants.

• Class and Social Hierarchy

  The contrast between Kuzma, a merchant, and the impoverished peasants highlights the social divisions in Russian society.

Characters to notice

• Kuzma

  Travels to Kazakovo, observing the poverty and misery of the peasants.

• Menshoff

  Kuzma's driver, a sick peasant with a swollen throat, who comments on the local people and their celebrations.

Key passages

• “And she has just sold the last bit of her homemade linen for him,” remarked Menshoff, as they crawled slowly across the pasture land. “She loves him passionately. She’s a widow. He raps her over the mouth when he is drunk. Of course, she deserves it.””

  Menshoff comments that a widow sold her last linen for her son, who beats her when drunk, and he believes she deserves it.

  Illustrates the brutal family dynamics and the acceptance of violence in peasant life.

• “But what wealth is here!” he said to himself, as he sat miserably on a tuft of straw, his knees drawn up on the bare floor of the springless cart, covered with a coarse cloth used for wrapping grain.”

  Kuzma ironically remarks on the 'wealth' of the land while sitting miserably in a cart, surrounded by poverty.

  Highlights the contrast between the natural richness of the soil and the poverty of the people.