# IX explained — What Is to Be Done?

> Chapter companion for What Is to Be Done? by Nikolay Chernyshevsky.

## What happens

Marya Alekséyevna is torn between believing her daughter Viérotchka is cunningly orchestrating a marriage to Mikhaïl Storeshnikof and suspecting she truly refuses him. After Pavel Konstantinuitch blunders by revealing Viérotchka's refusal, Marya Alekséyevna beats him. Storeshnikof rushes in, begs Viérotchka for time to win her forgiveness, and she postpones her answer out of pity. The situation remains tense but unresolved.

## Themes in this chapter

### Critique of Bourgeois Society

Marya Alekséyevna's calculating view of marriage as a financial transaction and her violent domestic tyranny illustrate the corrupting influence of bourgeois values.

### Freedom and Individuality

Viérotchka's refusal to conform to her mother's plans and her insistence on postponing her answer demonstrate her struggle for personal autonomy.

## Character check-ins

### Marya Alekséyevna

Wavers between believing Viérotchka is a cunning intriguer and fearing she truly refuses Storeshnikof; beats her husband Pavel for revealing the refusal.

### Viéra Pavlovna

Refuses Storeshnikof's proposal but postpones her final answer out of pity for his apparent sincerity; maintains her independence.

### Mikhaïl Ivanuitch Storeshnikof

Desperate after Viérotchka's refusal, begs for time to improve himself and win her forgiveness; continues to pressure his mother.

### Pavel Konstantinuitch Rozalsky

Reveals Viérotchka's refusal to Anna Petrovna, provoking Marya Alekséyevna's violent wrath.

### Anna Petrovna

Mentioned as the mother of Storeshnikof; she is pressured by her son and falls into a swoon upon hearing the threat about the estate.

## Key lines

> If one judged by the course of the affair, then it would look as though Viérotchka wanted the same thing that Marya Alekséyevna wanted; but, as an educated and wily creature, she elaborates her material in a different way.

From the outcome, it seems Viérotchka shares her mother's goal, but she pursues it with more subtlety and intelligence.

_Marya Alekséyevna's conflicted interpretation of her daughter's actions._

> The very same thing happened to Napoleon after the Battle of Waterloo, when Marshal Grouchy proved to be stupid like Pavel Konstantinuitch, and La Fayette was bold like Viérotchka; Napoleon was fighting, fighting—doing, accomplishing all the miracles in his art—but it was without avail, and he could only motion with his hand, and say, 'I give it all up; let everyone do as he pleases, with himself and with me.'

Marya Alekséyevna's situation is compared to Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo: despite her clever maneuvering, her plans are undone by her husband's stupidity and her daughter's defiance.

_Historical analogy used to dramatize Marya Alekséyevna's helplessness._

## Links

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- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_to_be_done_se/chapters