What Is to Be Done? · Chapter
Part VI: Change of Scenes explained
The chapter opens with a lady in mourning who has now transformed into a bright pink dress, accompanied by Mosolof, Nikítin, and a man of thirty years.
What happens
The chapter opens with a lady in mourning who has now transformed into a bright pink dress, accompanied by Mosolof, Nikítin, and a man of thirty years. The narrator reveals that the lady first met Nikítin over two years ago, at the same sleighing picnic where she met the Kirsánofs and Beaumonts, placing the events in 1865. The narrator addresses the reader's disbelief and postpones the story until the reader is ready to listen, dated April 4 (16), 1863.
Characters to notice
- Mademoiselle Julie
The lady in mourning who now wears a bright pink dress, hat, and white mantilla, accompanied by Mosolof and Nikítin.
- Mosolof
Sitting on the front seat of the carriage with Nikítin.
- Nikítin
A youth sitting on the front seat of the carriage; the lady indicates she got acquainted with him over two years ago.
Key passages
“Let us start, said the lady in mourning; but now she was no longer in mourning; a bright pink dress, a pink hat, a white mantilla, and a handsome bouquet.”
The lady, previously in mourning, now appears in vibrant pink attire with a bouquet, signaling a change in her circumstances.
The transformation from mourning to bright clothing symbolizes a shift in the lady's emotional or social state.
“She got acquainted with Nikítin at the same time that she got acquainted with the Kirsánofs and Beaumonts on that sleighing picnic which took place at the end of this winter? Absolutely true, I say.”
The narrator confirms that the lady met Nikítin, the Kirsánofs, and Beaumonts all at the same sleighing picnic at the end of winter.
This establishes a timeline connection between characters and events, linking the current scene to a past gathering.