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Part 1, Chapter 1, Section 5
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Demons, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Politics and Self-Interest
Ideology and Extremism
Morality and Nihilism
Herd Mentality
Atheism vs. Belief in God
Summary
Analysis
Varvara and Stepan spend almost an entire winter in Petersburg. Varvara attempts to insert herself into the group of those advocating the “new ideas.” Before long, she begins holding well-attended soirees at her house. Writers, intellectuals, and other advocates for this new cause all come to those meetings. Some of the people who attend the parties are scoundrels, though some are honestly interested in the shift in politics. Stepan has success, too. He’s invited to speak by several groups and ingratiates himself with the highest circle of those who are advocating for the “new ideas.”
This passage points out the distinction between people who are interested in progressive political change (or the “new ideas”) for its own sake and those who are interested in political change for how the political movement might benefit them. The second group consists of the “scoundrels” referred to in the passage. The novel will explore in more detail later what can happen when “scoundrels” and earnest changemakers intermingle.
Themes
Varvara announces that she intends to begin a magazine. More people come to her parties, but Varvara is then accused of being a capitalist who exploits laborers. At that same time, a general who has long been friends with Varvara gets into a fight with an agitator advocating for the “new ideas” at one of Varvara’s parties. The incident is reported in the press. A petition circulates urging people to take a stand against Varvara for not banishing the general from her house. Stepan faces difficulties, too. He gives a presentation in which he argues in favor of the importance of art and claims that art is more important than material concerns. The audience hisses and boos Stepan off the stage, and Stepan breaks into tears as they watch.
Those who advocate for progressive, socialistic policies turn against Varvara and Stepan, showing that, at least from the progressives’ perspectives, Varvara and Stepan push ideas that will uphold established political systems. Stepan’s assertion about the importance of art over material concerns points to the novel’s contention that socialism elevates science and reason above all other matters, including art and spirituality. The novel will later explore the impacts of socialism’s apparent disavowal of art and spirituality in more depth.
Themes
Five men then approach Varvara at home. They tell her she should renounce control of the magazine while still providing its funding. She should hand control of the magazine over to them, and they’ll take over running it as a cooperative association. They also tell Varvara that she should leave Petersburg and bring Stepan with her, as he has, in their words, “grown old.” In exchange, they’ll send her a sixth of the magazine’s profits annually. Stepan and Varvara then leave Petersburg and return to the provincial town together.
This passage satirizes the socialistic movement in Russia at the time. While the movement wants to distance itself from people like Varvara and Stepan, whose ideas people in the movement find outdated, that movement is still plenty willing to accept Varvara’s money with no apparent qualms about where that money came from or what accepting it might mean.
Themes
