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Part 1, Chapter 1, Section 7
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
After Stepan returns to the provincial town from Berlin, there’s a period of calm that lasts for nine years. During that time, a group of friends forms around Stepan. That group includes Liputin, Shatov, Virginsky, and Anton. Liputin is the senior member of the group. He’s a liberal, and rumors say he’s an atheist. He’s not of a high rank, but Stepan and his friends enjoy Liputin’s wit and inquisitiveness. Shatov is the son of Varvara’s valet. Varvara took Shatov and his sister, Darya, under her care after their father died.
Despite his occasional histrionics, Stepan appears to live a quiet life in a provincial Russian town surrounded by a group of friends. Notably, Stepan’s friends seem to be at the political vanguard, including Liputin who gains a reputation in town for being an atheist, which suggests that Liputin, like Stepan, has an affinity for the “new ideas” circulating in Russia at the time.
Themes
Varvara adores Darya but doesn’t like Shatov. Varvara paid for Shatov to go to university, but Shatov was expelled. After he was expelled, Shatov became a tutor to a wealthy family traveling abroad. The family fired their governess for “freethinking,” and Shatov went with her. Shatov and the governess were married, but they parted ways after only three weeks. Shatov then spent an unknown amount of time traveling in poverty through Europe. He recently returned to the provincial town, where he now lives alone. He is almost always disheveled. He embraced atheism and socialism while in college but now he has firmly swung in the opposite direction and embraces Christianity.
Shatov’s introduction traces his path from promoting socialism and atheism to his newfound embrace of Christianity. Through that introduction, the novel introduces some of its themes and also shows how those ideas relate to one another. In particular, atheism and socialism are presented together, suggesting that, in the novel’s view, the two go hand in hand. Those ideas are then set in opposition to Christianity, showing that the novel will explore the conflict between the “new ideas” of atheism and socialism versus Christianity.
Themes
One of the other members of Stepan’s group of friends is Virginsky. He is extremely quiet. He once had a run-in with a man named Lebyadkin. Virginsky’s wife told him that she was leaving him, and she took up with Lebyadkin. Lebyadkin said he was a staff captain on a ship, which turned out not to be true. Eventually, Lebyadkin even moved into Virginsky’s house. At first, Virginsky said he was not bothered by what was happening. But one day, while Virginsky, his wife, and Lebyadkin were on a picnic, Virginsky seized Lebyadkin by the hair and dragged him across the ground. Lebyadkin disappeared from town after that, but he recently returned.
This passage introduces both Virginsky and Lebyadkin. Virginsky’s defining trait is his quietness, and it seems to take a long time before he resorts to action to solve his problems, as he lets Lebyadkin move into his house and continues to live there before he is driven to confront his rival. Lebyadkin, on the other hand, seems to be the kind of person who is driven by action and doesn’t seem to put much consideration into propriety or how his actions impact other people.
Themes
