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Part 1, Chapter 4, Section 4
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
Anton and Shatov go to see Lebyadkin’s sister, Marya. Marya sits alone in one of the two dark, dingy rooms where she lives with her brother. There’s only a single candle to provide light, and she sits with a piece of bread beside her. Shatov says that her brother never feeds her. Occasionally, the landlord’s assistant will bring her some bread, but that’s all the food she gets. Marya seems happy to see Shatov. She begins to speak and describes a dream with Praskovya and Liza. She then talks cryptically about a child and says she misses her child. She remembers dressing the child and bringing them into the woods. Marya also says she can’t remember who her husband was. Shatov nudges Anton and says they better leave before Lebyadkin returns. As they’re going, they hear the gate creak as Lebyadkin comes home.
Marya is living in squalid conditions. She doesn’t seem to have anywhere to turn for help. Her brother beats her and doesn’t feed her, while the person she is married to leaves her at Lebyadkin’s mercy. The fact that Marya can’t remember who her husband is suggests that she is not altogether lucid. Marya’s descriptions also make it clear that she knows Praskovya and Liza, which was not clear before. That provides further circumstantial evidence that doesn’t necessarily prove that Nikolay was romantically involved with Marya but at least makes it eminently plausible that Nikolay and Marya know each other.
Themes
