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Part 2, Chapter 10, Section 1
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
While Anton and Stepan are waiting to see Yuliya, Andrey storms into the building. Stepan rises to meet him. Andrey asks who he is, and Stepan elaborately introduces himself. Andrey seems confused and isn’t really sure who Stepan is, but when Stepan says that he used to teach, Andrey launches into a diatribe about the harm of the manifestos that the town’s young people have been circulating. Stepan says he has nothing to do with that and has instead come to bow out of participating in Yuliya’s upcoming gala.
Andrey begins to lose any sense of decorum and seems to be becoming increasingly mentally unstable. Again, that plays into Pyotr and the revolutionary faction’s plans to sow chaos in the town. In essence, it seems that they are already succeeding in destabilizing the government, as Andrey appears to be coming apart at the seams and doesn’t know how to handle the perceived threat.
Themes
Andrey says that there will be no gala. Stepan then says that he wants to know why his house was searched and his personal papers seized earlier in the day. Andrey asks who seized Stepan’s things. Just then, Blum walks in, and Stepan points him out. Andrey becomes indignant and tells Blum that he is always doing stupid things. Andrey apologizes to Stepan and assures him that it was a misunderstanding. Stepan isn’t fully satisfied by that apology. Yuliya then returns.
The search on Stepan’s house comes to nothing, even though Stepan previously believed that it would result in his arrest and his flogging. That reinforces the depiction of Stepan as a histrionic and over-the-top character who can’t seem to help but view himself as persecuted. Instead, though, the novel shows that Stepan is, at most, the victim of an overzealous Blum rather than the center of a government surveillance apparatus.
Themes
