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Part 2, Chapter 4, 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
Pyotr then goes to see Stepan. At Stepan’s house, Pyotr invites Stepan to the literary gala Yuliya is holding. But, Pyotr says, Yuliya is only inviting Stepan to try and appease Varvara. Pyotr says that Stepan should submit his piece to him a few days before so Pyotr can make sure it won’t be too boring. Pyotr then says that Varvara has finally caught on to Stepan’s scheme. Now she knows that Stepan is a leech who flirted with her for 20 years to extract as much money from her as possible. Pyotr says that Varvara showed him all of Stepan’s letters, which made it clear how pitiful Stepan is.
Pyotr continues to create discord between Stepan and Varvara. Pyotr also seems intent on humiliating his father. As has been previously established, Stepan is a symbol of the liberal movements of the 1840s in Russia. Pyotr, on the other hand, is the leader of a revolutionary faction in the 1870s. With that in mind, Pyotr’s attempts to scorn and humiliate his father can be interpreted as a symbolic representation of the attempt of socialists in the 1870s to distance themselves and repudiate their ostensible progenitors.
Themes
Pyotr says that Varvara probably would have married Stepan at one point, but Stepan foolishly let the opportunity slip away. Pyotr also showed Varvara the letter Stepan wrote about marrying for “someone else’s sins.” Pyotr says he recommended that Varvara send Stepan to an almshouse. Pyotr insults his own mother’s character, and Stepan says if Pyotr says another word, he’ll slap him in the face. He tells Pyotr to leave and says that he curses him and wants nothing to do with him going forward. Pyotr says he won’t visit again and then reminds Stepan to submit whatever he plans to read at Yuliya’s party to him beforehand.
Pyotr continues to denigrate his father, which shows again the response of the 1870s socialist movement toward the liberals of the 1840s who, in the novel’s telling, gave rise to the socialists. The novel underlines that point by making Stepan Pyotr’s biological father, arguing that there is a direct lineage from the liberal policies advocated by someone like Stepan to the revolutionary practices put in place by someone like Pyotr.
Themes
