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Part 2, Chapter 5, 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
Two days after Liza gives her diamond earrings to the monk, Anton is walking in town when he sees a group out on an expedition. Pyotr, Nikolay, Mavriky, Lyamshin, and Liza are among the group, which consists of several other well-to-do women. They are on their way to see the prophet Semyon, who lives on the outskirts of town. Anton joins the group. On the way, they pass a hotel and are told that the body of a suicide victim has just been discovered. The police have not yet arrived, and the group walks into the hotel room to see the body. One person remarks that everything is so boring now that there’s no reason to be fastidious about what one finds amusing. Another person wonders aloud why there have been so many suicides recently and says that it’s as if people have lost a sense of their roots.
The two comments about the death of the person by suicide point, in part, to Dostoevsky’s assessment of the state of Russia at the time. In particular, the person’s comments that everything has become boring, and one shouldn’t be sanctimonious about one’s interests, in the novel’s view, the depreciation of propriety and of moral norms, which has led to nothing being treated or considered sacred, including rituals around death. The other person’s comments that people have lost a sense of their roots bring to mind Shatov’s earlier statement that religion is necessary to give people in a country a collective sense of identity rooted in a common morality.
Themes
The group then travels to see Semyon. When they reach the prophet’s house, several people are waiting to see him. When Semyon speaks, he gives cryptic admonishments and advice. He gives one woman, whose children attempted to kill her, bags of sugar. A monk nearby interprets the gesture as a symbol meaning that the woman needs to sweeten her heart toward her children.
This passage seems to point to some of the issues with religion that may have helped precipitate the rise of atheism. In particular, the monk’s interpretation of Semyon’s gesture seems to be unfeeling to the point of possible cruelty and doesn’t seem to take into consideration the real struggles of the woman asking for advice. That hints at ways that religion has failed the people it aims to support.
Themes
When another man leaves, Liza tells Mavriky to kneel in the man’s place. Liza’s order seems to come from a desire to humiliate Mavriky. Mavriky complies, but once he does, Liza grabs him by the shoulders and asks him why he is kneeling. When he finally gets up, Liza almost runs into Nikolay. The two haven’t spoken since Liza fainted at Varvara’s house. When Liza comes face to face with Nikolay at Semyon’s, she raises her hand as if she intends to strike Nikolay, but he quickly moves away.
Liza’s treatment of Mavriky is not altogether different from Varvara’s treatment of Stepan. In both cases, Liza and Varvara seem to hold most of the power in their respective relationships, and they grow frustrated when the other person in that relationship fails to assert themselves. By putting Liza face-to-face with Nikolay just after she has attempted to humiliate Mavriky, the novel suggests that her frustration with Mavriky may stem from her thwarted relationship with Nikolay.
Themes
