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Part 2, Chapter 6, 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
About 10 to 15 people gather at Virginsky’s for the secret Society meeting. Aleksey and Shatov are both there. There are also five people, called the group of five, who belong to a secret revolutionary faction. Not even the other people at the party know who they are. The group of five includes Liputin, Virginsky, Shigalyov, Lyamshin, and a man named Tolkachenko. Each of these men believes that their group of five is one among hundreds or thousands of linked “groups of five” that are scattered through Russia and working secretly but in concert to achieve a revolution throughout all of Russia.
This passage provides insight into the internal structure of the revolutionary faction that Pyotr leads. Notably, Nikolay previously said that he assisted the revolutionary faction in implementing a new internal structure, and since doing that, he has been unable to separate himself from the group. The intense secrecy surrounding the group of five points makes it clear that, to work effectively, the group essentially has to take it on faith that other groups of five actually exist, as they have no direct evidence (due to the shroud of secrecy) to support those beliefs.
Themes
