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Part 3, Chapter 6, Section 3
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
Stepan sets out for a journey on foot. He doesn’t have a set destination in mind. While he’s walking, a wagon with two peasants stops and asks if he wants a ride. He says he’ll take one, and they say it will cost him 50 kopecks. Stepan gets into the wagon, and the peasants take him to a small hut in the next town. There, they give him tea, vodka, and a blini. A book peddler comes into the hut. Stepan sees the Gospels among the books and thinks about reading the Gospels. He hasn’t read them in 35 years.
Stepan has been established as someone who supported liberal policies in the 1840s. The novel then suggested that people like Stepan gave rise to people like Pyotr, who is a nihilistic revolutionary in the 1870s. The novel underlined that idea by making Pyotr Stepan’s son. Now, though, after renouncing his vanity and embracing integrity, Stepan is returning to the bible, suggesting that, in the novel’s view, a similar turn may be waiting for people in Russia.
Themes
Another man comes in, who says his name is Anisim. He says he used to work for Gaganov and knows of Stepan. The peasants have become suspicious of Stepan because he gives vague answers to their questions and seems like he’s on the run from something. Anisim clears things up by saying that Stepan is a man of learning who is working on solving life’s most difficult questions. A half hour later, Stepan sets out in a covered wagon with the book peddler, Sofya. Stepan plans to go to the nearby town of Spasov.
Anisim’s description of Stepan is meant to be ironic while also serving as a reminder about Stepan’s original goals for his life and career. The comment is ironic because Stepan has, over his life, apparently avoided life’s most difficult questions while trying to coast by on Varvara’s goodwill. Now that he has turned a page on his old life, he may have the chance to re-examine those questions.
Themes
