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The Officer
One of the underground man’s former schoolmates, an attractive and popular man whom the underground man particularly dislikes for his bragging and stories of romantic exploits. Simonov, Ferfichkin, and Trudolyubov throw Zverkov a going-away party in part two, and the underground man invites himself to the party. There, he gets drunk and insults Zverkov. He later apologizes to Zverkov, but Zverkov tells him that he couldn’t possibly feel insulted by the underground man. The underground man follows Zverkov and his other former schoolmates to the brothel after the party, hoping to slap Zverkov in the face in order to regain some honor, but he doesn’t find Zverkov or the other party guests at the brothel.
Zverkov Quotes in Notes from Underground
The Notes from Underground quotes below are all either spoken by Zverkov or refer to Zverkov. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 2, Chapter 5
Quotes
Naturally, it’ll all be over after that. The department will banish me from the face of the earth. They’ll arrest me, try me, drive me out of the service, send me to prison; ship me off to Siberia for resettlement, Never mind! Fifteen years later when they let me out of jail, a beggar in rags, I’ll drag myself off to see him. I’ll find him in some provincial town. He’ll be married and happy. He’ll have a grown daughter. . . . I’ll say, “Look, you monster, look at my sunken cheeks and my rags. I’ve lost everything—career, happiness, art science, a beloved woman—all because of you. Here are the pistols. I came here to load my pistol and . . . and I forgive you.” Then I’ll fire into the air, and he’ll never hear another word from me again. . . .
I was actually about to cry, even though I knew for a fact at that very moment that all this was straight out of Silvio and Lermontov’s Masquerade.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Notes from Underground LitChart as a printable PDF.
Zverkov Quotes in Notes from Underground
The Notes from Underground quotes below are all either spoken by Zverkov or refer to Zverkov. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 2, Chapter 5
Quotes
Naturally, it’ll all be over after that. The department will banish me from the face of the earth. They’ll arrest me, try me, drive me out of the service, send me to prison; ship me off to Siberia for resettlement, Never mind! Fifteen years later when they let me out of jail, a beggar in rags, I’ll drag myself off to see him. I’ll find him in some provincial town. He’ll be married and happy. He’ll have a grown daughter. . . . I’ll say, “Look, you monster, look at my sunken cheeks and my rags. I’ve lost everything—career, happiness, art science, a beloved woman—all because of you. Here are the pistols. I came here to load my pistol and . . . and I forgive you.” Then I’ll fire into the air, and he’ll never hear another word from me again. . . .
I was actually about to cry, even though I knew for a fact at that very moment that all this was straight out of Silvio and Lermontov’s Masquerade.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
