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Semyon is an impoverished Russian peasant who struggles to make ends meet as a shoemaker. Semyon feels oppressed by his financial hardships and resentful of his neighbors, whom he considers stingy and selfish when they are unable to pay their debts to him. At the same time, however, Semyon’s own financial calculations make him similarly ungenerous. When he sees a helpless stranger, Mikhail, naked and freezing on the side of the road, his first response is not pity but defensiveness. He balks at the impossibility of providing for another person and convinces himself that he can’t possibly be expected to help this man. Semyon feels so burdened by the situation that as he passes the suffering man, he says, “Please God, help me!” Almost immediately, he is hit by a wave of remorse. He is ashamed of his own conduct and decides to turn back and help the man. After this moment, Semyon’s character changes in a major way. Not only does he begin to behave more selflessly, offering Mikhail food and a place to stay indefinitely, but he also seems to shed much of his financial worry. For example, after Semyon and his wife Matryona give Mikhail their last piece of bread, Matryona asks him how they will plan to feed their family the next day. Semyon responds with surprising equanimity, telling her not to worry about it, but that they’ll get by some way or another. Semyon also urges his newfound selflessness onto Matryona, imploring her to act with the “love of God within” her and to extend hospitality to the stranger. After this change in Semyon’s character, we never again see him worry about money. Although he still doesn’t know where Mikhail came from or how he ended up by the side of the road, Semyon also seems to approach this lack of information with more peace and acceptance.
Semyon Quotes in What Men Live By
The What Men Live By quotes below are all either spoken by Semyon or refer to Semyon. 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:
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Chapter 1
Quotes
And if he doesn’t throttle me I might get lumbered with looking after him. But how can I help a naked man? I couldn’t let him have the last shirt off my back.
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‘Please God, help me!’
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Chapter 3
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[Matryona’s] heart seemed to melt and she felt that she wanted to banish all those spiteful feelings and to find out who that man really was.
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Chapter 4
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‘We’re always giving, but why does nobody ever give us anything?’
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Chapter 6
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Mikhail kept staring until suddenly he smiled and his whole face lit up.
‘What are you grinning at, idiot?’ the gentleman asked. ‘You’d better see to it that the boots are ready on time!’
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Chapter 7
Quotes
Matryona went over to watch Mikhail working and was amazed to see what he was doing.
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Chapter 11
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“And I could hear this man wondering how to protect his body from the winter cold and feed his wife and children. And I thought, ‘I am perishing with cold and hunger, but here is someone whose only thought is how to find a warm coat for himself and his wife, and food for his family.’”
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Semyon Quotes in What Men Live By
The What Men Live By quotes below are all either spoken by Semyon or refer to Semyon. 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:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
And if he doesn’t throttle me I might get lumbered with looking after him. But how can I help a naked man? I couldn’t let him have the last shirt off my back.
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‘Please God, help me!’
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Chapter 3
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[Matryona’s] heart seemed to melt and she felt that she wanted to banish all those spiteful feelings and to find out who that man really was.
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Chapter 4
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‘We’re always giving, but why does nobody ever give us anything?’
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Chapter 6
Quotes
Mikhail kept staring until suddenly he smiled and his whole face lit up.
‘What are you grinning at, idiot?’ the gentleman asked. ‘You’d better see to it that the boots are ready on time!’
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Chapter 7
Quotes
Matryona went over to watch Mikhail working and was amazed to see what he was doing.
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Chapter 11
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“And I could hear this man wondering how to protect his body from the winter cold and feed his wife and children. And I thought, ‘I am perishing with cold and hunger, but here is someone whose only thought is how to find a warm coat for himself and his wife, and food for his family.’”
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