"Stepan Trofimovitch, tell me as a friend," I cried, "as a real friend, I will not betray you: do you belong to some secret society or not?"
And on this, to my amazement, he was not quite certain whether he was or was not a member of some secret society.
"That depends, voyez-vous."
"How do you mean 'it depends'?"
"When with one's whole heart one is an adherent of progress and... who can answer it? You may suppose you don't belong, and suddenly it turns out that you do belong to something."
"Now is that possible? It's a case of yes or no."
"Cela date de Petersburg when she and I were meaning to found a magazine there. That's what's at the root of it. She gave them the slip then, and they forgot us, but now they've remembered. Cher, cher, don't you know me?" he cried hysterically. "And they'll take us, put us in a cart, and march us off to Siberia forever, or forget us in prison."
----
Stepan's identity is based on the fact that he is a dangerous revolutionary. Yet when it comes down to a simple yes-or-no question he's bamboozled. Although he doesn't belong to any nihilist group, and logically has no reason to fear imprisonment, he'd (almost) rather go to Siberia than admit he doesn't have any underground affiliations.
This is reminiscent of Dmitri's dilemma in Brothers Karamaozov (spoiler if you haven't read it). When the question comes up of where he got a pile of money to party with the gypsies, the truth is that he had previously hoarded away half of the money that he supposedly blew "impulsively" in his last episode of profligacy. Yet he can't admit it, because his identity is based on being ruled by his passions. He'd rather go to prison for a murder he didn't commit, than admit that he'd secretly "coupon-clipped" his way through his last Bacchanalian orgy, making it look like he'd spent 1500 roubles when he really only spent 750. Such is the price of the characters we create for ourselves.
"Stepan Trofimovitch, tell me as a friend," I cried, "as a real friend, I will not betray you: do you belong to some secret society or not?"
And on this, to my amazement, he was not quite certain whether he was or was not a member of some secret society.
"That depends, voyez-vous."
"How do you mean 'it depends'?"
"When with one's whole heart one is an adherent of progress and... who can answer it? You may suppose you don't belong, and suddenly it turns out that you do belong to something."
"Now is that possible? It's a case of yes or no."
"Cela date de Petersburg when she and I were meaning to found a magazine there. That's what's at the root of it. She gave them the slip then, and they forgot us, but now they've remembered. Cher, cher, don't you know me?" he cried hysterically. "And they'll take us, put us in a cart, and march us off to Siberia forever, or forget us in prison."
----
Stepan's identity is based on the fact that he is a dangerous revolutionary. Yet when it comes down to a simple yes-or-no question he's bamboozled. Although he doesn't belong to any nihilist group, and logically has no reason to fear imprisonment, he'd (almost) rather go to Siberia than admit he doesn't have any underground affiliations.
This is reminiscent of Dmitri's dilemma in Brothers Karamaozov (spoiler if you haven't read it). When the question comes up of where he got a pile of money to party with the gypsies, the truth is that he had previously hoarded away half of the money that he supposedly blew "impulsively" in his last episode of profligacy. Yet he can't admit it, because his identity is based on being ruled by his passions. He'd rather go to prison for a murder he didn't commit, than admit that he'd secretly "coupon-clipped" his way through his last Bacchanalian orgy, making it look like he'd spent 1500 roubles when he really only spent 750. Such is the price of the characters we create for ourselves.