Since the snow cancelled our class on Friday, finish "Princess Mary" for Monday's class. You can read "The Fatalist" too, if you like, but we'll wrap that one up on Wednesday (we'll need the entire class to finish "Princess Mary"!). Answer TWO of the following as usual for class...
Q1: Though Pechorin satirizes the Romantic affectations of the people around, notably Grushnitsky and Mary, how might Lermontov (or the Narrator?) also satirize him throughout the story? Why might Pechorin's various actions and statements be a parody of the cynical, Romantic soldier he so wants to be seen as? And how might we see that this role is only skin deep?
Q2: There are numerous inconsistencies in Pechorin's story, and just before the duel, he admits that he stopped keeping the diary and instead writes the ending months later, by which time he's already met Maksim Maksimich (thus placing this story well before "Bela"). Why do you think Lermontov continues to make the narrative so inconsistent for the reader? Whom do you think is more at fault: Pechorin or the Narrator? Or Lermontov himself?
Q3: When Pechorin prepares to face Grushnitsky's shot, he tells Werner, "Perhaps, I wish to be killed." Do you think Pechorin has a death wish? Is death the only thing that truly interests him in life? Or is this, too, an act for the benefit of those around him?
Q4: Do you think Pechorin was in love with Vera or Princess Mary? Were they merely ways to occupy his time and amuse him, the way Bela was? Or are we meant to see a deeper connection to one or both women? Wouldn't this be a "dull" story if he was simply a womanizer who set out to ruin the lives of every pretty young woman he meets? Is that really all there is to the story?
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