Poor Folk
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Plot summary
The story is ingeniously put together in the form of a set of letters written between two people, Makur Devushkin and Varvara Dobruselova. Makur and Varvara are second cousins twice-removed and live across from each other on the same street in terrible apartments. Markur’s, for example, is merely a portioned-off section of the kitchen, and he lives with several other tenants, such as the Gorhkovs, whose son dies and who groan in agonizing hunger almost the entire story, gently crying at night. Makur and Varvara exchange letters back in forth attesting to their terrible living conditions and the former frequently squanders his money on gifts for the latter. You progressively learn about their history throughout the story. Varvara used to live in the country until her father lost his job, and then she moved into St. Petersburg, which she hates. Her father was very violent after losing his job and her mother became severely depressed. He dies and they move in with Anna Fyodorovna, a landlady who was previously cruel to them but feels badly for their situation. There she is tutored by a poor student named Pokrovsky, whose drunken father occasionally visits. She eventually falls in love with him and her and his father, who struggled to save a measly amount of money, purchase him the complete works of Pushkin at the market for his birthday present. He dies soon after, and his last dying wish is to see the sun and the world outside, which Varvara obliges by opening the blinds to grey clouds and dirty rain. His father runs after the coffin during the procession, with some of his son’s books falling in the mud as he goes along alone in the rain. He only shakes his head and then passes away. Her mother dies soon after and she is left in the care of Anna for a time, but eventually goes out on her own because of the abuse to live with Fedora across the street. Makur works as a lowly copyist, frequently belittled at his job and picked on frequently. His clothing is worn and dirty, and his living conditions are perhaps worse than Varvara’s. He considers himself a rat in society. As him and Varvara exchange letters (and occasional visits that are never detailed), they begin to exchange books. Makur becomes offended when she sends him a copy of “The Overcoat,” because he finds the main character to be living the life he now lives. He’s frustrated at how Crappy is treated and wonders why his overcoat was not found in the end and why Gogol chose to end it so horribly. They continue to suffer, Varvara considers leaving to another part of the city where she can work as a governess, but in a spot of luck, when Makur is completely out of money and may possibly be thrown out by his landlady, he comes upon 100 rubles. It happens that he miscopies a document and is brought to the head at his office, who tells him he can still copy it again and after looking at his terrible condition gives him the money so he can buy himself new clothes. He pays off his debts and sends some to Varvara, who sends him about 20 rubles back because she doesn’t need all of it, and the future looks bright for the both of them because he can now start to save up money and they can possibly move in together. Suddenly, all of the rumors about Varvara marrying a drunk become meaningless in the face of money. Makur finds himself liked by even the writer Ratazyayev, who was using him as a figure in one of his stories because of his sad condition. Even the Gorhkovs come across money because the father’s case is won in court. With the considerable sum they seem perfectly happy, but he dies soon after anyway, leaving his family in shambles despite the money. Soon after this Varvara announces that a Mr. Bykov, who had dealings with Pokrovsky’s father, has proposed to her. She decides to leave with him and the last few letters attest to her slowly becoming used to her new money. She has Makur find linen for her and begins to talk about various luxuries, leaving him alone in the end despite the fact that he was coming on to better times. The story ends with a final letter from him written in a desperate plea for her to come back to him or at least write from her new life.External links
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