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50 pages 1 hour read

Mikhail Lermontov

A Hero Of Our Time

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1838

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Book 5Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Book 5 Summary: “The Third Extract from Pechorin’s Diary: The Fatalist”

Pechorin’s battalion is stationed in a Cossack village, and each night, the officers take turns hosting a card game. One night, the game is not very interesting, and they begin talking about fate—in particular, whether the end of a person’s life is predestined. Pechorin bets that destiny does not exist. A Serbian officer, Vulich, counters him and proposes an experiment.

Vulich takes a pistol from the major’s bedroom, cocks it, and fills it with gun powder. The other officers protest because the situation is dangerous; no one knows whether the pistol is loaded. Vulich asks everyone to make a wager of 20 ducats and they comply. Pechorin notes he “could read the stamp of death upon [Vulich’s] pale countenance” (127). Pechorin tells Vulich that Vulich will die that day, but Vulich is ambivalent. He tells Pechorin to throw a card into the air, and when the card hits the table, Vulich fires the pistol against his temple.

The gun misfires and everyone is relieved, believing the gun was not loaded. However, Vulich shoots at a cap hanging on the wall, and brings it down, embedding the bullet in the wall. Vulich collects his winnings (he is a dedicated gambler), and everyone speculates over why the gun did not fire the first time. Pechorin comments that though he now believes in destiny, he still thinks Vulich will die that night. Vulich has been calm throughout the night’s affairs, but now he gets angry and leaves.

Later that night, Pechorin and the other officers discover that Vulich has been murdered by a drunken Cossack whom he chanced to meet on the road. The Cossack barricades himself in a hut with his saber and pistol. The officers are afraid to approach him, but Pechorin sneaks in through the back window and helps the guards apprehend him. Like Vulich, he decided to test fate and won. He notes that after the night’s events, it is impossible not to become a fatalist (132).

When he returns to the fortress, he asks Maksim Maksimych about predestination and why the pistol misfired, but Maksim Maksimych begins telling Pechorin about the merits of Asiatic weaponry. Finally mentioning Vulich, he says: “Yes, it is a pity about the poor fellow! The devil must have put it into his head to start a conversation with a drunken man at night! However, it is evident that fate had written it so at his birth!” (133).

Book 5 Analysis

Book 5 focuses on the theme of Fate Versus Chance. Vulich’s story introduces the concept of predestination, especially as it relates to life and death. Vulich is a foil for Pechorin because he is an extreme example of someone who lives by the rules of gambling, in which outcomes are determined by chance. However, Vulich believes that when it comes to the issue of death, our fate is determined and unchangeable. 

After Vulich’s stunt, Pechorin is temporarily convinced of predestination, but soon his doubt returns: “I do not know for certain whether I now believe in predestination or not, but on that evening I believed in it firmly […] However, I stopped myself in time from following that dangerous road” (129). Calling belief in fate a “dangerous road” implies that Pechorin fears putting faith in something he cannot control.

Later, when he learns Vulich has been murdered, he acknowledges that his presentiment about Vulich’s death was correct. After performing his own experiment with fate when he attempts to capture the Cossack responsible for Vulich’s death, he states: “After all that, it would hardly seem possible to avoid becoming a fatalist” (132), but even these remarkable events do not dispel his doubt.

The question of whether outcomes are due to fate, chance, or free will is vital because it determines whether one must take responsibility for one’s actions. This is particularly important for Pechorin because so much of his time is spent negatively affecting others. At the beginning of the section, one of the other officers asks: “And if predestination really exists, why are free will and reason granted us? Why are we obliged to render an account of our actions?” (125).

Pechorin does not take responsibility for his actions, but neither does he believe in fate. His ego does not allow him to believe that the events of his life are caused by random chance—it is too important for him to exert control to achieve his ends. Thus, he occupies a morally gray area that is convenient when he wants to take credit for certain actions but deny responsibility for others.

The recklessness of Vulich’s behavior also symbolizes the aimlessness and emptiness of the men present at the gathering, pointing to the “superfluous man” phenomenon Pechorin represents. The men pass their time playing cards out of boredom; Vulich’s dangerous gamble raises some concern, but no one present attempts to intervene and put a stop to the bet. The bet and their attitude toward it emphasize the low value they place on life in general, a stance that is reinforced by Pechorin’s own risky behavior afterwards.

While Pechorin evades fully embracing the idea of being a “fatalist,” there is indeed more than a trace of fatalism in his own habits—the casual disregard he displays toward others and his seeming inability to truly believe in anything or anyone suggest that he is more resigned to whatever “fate” holds for him than he may realize.

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