Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in What Men Live By, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Mystery
Rationality vs. Generosity
Selfless Love
Summary
Analysis
Matryona asks her husband to explain how he met the stranger. Semyon tells her that the man was sitting naked by the chapel; he believes that God led him to this man, because if Semyon hadn’t come along, the man likely would have died from cold or starvation. He urges Matryona not to be angry, because it is a sin to be angry, and when she dies she will have to repent for her sins. Semyon’s explanation does not ease Matryona’s anger. In fact, she is just about to continue berating him, when her eyes fall suddenly on the stranger. The stranger is sitting at the table with his hands folded on his knees, his head hung, his eyes closed, and a pained expression on his face. As Matryona looks at the man, Semyon asks her if there is no love of God within her.
Semyon’s attitude toward the stranger has changed completely: a short while ago, he was bemoaning the impossibility of feeding another mouth and hurrying away from the stranger. But now, he not only believes that he is acting according to God’s will but also lectures his wife about the sinfulness of her anger. Matryona’s own feelings in the passage again prove the power of divine mystery over rational reasoning: while Semyon’s arguments about the afterlife have no effect on Matryona, something in the stranger’s expression mysteriously causes Matryona’s heart to soften.
Themes
Suddenly Matryona pities the stranger, and she feels her anger leave her. She gets out dinner, kvass, and the last slice of bread. Then Matryona, Semyon, and the stranger divide the food between them and eat together at the table. Matryona gazes at the stranger, overwhelmed by her compassion for him; when the stranger looks up at her, the pained expression leaves his face, and he smiles at her.
The image of Matryona, Semyon, and the stranger breaking bread together at the table evokes a feeling of bounty and community. Sharing bread is portrayed as a symbolic act of divine love and fellowship in the Bible, so this gesture suggests that as Matryona and Semyon extend kindness to Mikhail, they are also growing closer to God. Moreover, the fact that Matryona’s anger leaves her when she helps Mikhail suggests that there is a natural reciprocity in true generosity: that is, selfless love is beneficial for the person who bestows it as well as the person who receives it.
Themes
After dinner, Matryona begins to question the stranger, asking where he is from and how he came to be naked by the church. He answers the questions in the same cryptic way as when Semyon asked them, telling her only that he is “not from these parts” and that he cannot explain how he came to be by the church. He adds that God will reward Semyon and Matryona for taking pity on him and showing compassion toward him. Matryona gives the stranger trousers, as well as the shirt that she had been mending. Then all three go to bed.
Matryona’s interrogation of the stranger matches Semyon’s first conversation with him almost exactly. The stranger gives no more information than before, intensifying his aura of mystery. This time, however, he tells Semyon and Matryona that God will reward them for their generosity toward him, and this comment ends the questioning. This suggests that simply trusting in God—and in other people—is more fruitful than trying to find logical answers or gain control over a situation.
Themes
Lying beside her husband beneath their shared winter coat, Matryona cannot fall asleep. At first, she frets about the fact that she gave the stranger their last piece of bread, and now they won’t have anything to feed their children the next day. But when she remembers the stranger’s smile, she is overcome by a feeling of joy and peace.
In this moment, Matryona has a slight relapse into her old nervous and logical way of thinking. Yet although some of her worry is about feeding herself, this passage reveals that she is also selflessly concerned about feeding her children. Meanwhile, the stranger’s grateful smile’s mysterious ability to comfort Matryona again points to the idea that helping others is beneficial to both the receiver of help and the helper.
Themes
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Matryona notices that Semyon is also awake; she shares her concern about getting food for their family the next day. Semyon doesn’t offer a specific solution but tells her that he is sure something will work out. Matryona remarks that the stranger seems to be a good man even though he refuses to talk about himself. Then she asks why it is that they always give to others, but others never give back to them. Semyon doesn’t answer the question, but instead suggests that they go to sleep and discuss it another time.
Semyon’s spiritual transformation seems more complete than Matryona’s, as he his confidence in the world and its mysteries is more assured. He also does not indulge—and in fact seems to look down on—Matryona’s question about when they will be the recipient of other people’s generosity, even though he himself was thinking along very similar lines as he walked home from the village.
Themes
