Resurrection

Before the first interview, Nekhludoff thought that when she saw

him and knew of his intention to serve her, Katusha would be

pleased and touched, and would be Katusha again; but, to his

horror, he found that Katusha existed no more, and there was

Maslova in her place. This astonished and horrified him.

What astonished him most was that Katusha was not ashamed of her

position--not the position of a prisoner (she was ashamed of

that), but her position as a prostitute. She seemed satisfied,

even proud of it. And, yet, how could it be otherwise? Everybody,

in order to be able to act, has to consider his occupation

important and good. Therefore, in whatever position a person is,

he is certain to form such a view of the life of men in general

which will make his occupation seem important and good.

It is usually imagined that a thief, a murderer, a spy, a

prostitute, acknowledging his or her profession as evil, is

ashamed of it. But the contrary is true. People whom fate and

their sin-mistakes have placed in a certain position, however

false that position may be, form a view of life in general which

makes their position seem good and admissible. In order to keep

up their view of life, these people instinctively keep to the

circle of those people who share their views of life and their

own place in it. This surprises us, where the persons concerned

are thieves, bragging about their dexterity, prostitutes vaunting

their depravity, or murderers boasting of their cruelty. This

surprises us only because the circle, the atmosphere in which

these people live, is limited, and we are outside it. But can we

not observe the same phenomenon when the rich boast of their

wealth, i.e., robbery; the commanders in the army pride themselves

on victories, i.e., murder; and those in high places vaunt their

power, i.e., violence? We do not see the perversion in the views

of life held by these people, only because the circle formed by

them is more extensive, and we ourselves are moving inside of it.

And in this manner Maslova had formed her views of life and of

her own position. She was a prostitute condemned to Siberia, and

yet she had a conception of life which made it possible for her

to be satisfied with herself, and even to pride herself on her

position before others.

According to this conception, the highest good for all men

without exception--old, young, schoolboys, generals, educated and

uneducated, was connected with the relation of the sexes;

therefore, all men, even when they pretended to be occupied with

other things, in reality took this view. She was an attractive

woman, and therefore she was an important and necessary person.

The whole of her former and present life was a confirmation of

the correctness of this conception.