Chapter 211
The Trance Refusal
Stepan Arkadyevitch felt completely nonplussed by the strange talk which he was hearing for the first time. The complexity of Petersburg, as a rule, had a stimulating effect on him, rousing him out of his Moscow stagnation. But he liked these complications, and understood them only in the circles he knew and was at home in. In these unfamiliar surroundings he was puzzled and disconcerted, and could not get his bearings. As he listened to Countess Lidia Ivanovna, aware of the beautiful, artless—or perhaps artful, he could not decide which—eyes of Landau fixed upon him, Stepan Arkadyevitch began to be…
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Critical Thinking Exercise
Connect Salon To Final Answer
Trace nonplussed evening, hand ritual, and next day refusal citing Frenchman.
Consider:
- •Include shameful memory
- •Include refusing divorce
- •Include real or pretended trance
Journaling Prompt
Write about a decision that felt absurd yet was treated as final.
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