The Room the Chips Rent
After his own wreck, Alexei would rather grow fat after the Russian manner, or squander his substance at roulette, than save like a German clerk. The speech is not economics. It is a bid to make loss look like rank: recklessness as pedigree, thrift as a foreign stain. Status can be performed even in a emptied pocket.
Key Insight
When a loss needs a culture to justify it, you are no longer talking about money. You are talking about how you wish to be seen while broke. Pride will spend the next stake to keep the costume from looking like a mistake.
“I would rather grow fat after the Russian manner, or squander my whole substance at roulette.”Full analysis
