The Beggar

The Beggar

Think about it

Question 1. Has Lushkoff become a beggar by circumstance or by choice?

Answer: Lushkoff has become a beggar by choice. This happens when he is sent away from the Russian choir for drunkenness. After that he doesn’t search for any other job and becomes a beggar.

Question 2. What reasons does he give Sergei for telling lies?

Answer: Lushkoff says that it isn’t easy for him to tell people that he has been removed from the choir because of his drinking nature. It is because if told the truth, he would not get any help or money.

Question 3. Is Lushkoff a willing worker? Why, then, does he agree to chop wood for Sergei?

Answer: No, Lushkoff is not a willing worker. He agrees to chop wood for Sergei not because he is hungry or wants work but simply from pride and shame and because he is trapped by his own words.

Question 4. Sergei says, “I am happy that my words have taken effect.” Why does he say so? Is he right in saying this?

Answer: Sergei says so because he thinks that he is responsible for changing him from the beggar to a civilized man. Therefore when he finds that he is serious now and has no objection to work, he offers his some other, cleaner employment. He then gives him a letter and so asks him to take this letter to a friend of his tomorrow, he will get some work of copying.

No, Sergei is not completely right in setting Lushkoff on the right path. To some extent he is supported by him (Sergei) but his cook, Olga, is mainly responsible for bringing about complete transformation in him. Owing to her kind words and noble deeds, he gets changed to a civilized person.

Question 5. Lushkoff is earning thirty-five roubles a month. How is he obliged to Sergei for this?

Answer: Lushkoff is obliged to Sergei for earning thirty-five roubles a month because if he hadn’t come to Sergei then he still might have been calling himself a teacher or a student. Sergei helped him come out of the pit by arranging a cleaner employment of copying with the help of his friend.

Question 6. During their conversation, Lushkoff reveals that Sergei’s cook, Olga, is responsible for the positive change in him. How has Olga saved Lushkoff?

Answer: When Sergei meets Lushkoff at the ticket counter, he (Lushkoff) reveals him that his cook, Olga, is responsible for the positive change in him.

He further says that whenever he came to his house to chop wood, she began to scold calling him sot and miserable creature; that she would then sit down opposite him and grow sad, look into his face and weep; that she had suffered so much and shed many tears for his sake; and that it was Olga who would chop wood for him, he himself didn’t chop even a single stick of wood.

Lushkoff says that her kind words and noble deeds created a change in his heart, and he became a civilized person.