"The Fatalist" is a short story told by a personage from Mikhail Lermontov’s novel A Hero of Our Time. His name is Pechorin.
Set in Poland, the young narrator, Pechorin, a teacher of Hebrew at the young Zion organization, noticed a young man, called Benjamin Fatalist, and he asked the secretary of the association how this man acquired the nickname of "Fatalist." The secretary then told Pechorin about Benjamin Schwartz, who came to Austria to teach German during the occupation in 1916. After the Germans left, Benjamin learned Polish, and he was given a job in the archives.
Because Benjamin was well educated, he was invited to a youth club where the young people of the town gathered. There, they had a special box for the evening from which participants drew a question. One girl asked if he believed in a Special Providence and Benjamin replied that he did; then he spoke at length. "All things were determined, every trifle. It had been so preordained a billion years ago," he told his audience. Several people asked him challenging questions in response, but Benjamin Schwartz insisted that his belief was right. For a long time after this night, the young people discussed fatalism.
At the club, there was a girl named Heyele Minz, who was the daughter of a wealthy man. Despite her high social status and Heyele's penchant for sarcastic remarks, Benjamin Fatalist fell in love with her. One day he told her that it was fated that she would marry him, so she should not postpone the inevitable. Heyele rejoined, "It's fated that I should tell you that you're an idiot and that you've got lots of nerve besides." Not long after this conversation, Heyele became engaged to another young man. The young men at the club teased Benjamin about his statement regarding Heyele's fate, and Heyele taunted him, "I am to be Ozer Rubinstein's, not yours. Now, that is what fate wanted."
Later, however, Heyele's fiancé had to postpone their wedding because his older sister was not yet married. Not long afterward, the discussion at the club turned again to fate as some talked about Russian roulette. Heyele challenged Benjamin to prove that he believed in fate by lying on the railroad tracks as the train that ran from Warsaw to Lovov passed. She dared him,"If it's fated that you live, you will live and have nothing to fear." Benjamin replied that any game must have another participant. So, she had to promise that if he won, she would break her engagement and marry him.
As the day came for the dare, a dozen members from the club went outside in the freezing air. When Benjamin indicated that he intended to go through with the dare, Heyele told him that she did not want him to die because of her, adding that she could not be the cause of a mother's losing her son. However, even when she begged him to forget the dare, Benjamin refused. He told everyone to stand back so that they would be unable to grab his jacket and pull him off the tracks. The others obeyed, but they were frightened. They pleaded with Schwartz to get off the rails. When the train came roaring down the track, the youths begged, "Schwartz! Don't do it!" Then they heard the screeching of the train's wheels as the train was pulled to a halt. The engineer and fireman screamed at Schwartz. Some of the youths standing by fled from fear of being arrested. Heyele ran to the secretary, and according to him, she did not cry; she howled.
After the narrator handed the secretary a cigarette so he could calm himself from reliving the experience of the dare, the secretary said that Heyele did marry Benjamin Fatalist and they had four children. "Would he do it again?" the narrator inquired, "[T]he secretary smiled. 'Not for Heyele.'"
Thursday, November 1, 2012
What is the short summary of "The Fatalist"?
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