DREAMS

In the chapter “Dreams” from “The Witch and Other Stories,” two contrasting peasant constables, Andrey Ptaha and Nikandr Sapozhnikov, escort an unusual tramp who refuses to reveal his name to the district town. Ptaha is short and carefree, often engaging with the surroundings and the tramp, while Sapozhnikov is tall, lean, and serious, resembling figures from old religious art. The tramp, on the other hand, does not fit the typical image; he is frail, mild-mannered, and speaks of his life with a gentle sadness. He hints at a genteel upbringing by his serf mother in a master’s house, his education, and his untarnished manners, setting him apart from the peasantry but not aligning him with nobility either.

As they navigate a seemingly endless and monotonous landscape, marked by fog and mud, Ptaha attempts to understand the tramp’s evasiveness about his identity, leading to the tramp divulging his tragic past. He speaks of an accidental murder caused by his mother, which led to her penal servitude and to his sentence as an accomplice due to a simple domestic routine turned fatal mistake. Despite his guilt and the stigma of his past, the tramp dreams of a new life in Siberia, envisioning it as a place of freedom and potential for happiness, far removed from his current confines and societal judgments.

The chapter takes a turn as the constables and the tramp sit to rest, and the tramp shares his naive yet heartfelt visions of a future in Siberia, where he imagines a life of simple pleasures, far away from the judgment and constraints he faces. However, Sapozhnikov brings a harsh dose of reality, commenting on the impracticality of the tramp’s dreams given his physical and circumstantial limitations.

“Dreams” paints a vivid portrait of human resilience, hope, and the longing for redemption and escape from the past’s burdens. Through the conversations and the internal monologues of its characters, it explores themes of identity, society’s labels, and the universal desire for a second chance at life, all set against a backdrop of the stark and unforgiving Russian landscape.