In this chap­ter, the nar­ra­tive explores the con­trast between Gusev’s inner tur­moil and the serene yet somber cer­e­mo­ny of his bur­ial at sea. Gusev, a char­ac­ter entrenched in his own strug­gles and reflec­tions on mor­tal­i­ty, engages in a con­tem­pla­tive con­ver­sa­tion with anoth­er pas­sen­ger, empha­siz­ing the val­ue he places on Chris­t­ian fel­low­ship and his con­cern for his fam­i­ly’s well-being in his absence. His per­son­al fears and the famil­ial respon­si­bil­i­ties he bears are laid bare, reveal­ing a deeply ingrained sense of duty and care. The stark acknowl­edg­ment of his own phys­i­cal dete­ri­o­ra­tion and the oppres­sive con­di­tions aboard the ship fur­ther encap­su­lates the human vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty Gusev grap­ples with.

The tran­si­tion to Gusev’s final moments is marked by a vivid­ly depict­ed fever­ish dream—a metaphor­i­cal steam bath in a bread oven—synthesizing his long­ing for warmth and purifi­ca­tion. This dream sequence metaphor evokes a poignant con­trast to his actu­al state; con­fined below decks, bat­tling ill­ness, and ulti­mate­ly yield­ing to death’s embrace. The imagery esca­lates as Gusev is pre­pared for bur­ial, his body sewn into sail­cloth with weights, a stark reminder of the phys­i­cal reduc­tion of life to its ele­men­tal form. The descrip­tion of his body, likened to a car­rot or radish, broad at the head and taper­ing at the feet, imbues the nar­ra­tive with a grotesque real­ism, strip­ping away the roman­ti­cism often asso­ci­at­ed with death at sea.

The solem­ni­ty of the bur­ial cer­e­mo­ny, con­duct­ed on the deck with mil­i­tary and reli­gious rites, jux­ta­pos­es the oth­er­wise lone­ly and uncer­e­mo­ni­ous nature of Gusev’s final jour­ney. The gath­ered sol­diers and offi­cers, bare­head­ed and somber, and the chant­i­ng of the sailors pro­vide a com­mu­nal acknowl­edg­ment of Gusev’s passing—a col­lec­tive con­fronting of mor­tal­i­ty that briefly unites the crew in a moment of reflec­tion and respect. This com­mu­nal aspect high­lights the notion that, despite the seem­ing­ly indif­fer­ent vast­ness of the sea and the final­i­ty of death, human con­nec­tions and rit­u­als pro­vide a sem­blance of mean­ing and solace.

In its essence, the chap­ter not only nav­i­gates the per­son­al jour­ney of Gusev as he grap­ples with his fate but also delves into broad­er themes of mor­tal­i­ty, the sig­nif­i­cance of rit­u­als in the face of death, and the innate human search for mean­ing and con­nec­tion in their final moments. The nar­ra­tive, rich with sym­bol­ic and lit­er­al con­trasts between life and death, indi­vid­ual and com­mu­ni­ty, and strug­gle and accep­tance, res­onates with a pro­found explo­ration of the human con­di­tion.