How we cite our quotes: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"The State is not God. It has not the right to take away what it cannot restore when it wants to." (1.3)
Basically, this one dude's idea is that the government can't make sacrifices (which are, you know, by definition things you give up that you can't get back). What do you make of this argument—that the government should only have power over those things it can control absolutely? In other words, how much power is this guy saying the state needs to give up?
Quote #2
"Think better of it, young man, while there is still time. To me two millions are a trifle, but you are losing three or four of the best years of your life. I say three or four, because you won't stay longer. Don't forget either, you unhappy man, that voluntary confinement is a great deal harder to bear than compulsory. The thought that you have the right to step out in liberty at any moment will poison your whole existence in prison." (1.12)
The banker's main thing is to compare the two stakes to see if they match up in value. He claims that they don't, since the money is "a trifle" while several years of life seems like a crazy thing to give up. Let's see if his valuation of the two stakes holds up (spoiler alert: it doesn't—but why?).
Quote #3
"Cursed bet!" muttered the old man, clutching his head in despair. "Why didn't the man die? He is only forty now. He will take my last penny from me, he will marry, will enjoy life, will gamble on the Exchange; while I shall look at him with envy like a beggar." (2.3)
And just like that, the chickens are coming home to roost. Now the money seems to be worth way more than the years the lawyer spent imprisoned. Talk about a change in perspective.
Quote #4
"With a clear conscience I tell you, as before God, who beholds me, that I despise freedom and life and health, and all that in your books is called the good things of the world." (2.13)
Did the lawyer think that "life and health" were "the good things of the world" before he was imprisoned? Meaning, did he learn that these things were supposed to be "the good things" from books, or is this a life conviction that has been overturned by his imprisonment? Are "life and health" something he is now giving up, or something he had already given up when he went to that party where they made the bet?
Quote #5
"I despise your books, I despise wisdom and the blessings of this world. It is all worthless, fleeting, illusory, and deceptive, like a mirage." (2.16)
For the lawyer, the "blessings of the world" really have been a "mirage." He's read about them, but he hasn't lived them (although he might say otherwise). So maybe that makes them easier to throw away—because it's a way to convince himself that winning the bet was worth it, and he wasn't missing out on anything so great anyway by hanging out in his prison cell for over a decade. Maybe this is all a way to deal with what the banker predicted—that voluntary confinement is way worse than forced imprisonment.
Quote #6
When the banker had read this he laid the page on the table, kissed the strange man on the head, and went out of the lodge, weeping. At no other time, even when he had lost heavily on the Stock Exchange, had he felt so great a contempt for himself. When he got home he lay on his bed, but his tears and emotion kept him for hours from sleeping. (2.19)
Why is the banker weeping—what is the overwhelming emotion he is experiencing? Is he moved by the prisoner's commitment to rejecting everything material? Is he just crying from relief at not having to kill him and getting to keep his money? Why does he feel "contempt for himself"? And seriously, guys, why won't Chekhov just come out with it?