How we cite our quotes: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #10
Being left alone, I decided to occupy myself with state affairs. I discovered that China and Spain are absolutely one and the same land, and it is only out of ignorance that they are considered separate countries. I advise everyone to purposely to write Spain on a piece of paper, and it will come out China. (17.1)
Cool fact: This one sort of works if you write "Spain" in the Cyrillic alphabet (Испания), and then read it as if you were reading something in the Latin alphabet. Also remember to squint a little. You don't see it? Well, we won't insist on this one. But there's something else to notice here: Poprishchin playing with words and extracting meanings that aren't there, another common symptom of schizophrenia.
Quote #11
[The moon] is made by a lame cooper, and one can see that the fool understands nothing about the moon. He used tarred rope and a quantity of cheap olive oil, and that's why there's a terrible stench all over the earth, so that you have to hold your nose. And that's why the moon itself is such a delicate sphere that people can't live on it, and now only noses live there. And for the same reason, we can't see our own noses, for they're all in the moon. (17.1)
Look at how these sentences connect to one another in a chain of reasoning with connectors like "that's why," "so that," again "that's why," "for the same reason," and "for" (as in because). Poprishchin is again trying to be logical in some way, but his logic has nothing to do with reality. Many people suffering from schizophrenia are able to construct very complicated logical arguments to explain pretty bizarre delusional beliefs.
Quote #12
Today the grand inquisitor came to my room, but, hearing his footsteps from far off, I hid under a chair. Seeing I wasn't there, he began calling out. First he shouted, "Poprishchin!" but I didn't say a word. Then: "Aksenty Ivanovich! Titular councillor! Nobleman!" I kept silent. "Ferdinand VIII, king of Spain!" I wanted to poke my head out, but then thought, "No, brother, you're not going to hoodwink me! We know you: you'll pour cold water on my head again." Nevertheless, he saw me and chased me out from under the chair with his stick. (19.1)
Poprishchin might be mad, but he is smart enough to know that he shouldn't respond to this guy (who is probably an evil asylum guard). And then we get a chilling dose of reality: the mentally ill used to get beaten up and tortured in asylums.