How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Meanwhile, with a permanent staff of about fifty servants and no questions asked, our city household and country place were the scenes of a fantastic merry-go-round of theft. (2.4.2)
Later, the Nabokovs will be forced to pay for life with a handful of smuggled jewels, and later, Vladimir's mother will live off a pension from the Czech government. In St. Petersburg, however, it seems like their wealth combines with a bit of liberal guilt. Deciding to ignore the thefts is, for the Nabokovs, a form of benevolence.
Quote #2
So, with one thing and another, my father preferred to leave the whole housekeeping situation in a state of precarious equilibrium (not devoid of a certain quiet humor), with my mother deriving considerable comfort from the hope that her old nurse's illusory world would not be shattered. (2.4.2)
Being rich means being able to take power when you want it and get rid of it when you don't. Neither of the Nabokov parents much care for household running, and as a result, their network of servants and holdings are only ever partially managed. Vladimir's mother's old nurse is allowed to feel as if she has some power and agency—which, as anyone who has ever had an awesome boss will tell you—is the mark of kind management.
Quote #3
Because he stammered and had difficulty in pronouncing labials, he changed his coachman's name from Pyotr to Lev; and my father (who was always a little sharp with him) accused him of a slaveowner's mentality. (3.4.2)
There are different kinds of rich people, and Vladimir's father, liberal and aware of these types of things, isn't afraid to give Uncle Ruka (his wife's brother) a hard time. Vladimir's father has something to prove, coming from a family of Tsar-supporters, while Uncle Ruka's family is one of wealthy landowners.
Quote #4
I was nearing eighteen, then was over eighteen; love affairs and verse-writing occupied most of my leisure; material questions left me indifferent, and, anyway, against the background of our prosperity no inheritance could seem very conspicuous…(3.6.1)
When Uncle Ruka dies and Vladimir inherits a million dollars and his estate, it's no big deal: he has no use for a house and plenty of money, anyway. When a year later, the communist-run state has taken the money and property, it doesn't matter anymore, either: everything else is lost, too.
Quote #5
At breakfast, Golden Syrup imported from London would entwist with its glowing coils the revolving spoon from which enough of it had slithered onto a piece of Russian bread and butter. All sorts of snug, mellow things came in a steady procession from the English Shop on Nevski Avenue: fruitcakes, smelling salts, playing cards, picture puzzles, striped blazers, talcum-white tennis balls. (4.1.2)
Along with Russian wealth came access to British luxuries. This will only seem ironic and tragic later, after the family is exiled and can't afford to live in London.
Quote #6
...her hand, with its familiar pigeon-blood ruby and diamond ring (within the limpid facets of which, had I been a better crystal-gazer, I might have seen a room, people, lights, trees in the rain—a whole period of émigré life for which that ring was to pay). (4.2.2)
This is a neat double-exposure moment, where we get gesture and characterization, along with the unfolding of events to come.
Quote #7
We drift past the show windows of Fabergé whose mineral monstrosities, jeweled troykas poised on marble ostrich eggs, and the like, highly appreciated by the imperial family, were emblems of grotesque garishness to ours. (5.5.10)
With all of their houses and baubles, it can be easy to forget that the Nabokovs are rich but still mindful of the country's economic condition. Showiness is thought of as not only a character flaw, but also an injustice. It is worth thinking about, however: the Nabokovs had their limits, but they still had plenty of wealth. Given their politics, why do you think they maintained their high-class life?
Quote #8
He complained to my mother that Sergey and I were little foreigners, freaks, fops, snobï, "pathologically indifferent," as he put it... (8.2.6)
Lenski is a good stand-in for any radical folk who might take exception to Vladimir's father speaking out for one way of life while conducting his own in another. And Vladimir is much more conservative than his father. He loves the comforts of his life, and finds international texts quite romantic.
Quote #9
Strange to say, she was the first to have the poignant power, by merely not letting her smile fade, of burning a hole in my sleep and jolting me into clammy consciousness, whenever I dreamed of her, although in real life I was even more afraid of being revolted by her dirt-caked feet and stale-smelling clothes… (10.4.2)
Vladimir may have a crush on Polenka, the head coachman's daughter, but it's her untouchable, romanticized ideal he's after. In real life, she's a peasant girl, and her realities are way less appetizing to hoity-toity Vlad.
Quote #10
I think bourgeois fathers—wing-collar workers in pencil-striped pants, dignified, office-tied fathers, so different from young American veterans of today or from a happy, jobless Russian-born expatriate of fifteen years ago—will not understand my attitude toward our child. (15.2.2)
Here's Vladimir from the other side of class: having fallen into the poorest émigré class, he now sees life and parenting with some difficulty. We get the feeling that even though being poor is harder than being rich, he's happy to be able to spend plenty of time caring for his little son. His father, rich and politically active, couldn't necessarily afford the same kind of time.