Chapter 108 Part Three - Four

Sekinina's influence was accepted by Maslova willingly.Maslova was willing to accept it because she liked Sekinina.Another influence comes from Simonsson.This influence arose because Simonsson fell in love with Maslova. Anyone who lives and does things is always partly according to his own ideas and partly according to the ideas of others.The degree to which a man lives his life according to his own ideas, and to what extent he conforms to the ideas of others, is one of the great differences between man and man.Some people use their thoughts as if they were playing an intellectual game, using reason as a flywheel with the belt removed and letting it spin freely; but in their actions, they often obey other people's ideas, that is, obey customs, traditions and laws.Others regard their own thoughts as the guides of all action, almost always listening to the demands of their own reason, and complying with them, only occasionally submitting to the decisions of others, and only after analyzing and criticizing them for correctness.Simonson falls into this category.No matter what he encounters, he always thinks over it rationally, and then makes a decision, and once he makes a decision, he firmly implements it.

When he was still in high school, he decided that the money his father earned as a quartermaster was ill-gotten gains.He asked his father to return the property to the people, but his father not only refused to listen to him, but scolded him severely, and he ran away from home, and never used his father's money.He concluded that all the evils of today are due to the lack of education of the people, so he left the university, joined the Narodnik, went to the countryside as a teacher, and boldly preached to students and peasants what he thought was right and opposed what he thought was wrong.

He was arrested and interrogated. In court, he publicly stated that the judge had no authority to question him.The judge ignored his words and continued to interrogate him, and he made up his mind not to answer, and ignored their questions.He was exiled to Arkhangelsk province.There he formulated a set of teachings to guide all his actions.It is the teaching that everything is alive, that nothing is dead at all, and that everything we think of as dead and inorganic is simply part of a vast organism beyond our comprehension.Therefore, since man is an integral part of this huge organism, he has the responsibility to maintain the life of this organism and all its constituent parts.He therefore considers killing a crime: he is against war, against the death penalty, against massacres.Not only against the killing of humans, but against the killing of all animals.On the issue of marriage, he also has his own set of theories. He believes that childbearing is only a low-level function of human beings, and the high-level function of human beings is to serve the living.He backed up his theory with the fact that phagocytes are present in the blood.He believed that bachelors were the equivalent of phagocytes, whose job it was to help the weakened and diseased parts of the organism.Since he established this theory, he has been living according to it, even though he was addicted to drinking and sex when he was young.He now thinks that he, like Shekinina, is a phagocyte in the world.

His love for Maslova does not violate this theory, because his love is platonic. He believes that this kind of love will not prevent him from helping the weak like a phagocytic cell, but will encourage him to do so. Not only does he have his own way of solving mental problems, he also mostly has his own way of dealing with practical problems.He has his own theories for dealing with various practical issues, and has set a set of rules: how many hours should be worked and how many hours should be rested every day, what to eat, what clothes to wear, how to light the stove, how to light the lamp, etc.

Even so, Simonsson was very timid and humble when he met people.But once he has made his decision, nothing can stop him. It was the love of such a person that had a particularly great influence on Maslova.Maslova soon realized with a woman's sensitivity that he was in love with her.Her self-confidence grew at the thought that she could arouse love in such an extraordinary being.Nekhludoff proposed to her out of magnanimity and the past; Simonson loved her as she was today, and simply because he liked her.In addition, she felt that Simonson regarded her as an extraordinary woman, with exceptionally high morals, which was different from ordinary women.She did not quite know what qualities he thought she possessed, but at any rate, in order not to disappoint him, she endeavored to express the best qualities she thought she possessed.This also drives her to try to be the best good person she can be.

This starts as early as in prison.One day, when the political prisoner met with the prison visitor, she noticed that his simple and kind dark blue eyes were staring at her with particular obstinacy from under the protruding forehead and eyebrows.Already at that time, she found that he was a little special, and the way he looked at her was also a little special. She also found that his erect hair and frown looked very serious, but his eyes were pure and kind like a child. It can be expressed on one face at the same time, which cannot but surprise people.After arriving in Tomsk, she was transferred among the political prisoners, and she saw him again.Although they haven't spoken a word, the way they look at each other shows that they still know each other and respect each other.They hadn't had a meaningful conversation since, but it seemed to Maslova that in her presence he always spoke for her, for her, and tried to make it understandable.Their relationship was particularly close, starting with Simonsson walking with criminals.