God Sees the Truth but Waits

When the justice system of this world, controlled by flawed humans, fails Aksionov, he puts his faith in God's plan. He knows that only God knows the truth about him, and thus God is the only authority to whom he should appeal. In prison, Aksionov transforms into a humble and God-fearing figure, spending the little money he earns from making boots on a book about the lives of saints. Officials and prisoners respect him for his fairness in resolving disputes, as though he himself has turned into a religious figure. Aksionov's faith in God's will is so strong that even when he learns of the circumstances that led to his plight, he believes he must be wicked to have deserved the torturous life God gave him.

The story's most obvious theme is injustice. The case against Aksionov is neither particularly flimsy nor particularly convincing, yet the government authorities seem eager to pin the crime on him and assume his guilt, even without establishing motive or recovering the twenty thousand rubles stolen from the merchant. Having determined Aksionov to be guilty from the start, the police make little effort to investigate other suspects. And when his wife's appeal to the czar is rejected, Aksionov accepts that the injustice to which he is subjected will be impossible to rectify. He resigns himself to waiting for God to deliver the justice that man won’t or can’t give him.