Russian gesture
When his ex-wife Lisa came to visit Pnin he was pleased to see her, but she only told that she had left Wind (a person she had left Pnin for years ago) and asked Timofey to put away some money so being able to send it to her son, as his father does not care for him. The situation ironically depicts how characterless Pnin really is. But after that he cried and tried to find whisky in Joan’a kitchen. The most comic scene comes next when Joan enters, sees Pnin searching about the cases and offers him instead of whisky tea. Then “he made the Russian' relinquishing' gesture.” With words “No, I don't want anything at all”. This proves that Pnin likes to make a victim of himself.
True understanding
The ironic attitude towards Timofey Pnin by the narrator is described in the portrayal of Pnin as a driver. Pnin has attended classes of driving but “true understanding”, came to him only when he studied “with deep enjoyment” the forty-page Driver's Manual, issued by the State Governor in collaboration with another expert, and the article on 'Automobile' in the Encyclopedia Americana, with illustrations of Transmissions, and Carburettors, and Brakes, and a Member of the Glidden Tour”. It proves once more that Pnin was a rather timid person, and understanding and skillfulness of driving can only come with practice.
Indifferent children
One of Pnin’s acquaintances complains about his two children. He has Russian roots, they have already been born in America, and when Poroshin (it is his surname) starts telling his children about “most interesting, most exciting things” - for instance, about local elective self-government in the Russian Far North in the seventeenth century or something about the history of the first medical schools in Russia” his children behave just indignantly – “they simply wander off and turn on the radio in their rooms.” Young Americans show little interest in the “most interesting things” of their father.
