Essay Questions

Why is the book entitled “The Gambler”?

The book has to do with much gambling, both in the aspects of being in an actual casino and gambling away things that aren’t physical. The main “Gambler” of the novel is Alexei, who tries to win the love of the young woman, Polina, with his money. Obviously, it isn’t good to bribe people to love you, but Alexei, young and immature, doesn’t realize this. At first, his winnings are tremendous, but he gets carried away and begins to waste all of his money, to the point where he is gambling just to make enough money to eat. Another gambler is The General’s aunt, dubbed “Grandmother”, who gambles for fun once she realizes that Alexei will waste all of her money willed to him after she dies. In a way, however, all Alexei, Polina, and Grandmother have gambled their lives and souls, because they are all doing things (mainly Polina and Alexei’s attachment only over money) for the wrong reasons.

Why do most of the characters, after going to the casino, win their first time playing?

Of course, winning a game at a casino is purely based of luck, and it seems highly unlikely that Alexei and his grandmother would have such a high return rate the first time they go to a casino. However, the author ignored this chance, rather using “beginners luck” as a main theme in the novel. Because each of them won something of value at first, instead of losing their money, they were more likely to come back to gamble again. This greatly influences the plot of the novel, which ends up with Alexei losing practically every cent (or, “rouble” in this context) to gambling.

Why does Alexei have such a great love for Polina, even after all of the bad things that she has done to him?

The author wants to portray a theme of how blindly loving someone can be quite harmful. Polina tries to seduce Alexei into spending all of his winnings on her, and, later in the book, Mlle Blanche tries to do the same things. However, both of them try - and succeed. Due to the blind love that Alexei seems to feel towards any woman, he is willing to spend his money just to get their attention. However, he does not realize that these women are simply preying on men like him, who will follow a woman just because of their looks.