Essay Questions

Why did Denis steal the nut?

The nut in the story, is not a mere nut, it's much more than that. For Denis, it is an instrument of survival. It helps him in fishing. In some way or the other the villagers get benefitted from the nuts. Although it's an important part of a railway track, the villagers like Denis don't steal the whole set of nuts from the nearby track.

In this story, Denis steals it to use it as a weight while fishing. It helps him to catch underwater fishes. He has only three nuts one of them is used by another villager, Mitrofan Petrov, in his trade.

This kind of small detail gives readers a major insight into the story. For Denis having a nut isn't luxury. It's a part and parcel of his everyday life. He knows where he keeps them and even he knows with whom he has stolen them. He has a close attachment with the nuts. This close association with the nuts makes the character of Denis more lively and lovable to the readers. Although he is a malefactor in the gentleman's world, he is a real benefactor to his peasant community.

What happens to Denis Grigoryev at the end of the story?

Denis Grigoryev, a poor peasant, was caught red handed while he was unscrewing a nut from a railway track. He was summoned to the court and there his trial began.

The magistrate asked him about the veracity of the incident. He, being an honest poor fellow, confirmed it. Thereafter the judge asked him why he did so. He said, "The nut? We make weights out of those nuts for our lines." The magistrate unwilling to accept the fact kept on his assumptions and delivered him a sentence of imprisonment according to the "Article 1081 of the Penal Code". At last Denis was dragged away from court and eventually he would end up in jail.