Questions for both halves of Hero of Our Time

"Bela"

1. Who is telling the story?

2. How does the narrator know Maxim Maximich?

3. How is Maxim's story different from the Narrator's story?

4. How did Maxim meet Pechorin?

5. What is Maxim's opinion of Pechorin, and how does it change?

6. What are Pechorin's distinguishing traits?

"Maxim Maximich"

1. What new things do we learn about Pechorin in this chapter?

2. How does our perception of Maxim change?

3. How does the presence of nature affect the storytelling?

4. What impression does Pechorin make on the narrator?

5. Why is Pechorin cold towards Maxim?

"Intorduction to Pechorin's Journal"

1. Why is the narrator happy:?

2. Why is the journal being published?

3. Why does the narrator find Pechorin interesting?

"Taman"

1. In what ways is this chapter different from a typical journal entry?

2. What is distinctive about Pechorin's voice in this part of the journal? (What kind of person does he seem to be?)

3. What uncertainties about his life does Pechorin seem to have?

4. Why does Pechorin meddle in the villagers' affairs?

Second Half:

1. Why are sections of Pechorin's journal included in the novel?

2. Why is there a "foreword" to the journal?

3. How does Pechorin view his own personal identity?

4. Why does Pechorin challenge Grushnitsky?

5. Why is Pechorin afraid of love?

6. Does Pechorin love Princess Mary?

7. Name three possible causes Pechorin gives for his actions and his personality.

8. What is Vera's significance in our understanding of Pechorin's psychology?

"The Fatalist"

9. Does Pechorin begin the story as a fatalist? Does he end it as one?

10. When does the action take place, relative to the rest of the novel?

11. Why is the theme of fate/fatalism interesting to Pechorin?

12. What does Maxim Maximich think of fatalism?

General:

What is the chronology of the events in the novel?

Why is it organized the way it is?

How does this novel seem like, or unlike, other novels?