The Gambler

Alexey Ivanovich is the novel’s protagonist and narrator. After assisting Grandmother at the roulette tables where she first wins, Alexey reflects on his situation in Roulettenburg: “I was far away from home in a foreign land, without a job and without the means for existence, without hopes” (207). He has limited funds and prospects, and he is also toward the bottom of an elaborate social hierarchy in a world where this matters deeply. However, as he says, “I wasn’t worried at all” (207) and retains a vital and distinctive relation to the world. This is because, despite all his external circumstances, of his love for Polina. As he says, “I want to fathom her secrets […] all I want is to be in her presence, in her light, in her radiance, for ever, always, my whole life” (207). Alexey’s passion for Polina gives his life meaning and pushes him to think and to act. He first gambles because Polina needs him to. Despite his anxieties about his place in a society that values hierarchy and status deeply, Alexey defies social propriety and insults the baroness to prove a point to her and to make her laugh.