ond ...
a drunkard, a crack-brained sort of man. There is no reason for my
life. Why do I live on earth, and to whom am I useful? I have no
home, no wife, no children, and I don't feel as if I wanted any. I
live and am bored.... What about? No one knows. I have no life
within myself, do you understand? How shall I express it? There's a
spark, or force lacking in my soul...."

Another character, the shoemaker Orlov, in "Orlov and His Wife,"
especially reflects this pessimistic disposition. In the same way as
Konovalov, he is born with "restlessness in his heart."

He is a shoemaker; and why?

"As if there weren't enough of them already! What pleasure is there
in this trade for me? I sit in a cellar and sew. Then I shall die.
They say that the cholera is coming.... And after that? Gregory
Orlov lived, made shoes--and died of the cholera. What does that
signify? And why was it necessary that I should live, make shoes and
die, tell me?"

These creatures are under the impression that they are superfluous;
therefore their pessimistic conclusions. All of them passionately
want to be able to express the meaning of life in general, their
life in particular, but the task is too much for them.

Gorky's heroes consider themselves "useless beings," but they never
humiliate themselves. Their restlessness of spirit does not permit
them to resign themselves to the reigning banality or to take part
in it without protesting. At the same time, some of them are gifted
with sufficient personality to possess an unshaken faith in
themselves, in their strength, which keeps them from letting the
responsibility of their torments fall back upon society.

Promtov, the hero of "The Strange Companion," makes these restless
seekers the descendants of the Wandering Jew: "Their peculiarity,"
he ironically says, "is, that whether rich or poor, they cannot find
a suitable place for themselves on earth, and establish themselves
in it. The greatest of them are satisfied with nothing: money,
women, nor men."

What, then, do these "greatest" want?

Their desires evidently take a multitude of forms, and have the most
diverse shades; but the greatest number of them are impatient for
extraordinary happenings, eager for exploits. Some of them declare
that they would be willing to throw themselves on a hundred knives
if humanity could be relieved by their doing so. But simple daily
activity, even if it is useful, does not satisfy them.

The shoemaker