The 20th-Century Russian Novel: Revolution, Terror, Resistance

Invitation to a Beheading 198-211

Anwyn Urquhart

pg. 199 — "Did you read my letter carefully?"
Refers to the letter Cincinnatus wrote to Marthe asking her to come visit him again and to show some sort of pain or emotion that indicates she cares about him.

pg. 202 — spider
Has in the past been an omen of deception and lies for Cincinnatus. The spider also seems to have a certain connection with Rodion (the jailer) and Rodrig (the director) as they are often seen feeding the spider or admiring its web. On pg. 202 Rodion tries to feed the spider the moth mentioned below.

pg. 203-4 — escaped moth
Described as a monster the moth is presented to the spider as a treat, something special for the spider to eat, but it escapes, scaring Rodion. There is an inherent connection between Cincinnatus and the moth because of the clear symbolic connection between the spider and the jail (everyone who is in the jail, but isn't imprisoned). The spider always catches its prey and the jail always tricks Cincinnatus, therefore Cincinnatus is the jail's prey. However, in this scene the prey escapes the spider alluding to an ending that involves Cincinnatus escaping in some sort of capacity.

pg. 206 — death vs. execution vs. pain vs. parting
Cincinnatus crosses out death because he doesn't believe he is dying. The reason he writes is to give his soul structure so that a part of him will live on hence the pain/parting/execution. This is not to say that his beheading won't be painful, but it won't mean he is totally gone. He believes he won't totally die because there are two worlds according to his gnostic beliefs and hence he would be leaving one, but entering the other. 

pg. 207 — director and lawyer are identical
Rodrig the director and Roman the lawyer become identical which only furthers the duality amongst the R characters who work in the jail. They also are described as lacking makeup and wigs implying some sort of theatrical production. 

pg. 210 — spider's death
Here, the spider is taken down as Cincinnatus is preparing to leave to his beheading and Rodrig takes down the spider and its web, and we find out that the spider was fake the whole time

This page has paths: