Summary

Chapter 52 describes Viktor's changing fortune at the Scientific Institute. Everyone who had abandoned him now treats him with respect and deference. Viktor lives in great material comfort, and all of his employees who had been obstructed from work have returned with swift assistance from the state. Viktor begins to like people that he used to find disagreeable. He also grapples with the fact that his popularity is a product of state coercion rather than his own individual qualities.

In chapter 53 Lyudmila and Marya Ivanovna resume their friendship. Viktor experiences guilt as he continually must hide from Lyudmila that fact that he and Marya are in love. Lyudmila appears to grow aware of Viktor’s love for Marya when she observes his attentiveness to the news of her that she gives him.

In chapter 54 Viktor meets with Shishakov and a few other...