Chapter 9 Summary

Kirill has left the priest and is now on a footpath in the woods. He situates himself on a log where he can see the town from a distance. He thinks about the letter, and some lines of verse come to his mind: "...I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul." He wishes these words would go away. These lines of poetry will not leave his mind because he realizes that, for his entire life thus far, decisions have been made for him. Now he, himself, must choose. He thinks that the gulag has failed. The Soviet system was designed for prisoners to be released in the world and to conform to the Soviet way of thinking. But that is not what has happened. He knows that he truly is the "Captain" of his soul. With the...