"
But Foma will have none of it. He is neither to be enticed nor
cajoled. The cry of his nature is for light. He must have light.
And in burning revolt he goes seeking the meaning of life. "His
thoughts embraced all those petty people who toiled at hard labour.
It was strange--why did they live? What satisfaction was it to them
to live on the earth? All they did was to perform their dirty,
arduous toil, eat poorly; they were miserably clad, addicted to
drunkenness. One was sixty years old, but he still toiled side by
side with young men. And they all presented themselves to Foma's
imagination as a huge heap of worms, who were swarming over the earth
merely to eat."
He becomes the living interrogation of life. He cannot begin living
until he knows what living means, and he seeks its meaning vainly.
"Why should I try to live life when I do not know what life is?" he
objects when Mayakin strives with him to return and manage his
business. Why should men fetch and carry for him? be slaves to him
and his money?
"Work is not everything to a man," he says; "it is not true that
justification lies in work .
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