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Books
The lawyer turns to a wide variety of books to entertain himself and assuage his loneliness while in captivity. Cut off from the outside world, the lawyer can only enrich his life through books, which, written by humans, offer him vicarious contact. He reads books on a variety of subjects, from contemporary novels to the works of Shakespeare, from books on language and history to science and medicine. He tries out philosophy and theology and even the New Testament. The consistent parade of books the lawyer asks for gives insight into his state of mind and mental journey. He goes from living vicariously through novels to attempting to connect with humankind through study and then finally to works of religion, philosophy, and science, as if wrestling with existential questions. The books thus tie into the story’s exploration of the meaning of life, showing different ways one might try to find meaning. However, the books ultimately fail to provide a true substitute for life experienced amongst other people.
Numbers
The story is full of specific numbers, from the fifteen years-long length of the bet and the two million rubles, to the exact dates and times of the start and end of the bet. The story goes on to detail the specific happenings of the first, second, sixth, and tenth years. When describing the lawyer’s learning phase, Chekhov writes, “In the space of four years about six hundred volumes were bought at his request.” The lawyer learns six languages, and the success of his learning is marked with two gunshots. When the banker goes to murder the lawyer, the clock has just struck three, and he watches the lawyer sit motionless for five minutes. Both the banker’s angry thoughts and the lawyer’s parting letter mention the twelve o’clock end of the bet. This constant repetition of numbers echoes both the numbers in a ledger book and the constant passage of time, echoing the two treasures staked in the bet: the banker’s money and the precious years of the lawyer’s life.
