Futility · Character

Zina

The schoolgirl Nikolai wants to marry, whose family circles the goldmines and the house in the Mohovaya while her cousins multiply and tongues are put out at her.

supporting

Also known as Uncle Kostia, the Zina - Uncle Kostia

First appearance: I

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Zina is the girl at the center of Nikolai's late-life passion, a schoolmate of his own daughter and the object of a courtship that scandalizes the household. Her people urge her to 'stick to him' for the mines and the mortgaged Petersburg house, while Fanny Ivanovna's three sisters put out their tongues at her little sisters. She embodies the family's tangled appetites and the quiet cruelty of its social wars.

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See Zina in I

Character Web

21 connections

A slice of how Zina sits in the book — open the reader for the full interactive map.

Relationship types

Romantic
Other

Character groups

Siberian Intervention Characters
Protagonist
Family and Social Milieu

+16 more in the full Character Web

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

This is the story's dramatic climax because the protagonist reaches an emotional and psychological peak of des…

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Relationships

Nikolai Vasilievich
romantic · ambivalent
Nikolai Vasilievich
romantic · ambivalent
Nikolai Vasilievich
romantic · ambivalent

Relationship notes

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See Zina in I

In the story

Zina appears across 13 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

V
IX
I
II
IV
III
IV
VI
+5 more

V
The seventeen-year-old girl Nikolai plans to marry, a classmate of his daughter Sonia.
IX
The young flapper with Nikolai, idealistic and devoted, proposing suicide as a solution to his troubles.
I
The narrator dines with Zina's people on the Petrograd side, a gathering of revolutionary intelligentsia.
II
Uncle Kostia's wife; Nikolai Vasilievich hopes to marry her after divorcing his current wife.
IV
Referred to as Uncle Kostia; walks with the narrator on the morning of the Bolshevik Revolution, expressing pessimistic views on the cyclical nature of violence and sacrifice.
III
Attends the dance reluctantly, dances poorly with Nikolai Vasilievich, and looks shamefaced and pitiful.
IV
Asks the narrator to speak to the Admiral about finding work for Uncle Kostia.
VI
Part of the Zina-Uncle Kostia wing; her group has awkward relations with Fanny Ivanovna and the three sisters.
VII
Mentioned as having many cousins, including Madame Olenin's new baby.
VIII
Participates in jazzing with her sisters and others.
The Spring Dinner and the Waiting Game
Nikolai Vasilievich made financial promises to her and her people; she visits him in prison.
Chapter XI
Mentioned as the object of Nikolai Vasilievich's nightly visits.
IV
Zina's father is present playing cards at the Olenins' dacha.

Chapter companion notes

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See Zina in I