# Gorshkov — Poor Folk character guide

> Gorshkov in Poor Folk by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Gorshkov, poor Gorshkov, this Gorshkov

**First appearance:** 0002-april-8th-my-dearest-barbara-alexievna

## Snapshot

A ruined former official haunting Makar's building with his starving family, a living portrait of how Petersburg grinds its clerks down to nothing.

## Who they are

Gorshkov lives in the same building as Makar, reduced from civil service to beggary with a wife and children who share his shame. His plight is the novel's starkest mirror: what Makar fears becoming, what Devushkin's small kindnesses cannot prevent. He matters because his suffering gives a human face to the poverty that Dostoevsky insists we see — not as statistics but as neighbors, breathing the same stale air.

## Relationships

### [Petinka](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poor_folk_se/characters/petinka)

_family_

Gorshkov is the father of Petinka, a sickly child, and their relationship is marked by desperate love and shared suffering.

### [Petinka](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poor_folk_se/characters/petinka)

_family_

Gorshkov is the father of Petinka, a sickly child, and their relationship is marked by desperate love and shared suffering.

## In the story

### [April 12th: Dearest Mistress Barbara Alexievna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poor_folk_se/chapters/april-12th-dearest-mistress-barbara-alexievna)

A poor former chinovnik living in the same house with his family; his silent suffering and poverty move Makar deeply.

### [June 22nd: My Dearest Barbara Alexievna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poor_folk_se/chapters/june-22nd-my-dearest-barbara-alexievna)

Father of the deceased child, seen in dire poverty, weeping and thin.

### [July 1st: Rubbish, Rubbish, Barbara!](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poor_folk_se/chapters/july-1st-rubbish-rubbish-barbara)

Compared to Samson Virin as another example of a poor chinovnik suffering a similar fate.

### [September 5th: My Beloved Barbara](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poor_folk_se/chapters/september-5th-my-beloved-barbara)

The poor lodger who visits Makar to beg for help for his starving family, humbly accepting tea and a small lump of sugar.

### [September 18th: My Beloved Barbara Alexievna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poor_folk_se/chapters/september-18th-my-beloved-barbara-alexievna)

After being exonerated and having his character restored, he dies suddenly and inexplicably, leaving his family in shock.

### [September 23rd: My Beloved Barbara Alexievna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poor_folk_se/chapters/september-23rd-my-beloved-barbara-alexievna)

Makar notes that poor Gorshkov was buried yesterday, adding a somber note to the chapter.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poor_folk_se/characters/gorshkov
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poor_folk_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poor_folk_se/characters