# The Little Demon — Character guide

> Key figures in The Little Demon by Fyodor Sologub.

- [Peredonov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/peredonov.md): Peredonov moves through his dusty town as a man perpetually owed something—an inspector's post, a wife's dowry, respect from students he watches with loathing. His cousin Varvara dangles a princess's promise of promotion
- [Sasha Pilnikov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/sasha_pilnikov.md): Sasha keeps to himself in a rented room, so modest his schoolmates tease him for being a girl, unaware how close the joke lands. When Peredonov's suspicion fastens on him, the town's gossip machine turns him into a scand
- [Pavel Volodin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/pavel_volodin.md): Volodin trails after Peredonov through visits, teas, and long empty afternoons, absorbing his friend's contempt without quite noticing it. He belongs to the same small-town world of petty ambitions and idle talk, one of 
- [Liudmilla](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/liudmilla.md): Liudmilla dresses gaily, orders perfume from Petersburg, and arranges her sisters' errands so she can catch Sasha alone, telling herself it is sympathy for a lonely boy. Her dreams of him grow so habitual her sisters ask
- [Varvara](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/varvara.md): Varvara wants the marriage, and she wants the inspector's post she claims Princess Volchanskaya will arrange once the knot is tied—though the princess, inconveniently, is never quite findable. She listens to gossip about
- [Natalya Vershina](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/natalya_vershina.md): Vershina smokes black cigarettes in a black kerchief and speaks with malicious joy, telling Peredonov he has been fooled and savoring every word. She is one of the town's many agents of quiet cruelty, offering informatio
- [Marta](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/marta.md): Marta moves through the drawing rooms and teas of the provincial town, one of the eligible young women whose futures are negotiated through gossip, matchmaking, and petty social maneuvering. Her position exposes how wome
- [Grushina](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/grushina.md): Grushina is the town's purveyor of gossip, a woman whose loose tongue and looser morals make her both entertaining and perilous to those around her. She trades in stories about deceived husbands and important personages,
- [Valeria Routilov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/valeria_routilov.md): Valeria Routilov belongs to the local gentry, part of a family whose daughters navigate the treacherous waters of courtship and reputation in a town that watches every move. Her cunning sets her apart, suggesting a young
- [Nadezhda Adamenko](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/nadezhda_adamenko.md): Nadezhda is a young woman at the center of the town's marriage market, pursued by several men whose intentions range from sincere to sinister. Her situation exposes the limited options available to women in this world, w
- [Ardalyon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/ardalyon.md): Ardalyon is a landowner and acquaintance of Peredonov, part of the loose network of men who gather for tea, cards, and idle talk in this stifling provincial town. His relationship with Peredonov exposes the emptiness of 
- [Olga Kokovkina](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/olga_kokovkina.md): Olga Kokovkina is a woman of some standing in the town, her respectability anchored in her role as a mother and her careful navigation of local social hierarchies. She represents the possibility of dignity within a corru
- [Nikolai Khripatch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/nikolai_khripatch.md): Khripatch belongs to the small-town bureaucracy that orbits around Peredonov's school and the gossip networks of the district. As a father, he embodies the novel's quiet indictment of domestic life reduced to routine, ob
- [The Headmaster](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/headmaster.md): He presides over the school where Peredonov teaches, wielding his small power with the self-importance typical of the town's functionaries. His relationship to Peredonov is one of mutual suspicion and rank-consciousness,
- [Misha Koudryavtsev](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/misha_koudryavtsev.md): Misha moves through the schoolboy world around Sasha, sharing in the games and affections that briefly relieve Peredonov's oppressive atmosphere. His youth and openness stand in contrast to the adults' corrosive gossip, 
- [Prepolovenskaya](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/prepolovenskaya.md): Prepolovenskaya traffics in rumours, introductions, and the small social transactions that keep provincial life humming. Her interest in arranging matches, particularly around Peredonov's long-delayed engagement, gives h
- [Aleksandr Veriga](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/aleksandr_veriga.md): Veriga belongs to the district's minor gentry, moving among officials and teachers with the ease of inherited standing. His relative cultivation and composure set him apart from the petty functionaries around him, though
- [Vladya](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/vladya.md): A young boy, often seen with other children.
- [Darya](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/darya.md): A servant in the Peredonov household.
- [Skouchayev](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/skouchayev.md): A local merchant and acquaintance of Peredonov.
- [Mourin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/mouring.md): A mysterious figure who haunts Peredonov's thoughts.
- [Klavdia](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/klavdia.md): A young woman, possibly a servant.
- [Ershova](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/ershova.md): A local woman, possibly a servant.
- [Goudayevsky](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/goudayevsky.md): The town notary.
- [Kramarenko](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/kramarenko.md): A local man, possibly a tradesman.
- [Princess Volchanskaya](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/princess_volchanskaya.md): A noblewoman who visits the town.
- [Larissa](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters/larissa.md): A young woman, possibly a servant.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_little_demon_se/characters