Foma Gordeev

Foma Gordeyev (1899), illustrates Gorky's admiration for strength of body and will in the masterful barge owner and rising capitalist Ignat Gordeyev, who is contrasted with his relatively feeble and intellectual son Foma, a "seeker after the meaning of life". Wishing to know the meaning of life, Foma has trouble accepting capitalistic views; he denounces local moneyed dignitaries by shouting reminders of their unsavory pasts for all to hear at a ship launching. He is hustled off to an insane asylum. Released, he is a drunken, broken man who wanders about the town, out of his mind and in rags. He is befriended only by his godfather's daughter, a childhood friend ... Offers a vivid picture of Russian life at the turn of the twentieth century and of the merchant class, the backbone of the Russian society before the Russian Revolution.