Konets

Konets is a recurring expression meaning “the end.” The novel places it at sharply different thresholds: as part of a threat, as the recognition that a violent assignment has been completed, as a dying woman’s private acknowledgment of her illness, and finally as a whispered appeal. Its force comes from that movement between an ending imposed on someone else and one anticipated for oneself.

Meaning and recurrence

The word appears in Russian-language speech and is repeated in several scenes rather than confined to a single speaker or situation. Each recurrence points toward closure, but the circumstances alter what closure means. It can mark an act carried out against another person, the approach of death, or an attempt to draw someone near. The expression thus links plot events without making them equivalent: an assignment’s completion and a person’s approaching death are both framed as endings, but remain distinct experiences.

Threat and recognition

In an encounter involving Rodya and a girl, the expression forms part of a threatening statement. The scene establishes the word’s coercive use without making it a neutral observation: here, “the end” is presented as something one person threatens to bring about for another. Later, a dark voice says the word over a telephone line before the call ends. Gilah Berkowitz understands this as confirmation that Rodya has completed his assignment involving Ulrika Wendin. The brief utterance therefore functions as a signal between the violence and its recognition; it communicates completion without explaining the act in detail.

Gilah’s approaching end

The word changes register when Gilah Berkowitz applies it to her own condition. Experiencing a tight chest and a dry cough, she recognizes that her cancer has spread and that no further treatment can help. She mutters the word as an acknowledgment that her own end is near, then later thinks it again while coughing. The recurrence makes the earlier use against Ulrika resonate with Gilah’s vulnerability, but does not erase the difference between the two circumstances: one use signals a task carried out by Rodya, while the other expresses Gilah’s awareness of terminal illness.

A final, open-ended use

In another scene, a woman whispers Konets and calls for someone to come to her. The available passage does not identify the person addressed, so the moment remains distinct from the confirmed exchange involving Gilah and Rodya. Instead, it gives the expression a more intimate, summons-like function. Across these appearances, the word does not simply close a scene. Its repetition carries the idea of an ending from threat to recognition, from illness to appeal, leaving the final use poised between farewell and invitation.