Yefim Petrovitch Polenov

Yefim Petrovitch Polenov is the principal heir named in the will of the general’s widow and the man who assumes responsibility for the orphaned Ivan and Alexey when their father, Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov, proves unwilling to support their education. As Marshal of Nobility of the province, he turns an inheritance and a formal obligation into sustained personal care: he preserves the boys’ money and helps provide for their upbringing, taking particular affection for Alexey, who lives for a long time as part of his family.

Identity and Background

Polenov is identified as the principal heir of the general’s widow and as Marshal of Nobility of the province. The will apparently made an unusual provision concerning support for children: the narrator has not read it firsthand but reports that it allowed only what was considered adequate until they reached twenty-one. The account frames Polenov’s importance not through his public title or inheritance alone, but through the humane way he responds to the children’s vulnerability.

Care of the Orphans

After writing to Fyodor Pavlovitch, Polenov recognizes that he is unlikely to obtain money for the children’s education. Their father does not refuse outright; instead, he delays, as he habitually does in such matters, sometimes adding effusive expressions of sentiment. Polenov does not let that evasion determine the boys’ prospects. He takes a personal interest in them and becomes especially attached to the younger, Alexey, who lives for a long while as one of his own family.

Education and Lasting Significance

Polenov’s care has material as well as personal consequences. He keeps intact the two thousand roubles left to the boys by the general’s widow, so that the portions have doubled through accumulation by the time they come of age. The narrator emphasizes that Ivan and Alexey owe their education and upbringing more to Polenov than to anyone else, describing his generosity and humanity as rare. Alexey later leaves Polenov’s household before the age of thirteen to enter a Moscow gymnasium and board with an experienced teacher, but that departure follows years in which Polenov’s protection has helped make the boy’s education possible. In the brothers’ early lives, Polenov stands in deliberate contrast to their negligent father: where the father postpones responsibility, Polenov makes it concrete through money safeguarded, schooling enabled, and a home offered.