The Metropolis is a tavern in the town whose name becomes part of Captain Snegiryov’s account of a public humiliation. Its significance lies less in any description of the establishment than in the movement from tavern to marketplace: Dmitri’s treatment of the captain becomes visible to schoolboys, and Ilyusha sees his father in distress.

Setting and Identification

The Metropolis is identified in conversation as the tavern where Captain Snegiryov had been when Dmitri seized him. The captain recalls being dragged out of it and into the marketplace. The two named places form a brief but consequential route from an enclosed public venue to an open, witnessed space.

The Tavern in Snegiryov’s Account

Snegiryov recounts that Dmitri pulled him by the beard while he had done nothing and Dmitri was in a towering rage. Dmitri then dragged him from The Metropolis into the marketplace. The account makes the tavern the starting point of an assault whose degrading character is underscored by the beard-pulling and forced removal.

The Encounter’s Consequences

As the captain was dragged into the marketplace, boys were coming out of school, including Ilyusha. Seeing his father in that state, Ilyusha rushed up, cried out to him, and embraced him. The tavern is thus linked to the moment when a private family bond becomes an immediate response to public humiliation: the son encounters not an abstract account of his father’s disgrace, but the father himself, visibly mistreated.