Smallpox

Smallpox is a potentially fatal illness in the novel’s rural world, where complications could be especially dangerous at the end of the nineteenth century. Józka Borynianka’s illness makes that danger immediate, while Jagustynka’s warning gives the disease its starkest expression: “all the spots’ll sink to her innards.”

Józka’s Illness and the Warning

Jagustynka’s words are not merely a description of Józka’s visible symptoms. They warn that the spots may sink inward, signaling complications that could threaten her life. The comment reflects the period’s real stakes: smallpox often resulted in death, particularly in the countryside.

Significance

The evidence presents smallpox through the uncertainty surrounding Józka’s condition and the urgency of Jagustynka’s warning. It establishes the illness as a concrete peril of rural life, without confirming that Józka dies or specifying how her illness ends.