Also known as Samsonov, the merchant Samsonov, Kuzma Kuzmitch, old Kuzma Samsonov, old Samsonov.
An old merchant named by Rakitin as Grushenka's former protector. At first he is only part of the town's explanation of Grushenka's position and reputation, a coarse provincial figure from her past. His connection to her helps define the competition and suspicion around the Karamazovs without requiring him to enter the scene.
III-V. The Confession Of A Passionate Heart—“Heels Up”
He is described as an ill, paralyzed merchant who is expected to leave Grushenka a decent sum. The expectation adds money and dependence to the town's talk about her.
III-X. Both Together
Katerina Ivanovna presents him more sympathetically as the protector who took Grushenka in after she was abandoned and desperate. Even that defense keeps him in the role of a powerful older man who shaped Grushenka's circumstances.
VII-III. An Onion
The history of Grushenka's lodging clarifies his control: he placed her with the widow Morozov, kept her under strict conditions at first, and then came to trust her business sense. He remains stingy and hard as flint, but Grushenka has gained room to manage her own affairs.
VIII-I. Kuzma Samsonov
Dmitri comes to Samsonov in desperate need of three thousand roubles and offers his claim on Tchermashnya as a scheme. Samsonov refuses the business and sends him toward Lyagavy, a malicious false errand that makes a fool of Dmitri.
VIII-II. Lyagavy
Acting on the directions Samsonov gave him, Dmitri drives out of town to find the peasant trader Lyagavy and settle the Tchermashnya scheme. The journey proves a wild goose chase, and Dmitri starts to grasp that the old merchant sent him off deliberately to be rid of him.
IX-VII. Mitya’s Great Secret. Received With Hisses
At the inquiry the failed appeal to Samsonov is turned against Dmitri. The prosecutor recalls that the day before the murder Dmitri had vainly offered the old merchant security for a loan, underlining how completely his search for three thousand roubles had collapsed.
XI-I. At Grushenka’s
By the time Grushenka receives Alyosha after Dmitri's arrest, Samsonov is dying and has ordered that she not be admitted to him. She still sends almost every day to ask after him.
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