50 pages • 1 hour read
Vladimir NabokovInvitation to a Beheading
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1935A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Displacement
Throughout Invitation to a Beheading, Cincinnatus cannot help but notice the displacement of objects in the world around him. From light fixtures to flowers to the scaffolding that is built in Thriller Square, nothing is quite where it should be. This displacement is illustrative of the way in which Cincinnatus is out of step with the world around him. Nothing conforms to Cincinnatus’s expectations, which compels Cincinnatus to wonder whether he is suited to this society.
Although the displacement is not materially harmful to him, he comes to experience it as a kind of psychological torture. For instance, he feels as though Rodion is placing the flowers slightly off center on purpose to spite him. The Irrational Bureaucracy of the court system, Pierre’s deception, and the threat of execution are the most obvious ways in which Cincinnatus is persecuted by the state, but even minor aggressions and inconsistencies accumulate to create an atmosphere of harassment and paranoia. That he feels as though the prison light system was designed purposefully to aggravate him is illustrative of Cincinnatus’s psychological disposition, but it also illustrative of the society in which he lives. A world that has condemned Cincinnatus to death for such vague, nonsensical reasons is a world conceivably capable of adjusting such minor details to persecute Cincinnatus.
Gradually, Cincinnatus comes to question the nature of reality; his subjective experiences become the lens through which he understands the world. The breakdown in his trust of an objective reality mirrors the slow disintegration of his mind. Cincinnatus’s fixation on the displacement of objects symbolizes his growing tendency to question the confounding nature of the world. However, Cincinnatus fails to recognize that the displaced objects symbolize his own predicament. Like the off-center light fixture or the vase of flowers, Cincinnatus does not conform to society’s expectations, so he has become an object of fixation for everyone else. The only way for them to “re-center” him is by executing him. Cincinnatus is executed on the off-center scaffolding in Thriller Square, an act that reorients the psychologically displaced Cincinnatus in relation to the society.
The Spider
For most of Invitation to a Beheading, Cincinnatus is confined to his cell. He shares the sparse cell with a spider, who has built a web in one of the corners of the room. Occasionally, Rodion will bring an insect to feed to the spider, as though it were a pet. Since Rodion is tasked with taking care of the sole prisoner in the fortress, Cincinnatus, the spider functions as a stand-in for Cincinnatus, who is caught in a web of his own. The tangle of Irrational Bureaucracy forces Cincinnatus into a position where he is as dependent on Rodion as the spider; the only difference is that Cincinnatus is aware that he is a prisoner. In this way, the spider is a symbol of the oppressive nature of the society itself. Like the spider, Cincinnatus was once unaware of his dependency on the totalitarian state in which he lives. Now, however, he is increasingly aware of the nature of his confinement.
Rodion’s relationship with the spider contrasts with his relationship with Cincinnatus. Very quickly, Rodion comes to resent Cincinnatus. He believes that Cincinnatus asks too many questions, and he dislikes Cincinnatus’s sullen attitude. The spider, in contrast, is a model prisoner, much like Pierre. It eats its food when served and raises no issues. As a result, Rodion favors the spider over Cincinnatus and prioritizes its well-being. The contrast between Rodion’s attitude toward Cincinnatus and Rodion’s attitude toward the spider provides an insight into how the jailers in the fortress would like their prisoners to behave. Cincinnatus is expected to adhere to a certain code of conduct, no matter how absurd or inhumane it may be. The spider, Rodion believes, shows a willingness and a compliancy that Cincinnatus should replicate.
Additionally, the spider demonstrates that the model prisoner, in the jailers’ view, is one who does not even know they are imprisoned. In this way, the spider symbolizes the other members of society. The state would prefer that all citizens were as well-behaved and as ignorant of their own metaphorical imprisonment as the spider. The state punishes Cincinnatus, as his existence functions as a repudiation of its expectations.
Rodion catches a moth to feed to the spider, but the moth escapes from his clutches and flies away. The moth represents a fleeting moment of hope, particularly as Cincinnatus has started to believe that he might be able to escape the fortress and execution. Ultimately Cincinnatus is not so lucky, but the image of the moth escaping lifts his spirits and helps him to see that there is a world beyond his cell.
The Fortress
The fortress is the name given to the prison where Cincinnatus is an inmate, a vast, physically imposing structure located on the edge of the city. Notably, the fortress is home to very few prisoners. The fortress is far larger than necessary because the state wants to remind the citizens of its power. The fortress, then, is a physical embodiment of the state’s violence. The state is a strong, oppressive, and omnipresent force in Cincinnatus’s life, just as the fortress has been a constant fixture on the edge of his town.
The high walls and jagged rocks make the fortress seemingly inescapable in a physical sense, but the twisted geometry and physical space of the interior makes escape unthinkable. On several occasions, the interior of the fortress simply does not make sense to Cincinnatus. He walks along the hallways, only to find himself back where he started. When he wanders through a tunnel, he nearly escapes by accident. The interior of the fortress has no logic or sense, much like the Irrational Bureaucracy that sentences Cincinnatus to death. The confusing, mazelike interior of the fortress is coupled with the imposing exterior of the structure to symbolize the way in which the apparatus of the state imprisons and punishes Cincinnatus in a physical and psychological sense.
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