How Does White Nights By Dostoevsky End?

The ending of 'White Nights' hit me like a slow motion punch in the gut. There was this idealistic guy who had given his heart to Nastenka. He hoped against hope that this time love would stick. In reality, however, she is torn between him and her old flame. The raw honesty of her joy is deeply hurtful. 'It’s him! He’s calling me!' Dostoevsky masterfully portrays the protagonist’s reaction to her words. The protagonist does not go into a rage or collapse into despair. Instead, he rallies himself together to say, 'Be happy.' That this guy is so selfless to wish her to be happy makes his pain even more excruciating than it would have been had he gone into a rage.

The monologue ends with Fyodor’s observation that the temporary happiness he felt was like a sunbeam during the winter. What’s most important to note is that this monologue isn’t just another portrayal of the pain of unrequited love. It’s an exploration of a fundamental human tendency. As I read this story in college during a lonely time in my life, this ending has lingered long after I finished reading the book. And what I think is most important to note is that this ending is not a surprise, it is inevitable. The title of the story even notes the Transient, unnatural brightness of white nights, bringing to life the short-lived but intense relationship between the protagonist and Nastenka.

The end of White Nights is heartbreakingly quiet. It has been four nights of conversations full of feeling with Nastenka’s lover and in that time Dostoevsky has brought him to a point of deep understanding of human nature. The lover returns to find Nastenka turned to her other suitor and, after a brief moment of recollection, he is forgotten by her for ever. His heart is broken but he does not reproach her for her betrayal. Instead he is left to realize the extent to which loneliness can play tricks on a man by making a short moment in time seem like an eternity to him.

That final line—‘a whole moment of happiness’—torment me so. It is so typically Russian in its profound insight into human suffering that brings on the clarity of knowledge. The protagonist of the story doesn’t learn anything from his life experiences. He simply returns to his lonely life of solitude with even deeper sense of his lack. What is remarkable about the story is its lack of sentimentality. There are no reunions with loved ones at the last minute of the story; there is no poetic justice, for example. People in Dostoevsky’s stories are human—messy, selfish, and kind all at once.

White Nights by Fyodor Dostoevsky concludes on a bittersweet note that will linger in the reader’s mind long after the book is closed, much like the last chord of a melancholy song. In this slim volume, Dostoevsky tells the story of a lonely, unfulfilled dreamer who over the course of four nights experiences deep and fulfilling emotional connections with young Nastenka. But, as it was for him, it is not to be for her, for on the fourth night her lover returns and she hastily departs. The story closes with Dostoevsky presenting a very realistic portrait of the heroine who was only being true to herself. And then there is the observer left alone to ponder the following words: “My God, a whole moment of happiness! Is that too little for the whole of a man’s life?” The story’s quiet tragedy stands in stark contrast to more dramatic stories and their shallow resolutions. The loneliness of the dreamer and his inability to find lasting fulfillment in his moments of connection is something that resonates deeply with this reader, perhaps because it is so relatable.

The only thing I can say about this story that is even remotely original is that it is REALLY RELATABLE. Like we have all had moments where a strangers’ kindness or a brief connection with another person Illuminates us for a moment in our usually solitary lives. The end of the story doesn’t solve anything for our protagonist. He returns to his lonely walks but is changed in some way. This is the mark of a masterful work of literature. It is so human and so beautiful and so heart-breaking all at once.