In the "metaphysical vacuum" of The Possessed Stepan Trofimovitch Verhovensky is symbolic of a non-productive stewardship--a father who did not father, a teacher who did not teach, and elder who did not will wisdom and tradition to the dependent younger generation. It is puzzling how little critical notice has been taken of Stepan, and it is a lonely position to find in him the key to the teeming, chaotic world of the novel, but this is the thesis which will be pursued.