The protagonist of the story, Ivan Dmitrich Aksenov, begins the story as a “handsome, curly-headed fellow, full of fun and very fond of singing” (117). Despite being prone to excessive drinking in his youth, Aksenov settles down when he marries; his neighbors, when questioned about his character, insist that “he was a good man” (118). Nonetheless, Aksenov remains a common sinner: His business pursuits establish him as a basically materialistic individual, he can be inconsiderate or dismissive of his family, and his spiritual qualities are underdeveloped.

After he is convicted of a murder he did not commit, Aksenov embraces a new spiritual perspective, recognizing God as the sole source of truth and mercy. A physical transformation mirrors this shift in Aksenov’s perspective: In prison, Aksenov’s hair turns white, he grows a long beard, and he develops a stoop. Aksenov’s behavior is also transformed; the formerly carefree Aksenov, who was playing the guitar when the police came to arrest him and who began the story “full of fun” (117), now speaks little and never laughs. His defining quality becomes his meekness, and his fellow prisoners call him “Grandfather” and “The Saint.