Sushilov is a lower-class prisoner who seeks out Alexander and begins to play the role of his servant. Alexander is beguiled by this development. Already feeling alienated from the other prisoners, he is surprised that a common man is so intent on making himself servile to a newly arrived nobleman. Sushilov simply begins to do chores for Alexander, who cannot bring himself to refuse lest he somehow offend Sushilov. In this sense, Sushilov confounds Alexander’s preconceptions about class relations in Russia. He does not want to believe that men like Sushilov are naturally servile, nor that he is in anyway entitled to such service, yet he cannot send Sushilov away for fear of offending him. Sushilov’s character draws attention to the complexities and absurdities of class tensions in Russia, much to the surprise of Alexander himself.

As Alexander learns more about Sushilov, he comes to pity the man. Sushilov is one of many poor Russian men who have been tricked or manipulated by others into exchanging places in prison. Sushilov was convinced to take on the much harsher sentence of another criminal; he is locked up in the prison camp to serve a sentence which he does not deserve. This evokes pity from Alexander and makes him more willing to accept Sushilov’s service, especially as it prevents Sushilov from having to interact with the other prisoners who mock him so mercilessly.

Alexander instead comes to understand Sushilov as an expression of selflessness and humility which is not corrupted by the prison or his environment. Alexander chooses to draw strength from Sushilov as much as he can; while their relationship may not be a friendship in the traditional sense, Alexander hopes that they are—at the very least—able to help one another in some way.

Akim Akimych is, like Alexander Petrovich, a member of the nobility. Thus, he becomes a point of focus for Alexander when Alexander first arrives in prison. Not only are they from the same social class, but Alexander notes in Akim Akimych a man who has adjusted to life in the prison camp.

Akim Akimych is in a position of authority, a representative of the prisoners for mediations between the prisoners and the guards. Even in the atypical environment of the prison, Alexander sees how people are adjusting to life in prison camps by recreating similar structures and hierarchies as they would outside of the camps. Alexander admires the way Akim Akimych accepts his lot with a stoic calm. In this sense, he provides comfort to the displaced Alexander as he struggles to come to terms with his new environment.

Nevertheless, Alexander does not have a very fulfilling relationship with Akim Akimych. While the noble is a constant presence in Alexander’s life, Alexander comes to resent Akim Akimych for the exact reasons he initially admired him. He comes to see Akim Akimych as a man who has become completely institutionalized. He notices that Akim Akimych does not ever expect to leave the prison; he plans to spend the rest of his life incarcerated, which explains why he is able to remain so stoic and calm in the camp. As such, Alexander comes to see Akim Akimych as a man who has lost all hope of ever being free. He resents this loss of hope, hating the way Akim Akimych represents a certain kind of future which Alexander wants to avoid. He does not want to become institutionalized; he does not want to ever lose hope of being free.

When Alexander bids farewell to Akim Akimych at the end of his sentence, he does so with a certain sense of satisfaction. He may not like Akim Akimych the person, but Alexander is satisfied that he never fell to the same pressures and temptations as his fellow noble. He is satisfied with himself for never giving up hope.

In the Introduction and briefly in Part 2, Chapter 7, the story of Alexander Petrovich Goryanchikov is conveyed to the audience via the medium of an unnamed narrator. This unnamed narrator functions as an editor of Alexander’s notes, having acquired them after his death and desiring to present them to the world. In this sense, the narrator functions as an arbiter of Alexander’s memory. He is sharing Alexander’s experience so that more people in Russia might understand the true brutality of the prison system as it was during Alexander’s time.

The unnamed narrator is also significant since he functions as the primary lens through which Alexander is introduced to the audience. Since the Introduction to Notes from a Dead House is written from the perspective of this unnamed narrator, Alexander—whose perspective will dominate the remainder of the novel—is introduced from the perspective of a subjective third party. To the narrator, Alexander is distant, asocial, but strangely captivating. The narrator’s desire to collect and publish the notes functions as a means of understanding how Alexander came to be like this. The narrator is exploring Alexander’s character as much as the Russian prison system.

The presence of the unnamed narrator also provides a layer of removal between the audience and the text. Alexander is not presented directly to the audience, but via the editorializing and framing of the unnamed narrator. That the unnamed narrator deems Alexander’s story to be both captivating and worthy of publication adds a sense of intrigue and legitimacy to the notes, as does his editorial interruption in Part 2 to clarify a point about a character’s innocence. In this way, the presence of the unnamed narrator adds a sense of verisimilitude to Alexander’s observations about the Russian prison system.

The young Tartar Alei seems out of place in the prison camp, at least from Alexander’s perspective. While Alei’s fellow Tartars are mature or cynical, Alei represents a form of youthful innocence which draws Alexander toward him. In the brutal, dehumanizing confines of the prison camp, Alexander draws hope from Alei, viewing him as something apart from the criminals who surround him. Notably, Alexander believes that Alei is not only symbolically innocent, but judicially innocent as well. When explaining how Alei came to be imprisoned, Alexander suggests that Alei was punished due to his association with his family members rather than anything particularly criminal. Thus, Alei emerges as a victim of the oppressive Russian justice system, a brutal institution which is unable to accommodate the nuance or innocence of a particular situation.

Alexander takes it upon himself to teach Alei to read and write in Russian. As a Tartar, Alei is ethnically and culturally distinct from the Russian prisoners. In this respect, prison is even more difficult for him, thrusting him into a form of social and cultural exile to exacerbate his geographic exile. By teaching him to communicate in Russian, Alexander is providing Alei with a means of alleviating his alienation. Alexander not only shows himself to be a compassionate figure by teaching the young Alei to read and write in Russian, but also keeps his own spirit of optimism alive by turning Alei into a vessel for his own hope.