Character Clues
Character Analysis
Clothing
In this book, it's all about bling.
Vladimir is born rich, inherits and loses a fortune before the age of nineteen, and goes on to become an émigré who in part teaches tennis for a paycheck. It's no surprise that our narrator Nabokov is obsessed with bling. But that's oversimplifying it. Many of the characters get wearable talismans that in some way demonstrate their inner lives.
Take Vladimir's mother, who, as an aging émigré widow in Prague, wears her own wedding ring, attached to her assassinated husband's by a "bit of black thread." (2.4.6) Or there's her brother—peculiar Uncle Ruka—who wears opal rings and cuff links, and a "gold chainlet" on his "hairy wrist." (3.3.6) A robust-but-silly spelling tutor takes the boys walking, wearing a romantic "Byronic black cloak with a silver S-shaped clasp." (8.2.1) For those keeping track: "Byronic" is an adjective referring to the poet Lord Byron, meaning mysterious and dark. And for what it's worth, it turns out the tutor totally had a crush on Mom.
For Nabokov, accessories demonstrate a bit of who a person is: the special, held-close details that signify our inner lives.
Actions
The "leisure class" isn't called the leisure class for nothing. Especially in the pre-Revolution era, many of the characters in "Speak, Memory" have a choice of how to spend their days. So in this world, occupations and hobbies betray the way a person believes he or she should be in the world. This isn't just knitting to pass the time.
Vladimir's mother goes out to the Vyra woods to collect fragile mushrooms, and then spends hours sorting through them. (Later, the family will eat them fried in butter, but for Mother, it's the joy of the hunt.) Her rage-filled brother loves hunting and killing animals, while her vigorous-but-gentle husband makes a practice of fencing.
Dear old Dad? He'd rather not fight, but he'll be ready if and when he's gotta. And let's not forget Vladimir, who is in straight-up love with lepidoptera, chasing rare butterflies and moths with a dedicated fervor.
Speech & Dialogue
This book is ultimately about a writer, so it's no surprise that speech and dialogue get an especially careful treatment. It's unclear whether Vladimir had a sharp ear as a boy, but all-grown-up Nabokov doesn't worry one bit about spending a seven-clause sentence on the way one of his drawing teachers addressed him: "with the polite plainness of one man speaking to another whom he does not know well enough to use 'thou." (1.4.1)
Elsewhere, characters switch from Russian to French in the same sentence, depending on the gravity of what they're saying. The more languages, the better educated a person is, which often has to do with how much cash their family has. As a writer, Nabokov cares deeply about words, so dialogue is never simply something someone happened to say.
Thoughts & Opinions
In early-twentieth century Russia, nearly everyone is invested in their beliefs enough to fight for them. Being a Tsarist or Democrat or Communist isn't just how you vote or who you like: it's how you believe the world should ideally be.
For Vladimir's father, he must buck the family Tsarist tradition, devoting his life (and ultimately losing it) for representative democracy, among other things. Even if he's a rich man, he believes in the value and thoughts of all people, and that democracy is the best way to support that. Others in the book are imprisoned for believing in royalty, or punished for hiding forbidden bicycles. Yuri, who always wanted to be a soldier, dies. Many are killed, off-screen.
Beliefs are high-stakes here, and even after communism is established in Russia and the Nabokovs are out on their ears, Vladimir is forced to debate fellow students at Cambridge who think they know what's going on.