Wollensky is a man of questionable identity, an introverted dreamer and a failed artist, narcissistic, constrained by various complexes, in constant conflict with petty-bourgeois conventions and social norms, who desperately tries to break through the shell in which his hypersensitive nature is cocooned. His intellectual rebellion contains the characteristics of philosophical sarcasm and satire, along with numerous, highly emphasized grotesque exaggerations. Existential questioning about meaning leads him to irrational conclusions, a rebellion against God, the establishment of a "negative faith" that will culminate in a criminal act of insanity.