[madnak]

I thought Polina always loved Alexei. She even said she needed him. But the thing is, Alexei persisted in treating her as an object, and not a person. I think the relationship between Alexei and Polina is a classic example of how the term "objectify" should really be used. He never loved her. And he proved that, more or less, when he ran off. Alexei's desire was always self-destructive, and it's exactly the desire he always gave in to.

My interpretation was that Polina didn't want Alexei to gamble in order to win money for her. That wasn't the point. See, he really was trying to buy her off with the money, and she knew it. Moreover, he obviously never had a clue why she needed him in the first place. And his offers to be a slave to her were only insults - she didn't want him as a slave. And when she punished him, or acted hurt, he just assumed she hated him. And responded in kind.

The theme of the book, as I saw it - Alexei didn't gamble to win, he gambled to lose.