horin, are in the book mainly to help us see different aspects of the character of Pechorin. The main conflict in the book is between the character of Pechorin and the society in which he lives. In a broader sense, the conflict is between a man who behaves without morality and the average reader's belief in moral behavior. As the book is presented, there is no real "solution" to this conflict, as the author himself makes clear. Lermontov, referring to himself, writes that
He merely found it amusing to draw modern man such as he understood him, such as he met him---too often, unfortunately, for him and you. Suffice it that the disease has been pointed out; goodness knows how to cure it (2).
Of course, one might say that the disease has been cured by the death of Pechorin in the duel, but that would be incorrect. Lermontov is showing that Pechorin is only a sign of a social disease. The death of Pechorin does not solve the main conflict which is in all of society. Society wants people to behave, but the society as portrayed by Lermontov does not give the individual any reason to behave morally. The society does not give the individual a purpose or a direction in life. Without such guidance, a character like Pechorin ends up simply doing what he wants whenever he wants.
Of course, the book would not be as powerful and effective as it is if Pechorin were a completely evil man with no sense of right or wrong. Pechorin is a much more complex character than that. He does have a sense of right and wrong, but he feels that he has been so damaged by the world in which he lives that he is incapable of feeling and thinking and behaving in a moral, civilized, humane way:
I sometimes despise myself . . . Is this not why I despise others? . . . I have become incapable of noble impulses. I am afraid of appearing laughable to myself. . . . My heart turns to stone, and nothing can warm it again. . . . I may set my life upon a card twenty time...