P – Iona is seen as beneath all of the other people in the city.
C - While driving the officer to Vyborgskaya Iona is constantly insulted by unknown persons
Q - “A coachman driving a carriage swears at him;”
E – This shows that the society in which Iona lives has grown cold, they no longer care about other people. Iona is viewed as the lowest standard of person, unimportant and instantly forgettable.
P – Iona is desperate for some form of compassion, to talk to another human and unload the emotions that have been crushing down upon him since his son died.
C – While driving the officer Iona attempts to talk to the officer about his son:
Q – “My son. . . . er . . . my son died this week, sir.”
E – While Iona is desperate for compassion he is reluctant to approach the officer, as he knows that the society has long grown cold.
P – The officer is used to illustrate the cold heartedness of the society,
C - When Iona approaches him about his son’s death he bluntly replies
Q – “H’m! What did he die of?”
E – The officer replies illustrates that he like the rest of the society do not care, his reply is cold and insensitive like the society itself.
Chekhov’s frequent use of ellipses reinforce the idea that of the pain and misery that Iona towards the death of his son. This can notably be seen throughout the story but in particularly
“He lay three days in hospital and then he died…”
The use of ellipsis at the end of this sentence shows that Iona’s grief is too vast for him to go on and explain more to his passenger about his son.
Iona is showing to blend in to the background
“Snow plastered eyelashes”
This give the reader a pleasant image but also shows that Iona is wrapped in his grief that much he does not have the energy to move the snow off himself. This also portrays that the environment has started to engulf him; this tells the reader that Iona is insignificant to the environment and the people around him that pay him no attention
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