# Marusia — Short Fiction character guide

> Marusia in Short Fiction by Vladimir Korolenko.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0001-short-fiction

## Snapshot

A pale, quiet child whose life seems to be draining away, she weeps when other children laugh and whispers to flowers as if they were confidants.

## Who they are

Marusia sits on the grass picking blossoms with slow, thin hands, her eyes like blue bruises in a face that has forgotten how to brighten. Valek explains that the grey stone has sucked her life away, and she echoes him softly, as though the words were a prayer she has learned by heart. Her fragility draws the narrator out of his boisterousness and into a tenderness he did not know he possessed, making her the emotional center of the children's world.

## In the story

### [IV: I Make Some New Acquaintances](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/chapters/iv-i-make-some-new-acquaintances)

A small, golden-haired girl with blue eyes who appears from the trapdoor; she is curious and affectionate.

### [V: My Acquaintanceship Is Continued](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/chapters/v-my-acquaintanceship-is-continued)

Frail, pale four-year-old girl whose life is being drained by poverty, symbolized by the grey stone.

### [VI: Among the "Grey Stones"](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/chapters/vi-among-the-grey-stones)

Sits in the crypt sorting flowers, appears fragile and ghostly, and expresses hunger with pitiful simplicity.

### [VII: Tiburtsi Appears on the Scene](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/chapters/vii-tiburtsi-appears-on-the-scene)

Plays blind-man's buff, eats hungrily, and defends the narrator from Tiburtsi's rough treatment.

### [VIII: Autumn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/chapters/viii-autumn)

Marusia's health deteriorates with autumn; she is carried into the sunlight but remains frail.

### [IX: The Doll](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/chapters/ix-the-doll)

The dying girl who briefly revives when given the doll, then worsens and becomes delirious.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/characters/marusia
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/characters