Pyotr Petrovitch

A Happy Man

A passenger who recognizes Ivan Alexyevitch, engages in conversation, and later reveals the bridegroom's mistake about the train direction.

The Privy Councillor

The narrator, a young boy observing the events.

Difficult People

The student son who confronts his father about his abusive behavior and struggles with his own emotions.

An Inadvertence

The protagonist who accidentally drinks paraffin instead of vodka after returning from a christening party.

A Defenceless Creature

Kistunov, the bank official, is the primary figure in the chapter, overwhelmed by Madame Shtchukin's persistence.

A Problem

The taciturn, rheumatic paternal uncle who mainly worries about the family name appearing in newspapers.

I

The narrator's demonstrator, a modest, industrious, but narrow-minded learned dullard who works from morning to night.

IV

A colleague who visits on holidays, tells long-winded anecdotes, and is described as modest, neat, and reasonable but tedious.

The Wife

The husband, reflecting on his marriage and his wife's coldness.

The Two Volodyas

Colonel Yagitch, Sofya's older husband, who is attentive but whose age and past reputation weigh on her.

I

The young landowner Byelokurov, who lives in the lodge, gets up early, wears a peasant tunic, drinks beer, and complains of no sympathy. He is slow, tedious, and long-winded in conversation, and carries letters in his pocket for weeks.

IV

Not present in this chapter.

I

Vasilisa's husband, a thin old man who trusts blindly.