# Varka — Short Fiction character guide

> Varka in Short Fiction by Anton Chekhov.

**Role:** major

**First appearance:** 0000-a-living-chattel

## Snapshot

A young servant girl whose nights vanish into rocking a stranger's baby, she fights sleep with the desperation of someone who has no one to cry to.

## Who they are

Varka is a thirteen-year-old nursemaid in a household where the master's boots, the samovar, and the endless wailing infant all demand her hands at once. Exhausted past reason, she is caught between the need to sleep and the fear of punishment, her mind drifting toward memories of her dying father and a life that offered her nothing. Her mounting delirium is the story's engine, turning a single sleepless night into a quiet, unbearable reckoning.

## In the story

### [Sleepy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/sleepy)

The exhausted thirteen-year-old nursemaid, driven to the brink by sleep deprivation and endless chores.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/iv)

Not present in this chapter.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/characters/varka
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/characters