Character guide

Seryozha

major

Also known as Seryozha, young Seryozha, III Seryozha, V Seryozha, VI Seryozha

Seryozha has come home to Manchuria with a wife, Tanya, and a feverish longing to crawl back into the egg of yesterday. He kicks stones, whistles flatly, and watches his dog splash in a toy river that mirrors the golden spring of his childhood. His marriage is exquisite and unbearable; a stranger can lie in his arms all night and never be known. His reluctant maturity pulls the whole family's waiting into motion.

Wilfred Chew

major

Also known as Mr. Chew, Wilfred, Chew, Poor Wilfred, Mistah Chew

Wilfred carries one hundred and fifty yen on his conscience like a splinter of shell, and argues the Reverend Oswald Fawcett's ghost into approving it. His brain, Chinese-born and London-trained, seeks compromise: angels need bodies, bodies need dinners, and prayers for blankets once arrived on a coolie's back. He believes he was elicited by many prayers at once — old Malinin's money, old Malinin's blindness, a beautiful heiress for a daughter-in-law — and he intends to be useful.

Anna Semionovna

major

Also known as Anna, Anna Semionovna Malinina, poor Anna

Anna keeps house, plans curd cakes and the killing of chicks, and sits on the porch in the dust she claims is not for watching the road. Her presence is tempestuous, her words hardly ever kind, yet Old Sergei feels safe near her as in a rough straw bed after groping in the dark. When she announces, in her usual unloving tone, that Seryozha is coming round the corner, the discrepancy between voice and words shakes the house.

Old Sergei

major

Also known as Sergei, Old, Poor Old Sergei, The Faraway Bride

Nineteen years of marriage have taught Old Sergei that humiliation is better than silence, and that Anna's petulant departures are a kind of company. He spreads small snares for a kind word and never catches one; still, wherever she sews, he sits near. When Seryozha's far-off shout of 'Mamma!' reaches him, his homely room becomes a quivering jungle, the dresser an anonymous obstacle, and the door a squat pillar of light he must grope toward.

Pavel Ostapenko

supporting

Also known as Mr. Ostapenko, Pavel Nicholaievitch Ostapenko, old Ostapenko, the ebullient Pavel

Pavel holds forth at his own table with staring rufous eyes, a gold-red beard working like a latch, and sweat among the auburn hairs on his breast. He praises his wonderful wife and pities friends with scolding, silk-stockinged, chicken-ruining spouses, while Varvara watches furiously to see whether the gentle strangers dare notice. His talk is the humming noise around the glass globe in which Seryozha and Tatiana sit, and when the women leave, it becomes the only thing left to understand.

Tatiana Ostapenko

supporting

Also known as Miss Ostapenko, Tatiana Pavlovna Ostapenko, Tatiana, IV Tatiana Pavlovna Ostapenko

Tatiana is Miss Ostapenko of Mi-san, near Seoul, a fortune and a beauty who has been betrothed seven times and married, some say, to a devil. Wilfred Chew finds her pure and icelike, a little like the late Queen Alexandra; Seryozha would rather be alive with Sonia Matvievna than dead with Tatiana Pavlovna. In her mother's studied Japanese garden, her whistling runs like a rill of coolness through the September heat, and in Pavel's parlour her stare with Seryozha builds a thin glass globe no one else can enter.

Varvara Alexeievna Ostapenko

supporting

Also known as Varvara, the usually restrained Varvara, Poor little Varvara Alexeievna

Varvara Alexeievna sits divided between resenting that her husband is drunk and resenting that guests might notice, her wifely pride demanding each Ostapenko be presented neatly fitted to her inelastic standard. Tall, melancholy, with a dark birthmark on one cheek, she listens and walks on tiptoe as though expecting a call. Her vigilance shapes the tense social atmosphere of the Ostapenko household, and her small act of leading Tatiana away quietly shatters the glass bubble enclosing her daughter and Seryozha.

Tanya

supporting

Also known as Tanya

Tanya whistles like a boy as she irons in the washing-shed, a thread of cool sound running through the hot, boxed-in garden. Her mother Varvara imagines her there, and the household orbits around her restless, unkind energy. Whether servant or kin, she is the practical, tempestuous counterweight to the family's strained gentility, and her movements mark the rhythms of daily life at Mi-san.

Alexander Petrovitch Weber

supporting

Also known as Alexander Weber, young Weber, young Alexander, Sasha Weber

Alexander Petrovitch Weber speaks of Tatiana with a finality that colors how others see her, telling Seryozha in Chi-tao-kou that she is many times betrothed, perhaps married to a devil, not good for men. His judgments travel ahead of Tatiana like weather, shaping the suspicions of suitors and strangers alike. Whether spurned, disillusioned, or merely observant, he functions as the story's cautionary voice about the Ostapenko daughter, and his words press on every man who might consider her.

Mrs. Butters

minor

Also known as II Mrs. Butters

A minor but recurring character, likely a neighbor or acquaintance.

Katya

minor

Also known as Katya

A persistent young woman who speaks her mind in several scenes.

Mr. Isaev

minor

Also known as Isaev, Dear Mr. Isaev

A figure of some authority or mystery, addressed with respect.

Tobit

minor

Also known as XIV, Tobit, old Tobit, XIV So Tobit

A biblical or allegorical figure referenced in the narrative.

Raguel

minor

A minor character, possibly from a subplot or allusion.

Raphael

minor

A character or angelic figure appearing in a subplot.

Gabael

minor

A minor character from a subplot or biblical reference.

Sara

minor

A minor female character, possibly a relative or acquaintance.

Edna

minor

A minor female character with a brief appearance.

Olga Ivanovna

minor

Also known as Olga, Ivanovna

A woman with a minor but noticeable presence in social gatherings.

Piotr Gavrilovitch Isaev

minor

Also known as Piotr, Poor Piotr, young Piotr Isaev, Petya

A young man, possibly a son or ward, who faces hardship.

Gavril Ilitch Isaev

minor

Also known as the errant Isaev, the massive Isaev

A large, wayward figure in the Isaev family.

Sergei Dmitrivitch Malinin

minor

Also known as Sergei Malinin, Mr. Malinin, old Mr. Malinin

A Malinin family elder, possibly the father or uncle.

Saggay Saggayitch Malinin

minor

Also known as Saggay Saggayitch, young Saggay Saggayitch, that lumpy young Saggay Saggayitch

A lumpy young Malinin relative with a comic or awkward presence.

Varya

minor

A young woman, possibly a diminutive of Varvara, with a minor role.

Sergei Sergeievitch Malinin

minor

Also known as young Sergei Malinin, Sergei Sergeievitch

A younger Malinin, possibly a son or nephew.

Julia Arcadievna

minor

A woman with a minor narrative role, often mentioned in passing.

Pavlik

minor

Also known as Only Pavlik

A young boy, possibly a child of the Ostapenko or Malinin family.

Mrs. Malinin

minor

Also known as dear Mrs. Malinin, Mrs. S. S. Malinin, Mrs. Malinin senior, Mrs. Malinin junior

One of the Malinin matriarchs, possibly both senior and junior.

Olga Isaeva

minor

Also known as Isaeva

A woman from the Isaev family, possibly the wife or daughter.

Reverend Oswald Fawcett

minor

Also known as Mr. Fawcett, the Reverend Fawcett, the absent Reverend Oswald Fawcett

A clergyman who offers moral warnings, often absent from scenes.

Annitchka

minor

Also known as dearest Annitchka

A dear young woman, possibly a servant or close friend.

Yi

minor

A minor character, possibly of Asian origin, with a brief role.

Colonel Rodin

minor

Also known as Rodin, Stepan Rodin, old Rodin

A military figure with a minor but distinct presence.

Sir Theo Mustard

minor

A titled gentleman who appears briefly in the story.

Sonia Matvievna

minor

Also known as Sonia

A woman with a minor role, possibly a friend or relative.

Alyosha

minor

A young man, possibly a servant or minor relative.

Marfa

minor

A minor female character, likely a servant or neighbor.

Betty

minor

A minor character with a few lines, possibly a foreigner.

Varitchka

minor

A diminutive form of Varvara, used affectionately.

Boris Andreievitch

minor

Also known as Boris

A minor character, possibly a friend or official.

Mitya Nikitin

minor

Also known as Little Mitya Nikitin, Little Mitya

A young boy, possibly a child in the story.

Betti

minor

A minor character, possibly a variant of Betty.

Andrei Malinin

minor

Also known as Andrei

A Malinin family member with a minor role.

Stepan Stepanovitch

minor

Also known as Stepan

A minor character, possibly a servant or worker.

Li Lien-ching

minor

Also known as Li, Li Lien

A minor character of Chinese origin, possibly a merchant.

General Li

minor

A military figure with a brief appearance.

Dickie

minor

A minor character, possibly a child or servant.

Konstantin Petrovitch Weber

minor

A minor relative of the Weber family.

Enemessar

minor

A minor character, possibly from a historical or biblical reference.