Short Fiction · Chapter
L explained
As evening falls, the old house and its surroundings are bathed in red sunset light, with sounds of children playing, a harmonica, and a corncrake.
What happens
As evening falls, the old house and its surroundings are bathed in red sunset light, with sounds of children playing, a harmonica, and a corncrake. The eternal Aphrodite statue smiles, and the three women in the house await Boris, briefly happy in their madness, until they remember he has been hanged and gather at the pond to weep.
Themes in this chapter
Illusion vs. Reality
The women are briefly happy in their madness, awaiting Boris as if alive, before the reality of his hanging returns.
Death and Mortality
The memory of Boris's hanging and the women's weeping at the pond underscore the presence of death.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“And again, as at dawn, the three women in the old house await Boris, or a short time happy in their madness. They await him, and they chat of him, until, from behind the trees of the dark wood, the cold moon shows her ever sad face. The dead moon is under a white shroud of mist. Then again they remember that Borya has been hanged, and they meet at the green-covered pond to weep for him.”
Once more, the three women wait for Boris, briefly lost in delusion, chatting about him until the moon rises. Then they recall his execution and gather by the pond to mourn.
Highlights the cyclical illusion and grief of the women.