# Anyuta explained — Short Fiction > Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Anton Chekhov. ## What happens A medical student, Stepan Klotchkov, studies anatomy in his cramped, messy room with his companion Anyuta, who endures cold and discomfort as he uses her body to trace ribs. An artist borrows Anyuta as a model, and Klotchkov, disgusted by his squalid surroundings, resolves to part with her. When she returns exhausted, he tells her to leave, but relents out of pity, allowing her to stay. ## Themes in this chapter ### Suffering and Compassion Anyuta silently endures cold and discomfort to help Klotchkov study, and he ultimately shows reluctant compassion by letting her stay. ### Social Class and Inequality The disparity between Klotchkov's aspirations for a respectable future and his current squalid life with Anyuta, who is treated as a disposable convenience. ## Character check-ins ### Anyuta A thin, pale brunette of twenty-five who shares a room with Klotchkov, silently endures cold and discomfort as his anatomy model, and is told to leave but stays after his change of heart. ### Stepan Klotchkov A third-year medical student who uses Anyuta to study ribs, feels disgust at his living conditions, and briefly decides to part with her before relenting. ### Fetisov An artist who borrows Anyuta as a model for a painting of Psyche, criticizes Klotchkov's messy room, and leaves with her. ## Key lines > The right lung consists of three parts... Boundaries! Upper part on anterior wall of thorax reaches the fourth or fifth rib, on the lateral surface, the fourth rib... behind to the spina scapulae... Klotchkov recites the anatomical boundaries of the right lung, struggling to visualize them. _Shows his intense study method and reliance on rote learning._ > Your fingers are cold! Anyuta complains that Klotchkov's cold fingers are uncomfortable as he counts her ribs. _Highlights her physical discomfort and silent endurance._ > You look such a skinny thing, and yet one can hardly feel your ribs. Klotchkov remarks that despite Anyuta's thinness, her ribs are hard to palpate. _Reflects his clinical detachment and her frail condition._ > The things I've had to put up with there. Anyuta murmurs about the hardships she endures as a model for the artist. _Reveals her resigned suffering in her role as a model._ > An educated man is in duty bound to have taste, isn't he? And goodness knows what it's like here! The artist criticizes Klotchkov's messy living conditions, implying a cultured person should maintain better surroundings. _Contrasts the ideal of refinement with the reality of poverty._ > Look here, my good girl... sit down and listen. We must part! Klotchkov tells Anyuta they must separate, initiating the breakup. _Marks his decision driven by disgust and ambition._ > That's... your sugar... Anyuta leaves the sugar she had saved on the table as she prepares to leave. _A poignant gesture showing her selflessness and attachment._ > Come, why are you standing there? If you are going, go; and if you don't want to, take off your coat and stay! You can stay! Klotchkov angrily tells Anyuta to either leave or stay, ultimately allowing her to remain. _Shows his conflicted feelings and reluctant compassion._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/anyuta - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_5_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters