# The Beauties explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Anton Chekhov.

## What happens

The narrator recalls two encounters with strikingly beautiful women that left a profound and melancholic impression on him. The first is a young Armenian girl at a railway station, whose beauty evokes a sense of longing and sadness. The second is a girl in a village near the steppe, whose loveliness similarly stirs a bittersweet ache, highlighting the transient and almost painful nature of true beauty.

## Themes in this chapter

### The Passage of Time

The narrator's reflections on beauty are tinged with a sense of its fleeting nature, as the moments of encounter are ephemeral and leave a lasting, melancholic impression.

### Isolation and Loneliness

The encounters with beauty occur in isolated settings, and the narrator's emotional response underscores a deep sense of solitude and unattainable longing.

## Character check-ins

### The Armenian Girl

A young Armenian girl at a railway station whose extraordinary beauty deeply moves the narrator, leaving him with a feeling of melancholy and longing.

### The Village Girl

A beautiful girl encountered in a village near the steppe, whose loveliness similarly evokes a bittersweet and sorrowful impression in the narrator.

## Key lines

> The feeling of beauty is a strange, complex, and often painful thing.

The narrator suggests that experiencing true beauty is not purely joyful but can be a confusing and sorrowful experience.

_This encapsulates the central theme of the chapter regarding the bittersweet nature of beauty._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/the-beauties
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_5_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters