# The Post explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Anton Chekhov.

## What happens

A student travels by mail cart on a cold autumn night, sharing the journey with a sullen postman and a driver. After the horses bolt and the postman is thrown out, the student tries to engage him in conversation but is rebuffed. The morning arrives cold and gray, and the student reflects on the discomfort of the journey and the contrast with the warmth of those still asleep in nearby houses.

## Themes in this chapter

### Isolation and Loneliness

The postman's sullen silence and the student's failed attempts at conversation highlight the isolation of the night journey.

### Suffering and Compassion

The student's initial sympathy for the postman's hardships is met with coldness, and he later reflects on the discomfort of the cold and the contrast with the comfort of others.

### The Passage of Time

The slow progression from night to dawn, the changing sky, and the postman's eleven years of service emphasize the relentless passage of time.

## Character check-ins

### The Student

A student traveling to the station, polite and talkative, who finds the night journey both frightening and amusing.

### The Postman

A sullen, angry postman named Ignatyev who has been making the mail run for eleven years and resents the student's presence.

### The Driver

The driver Semyon Glazov, who smokes a short pipe and struggles with a restless tracehorse that causes the horses to bolt.

## Key lines

> The student paused for a while and then said: 'It's cold! It's time for the dawn to begin. Do you know what time the sun rises?'

The student tried to make conversation by commenting on the cold and asking about sunrise.

_The student's attempt at polite small talk is met with indifference._

> The postman in a plaintive voice shrill with anger ejaculated oaths.

The postman shouted curses in a high-pitched, angry voice after being thrown from the cart.

_The postman's anger and pain are vividly expressed._

> The student looked drowsily and ill-humouredly at the curtained windows of a mansion by which the mail cart drove. Behind those windows, he thought, people were most likely enjoying their soundest morning sleep...

The student envied the warm, comfortable sleep of those in the mansion as he endured the cold journey.

_The contrast between the traveler's discomfort and the comfort of others is emphasized._

## Links

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