# The Runaway explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Anton Chekhov.

## What happens

Pashka, a seven-year-old boy, is taken by his mother to a hospital for treatment of an ulcer on his elbow. After being admitted, he experiences the strange and frightening environment of the hospital, including the death of a fellow patient. Terrified by the darkness and the corpse being taken away, he flees the hospital in panic, only to collapse on the porch of the doctor's lighted room. He wakes to find the doctor scolding him affectionately.

## Themes in this chapter

### Suffering and Compassion

Pashka's fear and pain are met with the doctor's gruff but caring demeanor, highlighting the tension between harsh reality and kindness.

### Isolation and Loneliness

Separated from his mother and surrounded by unfamiliar, ill patients, Pashka feels a deep sense of abandonment and terror.

## Character check-ins

### Pashka

A seven-year-old boy brought to the hospital for an ulcer on his elbow; he is frightened by the death of a patient and runs away in terror.

### The Stranger

The doctor who treats Pashka, scolds him playfully, and promises to take him to catch finches and to the fair.

## Key lines

> Pashka, without noticing the doors, rushed into the smallpox ward, from there into the corridor, from the corridor he flew into a big room where monsters, with long hair and the faces of old women, were lying and sitting on the beds.

In his panic, Pashka ran blindly through the smallpox ward, the corridor, and into a room full of disfigured patients who looked like monsters to him.

_This passage captures Pashka's terror and confusion as he flees the hospital._

> Through the window he saw the merry affable doctor sitting at the table reading a book. Laughing with happiness, Pashka stretched out his hands to the person he knew and tried to call out, but some unseen force choked him and struck at his legs; he staggered and fell down on the steps unconscious.

Spotting the doctor through a lighted window, Pashka felt overwhelming joy and relief, but before he could call out, he collapsed from exhaustion and fear.

_This moment contrasts Pashka's earlier terror with a brief glimpse of safety, only to be overcome by his physical and emotional state._

## Links

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