Anyuta (Chekhov)
Short summary
In a cheap furnished room in Russia, presumably late 19th century, medical student Stepan Klotchkov studied anatomy while Anyuta, his roommate, embroidered a shirt collar. Needing to study ribs, Klotchkov asked Anyuta to remove her blouse so he could examine and draw on her chest.
While Anyuta shivered from cold, an artist named Fetisov arrived, asking to borrow Anyuta as a model for his painting. Klotchkov readily agreed, sending her off. After they left, Klotchkov fell asleep, then awoke reflecting on the artist's comment about educated men needing taste. He suddenly found his living conditions and Anyuta revolting.
When Anyuta returned exhausted from posing, Klotchkov decided to end their relationship.
"Look here, my good girl... sit down and listen. We must part! The fact is, I don't want to live with you any longer." Anyuta had come back from the artist's worn out and exhausted... only her lips began to tremble.
Silently, Anyuta gathered her belongings and prepared to leave. Seeing this, Klotchkov felt sorry for her and, annoyed at his own weakness, roughly told her she could stay. Anyuta quietly removed her coat and returned to her usual place by the window while Klotchkov resumed his studies.
Detailed summary
Division into sections is editorial.
A medical student and his companion
In a cheap furnished room, Stepan Klotchkov, a third-year medical student, paced back and forth while studying anatomy. He was perspiring from the effort of memorizing his lessons. The room was in disarray, with unmade beds, scattered pillows, books, clothes, and a dirty slop-pail filled with soapsuds and cigarette ends.
By the frost-covered window sat Anyuta, a thin brunette of twenty-five, with pale skin and mild grey eyes. She was bent over her embroidery, working diligently on a man's shirt collar with red thread. The clock in the passage struck two, but the room remained untidy as Anyuta had been busy with her needlework all morning.
Anatomy practice using Anyuta as a model
Klotchkov struggled to visualize the anatomy of the lungs he was studying. Unable to form a clear mental picture, he decided he needed to study the ribs on a living body. He asked Anyuta to help him locate the ribs. She put down her sewing, removed her blouse, and straightened up. Klotchkov sat facing her and began counting her ribs, commenting on how skinny she was.
Anyuta shivered, and was afraid the student, noticing it, would leave off drawing and sounding her, and then, perhaps, might fail in his exam. And the student again began walking to and fro, repeating to himself.
Finding it difficult to distinguish the ribs clearly, Klotchkov took his crayon and drew several parallel lines on Anyuta's chest. He then proceeded to sound her chest, completely absorbed in his studies. Anyuta shivered from the cold but remained silent, fearing that if she complained, the student might stop his examination and potentially fail his exam. After finishing, Klotchkov instructed her not to rub off the crayon marks while he continued studying.
As Klotchkov resumed his pacing and recitation, Anyuta sat huddled and shivering with the black stripes across her chest. She remained quiet, lost in thought. Over the past six or seven years, she had known five students like Klotchkov. All had completed their studies and moved on with their lives, forgetting her entirely. Some had become successful - one lived in Paris, two were doctors, one was an artist, and another reportedly a professor.
The artists request for a model
A knock at the door interrupted their routine. Anyuta quickly covered her shoulders with a woolen shawl as Fetisov, an artist, entered the room. He came with a request to borrow Anyuta as a model for a painting he was working on. The artist explained that he needed her for a couple of hours to pose for his picture of Psyche.
"Do me a favour; lend me your young lady just for a couple of hours! I'm painting a picture, you see, and I can't get on without a model." "Oh, with pleasure," Klotchkov agreed. "Go along, Anyuta."
Anyuta murmured softly about the difficulties she had endured at the artist's studio, but Klotchkov dismissed her concerns. He insisted that the request was for the sake of art and encouraged her to help if she could. Reluctantly, Anyuta began to dress for the outing.
Before leaving, Fetisov commented on his painting struggles, mentioning that he had been working with different models. He also criticized Klotchkov's living conditions, remarking that the room was filthy and disorganized. Klotchkov defended himself by citing his limited income of only twelve roubles a month from his father, making it difficult to live decently.
Klotchkovs reflection on his living conditions
After Anyuta and Fetisov departed, Klotchkov lay down on the sofa to continue studying. He accidentally fell asleep and woke up an hour later. Propping his head on his fists, he sank into gloomy reflection. The artist's words about an educated man being duty-bound to have taste resonated with him.
He recalled the artist's words that an educated man was in duty bound to have taste, and his surroundings actually struck him now as loathsome and revolting... Anyuta, too, rose before his imagination—a plain, slovenly, pitiful figure...
For the first time, Klotchkov saw his surroundings as repulsive. The slop-pail with floating cigarette ends appeared disgusting to him. He envisioned his future as a doctor with a proper consulting room, drinking tea in a large dining room with his wife, a real lady. In contrast, Anyuta seemed plain and pitiful. Klotchkov resolved to end their relationship immediately.
The attempted separation and reversal
When Anyuta returned from the artist's studio, she appeared exhausted from standing as a model. Her face looked thin and sunken, her chin sharper than ever. Klotchkov immediately told her they needed to part ways. He explained that they would have had to separate eventually anyway, attempting to soften the blow by calling her a nice, good girl who would understand the situation.
Without saying a word, Anyuta put on her coat and silently wrapped up her embroidery in paper. She gathered her needles and thread, found the small paper with four lumps of sugar she had saved, and placed it on the table by Klotchkov's books. When she softly said, "That's your sugar," her lips trembled and tears welled in her eyes.
Klotchkov, confused by her tears, walked around the room uncomfortably. He considered letting her stay another week but became annoyed at his own weakness. Abruptly, he shouted at her, telling her that if she was going to leave, she should go, but if she wanted to stay, she could take off her coat and remain. Anyuta silently removed her coat, blew her nose, sighed, and returned to her usual position on the stool by the window.
Anyuta took off her coat, silently, stealthily, then blew her nose also stealthily, sighed, and noiselessly returned to her invariable position on her stool by the window. The student drew his textbook to him and began again pacing.