The Beginning (Bunin)

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The Beginning
rus. Начало
Summary of a Short Story
The original takes ~7 min to read
Microsummary
A schoolboy traveling home for Christmas experienced his first desire when a pale woman entered his train. He watched her sleep and left in a daze, forgetting about his holiday gifts at home.

Short summary

Russia, presumably 1910s. A twelve-year-old grammar school boy traveled home for Christmas holidays by train. While sitting alone in a first-class carriage, a couple entered: a pale young lady with short black hair and a large gentleman in a deerskin coat.

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The Narrator — narrator, 12-year-old grammar school boy traveling home for Christmas holidays, well-brought-up, curious, experiencing his first sexual awakening while observing a female passenger.

The boy moved to another seat to observe them. The lady lay down on a couch, removed her bonnet and fur coat, and fell asleep. The boy became fixated on her, noticing her pale face, black eyebrows, and parted lips. When she adjusted her stockings, briefly revealing her bare flesh, he was overcome with desire.

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The Lady — young woman with black eyes, very pale skin, black short hair like a boy's, heliotropic lips with dark down above them, wearing a black satin bonnet and astrakhan fur coat.

The sleep of a woman you desire, who draws your whole being to her – you know what that is like! And so for the first time in my life I saw and felt it – until then I'd seen only the sleep of my sister, my mother.

When the train reached his station, the boy exited in a daze. His coachman was waiting with a raccoon fur coat. As they rode home through the snowy forest, the boy remained lost in thought about the lady, completely forgetting about the skis and wolf cub awaiting him at home.

Detailed summary

Division into chapters is editorial.

Introduction and train journey

A twelve-year-old grammar school boy was traveling home from town to the countryside for Christmas holidays. It was a warm grey winter day as the train moved through pine forests covered in deep snow. The boy sat alone in a first-class section of an old-style mixed carriage with red velvet couches, feeling childishly happy and calm. He spent more than an hour in peaceful solitude, dreaming of the skis awaiting him at home.

I, gentlemen, fell in love for the first time, or, to be more accurate, lost my innocence, at about twelve. I was at grammar school then, and was travelling home from town into the country for the Christmas holidays.

The arrival of the couple

At the second station from town, the carriage door opened, bringing in the pleasing smell of wintry air. A porter entered carrying two suitcases and a tartan holdall. Behind him came a very pale young lady with black eyes, wearing a black satin bonnet and an astrakhan fur coat. Following her was a strapping gentleman with yellow, owlish eyes, dressed in a deerskin hat with raised earflaps, felt boots above the knees, and a brilliant deerskin coat.

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The Porter — train porter who carries luggage for the lady and gentleman, addresses the gentleman as 'Your Highness'.
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The Gentleman — strapping man with yellow owlish eyes, chestnut moustache and beard, wearing a deerskin hat, felt boots above the knees, brilliant deerskin coat, referred to as 'Your Highness'.

Being well-brought-up, the boy immediately rose and moved to a small couch in the second section, facing the first, to observe the newcomers. The porter placed the luggage on the rack, addressed the gentleman as "Your Highness," and left the carriage. The lady lay down on her back on the couch, while the gentleman pulled a small white pillow from the holdall and handed it to her. She thanked him, placed it under her head, and closed her eyes.

And it was there, on that couch, that my innocence perished. When the porter had put the things onto the rack above the couch on which I had just been sitting... the lady immediately lay down on her back on the couch.

Observing the sleeping woman

The gentleman stood by the window smoking a fat cigarette, diffusing its aromatic smell in the stuffy heat of the carriage. At first, the boy felt hatred toward him for completely failing to notice his presence. But soon he forgot about the gentleman and turned his attention to the lady lying on the couch opposite him, struck by her deathly but beautiful pallor.

The lady sighed and made herself more comfortable. Without opening her eyes, she flung open her fur coat worn over a flannel dress. She kicked off her warm overshoes, removed her silk bonnet revealing her surprisingly short black hair, and unhooked something from her grey silk stockings, raising her dress to expose the bare flesh between it and the stockings. After adjusting her hem, she dozed off, her heliotropic lips with dark down above them slightly parted, her face losing all expression.

Her face, pale to the point of transparent whiteness and with the black eyebrows and lashes very prominent upon it, lost all expression... I kept on looking, looking with unmoving eyes and a dry mouth.

The boy stared at her with unmoving eyes and a dry mouth, captivated by her boyishly feminine black head and the motionless face with its fine black eyebrows and closed black lashes standing out wonderfully against her pale skin. He was absorbing and comprehending all that was indescribable in the recumbent female body - the fullness of the hips and the slenderness of the ankles. With terrifying vividness, he could still see in his mind the delicate, feminine flesh color she had accidentally revealed while unhooking something from her stockings.

Departure and reflection

When the train unexpectedly stopped at the boy's station, he went staggering out of the carriage into the sweet wintry air. Beyond the wooden station building stood a troika sledge with a pair of grey horses in harness, their bells jangling. Waiting beside the sledge was an old coachman holding a raccoon fur coat, who spoke to the boy in an unfriendly manner, saying that his mother had insisted he wear it.

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The Coachman — old coachman waiting for the narrator at the station with a raccoon fur coat, speaks in an unfriendly manner.
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The Narrator's Mother — mentioned indirectly through the coachman's words, concerned about her son wearing a coat.
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The Narrator's Grandfather — indirectly mentioned as the previous owner of the raccoon fur coat the narrator wears.

The boy obediently put on his grandfather's coat, which smelled of fur and wintry freshness. He sank into the soft sledge and began rocking down the deep, soundless snow road through the pines. He closed his eyes, still overcome by what he had just experienced, thinking confused and sadly sweet thoughts about the lady rather than about all the nice things awaiting him at home - the skis and the wolf cub that had been captured from a den after its mother was killed during a hunt.

I was still overcome by what I had just experienced, thinking confused and sadly sweet thoughts about that alone – and not about all the nice things from before that awaited me at home along with the skis and the wolf cub.