Olenka In The Darling

Olenka was quite a darling. She was quiet, and always had an imaginative smile. Unfortunately, she had a personality defect. Her problem was the fact that she didn’t have a personality of her own; it was always that of her lovers.

In the beginning of the story she was married to Kukin. When she was with Kukin, he complained about the rain on his garden. He said, “Almost every evening it rains. It is simply awful! The public doesn’t come, but I have to pay the rent just the same, '; (172). This foreshadows what is going to happen to Olenka when Kukin dies. She worked hard at taking on his beliefs and opinions, and mastering his way of thinking. She acted as a mirror of her husband and it was her only way of life. Then when he died, her mirror was broken. This left her not knowing what to do cause she had no personality anymore because it died.

After Kukin’s death, Olenka did nothing else but cry and dwell on the fact that she had no one to love. As she mourned, she said, “ my precious, my darling! Why did I ever know you and love you! You poor heart-broken Olenka is all alone without you,';(174).

Then Pustovalov came along, the timber merchant, and she once again fell in love. This changed her life from the theater into a new life of business. Her husbands ideas were hers. If he thought the room was too hot, she thought the same.

At one...