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 y

ou! 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.

As she watched him laugh and play, she realized what had gone wrong in her life. In a way, she wanted to recreate her childhood by controlling his. Olenka realized she simply had no rational life of her own at all. If in fact this was true, should we blame her for the actions that she took towards her loved ones? If she changed at all throughout the course of the story, it was most likely for the better.

Olenka can be compared with Miss Emily from "A Rose for Emily." They both don't want to accept changes in there life. They both have their minds set in one direction, and they live for one thing. Olenka lives for sucking the lives out of her lovers, and Emily is with a dead guy whom she is obsessed about. By the end of both s

Some common words found in the essay are:
Olenka Kukin, Smirnin Easily, Rose Emily, , Kukin Kukin,
Approximate Word count = 707
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)