ESSAY CEMETERY

THEMES/MOTIFS - QUOTATIONS Love-hate relationship with women It seemed to him that he had been so schooled by bitter experience that he might call them what he liked, and yet he could not get on for two days together without  “the lower race".  He recalled her slender, delicate neck, her lovely grey eyes. “There’s something pathetic about her, anyway,” he  thought, and fell asleep. Adultery Pedophilia As he got into bed he thought how lately she had been a girl at school, doing lessons like his own daughter; he recalled the diffidence, the angularity, that was still manifest in her laugh and her manner of talking with a stranger Physical descriptions Then he looked at her intently, and all at once put his arm round her and kissed her on the lips, and breathed in the moisture and the fragrance of the flowers; and he immediately looked round him, anxiously wondering  whether any one had seen them. ...

The story takes place in Yalta, a vacation spot. It is told in the third person. Dmitri notices a young lady with a dog on the sea front. He wants to meet her. Dmitri is unhappy in his marriage, is unfaithful to his wife. Even though he thinks women are inferior he admits to needing them. He is jaded by his vast experience with women. Dmitri engages the women after showing affection to her dog. They have a good conversation. He learns that her name is Anna and that she too is married. Even though he clearly desires and admires her he finds her pathetic. The two begin spending a lot of time together. A week after they meet, Dmitri kisses Anna. She takes him back to her hotel room, where she feels bad for what took place. She expresses regret at her hasty marriage. He is bored with her conscientiousness but comforts her. He continuously feels conflictingly about her. Anna and Dmitri keep meeting every day. She expresses her fear that he doesn't respect her as well as being ...