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Misery or The Lament: Summary

The story tells about a father and his great despair for his dead son. Iona, the father, is a Russian sleigh driver who desperately tried to share his grief with strangers. Iona wanted someone to listen to him, to somehow feel his grief, in order for him to feel better. This reading shows the harshness of human nature. It takes a powerful look at the lack of human involvement and compassion toward one man's grief. Iona tries unsuccessfully, three times, to find an outlet to his pain. Only resorting to the faithful ear of his horse does Iona reach resignation from the death of his son.

Iona's first fare was a military officer. At first, this man seemed interested in Iona's story, but when Iona turned around to talk to him in more detail, the officer started shouting at him about his driving. This resulted in the military officer tuning Iona out.

Iona's next fare was three obnoxious young men. They were unruly and offensive towards Iona but he gave them a ride anyway hoping they would just listen to him. Unfortunately, one of the men replied, "we shall all die," and Iona received no sympathy from them.

Finally, when he could no longer hold his thoughts in any longer, he took his horse back to the stable. He came upon another cabman and Iona told him about his grief only to find the cabman was fast asleep. Iona wanted to tell someone the details of his son's death yet no one showed an interest. This only drove him deeper into grief and only intensified his emotions. He watches crowds of people go by and the narrator adds: "Can he not find among these thousands someone who will listen to him?" In the end, Iona found refuge speaking to his horse. He poured his heart out to her … and she listened.
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24 May 2016 at 07:23

Nicely posted

13 May 2017 at 13:27

Thank u ^_^

Anonymous
28 April 2018 at 23:37

Thank u....it was a great help...

29 July 2018 at 07:04

Thanksssss

6 September 2018 at 11:30

Thank you so much

6 September 2018 at 22:30

Nice post

20 September 2018 at 23:00

It helped me a lot

3 October 2018 at 00:57

Great writing skill

10 October 2018 at 21:01

Awesome explaination.....
Thank you..

11 November 2018 at 07:02

THANKSS

18 November 2018 at 22:29

Thank uu

1 December 2018 at 05:37

Really this story is so good

19 June 2019 at 06:52

Thank you soo much
I want more short summary form you

19 June 2019 at 07:30

Can make it a lil' brief...
About 150 to 200 words...
But it's nyc

18 July 2019 at 17:55

Thank u

5 August 2019 at 08:28

Easy to grasp thanku

17 August 2019 at 08:03

Thanks ๐Ÿ˜ƒ

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