The Importance of the Mare in Misery Iona Potapov, the protagonist of Anton Chekhov's story, "Misery", longs for someone to listen to her woes. Every human being he comes into contact with is blatantly ignorant of his much-needed story to be told by avoiding him or falling asleep. There is, however, one character in this story who would willingly listen to Iona, a character who is with Iona for almost the entire story. This character is his mare. Renato Poggioli describes the story as built "around two immobile figures, an animal and a man" (316). Iona and the mare are very similar. They appear to be each other's only companion and behave very similarly. When Iona sits calmly, covered in snow recently fallen on him, his little mare is described as "white and still too" (17). Neither the man nor the mare cares to move; both are still, frozen in time, waiting. Another example of the similar behavior between the two occurs when "the driver of the sleigh clicks on the horse, stretches his neck like a swan. The mare also stretches her neck" (18). At the beginning of the story, Iona sits in her sleigh desperately waiting for her first ticket, and when that ticket arrives she immediately starts talking about her son's death (18). Even though her best friend, the mare, is already there to hear her story, Iona doesn't realize this until much later in the story. At first, he still believes that what he needs, and will be able to find, is another human being with whom to share his misfortunes. Price's response to Iona's story is, "have you gone mad, you old dog? Look where you're going" (18). Iona, shocked by this, continues to look around, hoping to begin her story... halfway through the paper... and no longer remain silent about her son's death. Speak to the air and the mare listens. He doesn't avoid it, abuse it or ignore it. She just listens, like any good animal would. Works Cited Beck, Alan, M. and Aaron Honoria Katcher. “Animal Companions: More Companions than Animals.” Man and Beast Revisited. Ed. Michael H. Robinson and Lionel Tiger. Washington: Smithsonian P, 1991. 265-66.Chekhov, Anton. "Misery." The Harper Fiction Anthology. Ed. Silvano Barnet. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. 17-21.Hildebrandt, Sherri. "Another kind of pain." St. Paul Pioneer Press September 13, 1998: 1-4.Poggioli, Renato. "Narration in double key." Short stories by Anton Chekhov. Ed. Ralph E. Matlaw. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1979. 316-317. Royal Bank of Canada. "Pets and humans." Montreal: Royal Bank Letter, July/August. 1989.