Select an excerpt from the story where the characters seem to fail at communicating. Rewrite the excerpt with the characters expressing their thoughts and emotions. Feel free to include internal monologue, flashbacks, body language, and other markers of the emotional states of the characters. How does your revision affect the situation and the story as a whole?

Write one entry in Anna’s journal after she spends the night with Gurov and another entry after Gurov visits her in the hotel room in the last chapter of the story. What might she include in the entries that she did not express to Gurov at the time? How do these journal entries influence the development of Anna’s character in the story as a whole?

Reflect on Gurov’s background in the arts before his marriage. Using textual clues, imagine and write (1) the educational background of Gurov’s life and he how ended up working at a bank, or (2) the circumstances of his courtship and marriage. How does such a background story inform his character’s actions in the text?