The Sokolinets

In the story “The Falconite,” the narrator meets a runaway. The narrator is a political exile. Throughout the story, symbolic images run like a thread: fog, cold, thick darkness, gloom…

But despite the unappealing nature of the surrounding reality—somewhere still glimmers a spark of hope, which, however, can go out at any moment under the pressure of mounting longing and hopelessness. In such circumstances, the narrator encounters a drifter. He tells about the escape, about the dangerous path from Falcon Island, and about all the difficulties he had to endure. In the character of this man, the narrator sees evidence of a free spirit inherent only to the Russian people.