The inciting incident happens at the beginning of the story. Schwohrer as the protagonist for the first half, but it would be a different theme. The analysis of most of the first half of the work is provided to you, but you will fill in the gaps and finish the second.Īnton Chekhov is the protagonist for the first narrative. The second narrative is fiction as there is no account of the event–who would worry about the thoughts and actions of a hotel valet? The two contrast nicely as we view death from two perspectives: those who are close to the deceased and the others.įor this reason, we will analyze the story twice. The first narrative is a creative non-fiction piece that relies on the diaries and biographical entries of the events surrounding Chekhov's illness and death. The first narrative is the illness and death of Anton Chekhov, and the second is the narrative of the unnamed hotel valet. It could be argued that it is actually two narratives wrapped in another loose narrative.