The Train

The train is one of the short story's primary settings. After deciding to go on the excursion hosted by the Bureau of Pleasantrips, Vasili Ivanovich boards the train with a collection of German men and women. Initially, Vasili Ivanovich is delighted by the ride, and all that he can see through the train window. The landscape feels alluring and mysterious. The group's insistence that he participate in their conversation and games, and the leader's distribution of sheet music, interrupts Vasili Ivanovich's meditations.

During their group singing, the leader humiliates Vasili Ivanovich, demanding that he sing a solo. Later, the group throws his food out the window. As the night goes on, their treatment of Vasili Ivanovich worsens.

Every time they return to the train, the travelers return to their exponential cruelty. By the end of the story, they drag Vasili Ivanovich back to the train, and beat...