The Stationmaster | Style

The Stationmaster Style

Point of View

"The Stationmaster" is told from the point of view of the narrator. Although the story is one of The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin, the preface to the collection names Titular Councillor A.G.N. as the source of "The Stationmaster," leaving Belkin (apparently) the editor. Although Pushkin is the author of the short story, he effectively removes himself from identification with the narrator's voice.

The story begins with a prologue discussing negative stereotypes of stationmasters as rude and offensive bureaucrats who hinder the traveler on his journey. The narrator plays on these generalizations only to question them, appealing to his "reader's conscience" by offering examples of situations in which a stationmaster is a victim of circumstances and subject to verbal and physical abuse. But the narrator quickly shifts from these generalizations to the story of a specific stationmaster he once knew.

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