Class

In "Death of A Clerk" the protagonist Cherviakov is a clerk who sneezes on a high-ranking government official. Cherviakov feels the need to be punished since he violated such an important person. Though the government official is not offended, Cherviakov is not satisfied until the official throws him out, but not because he sneezed on him but because he keeps bothering him about it. But since Cherviakov is a lower class, he cannot get over offending a higher class person, the angst of which leads to his death.

In "The Small Fry" the lowly clerk feels superior over a cockroach. While in "The Huntsman", a servant on the estate is asking the master why he has not been by for a while even though the last time he came by he abused her. As it turns out, the servant, Pelageya, and the hunter are married. But the higher...