Physical torture
The author gives a vivid description of the room the main characters have spent night in. When the hero returns after having seen her off, the room seems to have changed: “nothing like it had been with her in it. It was still full of her – and empty. It still smelled of her fine English eau de toilette, her half-drunk tea-cup still stood on the tray, but she was gone”. He feels almost physical pain of the memories and awareness of irreparable loss. It is important to note that the memories of the hero are physical in nature. He remembered the smell of the body and clothes of the heroine, the sound of her voice, the warmth of her skin, "the feeling of the just-experienced pleasure of all her feminine charm”, and lieutenant’s sufferings come to some kind of physical level. And the thought that he would never see her again overwhelmed and astonished him. Details perceived visually reinforces his torments.
Russian resort town
Description of Russian resort town is given as a background of the lieutenant’s sufferings, “rings of church bells, sound of the bazaar with peasant women sitting on the ground hollering over each other, smells of hay”, everything seems give no pleasure, it is all loud and annoying, disturbing and unsatisfying. These details remind that no one cares of what is going on in another person’s heart and soul, the town life continues floating the way it was used to.
