The gray dismal surroundings entrap Iona and make the desolation worse for him. “Iona Potapov, the sledge-driver, is all white like a ghost” (30). “He sits on the box without stirring, bent as double as the living body can be bent” (30). “He cannot think about his son when he is alone” (34). The surroundings make him feel separated from his inner feelings. “But now the shades of evening are falling on the town. The pale light of the street lamps changes to a vivid color, and the bustle of the street grows noisier.”(31)