After the Ball

Ivan Vasilevich, in After the Ball by Leo Tolstoy, links Varenka B. to her father because of the subtle similarities between the two characters throughout the story. In his first description of Varenka, Ivan calls her “tall, slim, graceful, and regal,” with a “tender, invariably merry smile”, still beautiful at age fifty (177). This description of Varenka is reflected a few pages later in the introduction of her father the colonel, a “tall, imposing figure,” with “the same tender, merry smile,” as his daughter (181). A visible connection is expected, being father and daughter, but that smile continues to be a subtle theme throughout the short story, for after Ivan witnesses the gauntlet he is reminded of the act by Varenka’s smile. It is so disconcerting, and the act so repulsive, to him that this constant remainder drives him away from pursing any contact with Varenka.

There are other similarities between the two, neither of Varenka nor her father speak much (the communication is basically through smiles) and both reluctantly reveal signs of poverty. During the colonel’s dance with his daughter, Ivan notices his unfashionable homemade boots with square toes, and earlier he made a casual remark about Varenka’s “cheap, white fan” (180). It is these similarities that cause Ivan to be unable to pursue his previous relationship with that family after witnessing the cruelty of the gauntlet.