Olenka, the protagonist, seems a singularly empty person, her identity existing only to the extent that she can identify with and act as a conduit for the opinions of other people; there is no real Olenka “there” at all, and therefore she immediately identifies with and “loves” people almost indiscriminately. And others seem to perceive her as a “darling” because of her submergence of herself into the lives of those around her, perhaps seeing her only as the image of their own projections.
