figure
Filka
also: Филька
A herdsman on Vosmyorkin's estate held up by his master as a specimen of unspoiled peasant 'moral strength,' though Filka himself only grins and grunts in response, unable to participate in the very idealization aimed at him.
Reading notes
- The Whistlers §9 Filka the herdsman
Filka is Vosmyorkin's chosen specimen of peasant virtue; that his only response to being singled out and lectured at is a grin and a wordless grunt is the story's sharpest visual joke -- the 'ideal' Vosmyorkin praises is a man he does not actually let speak for himself.