person
Semyon (Tolkovy)
Semyon
also: Толковый, Sensible, Семен
An old convict-ferryman of about sixty, a sexton's son by birth, nicknamed "Tolkovy" ("Sensible"), who has made a creed of wanting nothing at all -- no family, no home, no freedom -- and insists it has made him the freest and happiest man alive; he tells the story's central tale of the ruined gentleman-exile Vasily Sergeyich to prove his point.