Having reached heights of literature as the master of the short story, Chekhov has inserted in classical Russian literature some new artistic techniques and the tradition of the new outlook on an ordinary man's life.
This story, "Thick and Thin", was written in 1883. The fat and thin men know each other from their childhood. They meet accidentally and begin trying to catch up the missed years. The thin man has wife and son, works as a head clerk in the civil service, but the fat man is now a privy councilor, a high official.
Having found out of this, the thin strikingly changes his behavior - shrinks, becomes even thinner, begins to fawn and cringe. The thick man, seeing such a change, is afflicted and disgusted. That's the end of the friendship.
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