Hanka visits Antek at Easter

Hanka the Farmstead Keeper’s Easter visit to Antek the Lover brings the obligations of wifehood and farm management into painful collision with the emotional distance of imprisonment. She sets out carrying blessed food and news from home, hoping for the warmth of reunion; she returns after midnight having seen that the man for whom she has labored does not meet her devotion with tenderness. The journey yields important news about the prisoners and Antek’s defense, but its deepest consequence is private: Hanka can no longer keep her hurt contained.

The Easter Journey

After the household has eaten, Hanka orders the horses harnessed and prepares to leave with a bundle of blessed food for her husband, so heavy she can barely lift it. The practical preparations make her purpose tangible: she is not only going to see Antek but carrying him a portion of the Easter food and bringing the farmstead’s life to him in a form he can receive. Jagustynka arrives breathless as the horses wait outside, and Hanka is soon on her way.

Before leaving, Hanka calls to Józka of the Boryna Household not to forget Boryna. Józka gathers food onto a plate and takes it to him. Boryna does not answer her or look at her, but greedily eats what she puts in his mouth, his eyes vacant. Hanka’s departure thus begins amid another household duty: she must arrange care for the incapacitated Boryna even while traveling to visit her imprisoned husband.

The journey empties Lipce of much of its customary activity. Women leave from house after house with bundles, some riding in carts and others walking along the ditches; once the last carts have passed, the roads fall strangely quiet. The village’s stillness contrasts with the spring brightness gathering around it. Hanka’s Easter travel belongs to a wider movement of women and provisions, but it also leaves her separated from the familiar work and company through which she has been holding the household together.

The Visit and Its News

Hanka sits with Antek all afternoon. She brings him the blessed food and money, and he eats with relish and takes the twelve zlotys she gives him. He does not ask where she obtained the money. The exchange is materially significant—food and cash pass from the woman managing the farm to the husband in prison—but it does not become an intimate reunion. Antek accepts what she brings without offering the consideration Hanka longs for.

The visit does bring news beyond their marriage. Antek tells Hanka to send his greetings and reports that the other imprisoned men are to be released, although nobody knows when. Hanka has also gone to see the man expected to defend Antek in court. The uncertain release date leaves the household’s separation unresolved, while her contact with the prospective defender shows that she is acting on Antek’s behalf as well as maintaining the farm and caring for the family.

Antek asks about the village and criticizes aspects of the farm’s management, but he does not ask about the children. He gives Hanka no kiss or caress and shows no concern for her health or the strain of her journey. Instead of treating her account as the effort of a faithful wife, he listens distractedly and rebukes her. The contrast between what Hanka has carried to him—food, money, news, and the record of her work—and what he gives her in return defines the emotional turn of the visit.

The Midnight Return

Rocho waits for Hanka at the farmstead. It is around midnight when the horses sound on the bridge near the mill and the britchka arrives. Hanka is unusually quiet and sad. Only after she has eaten supper and the farmhand has gone to the stable does Rocho ask whether she saw her husband. She tells him that she spent the afternoon with Antek, that he was well and in good spirits, and that the other men would be released. She also mentions going to see the man who is to defend Antek.

Hanka does not immediately tell Rocho what is weighing on her. She offers other pieces of news and avoids speaking about Antek until she suddenly begins to weep, covering her face with her hands. Her outward report of the visit is composed and practical; the tears expose the hurt that she has held back during the journey and in front of others. Rocho recognizes that she has suffered a shock and offers to come by in the morning, but Hanka’s grief is too immediate to be eased by the simple prospect of rest.

The Cost of Devotion

Once she lies down with the children, Hanka cannot sleep despite her exhaustion. She turns over the details of the afternoon: Antek ate the food, accepted the money, questioned her about the farm, and scolded her, yet did not ask after the children or show pity for her. She had gone to him longing for affection as his wife and the mother of his children. His treatment makes her feel like a stranger to him, and his sharp response when she could not keep speaking deepens her sense of humiliation.

Only after returning home does Hanka allow herself to break down. She had restrained her distress before Antek and on the journey back, unwilling to appear crestfallen in front of him or other people. In private, pressing her head into the pillow so as not to wake the children, she weeps with grief, humiliation, and a sense of injustice. The scene turns an act of care into a measure of its cost: Hanka continues to feed, finance, and defend her husband, but the visit does not restore closeness. Its ending leaves her devotion intact and her expectation of comfort painfully unmet.