The story was inspired by a news report that Dostoyevsky read in April 1876 about the suicide of a seamstress. Dostoyevsky referred to it as a "meek suicide" that "keeps haunting you for a long time."
The story was inspired by a news report Dostoyevsky read in April 1876 about a seamstress's suicide, which he referred to as a "meek suicide" that continued to haunt him.