Mkrtich Armen's "Temptation" depicts the internal struggle of political prisoner Anton Tulupov, who confronts the temptation of the Leningrad—Murmansk railway line as a symbol of lost freedom. When an unknown woman, mistaking him for her beloved, stops the train and offers him a chance to escape, Tulupov refuses, declaring, "That is not the road to freedom". The story suggests that for the prisoner, physical escape cannot replace the inner dignity and concept of true freedom.