How does the imagery in Chekhov's "The Lady with the Pet Dog" emphasize the characters' isolation?

A good example of how Chekhov builds isolation through
imagery in "The Lady with the Pet Dog" is found in the very beginning of the story where
he uses imagery of isolation to set both the tone and mood (i.e., atmosphere) of the
story. First of all, the reader is told "It was said." Ivan didn't say to Anna.
Petrovich didn't say to Andreovich. It was said. Immediately, Chekhov has created a
image of distance and anonymous people who talk at some unspecified place and some
unidentified time in some indefinite conversation where it was said that a new person
had arrived at Yalta.

The new person is then seen from a
remote distance "walking on the sea-front," thus establishing a buffer of
unapproachability and isolation around this new arrival, a buffer that works both ways
as no one approaches her and she approaches no one across the expanse of the sea-front.
Even the Pomeranian dog "running behind her" confirms the distance and isolation; had
the dog run with her or beside her, Chekhov would have created the possibility and
expectation of approachability and the story would have been a different
story.

That the new arrival always is seen in
gardens--where people are kept at a distance by rows of flowers or bushes in flower beds
and by hedges building foliage walls--or in open public squares--where numbers of people
are spread about without connection between them--builds another layer of distance and
isolation around the characters. Even Gurov's interactions with other people embeds the
theme of isolation within the text. With men he is distanced and bored. With his wife he
is frightened, having no desire to be in his home, which in someways describes the
ultimate isolation: his home is where he desires isolation and
distance.