The Ocean and the Sun

For all the people who never want to say good-bye to the summer.

It has been exactly two years since my last post. I can hardly believe it. Life moves so fast. I am still enjoying Russian classics and photography, so it is time to share with you more of the things that leave my mind restless or set my soul alight.

Analysis of “An Inquiry” – Anton Chekhov [1883]

Other Titles:

“Spravka”

“Справка”

Characters:

Voldyrev – a country gentleman, landowner

A clerk

A porter

Voldyrev is a country gentleman who is in the city to inquire about the resolution of a case to which he is an involved party. The inquiry should not cost anything, but Voldyrev soon discovers that the clerk whose job is to provide such documentation would not bother himself with even acknowledging the presence of a client without first receiving his bribe – three roubles for the service. Dealing with government clerks proves to be a big hassle, and Chekhov sets the scene for this event with a perfect symbol – typhus: “Voldyrev coughed and went towards the window; there, at a green table spotted like typhus, was sitting a young man with… a long pimply nose, and a long faded uniform.”

Typhus is a sickness characterized by a purple rash, headaches, fever, and delirium – symptoms that can be attached to this situation by making a simple inquiry. There is something so unreal to the events that follow, once Voldyrev pays the three roubles, which resembles almost the state of delirium. The clerk becomes so polite and obliging, performing the service with such efforts, that Voldyrev is put in a great state of discomfort from the attention he now receives. This unexpected change in behavior confuses and overwhelms him so that he instinctively hands out another rouble as a way to conclude the transaction and to make the clerk go away.

“And the latter kept bowing and smiling, and took the rouble like a conjuror, so that it seemed to flash through the air.” 

Reflecting on “A Daughter of Albion” – Anton Chekhov

(Constance Garnett translation)

Other Titles:

The Daughter of Albion

Doch Albiona

Дочь Албиона

Characters:

Fyodor Andreitch Otsov – the district Marshal of Nobility (Предводитель дворянства)

Ivan Kuzmitch Gryabov – a landowner

Wilka Charlesovna Fyce – an English maiden lady in the house

There are stories that transcend time and space and speak to the modern-day reader with clarity and universality. And then, there are stories that stand distant from the reader. “A Daughter of Albion” is a challenge, at least for me. The time when it was written, the cultural background, the events described make the differences between the ages stand out, and the substance of the story is confounding, if not lost. I’ve been thinking about the characters and the conversations, and the bottom line is that I cannot quite comprehend the depth of the story. Or if I do, I need a reassuring confirmation that my interpretation catches the true elements and meaning of the story.

Otsov pays a visit to Gryabov. The rest of the family is out, but Gryabov is fishing in a near-by area with the English governess. She had been living in Russia for 10 years but speaks no Russian, which is difficult to believe. She is described as a young lady, which means that she must have been a teenager when she moved to Russia. It is very peculiar that she did not learn to speak the language at least a little at that young age when people adapt much easier to foreign environment. Furthermore, her second name is just as puzzling. Charlesovna, a daughter of Charles, signifying an English heritage, conjugated in a Russian custom “-ovna”. The name is deliberately modified to manifest the Russian influence.

During the entire story Gryabov insults the Englishwoman on her physical and mental features and faculties. However, he seems to be preferring her company and fishing rather than doing anything else, even though he cannot stop expressing his discontent with both.

“I can’t tell you how fearfully boring it is. It was the devil drove me to take to this fishing! I know that it is rotten idiocy for me to sit here. I sit here like some scoundrel, like a convict, and I stare at the water like a fool.”

He refuses to go have a drink with Otsov who came to visit, and there is an earlier mention that Gryabov missed some sort of holiday service to enjoy his hobby. There is certainly something strange about this cognitive dissonance.

My suspicion is that Gryabov is embarrassed in his feelings of loneliness. He tries to suppress it by acting in a manner that would make anyone present uncomfortable in his company. In his efforts to detract attention from what he really enjoys and what bothers him, he overcompensates by diverting the attention, with his ridiculous remarks, to the governess and her ugliness and stupidity. She is probably just as lonely in this land where she does not understand a word. Or, it is very likely that she understands Russian, but by pretending that she doesn’t, she refuses to become part of the mundane and insignificant way of living that is typical for the Gryabovs house.

Chekhov is extremely sparing in his hints of what the Englishwoman is thinking. This is what makes the story difficult to understand. She exhibits some form of disdain mixed with indifference for this loud and childish behavior, but this scale of emotions is too limiting for someone who has lived in such an environment for years. In addition, the story is named after her character. However, the reader only gets to know her through the questionable remarks of Gryabov.

Analysis of "The Trousseau" - Anton Chekhov

Other Titles:

“The Dowry”

„Приданое“

In this short story, the narrator visits a house three times throughout the years and reflects on the changes that had taken place within that household. Each visit is dominated by Manetchka’s trousseau preparation – the mother and daughter who live there are always busy making everything that a young woman would need once she is married. But Manetchka (the daughter) is not engaged; there is no sign of a young suitor in particular. In fact, the girl even gets embarrassed by the topic and “vows”, every time, that she will never marry. However, the narrator catches all the little hints in a young woman’s behavior that point to the opposite, her secret desire to have that in her future.

The story opens with a charming description of the house observed from the outside. The nature surrounding the place is the symbol of tradition. The previous generations have planted those trees and flowers, leaving their contribution to the life that occupies the house now. In a way, their trousseau was the efforts to build the foundation for a happy situation. But the occupants do not appreciate the beauty outside and confine themselves to the stifling inside of a home where they are too busy working toward an imagined future – the future that ironically never comes.

“It is only to the summer visitor that God has vouchsafed an eye for the beauties of nature. The rest of mankind remain steeped in profound ignorance of the existence of such beauties. People never prize what they have always had in abundance. What we have, we do not treasure, and what’s more we do not even love it.”

It seems that we are all making our own trousseaux throughout life, living with the expectations that the future will bring exactly what we dream of. But life is tragic and lonely. At least this is how Chekhov describes the circumstances of the characters in this short story. By the third visit, the young woman is dead. And the mother, whether by habit, insanity, or in loving memory of her daughter, continues with the work of the trousseau.

“’We are all alone in the world.’

And where was the daughter? Where was Manetchka? I did not ask. I did not dare to ask the old mother dressed in her new deep mourning. And while I was in the room, and when I got up to go, no Manetchka came out to greet me. I did not hear her voice, nor her soft, timid footstep…

I understood, and my heart was heavy.”

Pacific

Analysis of "The Death of a Government Clerk" (1883) - Anton Chekhov

(Constance Garnett translation)

Other Titles:

“The Death of a Civil Servant”

“The Death of a Clerk”

“Smert chinovnika”
"Смерть чиновника"

Characters:

Ivan Dimitritch Tchervyakov

Brizzhalov

“But suddenly… In stories one so often meets with this ‘But suddenly’. The authors are right: life is so full of surprises!”

And this is not to imply positive surprises, as the moral of this story teaches us. A government clerk dies after a few days of anxiety. While at the theater, Ivan Dimitritch Tchervyakov sneezed and bespattered a general that is not his direct superior, but important enough in the Department of Transport. Tchervyakov tries to apologize, but every time he attempts it, the general interrupts the apology, so the clerk never gets the chance to express his apology completely.

Every time Tchervyakov is cut off in the middle of a sentence, his anxiety rises to explain even more about the sneeze, then about the first unfinished apology, the second one, the first visit to the general’s house, the second visit… An innocent situation quickly becomes a ridiculous occurrence by constantly bringing up the incident. The story takes a satirical form, and the civil servant is reduced to a mere caricature.

But this type of portrayal is indicative of the despotic nature that defines the relations between clerks and their superiors. The theme of the chinovnik (clerk) illustrates the fear that exists for the clerk’s career and the complete surrender to the authority of the higher rank. The death of the clerk has a significant figurative meaning – gaining the disposition of this general means preserving the job, may be even receiving some types of career benefits; injuring this rapport means career suicide. Ironically enough, the clerk dies during this period of a severed relationship, symbolizing the loss of purpose and identity that are gone along with the job.   

Analysis of "A Classical Student" - Anton Chekhov

Other Titles:
"Случай с классиком"

Characters:

Vanya, a high school student

Vanya’s mom

Nastenka, Vanya’s aunt

Yevtihy Kuzmitch Kuporossov, the lodger

The story opens up with a scene describing the characteristics of a great performance anxiety experienced by young Vanya who was about to take his Greek exam. He has about every symptom associated with extreme nervousness (except a heart attack) – the throbbing heart, the terror of the unknown, the upset stomach…He resorts to payers, to kissing the holy images in the house, to superstitious rituals, such as giving a poor man two kopecks (cents) with the hope that fate and the universe will show mercy for this high-school student that day.

Unfortunately, he fails Greek despite all his hard work and getting up early to study all week. After he arrives home and informs his mom of the negative result, Chekhov describes a situation between this boy and his mother that reveals more than a conflict between efforts and expectations. It is apparent that Vanya’s mom had high hopes for her boy by enrolling him in a school that exceeds his intellectual aptitude. Vanya was trying to fulfill those expectations by devoting a lot of time in his studies that particular week, but the pressure of performance was too much. It was obvious in the story that the confusion Vanya experienced during the verbal exam stemmed from that pressure to get things right and from fearing failure, when in fact, he was aware of the mistakes he was making and their respective correct answers. To illustrate how awful his world was in the face of failure, Chekhov uses the mother character as its main element:

“No, it’s not you but I who am miserable, you wretched boy! It’s I that am miserable! You’ve worn me to a threadpaper, you Herod, you torment, you bane of my life! I pay for you, you good-for-nothing rubbish…”

For Vanya this was not the only exam he failed. From the terrible words of his mother, the reader gets the sense that he really does not fit in that school. The mother chose that school because it represents the ideals and the future she hopes to attain one day. She is criticized and ridiculed by her sister regarding these ideals:

“It’s not his fault! It’s your fault! You are to blame! Why did you send him to that high school? You are a fine lady! You want to be a lady? A-a-ah! I dare say, as though you’ll turn into gentry!”

It seems that the mother is fighting against another set of expectations. She wants to overcome the expectations set by society that everyone is born into a socioeconomic position and cannot break its barriers to move up higher – and perhaps, this should not even be attempted. Her efforts are failing just like Vanya is failing at that school.

From here, Chekhov moves the story in a direction that is quite thought-provoking, to say the least. As always, he does not disappoint in terms of using the typical ironic effects in his writing. The mother approaches the lodger, Yevtihy Kuzmitch Kuporossov, to ask him for a favor – to go punish the boy:

“My good friend… If you would have the generosity – thrash my boy for me… Do me the favour!... I can’t punish him, through the weakness of my ill-health… Thrash him for me, if you would be so obliging and considerate.”

Vanya submits willingly to the punishment. The mother accepts the constraints of her reality and makes a new resolution – to send the boy to a different school.