#230 The Fiancé- Anton Chekhov

#230 The Fiancé- Anton Chekhov

“She breathed deeply and wanted to think that, not here, but somewhere under the sky, above the trees, far outside town, in the fields and woods, springs own life was now unfolding, mysterious, beautiful, rich, and holy, inaccessible to the understandings of weak, sinful human beings. And for some reason she wanted to cry.”

Oppression comes in many ways by many forces, mostly ones of our own choosing. There are social oppressions, like family expectations, class, race, gender inequality, etc—but the limits we set on ourselves are sometimes the hardest to overcome.

Nadya was realizing that she was not happy, just as she was soon to be married. Luckily she had someone, Sasha, to challenge her and make her see the opportunities beyond her immediate surroundings. It is no coincidence that once she took those opportunities and explore her independence, Sasha died, no longer needed.

This was one of Chekhov’s last works, written in 1903. I’ve enjoyed reading these, mostly shorter stories. Perhaps sometime after this project, I’ll revisit some of his longer works, and his plays as well.

Notable Passage: “I find everything here somehow wild, because I’m unused to it.”

Rating: 7-7-8-7 Total= 29

#216 Sleepy- Anton Chekhov

#216 Sleepy- Anton Chekhov

The Masters are asleep and the thirteen year-old nanny, Varka, is tending to their child. She is exhausted, cannot keep her eyes open, but she must. The child needs care and if she sleeps, the masters will beat her. All night, she falls into half awake half dreamlike states, never getting enough. When the morning comes, even without sleep, she is expected to work:

-Varka, light the stove.

-Varka, set up the samovar.

-Varka, clean the master’s galoshes.

-Varka, wash the front steps.

-Varka, run and fetch the bottles of beer.

-Varka, rock the baby.

Night after day after night, reality is a myth. The baby is the enemy and must go. Then she can get sleep. Chekhov does a great job creating tension and anxiety. You really feel tired and angry and want this poor girl to get some rest.

Rating: 7-8-9-7 Total= 31

#202 Vanka- Anton Chekhov

#202 Vanka- Anton Chekhov

A beautiful but heartbreaking story. A young child, and apprentice to a shoemaker is writing his grandfather on Christmas eve. This is his only living relative and he needs to be rescued.

“Come dear grandpa…by Christ God I beg you, take me away from here. Have pity on me, a wretched orphan, because everybody beats me, and I’m so hungry, and it’s so dreary I can’t tell you, I just cry all the time…My life is going worse that any dog’s…dear grandpa, come.”

He writes in secret and worries about being discovered, he cant run away because he has no shoes. He finishes and braves the cold in just a shirt to mail his letter. He learned last week that to send a letter you must address it and drop it in a mail box. He dutifully writes on the envelope:

“To Granpa in the Village” drops it in, and waits to be saved.

Rating: 8-7-8-7 Total= 30

#188 Easter Night- Anton Chekhov

#188 Easter Night- Anton Chekhov

Yesterday’s author Mavis Gallant’s simple advive to new authors was to “Read Chekhov.”  Here, as well as many of his stories, we see the brilliance of that advice. This is such a delicate and touching story, balancing joy-sorrow, life-death, light-dark, past-present, gentry-impoverished. A Gentlemen crosses the river to get to an Easter service. The ferryman is a novice who is grieving the loss of a brother, a brother skilled at writing outlaw religious texts known as Akathists.

 “There should be softness, gentleness, and tenderness in every little line, so that there’s not a single coarse, harsh, or unsuitable word. It has to be written so that the one who is praying will rejoice and weep in his heart, but shake and be in awe in his mind.”

Like the poetry of Walt Whitman, or the music of Charles Ives, Chekhov strives to capture humanity at its most pure moments, not lofty, or quaint, sarcastic, or judgmental, but truthful and lovingly. The following passage I found to be a perfect capture of a common shared public experience . He has tapped into the emotion of such a scene with a genuine eye.

Notable Passage: “One would have liked to see this restlessness and sleeplessness in all of nature, beginning with the night’s darkness and ending with the slabs, the graveyard crosses, and the trees, under which people bustle about. But nowhere did the excitement and restlessness tell so strongly as in the church. At the entrance an irrepressible struggle went on between ebb and flow. Some went in, others came out and soon went back again, to stand for a little while and then move again. People shuttle from place to place, loiter, and seem to be looking for something. The wave starts at the entrance and passes through the whole church, even disturbing the front rows where the solid and weighty people stand. To concentrate on prayer is out of the question. There are no prayers, but there is a sort of massive childishly instinctive joy that is only seeking an excuse to burst and pour itself out in some sort of movement, be it only an unabashed swaying and jostling.”

Rating: 10-8-8-9 Total= 35

#174 Anyuta- Anton Chekhov

#174 Anyuta- Anton Chekhov

Anyuta is a hard working seamstress trying her best to survive. Her roommate is a medical student, hard-working, driven, and tunnel-visioned. He abuses Anyuta’s kindness, allowing her to do all the chores, all the shopping and even demands she act as his biology model as he continues to study the human body.

But she is dutiful and knows that if she does not, he may not become a great man. This is not her first of this kind of roommate. “In all her six of seven years of wandering through various furnished rooms, she had known some five men like Klochkov. Now they had all finished their studies, had made their way in life, and, of course, being decent people, had long forgotten her."

Anyuta is either a naïve young woman willing to make herself a doormat for these men, or she is a thoughtful muse inspiring and aiding in the pursuits of other’s successes.

Notable Passage: “A developed man absolutely must be an aesthete.”

Rating: 7-7-7-7 Total=28