Saturday, September 25, 2021

Gooseberries By Anton Chekhov — Review

“Gooseberries” is a sad story written by famous Russian author Anton Chekhov. The main character, a veterinary surgeon Ivan Ivanich, tells the story of his brother, Nicholai Ivanich, who had the desire to be financially successful. He associated it with living in the countryside and growing gooseberries.

 

The main, visible message for readers, leads to personality degradation and the irreversible loss of the true quality of a rich social life. The wife of Nicholai Ivanich suffered innocently for his idea, before her death. The attitude of the narrator is expressed by the author in this quote: "don't be satisfied, don't let yourself be lulled to sleep! While you are young, strong, wealthy, do not cease to do good! Happiness does not exist, nor should it, and if there is any meaning or purpose in life, they are not in our peddling little happiness, but in something reasonable and grand. Do good!"

 

But some readers find in the narration another moral. They say in comments that a more pleasant figure is the landowner Alekhin, who does his business from morning to evening, not even having the opportunity to wash. He has no time to fly in the clouds, to think about the meaning of life.  His meaning is life - land and to work on it, and the rest, perhaps, does not matter.


 

This is the link to the text of the story:

https://www.colorado.edu/globalstudiesrap/sites/default/files/attached-files/gooseberries_by_anton_chekhov_1898.pdf


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