Practical Criticism for Students: 'Gooseberries'

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SOURCE: "Practical Criticism for Students: 'Gooseberries'," in From Karamzin to Bunin: An Anthology of Russian Short Stories, edited and translated by Carl R. Proffer, Indiana University Press, 1969, pp. 38-9.

[In the excerpt below, Proffer articulates the significance of "Gooseberries" in the context of Chekhov's "little trilogy" of short stories, which also includes "The Man in a Shell," and "About Love."]

"Gooseberries" is the middle story in Chekhov's "little trilogy" which was published in 1898 with consecutive pagination from the beginning of "The Man in a Case" to the end of "About Love." The two epigraphs Chekhov considered using suggest the trilogy's thematic unity: "But how many of those in cases remain" and "Man needs more than six feet—he needs the whole universe." The latter is aimed at Tolstoy's story "How Much Land Does a Man Need," which concludes that the six feet of the grave are all man could or should expect. Death was a philosophical idée fixe for Tolstoy, but the gloomy, ascetic penchant for measuring life against death was alien to the unromantic Dr. Chekhov. Regarding the afterlife as dubious as unicorns or elves, he thought we should make the most of the life we have—life should be measured by life. It seems reasonable to consider Ivan Ivanych as Chekhov's puppet; most of what he says corresponds to the Chekhov we know from his letters. Note that Ivan Ivanych is a medical man, and both in stories and plays Chekhov often made physicians unofficial spokesmen. Ivan is more verbose than most of these, and because of this, the story is more openly didactic than is typical for Chekhov. Since he himself was the grandson of a serf and went through the long process of picking out an estate and settling down as a landowner, we may assume there are a few autobiographical demons which Chekhov was exorcising by writing the story.

Characters who are afraid of life or who narrowly circumscribe the limits of their life appear in many of Chekhov's tales, but Belikov, his man in a case, is the archetype. He smiles only when he is in his final case, a coffin. This is the first story of the trilogy; it is narrated by Burkin when he and Ivan Ivanych are out hunting. "Gooseberries" is Ivan Ivanych's reply. Alyokhin tells Burkin and Ivan Ivanych the last story—the story of how, due to overanalysis and timidity, he failed to get together with the woman he loved. Two details in "Gooseberries" foreshadow Alyokhin's story: (1) the pictures of the generals and ladies (two references to which "frame" Ivan Ivanych's story) look down as if saying it is tedious to hear about a poor clerk who ate gooseberries, so that Burkin and Alyokhin "For some reason wanted to speak and hear about elegant people, about women." (2) the brief but repeated description of "beautiful Pelageya"—the triple repetition of the same adjective is a typically Chekhovian device—who moves softly and efficiently about Alyokhin's house. At the beginning of Alyokhin's story we learn she is not, as we might suspect, his mistress; she is unreservedly in love with an ugly, drunken cook who beats her.

In the drafts, Ivan Ivanych's story about gooseberries ends differently. Originally, his brother comes to realize that what he has achieved is a caricature of his petty dreams. He knows the gooseberries taste bad, and eventually dies with the bitter taste of his life in his mouth. But Chekhov apparently decided that [Nikolai] Ivanych's self-revelation and death would not affect readers as much as his smug satisfaction with an illusion. The brick factory, coffee-colored river, servant resembling a pig, dog resembling a pig, etc., make it clear how illusory [Nikolai] Ivanych's accomplishment is. The gooseberries perfectly symbolize his trivial aspirations.

The last line of the story is Chekhovianly compendious. It refers back to the opening paragraph and serves as a kind of deflection. The bad smell of Ivan Ivanych's pipe would not be a good final impression for the reader. The rain helps remove the bad air, and at the same time it is a natural symbol for insomnia, pensiveness, and misfortune—perhaps echoing the knocks of the hammer on the door of happy people.

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