Introduction

Anton Chekhov’s story “Misery” (1886) explores the psychology of grief and how each person is ultimately on their own when struggling to handle devastating loss.

In “Misery,” little actually happens. Iona Potapov barely makes ends meet driving a horse-drawn sledge, a kind of nineteenth-century taxi service, through the streets of St. Petersburg. He struggles to come to terms with the recent death of his son. As he works one frigid night shuttling strangers about the city, Iona comes to realize that he is alone in his sorrow.

In this character study, Chekhov explores not only the dynamics of grief but the insensitivity of others in such times of emotional vulnerability. Chekhov offers the reader the chance to do what none of the strangers along the bustling streets of St. Petersburg do: take a moment to care about this grieving old father.

Chekhov, ever the master ironist, uses the Old Testament story of Jonah and the New Testament parable of the Good Samaritan to caution against being too quick with that sympathy. In the end, Iona, like everyone, must grieve alone.

Summary

It is late afternoon in snowy St. Petersburg. Iona Potapov prepares for a long night transporting people about the city’s side streets on his tiny horse-drawn sledge. As he watches his little mare bravely standing in the cold as they wait for the night’s first fare, he thinks about how the horse must miss his old life and how Iona brought her to the city from their farm. The poor animal, like Iona, has been “cast” into a city “full of monstrous lights, unceasing uproar and hurrying people.”

It is quiet on the streets and Iona worries he will make little money. An officer with a military coat then hires the sledge to take him to Vyborgskaya, the city’s administrative district. As they head off, the officer immediately notes that Iona seems to have trouble controlling the horse. Even other coach drivers swear at Iona’s erratic driving.

Iona, however, is distracted. He turns and, clearing his throat, stammers to the officer that his son died last week. Taken aback and uncertain how to respond, the officer politely asks what he died of. Iona turns full around to look at the man. He admits that he is not sure, that the boy had been sick in a hospital for three days with a fever. The officer, however, only chides Iona to turn back around and watch the road.

Iona lets the man off at his destination and again waits for another fare. Three young men, one a hunchback, all loud and most likely drunk, approach the sledge. They all want to be taken to the Police Bridge, more than two miles away but offer only a paltry sum. Iona cannot refuse the work.

The sledge is too small for all of them to sit. The hunchback stands behind Iona because he is the shortest. Iona feels the man’s hot breath. The hunchback mocks Iona’s peasant hat. As the rude young men laugh and joke, Iona mutters bitterly, “Merry gentlemen.” The hunchback goads Iona to drive faster, even slapping Iona mockingly on his neck as if he were the horse.

Iona, for his part, only watches the crowded city streets. He is relieved that “the feeling of loneliness [was beginning] little by little to be less heavy on his heart.” Iona notices with alarm that the hunchback, for all his boisterous good humor, is coughing and spitting up. It reminds him of his son’s last days.

Impulsively Iona turns around and tells the hunchback that his son has just...