Chekhov uses juxtaposition in order to show that every person, no matter their background or circumstances, is somehow at odds with society and must grapple with their own struggles and hardships.

Juxtaposition is a technique whereby an author places two settings, ideas, or characters near one another so that they can be compared and contrasted. Here, Chekhov juxtaposes the characters of Yakov and Rothschild in order to show that no matter how different these men might seem, they are actually quite similar in more important ways. For example, Yakov is Christian, while Rothschild is Jewish, and Yakov is big and muscular, while Rothschild is lean and willowy. Moreover, Yakov resents Rothschild as a “confounded Jew” who “always contrived to play even the merriest tunes sadly.” The narrator states that

For no obvious reason Yakov little by little began to conceive a feeling of hatred and contempt for all Jews, and especially for Rothschild. He quarrelled with him and abused him in ugly language, and once even tried to beat him.

However, both men are taunted by boys in the town, both made to feel alienated by the community at large, and in the end, when Yakov is near death, they seem to recognize their shared humanity.

When Rothschild comes to fetch Yakov to play at a wedding, Yakov actually calls him “brother” and admits that he is dying. As Yakov plays his fiddle, Rothschild’s demeanor changes, and he, too, feels the “woe and suffering” experienced by his former enemy. On his deathbed, Yakov remembers Rothschild’s scream when he was bit by a dog, and he asks his priest to give his fiddle to Rothschild. From then on, Rothschild stops playing the flute and plays only the fiddle, trying to recapture the beautiful dirge Yakov played as he was dying. His music is so full of emotion, so raw and real, that rich men from the town send for him over and over, asking him to play the song:

Rothschild has long since abandoned his flute, and now only plays on the violin. The same mournful notes flow from under his bow that used to come from his flute, and when he tries to repeat what Yakov played as he sat on the threshold of his hut, the result is an air so plaintive and sad that everyone who hears him weeps, and he himself at last raises his eyes and murmurs: “Okh-okh!” And this new song has so delighted the town that the merchants and government officials vie with each other in getting Rothschild to come to their houses, and sometimes make him play it ten times in succession.

Yakov and Rothschild recognize their similarities in the end, but it took one of them dying to shift their perspectives. Yakov, when he knows his life is almost over, begins to contemplate the humanity of the man he once despised and begins to treat him as a brother rather than as an antagonist. It is sad that it took the death of his wife—and his own death—for him to learn to view others as fellows, traveling a painfully similar path as he.