4.5
Average rating: 4.5
Total ratings received: 644.
4.5
Average rating: 4.5
Total ratings received: 644.
The work of A.P. Chekhov is surprisingly simple, extremely meaningful and instructive. His works make you think, reflect, be ashamed and rejoice. Analysis of the story will be useful for 8th grade students in preparing for literature lessons. Chekhov's story “Gooseberry” raises questions of the meaning of life, human happiness, selfishness and indifference. An analysis and detailed analysis of all the artistic features of Chekhov’s “Gooseberry” is contained in our article.
The material was prepared jointly with a teacher of the highest category, Kuchmina Nadezhda Vladimirovna.
Experience as a teacher of Russian language and literature - 27 years.
History of creation
Included in the “little trilogy” is the story of A.P. Chekhov's "Gooseberry" was published by the publishers of "Russian Thought" in 1898. It was created by a writer in the village of Melikhovo, Moscow region. This story is a continuation of the work “The Man in a Case,” which also tells about a dead human soul with a distorted concept of happiness.
It is believed that Chekhov based his plot on a story that the famous lawyer Anatoly Koni told to the writer L.N. Tolstoy. This story tells about one official who, like N.I. Chimshe-Himalayan, put aside savings all his life to achieve his dream. The official believed that a ceremonial uniform with gold embroidery would bring him honor and respect and make him happy. But during his lifetime, the “lucky” thing was not useful to him. Moreover, the uniform, tarnished by mothballs, was put on the poor fellow only at his own funeral.
Genre and direction
The work “Gooseberry” is written in the genre of a story and belongs to such a direction in literary creativity as realism. A laconic prose form allows the author to express his thoughts as briefly as possible, and as a result, attract the reader’s attention and reach his heart.
As you know, a story is distinguished from other genres by the presence of only one storyline, the presence of one or two main characters, a small number of secondary characters and a small volume. We see all these signs in “Gooseberry”.
Genre
A.P. Chekhov's most favorite literary genre is the story. The small epic form with one storyline and a minimum number of characters helps the author create laconic, topical and very truthful works. Written in the spirit of realism, “Gooseberry” has become a small story that teaches big truths. It is this feature that is characteristic of all Chekhov’s stories - semantic scope in a limited volume.
Previous
WorksBazarov and parents in the novel Fathers and Sons of Turgenev
Next
Essays “The Wonderful Doctor” analysis of Kuprin’s work - the essence, plan, theme, problems of the story
About what?
Veterinarian Ivan Ivanovich Chimsha-Gimalaysky and a teacher at the Burkin gymnasium are caught in the field by the rain. The heroes wait out the bad weather in the estate of Alekhine, a friend of Ivan Ivanovich. Then the doctor shares with his dining companions the story of his brother, whose fate was sad.
Since childhood, the brothers learned one simple truth - you have to pay for pleasure. They came from a poor family and tried to provide for themselves.
The youngest of the brothers, Nikolai Ivanovich, especially sought to enrich himself. The limit of all his dreams was an estate and a garden in which ripe and fragrant gooseberries would grow. In order to achieve his goal, Chimsha the Himalayan even killed his wife, albeit not on purpose. He saved on everything, seemed to notice nothing around him except advertisements for the sale of “acres of arable land and meadows with an estate.” Ultimately, he still managed to acquire the desired plot. On the one hand, the main character is happy, he eats his gooseberries with pleasure, pretends to be a stern but fair master... But on the other hand, the current situation of Nikolai Ivanovich does not please his brother, who came to stay. Ivan Ivanovich understands that there are things whose value is much greater than the pleasure of eating your own gooseberries. It is at this moment that the conflict between the material and spiritual reaches its climax.
Summary: the beginning of the story
Burkin and Ivan Ivanovich Chimsha-Himalayan are walking across the field. The village of Mironositskoye is visible in the distance. Suddenly it starts to rain, and so they decide to go to Pavel Konstantinich Alekhine, a landowner friend whose estate is located in the village of Sofiino, nearby. Alekhine is described as a tall man, about 40 years old, plump, looking more like an artist or professor than a landowner, with long hair. He meets travelers at the barn. This man's face is black with dust, his clothes are dirty. He welcomes unexpected guests and invites them to go to the bathhouse. Having changed clothes and washed, Burkin, Ivan Ivanovich Chimsha-Gimalaysky and Alekhine go to the house, where Ivan Ivanovich tells the story of Nikolai Ivanovich, his brother, over tea with jam.
Composition
The plot of “Gooseberry” is based on the “story within a story” principle. Nonlinear storytelling helps the author deepen the meaning of the work.
In addition to the story of the main character of the story, Nikolai Ivanovich Chimshi-Himalayan, there is another reality in which Ivan Ivanovich, Alekhine and Burkin live. The last two give their assessment of what happened to Nikolai Ivanovich. Their ideas about life are the most common version of human existence. It is important to pay attention to the exposition of the story, which contains a detailed description of nature. The landscape on Nikolai Ivanovich’s estate confirms the spiritual poverty of the newly minted master.
The main characters and their characteristics
- Chimsha-Himalayan Ivan Ivanovich is a representative of the nobility who serves in the medical field - he treats animals. He is also a character in the stories "The Man in the Case" and "About Love". This hero performs important functions in the story “Gooseberry”. Firstly, he is a storyteller, and secondly, he is a reasoning hero, since from his lips the reader can hear the author’s appeal, his main thoughts. For example, the words of Ivan Ivanovich about the transience of life, the need to act and live here and now.
- Chimsha-Himalayan Nikolai Ivanovich - a representative of the noble class, a minor official, and then a landowner. He is two years younger than his brother, "a kind, gentle man." The character sought to return to the village - to lead the quiet life of a landowner. I dreamed of feeding the ducks on the pond, walking through the garden, bathing in the rays of the warm sun, picking ripe gooseberries from branches still wet from the morning dew. For the sake of his dream, he denied himself everything: he saved money, he did not marry for love. After the death of his wife, he was finally able to buy the estate of his dreams: he settled down, began to gain weight and put on airs, talk about his noble origins, and asked men to address him as “Your Honor.”
Themes
This work touches on the themes of happiness, dreams, and the search for the meaning of life. All three topics are closely related to each other. The dream of his own estate with gooseberries led Nikolai Ivanovich to his happiness. He not only ate gooseberries with pleasure, but also spoke intelligently about public education, sincerely believing that thanks to him every simple man could become a full-fledged member of society. Only the happiness of the protagonist is false: it is just peace and idleness that lead him to stagnation. Time has literally stopped around him: he does not need to bother himself, try or deny himself anything, since now he is a master. Previously, Nikolai Ivanovich was firmly convinced that happiness must be won and deserved. Now, in his opinion, happiness is a gift from God, and only a chosen one like him can live in heaven on earth. That is, his dubious achievement became only fertile ground for selfishness. A man lives only for himself. Having become rich, he became spiritually poor.
You can also highlight such a topic as indifference and responsiveness . The narrator, discussing this topic, notes that neither Alekhine nor Burkin fully understood his ideas and showed passivity towards a very instructive story about the meaning of life. Ivan Ivanovich Chimsha-Himalayan himself encourages everyone to seek happiness throughout their lives, to remember about people, and not just about themselves.
And thus, the hero admits, the meaning of life lies not in satisfying carnal desires, but in more sublime things, for example, helping others.
Problems
- Greed and vanity . The main problem in the story “Gooseberry” is human misconceptions that true happiness is material wealth. So, Nikolai Ivanovich worked all his life for money, lived in the name of it. As a result, his ideas turned out to be wrong, which is why he ate sour gooseberries, smiling and saying: “Oh, how delicious!” In his opinion, only money gives a person significance: being a master, he himself began to extol himself, as if without an estate
- An equally important problem is selfishness . The main character, like many people on earth, forgot or did not want to remember the misfortunes of those around him. He followed this rule: I feel good, but don’t care about others.
Analysis of Chekhov's story Gooseberry
Chekhov's story is devoid of any exciting events. There is no description of military exploits, adventures, or love affairs. But, at the same time, in the story Gooseberry, the meaning of the plot is amazing in its depth, revealing many pressing problems.
In a small work, Chekhov managed to reveal such topics as:
- search for the meaning of life;
- finding ways to realize dreams;
- the concept of human happiness;
- responsiveness;
- indifference;
- greed and vanity;
- selfishness.
All these themes are shown through the personality of the main character - Nikolai Chimsha-Himalayan. Using his example, Chekhov reveals the image of a “little man” striving to build his own “case” world, not disdaining dubious methods.
An ironic meaning is contained in the seemingly simple title of the story - Gooseberry, which has become a symbol of a happy life. It captures the author’s subtle hint of the stupidity and limitations of the protagonist, who spent his whole life achieving a dream that was not worth it.
This does not mean that the author is against personal happiness. The main idea that Chekhov wanted to convey to the reader is the impossibility of achieving personal happiness without general prosperity. You cannot enjoy life when there are so many troubles and sorrows nearby. To find true happiness, you need to do good to the best of your ability. This is the main meaning of the work “Gooseberry”.
Meaning
The main idea of A.P. Chekhov is expressed in Ivan Ivanovich’s phrase that one cannot rejoice when others feel bad. You can’t turn a blind eye to other people’s problems; it’s important to remember that trouble can knock on any home. It is important to be able to respond to requests for help in a timely manner, so that they can help you in difficult times. Thus, the author expresses his contempt for constant peace and stagnation in human life. Happiness, according to Chekhov, is a movement, an action, aimed at doing good and fair deeds.
The same idea can be seen in all parts of the trilogy.
the meaning of the title of the story “Gooseberry”
Many people love and regularly re-read Chekhov’s works, because they are true classics, which have a lot of meaning and leave an unforgettable impression. In addition, we learn many works from early childhood; even the school curriculum includes a number of works by Chekhov.
However, many people wonder what the meaning of the name Chekhov’s gooseberry is. To do this, it is worth delving into the plot of the story. This name was chosen by the famous classic for his work, and you can find the answer in the work itself. This is a kind of analogy; this work impresses many with its description of the life of the countryside, some moments of communication between people in the nineteenth century.
The plot revolves around the relationship of two brothers, one of whom is a doctor, the other a government employee. They were hereditary nobles, they were very sensible and dreamy. For a long time, the younger brother had one dream that he would like to realize, and this is his own estate, which would have a huge house and gooseberry bushes. He even drew a picture that included not only the manor’s house, a vegetable garden, but also gooseberry bushes.
At a certain point, he acquired an estate on which there was a manor house, and immediately planted 20 gooseberry bushes. He turned from an official into a real master. When his older brother came to him, he put a plate of gooseberries on the table and ate them with pleasure, saying how delicious they were. At first glance, he seemed like a truly happy man, because he had a house, he had his gooseberries. However, in reality, everything in this life was not as rosy as the younger brother Nikolai Ivanovich imagined.
After all, in fact, around his estate there was arrogance, idleness, drunkenness, statistics reported how many children died from malnutrition and how many buckets of vodka were drunk. He said that a person should see his meaning in life not only as having property and decent food for himself, but also caring for the people around him. If you have the opportunity to be a person in power, then you must constantly do good and be strong. In fact, happiness is not some everyday joy, it is, first of all, something great and reasonable, so it is important to always do good and dream not only about your own benefit, but also about solving important issues of people’s existence. Chekhov shows that some, in pursuit of personal benefits, do not want to see anything around them and live only for themselves, but it is important to think about humanity as a whole, to benefit society.
Chekhov's mournful realism
There is nothing grandiose, great, or amazing in his stories - adventures in the forests of America, sea storms, military exploits. The author simply tells us stories about events that happen every day - with us and around us. But somehow these little everyday parables are full of brilliant, profound ideas that allow them to grow into stories of biblical power.
Chekhov's mournful realism contains an extraordinary ability to see the big, the universal in the small and everyday. He reveals all the main problems of Russian life, its tragedy and hopelessness, in these stories. After you have read the story with the simple name “Gooseberry”, and most importantly understood it, you will no longer be able to look at the world the same way.
This story is more topical than ever, because we have again entered a time of stagnation, vegetation and decline - an ever-repeating motif of Russian life. We again see people around us who are not interested in everything except their personal bourgeois happiness, satiety - their mortgage, their car, their repairs. They don’t care that the country is clearly heading towards decline and the world is full of unhappy people. We don’t want to notice this - why? We have learned to “think positively”, to live in everyday pleasures, which we used to call “the idea of the here and now.” And Chekhov shows us that this bourgeois complacency, the desire for satiety and spiritual comfort in the spirit of “everything is for the better”, “the main thing is to be happy” is the real death of the human soul.
The plot of "Gooseberry"
In the story, the symbol of this way of thinking is the brother of one of the main characters, an official who saved up all his life for his estate - he did not live, but only saved money and killed his wife with stinginess. And for some reason, gooseberries constantly popped up in his bourgeois dreams, as a symbol of a harmonious life. It’s surprising that it was this sour, simple berry, and not exotic peaches or “pineapples in champagne,” that became a dream. In this, too, there is a noticeable lack of flight, limitation, and wretchedness of human ideas.
These philistine dreams are especially sad against the background of, for example, the words of the author spoken at the very beginning of the story: “How great, how beautiful this country is.” Indeed, in the Russian expanses there is a place for great human aspirations, lofty dreams, and real feats. And we only dream of satiety and warmth. Chekhov, through the mouth of the main narrator Ivan Ivanovich, talks a lot about happiness, about the fact that it is impossible now, and there is no need to strive for it. Because the kind of happiness that the official has found is worse than any grief. It is a sign of spiritual death, a degenerate conscience, a lost mind.
