Gooseberries, By Anton Chekhov (1898)

 Gooseberries, By Anton Chekhov (1898)

9/10


 Until now, most of the stories I read said that spending a lifetime to achieve one’s goal is a beautiful thing. Therefore I was stunned when the author described Nicolay’s achievement of a lifetime to be so wrong.

Overall, I think this story is a tragedy. Nikolay’s simple dream ended up as a sorry distortion of itself. Ivan learned the meanings of life, but as he so dreadfully repeats, he is an old man now, and is unable to chase them. He to have wanted to spread his thoughts to Alyohin and Burkin, but they found the story uninteresting and sleepy. Therefore, no one in this short story is actually fulfilled, or will ever be.

I think that by showing the characters either ignore the lesson or find themselves to late, Chekhov wanted us readers to be determined about how to live our lives and make sure we do not follow the paths of Nikolay.

While striving to fulfill something is respectable, it may all be a waste if we chase the wrong thing.

Because this story opened me a new point of view, I rated it nine out of ten. (191 words)


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  1. Garrioch2022년 3월 2일 오후 8:39

    Good rating and reasons. The story is very clever in not offering a true position we can take. We can even argue that Ivan is jealous of Nikolai, and that even if Nikolia is delusional about his estate and gooseberries that he is - at least - "happy." And yet so is Ivan while he swims in the pond. So what gives? Who is truly happy and why and so what?

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