“Gooseberries” Chekhov in brief
Ivan Ivanych and Burkin go around the field. In the distance one can see the village of Mironositskoe. It starts to rain, and they decide to go to the landowner Pavel Konstantinych Alekhin, whose estate is located nearby in the village of Sofiyino. Alyokhin, “a man of about forty, tall, full with long hair, looking more like a professor or an artist than a landowner,” meets the guests on the threshold of the barn, in which the windmill is noisy. His clothes are dirty, and his face is black with dust. He is glad to guests and invites them to go to the swimming pool. After washing and changing clothes, Ivan Ivanych, Burkin and Alyokhin go to the house where, over a cup of tea with jam, Ivan Ivanych tells the story of his brother Nikolai Ivanovich.
Childhood brothers spent in freedom, in the estate of his father, who himself was from the cantonists, but served an officer’s rank and left the children a hereditary nobility. After the death of their father, their estate
When Ivan Ivanych came to visit his brother, he was unpleasantly struck by how he sank, aged and flabby. He became a real gentleman, ate a lot, sued with neighboring plants and spoke in the tone of the minister of the phrase like: “education is necessary, but for the people it is premature.” Nicholas regaled his brother’s gooseberry, and it was clear from him that he was satisfied
At the sight of this happy man, Ivan Ivanych “had a feeling that was close to despair.” The whole night he spent at the manor, he thought about how many people in the world suffer, go crazy, drink, how many children die from malnutrition. And how many other people live happily, “in the daytime he sleeps, sleeps at night, says his nonsense, marries, grows old, graciously drags his deceased people to the cemetery.” He thought that behind the door of every happy person there should be a “someone with a hammer” and remind him with a knock that there are unfortunate people that sooner or later a disaster will happen to him, and “no one will see and hear him as he is not now sees and does not hear others. ” Ivan Ivanych, finishing his story, says that there is no happiness, but if in life there is a sense, then he is not in happiness, but in “doing good.”
Neither Burkin, nor Alyokhin are satisfied with the story of Ivan Ivanych. Alyokhin does not examine whether his words are true. It was not about the rump, not about the hay, but about something that does not have a direct relationship to his life. But he is happy and wants the guests to continue the conversation. However, the time later, the owner and guests go to sleep.
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