The Ideological Implication of The Man in a Case - Research Paper Example

During his not very long life A. P. Chekhov managed to display in his stories almost all the sides of the Russian reality in the 80-90s years of the XIX century. This feature of his creativity is amazing. Chekhov is distinguished among the most glorified Russian writers due to the abundance of themes he touched. He is a master of a short story, with externally simple plot, but with very deep content. He is a widely recognized as unsurpassed master of this genre. One of the most famous short stories by Chekhov is The Man in a Case. The issue touched by Chekhov in the story always remains relevant. The writer warns about the danger of platitude in everyday life. Everyone can appear in a "case" of his own prejudices and stop thinking and reflecting, looking for something and doubting something. And it is really terrible as leads to the ull damage and to degradation of the personality. The main idea is the protest against the “life in a case”, the authors wants to show that everything, which people blocked themselves with, needs to be eliminated to feel the life, to understand the initial. The given paper will analyze the relations between two characters of the story: the main characters Byelikov and Varinka’s brother Mikhail Kovalenko. The story has very interesting composition – the story in the story, but at the same time it doesn't prevent Chekhov from conveying the uniform assessment of human life perception, stating his ideals, and outlooks. Plot composition of this story is simple and original. The prolog is the story of a gymnasium teacher Burkin told to his friend, a veterinarian Ivan Ivanovich, about the teacher of Greek language Byelikov. We learn about the appearance and the way of life of the main character. The plot begins when a new teacher of history and geography Mikhail Savvich Kovalenko comes to the city. He comes with his younger sister Varinka whom Byelikov soon falls in love with. The conflict of Byelikov and Kovalenko, the conflict of the people with absolutely different characters, different ideals and moral principles, is the foundation. Byelikov lived in panic, being afraid of reality irritants. Byelikov praised the past, expressing disgust for the present, and classic languages which he taught, were the same “an umbrella and galoshes” in which he was hiding from the real life. And everyone was afraid of this strange person. His thoughts were also hidden in a “case”. Nobody could know what he is thinking about and what he is going to do. Kovalenko on the contrary was open to people, he clearly expressed his opinion. A number of events make the culmination in the story: the desire of Byelikov and Varinka to get married, the drawn caricature of the main character, driving bicycles. All these actions excited Byelikov, and provoked the conflict between the main character and Varinka’s brother. Byelikov’s death, which, according to all the heroes of the story serves as a solution of all the problems, is the outcome. It is essential to analyze the ideological implication of The Man in a Case. Having read the work we can easily notice one side of Byelikov’s character: fear of life, aspiration to hide in a case. It is more difficult to understand how this fear becomes the suppressor of all alive: “We teachers were afraid of him. And even the headmaster was afraid of him. Would you believe it, our teachers were all intellectual, right-minded people, brought up on Turgenev and Shtchedrin, yet this little chap, who always went about with goloshes and an umbrella, had the whole high-school under his thumb for fifteen long years! High-school, indeed -- he had the whole town under his thumb!” (Chekhov). But why could this person generate fear? Why were the citizens afraid of everything under his influence – of speaking loudly, sending letters, reading books? Why did gymnasia teachers cede to Byelikov? Was it because of moaning, an umbrella, galoshes, dark glasses? Certainly, not. The reason is simple and terrible in its simplicity: "He had a strange habit of visiting our lodgings. He would come to a teacher's, would sit down, and remain silent, as though he were carefully inspecting something" (Chekhov). This is the main point. Though he could hardly imagine it himself, Byelikov was a personification of a terrible force, armed cap-á-pie, - the government with police, army, courts, perjurers, prison, the Siberian mines and the Sakhalin penal servitude. Byelikov was not a paid, regular informer – he was an informer because of his own fear and one day would inform on himself. The system of general mistrust and suspicion, secret supervision, treachery, informing, slander can be seen on the pages of "The Man in a Case" and recreates a picture of XIX century Russia. This system turned the most ordinary being, shy and closed, in the real fright. Byelikov came to Kovalenko only to warn about the inadmissibility of driving bicycle. It is possible to believe that he wished well to both Mikhail Savich and Varinka: “The headmaster will learn that you and your sister ride the bicycle, and then it will reach the higher authorities. . . . Will that be a good thing?” (Chekhov). It would seem strange why Kovalenko became so angry, but in Byelikov and Kovalenko's dialogue each phrase had the inner sense “It's no business of anybody else if my sister and I do bicycle! And damnation take any one who meddles in my private affairs! ” (Chekhov). Generally this conversation is an example of mutual misunderstanding. Really, did Kovalenko speak about the authorities? And did Byelikov threaten with a denunciation? Actually they did. Byelikov understood very well that expression " damnation take any one " is addressed not only to him, but also to the director and to the trustee! And Kovalenko perfectly understood that denunciation will take place. At the end of the dialog Byelikov states that he would have to inform the director on the general content of the conversation. And Kovalenko sums up: “Inform him? You can go and make your report!” (Chekhov). Mikhail considered Byelikov to be Judas. The young teacher clearly saw also an environment in which Byelikovs were propagated: “I don't understand how you can put up with that sneak, that nasty phiz. Ugh! how can you live here! The atmosphere is stifling and unclean! Do you call yourselves schoolmasters, teachers? You are paltry government clerks. You keep, not a temple of science, but a department for red tape and loyal behaviour, and it smells as sour as a police-station” (Chekhov). We will notice that this political charge is directed against the regime of spiritual enslavement of gymnasia teachers, because they reconciled and didn't dare to protest. Certainly, protest after all existed, hidden deeply in their souls, and was shown in that pleasure, with which Byelikov was buried by his colleagues. Here we see the terrible combination of the words " to bury people like Byelikov is a great pleasure" (Chekhov). It is the sentence to an ugly way of life. The death of the main character is the key detail of the story The Man in a Case. He dies because of great shock, of the intolerable amazement caused by the event, which was unacceptable for him. Chekhov doesn't issue any reprimands to such individuals as his man in a case, he depicts their future, something that is waiting for them if they continue to be restricted and restrict others in their protective and bitter case of fear. Anton Pavlovich skillfully uses household details and hardly noticeable nuances of Byelikov ‘s life in order to depict his internal motives and the consciousness, which is holding down the main character. However, unfortunately, the death of Byelikov was not able to put an end to the regime, which was hated by everyone: “But not more than a week had passed before life went on as in the past, as gloomy, oppressive, and senseless -- a life not forbidden by government prohibition, but not fully permitted, either: it was no better" (Chekhov). So, where is the way out and is there any hope for release? The reflections about the author depicted in the story will help answer these questions. The characters of Byelikov and Kovalenko are the personifications of thoughts and feelings of Chekhov expressed in these characters so that every line is full of his moral ideals. Chekhov sympathizes with Kovalenko, his hot hatred to telling tales and the police regime. The appearance of the teacher – a tall, dark young man with huge hands” (Chekhov), his frankness, the clarity of his mind, his courage, which is sharply distinguished against a habitual timeserving, creates one of those young intellectual democrats who managed to keep the best traditions and took part in proletarian revolutionary movement. So, in the ideological implication of The Man in a Case there is a call to fight against shyness, cowardice, timeserving. Works Cited Garnett, Constance trans. The Tales of Chekhov, Vol. 5: The Wife and Other Stories. Ecco, New York, 1972 Read More