A little extra episode for Christmas week with best wishes to you all for the holiday season. If you would like to support the podcast please find us at: www.Patreon.com or www.ko-fi.com
Here are my thoughts on this story which, like all good short stories, leaves you thinking long after the reading has finished. It has the typical Chekhovian tool of a struggling peasant family being contrasted with city life, they are contrasted with the daughter and son in law who have escaped to the city. However, it’s not a very satisfying escape and neither generation are going to have a very happy Christmas. The story divides cleanly into two parts - they are two chapters in the printed text - which underlines the main theme of lack of communication, between husband and wife and parents and children. The parents’ attempt to communicate is thwarted by the third party writing the letter and then by the refusal by the son-in-law to return a message. Efemia is trapped, just as Andri is trapped in his lowly job where he has little to do besides open the door and ponder his regrets. Familial love should not be sacrificed for society, says Chekhov, but not all is good with the county life. And what to make of the old general coming for his healing bath? He is forgetful and somehow seedy, but he is the sort of man who owns farms and keeps the serfs in their place. He is the kind of man who is running Russia. It’s a damning portrayal of the country and perhaps particularly poignant when we were expecting a sweet and cheerful Christmas tale. The ending is bittersweet rather than hopeful, but we have to remember that this story was written only a few years before Chekhov died and close to the writing of The Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard.
What's point this story is trying.g to tell
thanks for this story
but whats its point what it really want to show us??
Here are my thoughts on this story which, like all good short stories, leaves you thinking long after the reading has finished.
It has the typical Chekhovian tool of a struggling peasant family being contrasted with city life, they are contrasted with the daughter and son in law who have escaped to the city. However, it’s not a very satisfying escape and neither generation are going to have a very happy Christmas. The story divides cleanly into two parts - they are two chapters in the printed text - which underlines the main theme of lack of communication, between husband and wife and parents and children. The parents’ attempt to communicate is thwarted by the third party writing the letter and then by the refusal by the son-in-law to return a message. Efemia is trapped, just as Andri is trapped in his lowly job where he has little to do besides open the door and ponder his regrets.
Familial love should not be sacrificed for society, says Chekhov, but not all is good with the county life. And what to make of the old general coming for his healing bath? He is forgetful and somehow seedy, but he is the sort of man who owns farms and keeps the serfs in their place. He is the kind of man who is running Russia. It’s a damning portrayal of the country and perhaps particularly poignant when we were expecting a sweet and cheerful Christmas tale. The ending is bittersweet rather than hopeful, but we have to remember that this story was written only a few years before Chekhov died and close to the writing of The Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard.