Anton Chekhov's Short Stories: A Discussion

In general, Chekhov does not present political, social or ideological arguments in his stories, but instead uses class as a fact of life which shapes, or misshapes, individual characters and human relationships. As Kirk writes in her analysis of "The Peasants," the story "is not so much a . . . social commentary on rural life as it is an expose of the dehumanizing effects of poverty everywhere" (Kirk 100). Chekhov focuses on class primarily as a window through which to view the human condition and especially the mistreatment of human beings by other human beings.

Not all of Chekhov's class-related stories deal exclusively with economic differences. Chekhov is not, after all, a Marxist intent on exposing the evils of the forces of production or calling for violent revolution and the establishment of a classless society in earth. Chekhov's interest in class has to do less with ideology and more with humanity, with the specific emotional, psychological, physical and spiritual effects of class divisions and prejudices on all concerned, but especially on the poor.

However, as if to perhaps deliberately de-emphasize the economic aspect of class, Chekhov writes such stories as "The Grasshopper," i

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y the wealthy and well-fed. If he is calling for anything in this story, it is a revolution not in society but in the human heart. Amazingly, Johnson sees "Oysters" as comic, suggesting that the father in his ongoing rehearsal for begging is a character created to bring laughter from the reader: "The seriousness of the tone sets the laughter in a different context, one which invites the reader to sympathize with the character as well as to laugh at his foibles" (Johnson 15). If any revolutions of the heart were indeed created by "Oysters," one was evidently not created in the heart of Johnson. The father, in his agony of hunger and shame and terror, certainly brought no laughter, but much sorrow and compassion, to this reader. Also worth noting is the dehumanizing effect of class on the well-fed and wealthy. The ignorance and fear undergirding class differences lead the "gentlemen" in the story to treat the starving boy as if he were a curious animal and to ignore the starving father altogether. Part of Chekhov's message, then, is that class has the power to dehumanize all, poor and rich, starving and well-fed alike. In "Anyuta," Chekhov focuses on both economic and gender aspects of class. Anyuta seems to be a sort of slave
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Approximate Word count = 2200
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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