Gooseberries by Anton Chekhov
"Gooseberries" is a short story by Anton Chekhov that explores themes of ambition, disillusionment, and the moral implications of personal happiness. The narrative follows Ivan Ivanich Chimsha-Himalaisky and his friend Burkin as they seek shelter from a storm in the home of Pavel Konstantinovich Alekhin, a hardworking but unkempt landowner. During their evening together, Ivan Ivanich recounts the life of his brother, Nikolai Ivanich, who dreams of returning to the countryside to cultivate gooseberries, symbolizing a pastoral ideal of contentment and success.
As Nikolai Ivanich pursues his dream, he exhibits increasingly stingy and oppressive behavior, ultimately marrying a wealthy widow to fund his estate. However, his reality starkly contrasts with his youthful aspirations; the estate is chaotic and the gooseberries he grows are disappointing. The story culminates in Ivan Ivanich’s realization of his brother's delusion and the shallow nature of his pursuits, leading to a passionate critique of self-serving attitudes that neglect the suffering of others. Chekhov's tale invites readers to reflect on the balance between personal desires and social responsibility, highlighting the often unfulfilled nature of dreams in the face of harsh realities.
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Gooseberries by Anton Chekhov
First published: "Kryzhovnik," 1898 (English translation, 1916)
Type of plot: Parody
Time of work: The 1890's
Locale: The countryside in provincial Russia
Principal Characters:
Ivan Ivanich Chimsha-Himalaisky , a veterinary surgeonNikolai Ivanich Chimsha-Himalaisky , his brother, a retired landownerBurkin , a high school teacherPavel Konstantinovich Alekhin , a landowner
The Story
Ivan Ivanich Chimsha-Himalaisky and Burkin are hunting in the countryside when a heavy rain begins; they decide to seek shelter at the home of a local landowner, Pavel Konstantinovich Alekhin. Alekhin is young, unmarried, and a hard worker; he is also inclined to neglect his appearance in the absence of guests. In preparation for dinner and an evening of conversation, Alekhin and his guests bathe in the river; the guests notice that the water around their host turns brown as the dirt cascades off his body. The narrator, who is presumably the author, looks on Alekhin with favor, however, as he accentuates the young landowner's love of hard work and energetic interest in everything around him.
After their ablutions, the three gentlemen settle down with tea as Ivan Ivanich tells Burkin and Alekhin the curious story of his brother's life. Nikolai Ivanich Chimsha-Himalaisky went to work as a clerk in a large city at the age of nineteen. Both of the brothers grew up in the countryside, but their family estate was sold to settle debts. Nikolai Ivanich has never reconciled himself to life in the city and makes plans to acquire enough money to buy a small estate where he can grow gooseberries, which become a symbol in his mind of gracious living in the countryside. He spends his days dreaming of the future estate: where the main building will be located, ducks swimming in a pond, how he will eat soup made from cabbages that he has grown himself, and where the gooseberry bushes will be planted. Ivan Ivanich does not sympathize with his brother's dream, viewing it as an escape from reality and an unnecessary limitation on one's field of action. Instead of retreating to a country estate, a person should see the world and be active in society, he thinks.
After this aside, Ivan Ivanich returns to his story. Nikolai Ivanich becomes very stingy as he pinches pennies in order to buy his estate. In his forties, he marries an ugly, elderly, but rich widow in order to acquire more money for his estate. This poor woman, who was accustomed to good living with her former husband, loses control of her finances and is put on a Spartan regimen by Nikolai Ivanich. Within three years she dies; Nikolai Ivanich buys three hundred acres, and he sets about making his dream come true. There are a few drawbacks, however; there is neither a pond nor gooseberry bushes. There is a river, but it is polluted by a factory on one side and a kiln on the other, making the water coffee-brown. Undaunted, Nikolai Ivanich plants gooseberry bushes and settles into the life of a country squire.
Ivan Ivanich decides to pay his brother a visit in order to see how he is doing. The estate is cluttered with ditches, fences, and hedges, with the resulting impression of complete disorder. A dog that looks like a pig barks at the visitor, bringing out a barefoot cook who also looks like a pig. The cook directs Ivan Ivanich to his brother, who has grown stout and also resembles a pig. The reader realizes how removed this estate is from the dream that Nikolai Ivanich had envisioned as a youth.
Ivan Ivanich now describes Nikolai Ivanich's life as a landed proprietor. The formerly timid clerk now pontificates on all sorts of issues and demands to be addressed with respect by the peasants, whom he alternately treats with severity and generosity, as the mood becomes him. He opines that education is necessary for the masses, but that they are not yet ready for it; corporal punishment is evil but in certain cases still necessary for the peasants, and so forth.
One evening, the two brothers are drinking tea as the cook brings in a full plate of gooseberries grown by Nikolai Ivanich, the first fruits of his bushes. After five minutes of silent contemplation, Nikolai Ivanich puts one in his mouth and pronounces it to be very tasty. In fact, Ivan Ivanich tells Burkin and Alekhin, the gooseberries were sour and hard. A terrible depression overcomes Ivan Ivanich as he realizes how deluded his brother is and how happy he is with so little.
At this point the story of Nikolai ends as Ivan Ivanich begins a monologue condemning the way of life that his brother is leading. His main complaint is that such a life shuts the person off from the sufferings of people around him as he pursues the goal of personal happiness and leads that person even to espouse opinions, such as Nikolai Ivanich's concerning education and corporal punishment, that prolong the suffering of other people. In an impassioned outburst Ivan Ivanich implores Alekhin never to become such a landowner and not to seek his own happiness as much as to seek to do good.
Burkin and Alekhin are somewhat disappointed at this story, hoping to hear something a bit more exciting and adventurous. They keep their opinions to themselves, however, and go to bed, exhausted. On this note the story concludes, the reader perhaps as perplexed as Burkin and Alekhin.