Gusev by Anton Chekhov
"Gusev" is a short story by Anton Chekhov that explores the contrasting perspectives of two sick men being transported back to Russia from the Far East. The narrative centers on Pavel Ivanych, an intellectual who passionately critiques social injustices and the oppressive nature of Russian authority, particularly the military. He embodies a spirit of protest, believing he is the voice of truth, yet his fervent words often fall on deaf ears, especially those of his companion, Gusev.
Gusev, a peasant soldier on leave due to a severe illness, is more preoccupied with thoughts of his simple village life and family than with societal issues. While Pavel rants about the plight of the masses, Gusev finds solace in traditional beliefs about the natural world and remains content with his experiences, seeing no hardship in his military service. The tale takes a poignant turn as both men face their mortality. Pavel succumbs first, his body buried at sea while Gusev, despite his dreams of returning home, follows soon after.
Chekhov contrasts the two characters not only in their outlooks on life but also in their ultimate fates, underscoring a sense of irony and the indifference of nature to human strife. The story concludes with a vivid depiction of the natural landscape, highlighting its beauty in contrast to the fleeting concerns of human existence.
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Gusev by Anton Chekhov
First published: 1890 (English translation, 1917)
Type of plot: Character study
Time of work: 1890
Locale: A ship at sea
Principal Characters:
Pavel Ivanych , an intellectual civilianGusev , a peasant soldier
The Story
Anton Chekhov's brief tale traces the thoughts and interactions of two sick men being transported in a ship infirmary from the Far East back to their native Russia. The first, an intellectual named Pavel Ivanych, delivers several angry speeches in which he criticizes injustice in Russian society. The second, a peasant soldier on an indefinite leave resulting from a severe case of consumption, listens only intermittently to Pavel Ivanych, preferring to think of life in his native village.
With these two characters, Chekhov presents two differing approaches to life. Pavel Ivanych is acutely sensitive to the way that defenseless or unsuspecting individuals can be mistreated by the authorities in Russia. In particular, he rails against the military, finding it disheartening that a man can be uprooted from his home and family and sent thousands of miles away to serve as a mere orderly for some petty officer. He also criticizes the Russian masses themselves, calling them dark, blind, and crushed, too willing to accept whatever they are told. He considers himself, on the other hand, to be "protest personified." Claiming that he always tells people the truth to their faces, he states that he is not afraid of anything, and that he would continue to protest even if he were to be walled up in a cellar. He asserts that he is proud of his reputation as an insufferable person, and he considers this relentless zeal for protest to be real life.
However, while Pavel Ivanych rants on, Gusev ceases to listen to him. Indeed, as Pavel Ivanych concludes one of his fiercer lectures, Gusev pays no attention but rather looks out a porthole and watches Chinese merchants in small boats selling canaries in cages and shouting "It sings! It sings!" This image serves as an ironic commentary on Pavel Ivanych's ineffectual monologue: He, like the caged canaries, seems merely to be singing an empty song. Shortly thereafter, he succumbs to his illness and dies, and his body is buried at sea.
With the death of Pavel Ivanych, Chekhov's focus swings to Gusev. Unlike Pavel Ivanych, Gusev does not concern himself with social injustice. A simple man, he believes folk myths about the natural world: Storms arise, he thinks, because the world has broken loose from its chains. As for his military service, he believes that he has fulfilled his duty without undue hardship, and he finds such a life to be a decent existence. Returning to his homeland, he thinks only of his family and of village life, and he dreams of driving his sleigh across the snowy landscape. However, he too, like Pavel Ivanych, is destined never to reach his homeland. He also dies and is buried at sea. Chekhov describes the process by which Gusev's body is wrapped in canvas and thrown into the water. He follows the corpse as it sinks into the depths, and he notes how a large shark approaches the body and cautiously rips the canvas wrapping from head to toe. Chekhov then turns away from this scene and concludes his tale with a description of the natural landscape, noting how the sky and the sea merge harmoniously in joyous colors with the setting of the sun. In this final scene, the power and majesty of the natural world dwarf the petty concerns of ordinary humans.