The story told by Chekhov in “Ionych” (1898) is built around two declarations of love, just as, in fact, the plot was built in Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin”. At first he confesses his love to her and does not reciprocate. And a few years later, she, realizing that there was no better person than him in her life, tells him about her love and with the same negative result. All other events and descriptions are needed as a background, as material to explain why mutual love did not take place, the mutual happiness of two people did not work out.
Who is to blame (or what is to blame) for the fact that the young, full of strength and vitality Dmitry Startsev, as we see him at the beginning of the story, turned into Ionych of the last chapter? How exceptional or, conversely, ordinary is the story of his life? And how does Chekhov manage to fit entire human destinies and ways of life into just a few pages of text?
As if on the surface lies the first explanation of why the hero degrades by the end of the story. The reason can be seen in the unfavorable, hostile environment of Startsev, in the philistine environment of the city of S. And in the absence on the part of the hero of a fight against this environment, of protest against it. “The environment is stuck” is a common explanation for such situations in life and in literature.
Is the environment to blame for the transformation of Startsev into Ionych? No, that would be at least a one-sided explanation.
A hero opposed to the environment, sharply different from the environment - this was a typical conflict in classical literature, starting with “Woe from Wit”. In “Ionych” there is a word directly taken from the characteristics of Famus’ society (“wheezers”), but it, perhaps, only more sharply highlights the difference between the two relationships: Chatsky - Famusov’s Moscow and Startsev - the inhabitants of the city of S.
Actually, Chatsky was kept in an environment alien and hostile to him only by his love interest. He was initially confident of his superiority over this environment, denounced it in his monologues - but the environment pushed him out like a foreign body. Slandered, insulted, but not broken and only strengthened in his convictions, Chatsky left Famusov’s Moscow.
Dmitry Startsev, like Chatsky, falls in love with a girl from an environment alien to him (for Chatsky this separating barrier is spiritual, for Startsev it is material). As an outsider, he enters the “most talented” house in the city of S. He does not have any initial aversion to this environment; on the contrary, for the first time in the Turkins’ house everything seems pleasant to him, or at least entertaining. And then, having learned that he is not loved, unlike Chatsky, he does not rush to “search the world,” but remains to live in the same place where he lived, so to speak, by inertia.
Even if not immediately, but at some point he also felt irritation against those people among whom he had to live and with whom he had to communicate. There is nothing to talk about with them, their interests are limited to food and empty entertainment. Anything truly new is alien to them, the ideas by which the rest of humanity lives are beyond their understanding (for example, how can passports and the death penalty be abolished?).
Well, at first Startsev also tried to protest, convince, preach (“in society, at dinner or tea, he talked about the need to work, that one cannot live without work”). These monologues of Startsev did not receive a response from society. But, unlike the Famusov society, which is aggressive towards the freethinker, the inhabitants of the city of S. simply continue to live as they lived, but on the whole they remained completely indifferent to the dissident Startsev, turning protest and propaganda on deaf ears. True, they awarded him a rather ridiculous nickname (“inflated Pole”), but this is still not a declaration of a person as crazy. Moreover, when he began to live according to the laws of this environment and finally turned into Ionych, they themselves suffered a lot from him.
So, one hero remained unbroken by the environment, the other was absorbed by the environment and subjected to its laws. It would seem clear which of them deserves sympathy and which deserves condemnation. But the point is not at all that one of the heroes is nobler, higher, more positive than the other.
The two works organize artistic time differently. Just one day in the life of Chatsky - and Startsev’s whole life. Chekhov includes the passage of time in the “hero and environment” situation, and this allows us to evaluate what happened differently.
“One day in the winter... in the spring, on a holiday - it was the Ascension... more than a year passed... he began to visit the Turkins often, very often... for about three days things fell out of his hands... he calmed down and healed as before... experience taught him little by little... imperceptibly, little by little... four years passed... three days passed, a week passed... and he never visited the Turkins again... . a few more years have passed...”
Chekhov introduces into the story the test of the hero by the most ordinary thing - the unhurried but unstoppable passage of time. Time tests the strength of any beliefs, tests the strength of any feelings; time calms and consoles, but time also drags on - “imperceptibly, little by little” remaking a person. Chekhov writes not about the exceptional or extraordinary, but about what concerns every ordinary (“average”) person.
That bundle of new ideas, protest, and sermons that Chatsky carries within himself cannot be imagined stretched out like this - over weeks, months, years. The arrival and departure of Chatsky is like the passage of a meteor, a bright comet, a flash of fireworks. And Startsev is tested by something that Chatsky was not tested by - the flow of life, immersion in the passage of time. What does this approach reveal?
For example, it is not enough to have some beliefs, it is not enough to feel indignation against alien people and customs. Dmitry Startsev is by no means deprived of all this, like any normal young man. He knows how to feel contempt, he knows what is worth being indignant about (human stupidity, mediocrity, vulgarity, etc.). And Kotik, who reads a lot, knows what words to use to denounce “this empty, useless life,” which has become “unbearable” for her.
No, Chekhov shows, against the passage of time, the Protestant fervor of youth cannot hold out for long - and can even turn “imperceptibly, little by little” into its opposite. In the last chapter, Ionych no longer tolerates any judgments or objections from the outside (“Please answer only questions! Don’t talk!”).
Moreover, a person can have not only denying enthusiasm - he can also have a positive life program (“You need to work, you can’t live without work,” Startsev claims, and Kotik is convinced: “A person must strive for a higher, brilliant goal... I want to be an artist, I want fame, success, freedom...”). It may seem to him that he lives and acts in accordance with the correctly chosen goal. After all, Startsev doesn’t just pronounce monologues in front of ordinary people - he really works, and he sees more and more patients, both in the village hospital and in the city. But... again “imperceptibly, little by little” time made a destructive substitution. By the end of the story, Ionych works more and more, no longer for the sake of the sick or some kind of lofty goals. What was previously secondary - “pieces of paper obtained through practice”, money - becomes the main content of life, its only goal.
In the face of time, the invisible but main arbiter of destinies in Chekhov's world, any verbally formulated beliefs or beautiful-hearted programs seem fragile and insignificant. In youth, you can despise and be beautiful as much as you want - lo and behold, “imperceptibly, little by little” yesterday’s living person, open to all the impressions of existence, turned into Ionych.
The motive of transformation in the story is associated with the theme of time. The transformation occurs as a gradual transition from the living, not yet settled and unformed to the established, once and for all formed.
In the first three chapters, Dmitry Startsev is young, he has not quite defined, but good intentions and aspirations, he is carefree, full of strength, it costs him nothing to walk nine miles after work (and then nine miles back), music constantly sounds in his soul; like any young man, he is waiting for love and happiness.
But a living person finds himself in an environment of mechanical wind-up dolls. At first he doesn't realize it. The witticisms of Ivan Petrovich, the novels of Vera Iosifovna, Kotik’s play on the piano, the tragic pose of Pava for the first time seem to him quite original and spontaneous, although observation tells him that these witticisms were developed by “long exercises in wit,” that the novels say “about , which never happens in life,” that there is a noticeable stubborn monotony in the young pianist’s playing, and that Pava’s idiotic remark looks like an obligatory dessert to the regular program.
The author of the story resorts to repetition. In the 1st chapter, the Turkins show the guests “their talents cheerfully, with heartfelt simplicity” - and in the 5th chapter, Vera Iosifovna reads her novels to the guests “still willingly, with heartfelt simplicity.” Ivan Petrovich does not change his program of behavior (with all the changes in his repertoire of jokes). The grown-up Pava is even more ridiculous in repeating his line. Both talents and simplicity of heart are not at all the worst qualities that people can display. (Let’s not forget that the Turkins in the city of S. are really the most interesting.) But their programming, routine, and endless repetition ultimately cause melancholy and irritation in the observer.
The rest of the residents of the city of S., who do not have the talents of the Turkins, also live in a routine way, according to a program about which there is nothing to say except: “Day and night - a day away, life passes dimly, without impressions, without thoughts... During the day profit, and in the evening a club, a society of gamblers, alcoholics, wheezing...”
And so, by the last chapter, Startsev himself turned into something ossified, petrified (“not a man, but a pagan god”), moving and acting according to some forever established program. The chapter describes what Ionych (now everyone calls him that only) does day after day, month after month, year after year. Somewhere, all the living things that had worried him in his youth had disappeared, evaporated. There is no happiness, but there are surrogates, substitutes for happiness - buying real estate, pleasing and fearful respect for others. The Turkins remained in their vulgarity - Startsev degraded. Unable to even stay at the level of the Turkins, in his transformation he slipped even lower, to the level of the “stupid and evil” man in the street, for whom he spoke of contempt before. And this is the result of his existence. “That’s all that can be said about him.”
What was the beginning of the transformation, the slide down the inclined plane? At what point in the story can we talk about the guilt of the hero who did not make efforts to prevent this slide?
Maybe this was the effect of failure in love, becoming a turning point in Startsev’s life? Indeed, throughout his life, “love for Kotik was his only joy and, probably, his last.” A frivolous girl’s joke - to make a date at the cemetery - gave him the opportunity for the first and only time in his life to see “a world unlike anything else - a world where the moonlight is so good and soft,” to touch a secret that “promises a quiet life, beautiful, eternal." The magical night in the old cemetery is the only thing in the story that does not bear the stamp of familiarity, repetition, or routine. She alone remained stunning and unique in the hero’s life.
The next day there was a declaration of love and Kitty’s refusal. The essence of Startsev’s love confession was that there are no words that can convey the feeling that he experiences, and that his love is limitless. Well, we can say that the young man was not particularly eloquent or resourceful in his explanation. But is it possible on this basis to assume that the whole point is in Startsev’s inability to truly feel, that he didn’t really love, didn’t fight for his love, and therefore couldn’t captivate Kotik?
That’s the point, Chekhov shows, that Startsev’s confession was doomed to failure, no matter how eloquent he was, no matter what efforts he made to convince her of his love.
Kotik, like everyone else in the city of S., like everyone else in the Turkins’ house, lives and acts according to some, seemingly predetermined program (the puppet element is noticeable in her) - a program compiled from books she has read, fed by praise for her piano talents and age, as well as hereditary (from Vera Iosifovna) ignorance of life. She rejects Startsev because life in this city seems empty and useless to her, and that she herself wants to strive for a higher, brilliant goal, and not at all become the wife of an ordinary, unremarkable man, and even with such a funny name. Until life and the passage of time show her the fallacy of this program, any words here will be powerless.
This is one of the most characteristic situations for Chekhov’s world: people are separated, they each live with their own feelings, interests, programs, their own stereotypes of life behavior, their own truths; and at the moment when someone most needs to meet a response, understanding from another person, the other person at that moment is absorbed in his own interest, program, etc.
Here, in “Ionych,” the feeling of love that one person experiences is not reciprocated due to the fact that the girl, the object of his love, is absorbed in her own life program, the only one interesting to her at that moment. Then ordinary people will not understand him, here a loved one does not understand.
Having lived for some time, having taken a few sips “from the cup of existence,” Kotik seemed to understand that she had not lived like that (“Now all the young ladies play the piano, and I also played like everyone else, and there was nothing special about me; I she’s as much a pianist as her mother is a writer.” She now considers her main mistake in the past to be that she did not understand Startsev then. But does she truly understand him now? Suffering, the awareness of missed happiness make Ekaterina Ivanovna out of Kotik, a living, suffering person (now she has “sad, grateful, searching eyes”). At the first explanation, she is categorical, he is unsure, at their last meeting he is categorical, but she is timid, timid, and insecure. But, alas, only a change of programs occurs, but the programming and repetition remain. “What a blessing it is to be a zemstvo doctor, to help the suffering, to serve the people. What happiness!<...>When I thought about you in Moscow, you seemed so ideal, sublime to me...” she says, and we see: these are phrases straight from Vera Iosifovna’s novels, far-fetched works that have nothing to do with real life. It’s as if she again sees not a living person, but a mannequin hero from a novel written by her mother.
And again they are each absorbed in their own things, speaking different languages. She is in love, idealizes Startsev, and longs for a reciprocal feeling. With him, the transformation is almost complete; he is already hopelessly sucked into philistine life, thinking about the pleasure of “pieces of paper”. Having flared up for a short time, “the fire in my soul went out.” From misunderstanding and loneliness, a person, alienated from others, withdraws into his shell. So who is to blame for Startsev’s failure in life, for his degradation? Of course, it is not difficult to blame him or the society around him, but this will not be a complete and accurate answer. The environment determines only the forms in which Ionych’s life will take place, what values he will accept, what surrogates of happiness he will console himself with. But other forces and circumstances gave impetus to the hero’s fall and led him to rebirth.
How to resist time, which does the work of transformation “imperceptibly, little by little”? People are led to misfortune by their eternal disunity, self-absorption, and the impossibility of mutual understanding at the most crucial, decisive moments of existence. And how can a person guess the moment that decides his entire future fate? And only when it is too late to change anything, it turns out that a person has only one bright, unforgettable night in his entire life.
Such sobriety, even cruelty in depicting the tragedy of human existence seemed excessive to many in Chekhov's works. Critics believed that Chekhov was thus “killing human hopes.” Indeed, “Ionych” may seem like a mockery of many bright hopes. We need to work! You cannot live without work! A person must strive for a higher, brilliant goal! Helping the suffering, serving the people - what happiness! Writers before and after Chekhov very often made such and similar ideas central to their works, proclaiming them through the mouths of their heroes. Chekhov shows how life and the passage of time devalue and make meaningless any beautiful ideas. All these are common (albeit indisputable) passages, which cost absolutely nothing to say and write. The graphomaniac Vera Iosifovna, who writes “about what never happens in life,” can fill her novels with them. Startsev would never have become the hero of Vera Iosifovna’s novel: what happened to him is what happens in life.
“Ionych” is a story about how incredibly difficult it is to remain human, even knowing what you should be. A story about the relationship between illusions and real (terrible in its everyday life) life. About real, not illusory difficulties of life.
So, does Chekhov really look so hopelessly at the fate of man in the world and leaves no hope?
Yes, Dmitry Startsev inevitably moves toward becoming Ionych, and in his fate Chekhov shows what can happen to anyone. But if Chekhov shows the inevitability of degradation of an initially good, normal person with the imperceptible passage of time, the inevitability of abandonment of dreams and ideas proclaimed in youth, does it mean that he really kills hopes and calls for leaving them at the threshold of life? And he states together with the hero: “How, in essence, Mother Nature plays bad jokes on man, how offensive it is to realize this!”? So you can understand the meaning of the story only by inattentive reading, without reading the text to the end, without thinking about it.
Isn’t it clear in the last chapter how everything that happened to Ionych is called by its proper name, sharply, directly? Greed has overcome. My throat was swollen with fat. He is lonely, his life is boring. There are no joys in life and there won’t be any more. That's all that can be said about him.
How much contempt is contained in these words! It is obvious that the writer, who throughout the entire story carefully traced the spiritual evolution of the hero, making it possible to understand him, here refuses to justify, does not forgive the degradation leading to such an end.
The meaning of the story told to us can thus be understood at the junction of two principles. Mother Nature really plays a bad joke on man; man is often deceived by life and time, and it is difficult to understand the degree of his personal guilt. But it is so disgusting what a person who has been given everything for a normal, useful life can turn into that there can be only one conclusion: everyone must fight against becoming Ionych, even if there is almost no hope of success in this fight.
Gogol, in a lyrical digression included in the chapter about Plyushkin (and the evolution of Ionych is somewhat reminiscent of the changes that occurred with this Gogol hero), appeals to his young readers with an appeal to preserve with all their might the best that is given to everyone in their youth. Chekhov does not make such special lyrical digressions in his story. He calls for resistance to degradation in an almost hopeless situation throughout his entire text.
Story by A.P. Chekhov's "Ionych" was subjected to serious criticism in the periodical press of that time. Immediately after the publication of the work in 1898, numerous reproaches fell that the plot of the work was drawn out, the story was boring and inexpressive.
In the center of the work is the life of the Turkin family, the most educated and talented in the city of S. They live on the main street. Their education is expressed primarily in their desire for art. The father of the family, Ivan Petrovich, organizes amateur performances, his wife Vera Iosifovna writes stories and novels, and his daughter plays the piano. However, one detail is noteworthy: Vera Iosifovna never publishes her works under the pretext that the family has funds. It becomes clear that the manifestation of education and intelligence is important for these people only in their own circle. None of the Turkins are going to engage in public educational activities. This moment calls into question the truth of the phrase that the family is the most educated and talented in the city.
There are often guests in the Turkins' house; an atmosphere of simplicity and cordiality reigns. Guests here were always served a plentiful and tasty dinner. A recurring artistic detail that actualizes the atmosphere in the Turkins’ house is the smell of fried onions. The detail emphasizes the hospitability of this house and conveys an atmosphere of homely warmth and comfort. The house has soft, deep armchairs. Good, calm thoughts sound in the conversations of the heroes.
The plot begins with the appointment of Dmitry Ionych Startsev as a zemstvo doctor to the city. Being an intelligent person, he quickly enters the circle of the Turkin family. He is greeted with cordiality and subtle intellectual jokes. The hostess of the house flirts playfully with the guest. Then he is introduced to his daughter Ekaterina Ivanovna. A.P. Chekhov gives an extended portrait of the heroine, who is very similar to her mother: “Her expression was still childish and her waist was thin, tender; and the virgin, already developed breasts, beautiful, healthy, spoke of spring, real spring.” The description of Ekaterina Ivanovna’s piano playing also leaves an ambivalent impression: “They lifted the lid of the piano and opened the notes that were already lying at the ready. Ekaterina Ivanovna sat down and hit the keys with both hands; and then immediately struck again with all her might, and again, and again; her shoulders and chest were shaking, she stubbornly hit everything in one place, and it seemed that she would not stop until she hammered the key inside the piano. The living room was filled with thunder; everything thundered: the floor, the ceiling, and the furniture... Ekaterina Ivanovna played a difficult passage, interesting precisely because of its difficulty, long and monotonous, and Startsev, listening, pictured to himself how stones were falling from the heights of the mountain, falling and still falling, and he wanted them to stop falling out as soon as possible, and at the same time, he really liked Ekaterina Ivanovna, pink with tension, strong, energetic, with a curl of hair falling on her forehead.” This game is technically strong, but it seems that the heroine does not put her soul into it. It is obvious that both education and talent, which were mentioned at the beginning of the story, in fact turn out to be superficial and untrue. It is no coincidence that Ekaterina Ivanovna’s passage is interesting precisely because of its difficulty. For perception, it is long and monotonous. The portrait of Ekaterina Ivanovna combines romantic (for example, a curl of hair falling on her forehead) and realistic features (“tension, strength and energy”),
A.P. describes with subtle irony. Chekhov describes the nature of the game itself: these are “noisy, annoying, but still cultural sounds.” This expression “yet” immediately casts doubt on the truth of the culture that the Turkins so want to demonstrate. It’s as if they are playing at high society, trying to dress up in clothes that are not their own, trying on stable standards, examples of people from a cultural environment. The talents in this family stick out excessively; guests, for example, excessively flatter Kotik (as Ekaterina Ivanovna is called at home). A.P. Chekhov ironically emphasizes that the heroine’s desire to go to the conservatory is expressed in frequently recurring seizures. The extraordinary language spoken by the owner of the house, Ivan Petrovich. This language is filled with numerous quotes and jokes, which do not come from the sparkling power of the intellect, but are simply developed by long exercises in wit. One of the central scenes of the story is the scene of Startsov’s explanation with Ekaterina Ivanovna. The freshness and touching nature of the heroine, her ostentatious erudition, in fact turn into a penchant for intrigue and a desire to enhance the romantic touch of the meeting. For example, she makes a date with Startsev at the cemetery near the Demetgi monument, although they could have met in a more suitable place. Trusting Startsev understands that Kitty is fooling around, but naively believes that she will come after all.
A.P. Chekhov includes a detailed description of the cemetery in the story. It will be recreated in romantic tones. The author emphasizes the combination of black and white colors in the cemetery landscape. Soft moonlight, the autumn scent of leaves, withered flowers, stars looking from the sky - all these artistic details recreate the atmosphere of mystery, promising a quiet, beautiful, eternal life: “In every grave one can feel the presence of a secret, promising a quiet, beautiful, eternal life.” .
As the clock strikes, he imagines himself dead, buried here forever. It suddenly seems to him that someone is looking at him, and “for a minute he thought that this was not peace or silence, but a dull melancholy of nothingness, suppressed despair...”. The romantic atmosphere of the night cemetery fuels Startsev’s thirst for love, kisses, hugs, and this yearning gradually becomes more and more painful.
The next day, the doctor goes to the Turkins to propose. In this scene, the romantic moods in his head are combined with thoughts about a dowry. Gradually a real vision of the situation comes to his mind: “Stop before it’s too late! Is she a match for you? She is spoiled, capricious, sleeps up to two hours. And you are the deacon’s son, the zemstvo doctor...”
In addition, Startsev’s conversation with Kotik reveals the surface of the heroine’s nature. All her sophistication and erudition, so consistently emphasized by the author throughout the story in the guise of a girl, is suddenly exposed when she, having learned that Startsev was still waiting for her at the cemetery, although from the very beginning he understood that she was most likely just fooling around, talks about that he suffered. Dmitry Ionych answers him: “And suffer if you don’t understand jokes.” This is where the whole frivolity of her nature is revealed. However, Startsev, carried away by his passion, continues his courtship. He goes home, but soon returns dressed in someone else’s tailcoat and a stiff white tie. He begins to tell Ekaterina Ivanovna about his love: “It seems to me that no one has yet described love correctly, and it is hardly possible to describe this tender, joyful, painful feeling, and whoever has experienced it at least once will not convey it in words.” He eventually proposes to her. Kitty refuses, explaining to Ionych that he dreams of an artistic career. The hero immediately felt like he was at an amateur performance: “And I felt sorry for my feeling, this love of mine, so sorry that it seems that I would have burst into tears or would have grabbed Panteleimon’s broad back with all my might with my umbrella.” The stupid prank with the cemetery increased his suffering and caused indelible mental trauma. He stopped trusting people. While caring for Kitty, he was terribly afraid of gaining weight, but now he had gained weight, gained weight, was reluctant to walk, and began to suffer from shortness of breath. Now Startsev was not close to anyone. The hero's attempt to start conversations about the fact that humanity is moving forward, that we need to work, was perceived among ordinary people as a reproach. Annoying arguments began. Feeling a misunderstanding, Startsev began to avoid conversations. He just ate at a party and played vint. The hero began to save money. Four years later A.P. Chekhov again forces his hero to meet with the Turkin family. One day he is sent an invitation on behalf of Vera Iosifovna, in which there is a note: “I also join my mother’s request. TO.".
When they meet again, Kitty appears to the hero in a different light. There is no former freshness and expression of childish naivety. The hero no longer likes either the pallor or the smile of Ekaterina Ivanovna. The old feelings for her now only cause awkwardness. The hero comes to the conclusion that he did the right thing in not marrying her. Now the heroine has a different attitude towards Startsev. She looks at him with curiosity, and her eyes thank him for the love he once felt for her. The hero suddenly feels sorry for the past.
Now Ekaterina Ivanovna already understands that she is not a great pianist. And she speaks about his mission as a zemstvo doctor with emphasized respect: “What happiness! - Ekaterina Ivanovna repeated with enthusiasm. “When I thought about you in Moscow, you seemed to me so ideal, sublime...” Startsev comes up with the idea that if talented people in the whole city are so mediocre, then what should the city be like?
Three days later, the hero again receives an invitation from the Turkins. Ekaterina Ivanovna asks him to talk.
In the fifth part of the story, the hero appears before us even more degraded. He became even more fat, his character became heavy and irritable. The life of the Turkin family has hardly changed: “Ivan Petrovich has not aged, has not changed at all and still makes jokes and tells jokes; Vera Iosifovna still reads her novels to guests willingly, with heartfelt simplicity. And Kitty plays the piano every day, for four hours.” Represented by the Turkin family A.P. Chekhov exposes urban inhabitants who only demonstrate their craving for the “reasonable, good, eternal”, but in fact have nothing to offer society.
One can argue about the genre of the work “Ionych” (1898): on the one hand, it seems to be a story, but it actually describes the entire life of the hero, it is like a “little novel” that contains the stages of spiritual degradation of Dmitry Ionych Startsev . Probably, in terms of its genre, “Ionych” can be considered a story, but in terms of the depth of coverage of events, this work is actually close to the novel genre. The plot of the work is the story of a young doctor who, over time, turns into a “pagan god”, causing fear both with his appearance and his attitude towards people. The five parts of the story are the five stages of degradation of this man, and Chekhov shows us how gradually the thirst for profit displaces everything human from his soul.
At the beginning of the work, Startsev appears as an ordinary young doctor who is very conscientious about his duties, he devotes himself entirely to his work. Living “nine miles” from S., he does not visit the city due to work, but when he finds himself there, “as an intelligent person” he is forced to visit the Turkin family, “the most educated and talented in the city.” The “demonstration of talents” by members of this family is described by Chekhov with obvious irony, but it still makes a favorable impression on Dr. Startsev: “Not bad.”
In the second part, the hero changes his attitude towards the Turkins under the influence of a feeling of love for Ekaterina Ivanovna. To Startsev, who is in love with her, everything that happens to him seems unusual, the state of love is a revelation for him, and therefore Ekaterina Ivanovna also “seemed” to him completely different from what she really was. However, the hero here is shown with great sympathy; his night trip to the cemetery, where he unexpectedly goes, speaks of the real deep feeling that he experiences. At the cemetery, he experiences one of the most exciting states of his life: “Startsev was struck by what he now saw for the first time in his life and what he would probably never see again: a world unlike anything else...” Finding himself alone with nature, with eternity, he is desperately “waiting for love at all costs,” but Kotik’s note turns out to be just a joke... And as confirmation of this - “And as if the curtain had fallen, the moon went under the clouds, and suddenly everything It's dark all around." It seems that it was on this night that a turning point occurred in Startsev’s soul; without waiting for love, she gradually began to turn into the “soul” of Ionych...
That this is really so. can be judged based on what the hero experiences in the third part, dedicated to the description of his explanation with Ekaterina Ivanovna. He goes to “make an offer” - and thinks that “they must give a lot of dowry”; he talks himself out of getting married, because his chosen one and he are too different people, but he consoles himself: “If they give a dowry, we’ll get things going...” He finds himself in a club, dressed in “someone else’s tailcoat” (a wonderful detail that emphasizes that for now that he is still a “stranger” to this life!), and sincerely explains himself to Ekaterina Ivanovna, but, having received a refusal, first experiences a feeling of shame (“He was a little ashamed, and his pride was insulted...”), and only then - pity (“I felt sorry for my feeling, for this love”)... Chekhov shows that the refusal morally destroyed the hero, again with the help of a detail: “Startsev’s heart stopped beating restlessly.” He had already become Ionych, because now, remembering himself, when he was in love and happy, “he lazily stretched and said: “How much trouble, however!”
The fourth part describes the “transformation” of Startsev into Ionych. Chekhov shows how gradually in the hero human feelings are replaced by the desire for profit, how until recently a club “alien” to him becomes “his own,” how he finds himself “another entertainment” (besides playing cards): “in the evenings, taking pieces of paper out of his pockets "obtained by practice." Such a life made him see the girl he once loved in a completely different way. “And now he liked her, liked her very much, but something was already missing in her, or something was superfluous - he himself could not say what exactly , but something was already preventing him from feeling as before.” Right now, when Ekaterina Ivanovna was able to appreciate his human qualities, “he felt embarrassed” about how he was four years ago, he is ashamed of himself and his love. It would seem that the meeting with her revived Startsev, he is again ready to be honest with himself, but... “Startsev remembered the pieces of paper that he took out of his pockets with such pleasure in the evenings, and the light in his soul went out”... And now he is even glad that “he didn’t get married then,” because there is no place for all these “feelings” in his present life.
The last part of Chekhov's story "Ionych" is the final "diagnosis" for the main character, which Chekhov mercilessly "gave" to him. The worst thing happened to him - he stopped being a doctor, his “greed overcame”, so for him the sick are no longer people whom he can and should help, but a source of “papers”, and he treats them rudely. The doctor who once could not leave his patients - and the current Ionych... “He is lonely. His life is boring, nothing interests him,” says the author.
The images of the other heroes against the background of Startsev’s image seem sketchy, but this is not entirely true. The Turkin family is drawn by Chekhov with great depth, all its members are distinguished by their individuality, but they are all united by their failure as people who are considered the adornment of the city. This is well understood by Doctor Startsev, who has not yet completely turned into Ionych, who “thought that if the most talented people in the whole city are so mediocre, then what should the city be like.” But if the elder Turkins remain in the dark about their “talents,” then Ekaterina Ivanovna understands everything, she is able to soberly evaluate herself and her family, which makes her image very attractive and arouses sympathy.
Why did Doctor Startsev become Ionych? Who is to blame for this? The author answers this question throughout the course of the narrative. Of course, the person himself is responsible not only for his “physical” health, but also, first of all, for his moral one. Doctor Startsev, who could not cure himself of the disease of money-grubbing, turns into Ionych, who no longer needs anything in this life - and who himself is of no use to anyone...
Lesson 5. The theme of the death of the soul in the story “Ionych”
Target: reveal the tragedy of everyday everyday existence and the spiritual impoverishment of the individual in the story.
Method: commented reading in combination with a heuristic method, student's message, elements of linguistic-stylistic analysis.
During the classes
I. Teacher's word
Chekhov in the story “Ionych” explores the process of a person’s spiritual surrender to the dark forces of life. The topic of spiritual impoverishment was one of the most pressing social and political problems of his time.
How can we explain such close attention of Chekhov to the issue of human spiritual degradation? He keenly perceived the new trends of the times and anticipated the changes ripening in the country. Only in 1898 did he create the stories “Ionych”, “Man in a Case”, “Gooseberry”, “About Love”, “Case from Practice”, “On Business”, “Darling”, “New Dacha”. In these stories, a critic from Chekhov's time noticed changes in his author's style. “Everywhere behind the figure of the narrator,” wrote A. Izmailov in “Birzhevye Vedomosti” on August 28, 1898, “one can see a subjectivist author, painfully sensitive to life’s awkwardness and not having the strength to speak out... An objective, calm depiction of reality gives way to an alarming philosophical discussion evils of life, it is not the fact that appears on the stage, but the philosophy of the fact.”
To understand this, we need to turn to the history of the creation of the story “Ionych” and its content.
II. Message “The history of the creation of the story “Ionych”
In the original plan, the narration was told from the first person (a dummy narrator). “The Filimonovs are a talented family,” we read in Chekhov’s “Notebook,” “so they say throughout the city... He is an official, plays on stage, sings, shows tricks. makes jokes (“Hello, please”), she writes liberal stories, imitates: “I’m in love with you... oh, my husband will see!” - she says this to everyone in front of her husband”; “The boy in the front: “Die, unfortunate thing!” For the first time, in fact, all this in a boring gray city seemed funny and talented. The second time too. Three years later I went for the third time, the boy had a mustache again: “I’m in love with you... oh, my husband will see!” Again the same imitation: “Die, unfortunate thing!” And when I left the Filimonovs, it seemed to me that there were no more boring and untalented people in the world.”
In the first edition of “Ionych” this feature of the composition (narration not on behalf of the author, but on behalf of an eyewitness - “I”) was also emphasized by the subtitle “story”. Having abandoned this in subsequent editions and, thereby, as if erasing the line between an eyewitness and the author, Chekhov retained, however, in “Ionych” the features of the construction of previous stories: its plot core is also the story of one person (Startsev), his fate, and in parallel to it, “additional episodes and characters” are also drawn, creating a total generalization about modern life. Instead of “side episodes” and sketches of faces in the “frame” of the first three stories (“Man in a Case”, “Gooseberry”, “About Love”), here comments are given about the inhabitants and the Turkin family is depicted in the cross perception of it by the inhabitants, the hero Startsev and narrator-author. In this way, Chekhov conveys his ironic attitude towards the heroes of the story.
III. Linguistic and stylistic analysis of the text:
What is the central theme of the story?
(Protest against vulgarity, philistinism, spiritual philistinism, self-degeneration of man.)
What is the main idea of the work?
(It consists of the call “Take care of the person within you!”)
What is the composition of the story?
(The composition of the work is simple at first glance. Five chapters, each of which has its own micro-theme: the life of the intelligentsia of the city of S. (the Turkin family), Startsev’s work, inexorable and fleeting time, the inner world of the main characters, the power of the philistine. These micro-themes are revealed in Chekhovsky - repetition of artistic details, which are supplemented with new shades in each chapter.)
The teacher's word.
As in any classic work, Chekhov's story touches on problems that do not lie on the surface and to understand which requires repeated reference to the text.
It is necessary to analyze the first sentences, since they carry the greatest aesthetic load in this paragraph. The talented and intelligent Turkin family is the decoration of the city of S. It would seem that nothing here is in doubt.
But is it? Let's re-read the beginning of the text again (the teacher or one of the students reads the first paragraph of the story aloud).
So, Chekhov’s style of narration is distinguished by laconicism and simplicity. The writer immediately introduces the reader not only to the course of events, but also depicts the situation in one or two sentences. But Chekhov rarely expresses his point of view, usually allowing readers to speculate on what is only hinted at (subtext). So the first sentence begins with a subordinate clause, standing before the main one. This construction is not accidental. It immediately draws the reader’s attention to the fact that life in the city of S. is boring and monotonous. Local residents think the same way, as evidenced by the inserted construction “as if making excuses.”
(In a literary work, even such seemingly insignificant artistic elements as the position of main and subordinate clauses, word order, and the use of introductory sentences are of ideological and moral value.)
We are presented with the situation in which the young doctor Startsev found himself (Chekhov’s surnames, as a rule, are “telling”).
What does the name of this hero make you think about?
What are the views and character of this person?
Analysis of chapter 1.
So, what is known about Startsev is that he was recently appointed as a zemstvo doctor. In the city of S. he was considered an intelligent and hardworking person.
Pay attention to this artistic detail (reading the last sentence of the 3rd paragraph of the story).
The hero is probably healthy, walking gives him pleasure and puts him in a good mood. He is full of strength and cheerful. But the author, for some purpose, focuses our attention on such artistic details: “he did not have his own horses.” This remark is specifically for the reader (the introductory sentence is highlighted in brackets), and the author himself knows what will happen next.
It is very important to learn to “feel” the author, to see his point of view on the events described. In order for the reader to feel more deeply the personality of Startsev, Chekhov reveals to us not only his inner world, but also, as it were, the very birth of the hero’s thought: “Vera Iosifovna read about how the young, beautiful countess set up schools, hospitals, libraries in her village and how she fell in love with the wandering artist - she read about things that never happen in life, and yet it was pleasant, comfortable to listen to, and all such good, peaceful thoughts came into her head - she didn’t want to get up.”
What assessment do the author and hero give to the content of Vera Iosifovna’s novel? What important detail is highlighted?
(The author believes that what is described does not happen in life. Startsev also does not believe what Vera Iosifovna reads. But after a difficult day full of hard work, you can listen to anything; it was warm, cozy and you didn’t want to get up.)
How is Ekaterina Ivanovna’s playing the piano presented in the story? What special did you notice?
(Find a description of this episode in the text and read it aloud.)
(Startsev sees the talents of Ivan Petrovich for the first time. And again we see through the eyes of the author: “He, laughing with only his eyes, told jokes, made jokes, proposed funny problems and solved them himself, and all the time spoke in his extraordinary language, developed by long exercises in wit and, obviously, something that had long become a habit with him: Bolshinsky, not bad, thank you..."
What conclusion can be drawn from this episode?
(Chekhov makes it clear that this wit does not please anyone and has long been just a habit.)
Conclusion:
We see through the main artistic details that in the city of S. there is a boring, monotonous life. In the most “pleasant” family, the people are mediocre, untalented, and no different from the rest of the residents. Vera Iosifovna writes novels about what does not happen in life. Ekaterina Ivanovna does not put a drop of true feeling into her playing; it is difficult to imagine that she has at least some relation to music as an art. Ivan Petrovich uses a long-memorized set of witticisms and anecdotes.
Startsev had almost the same opinion about Vera Iosifovna’s work, but... in the kitchen there was already a clatter of knives and the smell of fried onions could be heard and I didn’t want to get up. Ekaterina Ivanovna's playing is noisy, annoying, mediocre, but... still these are cultural sounds.
So, Startsev was pleased with the evening spent at the Turkins’, everything was “not bad”, not counting the small compromises with himself, with his tastes, and views on life.
Analysis of chapter 2.
More than a year passed between the events described in the first and second chapters. Time is an important artistic detail here.
What has changed this year?
(Startsev was in labor and loneliness. And so he was again invited to the Turkins, where he fell in love with Ekaterina Ivanovna. Her image is perceived by the reader from two points of view - Startsev and the author himself.)
Maybe Kotik is a rare exception among the readers of the city of S., and reading testifies to her spirituality?
(As an example, we can cite an episode of one of the conversations between young lovers: “What did you read this week?” he asked now. “Speak, please.” “I read Pisemsky ... etc.”)
What did Kotik learn from meeting Pisemsky?
(Only one thing is funny, from her point of view, the writer’s middle name. This is not an accidental detail. Chekhov uses it again to show the frivolity of this heroine (it’s not for nothing that she is called Kotik), the inability to see the main thing, the present, both in literature and in life, in the scene of refusal to Dmitry Ionych in chapter 3: “I want to be an artist, I want fame, success, freedom, and you want me to continue living in this city, to continue this empty, useless life, which has become unbearable for me. To become a wife. oh no, sorry!...")
Like many writers, A.P. Chekhov tests his heroes with love. It is love that gives Startsev another chance to remain human.
Having received the note about the date, Dmitry Ionych did not doubt for a minute that she would not be at the cemetery, that he himself was no longer capable of such nonsense: “So Startsev thought, wandering around the tables in the club, and at half past ten he suddenly picked up and went to cemetery". Chekhov prefaces the story of this romantic date with a magnificent artistic detail: “He already had his own pair of horses and a coachman Panteleimon in a velvet vest.”
When Startsev found himself in the cemetery, his soul responded to the beauty of nature, the secrets of existence seemed to be revealed to him, it seemed that he was about to think, imbued with a philosophical mood, about the eternal problems of life and death...
So, the entire third chapter tells about Startsev’s unsuccessful visit with an official proposal.
The reader is already internally prepared for such an ending. The main character is ready too. Find confirmation in the text (after the scene of explanation: “Startsev’s heart has stopped beating restlessly...”, etc.).
Researchers of Chekhov's work noted that such a structure of the story can be considered as dotted, which is confirmed by the repetition of artistic details.
Analysis of chapter 4.
As always, the first paragraph is aesthetically rich. The beginning of the chapter is read. Talking further about the Turkins, Chekhov repeats: “But 4 years have passed.”
What changes have occurred in the Turkin family?
(Vera Iosifovna greeted Startsev with an old joke. Kotik no longer had the same freshness and expression of childish naivety. There was something new in both his gaze and manners - timid and guilty, as if here, in the Turkins’ house, she no longer felt at home "
Ivan Petrovich and Pava did not change their “repertoire”. And we, following the author, conclude: if the most talented people in the whole city are so mediocre, then what kind of city should it be!)
Has Dmitry Ionych’s attitude towards them changed?
(Startsev’s attitude towards the Turkins also became different. One day, driving past their house, he thought that he should stop by, but for some reason he didn’t stop by and never visited the Turkins’ house again.)
The teacher's word.
So, having cut off the last path to love, nothing delays degradation, the loss of human personality.
Chapter 5 is the result of the entire life of Startsev, the Turkins, the city of S. We read the first paragraph.
Let's remember the beginning of the story. The philistine city of S. and Startsev are two opposite poles. At the end, Startsev is already his own, the same as all the residents. In Dyalizh and in the city they call him simply Ionych. Chekhov leaves no hope for his hero to feel human again. This idea is emphasized by what the author casually noted: “During the entire time he lived in Dyalizh, love for Kotik was his only joy and, probably, his last.”
At the end of the story, not a trace remains of this bright, human feeling. That's all that can be said about him.
What about the Turkins? Everything is still the same for them. The end of the story, in Chekhov's style, is “not finished.” It's like a piece snatched from life. That is why the verbs are used here not in the form of the past tense, as in the entire story, but in the form of the present, the so-called abstract: “Welcoming to the station, Ivan Petrovich, when the train starts moving, wipes away his tears and shouts:
Goodbye please! And waves his handkerchief.”
IV. Search task
Find in the text of the story unique beacons, milestones by which you can determine the growth of Dr. Startsev’s material prosperity and, at the same time, his moral and spiritual devastation.
What can you say about the composition of the story as a whole?
(To describe the slow lifetime dying of a person in a person, Chekhov uses an original technique - he places peculiar milestones on Startsev’s life path. They go in different directions, a life career, the evolution of tastes, the development and ending of his novel by Ekaterina Ivanovna, and finally, the life path of those people who surround Startsev. As a result of the compression of the composition, a space is formed between these milestones, which the author leaves for the reader to fill in the process of co-creation.)
Teacher's conclusion: So, a careful reading of the text convinces us, the readers, that Chekhov’s artistic thought moves in the story from the particular to the general: the fate of Startsev, who turned into Ionych, is a manifestation of general disorder. The writer shows that solving instability and personal problems is impossible without solving public problems. The author masterfully depicts the moral fall of man. And it all started, it would seem, with minor flaws in the character of the hero: the desire for profit in love, insufficient sensitivity to people, irritability, inconsistency in one’s beliefs, inability to defend them, laziness and unwillingness to fight vulgarity.
The soulless life to which Startsev deliberately doomed himself excluded him from the ranks of living people, depriving him of the ability to think and feel. The conclusion follows from the story: if a person is replaced by the force of circumstances and his ability to resist gradually fades away, the death of the human soul occurs - the most terrible retribution that life pays for opportunism. Protecting himself from active life turns into a disaster for Startsev: he retreated before reality, he grows into evil with his whole being, comes to those whom he initially leaves and whom he hates. At the end of the story, the Startsevs and the Turkins are openly placed side by side, equated with each other as people whose lives have equally failed: the idle undertakings of the Turkins are meaningless and immoral, the soulless acquisitiveness of Ionych is immoral and disgusting.
But still, creating the image of Startsev, Chekhov poses the problem of a person’s personal responsibility for his life: after all, the environment that raised and shaped Ionych also brought forward other people, like doctors Kirillov (“Enemies”) and Dymov (“Jumping”). The image of Ionych shows what a person becomes if there is no resistance to vulgarity, laziness, philistinism, and selfishness.
V. Consolidation
What means of expression carry the greatest artistic and aesthetic load in the story “Ionych” and reveal the main idea of the work?
How are artistic details used to reveal the image of Startsev?
With the help of what visual means does the author create a collective image of the residents of the city of S.
Why is the story a passionate protest against the destruction of the human personality?
How do you understand the call: “Take care of the person within you!”?
What do you think: the transformation of Startsev into Ionych is the tragedy of an intelligent person who could not cope with the surrounding philistineness, or is it a satire that exposes a weak and weak-willed hero?
VI.Homework
2. Write a miniature essay on the topic “Is there real life in the story “Ionych”.
3. Conduct a comparative analysis of two episodes: the first and last meeting of Ekaterina Ivanovna and Startsev. Based on the analysis, prove that Ekaterina Ivanovna’s development was ascending, and Startsev’s development was descending. (Tasks 2 and 3 are offered to students to choose from).
4. Write down with examples artistic techniques that reveal the destructive power of vulgarity and philistinism:
a) description of pictures of nature;
b) the use of poetry and music;
c) repetition of words and expressions;
d) emotionally charged words and expressions;
e) a combination of sad lyricism and satire.
"Ionych" is a story by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, written around 1897-1898. It tells the story of a zemstvo doctor named Dmitry Startsev, who meets in the “boring and monotonous provincial town of S.” with the Turkin family, who were considered the most talented and educated people in those parts. He falls in love with Ekaterina Turkina, whom everyone affectionately calls “Kitty,” and proposes to her.
However, the girl refuses him out of a desire to go to study at the conservatory. A few years later, when Ekaterina returns and meets Startsev again, he is glad that he did not marry her after all. And the remaining family members no longer admire him; on the contrary, yesterday’s talented people now seem stupid and boring to Startsev. “What must the city be like,” he thinks, “if the most talented people in it are so untalented?”
The theme of the story is the spiritual degradation of a person, the withering of his ability to admire. The main character finally dissolves in his environment, turning into an overweight, boring and stingy “Ionych”.
But at the beginning of the story, Dmitry fell in love so easily and admired the people around him.
The composition of the story is of particular interest. As the story progresses, the language becomes simpler and the number of descriptions and dialogues is reduced. This is comparable to the protagonist’s worldview: over time, he becomes more and more prosaic and dry, and there are fewer and fewer bright, amazing, beautiful elements in his life. Another interesting feature of the composition of this work is the time in it. In the first four parts the narration is told in the past tense, while in the fifth the author switches to the present. This illustrates the pace of life of the main character. Dmitry Startsev, in love and inspired, was once before, in the distant past; and his mortal and meager existence, which he leads in the fifth part, is the present, the outcome of his life, the logical conclusion of his moral character. Chekhov demonstrates to the reader the degradation of personality, and the decomposition that he describes at the end of the story is the logical point for the life of an individual person.
The situation described by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is terrifying and frightening. It shows all the horror and all the ugliness of the mental degradation of a person who exchanged the desire to see and find something beautiful in the world for good real estate and a big wallet.
Updated: 2017-12-04
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