The story of A. P. Chekhov “Darling”: a brief summary and analysis of the work

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov wrote the story “Darling” in 1899. It refers to the late work of the writer. It is noteworthy that Chekhov's “Darling” immediately caused an ambiguous assessment in literary circles.

The main theme of the work is love. Only with the main character does she become not just a need, but the meaning of life. Moreover, it is much more important for her not to receive love, but to give it. The comic nature of the situation is that each time the story of the heroine’s selfless deep feelings is repeated. The composition of the story consists of four parts: according to the number of heart affections in the life of Olenka. Below is a brief summary of this literary creation.

A few words about the main character

Olenka Plemyannikova, the daughter of a retired college assessor, lives in her house with her father. This is a pink-cheeked young lady with a white tender neck, chubby arms, a meek look and a touching smile.

People around love a pretty girl. Everyone likes her without exception. When talking with her, I want to touch her hand and say to her: “Darling!” In the heart of Olenka there is always some kind of affection: at first she was in love with the French teacher, then she began to adore her daddy, and after the aunt who visited her twice a year. The problem is that these sympathies often replace one another. But Olenka does not bother, as well as the people around her. They are impressed by the naivety of the girl, her gullibility and quiet kindness. So describes his heroine in the story "Darling" Chekhov. A brief summary will help to get an idea about the personal qualities of the heroine. Her image is contradictory: on the one hand, she is endowed with the gift of selfless love. So dissolve in your soulmate is not given to everyone. And this, of course, arouses respect for the heroine in the reader. However, on the other hand, she appears before us as a gullible and windy person. The complete absence of spiritual interests, the lack of one's own views and ideas about the world around us - all this causes a mockery of the reader.

Kukin - Olenka's first affection

In the large house of the Plymyannikovs, a certain Ivan Petrovich Kukin, the landlord and entrepreneur of the Tivoli entertainment garden, is lodging. Olenka often sees him in the yard. Kukin constantly complains about life. One can only hear from him: “The public is now wild and ignorant. What is her operetta, extravaganza? Give her a booth! No one is walking. Yes, and these rains every night! And I have to rent, the artists need to pay a salary. Total losses. I'm busted! ” Olenka is very sorry for him. On the other hand, love for this person awakens in her heart. So what, that he is skinny, short and speaks with a shrill voice. In her view, Kukin is a hero who daily fights with his main enemy - an ignorant public. The sympathy of the heroine is mutual, and soon the young get married. Now Olenka is working hard at her husband’s theater. She, like him, scolds the public, discusses the importance of art in a person’s life and lends to actors. In winter, spouses do better. In the evenings, Olenka gives Ivan Petrovich tea with raspberries and wraps him in warm rugs, wanting to improve her husband’s shaky health.

Unfortunately, the happiness of the young was short-lived: Kukin went to Great Lent to Moscow to recruit a new troupe and died suddenly there. Having buried her husband, the young woman plunged into deep mourning. True, it did not last long. About what happened next, we will tell Chekhov's story “Darling”. In the meantime, we see that the heroine, imbued with the thoughts of her husband, becomes his shadow and echo. It was as if her individual qualities did not exist. With the death of her husband, a woman loses the meaning of life.

Olenka is getting married again

When Olenka, as usual, was returning home from the Mass, Vasily Andreich Pustovalov, the manager of the forest land at the merchant Babakayev, was next to her. He escorted the woman to the gate and left. Only since then has our heroine found no place for herself. Soon a suit from Pustovalov appeared in her house. The young people got married and began to live and live in peace and harmony. Now Olenka spoke only about forest land, about the price of wood, about the difficulties of its transportation. It seemed to her that she was always doing this. The Pustovalovs house was warm and cozy, it smelled deliciously of homemade food. The couple did not go anywhere, spending the weekend only in each other's company.

When others advised the "darling" to go and unwind in the theater, she replied that this empty lesson was not for working people. In the absence of a spouse, when he was leaving for the forest, the woman was bored. Her leisure time was sometimes brightened by a military veterinarian Smirnin. This gentleman in another city left his wife and child, which did not stop him from spending time in the company of other women. Olenka ashamed him and urged him to change his mind and make peace with his wife. So the quiet family happiness of the “darling” would have lasted for many more years, if not for the tragic death of her husband. Vasily Andreich once caught a cold and died suddenly. Olenka again plunged into deep mourning. What does the author want to pay attention to when describing the heroine’s second affection, what amuses Chekhov here? Darling - a woman selfless, capable of a great and deep feeling. The comic of the situation is that the story of great love to the grave in the life of the heroine is repeated. And here the same thing: complete dissolution in the beloved, echoing of his words, quiet family happiness and a tragic ending.

The new sympathy of the heroine

Now, people around did not see Olenka. Only sometimes she could be found in a church or in a vegetable market with a cook. But soon the neighbors had already seen the picture in the courtyard of the house: the “darling” was sitting at a table in the garden, and Smirnin was drinking tea next to her. Everything became clear from the moment when a friend in the mail Olenka suddenly told about the problem of milk infection from sick cows and horses. Since then, the young lady has only talked about the cattle plague, about pearl disease and much more. Olenka and Smirnin tried to keep the relationship secret. However, it became clear to those around: a new affection appeared in the woman’s heart. What else will Chekhov tell us in his story “Darling”? The summary of the work allows us to trace the chain of sympathies of Olenka. The author gives the reader the opportunity to penetrate the deep feelings of the heroine. And at the same time, using the example of a repetition of a situation, he shows how limited and relative they are. It becomes clear to us how a new feeling arose in the heart of the heroine. This is her third affection. It seems comical that with her arrival, the deep mourning of a woman instantly disappears.

Olya is left alone

But not for long Olenka was happy this time too. Smirnin was soon distributed to a distant regiment, and he left without calling his beloved. The woman was left alone. Her father died a long time ago. There were no close people nearby. Black days began for Olenka. She lost weight, became a little older and older. Friends, when they saw her, tried to cross to the other end of the street so as not to meet her. On summer evenings, Olenka sat on the porch, fingering all her affections. But there, it was as if empty. It seemed to her that there was no meaning in life. Previously, she could explain everything, talk about everything. Now, in her heart and thoughts, there was such a void, it was so terribly and bitterly, as if she had "overeaten". Such described the loneliness of the heroine in his story Chekhov A.P. Dushechka lives only when he can give love to a loved one next to her. It would seem that here you need to feel sorry for the heroine, because she suffers. But the author deliberately and now belittles Olenka’s feelings, ironic over them in the words: “as if the wormwood had overeat ...”. And this is fair. Next, we will see how quickly the pictures in a woman’s life change from complete gloom and sorrow to absolute happiness.

The new meaning of the life of the heroine

Everything changed in one moment. He returned to the city of Smirnin with his wife and ten-year-old son. Olenka gladly invited him and his family to live in her house. She herself moved into the outbuilding. A new meaning appeared in her life. She walked happy, disposing in the yard. This change was not hidden from the eyes of others. Friends noticed that the woman was younger, prettier, got better. It became clear to everyone: the old "darling" returned. And this means that in her heart is again a new affection. Next, we will see why, all the same, Chekhov captured Olenka darling. Her last sympathy is an example of selfless motherly love, tenderness, willingness to die for her child. Probably, every woman in her life should realize this natural need - to give tenderness and warmth to children. The good news is that our heroine took place as a woman and mother.

Maternal feelings in the soul of Olenka

Olen with all her heart fell in love with Sasha - the son of Smirnin. The wife of the former veterinarian went to Kharkov on business, he himself disappeared all day somewhere, appearing only late in the evening. The child spent all days in the house alone. It seemed to Olenka that he was always hungry, abandoned by his parents. She took the boy to her outhouse. With what tenderness the woman looked at him, seeing off to the gymnasium.

How she spoiled the child, treating him incessantly with sweets. With what pleasure I did my homework with Sasha. Now from the “darling” one could hear only about studying at the gymnasium, textbooks, teachers and the like. Olya has blossomed, has gained weight. One woman was afraid - that her beloved Sasha would suddenly be taken from her. With what fear did she listen to the knock at the gate: what if it was a telegram from the boy’s mother, who was demanding it from her? At this incomplete moment, Chekhov ends his work. “Darling”, the analysis and summary of which is given here, is a story about selfless love, which is so rare in our lives, about its sometimes ridiculous and funny manifestations. The main thing in heroine is an inexhaustible supply of tenderness and warmth, care and affection. Her chosen ones are ridiculous and insignificant in comparison with her. She is ridiculous only in that part when she fully accepts their lifestyle and their views on reality. Only in her last maternal affection does she become truly beautiful. In this image of her, many women will probably recognize themselves.

We retold and analyzed Chekhov's story “Darling”, traced how a woman from a nearby bourgeois turns into a real Chekhov heroine.