Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, who became a recognized classic during his lifetime, was not destined to see revolutionary cataclysms. But his talent, of course, felt the approaching social collapse. Evidence of one of these forebodings can serve as the plot (short summary) of Chekhov's “Gooseberry”.
This work is the author’s appeal to wealthy people not to be rude to their hearts, to show concern, to remain a necessary and full-fledged part of society, not to isolate themselves from it. In its composition, the story echoes two other from the same trilogy: “On Conscience” and “A Man in a Case”. In half a century, such literature, another classic - Boris Pasternak - will give its definition, speaking of it as a "cubic piece of steaming conscience."
Let us turn to one of the stories of his “little trilogy”, having comprehended the brief content of Chekhov's “Gooseberry”. Generally speaking, the trilogy is ideologically, plot and compositionally connected by the images of three characters: the veterinarian Ivan Ivanovich Chimshi-Himalayan, the teacher of the gymnasium of Burkin, the landowner Alekhine. They are either actors, listeners, or storytellers. According to the plot of the work, friends, having met on the estate of the landowner Alekhine, listen to a story of Ivan Ivanovich over a cup of tea. With such a plot, Chekhov begins the story Gooseberry. Its summary is reduced to emotional and painful for the narrator, his coverage of the spiritual and spiritual split that has arisen and a fundamental misunderstanding of his blood brother Nikolai. In youth, the brothers were friendly. Both of them, starting their life's journey, faced poverty (their father, being a nobleman, went bankrupt), then each went his own way of life.
Nikolai Ivanovich, an official working in the state chamber, longed for becoming a landowner. Following his dream, he married out of calculation, subsequently, with his manic greed, bringing his wife to death. For the money accumulated in the bank, he bought the estate and lived in it as a landowner without the slightest remorse for what he had done. He is a flabber, turned into a misanthrope, a squabbler, a callous person, unable to love, but very pleased with himself.
Having visited his rich brother and staying with him, Ivan Ivanovich was horrified - to what empty mental state that led him to indiscriminate pursuit of his material dream. We can also say that the summary of Chekhov's story “Gooseberries” is consonant with the history of personal degradation of Nikolai Ivanovich.
The flow of emotions and feelings of Ivan Ivanovich, who does not agree with the new look of his brother, the writer Chekhov directs to his readers. He seeks to heal souls in his own word. This new modernist method of influencing the reader, invented by Anton Pavlovich, was later called the “stream of consciousness” (with the light hand of James Joyce). The main idea of this style is that the plot of the work, some external effects, the sequence of events are not so important for the classic - all this is secondary. The main thing is thoughts, feelings, feelings ...
The idea of the story (summary) of Chekhov's “Gooseberry” is quite obvious. He comes down to the inner world of his characters. The words of Ivan Ivanovich about the fact that in the soul of a wealthy person his whole life should not be silent "hammer", reminiscent of the troubles of others and the need to take care of them, deserve attention. Chekhov's characters are not perfect, they are the same as people in life. Sometimes, while expressing thoughts, they are lost, stammered by emotions. And then, in the overhanging ringing silence, we clearly feel the sound power of the subtext embedded in the work by the classic. Such is he - Chekhov!
It is characteristic that neither the teacher Burkin nor the landowner Alekhine understood to the end what their friend wanted to tell them. Everything is as in life ...
Let’s think it over. Why is our history so rich in social disasters? Perhaps we, as the ancient inhabitants of Troy, rarely listen to the bold, honest truth of the classics. It was in a simple and understandable witnessing to people about the truth that Chekhov saw the role of real art. By tirelessly and fruitfully working, the writer beat the alarm with his every work, warning his compatriots about the accumulating imbalance of Russian society, which poured out a year after his death into the 1905 revolution. Virtually any work by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov reveals a hidden for the idle eye, but clearly emerging conflict between an apparently respectable form and trampled upon humanistic foundations that hold society together. By profession, a district doctor, Anton Pavlovich, tried with his own word to heal immediately all the people of a vast country from greed, hypocrisy, spiritual blindness, and soullessness. The essence of the story (summary) Chekhov's "Gooseberry" is just about it ...