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    Gooseberries

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    Vkkb
    The document summarizes Anton Chekhov's short story "Gooseberries". It describes two brothers, Ivan and Nicholai. Nicholai dreams of owning a small farm near water with a gooseberry bush. He sacrifices much to achieve this dream, even marrying an ugly widow. However, when he finally buys an estate, it lacks the orchard, duck pond, and gooseberry bush he desired. He plants gooseberry bushes that produce fruit he enjoys eating, but his happiness is unsatisfying compared to his original vision. The story examines man's futile search for lasting happiness through material means.

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    Gooseberries

    Uploaded by

    Vkkb
    713 views1 page
    The document summarizes Anton Chekhov's short story "Gooseberries". It describes two brothers, Ivan and Nicholai. Nicholai dreams of owning a small farm near water with a gooseberry bush. He sacrifices much to achieve this dream, even marrying an ugly widow. However, when he finally buys an estate, it lacks the orchard, duck pond, and gooseberry bush he desired. He plants gooseberry bushes that produce fruit he enjoys eating, but his happiness is unsatisfying compared to his original vision. The story examines man's futile search for lasting happiness through material means.

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    The document summarizes Anton Chekhov's short story "Gooseberries". It describes two brothers, Ivan and Nicholai. Nicholai dreams of owning a small farm near water with a gooseberry bush. He sacrifices much to achieve this dream, even marrying an ugly widow. However, when he finally buys an estate, it lacks the orchard, duck pond, and gooseberry bush he desired. He plants gooseberry bushes that produce fruit he enjoys eating, but his happiness is unsatisfying compared to his original vision. The story examines man's futile search for lasting happiness through material means.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    713 views1 page

    Gooseberries

    Uploaded by

    Vkkb
    The document summarizes Anton Chekhov's short story "Gooseberries". It describes two brothers, Ivan and Nicholai. Nicholai dreams of owning a small farm near water with a gooseberry bush. He sacrifices much to achieve this dream, even marrying an ugly widow. However, when he finally buys an estate, it lacks the orchard, duck pond, and gooseberry bush he desired. He plants gooseberry bushes that produce fruit he enjoys eating, but his happiness is unsatisfying compared to his original vision. The story examines man's futile search for lasting happiness through material means.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    GOOSEBERRIES

    - Anton Chekhov

    1. Describe Aliokhin’s appearance.


    Aliokhin was about 40, tall and stout. He had long hair. He looked more like a professor or a
    painter than a farmer. At the time we see him first he was wearing a grimy white short and rope
    belt, and pants instead of trousers. His boots were covered with mud and straw. His nose and
    eyes were black with dust.

    2. Compare Aliokhin’s first appearance in the story with that of Nicholai.


    When he sees him first Aliokhin was standing at the threshold. He was about 40, tall and stout.
    He had long hair. He looked more like a professor or a painter than a farmer. He was wearing
    a grimy white short and rope belt, and pants instead of trousers. His boots were covered with
    mud and straw. His nose and eyes were black with dust. Nicholai was 2 years younger to his
    brother Ivan. Nicholai was at the Exchequer Court when he was 19. He was not happy at the
    Exchequer. For years he was sitting in the same place, writing the same documents. He was
    thinking of only one thing – how to get back to the country and buy a small farm near the bank
    of a river or lake.

    3. Mention some of the advantages of country life.


    Country life has many advantages. One can eat out in the open air, sleep in the sun and sit for
    hours together on a seat by the gate and gaze at the fields and the forest. One can sit on the
    veranda drinking tea and watch the ducklings swim in the pond and everything smells good.
    There is fresh air in the countryside and there is less dust, smoke and traffic noise. Country life
    is definitely healthier than city life.

    Attempt a review of Chekhov’s ‘Gooseberries’


    Chekhov’s story ‘Gooseberries’ is essentially a satire on man’s search for happiness. Here we
    see two brothers – Ivan and Nicholai – seeking to be happy. Ivan is a veterinary doctor and
    Nicholai is an official at the Exchequer. Nicholai is fed up with his job – sitting in the same
    place and writing out the same documents. His dreams were centred round a farmhouse with a
    garden, an orchard, a fishpond and above all a gooseberry fish. He lives like a miser to get his
    ideal place. He even marries an old ugly widow to fulfil his dream. In the end he buys an estate
    with a farmhouse but it had no orchard, no duck-pond and no gooseberry bush. He plants some
    gooseberry bushes in his new estate. His joy in life is going on eating the gooseberries his
    gooseberry bushes produce.

    Checkhov has presented the story in a fine way, as a story inside another story. We are curious
    to know what happens to Nicholai after all his sacrifices. The characterization by Chekhov has
    been excellent. There are only 4 main characters in the story Ivan, Nicholai, Bourkin and
    Aliokhin. We are also told about Tchimsha Himalaysky, the father of Ivan and Nicholai. The
    characterization of Nicholai and Aliokhin stand out as superb.

    Chekhov has presented the landscape in exquisite beauty. We see the endless farms and the
    windmills. We can see the dreamland of Nicholai – an estate with a farmhouse, a river nearby,
    garden, mill, mill¬pond, garden-walls, flowers, fruits, nests, carp and ducklings in the pond. It
    is country side at its best. Chekhov is a master in the use of symbol. The rain, gooseberries, six
    feet of land, the name Himalayskoe, the red-haired dog, soda & castor oil curing all diseases
    and the family sitting round a table having coffee, are all symbols. They make a powerful
    impact on the readers.

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