Gooseberries

“The mill was working, drowning the sound of the rain, and the dam shook. Round the carts stood wet horses, hanging their heads, and men were walking about with their heads covered with sacks. It was wet, muddy, and unpleasant, and the river looked cold and sullen. Ivan Ivanich and Bourkin felt wet and uncomfortable through and through; their feet were tired with walking in the mud, and they walked past the dam to the barn in silence as though they were angry with each other.”

In Chekhov’s story, natural scenes usually carry dual functions. First, they help create a lifelike world. The details of mills and dams represent the typical Russian countryside views that unfold as Ivan and Bourkin walk toward Aliokhin’s place. Second, nature often has symbolic meanings and suggests a mood. The “cold and sullen” river here mirrors the characters’ internal state (“angry”), reminding them that the countryside isn’t always idyllic and foreshadowing Nicholai’s materialistic perception of nature.

“Ivan Ivanich came out of the shed, plunged into the water with a splash, and swam about in the rain, flapping his arms, and sending waves back, and on the waves tossed white lilies; he swam out to the middle of the pool and dived, and in a minute came up again in another place and kept on swimming and diving, trying to reach the bottom. ‘Ah! how delicious!’ he shouted in his glee. ‘How delicious!’ He swam to the mill, spoke to the peasants, and came back, and in the middle of the pool he lay on his back to let the rain fall on his face.”

This scene develops the theme of Individual Freedom Versus Social Expectations. Ivan’s behavior—jumping into the pool in the rain—suggests how little regard he has for social norms. He embodies the modern ideas of individual freedom. His take on nature and countryside is naive and idealistic: “Water” is “delicious” and “peasants” are his companions.

“And you know once a man has fished, or watched the thrushes hovering in flocks over the village in the bright, cool, autumn days, he can never really be a townsman, and to the day of his death he will be drawn to the country. My brother pined away in the Exchequer. Years passed and he sat in the same place, wrote out the same documents, and thought of one thing, how to get back to the country.”

As he starts to tell the story of his younger brother, Nicholai, Ivan’s narration is filtered through his point of view. To him, the countryside is beautiful, free, and idyllic, which is why his brother “can never really be a townsman.” However, his brother may have considered the countryside only a place to fulfill traditional Russian values. This passage exemplifies the narrative’s somewhat self-righteous tone, which adds perspective to the theme of Privilege Versus Social Equality.

“And he would dream of garden­walls, flowers, fruits, nests, carp in the pond, don’t you know, and all the rest of it. These fantasies of his used to vary according to the advertisements he found, but somehow there was always a gooseberry­bush in every one. Not a house, not a romantic spot could he imagine without its gooseberry­bush.”

The narrator, Ivan, implies that Nicholai’s fantasies of the countryside were rooted in its natural beauty, which in fact reflects Ivan’s perception of the countryside. The facts of the narrative reveal that Nicholai’s fantasies of the countryside come from newspaper advisements, which represent the social expectations in Russian society at the time.

“She had been the wife of a postmaster and was used to good living, but with her second husband she did not even have enough black bread; she pined away in her new life, and in three years or so gave up her soul to God. And my brother never for a moment thought himself to blame for her death.”

Nicholai is responsible for his wife’s death, but he shows no regret. This exemplifies the corruptive and illusive nature of materialistic happiness. The indifferent narrative tone hints that Ivan might still sympathize with Nicholai at this point for the latter’s sacrifice to fulfill his dream.

“Through an agent my brother Nicholai raised a mortgage and bought three hundred acres with a farmhouse, a cottage, and a park, but there was no orchard, no gooseberry­bush, no duck­pond; there was a river but the water in it was coffee­coloured because the estate lay between a brick­yard and a gelatine factory. But my brother Nicholai was not worried about that; he ordered twenty gooseberry­bushes and settled down to a country life.”

Nicholai realizes his dreams of owning land, but his land in reality is a spoiled world: not idyllic at all but dirty and polluted. Clearly, Nicholai doesn’t perceive the countryside as a poetic dwelling but as a vehicle to fulfill social expectations. His ignorance of the ugly reality and adherence to social norms (ordering “gooseberry bushes”) helps develop the theme of Individual Freedom Versus Social Expectations.

“I went to the house and was met by a red­haired dog, as fat as a pig. He tried to bark but felt too lazy. Out of the kitchen came the cook, barefooted, and also as fat as a pig, and said that the master was having his afternoon rest. I went in to my brother and found him sitting on his bed with his knees covered with a blanket; he looked old, stout, flabby; his cheeks, nose, and lips were pendulous. I half expected him to grunt like a pig.”

The use of exaggeration and simile to depict characters’ physical appearance helps develop the theme of The Pursuit of Happiness and the Meaning of Life. Nicholai, the cook, and even the dog are all “as fat as a pig.” The simile suggests moral and spiritual degradation. They all immerse themselves in their personal materialistic happiness, neglecting their social responsibility and unable to think independently.

“And, like a good landowner, he looked after his soul and did good works pompously, never simply. What good works? He cured the peasants of all kinds of diseases with soda and castor­oil, and on his birthday he would have a thanksgiving service held in the middle of the village, and would treat the peasants to half a bucket of vodka, which he thought the right thing to do. Ah! These horrible buckets of vodka.”

The use of irony develops the theme of Privilege Versus Social Equality. Ethically, Nicholai’s behavior—feeding his peasants vodka—is not “good.” However, it fits Russian conventions and therefore is considered “good.” Chekhov embeds his social critique on Russian conventions of pseudoscience and overdrinking. Those traditions, in the author’s view, are foolish and irrational.

“He was constantly saying: ‘We noblemen,’ or ‘I, as a nobleman.’ Apparently he had forgotten that our grandfather was a peasant and our father a common soldier. Even our family name, Tchimacha­Himalaysky, which is really an absurd one, seemed to him full­sounding, distinguished, and very pleasing.”

This is another example of irony that enhances the theme of The Pursuit of Happiness and the Meaning of Life. Nicholai has used money to make his last name “noble,” but the nobility of the last name is in fact a sham. Similarly, his hard-earned happy life is illusive in nature.

“‘How good they are! Do try one!’

It [the gooseberry] was hard and sour, but, as Poushkin said, the illusion which exalts us is dearer to us than ten thousand truths.”

This quote enhances the theme of Individual Freedom Versus Social Expectation. The story within the story culminates in a scene in which the two brothers eat gooseberries, the symbol of social expectations. For the delusive Nicholai, the gooseberries are “good.” However, Ivan can tell the truth. Likewise, he can tell that Nicholai’s life is miserable, not happy.

“I saw a happy man, one whose dearest dream had come true, who had attained his goal in life, who had got what he wanted, and was pleased with his destiny and with himself. In my idea of human life there is always some alloy of sadness, but now at the sight of a happy man I was filled with something like despair.”

As Ivan comments on Nicholai’s story, his tone becomes more expressive and even didactic. The shift of tone signifies his eagerness to convey his takeaway to his audience, who later respond with apathy. This unexpected plot twist serves as an indirect commentary on the theme of Privilege Versus Social Expectations.

“‘Pavel Koustantinich,’ he said in a voice of entreaty, ‘don’t be satisfied, don’t let yourself be lulled to sleep! While you are young, strong, wealthy, do not cease to do good! Happiness does not exist, nor should it, and if there is any meaning or purpose in life, they are not in our peddling little happiness, but in something reasonable and grand. Do good!’”

The excited and epiphanic Ivan wants to convey his life lessons to Aliokhin. Irony is in play here. Ivan warns Aliokhin not to be “lulled to sleep,” a metaphor for settling for a materialistically comfortable life. However, Aliokhin and Ivan himself go to bed straightaway, suggesting the failure of the teaching.

“Then they all three sat in different corners of the drawing­room and were silent. Ivan Ivanich’s story had satisfied neither Bourkin nor Aliokhin. With the generals and ladies looking down from their gilt frames, seeming alive in the firelight, it was tedious to hear the story of a miserable official who ate gooseberries...Somehow they had a longing to hear and to speak of charming people, and of women.”

The physical distance between Ivan and his listeners suggests that Ivan’s lessons may not connect with them. In addition, Ivan’s economic advantage over his listeners may help shed light on their indifference, given that most Russians were too busy struggling to fulfill basic material needs to have time to ponder the meaning of life. This scene provides an indirect commentary on the theme of Privilege Versus Social Equality.