(340 words) Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is a great Russian writer who presented us not only with the groundbreaking play “The Cherry Orchard”, but also with short, equally significant stories. They are interesting not only for their laconicism and attention to detail, but also for the fact that each reader can find certain moments for himself in these stories, causing laughter and, conversely, sadness.
The most popular stories by Chekhov are “The Man in the Case,” “The Death of an Official,” “Chameleon,” “Ionych,” and “Horse Name.” It would seem, how can someone find at least something funny in them? For example, in the work “Ionych” the main character is the zemstvo doctor Dmitry Startsev, and the whole plot is dedicated to his spiritual impoverishment. Of course, Katerina Ivanovna’s joke is mentioned in the story when she appointed the main character a meeting in the cemetery, but she didn’t come. But here the question begs: is this a kind of sense of humor, or is the author just not able to joke? And the story “The Man in the Case” generally seems rather gloomy, as does the main character, Belikov, who influences the whole city with his fear. However, one cannot help but see that each image is depicted by the author with undisguised irony, therefore, in the process of reading, a smile illuminates the faces of many readers. For example, Belikov wears strange clothes, even in summer wears a warm coat. And many people have witnessed the fact that many of his prototypes are found in life. Is this not the irony of the notorious, sandwiched and closed inhabitants of the cases?
No less characteristic are the stories Death of an Official and Chameleon. In the first story, the hero, sneezing on the bald head of the general, apologized until he screamed at him, which led to terrible consequences. In the second, police overseer Ochumelov constantly changes his attitude to the puppy's attack on Khryukin, depending on whether the dog belongs to the general. Thanks to the absolutely absurd situations, the author deduces the vices of reverence and spiritual slavery. The author makes fun of the shortcomings of mankind in sad stories, so we are imbued with pity not for the characters, but for their prototypes - for all people. Having saddened over the ridiculous situation, Chekhov prefers to be ironic, hoping for a subsequent correction of the heroes.
There really is plenty of sad and serious in Chekhov's stories, but who said that his works do not cause a smile? This author is full of humorous stories: “Horse surname”, “Lucky”, “Talking drunk with the devil”, “Ah, teeth!” - And thanks to many other stories with Chekhov, you can laugh perfectly!
Ben gur
