Reading Journal 2 : Subjectivity

Yoo Sun Sung / 111064 / 12v3

Mr. Garrioch

World Literature

February 27, 2013

 

Reading Journal: The Lady With the Dog

 

             "The Lady with the Dog" is another short story by Anton Chekhov. Considering that Chekhov is a realist writer, I felt how powerful and subjective one's point of view can be. Most of the students that I have talked with felt that The Lady with the Dog was romantic - not as in Romanticism, but as in love - even though the core theme was adultery. Dmitri Dmitrich and Anna

Sergeyevna both have their own wife and husband, but throughout the story they enjoy their secret affairs with each other. I cannot deny the fact that I too have felt that their love story was sweet and young as that of a newborn couple. This aroused a question: why do readers feel affectionate to Dmitri and Anna's story when most people in real life almost consider adultery as a sin to relationships? Probably because the story was in omniscient perspective focused on the inner emotions of the two protagonists.

             To see in the eyes of reality, the actions of Dmitri and Anna are quite unfavorable. Maybe I am accustomed to the social cultures and norms of the Korean society, where people consider marriage to be sacred and the relationship between a husband and a wife a serious responsibility on each other. Since the discussions were placed in Korea, I will assume that the students too are familiar with the Korean atmosphere. An middle-aged man almost in his forties and a young woman probably near in her twenties are having an affair almost every day even when they live far away. I wonder how many people would see with kind eyes about the relationship, especially when the man is known for hanging out with the club women. Still, no reader seriously taunts the Russian man and woman.

             Dmitri and Anna are not living in a world where adultery is acceptable; rather, it can be derived from Anna's frequent reactions throughout the story that the Russian society in "The Lady with the Dog" deems adultery as an unforgivable action. Anna clearly acknowledges this when she refers her as "vulgar, contemptible woman whom any one may despise." The world is as realistic as it could be, but the reactions of contemporary people are so different from what in real life. Clearly, people had substituted themselves into the positions of Dmitri and Anna and rationalized themselves that adultery is possible. Because Chekhov have successfully conveyed the emotions in the omniscient point of view, readers feel as if they are the ones involved in the adultery. They perceive reasons Dmitri and Anna justify as acceptable.

             Dmitri and Anna is well likely justifying adultery with the fact that they are "miserable" with their current marriage. Most descriptions about Dmitri's wife and Anna's husband are actually depicted in the perspectives of Anna and Dmitri. There are no clear depictions on the characteristics of the spouses, but only the hatred of the two adulterers. It would be hasty to define the spouses as the causes for making the miserable marriage life and unbearable enough for Dmitri and Anna to "reluctantly" have secret affairs, based on only the subjective emotions of the protagonists. Regardless of what seems to be a logical absence, people still sympathize with the two protagonists.

             Maybe if the story was written in the perspectives of Dmitri's wife and Anna's husband, the reactions of the readers would be different. They would sympathize with the spouses and show anger at the two guiltless adulterers having affairs despite the significant age difference. What would Dmitri's daughter feel when she realized that her father was going out secretly with a young woman similar of her age? Anton Chekhov have certainly succeeded in forming a protective shield around his two fictional characters by using their perspectives to move the audience.

             Or simply it could just be that the social norms are changing. The marriage could be no longer seen as an eternal relationship with heavy responsibilities. Maybe people pursue the feelings of love now more than the social stability. I do not have a clue. I only know that I too have felt sweetness in the love story of Dmitri and Anna more than repulsiveness.

Reading Journal 1 : The Student

Yoo Sun Sung / 111064 / 12v3

Mr. Garrioch

World Literature

Feburary 19 2013

 

Reading Journal: The Student

 

           The name of Anton Chekhov was familiar, probably hearing from other literature teachers here and there, but it was the first time actually reading one of his stories. Honestly at first when students popcorn-read the story in class, I did not understand what was taking place. The sudden lengthy allusion of the Bible was probably the reason, but after reading "The Student" several times -as with other stories- I understood the plot, not completely but better than the first time.  I believe that Anton Chekhov purposefully inserted the short well-known excerpt about Jesus and his Last supper, but first I want to focus more on whether the story is based on Realism or not.

           What is Realism? Again, the term itself is familiar. To grasp a better understanding of the story, I looked up the exact definition of the term realism: attempt to depict subjects as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation and "in accordance with secular, empirical rules." In the class, some students provided their opinions about how they thought "The Student" was not an example of Realism (maybe they do now), because the student Ivan Velikopolsky's reactions to the woman were maybe too extreme. However, I thought that "The Student" was quite matching with the definition that I looked up. The story does take place in the third person omniscient, focusing on the dialogue between Ivan and the two widows. Other than that, the two factors of setting and the characters' behaviors were also made the story more realistic.

           From the start of the story, Anton Chekhov presents the specific details of the setting, which seemed realistic enough.

 

At the first the weather was fine and still. The thrushes were calling, and in the swamps close by something alive droned pitifully with a sound like blowing into an empty bottle. A snipe flew by, and the shot aimed at it rang out with a gay, resounding note in the spring air. But when it began to get dark in the forest a cold, penetrating wind blew inappropriately from the east, and everything sank into silence. Needless of ice stretched across the pools, and it felt cheerless, remote, and lonely in the forest. There was a whiff of winter.

 

           Personally, I do not think that in order to be realistic, the author has to be stiff with simple unembellished sentences. The similes and the adjectives used in the above paragraph seem to convey the atmosphere of the forest and the swamp appropriately. The elaborate details were not to romanticize the swamp, but to portray the likely thoughts racing through one's mind when passing the forest swamp in early spring. This mind can be seen clearly when the story first narrates the liveliness in the day and sudden emptiness in the night, when most diurnal creatures become inactive. The details of the setting continue throughout the story following the path of Ivan.

           The second aspect of human psychology I was able to see in somewhat awkwardly looking progress of conversation between Ivan and the two widows. Ivan is depicted as a son of a sacristan and a "student" of the clerical academy. For a person related deeply into religions, it is not awkward or unnatural for them to fervently talk about religion and the Bible. People become more passionate about subjects they are well related to. Maybe the reason why we feel that the conversation is weird is because we have few chance to actually discuss about religion or learn it, especially for the atheists. According to "The Student," both Vasilissa and Ivan are familiar with the story of Peter and Jesus, so their conversation and Vasilissa's emotional reaction to the issue is understandable. The story is more realistic, because Anton Chekhov did not forge the natural.

           I still do not really comprehend to the root of the story, most likely because I am not that familiar with the Christ story. Still, from what I had read and within my scope of comprehension, I believe that Anton Chekhov had succeeded in making a Realism short story.