POLINKA

Polinka

A sketch of two characters. 

It takes place in a store that sells drapery.  

Polinka is a dressmaker who is in love with a student. We never meet the student. Instead, we are introduced to Nikolay Timofeitch, a salesman who attends to Polinka. Nikolay Timofeitch is in love with Polinka. He wants to protect her from being hurt. He tells her that the student will always look down on her because she is uneducated.

Chekhov gets a lot accomplished in a few pages. He skillfully recreates the ambience of the store while he invites us inside a classic story. 

Polinka is seduced by the world of the student. 

She wants to be a part of that world. She wants to be married to a future doctor or lawyer. She wants to move up the social ladder. But Nikolay Tomofeitch knows the pitfalls of her dreams. He knows that in the end she will be an outcast in that loftier world. According to Nikolay Timofietch, Polinka should just accept her fate -- she is an uneducated dressmaker and she should marry within her own class.

This is a story which continues to this day. 

We know that Polinka is yearning for something more than her immediate surroundings -- logic and reason won't stop her from trying to taste a different world -- a different life. 

Maybe she would be happier with Nikolay Timofeitch -- we don't know -- what we do know is her heart longs for a better life. A more exciting life. 

She can't help herself. 

Love and dreams can't be contained by merely the prudent.