An Upheaval
Love the way the story is structured. You are put right into the middle of the action. Mashenka, a young governess has come home and found her boss Madame Kushkin ransacking her room in the search for a missing two thousand ruble brooch.
We feel her pain and her outrage. Chekhov sets up right away what is going on: " . . . "it was her lot to experience in all its acuteness the feeling that is so familiar to persons in dependent positions, who eat the bread of the rich and powerful."
There are many good reasons for Mashenka to stay and continue with her job as governess. After all, her room was searched and nothing was found and her parents live out in the provinces and are poor. She needs the job. In time, she could find a more suitable family to live with. She shouldn't take what happened to heart. But we also realize if she does stay she will never be the same. Her dignity and her self-worth would be forever shattered.
You Go Girl!
I thought Mashenka was a spoiled little brat, I mean I love Chekhov and of course I understand her reasoning, it's a brilliant story. But I thought Mashenka was one of those self-important, prissy women who have never encountered any real hardships and just the tiniest little bit of insult throws her into a state of dispair. Of course, I would argue that this is Chekhov's intention and I love how with just 15 pages he takes the measure of this girl who for the first time feels how at the mercy she is of other, more powerful people.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. But I don't see Mashenka as a spoiled little brat at all. Just as a sensitive young woman who is trying to maintain some dignity in a society where the rich abuse those of lower positions at will -- (some things never change) and it's expected for the lower classes to just take it -- well, Mashenka doesn't want to just take it -- because she realizes if she just takes it -- little by little she will be reduced to nothing but a servant of the rich and her humanity and pride and any self-worth will disappear.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, I was a bit harsh. I was intending to adress those points, I really did like Mashenka's pride. And epscially for a young woman in her position. But at the same time I think her pride stems from being handed a lot in life. It's a delicate point, and this is why Chekhov is so brilliant, because this is of course a step towards Mashenkas eventual "maturity". She reminds me of my sister, an incredibly proud girl who perhaps has been handed a bit too much in life.
ReplyDeleteVery true. She is handed quite a bit of responsibilty. Her parents need her to work. But that's what makes her action so noble. She has every reason to give in -- take the insult -- for her family -- for her future -- and yet she still maintains her dignity. Most people in her position would have done the senisble thing and taken the insult and kept their job. But then Chekhov doesn't write stories about people who do the sensible thing. Neither does history.
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