The Goal: Read. Reflect. Respond. Over two hundred Chekhov stories. Constance Garnett translations.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
PEASANTS
They are poor, dirty, noisy, lazy, drunkards -- but human beings.
Chekhov doesn't spare anything in his description of the peasants.
It's not a pretty picture.
Yet, somehow, there is something majestic in village life. The air is pure and the people endure.
They endure despite the poverty, the mistreatment by officials -- they do what they can with what they have.
Sure -- there is a lot in this story that is revolting -- especially the beatings Kiryak gives his wife and how the family seems complacent about them.
The peasants live close to nature -- the heat and the cold are vividly felt -- they have no place to hide -- they live with the bugs and the sunsets -- drink cheap vodka under the stars -- eat food they grow and abuse one another -- sing and dance in the meadow -- suffer and fear death -- they are in touch with the good and the bad.
The poverty does make their lives hard -- they could easily give up -- but they don't.
Should we feel sorry for them? Disgust? Compassion?
They are who they are.
They could treat each other better.
But we all could do that.
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this is interesting however I personally feel Chekov is assimilating the wild nature with human nature as they both grow out of discpline, the nature can be burtual like Kiryak
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