The Goal: Read. Reflect. Respond. Over two hundred Chekhov stories. Constance Garnett translations.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
SORROW
Man marries beautiful woman.
Spends the next forty years neglecting her.
Just when he wakes up to how badly he treated her -- she dies.
And then he dies.
Forty years wasted wandering the desert.
Life goes quickly if you don't love.
Just saw the movie The Tree of Life and it had the same message.
So start loving and start living.
Okay, if that's too much -- then eat some good chocolate.
Fine -- if that's not possible -- how about a nice hot shower?
No problem -- watching a good movie will do.
You got it -- having a meaningful conversation with your neighbor about her dog counts!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Not sure I agree with you on this one. Grigory is described as a splendid craftsman, a fine wood worker. Appears that he loves his vocation and focuses his energy towards that, no?
ReplyDeleteI don't know why his marriage went sour - we're not given a lot of details about him or his wife. But, Grigory only appreciates something or someone when he's about to lose it, his own life included. When it's gone or on the verge of disappearing is what makes something so precious is what Chekhov appears to be commenting on.
Maybe so -- which still leaves us with the question -- why wait until you're about to lose something to appreciate it? The answer is don't wait until it's too late. It's true many people do this but Chekhov in this story illuminates the foolhardiness of that position. If you wait until you almost lose something to realize its value -- then you are digging your own grave.
DeleteUpon rereading it, I think I made a mistake. I don't think this a tale with a moral like Aesop. It's a psychological portrait of a man who's kidding himself. When his wife and his life are on the verge of disappearing, Grigory thinks and feels appreciative. "If I only had a second chance..." But, given a second chance in both cases, he'd go back to his routine after a little while. The doctor knows this at the end, which is why he dismisses him with a wave of his hand. I'm not saying you're wrong about appreciating life before it's too late, just that I don't think that's what the story is describing.
ReplyDeleteYes, after rereading it myself, I do think you're spot on. Chekhov is as you say describing our endless capacity for self-delusion. We all want to imagine given another chance we'd behave differently -- learn from our mistakes -- however, most of us fall into the same patterns. We are prisoners of our own design. How sad indeed!
ReplyDelete