Chekhov short story analysis

In the Ravine Characters- names, relationships

Grigory Tsybukin Varvara Stepan Anisim Aksinya Lipa Grigory runs the local grocery store and Grigorys second wife. She is charitable and beautiful in nature and character. The younger son of Grigory. Deaf, ignorant of beauty and doesnt acknowledge his wife, Aksinya. The elder son of Grigory, a detective. He rarely visits home and is quite detached from the family. Grigory favours him over Stepan. Stepans wife. She is smart and hard-working. A young and nave girl who is married off to Anisim.

Setting- time and place

In a dirty, grimy village called Ukleyevo. It is place where there is a divison between the rich and the poor; the poor work for the rich. Ukleyevo is filled with the stench of poverty. The story itself is set in the household of Grigory Tsybukin, a wealthy business man. He has two sons and loves his daughter-in-law. He lives with his younger son, Stepan, his daughter-in-law, Aksinya and his wife, Varvara.

Brief plot outline

The story begins with the setting- in Ukleyevo. Grigory is please with his younger sons wife, Aksinya. She is hard-working and smart. His wife, Varvara is charitable and good. His elder son is his preference- but he appears detached and estranged. When Anisim suprises them with a visit, they decide to marry him off. They find a young, yet beautiful girl, Lipa who they immediately wed. Later, Anisim is jailed for forging fake currency. This also causes Grigory to lose his reputation as he unknowingly pays his workers with the forged money. Meanwhile, Lipa gives birth to a baby son, Nikifor. She is smitten with his youth, and her love for him comes off as stupid to Varvara. When Grigory leaves the property Aksinya has invested in to his grandson, Aksinya is angered. In a fit of rage and hatred towards Lipa, she pours boiling water on Nikifor, who dies in hospital. 3 years later, Aksinya becomes a powerful force, owning and running a business. Grigory is left without money and has lost faith in life. He doesnt eat and is talked about by those around him. Lipa leaves the Tsybukin home and moves to be with her mother. They see Grigory on the street and give him something to eat.

Major themes
Inheritance Marriage Drunkenness Questioning the existence of God and religion, in general Fear!

Your first impressions

My first impression was that it would be a typical story of the search for marriage. That they would find a wife for Anisim and watch the two struggle to get along due to his self-absorbed nature. It seemed like a perfect setting for a scandal to take place especially with the character Aksinya who begins to lose touch of herself, and it portrayed as a snake.

Key quotes
he (Anisim) was reeking of drink. Now he was being married, because that was the right thing to do. Tongues began to falter. They had lived on lies for so long. People have to get married, my dear daughter. Its not for us to say.

Author views and values Happiness and the joy of life do not lie in money, nor in love, but in truth. Anton P. Chekhov Found in a biography, originally written in French0 1971 by a Soviet in Paris However great that sorrow, it was matched by the beauty and serenity of the night; that truth equally beautiful and serene, existed and would continue to exist in the world. However much evil existed in the world, the night was still calm and beautiful, and there was, and always would be, truth in Gods universe, a truth that was just as calm and beautiful. The whole earth was only waiting to merge that truth, just as the moonlight blended into the night. Amazing how he describes truth- in comparison with love By his vivid description and the sincerity in which he does so- can tell where his values lie Where love is just a phase in life, truth is the element that sets a person free. The beauty in life is in truth

In the Ravine- what is the truth? - everyone returns to their rightful place?