The Analysis of Theme in “misery” by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

In the short story, “Misery”, the famous Russian writer, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, emphasizes how indifferent people are to the grief of an insignificant man (250-255). At the very first glance it seems that there are no events going on in this story. The sled driver, Iona, is supposed to be interested in new passengers because this is his job, but, in fact, he does not try to pick up any new passengers for anyone. For a whole week, he lives in grief because his “son died” (251; 46). The characterization of Iona in combination with the setting of the story and literary devices the writer uses, develop an atmosphere of deep suffering to which everyone seems indifferent.

The sledge driver Iona Potapov appears in the very first lines of the exposition of the story. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov uses the third person point of view for characterizing the main character of the story, which best matches the topic. The author's intention is that Iona should be quiet; he is silent because of his grief. The narrator characterizes Iona by telling the reader that he is a sled driver, probably poor because his horse “look[s] like a halfpenny gingerbread horse” (251; 10), and through showing his attempts to start a dialogue with his customers in the rising action and his speech to his horse after the climax at the end of story. This characterization is critical for the whole story since it creates deep feelings sadness and pity about Iona. He is a poor old man whose son has died; he has a low level job in which he is not interested in anymore.

Writers such as Anton Pavlovich Chekhov have always impressed me because of their ability to write about timeless topics. The historical setting of this story puts a reader to the end of 19th century, but lack of spirituality, responsiveness, and understanding are not just problems of the 19th century, but current ones. I suggest that the social and cultural setting have the most important role for this story because it is typical for Russian society to be cold to petty people. The Iona’s problem exacerbated by his low social status, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov shows cultural aspect of Russian society which is that people are more indifferent to those who are not belong to their social level. Iona is just a sledge-driver who is not interested in those for whom he serves. Nobody cares about Iona’s tragedy neither military nor loitering youth in general, and because of he is nobody in their eyes as well. Iona Potapov and his painfully arching soul are not interesting to others. People are in a hurry, they are all unhappy and annoyed, only Iona does not hurry. He is lonely, sad, and immersed in thought: “death has come in at the wrong door” (253; 110). After several attempts to pour his heart out to strangers, Iona Potapov understands that there are no grief sympathizers out there and nor will there ever be; people turn away, for they want to do anything, but talk about someone's death. People