A.P. Chekhov’s story “The Death of an Official” is one of the writer’s early works, which was included in the collection “Motley Stories” in 1886. It was written in the spirit of artistic realism. This trend in literature in Russia developed in the second half of the 19th century. At the end of the work, the writer goes beyond its scope, since he considered ridicule of death unacceptable.
Chekhov, “The Death of an Official”: summary, analysis
The theme of the “little” person - the official, who is often in constant uncertainty and confusion for no reason, is brought to the fore here. This is exactly how the author protests against any suppression of the individual. The summary of Chekhov's story “The Death of an Official” very clearly reflects all the consequences of such treatment.
Heroes
There are only three characters in the story. This is a low-ranking official, Ivan Dmitrievich Chervyakov, his wife and General Brizzhalov. The main focus of the work is on the official who has become the object of ridicule. But the character of the remaining characters is left undisclosed by A.P. Chekhov. “The Death of an Official” (summary) describes Chervyakov as a small, pitiful and comical person. His stupid and absurd persistence evokes genuine laughter, and his humiliation generates pity. In his persistent apologies to the general, he goes beyond all limits and renounces his human dignity.
Opposition
Analyzing the topic “Chekhov, “Death of an Official”: summary, analysis,” it should be noted that the author contrasts two personalities in the plot. This is the boss and the subordinate.
It is with the conflict that A.P. Chekhov begins his story “The Death of an Official.” The summary shows its traditional development: General Brizzhalov eventually shouted at his subordinate, because of this Chervyakov dies of cardiac arrest. It would seem like a familiar plot pattern. However, the work contains the presence of certain innovative techniques, because the general shouted at his subordinate only after he himself brought him down with his annoying apologies.
A comic and somewhat unexpected turn of events lies in the worldview of the official Chervyakov, who died not at all because of fear, but because the general, as a man of high rank, violated his “sacred principles.”
Chekhov has not changed his style; his brevity is amazing. His works always contain a deep meaning, which can only be understood through artistic details.
Summary of the story “The Death of an Official”, Chekhov
Now, in fact, we can proceed to the plot of the work itself. Petty official Ivan Dmitrievich Chervyakov, acting as the caretaker of the institution, sits in the second row, looks through binoculars and enjoys the operetta of the French composer Plunkett “The Bells of Corneville”. Then his face wrinkled, his eyes rolled up, his breath caught, he bent over and sneezed. Chervyakov was a very polite man, he wiped himself with a handkerchief and looked around to see if he had hurt anyone with his sneeze. And suddenly I discovered that the old man sitting in front was wiping his bald spot with a handkerchief and muttering something. Taking a closer look, Ivan Dmitrievich saw that it was none other than State General Brizzhalov. This makes him feel sick. He awkwardly pulled himself up to him and began to whisper words of apology in his ear.
Trifles
Chekhov continues “The Death of an Official” (we present a summary of the work in the review) with the fact that the general replied that, in general, nothing terrible happened. But he continued to apologize, then the general asked to let him calmly listen to the rest of the operetta. But the official did not let up and even during the intermission approached the general and began to ask for forgiveness, to which he replied that he had long forgotten about it.
But now it seemed to Chervyakov that the general was being sarcastic and probably thought that he wanted to spit at him. The official came home and told his wife about what had happened; she was frightened and said that her husband had taken this too lightly, that she needed to go to a reception with the general and ask for forgiveness again.
The next day, dressed in a new uniform, he goes to the general. Which turned out to have a lot of visitors in the waiting room. After interviewing several visitors, the general saw Chervyakov, who again began with his ridiculous apologies for yesterday. Brizzhalov answered with dignity: “Yes, that’s enough! What nonsense!
Apologies
But Chervyakov did not stop and even suggested writing an explanatory letter. And then the general could not stand it and shouted at him, believing that he was simply mocking him. However, Chervyakov muttered in bewilderment that he was not laughing at all.
In general, when he came home, he thought about it and decided to go to the general again tomorrow. The next day, Brizzhalov simply could not stand it and yelled at him: “Get out!”
This is how Chekhov ends “The Death of an Official.” The summary at the end tells that Chervyakov felt ill, he backed towards the door and mechanically trudged home. Returning to the apartment, he lay down on the sofa in his uniform and died.
History of creation
“...An amazing mind flashed and disappeared in Russian literature, because only very smart people, those whose mind “shimmers through all veins”, can invent and tell a good absurdity, a good joke,” wrote I.A. about Chekhov’s talent . Bunin. L.N. Tolstoy said about him: “Chekhov is Pushkin in prose.” These words meant the strongest artistic impression left by Chekhov’s prose, which was surprising in its brevity and simplicity.
According to Chekhov’s memoirs, the plot of the story “Death of an Official” was told to Anton Pavlovich by Begichev. It was simple: some man, who carelessly sneezed in the theater, came to a stranger the next day and began to apologize for causing him trouble in the theater. Funny anecdotal incident.
“The Death of an Official” refers to the so-called early stories of the writer. Published in 1883 with the subtitle “The Case.” “The Death of an Official,” like other stories of the writer, were included by the author in the 1886 collection “Motley Stories.” All these works reveal the theme of the little man.
Genre, genre, creative method
Before A.P. came to Russian literature. Chekhov believed that the small epic form is a “splinter” of the large (novel) form: “a chapter torn from a novel,” as V.G. Belinsky about the story. The differences between a novel and a story (as the story was called) were determined only by the number of pages. Chekhov, according to L.N. Tolstoy, “created new, completely new... forms of writing for the whole world...”.
The story “The Death of an Official” is written in the “sketch” genre. This is a short humorous story, a painting from life, the comedy of which consists in conveying the conversation of the characters. Chekhov raised the skit to the level of great literature. The main thing in the scene is the speech of the characters, believably everyday and funny at the same time. The title and the telling names of the characters play an important role.
Thus, the problem of the story “The Death of an Official” is stated in the title itself, which represents a combination of opposing concepts. An official is an official, wearing a uniform buttoned up with all the buttons (this also applies to his feelings); he is, as it were, deprived of the living movements of the soul, and suddenly - death, although sad, is still a purely human property, which is contraindicated for an official, such is the image he has about him. Chekhov's work, one can assume in advance, is a story not about the disappearance of human individuality, but about the cessation of the functioning of an official, a kind of soulless mechanism. In the story, it is not so much the person who dies, but his outer shell.
The story as a whole is written within the framework of critical realism. However, in the second half of the story, Chervyakov’s behavior goes beyond the limits of everyday plausibility: he is too cowardly, too annoying, this does not happen in life. In the end, Chekhov is completely sharp and open. With this “died” he takes the story beyond the scope of everyday realism. Therefore, this story is felt as quite humorous: death is perceived as frivolity, a convention, a revelation of a technique, a move. The writer laughs, plays, and does not take the word “death” seriously. In the clash of laughter and death, laughter triumphs. It determines the overall tone of the work. So Chekhov’s funny turns into accusatory.
Subjects
Rethinking the traditional theme of the “little man”, coming from Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev and early Dostoevsky, Chekhov at the same time continues and develops the humanistic pathos of this direction in new conditions. Like Pushkin’s “The Station Agent,” Gogol’s “The Overcoat,” and Dostoevsky’s “Poor People,” Chekhov’s works are full of protest against the suppression and distortion of the human personality, which in new historical conditions is even more merciless and sophisticated. At the same time, the story portrays the subject of ridicule as a petty official who acts meanly and grovels when no one forces him.
Idea
In Chekhov's story, the center of a story is usually not a character or an idea, but a situation - an unusual incident, an anecdote. Moreover, the case is far from accidental - it highlights certain patterns of life, the essence of character. Chekhov had a genius gift for noticing in reality such situations in which characters would be revealed not just to the maximum, but with exhaustive completeness, both as social and ethical types, and as people with a psychology and manner of behavior peculiar only to them.
In the story “The Death of an Official,” the writer showed how a petty official, Chervyakov, being in a humiliated position, not only does not strive to get out of it, but himself proclaims slavish behavior. Which became the subject of ridicule in the story. Chekhov stood up for high moral ideals.
Main characters
There are two main characters in the story. One of them is a general who plays a secondary role and only reacts to the actions of the hero. The general is deprived of a name and patronymic, and this is natural, because we see him through the eyes of Chervyakov, and he sees only the uniform (this word is often repeated in the text) of an important person. We don’t learn anything significant about the general, but it is obvious that he, also in violation of tradition, is more humane than the “humiliated and insulted” Chervyakov. One thing is clear: the characters in the story speak different languages, they have different logic and understanding - dialogue between them is impossible.
The second character - the official Chervyakov - is the object of ridicule in the story. Traditionally in Russian literature it was a “small”, poor, “humiliated and insulted” person who evoked sympathy from the reader. Chekhov, with his ineradicable sense of freedom, sought to overcome this cliche. He wrote to his brother Alexander in 1885 (after the creation of the story “The Death of an Official”) about “little” people: “Give me your oppressed collegiate registrars! Can’t you just smell that this topic has already become obsolete and is making you yawn? And where in Asia do you find the torment that the chino-shi experience in your stories? Truly I tell you, it’s scary to even read! It is now more realistic to portray collegiate registrars who do not allow their excellencies to live.” The little man Chervyakov here is both funny and pitiful at the same time: ridiculous because of his absurd persistence, pathetic because he humiliates himself, renouncing his own human personality, human dignity.
Plot and composition
In Chekhov's story, one of the participants in the events turns out to be a minor official, the other - a general. The official's surname - Chervyakov - speaks for itself, emphasizing the humiliation of the executor1 Ivan Dmitrievich. This initial situation gives rise to traditional conflict. The general barked at a small, defenseless, dependent man - and killed him. In Chekhov, the general actually shouted at the official, as a result of which: “Something came off in Chervyakov’s stomach. Seeing nothing, hearing nothing, he backed away to the door, went out into the street and trudged... Arriving automatically home, without taking off his uniform, he lay down on the sofa and... died.”
Thus, a seemingly familiar plot scheme appears. However, significant changes are also taking place. To begin with, the general barked at his visitor only when he drove him with more and more visits, more and more new explanations, and all on the same topic, to the point of complete exhaustion, and then to frenzy.
He doesn’t look like a pathetic, dependent person or official. After all, he bothers the general with his apologies not because he depends on him. Not at all. He apologizes, so to speak, for reasons of principle, believing that respect for persons is the sacred basis of social existence, and he is deeply discouraged that his apology is not accepted. When the general once again waved him off, remarking: “You’re just laughing, sir!..” - Chervyakov became seriously angry. “What kind of ridicule is there? - thought Chervyakov. - There is no ridicule here at all! General, he can’t understand!” Thus, Chervyakov is fundamentally different from his previous literary colleagues. Chervyakov’s worldview contains an unexpected, comic twist on the traditional theme and plot scheme. It turns out that Chervyakov does not die from fright at all. The drama of man is that he could not stand the trampling of principles that were sacred to him, and not by anyone, but by an illustrious person, a general. Chervyakov could not bear this. Thus, under Chekhov’s pen, a harmless anecdote develops into a satire on prevailing morals and customs.
Artistic originality
In the history of Russian literature A.P. Chekhov entered as a master of the small genre. The name of the writer is associated with the formation of a satirical story, the defining features of which were laconicism and aphorism.
The title itself, “The Death of an Official,” contains the main idea of the work: the opposition of rank and man, the unity of the comic and the tragic. The content of the story makes a strong artistic impression due to its brevity and simplicity. It is known that Chekhov adhered to the thought: “to write with talent - that is, briefly.” The small volume of the work and its precise laconicism also determine the special dynamism of the story. This special dynamism is contained in verbs and their forms. It is through verbal vocabulary that the plot develops, and the characteristics of the characters are also given; although, of course, the writer also uses other artistic techniques.
In the story, the characters have telling surnames: Chervyakov and Brizzhalov. The official Chervyakov serves as an executor. The meaning of this word is discussed above. The second meaning of this word (it is marked in dictionaries as obsolete) is the following: executor - the one who carried out the execution, that is, punishment, or supervised it. Today this meaning is perceived as the main one, since the previous one (junior official in the office) has already been forgotten. The phrase executor Chervyakov was also chosen on the principle of comic contrast, characteristic of Chekhov: executor (that is, carrying out punishment) and suddenly a “funny” surname... Chervyakov.
According to the writer, a literary work “should give not only a thought, but also a sound, ... a sound impression.” In the story, this is literally a sound impression - “But suddenly his face wrinkled, his eyes rolled up, his breathing stopped... he took the binoculars away from his eyes, bent down and... apchhi!!! He sneezed, as you can see” - causes a comic effect.
In a short story, lengthy descriptions and internal monologues are impossible, which is why artistic detail comes to the fore. It is the details that carry a huge semantic load in Chekhov. Literally one phrase can say everything about a person. In the last sentence of the story “The Death of an Official,” the author practically explains everything: the official, “coming home mechanically, without taking off his uniform, he lay down on the sofa and... died.” The uniform, this official uniform, seemed to have grown on him. Fear of a higher rank killed a man.
In the story “Death of an Official,” the author’s position is not clearly expressed. One gets the impression of Chekhov's objectivity and indifference to what is happening. The narrator does not evaluate the hero's actions. He ridicules them, leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions.
Meaning of the work
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is one of the greatest Russian classical writers. He is known as a master of realistic storytelling. The writer himself said this: “Fiction is called fiction because it depicts life as it really is.” The truth of life attracted him above all. The main theme of Chekhov's work (like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky) was the inner world of man. But the artistic methods and artistic techniques that writers used in their work are different. Chekhov is rightfully considered a master of the short story and miniature novella. Over many years of work in humorous magazines, Chekhov honed his skill as a storyteller and learned to fit maximum content into a small volume.
After the story “The Death of an Official” appeared, many critics said that Chekhov had composed some kind of absurd story that had nothing to do with life. The situation, indeed, is brought to the point of absurdity by the writer, but this is precisely what allows us to better see the absurdities of life itself, in which servility, veneration, deification of superiors and panic fear of them reign. According to M.P. Chekhov, the writer's brother, an actual incident similar to the one described occurred at the Bolshoi Theater, but it is unclear whether it was known to Chekhov. Another thing is known: in January 1882, Chekhov received a letter from his Taganrog acquaintance A.V. Petrov, which said: “On the eve of Christmas... our postmaster (a famous monster and pedant) threatened one official (senior sorter K.D. Shchetinsky) to put him on trial, it seems, for violation of discipline, in a word, for personal insult; and he foolishly, after trying to ask for forgiveness, left the office and in the city garden... a few hours before Matins and hanged himself...” In other words, Chekhov managed to recreate a typical, albeit absurd, situation.
“Russian critics wrote that neither Chekhov’s style, nor his choice of words, nor anything else testifies to the special literary care with which Gogol, Flaubert or Henry James were obsessed. His vocabulary is poor, his combinations of words are banal; a juicy verb, a hothouse adjective, a mint-cream epithet, brought on a silver tray - all this is alien to him. He was not a verbal virtuoso like Gogol; his Muse was dressed in casual dress. Therefore, it is good to cite Chekhov as an example of the fact that one can be an impeccable artist without the exceptional brilliance of verbal technique, without exceptional concern for the graceful curves of sentences. When Turgenev begins to talk about the landscape, one can see how concerned he is with smoothing the trouser folds of his phrase; crossing his legs, he sneaks a glance at the color of his socks. Chekhov doesn’t care about this - not because these details don’t matter, for writers of a certain type they are natural and very important - but Chekhov doesn’t care because by his nature he was alien to any kind of verbal inventiveness. Even a slight grammatical error or a newspaper stamp did not bother him at all. The magic of his art is that, despite his tolerance for mistakes that a brilliant beginner could easily avoid, despite his readiness to be content with the first word he came across, Chekhov was able to convey a sense of beauty completely inaccessible to many writers who believed that they knew for certain what such luxurious, lush prose. He achieves this by illuminating all the words with the same dim light, giving them the same gray tint - midway between the color of a dilapidated fence and an overhanging cloud. The variety of intonations, the flickering of charming irony, the truly artistic sparingness of characteristics, the colorfulness of details, the fading of human life - all this is purely Chekhovian. the features are flooded and surrounded by a rainbow-vague verbal haze” (V.V. Nabokov).
One of the early stories by A.P. Chekhov's “The Death of an Official” was published in 1883, when a little-known writer under the pseudonym “Antosha Chekhonte” was published in humorous magazines, publishing dozens of short funny stories that enjoyed constant success among readers.
The background of the story is as follows. Once, a good friend of Anton Pavlovich’s family, writer and manager of Moscow theaters, Vladimir Petrovich Begichev, told a funny story about how one person sneezed on another in the theater during a performance. Moreover, this fact excited him so much that the next day he came to ask for forgiveness for yesterday’s embarrassment. They laughed at the story and forgot about it. But not Anton Pavlovich. Even then, in his imagination, the image of Ivan Dmitrievich Chervyakov in a tightly closed uniform and General Brizzhalov was born. The result of the story told was the short story “The Death of an Official” that appeared on the pages of the magazine “Oskolki” with the subtitle “Case”.
Story Analysis
The work was written in the spirit of realism, which became widespread in Russia in the second half of the 19th century. The story was included in the collection “Motley Stories”. The writer combined realism with convention here. This is clearly visible at the beginning of the work and at its end, when mockery of death is inappropriate.
The ideological content of the story is the theme of the little man, a protest against self-suppression and self-abasement of the individual. Ivan Dmitrievich Chervyakov is the younger brother of the “Station Warden” Samson Vyrin. Always humiliated and confused for no particular reason. In his story, Chekhov literally knocks on the reader’s mind, urging him to squeeze out of himself “a slave drop by drop.”
Plot
The plot of the plot might seem completely devoid of any significance, if not for its further development and a completely unexpected ending. While in the theater, official Ivan Dmitrievich Chervyakov sneezed on the bald head of the general sitting in front and, as it seemed to him, displeased him.
Having apologized once, he was not satisfied with this and began to literally persecute the general with his apologies. It seemed to him that he was not satisfied with his apology. The general, at first, quite calmly and favorably accepted the official’s apology. But, endlessly pursued by Chervyakov, he finally explodes and screams at him. After which Ivan Dmitrievich came home, lay down on the bed and died.
Heroes
There are only two main characters here: a petty official with a telling surname, Ivan Dmitrievich Chervyakov, and civil general Brizzhalov. The main character is, of course, Chervyakov. Chekhov shows how pathetic and absurd a person can be, to what a slavish state he can reduce himself. Every time he apologizes to the general, he voluntarily renounces human dignity. It would seem that it would be easier to apologize to the person who graciously accepted your apology and that should all end there. No, you have to force yourself to go and apologize again.
For him, this is not just an unpleasant embarrassment. No! This is an attack on the bureaucratic hierarchy. In this case, General Brizzhalov evokes more sympathy. After all, at first he responded quite decently to Chervyakov’s apology. But he had the principle in his head that respect for persons is sacred, almost the foundation of social existence; in his mind, the general should, apparently, hold a ceremony to accept his apology. And he is even indignant that the general is so inattentive to his apologies. The general himself seems to us to be a completely well-bred man. The fact that he shouted at Chervyakov at the end of the story is quite understandable. Probably not everyone could withstand such persecution.
The story is called "The Death of an Official." There is a deep meaning here that it was not a person who died, but an official for whom veneration of rank is the basis of life. His death does not evoke much sympathy or tragedy. If this official had grown to certain heights, then everywhere along his path he would have promoted the idea of veneration of rank, raising his own kind. That is why Chekhov mercilessly kills him. In his presentation, Chervyakov did not die from fright or from unbearable humiliation. No. It is unbearable for him to realize that his desire to serve, to offer his lowest apologies, is not accepted in a dignified manner. And he dies. By killing him, Chekhov thus pronounces a sentence on everything that Chervyakov personifies.
In Russian literature, Chekhov is considered “Pushkin in prose”, thanks to his scale and unsurpassed artistic style. In Chekhov's story “The Death of an Official” the theme of the “little man” is revealed, but not in the same way as in Gogol or Pushkin. In the work “Death of an Official”, the analysis provides an introduction to the history of creation, issues, features of the genre and composition - all this is in our article. It will be useful for 9th grade students when studying Chekhov’s work in literature lessons.
Brief Analysis
Subject– the theme of the little man, self-abasement and ceremonial worship.
Composition- clear, characteristic of the genre of the story. The personality of the narrator is visible, bringing assessment and emotional coloring to what is happening.
Genre- story. Chekhov's story is similar to the form of a “sketch,” which is why his works are especially good when staged in theaters and filmed.
Direction- realism characteristic of the second half of the 19th century.
History of creation
There are several versions of the creation of the story “Death of an Official”. One of them says that the story happened in reality, at the Bolshoi Theater, which the author learned about from the manager of the imperial theaters.
According to another version, the source of inspiration for Chekhov was Alexey Zhemchuzhnikov, a famous humorist and lover of practical jokes. There were rumors that the joker deliberately stepped on the foot of one high-ranking official, and then harassed him with apologies and courtesy calls.
The third version of the appearance of Chekhov’s plot: an incident that occurred in Taganrog (the writer’s homeland) in 1882. A certain postal worker tried to apologize after a conflict with his superiors, but he was not accepted or understood. In despair, the employee committed suicide. Be that as it may, Chekhov’s artistically rethought plot was embodied in a brilliant story, written in less than two days. The work was first published in 1883 in the magazine “Oskolki” under the pseudonym A. Chekhonte.
Subject
In Chekhov's story “The Death of an Official”, subject a small person, a servile consciousness, a derogatory attitude towards oneself in the face of higher ranks.
Story idea is to see in oneself a symptom of veneration of rank and destroy it in the bud - it is for this that Chekhov exaggerates many important details in the narrative and uses irony with the grotesque. The problems of society contemporary to the author came to light, acutely and topically, in a short story genre.
The conflict between Chervyakov and General Brizzhalov is character's conflict with himself. The meaning of his actions is unclear and inexplicable for a morally “healthy” person. Problems of the story is caused by a disease of society - the habit of groveling before those who occupy a higher position in society, which is quite relevant in our time.
Chervyakov and Brizzhalov - opposite heroes: it was the general who was supposed to become a negative character, but in Chekhov they swapped roles. The general is an extremely positive, adequate character, and the junior rank is cowardly, unsure of himself, annoying, inconsistent and, to say the least, strange in his actions and aspirations. The main idea of the work is the loss of moral foundations, the ideals on which a “healthy” personality rests.
Composition
The comic and tragic merged into one, thanks to the skillfully selected artistic means in Chekhov's story. Analysis of the work allows us to conclude that its composition is traditional for the small genre. This is indicated by the narrator’s monologue, which adds its own note to the perception of what is happening.
The personality of the narrator sometimes emerges quite clearly with comments and an emotional assessment of events. In the structure of the story, it is easy to highlight the plot, climax and other components of the plot. It is dynamic and bright, thanks to Chekhov's laconicism and precision. Every word (characters' surnames, description of appearance), every sound, every phrase is precise and verified - they serve a single purpose in Chekhov's work. A master of situational sketches, he skillfully presents content within the framework of a traditional composition. Perhaps this is why almost all of Chekhov’s works have been filmed, staged in theaters and have great success with audiences.
Main characters
Genre
Chekhov reached unprecedented heights in the short story genre. A peculiarity of his story can be considered its similarity to a sketch. The author gives an original picture of the event, as if observing what was happening from the outside. The short story genre before Chekhov was a nondescript small-scale epic form, which was considered a fragment of a novel or story. It was thanks to Anton Pavlovich that this genre gained popularity, fame and full embodiment in literature.
Work test
Rating analysis
Average rating: 4.1. Total ratings received: 183.
Anton Chekhov