For
those who are eager to unveil and accept profound philosophy implied within literature,
‘Student’ is truly a masterpiece. What is attractive about Anton Chekhov’s ‘The
Student’ is that it has generated countless literary controversies despite its little
quantity of the story. This fact shows that Anton Chekhov’s ‘Student’ managed
to express various profound philosophy and literary technique that are worth
discussing in a very concise manner, proving that it is indeed a perfect short
story.
However,
for readers who have no knowledge in Anton Chekhov’s styles or in realism, the
short story ‘Student’ may appear rather dull and meaningless. In fact, when I first
read ‘The Student’, I thought the main purpose of the story was to cause ennui,
just like Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot’. Nevertheless, I soon found out
that I was wrong. In fact, I could gradually sense that the story is more
complex than I originally thought after repeatedly reading it. I began to
slowly sense that there could be an interesting twist in the protagonist’s
seemingly optimistic and in-depth perception of the world. Furthermore, tears
that Vasilisa shed and distorted face expression of Lukerya after Ivan told
them the story about the Twelve Gospels seemed to suggest certain link between
the two widows and Peter that Ivan failed to notice correctly. Overall, my
perception towards ‘The Student’ is that it is the story that gradually
transforms into an intriguing riddle as readers delve deeper into it.
Regardless
of the fact that ‘The Student’ is a short story, it has been surrounded by various
literary controversies, since the work itself is like a ‘riddle’. One of the
notable aspects that are still currently under debate is the overall tone of
the story. While there have been numerous controversies over whether the story
is pessimistic or optimistic, I believe that ‘The Student’ is a pessimistic
story. In fact, the story completely turns into a pessimistic story when
epiphany of Ivan is interpreted as a hasty, incorrect realization. For instance,
how can readers be sure that Vasilisa shed her tears because “her whole being
was interested in what was passing in Peter’s soul”? What if she showed such
behavior as an expression of guilt or sadness evoked by unpleasant memory of
the past? For example, Vasilisa may have cried because Peter reminded her of
watching her daughter being beaten by her husband. If she really did, Ivan
would be a careless student who brought pain hidden deep inside other’s heart
to the surface without realizing himself that he just made innocent people fall
into agony. Then, Ivan’s epiphany would be groundless, since his realization is
based on his misconception. Therefore, Ivan becomes a protagonist who made a
hasty conclusion about perception towards the world while not realizing that he
is unable to spot hidden truths behind what he sees. In this context, the story
becomes pessimistic by portraying the protagonist who deluded himself.
Based
on the interpretation that ‘The Student’ is a pessimistic story, Anton Chekhov
may have warned readers to be humble in the course of learning. It is important
to note that Ivan’s age is only 22, the age too young for one to attain correct
perceptions towards the world. However, regardless of his young age and lack of
life experience, Ivan believes himself that he attained important verity of the
world by simply talking to the two widows, a set of mind that can be conceived
as arrogant. Incapable of realizing veiled truth of the world due to incorrect
perception he hastily established, Ivan may not be able to further improve. In
other words, Anton Chekhov may have attempted to deliver the message “do not
live like Ivan.”
Overall,
‘The Student’ was a great surprise for me, since it broke my prejudice that the
story has to be long if it aims to generate diverse literary controversies and
contain profound philosophy. In fact, though it took me less than 30 minutes to
read ‘The Student’, I found out that deep, scholarly approach to “The Student” exceeds
my academic ability. I would like to give applaud to Anton Chekhov for his
supreme talents in writing such a concise yet profound story.
