The story of A. P. Chekhov "The Dushechka": a summary and analysis of the work

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov wrote the story "Dushechka" in 1899. He refers to the late works of the writer. It is noteworthy that Chekhov's "Dushechka" immediately caused an ambiguous evaluation in literary circles. The main theme of the work is love. Only the main character becomes not just a need, but a meaning of life. And it is much more important for her not to receive love, but to give her. The comedy of the situation is that every time the history of the selfless profound feelings of the heroine repeats itself. The composition of the story consists of four parts: the number of heart attachments in Olenka's life. Below is a brief summary of this literary creation.

A few words about the main character

Olenka Plemyannikova, the daughter of a retired collegiate assessor, lives in her house with her father. This pink-cheeked young lady with a white tender neck, puffy hands, a gentle look and a sweet smile. The people around love a pretty girl. Everyone likes it without exception. When you talk to her, you want to touch her hand and say to her: "Darling!" In the soul of Olenka there is always some affection: first she was in love with the teacher of French, then she began to adore her papa, and after the aunt who visited her two Times a year. The problem is that these sympathies often replace one another. But Olenka does not care, as well as the people around her. They are impressed by the naivete of the girl, her trustfulness and quiet kindness. So describes his heroine in the story "Dushechka" Chekhov. The summary will help to get an idea of the personal qualities of the heroine. Its image is contradictory: on the one hand, it is endowed with the gift of selfless love. So to dissolve in the second half is given far not to everyone. And this, of course, causes the reader to respect the heroine. However, on the other hand, it appears before us gullible and windy person. The complete absence of spiritual interests, the lack of one's own views and ideas about the world around us - all this provokes the reader's mockery.

Kukin is the first affection of Olenka

In the big house of the nephews there is a man Ivan Petrovich Kukin, the custodian and entrepreneur of the entertaining garden "Tivoli". Olenka often sees him in the courtyard. Kukin constantly complains about life. From him only heard: "The audience is now wild and ignorant. What's her operetta, extravaganza? Give her a farce! Nobody goes. And these rains every evening! And I rent, the artists pay a salary. Solid losses. I'm ruined! "Olenka is very sorry for him. On the other hand, in her heart a love for this man awakens. Well, that he is thin, short and speaks with a shrill voice. In her view, Kukin is a hero who daily battles with his main enemy - an ignorant public. The sympathy of the heroine turns out to be mutual, and soon the young couple marry. Now Olenka works hard in the theater of her husband. She, as well as he, scolds the public, talks about the importance of art in life and lends to actors. In the winter, the affairs of the couple go better. In the evenings, Olenka sings Ivan Petrovich with tea and raspberries and wraps them in warm blankets, wishing to correct the shaken health of her husband. Unfortunately, the happiness of the young was short-lived: Kukin left for Moscow to recruit a new troupe and left there suddenly. Burying her husband, the young lady plunged into deep mourning. True, it did not last long. About what happened next, we will tell Chekhov's story "Dushechka." In the meantime, we see that the heroine, imbued with the thoughts of her husband, becomes his shadow and echoes. Her individual qualities did not seem to exist. With the death of a spouse, a woman loses the meaning of life.

Olenka is getting married again

When Olenka, as usual, returned home from home, Vasily Andreyevich Pustovalov, who ran the forest lands of the merchant Babakayev, was with her. He led the woman to the gate and left. Only since then our heroine did not find a place for herself. Soon, a pile from Pustovalov appeared in her house. Young played a wedding and began to live-live in peace and harmony. Now Olenka spoke only about forest land, about the prices of wood, about the difficulties of its transportation. She thought that she always did it. In the Pustovalov's house it was warm and cozy, it smelled deliciously of home-made food. Spouses did not go anywhere, spending the weekend only in the company of each other. When others advised the "darling" to go and unwind to the theater, she answered that this is an empty occupation not for working people. In the absence of his wife, when he left for the forest, the woman was bored. Her leisure time was sometimes brightened up by the military veterinarian Smirnin. This gentleman in another city left his wife and child, which did not stop him from spending time with other women. Olenka shamed him and strongly advised him to think better and reconcile with his wife. So it would be quiet family happiness "darling" for many years, if not for the tragic death of her husband. Vasily Andreitch once caught a cold and died suddenly. Olenka again plunged into deep mourning. What does the author want to draw attention to when describing the second heroine's attachment, what amuses Chekhov here? The little soul is a selfless woman, capable of a great and deep feeling. Comic situation is that the history of great love to the grave in the life of the heroine is repeated. And here the same thing: complete dissolution in the beloved, echoing his words, quiet family happiness and a tragic ending.

New sympathy for the heroine

Now people around him hardly saw Olenka. Only sometimes it could be found in a church or in a vegetable market with a cook. But soon the neighbors saw the picture in the courtyard of the house: "darling" is sitting at a table in the garden, and next to her drinking tea Smirnin. Everything became clear from the moment when Olenka suddenly told a friend in the mail about the problem of milk contamination from sick cows and horses. Since then, the young lady only talked about the plague of cattle, about pearl disease and much more. Olenka and Smirnin tried to keep the relationship a secret. However, it became clear to others: a new attachment appeared in the woman's heart. What else will Chekhov tell us in his story "Dushechka"? The summary of the work allows you to trace the chain of sympathies Olenka. The author gives the reader an insight into the deep feelings of the heroine. And at the same time, with the example of a repetition of the situation, it shows how limited and relative they are. It becomes clear to us how a new feeling was born in the heart of the heroine. This is her third attachment. Comical, it seems that with her arrival, the deep mourning of a woman disappears instantly.

Olenka remains alone

But not for long Olenka was happy and this time. Smirnin was soon dispatched to a distant regiment, and he left without having brought his beloved with him. The woman was left alone. Her father died a long time ago. There were no close people around. The black days began for Olenka. She has grown thin, has grown fat and has aged. Friends, when she was seen, tried to go to the other end of the street to not meet with her. On summer evenings Olenka sat on the porch, trying to remember all her attachments. But there seemed to be nothing. It seemed to her that there was no meaning in life. Previously, she could explain everything, talk about everything. Now, in her heart and her thoughts there was such emptiness, so it was terribly and bitterly, as if she "ate a wormwood". Such described the loneliness of the heroine in his story Chekhov AP Dushechka lives only when he can give love to a loved one next to her. It would seem that you need to regret the heroine, because she suffers. But the author deliberately and now belittles Olenka's feelings, sarongizing them in words: "as if the wormwood had eaten up ...". And this is true. Next, we will see how the pictures in the life of a woman change rapidly from utter despondency and sorrow to absolute happiness.

The new meaning of the heroine's life

Everything changed in one moment. He returned to the city of Smirnin with his wife and ten-year-old son. Olenka gladly invited him and his family to live in her house. She herself moved to the wing. A new meaning has appeared in her life. She walked happy, disposed in the courtyard. This change did not disappear from the eyes of others. Friends noticed that the woman was younger, prettier, better. It became clear to everyone: the former "darling" returned. And this means that in her heart again a new affection. Next, we'll see what Chekhov's darling Olenka captured after all. Her last sympathy is an example of selflessly maternal love, tenderness, willingness to die for her child. Probably, every woman in her life should realize this natural need - to give tenderness and warmth to children. Pleases that our heroine took place as a woman and mother.

Maternal feelings in the soul of Olenka

Olenka loved with all her heart Sasha - the son of Smirnin. The wife of the former veterinarian left for Kharkov on business, he himself spent days disappeared somewhere, appearing only late at night. The whole day the child was alone in the house. It seemed to Olenka that he was always hungry, abandoned by his parents. She took the boy to her lodge. With what tenderness the woman looked at him, escorting him to the gymnasium. How she pampered the child, treating him incessantly with sweets. With what pleasure did Sasha do homework. Now from the "darling" you could only hear about studying in the gymnasium, textbooks, teachers and the like. Olenka blossomed and pestered. One woman was afraid that she would suddenly be taken away from her beloved Sasha. With what fear did she listen to the knock on the gate: what if this is a telegram from the mother of the boy who demands it to himself? On this unfinished moment, Chekhov ends his work. "Darling", the analysis and summary of which is given here, is a story about selfless love that is so infrequently found in our life, about its sometimes ridiculous and ridiculous manifestations. The main thing in heroin is an inexhaustible supply of tenderness and warmth, cares and caresses. Funny and insignificant in comparison with her, her chosen ones. She is ridiculous only in that part, when she completely accepts their way of life and their views on reality. Only in the last of its maternal affection it becomes truly beautiful. In this her image, many women will surely recognize themselves.

We retold and analyzed Chekhov's story "Dushechka," followed how a woman from a nearby petty bourgeois turns into a real Chekhov heroine.