"Gooseberry" is a short story by the Russian writer Chekhov, which tells the story of the protagonist Nikolai who becomes selfish and indifferent in pursuit of happiness in his eyes.
01 Character introduction and story introduction
The main character of the novel: The elder brother Ivan Ivanezki is a veterinarian. His younger brother, Nicola Ivanech, works for the Tax Office. The novel tells the story of his younger brother Nikolai through the mouth of his brother Ivan.
Other figures: Bourkin, a secondary school teacher, and Alyohin, a landlord.
Gooseberry is a hard and sour fruit, but the protagonist Nikolai loves it. Nikolai originally worked for the tax office, and his ideal was to buy a manor, become a landlord, and spend the rest of his life in it. So, he fought for it and finally realized his wish.
02 Happiness in Nikolai's eyes
Younger brother Nikolai has been working in the tax office since the age of nineteen. He was originally a kind and gentle man, but he dreamed of owning a manor house and spending the rest of his life in it. He wanted to escape the city and the struggle, to hide in his manor. He dreamed of eating on his own grass, sleeping in the sun, and spending hours looking out over the fields and forests.
In order to buy the manor, he was frugal, dressed like a beggar, he kept saving money, very greedy. Brother Ivan saw that he was pitiful and often gave him money, but he refused to spend it, and saved it.
Later, Nikolai was so mad that the purpose of the marriage was to buy a manor with a gooseberry tree, and to marry an old and rich widow, although he had no feelings for her. After marriage, Nikolai's life was still poor, he made his wife half hungry, and he also stored her money in the bank and wrote his own name. As a result, within three years, she died of haggardness. However, Nikolai did not feel that it was his miserliness and ruthlessness that led to his wife's death.
After some time, Nikolai finally bought the manor as he wished and became an authentic landlord.
03 Narrow happiness changed Nikolai
In order to buy the manor, Nikolai's personality changed dramatically. Previously, when Nikolai worked in the tax office, although he was timid and afraid of things, he was a gentle and kind person.
In order to realize his dreams, he became very greedy for money. He even sacrificed his life's happiness to marry a rich widow who had no feelings. After marriage, Nikolai's life was still stingy. His wife died of depression in less than three years, and Nikolai felt no guilt at all.
When he bought the manor, Nicholas was weak and afraid of hardness, and was unreasonable to the people, showing his aristocratic status as a landlord and lord, and if the peasants did not call themselves lords, they became angry and angry, and unreasonably accused the peasants' livestock of destroying their crops and oppressing the people. In addition, he is very hypocritical, doing good deeds is not from the heart, he uses soda water and castor oil to treat the people, but he has the luxury of using half a barrel of liquor to do the so-called "thanksgiving prayer".
After buying the manor, Nikolai's image also changed. After Nikolai fulfilled his wish, his brother Ivan went to visit him and found him old, fat, and loose. Not only himself, but even his dog and the cook were fat. Here we can see the author's satire of those who covet pleasure.
Just for a manor, turning an otherwise gentle and kind man into a miserly, ruthless and indifferent man. Money turned him into a monster.
04 Happiness in the eyes of brother Ivan
The elder brother Ivan was good-natured and an intellectual. He loved country life only because he loved freedom, not like his younger brother Nikolai, who pursued a comfortable life and escaped from real life.
Ivan believes that true happiness can only be achieved by working hard. Happiness should not be limited to the happiness of the individual, but should realize social value, and people should have higher goals and ideals.
Ivan believed that the happiness pursued by his brother Nikolai was narrow and vulgar, and that this happiness would make people lose the most precious things in life.
Regarding Burgin, a secondary school teacher, although he also loved to yearn for the simple life of the countryside, he only cared about personal interests.
The landlord Alyohin is similar to Nikolai, and is enthusiastic on the surface, but in fact hypocritical. He never bathed, but built a very good bath, which shows that he only wanted to satisfy his desires.
From the above characters, it can be seen that the values of the elder brother Ivan are healthy. He believes that people should devote themselves to the vast world to struggle, and cannot escape from real life.
05 Write at the end
Nikolai's life was pathetic and sad. He was vain, selfish, greedy and miserly. For money, he became ruthless and insensitive.
Happiness in Nikolai's eyes is the pursuit of his own little happiness. In fact, the gooseberry represents the mediocre life that Nikolai aspires to. The novel criticizes narrow personal happiness and calls for people to struggle. People need to be engaged in society and cannot escape from real life. May we break through personal happiness and achieve a more meaningful life.