After reading “The Student” in class, I
noticed that this story was reputed as “the perfect short story.” I was
shocked. Nothing notable happened in the story. A young man walked through an
unfavorable weather, went to the widow’s garden, preached the story of Saint
Peter’s denial, and realized something delightful. As a person who usually
skims through the plot, I did not like this story much. I even doubted whether “The
Student” is a short story. A story had to have some kind of conflict, which gives
some “content.” However, this “perfect short story” lacked that conflict. There
were some descriptions, but they were not conspicuous enough.
When I read “The Student” again, new things
came into my mind. I read carefully to decipher the hidden messages between the
seemingly useless descriptions. The idea that Ivan Velikopolsky could be an immature person interested me. I noticed that "Ivan," the name of the protagonist, appears in the whole story only once. The actual name of "the student" only appears when necessary— when the author introduces him. In other cases, the protagonist is addressed as "the student." I thought that the repetition of "the student" suggests the protagonist's immaturity. After all, a student is in the process of learning, so a student is immature compared to his teacher. This immaturity becomes clearer when the experienced woman Vasilisa is contrasted with the student. The author introduces Vasilisa as a woman with a lot of life experience just before the protagonist starts his story. The immature student preaching an experienced woman is ironic; this situation includes the element of humor that Chekhov claimed to be inside his stories. Investigating one characteristic of the protagonist through a careful reading was enjoyable.
I also thought about the overall mood
of the story. Is the story pessimistic or optimistic? It might be pessimistic,
considering the description of the setting. A cold wind blows “inappropriately”
from the east, and the forest is “cheerless, remote, and lonely.” That negative
situations “had existed, did exist, and would exist” reveals a pessimistic
attitude towards life. On the other hand, this story could be interpreted as
optimistic because of the hopeful tone near the end. After telling a biblical
story to the two widows, the student receives an insight about the relationship
between the past and the present. Then his life becomes joyful, happy, “enchanting,
marvelous, and full of lofty meaning.”
Determining the mood of the story is
complicated by the author’s detachment from the protagonist. The protagonists’
change of mood is obvious. He first thinks that life would not become better
even though a lot of time passes. But he changes his mind, as his eyes turns from
the west to the east, that life has some hope. However, the message of the
story is formed by the combination of the protagonist and the author. Because
the author’s attitude toward the protagonist is not revealed, I cannot
conclusively say that this story is pessimistic or optimistic. Chekhov signals
the protagonist’s musing with the phrase “the student thought” and “it seemed.”
The revelation at the end is only the protagonist’s, not the author’s. The
author may agree with the optimism, but believe that the student’s revelation
is wrong. The author may also think in a pessimistic way. It is up to the
readers to interpret this story in their own way and formulate their own
impressions.
“The Student” is very real, but it is
not real as well. The succinct sentences and direct expression makes the story
seem like the epitome of reality. But the story leaves a large space for interpretation.
This space is not completely blank because the author inserts some hints
between the lines. However, this space contains infinitely many possibilities. Perhaps
Chekhov wanted the readers to experience the irony of realism itself—transcendence
within reality.
