Anna on the Neck (Chekhov)
Short summary
Russia, late 19th century. Eighteen-year-old Anna married fifty-two-year-old government official Modest Alexeitch for his money to help her impoverished family. After a modest wedding, they traveled to a monastery instead of having a celebration. On the train, Anna felt both fear and disgust toward her husband.
Anna's father, a teacher who had turned to drinking after her mother's death, was struggling financially. Anna had married to save her family, but found herself with even less money than before. Her husband controlled all finances and lectured everyone about duty and morality. Anna visited her father and brothers regularly, witnessing their continued poverty.
Everything changed when Anna attended a charity ball. There, she discovered her beauty's power as officers and officials, including His Excellency and the wealthy Artynov, paid her attention. She danced passionately and helped at the charity bazaar, charging high prices for tea. Her father appeared drunk but proud of her.
After the ball, Anna's social status transformed. Artynov and His Excellency began visiting her. When her husband returned home, Anna felt her newfound power.
With rapture, with indignation, with contempt, convinced that no harm would come to her from it, she said, articulating distinctly each word: "Be off, you blockhead!"
Anna began living luxuriously, spending her husband's money freely. Modest Alexeitch received the Anna decoration of second grade and joked about having "three Annas." Meanwhile, Anna rarely saw her family. She continued driving about with Artynov, playing in dramas, and attending parties, while her father drank more heavily and her brothers struggled to care for him.
Detailed summary by chapters
Chapter divisions are from the original text. Subsection titles within chapters are editorial.
Chapter 1. Annas marriage and new life
The wedding journey and Annas reflections
Instead of a traditional wedding celebration, eighteen-year-old Anna and her new husband, fifty-two-year-old Modest Alexeitch, embarked on a journey to pray at a shrine after their ceremony. Many people approved of this decision, considering it appropriate for a government official of his age and position. At the station, relatives and colleagues gathered to see them off, including Anna's father, Pyotr Leontyitch, who was already drunk and emotional.
Anna remembered what agony the wedding had been, when it had seemed to her that the priest, and the guests, and everyone in church had been looking at her sorrowfully and asking why, why was she marrying such an elderly gentleman.
As the train departed, Anna saw her father running after it, staggering and spilling his wine. Left alone with her husband, Anna felt uncomfortable as he removed his order from his neck and changed into his dressing gown. She reflected on her wedding day, feeling cheated and guilty. She had married this wealthy man for financial security, yet her wedding dress had been bought on credit, and her family remained impoverished.
During a stop at a station, Anna went out onto the platform. She noticed Artynov, a wealthy man with prominent eyes, watching her. Suddenly feeling joyful in her new dress under the moonlight, Anna began speaking French and flirting. When the train departed, she returned to her compartment feeling certain she would be happy despite everything.
Annas life as Modest Alexeitchs wife
After their trip to the monastery, the couple settled into their rent-free flat. While Modest Alexeitch was at work, Anna played the piano, read novels, or cried from depression. At dinner, her husband ate heartily and lectured about politics, duty, and the importance of saving money. He frequently declared that everyone ought to have duties, while Anna listened fearfully and often left the table hungry.
She had only married him for his money, and yet she had less money now than before her marriage... she was afraid of her husband, she trembled before him. She felt as though she had been afraid of him for years.
In the evenings, Modest Alexeitch played cards with his colleagues who lived in the same government quarters. Sometimes he took Anna to the theatre, where he would never let her leave his side. During intermissions, he would identify important people to her and insist she bow to them, even if she didn't know them. Anna hated these moments but complied with his demands.
Visits to her impoverished family
Anna regularly visited her father and brothers. Her presence made them uncomfortable, as her elegant clothes and married status contrasted sharply with their poverty. They ate simple meals of cabbage soup and porridge, while Pyotr Leontyitch drank heavily from a decanter. Her brothers, Petya and Andrusha, would try to stop him, but he would angrily insist no one could dictate to him.
After dinner, her father would dress in his best clothes despite his poverty. He would paint or play the harmonium, which wheezed and growled. When Anna's husband once reluctantly lent Pyotr Leontyitch fifty roubles, he delivered a long lecture about the evils of drinking, causing her father intense humiliation and an increased craving for alcohol.
Chapter 2. The winter ball changes everything
Preparations for the charity ball
When winter arrived, an announcement appeared in the local papers about the annual ball at the Hall of Nobility. Modest Alexeitch became excited and eventually gave Anna a hundred roubles to buy a ball dress. Rather than consulting his colleagues' wives as he suggested, Anna relied on her own taste, drawing inspiration from her late mother who had been a governess and had always dressed Anna elegantly.
Annas triumph at the ball
On the night of the ball, Modest Alexeitch was dazzled by Anna's beauty in her ethereal dress. Before leaving, he implored her to get introduced to His Excellency's wife, hoping it might help him secure a promotion. When they arrived at the Hall of Nobility, Anna felt a rush of joy as she saw herself in the mirror. For the first time, she felt rich and free, no longer oppressed by her husband's presence.
She danced passionately, with fervour... being snatched by one partner as soon as she was left by another, dizzy with music and the noise, mixing Russian with French, lisping, laughing, and with no thought of her husband.
Anna quickly became the center of attention, dancing with numerous partners and exciting great admiration among the men. Her father appeared in a crumpled dress coat that smelled of benzine, offering her ice cream and money he had earned from his lessons. She was touched to see how sweet he looked when sober.
Dancing with officers and meeting His Excellency
Anna danced the mazurka with a huge officer who initially moved languidly but gradually became captivated by her beauty and charm. As they danced, the crowd parted to make way for His Excellency, who approached Anna with a sugary smile, licking his lips as he always did when seeing a pretty woman.
His Excellency led Anna to a charity bazaar stall where she was introduced to his wife, a middle-aged lady with a disproportionately large lower face. Anna was asked to help with the bazaar and soon found herself selling tea at exorbitant prices. She charged a rouble per cup and made the huge officer drink three cups. Artynov paid a hundred roubles each for champagne and tea without saying a word.
Social ascension and reversal of power
After the bazaar closed, Anna joined the supper for those who had assisted. The atmosphere was joyful and intoxicating. When she returned home after midnight, she fell asleep immediately. The next day, both Artynov and His Excellency called on her to express their thanks for her help at the bazaar.
She realized now that she was created exclusively for this noisy, brilliant, laughing life, with its music, its dancers, its adorers, and her old terror of a force that was sweeping down upon her and menacing to crush her seemed ridiculous.
When Modest Alexeitch entered the room with the same ingratiating, sugary expression he usually reserved for his superiors, Anna felt a surge of contempt. With clear articulation, she told him, "Be off, you blockhead!" From that day forward, Anna's life transformed completely. She participated in picnics, expeditions, and performances, returning home after midnight and spending her husband's money freely without asking permission.
From this time forward Anna never had one day free, as she was always taking part in picnics, expeditions, performances... She needed a very great deal of money, but she was no longer afraid of Modest Alexeitch.
At Easter, Modest Alexeitch received the Anna of the second grade decoration. When he went to thank His Excellency, the official joked, "So now you have three Annas: one on your buttonhole and two on your neck." Meanwhile, Anna continued her social life, driving about with Artynov and rarely seeing her family. Whenever her father and brothers encountered her in her fine carriage with Artynov on the box instead of a coachman, they would try to stop Pyotr Leontyitch from calling out to her, saying imploringly, "You mustn't, father. Hush, father!"