Gooseberries (Chekhov)
Short summary
Russian countryside, late 19th century. During a rainstorm, two friends - Ivan Ivanovitch, a veterinary surgeon, and Burkin, a teacher - sought shelter at the estate of their acquaintance Alehin. After bathing and changing into dry clothes, they gathered in the drawing room where Ivan Ivanovitch began telling a story about his brother Nikolay.
Nikolay had dreamed his entire life of owning a country estate with gooseberry bushes. He worked as a clerk, lived frugally, married a wealthy widow for her money, and eventually purchased a small estate. When Ivan visited his brother, he found him transformed into a self-satisfied landowner, proudly serving his homegrown gooseberries despite their sourness.
Seeing his brother's contentment disturbed Ivan deeply. That night, he reflected on how the comfortable classes remain oblivious to the suffering of others. He realized that he too had been complacent about social injustice. Finishing his story, Ivan approached Alehin with an impassioned plea.
Don't be calm and contented, don't let yourself be put to sleep! While you are young, strong, confident, be not weary in well-doing! There is no happiness, and there ought not to be; but if there is a meaning and an object in life...
Neither Alehin nor Burkin was moved by the story. They soon retired to bed, thinking of more pleasant matters as the rain continued to fall outside.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
Caught in the rain: two friends seek shelter
On a grey, overcast day, Ivan Ivanovitch and Burkin were walking through the countryside. They were tired from their journey, and the fields seemed endless. In the distance, they could see the windmills of Mironositskoe village. Despite their fatigue, both men felt a deep love for the beautiful Russian landscape surrounding them.
Burkin reminded Ivan that during their last stay in Prokofy's barn, Ivan had begun to tell a story about his brother. Just as Ivan was about to begin his tale, it started to rain. Within minutes, the downpour became heavy, and the two friends, along with their drenched dogs, needed to find shelter.
Arrival at Alehins estate and bath in the millpond
They decided to seek refuge at Alehin's nearby estate. Walking through mown fields, they soon reached Sofino, where Alehin lived. The property featured red-roofed barns, a river with a mill, and a white bathhouse. The rain had made everything damp and muddy, creating a feeling of discomfort as they crossed the dam toward the barns.
They found Alehin in one of the barns, covered in dust from the winnowing machine. Despite his disheveled appearance, he was delighted to see them and invited them into his house. Inside, they were greeted by a strikingly beautiful maidservant named Pelagea. Alehin suggested they all visit the bathhouse while she prepared things for them.
In the bathhouse, Alehin confessed he hadn't bathed in a long time. While Alehin washed his long-neglected hair, Ivan went swimming in the millpond despite the rain, diving repeatedly and expressing his delight. After their bath, they returned to the house refreshed and comfortable in dry clothes.
The story of Nikolay and his dream of owning a country estate
Once they were settled in the drawing room with tea served by Pelagea, Ivan began his story. He explained that he had a younger brother named Nikolay Ivanovitch, who worked in a government office from the age of nineteen, while Ivan had become a veterinary surgeon. Their father, a former cantonist who had risen to become an officer, had left them a small estate and nobility rank, though most of it was lost to debts after his death.
Having grown up in the countryside, Nikolay was miserable in his government job. Over the years, he developed an obsessive dream of buying a small farm with a garden, particularly one with gooseberry bushes. This yearning gradually transformed into a concrete plan.
'Country life has its conveniences,' he would sometimes say. 'You sit on the verandah and you drink tea, while your ducks swim on the pond, there is a delicious smell everywhere, and... and the gooseberries are growing.'
Ivan disagreed with his brother's dream, considering it selfish and lazy to retreat from society into the isolation of a private estate. Despite Ivan's disapproval, Nikolay lived frugally and saved every kopeck. He even married an elderly, unattractive widow solely for her money, keeping her on a meager diet while depositing her funds in the bank. After three years of such deprivation, she died.
To retreat from town, from the struggle, from the bustle of life, to retreat and bury oneself in one's farm—it's not life, it's egoism, laziness, it's monasticism of a sort, but monasticism without good works.
Nikolays achievement of his dream and Ivans visit
After his wife's death, Nikolay finally purchased an estate through an agent. Though it wasn't exactly what he had dreamed of—it had no orchard, gooseberry bushes, or duck pond, and the river water was brown from nearby factories—he promptly ordered twenty gooseberry bushes and settled into life as a country gentleman.
Ivan visited his brother at the estate, which Nikolay grandly called "Tchumbaroklov Waste, alias Himalaiskoe." Upon arrival, Ivan was met by a fat, lazy dog that resembled a pig, and a cook of similar appearance. He found his brother had grown older, fatter, and wrinkled, looking pig-like himself.
Nikolay had fully embraced his role as a landowner. He ate abundantly, was at legal odds with the local peasants, and performed charity with condescending superiority. He spoke with the authority of a prime minister on matters of education and punishment, repeatedly emphasizing his noble status despite their humble origins.
During Ivan's visit, the cook served a plate of gooseberries—the first harvest from Nikolay's bushes. His brother was overcome with emotion at this fulfillment of his dream. He ate the sour, unripe berries with immense satisfaction, repeatedly exclaiming how delicious they were and urging Ivan to taste them.
He ate them greedily, continually repeating, 'Ah, how delicious! Do taste them!'... They were sour and unripe, but, as Pushkin says: 'Dearer to us the falsehood that exalts / Than hosts of baser truths.'
Ivans reflections on happiness and appeal for meaningful living
Witnessing his brother's contentment, Ivan was overcome with a profound sadness. That night, he reflected on how the happiness of some depends on the silent suffering of others. He realized that he too had been complacent, speaking about freedom and progress while advocating patience and gradual change.
There ought to be behind the door of every happy, contented man someone standing with a hammer continually reminding him with a tap that there are unhappy people; that however happy he may be, life will show him her laws sooner or later.
Concluding his story, Ivan passionately appealed to Alehin not to be content with his life but to strive for something greater. He implored him to do good while he was still young and strong, insisting that the meaning of life was not personal happiness but something more rational and significant.
However, Ivan's story failed to move Burkin and Alehin as he had hoped. They were more interested in discussing elegant people and women than contemplating the moral of the poor clerk and his gooseberries. Alehin, though sleepy from his early morning work, stayed up out of politeness. Later, as Ivan and Burkin retired to their beds, the smell of stale tobacco from Ivan's pipe lingered in the room while rain continued to patter against the windows throughout the night.