Home (Chekhov)
Short summary
Russia, late 19th century. Prosecutor Yevgeny Petrovitch Bykovsky returned home to learn from his son's governess that seven-year-old Seryozha had been caught smoking tobacco taken from his father's desk.
When Seryozha arrived in his study, Yevgeny attempted to explain why smoking and taking others' property was wrong. However, he struggled to find the right approach, questioning whether traditional punishment methods were effective. The boy seemed more interested in drawing and telling stories about his day than in his father's moral lesson.
Finally, Yevgeny told his son an improvised fairy tale about an emperor's son who died from smoking. Despite recognizing the story's simplistic moral, he saw its effectiveness.
This ending struck Yevgeny Petrovitch as absurd and naive, but the whole story made an intense impression on Seryozha... he looked pensively at the dark window, shuddered, and said, in a sinking voice: 'I am not going to smoke any more...'
After Seryozha went to bed, Yevgeny reflected on how truth often needed to be presented in an appealing way to be effective, just as medicine needed to be sweetened. Though he found this approach somewhat deceptive, he recognized it might be a necessary part of human nature.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
Discovery of Seryozhas smoking
The governess informed Yevgeny Petrovitch Bykovsky, who had just returned from a court session, that his son Seryozha had been smoking. She had noticed this behavior both today and the day before. When she tried to reprimand him, Seryozha put his fingers in his ears and sang loudly to drown out her voice.
Yevgeny Petrovitch was amused at the thought of his seven-year-old son smoking. When he learned that Seryozha had been taking tobacco from his drawer, he asked the governess to send the boy to him.
The prosecutors reflections on discipline
While waiting for his son, Yevgeny Petrovitch reflected on how smoking was viewed in his youth. He remembered how children were severely punished for smoking, even expelled from school, though no teacher or parent could clearly explain why smoking was harmful or sinful.
The less an evil was understood, the more fiercely and coarsely it was attacked... The prosecutor remembered two or three boys who had been expelled and their subsequent life, and could not help thinking that very often the punishment did a great deal more harm than the crime itself.
The prosecutor considered how humans adapt to any environment and how little certainty exists even in professions like teaching, law, and writing. These reflections provided comfort to his mind, which was usually occupied with routine thinking.
A failed attempt at logical persuasion
Soon, seven-year-old Seryozha entered his father's study. He was a fragile, pale child with soft movements and curly hair, dressed in a velvet jacket. After greeting his father, Seryozha was surprised to learn that his father was angry with him.
When confronted, Seryozha admitted to smoking, first claiming it was only once but then acknowledging it had been twice. His father explained that he had committed three misdeeds: smoking, taking someone else's tobacco, and lying.
Yevgeny Petrovitch attempted to explain the concept of property rights, telling Seryozha that taking others' belongings was wrong. He then warned about the health dangers of smoking, mentioning that Uncle Ignat had died of consumption likely due to smoking.
In school and in court, all these wretched questions are far more simply settled than at home; here one has to do with people whom one loves beyond everything, and love is exacting and complicates the question.
Seryozhas unique worldview
During their conversation, Seryozha became distracted, examining objects on his father's desk and asking unrelated questions. He shared anecdotes about the cook who cut her finger and a man with a hurdy-gurdy who had visited with a little girl who danced and sang.
Yevgeny Petrovitch observed that his son had his own way of thinking and perceiving the world. Seryozha had unique artistic perspectives, such as drawing men taller than houses and representing sounds with visual forms and colors.
He has a little world of his own in his head, and he has his own ideas of what is important and unimportant. To gain possession of his attention, it's not enough to imitate his language, one must also be able to think in the way he does.
The fairy tale strategy
As Seryozha played with his father's beard, comparing him first to Ivan Stepanovitch and then to their porter, Yevgeny Petrovitch felt a deep tenderness. Looking into his son's eyes, he saw reflections of his wife and mother and everything he had ever loved.
The prosecutor realized he could not bring himself to punish the boy. When it was time for bed, Seryozha asked for a story. Yevgeny Petrovitch, who knew no poems or fairy tales by heart, began to improvise a story about an old emperor who lived in a glass palace with a beautiful garden.
In the story, the emperor had a son who smoked and eventually died of consumption at age twenty. With no heir to defend the kingdom, enemies came and destroyed the palace and garden. This simple tale made a profound impression on Seryozha, who solemnly declared he would not smoke anymore.
He looked at the boy's big dark eyes, and it seemed to him as though from those wide pupils there looked out at him his mother and his wife and everything that he had ever loved. To think of thrashing him... a nice task to devise a punishment for him!
Reflections on truth and persuasion
After Seryozha went to bed, Yevgeny Petrovitch paced his study, contemplating why morality and truth seemed to require embellishment to be effective. He considered how people, including jurors and the general public, often understood life through stories, fables, and artistic representations rather than through direct instruction.
Why must morality and truth never be offered in their crude form, but only with embellishments, sweetened and gilded like pills? It's not normal... It's falsification... deception... tricks...