The Teacher of Literature (Chekhov)
Short summary
A provincial Russian town, late 19th century. Sergey Vassilitch Nikitin, a literature teacher, fell in love with Masha Shelestov, the youngest daughter of a wealthy family.
During a horseback ride with Masha and her family, Nikitin decided to declare his love. He caught Masha alone in a small room and confessed his feelings. They ran into the garden where they kissed, and later that evening, Nikitin asked her father for her hand in marriage.
After their wedding, Nikitin initially felt blissful in his new life. He enjoyed his domestic happiness with Masha, their house, and their routine. He taught at school during the day and gave private lessons, always eager to return home to his wife.
However, as time passed, Nikitin began to feel increasingly dissatisfied. He realized he had no real vocation for teaching and was merely pretending to be successful at it. One night, after losing at cards, he returned home feeling alienated from his comfortable domestic life.
Where am I, my God? I am surrounded by vulgarity and vulgarity. Wearisome, insignificant people, pots of sour cream, jugs of milk, cockroaches, stupid women... There is nothing more terrible, mortifying, and distressing than vulgarity.
Nikitin realized that his peace of mind was lost forever, and that happiness was now impossible in his little two-story house. He understood that a new life of unrest and clear sight was beginning, incompatible with the domestic contentment he once cherished.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The cavalcade: Nikitins admiration for Masha
A group of riders prepared for an evening excursion. Old Shelestov saddled Giant and called to his daughter Masha to mount. The cavalcade included officers in white tunics and ladies in riding habits, creating a picturesque procession as they moved out of the yard.
Nikitin noticed that Masha paid special attention to him as they rode. She gave him advice about handling his horse, Count Nulin, and stayed beside him throughout the ride. He gazed at her graceful figure with joy and tenderness, promising himself that he would speak to her about his feelings that day.
Nikitin knew already that when they were mounting the horses and afterwards riding out into the street, Masha for some reason paid attention to no one but himself. She looked anxiously at him and at Count Nulin...
Tea at the Shelestovs: Arguments and social games
After their ride, the party returned to the Shelestovs' home where tea was served. Nikitin enjoyed everything about the Shelestovs' household except for their numerous pets. He particularly disliked Mushka, a small mangy dog that growled at him, and Som, a tall black dog that put his head on people's knees at dinner and drooled on their trousers.
As they drank tea, Varya, Masha's older sister, started an argument with Nikitin about literature. She challenged his assignment on "Pushkin as a Psychologist," claiming Pushkin was not a psychologist but merely a great poet. Nikitin defended his position, but the debate grew heated until officers joined in supporting him.
After tea, the company moved to the drawing room where Varya played the piano. They danced waltzes, polkas, and a quadrille. During the dancing, Shebaldin, the director of the municipal bank, approached Nikitin and asked if he had read Lessing on dramatic art. When Nikitin admitted he had not, Shebaldin was horrified, making Nikitin feel awkward about his literary knowledge.
Later, the group played a game of "fate" where Nikitin had to hear confessions from everyone while blindfolded with a shawl. When Masha came to confess, he spoke to her in an unusually tender voice. The evening concluded with supper, during which Nikitin noticed Masha gazing at him intently, causing him both pleasure and agony.
Night thoughts: Nikitins growing affection
As Nikitin left the Shelestovs' house at midnight, Masha called to him from a window, saying Polyansky would come with his camera to take photographs of them all soon. After she closed the window, someone began playing the piano inside. Nikitin walked home through the festive town, where music played in gardens and people celebrated the pleasant spring evening.
At home, Nikitin found his roommate Ippolit Ippolititch correcting students' maps. He tried to share his romantic feelings, but Ippolit Ippolititch responded with mundane observations about the weather. Frustrated, Nikitin went to his study and lay on the sofa in the dark, imagining future scenarios with Masha, including a romantic reunion after a trip to Petersburg.
Between school and love: Nikitins dual life
The next morning, Ippolit Ippolititch woke Nikitin for school. When Nikitin arrived at his first class, he found the initials "M.S." written on the blackboard, realizing the students had discovered his feelings for Masha. The same initials appeared in his fifth-class lesson, and students shouted "Hurrah for Masha Shelestov!" as he left the classroom.
Nikitin felt restless and distracted during his lessons. He kept looking out the window at the beautiful spring day, watching people pass by, including Varya returning from the library. After school, he had to give a private lesson at the home of Wolf, a wealthy Jewish man who had converted to Lutheranism and paid five roubles per lesson to have his children taught at home.
After his lesson at Wolf's, Nikitin had to return to the high school for a meeting about upcoming examinations. By the time he finally headed to the Shelestovs' in the evening, his heart was pounding and his face flushed with anticipation. He had resolved to declare his love to Masha that day, though he had not prepared what to say.
He had never had a vocation for teaching, he knew nothing of the theory of teaching, and never had been interested in the subject; he did not know how to treat children; he did not understand the significance of what he taught...
The proposal: Nikitin declares his love to Masha
When Nikitin arrived at the Shelestovs' house, he found no one in the hall or drawing room. As he entered a small room to go upstairs, Masha suddenly ran in with a piece of blue material in her hand. Nikitin stopped her, struggling to find the right words to express his feelings. The blue material slipped to the floor as he took both her hands.
Masha turned pale and stepped back into a corner between the wall and a cupboard. Nikitin followed, assuring her of his sincerity. He kissed her lips, and she put her arms around his neck. They then ran into the garden, which was filled with old trees and flowers. Under the faint light of a crescent moon, they walked along the avenues, laughing and asking each other questions they didn't answer.
When they returned to the house, they found the officers and young ladies dancing the mazurka. Left alone with Nikitin briefly, Masha pressed close to him and asked him to speak to her father and Varya about their engagement, as she was too embarrassed to do so herself. After supper, Nikitin spoke to old Shelestov, who questioned why he wanted to marry so young, suggesting it was like putting on fetters prematurely.
The conversation was interrupted when Varya announced the arrival of the farrier. Later, Varya, Masha, and Polyansky walked Nikitin home. At the gate, Varya asked why Nikitin's roommate never visited them.
Wedding reflections: The beginning of married happiness
Nikitin and Masha were married in a crowded church ceremony. The bishop's choir sang beautifully, and the atmosphere was filled with joy. Nikitin reflected on how dramatically his life had changed from his days as a poor student to becoming a teacher with a secure income and a beautiful young wife. After the ceremony, a 70-year-old brigadier-general complimented Masha, hoping she would remain "the rose you are now."
I am immensely happy with you, my joy... But I don't look upon this happiness of mine as something that has come to me by chance, as though it had dropped from heaven. This happiness is a perfectly natural, consistent, logical consequence.
From the church, they went to the two-story house that was part of Masha's dowry. During the celebration, Varya, who was four years older than Masha and still unmarried, broke down crying. Nikitin noted in his diary that she wept not from envy but from the melancholy awareness that her time for marriage might have passed.
Domestic contentment: Finding joy in simple living
After the wedding, Nikitin stopped writing in his diary. His days fell into a pleasant routine. He would leave for school before nine in the morning, and by ten, he would be longing for Masha and their new home. During lunch breaks, Masha sent him meals wrapped in snow-white napkins, which he ate slowly to prolong his enjoyment.
Nikitin's happiest days were Sundays and holidays when he could stay home. He enjoyed watching Masha manage their household, which included a dairy with three cows. Sometimes he would tease her by asking for a glass of milk, which upset her because it went against her rules about household management. He found her strictness about not wasting food endearing, even when she insisted on sending stale cheese to the kitchen for the servants.
In October, the school suffered a loss when Ippolit Ippolititch died of erysipelas. Even in his delirium before death, he continued stating obvious facts. The funeral procession was impressive, with priests, pupils, and the bishop's choir participating. Nikitin wrote in his diary that this was the first day since his marriage that his heart felt heavy.
The card game: First seeds of discontent
One night during Lent, Nikitin was returning home from the club where he had been playing cards. He had lost twelve roubles and felt strangely unsettled. Standing at a lamppost, he reflected that he didn't regret losing the money because he had obtained it without effort. He thought that if he had been a working man who struggled for his daily bread, he would have valued every farthing more.
It occurred to him that he did not regret the twelve roubles because he got them for nothing. If he had been a working man he would have known the value of every farthing, and would not have been so careless whether he lost or won.
When he arrived home, Masha was in bed but awake. She mentioned that Varya had visited earlier and seemed unhappy because Captain Polyansky, in whom she had placed hopes, was being transferred to a western province. Nikitin defended Polyansky, saying he had made no promises to Varya. This irritated Masha, who believed Polyansky shouldn't have visited so often if he had no intentions toward her sister.
Disillusionment: Nikitins realization about his life and marriage
As Nikitin lay in bed that night, he felt strangely alienated from his domestic happiness. He longed for a different world where he could work in a factory, address audiences, write, and suffer for something meaningful. He recalled Shebaldin's horror at his not having read Lessing and began to question his own identity as a teacher.
And he had a passionate, poignant longing to be in that other world, to work himself at some factory or big workshop, to address big audiences, to write, to publish, to raise a stir, to exhaust himself, to suffer...
Nikitin realized he had never had a true vocation for teaching and was merely concealing his incompetence. When Masha made a comment about Polyansky, Nikitin felt a surge of anger toward her. He went to his study to lie down, trying to convince himself that his thoughts were nonsense. By morning, however, he understood that his peace of mind was lost forever.
He realized that the illusion had evaporated, and that a new life of unrest and clear sight was beginning which was incompatible with peace and personal happiness.
The next day, Nikitin attended church and then spent time alone at the train station. At home, he found Varya and his father-in-law visiting for dinner. While he smiled and helped Masha entertain them, afterward he retreated to his study. Looking out at the spring day, so similar to the previous spring when he had fallen in love, he wrote in his diary that he was surrounded by vulgarity and longed to escape.