Unit-5 Life and Love
“The best and
most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be
felt with the heart.”
-Hellen
Keller
(Birth 27 June
1880, died 1June 1968, A USA born Writer, political activist, lecturer who lost
her sight when she was 19 months)
Unit 5, Life and Love
The
Looking Glass
Anton
Chekhov
Anton Chekhov (1860-1904)
A Russian writer,
dramatist and story writer, Student of medicine in Moscow, Russia Medical
practitioner and writer.
Theme: Devotion,
loneliness, escape, fear, love, dedication, hope, defeat, and independence
Narration: Third
person
Characters:
Nellie, Doctor Stepan Lukitch, Doctor Zemstvo
Setting: Russia,
New Year’s Time
Tone: Gloomy and
Dark
Summary:
As the story
opens, Nellie is gazing into a mirror on New Year’s Eve. She is young and
pretty woman, born into privilege, for her father is a landowner and general.
Nellie is obsessed with marriage; her life revolves around dreams of finding a
husband. As she stares into the mirror, exhausted and bleary-eyed, her own
reflection fades away to gray, and she begins to see her own future. She sees
the face of her future husband and then many scenes of their life together. At
the first images are blissful, a happy dream. But she sees a much more
distressing scene: she sees herself, distraught, pounding on the door of the
local doctor, imploring him to come to her home and take care of her husband,
who she is sure has typhus (high fever often causes death). The exhausted
doctor has been tending to typhus patients for many days and is suffering from
a high fever himself, but Nellie is relentless in her desperation. Finally, the
doctor agrees to come with her. However, by the time they travel the thirty
miles by horse and carriage to Nellie’s home, the doctor is too delirious to
treat anyone. Determined, Nellie travels to get another doctor, one even
farther away in the district.
These images fade
again to more scene of their marriage, and this time the pictures are grim. She
sees how they struggle to pay their bills and hang on to their home and how
they must worry constantly about their children’s health, education, and
survival. Finally, she sees her husband’s death in detail, including the
arrival of the undertaker and clergy man for his funeral. Looking into her
husband’s face, she asks, “Why is it? What is it for?”
At this moment,
the mirror she is holding in her hand falls to the floor and wakes her from her
nightmare. The larger looking glass on the table stands but now shows her only
her own reflection. She sighs with relief, thinking, “I must have fallen
asleep.”
Literary Analysis
In The
Looking-Glass by Anton Chekhov we have the theme of devotion, loneliness,
escape, fear, love, dedication, hope, defeat and independence. Taken from his
The Complete Short Stories collection the story is narrated in the third
person by an unnamed narrator and after reading the story the reader realizes
that Chekhov may be exploring the theme of love. Though Nellie’s account of
what is happening in the story is fictional (it never happens and is a dream)
it is obvious that she is very much in love with the man that she chooses to be
her husband. As to why Nellie might feel the need to escape into a dream may
also be important as it could suggest that at present, she is discontent with
her life, if not lonely. The looking-glass provides Nellie with an outlet to
escape from the life that she is living. A life, in whereby, she is a single,
unattached woman, who longs to find a man who will love her and who she
too can love. In essence Nellie is seeking happiness through marriage. Though
some critics may suggest that Nellie is dependent on a man to achieve happiness
it is important to remember that the story was written in the 1880s and for
many women the only avenue they had to improve their outlook in life was
marriage. Nellie would be no different to many of the women at the time the
story was written.
Chekhov also
appears to be exploring the theme of devotion and the lengths that Nellie will
go to in order to save her husband’s life. She travels through the night to get
to Dr Lukitch’s home and attempts to persuade him to return with her to her
house in order to help her husband. Nellie’s dialogue with Dr Lukitch is also
important for two reasons. Firstly she will not take no for an answer which
further suggests that Nellie is devoted if not dedicated to her husband. The
second reason that Nellie’s conversation with Dr Lukitch is important is
because the reader can sense just how afraid Nellie is. She is afraid that her
husband will die. The result being that Nellie will be alone again. Which the
reader is already aware makes Nellie unhappy. If anything Nellie is persistent
when it comes to Dr Lukitch, she is driven by her love and devotion to her
husband. Though it is important to remember again that Nellie is dreaming and
each action that occurs in the story when it comes to Nellie’s husband is a
moment of hope or aspiration with Nellie longing for an alternative life to the
one that she lives.
As Chekhov gives
no real background to Nellie’s life it is difficult to say for certain as to
why she might want to escape from the world that she knows. It is possible that
she is of the age when it is expected for a woman to get married. It might also
be a case that Nellie feels bored with her life and longs for a man’s company.
Though again it is difficult to say for certain. One thing however that is
clear is that should Nellie marry (in real life) she may very well give her all
to her husband just as she is doing in her dream. Nellie appears to equate
happiness to being married which again would have been common at the time the
story was written. Though Nellie is acting independently of others in the story
(she chooses to go to the doctor) she may not necessarily be able to live her
life independently of her husband. With society dictating that a wife’s place
is beside their husband. Though, this may not necessarily bother Nellie
considering that she is very much in love.
The end of the
story is also interesting as Nellie doesn’t give up after she realizes that Dr
Lukitch has also come down with typhus. Rather she remains undefeated and
begins her journey to the Zemstvo doctor. It is also interesting that
doubt begins to set in for Nellie. Prior to her dream ending she begins to
question what life might really be. How an individual can die. How a bank can
repossess a home should a person fall behind in payments. In essence the
reality of life sets in for Nellie just as the looking-glass breaks. No longer
is she seeing a reflection of all her hopes and aspirations but rather through
the other looking-glass she is seeing her own reflection. Nellie has stopped
dreaming and is facing the realities of life. Realities that do not necessarily
disturb Nellie despite having previously longed to be married. There is a
sense that Nellie is content with her situation and is fully aware that what
has occurred has been no more than a dream. Whether Nellie pursues her dream is
difficult to say such is her relief at the end of the story. She may very well
marry in the future though it is also possible that she may focus on herself
rather than on a husband and family. At the end of the story Nellie realizes
that she does not necessarily need a husband to be happy.
Ways with words
A. Match the
words with their meanings.
a) Exhausted -
tired
b) Apparent -
clear
c) Vista - vision
d) Undulating -
wavy
e) Destined -
predetermined
f) Stuffy -
suffocating, airless
g) Restrain -
prevent, hinder
B. Write the meaning and word class of the following
words. Then use them in sentences of your own.
Implore (verb) -
beg someone earnestly or desperately to do something. I implore mercy.
Despair (verb) -
lose or be without hope. We should not despair.
Beseech (verb) -
ask (someone) urgently and fervently to do something; implore; entreat. They
beseeched him to stay.
Eloquent (adj) -
fluent or persuasive in speaking or writing, His speeches in the chamber were
always eloquent and powerful.
Whirl (verb) -
move or cause to move rapidly round and round. The leaves whirled in eddies of
wind.
Egoism (Noun) -
an ethical theory that treats self-interest as the foundation of morality,
His egoism prevented him from really loving anyone.
Agony (noun) -
extreme physical or mental suffering, She screamed again in agony as
pain seared through her shoulder
Delirious (adj) -
in an acutely disturbed state of mind characterized by restlessness, illusions,
and incoherence; He became delirious and couldn't recognize people.
Delusive (adj) -
giving a false or misleading impression, clinging to
her delusive hopes, the woman couldn't let go of her false dreams.
Compensate
(verb)- give (someone) something, typically money, in recognition of loss,
suffering, or injury incurred; recompense. Payments were made to farmers
to compensate them for cuts in subsidies.
mortgage (noun) -
a legal agreement by which a bank, building society, etc. lends money at
interest in exchange for taking title of the debtor's property, with the
condition that the conveyance of title becomes void upon the payment of the
debt. I put down a hundred thousand in cash and took out a mortgage for the
rest.
Brood (verb) -
think deeply about something that makes one unhappy, angry, or worried; She
had brooded over the subject a thousand times.
Prelude (Noun) -
an action or event serving as an introduction to something more important. A
ceasefire had been agreed as a prelude to full peace negotiations.
C. In the story, you saw the words like ‘exhausted’ and
‘smiling’. They are used as adjectives. Adjectives ending in - ing describe
what someone or something like, whereas adjectives ending in -ed describe how
someone feels, compare:
My job is
boring/interesting/tiring/satisfying/pleasing.
I’m
bored/interested/tired/satisfied/pleased with my job
D. Choose the
correct word.
a) Sarita was
shocking/shocked to hear about the earthquake.
b) I think that
rainy days in winter are depressing/depressed.
c) The football
match was very exciting/excited. I enjoyed it.
d) The meal at
Delight Cafe are satisfying/satisfied.
e) I’ve got
nothing to do. I’m boring/bored.
f) Tanka is very
good at telling funny stories. He can be very amusing/amused.
g) The teacher’s
explanation was confusing/confused. Most of the students didn’t understand it.
h) He is such a
boring/bored person. He never wants to go out.
i) I will be
surprising/surprised if she does well in her test.
j) Are you
interesting/interested in politics?
E. Write the
correct form of the adjectives in the blank as in the example.
Example- Grammar
rules frustrate me. They’re not logical. They are so frustrating.
a) They frustrate
me but they don’t bore me. I never get bored when I study grammar.
b) If teachers
want to interest the students they must use interesting materials.
c) Certain
stories interest almost everybody. For example, most students are interested in
fairy tales.
d) Certain things
frighten me, but I never get frightened when I speak English.
e) If I get a
good grade, that excites me. And if I get more than ninety percent, I am really
excited.
Comprehension
Answer these questions.
a) Who was Nellie? What did she used to dream of?
Ans:- Nellie was
a young and pretty daughter of a landowner and general. She used to dream of a
handsome man whom she chooses to be her husband.
b) What was she doing with the looking glass?
Ans:- She was
sitting motionlessly in front of the looking glass dreaming of her destined
husband.
c) Why did she go to the doctor on one winter night?
Ans:- She went to
the doctor on one winter night because he husband was caught by typhus.
d) What was Stepan Lukitch doing when she reached his
bedroom?
Ans:- Stephan
Lukitch, only one district doctor, was lying on his bed dressed, but without
his coat, and with pouting lips he was breathing into his open hand, when she
(Nellie) reached his bedroom.
e) Why was the doctor not ready to go to see her
husband?
Ans:- He was not
ready to go to see her husband because he has just come at his house after
three days seeing lots of typhus patients and he was caught himself it.
f) Why did Stepan Lukitch suggest Nellie to go to the
Zemstov doctor?
Ans:- Lukitch
suggested Nellie to go to the Zemstov doctor because he was tired and sick and
he was unable to make a house call.
g) Nellie said, “Come, perform that heroic deed! Have
pity on us!” What was that pity to be done?
Ans:- The pity to
be done was going at her home and curing her sick husband who was in a critical
condition and fetching another doctor was to go to another 30 miles which was
not possible at that time.
h) When Nellie said, “I must have fallen asleep.” What
does it mean?
Ans:- She was
dreaming of her destined husband sitting motionlessly in front of a handy
mirror and when she came into the real world disturbed by the sound of the fall
of something from her hand and she said,
“I must have fallen asleep.” to make her feel comfort.
Critical Thinking
a. “The Looking Glass (Mirror)” is used as a symbol in
the story. What does it symbolize?
Chekhov's
narrator introduces the story's only character, Nellie, looking into mirror as
her eyes get tired shut with fatigue. The narrator states that Nellie spends
all day and night dreaming of being married, most likely staring into one of
the two looking glasses mentioned in her room. So, from the story's opening,
the looking glass symbolizes Nellie's essential qualities: her obsession with
marriage, her vanity, and her weak connection with reality. The mirror provides
Nellie's only source of escape from the boredom and isolation of life on her
father's country estate. To emphasize the deep connection between Nellie and
her mirrors, the narrator makes a direct physical comparison between her and
them. Like the glass, Nellie is "pale, tense and motionless," and its
grey background corresponds to the "dark, empty, meaningless" void
out of which her dream husband emerges. This comparison suggests that there is
nothing real or meaningful for Nellie outside of the looking-glass's reflective
surface, implying the self-imposed limits of Nellie's consciousness. She feels
like she and her existence have no real value on their own beyond the
"bliss" she feels with her idealized notion of love and marriage. At
the end of the story, Chekhov uses the looking glass to provide a parallel and
contrast with the way the symbol is used at the beginning to represent the
gateway to Nellie's dream life. In the ending, though, it is the sound of
Nellie's hand-held mirror falling to the floor that jars her awake and out of
her emotionally-draining dream. When she looks up at the table-mirror, she is
relieved to see her "tear-stained" face in the reflection, and not
the grey background signifying an approaching fantasy.
b) Chekhov employs the magic trick in the story, using
a very elegant transition from reality to imagination to realty sequence.
Discuss its relevance to life of young people.
Anton Chekhov’s
short story “The Looking Glass” might be relevant to the life of young people
due to its fairy-tale quality. It’s as if Nellie turns herself into a
distressed princess; her husband becomes a kind of afflicted prince charming.
It’s interesting that her husband doesn’t have a name. The lack of a name
connects to other fairy tales for young readers in which the male love interest
is never given a clear name. In Cinderella,
for instance, the prince has no name.
Apart from a
connection to fairy tales intended for young people, it could be argued that
Chekov’s short story underscores the ways in which young people tend to
dramatize life. It’s not uncommon for books, movies, and TV shows to portray
young people as histrionic, overemotional, and hyperbolic. Nellie might
represent the ways in which young people tend to glamorize love, suffering, and
other things that might not be so enchanting in reality. Since some young people
are fortunate enough to have not had to personally experience devastating
hardship, they might be more inclined to invent their own. If their imagined
scene grows too scary, they can, like Nellie, wake up, and it’ll be done with.
When discussing
the relevance of “The Looking to Glass” to young people, it might be insightful
to note that all people, whatever their age, tend to be susceptible to fantasy,
exaggeration, and flights of fancy. There are probably just as many
overdramatic books, movies, and TV shows for adults as there are for young
people. Furthermore, the sensational, slanted nature of social media and news
outlets suggests that adults travel back and forth between reality and fantasy
more often than they might like to admit.
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