Vasilisa and Lukerya deep feeling to Saint Peter

‘The student’ is a short story came from Anton Chekhov who a Russian and considered
to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history. Besides that, he was also known with
his popular playwright. In the short story ‘The Student’, the author narrated the story focuses on
the son of a sacristan and a student of the clerical academy, Ivan Velikopolsky. He returned from
shooting in a cold weather and bitter wind season. Along his path to home, he met 2 widows
Vasilisa and Lukerya, a mother and her daughter. In a cold night, warm is friend in needs. As the
students seen from far, there was campfire among the widows. He joined the campfire, he
remarked that warm among them may be also felt by Saint Peter, one of twelve apostles.
Suddenly Ivan asked whether the widows had been reading the twelve passion gospels to which
Vasilisa replied that they had. But Ivan still recount the story. As he finished the story, Ivan back
to his path home and thought about the widows, they seem look crying and it sign that the story
of twelve apostles may have reflected to their circumstances. Reaction that showed by the
widows was gave many questions, what makes the widows over react to a story they had hear.

The author himself in this story may be expression of his beliefs in religion, as we know
twelve apostles is a story from Christian based on the Bible. Over reacted that shown by the
widows were different, the mother was crying and the daughter was strained, both expression
noted in page 4 paragraph 1 (The Student). From the note we know that the characteristic of two
woman opposite from each other, we barely know it from page 2 paragraph 2 “They talk,
Vasilisa, a woman of experience who had been in service the gentry….. She had a strange
expression like that of a deaf-mute” so we can conclude that Vasilisa is a hearted woman, and
her daughter, Lukerya is a mistreated woman. The characteristic of both had made up from the
condition they had been through.

What truly happen to both women is because the student Departures, he changes an
expression of the two widows. Originally as the writers said before about the characteristic of the
widows, beyond that there were something hide. Like shown by the daughter, when she was
hearing the story from Ivan, at first she didn’t care about Ivan “Simply screwed up her eyes at
the student and said nothing, and she had a strange expression like that of a deaf-mute” (page 2)
but after Ivan finish the story, Lukerya seemed focused on him. On page 4 “Lukerya, Staring
immovably at the student, flushed crimson, and her expression became strained and heavy like
that of someone enduring intense pain” from citations above which central in Lukerya, we can
conclude that Lukerya focuses on the story that was brought by Ivan. And based on her reacted
in the end of story. It assumes that Lukerya had something deals with events in the story of saint
Peter. Through deep reading, we found Lukerya reacted with face full of strained, and it indicates
that in fact Lukerya never heard the story before, even though her mother, Vasilisa said that they
were had heard the story, because when the student asked the widows, the one who answer it was
Vasilisa. If indeed Lukerya knew the story before, the expression that shown is not like that.

Vasilisa the one who cried after the story told. Ivan thinks that the story of Saint Peter
had effect to the woman. He assumes that he didn’t tell the story touchingly, but it is because the
woman had relation to it, but indeed the woman reaction, maybe she remembering about her
husband or someone whose ignore her like Saint Peter did to Jesus. In case to it then she cried.
As Ivan said when he continued the journey on page 4 “The past,” he thought, “is linked with the
present by an unbroken chain of events flowing one out of other.”

Even though the two widows had blood relation from each other, it doesn’t mean they
have same feeling, they had their own problem and life through. Shown by Lukerya she strained
like someone enduring intense pain. It tells that Lukerya feels the story, and it must be she hadn’t
hear the story before. Vasilisa remembered her past events that had relation to the story of Saint
Peter, so it makes her cry.