“VANKA”

Anton P. Chekhov
 Anton Chekhov
• Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

• born on January 29, 1860, in Taganrog, Russia

• died of tuberculosis on July 15, 1904, in Badenweiler, Germany

• a Russian physician and supreme short story writer and

playwright

• Chekhov is considered an exemplar author in the

genre of Realism

• A child-family separation theme plays out in several

of Chekhov's stories including Vanka, The Steppe, and Sleepy

• In 1879 Chekhov was admitted to medical school and he joined his family in Moscow

• He assumed financial responsibility for the family and while attending classes at Moscow State
University
• He at once enrolled in the university’s medical faculty, graduating in 1884 as a doctor

• he wrote and sold a large number of humorous stories and vignettes of contemporary Russian life

• He published more than four hundred short stories, sketches and vignettes by the age of

• "Medicine is my lawful wife and literature my mistress; when I get tired of one, I spend the night with the
other.“ –Anton Chekhov

• supported his mother and the younger children through his freelance earnings as a journalist and
writer of comic sketches

• His story “The Steppe” was an important success, earning its author the Pushkin Prize in 1888

• Chekhov is considered one of the major literary figures of his time.

• He is a literary artist of laconic precision who probed below the surface of life, laying bare the
secret motives of his characters.

• Chekhov’s best plays and short stories lack complex plots and neat solutions

• His themes also tend to be centered around dark times, dissolute people, adultery, and the like
 “VANKA”
The extract describes a poor unfortunate orphan Vanka Zhukov a nine
year old. Three months before, when his mother died, Vanka was sent away
from his village and apprenticed to the cruel shoemaker Aluakhin. The story is
about the action the young and abused Vanka takes in response to his
desperate situation, and the language is simple, elegant and effective. Vanka
misses for his past life in the village with his grandfather. These recollections
warm him. His dream is to come back home.
THEME:
• Desperation, Innocence
• Compassion,Suffering
• Commitment
• universal plight of orphans and
how they are mistreated by the society back then
• homelessness, poverty, slavery, unemployment- “social inequality”
• to prove that family ties are the important fabric of our lives
• innocence of children, the longing for the families
• the unrealistic promise of the desperate.
 CHARACTERS
• Protagonist:
– Vanka himself

• Antagonists:
– Alyakhin the shoemaker, Alyakhin's wife, and
Vanka's fellow apprentices
STYLE OF STORY:
• Third- person narration that limits itself to Vanka's perspective

• Epistolary - meaning told as or from a letter

• from the point of view of this nine-year-old boy

• story shifts from deep melancholy

– (as Vanka reflects on his unpleasant present circumstances and begins writing the letter)

• to satisfaction and optimism

– (after Vanka posts the letter and gives himself a possible way home)

• mood of the story: generally quiet, somber, and lonely

ANALYSIS:
• Major Conflict:
– Vanka is upset with the rough treatment that he has received as Alyakhin's apprentice,
and is determined to rejoin his grandfather in his home village.
• Climax:
– Vanka rushes out into the street and posts his letter; this action gives him a new sense of
satisfaction and hope.
• Paradox:
– Apparently ineffectual gestures (such as the writing and sending of Vanka's letter) can be
sources of fulfillment.
– Authority and trust can bring out the worst in people (such as Alyakhin the shoemaker)
rather than the best.
• “worse than a dog’s life, and so miserable” = Moscow in 19th century
• Letter: with ideas, fears, promises and hopes