The Issue of Happiness in Gooseberries

The Issue of Happiness in Gooseberries

One who seeks their own happiness through life will fail to do much good for others. A preoccupation with achieving this "ideal" state of happiness will certainly lead to an inconsiderate view of the world. Anton Chekhov's story Gooseberries portrays a man who has come to this realization. He has seen the consequences of pure unadulterated happiness, and describes his subsequent emotions as "melancholy". Why should an educated man, a veterinary surgeon none the less, have such issues with human happiness? This paper seeks to understand the question and relate it to the motives of the author, Anton Chekhov.

It is important, first of all, to ascertain the meaning of the word happiness in the context which it is used in the story. This would be a good time to give the Webster's Dictionary definition of the word happiness. But is that really necessary? Who is Webster anyway to attempt to define a human emotion!? Instead, it would be more accurate definition if you simply think of your own happiness. What makes you happy? What do you do in order to attain happiness? Only after you answer these questions will you be able to understand the word in the way that Chekhov intended. Wouldn't it be difficult to suppress happiness? If you don't think so, just ask Bertha from Bliss. In the first paragraph of Gooseberries, the last line reads, "On this still day, when the whole of nature seemed kindly and pensive, Ivan Ivanich and Burkin felt a surge of love for this plain, and thought how vast and beautiful their country was". If beauty and love don't afford happiness, what does? It becomes apparent after reading and re-reading the story, what Chekhov means by the word happiness. T...

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...easants at his home without fee. Chekhov also worked in clinics during times of famine and epidemic. Thus, Chekhov was exposed to all of "...the terrible things in life that are played out behind the scenes". Although Chekhov performed many good deeds throughout his life, it is likely that he felt as if he had not done enough. One reason why he might have felt this way was his long and painful battle with tuberculosis. As he writes near the end of the story: "I am old and unfit for the struggle, I am even incapable of feeling hatred. I can only suffer inwardly, and give way to irritation and annoyances, at night my head burns from the rush of thoughts, and I am unable to sleep...Oh, if only I were young!" Anton Chekhov was by no means old when he died from tuberculosis. But how it must make a man feel old knowing that his days are numbered.