Gooseberries

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1898

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Themes

The Pursuit of Happiness and the Meaning of Life

A recurring theme throughout Chekhov’s The Little Trilogy series is the pursuit of happiness. While the other two stories in the series focus on unhappy love, “Gooseberries” questions the definition of happiness and its relationship to the meaning of life.

The theme is initially tied to Nicholai’s quest of his personal fulfillment. He dreams of owning land that contains a “farmhouse, cottage, vegetable garden and gooseberry bush” (Paragraph 26). His definition of happiness is purely materialistic and is rooted in the social expectations of late 19th-century Russian society. He marries a rich widow for her money and sacrifices her life to pay his way toward his goal. Eventually, Nicholai realizes his dream and is content with his life. However, his happiness ultimately raises existential questions about the purpose and significance of his endeavors.

First, his pursuit of happiness comes at a cost for both him and those around him. His marriage, based merely on financial considerations, hints at his moral blemish. He has no regret that his wife “pined away in her new life, and in three years or so gave up her soul to God” (Paragraph 27). In other words, the illusion of happiness corrupts his morality and turns him into a mindless beast, “as fat as a pig” (Paragraph 30). Second and more importantly, his happy life is in fact a life of misery, albeit ostensibly without self-awareness of this fact. His marriage represents a sacrifice of genuine love and emotional fulfillment. His obesity raises concerns about his health. His superior social status as a landlord emphasizes his self-isolation. Ignoring the needs and well-being of other members of society, he locks himself up in his illusion of happiness. Eventually, he even loses the last possible equal relationship—the friendship of his brother, Ivan. Chekhov suggests that the quest for this materialistic sort of happiness is worthless.

In contrast, Ivan seems interconnected with both nature and other human beings. He enjoys a respectful profession, genuine friendship, and plenty of leisure to meditate on the meaning of life. Although Ivan concludes Nicholai’s story by rejecting happiness altogether, his life may nevertheless suggest another path of personal fulfillment: to seek the meaning of life.

By juxtaposing Nicholai’s isolated existence and Ivan’s interconnectedness in human relationships, Chekhov suggests that a meaningful life is intertwined with compassion, empathy, and a sense of responsibility toward others.

Privilege Versus Social Equality

In “Gooseberries,” privilege manifests itself most ostentatiously through Nicholai’s pursuit of personal happiness. As a landowner, he enjoys economic and political advantages over the less fortunate members of society including peasants. His sometimes cruel treatment of women and peasants highlights moral concerns toward privilege—whether it’s even humane to retain privilege over others.

This theme ties the sociohistorical context of late 19th-century Russia, when the rigid social structure safeguarded privileged noblemen and oppressed serfs. The emerging ideas of human rights and social equality had made their way to Russia. However, Russia was making little progress to break away from its past. In Chekhov’s stories, different individual choices reflect these changing social dynamics as Russia struggles to transition from its traditional societal norms to a more modernized society.

In “Gooseberries,” Chekhov juxtaposes Nicholai’s choices with those of Ivan, who values an equal relationship with peasants and a fairer social structure. The story prompts readers to question the existing disparities in society and advocates for a more balanced approach in which personal fulfillment doesn’t compromise moral values.

Less explicitly, the theme is embedded in the narrative structure. Nicholai’s story is told by Ivan, but if examined closely, a self-righteous tone glosses over Ivan’s bias and prejudice. Ivan doesn’t mention why he went to college and became a veterinary surgeon whereas his younger brother could not pursue a similar education and profession. It might be because Ivan had family support and Nicholai did not. In other words, Ivan enjoyed a different sort of privilege—an economic advantage that most Russians don’t have. This advantage premises his pursuit of more lofty ideas, including social equality. This implicit layer of the same theme subtly reappears in the story’s ending. After Ivan finishes telling Nicholai’s story and eagerly enforces his takeaway on others, none of his listeners are impressed. Unlike Ivan, Bourkin is an ordinary gymnasium teacher, and Aliokhin has to work long hours to repay his father’s debts. Ivan asks them not to “let yourself be lulled to sleep” (Paragraph 47), but the others are too exhausted to stay awake. In other words, most Russians struggle to fulfill basic materialistic needs and therefore can’t afford to ponder social or spiritual quests. To unite Russians in forward social changes, social movement leaders must first lift them out of poverty.

Individual Freedom Versus Social Expectations

The contrast between individual freedom and social expectations is a running theme throughout Chekhov’s The Little Trilogy series. The other two stories, “The Man in the Case” and “About Love,” explore the theme more explicitly through romantic love. In both stories, the couples end up unhappy because they marry not for love but for financial stability. The fact that most characters in The Little Trilogy adhere to social expectations suggests that these expectations are powerful, pervasive, seemingly right, and hard to break in late 19th-century Russian society.

Unlike the other two stories, “Gooseberries” explores the theme in a broader sense. Nicholai’s pursuit of happiness involves a marriage based on social expectations. He marries a widower solely for her substantial dowry. Although this part of his story is mentioned only briefly, it nevertheless shows Nicholai’s moral failure because this innocent woman dies miserably only three years into the marriage.

In addition, “Gooseberries” embodies the theme in the contrasting values of the two main characters. Ivan represents the modern Western idea of individual freedom. In the beginning of the story, he swims in the pool despite the heavy rain, with little regard to how others might perceive him. He enjoys the water, exclaiming that it’s “delicious” (Paragraph 18). He’s characterized as more of a free spirit than the others. In stark contrast, his younger brother, Nicholai, adheres to social expectations in every possible way. His idea of happiness stems from the Russian newspaper, which defines “happiness” only in materialistic terms. His pride is deeply rooted in Russia’s conventional social structure, which divides the unprivileged from the privileged. When his fulfilled life comes into full bloom, Chekhov hints at its absurd nature:

And, like a good landowner, he looked after his soul and did good works pompously, never simply. What good works? He cured the peasants of all kinds of diseases with soda and castoroil, and on his birthday he would have a thanksgiving service held in the middle of the village, and would treat the peasants to half a bucket of vodka, which he thought the right thing to do. Ah! These horrible buckets of vodka (Paragraph 47).

He’s a “good” landowner in the sense that he unquestioningly obeys Russian traditions. He practices pseudoscience and encourages idleness through overdrinking. He’s at most a mindless “fool.” By critiquing the illusive and delusional nature of those Russian traditions, Chekhov inspires examination of the limit of Russia’s social expectations.