29 pages • 58 minutes read
Anton ChekhovThe Death of a Government Clerk
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1883A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Class Struggle
For Chekhov and his contemporaries in 19th-century Russia, upward mobility was difficult and sometimes impossible to achieve. Part of the problem was government control. The enormous size and elaborate complexity of the administrative system proved tough to navigate. In fact, the overall purpose of national authority at the time was to hold people down, both socially and economically. Here enters Chervyakov, a low-level government clerk with aspirations for a higher status in life. By naming the clerk Chervyakov, which is similar to the Russian word for “worm,” Chekhov reinforces the notion that the protagonist is regarded as a repellent person. Far from having the desired effect, his exaggerated fawning behavior is met with disgust from the higher-up official.
Chekhov therefore compels the reader to see the futility of attempting to move up the class structure. He conjures the idea of an impermeable barrier that prevents people from elevating themselves: Something always gets in the way. With Chervyakov, for example, an insignificant sneeze is all it takes. As the story points out, “[s]neezing is not prohibited to anyone anywhere” (Paragraph 1), but the act itself reminds the clerk that his tenuous position in society is in constant danger. His persistent apologies might be over the top and humorous, yet they also display an automatic simpering response from members of the lower class. This involuntary reaction, while ridiculously staged in the story, is a product of the social and economic system that means to maintain its oppressive hold. Its goal is to preserve the traditional order and keep people in their place.
Paranoia Under Powerful State Control
Despite its humorous overtones, Chekhov’s “The Death of a Government Clerk” is about power structures and the anxiety that builds up around their influence. Chervyakov is clearly a paranoid subject of this administrative rule, not least because he agonizes over the perceptions of General Brizzhalov.
The general is key to the story because he does not fit neatly into the role of an overbearing dictator. Brizzhalov comes off instead as mild-mannered and aloof, with no indication of malice or vengeance. When first approached about the sneeze, he describes it as “nothing at all” and implores Chervyakov to let it go (Paragraph 5). Yet Chervyakov still obsesses, repeatedly feeling the need to apologize and win the officer’s approval.
This storyline might make more sense if the general had been portrayed as quick to anger from the start. In that context, Chervyakov would simply be exhibiting a human response through his constant appeals. It might also seem normal if Brizzhalov had been in the clerk’s department. Chekhov, however, takes away both possibilities. He underscores the clerk’s paranoia by intentionally describing a laid-back general and relegating his authority to some other place. The result is that Chervyakov’s obsequious actions seem strange, but that strangeness translates to a poignant commentary on the deep psychological hold of state governments. This influence can be so extreme that it unwittingly draws out irrational behavior in its subjects.
This paranoia is not confined to Chervyakov. His wife has the same response, although she is less concerned when she learns that Brizzhalov belongs to another department. Chekhov introduces a few humorous elements in this discussion. According to the narrator, for example, Chervyakov believes that his wife treated the incident “too lightly,” saying that she “merely took fright” (Paragraph 12). This bit of tongue-in-cheek foolishness goes along with the dark, comical mood throughout the rest of the story. It also sets up the wife as an equally frantic citizen, subject to the same mechanisms of excessive government control. When she later suggests that Chervyakov visit the general to apologize, she falls in line with the clerk and his overly agitated state.
The general is indeed upset by the end of the story, although his anger has nothing to do with the original sneeze. Instead, it manifests from Chervyakov’s own paranoia and his repeated attempts to explain himself. Brizzhalov sees, firsthand, the debilitating effect of an administrative superstructure and the class system it propagates. Yet he either fails to recognize his part in Chervyakov’s mania or, more likely, does not care about the anguish of a lowly clerk. Either way, he is moved to rage, finally fulfilling his expected role as the instrument of Chervyakov’s downfall. Thus, the story suggests that an all-encompassing state can fuel paranoia and destroy lives, sometimes without even trying.
The Dangers of Conformity
Russia’s oppressive apparatus of rule helps to explain why the people revolted in 1917. The arc of the story’s protagonist offers a cautionary tale about the dangers of conforming to such a despotic system. Chervyakov, after all, chooses his own destiny in the story. He chooses to go to the opera as a way of fitting in with the upper-crust society. He chooses to approach Brizzhalov after the sneeze, and he chooses to repeat this strategy after the general initially rebuffs him. In fact, most of the story’s comedic strength and tragic power come from Chervyakov’s ludicrously poor choices. Those decisions are based on his need to conform, which drives the plot and sustains the conflict and tension throughout.
Chervyakov’s conformity extends to the domestic world as well. When he discusses the matter of the sneeze with his wife, he accepts her advice and agrees to visit the general in person. He offers only a weak protest, saying that he already apologized but did not receive a “single sensible word” in reply (Paragraph 14). Chekhov ends the conversation here as part of his minimalist writing style, leaving the reader to wonder if Chervyakov’s wife pressed the point and urged her husband to repeat his appeals anyway. Regardless, the clerk sets off the next day with a new uniform and haircut to show his willingness to look the part of a loyal employee. As such, he goes back and forth between public and private spaces, always following convention and always acting against his best interests.
The last few scenes connect conformity with fatal consequences. Overwhelmed by Chervyakov’s persistent pandering, Brizzhalov accuses the clerk of making fun of him. Chervyakov is appalled, unable to fathom a world where low-level employees mock their superiors. The clerk shows his anger in this back-and-forth, finding it most offensive that he should be viewed as insubordinate. His returns the next day with a passionate and articulate reply: “[I]t never entered my head to make fun of you. Would I dare make fun of you? If we’re going to make fun of people, then there won’t be any respect for persons…there won’t be any” (Paragraph 25). These words lead to his final dismissal, showing how compliance and devotion can have disabling effects on the mind and contribute to a character’s tragic flaw.
Just after Chervyakov is sent away for the last time, he displays an automatic shutdown: “Seeing nothing, hearing nothing, he backed toward the door, went out into the street, and trudged off…Finding his way home mechanically, without taking off his uniform, he lay down on the sofa and…died” (Paragraph 29). The clerk’s need to conform is so intense that he cannot function outside of the normal societal order. His death, either real or symbolic, is the only natural consequence, and it is also the final comic twist. In a story that continuously pokes fun at institutions of power, Chekhov uses an obsessively loyal and dedicated public servant to bring it all to light.
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