The Student: RJ #1

The story, "The Student", opens on a gray, soggy note, as we watch the protagonist trudge along in a joyless world. It's clear that we are looking through his eyes; thus, the first impression I took away from this story was equally as bleak. "Perfect short story" indeed? At first what we see is a simple, unfettered tale of a student who chances upon a widow and her daughter and uses the opportunity to preach to them the story of Peter, the prophet who denies Jesus' name thrice before morning strikes. And it is this uncloggedness, this simplicity that gives the story the label of "realism". There is no magic, no supernatural occurrence involved; emotions are portrayed straightforwardly, without florid prose often employed by the Romantics. Myself, being more of a Romantically-inclined person, was not too attracted by the story at first. But therein lies the joy of realism--it leaves "scope for the imagination", as Anne Shirley would say. What effect was Chekhov trying to achieve? Surely he must have intended the reader to think, not just swallow.

A second rereading allowed more room for thought--that might in fact be a bit of an understatement. There is a world of difference between the first and second reading, and it became much clearer to me the precise kind of emotion Ivan was feeling at the end of the story: it was the same one that I experience when learning history. "When he touched one end [of the chain], the other quivered." Often the heart-thrilling feeling that I get when I connect past events to modern ones can be described precisely thus. After all, what is the past and present but a matter of semantics? Past chains of events are inextricably tied to our present, the same way our actions today influence those of our successors. Ivan, being a religious student, achieved this enlightenment through a spiritual connection rather than through connecting a concrete series of events, as historians do; his seeing the widow weeping and her daughter troubled was evidence enough for him that Biblical stories far in the past still had solid remnants in his day. I, as a student of Reason and of the post-Enlightenment age, reached that conclusion in a more logical and empirical manner, but I do believe the revelation is the same. Therefore, The Student held much more meaning for me the more I explored it.

Certainly, then, if both Ivan and the reader reach a light in the darkness together, wouldn't that be a sign of hope? After all, the Biblical tale Ivan himself told was fraught with optimism; Peter denied Jesus three times, but he was later forgiven, and went on to become a great disciple. In the same way, Ivan's initial bleak worldview of his Russia being similar to that of the dictators also reaches a hopeful conclusion; Peter's betrayal of Jesus was certainly negative, but there was improvement. Although the cold winds of Russia past continue to blow in the land, Ivan feels joyful because change is possible, thanks to continual holy forces working since Antiquity. There is a small strip of sunset shining on the ground as Ivan leaves--this is symbolism enough for a new hope glimmering in the student's heart.

As we are left with that image, we wonder: what did Chekhov mean to tell us? Of course, that question could be only answered by the man himself. If I may speculate, the story's moral could lie in the conclusion itself--that the past and present are connected by similar forces--or it could be something more mundane. Perhaps Chekhov simply wanted to paint a snapshot of a young man's mind, as many realist authors did. And before you cry "But that's so pointless!" it's important to know that capturing an emotion, a revelation, in a human mind, is a surprisingly difficult thing to do, especially so straightforwardly and without decorations. The existence of the story itself may have a meaning of its own, as a photograph of a person's mind. The readers could gain from it Chekhov's own understanding of humans and how they think; The Student could very well be an intensely personal piece, considering his religious background.

So is it the "perfect short story"? It's certainly not for everyone--after all, barely anything happens in it, and not every reader will walk away with a profound revelation or emotion. Some may argue that the story was not written poignantly enough for that, and that is the point of dry realism. I personally thought it was a rather moving piece, most probably because I could relate to the main character in a way.