The student/Anton Checkov

Anton Checkov's short story: The Student

<Reading Journal>

Anton Checkov's short story, 'The Student,' is full of mystery throughout the whole story line. The setting, atmosphere, and characters are all only briefly explained in the story, conveying the enigmatic mood of the story. I admit that it was not easy for me or I did not feel the need to thoroughly understand every parts of the symbolism, deeper meanings the story conveyed. However, I would like to imply that based on my knowledge of the 'realism,' the short story 'the student' most realistically shows a mental process of a normal student in any country, any field of study.

  

The story starts with describing a student in a mood of gloominess, misery without much reason. He  walks a road which suddenly turns cold, dark, and windy. This may seem like a random process without enough explanation, but after reading the story three times, I felt that this was in fact the most accurate description of a student's mind which is indescribable, fluctuating most of the times. Misery, pessimism comes without forecast into a student's mind, which always faces numerous inner conflicts. For Ivan, a student in a clerical academy, it may have been about his philosophy and religion. Then, Ivan talks about Peter in front of two widows. Witnessing the eventual change of Peter, from a betrayer to the most successful discipline of Jesus, and the rapid emotional change of widows listening to the story of Peter, Ivan himself realizes that human beings can easily transit their emotion from remorse, betrayal to hopefulness, and joy. This is also another accurate depiction of common students, endlessly swimming in remorse and finally but rapidly acknowledging hope.

Realism, by the definition, is the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding artistic conventions, implausible, exotic and supernatural elements. It is true that Checkov's short story 'the student' did not depict a student's daily life in the most details. However, Checkov most realistically showed the most common, but important mental process of a teenager.