Who are difficult people? With whom communication is well nigh impossible- they are the difficult people. Chekhov’s short
story with the title narrates the happenings in a
family of the Russian peasantry of the early 20th century in one evening. The central character in this thought provoking short story is actually the family. But this is the most uncharacteristic of Chekhov’s stories. The story has neither a beginning nor an end and definitely no plot. Generally Chekhov’s stories evoke nice feelings of either laughter or tears, in us. They make us ‘feel’ rather than ‘think’. This story is an exception. It makes us think. Well, what is the story, after all? The father, Y.I.Shiryaev, is the
son of a parish priest, now deceased, who inherited 300 acres of land from some widow. Even after acquiring the wealth, Shiryaev is not at all happy. He is always afraid of losing the wealth. He considers his student son, studying in Moscow, a wastrel. He, like all fathers, thinks that his wife has spoiled all his children. He blames her for the alleged disrespect shown to him by his children, particularly his elder son. But the truth is different. He does not respect his wife and not a dinner or tea passes without the father shouting at her, his son, his teen age daughter, who has become ugly because of her constant fear of her father and the oppression let loose on her by the tyrant. Of course the most helpless creature is the mother, wife of the elder Shiryaev, who could never understand her husband even after twenty five years of marriage. Not that the father, mother and
children do not love each other. But that does not prevent them from making each other’s life hell. Or, can we say, the father is to blame? No, it is all money. The father is ever afraid of losing money. The dinner starts with the son asking the father some
money to go to Moscow to continue his studies. Already a fortnight has been lost. The classes are going on. With much hesitation the father give the train fare and a pittance for expenses on the way. Nothing is given for shoes, dresses, lodging and tuition fees. The
boy says it will take some time before he gets work. Now the father flares up and shouts at the top of his voice, all the while telling his son to ‘hold his tongue’. The boy goes out of the house and walks up to the railway station. On his way he meets an old woman. They exchange smiles. The boy now thinks how the old lady has been able to smile even though all her four sons are wastrels and the family is quite an
unhappy one. Then he goes back to his home. The next morning he leaves for Moscow. Of course the father grumblingly gives him money. ‘All happy families are alike. Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way’, said Tolstoy. Chekhov is talking about families in this story. Money is needed. But it does not bring happiness.
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