The Core of a Man’s Grief

815 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Animal human relationship

Anton Chekhov “Misery” focuses on the misery of a man, Iona. Chekhov uses dialogue and events to displays Iona’s loneliness, delusion, and grief displacement, to define his different forms of misery. Iona Potapov, the character of “Misery,” is a cab driver in St. Petersburg whose only son has died the week before. Iona’s loss of his son is not the root of his pain, it’s the fact that he can’t properly grieve. Iona’s misery comes from him trying to hide his pain, by detaching himself from reality. The story is set in nineteenth century Russia during the winter time. Iona who was coachman, delusion leads him to ignore the horrid weather conditions that surround him, and he allowed himself to be blanketed in snow. “If a regular snowdrift fell on him it seems as though even he would not think it necessary to shake it off”. (327). Ignoring the snow is a perfect example of Iona’s depression consuming him. Iona’s grief displacement doesn’t stop there; towards the end of the short story Iona even tries to blame his pain on his low wages acquired for that day, and completely ignores his son death. “I have not earned enough to pay for the oats, even, “he thinks”, that’s why I am so miserable”. (329). Iona’s obviously trying to avoid the fact that he can’t grieve by trying to blame his anguish on unrelated topics. His symptoms of depression are in plan sight. On the other hand, it seems as if Iona’s sorrow derives from him not having any one to express his pain to. Throughout the story he is surrounded by people, but he remains genuinely alone. He “thirsts” for the opportunity to talk about his grief, but no one will share the burden of his misery. Even when he is disrespected by the people that surround him, he still seeks a conversat... ... middle of paper ... ...story Iona has been searching for a soul to tell why he is in immense grief. He failed to see that his true companion has been pulling him along the whole time. “The little mare munches, listens, and breathes on her master hand. Iona’s is carried away and tells her all about it.” (330). The connection is clear , Iona’s grief allowed him to over look the only being that has an ounce of compassion for Iona. Could not connecting to his horse be one of the true roots to his grief? In conclusion, Iona’s misery roots from several different areas. Through this analysis I have displayed his delusion, loneliness, and grief displacement. I have also shown how his companion the mare was his open ears the entire time. His son death is only part of his misery, and the other trials and tribulations that he went through that day, and his late realization of his true companion.

Show More
Related

  • Isolation and Its Results in Poe's The Raven

    1845 Words  | 4 Pages

    The opening stanza of "The Raven" introduces the reader to an isolated man in his study on a "dreary" night reading old books and trying to stay awake.  The silent solitude is broken by someone or something "tapping" on the door (lines 1-3).  The speaker then explains that he had been secluding himself among books in an effort to shut out the mournful pain from the recent death of a girl named Lenore.  It was December, the darkest month of the year, in the middle of the night.  This contributes to the speaker's depression, and his isolation further enhances it.  He may be trying to avoid his misery and self-pity, but he is also wallowing in it by sitting in a lonely study and reading ancient books on a December night.  Independent and private study is perfectly acceptable; however, the speaker is not seeking knowledge but rather a "surcease of sorrow" (line 10).  The cause of his sadness is not the isolation, but it greatly contributes, and even heightens, his blue emotions.  The surrounding conditions of darkness and solitude, combined with the loss of his beloved, are sinking him into feelings of melancholy.  Overall, it is mainly his seclusion among these factors...

    Read More

  • Compare Antigone And The Bible

    762 Words  | 2 Pages

    Despite its prevalence, suffering is always seen an intrusion, a personal attack on its victims. However, without its presence, there would never be anyway to differentiate between happiness and sadness, nor good and evil. It is encoded into the daily lives people lead, and cannot be avoided, much like the prophecies described in Antigone. Upon finding out that he’d murdered his father and married his mother,

    Read More

  • Happiness Vs. Unhappiness In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

    998 Words  | 2 Pages

    Louise Mallard has not yet heard the news of her husband’s death. As the news is revealed to her she went into a state of unhappiness, and she had a hard time “accepting the significance” (463). She “wept at once” with “wild abandonment” and the “storm of grief” (463), passed over and she went alone to her bedroom with no one to follow her. The author describes in the previous sentence that the storm of grief has passed over her,

    Read More

  • Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven And The Cask Of Amontillado

    1765 Words  | 4 Pages

    First, in one of the many the poem’s Edgar Allen Poe have writing a poem call The Raven; the Raven had explored some of Edgar common themes—death and loss. An unknown narrator laments the demise of his great love Lenore. The poem summary is it’s late at night, and late in the year (after midnight on a December evening, to be precise). A man is sitting in his room, half reading, half falling asleep, and trying to forget his lost love, Lenore. Suddenly, he hears someone knocking at the door. He calls out, express regret to the "visitor" he

    Read More

  • Kate Chopin- Master of Emotive Prose

    1065 Words  | 3 Pages

    Before reaching this moment, the reader can discern that Louise is struggling between the thoughts of how she “should” be reacting to the news of her husband’s death against the feeling of elation of being free from her perceived marital constraint. Louise is living in the late 19th century where society believed women belonged in a domestic realm where they “manned” the house (cooking, cleaning, raising the children) binding them to their home and husband. A time when a woman is to be the social moral compass and live by a strict social code of conduct. Even in the description of Louise it is clear she upholds these values: “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength” (Chopin 306). It is also when the reader gets the first glimpse of Louise’s repressed life.

    Read More

  • Sorrow Of Sorrow

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the process of growing up, we are taught to believe that life is relatively colorful and rich; however, if this view is right, how can we explain why literature illustrates the negative and painful feeling of life? Thus, sorrow is inescapable; as it increase one cannot hide it. From the moment we are born into the world, people suffer from different kinds of sorrow. Even though we believe there are so many happy things around us, these things are heartbreaking. The poems “Tips from My Father” by Carol Ann Davis, “Not Waving but Drowning” by Stevie Smith, and “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop convey the sorrow about growing up, about sorrowful pretending, and even about life itself.

    Read More

  • Home Burial By Robert Frost And The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock

    1813 Words  | 4 Pages

    The piece “Home Burial” by Robert Frost and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S Eliot is both memorable and riveting pieces of literature that deals with loneliness and sorrow. Although they both deal with sadness and very strong emotions it is for entirely different reasons. If one cannot identify with their situation and be entirely truthful to their own identity, it can lead to a lifetime of unhappiness, regrets and self-doubt a person should make decisions based on their internal belief and not necessarily what someone else or even society expects of them, being untrue to oneself will leave room for unrealistic expectations and failure. Sometimes persons may find themselves battling with their identity

    Read More

  • Edgar Allan Poe

    484 Words  | 1 Pages

    Grief, revenge, and unsurpassed sorrow. Few authors can replicate these feelings as well as Edgar Allan Poe. “The Raven”, “Lenore”, and “Annabel Lee” all refer to an instance where the narrator is grieving over a lost loved one.

    Read More

  • Love In Romeo And Juliet: The Consequences Of Love

    727 Words  | 2 Pages

    Love can torment those who have it, especially if the relationship is stopped in an abrupt manner. The narrator of “The Raven” is constantly having a conversation with a Raven that is intrinsically controlling his mind. The narrator’s

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven

    1575 Words  | 4 Pages

    The idea of losing a loved is a powerful emotion and one that virtually every person can relate to. It was with this concept in mind that Edgar Allan Poe crafted his classic narrative poem “The Raven.” For some, poetry acts as a means to express different ideals, either social, intellectual, or philosophical. For Edgar Allan Poe, poetry was at its best when it conveyed beauty through the expression of simple yet powerful emotion. In Poe’s mind, there was no purer manifestation of poetic beauty than the deep emotion felt from the loss of a beloved woman. Is with this in mind the Poe employs setting, tone, and symbolism to relate the powerful emotion of never-ending despair to connect with his audience in the classic poem “The Raven.”

    Read More

  • Themes Of Isolation In Grass By Carl Sandburg

    776 Words  | 2 Pages

    Loss and isolation are easy, yet difficult to write about. They are easy because every human being can empathize with loneliness. If someone denies this, they are lying because loneliness is a common feeling, anyone can relate. It’s hard because we don’t discuss loneliness or loss publicly very often, and when we do, we forget about it quickly. These poems contrast each other by speaking of the different types of loneliness and isolation, distinguishing between the ones of loss, and isolation in a positive perspective.

    Read More

  • A Womans Right To Freedom In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the short piece of writing, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, we observe a woman’s distraught and unstable manner after the death of her husband. As the story progresses, Louise drastically changes from crying out in agony to finding a glimmer of hope and realizing that the death of her husband will give her a newfound freedom which she was never able to realize had existed. The conclusion made by the doctors in the story is that Louise dies from being overjoyed of her husband’s unexpected return, but in fact she actually dies of her prospect of a new life being shattered.

    Read More

  • Mental Disorder In Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” follows the story of a young man who is sadden by the death of a woman named Leonore. As the reader advance through the poem, the main character is getting more and more emotionally unstable. He is clearly suffering from some kind of mental illness most likely depression. The narrator is in first person, we are living the poem through the eyes of the main character. (He compulsorily constructs self-destructive meaning around a raven’s repetition of the word 'Nevermore ', until he finally despairs of being reunited with his beloved Lenore in another world. Just because of the nightmarish effect, the poem cannot be called an elegy.) Poe use vivid details to describe how the narrator is gradually losing his mind.

    Read More

  • Poe’s Description of Lenore, the Raven, and God in “The Raven”

    694 Words  | 2 Pages

    He had sorrow for a woman that shined like a light and was an unmarried virgin named Lenore (Eddings). The narrator was always in a very lonely state of mind (Poe, “Raven”). He always wanted someone to talk to about the woman named Lenore (Poe, “Raven”). The narrator never left his house (Poe, “Raven”). He sat there all alone all day just thinking about this woman named Lenore (Poe, “Raven”). The bird sat up on top of that door every day just saying the word nevermore (Poe, “Raven”).

    Read More

  • Imagery In Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven

    979 Words  | 2 Pages

    Death is tragic and one of the most finite things on Earth. It can turn an average human being insane and change his/her life forever. Losing someone close and dear is incredibly painful and an experience one will not forget. Death can cause numerous emotions to bubble up, like sorrow, and grief. In “The Raven” Poe utilizes imagery, diction, and figurative language along with symbolism to illustrate how isolation can cause madness when one comes to terms with the finite consequences of death.

    Read More

More about The Core of a Man’s Grief

Open Document