Hush by Anton Chkhov analysis

Mallika Jhamb
Grade 10.1
Word count:1099
Mr. Clarke

How does Chekhov portray the family in his short story Hush?

Anton Chekhov’s Hush encapsulates the struggles of everyday family life of a man with an unsuccessful career. Chekhov’s intention is to bring out the hidden problems families have and shed light on them. His objective is like that of Tolstoy’s in his novel Anna Karenina1 – bringing out the importance of family life. Disaffection is studied through insight into Ivan Krasnyhin’s relationship with his work and with his family. He is being portrayed as a dominating dictator at home, whereas he fails to be one at work.

Chekhov introduces us to the hardship of maintaining a pleasant family life. “Nadya, I am sitting down to write … Please don’t let anyone interrupt me. I can’t write with children crying of cooks snoring….”.2 When Ivan Krasnyhin says this, we automatically begin to dislike him for his impolite behavior towards his wife. He is so inconsiderate that he has the audacity to ask his wife to tell the children to stay quiet. He is full of vengeance and despair and takes it out on the people around him. Chekhov has made use of ellipsis to bring forward the idea of an unfinished thought, as if Krasnyhin is refraining to say something or the fact that he wants to quickly go do his work.

Chekhov has written this story in the third person narrative. He has done this so that we are given a free opinion as to who we should sympathize with. We are given a sense of belonging, as if we are present in the story, witnessing the incident with our own eyes, and deciding who is correct in their actions. If the story was written in Krasnyhin’s point of view, we would have felt sorry for him and we would not have a fair perspective of the situation, we would have been biased to agree with Ivan in his undesirable manner of treating his wife. We would have been forced to see his struggles through his eyes. This narra1tive point of view brings out the mundane struggles and internal drama in a family. Moreover, Chekhov writes in the present continuous tense, which adds the effect of everyday routine and creates a sense of immediacy.

Chekhov uses creative characterization to bring out the miserable life of the family. He portrays Ivan as an arrogant, self absorbed and selfish man. He shows this when Krasnyhin speaks to his family. “ See, too, that there’s tea and…steak or something, …you know I can’t write without tea…”3 He demands and orders his wife around as if she is a servant, showing that there is almost no love in his relationship with her. Moreover, Chekhov uses ellipsis again as if to show that Krasnyhin is thinking or that his train of thought has just been cut off. Again, he does this only so he can work and not spend time with his family. His wife on the other hand says to her son, “ Hush! Daddy’s writing. Hush!”.4 This is how Chekhov portrays her: weak and submissive. She gives in to her husband’s needs not caring about her children’s or her own needs. She is unable to stand up and defend herself against her husband’s cruelty. Not only this, Ivan also disrespects his wife, calls her “ that insufferable woman”5 whom he believes wants to poison him. Chekhov has interestingly used these adjectives like these to hint towards their broken relationship and lack of family life.

Ivan’s family is an example of one in a patriarchal society where the man is the head of the house. Ivan is not in power at work that is why he dominates everyone at home. It is his way of venting out his aggression. “I say!” cries Krasnyhin. “Couldn't you, please, say your prayers more quietly? You prevent me from writing!”6 He doesn’t have any consideration for the people around him. Chekhov makes clever use of punctuation in this sentence making ‘please’ 7 an unimportant term in such a way that we can almost disregard it in the sentence. Unlike most normal families, Ivan’s family is dysfunctional. They have no intentions of spending any time together, they do not talk to each other unless Ivan is ordering his wife or telling his children to ‘hush’8. He does not treat his wife as an equal, more like a servant. They do not sit together and eat meals, Ivan doesn’t talk or play with his children and he works such long hours that he cares more for his work than his family. Here, not only Ivan but his wife as well is at fault, for she doesn’t stop him for ordering her around or say no to his orders.

Chekhov continues to build the intensity of the story by adding dialogues to show Ivan’s frustration. “Our work, this cursed, ungrateful hard labour, exhausts the soul even more than the body…”9 is a hyperbole that Ivan uses to describe his work as a writer. He exaggerates what he means to say, which just shows how tired he is with his work and because his work is all he is thinking about, he does not ever care for his family. Chekhov uses this hyperbole to show how self centered Ivan is and that he worships his work. His working environment at home is full of authors he inspires to be and all we see is his passion for writing. His desk is full of penholders with new fitted nibs, pencils and paper10 and not a picture of his wife or children. His life is his work and only his work. Chekhov’s meaning behind this story is the theme of disaffection, which is brought to our attention by the way he structures his sentences- to create tension, he uses short and clipped sentences which create suspense for the reader.

Chekhov has successfully conveyed the idea of the disaffection through broken family in this story. Chekhov has brought out this theme through critical analysis into the character of Ivan Krasnyhin. He has used Ivan as a tool to bring out the meaning of his story, awing his readers. Chekhov hopes to convey his message clearly, which is exactly what he has done. As he brings the story to an end, he also sparks the curiosity of the readers, leaving us amazed.