The
Student (Reading Journal #1)
Although I am a Christian, I don't
personally like those who try to give a preach over "sinners", and
show no respect to "non-believers". To me, such people were
sanctimonious. And to me, they reached no higher position than being hypocrites.
At first glance, "The Student", believed to be one of the best short
stories ever written, seemed nothing more than a story of the
"preachers" that I dislike. Although the story was beautifully
written and there were words and sentences that truly evoked the emotion, before
reading it more than once I could not like this short story. Appreciating the
story was not a problem, but liking it was somewhat difficult. However, as I read
the story twice and more, I started to not only appreciate but also actually like
many components in this perfectly-written short story.
I heard the story of Peter and his
three consecutive betrayals of Jesus with the sense of cynicism at first. The
whole perception did not severely change; I still think the overall message is quite
cynical rather than hopeful but as my attitude changed, the context began to
show some meanings. Peter's betrayal of Jesus, which was already evident in the
prophetic statement Jesus himself had made, made the mother cry. Perhaps she
wanted Ivan to stop touching the deepest agony of hers, but after reading this
story several times, it seemed to me that probably she simply wanted a chance
to confess her sin with tears. She may have ignored her daughter's injuries
three times. She may have said she would never do so, to soothe her daughter
before the marriage. I thought Chekhov, by presenting the biblical allegory
that seems improper, wanted the readers to put themselves in the shoes of women.
She committed sin that she had no hope of being forgiven, and she could have
been relieved that the student touched it, and gave a sense that it might be
forgiven. In this context, only having cynicism towards the attitude of Ivan seems
not right.
"The Student" talks about
the hope with the sarcastic tone. Chekhov put the words and sentences that
would degrade the depth of the student's perception such as "he was only
twenty-two". The scene Ivan is looking at is described as marvelous and
hopeful. The sinner, in the name of Jesus, can be forgiven. There is a hope in
this whole world. These people can be saved. The beautiful scenery and Ivan's
words seem to harmonize to present this point of view. I can't denounce the
hopeful aspect of this story because the main character, obviously the student,
is not fully portrayed as naive. Even though he is twenty-two, he can have the
deep thoughts as those of oldest preachers. However, any reader cannot also
allow the story to be only hopeful because of the ambiguous portrayal of
characters. This story leave questions: Why did the woman cry? Why was the
daughter soundless? Why was Ivan's goal? Should readers be satisfied with his
goals? These questions cannot be directly answered. Hence I must qualify my
initial view. Hope exists along with the cynicism. I tend more on the cynicism,
because woman's tears meant something more than the regret to me, and Ivan
still seemed quite sanctimonious and unqualified.
Though I now highly respect this
story and appreciate it even better, I still think that Chekhov planned a black
comedy that was so black that everybody got confused.
