introduction to literature 2

Summary
Ivan Ivanovitch and his companion, Burkin, go for a walk in the meadow. Burkin asks Ivan to recite the story he was about to tell the other day. Haphazardly heavy rain comes down and the two men are compelled to take shelter in Alehin's house. Alehin greets men and they all take shower. After that, Burkin and Alehin sit eagerly to hear Ivan's story. He begins on his story of his younger brother, Nikolay. Ivan and his brother had spent their childhood "ruing wild in the country". Ivan believe whoever has lived in the countryside, will not get accustomed to the towns and "has a yeaing for freedom to day of his death. Nikolay works in the govement office. Despite the fact he spends years there, he never manages to relinquish his long_lived dream of settling in countryside. His dreams are always associated with gooseberries. He marries a woman of good fortune and they live parsimoniously to save up money. Nikolay's wife passes away and he finally gains the money to buy a farm of his own. This farms has no gooseberry bush. Therefore, he plants plenty of them.
One night, Ivan meets his brother and is served with a plateful of gooseberries. Nikolay laughs and devours gooseberries delightfully. Ivan is also cheerful. He retus to the town but is unable of not thinking about country life. Alehin and Burkin do not seem satisfied by the story and after a while, the three of them go to sleep

Characterisation
Short stories have room for only one or two round characters. In the "Gooseberries", Chekhof narrates a story within another. I assume the central character is Nikolay. He is a hoarding_oriented person. During his lifetime, he has always imagined of living in the countryside and he wants to revive his childhood memories of "ruing wild in the country". He is closefisted and lives a frugal life. He even greedy marries wealthy widow to make his dream come true. Nikolay is a upstart and seeks respect from his subordinates by giving away vodka. Therefore, Nikolay is believed to be a round character. In terms of developing, he is dynamic. When he was an insignificant office clerk, he was a man of no particular ideas. As soon as he gains fortune, he gives pompous speeches about education and corporal punishment. Chekhof introduces his characters through direct presentation.

Plot
I assume this short story is a literary fiction. Unlike a commercial fiction, "The gooseberries" has no particular twisted plot and is more conceed with characters. The protoganist, Nikolay, is believed to be in conflict with his social states. He comes from a middle class family of no particular fortune. He works hard as a office clerk so that he gains enough money to fulfil his dream. The story's climax is when he eventually sees the plateful of gooseberries of his own farm and comes to realise he fulfilled his dream.
Theme
The gooseberries in this narrative symbolise a lifelong dream which at last has been fulfilled through effort. The main theme is " the persistence of a dream is eventually rewarded". There is also a sub theme : an urge to get away to countryside for peace and quite.