Synopsis of Chekhov's "The Man in the Box" - The end of a slave man who gave up his spiritual freedom.
Chekhov (1860-1904)Wikipedia.
The Man in the Box was published by Chekhov in 1898. It is the first of Chekhov's trilogy of short stories."Sugoribi.", ,On Love."will follow.
I read "The Man in the Box" in "The Complete Works of Chekhov 11," translated by Kiyoshi Kaminishi, Kentaro Ikeda, and Takuya Hara, published by Chuokoronsha.
Let's take a look at the synopsis right away. Once again, Chekhov researcher Seiro Sato'sThe World of Chekhov's Art.We will refer to the following.
The word "box" here is "hutrial" in the original language, meaning a case, sack, or box for storing something. As long as one is in a box, neither the mind nor the body can be free.captiveand are slaves.
Belicoff, a Greek teacher at a junior high school, is just such a man in a box. He is an obstinate, hard-headed formalist with not a trace of freedom in his heart. The story of a man who is always afraid of something or someone, and who feels at home only when he is in a coffin, is told in the form of a "narrative," that is, in the first person.
The place where this story is told is the barn of village elder Prokofy, on the outskirts of the moonlit village of Mironositskoye. Bourquin, a middle school teacher, is the narrator, and Ivan Ivanovich, a veterinarian, is the listener.
Chikuma Shobo, Seiro SatoThe World of Chekhov's Art.P288-289
This piece is told by Bourquin, a middle school teacher, about his colleague Behrikov, the so-called "man in the box. (Mr. Sato calls him Belikov, but the complete work is translated as Behrikov, so I will adopt this reading.)
So what kind of person is this Behrikov?
This man always wears dark glasses, has cotton in his ears, wears a kimono, carries an umbrella in a sack, and even carries a watch in his sack. He always looks around with a timid, anxious look on his face, and is fond of saying, "I hope it doesn't happen by accident.
Chikuma Shobo, Seiro SatoThe World of Chekhov's Art.P289
Bourquin then recounts.
Behrikov also tried to hide his thoughts in a box. For him, all that was clear was the prohibition of something in an edict or a newspaper editorial.
For example, if in an edict it is forbidden for school students to go into town after 9:00 p.m., or if in some editorial physical love is forbidden, it was clear and definitive for him - in other words, long live the prohibition. When it becomes a permission or an authorization, there always seems to be an element of doubt, or something obscure and ambiguous lurking.
Whenever he heard that a theater group had been approved in town, or a book club or a coffee shop, he would shake his head and whisper: "That's fine, that's fine, I just hope something doesn't happen later. -He would always shake his head and whisper, "That's fine, of course, that's fine, I just hope something doesn't happen later.
Chuokoronsha, Kiyoshi Kaminishi, Kentaro Ikeda, translated by Takuya Hara, The Complete Works of Chekhov 11, p. 54
I can't bear to break a line in a novel, but I did.
Because of his pettiness, Behrikov was unable to make decisions on his own, and could only live with the approval of the higher ups, or those in power.
A ban by the higher-ups is nothing to think about for those who obey it. The only evil is the person who breaks it. It is simple and clear.
However, when it comes to permits and approvals, he has to think for himself to some extent about what is acceptable and what is not. He is afraid to think for himself.
Therefore, even if it did not seem to concern him in the slightest, the violation or deviation from the rules would cause him a lot of heartache. If he hears a rumor that one of his colleagues was late for a prayer service, or that a junior high school student did something wrong, or that the female homeroom teacher was seen late at night with an officer, he gets very excited and always says, "I hope nothing happens to me later.
Even at faculty meetings, he would give us a lot of grief with his characteristic caution, skepticism, and boxed-in imaginings. Oh, I hope the superintendent of education doesn't hear about it, oh, I hope nothing happens to him later, oh, it would be so nice if we could expel Petrov from the second grade and Egorov from the fourth grade," he would say. It would be really good if we could expel Petrov from the second grade and Egorov from the fourth grade.
And guess what happened?
This man's sighs, whining, and the dark glasses over his pale little face - you know, the little face of the weasel - put the squeeze on all of us, so we relented, dropped Petrov and Egorov's behavior, and had both Petrov and Egorov thrown out of school, We gave in and dropped Petrov and Egorov's conduct points, detained them, and finally expelled both Petrov and Egorov from the school.
Chuokoronsha, Kiyoshi Kannishi, Kentaro Ikeda, translated by Takuya Hara, The Complete Works of Chekhov 11, p. 54-55
I can't bear to break a line in a novel, but I did.
What do you think? Does anything come to mind as you read this?
Yes, it is. Does the situation emerge any different from that of Japan today?
In a world where people are always on the lookout for the bad guys, saying things like "compliance," "he is not a human being," and "everyone else is doing this, but he is crazy," Chekhov implicitly satirizes such a society in this work.
All of us teachers were afraid of him. Even the principal was afraid of him.
It should be noted here that we teachers are a thoughtful, decent bunch, educated on the model of Turgenev and Sichedrine, and yet this man with his overshoes and umbrella in his hands has been in charge of an entire middle school for fifteen whole years! This means that for fifteen whole years, this man wearing overshoes and a bat umbrella held the entire junior high school in his hands! Not just the middle school, but the whole town!
The ladies of the town were afraid to stop their Saturday night family entertainment, lest he see them, and the monks were afraid to eat meat or play cards with him when he was around.
Because of the influence of people like Behrikov, for the past ten to fifteen years, the whole town has become nervous about everything. They are worried about talking loudly, sending letters, making friends, reading books, and even helping the poor and teaching them how to read and write. ......"
Chuokoronsha, Kiyoshi Kaminishi, Kentaro Ikeda, translated by Takuya Hara, The Complete Works of Chekhov 11, p. 55
I can't bear to break a line in a novel, but I did.
Behrikov was strict about rules and regulations and prosecuted and snitched on violators. This man completely changed the face of the city. He had to be very scared in everything he did. In the end, it became impossible to even help people.
Mr. Sato states.
While Belikoff is certainly an exaggerated image of a special kind, the Belikoff figure as an archetype is by no means a unique phenomenon. In fact, here and there in the world dominated by "institutions," people of this type, out of good will or out of ill will, torment the feeble-minded!
The creation of a figure like Belikov by the Russian society of this period came after the assassination of Alexander II in 1881, after a history of the Decabulist case (1825), the Petrashevsky case (49), the arrest of Chernyshevsky (62), and the Narodniki movement (74), which was severe This was due to the politics of repression.
In other words, he is a malformed figure born of an era in which slander, snitching, surveillance, following, and imprisonment were commonplace phenomena.
But at all times, in societies where "institutions" are more powerful than "people," distortions continue to change form and remain. Thus, there is no end to what will follow Belikov and his ilk.
of a man named Belikov.Contentsandform (something takes)The box is created as a box, and that box also regulates Belikov. If he is not in that box, he is anxious. His distorted personality created a box, and that box distorted him further, making the box the only place of "peace.
And the box takes freedom not only from him, but from every human being. The box kills man. The box he wears to protect himself becomes inflated as soon as he puts it on, and he can no longer take it off. Man is not walking. The box is walking! The box is the armor of the coward, the shell that protects the fragile body.
Chikuma Shobo, Seiro SatoThe World of Chekhov's Art.P290
Some line breaks have been made.
The box called the system. What is decided by the higher-ups is the box, and if he doesn't blindly follow it, he will feel insecure. He is afraid to step out of the box and think for himself. He believes that as long as he is inside the box, he is protected. He believes that.
Eventually, after an incident, Behrikov became mentally ill and his health deteriorated, and he passed away unexpectedly.
This petty "tyrant" will be placed in the last box, the coffin.
Now that he was in his coffin, he looked soft and comfortable, even cheerful, as if he was glad to finally lie down in his box. He was even cheerful, as if he was glad to finally lie down in the box. Yes, he had achieved his ideal!"
The box's terminus was the coffin. The coffin was the only and last resting place in this world of Belicoff, the untouchable little tyrant.
Chikuma Shobo, Seiro SatoThe World of Chekhov's Art.P292
Narrator Bourquin describes the journey home from the burial.
To tell the truth, it was a great joy to bury a man like Behrikov. When we left the cemetery, we were all very reserved and somber, and none of us wanted to express our joy, but in our hearts, it was just like the feeling we had long ago when we were children, when the adults would go out and run around the yard for an hour or two with only the children to enjoy the complete freedom of the garden. I felt the same way as I did when I was a child many years ago. Ah, freedom, freedom! Freedom, even the mere hint of it, even a glimmer of hope of its realization, gives wings to the human heart, does it not?
We returned from the cemetery in a good mood. Within a week, however, life was back to normal. The same square, messy, meaningless life, a life not forbidden by the ordinance, but certainly not authorized by it - in short, not a bit better. So, Behrikov is buried, but there are still many men in boxes tomorrow, and there will be many more to come!
Chuokoronsha, Kiyoshi Kaminishi, Kentaro Ikeda, translated by Takuya Hara, The Complete Works of Chekhov 11, p. 68
Even if Behrikov is gone, there are still many other "men in boxes. And there will be more of them in the future, the narrator says. This is also the perception of the author, Chekhov.
And at the end of this story, the veterinarian who listens has some sharp words to say.
We live in the doldrums and the squalor of the city, filling out unnecessary forms and playing vindictive games - isn't that a box, too? Is it not a box in which we live our whole lives among the idlers, among the foolish, inert women and litigious people, talking and listening to all sorts of nonsense?
There are big "boxes" and little "boxes" all over the place!
I have seen and heard people lie, been called a fool for putting up with it, put up with insults and condescension, hesitated to openly declare that I am really on the side of honest, free people, and then somehow I lie myself and smile, all for a piece of bread, To secure a warm corner, a position that is not worth a penny - oh, I can't live like this anymore!
The veterinarian's spirit burns with a fierce protest against any "box," against the circumstances that give rise to boxes. The author himself is, of course, in harmony with this cry. (omitted).
The Soviet scholar Pappernui said that the question that the characters in Chekhov's works have is not tow be or not tow be, as in Hamlet, or life or death, but box or man, and this is a supreme statement. His entire oeuvre is a call for man to truly be free.
Chikuma Shobo, Seiro SatoThe World of Chekhov's Art.P203-204
Chekhov's sharp point is that while a "man in a box" like Belykov may indeed make those around him unhappy, he also criticizes himself for having a more or less boxy element.
Instead of ending with, "Guys like Belicoff are the worst," we should ask, "What about yourself? How are you different from him? What are you doing for the people around you? What are you doing for the people around you?
This was a piercing "ugh..." when I read it. Chekhov's insight into people is really sharp.
It is not as if I am being lectured to over my head, but as I listen to the conversation, I feel as if I am being overwhelmed by my own inadequacies.
Chekhov is a man who is capable of expressing so much in a short work of only about 20 pages.
This work is recommended to be read now.
The above is a synopsis of Chekhov's "The Man in the Box" - the end of a slave man who gave up his spiritual freedom.
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