Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is a Russian writer, a recognized master of short stories (mostly humorous). Over the 26 years of his work, he has created more than 900 works, many of which are included in the golden fund of world classics.
The story "Vanka" was written in 1886. In it, the author describes the life of a simple village boy who was given for teaching to a shoemaker. The difficult share of peasant children has become one of the most favorite topics for the writer. Here is a summary. Chekhov's “Vanka” is a work that is studied in the elementary grades of a comprehensive school. Remembering it will not be superfluous for everyone.
Vanka remembers his grandfather
Vanka Zhukov is nine years old. He was sent for training in Moscow to the shoemaker Alakhin. The boy often yearns for the village from where he came, and for his grandfather Konstantin Makarych. Of the relatives of Vanka, only he remained. When the kid remembers his grandfather, he sees the image of a small, puny old man with a drunken face and cheerful eyes. Konstantin Makarych serves as a watchman in the village of Messrs. Zhikharev. Vanka imagines that his grandfather is going to cook with cooks during the day or sleeping on the stove with his bare legs crossed, and at night knocking on a clapper, guarding the lordly estate. The summary of Vanka by Chekhov does not allow us to convey the fullness of the experiences of a child left without relatives in a big city.
The boy's memories of the village
Thoughts about the village evoke sadness and longing on the boy. He decides to write a letter to his grandfather. The young lady Olga Ignatievna taught him his diploma, whose mother Vanya Pelageya once served. This lady was very kind, often treated the boy to candy and taught him to dance the quadrille. When Pelageya died, the boy was given up to his grandfather, who sent him to Moscow to Alakhin. Even Vanka often recalls Christmas at the gentlemen, about how, before the holiday, he and his grandfather went for a Christmas tree in the forest. It was cold, the frost cracked. It was the happiest time for the boy. Only now, living in disgrace from strangers, did he understand this. Chekhov's story “Vanka” arouses the reader a feeling of acute pity and desire to help the poor boy.
Vanka writes a letter about her hard life
In his message to his grandfather, the boy describes how hard he has to live in the family of a shoemaker. In addition to studying, the guy has a lot of obligations around the house. He should help in the kitchen and babysit with the master's child. For each fault, the owner beats Vanka "than hitting." Because the boy fell asleep, shaking the cradle with the child, the shoemaker dragged him by the hair into the street and "combed it with a scandal." And for the fact that she cleaned the herring not so, the mistress poked a fish in the face. They give him little to eat, mostly only bread and porridge, and the gentlemen’s cabbage soup “crack themselves”. In a letter, Vanka asks his grandfather to take him to his village, promises that he will be obedient and good. He admits that he even wanted to run away from Moscow, but "he is afraid of the frost, there are no boots." The summary of Vanka by Chekhov cannot convey how the boy’s letter to his grandfather was written in a special and unsophisticated childish language.
Vanka sends a letter
Having written a letter, Vanka signed it and sealed the envelope on which he printed: "To the village to my grandfather." Deciding that it would certainly reach the addressee, he darted into the street with a bullet, ran to the first mailbox and dropped it there. Happy, lulled by sweet dreams of returning to the village, the boy returned to the house. An hour later, he fell asleep soundly. In a dream, Vanka saw a village, a stove in the human grandfather, himself sitting on it and hanging his bare feet, reading a letter from his grandson to cooks. This concludes his story about the village boy A.P. Chekhov. “Vanka” is a story about the poverty and disempowerment of peasant children, which there is simply no one to protect. Their difficult share and unenviable fate leave no one indifferent.
This work occupies a special place in the writer's work. You have read its summary. We recommend Chekhov's “Vanka” to be read in full.