Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is a universally recognized classic of world culture. Over the course of his life, he has written many wonderful works that have been translated into more than 100 languages. We all know his immortal plays The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull, The Three Sisters. But to many of his readers, he was more remembered as the author of short humorous and satirical stories. One of them is called "Darling." A summary of the work is given in the article.
Acquaintance with the main character
Olga Semenovna Plemyannikova is the daughter of a retired college assessor. She lives on the outskirts of the city in the Gypsy settlement, near the Tivoli Gardens, where the bored audience is entertained with musical numbers and theatrical performances. Olenka is a young lady of a pleasant appearance with a soft meek look. People around her love.
She makes a good impression. Her naivety and absolute kindness are liked by both men and women, who call her that - darling. In the heart of a blossoming pink-cheeked young lady, there is always some kind of affection. She has a constant desire to love someone. First, Olenka adored her father, who now became old and sick, then her aunt, who visited her twice a year. And before that, the girl had tender feelings for the French teacher. Now Olenka’s heart is free and longs for a new affection. You can even feel how sweet, naive and gullible the main character of this work is, even after reading only its brief content. Chekhov's “Darling” - a story about a simple-minded, ingenuous girl, at the same time very pleasant for others.
Olenka, Ivan Petrovich Kukin and his theater
Next to Olga, an entrepreneur and owner of the Tivoli Entertainment Garden, Ivan Petrovich Kukin, lives in the outbuilding. He often complains that the public is now ignorant and indifferent to art, that it rains on the street that day, which makes it impossible to hold performances. As a result of all this, he, a great lover and connoisseur of music and theater, suffers tremendous losses. Olenka’s soul is filled with pity for this person. Despite the fact that Kukin is short, skinny and says “thin tenor”, the heart of a cute young lady is filled with love. Young get married. Now Olenka in the evenings gives her husband water with a raspberry decoction, rubs it with cologne and wraps it in her soft shawls.
And he continues to complain about life, losing weight and turning yellow. The young wife gets into the theater to him, just like him, scolding the public for ignorance, complaining of bad weather and dealing with newspaper people who speak badly of Tivoli Gardens. And this is the whole sweetheart. The summary of the story below is read quickly in one go.
The new marriage of the heroine
But the love story of Olenka and Kukin ended tragically - the husband of the loving young lady suddenly died in Moscow, where he went to recruit a new troupe. Our heroine was very upset by the death of her husband, though not for long. Three months later, a new affection entered her heart. Vasily Andreevich Pustovalov, a very sedate and economic man, worked as a manager of a forest warehouse with the merchant Babakayev. Olenka loved him with all her heart. Soon the young married. Now, a pink-cheeked young lady with knowledge of the business spoke of a rise in price of the forest, tariffs for wood, and so on. It seemed to her that she had been doing this for a long time. The Pustovalovs' houses always smelled deliciously of butter bread, fried meat, borsch and pies. Olenka grew fat, pleased with her married life.
Vasily Andreevich did not like any entertainment, including theater. Even on holidays, he sat at home. Olenka shared all the thoughts and thoughts of her husband. Now she told acquaintances that the theater is not a trifle entertainment for people of work, such as her and her husband. When Pustovalov left for the Mogilev province for the forest, Olenka was very bored. Sometimes on such days, her veterinarian Smirnin visited her, who divorced his wife, leaving his little son. Our heroine, sighing, strongly advised him to make peace with his wife for the sake of the child. The young woman described by the author in the story is perfectly characterized even by his brief content. Chekhov's “Darling” is a work about a young lady who gives herself wholeheartedly to her affection, though only until she is replaced by another sympathy. And we will soon be convinced of this.
Another affection Olya
In complete love, understanding and harmony, the Pustovalovs lived six happy years. And then Vasily Andreevich repeated the fate of his predecessor, Ivan Petrovich. Olenka’s husband died suddenly, having caught a cold in the frosty winter in the forest. The young widow fell into mourning, which this time lasted six months. And after this time, the neighbors already saw the young lady in the courtyard of the house in the company of the veterinarian Smirnin.
Since then, darling began to talk only about diseases of cows, plague of horned stingrays, about urban slaughter, about infected milk and so on. It became clear to everyone around that a new affection appeared in Olenka’s soul. She devoted herself wholeheartedly to her, sharing completely all Smirnin’s thoughts and actions. Her happiness this time did not last long: soon the military veterinarian was assigned to a distant regiment, and he left. To understand what was going on in Olenka’s soul after this, an assessment of her moral qualities, or rather, their analysis, will help us. Chekhov's “Darling” tells the story of a woman whose whole purpose of life is to love someone and make the existence of this person comfortable and happy. She cannot and does not want to live for herself. After Smirnin left, the people around did not recognize the old Olenka: she had lost weight, sharply aged, and become ill. People no longer smiled at her, as before, avoided her. It was clear that the darling began a completely different, lonely, empty life. It seemed that there would be no change in it.
The return of Smyrnin
Day after day, year after year, the gray, dull existence of the protagonist proceeded. You can understand how difficult it was for Olenka, even after reading the summary of Chekhov's story. Darling now did not speak with anyone for the reason that she simply had nothing to say. Earlier, when she was married, everything in her life made sense: the music in the Tivoli Gardens, the woods, the inner courtyard, and the autumn rain ... And now she resolutely did not know why this rain, theater, courtyard was needed. Her soul was empty. Everything changed at one moment when Smirnin appeared on the threshold of her large and so empty house. He told Olenka that he had resigned, reconciled with his wife and came to this city to find housing for his son, who had already grown up and was supposed to go to the gymnasium. The woman burst into tears and invited Smirnin and his family to stay with her. If a former military veterinarian refused her, it would be a terrible blow to her. But Smirnin agreed, and the very next day the walls were painted in the house and the roof was whitewashed. Olenka suddenly came to life, rejuvenated, a smile reappeared on her lips. She walked around the yard happy, ordered. Her life was filled with meaning.
Maternal feelings in the soul of Olenka
The next day, an ugly lady with a capricious expression and a little chubby boy appeared in the courtyard of the house. It was the wife and son of Smirnin. Olenka settles in the outbuilding, freeing his house for the family of a retired veterinarian. Smirnin’s wife soon goes to Kharkov to visit her sister and does not return for a long time. The head of the family himself often leaves somewhere. Sasha is left alone, abandoned by her parents. Olenka takes the boy to his wing. She takes care of him, teaches lessons with him, escorts to school, indulges in sweets. And that is the whole point of her life now. “This is my greatest attachment of all that was before,” says the darling. The summary of the work may well convey the fullness of the maternal feelings that covered our heroine with a head.
The new meaning of life Olenka
Now the woman lives the life of a schoolgirl Sasha. She tells others about the difficulties of learning now in high schools, about lessons, teachers and textbooks. A maternal feeling for a boy flares up in her day by day. She adores everything in him: his dimples on his cheeks, his hair, a large cap not so tall.
People around now greet the younger and prettier Olenka with a smile. She again makes a good impression. The only thing the heroine is afraid of is that she will be taken from Sasha. Each time she knocks on the gate, she jumps up and looks out in fright: has the postman brought a telegram from Kharkov from the boy’s mother?
This is what an extraordinary woman tells us this work. "Darling" is an example of selfless love, self-sacrifice for the happiness of another person. The heroine, in view of the recurring situations with the acquisition of the meaning of life and its loss, is depicted comically by the author. Each time her fate develops according to the same scenario. However, we would like to see only good things in Olenka and be glad that she once again found her happiness.
Remains open the final work of Chekhov's “Darling”, a summary of which is given above. The reader has a question: "Will the story of losses for Olenka repeat itself or will it finally find happiness?" Each of us will answer him in his own way.