THEORETICAL ASPECTS IN THE FORMATION OF
PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCES
International scientific-online conference
124
THE THEME OF LONELINESS IN A.P. CHEKHOV'S PROSE
Eshonova Xonazim
Master’s student, Fergana State University
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14551398
Abstract:
This article examines the theme of loneliness in A.P. Chekhov's
prose. The author analyzes Chekhov's key works, which raise the problem of
loneliness, explores the characters' characters and the circumstances that lead
them to isolation and alienation. The article also discusses how the theme of
loneliness reflects broader social and philosophical issues concerning human
existence, and what role it plays in the overall context of Chekhov's work.
Keywords:
A.P. Chekhov, loneliness, prose, characters, isolation, alienation,
social problems, philosophical issues
Endless poverty, alcoholic brothers, a failed father, ignorant critics, evil
doctors, an actress wife, debts, auctions, mortgages, gastritis and hemorrhoids,
and eventually premature aging, hemoptysis and death in a boring German
village — this is what the life of one of the most sought-after playwrights in the
history of world literature looks like. Looking at this life from the outside, we
can safely say that its main plot was liberation, that is, a meaningful desire for
solitude away from the mess of relatives, fans, drunken village peasants and
literary salons. He fled all his life — to Melikhovo, Sakhalin, Yalta, Germany,
where he died six months before Bloody Sunday, without seeing either the
revolution or the Civil war, almost completely alone. And this whole life fits into
the formula deduced by Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin.: “Another feature of idyll
is its strict limitation to only a few basic realities of life. Love, birth, death,
marriage, work, food and drink, age — these are the basic realities of an idyllic
life" [1, 259]. The only difference is that Chekhov's idyll, like the speech of his
characters, is full of sadness. Bakhtin emphasized that the idyll is always limited
by these basic realities of life, but in Chekhov this limitation becomes a source of
tragedy, because through these simple and immutable moments of life pass not
happy, but tormented souls.
Yulia Kristeva writes: “Let's recall the speech of a depressed person: it is
monotonous and repetitive. A phrase that cannot connect into a single whole is
interrupted, exhausted, and stops” [2, 22]. Such is the speech of the protagonist
of Chekhov's short story “Sadness,” deeply imbued with a personal tragedy that
finds no response.
Being a master of the most subtle psychological observations, in his story
“Sadness” Chekhov addresses the theme of human loneliness, misunderstanding
THEORETICAL ASPECTS IN THE FORMATION OF
PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCES
International scientific-online conference
125
and the unbearable severity of experiences that, without finding a response,
destroy the soul. The main character of the story, the coachman Jonah Potapov,
loses his son, and his grief becomes the basis of the plot, permeated by the bitter
realization of human indifference.
The story opens with a scene in which Jonah, standing in the cold waiting
for passengers, is lost in thought. His posture, actions and mood convey a state
of depression: "Jonah was white as a ghost. He's bent over as much as possible
for a living div, and he's not moving." Through such details, Chekhov creates
the image of a man whose soul seems to be paralyzed by unspoken grief.
However, despite all the evidence of the tragedy, others remain deaf to his inner
world.
And now let's pay attention to the place where the action of the story takes
place. The chronotope of the road, as described by Mikhail Bakhtin, represents a
unique intersection of time and space, where people's destinies are intertwined
[1, 275], despite social and cultural distances. In Anton Chekhov's short story
“Sadness,” this chronotope takes on a special meaning, emphasizing the theme of
human isolation and the impossibility of communication in conditions that
theoretically facilitate meeting and dialogue. However, Chekhov transforms the
habitual perception of the road as a place of casual contact, making it a symbol of
loneliness and inability to overcome internal barriers.
The desire machines that arise in Jonah's path could become sources of
relief, connections with other people. But there is no genuine desire to be heard
in this space. In the hero's life, everything is already devoid of true human
relationships. Bakhtin noted that the road is a space where "temporary paths"
intersect, which allows events to begin and unfold. In Anguish, the driver moves
along the road, transporting passengers, and each new passenger could be an
opportunity for him to share his grief. But instead, the road in the story turns
into a metaphor for emptiness. People who cross paths with Jonah do not linger
in his life and do not take part in his sufferings. Thus, Chekhov's chronotope of
the road acquires an additional meaning: it is not only a point of intersection of
destinies, but also a space where the impossibility of dialogue becomes
especially obvious.
Chekhov uses the chronotope of the road to create a contrast between the
attempt to open up and the paralyzing paralysis. Jonah's sleigh moves through
the snow-covered city, symbolizing constant movement, but this dynamic
element does not affect the inner world of the hero, frozen in the grip of loss.
Bakhtin wrote that "the road" is often metaphorized as a "life path," but in
THEORETICAL ASPECTS IN THE FORMATION OF
PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCES
International scientific-online conference
126
Anguish, the hero's life path seems aimless and devoid of direction. Every
passenger, whether it's an officer, a student, or cheerful drunks, becomes a part
of this journey, but their presence only underscores Jonah's invisibility to others.
In this context, it is important to consider the desire machines that exist
around Jonah, but are imaginary. The desire for contact, the desire to be
understood, does not find a response, because external circumstances cannot
lead to genuine communication. These desire machines exist only against the
background of general alienation, without the possibility of becoming reality,
exacerbating Jonah's loneliness. His search for a connection remains futile, and
each new passenger only adds to his melancholy.
Interestingly, Chekhov destroys the expectations associated with the
chronotope of the road. If, in the traditional sense, the road is a meeting place
that opens up opportunities for interaction, then for Chekhov it becomes a kind
of anti—chronotope, a space of separation. The dialogues that take place on the
road are fragmented and empty, devoid of true reciprocity. Even the final scene,
in which Jonah shares his longing with the horse, demonstrates the impossibility
of genuine contact: the road here becomes a vicious circle, which the hero has to
overcome over and over again, but which does not bring him any solace,
understanding, or relief.
The road also reveals the social aspects of human loneliness. Bakhtin
emphasized that the road connects people of different classes, ages and
worldviews, temporarily equalizing them. However, in Chekhov's story, social
hierarchies and distances only increase alienation. Jonah's passengers, who
belong to different strata of society, treat him as a function rather than as a
person, which makes their intersections with the hero formal and devoid of
human warmth. The road here does not unite, but divides, reminding us how
difficult it is to overcome the barriers of indifference.
Desire machines that could influence his fate only increase the alienation.
Their presence is expressed in these fleeting meetings, but they do not give
Jonah the opportunity to establish contact, but on the contrary, they force him to
close inwardly. Longing itself becomes a metaphor for unfulfilled desires and the
impossibility of connecting destinies, emdiving on the pages of those people
who cannot "hear" and "see" each other.
Thus, the chronotope of the road in Anguish acts not only as a space-time
element, but also as a philosophical metaphor. Chekhov uses it to show how
movement and meetings can coexist with the deepest loneliness. In this sense,
his interpretation of the road resonates with Bakhtin's idea of its
THEORETICAL ASPECTS IN THE FORMATION OF
PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCES
International scientific-online conference
127
multilayeredness, but at the same time calls into question the possibility of its
traditional understanding as a place of convergence. Sadness demonstrates that
even in the space of a road designed to unite destinies, a person can remain
isolated and unheard, pointing to the tragedy of human existence in an
indifferent world.
Bakhtin writes: “We find the author outside the work as a person living his
biographical life, but we meet him as the creator in the work itself, however,
outside the depicted chronotopes, but as if on a tangent to them” [1, 286]. Will
we find Chekhov in Sadness? To get closer to understanding the author's place in
this poignant story, let's turn to the biography of the playwright written by
Ronald Reifeld, in which he describes the last moments of Anton Pavlovich's life
as follows: “According to medical etiquette, being at the deathbed of a colleague
and seeing that there is no hope of salvation, the doctor should bring him
champagne. Shverer checked Anton's pulse and ordered a bottle. Anton sat up in
bed and said loudly, "Ich sterbe." After drinking the glass to the bottom, he said
with a smile, "I haven't drunk champagne in a long time," turned on his left side
— as always, he was lying next to Olga — and quietly fell asleep" [3, 459].
References:
1. M. Bakhtin, M.M. Forms of time and chronotope in the novel. Questions of
literature and aesthetics. Moscow: Art. lit., 1975
2. Julia Kristeva: The Black Sun.Depression and Melancholy — Kogito Center,
1987
3. Donald Rayfield. The Life of Anton Chekhov — "ABC-Atticus Publishing
Group", 2024
