Literary Study of Anton Chekhov’s “A Happy Ending”

Title: “A Happy Ending”

Characters:

• Semyon Ivanovitch
• Lyubov Grigoryevna
• Stytchkin
• Nikolay Nikolayitch
• Prince Kanitelin

Settings:

Restaurant/bar

Conflict:

• Man vs. man conflict
• Man vs. fate

Tone:

Formal, serious, desperate, loneliness 

Point of view:

Third-person narrative

Style:

• Descriptive and persuasive
• Dialogue 

Theme:

Marriage, searching for a bride 

Plot:

In the beginning, the narrator described Lyubov Grigoryevna and stated that she had come to see Stytchkin, which later turned into dialogue form and Stytchkin personally described himself and telling her what kind of woman he wanted. Then, in the middle of the conversation, Lyubov Grigoryevna asked if he had any preferences in terms of picking a woman, but then Stytchkin said his ideal bride for a guy like him, so Lyubov Grigoryevna offered him the bachelor line; the French and Greek woman, but there would be a dowry. They did the math after, and Stytchkin complimented her all of a sudden, which he later figured out that she’s the type of woman she wanted to have and persuade her to propose her as to how she would be as a wife for him.

Reflection:

No matter how high our earnings, how educated we are, and how comfortable our home is, we would still be looking for someone to live with us and be with us through ups and downs. However, a lot of people nowadays used the reason “loneliness” to seek a partner, which is wrong. It should not be like that. Instead, we should find a partner because we are emotionally and financially committed to having a family, not because we are lonely. Also, we should pursue a person if we think that he/she is the right one, not because it is the right time. To know the right person for us, we should know our preferences and the quality of a person that we could live and wanted to live with. In reality, we all have preferences, may it be in external/physical and internal/personality assets, but we have to be aware of the imperfection of the people. No one is perfect, so we should know how to accept the imperfection of our partner and help him/her grow.