Analysis of "A Classical Student" - Anton Chekhov

Other Titles:
"Случай с классиком"

Characters:

Vanya, a high school student

Vanya’s mom

Nastenka, Vanya’s aunt

Yevtihy Kuzmitch Kuporossov, the lodger

The story opens up with a scene describing the characteristics of a great performance anxiety experienced by young Vanya who was about to take his Greek exam. He has about every symptom associated with extreme nervousness (except a heart attack) – the throbbing heart, the terror of the unknown, the upset stomach…He resorts to payers, to kissing the holy images in the house, to superstitious rituals, such as giving a poor man two kopecks (cents) with the hope that fate and the universe will show mercy for this high-school student that day.

Unfortunately, he fails Greek despite all his hard work and getting up early to study all week. After he arrives home and informs his mom of the negative result, Chekhov describes a situation between this boy and his mother that reveals more than a conflict between efforts and expectations. It is apparent that Vanya’s mom had high hopes for her boy by enrolling him in a school that exceeds his intellectual aptitude. Vanya was trying to fulfill those expectations by devoting a lot of time in his studies that particular week, but the pressure of performance was too much. It was obvious in the story that the confusion Vanya experienced during the verbal exam stemmed from that pressure to get things right and from fearing failure, when in fact, he was aware of the mistakes he was making and their respective correct answers. To illustrate how awful his world was in the face of failure, Chekhov uses the mother character as its main element:

“No, it’s not you but I who am miserable, you wretched boy! It’s I that am miserable! You’ve worn me to a threadpaper, you Herod, you torment, you bane of my life! I pay for you, you good-for-nothing rubbish…”

For Vanya this was not the only exam he failed. From the terrible words of his mother, the reader gets the sense that he really does not fit in that school. The mother chose that school because it represents the ideals and the future she hopes to attain one day. She is criticized and ridiculed by her sister regarding these ideals:

“It’s not his fault! It’s your fault! You are to blame! Why did you send him to that high school? You are a fine lady! You want to be a lady? A-a-ah! I dare say, as though you’ll turn into gentry!”

It seems that the mother is fighting against another set of expectations. She wants to overcome the expectations set by society that everyone is born into a socioeconomic position and cannot break its barriers to move up higher – and perhaps, this should not even be attempted. Her efforts are failing just like Vanya is failing at that school.

From here, Chekhov moves the story in a direction that is quite thought-provoking, to say the least. As always, he does not disappoint in terms of using the typical ironic effects in his writing. The mother approaches the lodger, Yevtihy Kuzmitch Kuporossov, to ask him for a favor – to go punish the boy:

“My good friend… If you would have the generosity – thrash my boy for me… Do me the favour!... I can’t punish him, through the weakness of my ill-health… Thrash him for me, if you would be so obliging and considerate.”

Vanya submits willingly to the punishment. The mother accepts the constraints of her reality and makes a new resolution – to send the boy to a different school.