Analysis of "The Trousseau" - Anton Chekhov

Other Titles:

“The Dowry”

„Приданое“

In this short story, the narrator visits a house three times throughout the years and reflects on the changes that had taken place within that household. Each visit is dominated by Manetchka’s trousseau preparation – the mother and daughter who live there are always busy making everything that a young woman would need once she is married. But Manetchka (the daughter) is not engaged; there is no sign of a young suitor in particular. In fact, the girl even gets embarrassed by the topic and “vows”, every time, that she will never marry. However, the narrator catches all the little hints in a young woman’s behavior that point to the opposite, her secret desire to have that in her future.

The story opens with a charming description of the house observed from the outside. The nature surrounding the place is the symbol of tradition. The previous generations have planted those trees and flowers, leaving their contribution to the life that occupies the house now. In a way, their trousseau was the efforts to build the foundation for a happy situation. But the occupants do not appreciate the beauty outside and confine themselves to the stifling inside of a home where they are too busy working toward an imagined future – the future that ironically never comes.

“It is only to the summer visitor that God has vouchsafed an eye for the beauties of nature. The rest of mankind remain steeped in profound ignorance of the existence of such beauties. People never prize what they have always had in abundance. What we have, we do not treasure, and what’s more we do not even love it.”

It seems that we are all making our own trousseaux throughout life, living with the expectations that the future will bring exactly what we dream of. But life is tragic and lonely. At least this is how Chekhov describes the circumstances of the characters in this short story. By the third visit, the young woman is dead. And the mother, whether by habit, insanity, or in loving memory of her daughter, continues with the work of the trousseau.

“’We are all alone in the world.’

And where was the daughter? Where was Manetchka? I did not ask. I did not dare to ask the old mother dressed in her new deep mourning. And while I was in the room, and when I got up to go, no Manetchka came out to greet me. I did not hear her voice, nor her soft, timid footstep…

I understood, and my heart was heavy.”