What is the meaning of chamber 6. Ragin’s philosophy of life
Many of the works of A.P. Chekhov, who has an amazing talent for expressing the essence of life in personal stories, amaze with their insight and vitality. They take readers into thought, make them strive to understand the essence of themselves and the essence of life in general.
One of these works by A.P. Chekhov is a story written in 1892 with the simple title “Ward No. 6”, which was chosen by the author in connection with the place of origin of the main events. At the same time, the name is a symbol of a society in which some suffer, while others do not understand them and do not want to understand them.
The spirit of realism is felt here already from the first chapter, when Ivan Gromov’s speeches about violence and meanness, about hopes for a wonderful future are described.
Ivan Dmitrich himself is a very interesting hero of the story. Unlike many of his neighbors in the ward - the silent red-haired tradesman, the Jew Moiseika, the insensitive round man and the thin collector of orders - he is truly delicate and intelligent. Sharp and unpleasant changes in life, losses, illnesses drove him to madness. Among all the patients of the 6th ward, Gromov, one consciously looked after others and treated them politely. These people, different in character and life paths, have one thing in common: they were all once ordinary and even outstanding people. The suffering they experienced brought them to this meager ward.
The people on the other side - watchman Nikita, paramedic Sergei Sergeich, postmaster Mikhail Averyanych, district doctor Evgeniy Fedorych Khobotov - do not notice all the mental and physical pain of the crazy. They justified their behavior with a simple philosophy: “We’ll all die anyway.” Andrei Efimych Ragin shared the same views. He made money from deception and saw that the entire hospital business was built on theft, quackery and dirty gossip, but he believed that he could not do anything about it. And yet he was ashamed of it, he could not sleep because of thoughts about deceived people. Unpleasant sensations gave him thoughts about the absence in modern society intelligent people. He searched smart person, with whom there is something to talk about, and I found only one, and he was crazy. For discerning a wise interlocutor in a mentally ill patient, Andrei Efimych paid by ending up in the bed of Ward No. 6. And only then did he understand how bad it was for these people, only then did he realize that suffering must be experienced before judging about them. Khobotov and Averyanych make a rather unpleasant impression with their arrogance, deceit and unkind deeds. However, Averyanych's sincerity and loyalty are manifested in his presence at the funeral of Andrei Ragin.
The author highlighted in the story such problems of society as the lack of higher interests, violence, hypocrisy, the formal, soulless attitude of judges, doctors and other social workers towards the individual, and the dishonesty of people. These problems are more often expressed through the thoughts of Ivan Dmitrich. Andrei Efimych is also not indifferent to them: he is amazed that in the city even the intelligentsia has descended to vulgarity. The work also puts forward eternal philosophical problems, such as the meaning of life, the meaning of suffering and the human mind. Particularly interesting are the judgments that the mind is the only source of pleasure and that contempt for suffering is tantamount to contempt for life.
A.P. Chekhov showed his mastery not only in fascinating storylines and wise views on life, but also in the writing style itself. The story begins with a kind of “excursion” to ward No. 6, and this gives the reader the impression that he really ended up in the place described.
What did the writer want to say by describing these events? The problems of philosophy and society are combined into one idea of this story - to teach the reader to understand unhappy people and to be humane towards them. The story “Ward No. 6” is also relevant in modern society, because the problems described in it can be encountered even today.
- Analysis of the story by A.P. Chekhov's "Ionych"
It became a real breakthrough in world literature. In his stories, he first of all raises the question of a person’s spiritual search, his internal conflicts, and the influence of social and philosophical ideas on him.
Chekhov's lyrical heroes are people who do not know how to overcome personal spiritual alienation, and become hostages of their own false ideals. The tragedy of human existence and the limited worldview are influenced primarily by the historical era, which dictates to society, and to man in particular, its own rules of life. The human soul is perishing in the abyss of social and moral apathy.
"Ward №6"
A.P. Chekhov's story “Ward No. 6” is rightfully considered one of the most striking works in his work. The story shows the imprint of the social life of that time, when the influence of social postulates had a huge impact on human life.
A young doctor, Andrei Ragin, is completely lost in life. He sees all the shortcomings of the psychiatric hospital in which he works, however, he cannot find the strength in himself to somehow change the situation. In ward number 6 there are patients, each of whom turned out to be completely unnecessary to society due to their mental problems.
One day, a doctor visits the notorious ward and strikes up a close relationship with one of the patients. Philosophical views to the life of a mentally ill person help Ragin find his own peace of mind.
The doctor’s entourage believes that he is as mentally ill as his patients and forcibly places him in ward No. 6. Andrei Ragin died suddenly there, unable to bear life in the hospital.
Chekhov masterfully presents the conflict between man and society in the story. Society does not try to help people who suffer, but actually destroys them. Extraordinary individuals succumb to persecution and complete social rejection.
Each patient in Ward No. 6 is an extraordinary person, but is not perceived by the outside world as a full-fledged person. Despite their mental illness, they all had a broad worldview that went beyond the generally accepted framework.
"Man in a Case"
The title of the story “Man in a Case” most accurately reflects the inner essence of the lyrical hero Belikov, who not only lives in his own closed world, but also tries to subordinate the lives of other people to his limited criteria of existence.
The soul of the main character, just as everything he had was packed in cases (umbrella, glasses, watch), was locked up and was inaccessible to those around him.
Belikov's thinking was just as narrow and condensed: he could only read newspaper articles, the text of which did not need to be analyzed. With his cunning worldview, he ruined the lives of his subordinates, who were supposed to obey him unquestioningly.
Even in front of the woman you love main character couldn't reveal my soul. Belikov still managed to free himself from his case when he was lying in the coffin; everyone around him noticed for the first time a smile on the face of the deceased.
Death for Belikov became a kind of liberation from all the chains with which he voluntarily bound himself. The tragedy of the story lies in the fact that there are a huge number of individuals like Belikov in society.
A person’s isolation from the outside world gradually leads to his self-destruction. And often many people like Belikov never gain inner freedom.
“Ward No. 6” - story by A.P. Chekhov. The first mention of it is found in a letter from A.S. Suvorin in March 1892. The story, which belongs to the generally recognized masterpieces of Chekhov, reflected the philosophical searches of the author at the turn of the 1880-1890s, was the fruit of his medical (Chekhov carefully studied the reports of Russian psychiatric institutions) and sociological research (A.I. Roskin believed , that “Ward No. 6” “was dictated” by Sakhalin, hence the interchanging metaphors of a madhouse and a prison in the text of the work). It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the story was written after the book about the “convict island” and the story “In Exile”.
Chekhov’s “Ward No. 6” was first published in “Russian Thought” (1892, No. 11), and then came out as a separate work in the publishing house A.S. Suvorin in St. Petersburg. It was also published in the series “For Intelligent Readers” by the Moscow publishing house “Posrednik” (1893). “Ward No. 6” by Chekhov was included in volume VI of the collected works of A.F. Marx, where, notes E.A. Polotsk, the stories are combined with a heightened sense of the tragedy of the world.
Many of Chekhov's contemporaries spoke about the general meaning of this work. Leskov wrote: “Ward No. 6 is everywhere. It's Russia...". A.M. Skabichevsky suggested “psychiatric prose”, a “harbinger of decadence” contained in this work. During the discussion of the story (Books of the Week, 1893, No. 1), an idea was voiced that later became central to almost all literary works about “Ward No. 6” - about the direction of the story against the philosophy of “non-resistance to evil.” Meanwhile, the author of the article considered Andrei Efimovich Ragin, who went from an “oppressor” doctor to a patient in Ward No. 6, to be an “accomplice of evil,” and not at all a Tolstoyan. Who are Chekhov's heroes - Ragin and Gromov, who exactly stands behind their words? - this is the main problem of all disputes about this work up to our time.
If initially in Soviet Czech studies the main attention was paid to the social aspects of the work (Chekhov’s story “Ward No. 6” was perceived as an accusatory parable in defense of a person destroyed by society, unlike others, driven into a dead end, into a madhouse, into a coffin, pictures of hospital violence were emphasized, personification his is the “stupid brute” orderly Nikita, as well as unsightly scenes of the city’s “sleepy and animal life”, etc.), then subsequently the main attention was focused on the philosophical meaning of the work, dialogues and disputes between patients in ward No. 6 - Dr. Ragin and the former official Gromov. Line-by-line philosophical decoding of Ragin’s pessimism (“It’s all the same... It’s all the same... what a tailcoat, what a uniform, what this robe...”; “Between the warm cozy office and this chamber there is no difference”) was first given by A.P. Skaftymov in his work “On Chekhov’s stories “Ward No. 6” and “My Life”, where the literary critic correlated the statements of Chekhov’s hero with Schopenhauer’s “Aphorisms”. In this way, the researcher answered the interpreters of the story, who saw in this work only an echo of the polemic with L.N. Tolstoy and Marcus Aurelius, whose philosophy certainly interested Chekhov and was reflected in his work.
In modern Russian and Western Czech studies, “Ward No. 6” is increasingly receiving different interpretations. As V.B. showed in his monograph. Kataev, in the story “Ward No. 6” Chekhov acted as a forerunner of existentialism, raising issues of loneliness, loss of the meaning of human existence, and the disunity of people. Sociological interpretations of the story are broken precisely by the compositional and plot moves of the author, who equalizes the bearers of various social “cases” by staying in the tragic chamber. This is "equality" and spiritual transformation a person in the face of death becomes the theme of a number of Chekhov’s works. Actually, from the very beginning, details-symbols accumulate, leading the reader to the image of death, the futility of life. The conviction of the meaninglessness of his activities leads the former doctor Ragin to “Ward No. 6”, which attracts him like a magnet - and, at first, voluntarily, by his own desire, which is perceived as a kind of challenge to generally accepted behavioral norms. The feeling that just getting into the “vicious circle” of this hospital is inevitably the path to death does not leave each of the two heroes. And, as often happens in Chekhov, real death, perceived (and accordingly described by the artist) here as a routine matter, becomes the moment of liberation of the “proud” exhausted mind from the violence of life. In many modern works, Chekhov's story is compared with the works of T. Mann and F. Kafka.
One of Chekhov’s most tragic stories had, according to the memoirs of contemporaries, “a resounding success”, “the happiest fate.” In a number of responses, the talent of the author of “Ward No. 6” was compared with Dostoevsky, and it was said that Chekhov looked “even further.”
At A.P. Chekhov has many stories. We know some of them from school, others we get to know later. Each of them was created by the author to identify any vice in society, its causes and consequences. An example is the stories of the “little trilogy”, and “Ionych”, and “Ward No. 6”.
“Ward No. 6” is probably one of Chekhov’s most fascinating stories with an interesting plot. Its hero is Doctor Ragin, who is in charge of the hospital, knowing full well that the conditions there are unbearable. There is unsanitary conditions here, the sick are poorly fed and beaten. This hospital is like a prison. The outbuilding where the mentally ill are housed is also in complete disrepair. But Ragin does not react to what is happening in the hospital, he makes excuses, saying that it is impossible to change life. This philosophy of reconciliation leads the hero to move away from everyday worries and come to terms with immorality and theft. Ragin becomes close to one of the inhabitants of ward No. 6, Ivan Dmitrievich Gromov, and soon finds himself there himself. But not having lived even one day, Andrei Efimovich dies from an “apoplectic stroke.”
At first glance, it may seem quite strange how a doctor respected throughout the city could end up in this prison-like ward. In fact, this is the logical conclusion of Ragin’s life, and it simply couldn’t be any other way. Why?
Ragin's life story is somewhat similar to the fate of Ionych from the story of the same name, but not identical. Unlike Ionych, where the fall of man and his degradation are described, in “Ward No. 6” Chekhov talks about an already established personality. A young doctor comes to the city with his established philosophy. Its essence is humility. That is why Ragin, seeing everything that is happening in the hospital, does nothing. “We need to wait until the moral impurity disappears on its own,” he decides. Yes, Ragin is spiritually superior to everyone working in the hospital, Andrei Efimovich loves intelligence and honesty, but he is not able to build an intelligent and honest life around himself only because he does not know how to order, prohibit, insist, and he believes that this should not be done need to. This is his philosophy.
Gradually, Ragin stops seeing patients and moves away from everyday worries. He becomes more and more immersed in reading, and then, having found an intelligent interlocutor in the person of the crazy Ivan Dmitrievich Gromov, he completely stops noticing anything. Andrei Efimovich comes to terms with everything that surrounds him: with ignorance, with illiteracy, with deception and, finally, with evil. And therefore, faced with a serious life problem, he is unable to solve it. His receiver, Khobotov, recognizes Andrei Efimovich as sick and isolates him from society, placing him in ward No. 6. And I agree with this decision, because a person who has come to terms with evil soon begins to create it himself, without realizing it. Ragin, once in the ward, having understood reality, confesses to Ivan Dmitrievich: “I lost heart.” And a day later, unable to bear the “imprisonment,” he dies.
Ragin's psychology of reconciliation, which he did not change throughout his life, led him to madness, and ultimately to death. That's why this ending to the story is logical.
Its name is also clear - ward No. 6, because the whole plot develops around it. But, in my opinion, the title should not only reflect the plot of the work, but also help the reader understand its idea. It seems to me that another title would be suitable for the story - “From Faith to Madness.” It makes you think about the problem posed in the work and understand the writer’s intention. Although sometimes the reader sees not only what the author put into the work. For each person it opens up a new facet, each one interprets it in his own way. But still, the story has that basic idea called an idea. What is the idea in “Ward No. 6”?
It is very difficult to single it out, because it is intertwined with the theme - with the story of Doctor Ragin. The idea of the work permeates it from beginning to end; it runs like a red ribbon through the entire story, leading us to its logical conclusion, to the denouement. It can be traced. Chekhov, himself a man of high morality, despised people who had lost this quality. In his “Little Trilogy” he denounced vulgarity; he also considered the humble philosophy of Doctor Ragin to be vulgar. Exposing vulgarity is what this story was written for. The author warns us by showing what such an attitude to life can lead to using the example of an already established personality.
But the idea is not the only criterion for evaluating a story. Let's turn to others. Although plot is not a necessary element of a work of fiction, in this case he is. It's easy to follow. The story is structured quite traditionally, it contains all the main elements of the plot. “Ward No. 6” begins with an exposition; the reader finds himself in a hospital setting and gets acquainted with the inhabitants of Ward No. 6. Then Chekhov describes in detail the life of Doctor Ragin, giving an idea of his worldview. In my opinion, this is the plot of the story, that raw material, around which subsequent events develop: Ragin’s satiety with work, acquaintance with Gromov. The culmination of the story is the doctor’s “imprisonment” in the ward for the mentally ill, Andrei Efimovich’s rethinking of his philosophy of reconciliation. And the conflict ends with a denouement - the death of Ragin.
By analogy, another storyline related to Gromov can be drawn. But their peculiarity is that neither the first nor the second have the right to independent existence, since in this case they become meaningless. In addition, in “Ward No. 6” one can highlight the plot, the organization of the narrative. As a rule, it is a form of embodiment of the plot and expresses the idea of the work through a system of images. In “Ward No. 6” the plot is all the events occurring in the story. By themselves, they mean nothing, but their absence leads to the destruction of the integrity of the story. The composition is disrupted. Creating a compositionally complete work is the hardest work for a writer. This story is built very sequentially, each new event is presented by the author only when the previous one is understood. This is very important for understanding the idea of the work. After all, if Chekhov had not shown the reader how Ragin’s philosophy “works,” the appearance of Andrei Efimovich in ward No. 6 would have been incomprehensible. It would be unclear why another one was given story line- the story of Ivan Dmitrievich Gromov.
This is a person radically different from Ragin, he is a representative of a different philosophy, a different faith. That is why Andrei Efimovich found in him an intelligent interlocutor - opposites converge. Unlike the doctor, Ivan Dmitrievich lives in reality and believes that “suffering cannot be despised.” “You are completely unfamiliar with reality!” - Gromov says with irritation and turns out to be right. Once in real life, Ragin cannot stand it and dies, while Gromov continues to live. Even the disgusting conditions of Ward No. 6 did not kill in Ivan Dmitrievich a person capable of feeling, thinking, and suffering.
Chekhov (and me) is more sympathetic to this hero of the story. He calls for struggle, not resignation. Even though in the story the author expresses this idea through the mouth of a madman, it is worth listening to. Only by fighting evil and doing good can a person survive and preserve his personality. This is the most noble goal. The one who humbles himself loses all his best qualities.
The writer considered it important for people to be able to feel and love. Love kills the vices of society, their beginnings. A noble goal, work and love - this is what can defeat vulgarity. This is what Chekhov called for in his works. His stories are still relevant today, since many of the vices that the writer castigated have not yet been eliminated. Therefore, Chekhov’s works are popular not only in Russia, but also abroad.
1. The suffocating and gloomy atmosphere of life.
2. “Moving” Russia and the “stagnant” chamber.
3. Vulgarity modern life.
...life is nothing more than a constantly conquered contradiction.
I. S. Turgenev
Each time period is characterized by its own events and impressions. But they do not pass without a trace. Historians capture them in documents, artists - in paintings, writers - in works. But if the first from this list strives for the reliability and objectivity of facts, then the rest are trying to express their attitude towards the world in which they had to live and create. A.P. Chekhov had to face various situations. This can be judged by the writer’s legacy. He starts with short humorous stories. But soon very sad tones appear in his work. A lot has changed in life. For example, the deserts noble estates, which I. A. Bunin sang in his work.
A.P. Chekhov, with his stories, novellas and dramatic works, tried to show what the real Russia is like, hidden in the soul of every person. Perhaps this is what served as the impetus for writing such a work as “Ward No. 6”. Many noted that the author managed to express the atmosphere of that time. And if it really was very gloomy and difficult, it was only because in the whole city there was only one normal person, and even then in a madhouse.
Chekhov also spoke about the stuffiness and atmosphere that reigned in the madhouse in his early works. However, the laughter approach to this problem did not give the desired result. The suffocation and gloom of life hidden behind the images and behavior of the heroes finally spilled out. Ivan Dmitrievich Gromov began to speak about this directly and openly: “No matter what you talk to him about, he boils it all down to one thing: it’s stuffy and boring to live in the city, society has no higher interests...”. Society seemed frozen in place. He has no goals or aspirations. It seems that this picture is the opposite of the one that existed in Russia at that moment.
The story was written in 1892, when new literary movements (symbolism) were emerging, when revolutionary sentiments were maturing (resulting in the uprising of 1905). That is, life, on the contrary, is full of movement and new beginnings and impressions. However, even in this turmoil, people forget about the most important thing - the spiritual component of their behavior. This is reflected precisely in works of art, one of which is “Ward number 6”.
Therefore, the author puts into Gromov’s mouth thoughts about the current state of society, which is far from moral perfection, careful and attentive attitude towards each other. Society, according to the hero, “leads a dull, meaningless life, diversifying it with violence, gross debauchery and hypocrisy...”. Despite such statements, Ivan Dmitrievich was loved and respected. But the vulgarity of life had a terrible effect; it destroyed not so much his mind as his soul. Therefore, a chance meeting turned Gromov’s life in a completely different direction, as a result of which he ended up in a madhouse.
So it’s as if two lines came together in the work. Russia did not remain outside the chamber, but, together with its heroes, entered this room. Therefore, N.S. Leskov’s phrase can be understood in two ways. The world of life at that time is embodied not only in the story as a whole, but also in the institution that it represents. This description also has its positive aspects. Despite such an oppressive atmosphere, in the ward, and therefore in our country, there are people who, even from a madhouse, are trying to change the world in which they live. This does not mean that Chekhov called for revolutionary changes in his work. No, he simply invited us to stop and think about what can be done, how to get out of the vulgarity into which many have fallen.
The most dangerous thing is that no one wants to change anything in this life. Everyone is completely satisfied with her lifestyle and mood. When Doctor Andrei Efimych Ragin appeared in the hospital, perhaps some changes could have occurred. But he leaves everything as it is: he is very indifferent to the disorder that is happening in the hospital. However, Ragin also stands out from this society, like Gromov. “Andrei Efimych extremely loves intelligence and honesty, but in order to arrange an intelligent and honest life around himself, he does not have enough character and faith in his right.” The doctor is as passive as everyone else, even in his own institution, which he runs. Therefore, he cannot restore order. Ragin Gromov speaks about such connivance and calls him a charlatan. And the doctor comes to the conclusion that much in life depends on chance: “Whoever is imprisoned sits, and whoever is not imprisoned walks, that’s all.”
But in many ways, common views on life bring doctor and patient closer together. They are two opposites, but they have one common understanding: that the vulgarity of modern life destroys a person. The author gives each of them the opportunity to somehow correct this, but at the same time puts them in paradoxical situations. Gromov understands and can change something in this world, but he is bound by the walls of a madhouse. Ragin, on the contrary, can do something, but by nature he is a rather passive person. This manifests itself from a young age. He is studying medicine because his father wanted it that way. He himself wanted to devote himself to spiritual activities. Arriving at the hospital, he can change something, but the number of patients does not decrease, so he spends less time in it.
With the help of these two images, Chekhov shows us that any person, active (Gromov) or passive (Ragin), cannot open the circle of vulgar life in which they find themselves. Therefore, they only have to think about how they can build another world. However, others are hostile to such communication. They are happy with the life they live and do not want to change anything about it. Gromov gives a very colorful definition of that atmosphere: “I respond to pain with screams and tears, to meanness with indignation, to abomination with disgust. In my opinion, this, in fact, is called life.”
Ivan Dmitrievich is trying to somehow stir up the doctor. He points out that in his position he can do a lot. But he is hampered by laziness, connivance and lack of will. But even such an indication of vices does not give any result. The doctor and the patient remain only philosophers on the issues of life. Soon Ragin himself ends up in ward number 6 as a patient. Now he also has no opportunity to somehow change this life. Fate no longer provides him with such an opportunity. Then the former doctor completely withdraws into himself. This is where the work ends.
Chekhov in his story, despite the hopeless vulgar world, shows that in Russia there are people who are capable of changing it. But they submit to the general flow of life and are only in words ready to build life differently. In fact, they are simply adapting to it. And these are the moods of the world in which the writer himself lived.
Ward number 6 really becomes a miniature of the society in which people are closed. They see the saving light, but do not go to it. Therefore, Leskov’s quote takes on another meaning. The writer compares Russia to a ward, to a madhouse. It serves for them, according to Gromov, as a refuge from the madness that reigns outside the hospital. Maybe that’s why it’s good that Ragin finds himself in a world that has a less destructive influence on a person.
Thus, the writer shows us that in contemporary Russia there is no corner in which a person could reveal his potential. The bourgeois environment, as in the story “Ionych,” erases all the positive and sharp corners over time. And at that moment the writer could not find a way out to change anything. But with his work he accomplished much more than an ordinary doctor. He showed a flaw that deserves to be corrected. that is, he took the first step. Maybe this is a very small contribution for such big country like Russia. But the response to Chekhov's work showed that all was not lost. It seems to me that over time, ward number 6 has become not a miniature, but a caricature of that stagnant society that destroys the best that is in a person - the desire to live and strive for self-improvement.
