Vanka
(Anton Chekhov)
It won't be an exaggeration to say that Anton Chekhov is one of the greatest short story writers of the world. He epitomizes the humanist values and his short stories give you the essence of humanist vaules in the form of stories. Most of the stories are quite short. But a reading gives us the experience of a lifetime which can not be given even by lengthy novels. Vanka is one such story. It is a classic in its own right though it does not run more than six pages.
Nine year old Vanka Zhukov, a child with no mother and father, has been sent by his grandfather as an apprentice to a shoemaker in Moscow from a remote Russian village. There the boy undergoes tremendous hardships. He comes to know from the butcher that letters can be dropped in letter boxes which will be taken from the box to different destinations. On Christmas Eve, when all in the household have left for the church, the boy secretly writes a letter to his granddad explaining his plight and requesting him to take him back. The heartrending twist comes when the boy writes the address as "Kastantin Makarich, THE VILLAGE", drops the letter in the letter box and goes to slumber where he dreams of his grandfather sitting on the stove-ledge and reading his letter.
The characters of the story are very humble people. With a two are three sentences a character is created and even the village dog has a character of its own. This small story will make us better human beings.
SATHYA
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