Previous
Mood
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:
“Gooseberries” is set in late-19th-century Russia, specifically in the fictional rural village of Mironositskoe. Chekhov establishes the setting on the first page of the story, as seen in the following passage:
Far ahead the windmills of the village of Mironositskoe were barely visible, to the right a line of hills stretched away and then disappeared far beyond the village, and [Ivan and Burkin] both knew that this was the bank of the river, with meadows, green willows, country houses, and if you stood on one of the hills, from there you could see equally vast fields, telegraph poles, and the train […] Now, in the still weather, when all nature seemed meek and pensive, Ivan Ivanych and Burkin were imbued with love for these fields, and both thought how great, how beautiful this land was.
Here, Chekhov captures the rural scenery, describing the windmills, hills, river, meadows, willows, country houses, and more. Not only does he describe these idyllic rural elements, but he also notes how Ivan and Burkin “were imbued with love for these fields,” noticing to themselves “how beautiful this land was.” This is one of the many moments in the story in which Chekhov highlights the importance of nature and how the great and wild outdoors can be a balm for both city dwellers and rural landowners alike (as rural landowners typically stay within the confines of their particular plot).
Also important to the setting of the story is the class hierarchy in Russia in the late 19th century. At the time, class ascension was exceedingly difficult, meaning that it was very hard for landless working-class people like Ivan and Nikolai (who came from peasant families) to change their class position. That Nikolai is able to do so only by living a miserly existence for two decades and starving his wealthy wife (so that he could access her inheritance upon her death) is indicative of the rigid class hierarchy in Russia at the time.
Related Themes:
