Write the introduction and summary of the story "The Lament".

Write the introduction and summary of the story “The Lament”.

Ans.

Introduction

The Lament, also known as ‘Misery’, is a short story by Anton Chekhov about a Russian sledge driver whose son has recently died and his reactions.

The central theme of the story as the title would suggest, is ‘Misery’. Iona Potapov. the driver, takes several fares and each times tries to share his grief with his passengers. But his fares all have their own problems in life, or simply do not care; Iona is unable to unburden himself by sharing his grief and so continues on. “White like a ghost”.

Without any sympathetic human contact. Iona feels the pain of his son’s more powerfully. Finally, he turns to his faithful mare, who can’t comprehend his sorrow but listens patiently. The story shows modern man’s empathy and indifferences towards his fellow beings.

Summary of the Story

The story tells about a father and his great despair, for his dead son. Iona, the father is a Russian sledge driver who desperately tried to share his grief with strangers. Iona wanted someone to listen to him, to somehow feel his grief, in order for him to feel better. This reading shows the harshness of human nature. It takes a powerful look at the lack of human involvement and compassion towards one man grief. Iona tries unsuccessfully. three times, to find an outlet to his pain. Only resorting to the faithful ear of his horse does Iona reach resignation from the death of his son.

Iona’s first fare was a military officer. At first, this man seemed interested in Iona’s story, but when Iona turned around to talk to him in more detail, the officer started shouting at him about his driving. This resulted in the military officer turning Iona out.

Iona’s next fare was three obnoxious young men. They were unruly and offensive towards Iona but he gave there a ride any way hoping they would just listen to him. Unfortunately one of the men replied. “We shall all die”, and Iona received no sympathy from them.

Finally, when he could no longer hold his thoughts in any longer, he took his horse back to the stable. He came upon another cabman and Iona told him about his grief only to find the cabman as fast asleep. Iona wanted to tell someone the details of his son’s death, yet no one showed any interest in his sad story. This only drove him deeper into grief and only intensified his emotions. He watches crowds of people go by and the narrator adds: “Can he not find among these thousands someone who will listen to him? In the end Iona found refuge speaking to his horse. He poured his heart out to her…and she listened to him.