What is Belikov afraid of and why. The image of Belikov in Chekhov’s work “The Man in a Case”: who are the case people and how are they characterized

The main character of Chekhov's story "The Man in a Case" is the Greek teacher Belikov. Colleague Burkin talks about him throughout the entire story.

Belikov appears in the story as a complex person, full of incomprehensible prejudices. In any weather, he goes out in galoshes, a coat and an umbrella. All his items were in a case: a pencil sharpening knife, an umbrella and even a watch. This citizen walked with his collar constantly raised, and this made it seem as if he was also hiding his face in a cover. When he got into a cab, he always asked to raise the top. Belikov constantly had a desire to close himself off, to place himself in a certain case and thereby protect himself from any external influences. The present reality instilled in him fear and horror of everything new. As if justifying his lack of understanding of the present, he always talked about the past. In combination with all his behavior, the teaching of ancient languages indicated a certain detachment from reality.

The main life slogan for Belikov is “no matter what happens.” Any slightest deviation from long-established rules can throw him off balance. But despite his complexes, according to Burkin, Belikov managed to keep the entire city in suspense.

Soon a new history teacher, Mikhail Kovalenko, and his sister Varya move to the city. Belikov's colleagues are trying in every possible way to bring him together with her. However, he cannot decide to take such a responsible step and is afraid of everything. And when he happened to see Kovalenko and his sister riding bicycles, Belikov generally fell into bewilderment. He couldn't imagine the teacher riding a bicycle.

What then is left for the children to do?

Just stand on their heads, he reasoned, trying to reason with Kovalenko.

That day, Belikov’s conversation with Kovalenko led to a quarrel and Belikov found himself thrown down the stairs, where Varya saw him as she entered the entrance. The hero could not survive such a shame. He closes himself off from the world in his room and dies sick.

Concluding the story, Burkin says that Belikov looked very cheerful in the coffin. Apparently, he was glad that he was finally in a case in which no one would disturb him.

Option 2

In his stories, Chekhov sometimes draws strange images of people who are even difficult to imagine. Nevertheless, such people really exist, although Belikov is in many ways a grotesque figure. We see some strange metamorphosis of the human personality, which turns into something strange and even scary.

Belikov has been working as a teacher for about 15 years. Greek language in the gymnasium and has weight in this gymnasium. Throughout a significant part of the story, no one can contradict Belikov; they obey him. Therefore, if this hero does not like something, then he can, for example, kick out a high school student, although such decisions are clearly determined by his inertia and excessive conservatism.

Belikov - imprisoned in a case. Through this image of the case, Chekhov represents his entire personality, he even describes the thoughts of the hero in the case, he has every object in the case, and besides this, he is figuratively entirely enclosed in the case. This is how his closedness from the world and ossification are manifested; perhaps, in some ways, this is how ignorance is manifested, which resists everything new and some kind of change.

This hero is clearly afraid of some kind of update, he is always afraid of any incidents, and such fears are manifested in all the details of his everyday life, from ordering cab drivers to raise their tops to wearing a thick coat even in warm weather. Belikov is a completely ridiculous character, but his beginning is also described as something negative and negative, he is not just ridiculous, but to a certain extent he is an opponent of this world, humanity, the positive and progressive. Therefore, Belikov’s death becomes possible only after he is ridiculed; ridicule seems to destroy the established world of this hero, subjecting him to a kind of censure that devalues the absurdity to which this hero has always clung with complete seriousness.

Also, in fact, we see how Belikova is destroyed by love. Of course, we can consider the hero’s illness and sadness as an outcome after rudeness from Varenka’s brother, but in fact, his behavior is only part of his relationship with Varenka. Belikov, in fact, can’t even imagine how he loved this girl, can’t imagine his marriage, in fact, this case man is unsuitable for love, which is something more than his limited nature, so love, as it were, cleanses the world of Belikov himself.

Essay by Belikov (Man in a Case)

More than ten years separates the story of A.P. Chekhov, “The Man in a Case” from the initial humor, but one of the author’s most famous creations is prose; it has many contacts with the work of his youth as a writer. Firstly, it is a combination of one particular social satire, that particular historical era With philosophical motive, with everything constantly known problems and solutions. And the title of the story and the pseudonym of its main character were simultaneously perceived as a broad abstraction.

Belikov, as a fashionable critic of those times told us, was one of the majority of people who, like Oblomov or Chichikov, expressed with all their essence a huge social environment, or the direction of that time. “Case people”, “Belikovs” - these social indicators that flashed in the title, on the pages of scandalous articles, passed into the way of life, becoming formulas understandable to everyone. Six years earlier, Leskov said that, having analyzed another work of Chekhov: “Everywhere - ward No. 6. This is Russia...” The feelings left in the soul between these stories were similar in many ways: “All of Russia seemed to me in a case,” - A reader who followed his work once wrote to Chekhov.

Belikov’s image goes from the biological, characteristically psychological, to the social stratum, to a demonstration of the natural beginning of people in society. And this is not at all surprising: Chekhov is a physician by profession, who has a natural scientific view of everything that happens, convinced that a clear understanding of medicine and poetry have never conflicted against each other.

A.P. Chekhov, as an artist-musician, often uses techniques from music to express his thoughts, such as repetition, carries out motives through many voices of various instruments, telling us about the inexplicable fear of limitations, everyday vulgarity.

The problem that Chekhov touches on in this narrative will always remain pressing for most people. Without noticing to himself, any person can withdraw into himself or close himself in the “case” of his own delusions, ceasing to reflect, seek out and hesitate in his decisions. And this is the worst thing that leads to the regression of a person as a person, as an entity. A person notices absolutely nothing except his prejudices and fears; he cannot adequately think, invent, and finalize his plans. Some painful fear for own existence constantly raged in Belikov’s soul - outstanding character Chekhov's story, “The Man in a Case,” which was published in 1898.

Belikov is the same “man in a case”, a senseless, pitiful creature who thought of one day bringing fear to the whole city. Even the teachers were wary of him. Why, the teachers, absolutely the entire city, from small to large, shied away from him.

A man in a case... It seemed like such a strange expression, but how accurately it personifies the human soul. The idea of this work lies in showing society the essence of fear: “Under the influence of people like Belikov, over the last 10 - 15 years in our city people have become afraid of everything. They were afraid to speak out loudly, send letters, make new acquaintances, read books, they were afraid to help the poor, teach people to read and write.” Yes, and everything that we have set up for ourselves, come up with, what we have fenced ourselves off from the world, all of this needs to be destroyed, we need to step over all of this, discover something new, interesting for ourselves, look at everything with an adequate view and not complicate our lives with what some imaginary accidents.

This presentation combines a combination of very interesting compositions, which, no matter what, do not prevent our writer A.P. Chekhov from sending us an inseparable assessment of the perception of human existence, an affirmation of his perfections and worldview.

Helps us expose Belikov's appearance compositional technique, which Chekhov often uses in his works, is a story within a story. In our case, these are hunters who decided to spend the night in the shed of the elder Prokofy, they told each other various incidents, stories, fables. One of the storytellers was Burkin, who decided to keep up with everyone, to tell the story of one living in his city, a teacher of foreign Greek, Belikov, and his friend, a famous veterinarian, Ivan Ivanovich. What was this teacher famous for? But the fact that, despite the wonderful sunny, warm weather, he always came out of the house in galoshes, with an umbrella in his hands and always in a warm wadded coat. But he had an umbrella in a case, a watch in a case made of gray suede fabric, and even when necessary, taking out a penknife in order to sharpen a pencil, to everyone’s surprise, he kept his knife in the same case. The expression of his appearance to anyone he met, at first glance, seemed that it, too, was dressed in a cover, a face that was constantly hidden behind the raised collar of a warm cotton coat. According to the narrator Burkin, Belikov walked around all the time in black glasses, a sweatshirt, plugged his ears with cotton wool, and when he sat down on the cab, he ordered the top to be raised, as if he was afraid of something. Whether it was a whim or some invented way of life for our hero, our narrator does not explain to us. But he notes that of this hero there was an endless greedy desire to “surround himself with a shell, to create for himself, so to speak, a case,” in order to hide himself and protect himself from words, actions and all the dirt of the world around him.

The features that Chekhov constructs become symbolic in Belikov’s appearance. The surprising thing is that for such an unattractive and narrow-minded person, with such a boring lifestyle, a person who does not sleep at night, he intimidated not only himself with all his thoughts, but he also managed to intimidate with his entire appearance all those people who surrounded him, and the entire city. At first, Chekhov found it funny and quite harmless to describe the place where Belikov lived, because it was similar to some kind of den. Compare the hero of the story with a hermit crab or a snail, which will not harm anyone and, moreover, is always afraid of everything.

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The story “The Man in a Case” continues the theme of the vulgarization of man - one of the main themes of A.P.’s work. Chekhov. His hero is another intellectual in the gallery Chekhov's characters, a person who should be the spiritual support of society. In fact, he is a moral and ethical dead man. What else can you call Belikov, a teacher of ancient languages?
This person is afraid of life and runs away from it by all possible means. He even dresses as if he were wearing protective armor: “always, even in very good weather, he went out in galoshes and with an umbrella, and certainly in a warm coat with cotton wool... He wore dark glasses, a sweatshirt, stuffed his ears with cotton wool, and when he got into a cab, then he ordered the top to be raised.”
The narrator concludes that this man had a constant and irresistible desire to surround himself with a shell, to create a case for himself that would seclude him and protect him from external influences.
In life, this hero occupied the same “case” position. He taught ancient languages, which are called “dead” because they are no longer spoken by any people in the world. “Reality irritated him, frightened him, kept him in constant anxiety,” says Burkin. In order to justify this timidity of his, his disgust for the present, Belikov always praised the past and what never happened. Therefore, it is not surprising that he chose ancient languages as his field of life, “which were for him, in essence, the same galoshes and umbrella where he hid from real life.”
Belikov did not show any emotions towards other people; in his head there were only rules, responsibilities, and schemes. So, for example, the hero believes that it is necessary to support a good relationship with colleagues. What does this mean in his understanding? Belikov regularly comes to visit the teachers he works with and just sits in the corner and is silent. Everyone is afraid of Belikov, but no one loves him.
Only once did any semblance of feelings flash in the hero’s life. He felt sympathy for the sister of the history and geography teacher Kovalenko. The history teacher was a lively and spontaneous person, so against his background the dead figure of Belikov is even more contrasting.
Kovalenko couldn’t stand the teacher of ancient languages: “Or he laughed, laughed until he cried, sometimes in a bass voice, sometimes in a thin squeaky voice, and asked me, spreading his hands: “Why is he sitting with me?” What does he need? Sit and watch." He gave Belikov the nickname “swallow the spider” and, of course, did not approve of the teacher’s decision to propose to his sister.
Varenka Kovalenko's infatuation ended badly for the hero. His mind, filled with stereotypes and prejudices, could not stand it. Angered by the fact that Kovalenko and his sister are riding a bicycle, Belikov has a conversation with his colleague. His arguments are funny and terrible at the same time: “If a teacher rides a bicycle, then what remains for the students? All they can do is walk on their heads! And since this is not allowed circularly, then it is impossible. I was horrified yesterday! When I saw your sister, my vision went blank. A woman or girl on a bicycle is terrible!”
An angry Kovalenko pulls Belikov down the stairs. A witness to this disgrace of the hero is Varenka, who laughs cheerfully at this incident that happened to her fiancé.
The hero could not survive this - Belikov withstands all this and dies, So, his attempt to start living real life ended in failure.
Chekhov shows that Belikov is no longer capable of being reborn, is no longer capable of normal life. Only in his dead state did he look “alive”: “Now, when he lay in the coffin, his expression was meek, pleasant, even cheerful, as if he was glad that he had finally been put in a case from which he would never come out.” .
The narrator notes that with the death of this teacher everyone felt relief, “ great pleasure" People felt that they had finally found freedom. But it was only an illusion, a fleeting delusion. At the end of the story, the author notes: “But no more than a week passed, and life went on as before, the same harsh, tiresome, stupid life, not circularly prohibited, but not completely permitted either; it didn't get any better."
The heroes of the story conclude that, even though Belikov was buried, how many more such “men in a case” are left, and how many more will there be! Fear of life, Chekhov tells us, deprives life itself not only of one person, but also of all those who surround him. And what could be more terrible than becoming dead while alive?

Chekhov wrote the story “The Man in a Case” in 1898. The work is the first story in the writer’s “Little Trilogy” - a cycle that also included the stories “Gooseberry” and “About Love”.

In "The Man in a Case" Chekhov talks about a teacher dead languages Belikov, who tried to put him in a “case” all his life. The author rethinks the image in a new way " little man" Belikov is larger-scale than Gogol’s character; he becomes the embodiment of the whole social phenomenon- “caseness”.

Main characters

Belikov- Greek teacher Latin language(“dead languages”), “man in a case”, taught at the same gymnasium with Burkin, the narrator’s neighbor.

Varenka- sister Kovalenko, “about thirty,” “tall, slender, black-browed, red-cheeked,” “not a girl, but marmalade.”

Kovalenko Mikhail Savvich- teacher of geography and history, “from the crests,” “young, tall, dark, with huge hands.”

Other characters

Burkina- a gymnasium teacher, Belikov’s neighbor, who told his story to Ivan Ivanovich.

Chimsha-Himalayan Ivan Ivanovich- veterinarian.

“At the very edge of the village of Mironositsky, in the barn of the elder Prokofy, belated hunters settled down for the night” - Ivan Ivanovich and Burkin. The men did not sleep, telling different stories. The conversation turned to lonely people, “who, like a shellfish or a snail, try to retreat into their shell.”

Burkin recalls the story of the Greek teacher Belikov. He was distinguished by the fact that in any weather he always went out into the street in galoshes, with an umbrella and in a warm coat with cotton wool.

Belikov had his own case for every thing - for an umbrella, and for a watch, and for a penknife, even his face, “it seemed, was also in a case,” because he “hid it in his raised collar,” and wore glasses. “This man had a constant and irresistible desire to surround himself with a shell, to create for himself, so to speak, a case<…>from external influences." Even his subject - “dead languages”, was a kind of way for the teacher to escape from reality.

For Belikov, only those newspaper articles were understandable in which something was prohibited. Any deviation from the rules caused him despondency, and his favorite expression was “no matter what happens.” With his suspiciousness and caution, the teacher oppressed the entire city.

Belikov had a strange habit - he would go to teachers’ apartments, sit there silently and leave, considering such visits his “comradely duty.” Belikov was Burkin’s neighbor, so the narrator knew that the “man in the case” also had “shutters, latches, whole line all sorts of prohibitions, and - oh, as if something wouldn’t happen!” .

However, Belikov, despite his character, almost got married. A new history and geography teacher was appointed to their school - Mikhail Savvich, who came with his sister Varenka, a funny woman and a singer. Once, at the director’s name day, seeing Varya and Belikov next to each other, the teachers came up with the idea that “it would be nice to get them married.” Everyone began to convince the teacher of the need to get married. Varya, too, was not averse to getting married and showed Belikov “clear favor.” Having decided to get married, Belikov visited Kovalenki more and more often, but put off proposing, sharing with Burkin his fears that Varya’s character was too lively, and “marriage is a serious thing.”

From the very first day, Brother Vari hated the Greek teacher, giving him the name “glitai abozh pavuk,” but he did not interfere with their relationship.

However, one incident turned everything upside down. Some prankster drew a cartoon with the caption “anthropos in love,” depicting Belikov and Varya walking with him on his arm. Under unclear circumstances, the drawing ended up in the possession of all teachers, officials, and Belikov himself. “The caricature made the most difficult impression on him.” However, when, leaving the house, the teacher saw Kovalenko and Varya on bicycles, he was even more saddened, since he believed that it was not decent for women and gymnasium teachers to ride a bicycle.

The next day Belikov felt unwell and even left class for the first time. In the evening he went to Kovalenki, where he found only his brother. Belikov tried to explain that riding bicycles is indecent, which only angered Mikhail Savvich. And when the Greek teacher promised to report the content of their conversation to the director, Kovalenko could not stand it and lowered Belikov down the stairs.

Just at this time Varya entered the house with two women. Deciding that Belikov had fallen himself, she could not resist and laughed loudly. The thought that the whole city would know about what had happened was so terrible for the teacher that he, “returning to his home,<…>lay down and never got up again.” A month later, Belikov died. When he lay in the coffin, his expression was pleasant and meek, “as if he was glad that he was finally put in a case from which he would never come out.” After his death, everyone was relieved. Soon “life went on as before,” “it didn’t get any better.”

Burkin finished his story. Ivan Ivanovich, reflecting on Belikov’s story, says: “Isn’t the fact that we live in a city in a stuffy, cramped environment, writing unnecessary papers, playing vint - isn’t this a case?” .

Conclusion

In the story “The Man in a Case,” Chekhov first outlined one of the leading themes of his work - the theme of “caseness.” According to the author, this social phenomenon is reflected in fear of the surrounding world, suspiciousness, timidity in front of something new and reluctance to let this new thing into one’s life, because “no matter what happens.” Using the example of Belikov, the author exposes in a grotesque form all the shortcomings of “caseness” and shows that it only leads to degradation and devastation of the individual.

Proposed brief retelling“The Man in a Case” will be useful for schoolchildren in preparing for lessons and verification work on Russian literature.

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MAN IN A CASE

(Story, 1898)

Belikov - main character, high school teacher of Greek. A teacher at the Burkin gymnasium tells veterinarian Ivan Ivanovich Chimshe-Gimalaysky about him. At the beginning of the story he gives full description V.: “He was remarkable in that he always, even in very good weather, went out in galoshes and with an umbrella and certainly in a warm coat with cotton wool. And he had an umbrella in a case, and a watch in a gray suede case, and when he took out a penknife to sharpen a pencil, his knife was also in a case; and his face, it seemed, was also in a cover, since he kept hiding it in his raised collar. He wore dark glasses, a sweatshirt, stuffed his ears with cotton wool, and when he got on the cab, he ordered the top to be raised. In a word, this man had a constant and irresistible desire to surround himself with a shell, to create for himself, so to speak, a case that would seclude him and protect him from external influences. Reality irritated him, frightened him, kept him in constant anxiety, and, perhaps, in order to justify this timidity of his, his aversion to the present, he always praised the past and what never happened; and the ancient languages that he taught were for him, in essence, the same galoshes and umbrella where he hid from real life.”

B.’s main fear is “that something might not work out.” Any deviation from the accepted rules makes him despondent and anxious. His fear is not only existential, but also social in nature - he is afraid that it will not reach his superiors. Despite his inconspicuousness and dullness, B., according to Burkin, “held in his hands” not only the gymnasium, but the entire city, where, under his influence, “they began to fear everything.” The metaphor of the case, acquiring more and more new details of Belikov’s fear of life, unfolds throughout the entire narrative.

With the appearance in the city of a new history and geography teacher, Mikhail Savvich Kovalenko, and his sister Varenka, who unexpectedly shows affection for B., society decides to marry the hero to her. They convince him that marriage is a serious step, that he must definitely get married, and B.

agrees, but thoughts of marriage plunge him into debilitating anxiety, so that he loses weight, turns pale and retreats even deeper into his case. He is confused primarily by the “strange way of thinking” of his possible bride and her brother. He walks a lot with Varenka and often comes to visit them, but he hesitates to propose. One day B. sees her and her brother riding bicycles, and this makes him dumbfounded. He goes to Kovalenko, who hates him, and “like an older comrade,” he warns: such fun as riding a bicycle is “completely indecent for a teacher of youth.” In addition, he warns his colleague that he will have to report the conversation to the director of the gymnasium. In response, Kovalenko declares that he does not like fiscals and lowers B. down the stairs. After everything that happened, the hero falls ill and dies a month later. Burkin summarizes: “Now, when he lay in the coffin, his expression was meek, pleasant, even cheerful, as if he was glad that he had finally been put in a case from which he would never come out.”

The image of B. - “a man in a case”, a comic figure, almost a caricature, but also expressing the tragedy of life, became a household name during Chekhov’s lifetime.

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is the author of many innovative works, where the reader sees not only subtle satire, but also a detailed description human soul. When you get acquainted with his work, it begins to seem that he is not only a prose writer, but also a very gifted psychologist.

"The Man in the Case" is one of three stories in the "Little Trilogy" series, which the author worked on for about two months in 1898. It also includes the stories “Gooseberry” and “About Love”, which Anton Pavlovich wrote in Melikhovka, where he lived with his family. He barely managed to finish working on them, because he was already suffering from tuberculosis and wrote less and less.

You can’t be sure that Chekhov wrote about any specific person, most likely central image“Man in a Case” is collective. The writer's contemporaries put forward several candidates who could serve as prototypes for Belikov, but all of them had only a slight resemblance to the hero.

Genre, conflict and composition

It is quite easy for the reader to get acquainted with the work, because it is written in simple language, which, nevertheless, is capable of causing a huge number of impressions. Style is expressed in compositions: the text is divided into small semantic fragments, focusing attention on the most important thing.

In the story we see conflict between two heroes. The author contrasts Kovalenko (life-affirming, active position, positive thinking) and Belikov (passive and lifeless vegetation, internal slavery), which helps him to reveal the problem posed even better. The case becomes artistic detail, which describes the whole essence and meaning of the work, shows inner world hero.

Literary genre- a story that is part of a “small trilogy” of three separate stories, but combined with one idea. “The Man in the Case” is written with an obvious satirical overtones; with this technique, the writer ridicules the very essence of the “little man” who is simply afraid to live.

Meaning of the name

In his story, Chekhov warns us that absolutely any person, without wanting to, can imprison himself in a “case,” which is where the name came from. The case refers to the fixation on the unwritten set of rules and restrictions with which people constrain themselves. Dependence on conventions turns into a disease for them and prevents them from getting closer to society.

The secluded world of prohibitions and barriers seems much better to the inhabitants of the cases; they surround themselves with a kind of shell so that the influence of the outside world does not touch them in any way. However, living locked up with your own routines and attitudes is cramped; another person will not fit there. It turns out that a resident of a stuffy, clogged corner is doomed to loneliness, so the title of the story is fundamentally given in the singular.

Main characters

The main character of the story is Belikov- Greek language teacher at the gymnasium. He sets certain rules in his life, and most of all he is afraid that something will not go as planned. Belikov, even in the clearest and warmest weather, is dressed in galoshes and a warm coat with a raised collar; he hides his face behind dark glasses and a hat in order to protect himself as best as possible from influence environment: not only natural, but also social. It scares him modern reality and is irritated by everything that happens around, which is why the teacher puts on a certain case both externally and internally.
Mikhail Kovalenko is a new history and geography teacher who comes to work at the gymnasium with his sister. Mikhail is a young, sociable and cheerful man tall, a big fan of laughing and even laughing heartily.
His sister Varenka- a 30-year-old woman, very cheerful and happy, loves to have fun, sing and dance. The heroine shows interest in Belikov, who, in turn, devotes time to her and agrees to go for walks in order to discuss the fact that marriage is too much serious thing. The woman still does not lose hope of stirring up her gentleman, which reveals in her such qualities as perseverance and determination.

Themes

The main theme of Chekhov's story is closed and isolated human life who is shy of the surrounding world and shuns any manifestation of feeling. He hides his eyes from the people around him, constantly carries all his things in a case, be it a small knife designed for sharpening a pencil, or an ordinary umbrella, which is so convenient to hide his face. Many spiritual values were strange to the main character, and emotions were incomprehensible. This expresses his limitations, which poison his existence.
Love theme in the story it is revealed in Varenka’s attitude towards Belikov. The girl is trying to interest the hero and return him to a full life. She believes to the last that he can still change for the better. But he also closes himself off from her, because the prospect of marriage and his colleagues’ obsessive conversations about their marriage begin to frighten him.
Chekhov explains to the reader that the worst thing that can happen to a person is indifference to life. Belikov became so withdrawn into himself that he stopped distinguishing the colors of the world, enjoying communication, and striving for something. He no longer cares what happens outside his case, as long as numerous decencies are observed.
Man in a case - collective image timid people who are afraid of their own feelings and emotions. They abstract themselves from the world around them and withdraw into themselves. That's why theme of loneliness is also important in the story of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov.

Main problems

Conservative. The author realizes with horror and pity that some of his contemporaries create a shell for themselves in which they perish morally and spiritually. They exist in the world, but do not live. People go with the flow, moreover, they cannot even allow fate to intervene and change something in their life. better side. This fear of new events and changes makes people passive, inconspicuous and unhappy. Due to the abundance of such conservatives in society, stagnation forms, through which it is difficult for young shoots capable of developing and developing the country to break through.
The problem of the meaninglessness of life. Why did Belikov live on earth? He never made anyone happy, not even himself. The hero trembles over his every action and constantly echoes: “No matter what happens.” Bypassing fictitious sorrows and suffering, he misses happiness itself, thus, its price of psychological comfort is too high, since it destroys the very essence of people’s existence.
It appears before the reader the problem of happiness, more precisely, the problem of its achievement, essence and price. The hero replaces him with peace, but, on the other hand, he himself has the right to determine what is the highest value for him.
The problem of fear of love. The people who surround him are just as unhappy, they find themselves on the other side of a fictional case, Belikov simply cannot open up and let someone closer. The hero was never able to develop his feelings for the girl he liked, he was simply afraid of them and was left with nothing.
The Problem of Sociopathy. The teacher is afraid of society, despises it, isolates himself, not allowing any of the people around him to help himself. They would be happy, but he himself does not allow this.

the main idea

Chekhov was not only a doctor by training, but also a healer of souls by vocation. He realized that spiritual illness is sometimes more dangerous than physical illness. The idea of the story “The Man in a Case” is a protest against lonely, closed vegetation under a shell. The author puts into the work the idea that the case must be mercilessly burned in order to feel freedom and approach life with ease.
Otherwise, the fate of a closed person may be disastrous. So, in the finale, the main character dies alone, leaving no grateful descendants, no followers, no achievements. The writer shows us how it can end in vain earthly path"case" person. Colleagues and acquaintances who attend his funeral are mentally happy that they have finally said goodbye to Belikov and his importunity.

Anton Pavlovich puts socio-political implications into his work, emphasizing the importance of social activity and civil initiative. He advocates a rich and fulfilling life, endows the main character with repulsive character traits in order to prove to people how pathetic and pathetic the inhabitant of the “case” looks, wasting himself.

Thus, Chekhov describes the lot of many clerks who lived sadly in a stuffy city, sorting out pieces of paper that no one needed. He ironically plays on the “little man” type, violating literary tradition depict it in idyllic colors. His author's position- not contemplative or sentimental, but active, not tolerating compromises. The inhabitants of the case should not savor their insignificance and wait for pity, they need to change and squeeze out a slave.

What does the author teach?

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov makes us think about our own life and wonder interesting question: “Aren’t we building ourselves the same case that the main character Belikov had?” Author in literally teaches us to live, showing by example how a personality that grovels before conventions and stereotypes can fade and disappear. Chekhov was really able to instill in people a disgust for a gray, worthless life, to show that inaction and indifference are the worst things that can happen to us.

The fear of discoveries and accomplishments destroys a person’s personality; he becomes pitiful and helpless, unable to express even the most simple feelings. The writer believes that human nature much richer and more capable than what fear and laziness turn her into. Happiness, according to Chekhov, lies in a fulfilling life, where there is a place for strong emotions, interesting communication and individuality.

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