The narrative structure of “The Darling” by Anton Chekov is essential in the story’s development as it offers readers a framework to comprehend it fully. Chekov creates a seamless plot through various episodes, all featuring Olenka as a recurring character. Despite their distinctions, these interconnected episodes highlight Olenka’s repetitive actions that contribute to the overall narrative.
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The story is tied together by repetitive, yet varied episodes that create a cohesive world. The first episode revolves around the marriage of Kukin and Olenka. From the start, the narrator provides insight into Olenka’s inability to exist without love. The narrator reveals that in the past, Olenka had loved her father, her aunt, and her French instructor. When these individuals left her life, she was left without someone to love, which explains her swift and intense attraction to Kukin. Throughout their marriage, Olenka becomes fully immersed in Kukin’s world.
Before their marriage, Kukin used to complain about the public’s ignorance of his theater while Olenka would silently listen to his comments. However, even after their marriage, Olenka started to complain as well. She, like Kukin, despised the public for their ignorance and indifference towards art. This indicates that Olenka didn’t have her own opinions before marrying Kukin since she never spoke up against him. The first episode concludes with Kukin’s death due to an illness.
In the second episode, Olenka decides to marry her neighbor, Vassily Andreitch Pustovalov, after church one day. She couldn’t stop thinking about him after their walk together, just like when she married Kukin in a very short time. During their marriage, Olenka’s thoughts and opinions align completely with Pustovalov’s. She even thinks the same way as him when he believes the room is too hot or that business is slow (238). This similarity in opinions also occurs in the first episode when Olenka’s thoughts were identical to Kukin’s.
Olenka’s attitude towards the theater underwent a major shift after her marriage to Kukin. Initially, when her friends invited her to the theater, she dismissed it as useless and failed to see its value. However, after marrying Kukin, she considered the theater to be the utmost significant aspect of her life. Conversely, during her marriage to Pustovalov, she developed a deep-seated belief that timber was the most vital and enduring element in existence. Pustovalov had connections to the timber industry, contributing to Olenka’s perception.
Olenka developed a fascination for various types of timber after she got married and even started dreaming about them. Another important event took place when Pustovalov, Olenka’s husband, passed away and she started spending more time with Smirnin, a veterinary surgeon. This particular episode had more diversity compared to the previous two. Unlike her relationships with other men, Olenka was not married to Smirnin. However, she still became attached to him as he was the only important person in her life at that time.
For instance, the veterinary surgeon’s words were echoed by her and she shared the same opinion on everything (239). Whenever Smirnin’s veterinary friends paid a visit for supper, Olenka would attempt to engage them in discussions about the cattle plague and other veterinary matters. This would irritate Smirnin, who would reiterate his previous request for her not to speak about things she had no comprehension of. He found it truly vexing when she interjected while the veterinary surgeons conversed among themselves (240). Smirnin would angrily demand Olenka to cease talking since she lacked genuine knowledge on the subject.
In the other two episodes, Kukin and Pustovalov refrained from criticizing Olenka for discussing topics she was unfamiliar with. However, in the fourth episode, after Smirnin departs for Siberia, Olenka is left entirely alone. It is during this episode that we witness her inability to think independently without a companion. The narrator illustrates this by stating, “She observed her surroundings and comprehended what she saw, yet she was unable to form any opinions about them and was unsure of what to discuss” (240). Without the guidance of a man, Olenka was incapable of generating her own thoughts.
Despite lacking independent thinking abilities, Olenka’s thoughts consistently come from external sources rather than her own mind. The narrator, although using a third-person point of view, possesses some understanding of Olenka’s thoughts. Throughout the story, both Olenka’s physical appearance and mindset experience a transformation. She becomes thinner and less attractive while isolating herself in her house, causing her relationships with the townspeople to deteriorate. As a result, they no longer refer to her as “The Darling” and ignore her when she walks down the street.
When Smirnin returns to town, Olenka’s life improves. This marks the beginning of the fifth episode. Smirnin tells her that he has reconciled with his wife and has come back with her and their son. Olenka kindly offers Smirnin to stay at her house while she finds somewhere else to live. During this time, Olenka starts spending a lot of time with Smirnin’s son, Sasha. This episode portrays a different kind of love compared to her previous experiences with men. As the narrator describes, “Her heart warmed and there was a sweet ache in her bosom, as though the boy had been her own child” (241).
The love she developed for Sasha was akin to a mother’s love, as he had become the new important figure in her life. Though she now held her own opinions, they revolved mainly around Sasha’s high school work. The two men she married in the initial two episodes were both business owners: Kukin owned an open air theater, while Pustovalov worked in the timber industry. In both instances, she assisted her husbands in managing their businesses. During her marriage to Kukin, she actively participated by overseeing affairs in his office, managing the Tivoli, maintaining financial records, and paying wages (236).
When Olenka was married to Pustovalov, she spent her evenings in the office handling accounting duties and taking orders (238). This episode illuminates her tendency to become deeply connected to the people she loves. Similarly, in the other two episodes, Olenka’s relationships with Smirnin and Sasha were not marital, but rather characterized by a motherly affection. In contrast to the other two, both Smirnin and Sasha found Olenka’s attachment to be bothersome. Olenka’s inclination to become emotionally attached to all the men in each episode unifies the episodes as a whole.
