Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

** spoiler alert ** This story made me cry! The Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ description says it is about the poverty and brutality of serfdom, but I didn't see anything like that in the story.

While Gerasim, as a serf, is not rich, he lives in comfortable enough circumstances and does not want for any material necessity, and neither do his fellow serfs, whether in the country or city. Rather, Gerasim's problem is isolation and loneliness, brought about by his disability as a deaf-mute and the indifference of those around him, whether serf or free.

The laundress he courts does not return his affection, and it's only after she has spent a few years married to a drunk does she learn something: There's a difference between a man who tries, however awkwardly, to earn her affection and one to whom she has merely been given as an unsuccessful means to cure bad behavior. Big difference.

Gerasim's affection is only welcomed and returned with joy when he rescues a little dog named Mumu. She is the apple of his eye, his faithful shadow, his sole consolation in this life. She's the only one who appreciates him. An ill timed bark and momentary irritation from the old lady (mistress of the house), however, is enough to lead to Gerasim being forced to give her up too, in the most heart wrenching and irrevocable of ways, on top of everything else he's already given up.

The old lady is not a cruel or malicious woman; she is just thoughtless and self centered. She has been so long accustomed to her serfs' following orders, satisfying her wants that she has ceased to think of them as people. To her they're instruments. By the end of the story, she is surprised to find herself in the same spot as King David was, accused of taking away Uriah's one ewe lamb. (King David was surprised too).

Even the other serfs, who know perfectly well what Mumu means to Gerasim, and how capricious their mistress is, fail him. They could have pleaded his case to her or just helped him keep the dog out of her way until she was in a better mood. Instead, her word is law and they obey without question. They don't put themselves in Gerasim's place any more than she does, and putting themselves out for his sake even a little bit doesn't occur to them.

I can see how this story was good for consciousness raising among the Russian nobility of Turgenev's day toward the serfs. But its lessons still apply to our own time--we modern people who use legality as an excuse to dispense with morality, who are becoming accustomed to think of each other in a utilitarian way as instruments rather than as persons.