A System of Symbolic Gesture in Čexov's "Step'"

American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages

A System of Symbolic Gesture in Čexov's "Step'"Author(s): David MaxwellSource: The Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Summer, 1973), pp. 146-154Published by: American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European LanguagesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/306103 .

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A System of Symbolic Gesture in Cexov's "Step?"

David Maxwell, Tufts University

Cexov's "Step"' (1888) has often been described as lacking cohesion, and the author himself confessed to difficulties in working with a long prose form.-' There are elements of Cexov's style in "Step'," however, which give the story a greater unity than is generally attributed to it. Thomas Winner has argued that "the eight chapters are united by an inner action and a common atmosphere to which Egor reacts, and it is this which pro- vides the essential unity of the story" (p. 52); and, more specifically, "there is an inner, symbolic action expressed by the subtextual play and dialogue of themes and counter-themes, motifs and counter-motifs, as in a musical work" (p. 46). The dominant, unifying themes in "Step"' are solitude, aimlessness, futility and despair, the uncertainty of the future, and the irretrievability of the past; they are developed in the treatment of setting (an elusive windmill, a kite [kordun] hovering over the steppe, the unreachable "lilac distance," and a solitary poplar), characters (Egoru'ka, Emel'jan, the innkeeper Varlamov, Kuz'mi6ov, and Father Xristofor), and plot (a seemingly endless journey through the dying steppe which brings Egoru'ka to the threshold of a new life). These three structural categories are united by a pattern of symbolic gesture involving verbal forms sharing the root max. Each time these forms occur they signal the presence of dominant themes, the sum of such occurrences providing a substantial element of unity in "Step'."

The verbs maxat' and maxnut' often have connotations appropriate to their thematic function in "Step'." Maxat' rukoj indicates giving up or abandoning something (Dal'), and U'akov adds that this expression also connotes a feeling of chagrin or vexation. However, Cexov's association of max-verbs, as well as motion in general, with purposelessness and despair is also contextual, deriving from an incongruity: in the oppressive, in- escapable heat of the steppe, any attempt at movement merely demon- strates its own inappropriateness and futility.2

Max-verbs make their initial appearance immediately after an inane conversation between Kuz'midov and Father Xristofor concerning the value of education. Although Xristofor is an educated man-or at least

146 SEEJ, Vol. 17, No. 2 (1973)



Symbolic Gesture in "Step"' 147

pretends to be-his attempts at appearing knowledgeable are farcical. As Kuz'mikov ironically says: "A person will study for twenty years and nothing comes of it" (p. 21). Faith in the final worth of Egor's trip to begin his education is immediately diminished by this discussion: perhaps he will become another Father Xristofor. The first element in the pattern of gestures symbolic of hopelessness and despair now appears in a description of a windmill: "At first, far ahead, where the sky meets the earth near the barrows and the windmill, which from a distance looks like a little man swinging his arms

(razmaxivajucego rukami), a broad, bright yellow band crept along the ground" (p. 21). Four paragraphs later we read: "The carriage races along, but Egoru?ka keeps seeing the same things-the sky, the plain, the hills..." (p. 22); there is still no noticeable progress in his journey, and in the next paragraph the second element in the developing pattern of symbolic gesture appears: "A kite flies close to the ground, smoothly flapping its wings (vzmaxivaja kryl'jami), and suddenly stops in midair as if pondering the boredom of life; then it shakes its wings and rises over the steppe like an arrow, and it is incomprehensible why (za6em) it is flying and what it wants. In the distance, the windmill waves its sails (maget kryl'jami mel'nica)..." (p. 22.) The inclusion of the windmill in this brief paragraph otherwise devoted to the bird and their association through max-verbs indicate together the analogous relation- ships of these images to the purposelessness and hopelessness of the steppe.'

The thematic significance of motion is made more perceptible almost immediately: And now on the hill a solitary poplar comes into view; who planted it, and why (za(em) it is here-who knows? It is difficult to tear one's gaze away from its slender figure and green attire. Is this handsome fellow happy? Intense heat in the summer, blizzards and cold in the winter, terrible nights in the fall when you see only the gloom and hear nothing but the wanton, angrily howling wind, but most of all your whole life alone, alone . . . On the hill, the grain is already cut and gathered into sheaves, but below they are still only mowing... Six mowers stand in a row and swing their scythes (vzmaxivajut kosami); the scythes sparkle brightly and ring out in uni- son: "vli, v4i!" From the movements of the women tying the sheaves, the faces of the mowers, and the flashing of the scythes, it is obvious that the heat is burning and stifling. A black dog, his tongue hanging out, runs from the direction of the mowers toward the carriage, no doubt intending to bark, but stops halfway and looks on in- differently as Deniska threatens him with a whip: it's too hot to bark! (p. 23.)

In this passage Cexov places the repetitious motion of the scythes within an atmosphere permeated with hopelessness and lack of purpose (note the connection between poplar and kite established by zacem). He then re- turns to imagery used previously: "In the distance the windmill waves its sails (malet kryl'jami mel'nica) as before and still looks like a little man swinging his arms

(razmaxivaju,2$ego rukami). It's become tiresome to

look at, and it seems as though you'll never reach it, as if it is running



148 Slavic and East European Journal

away from the carriage." (p. 23.) Here the windmill is established as a distinct symbol of hopelessness; appearing to stand on the horizon it remains as unattainable as the horizon itself, the lilovaja dal' which appears so often throughout the story. Indeed, the windmill comes tanta- lizingly close in the closing lines of the first chapter but remains unreachable nevertheless:

Egoru~ka reluctantly looked ahead at the lilac distance, and it now began to appear as if the windmill, waving its sails (ma'udaja kryl'jami), was getting closer. It was becoming larger and larger, had actually grown, and now one could distinctly make out its two sails. One sail was old and patched, the other was recently made from new wood and glistened in the sun.

The carriage drove straight ahead, but for some reason the windmill began to move to the left. They drove on and on, but it kept moving to the left and did not disappear from view. (p. 25.)

Seen through Egoru~ka's eyes the windmill becomes almost animate, deliberately avoiding the travelers. This impression is confirmed in the chapter's final paragraph where the windmill waves (maxal) at the boy and is referred to as a "wizard."

In the second chapter the travelers' apparent lack of progress is again emphasized as they approach an inn; the same hills, grass, cobble- stones, and wheat seem to repeat endlessly while the kite sedately flaps (vzmaxivajulij) its wings overhead. The mood of solitude, hopelessness, lack of purpose, and despair created in the first two chapters is present in the personified steppe itself, in its losing struggle with the heat. In subsequent chapters the narrator unites this mood generated by the setting with his characters. The transfer is effected through max-verbs and begins with the tavern keeper Mosej Mosei6 in chapter 3. He owns the inn, which "nazyvalsja postojalym dvorom, xotja vozle nego nikakogo dvora ne bylo i stojal on posredi stepi, ni6em ne ogorofennij" (p. 35). The isolation of the inn and its nearly empty interior maintain the sense of solitude; in its barren isolation this place can be viewed as a microcosm of the steppe, complete with a small windmill in the garden. Kuz'mikov and Father Xristofor have come to the inn for news of Varlamov, whom they have been pursuing unsuccessfully across the steppe. Mosej Mosei is unable to help them, and the hopelessness of their quest is again signaled by max-verbs which recall the windmill and the kite in a direct reference to wings: "Beside the carriage there instantly appeared a tall, emaciated figure waving its arms and coattails (razmaxivav~aja rukami i faldami).... He was dressed in a worn black frock coat, which dangled from his narrow shoulders as from a coat-hook, and flapped his coattails like wings (vzmaxival faldami, toWno kryl'jami). . .. His frock coat flapped its tails (vzmaxnul faldami)." (p. 36.)

The most consistent use of max-verbs to symbolize futility and hope-




lessness involves one of the carters, Emel'jan, who sang in church as a young man but later lost his voice. In spite of this loss he tries numerous times to sing. Each time his unsuccessful efforts are accompanied by a max-verb:

Emel'jan, in a rust-colored coat, stood between Pantelej and Vasja and began to wave his arm (zamaxal rukoj) as if they were preparing to sing. Having waved (pomaxav) a bit, he dropped his arm and grunted hopelessly.

"I've got no voice!" he said. (p. 59.) Not five minutes had passed before he again waved (zamaxal) his arm, and describing to his fellow travelers the beauty of the nuptial "Gospodi pomiluj" which he recalled last night, he put his whip under his arm and began to wave (zamaxal) both arms (p. 60). Emel'jan... was waving (pomaxival) his hand and humming in a scarcely audible voice "Tebe poem..." (69-70). He waved (zamaxal) both arms, tossed his head back, and opened his mouth, but his throat issued forth only a hoarse, soundless gasp (84-85).

Emel'jan later sits by the fire, overcome like the rest by a "vague de- pression," no longer even trying to sing: "Emel'jan was not waving his arms but sat motionless and stared gloomily at the fire" (p. 88).

Soon a young man named Konstantin appears from the darkness, talks for a while, and then disappears. He is wandering about the steppe for want of anything better to do; his wife of less than a month has gone home to her mother for a few days, and he must live a bachelor's life in the interim: "Konstantin waved (maxnul) his arm and shook his head; he wanted to continue thinking, but the joy which shone in his face inter- fered. He changed his position, as though he found sitting uncomfortable, laughed, and again waved (maxnul) his hand." (p. 82.) Zinovij Papernij argues convincingly that this unexpected visitor is both ashamed to sit in front of strangers and yet drawn to the fire by a desire to share his joy with them. But he leaves, his footsteps fade into silence, and it seems that happiness itself had made a momentary appearance only to disappear again, avoiding capture.4 Like the windmill, Varlamov, and Emel'jan's lost voice, Konstantin's happiness represents yet another elusive goal for the travelers. His inability to communicate his emotions emphasizes the solitude of man in the vast steppe, and the theme is signaled once again by a max-verb.

The thematic connection between characters and setting established by max-verbs is strengthened by the simile, "the windmill, which from a distance looks like a small man swinging his arms," and by the content of Egoru~ka's delirium: "Titus approached the bed on thin little legs and waved (zamaxal) his arms, then grew up as tall as the ceiling and turned into the windmill. Father Xristofor, not as he was when he sat in the carriage but in full vestments with an aspergill in his




hand, walked around the windmill sprinkling it with holy water, and it stopped waving (perestala maxat')." (p. 97.) That it is Titus who is trans- formed into a part of the setting is significant in that Egoru'ka's hesitant meeting with him earlier had the same elusive quality as do the windmill and Konstantin: all three are viewed closely only fleetingly and lost in the vastness of the steppe.

The plot of "Step'" is organized by Egoru'ka's journey to the district town to begin his education, and he manages in this case to reach his goal. But the frequent repetition of symbolic gestures connoting hopelessness, despair, and futility along the way casts doubt on his future success. Egoru'ka remains unchanged by his experience and longs to return home. The story ends as Kuz'miiov and Father Xristofor depart, leaving him to face his future alone: "Ivan Ivany6 [Kuz'miiov] and Father Xristofor, waving (pomaxivaja)-the former with his crooked stick, the latter his staff-were already turning the corner" (p. 111). Watching them leave, Egoru'ka realizes the past is gone forever, and he greets his uncertain new life with bitter tears and a feeling of helplessness. The question in the story's closing line, "What will that life be?" (p. 111), was perhaps answered in the gestures of Kuz'midov and Father Xristofor.5

Several of Cexov's works during the 1880's contain descriptions of the steppe with thematic implications similar to but less developed than those found in "Step'."' For example, his short sketch "Dvadcat' devjatoe ijunja (Rasskaz oxotnika, nikogda v cel' ne popadajug6ego)" of 1882 suggests futility and hopelessness in its subtitle alone. The story opens with a description of the steppe at dawn:

It was four o'clock in the morning... The steppe was flooded with the gold of the sun's first rays, and covered with

dew it sparkled as if sprinkled with diamond dust. The fog had been chased away by the morning breeze and hung beyond the river like a leaden wall. The tops of the rye and the heads of the burdock and sweetbriar were standing quietly, peacefully, only now and then bowing to one another and whispering. Above the grass and over our heads kites, falcons, and owls were soaring, smoothly flapping their wings. They were hunting... (I, 345).

The expectant, joyous atmosphere here resembles that in a very similar description of early morning in "Stept" (19-20). There the expectant atmosphere dissipates as the dew evaporates, the air becomes still, and the steppe languishes despondently in the July heat. In the earlier story the opening mood is destroyed by the banal behavior of the characters. The petty squabbling of six provincial hunters indicates the futility of their lives in the steppe-a truth underscored by the failure of their hunting expedition: "We argue, gossip, hate, and despise one panother, but part from each other-that we can't do. Don't be surprised and don't laugh,



Symbolic Gesture in "Stept" 151

reader! Come to Otletaevka, live here for a winter and a summer, and you'll find out what's going on."' The simple contrast here between nature and man is unlike the subtle connections between setting and char- acter established in "Step'." But the quality of these human lives in the steppe suggests the important role this setting was to play in later stories.

In "Sampanskoe: Rasskaz proxodimca" (1887), the protagonist, a rail- road stationmaster, complains that his life is wasted and pointless amidst the vastness of the steppe. The landscape stifles him as it does Egoru'ka: "The steppe affected me, a native of the north, like the sight of an aban- doned Tatar cemetery. In summer, with its majestic silence-the mo- notonous rasping of the grasshoppers, the transparent moonlight from which there is no hiding-it drove me into mournful despondency." (VI, 7.) And again, "My courage, boldness, sincerity are all perishing... Everything is perishing like rubbish, and here in the steppe my wealth isn't worth a copper penny." (VI, 10.)

"Sampanskoe" also illustrates Cexov's increasing subtlety in utilizing descriptions of setting during the 1880's. In contrast to the mechanical use of setting in "Dvadcat' devjatoe ijunja," it is rhythmically inter- woven into the fabric of "Sampanskoe" in the manner characteristic of Cexov's mature work.8 For example, the protagonist, Nikolaj, drops a bottle of champagne and is warned by his wife that the accident is an evil omen. The sense of expectancy created by this prophecy seems immediately to infect nature, for the moon and two fluffy clouds hang motionless in the nighttime sky overhead, "as if they were waiting for something" (VI, 9). As in "Step"' a lone poplar is emblematic here of human solitude, the connection between man and nature being underscored by repetition of the verb gljadet': "A poplar, tall, covered with hoar-frost, appeared in the bluish haze like a giant dressed in a shroud. It looked (pogljadel) at me severely and mournfully, as if, like me, it understood its own isolation. I looked (gliadel) at it for a long while." (VI, 9.)

Such thematically significant connections between characters and setting, specifically the steppe, are even more apparent in "Siast'e," also written in 1887. It resembles "Stept'" in theme, mood, and imagery perhaps more than any other story written by Cexov. An old man and his young helper, tending a flock of sheep in the steppe, exchange stories of buried treasure with the local district warden. In the course of the conversation the old man substitutes the word "happiness" (s&ast'e) for "buried treasure" (klad). The absurdity of the legends, replete with curses and talismans, illustrates the naivet6 and futility of the old man's quest for happiness in the steppe. Further, his thirst for happiness is pointless, for when the young shepherd asks him what he would do with the treasure, the old man is unable to answer, and from the expression on his face it is apparent that the question had never occurred to him.




The function of setting in "Seast'e" is quite like its role in "Step'." During the conversation the warden acknowledges the hopelessness of ever finding happiness: "Yes, and so you'll die, never having seen happiness, whatever it is.... Someone younger will live to see it, maybe, but for us it's already time to just stop thinking." (VI, 167.) As if confirming the validity of the warden's statement, "the watch hills and burial mounds rising here and there above the horizon and the limitless steppe watched with a severe and deadly gaze" (VI, 167). Following this passage, Cexov, as in "Step'," illustrates the aimlessness of life in the steppe by describing birds in flight: "The wakened rooks, silent and alone, were flying over the earth. Not in the lazy flight of these long-lived birds, nor in the morning which punctually repeats itself every twenty-four hours, nor in the limit- lessness of the steppe-in nothing could one see any sense." In a description of the dawn (V, 169), the personification of nature creates a mood of joy and anticipation strikingly similar to the passages in "Dvadcat' devjatoe ijunja" and "Step'" discussed above. But here too expectations are de- flated as the dashed hopes of man and nature are joined together in the final paragraph of the story: "But when the sun began to bake the earth, promising a long, invincible, oppressive heat, every living thing which in the night had moved and made sounds sank into a stupor. The old man and San'ka were standing motionless with their crooks on opposite sides of the flock like fakirs at prayer, and they were thinking intently." (VI, 170.)

Thus, we can see in these three earlier stories the appearance of several themes, motifs, and devices which later played an important role in "Step'."' Their incorporation into a considerably larger work with an in- tensified focus on the steppe itself created new compositional problems which (exov described in a letter to Grigorovi6: "Each particular chapter comprises a separate story, and all of the chapters are connected, like the five figures of a quadrille, in a close relationship. I am trying to give them a common scent, a common tone..." (XIV, 14). The common tone that Cexov strove for is largely created by consistent imagery and more specifically by max-verbs. It should be noted that these verbs do not appear in any passage which is not significantly related to the development of the pri- mary themes. The result is a degree of cohesiveness and unity in "Step'" which has not been fully recognized.

NOTES

1 For discussions relating to the problem of unity in "Step'," see G. P. Berdnikov, A. P. Yexov: Idejnye i tvoreeskie iskanija, 2nd ed. (L.: XudoA. literatura, 1970),




91; A. P. Cudakov, Poktika Cexova (M.: Nauka, 1971), 116-17; Karl D. Kramer, The Chameleon and the Dream: The Image of Reality in Cexov's Stories (SP&R, 78; The Hague: Mouton, 1970), 89-90; A. M. Linin, "K voprosam tvorieskoj istorii 'Stepi,' " in A. M. Linin, ed., A. P. Cexov i nas kraj (Rostov on the Don: Azovo-Cernomorskoe knigoizdatel'stvo, 1935), 145-64; Nils Nilsson, Studies in Cexov's Narrative Technique: "The Steppe" and "The Bishop" (Stockholm Slavic Studies, 2; Stockholm: Almquist and Wiksell, 1968), 25-28; Thomas Winner, Chekhov and His Prose (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1966), 52-53. Cexov himself stated in a letter that the work "has a good theme and is enjoyable to write, but unfortunately, due to a lack of familiarity with the long form, to a fear of writing too much, I go to extremes: each page comes out compact like a short story, the pictures pile up and squeeze together, and obscuring one another spoil the general impression." A.P. Cexov, Polnoe sobranie socinenij i pisem (20 vols.; M.: GIXL, 1944-51), XIV, 11. See also letters to Ja. P. Polonskij (XIV, 17-19) and A. N. Ple55eev (XIV, 20-21, 23-24). Volume and page references are to this edition; for "Step'," page references in the text are to volume 7; transla- tions are my own.

2 Occurrences of these verbal forms in other works by Nexov do not seem to expand on traditional usage (maxat' na nego rukoj and the like). Perhaps Cexov did as- sociate this gesture in general terms with aimlessness however. In a letter of November 1888 to Suvorin, exov wrote: "My brain is flapping its wings (maset kryl'jami), but where to fly I don't know" (XIV, 239).

3 Viktor Sklovskij, Zametki o proze russkix klassikov (M.: Soy. pisatel', 1955), 427, quotes the above passage from "Step' " after stating that

"(exov portrays the vastness of the steppe in a new light." He further notes that "the windmill and the kite are linked by the word 'wings' (kryl'jami)" but does not point out that the kite and the windmill are also joined by the verbs.

4 A. P. Oexov: O0erk tvorcestva (M.: GIXL, 1954), 38-39. 5 In a letter to Grigorovib, (exov indicated that "Step' " was the beginning of a

novel in which Egoruika would eventually be driven to suicide (XIV, 33-34). 6 There are several substantive treatments of "Step' " which discuss the story

within the broader context of Cexov's prose fiction. See Cudakov, 107-24; Kramer, 86-92; Nilsson, 5-48; and Winner, 45-56.

7 I, 352. The name of the village, Otletaevka (otletat" 'fly away') is ironic, since the inhabitants obviously cannot escape from one another.

8 See Winner, 54-56, for a discussion of rhythm and sound patterns in "Step'." 9 Cexov's use of morphological similarity and word motifs to emphasize the re-

lationships between characters and setting occurs in other works during the 1880's. In "Mefty" (1886) a muddy road surrounded by fog symbolizes the tor- turous life of a tramp under arrest for refusing to reveal his identity. A hazy ob- ject along the road is described as "ten' s neopredelennymi obertanijami," while the tramp has been pictured as "s . . . krajne neopredelennymi bertami lica" (V, 224). In addition the tramp is described as walking "sognuvdis' " and the ob- ject is described as "pognuviijsja" (V, 225). In "Poceluj" (1887) the motif of a river is closely related to the fantasy of an army officer who has been kissed by an unknown woman in a dark room. The flow of the river continually breaks up the reflection of the stars on the water: "Na temnoj vode otrafalis' zvezdy; oni drotali i rasplyvalis' " (VI, 346). Lost in his fantasy, the officer attempts to focus his attention on the images of the unknown woman that are flitting about in his mind: "On staralsja ostanovit' svoe vnimanie na btix obrazax, a oni prygali,




rasplyvalis' " (VI, 347). For discussions of other occurrences of this device in

(exov's prose, see Gleb Struve, "On Chekhov's Craftsmanship: The Anatomy of a Story," Slavic Review, 20 (1961), 473-74, and P. Bicilli, "Tvor'estvo Cexova: Opyt stilisti-eskogo analiza," Godi'nik na Universiteta sv. Kliment Oxridski, Istoriko-FilologiJeski Fakullet, 38, no. 6 (Sofia, 1942), 37-40.



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A System of Symbolic Gesture in Čexov's "Step'"

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