Anuja Gawande
Ms. Chapell

Pre-AP English 10

10^th May 2013

Suffering leads to perfection

People tend to avoid suffering at all costs and one does not know what it really is until one experiences it. Andrey Yefemitch, of “Ward No. 6” by Chekhov believes that everything is fate in life, but as the story moves he faces reality and is changed both spiritually and emotionally. The protagonist transforms from an uncompassionate and unconcerned to a realistic and accepting person as he goes through suffering and isolation.

            In the beginning of the story the doctor is indifferent and lives a satisfying life. The author describes Dr. Ragin’s exterior as heavy and his face as “coarse like a peasant’s” (Chekhov 8). The use of the word “coarse” suggests that he is uncompassionate and rough person. The author also describes him as “overfed, intemperate and harsh innkeeper on the high road” (Chekhov 8). He has more than sufficient to eat and drink and is on an easy path in life and has not suffered.

Chekhov describes Andrey Yefemitch’s character in more detail as the story proceeds. The doctor is aware of the sufferings of the patients but neglects it, and he doesn’t experience strong emotions. Dr. Yefemitch thought that the patients should be “let out” and the hospital should be “shut down” and he also knew that such surroundings were “torture to feverish, consumptive and impressionable patients but what could be done?” (Chekhov 8) The hospital was a torture for the patients but the doctor had an unconcerned and lazy attitude towards any improvements in the place. Andrey Yefemitch speaks in a “high, soft tenor” and he has a calm and “lofty” soul (Chekhov 8). He always talks about philosophical ideas and never shows any kind of strong emotion.

            When Andrey Yefemitch understood that his mental health is being enquired, for the first time he experiences strong emotions and shows compassion. He is “flushed crimson, and for the “first time” felt “grieved” (Chekhov 31). Like any other person, now the doctor feels different emotions of sorrow and anger. When Doctor Ragin goes on a trip with Mihail Averyamitch, he feels “annoyed” by his presence that he even lies to him about his sickness (Chekhov 29). He is gradually losing his calm nature.

            The doctor becomes more realistic and rejects his previous philosophical ideas about life. Doctor Yefemitch had to resign from the hospital and he becomes a patient of the hospital. “I  used to be indifferent. I reason boldly and soundly, but at first coarse touch of life upon me, I have lost heart” (Chekhov 38). The doctor is no more indifferent and has become accepting.

            Like a caterpillar comes out of his cocoon completely changed into a beautiful butterfly, the doctor transformed to a compassionate person as he faced reality.

Works Cited

Chekhov, Anton. "Ward No. 6." The Horse Stealers and Other Stories. Trans.

Constance Garnett. Ed. David Garnett. N.p.: Macmillen, 1921. 146-98. 1, by

Anton Chekhov, 1892. Eldritch Press. Web. 10 May 2013