Dreams are an important aspect of a person's life as they can provide motivation and a goal to work towards. However, if they become too much of a central focus in one's life, they can turn into an obsession. In the short story, "Gooseberries," Anton Chekhov relates the story of how a man's dreams took over his life. The man, whose name is Nicholai, lives in misery for years, and causes other people harm as he uses them to work towards his goals. His obsession even twists his view of the things that he is doing, so that he can find no fault with himself or his fixation with his dreams. "Gooseberries," demonstrates how obsessions become self-consuming and harmful for oneself and others, distorting one's conception of reality. .
One of the main reasons that obsessions are damaging is that they can consume an individual and take over his or her life. When a person's life begins to revolve around achieving one goal, it pushes other important parts of life out of the way. In, "Gooseberries," a man's dream of owning a farm becomes a "definite disorder" (Chekhov 3). The story, which is being told by the man's brother, Ivan, shows the downward spiral that obsession can create. Ivan describes his brother's life saying, "He (Nicholai) used to live meagerly and never had enough to eat and drink, dressed God knows how, exactly like a beggar, and always saved and put his money into the bank" (4). This quote shows how Nicholai's fixation becomes so controlling, that he is willing to sacrifice some of the basic staples and pleasures of life in order to bring it closer to realization. Everything that Nicholai does is focused on his dreams, and there is no room for anything else. To others, his life would appear to be quite despicable. to him, though he is clearly unhappy, his life is completely acceptable as long as his goals are brought closer. I too have had to deal with some obsessions in my life in relation to video games.
