In this essay I will be discussing the mood of Anton Chekhov's story "Misery." The principle idea of the paper will be to show how the cold relates to the mood of the story. The mood of the story itself is a very dark, cold, and gloomy one. Loneliness is also a main part of the mood.
The first example of how cold relates to the mood is in the first paragraph of the story explaining the setting. The setting, which is somewhere in Russia in during evening, is one of extreme cold. Snow covered everything including the main character Iona Potapov, Chekhov wrote, "He sits on a box stirring, bent as double as a living body can be bent. If a regular snowdrift fell on him it seems as though even then he would not think it necessary to shake it off (par.1)." This shows right away the main character is very cold and unhappy. It also shows a slight sense of despair when he doesn't bother to shake the snow off of himself.
Another example of where the cold relates to the mood of the story is right after Iona tries to tell an officer about his son's death, but then is ignored. Chekhov writes again about the cold, "Again the wet snow paints him and his horse white. One hour passes, and then another . . . (par.19)." This shows again Iona and his horse covered in snow, obviously unhappy and obviously very cold. The writer later shows the sledge driver giving three young men a ride. They are also extremely rude to Iona. He tries to mention his son's death a second time and they just act like they don't care and the hunchback even slaps Iona on the back of the neck to go faster. Iona next explains his misery and how he feels making the mood of the story very sad and dark. The writer then states, "His misery is immense, beyond all bounds." This is important to the mood of the story. It is the first time the main character expresses his feelings in words showing just how must misery Iona feels he has in his life.
