Anton Chekhov's short story "A Joke" is an interesting read for curious readers. Very carefully written, the story allows readers to delve deeper into the subconscious of the characters and discover layers of meaning behind the seemingly normal words spoken and ordinary actions performed by the two characters introduced in the story. The story ends, quite shockingly, with the narrator feeling confused as to why he was joking with his girlfriend. Throughout the story, the reader gets the impression that the narrator was simply taking the idea of ​​saying "I love you Nadia" to his girlfriend very recklessly and that he was perhaps doing it on purpose to many times to joke with her. However, on a deeper level, the binaries seem to shift quite quickly as the reader traces the clues to the intensity the narrator is experiencing with his rising emotions. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayLet's take a look at the apparent meanings in which the plot of the story intervenes. First of all, the universally recognized dogma that the man is carefree and the woman is sensitive somehow turns out to be true. It is said that whispering “I love you Nadia” in the ears of his beloved becomes a kind of sport for the narrator while on the other hand, Nadia begins to “crave this phrase like some people crave morphine or wine.” Secondly, everything that happens in the story somehow explains the miserable state Nadia is in while there is no trace of the narrator taking anything seriously. On closer inspection, however, some revealing facts may emerge. First, the story is told entirely from the narrator's point of view and understanding. If the narrator was just "joking" with his girlfriend, why then did he remember every detail of how she felt? What evidence do we have that all this was not simply a figment of the narrator's imagination, resulting from emotional upheaval? Could it not be that the narrator was in love with the young girl but did not have the courage to say it openly? Couldn't that be why he just kept muttering over and over and finding no answer, thus creating all of this in his mind? Perhaps this is why her memories are still so vivid as she leads a happy married life with her husband and children and the story does not allude to the narrator settling into life through following. It is interesting to note how the narrator is able to remember the small details of how it all started and the whole atmosphere, physical appearance of his girlfriend and surrounding details are clearer than ever in his mind. We learn that “the air was freezing and Nadia, who walked alongside me, found her curls and the delicate down of her upper lip silver with her own breath.” The point is, if this was a joke to him, why is his mind perfectly reconstructing a memory supposedly so trivial to him? Further on, we learn that he is the one who pushes her to slow down in the first place even though she is completely reluctant to do so. “Let’s go, Nadia!” » he begs: “just once!” I promise you nothing will happen. To our great surprise, Nadia is “shy” and thinks that if she did a trick, “she would die, she would go crazy”. This reluctance, on the surface, is perceived by readers as an act of feminine cowardice which ispretty much just an understanding. However, there could be other explanations if the binaries here are even slightly choppy. If we assume that this reluctance is simply because she did not want to go with "him", sufficient evidence from the text supports this hypothesis. Even when she agrees to go with him because of his continual begging and pleading, the discomfort is there. “I could see in her face,” the narrator says, “that she did it, she thought, at the risk of her life.” When they finally sit down in the sleigh, the narrator puts his "arm around her" and the sleigh flies "like a gunshot." The description here is very vivid. The narrator now begins to use "we" instead of "she" or "I" when describing feelings of fear and anxiety. This shift from a singular pronoun to “we” could refer to the narrator's need to become one with his beloved. “The torn wind whipped our faces; he howled and hissed in our ears, and pulled us furiously against us, trying to tear our heads from our shoulders; its pressure suffocated us; we had the impression that the devil himself had seized us in his claws and was carrying us away with a cry to the infernal regions. Now that's pretty scary. The images used are intimidating enough to make you lose your memory. And yet, surprisingly, the narrator, in the midst of such a horrifying situation, is able to whisper “I love you Nadia” into his partner’s ears. One explanation for this surprise could be that the narrator thought it was the end of his life and wanted some emotional confessions before he died. Immediately after his statement, the whole scenario begins to change. We understand that "now the sled began to slow down, the howl of the wind and the rustle of the runners seemed less terrible, we were breathing again." It looks like pure magic. When they go downstairs, Nadia's response is another shock for readers: "I wouldn't do that again for anything in the world," says the "terrified" woman. Could this be considered an insult to his confession? From there, the story dives deeper into more intriguing moments. “It was obvious that the enigma left him no peace,” the narrator supposes. It seems that Nadia suddenly wants to joke with the narrator and the story takes a very confusing turn. Enough evidence supports the idea that it was Nadia and not the narrator who did the emotional joking. This may seem far-fetched at first, but given the textual evidence that supports it, the idea seems to take an appropriate form. “Oh, what a pretty set of expressions floated on her sweet face!” remarks the narrator, assuming that she is unable to decide whether the words are spoken by him or not. But it seems that she clearly knows that he made them and that instead of appreciating his confession, she is planning mischief. The naive narrator sees that “she was struggling with herself; she wanted to say something, to ask a question, but the words wouldn't come. We further learn that "she was terrified, embarrassed, and happy." If she is already planning to hurt her lover, these feelings tend to have different origins. She is terrified because she is about to play with his feelings by making him confess over and over again. She's embarrassed because maybe deep down she realizes that it's not something she should do and she's happy because maybe she can visualize how much fun this joke would be. will bring. After that, for all the slides she takes with the narrator, Nadia is clearly playing with her emotions. The questioning look she gets every time they..