A dark and chiling story - one of Chekhov's best

War No. 6 is justifiably one of Anton Chkhov's greatest stories - as noted yestrday - and also as noted the insipid doctor, Andrei, does get his comeuppance, but this is Chekhov so not everything is hard-edged and morally unambiguous - there's a lot of sorrow and mystery at the end of this story: Andrei, by the middle of thie novella-length story, is spending a great deal of time in the ward for the insane speaking with the only educated inmate, Ivan, and sharing his philosophy - essentially that pain is only in the mind, that in the end we all are equal and of equal worth, Ivan should take his miserable circumstancs and accept them; Ivan rightly Andrei he is arguing from a position of privilege and comfort, that pain is real, that man deserves an opportunity for freedom and happiness. Others in the hospital see Andrei spending time with Ivan, and they think Andrei is losing his competence, such as it was: Why would a doctor willingly speak at length with one of his mental-ward inmates? A so-called friend lures Andrei to take a trip to Moscow and Poland, pure misery for Dr. Andrei, and when he returns he's stripped of his authority by the corrupt managers of the hospital - and eventually, he's lured into the ward, supposedly to observe a case, then abandoned there and held among the inmates. He dies after a day or two in captivity. Has he changed? Is he a better man? He definitely does come to some kind of realization that his philosophy was a lot of relativistic crap; but not sure that's the whole message of the story. Part of the story is simply an indictment of medical conditions in Chekhov's time, especially the treatment of mental illness; part the familiar Chkhovian indictment of life in the provinces. The other mental patients, particularly Ivan, are not heroes, either, however; the are unjustly imprisoned and horribly treated, but Ivan is not a sympathetic character: the story is in part an indictment of human nature, an examination of the lows to which people will sink when in a struggle for comfort and survival. Also, a spiritual dimension to the story: Is there in fact a better world awaiting, some possibility of transcendence, or are we all earth and clay, gone to dust? Either way, it is better to lead a good and honest life - as do none of the characters is this dark and chilling story.