"Gooseberries" by Chekhov

Rating:6/10 

My favorite part of this short story is this. I liked this part because it looks ridiculous to see Ivan swimming and repeating 'by God!'. I heard this part is one of the important part in this story, but I can't remember why it was.  However, Ivan keeps exclaiming to god. I think Ivan is just looking for his free spirit by swimming and screaming. 

I think the main theme of this story is 'happiness'. Aliokhin, Ivan, and Burkin has all different background and they don't really cares about them. I can see the selfishness during the story. However, all of them are wondering what defines happiness. For examples, Ivan talks about his brother who is rich, but has too much greed, so can't feel happiness. Also, Aliokhin looks strange and dirty but he seems happier than Nikolay(Ivan's brother). At reading this story, I was wondered why Chekhov chose gooseberries rather than other fruits or materials. So I searched about it. According to google, gooseberries symbolizes the idea that people tend to delude themselves into happiness rather than accepting the truth. I think not only gooseberry, not widely known fruit, but also some common fruits could symbolize the idea.