Critical Response to The Ninny Essay

Critical Response- The Ninny

In the short story The Ninny, the author Anton Chekhov uses the point of view from the employer to describe the sense, control and power the man has and how easy it is to manipulate his governess. The story begins with the boss settling his account with the governess. By using the point of view of the employer the reader can see how the employer plays a trick on her by cheating her out of the money she had earned. He makes up silly reasons for not paying the right amount of forty rubles. Yulia Vassilyevna knows that her employer is mistreating her but she does not complain. In the end the employer gets upset with her because she did not stand up for herself and pays her the eighty rubles that he had owed her. The conflict in the story is character vs. character in which the employer is tricking the governess, Yulia. There is also an element of character vs. self for both the employer and the governess in which the employer thinks he is a very clever man because of the trick he was playing on his governess. The governess inner struggle was if she should stand up for herself or risk losing her job. There is also character vs. society. It shows the social injustice in which the employer demonstrates his insensitivity to the governess hardships. The setting of the story is in northeast Europe around the late 1800s in the employers study. The theme of the story is one should not be blinded by power. In other words, dont judge a book by its cover because something very powerful can be inside them such as intelligence.

The symbolism in the story is rubles and authority. Rubles are an important in the story because it shows how the rich and poor are separated in society. It also shows that not all rich people are intelligent. An example is I gazed after her thinking how easy it is in this world to be strong(45). The employer did not recognize until the end of the story how easy it is for the rich to manipulate the working class poor. This statement also refers to power of authority, capitalism and the superiority of the rich. This develops the theme because the reader was able to see how much the employer abused his power and how blinded he was by his power he didnt see how much pain he had caused towards the governess.

There is dramatic irony in the story. The irony in the story is when the boss yells at the governess, Is it possible that there is anyone in the world that can be so spineless? Why are you such a ninny? (45). This is ironic because she was not the ninny he was. He was a ninny for the reason that he was very insensitive towards the governess for playing a dirty trick on her and for not noticing that if an employee stands up for himself or herself they are usually fired from their jobs. Unlike the boss, Yulia was able to see that if she did not say anything and accept the eleven rubles that the boss was going to give her she knew she was getting paid and was going to support herself. In my other places they gave me nothing (44). The reader can infer that the governess was grateful for the money and just makes the boss look like the ninny. This relates to the theme because the boss underestimated her intelligence, thinking he was very clever, but instead by abusing his power the governess came to be the more intelligent and clever person.

The foreshadowing in the story is when the governess responds to employer with merci in which the employer had triggered an unusual reaction for a wealthy person who had just robbed the hard earn money his employee had earned. Dammit, dont you realize Ive been cheating on you? I steal your money and all you can say is merci!(44). From this the reader can see that the cruelty the employer had shown toward the governess was all a joke went wrong because the boss had underestimated Yulia and instead was the one who had become mad and gave the governess her money. This relates to the message of the story because even though people with money sometimes abuse their power, they do not always win. It is just the chance of karma coming to get them in the future.

The Ninny is a very interesting short story. Although not everyone can fully relate to the story, it makes people reflect on todays society and see the prejudice toward the poor and how they are manipulated from the rich. It also shows how money can make people become selfish. Money can stimulates a persons materialistic side and once one becomes rich, he also becomes ignorant and loses his human instincts such as love and helpfulness. As a result makes the less fortunate feel worthless. This is shown when the boss gives the governess eleven rubles for her two months worth of work. It also shows how the wealthy can be insensitive towards the less fortunate. The poor need help and supplies, so every bit of money they get they, do get each day. To most people labelling poor people as a burden is easier because they do not want to help and spend their money on them. Money is not always the root of evil. It only becomes evil once a person overpowers himself. This is similar to the employer when he made up excuses of why he was subtracting substantial amounts of money from Yulias pay.