The Death of a Government Clerk

With this narrative perspective, Chekhov uses third-person pronouns such as “he” and “she” to speak objectively about what is happening in the story. With a limited point of view, however, the anonymous narrator follows the thoughts and feelings of only one person, Chervyakov. With this technique, the reader is only privy to what the clerk is thinking and experiencing. At one point, for example, he considers to himself that the general “doesn’t want to talk…Must mean he’s angry…No, I can’t leave it like this…I’ll explain to him” (Paragraph 18). These lines help the reader gain access to Chervyakov’s pain, rather than simply witnessing it from an outside perspective. The inner reflections of the other characters, by contrast, are not revealed to the reader, which means that the clerk is the focal point for the audience’s emotional response.

The overall effect is that Chervyakov’s psychological journey is on display as he internalizes the words and actions of those around him. Because the inner thoughts of Brizzhalov and Chervyakov’s wife are withheld, the reader also contemplates the same mysteries as the clerk. Chekhov’s use of perspective heightens the story’s tension and makes the climax more powerful and poignant.