Lonliness and the Looking Glass

In the short story, “The Looking Glass” written by Anton Checkov, the main theme that resonates throughout the story is the fear of loneliness. In the beginning of the story, Nellie is portrayed as someone who is isolated in her room, staring at a looking glass. Checkov uses words that that connect to the feeling of gloom. He uses descriptors like grey, dark, pale, empty and mist to evoke a feeling of sadness and melancholy. Nellie is portrayed as a character who is generally a, “…young and pretty girl” but is in majority categorized as a person who is sad, tired and lonely. She dreams of companionship and happiness, a life with her significant other. She describes the man she longs for as the object of her hopes and dreams and how her life without him is meaningless. She craves to be with someone else, and describes this person as the solution to all over he problems. It is evident that Checkov is illustrating how loneliness is pertinent and painful, yet inevitable throughout the story.

When Nellie arrives at Dt. Stepan Lukitch’s door, she is by herself, fighting frantically for someone who didn't make her feel alone: her husband. She describes her state as someone who is suffering, which is heightened when she realizes that the doctor will not be able to help her husband, and death was creeping closer. She also thinks about how she will lose at least one of her children to illness, and how she will suffer once again; the pain and suffering caused by loneliness. She envisions her husband passing away, and realizes that a husband and a wife cannot pass away simultaneously. Nellie says, “And all the previous life with her husband seemed to her a stupid prelude to this.” The solitude and sadness Nellie feels at the beginning of the story, only comes back to haunt her by the time she is done with her vision. The imagery that Checkov uses paint a bleak picture in our minds of how loneliness would look if we could see it with the naked eye. It is the feeling that Nellie realizes she cannot escape, and will maybe lead her to realize that her happiness cannot be defined by someone else.