"The Chameleon" by Chekhov

Summary and Analysis

"The Chamelon" is one of Chekhov's shorter stories at a length of nearly four pages but that doesn't make the story any less compelling. In classic Chekhov fashion, "The Chameleon" expresses a deep truth about human behavior in a detailed setting. The title refers to a police officer named Ochumelov (Russian for wacky) who changes his mind several times about how to act in a situation where he doesn't know all the facts.

At first Ochumelov is tempted to side with the man whose finger was bitten in part because the situation seems trivial and Ochumelov wants to dispense justice because it seems like a rational decision. When a member of a crowd yells that the dog belongs to a general, Ochumelov in turn assumes that the bitten man deserves all of the blame. Chekhov ends the story by revealing that the dog belongs to a general's brother. This reveal allows Ochumelov to settle on a decision to rescue the dog and punish the injured man.

The moral of this story is fairly easy to deduce. People change their behavior to suit their own needs regardless of how it affects others. When you really think about it, this is a sad lesson to learn. People will behave this way even in situations that with low stakes. The story's tension comes from the mystery of what really happened and the reader's uncertainty as to what will happen to the various characters in the story. Thankfully Chekhov lets us off the hook by allowing the dog to be saved and ending the story before the injured man can be further punished.

I'm curious as to whether Chekhov wrote this story as an allegory. My translation includes asterisks that reveal meanings behind the characters' names but these meanings seem to serve a comical function rather than an ethical one. I would say this is the most comedic Chekhov story I have read to date. Touches like a crowd appearing out of nowhere and Ochumelov's subtle facial expressions make this story feel like a cartoon. Chekhov realizes the humor in his stories even when the subject matter is quite dark.

A Borzoi, the type of dog appearing in "The Chameleon"

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