September 17, 2014

A Slander




Pre Reading: Vocabulary Words

1. slander: to utter slander against : DEFAME
2. master : one having authority or control.
3. drawing room: a formal reception room.
4. flitting: to pass or move quickly from place to place.
5. swallowtails: tailcoat.
6. hubbub: a state of commotion or excitement.
7. din: a loud confused mixture of noises.
8. hurriedly: to move or act with haste.
9. sentry : guard.
10. queer : weird, strange, differing from the usual.
11. supper : an evening meal.
12. fumes: smoke, vapor or gas.
13. sturgeon: a large food fish valuable as a source of caviar.
14. grin: to draw back the lips so as to show the teeth, especially in amusement.
15. stealthy : secretly
16. relish: enjoyment or delight in something.
17. piquancy: pleasantly savory.
18. avail: to be use or advantage.
19. propensities: an often intense natural inclination or preference.
20. scoundrel: a disreputable person.
21. cholera: an often fatal epidemic disease.

Pre Reading Questions: A Slander

1.  Describe a kiss.  What can a kiss mean?
2.  Has your life ever been affected by gossip?
3.  How is a gossip spread?
4.  Describe a Puerto Rican Wedding.
5.  Based on the vocabulary words and pre reading questions, what do you think the story is going to be about?

A Slander

by Anton Chekhov

SERGE KAPITONICH AHINEEV, the writing master, was marrying his daughter to the teacher of history and geography. The wedding festivities were going off most successfully. In the drawing room there was singing, playing, and dancing. Waiters hired from the club were flitting distractedly about the rooms, dressed in black swallow-tails and dirty white ties. There was a continual hubbub and din of conversation. Sitting side by side on the sofa, the teacher of mathematics, Tarantulov, the French teacher, Pasdequoi, and the junior assessor of taxes, Mzda, were talking hurriedly and interrupting one another as they described to the guests cases of persons being buried alive, and gave their opinions on spiritualism. None of them believed in spiritualism, but all admitted that there were many things in this world which would always be beyond the mind of man. In the next room the literature master, Dodonsky, was explaining to the visitors the cases in which a sentry has the right to fire on passers-by. The subjects, as you perceive, were alarming, but very agreeable. Persons whose social position precluded them from entering were looking in at the windows from the yard.

Just at midnight the master of the house went into the kitchen to see whether everything was ready for supper. The kitchen from floor to ceiling was filled with fumes composed of goose, duck, and many other odours. On two tables the accessories, the drinks and light refreshments, were set out in artistic disorder. The cook, Marfa, a red-faced woman whose figure was like a barrel with a belt around it, was bustling about the tables.

"Show me the sturgeon, Marfa," said Ahineev, rubbing his hands and licking his lips. "What a perfume! I could eat up the whole kitchen. Come, show me the sturgeon."

Marfa went up to one of the benches and cautiously lifted a piece of greasy newspaper. Under the paper on an immense dish there reposed a huge sturgeon, masked in jelly and decorated with capers, olives, and carrots. Ahineev gazed at the sturgeon and gasped. His face beamed, he turned his eyes up. He bent down and with his lips emitted the sound of an ungreased wheel. After standing a moment he snapped his fingers with delight and once more smacked his lips.
"Ah-ah! the sound of a passionate kiss. . . . Who is it you're kissing out there, little Marfa?" came a voice from the next room, and in the doorway there appeared the cropped head of the assistant usher, Vankin. "Who is it? A-a-h! . . . Delighted to meet you! Sergei Kapitonich! You're a fine grandfather, I must say! Tête-à-tête with the fair sex--tette!"

"I'm not kissing," said Ahineev in confusion. "Who told you so, you fool? I was only . . . I smacked my lips . . . in reference to . . . as an indication of. . . pleasure . . . at the sight of the fish."

"Tell that to the marines!" The intrusive face vanished, wearing a broad grin.

Ahineev flushed.
"Hang it!" he thought, "the beast will go now and talk scandal. He'll disgrace me to all the town, the brute."

Ahineev went timidly into the drawing-room and looked stealthily round for Vankin. Vankin was standing by the piano, and, bending down with a jaunty air, was whispering something to the inspector's sister-in-law, who was laughing.

"Talking about me!" thought Ahineev. "About me, blast him! And she believes it . . . believes it! She laughs! Mercy on us! No, I can't let it pass . . . I can't. I must do something to prevent his being believed. . . . I'll speak to them all, and he'll be shown up for a fool and a gossip."

Ahineev scratched his head, and still overcome with embarrassment, went up to Pasdequoi.

"I've just been in the kitchen to see after the supper," he said to the Frenchman. "I know you are fond of fish, and I've a sturgeon, my dear fellow, beyond everything! A yard and a half long! Ha, ha, ha! And, by the way . . . I was just forgetting. . . . In the kitchen just now, with that sturgeon . . . quite a little story! I went into the kitchen just now and wanted to look at the supper dishes. I looked at the sturgeon and I smacked my lips with relish . . . at the piquancy of it. And at the very moment that fool Vankin came in and said: . . . 'Ha, ha, ha! . . . So you're kissing here!' Kissing Marfa, the cook! What a thing to imagine, silly fool! The woman is a perfect fright, like all the beasts put together, and he talks about kissing! Queer fish!"

"Who's a queer fish?" asked Tarantulov, coming up.

"Why he, over there -- Vankin! I went into the kitchen . . ."

And he told the story of Vankin. ". . . He amused me, queer fish! I'd rather kiss a dog than Marfa, if you ask me," added Ahineev. He looked round and saw behind him Mzda.

"We were talking of Vankin," he said. "Queer fish, he is! He went into the kitchen, saw me beside Marfa, and began inventing all sorts of silly stories. 'Why are you kissing?' he says. He must have had a drop too much. 'And I'd rather kiss a turkeycock than Marfa,' I said, 'And I've a wife of my own, you fool,' said I. He did amuse me!"

"Who amused you?" asked the priest who taught Scripture in the school, going up to Ahineev.

"Vankin. I was standing in the kitchen, you know, looking at the sturgeon. . . ."
And so on. Within half an hour or so all the guests knew the incident of the sturgeon and Vankin.

"Let him tell away now!" thought Ahineev, rubbing his hands. "Let him! He'll begin telling his story and they'll say to him at once, 'Enough of your improbable nonsense, you fool, we know all about it!' "

And Ahineev was so relieved that in his joy he drank four glasses too many. After escorting the young people to their room, he went to bed and slept like an innocent babe, and next day he thought no more of the incident with the sturgeon. But, alas! man proposes, but God disposes. An evil tongue did its evil work, and Ahineev's strategy was of no avail. Just a week later -- to be precise, on Wednesday after the third lesson -- when Ahineev was standing in the middle of the teacher's room, holding forth on the vicious propensities of a boy called Visekin, the head master went up to him and drew him aside:

"Look here, Sergei Kapitonich," said the head master, "you must excuse me. . . . It's not my business; but all the same I must make you realize. . . . It's my duty. You see, there are rumors that you are romancing with that . . . cook. . . . It's nothing to do with me, but . . . flirt with her, kiss her . . . as you please, but don't let it be so public, please. I entreat you! Don't forget that you're a schoolmaster."

Ahineev turned cold and faint. He went home like a man stung by a whole swarm of bees, like a man scalded with boiling water. As he walked home, it seemed to him that the whole town was looking at him as though he were smeared with pitch. At home fresh trouble awaited him.

"Why aren't you gobbling up your food as usual?" his wife asked him at dinner. "What are you so pensive about? Brooding over your amours? Pining for your Marfa? I know all about it, Mohammedan! Kind friends have opened my eyes! O-o-o! . . . you savage!"

And she slapped him in the face. He got up from the table, not feeling the earth under his feet, and without his hat or coat, made his way to Vankin. He found him at home.
"You scoundrel!" he addressed him. "Why have you covered me with mud before all the town? Why did you set this slander going about me?"

"What slander? What are you talking about?"

"Who was it gossiped of my kissing Marfa? Wasn't it you? Tell me that. Wasn't it you, you brigand?"

Vankin blinked and twitched in every fibre of his battered countenance, raised his eyes to the icon and articulated, "God blast me! Strike me blind and lay me out, if I said a single word about you! May I be left without house and home, may I be stricken with worse than cholera!"

Vankin's sincerity did not admit of doubt. It was evidently not he who was the author of the slander.

"But who, then, who?" Ahineev wondered, going over all his acquaintances in his mind and beating himself on the breast. "Who, then?"

Who, then? We, too, ask the reader.





During Reading Questions

1.  Why does Ahineev think Vankin is spreading rumors?
2.  What does Ahineev do to prevent the rumors from being spread?
3.  Who does Ahineev approach to clarify the incident in the kitchen with Marfa?
4.  What do you think about the way Ahineev handle the rumor? Would you have done the same thing? Why or why not?
5.  How do you think Ahineev is going to confront Vankin? Write a descriptive paragraph?



After Reading Questions

1.  Does Ahineev feel relieved after clarifying the incident of the kitchen with Marfa?  Why?
2.  Who informed Ahineev about the rumors being spread?  What advice did this person give him?
3.  What happened when Ahineev arrived home?
4.  Ahineev confronted Vankin.  Did Ahineev react the way you thought he would react?
5.  Who do you think spread the rumors of Ahineev if it wasn't Vankin?

37 comments:

  1. I like this story. Is very good. so I learn never gassip!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  2. I like it. Is very fun when she slapped him. Is one of the cool stories I ever read

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  3. It was really good. I like it because every day gets more and more better and you just want to hear the end. One of the best story i have ever read.

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  4. I really like the story. One of the things I liked is that the story has things that happen in real life. The learned of this story is that you have to think before acting

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  5. I like this story because it was about gossip. Although it would be better if someone fight. But anyways it was a great learning experience cause it teaches you about social classes and how "kissing" an ugly person when your married could damage your relationships

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  6. I really liked the story because it kept you thinking about how it would end. It was very fun to see how Ahineev thought he was outsmarting vankin but in reallity he doomed himself. From this story i learned to clear any misunderstandings,
    but to first check if there are any misunderstandings. :D

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  7. This story is fun and entertaining. I really liked that story and gives a good teaching to life and people. I would like to have more stories like this. Also, in life people should applied the lesson of that story, because most of the world tend to get ahead without understanding first the situation.

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  8. I like this story because we can learn from it. We need more stories like this for people to reconsider. I liked the story because it talks about the gossip and the problems that it can cause.

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  9. I personally enjoyed reading the story. My favorite part of the story was when ahineev's wife slaped him. The part i did not like was at the ending.

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  10. I liked the story a lot it was very fun and I enjoyed it ! I learned that you can be your own enemy .

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  11. I really liked this story. Since one can learn from. I learned was that the story ourselves are the ones who can commit.

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  12. The story is very funny, I liked. I wish I had more stories like this. we laugh a lot in the classroom.

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  13. i love the story but i wish the ending could end like this like if Anheeve whent and tried to fix things again with the people and his wife

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  14. I like the story but i wish the ending was diferent like anheeve fight with vankin and vankin talk with anheeve wife and say to her the story was only a rumor and anheeve solfe the problem.

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  15. It was a pretty neat story,since it was about a certain topic that is not present as a main topic in many stories. I like it since it was short, easy to read and most important it kept you on your toes. What i mean is that you were always wondering who else would know about the slander(gossip) and what would that others character's reaction would be. It was pretty fun reading something like this.

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  16. This is a very entertaining story. I liked it because it shows you what spreading rumors can do. Also, because it shows you to do things privately

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  17. I liked this story because it was different from others . It was interesting.Also i like this story because we can learn from it.

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  18. is really cool the story and we have to learn about not gossip

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  19. i think that a slander is a very interesting story and that the theme is correct.
    "There's no worst enemy than yourself".

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  20. I liked this story, I think it's very interesting and we learned that we ourselves can be our worst enemy. <3

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  21. I enjoyed reading this story really much, because it was very interesting. We learned to clarify situations before making them worse. Also I learned some words that I haven't heard before. It is a reallly good story and I invite other people to read it, you will learn how to confront situations we face each day.

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  22. This story was very stimulating, it show us to supervise a person that heard something and interprets it wrong about you, then talk to them and give him an explication. Something that rumors have is that we can loose our prestige or privileges .

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  23. I actually like this story because it was very entertaining and interesting. That story was interesting because make us think what will happen next. It makes us understand that if you think someone is telling a gossip about you, make sure if that is true after you make a queer misunderstanding and make a gossip about yourself.

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  24. Leslie M. Rivera Hidalgo 10-1Friday, September 19, 2014 6:30:00 PM

    This is a very funny story. I would have more stories as this.

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  25. I really like the story. I like it because it has real life things. and it taught me to think very well befor telling other people.

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  26. I liked this story, it was interesting and it has a really good moral. I learned some words I've never even heard of. And it shows how harmful rumours can be to other people.

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  27. I found the story very interesting. It's shows us how gossip can go around now days and how it can affect us. It also let's us see it's not good to tease people or spread rumors.

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  28. I liked the story and it was really entertaining. Some words I knew and some others I learned. The story is mostly the life of a teenager because anyone/everyone talks about one and starts a gossip or they talk bad about you but you have to move on and continue with our lives, grow up and be mature.

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  29. I really liked the story and the lesson that it tries to teach us. We as high schoolersneed to learn these type of things,especially about gossip. I think Ahineev acted the way anybody would react.

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  30. Like my other classmates I also like the story. If I was the author I would add a little more of importance to Marfa. For example: " wend Ahineev go to the french teacher to tell him what happened in the kitchen, Marfa want to go to see how the people is enjoying the party, in that minute she heard Ahineev talk bad of her. She go angry and decided to ruin the dinner. It was time to dinner and every person of the party it going to eat. When they taste the caviar was awful and they star to see bad to Ahineev. Marfa see that that was the moment that she can scream to Ahineev. She go over him and slap in his face. Every person was disappointed of him. fist kissing Marfa, then the dinner was awful and then the cooker slap him in the face." then I completed the story with the own finish.

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  31. I think it was a good story.The phrase that I like is "Man proposes and God disposes''.That phrase describes all the story.It was a good teaching.

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  32. I really liked this story because it is different. I think it should be more stories like this, because I think that is what is happening in real life. Honestly if something happened to me so some would seek the answer of the situation.

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  33. The story was very interesting and good.I like and i agree with the theme because the same thing that wappemd to Ahineev happend to must of us.Many times the one of pass the gossip is you.

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  34. I like the story so much. I think what happened in the story happens to many of us in real life. The message of the story is; you have to think about what you're going to say before you say them to other people.

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  35. I really liked this story.It has a cool plot twist to it I really like it cause it has you in suspense and it destroys your mind for a second .It makes you think and think its a very good story,I personally liked it.:)

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  36. This video is very different to others. I liked so much and I want to read more stories like this.

    Wilmarie Dumeng 10-4

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  37. Gabriel J. Nieves Pérez
    This story has a lot of lessons. Although I don't like to read this story was really good and it teaches you a lot of things. Personally I will change some things but still it was cool and I understand it.

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