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A Sparknotes Guide to: The District Doctor

By: Matthew Buie

Author Biography

Ivan Turgenev was born 11/09/1818 in Oryol Russia to noble parents. He was raised by his mother, a highly educated, but rather authoritarian figure who tried her best to educate Ivan and his siblings by surrounding them with foreign governesses so that he eventually became fluent in French, German, and English. After his years of standard schooling, Ivan studied at the University of Moscow for one year before moving to the University of St. Petersburg where he studied Classics, Russian Literature, and Philology from 1834 to 1837. From 1838 to 1841, Ivan studied philosophy and history at the University of Berlin. Ivan enjoyed his time in Germany and believed that Russia could stand to benefit by incorporating some ideas from the age of enlightenment into its own society. His earlier attempts at writing were well spoken of by Vissarion Belinsky, a leading Russian critic at the time. At the age of 19 while on a steamboat in Germany, Ivan reacted in a cowardly manner when the boat caught fire and rumors followed him, providing the basis for his story, A Fire at Sea. Although Ivan never married, he did have several affairs with his family’s serfs. Late in life in 1879, he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law by the University of Oxford. His health declined in later years and he died 9/03/1883 due to spinal abscess.

Author Biography

Biography Continued

Turgenev’s style was very much influenced by Belinsky. After his positive feedback, Turgenev decided to abandon Romantic idealism in favor of a more realistic style. This shift in Turgenev’s style is significant because many of the short stories that he published were more bleak and harsh in nature and gave people a more natural perspective on reality. His short stories are widely credited with influencing public opinion in favor of abolishing serfdom. His style and inspiration is also notable in the fact that he did not have any religious motive in his writing, representing instead more of the social aspects of the reform movement. Turgenev was a force in modernizing Russia and push for social change.

Setting

Setting

The setting of the story is important because it gives context and additional meaning to details in the story that might not otherwise stand out. First, the story presumably takes place in the 1850’s when medicine would not have been very advanced, especially in Russia as it was not as modernized as Western Europe or the U.S. This insight is important as it gives a possible explanation as to why the doctor was unable to save the girl. Also, the physical placement of the girl’s family far outside of the city is important because it shows the journey that the doctor has to make to reach the girl’s family. The placement is important because it contributes the doctor being disgruntled about having to go treat her.

Characters

The main character in The District Doctor is whom the story is named for, the doctor, Trifon Ivanich. Trifon seems like a fairly simple character at the beginning of the story, but becomes more complicated and nuanced as the story progresses. At the beginning of the story, Trifon seems like an average doctor doing what he thinks he’s supposed to doing: saving lives. He travels to treat a patient, who turns out to be a beautiful girl. From here, Trifon’s character arc becomes much more interesting as he’s confronted with his options upon realizing that he can’t save the girl and that she will inevitably die. His choices are to leave the girl to treat other patients in need, or stay with her for his own benefit. As one might predict, Trifon decides to stay with the girl and forgoes his obligations to treat other patients who need I his help.

Characters Continued:

Characters: Continued

The only other notable character in the story is the patient, the girl who Trifon treats, Aleksandra Andreyevna. Aleksandra is described by Trifon as a beauty, to the point that he felt pity that such a beautiful girl was ill. Even though Aleksandra was not awake when the doctor first arrived and checked in on her, she awakes when he checks on her at night. She does not know anything about the doctor as a person yet immediately confides in the doctor and tells him why she doesn’t want to die. In spite of her declining health, she grows fond of him and would sometimes only allow him in her room. She also expresses her admiration for him as a doctor and continues to have faith in him, even to the moment before her death, where she tells Trifon that she has loved no one more than him.

Plot

The story opens with doctor traveling outside of the city to attend to a patient. The doctor upon seeing the patient is struck by her beauty and prescribes the necessary treatments and medicine that she will need. Contrary to his expectations, she does not make any progress in her recovery, so he stays with her for a while longer. At this point in time, the doctor realizes that the girl is going to die and will not get better and questions whether he should move on to other patients who require his assistance. After rationalizing the situation with some dubious logic, the doctor decides that he will stay and continue to treat the girl. The girl continues to weaken and lingers on for a few more days until she dies with the doctor at her side.

Plot

Point of View

The point of view from which the story is told is particularly important due to the fact that it is told by a patient through the eyes of the doctor, but still sounds like it’s in first person with the doctor narrating it. The patient says that he will try to tell the story in the doctor’s own words as best he can, which signals to us that some parts may be watered down by virtue of there not being words to express certain emotions felt by the doctor or the girl. This can make the tone of the story seem a little less emotional than what it could have been if the doctor himself told it.

Point of View

Language/Tone/Style

Language/Tone/Style

The author’s tone is notable because it appears to be toned down a bit in terms of emotion due to the fact that it is told by a patient through the eyes of the doctor. The author frequently takes moments where the doctor will pause and talk or think to himself. An example of this is found at the bottom of pg.3, when the doctor says, “You are not a doctor, by good sir; you cannot understand what passes in a poor fellow’s heart, especially at first, when he begins to suspect that the disease is getting the upper hand of him.” This moment where the doctor is telling his patient about what was flowing through his mind at the time helps make the story more personal and helps us relate to the doctor because we get to see what the doctor thinks and feels on the inside and not just what he says on the outside.

Themes

Themes

Humans are extremely fragile and are susceptible to losing their identities and sense of morality when confronted with obstacles and challenges that they cannot face or cope with.

In The District Doctor, Trifon, the doctor realizes that he is unable to cure the girl. This realization and epiphany that he simply cannot do what he thought he was able and meant to do as a doctor causes him to have a crisis of ethics. Trifon then spontaneously decides to stay with the girl rather than leave and attend to other patients, which represents him losing his identity and moral purpose as a doctor and rather succumbing to everything a doctor should not succumb to: becoming emotionally attached to their patients. Doctors represent the professional/aristocratic class in society. This means that doctors would be expected to have the most education, have the highest morals and standards, and the ability to rise above conflict and adversity. Turgenev’s use of a doctor falling from grace is meant to show us and society at large that anyone is vulnerable to losing their identity and sense of purpose.

Quotes

Quotes:

1. “And as she was poor herself, one could not expect more than two silver rubles, and even that problematic; and perhaps it might only be a matter of a roll of linen and a sack of oatmeal in payment. However, duty, you know, before everything: a fellow-creature may be dying.” (Trifon; pg. 1)

Trifon is talking about the downsides of going to treat the girl and the fact that it is a long and dangerous journey and that he probably would not be compensated well enough. However, his resolve to travel and attend to the girl shows his inner character and also shows that he knows why he became a doctor: to help and heal people in need no matter the cost.

Quotes Continued:

2. “Meantime I looked at her; I looked at her, you know-there, by God! I had never seen such a face!-she was a beauty, in a word! I felt quite shaken with pity. Such lovely features; such eyes!” (Trifon, pg. 2)

Trifon is describing his reaction to seeing his patient for the first time. He is struck by her beauty and notes that he felt shaken with pity for her. This is problematic because it shows Trifon feeling pity for her because she was so beautiful and yet she was ill, not just the fact that she was ill. This suggests that Trifon may be starting to become emotionally attached to the girl and foreshadows what might happen later on in the story regarding his attachment to her.

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3. “Well, I went to bed- but I could not get to sleep, for a wonder! For in reality I was very tired. I could not get my patient out of my head. At last I could not put up with it any longer; I got up suddenly; I think to myself, “I will go and see how the patient is getting on.”” (Trifon; pg. 2)

Here, Trifon tells of how he was unable to fall asleep even though he was very tired because he couldn’t stop thinking about his patient. This is significant because it confirms that Trifon has become emotionally attached to his patient as we see him thinking intensely about the girl while he is not “on duty” and attending to her.

Quotes Continued:

4. “However,” he continued, “the next day, contrary to my expectations, the patient was no better. I thought and thought, and suddenly decided to remain there, even though my other patients were expecting me.” (Trifon; pg. 3)

Here, Trifon has discovered that the girl is not better and that his methods of healing did not work, which plants a seed in his mind that he is a bad doctor and leads him to question himself. It also shows him deciding to stay with the girl in spite of his admission that his other patients would be expecting him, which shows him losing sight of his morals and ethics as a doctor.

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5. “And I never left the patient’s room; I could not tear myself away,” “I frankly confess to you-there is no object in concealing it now- I was in love my patient.” (Trifon; pg. 4)

This is the culmination of what first started when Trifon laid eyes on his patient. It is when Trifon admits that he is in love with his patient, despite his ethical obligation as a doctor to be emotionally detached from his patients. This is significant because it shows that when you lose your identity and sense of morality, by definition, you become the antithesis of what you once were and what you were supposed to be.

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