An Analysis of the Relationship between the Literature and the Workplace Environment (Based on the Short Story entitled “A Doctor’s Visit” by Anton Chekhov, inside the book: THE ART OF WORK An Anthology of Workplace Literature, pp. 30-41) Essential to the workers’ welfare is their workplace environment. How everything is going on within their place of work substantially affects the outcomes of which these hard-working individuals can generate by their toil.
According to Businessperform. com (n. d. ), the workers’, or the employees’, environment plays a pivotal role in determining the quality and quantity of the results they are to produce, that is, their level of productivity. In the same way, their working environment could more likely impact on their motivational level to accomplish the tasks they are assigned to perform (businessperform. com, n. d. ). In line with this, the literature that is featured and analyzed in this paper explicated some issues relevant to our topic of concern.
The short story has illustrated some conditions of the working set-up of the laborers, as observed by the protagonist. Furthermore, how the sequence of events came to unfold was quite astonishing and demands contemplation on the part of the reader. Thus, this paper aims to exemplify the gist of the story with due consideration to the theme where this study revolves- the workers’ pride in their labor. The Story The story was set-up somewhere in Russia, which was described as two stations away from Moscow and a three-mile drive from the station (p. 30).
The main character, Korolyov, was a doctor who went to the town to visit and check upon Lizanka (or Liza), the sick daughter of Madame Lyalikov, the owner of the Lyalikov’s factory. While on their way (together with the coachman), he was wondering how a factory can look somewhat quiet and calm from an outside glance, but could surely have some issues inside, which involve the owner and its workers. Upon arrival, he then rushed to the patient’s room, examined her condition and found that everything about her was turning fine.
When he pleaded that he was about to go home, Madame Lyalikov appealed to him and asked him to stay for the rest of the night in case her daughter will have an attack again. And he stayed. In the midst of the quietness of the night, he went out, suddenly beguiled by some strange sounds and listened to the familiar sounds of frogs and nightingale. During those instances, he pondered on the living conditions of the laborers inside the factory as he pictured out the exhausted and bewildered faces of the workers, not to mention their physical impurity (p. 31).
In his thoughts, he scrutinized how wretched their condition is while the owner seemed to have profited at the expense of their workers’ hard work. The way the workers look physically seemed to be contrary to what Christina Dmitryevna, the governess in the house, said that their work people were contented with their work and were seemingly attached to them. Nevertheless, Korolyov reflected on the idea that though the owner may appear to have profited at the cost of their laborers’ efforts, she was never happy because of her daughter’s ailment.
On the other hand, in a serious conversation with Liza, he discovered how miserable and empty her life was through the years by not doing anything except to read day and night. At the end of their serious talk, Liza must have been enlightened by the ideas that Korolyov had shared to her such as the fact that though her family was in the position of being the factory owner, she never thought of being satisfied- she couldn’t even sleep soundly… Analysis and Conclusion
Consequently, as we look at the details of the story, we realize that wealth can never be a measure of satisfaction and tranquility. As we elaborate, we can state the fact that though workers had strenuous activities during the day, the degree of satisfaction and the feeling of serene and restful sleep after a tiresome work cannot be exchanged with any amount of money. Thus, stressful and exhausting their work environment may be but the overall sense of fulfillment and well being is something that they can truly take pride of!
References
Businessperform. com. (n. d. ). The Importance of Workplace Environment. Business Performance Pty. Ltd (Workplace Environment). Retrieved December 22, 2008, from http://www. businessperform. com/html/workplace_environment. html. Chekhov, A. (2006). “A Doctor’s Visit”. In THE ART OF WORK An Anthology of Workplace Literature (pp. 30-41) [La Rocco, C. and Coughlin J. ]. International Thompson Publishing.