The Student, By Anton Chekhov (1894)

 

hero journey #12  

Return with the Elixir. The final reward after the hero was resurrected, purified, and has returned to the ordinary world.  You have done the difficult work of looking within at the reasons you drank and used.  With the help of mentors, allies, and self-efficacy, you are prepared to return home.

When he crossed the river by the ferry boat and afterward, mounting the hill, looked at his village and towards the west where the cold crimson sunset lay a narrow streak of light, he thought that truth and beauty which had guided human life there in the garden and in the yard of the high priest had continued without interruption to this day and had evidently always been the chief thing in human life and in all earthly life, indeed; and the feeling of youth, health, vigor -- he was only twenty-two -- and the inexpressible sweet expectation of happiness, of unknown mysterious happiness, took possession of him little by little, and life seemed to him enchanting, marvelous, and full of lofty meaning.

In this last paragraph of Chekhov's short story, there is a release of the problem and return to the ordinary world.  The student returns to his original world but notices something different. The dark and gloomy atmosphere of the book change due to changes in the student's mood.

rating 3.1 

For the student by Chekhov, I gave a rather low rate as there were certain parts I could not understand. For readers who do not have any interest in reading realist stories, the student was hard for me to understand. Also, I couldn't fully understand the flow as I did not have much background knowledge of Russian history.