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What is the theme of Vanka by Anton Chekhov?

The main theme of the Anton Chekhov's Vanka is the universal plight of orphans and how they are mistreated by the society back then.

Anton Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov ( 29 January 1860– 15 July 1904)was a Russian physician, dramaturge and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics.^[Chekhov practised as a medical doctor throughout most of his literary career: "Medicine is my lawful wife", he once said, "and literature is my mistress."Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theater.

Chekhov renounced the theatre after the disastrous reception of The Seagull in 1896, but the play was revived to acclaim in 1898 byConstantin Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre, which subsequently also produced Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and premiered his last two plays, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. These four works present a challenge to the acting ensemble as well as to audiences, because in place of conventional action Chekhov offers a "theatre of mood" and a "submerged life in the text."

Chekhov had at first written stories only for financial gain, but as his artistic ambition grew, he made formal innovations which have influenced the evolution of the modern short story. His originality consists in an early use of the stream-of-consciousnesstechnique, later adopted by James Joyce and other modernists, combined with a disavowal of the moral finality of traditional story structure. He made no apologies for the difficulties this posed to readers, insisting that the role of an artist was to ask questions, not to answer them.

The setting of the story 

I read the story "Vanka" by Anton Chekhov recently fo the first time and was surprised by what I got to know. As I sat down with the story and a cup of coffee, I steeled myself, remembering what a hard slog it used to be sometimes to read classic authors when I was at school. I had always assumed anything by Chekhov would also be hard work. But I was wrong. Now I say: "What a delightful ten-minute read!".

Written in 1886, the story is set in Moscow, Russia. It’s Christmas Eve, and the protagonist is a nine-year-old peasant boy called Vanka Zhukov. Three months before, when his mother died, Vanka was sent away from his village and apprenticed to the cruel shoemaker Aluakhin. The story is about the action the young and abused Vanka takes in response to his desperate situation, and the language is simple, elegant and effective.

This character Vanka, so perfectly drawn, has become one of the cast of characters who sticks in my mind. He pops into my mind at the oddest of moments, and whenever I think of how malnourished he was and how thin and gaunt his face must have been.

Vanka misses for his past life in the village with his grandfather. These recollections warm him. "Vanya shivered and sighed, and he stared once again at the window. He remembered that each year grandpa would go into the woods to get the Christmas tree for the master’s house and take his grandson with him. What a happy time it was! Grandpa  crackled and grunted, the frost crackled, and looking at them both Vanka did the same." No gray and cruel Moscow doesn't replace his native home. He says that "Moscow is a very big city. The houses here are all huge mansions, there are lots of horses, but no sheep, and the dogs are not fierce", but still it doesn't matter for him. He wants to reclaim his previous life. Feeling nostalgia, Ivan writes a letter to his grandfather, asking him to come and take him home: "Do come and fetch me, dearest Grandpa,” continued Vanka, “by Lord Christ I pray to you, take me away from here. Pity me, a poor unfortunate orphan, for here they beat me all the time and I’m desperately hungry, I can’t describe how boring it is, and I’m always crying."