What is name of police supt in A chameleon
Answers
Answer:
Here in the story A Chameleon by Anton Chekhov the title is appropriate. Chameleons are species that have the ability to change the colours. In this story attitude of police superintendent Otchumyelov is compared with a chameleon. He also changes his attitudes depending on each situation. The story begins with Hryukin, the goldsmith screaming in the market square running behind a dog. Later he grabs her legs and all the village people gathers around him. Otchumyelov sees all these and when he comes near to Hryumkin he sees that Hryukin was holding his right hand in the air and displaying a bleeding finger to the crowd like a flag of victory. The dog in between the crowd has an expression of terror and misery in her fearful eyes.
Hryukin tells to the police supreindent that he hadn’t done anything to this dog. He was talking about firewood and at that time the dog came and bit on his finger. Here Otchumyelov supports Hryukin saying that this case should be sorted as soon as possible. The owner of the dog has to be found, he has to file a report against them and the dog has to strangled as soon as possible. Here in this we can see that Otchumyelov is supporting Hryukin.
Next what happens is one person from the crowd says that the dog belongs to the General Zhigalov’s. Now Otchumyelov changes his attitude and supports the dog. He turns against Hryukin and asks him to be careful. He also adds that he is lying and he is trying to act smart. Now in this we can see how Otchumyelov changes his attitude like a chameleon. He is so opportunistic . He changes his attitude depending on the situations.
Now the police officer said it is not General's dog. When the superindent comes to know that it was not General's dog he supports Hryukin. This clearly shows that the police superindent is a corrupt person.
So there was a lot of confusion whether it was generals dog or not. So according to the situation superintendent also changed his attitude like a chameleon. When he comes to know that it was not generals dog he supported Hryukin and whenever he comes to know that it was General's dog he supported general.
At the end of the story the police officer came to know that it was General's brother's dog. Again he changed his opinion praising the dog and threatening Hryukin. He left the scene commenting that its not a bad pup and it’s a lively creature. So we can clearly say that the title is apt to depict the behaviour of the police superindent.
INTERPRETATION
The author relies heavily on dialogue in his style of writing and tells the story in objective narrative. He uses the dialogue to show the reader action in background through conversation. This is confusing at the first yet if the reader is patient the story eventually comes together. An example of this comes on page one, ‘’ phew, how hot it is ! it must be going to rain’’ this is a perfect example of the author describing about the surroundings through conversation.
The story tells about how the people change their attitude when the people and the surrounding changes. This story is a perfect example of the modern people and how their attitude and opinion changes with the change in the surrounding.
THEMES AND SYMBOLISMS
Ochumelov, a police inspector in the story is walking through a market place when “all of a sudden the sound of a voice came to his ears “. After following the voice he finally discovers that it is Khryukin, who has come by the lumber yard to pick up wood.
Khryukin claims that he have been bitten by a dog and demands compensation
And that the dog should be shot. Ochumelov ,now under the eye of an immense crowd of people immediately agrees with the complaint . But when someone in the crowd who has come to see the dog says that the dog is general’s. Ochumelov changes his attitude ,blaming Khryukin for the incident.
Another onlooker then tells Ochumelov that the dog is not the general’s and again he changes his attitude. Ochumelov goes on to change his mind every time when someone changes his opinion about the dog and the incident. He is worried only about his image as a public figure, each time making his decision based on how he thinks the crowd will perceive him. Ochumelov is the perfect embodiment of human justice and hypocrisy.