An Untimely Rivalry

In the short story “Enemies” the narrator describes the interaction between two men that have had significant losses in their lives. The first man, Kirilov, is a poor, country doctor that has just lost his son to disease while the second man, Abogin, is a rich merchant who has lost his wife to infidelity. These men, as described by the narrator, could not be more different from each other, but circumstances dictate that they actually share something in common: grief. Throughout the story the narrator highlights the differences between Kirilov and Abogin, which lead the audience to believe that they are destined to be “enemies” only due to their personality traits and morals as well as socioeconomic class. However, it is the one similarity that Kirilov and Abogin share that turns them against each other and ultimately into fierce enemies. The differences between Abogin and Kirilov and the lives they lead are apparent from the very beginning of the story. The narrator makes sure to address the contrast between the two men’s lives to further emphasize the emotions that they share through loss. Kirilov is described as a grieving doctor who has been almost numbed to all other emotion and everything around him is dark. Abogin, in contrast, is described as “medium height, a white scarf, and a large, extremely pale face, so pale that its entrance seemed to make the passage lighter.” He comes into Kirilov’s house agitated, excited and very hurried to return with Kirilov back to his sick wife. In addition to differences in personality, they are also very different financially, with Abogin being very wealthy and Kirilov not as well off. After analyzing all of the differences between Kirilov and Abogin, the one thing that they share becomes more and more apparent. Both men unexpectedly lose a significant figure in their lives, which causes both of them great grief and misery. One would tend to believe that Kirilov and Abogin would be empathetic to each other; however, their sorrow is what leads them to become enemies “to the grave.” Towards the end of the story, the narrator inserts a paragraph explaining the egoism that unhappy people have. It states, “Unhappiness does not bring people together but draws them apart, and even where one would fancy people should be united by the similarity of their sorrow.” This further illustrates that being miserable and unhappy causes people to become selfish, thinking only about their own downfalls rather than helping others console. In conclusion, the narrator successfully illustrates and describes the differences in character and setting while trying to emphasize the consequences of being unhappy. He showed that two miserable people could not console each other due to the egoism of the situation.