The Letter Itself (Symbol/Motif)
An item central to Vanka's effort to escape from Alyakhin, the letter has a few different symbolic significances. For Vanka himself, it signifies opportunity, self-assertion, and possible freedom; it is his means of taking control of his fate after being left at the mercy of Alyakhin and the rest of the shoemaker's household.
From another perspective, the letter can be understood more as a motif, and as one that helps Chekhov to structure the whole of "Vanka." Repeated shifts among the different registers of Vanka's present actions, memories, and quoted writing both give the story stylistic variety and create a multi-faceted yet unified portrait of Chekhov's young protagonist.
The Village (Symbol)
For Vanka, the village is a place of peace, comfort, and familiarity. As Vanka sees the situation, a return to the village is bound up with a return to all of the welcoming figures from his past, from Konstantin Makarich to the dogs to the Zhivarevs, and with a return to wintertime scenes of beauty and repose. None of the negative symbolic meanings—ignorance, poverty, superstition—that an educated adult reader would associate with a provincial Russian village are present in Vanka's mind. He simply sees his old home as an escape back into a good life.
Beatings and Torments (Motif)
One of the aspects of life at Alyakhin's that Vanka repeatedly mentions and laments is the brutality that he suffers on a daily basis. Both physical abuse and more psychological torments such as mockery and neglect are part of the young boy's existence. This motif becomes especially prominent for two reasons: because Vanka describes his poor treatment in considerable detail (often mentioning precise incidents and household objects), and because the motif of torment is played against Vanka's pleasant memories and is brought into sharper focus through such pointed contrast.
Christmas (Motif/Allegory)
It may seem bizarre that a story as focused on loss and suffering as "Vanka" is set during the Christmas season. However, Chekhov's Christmas context is significant on a few different levels.
Christmastime, as a motif, creates an interesting back-and-forth in Vanka's thoughts, with the young boy repeatedly shifting from his lonely and melancholy present Christmas to remembered Christmas festivities on the Zhivarev estate.
Yet the Christmas context is also rich with allegorical possibilities. The original Christmas brought Jesus Christ and the possibility of Christian salvation into the world; Vanka's Christmas brings its own promise of salvation, with the letter that is designed to deliver him from the evils of Alyakhin.
Vanka's Shift to Moscow (Motif/Allegory)
Vanka's relocation creates a consistent yet multi-faceted back-and-forth structure for the narrative, since the young boy compares his city lifestyle and city settings to all that he was accustomed to in the countryside. He often emphasizes the cruelty and loneliness of his city circumstances, but sometimes finds sources of excitement and intrigue.
Chekhov's depiction of Vanka's relationship to the city can be understood in another, distinctly allegorical manner. In depicting a movement from country to city (and a movement with little possibility of reversal), "Vanka" becomes an allegory for the modernization and urbanization that would transform countries such as Russia in the late 19th century, and that would create the world of dynamism and connection that is essentially our own.
