What is the main theme in Chekhov's short story "Peasants"?

The main theme of "Peasants" is a painfully ironic one.
Chekhov shows that in order to be a good peasant like Olga and Sasha became, you have to
first be a good person. Nikolay says he became a good person because of the experience,
work and training he received in Moscow. When Nikolay dies so suddenly before ever being
able to return with his gentle and lovely wife and daughter back to Moscow, Olga and
Sasha are forced to remain and to live in poverty like peasants. Yet they continue to
wear smiles and to be good and happy. They continue to exercise the goodness that was
bred in them in Moscow.

At the end of the story, Chekhov
chooses a scene that shows their extreme poverty while at the same time showing their
unchanged faith and goodness of heart. In the final scene, they bow themselves before
the windows of wealthy strangers and chant sweetly for alms on Christmas Day. This theme
asserts that Granny and the others were not good peasants because they did not have the
experience, work and training in a place that cultivates civility, knowledge, courtesy
and that provides ways to slake the mortal needs of the body so that other joys can be
known. This is contrary to the pastoral ideal that elevates the country village
simpleton over the calloused and mercenary city dweller. It also contradicts Tolstoy's
image of the village peasant as the keeper of moral purity and
goodness.