Good-bye

The final act of The Cherry Orchard has a feeling of sadness, or what appears to be sadness. The characters are all leaving the cherry orchard, and Chekhov presents this moment as one when they all say their good-byes, “The peasants have come to say good-bye” (367).

You can see that the characters are reacting to the idea of leaving in different ways. Some of them, Lyubov Andreyeneva, is trying to give money to the peasants, so they can survive without the cherry orchard which was really what was keeping them alive economically. Others say their good-byes by admitting their affection for each other like Lopakhin and Trofimov. “Well, when all said and done, I’m fond of you anyway… you have a fine delicate soul” (369).

Just like it happens to us, when we experience special things for a long period of time with some people it is hard to say good-bye, or just the idea of leaving is hard. This is what Chekhov is showing us. Even with their social difference, some being poor and others not, their life has been shared, and no matter their social status, they all care for each other and it’s hard to leave.

Weird Comments

In the second Act of the Cherry Orchard I saw a little bit of humor, something I wasn’t looking for. In the midst of the dilemmas that the characters in this play by Anton Chekhov have, we see the author show us some satiric events.

The characters are talking, and suddenly Yepikhodov begins to talk about him and things that concern him, “what it is I really want, wether, strictly speaking, to live or shoot myself” (Pg 338). We see a very rare dilemma for a person to have. It’s an absurd statement, for not to know what you want the most between living or dying is just completely absurd. Also the way that Chekhov introduces this into a normal conversation makes it that much more absurd. “I always carry a revolver on me” (338), as though the thing he just said was absolutely normal, when it obviously is not.

This note by Yepikhodov interrupts the conversation, and Charlotta´s train of thought, “These clever people are all so stupid, there’s no one for me to talk to”(338). Charlotta isn’t part of their discussion now. From a conversation where she was the center, an absurd comment by Yepikhodov has changes completely the idea of the conversation.