The Cherry Orchard

The Cherry Orchard was very hard for me to get through. Unfortunately, I had great difficulty keeping track of all of the characters. While Miss Julie only had 3 characters to keep track of, The Cherry Orchard had over 15 characters that were particularly hard to keep track of because of their foreign names that were hard to recognize. However, although I was only able to read the play once, I was still able to pick up on some great aspects of the play that I think make Chekhov an exceptional playwright.

         Primarily, I really appreciated how the historical relevance of the play was portrayed, right after the emancipation of the serfs in Russia. It is pretty clear that Chekov supported the social change that was happening in Russia, as the old aristocratic lass was being reduced to poverty (who once owned serfs),while the children of serfs are succeeding financially. The book mentions that Chekov’s support of this social change may be due to the fact that Chekov had an impoverished children, and the fact that his grandfather was once a serf. I also really enjoyed Firs character in the play, as he has the opposite views of Chekov and does not support this social change. His death at the end of the play symbolizes the end of his generation, and the inevitability that this social change will only continue to grow.