Throughout the short story of “Lady with a Dog” many characters drastically change. Personally, I believe that the person that shows the heavier amount of change is Gurov. Of course, both Gurov and Anna change, but Gurov takes things to a different level considering his past.
Gurov is at the age of forty, he has a daughter at the age of twelve and also two other sons. By this time in most adults’ life they grow up. A man of this age most of the time is working on his career or focusing on his family. This is the complete opposite of Gurov. Gurov starts out in this short story as a lying, cheating, and heartless guy. When it was his time to marry he was very young and irresponsible about it, he marries a lady that he does not fall in love with. She will never truly make him happy. As a getaway from his unhappiness Gurov constantly cheats on his wife with various other girls. Not only does he cheat, but he feels nothing for these women. Gurov uses these women for the satisfaction to please his self and does not have any respect for women in general. Gurov refers to women as “the l...
The short story, “Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt”, explicates the life of a man named Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka. We see him briefly in his young years, followed by his life in the army, and his return to the farm where his strong characterized aunt resides. We can see immediately that this man lives in constant cleanliness and dutiful paranoia; these are some of his desires that he wishes to exhibit to others. We can also see his fears, which reside in the confiscation of his masculinity and independence. This short story has many elements that resemble others in the Nikolai Gogol collection.
Dr. Seuss 's Go, Dog. Go, was a book I remember reading a lot (probably because I loved dogs so much). When I was younger I used to go to my aunt 's house during the summer, and my grandmother would always be there. She enjoyed reading, so she made me read a book a week, whether it was from the library or from the books on the shelves at my aunt 's house. I did not enjoy going over there to read, especially since it was summer, but I did get rewarded after finishing a book with a game of Guess Who? with my grandmother.
The world is plagued with an inseparable mix of good and evil. People make mistakes, but often start out with good intentions. Often times actions live in the grey zone, a combination of good intentions but bad outcomes. In Mark Haddon’s novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time there are many decisions that could be considered morally ambiguous. The story is told from the perspective of an autistic fifteen-year-old, Christopher Boone, who is investigating the death of his neighbor’s dog. His mother, Judy Boone supposedly died two years back, when in actuality she ran off to London with another man and, in turn, has been shut out of Christopher’s life. His father, Ed Boone hides the truth involving Christopher’s mother, pretending
Gurov has had multiple affairs, but then realizes the fact that he has gotten older and that he needs to settle down. With Yunior, despite living in a masculine culture, realizes he may be a homosexual. Gurov realizes he is getting older because right before he was going to say “something affectionate and cheering, and at that moment he saw himself in the looking-glass. His hair was already beginning to turn grey. And it seemed strange to him that he had grown so much older; so much plainer during the last few years”(74-75). The sudden realization surprises Gurov because it seems that maybe throughout the affairs, he became confused as to whether he was really trying to find true love or maybe all the affairs were really to distract him from ever realizing he is getting older. Yunior unlike Gurov was confused with his sexuality after the sexual encounter he had with his friend Beto because Yunior said that he became “terrified that I would end up abnormal, a fucking pato” (432). Yunior was more afraid that he would be looked at being abnormal in his community rather than being accepting the fact that he may be a homosexual. By Yunior calling himself a homophobic slur, he tries to dismiss the fact that he is not already a homosexual. Yunior also diminishes the idea that he is not yet a homosexual because he said he only did it “Twice. That’s it” (431). When Yunior said that he only had a homosexual moment twice he tries to persuade himself that he is not a homosexual because of those two encounters. Another interesting detail is how Yunior keeps everything to himself about his relationship with Beto because when Yunior got a call from Beto he “was cool but I wouldn’t go to the mall or anywhere else. My mother sensed that something was wrong…but I told her to leave me the fuck alone” (432). When Yunior had the opportunity to let his
The memoir gives a unique perspective of the noblewoman in this period of Russian society. A male-centered society made it difficult for women to shape and control their lives, however it was possible through means of gaining respect. The society respected woman who had a virtuous demeanor. Especially, those who lived with an immoral spouse and still were able to show virtuous characteristics. Anna is able to gain the respect of people higher in authority than her husband receiving special treatment for various requests. Through her marriage, she recognizes that her husband has rights that she doesn’t have in shaping and controlling her life privately and especially publicly. This society causes for women to depend on men completely.
Chekhov reminds the readers that Anna is young compared to Gurov. Chekhov’s novel states, “As he went to bed he reminded himself that only a short time ago she had been a schoolgirl, like his own daughter” (3). The images of Anna being a schoolgirl not too long ago, when Gurov has a daughter of similar age, brings the sense of abnormality between the relationship of Gurov and Anna. It’s hard to imagine such a huge difference in lovers especially in the strict culture of Russia in the late 19th century where these occasions were unthought-of. The uncomforting thought of the difference in age goes back to differ the meanings of love and romance in the novel because against all odds and differences, Anna and Gurov hide away from these obvious facts. The thought of love in this culture is between a man and woman of similar age. According to Chekhov’s novel, “He was sick of his children, sick of the bank, felt not the slightest desire to go anywhere or talk about anything” (9). Chekhov’s description of sickness reveals that Gurov has a huge moment of denial, denial of family and denial of age. This denial of age, helps Gurov cope with the oddities of their relationship, the oddities of the love they had with the characteristics of a romance. Gurov was trying to change the definition of their relationship on his own mental terms. While Gurov was trying to bring out a spontaneous, younger
The period is the early 19th century; those involved and discussed in this essay are for the most part Russian gentry. Increasingly relaxed social mores in the “developed” world, including the greater freedom to choose to whom one gets married to as well as increased women’s sexual rights, were much more uncommon during the time that War and Peace takes place. Tolstoy, an outspoken critic of arranged marriages, uses the characters in his novel as a way of exploring the various types of love, and in general the interactions between men and women of the time. This essay will attempt to focus on these relationships in an effort to get a better idea of Tolstoy’s views on the proper roles that men and women should play as friends, lovers, or spouses. By exploring the male/female relationships among the noble families, a detailed picture of both the expectations and realms of acceptable behavior will be established.
Creasman, Boyd. "Gurov's Flights Of Emotion In Chekov's `The Lady With The.." Studies In Short Fiction 27.2 (1990): 257. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.
Chekhov's point of view was pro-affair, while Oates's view was anti-affair and can be seen in their characters. Gurov nature was inappropriate and deceiving. When he saw Anna for the first time, he thought to himself, "if she is here alone without her husband or friends, it wouldn't be a bad thing to make her acquaintance" (Chekhov, 170). He was a married man, yet he was on a vacation by himself like a single man. His intentions to meet Anna displayed acts of unfaithfulness. "He had begun being unfaithful to her long ago- had been unfaithful to [his wife] often and, probably for that reason, almost always spoke ill of women, and when they were talked of in his presence used to call them 'the inf...
This story mostly takes place in a vacation spot called Yalta. Throughout the whole story Yalta is explained as peaceful, romantic and with magical surroundings. The weather is warm and the scenery consists of white clouds over the mountaintops. The flowers smell of sweat fragrance and there is a gold streak from the moon on the sea. The two main character’s Gurov and Anna visit this vacation spot to get away from the lives that they are unhappy with. Both are unhappily married. The author explains Gurov as a women’s man, women are always attracted to him. However he thinks of women as the lower race. Knowing that women liked him, he always just played the game. He was always unfaithful to his wife. When he sees’s Anna walking around in Yalta with her dog he thought of it as just another fling. The character Anna is a good honest woman. When she is unfaithful to her husband for the first time she starts to cry to Gurov. She explains how she despises herself for being a low woman. This was the first time a person was not happy with Gurov. The soon realizes that she is unlike other women and describes her as strange and inappropriate. The story then takes a twist and Anna is to return home to her husband who is ill. This was their excuse that they need to part ways forever and stop this affair. Yet when Gurov returned home to Moscow he found himself lost without her. The
Gurov embodies the power of change that true love can have even on the most cynical characters. He is an island of hope in an ocean of turmoil represented by revolutionary Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.
First, the characters understand that their relationship is based on future aspirations and second, they have historical relationship disappointments. This third insight into the psychology of love supports the fact that many relationships and marriages often fail because of unrealistic expectations. Psychology research SHOWS that individual expectations for relationships actually sows the seeds of discontent. People are expected to provide not only provide safety, security and support, but also facilitate personal growth and freedom. Even though they come from an older period in history, Anna and Dmitri are stereotypical people who have unhappy pasts and hopeful futures. They are thrown into an intense relationship with limited mutual understanding. Chekhov’s limited dialogue and straightforward narrative leaves plenty of cognitive room for readers to ruminate about their own experiences and how they relate to the
Infidelity is depicted as an extremely negative thing in the United States, and is often blamed for trust issues, psychologically damaging the spouse and their children, tearing apart marriages and families and more. People who commit adultery are often shamed and told how wrong what they did is and what a terrible person they are for doing it. According to the Journal of Martial and Family by the Associated Press, however, 41% of “marriages where one or both spouses admit to infidelity, either physical or emotional.” Clearly, while infidelity is generally viewed negative by society, many people either decide that it is not as negative as it is portrayed, or do not care and do it anyway. “The Lady with the Pet Dog” and “The Storm” both go against the typical view of adultery being a negative thing in a relationship by showing that it can actually have a beneficial outcome and leave some, if not all people happier.
The ability to observe different varieties of things on a daily basis is a huge part of everyone’s lives. The power of the individual mind comes from its capacity to apply these observations, which may sometimes incorporate some misconceptions that result in dire repercussions. In “The Devil,” Leo Tolstoy tells the story of Evgeny Irtenev, a young man who finds himself in a position of relentless lust after inheriting his father’s country estate. Before finding the right woman to marry as well as being accustomed to readily available sexual services, Evgeny arranges numerous encounters with a married peasant woman, who he continues to see until he meets his prospective wife. After being in a perceivably happy marriage for more than a year,
In Conclusion, this story portrays a woman who is insecure, lonely, and looking to love and to be loved. This love is something which Olenka searches for in males, both adults, and boys, she thinks she finds this love, in her husbands and, lover. She what she thinks to be love, in her first husband, and then her second, but the third male in her life, her lover, known as Voldichka is there only for his satisfaction. Olenka does get the fulfillment of love needed y Voldichka. Olenka than tries through a boy named Sasha, Voldichka’s son. It is true to this reader that even though Olenka experienced these relationships with these men and the boy, Sasha, she still never found a complete fulfillment in life. Olenka did not experience respect as a woman, but someone who would be there as needed. Olenka never earned respect as most women do, she to this reader only was a filler for others, others of the gender known as male.