The inclusion of props and other physical objects in a play or novel creates a better understanding of the social interactions between characters, society, and self. In the play The Cherry Orchard, by Anton Chekhov, and within the book A Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the inclusion of physical objects provokes a strong understanding to the motives behind a change in society, and the underlying motives to a characters' action. Food is used as a prop in The Cherry Orchard to provide details that help develop characters' actions. The changes in A Hundred Years of Solitude are driven by specific technological introductions. In A Hundred Years of Solitude characters' ambitions are described by their interest in technology, and specifically of the physical objects that they create and work with. The ability for physical objects to provide sociological insight is shared between The Cherry Orchard and A Hundred Years of Solitude despite different cultures, time periods, and formats of the literary work.
One of the more subtle ways that Chekhov is able to give the audience a representation of a characters' true intent is through the use of food. The character Gayev is portrayed as a nervous character. His nervousness is portrayed through his use of candy. Gayev keeps a small tin of candies in his pocket. Whenever a topic comes up that is emotionally sensitive, Gayev is able to diffuse the situation by eating a piece of candy. The first time that this is done, the topic is death; After Gayev speaks of it, the stage direction for him is to "[Takes a box of hard candies from his pocket and begins to suck one]" (Chekhov 325). By taking a box of candy out, Gayev temporarily removes himself from the conversation; he ...
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...y Orchard, physical objects, such as food, are primarily used to develop a characters personality. In contrast, A Hundred Years of Solitude primarily uses physical objects to provide motive for changes to the plot, such as the appearance of the train. However, in A Hundred Years of Solitude, the physical objects can still intensify the readers understanding of a character. The use of physical objects in both play and novel form add emphasis and understanding to what the physical object is representing. These properties transgress the two literary works, even as they include different cultural aspects and styles of writing.
Works Cited
Chekhov, Anton. The Cherry Orchard. Trans. Ann Dunnigan. The Major Plays. New York: Signet Classic, 1964. 314-380.
García Márquez, Gabriel. A Hundred Years of Solitude. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. New York: Harper Perennial, 1991.
In this essay I will be comparing two playwrights, A Raisin in the Sun and A Doll’s House, to one another. I will also compare the two to modern time and talk about whether or not over time our society has changed any. Each of these plays has a very interesting story line based in two very different time eras. Even though there is an 80 year time gap the two share similar problems and morals, things you could even find now in the year of 2016. In the following paragraphs I will go over the power of time and what we as a society have done to make a change.
Chekhov is the true precursor of the theater of the absurd. Before the beckettian "waiting" there was the continuous "waiting" of the three sisters who never live for Moscow. Chekhov developed an aesthetic principle, according to which tragic and comic are not separated by an impassable wall but represent two sides of the same phenomenon of life, which can be viewed both in terms of tragedy and in terms of comedy.
Creasman, Boyd. "Gurov's Flights of Emotion in Chekov's `The Lady with the Dog""Literature Resources from Gale. Gale, 2014. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
In a desperate attempt to save his client, Tom Robinson, from death, Atticus Finch boldly declares, “To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white” (Lee 271). The gross amounts of lurid racial inequality in the early 20th century South is unfathomable to the everyday modern person. African-Americans received absolutely no equality anywhere, especially not in American court rooms. After reading accounts of the trials of nine young men accused of raping two white women, novelist Harper Lee took up her pen and wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, a blistering exposition of tragic inequalities suffered by African Americans told from the point of view of a young girl. Though there are a few trivial differences between the events of the Scottsboro trials and the trial of Tom Robinson portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird, such as the accusers’ attitudes towards attention, the two cases share a superabundance of similarities. Among these are the preservation of idealist views regarding southern womanhood and excessive brutality utilized by police.
Garcia Marqez, Gabriel: "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings." The Norton Introduction of Literature. Ed. Jerome Beaty. N.Y.: W.W.Norton and Company, 1996. 525-529.
Paz, Octavio. "Pachucos and Other Extremes" in The Labyrinth of Solitude and The Other Mexico New York: Grove Press, 1985
In Gabriel Garcia Marquez's book “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, the characteristics of each family member resemble another. They may start differently, but their fates follow the same tragic conclusion. The Buendia men suffer from their own macho pride and recklessness. The women are subjected to the will of the men, and are burdened with tragedy that follows them. This book is locked in a time circle for 100 years, doomed to repeat the mistakes of their ancestors. The Buendia family all share unifying facts that tie them together creating their own solitude. Marquez describes the life and fate of the Buendia's struggle with madness, incest, and 100 years of solitude that is wiped out in he end of the book.
Chekhov, Anton. The Cherry Orchard. Four Plays. Trans. David Magarshack. New York: Hill & Wang, 1969.
Wood, Michael. "Review of One Hundred Years of Solitude." In Critical Essays on Gabriel Garcia Marquez. McMurray, George R., ed. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1987.
Style: The typical Magical- Realistic story of García Márquez placed in a familiar environment where supernatural things take place as if they were everyday occurrences. Main use of long and simple sentences with quite a lot of detail. "There were only a few faded hairs left on his bald skull and very few teeth in his mouth, and his pitiful condition of a drenched great-grandfather took away and sense of grandeur he might have had" (589).
When you first enter the theater, you are immediately in awe of the strongest aspect of this production: the set. The stage features a life-sized enchanted forest with “tress” as tall as the ceiling and a lit-up backdrop of a twilight sky. The tress would move around throughout the performance to make way for different scenes. In front of your very eyes, an enchanted forest would turn into the outside of a charming house with a lit porch and a well. The twilight sky would turn to a starlit sky and a soft spotlight simulating moonlight would compliment the faint sound of crickets. Suddenly the house and tress move around and you’re in a town with a little cart selling baguettes, or a lush dining room with Victorian wallpaper, a chandelier, and china displayed on the walls. The world shakes once again and now you’re in, inevitably, a ballroom. A white Victorian gate opens up to become the walls of the ballroom, and a white marble bridge and staircase appear for the outside of the castle. Adults and children alike were in awe of the craftsmanship and technology.
García, Márquez Gabriel. Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Gregory Rabassa New York: Knopf, 1983. Print.
Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard were famous for the way in which they depicted the changing of cultures. Both plays act as a sort of social commentary during times of widespread liberation, and use the contortive nature of these seemingly stereotypical characters’ actions to speak about groups of people as a whole. Throughout the course of both plays, this subversion of how different groups of people were typically perceived created a distinct contrast which often shocked and appalled audiences of the time. However, the effects of these plays were felt long after they were presented.
Cien Anos de Soledad Style in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude is closely linked to myth. Marquez chooses magic realism over the literal, thereby placing the novel's emphasis on the surreal. To complement this style, time in One Hundred Years of Solitude is also mythical, simultaneously incorporating circular and linear structure (McMurray 76).
Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard projects the cultural conflict of the turn of the twentieth century of Russia. With a historical allusion, Chekhov exhibited the changing Russia with "slice of life" in his play. The Cherry Orchard is not only a depiction of Russian life but also an understatement of changing traditional value. Cultural conflict itself is an abstraction. To explain it, it is the traditional culture that is unable to resist the invading one. In the play, each character has his or her own personality, which symbolizes their individual social levels of Russian society. But these characters distinguish themselves into two sides, which are conservators and investors; therefore, they conflict each other in opinion. The following developments will begin with an outlook of The Cherry Orchard to acknowledge the basic concept of the play. The second part is culture in change that explains historical background of modern Russia. Third by a contrasting method, the main idea of this part is an illustration of conflict. And, in the fourth section, explaining symbolic meaning of The Cherry Orchard is an approach to highlight the conflict. Finally, the prospective development of different groups of characters is another contrast that echoes their attitudes in the beginning.