The Cherry Orchard Act II: Chilling In The Orchard

The school's amphitheater is a place where almost every student goes to chill there during break. Students normally chill where people from their same grade are and generally talk with their groups of friends. Today during break I experienced something similar to The Cherry Orchard. Every person was talking about a different thing. One boy was talking about FC Barcelona and their match, while another one was talking about golf, yet another one was talking about stocks. Two girls were talking about clothing and two others were talking about the party they attended during the week end. I felt as if every person there was talking of a completely different thing than the ones around, and none actually understood what they were pretending to be listening to.

In his play Chekhov tries to capture reality as a picture and he achieves this through dialogue. As in real life each character talks about whatever he or she pleases. The conversations shift quickly from one subject to another and there is no real central theme as in life. Lyubov Andreyevna says "Oh my sins…. I've always squandered money recklessly, like a mad woman", Gayev responds "That's our famous Jewish band. You remember. Four violins, a flute and a double bass", and finally Lyubov Andreyevna responds "It's still in existence? We ought to send for them some time and give a party" (Chekhov, 351). The way the theme changes from money to music to money again is quick and without depth in any of the previous subjects. This is exactly how conversations in life work, they change quickly and vary a lot in subjects. The other thing that Chekhov captures perfectly about reality is the quickness in which people forget things. In the first line Lyubov Andreyevna feels guilty for she has always "squandered money recklessly" but the next time she talks she says we have to "give a party" (Chekhov, 351). What this shows is how a real person feels bad for doing something but quickly does it again. In real life people do things even though they know it is bad. Andreyevna knows that they are losing all their money but still she wants to throw parties because what she likes is to squander money.