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.

The King Of Norway by Amoz Oz

In this short story by Amoz Oz, the main character has an addiction for forecasting the tragedies and deaths around the world. Zvi Provizor, or the Angel of Death, is always listening to the news and telling everyone about the deaths around the world. He has little human contact except for the news about people from across the world. Oz portrays this character as a lonely human being that his only interest in life is learning about deaths and tragedies. The pessimism and the addiction to death Zvi has, shows how death and talking about it is his only purpose in life. His purpose has a drastic turn when he meets Luna Blank and starts forming a relationship with her. Even though, Zvi and Luna are both mocked with the nicknames Angel of Death and Black Widow, he at least is developing a human relationship with someone. Luna touches her breast with Zvi's hand one day, bringing this relationship to an end. Zvi continually avoids Luna and his death addicted life returns. Human contact scares Zvi as seen when he decided to avoid Luna, the only person in the kibbutz who cared for him. This problem is linked to his obsession of telling tragic events and deaths. His life is so concentrated on the news around the world that he is not able to live a life where his body is. The title refers to a place far away from where he lives but still his mind is in Norway because news came that the King of Norway had cancer. Zvi's obsession with news around the world prevents him from living his present life in the kibbutz.

The Cherry Orchard Act I: Family Business

This family's social class seems very high since they have maids and peasants. Regardless of this in the first few lines I sensed that money will be a great problem. Once a person accustoms to a life where money can be accessed easily and this person spends this money extravagantly, it becomes very difficult to change the way this person views money. This can be seen when Anya says "She had already sold her villa near Mentone, and she had nothing left, nothing. And I hadn't so much as a kopeck left, we barely managed to get there. But Mama doesn't understand" (Chekhov, 327). Her mother clearly views money in a different way. She had nothing left after selling the villa because she spent it all. The word barely, makes a big emphasis on the amount of money. Having barely made it shows the margin of money left which lessens each time because of her mother's spending. Her mother can't understand that she has to change the way she views money because all of her life she has lived with the thought that money will be an endless source of happiness for her and her family. Anya, her daughter, sees this in another way since she hasn't been showed throughout her whole life that money is unlimited. Chekhov shows, through this financial crisis in The Cherry Orchard the quickness in which money can disappear. He also shows how the source of happiness for her mother can quickly evaporate as well as the happy moments in life.

 

Chekov shows the idea of marriage for money instead of for love. This theme has been emphasized in the novel Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen. Mrs. Bennet wants to marry her daughters to a wealthy man who can provide enough money for her daughters but as well as for her when her husband dies and is forced to give the ranch to Mr. Collins. Marriage as described by Austen's novel is the climbing of the social and financial status through contracting matrimony with a wealthier man. Varya refers to these thoughts when she says to Anya "If we could marry you to a rich man I'd be at peace. I could go into hermitage, then to Kiev, to Moscow, and from one holy place to another" (Chekhov, 328). In both of these cases the interests who are being fulfilled with the marriage are the family interests. We never see Elizabeth hoping to marry a rich man, these are Mrs. Bennet's interests. The same thing happens to Anya when Varya shows how she could be benefited from the marriage to a wealthy man. Varya says that she would be at peace but she never mentions if Anya would also achieve this peace.

Cherry-Ripe by Thomas Campion

Very Funny Jim

According to the article Blackface Minstrelsy, a blackface minstrel show proposed the idea of laughing at the things black people do. White people dress up as black people and they "imitated or caricatured slaves". Since its beginnings in the nineteenth century it became a huge success and many people liked these kinds of shows. Mark Twain was also a big fan of these shows. If such kinds of shows were put on today it would be considered discriminatory and offensive. Laughing at the mistakes and ways of thinking of other cultural groups used to be normal, but currently it is considered as racism. I certainly wouldn't like to be laughed at just because of my culture and other cultures shouldn't deserve this humiliation.

The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn could be considered a minstrel show since most of the humorous parts laugh at something Jim did or says. Jim's beliefs are also mocked as well as his cultural backgrounds. According to Jim: "Ef you's got hairy arms en a hairy breas', it's a sign dat you's agwyne to be rich" (Chapter 8). Then he tells us how he used to have fourteen dollars and invested them to become rich, but ended up with nothing. I thought this part was funny because he made really dumb decisions when investing, as well as believing that just for having lots of hair a person would be rich. The intention of this chapter is to laugh at Jim's cultural beliefs as well as his mistakes. I think this book portrays a recreation of a minstrel show. Mark Twain probably didn't do this book with that intention since he disagreed with slavery, but in the time he wrote it minstrel shows were a big source of entertainment as well as what he wanted his book to be.

Cultural Inspiration

Sometimes inspiration can come when a person least expects it. It can come through a dream or after a failed attempt. Artists, authors, and people in general need some inspiration to create something. Twain's inspiration for his character Huck was Jimmy, who "was himself so interested in his small marvels, and they flowed so naturally and comfortably from his lips" (A Scholar Finds Huck Finn's Voice in Twain's Writing About a Black Youth). Twain's character differs little from this description as he is portrayed as adventurous and naughty. It is not peculiar that Huck resembles Jimmy in many aspects, since probably Twain's inspiration of Huck came from Jimmy.

The story will not be changed regardless of the fact that Huck could have been black. Besides, many cultural aspects of other ethnical groups contribute to our culture and society. As said by Henry Louis Gates: "The significance is that it reveals that even for creators of high American culture, such as Mark Twain, black vernacular culture held a tremendous fascination and contained a wealth of artistic potential to be mined". Different ethnic groups and their culture make up a part of society. In this case Twain was marveled by what this culture could provide to his book and its characters, making them a source of inspiration for his book. Jim's cultural beliefs about bad luck make up a big part of the book. How could the book have changed if Twain hadn't borrowed this part about the beliefs of bad luck from that specific culture?

 

Huckleberry Finn Shouldn’t Be Modified

Before reading the article I already had an opinion. Upon reading the article's title, "New Huckleberry Finn edition censors 'n-word'", I knew that this article would try to show the points of view supporting the change and the advantages that the new edition could have. The first section of the article sought to defend this change. The change was defended strongly and it also persuaded people to think this new version as better. People should be treated equally. The excessive use of the "n-word" offends people who belong to this community, justifying the elimination of this word. People shouldn't be offended in books and if people feel offended by this they should be respected, making the change reasonable and justifiable.

Reaching the last two paragraphs, I noticed that there were people against this who also had important arguments. Any word that an author has used has been used for a specific reason, therefore the modification could change his intentions. Dr. Sarah Churchwell defends this point by stating "Twain's books are not just literary documents but historical documents, and that word is totemic because it encodes all of the violence of slavery". I completely agree with this point for not omitting these words. Literature has many uses, which includes showing society at a certain time. The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn show the southern society in the time of slavery. History can't be changed and this society can't either because slavery is a historical fact. Mark Twain in his attempt to portray the society has to refer to slavery. Twain also wanted to show other aspects of the other cultures. Jim's superstition could display the beliefs of many slaves, being part of their patrimony. Huck mocks Jim's beliefs by saying "I wish we could have some bad luck like this everyday, Jim", and Jim states "Never you mind. Don't you git too peart. It's a-comin" (pg. 48). Twain wants to display all of the beliefs and the culture of society of that time, inevitably using the "n-word". Words like these shouldn't be omitted because their intention is not to offend or cause any type of harm, their main function is to portray this society as real as possible.