Reflection: Darling : Anton Chekhov

The Darling was a story about a woman who had married several different men. Some of the men that she married died. People called her darling because she was well liked and she had always had a love for people. When she was young, her father died. She inherited her families townhouse and she lived there with her husband Kukin. Kukin was always in a sort of haze because he did not like how the weather was so gloomy. He was a theater owner, so he had to go to Moscow to hire some actors. While he was gone, Olga was informed that he had passed away. She was very upset, but she quickly moved on to the next man, Vasily Pustovalov. This man was a timber merchant and she was really fond of him. They eventually had a son together. Pretty soon after the son is born, Vasily developed a cold which turned into a really harsh long term illness. Olga is left alone again. She is depressed and lonely.

I believe that this story was sad. I think that it would be really hard to have two husbands back to back that died. Once she got over the first one and got comfortable with the second one, he died too. I cannot even imagine having my husband die let along having two that both died. After the second husband I think that it would be really hard for her to get married again. I think that if I was in her shoes I would never get married again. She clearly has bad luck with her husbands, so she should just stay away. Because she was such a nice person that everyone got along with, people loved her. She was that person that everyone knows and admires. I think that it would be especially hard on her because of the fact that she knows so many people. All of these people could be asking her how she is doing and that could get to be a little too much for her to handle.

She always needed a man though. Emerson and Thoreau were really set on being individuals. They said that you can find all of life’s answers in yourself and nature. She really relied on her husbands in the story, so she did not ever have to be an individual. 

Chekhov, Anton. "Chekhov Stories." SparkNotes. SparkNotes. Web. 06 Mar. 2012. <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/chekhov/section7.rhtml>.

Chekhov, Anton. "The Darling." Glencoe Literature: The Reader's Choice. New York, NY: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2000. 557-66. Print.