...Camille Bondy Intro to short story February 24, 2015 The Lady with the Dog: Close Reading Anton Chekov, the author of The Lady with the Dog, writes about the unification of two people who are unhappily married. Dmitritch Gurov, the main character of the story, plays the role of a married man who is disloyal to his wife. Anna Sergeyevna, the lady with the dog, is also married. She is portrayed as an authoritative woman, until she begins her affair with Gurov. But even then the reader has a certain level of respect for her because she truly feels love for this man. When they first meet, it is clear that there is an instant attraction between them. Judging Gurov’s past one can promptly assume what his intentions are considering Anna is a beautiful young woman, half his age. Fidelity plays a big role in the story, both main characters are defined by their unfaithfulness to their spouses. Secrecy is another key theme that Chekov included in this story; Gurov’s reality is kept hidden from the world. He puts on a front, in which he reveals all of his lies such as his “love” for his wife, his friends, his emotions and other things that are completely false. His feelings for the “lower race” or women are kept a secret as well; he finds comfort in women, which completely contradicts the way he says he feels about them. Chekov clearly perfectly exemplifies all of the faults humans have and how it is possible for people to change no matter how late in life it is. In this passage...
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...Christina Diaz Due Monday 24, 2013 Rough Draft People spend their lives searching for happiness. Some find happiness in the company of family or friends. Other people find happiness in material possesions. And many others consider finding true love the ultimate happiness. Everyone is on their spiritual quest to find it, and sometimes, when they find happiness they do not know how to handle it. In Anton Chekov’s short story “The Lady with the Pet Dog,” Chekov let’s us into the mind of the character Dmitry Gurov as he seeks to compensate his unhappy life in his many affairs with women. In one of his many affairs with Anna Sergeyevna we see how Dmitry changes his views and attitude as he falls in love. In the beginning of “The Lady with the Pet Dog,” the character Dmitry Gurov is an unhappy narcissistic and a misogynist who is easily bored with women and his lover Anna Sergeyevna. By the end of the story, however, he changes his views of Anna when he realizes he loves her. Before meeting Anna, Dmitry is displayed in an unflattering manner. He is very unhappy with his life and marriage even though his wife was described as “a tall, erect woman with dark eyebrows, stately and dignified and, as she said of herself, intellectual” (156). She seemed like a great woman with beauty and intelligence, yet, he was still dissatisfied, “he privately considered her of limited intelligence, narrow-minded, dowdy, was afraid of her, and did not like to be home” (156). Dmitry is very critical...
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...what he or she does, nature versus nurture. When it comes down to it people automatically see nature as being what environmentally influences them, and nurture as the way they are taught to feel and think about things. In the battle between nature and nurture “It is nature that wins”. The short story “The lady with the Pet dog” by Joyce Carol Oates illiterates it. The short story starts with a woman named Anna, who is at an event with her husband when she sees a man in the crowd and suddenly is anxious and in distress about it. She goes home her mind passes over him while she is with her husband and it is made apparent that the man she saw was at one time her lover. The author describes Anna and her husband laying there when she closes her eyes and thinks about the other man. “always this hot flashing of shame between them, the shame of her husband’s near failure, the clumsiness of his love” (771) she is unhappy in the marriage as she feels nothing towards the husband as he caresses her .the story then flashes back to several months prior. This time Anna is in Nantucket Were she met her lover at the beach. She was always alone until the man with the blind son and the dog came and started a conversation with her, the nature of a man seeing a lonely woman is to go and talk to her and this is what the lover...
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...A tale of a love affair, a secret romance between two adulterous spouses and secret meetings, both the original and retelling of “The Lady with the Pet Dog” demonstrate the decisions and actions of two unhappily married persons who meet haphazardly and immediately fall in love.The plot and resolution of the two versions are identical:the love affair between the two lovers resulting in the couple discovering their love for one another, but the emotions and tone of the stories contrast solely based on the point of view perceived. In Chekhov’s version, Gurov is a man who can no longer relate to his wife and loses interest and faith in his marriage.He consistently belittles his wife and condemns her as “of limited intelligence,narrow-minded,...
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...Frequently we see a struggle for control within relationships as in relationships there are both subtle and overt ways in which partners seek to exercise control.According to Kate Chopin, relationships reduced to one person’s will controlling another, or sometimes the internal struggle is internal between one person’s conflicting desires.As such it is my intention to examine [Chekhov's] “ The lady with the pet dog” and [Faulkner’s] “A Rose for Emily” and to highlight how control is exercised by the protagonist in both pieces. Anton Chekhov wrote a short story in 1899, entitled "The Lady with the Pet Dog." It depicts an affair involving Anna and Gurov. The story occurs in a Russian town called Yalta. At the beginning of the story, Gurov is "pushed" into having affairs; just as he was pushed...
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...Poor Old Lady by Anonymous: Poor old lady, she swallowed a fly. I don’t know why she swallowed a fly. Poor old lady, I think she’ll die. Poor old lady, she swallowed a spider. It squirmed and wriggled and turned inside her. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly. I don’t know why she swallowed a fly. Poor old lady, I think she’ll die. Poor old lady, she swallowed a bird. How absurd! She swallowed a bird. She swallowed the bird to catch the spider, She swallowed the spider to catch the fly, I don’t know why she swallowed a fly. Poor old lady, I think she’ll die. Poor old lady, she swallowed a cat. Think of that! She swallowed a cat. She swallowed the cat to catch the bird. She swallowed the bird to catch the spider. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly, I don’t know why she swallowed a fly. Poor old lady, I think she’ll die. Poor old lady, she swallowed a dog. She went the whole hog when she swallowed the dog. She swallowed the dog to catch the cat. She swallowed the cat to catch the bird. She swallowed the bird to catch the spider. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly, I don’t know why she swallowed a fly. Poor old lady, I think she’ll die. Poor old lady, she swallowed a cow. I don’t know how she swallowed a cow. She swallowed the cow to catch the dog. She swallowed the dog to catch the cat. She swallowed the cat to catch the bird. She swallowed the bird to catch the spider. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly, ...
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...William Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth highlights the life of a general as he attempts to become the King of Scotland. In order to achieve this he is forced to murder several characters, including the prior king, Duncan. Although on the surface it appears that Macbeth is a member of the human race, when clawing deeper it is obvious that this is not true. Through Macbeth’s diction and comments from other characters in the play, it is quite obvious that Macbeth is a dog. Beginning in the first act of the play, Lady Macbeth makes it clear that she is aware of her husband’s true identity. While discussing Macbeth’s doubts on whether to murder Duncan, Lady Macbeth asks him, “What beast was’t, / then,” essentially asking him what kind of animal...
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...I have been reading these articles and they have given me more knowledge about distracted drivers. Cell phones I believe are the most distracting things in cars. I believe they are distracting because they are phones and people are always talking to you or texting you. Every day I also believe that there are crashes that involve distracted drivers and others. I believe that people do get in crashes that involve texting or the cell phone, some may be severe and other barely break something. At least 11% of all crashes are caused by distracted drivers according to what I read. At first I thought it would be like 20% being caused by distracted drivers, but now I know that it is 11% are caused by distracted drivers. I think it is funny that people...
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...what sounds like a pack of wild dogs. When I walked around the wooden corner I only see three. One which has three brown spots, and the rest of its body is black. He looks at me like he wants me to walk the five steps over to him and take him out of the vets office. I look around the office and I see more and more pets screaming “ Help me, Help me”. They have those deep brown eyes that look deep into my soul. I listen to the vet's assistant come out of one of the squared exam rooms. She says “ Patches.”. I lady stands up with a dog that does not look very tall. When he stands up the dog looks as if he stands six feet on...
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...many families that have more than one child and a lot of mixed families and blended families as well. There are many different religion preferences as well as different cultural backgrounds. Most families have pets in my community and on the weekends everyone’s seems to be walking their dogs. From the outside looking in it really looks like a perfect community to raise children. Our family moved in about a year in a half ago we were the third family to move into our community and the neighbors seemed really nice one neighbor even put welcome cards in everyone’s mailboxes, I was so excited to live in this community. We have three young boys ages 13, 11, and 6 so when we found out that our neighbors had three boys we were excited because they had someone to play with. I also have two teenage girls ages 17, and 15 they were quickly bored because as other people started moving in their kids were boys as well so my daughters pretty much just stayed in the house. My oldest needed a way to make money so she became the neighborhood babysitter, so that worked out perfect for her and now she is my neighbors on call nanny. The problems in our community started happening about six months ago when a lady moved in two houses from mine; she has five boys in which they all are autistic so she doesn’t let them play with the other kids she keeps them in her back yard. My boys didn’t understand why she wouldn’t let them play so they took it personal, and I tried to...
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...The Heist By Hemant Kumar Rachel gently placed down the pile of firewood by the fireplace. She was exhausted it was the third pile of she had to chop and bring in today. She sat down for a second her muscles aced, she needed to get back to it, before her mistress came in. She stood up straight and yawned it was already 5:30. She went into the kitchen and fetched the teapot and made some tea. The water slowly turned brown like waiting for the sun to rise. She looked at her dark brown skin If only she were white. She would have her own personal slave a big white house, get to eat real food and get to taste tea! As the water finally turned dark brown she poured it into the teapot. She set out the teacups the sugar on one tray and brought it out as her owner Sarah and her master Sir John sat down. They both took a teacup and put sugar in the tea. Rachel looked into the deep brown of the tea in sir john’s cup. Rachel smelled the delicious taste that was longing to be brought to her lips. Her hands went out to take the cup but snapped back in when Mistress Sarah yelled, “Stop at once! You fool! Tea is only for civilized human beings! Not a negro like you!” Rachel set the pot of tea by Sir John and ran out into the fields where her mother was picking cotton with a few other Africans. She spotted her mother and hugged her. “What’s happened?” asked her mother stroking her braids. “Oh Mother!” said Rachel wrapping her arms even tighter around her. “Rachel!” yelled Sir John. “Go...
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...The Natural Un-Unnatural William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play about a man whose ambition deems him insane. Through certain acts that Macbeth, the main character, disrupts the balance of nature and the unnatural. The actions that breed from Macbeth’s actions, due to his ambitions, cause unnatural things to occur. Throughout the play, the natural and unnatural balance of nature is thrown off, creating an unnatural atmosphere. Throughout William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, an atmosphere that is unnatural is created through imagery of unnatural birth, animal motifs, and the actions of Macbeth. Throughout Macbeth, images of unnatural births help fuel an unnatural atmosphere. In act four the witches brew up a potion consisting of different parts of living things. One of those things is a “Finger of birth-strangled babe/ Ditch-delivered by a drab” (IV,i,30-31). This contributes to the atmosphere of the play because during the Elizabethan time period, grueling births were not common. The fact that a prostitute gives birth to a baby on the side of the road, foreshadows that the baby will bring evil upon society; ultimately creating an unnatural and eerie atmosphere. Also, the fact that Macduff is “…from his mother’s womb/ Untimely ripped” (V,viii,15-16) plays a role as to how an unnatural atmosphere comes about. Imagery of Macduff’s birth causes a dark and unnatural atmosphere. Macduff is born from a sea section because Shakespeare tries to appeal to the...
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...Edward finds Karl in a cave. He confronts Karl and shows heroism when he says “Eat me, I am the first sacrifice” (Wallace 67). This is heroic because he was willing to die just for the benefit of others. Karl tells Edward that he doesn’t want to eat anybody and only wants food. Edward taught Karl how to farm and Karl never caused any trouble again. Edward saves the town from potentially being destroyed. People admired him from this and his “legend became even bigger. It was said that he could charm anyone, just by walking in the room” ( Wallace 70). Furthermore, Edward’s heroism showed again when William tells a story about when he found and returned an old lady’s glass eye. After a long time of traveling, Edward went to Auburn where an old lady...
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...different experiences in life. This fact demonstrates the value of comparison but also the ability to contrast to understand life. Through “The Lady With the Dog”, “The Hunger Artist”, and “My Life With the Wave”, the reader is able to conclude: The stories while being decidedly different in diegesis’s also contain similarities in the symbolic contrivances used throughout all three stories Upon reading “The Lady with the Dog” by Chekhov the reader cannot help but sympathize with Anna and Dmitri. Sadly the timing of the relationship is unfortunate. The characters ultimately act in ignorance, because they do not find satisfaction in the relationships with their spouses so they choose to find it somewhere else. This is where are the pain the characters are feeling is coming from. Because sexual intimacy is so powerful and brings couples together into one “person” it causes so much pain for the couple because they have felt that feeling and cannot have it. They both meet their fate in love by finding their true match in one another, but very rarely do fate and timing coincide with one another, so they are forced to continually meet in secrecy through out the story. Poteet 2 Throughout different points of the story the reader is led to changing feelings of sympathy towards the controversial characters in “The Lady with the Dog” because of the unique portrayal of the process of love that takes place in the lives of Demetri and Anna. It is through the couples relationship...
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...school. My husband made sure my boys had a dog to grow up with, Foxy, who was never allowed in the house. According to Greg, dogs were meant to be outdoors. Greg thought having a dog would teach our boys responsibility. That being said, he was the one that would have to get out and clean up after her, take her out to the dog park to run and was constantly making sure she was feed and watered properly. When Foxy died, he said”no more dogs!” Well, one day a friend of mine, who had a cute little Chihuahua, was given another. They decided that their little dog Ruby did not want a companion, and asked me if I would like the most adorable short haired doe eyed, caramel colored, two pound female Chihuahua. I was absolutely thrilled! Just the thought of this precious sweet little girl coming to live with us gave me such joy! Think about this now, I live in a house full of men. You bet I jumped at the chance to have a charming little dog to dress up and be able to buy cute little dog dresses for. Yes, I could be one of those fancy little ladies that carry their dog around in a purse! When Greg came home and found me with my new found love, he said, “You need to march back over there and give that dog back. We don’t need anything that we have to take care of; you got enough to do now without having to worry about a dog!” He was not as thrilled at all. I told him he didn’t have to worry about a thing that she was going to be my dog. He firmly stated his dislike about me keeping...
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