Literature Analysis #2: The Cherry Orchard

1.) Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read.

• The protagonist of the novel is Lyuba Ranevsky. After five years of being away from her home, she and her daughter Anya have finally returned due to her financial crisis. Everyone is rejoiced at their arrival, including  Lopakhin (family friend), Dunyasha (maid), Fiers (servant),  and Varya (adoptive daughter). Anya states that their poverty is partially due to her mothers excessive spending. Gayev, Ranevsky's brother, and Lopakhin brainstorm ideas as to what they should do with Ranevsky's cherry orchard. Lopakhin believes that the best thing to do is to cut down the trees, build cottages, and rent them out. Ranevsky rejects this idea because she cannot stand the idea of having to part with her trees. Throughout the course of the play, the characters each remember some sort of painful memory in their past.There are several love subplots intertwined throughout the play such as Lopakhin and Varya. In order to solve the financial crisis, the cherry orchard is auctioned off. Lopakhin is the one to buy it and precedes with his idea to build cottages on the land. Everyone then leaves the house. Rovenvsky leaves her home weeping. Everyone has forgotten Fier and he is left alone in the house. The last sound heard is the sound of the cherry trees being cut down.

2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.

• The main theme is attachment to memories/the past. Ranevsky doesn't seem to take action against her financial issues but continues to contribute to them with her excessive spending. She refuses to adapt to her new life , she stays glued to her past and doesn't strive to make a better future for herself. 

3.)Describe the author's tone.  Include three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).


Towards the beginning of the play each of the characters sets off a different tone. Lubov's  character at the beginning creates a reminiscent and nostalgic tone. She walks around her home remembering what it was like when she lived there five years ago. For the most part Act 1 is set in this tone.

•  Lubov: My dear nursery, oh, you beautiful room. . . . I used to sleep here when I was a baby. [Weeps] And here I am like a little girl again. [Kisses her brother, VARYA, then her brother again] And Varya is just as she used to be, just like a nun. And I knew Dunyasha. [Kisses her.]
• Gaev: Right into the pocket! Once upon a time you and I used both to sleep in this room, and now I'm fifty-one; it does seem strange.

Anya later on begins talking to Varya, recalling why her mom  had left their home five years ago. This sets up a serious tone for the rest of the scene.

•  Anya: Father died six years ago, and a month later my brother Grisha was drowned in the river-- such a dear little boy of seven! Mother couldn't bear it; she went away, away, without looking round. . . . [Shudders] How I understand her; if only she knew!

 Each of the characters struggles with some unpleasant memory in their past. When they recall whatever unpleasant memory, there is a melancholy tone.

• Charlotte: I haven't a real passport. I don't know how old I am, and I think I'm young. When I was a little girl my father and mother used to go round fairs and give very good performances and I used to do the salto mortale and various little things. And when papa and mamma died a German lady took me to her and began to teach me... And where I came from and who I am, I don't know. . . . Who my parents were--perhaps they weren't married--I don't know. [Takes a cucumber out of her pocket and eats] I don't know anything. [Pause] I do want to talk, but I haven't anybody to talk to . . . I haven't anybody at all.

4.)4. Describe five literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the theme and/or your sense of the tone.  Include three excerpts that will help your reader understand each one.


Since it is a play, one literature technique the author heavily relies on is imagery. The opening scene is a strong example of this technique. It creates the image of warmth contrasting with the cold.

• "It is close on sunrise. It is May. The cherry-trees are in flower but it is chilly in the garden. There is an early frost."

This same quote also sets for the use of irony. The cherry-trees are beautiful and blooming and it is expected that there is warm weather. On the contrary, there is a frost. This reflects the ambivalent feelings of each of the characters upon their return home. Also how they struggle to balance their pleasant memories of the past and the not so pleasant memories of the present.

• Epikhodov: There's a frost this morning--three degrees, and the cherry-trees are all in flower. I can't approve of our climate.

Another literary technique used is indirect/direct characterization. A few of the characters are described directly by other characters. This can also be thought of as indirect characterization because it is how other characters react to them. 

• (Lopakhin to Dunyasha) You're too sensitive, Dunyasha. You dress just like a lady, and you do your hair like one too. You oughtn't. You should know your place.

The author also uses foreshadowing to show what will happen to the orchard towards the end of the novel. In this case, foreshadowing is used to show that the orchard will be sold. Lopakhin says that selling the orchard is the best way for the family to get out of their financial crisis;he ends up being the one that purchases the orchard. 

• LOPAKHIN. [Looks at his watch] If we can't think of anything and don't make up our minds to anything, then on August 22, both the cherry orchard and the whole estate will be up for auction. Make up your mind! I swear there's no other way out, I'll swear it again.

In the play there is also some symbolism. The most prominent symbol that I found was the character Fiers. He always mentions how it was "back then" much like elderly people stereo-typically do. He symbolizes the past, something that the characters of the novel struggle to let go of. At the end of the novel he is forgotten by everyone  and is left behind while everyone departs Ranevsky's home. He lies alone on a couch. This symbolizes each of the characters moving on and perhaps letting go of whatever was preventing them from going on with their lives.

• Fiers: " In the old days, forty or fifty years back, they dried the cherries, soaked them and pickled them, and made jam of them, and it used to happen that . . ."