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Study Questions The Cherry Orchard

Review Questions Characterization Plot Setting Symbolic meanings of the Cherry Orchard Verbal Communication among the characters and psychological realism. Sound Effects

Review Questions
	1. In what place does the scene take place through ACT 1? The nursery. 2 How do other people think about Lopahin, and how does he look at himself? Lopahin himself: "a peasant I was, and a peasant I am" (1337). Gaev: "Low-born knave!" (1345) Others: a good man, a most worthy man. 3. How can we know Anya by seeing the responses others show when they see her? Dunyasha: "my precious, my joy." (1339) Varya: "My little darling….My precious beauty." (1339) Firs: "My lady has come home!" (1341) Because of her lighthearted mind, her child-like, and her naive, people all like her. Also, Trofimov says "My sunshine! My spring" at the end of Act I, I think that's a hint, because he saw her from the other side of the stage and said the words "tenderly." Maybe there's some special meaning of his words. Especially we know that it's very chilly at that time! 4. What does Varya want to do mostly in her life? "To go off by myself on a pilgrimage to Kiev, to Moscow…and so I would spend my life going from one holy place to another." That's why Ranevsky says that she is still like a "nun." 5.What's the difficultly Ranevsky meets? And how she reacts toward the difficulty? The cherry orchard is going to be sold in August, and also the financial problems. They have no money to pay the arrears on the mortgage. (1340) But Ranevsky still "ordered the most expensive things and gave the waiters a whole rouble." (1340) Gaev: "She hasn't' got out of the habit of flinging away her money." (1346) 6 Why don't Anya and Varya let Trofimov meet Ranevsky at once? Because the little son Grisha of Ranevsky was drowned, "and Petya Trofimov was Grisha's tutor, he may remind her." (1341) 7. How does Ranevsky feel about the nursery? And what does the nursery represent here? She can't believe that she has come back. Her heart is full of happiness and joy. The nursery to her is a representation of the childhood, the innocence and the happiness. (1345) And it may also be a contrast between the past prosperity and the present difficulty. 8. Why does Pishtchik say the words "fancy that" ? What does it show his characteristic? It may shows to us that he is a person that always feel fresh to the things on earth. 9. How do others think about Gaev? Others may think that he talks too much. For example, the paragraph he talks about the bookcase. (1344) And the example in page 1347, 1348. Anya and Varya think that he should keep quiet, keep from talking. "Don't talk, that's all." 10. What kind of person is Charlotta? She may be a straight-minded person, and also a person who is good at pleasing others by showing some tricks. She makes a joke on Lopahin when he tries to kiss her hand to say goodbye. And She says "I don't want to. I'm sleepy," which shows her straight-mind in page 1344. 11 What kind of person is Firs? He is like an old father, always worries about if others can take care of themselves. "You have got on the wrong trousers again! What am I to do with you?" (1345) "Leonid Andreyevitch, have you no fear of God? When are you going to bed?" (1348)
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Characterization
	In Act One, the major characters are all presented. Together with that, a general picture of their social relationship is portrayed. 1) Take a close look at the list of characters. Draw a chart of the social status of the characters and their inter-relationships. We have a landowner and her daughters, brother, her friends (another landowner, a governess), her maid, an old man servant of hers, a young valet. Together with them, we have a student and a merchant. 2) For your close analysis, you may want to focus on the relationship between the landowner and the merchant. On the one hand, the landowner's cherry orchard and her estate is to be sold to pay her debts, and on the other hand, the rich merchant who used to be the son of the landowner's serf is proposing to make the most of the profits of the land--i.e. to cut down the cherry orchard and divide the land up into units for summer villas. 3) What does the chart of characters tell you about social picture of the play? 4) What does the relationship between the landowner and the merchant tell you about these characters' changing status and situations? 5) More importantly, how does the playwright present these characters? Do you think he is harsh/critical to any one of these characters? For example, do you feel Lopahin, the merchant, is unpleasant, or do you like/dislike Lubov (Madame Ranevsky) because of the way she acts or is treated in the play? Why or why not? 6) Pick up any character that interests you and do a close characterization analysis of that character. TOP

Plot
	The play starts with the return of owner of the cherry orchard, Madame Ranevsky. What kind of past events are revealed in this act? What do we know about the landowner and her relationship with other characters in this play? What event is foreshadowed in this act (e.g. the auction of the cherry orchard and possible solution for the landowner to keep her estate), and what impact does it have on these characters? More significantly, what is happening in the present Except for Lopahin, who is in a hurry to go on for his next business trip, these characters seem to be doing nothing but talking about the past. What is pleasant about the past that they are sharing? How is it contrasted to the present situation they are facing? How do they avoid facing the present and the future by indulging in the past? Try to give specific examples of the past experience they shared (e.g. Madame Ranevsky's experience in the cherry orchard, her past memories of the estate, bookcase, her experience in Paris, Anya's account of her traveling experience with her mother, Fir's experience of the past glory of the cherry orchard, or even Lopahin's account of his past with Madame Ranevsky. Varya seems to be the only person in the present? What is her concern? TOP

Setting.
	1) Pay attention to Chekhov's description of the setting: "A room that is still called the nursery," "It is May, the cherry trees are in blossom, but it is cold in the orchard; there is a morning frost." What does the description "still called the nursery" correspond to the characters' attachment to the past, to the no longer fertile "nursery room," to the no longer productive cherry orchard as is described later in this act? 2) What kind of atmosphere is created with the blossoming orchard in the morning in May?
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Symbolic meanings of the Cherry Orchard:
	nostalgia and the inevitability for change. Pay attention to the playwright's description and the characters' attitude to the cherry orchard, especially the way Madame Ranevsky sees it and the way Lopahin sees it. What is the symbolic meaning of the cherry orchard here?

Verbal Communication among the characters and psychological realism.
	On occasion the dialogue seems fragmented and disjointed--more a series of disconnected remarks than a real dialogue. Find one such passage and consider its purpose and point.

Sound Effects.
	Try to find out passages showing how the playwright uses sounds, describe their effects and explain their significance. TOP