Anton Pavlovich Checkhov, author of Kashtanka, often referred to his working relationship as, “Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress. When I get fed up with one, I spend the night with the other” (). This analogy explains the relationship considering that although he studied medicine for years, he chose to write instead. He was born on January 29th, 1860, in a small seaside town, Taganrog, Russia. It was when his father, a grocer, declared bankruptcy, and moved to Moscow to escape debtor’s prison that Anton threw himself into his studies. He matured into a brilliant young man, and finishing secondary school, he left for Moscow to study Medicine. In Moscow, he began to write to support himself through school. Anton worked
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Using headings such as, Misbehaviour, A Mysterious Stranger, and New and Very Agreeable Acquaintances he structures the story to reveal important details about the story. In the first section, Misbehaviour, Kashtanka’s owner, Luka Alexandra yells at her “Pla-a-ague take you, you pest” as he smacks her because she had misbehaved (286). This is one of the many examples of how poorly Luka Alexandra treats Kashtanka. In contrast to the opening chapter, the second chapter, A Mysterious Stranger, the dialog leads reader to believe that the stranger’s actions are altruistic. Kashtanka is noted, “[to catch] in the stranger’s voice a warm, cordial note” and later while he ate, he threw her pieces of “bread and the green rind of cheese, then a piece of meat, half a pie, and chicken bone” (288). The contrast pushes Chekhov’s audience to trust the mysterious stranger. However, the title, A Mysterious Stranger should heed as a warning. All strangers are mysterious; the redundancy in the title implies the reader should be wary of the stranger, yet the language and tone of the narrator leads the reader to trust the stranger. The reader believes that the stranger is acting altruistically, that he acting out of pure intentions. If the reader minds the title it is foreshadowing to the end of the novel, when the stranger’s true intentions are exposed. The subsequent sections, New and Very Agreeable Acquaintances, Marvels on a Hurdle, and Talent! Talent! depict Kashtanka’s assimilation into her new surroundings. These chapters are important because they set a timeline for the audience. They illustrate the passing time. Kashtanka seems to be getting along quite well. She meets Ivan Ivanitch, the gander, and then she meets Fyodor Timofeyitch, the cat. Her first interaction with the other animals isn’t exactly pleasant. She gets hissed at by the
Using headings such as, Misbehaviour, A Mysterious Stranger, and New and Very Agreeable Acquaintances he structures the story to reveal important details about the story. In the first section, Misbehaviour, Kashtanka’s owner, Luka Alexandra yells at her “Pla-a-ague take you, you pest” as he smacks her because she had misbehaved (286). This is one of the many examples of how poorly Luka Alexandra treats Kashtanka. In contrast to the opening chapter, the second chapter, A Mysterious Stranger, the dialog leads reader to believe that the stranger’s actions are altruistic. Kashtanka is noted, “[to catch] in the stranger’s voice a warm, cordial note” and later while he ate, he threw her pieces of “bread and the green rind of cheese, then a piece of meat, half a pie, and chicken bone” (288). The contrast pushes Chekhov’s audience to trust the mysterious stranger. However, the title, A Mysterious Stranger should heed as a warning. All strangers are mysterious; the redundancy in the title implies the reader should be wary of the stranger, yet the language and tone of the narrator leads the reader to trust the stranger. The reader believes that the stranger is acting altruistically, that he acting out of pure intentions. If the reader minds the title it is foreshadowing to the end of the novel, when the stranger’s true intentions are exposed. The subsequent sections, New and Very Agreeable Acquaintances, Marvels on a Hurdle, and Talent! Talent! depict Kashtanka’s assimilation into her new surroundings. These chapters are important because they set a timeline for the audience. They illustrate the passing time. Kashtanka seems to be getting along quite well. She meets Ivan Ivanitch, the gander, and then she meets Fyodor Timofeyitch, the cat. Her first interaction with the other animals isn’t exactly pleasant. She gets hissed at by the