Literary Study of Anton Chekhov’s “A Happy Ending”

Title: “A Happy Ending”

Characters:

• Semyon Ivanovitch
• Lyubov Grigoryevna
• Stytchkin
• Nikolay Nikolayitch
• Prince Kanitelin

Settings:

Restaurant/bar

Conflict:

• Man vs. man conflict
• Man vs. fate

Tone:

Formal, serious, desperate, loneliness 

Point of view:

Third-person narrative

Style:

• Descriptive and persuasive
• Dialogue 

Theme:

Marriage, searching for a bride 

Plot:

In the beginning, the narrator described Lyubov Grigoryevna and stated that she had come to see Stytchkin, which later turned into dialogue form and Stytchkin personally described himself and telling her what kind of woman he wanted. Then, in the middle of the conversation, Lyubov Grigoryevna asked if he had any preferences in terms of picking a woman, but then Stytchkin said his ideal bride for a guy like him, so Lyubov Grigoryevna offered him the bachelor line; the French and Greek woman, but there would be a dowry. They did the math after, and Stytchkin complimented her all of a sudden, which he later figured out that she’s the type of woman she wanted to have and persuade her to propose her as to how she would be as a wife for him.

Reflection:

No matter how high our earnings, how educated we are, and how comfortable our home is, we would still be looking for someone to live with us and be with us through ups and downs. However, a lot of people nowadays used the reason “loneliness” to seek a partner, which is wrong. It should not be like that. Instead, we should find a partner because we are emotionally and financially committed to having a family, not because we are lonely. Also, we should pursue a person if we think that he/she is the right one, not because it is the right time. To know the right person for us, we should know our preferences and the quality of a person that we could live and wanted to live with. In reality, we all have preferences, may it be in external/physical and internal/personality assets, but we have to be aware of the imperfection of the people. No one is perfect, so we should know how to accept the imperfection of our partner and help him/her grow.      

Literary Study of Anton Chekhov’s “Expensive Lessons”

Title: “Expensive Lessons”

Characters:

• Vorotov
• Alice Osipovna Enquête
• Pyotr Sergeitch
• Unknown servant of Vorotov

Settings: Office, Theatre

Conflict: Man vs. man conflict

Tone: Formal, Jealousy

Point of view: Third-person narrative

Style: Narrative style with Dialogue 

Theme: Lost of track in learning 

Plot:

    The story started with a line, "FOR a cultivated man to be ignorant of foreign language is a great inconvenience." which was actually the realization of Vorotov after he took his degree.

    He then hired Teacher Alice Osipovna Enquête, a young French lady whom he finds attractive physically, but she doesn't know how to teach an older man. So, he tried to fire her, but then he felt pity, so he kept her to be his teacher, which he, unfortunately, fell in love with her but she doesn't feel the same. Vorotov didn't learn anything from his teacher, but he let her do her job with him, and he lost the track of learning, which his main purpose of having a teacher.  

Reflection:

To achieve a goal, may it be in an academic or career aspect, we have to prioritize it.  We have to learn how to manage our personal desires that it will never be a hindrance to our own growth as someone who is learning, and we have to stand or stick by things that will help us grow or achieve our goal and not to those who will just ruin or mislead us from our plan.  We have to prioritize what needs to be prioritized.

Literary Study of of Anton Chekhov’s “A Day in the Country”

Title: “A Day In The Country”

Characters:

• Fyokla
• Terenty
• Silanty Silitch
• Brother Danilka

Settings: Forest/thicket, village

Conflict: Man vs. man conflict

Tone: Descriptive, educative

Point of view: Third-person narrative

Style: Narrative style with Dialogue 

Theme: Nature can offer so much beauty to the world and to the people.

Plot:

    The weather wasn’t good in the village when Fyokla came running through to find Terenty. She asked everyone she met until she had seen Silanty Silitch, the sacristan, Terenty's bosom friend knew where he could find Terenty. She then found him and asked him to help her with Danilka who got stuck in a tree. Terenty agreed, they rescued Danilka. When they go back, they have seen nature’s creatures and the kids started to ask Terenty a lot of questions about the things they have seen and Terenty may not look like it but he answers all questions because he knows almost everything and so he explained the benefits of herbs and described animals. Danilka was able to realize how beautiful they have seen just in a day. They took a rest after, except Terenty because when the two-child fell asleep, he makes the sign of the cross over them, and puts bread under their heads, which shows his love to them.

 Reflection

Knowledge doesn’t only found in the book nor any written researches. Knowledge can be found too in the fields, in the wood, on the riverbank, and anywhere.  We can learn anywhere with the available resources we have, and part of that resource is nature. Nature is the source of medicine, enjoyment, beautification, and happiness. If only we know how to appropriately use nature for us to learn then there is no need for us to look for books and/or consult a doctor or whoever professionals.  We can see medicines in the forest if we know what nature could offer to our health. Nature is our teacher. The birds can teach us musical notes, the importance of wings to stay in the sky. The chickens can teach us about the time. The herbs can remedy sickness and many more. People should be more close to nature for the betterment of our health; mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Lastly, we should appreciate and take care of our Nature; plants, trees and flowers, sea and river, and different species.

Psychoanalytic Criticism of Prosper Mérimée "Mateo Falcone"

Exploiting one's inner nexus

Edward Abbey once said, “Guns don't kill people; people kill people. Of course, people with guns kill more people. But that's only natural. It's hard. But it's fair.” This quote would lead the readers to the tragedy of the story Mateo Falcone by Prosper Mérimée.

In the story, Mateo Falcone is known as a dangerous enemy, for he was extremely skilled with a gun, and a staunch friend for he protected those who asks. He thought that his only son, Fortunato Falcone, would do the same and would follow his league. However, it was the other way around. Fortunato betrayed Gianetto for the sake of having the silver watch that the adjutant offered as a reward for telling where he hides Gianetto. As a result, Mateo killed his own son for the treachery that his son committed against Gianetto, and against him.

The theme of the story is treachery and getting justice for betraying. Betrayal has the aftermath of pain which would lead to killing, as the worst outcome of it, not to mention no one can escape the pain it leaves. In the case of Mateo Falcone, he was betrayed by his son for what he thought, believed, and trusted is deemed incorrect, which causes his anger and killed his son. Gina Scott stated on his blog about Psychological Effects of Betrayal, 

“When going through your own betrayal, you can experience many related emotions; shock, anger, grief, isolation, sadness/depression.” 

With all these psychological effects, one thing is for sure for Mateo, he wanted to kill his son and so he did. However, he wasn’t able to consider Fortunato's side because he stands for what he believes. In the case of Fortunato, he was still a ten-year-old boy. Children at this age still seek happiness on material stuff but at the same time, they face growing pressure to be responsible and trustworthy, as Army Morin stated on her blog about child development in regards to the psychological growth of a ten-year-old child, 

“Being 10 is all about change. It is a period of transition that can offer challenges and delights as children start to embrace the approach of adolescence.” 

That is why, children at this age are sometimes confused about what to do, which on the other hand, had been taken advantage of by adults to easily fool them by offering things which they like, as what adjutant did to Fortunato. In addition, the act of Giuseppa, the wife of Mateo, was also alarming in the story for she let her husband took her son knowing that she has an idea of what will happen, though she tried to stop Mateo it wasn’t enough for him. She seems like she’s also afraid of Mateo, as much as his son is afraid of him. To someone in chronic fear, the world looks scary and their memories confirm it, which leads to freezing, and unable to exert so much force or energy to resist someone, as Theo Tsaousides Ph.D. stated that “Actions motivated by fear fall into four types—freeze, fight, flight, or fright.” 

This story reminds the reader how important to understand the psychological development of a person to prevent the worst possibilities. The ability to understand others leads us to the truth about what they truly felt in a certain situation, and it also allows us to know what to react to. 

 

Marxist Criticism of Katherine Mansfield's "The Doll’s house"

“There are two things needed in these days; first, for rich men to find out how poor men live, and second, for poor men to know how rich men work” quoted by Edward Atkinson. 

It has been the nature of humanity, even before, to define a man base on how much he has and not who he is, or to identify who a man is, based on how much he has, and often times the authority to do something is limited in regards to one’s social class, such a depiction can be read and seen in the short story of Katherine Mansfield entitled the Doll’s house.   

    The doll’s house by Katherine Mansfield shows the difference between rich and poor and how these social classes lived, depicted by the two families; the Burnell family and Kelvey family. Burnell family is rich in which they afford to have a big doll’s house for the three children, “It was so big that the carter and Pat carried it into the courtyard, and there it stayed, propped up on two wooden boxes beside the feed-room door”, and it was elegant and a perfect house which described as “a dark, oily, spinach green, picked out with the bright yellow house. Its two solid little chimneys, glued on to the roof, were painted red and white, and the door, gleaming with yellow varnish, was like a little slab of toffee. Four windows, real windows, were divided into panes by a broad streak of green. There was actually a tiny porch, too, painted yellow, with big lumps of congealed paint hanging along the edge.” while the other family is poor which has two daughters, “They were the daughters of a spry, hardworking little washerwoman, who went about from house to house by the day.” In the story, the Burnell family downgraded and bully the lower class. They see the poor people as worthless, that even the teacher treated the Kelvey daughters so low, “Even the teacher had a special voice for them; Kelvey's daughters, and a special smile for the other children when Lil Kelvey came up to her desk with a bunch of dreadfully common-looking flowers. ”

    Obviously, the rich family exploits its power over the poor family. That being said, the story shows the big relation between power and wealth to society. The wealthier you are, the more you are obeyed and respected which are the attributes of having power. Wealth can be your power and not to mention power can give you more wealth as George S. Clason stated that “Wealth is power. With wealth many things are possible.” 

    The division of social classes in the story is identified through the parent’s job or income and life situations as a whole. As for the Kelvey family, they are considered poor since they Mrs. Kelvey is a washer-woman and her husband is rumored to be in prison, which affects how other students treated her daughter Lil and Else, which might be continued in the future because it was assumed that they would remain powerless due to their situations, “Lil Kelvey's going to be a servant when she grows up” said Emmie Cole. On the other hand, the power of the Burnell family would remain constant expectedly. However, the character of Kezia and with the doll’s house, most especially the lamp, shows that even if wealth and power can ruin one’s life, there are still rich people who see equality and that we still have something in common. A poor man can still see what the rich man sees and vice versa as Jean Bertrand Aristide said, 

“We are all equal, rich and poor, and we need a society where the people enjoy their rights.”

Literary Analysis of Dante Alighieri “The Divine Comedy”.

   

The destiny of those dying on one day is that very few – not as many as ten – went straight to Heaven; many remained in Purgatory, and those cast into Hell were as numerous as snowflakes in mid-winter, said the Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, mystic

The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri shows Dante's journey to Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), until he reaches Heaven (Paradiso). However, on his journey, he discovered and identified the deadly sinners, their sufferings as their consequences of doing such sins while they were alive. Every sin that human commits show rejection to God for it is an offense to Him and He cannot be in the presence of any sin. That is why if a person keeps committing the sins without repentance, he will feel no mercy at all and will stop believing that God exists in his life as stated in Isaiah 59:2a; “But your iniquities (sin) have made a separation between you and your God.” 

It opened realizations to readers of how bad the aftermath of people’s wrongdoings on Earth, and also how beautiful heaven is, which something people should work on, in a way that people should beautify their soul and not just their physical appearance. The poet wanted to remind the readers to be physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually healthy so we could live the eternal life that we wished for; heaven, and not to suffer in both purgatory and hell. 

The depiction of heaven as the transcendent dwelling-place of the living God is joined with that of the place to which believers, through grace, can also ascend, as we see in the Old Testament accounts of Enoch (cf. Gn 5:24) and Elijah (cf. 2 Kgs 2:11). 

Thus heaven becomes an image of life in God. In this sense, Jesus speaks of a "reward in heaven" (Mt 5:12) and urges people to "lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven" (ibid., 6:20; cf. 19:21).

Furthermore, Dante's great stylistic artistry enjoys the kind of power peculiar to a classic, as it is one of literature's boldest undertakings, and knowing that the catholic population is growing worldwide, it just means that the influence of the divine comedy becomes more prominent worldwide aside from the fact that Dante’s Divine Comedy continued to astonish generations of readers; for more than a hundred years it has been a staple in all higher education programs in the Western world, and provide guidance and nourishment to the major poets of our own times. 

 

Dante's journey in the Divine Comedy serves as an allegory of the progress of the individual soul toward God, which leads the readers to be eager to show the poem to be a polyphonic masterpiece. Its pre-figurations and correspondences incorporated all the important political, philosophical, and theological themes in a way that shows the moral and ethical vision of humankind. In addition, Dante was true to the Catholic faith he learned which was reflected in his Divine comedy specifically the introduction of the seven deadly sins and the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, which is also the reflection of Christian/Catholic teachings. Augustine said in The City of God that “temporary punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by others after death, by others both now and then; but all of them before that last and strictest judgment” (21:13). It is between the particular and general judgments, then, that the soul is purified of the remaining consequences of sin: 

“I tell you, you will never get out till you have paid the very last copper” (Luke 12:59)

Critique of New Historicism

Henry James said, "It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature." That being said, Literature is made of history, which means that it is a product of time, culture, place, political behavior, and phenomena in sociology. It is more than just a written text of the author. The same positive idea was highlighted in new historicism. However, there are limitations and disadvantages that the theory was composed of.   

According to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New Historicism is a literary theory based on the idea that literature should be studied and interpreted within the context of both the history of the author and the history of the critic. Based on the literary criticism of Stephen Greenblatt and influenced by the philosophy of Michel Foucault, New Historicism acknowledges not only that a work of literature is influenced by its author's times and circumstances, but that the critic's response to that work is also influenced by his environment, beliefs, and prejudices.  

Many consider literary works as an art that has no value in the real world, besides many argue about the importance of it to education, without analyzing and appreciating literary works with the use of new historicism. Such approach to literary criticism give consideration to an external aspect of the work rather than isolating it only to the meaning of the words used, which means that new criticism would help the critics reveal the history of a certain period in which the work has been written.

New Historicist focuses on the historical context of literature, analyzing how the writer's times affected the work and how the work reflects the writer's times, which would lead to a realization of the relevance of the past to the current cultural contexts because cultural history can be revealed by studying the work. If only critics would dig deeper into the literary works then it would be much easier for him to relate the work to whatever idea that comes to his mind.   With the new historicism, criticism is objective to the historical background and carries a strong reference in terms of giving meaning to the work. However, history is wide and composed of several elements and influences. So, there would be a possibility that the historical context within the work would not be the right or even the closest clue to the real meaning of the literary work. In fact, there were historical events and shreds of evidence that were not yet proven to be true or existed. So, it will be hard for critics to apply history in analyzing a work. There are also instances that the work is dedicated to someone or something that has not existed in the period it was written. Furthermore, it makes the analysis dull because the scope of the study is limited only to the history which means that critics cannot give their personal insights about the work, they cannot share how the work relates to them, and they are restricted to give their own meaning to the literary work being studied.

Therefore, new historicism is objective because it is supported by history, but at the same time, it is complex because history has a wide content area. It is good for those who are in the field of history, but bad for those who don’t know how to relate historical ideas to literary work. It reflects the author’s history but doesn’t reflect the critic’s thoughts and feelings.