"The Looking Glass" blog post #1


As I comment on this specific part of the text, I would like to focus on analyzing the characteristics the author decided to choose when Chekhov described Nellie “before marriage”. Although the first few lines may not seem significant to some, they point out a stereotype to me. To me this is the stereotype from this time period. This short story was published in 1885 which means their view of woman and their expected roles were of the “Victorian Era”. The characteristics that Nellie is described as are, “young, pretty, pale, tense and motionless” these are all qualities that kind of infer that the woman’s place at this time was to get married and assimilate to the life that her husband expected. At the same time, Nellie seems hopeful for this even though it means losing her freedom and her voice. Next, I noticed that Chekhov used bright colors and adjectives to describe this ideal of marriage. At the end of this part he described the room as “flaring crimson”. As the plot thickens, the colors and adjectives begin to transform to gray and dreary. I find this to be no coincidence. My interpretation of this transformation is that as Nellie realizes more of what the reality of what marriage is like at this time, this is when Chekhov uses darker colors and depressing descriptive words to paint an unhappy scene. Chekhov even uses “rows of candles”, which produce a lot of light, to brighten the tone of this part of the story. To conclude, I would like to summarize that I do believe Chekhov was making a point by using certain brightening descriptive words to lift up the tone at this part of the story. I believe he strategically wrote the story this way to make the point that marriage to young and pretty girls seemed joyful and excited in the beginning and then their “looking glass” is broken as the marriage and time goes on.

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