Analysis Of St. Lucy's School For Girls Raised By Wolves And The Cherry Orchard

The Supremacy of Human Civilization
It’s said that when feeling alone, one should turn to a group of people for support. However, the sad reality is that often, when surrounded by people we don’t share the same views with, we feel even more secluded. This theme is present in both “The Cherry Orchard” by Antonin Chekov and “St. Lucy’s School for Girls Raised by Wolves” by Karen Russell. In the works, main characters Madame Ranevsky and wolf-girl Mirabella are forced to adapt to a change they don’t want to undergo. Madame Ranevsky, who lived her life on a cherry orchard, is being asked to sell her home and to move on to a new life, one more urban and less extravagant. Mirabella, the youngest of the wolf girls, is sent to a reformatory girl’s
This refusal to detach is perceived as bothersome by the people around them. This shows the wildness the characters possess; as they cannot adapt as well as most rational beings are able to. Madame Ranevsky’s daughters, Anya and Varya, both grew up on the orchard and are adapting with ease. Similarly, Mirabella’s sisters Claudette and Jeanette adjust well to the change, abandoning their ties to the wild world. It’s clear that both Madame Ranevsky and Mirabella feel isolated and excluded when surrounded by those easily adapting, and this makes them seek out support from their loved ones. Mirabella begs for support from the pack, whimpering as she “rolled belly-up on the stone cold floor” (Russell 237), an action animals do to display feelings of weakness and vulnerability. Madame Ranevsky wanders about the house weeping, exclaiming that “(this) disaster seems to me so improbable that I don't know what to think, I'm all at sea . . . I may scream . . . or do something silly” (Chekov 1649), refusing to listen to those around her who warn her of her inevitable foreclosure, yet at the same time turning to them for news on the selling. This demonstrates that living among other people may actually push them closer to what they are having trouble letting go of, which for both Madame Ranevsky and Mirabella are nature and the
Instead of simply accepting the alternative to foreclosure, she cries, “I can’t conceive a life without the cherry orchard, and if it really must be sold, then sell me with the orchard” (Chekov 1651), showing that she’d do anything to remain with the orchard and avoid chopping it down. Madame Ranevsky’s link to her land leads us to question whether she is holding on to the plot of land for the beauty of the orchard, or rather for the memories and nostalgia attached to the property. For example, the drowning and death of her son on the property ties her to the land, as she views the cherry orchard as a place where her son is with her. Madame Ranevsky asks Trofimov- an eternal student who lives in the village- to help her keep her land, repeating that her “son was drowned here,” asking him to “have pity on [her], good, kind man” (Chekov 1651). Additionally, Madame Ranevksy’s lineage is represented on the property, as she was raised on the land herself as a member of the Russian aristocracy, and established her family on the orchard. Thus, it’s clear that human experience within the natural world leads to a strong attachment and reliance on it, and Madame Ranevsky’s madness regarding the sale of her land is arguably due to her experiences on it. Because she shares the land with so many loved ones, Madame Ranevsky’s struggle to adapt to a changing world is intensified.