Anton Chekhov Biography

I. Biography of the Author
Anton Chekhov:
The Russian author Anton Chekhov is among the major short-story writers and dramatists in history. He wrote seventeen plays and almost six hundred stories.

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born in Taganrog in South Russia on the Azov Sea on January 17, 1860. He was the third of six children of Pavel Egorovich Chekhov, a grocery store owner. Chekhov 's grandfather was a serf (a peasant who lives and works on land owned by another) who bought his family 's freedom in 1841. The young Chekhov and his brothers and sisters worked in the family store and studied in the local school. Their extremely religious father often beat them. In 1876 his father 's business failed, and the family moved to Moscow, Russia, for a fresh start. Chekhov, then sixteen, was left behind to finish his schooling.

The blond, brown-eyed Chekhov was a self-reliant, amusing, energetic, and attractive young man. In August 1879 he joined his parents in Moscow, where his father was a laborer and his mother did part-time sewing work. Chekhov immediately entered the medical school of Moscow University. He soon took his father 's place as head of the household, a responsibility he carried the rest of his life. After graduating in 1884 he went to work in the hospital at Chikino, Russia, but by December of that year he had begun coughing up blood—the first symptom of the tuberculosis (an infection in the lungs) that eventually caused his death on July 2, 1904.

In an attempt to add to his income in Moscow, Chekhov wrote for the humor magazines he himself liked to read. His first story was published in March 1880 by a magazine called the Dragonfly, which went on to publish nine more of his stories, most of them signed "Antosha Chekhonte," that year. His first book was the Tales of Melpomene, a collection of six humor pieces published with his own money (on credit) in mid-1884. Chekhov 's first stories were full of wit and enthusiasm and showed his promise as a writer.
Chekhov 's first book published by someone else, Motley Stories, came out in 1886 with his real name on it. The book did well, and Chekhov was recognized as a new talent. He began practicing medicine less and writing more. In February 1887 he was elected to the Literary Fund, an honor given only to prominent authors. Chekhov 's first completed play, Ivanov, was produced in Moscow in November 1887. He stopped writing for humor magazines in favor of serious fiction and drama.

Some of Chekhov 's play and short story titles:
The Bear, The Cherry Orchard, A Marriage Proposal, Uncle Vanya, and The Wood Demon (plays)
A Woman 's Kingdom, The Black Monk, The Shoemaker and the Devil, A Bad Business, and The Lottery Ticket.

II. Characters/Character Analysis
Ivan Dmitritch: a middle-class and satisfied married man with an income of twelve hundred a year
Masha Dmitritch: wife of Ivan; owner of the lottery ticket in the story

III. Setting
Where: The story occurred in their house. In the statement, “…was very well satisfied with his lot, sat down on the sofa after supper and began reading the newspaper…” it connotes that Ivan is comfortable with the house he is living in.
When: Night; After supper

IV: Plot of the Story (Summary)
The story was about a middle-class man with twelve hundred income in a year named, Ivan Dmitritch. Together with his family, they were very well satisfied with their simple life.

After supper, Ivan sat down and took a newspaper to read. His wife, Masha, who was one of the few who tried her luck on lottery asked him to check the lottery drawings in the newspaper. He passed his finger downwards along the column of the numbers and was surprised when he saw the same figure (9,499) his wife had. Ivan and Masha got excited and daydreamed on ways to spend the money thinking that wealth gives them joy. They dreamt of a perfect and a high-style of living including all their needs in life. They have already started dreaming wealthy life as if they have already checked if they have the same lottery ticket to claim the cash prize. Rather, Ivan thought of his own desires: enjoying a luxurious vacation alone, buying a real estate, paying debts, and spending on immediate expenses. Ivan also wanted to go abroad and his wife hastily replied and wanted to do the same. Masha asked him again to check the lottery ticket number for confirmation but he refused and chose to walk about a room and went thinking. He was thinking about traveling alone. Enjoy the wealthy life alone as well. Such selfishness gave gave birth to ill-thoughts and evil ideas including re-marrying. His desires overlapped the love they have for one another. Ivan looked seriously at Masha and she glanced back with hatred. She had her own plans, needs, and reflections; she understood the thoughts of his husband. And she knew that it 's all about her cash prize. But their daydreaming stopped as reality slapped them with the truth that Masha 's lottery ticket number (26) differ from the results (46).

All those imaginations remained as imaginations.

V. Analysis/Interpretation
The Lottery Ticket awakens people of how money could change everything. Anton Chekhov used money as his theme in this story knowing that money is one of people 's weaknesses. He pointed us how people change the way they act, talk, and think with the influence of money. Money has potentials to destroy relationships of people.

In my opinion, we must learn how to apply contentment and appreciate things that we have than the ones we do not. Because if we gain our appreciation, that is the time we get contented and there 's no need to ask for more.

VI: References http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ch-Co/Chekhov-Anton.html#b#ixzz2Wf9deM5e http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Plays_by_Anton_Chekhov http://www.eldritchpress.org/ac/jr/ http://joannavalles.blogspot.com/2011/03/literary-criticism-pyscho-analytic.html
http://fiction.eserver.org/short/the_lottery_ticket.html

References: http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ch-Co/Chekhov-Anton.html#b#ixzz2Wf9deM5e http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Plays_by_Anton_Chekhov http://www.eldritchpress.org/ac/jr/ http://joannavalles.blogspot.com/2011/03/literary-criticism-pyscho-analytic.html http://fiction.eserver.org/short/the_lottery_ticket.html