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A review by leah_markum
The Darling by Anton Chekhov
2.0
I was forewarned that Chekhov thought women were incapable of thinking for themselves and the only opinions they had were those of the men they loved. This short story depicts that. Olenka, the main character, goes through her father, two husbands, a love for a married man, and the male child of that last man. She could run a field theater and whole-heartedly had the same opinions as her first husband. That part was comical, because I could imagine how through her first love she found her second love: theater management. Or perhaps she learned the trade and learned to love her new life, being useful, and other things people often love about their new, adult life. Then there's the lumber miller and the lumber mill. She goes through the same process. The veterinary surgeon that refuses her to talk about veterinary work. The surgeon's son who can't stand Olenka doting on him.
What happens when she has no males to work with and care for? Each time she becomes depressed. The author passes this as her simply having no opinions, but I say there's room for her to be truly depressed. She has no family beyond the men I've mentioned. Chekhov couldn't broken the theme and made the surgeon's son a daughter instead and the story for Olenka would've been the same. She's someone who needs someone to care for. The female socialites in town don't give her fulfillment. Perhaps this is part of Chekhov's point in a sense. Even if not all women need men, many need some sort of familial responsibility. This seems like women need men to men like Chekhov because men of his era and culture had a life revolving on everything outside of family, and the culture of looking down on women made family life seem diminutive to men.
What happens when she has no males to work with and care for? Each time she becomes depressed. The author passes this as her simply having no opinions, but I say there's room for her to be truly depressed. She has no family beyond the men I've mentioned. Chekhov couldn't broken the theme and made the surgeon's son a daughter instead and the story for Olenka would've been the same. She's someone who needs someone to care for. The female socialites in town don't give her fulfillment. Perhaps this is part of Chekhov's point in a sense. Even if not all women need men, many need some sort of familial responsibility. This seems like women need men to men like Chekhov because men of his era and culture had a life revolving on everything outside of family, and the culture of looking down on women made family life seem diminutive to men.