The Cherry Orchard Contrasting Regions Quotes Page 1
Citations follow this format: (Act.Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a long monologue. We used Julius West's translation.
| Quote #1 ANYA. We went to Paris; it's cold there and snowing. I talk French perfectly horribly. My mother lives on the fifth floor. I go to her, and find her there with various Frenchmen, women, an old abbé with a book, and everything in tobacco smoke and with no comfort at all. (1.48) |
Anya reacts negatively to the foreignness of Paris: the living quarters, the language, the people, the religion, and the habits. She wants to save her mother from this alien world.
| Quote #2 LUBOV. But suppose I'm dreaming! God knows I love my own country, I love it deeply; I couldn't look out of the railway carriage, I cried so much. (1.96) |
Lubov's overwhelming emotional response upon returning home creates high stakes for the loss of that home. It also increases our frustration when Lubov does nothing to save it.
| Quote #3 LUBOV. Last year, when they had sold the villa to pay my debts, I went away to Paris, and there he robbed me of all I had and threw me over and went off with another woman. I tried to poison myself. ... It was so silly, so shameful. ... And suddenly I longed to be back in Russia, my own land, with my little girl. (2.59) |
For Lubov, escaping to Russia becomes the solution to the problems in Paris. When the problems in Russia become insurmountable, she'll return to Paris.
