РефератыИностранный языкChCherry Orchard Symbolism Essay Research Paper

Cherry Orchard Symbolism Essay Research Paper

Cherry Orchard Symbolism Essay, Research Paper


"We don’t see things as they are. We see them as we are." This quote


by Anais Nin expresses an essential point of view for this discussion about the


symbolic meaning of inanimate objects, since it is our personality and our


memories, which determine our character and meaning. Our feelings towards


certain objects are individual, as everyone associates different things in a


different manner. Insofar, "we see them as we are", since they can


mirror our past, pains, hopes and our ideals. Thus they become more than just an


object, but a symbol for a certain part of someone’s feelings and life. This is


also the case in "The Cherry Orchard": objects as the nursery room,


the bookcase and the cherry orchard take on their own symbolic life. They all


share one thing in common: each one reveals something of the characters’


personalities, feelings and ideals. These inanimate objects are a reflection of


the characters’ inner states of being. The meaning of these inanimate objects


are changing analogously with the characters’ change of mood, perspective and


state of mind. Thus one gets the impression that the objects are more like


persons, since it is only the characters’ life, which makes and keeps them


alive. The nursery room may be for an outstanding person without any implicit


significance, but for Lopakhin and Liuba it is a symbol for their childhood,


background and past. The nursery room reminds Lopakhin of his origins. It makes


him aware that he is "just a peasent" (p.334); no matter how rich he


has become or how elegant he might be dressed, his social background still


remains visible for other people. After all, one "can’t make a silk purse


out of a sow’s ear"(p.334), as his origins will be for good a part of his


identity. For Liuba the nursery room symbolizes her "innocent


childhood" (p.347). Being in this room, in which "she used to sleep


when she was little" (p.336) seems to bring her back to feel a part of that


secure, carefree life and makes her feel "little again"(p.336). The


bookcase has the same effect on her; all her troubles seem to be far away and


she feels pure "happiness" (p.342). Gayevs’ ‘relationship’ to the


bookcase is less personal, as he doesn’t associate a particular personal memory


with it. He considers it rather as an object, which has its own personality;


hence, though it is "an inanimate object, true, but still ? a bookcase


(p.345)"! The way he sees it is reminiscent of a hero, as it has for


already hundred years "devoted itself to the highest ideals of goodness and


justice" (p.345) and has never deceived anyone. Being constantly and


unshakably true to its ‘principles’, it was a source, from which "several


generations of their family"(p.345) have drawn courage and hope "in a


better future"(p.345). In the course of time a lot of things have changed:


some people are dead, Gayev and Liuba got adolescent, and the estate is probably


going to be sold. However, the bookcase not being subject to any rules or


changes, thus becomes for Gayev a symbol of consistency and security. The


central symbol of "The Cherry Orchard", as the title might suggest, is


the cherry orchard itself. The cherry orchard does not only represent an


inanimate object, but it is the center of the characters’ world. Their lives


could be divided into the era "before the cherry orchard was sold"


(p.301) and into the era after it. With this change the symbolic meaning of the


cherry orchard before and after the sale also changes. The cherry orchard


‘before the sale’ plays a part in each of the characters’ past; but it seems


foremost to be par

t of Liuba’s mind, through which the cherry orchard takes on


his own symbolic life, as its symbolic meaning changes with the changes in her


mind. She "can’t conceive to live without the cherry orchard" (p.375),


as almost her whole past and memories are connected to it. Looking at it seems


to revive the memories of her "happy childhood" (p.347) and makes time


stand still, as if "nothing has changed"(p.347) in her life. In those


days her attitude towards life was innocent and "bold" (p.375), as she


wasn’t yet "able to foresee or expect anything dreadful"(p.375). She


felt like the cherry orchard, "after the dark, stormy autumn and the cold


winter, [-] young and joyous again" (p.347); but now, she seems to have


lost this "power of vision" (p.375) and her naive view of life. That’s


might be the reason for her to see the cherry orchard in such an illusory light.


It had become a refugee place, where she hides to escape from reality, her


"problems" (p.375) and "sins" (p.359). The cherry orchard


for her embodies a kind of paradise, into which her ‘unhappy past’ does not


enter, but only her ‘happy past’. She doesn’t want to let go the cherry orchard,


because she doesn’t want to let go her ‘happy past’. As long as the cherry


orchard exists, her childhood feelings seem to continue to still exist for real.


To sale the cherry orchard would mean to erase that beloved part of her life and


thus sell her (p.347), too. However, the irony is that she escapes from her


‘unhappy past’ to a place just like the cherry orchard, which magic only lives


through the past itself. In as much as the cherry orchard represents a kind of


‘Garden Eden’ for her, it at the same time also is a "burden" (p.348),


which rests on her shoulders. As long as she continues to stick to the orchard,


she won’t "forget her past" (p.349) and won’t thus be able to create a


new future. "To begin to live in the present, one must first atone for his


past and be finished with it" (p.368). Unlike t Liuba, her daughter, Ania,


already reached that conclusion and is willing to "leave" (p.368) this


burden behind her; her "love" (p.367) for the cherry orchard has


vanished, as it is part of her past life and has therefore nothing to do any


longer with her present and future. ‘The cherry orchard after the sale’ thus


becomes a symbol for renewal and a new beginning for the life of each character


in the play: Lopakhin purchasing the estate got able to get rid of his origins.


"Gay with life and wealth" (p.344), he has freed himself from being


only the grandson and son of serfs, who used to work on this estate. Now he has


become the owner of that place and with the cutting down of the cherry orchard,


he is going to leave his past and origins behind him, creating a "new


living world" (p.384). Also Liuba’s "burden" (p.348) of the past


seems now to have become lighter; "her nerves are better" (p.391) and


she is going to leave for Paris, since she might have recognized that it’s


finished long ago [and] that there is no turning back"(p.375). Gayev has


finally "calmed down" (p.391), too and is going to be an employee of a


bank. Varia is going to leave for a new job, and Ania and Trofimov are gladly


stepping towards their "new life" (p.391). Also the rest of the


characters have to start a new life in a new place. When they leave [-] there


won’t be a soul in this place" (p.397) anymore. Maybe not in this place,


that’s true, but for sure in another place, since there are in the world


"many, many wonderful places" (p.367/368), on which one can


"plant a new orchard" (p.385).

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