To Whom Shall I Tell My Sorrow

Title: To Whom Shall I Tell My Sorrow

Author: Anton Chekhov

Author's Background: Anton Chekhov was born on January 29, 1860, in Taganrog, Russia. Through stories such as “The Steppe” and “The Lady with the Dog,” and plays such as The Seagulland Uncle Vanya, the prolific writer emphasized the depths of human nature, the hidden significance of everyday events and the fine line between comedy and tragedy. Chekhov died of tuberculosis on July 15, 1904, in Badenweiler, Germany. 

Source:https://www.biography.com/people/anton-chekhov-9245947

Vocabulary:

• Budge - make or cause to make the slightest movement.
• Bustle - move in an energetic and busy manner.
• Cranes - stretch out one's body or neck in order to see something.
• Jocose - playful or humorous.

Characters:

• Iona Potapov – the cab driver, the father that lost his son.
• The Horse - The horse of the cab driver
• The Officer - He was the first encounter of the cab driver
• The three drunk men - They were the second encounter of the driver
• House porter - He was the third encounter of the driver
• The young cab man - He was the fourth encounter of the driver

Setting: A winter night in Russia

Exposition: The story starts off introducing Iona Potapov and his horse, and describes the setting of the story which was a dark winter night in Russia. Iona and his horse starts roaming the city to look for passengers to be able to get his fare.

Rising Action: After the cab driver and his horse roams the city for a passenger, Iona encounters two passengers, one was an officer, the other was the group of drunk men, where Iona tried to tell them about his son's death, and how he feels.

Climax: Iona then stops and tries to engage to a house porter that is delivering a package, but tells him to go. He then gives in to his misery and goes back to the yard, he then realize that he doesn't have enough money to feed him and his horse.

Falling Action: In the yard, he then sees a young cab man. Again he tries to engage and tell his sorrows but the young cab man fell asleep. He then went to his horse to check on it.

Ending: He feeds his horse with hay, and talks to the horse. He continues talking to the horse until he told him about everything that he wanted to say and how he feels.

Symbolism: The symbolism that i have found was the environment or the setting of the story, where the story describes the place as a dark winter night, which represents the emotions that he is feeling or the sadness that Iona is experiencing.

Theme: The theme of the story was grief, which revolved around the protagonist of the story where he is isolated from the people around him because he has no one to talk to about his sorrows. We can relate this in real life were people is too busy or doesn't even care about other people's emotions or about their problems.

Lesson: The lesson of the story is that we shouldn't keep our emotions or sorrows to ourselves, that we have a lot of people to talk to, or even animals or object. We shouldn't let our emotions overcome ourselves because this may cause more sadness.