The Darling

This story by Anton Chekov is about a woman named Olga. This story just tells about the constant loss and disappointed that Olga goes through throughout her life. It really is quite depressing. But, then again, most of the stories we have been reading lately are pretty sad. Anyways, in the beginning Olga has to deal with the death of her father. She did not take the loss very well and lost a little bit of herself with her dad in his death. She was very attached to her father and we begin to learn in the story that she has a problem with attaching herself to other people, or men I should say. She goes on to marry a man who then also dies. Again, she losses some of herself with the death of the man she loved. This process again repeats herself. She put herself into other people too much. She depended on others to be happy and could not keep herself happy through other things. It seemed she had no self confidence or self respect. She had a sad life always having to depend on these different men to make her happy. She loses herself and is no longer an individual or have her own life. Her life is based on her happiness which comes from the men in her life. "In "Self-Reliance" Emerson urges every person "to believe your own thought," rather than be bound by the ideas of others." (Wayne) Olga goes against Emerson's idea of individualism because she does not believe in herself. She lets others control her life. As an individual she must see herself as worthless and her life as nothing important. She cannot stand to live without someone there to make her happy. No matter what she can not think of a way to make herself happy on her own.

Chekhov, Anton. "The Darling." Glencoe Literature: The Reader's Choice. New York, NY: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2000. 557-66. Print.
Wayne, Tiffany K. "'Self-Reliance'." In Barney, Brett, and Lisa Paddock, eds. Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Age of Romanticism and Realism, 1816–1895, vol. 2, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.