The Lady with the Dog and The Garden Party Essays

The Lady with the Dog and The Garden Party Essays The Lady with the Dog and The Garden Party Essay The Lady with the Dog and The Garden Party Essay In daily life, one is constantly presented with obstacles, challenges, and opportunities. It is what One does with these occurrences that defines One’s character. In order for change to occur within a person, acceptance is necessary. ‘The Garden Party’, written by Katharine Mansfield and ‘The Lady With the Dog,’ written by Anton Tchekhov were short stories that focused on the outcome of the choices One makes based on prior experiences. The two stories had one main theme in common: acceptance. In the stories both of the main characters experience substantial change and they are different at the end of the story than they were at the beginning. Within their stories, Mansfield and Tcherkhov write about how key events in One’s life can influence the acceptance of change. Their writings tell a story of the importance of letting go of pre conceived ideas, and they both conclude with the realization of acceptance in the lives o f their characters. The main characters of the short stories come from different worlds, one innocent and childish, and one harsh and unforgiving, but both characters experience a similar journey towards acceptance. The journey of Moscow-born Dmitri Gurov, Tchekhov’s character, begins by explaining his passion for women. When describing Gurov’s relationship with his wife, Tchekhov managed to communicate the deep set issues of Gurov as he â€Å"[c]onsidered her unintelligent, narrow, inelegant, was afraid of her, and did not like to be home.†(pg #) One can gather from the description of the woman that he loves that Gurov does not have a lot of respect for her. Gurov â€Å"[h]ad begun being unfaithful to her long ago- had been unfaithful to her often, and, probably on that account, almost always spoke ill of women, and when they were talked about in his presence, used to call them the lower race.† (pg #)These quotes establish Gurov as misogynistic, but it is important to consider that he did not start off