The Cherry Orchard, Remembering People, and Rudeness

In class we talked about the cherry orchard being a metaphor. I am trying to figure out what the cherry orchard represents as I read, and right now I think it could represent wealth. Lyubov is out of money, and Lopakhin suggests "the cherry orchard...[be] cut up" to help pay off her debts (325). Lyubov was rich, but now she her financial situation is poor and she might become completely bankrupt if she decides to cut down the cherry orchard. A long time ago, the cherries "were soft and juicy" and they "brought in money" (326). Maybe during this time that Firs describes, forty or fifty years ago, Lyubov was much wealthier so people were happier. The excessive amount of crying and whining in the story makes me think that money correlates directly to the characters happiness.

Something that stood out to me in the story was how people were having so much trouble remembering other people. They were gone five years, but I feel like they would be able to remember the people they left from their home much better than they did. Lopakhin wonders, "Will she recognize me" (317)? Lyubov states that she "recognized Danyasha" (318). I would think that since Lopakhin and Danyasha were considering meeting the returning people at the train station, they would have a somewhat intimate relationship, close enough that forgetting what someone looked like would not be an issue. I remember what my friends from North Carolina look like even though I left seven years ago and Have not seen them since. That could be because of facebook though. I do not think they have facebook.

Anya annoyed me with her random statements and lack of attention to other characters questions. Danyasha tells Anya about Yepikhodov's proposal to her, and Anya replies, "You always talk about the same thing...I've lost all my hairpins" (319). Rude. Maybe Anya and me have different priorities but I would consider a proposal more important than hairpins, no matter how often anyone talks about it.