The Darling

The Darling written by Anton Chekhov is a compelling story of the life of a woman named Olga Plemyannikov.  Olga seems to always be in love with someone during this story.  It is quite weird because love should not happen everytime you meet someone knew and that is what happened with Olga (Chekhov 558).  She would be in love with one guy and than that person would somehow leave her life, whether it would be by death or departure of someone. When Mr. Mallard dies, Mrs. Mallard is ecstatic about her new found "freedom" that comes with the news (Chopin 555). This goes with how can you say you were in love with someone if you were happy that they died?  The point that a lot of people agree with is that love is a word that is thrown out too much.  People say they are in love and they really are not, they just think they are.  Olga could not be in love that many times.  She was sitting on her porch steps and saw her neighbor Mr. Kukin at his house complaining about the weather (Chekhov 558).  She begins to fall in love with him and than they come up with the idea to get married (Chekhov 558).

The Darling and Richard Cory are similar in so many ways.  They both share the same idea about happiness.  In the Darling, Olga found her happiness in falling in love with some man.  This would continue to happen every time after something happened with the previous man.  She relied on someone else for her happiness.  It is not saying that you are the only way to make yourself happy, but you can not have someone make you feel that way.  Thoreau said it himself that happiness must come from one's self (Grant).  Thoreau also said that luxury is causing all of the problems (Grant).  The luxury in this story was Olga's relationships and her falling in love with other men.  Men were the luxury that caused Olga's distress.  Emerson also said that happiness can not be bought by one thing.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Nature." Ralph Waldo Emerson Texts. Web. 06 Feb. 2012.

Robinson, Edwin Arlington. “Richard Corey.” Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 575. Print.

Grant, P. B. "Individual and Society in

Walden." McClinton-Temple, Jennifer ed. Encyclopedia of

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