There are a variety of themes and conflicts in ChekhovÆs The Cherry Orchard, ConradÆs The Heart of Darkness, and JamesÆ The American. In ChekhovÆs drama, we find conflicts of class, economics, and relationships. In ConradÆs tale of Africa we are provided with the eternal conflicts between white and black, good and evil, and light and dark. In JamesÆ novel of an American traveling in Europe, we also see class and culture conflict, conflicts of economics, and relationship conflict. This analysis will explore the major characters in each of these works while focusing on a conflict that is central in each. A conclusion will focus on exploring one theme that is central to all three works, the notion that culturally imposed values generate conflict.
In ChekhovÆs The Cherry Orchard, the main characters include Madame Ranevsky, owner of the cherry orchard; Yermolai Lopakhin, her neighbor; Leonid Gayef, her brother, RanevskyÆs two daughters Barbara and Anya; and Peter Trophimof. The play unfolds against the backdrop of the liberation of the serfs. Madame Ranevsky returns home to her cherry orchard estate. She is returning from France where her abusive lover stole from her and left her. She has enormous debts and is threatened with losing the cherry orchard. Lopakhin is a former serf who has become successful and wealthy. Gayef is RanevskyÆs brother who refuses to accept the dire situation they are in, living off of his familyÆs fortune. While Anya is an innocent child, her older sister Barbara is used as a lure for LopakhinÆs wealth but he never asks for her hand in marriage. Trophimof represents ration and intellectualism, but he remains helpless to assist Ranevsky. His lofty world of ideals is not one Lopakhin can relate to as a former serf, ôYou know, I get up at five oÆclock in the morning, and I work from morning to night; and IÆve money, my own and other peopleÆs, always passing through my hands, and I see...