![]() ![]() The symbols in this play are too numerous to count, but many of them hinge on the idea of the changing social order or the specific circumstance of a given character. Firs himself is a figure of time Anya is a figure of hope. The cherry orchard symbolizes the old social order, the aristocratic home, and its destruction symbolizes change. ![]() Gay's imaginary billiards game symbolizes his desire to escape. The keys at Barbara's waist symbolize her practicality and her power. Works such as The Cherry Orchard, which cannot be subjected to the traditional standards of classification, have helped build new modern literary traditions through their innovation in genre. Although Chekhov is certainly not the first playwright to mix comic and tragic elements onstage, he develops this tendency by creating a play that defies classification as either one of these two dramatic genres. ![]() Traditionally, humor and tragedy have been kept separate in dramatic works. Lopakhin's speech at the end of Act III, recounting the sale of the cherry orchard, is the most important example of indirect action in the play: although the audience does not see the sale, the entire play revolves around this unseen action. Instead of seeing such action happen, the audience learns about it by watching characters react to it onstage. It involves action important to the play's plot occurring off-stage, not on. Indirect Action is a technique Chekhov was most famous for. ![]()
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