Blog #2!!! A. Leader

Question #2:
I believe that I would have appreciated "Lady with the Pet Dog" more if Chekhov showed them being penitent for their "sins" because it would have made the story a little more interesting if Gurov felt that there was something wrong with what he was doing. If he had shown that he new it was morally wrong and feeling guilty then I would also have felt sympathy for him but he was a very cold person throughout the story but I think it would have been more interesting because then it would have affected his known life with his wife. Then it could have continued on into the wife finding out about the affair.  Although, towards the end I really enjoyed how he was beginning to change since he fell in love with Anna; however, he did not realize he fell in love right away, it was later in the story after they had to part their separate ways. Anna, on the other hand, did show some remorse about the affair but, unfortunately, she continued to carry on with this affair she had with Gurov. I also believe that they should have done something about their affair if they truly did love each other. Secrecy gets old after a while, and I believe that they should have told their husband or wife. Then they could have been able to make it public and take it to the next step of possible marraige.

Question #3:
I do not believe that Chekhov wants us to sympathize about Gurov, I think he just wanted us to know his background and just simply understand who he is. I feel like if he really wanted us to feel sympathy for Gurov then he would have given a little more background on the wife and a better reason why he was having an affair rather than just stating that it was an arranged marraige, and she was narrow-minded. Reading this story, I felt more sympathy for Gurov's wife and Anna's Husband because of their obliviousness about the affair. Even though they did not know that anything was wrong, as the reader it is still heartbreaking to know that they are being cheated on. This point of view continually made me think about how I felt about their situation on the affair, whether it was right or wrong. In the beginning, I was getting frustrated because of Gurov's lack of emotion. It was annoying to think that someone could be that careless about his wife and about the affairs that were going on for many years; however, his character developed to be more loving and passionate when he met Anna so I really enjoyed the change in his character. My opinion of Gurov is still that he is careless because of the secrecy he continues to keep the affair and he keeps having the affair behind his wife's back. Therefore, it is still frustrating to me that everything that he loves in his life is remained in secrecy. As for me, I love sharing my happiness with others around me who are in my life so it is difficult to understand his situation and the reason behind him wanting to continue the secret affair.