How do these early Chekhov stories differ in structure, content, and tone from stories we have read by Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy? What can you say about these differences?

What sorts of moral evaluations or presentations of events to we find in Chekhov’s stories? Why do you suppose he writes them this way?

Describe the surprising moral shift that takes place in “At Sea: a Sailor’s Story”

Why does the landowner let the peasant hunter go free in “He Understood”?

What side of human nature does Chekhov illuminate in “The Jailer Jailed”?

What side of human nature does Chekhov illuminate in “Ninochka, a love story”?

What is the cause of the pianist’s hysteria in “The Dance Pianist”?

Choose any major theme from Chekhov, and compare his approach to it to the approach found in another author we have read.

If Tolstoy’s main themes were “life” and “death”, what is Chekhov’s main theme?