Chekhov’s story was characterized by his character’s detached reflections and descriptions of everything that happened to him and of everything around him. The dialogue in Chekhov’s story was very limited, keeping the story and the character very introspective. His description of their kissing in the middle of page 183 is a great example of this; in the midst of such a passionate moment we see an analysis of how they kissed and who was watching and where they were and what it smelled like and… but these tangents never seem to be tangents, Chekhov always makes them belong. Even though the reader saw the story through the eyes of Gurov, it felt more as if it were through the lense of an objective bystander. Oates’ story was much more involved with the character, much more emotional with more movement and action taking place; her story unfolds in an active, broken manner, while Chekhov’s is passive and linear.
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” it was neat how the wallpaper transformed and took on many roles, not only of the setting, but of a character, a foil, and of the plot as well; the wallpaper was everything in the story. It alone moved the plot, it was as an important character as John, it revealed and developed the character of our protagonist. And the ending was just bizarre.
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