The Darling
why does Chekhov uses specific male characters that appears in the story?
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Simply, men in this story are portrayed as opinionated individuals with some purpose, be that as a theatre owner, an entrepreneurial lumber merchant, a veterinarian trying to make it on his own, or a young boy working to become a doctor or engineer. Women, on the other hand, are presented in much vaguer terms. Olenka takes part in whatever the man who is the focus of her life at that moment is engaged with, but doesn't do much of her own. The other women we encounter fall roughly into some stereotype: the old woman Olenka drinks tea with, Smirnin's estranged wife who is basically a non-entity, the various women Olenka encounters at the market, church, or post office. Men are portrayed as driven, and women, generally, are there as background.