Kim Jae Min Reading Journal Blog

 The lady with the dog, By Anton Chekhov (1899) 8.5/10 For the first two parts of the story, I supposed this story was either an immoral, outrageous propaganda written to beautify cheating on partners, or a sort of cliché tragedy in which impossible love leads to emotional suicides and murders and such. Therefore, I was surprised when the author ended the story with the two lovers agonizing about their future. However. once I read the story again and thought about it a few days after my first run, I felt that the behaviors of Gurov and Anna is something that should not be judged by our modern mindset. Instead, I began to understand the reason of their actions. A man internally disgusted by his monotonous life who never thought he would find real love met a woman he could finally love. What they thought to be a short immoral entertainment became the most important thing of their life, saving them from the distress of life. Although I won’t change my thoughts that what Gurov and ...

 The Student, By Anton Chekhov (1894) Ratings: 8/10  The plot of this story is very simple. The main character Ivan finishes his hunt, visits a family of two widows, tells them a story, and leaves. However in this short, simple series of actions, Ivan learns something immensely complex and important. What I liked about the story was that Ivan's recognition wasn't caused by something drastic and fancy. Instead, it started with simple everyday actions with simple everyday people. I think the author wanted us to understand that life and it's beauty is able to be found everywhere every moment. Chekhov emphasized this even more by Ivan finding out the meanings and beauty of life not from dramatic and important events, but from a humble experience. What I found a bit awkward about this story is that Ivan's enlightenment is based strongly on Christian faith. Although I knew what his story was about, having read the bible, I found the whole escalation of feelings unnatural. Sti...

 In the stage four of the hero's journey, the hero of the story meets a mentor who provides the hero with wise advises and various forms of guidance. In the case of Anton Chekhov's short story "The Student", I believe this stage of the hero's journey does not exist. Instead of getting help from a mentor, the story's hero Ivan develops his own point of view from his experiences. One may argue that the two widows Vasilisa and Lukerya's reactions affected Ivan make his conclusion, but I believe that these two women were more of a background than actual characters. This story focuses in Ivan and his inner thoughts, leaving no place for a mentor of some kind.

 A Sound of Thunder, By Ray Bradbury (1952) Rating: 7/10   What I found most interesting about this story was that the story’s hero Eckels is someone I found very hard to call a ‘hero’, both in the literary way and the realistic way. Realistically, Eckels is more of a weak-kneed coward who ended up changing the history of the world in a bad way. Still, I found him rather sympathetic. This is because Eckels was never in control of the situation, which is why I found him different with the heroes of other stories. I felt that unlike most heroes, Eckels is not important at all. To me, he felt like a mere implement to progress the story. Instead of focusing on him, the author spent most of the story on explaining the whole ‘time travel’ concept. Although I’m a bit disappointed about how uncharacteristic Eckels is, I’m not that angry with the author’s choice. By ignoring the main character, Bradbury was able to push his unique ideas to the limit and create his own special t...