world lit journal_yewon

The lady with the dog, Anton Chekhov Rating: 5.5/10 After reading this book, for a moment, I wondered what it was going to talk about. There were no special events or any kind of meaningful lessons, and the author was just depicting an affair of very ordinary people. It was a pity that since it is a fiction story, it could be portrayed as reasonable even it isn’t morally correct. In addition, it seems Grove treats Anna as a woman who entertains him, rather than respects her as a human being, and I think it shows the limitations of the affair novel. However, to evaluate this short story itself, the beautiful style was impressive. Even it is dealing with a problematic relationship, the beautiful expressions, vivid descriptions makes me felt like I was in the scene.

  The Student, by Anton Chekhov Rating: 7/10 This book shows the epiphany of a boy through the short content. It's only 3 pages long, but the boy at the beginning and end of the story is completely different. Ivan tells the widows some stories about Jesus and Jews. After they heard the story, they showed signs of discomfort. The widows' reactions have caused Ivan to reinterpret his view of the past and present. At the beginning of the story, Ivan had a pessimistic view of life and thought that the passage of time made no difference. But after he left the house, he believes that human emotions are always the same and therefore time can link everyone. And now he takes an optimistic view of life, focusing on the positives.

A Sound of Thunder, by Ray Bradbury Rating: 8/10      Even it is a short and easy story, the message it contains is impressive. In fact, the theme of a time machine, or a story about transcending time and space and leaves for the past is kind of common among the books these days, but considering that it was written in the 1950s, I think it is an amazing work that these contents were all originated from one’s imagination. The reason I gave this story a high score is that since it has an interesting plot, it’s easy to read. But at the same time, it naturally conveys meaningful lessons which is ‘past actions affect the distant future.’ Furthermore, in addition to the story of the ‘butterfly effect’, it also contained a social message through emphasizing the importance of social responsibility and discretion for a person's actions. The more I read, the deeper I can feel the meaning of this story.