The Lottery Ticket by Anton Chekhov

Question

"It's very nice making daydreams at other people's expensel" is what her eyes expressed. "No, don't you darel" Her husband understood her look; hatred began stirring again in his breast, and in order to annoy his wife he glanced quickly, to spite her at the fourth page on the newspaper and read out triumphantly: 'Series 9,499, number 46! Not 26!" Hatred and hope both disappeared at once, and it began immediately to seem to Ivan and his wife that their rooms were dark and small and low-pitched, that the supper they had been eating was not doing them good, but lying heavy on their stomachs, that the evenings were long and wearisome.

Explain how the theme was developed using specific details from the text. Use the sentence starter below to begin your answer.

The theme is developed through

Answer 1

the characters' reactions to the lottery ticket results. Ivan's initial excitement and hope quickly turn to disappointment and annoyance when he realizes he did not win. His wife's expression of "hatred" towards him when he read out the winning number shows how the lottery ticket brought out negative feelings in both of them. This shows that their daydreams and hopes for a better life were dependent on the outcome of the lottery, highlighting the theme of materialism and the fleeting nature of luck and chance. The dark and suffocating atmosphere that overcomes them after the disappointment further reinforces the theme of the emptiness of their dreams and desires.