"The Bet" by Anthon Chekov - MY THOUGHTS

16 MAR 2018 Daily Entry

I was asked to read a short excerpt from the "The Bet" by Anthon Chekov this morning. I did not show any signs of interest in the story when it started off with the description of an old banker until it got to the climax when the scene flashed back to fifteen years ago.

The climax was when the banker argued with a young lawyer aged five-and-twenty over whether death penalty is worse than life imprisonment. Soon after the impulsive young lawyer bet the banker that he would stay in solitary confinement for fifteen years and would get two millions from the banker when the time was up in return.

In those fifteen years, the lawyer was provided whatever he wanted by the banker. His emotional and mental states had been fluctuating in the first few years until he started ordering all kinds of books and eventually the Gospel. He had absorbed all the knowledge from the books into his brain, especially the Gospel which he found to have profound meaning.

In the end, the lawyer had become more knowledgeable than he would have be.

In my opinion, the bet was so ridiculous and stupid which I believe normal human beings would definitely not do this. However, just when i thought the lawyer would have wasted his best fifteen years of his life in the room, it turned out to be that he had learnt so much in those fifteen years. So I'm thinking that sometimes when we assume the things that we are doing is meaningless, they might turn out to be meaningful. Some people around us may seem to behave in their own ways which are deemed to be stupid by us, but their weirdness might turn out to be their own unique feature in the future leading to success, who knows?

PLEASE TRY TO CORRECT ALL MY MISTAKES OR AT LEAST TELL ME WHERE TO IMPROVE ON. I REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR HELP!

Hi, I think you did a good job. I am not sure exactly what the assignment is, but you gave a pretty good summary of the story and your thoughts on it. Here are some specific suggestions:

I did not show any signs of interest in the story when {better to say "the story showed no signs of interesting me ..."}

flashed back to fifteen years [before].

... aged five-and-twenty {why not "twenty-five"?}

over whether [the] death penalty

banker that he [could] stay in ...

would get [two million dollars/pounds/marks] from the banker

more knowledgeable than he would have [been].

the bet was so ridiculous and stupid [that] I believe ...

wasted [the] best fifteen years

the things that we are doing [are] meaningless,

unique feature in [their] future leading to success

@TJLuschen
This is not exactly an assignment but just a diary that I would like to keep on practicing every day in order to improve my English. Thank you so much! Your suggestion is really helpful!