“The Problem” Literary Analysis

Everyone makes mistakes sometime in their lifetime. Without consequences, people wouldn’t learn from their mistakes. In Anton Chekhov's short story “A Problem” Sasha made a mistake, and isn’t owning up to his consequences. As a child, Sasha received practically no education, lost his parents and had been expelled from high school in the fifth class. He grew up as an orphan, and made poor choices. Sasha made a mistake, and is only going to learn from it if he has consequences. Babying Sasha isn’t going to help him learn his lesson.
Even though Sasha made a mistake, his family needs to stop babying him so he can learn his lesson. Sasha doesn’t deserve sympathy for making a big mistake. “Even if he were guilty, anyway he deserved indulgence and the sympathy of all compassionate souls.” (p.2). His family is babying Sasha, by sympathizing with him and not giving him punishments for anything he does. Without a punishment, Sasha isn’t going to learn his lesson. “Listen. If you don’t, I’ll give myself up tomorrow! I won’t let you pay the IOU! I’ll present another false note tomorrow!” (p.5). Sasha needs to be told no by his family. By not telling him no, it’s ruining his structure of life and letting him do whatever he wants. If Sasha would have been sent to Siberia, for harsh punishment, then maybe he would’ve learned his lesson. Even though Sasha had a slip of the tongue, he still has the possibility to change. Everyone makes an error in their life at some point. “...even great men have not escaped errors and mistakes in their youth.’ (p.2). People learn from their mistakes, because everyone makes them. If Sasha doesn’t have consequences then he is not going to learn from his mistake. “Uncle, lend me a hundred roubles,” he said to Ivan Markovitch. His uncle, surprised, looked into his face and backed against