The Cherry Orchard

Main Ideas

• A transitional moment in Russian history, marking the decline of old aristocratic values and the rise of new bourgeois ones
• The impossibility of returning to the past, the inevitability of change and new beginnings
• The conflict between the old and the new, aristocracy and bourgeoisie
• The loss of home as a metaphor for the loss of roots, belonging, and life's meaning
• The illusions and self-deception of the characters as a way of existing in a changing world
• The theme of missed opportunities, unrealized hopes, and personal bankruptcy