The Bet by Anton Chekhov

I have always been interested in the mystery genre of writing. One great story that I have read recently from this genre is called The Bet by Anton Chekhov. This mysterious story is about a young man who, in a heated discussion about the death penalty, stakes his freedom in a bet. The young man believes that life, no matter what condition it may be in, is better than death. Another man that was in this conversation, a wealthy banker, believed that the death penalty is much better than living life in a consolidated jailhouse. After the young man, a lawyer, stated that life is always better than death, the banker declared that nobody would be able to spend five years of their life in a consolidated jail on their own will, and he placed two million dollars on this bet. The young man quickly stated that he would take the banker up on this bet, but would stay not five, but fifteen years! The two quickly made a deal, and the young man was to live the next fifteen years of his life in a jail by himself, with nothing but books and musical instruments for his leisure. If the young man could achieve this, he would be a very wealthy man. The story does not end here, but I don't want to spoil the ending for those who may want to read The Bet.

I liked this story very much because it grasped my interest at the very beginning, and held it until the story was finished. When I found out that this young lawyer would be wasting the best years of his life for wealth, I could not wait to find out if he could actually keep his side of the bargain. Also I wondered, "what would he do with the wealth if he actually won the bet?" A major question that came to mind while reading The Bet was "Why did this young man feel that money is worth the best years of his life?" "Possibly he did not have a good life", or "Maybe he was a very materialistic man" were my thoughts at first. Later in the story I found out that neither of my assumptions were correct, but this young lawyer had different views on life than most people.

For the most part, I enjoyed this story very much because of it's grasping introduction and strange ending, but there were some aspect of it that I did not find as appealing. One part of the story that I did not like so much was that there were many pieces of information that seemed to be left unexplained. For example, we find out if the lawyer wins the money or not, but his life after that is not talked about at all. Also, the banker who may have to pay the two million dollars falls into debt, and the reader is not told how his life continues after the fifteen long years. There were a few things that I did not like about this story, but overall I think it is a wonderful work of literature.

I do recommend this piece of literature for several previously stated reasons, such as the grasping introduction and the interesting conclusion. I'm sure that once started, this story will not fail to keep you interested until the very end.