How we cite our quotes: (Act.Line)
Quote #4
Vershinin: All right, let's agree that this town is backward and vulgar, and let's suppose now that out of all its thousands of inhabitants there are only three people like you. Of course you won't be able to overcome the unenlightened mass that surrounds you… (1.143)
Vershinin is a real big-picture thinker. He doesn't get upset about the backwardness of the town because he's focusing on 200 years from then. And here, he throws a bit of shade at the sisters for taking on a holier-than-thou attitude all the time.
Quote #5
Kulygin: This little book contains the names of all those who have graduated from our high school over the last fifty years. (1.150)
Ugh. So boring! Kulygin's gift to Irina indicates how isolated and provincial this town is. It's like someone giving you the phone book for Back Swamp, North Carolina and saying you're welcome.
Quote #6
Ferapont: I dunno… Can't hear too well.
Andrey: If you could hear, I wouldn't be telling you all this. I have to talk to someone. My wife doesn't understand me; I'm afraid of my sisters, I don't know why. (2.22)
Andrey doesn't just complain about being marooned in a podunk town. His isolation is all emotional and since he feels that he has no one to turn to, he tells his troubles to the deaf servant.