BIKING Around Town

I am a big fan of biking, even when I don't know how to. But I've certainly would have found myself also scolded by the male protagonist Byelinov from the play Man In A Case which is based on Anton Chekhov's short story, and is adapted by Wendy Wasserstein.

Summarizing the long story short, the play Man In A Case is about an argument between two recently engaged couple. Varinka, the female lead, is a free spirited lady who revels in her bike around town in excitement for her recent engagement with an honored man named Byelinkov. Byelinkov however, upon seeing his fiancee, recoils at how improper Varinka’s image to the public is for riding a bike; which presumably in that era is improper for woman to do. However when he wants spare the humility of anyone seeing Varinka riding the bike and returning it, Byelinkov falls awkwardly to the ground. Varinka being a free spirited, laughs at how funny her fiancée looks, but Byelinkov finds this as an insult.

I personally believe that Man In A Case is a symbolising the contradiction between caring a lot about what other people thinks, or simply ignoring them all and be happy. I believe that Byelinkov is a man who lives his life in fear of change and being different. I believe that Byelinkov is portraying the mechanics of rules and laws, where they are inflexible and cannot accommodate to freedom and happiness - which is portrayed by a free spirited Varinka. The bicycle represents the medium of achieving happiness, which is not very pleasant in public eyes. This two different point of views will later result in arguments and later separation of the two protagonists.

I personally love how Varinka chose to be happy without caring about what the public thinks of her. I think that the most important thing in the world is to be who you are, despite of what others think of you. Why be afraid to be amazing? And finally, talking about bikes, here's a picture of me trying on the GOOGLE BIKE! Don't tell Google I sneaked in to try this bike out!