compare and contarst how the banker and lawyer live their lievs druing the 15 year duration

by Katrina Windler 10 min read

What is the bet the lawyer makes with the banker?

The banker and the lawyer decide to enter into a bet, with the banker wagering that the lawyer could not withstand 5 years of imprisonment. The lawyer, young and idealistic, decides to up the ante and makes the bet longer: 15 years. If he could last to the end of his sentence, the lawyer would receive two million rubles for wining the bet.

Why does the lawyer think any life is better than none?

The lawyer believes that any life is better than none, and that life cannot be taken away by the government, since life cannot be given back if the government realizes that it made a mistake. The banker and the lawyer decide to enter into a bet, with the banker wagering that the lawyer could not withstand 5 years of imprisonment.

How does the lawyer free the banker from his debt?

To prove his seriousness, the lawyer decides to leave his prison five hours before the appointed time, and renounces his claim to the two million, thereby freeing the banker from his debt and from financial ruin. The banker cries and kisses the prisoner with relief.

How does the lawyer confirm the banker's knowledge of languages?

He takes great advantage of the banker's ability to provide any book, and asks that the banker test the result of his reading by firing two shots in the garden if his translations of several languages is indeed flawless. The banker acquiesces and confirms the lawyer's suspicion that he has mastered languages.

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What happens to the banker during the fifteen years?

He had to stay there exactly fifteen years, beginning from 12 o'clock of November 14, 1870, and ending at 12 o'clock of November, 1885. The slightest attempt on his part to break the conditions, if only two minutes before the end, released the banker from the obligation to pay him two millions.

How does the lawyer's 15 year imprisonment affect the banker the bet?

How does the lawyer's 15-year imprisonment affect the banker? The banker wishes that he had required the lawyer to stay imprisoned for longer. The banker comes to realize that he was wrong about his stance on life imprisonment. The banker mourns the life and experiences that he has deprived the lawyer of.

What is the difference between the lawyer and the banker?

The banker is a man that doesn't have high moral standards. Money is everything to him, and that is why he is willing to kill the lawyer to keep his fortune. He is still a lover of the world and its pleasures. The lawyer, on the other hand, begins the story as a man that appears to love money.

How does the lawyer spend his 15 years of imprisonment?

The lawyer told with the arrogance of youth that he can live for 15 years in solitary confinement. The lawyer was allowed to have anything in his confinement except The Human Companionship. He was given books and piano. He was allowed to write letters.

Why does the lawyer say he will stay not five but fifteen years?

1 Expert Answer The lawyer states that the life sentence would be preferable, but the banker calls his bluff, saying that he couldn't stand five years in prison. The decision by the lawyer to raise the stakes is meant to prove his point that a life sentence would be preferable to a death sentence.

What thought bothers the banker 15 years after the bet is made the bet?

Answer: The bet shouldn't have happened.

What was the amount of best between banker and lawyer?

two million rublesThey agreed to a bet: if the lawyer could spend fifteen years in total isolation, the banker would pay him two million rubles. The lawyer would have no direct contact with any other person, but could write notes to communicate with the outside world and receive whatever comforts he desired.

What was the amount between banker and lawyer?

two million dollarsThe banker puts on the line two million dollars compared to the lawyer's life worth of fifteen years. For the next fifteen years the lawyer was placed in the banker's backyard without the knowledge of the outside world.

What do the banker and the lawyer learn from the story the bet?

In Chekhov's "The Bet," the banker and the lawyer both learn the futility of their wager, as they have found that life and its conditions differ greatly from their more youthful perceptions. The lawyer learns that his sweeping statement that life on any terms is better than death is not true.

How does a lawyer spend his time?

According to a survey of 2,915 U.S. legal professionals, including some who use Clio, the lawyers devote 48 percent of their time on administrative tasks, such as licensing and continuing education, office administration, generating and sending bills, configuring technology and collections.

How did the lawyer spend the first two years in captivity?

It was decided that the lawyer would spend the years of his captivity under the strictest supervision in one of the lodges in the banker's garden. It was to be a solitary confinement for fifteen years, with no contact with the outside world, not even letters or newspapers.

How did the lawyer spend his time in confinement from the bet?

The lawyer who was shut away for fifteen years won the bet in the moral sense. In his letter to the banker, he states that though it was difficult at first to endure the solitary confinement, after a few years, he began to read in earnest. His reading opened his mind and gave him wisdom.

What does the banker remember about the lawyer?

It proves nothing. He remembers when it was decided that the lawyer would actually be imprisoned in one of the lodges in the banker's garden.

What happens to the banker after the lawyer collects on the bet?

Fifteen years later, the banker realizes that he will be ruined if the lawyer collects on the bet. He decides to kill the lawyer. However, the mentally broken lawyer has lost his faith in humanity and gives up on the bet, walking out of his cell five minutes before his sentence ends.

Why does the banker try to talk the lawyer out of it?

The banker is thrilled with the bet and has plenty of money to spend in such a frivolous way, but, over dinner, he tries to talk the lawyer out of it because the lawyer will lose years of his life. He also feels that submitting to voluntary imprisonment will be more difficult than mandatory imprisonment.

How long does a lawyer spend in prison?

An idealistic lawyer and a prominent banker bet that the lawyer can't survive fifteen years in prison. His prize if he wins will be two million rubles. The lawyer is imprisoned in the banker's garden house. Fifteen years later, the banker realizes that he will be ruined if the lawyer collects on the bet. He decides to kill the lawyer.

Why does the banker say he will leave prison early?

To prove it, he says that he will renounce the money he once dreamed of because he now despises it too , and he says that he will leave his prison five hours early, so as to officially lose the bet. The banker weeps with relief, but he feels contempt for himself.

What does the lawyer in the letter say about the banker?

In the letter, the lawyer says that he has acquired great wisdom in these years and that he has learned to despise everything that others think is great about the world.

Did the lawyer have wine and music?

It was agreed that the lawyer could have books and wine and music but no human interaction, and he could pass notes out a small window, asking for whatever he wanted. From his notes, he seemed to have been very depressed during the first year, and he played the piano a lot. He read books of a "light character.".

Learning Objectives

Determine the purpose and structure of comparison and contrast in writing.

Exercise 1

Brainstorm an essay that leans toward contrast. Choose one of the following three categories. Pick two examples from each. Then come up with one similarity and three differences between the examples.

Exercise 2

Brainstorm an essay that leans toward comparison. Choose one of the following three items. Then come up with one difference and three similarities.

Exercise 3

Create an outline for each of the items you chose in Note 10.72 “Exercise 1” and Note 10.73 “Exercise 2”. Use the point-by-point organizing strategy for one of them, and use the subject organizing strategy for the other.

What is a comparison essay?

One of the most common is the comparison/contrast essay, in which you focus on the ways in which certain things or ideas—usually two of them—are similar to (this is the comparison) and/or different from (this is the contrast) one another. By assigning such essays, your instructors are encouraging you to make connections between texts or ideas, ...

Can you talk about one point of comparison at a time?

Rather than addressing things one subject at a time, you may wish to talk about one point of comparison at a time. There are two main ways this might play out, depending on how much you have to say about each of the things you are comparing.

Is Amante quiet?

For example, you might have a topic sentence like one of these: Compared to Pepper’s, Amante is quiet. Like Amante, Pepper’s offers fresh garlic as a topping. Despite their different locations (downtown Chapel Hill and downtown Carrboro), Pepper’s and Amante are both fairly easy to get to.

Controls and taxes

Federal tax policy was highly contentious during the war, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt opposing a conservative coalition in Congress.

Personal savings

Personal income was at an all-time high, and more dollars were chasing fewer goods to purchase.

Labor

The unemployment problem of the Great Depression ended with the mobilization for war.

The South in wartime

The war marked a time of dramatic change in the poor, heavily rural South as new industries and military bases were developed by the Federal government, providing badly needed capital and infrastructure in many regions. People from all parts of the US came to the South for military training and work in the region's many bases and new industries.

Civilian support for war effort

A synagogue in New York City remained open 24 hours on D-Day (June 6, 1944) for special services and prayer.

Population movements

There was large-scale migration to industrial centers, especially the West Coast. Millions of wives followed their husbands to military camps; for many families, especially from farms, the moves were permanent. One 1944 survey of migrants in Portland, Oregon and San Diego found that three quarters wanted to stay after the war.

Role of women

Riveting team working on the cockpit shell of a C-47 transport at the plant of North American Aviation. Office of War Information photo by Alfred T. Palmer, 1942.

How is the law made?

The law is made by the judicial system of the country. Every person in the country is bound to follow the law. It clearly defines what a person must or must not do. So, in the case of the breach of law may result in the punishment or penalty or sometimes both.

Why do ethics and law go side by side?

Although, both the law and ethics are made in alignment so that they do not contradict each other. Both go side by side, as they provide how to act in a particular manner. Every person is equal in the eyes of law and ethics, i.e. nobody is superior or inferior.

What is the objective of the law?

The objective of the law is to maintain social order and peace within the nation and protection to all the citizens. Unlike, ethics that are the code of conduct that helps a person to decide what is right or wrong and how to act. The law creates a legal binding, but ethics has no such binding on the people.

Why is the law created?

It is created with the purpose of maintaining social order, peace, justice in the society and to provide protection to the general public and safeguard their interest. It is made after considering ethical principles and moral values.

Why is law important?

Law is created with an intent to maintain social order and peace in the society and provide protection to all the citizens. Ethics are made to help people to decide what is right or wrong and how to act. Law has a legal binding. Ethics do not have a binding nature.

Is ethics a law?

The law is created by the Government, which may be local, regional, national or international. On the other hand, ethics are governed by an individual, legal or professional norm s, i.e. workplace ethics, environmental ethics and so on. The law is expressed in the constitution in a written form. As opposed to ethics, it cannot be found in writing ...

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Issues

  • As the group argued, the two sides of the debate coalesced into two representatives: the banker, who is for capital punishment and believes that it is more merciful, and a lawyer, who believes that life imprisonment is the better option, due to its preservation of life. The lawyer believes that any life is better than none, and that life cannot be taken away by the government, since life cannot b…
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Example

  • The banker and the lawyer decide to enter into a bet, with the banker wagering that the lawyer could not withstand 5 years of imprisonment. The lawyer, young and idealistic, decides to up the ante and makes the bet longer: 15 years. If he could last to the end of his sentence, the lawyer would receive two million rubles for wining the bet.
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Synopsis

  • The banker cannot fathom his good fortune, and even offers the young lawyer a way out, saying that he is being hasty and foolish. Nevertheless, the lawyer decides to stick to his word and the bet is carried out.
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Plot

  • For fifteen years, the lawyer lives on the banker's property, in a small lodge, and has no human contact. He can have any item that he desires. At first, the lawyer does not comfort himself with any liquor or tobacco, confining himself to playing the piano. But as the years progress, he gives in and spends much of his time drunk or asleep.
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Contents

  • Later, the main focus of his time becomes books, as he searches for adventures and comforts that he cannot possess physically. He takes great advantage of the banker's ability to provide any book, and asks that the banker test the result of his reading by firing two shots in the garden if his translations of several languages is indeed flawless. The banker acquiesces and confirms the la…
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Plot summary

  • With this in mind, the banker goes to investigate how the lawyer is doing. He finds that his prisoner is asleep at his desk, looking much older and careworn than he ever imagined him to be. After observing him for a few seconds, the banker notices a letter on the table.
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Analysis

  • Through this story, Chekov demonstrates the pitfalls of idealism and the foolishness of youth. Had the lawyer been older and wiser, he would never have decided so impulsively to go through with this bet. Had he had a family, a wife, childrenany support structure that depended on himhe would not have agreed. So the bet also demonstrates the selfishness of man and youth. With no…
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Reviews

  • It is very interesting that Chekov does not show the readers the thoughts of the lawyer as he makes this bet. The only time that we see the thoughts of the lawyer clearly is later in the story, through a letter. We never see the lawyer's thought process wholly unvarnished and unfiltered, as we often see the thoughts of the banker. This allows the lawyer to remain a pure model of ideali…
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Themes

  • The story also shows the toll that separation from human society can take on a person. Whereas at first the lawyer was full of virtue, eschewing wine and tobacco, he later gives himself in to his vices, drinking and smoking constantly. He has lost some of his idealism, even as he continues to seek to prove it, and himself, right. The story is left rather open-ended, with the reader left with a …
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Criticism

  • The banker does feel some contempt for himself, but the story does not give the reader much more detail than that. It is possible that the banker struggles with his decisions for the rest of his life as he does choose to hold onto the lawyer's last letter, but it is equally possible that he simply forgets about the lawyer in a few years time, locking away all thought of him from his mind.
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