decision, it wononly be your cherry orchard, but your whole estate .
that will be sold at auction on the twenty-second of August. Make up .
your mind. I tell you there is no other way. (Page 621-622).
This inability on the behalf of the family to realize the .
seriousness of their situation is due to their refusal to accept .
reality. If they had recognized the situation they were in, and .
dealt with it, (they may have been able to save some of their money, .
or even curbed their spending) they could have saved themselves. .
Unfortunately, once things got bad for them financially, they refused .
to accept that fact that circumstances had changed, and instead .
continued to live as though nothing were wrong. .
They adopted this illusion as a savior of their pride, and the .
illusion eventually became reality for the family. Their pride .
wouldnallow for anything else. They were too proud to accept that .
their social status, and financial status was in jeopardy, so they .
chose to live a life of illusion. In their imaginary situation, they .
were going to be fine. It is easier to believe something when you .
really want it to be true. Unfortunately, outside situations don't .
change, even if you can fool yourself into thinking they don't exist. .
.
The illusion that they used to run their lives became the .
source of their downfall. Since they grasped at their illusion so .
tightly, in vain hopes that it would replace reality, they failed to .
deal practically with their problem, until it got to the point where .
they had to. They were kicked out onto the street, and had all of .
their material things taken from them. The most important thing they .
had -- their status -- was gone.
In A Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen, property and status are .
again destined to be lost. The illusion is twisted. At the beginning .
of the play, Nora leads a life under the illusion that everything was .
perfect. She lives for eight years with the knowledge that she has .
