Read the excerpt below from the short story “The Bet” by Anton P. Chekhov and complete the instruction that follows. “You are mad, and gone the wrong way. You take falsehood for truth and ugliness for beauty. You would marvel if suddenly apple and orange trees should bear frogs and lizards instead of fruit, and if roses should begin to breathe the odor of a sweating horse. So do I marvel at you, who have bartered heaven for earth. I do not want to understand you . . . .”

Identify how Chekhov’s background and beliefs may have influenced his short story “The Bet.”