Anton Chekhov, author of "The Bet" chooses to tell his story primarily through flashback for a couple of reasons. First of all, it is an interesting way to tell a story! Secondly, and perhaps the most important reason, is that if Chekhov had told the story in chronological order, it might have been a novel instead of a short story. The flashback technique gives the reader the story much more quickly. We learn the reason for the bet, we learn bits and pieces about each of the main characters. We learn how the lawyer spends his time while he is imprisoned. Finally, we see the story play out as the banker decides to kill the lawyer, the lawyer writes his letter saying he will forfeit the two million dollars, and the banker feeling temporarily ashamed of himself as he discovers the letter.
In other words, the flashback moves the story forward and develops the characters quickly. If this story had been written in the order in which it occurred, we readers might have had to go through all those fifteen years of imprisonment with the lawyer. The flashback gives us enough information that we can get to the deeper story and meaning without doing that.
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