Tom Lake

Although the novel only references the Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard (see Background) directly on a few occasions, by setting Tom Lake in a cherry orchard, Ann Patchett draws a connection to the famous play and its themes.

Duke brought up The Cherry Orchard when he and Lara visited the Nelson farm. In response to the sight of their orchard, Duke recited some of the lines spoken by Lopakhin, an upstart merchant scheming to buy the estate at the heart of the play from its aristocratic owners: “‘As you know,’ he said in a voice both animated and conspiratorial, ‘your cherry orchard is to be sold for your debts; the auction is set for August twenty-second, but don’t you worry, my dear, you just sleep in peace, there’s a way out of it. Here’s my plan. Please listen to me’” (167). Lara sees Lopakhin as an interloper “looking to install himself in Lyubov Andreevna’s cherry orchard, in her family—new money legitimized by shabby aristocracy” (168). This observation foreshadows Duke’s insistence on claiming a piece of the farm for himself.

Much later, when Duke visited the farm when Joe and Lara lived there with their young daughters, he again recited the same lines to Emily—a fitting bookend to his many attempts to buy the orchard from Maisie and Ken, and his eventual settling for a plot in the family cemetery.

When Lara and Joe finally learn about Duke’s obsession with the farm in the novel’s present, Duke’s preoccupation with Lopakhin rings differently. Duke seemingly recognized that his desire to own the orchard sprang from the same place as Lopakhin’s: the wish to own what cannot be bought.