“Sometimes you will not know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory” (Dr. Seuss). Have you ever had something that you didn’t care about until you had it taken away? The short story “The Bet” is about a lawyer and a banker who both bet on whether capital punishment (death) or life imprisonment is the worse punishment. The banker says that death is a better choice of the two, while the young lawyer argued the contrary. In order to prove that imprisonment is more tolerable, the lawyer agrees to be taken away from everything and  imprisoned for fifteen years in which at the end he would receive 2 million rubles. The author Anton Chekhov through directly stating, by having the characters learn a lesson, with the setting, and by using irony of the story “The Bet” reveals that we need to value human life, and freedom. 

First, the idea that people need to value human life and freedom is conveyed in this short story through the author directly stating it in the text. In the story the young lawyer directly says that the things in this world are worthless and he hates all of it: “And I despise your books, I despise wisdom and the blessings of this world. It is all worthless, fleeting, illusory, and deceptive, like a mirage” (Chekhov 215). This shows that we need to value life because the earthly things are valueless; in one moment we have them and in the next we don’t. Therefore, everyone has to treasure life and freedom can be seen written directly in the text.

Moreover, that we all have to treasure life and freedom is revealed through the characters learning a lesson. In “The Bet” the lawyer learns that the earthly things that he used to value actually don't hold any value: “I renounce the two million of which I once dreamed as of paradise and which now I despise” (Chekhov 216). This exhibits that he learned not to value the worthless earthly things because he refuses the two million, which he wouldn't have if he wouldn't have learned that the worldly things don't have worth. Accordingly, the story shows that it is important to admire life and freedom through what the character learns.

Furthermore, men, women, and children should all cherish freedom and life, and this can be seen through the story’s lonesome setting. The lawyer was held in the little lodge isolated from life with the strictest supervisions. “It was agreed that for fifteen years he should not be free to cross the threshold of the lodge, to see human beings, to hear the human voice, or to receive letters and newspapers…. By the terms of the agreement , the only relations he could have with the outer world were by a little window made purposely for that object” (Chekhov 212). This shows how life is without freedom; a dark lonely world. This betrays that we have to appreciate freedom and life and treat others well, while we have them, because it might not  always be like that. Thus, the setting shows that it is important to admire life and freedom. 

Last, the author makes his point that everyone needs to prize the life and freedom that they are given through the use of irony. For instance, when the lawyer rejects the two million rubles. In the letter to the banker he writes “...I renounce the two million… I shall go out form here five minutes before the time fixed and so break the compact…” (Chekhov 216). The lawyer  breaks the agreement because he knows that the money doesn't hold any value but freedom does. Irony in the story shows that human life and freedom have to be valued greatly not the temporal things. 

In conclusion, the short story “The Bet” by Chekhov reveals that we need to value human life, and freedom. First, the lawyer directly states in his letter that what is in this world is worthless. Second, the lawyer learns that the earthly things he thought were precious he doesn't anymore. Third, the setting also helps portray the theme because it shows that to live without freedom and human life. Fourth, the irony of the lawyer losing the bet on purpose, shows that things in this world are not important. Therefore, we all have to value life and freedom before it is too late and becomes just a memory.