In his early satires Anton Chekhov ironizes the influence of wealth and property on relations between the sexes. In the "The Proposal" the landowner Lomow does not come to ask the neighbor Natalia for her hand, since they always start to argue. In the "The Bear" the landowner Smirnov wants to collect outstanding debts from her deceased husband with the widow Popova. The ensuing conflict brings a challenge to a duel.