In 1876, Chekhov's father went bankrupt. From then on, Chekhov's family was very poor. Anton Chekhov had to pay for his own education. He paid for it by tutoring (teaching) other students, catching birds and selling them, and writing short stories for newspapers. When he had extra money, he sent it to his family. While he was at school, he read many books by famous authors, for example Miguel de Cervantes and Arthur Schopenhauer.