Ryan M. answers “What did Maggie's paperweight, Checkov's...”

Amanda asked this question about NOS4A2:

What did Maggie's paperweight, Checkov's gun, represent? I don't get the joke.

Ryan M. LMGTFY, from Wikipedia:

Chekhov's gun is a dramatic principle that states that every element in a story must be necessary, and irrelevant elements shou…moreLMGTFY, from Wikipedia:

Chekhov's gun is a dramatic principle that states that every element in a story must be necessary, and irrelevant elements should be removed; elements should not appear to make "false promises" by never coming into play. The statement is recorded in letters by Anton Chekhov several times, with some variation:[1][2][3]

"Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there."[3][4]
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