Grasshopper - Sphinx
Athlete - Black
Rex - Vulture
Max - Shadow
Boring - Larry
Crybaby - Horse
Vacuum cleaner -
Puffy - Solomon
Death - Red
Magician - Jack
Mole - Leopard
Questions that I would call purely technical. Most of them have already been answered by the readers themselves. Nevertheless:
The three-fingered man in black is Ralph. The child that the Rat brings to him is the former Godmother.
The waitress, naturally, is Red. Her son, naturally, is Fat. They are waiting, of course, for the Lord.
Man with a Crow - Humpback. Rat Fairy - Rat. The kids in the truck are unreasonable.
The Vulture has two legs. Skull was killed on the night of his high school seniors' graduation. The Wolf ordered the Macedonian to remove the Blind Man from the House. In the chapter “Confession of the Red Dragon,” Makedonsky says: “I did not tell him (the Blind) whom I was ordered to put on a chain outside the threshold of the house. He could decide that he owes me, and I didn’t want that.”
Little Blind in the epilogue is taken by the Sphinx from an alternate reality. There was no way he could pull it out of his past, because it had already happened. He received the opportunity to change something in one of the realities (or even kidnap someone from there) thanks to a pen - a gift from Tabaca.
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“I confess that I like questions that arise not from inattention, but rather from the fact that the topic itself in the book is not sufficiently covered.
Why does Red wait for the Lord, although she loves the Blind?
Short answer: Red loves the Lord, not the Blind Man.
And the long answer looks like this:
The epilogue is divided into four parts. Appearance. An old, different appearance (or a different circle). Tales from the other side. “Fairy Tales” is the world of the underside of the House, where the Sleepers went, i.e. Jumpers and Walkers. There are only five Walkers in the House. Blind, Sphinx, Red, Rat and Lord. Perhaps there are even six of them, if the Macedonian is also a Walker, which I personally am not sure of. Walkers go to other worlds completely, without leaving a body in the real world. In another world they are also called Guides because they can walk through worlds. The world of the underside of the House (a very conditional definition) has its own underside, a little more fabulous than our world, and it, in turn, has the world of the Forest - completely fabulous. And the guide can take someone there with him.
Red's love for Blind has a direct bearing on the fact that he is a Walker, and Red has been dreaming since childhood of a handsome prince who will take her with him to a fairy tale. And if you reread “The Redhead’s Tale,” it becomes clear that she found her prince. Only it turned out to be not the Blind Man, but the Lord. “The Redhead’s Tale” coincides in time with the Lord’s first “leap” to the inside of the House, after which he is taken outside. That is, with his story told on the last Night of Fairy Tales. Their meeting in another world occurs even before the Lord in the second book meets Red and falls in love with her. Therefore, the Lord does not recognize her in Klopovnik.
Red's childhood love for Blind is more of a self-hypnosis than a genuine feeling. She was too young during the time of Jonathan the Seagull and had virtually no contact with the Blind Man over the following years. But this is a long-standing and persistent self-hypnosis. All the people close to Red know about him. And naturally, she is ashamed to admit to herself that she has betrayed this feeling. In addition, like every old resident of the House, Red is a snob, for her those who arrived in the House relatively recently are second-class people. And Lord is just one of those. In addition, he is very handsome, for Red this is more of a minus than a plus. They are not connected by common childhood memories that old-timers value so highly. The Lord “without a week” (as Tabaka put it) who was in the House became a Walker almost immediately. From the first move. And I didn't even notice it. The redhead is mortally jealous of him. Hence their endless quarrels and showdowns. He is the one who can make her dream come true and the one who, unlike the Blind Man, will do it with joy. It's enough to ask. Or at least hint. Therefore, she will neither ask nor hint. And only at the very last moment won't stand it. Her “fairy tale” is both a declaration of love and a cry for help, which she funnyly concludes with the assurance that “she will never ask for anything.” Although I just asked. And the Lord immediately responds. He gives the wheel from the watch to the Vulture, and of course he will not only find Red on the wrong side of the House, but will also transfer her and Tolstoy from this world to that one entirely, as she wanted. In the chapter “Voices from the Outside,” Red will tell the Smoker that some of the Sleepers have “evaporated.” Those. Some of them were taken away by the conductor."
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The children at home have normal intelligence. Slightly above average, if you don’t focus on wheelchair users and the most well-read walkers. In the third, the Vulture has no one to talk to about either music or painting. The second one also does not leave the impression of intellectuals. And quoting Latin sayings does not mean that Pheasants know Latin. It’s just that closed communities have their own concepts of what is necessary and what is not needed, and the most unexpected ways to diversify life. The mind of any teenager requires food; the mind of a teenager with physical disabilities needs this food more than his healthy peer. In a place where entertainment is limited board games, cards, chess and a library, it is not surprising that there are a certain number of well-read people. In addition, in the 4th there was additional factor in the person of the Wolf - a passionate reader who infects those around him with his passion. And even imposing it on others.
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When the Blind Man says that he says goodbye to everyone who returns for another round, does this mean that he himself will not be there? That is, did he go into the Forest completely, or will he still be Blind in that alternate reality where Stinky watches the arrival of the Grasshopper?
The fact that the Grasshopper comes to the House at the end of the book is a conscious decision by the Sphinx to return for another round?
Only Tabaqui remembers the previous circles or does everyone returning remember them?
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The blind man says goodbye to Tabaqui and the Vulture who are leaving for another circle, whom they will never meet again.
Circles are other lives. They do not appear sequentially, but exist in parallel. Only Tabaqui is able to move from circle to circle, retaining the memory of other lives. On another circle there cannot be the same Blind Man and the same Sphinx that were on this one. In the House where Stinky greets the Grasshopper, there must be another little Blind Man who will not greet the Grasshopper, because he has no idea about him. It is not a fact, by the way, that the Grasshopper will be called Grasshopper there, and not something else. So this is a conditional Grasshopper.
There can be no talk of any conscious decision by the Sphinx. His retreat into the outside was conscious. If he wanted to return to another circle, he would have asked Tabaca for a gear, like the Vulture.
Only Tabaqui retains the memory. After some time, the vulture will stop remembering its past life. Although he will still have some skills, habits and inexplicable phobias that are not characteristic of the young Rex. He will be different. More mature. More careful. And he will always be afraid of losing his brother. It's like the transmigration of souls. The soul of an adult has moved into a child and there will be no real child in that circle of life.
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The Rat and the Blind Man. Both are walkers. Both go into the same world, undoubtedly their relationship can develop further. Although they are loners and quite unpredictable, so it is difficult to make any predictions. It is also difficult for me to judge the degree of authenticity of their love. So far they have chosen each other, and what will happen next is unknown.
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The question is this: Red says that he knows which of the three daughters he loves, well, logically, the one who is not red, but who is this daughter from???
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Red loves more the one of the daughters who, it seems to him (although he agrees that this is rather self-hypnosis), is somewhat similar to Red. She is undoubtedly a redhead, but maybe lighter than her dad and has freckles. And her mother is the same as the other children. He told the Smoker that all his children were from one wife.
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What role did the smoker’s diary play in what was happening? The vulture's records have disappeared, so those who went to the next round disappear from the lives of those who remained? then why did some guy (white-bellied, it seems) ask the smoker to write about him in his diary? said that he was only on the first lap and he needed to fix himself wherever possible? why do it if it disappears?
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The Smoking Man's Diary plays a mystical role only in the imagination of the residents of the House, who are inclined to leave traces wherever possible. On the walls of the House, on the asphalt, on the trees... It seems to them that the more such traces they leave (are recorded), the more chances they have to appear in the House on another circle. But this is just folklore. After all, even Stinky Tobacco is not sure that the Sphinx will appear in the House again, hence his joy when this happens.
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Where did the idea for writing this book come from, what inspired or prompted its creation??? I’m looking forward to your answer :)
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It’s difficult for me to answer about the idea. It wasn’t like one day an idea suddenly appeared. Or I don't remember anymore. The first passage that was written on the House is the one where the Blind Man enters the Forest. He was then separate, on his own. He just smelled like some kind of long story. From many such pieces, the overall picture gradually emerged.
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Children abandoned by their parents grow up early. And eighteen-year-olds who have lived in another world for several years, too. The Sphinx is one of the few Jumpers whose age can be easily calculated. 18+6. Total 25. A little younger than you. The Lord's maturation takes place more clearly. At the beginning of the book he is approximately seventeen years old. The first jump lasts four months and I don't know how many more times he jumped, but by the third book he is older than the Sphinx.
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Gear - moving to another circle. A pen is an opportunity to get there and change something.
The Lord wanted to get to another circle before he got to the House on this circle. I wanted to be an old-timer. Live in the House longer than you have lived. I wanted to love Red from childhood, and to know her from childhood, like the Sphinx, the Blind and the Red, and not meet her at 18 years old. He wanted Red to perceive him as her own. This is a complex. He doubts her feelings. He wants more intimacy with her. The same as the former “Plague-Deaths” have. He is jealous of them all. The Lord expects that on another circle he will be in the House earlier than on this one, because on this one he became a Walker.
As Tabaqui told him, it is not a fact that once he finds himself in the House and forgets his previous life, he will fall in love with Red, but this does not stop the Lord.
The vulture will relive part of his childhood. Whether his brother will die, I don’t know. Perhaps not. This will be a different life.
The Feather and Stinky's meeting with the fictitious Grasshopper are in no way connected. The blind man will of course be in that other House, unless this is the circle from which the Sphinx pulled him out.
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I have a strange relationship with some of the books I read. I can't calm down, I can't think about anything else but them until I write a review. This is kind of my reader's confession. But this happened to me very, very rarely.
Our relationship with the House did not develop right away. In general, who imagines books written in the genre " magical realism", now they will understand me. This is a very specific, subtle genre that is either loved or exactly the opposite. I love it, very much. I like not to understand a lot in a book written in this spirit.
I didn’t understand everything in the House either. Yes, that's true, and I don't consider myself a bad reader after this. When you are almost suddenly surrounded by a decent number of characters, giving them nicknames that change during the course of the plot, and no one directly tells you about this, it is not easy to read. But who said that this is an easy work?
The second part almost disappointed me. She somehow sank into my consciousness and did not leave vivid impression, unlike the first one, where you are just beginning to recognize the House and its inhabitants. But I couldn’t tear myself away from the third and final part even for a minute!
There is a lot mixed in the novel. It turned out to be a real witchcraft brew (Tabaki the Jackal tried his best), infused with undiluted alcohol from a bitter place where children who are not like everyone else come. Either they are brought in or they are brought, whatever. There is a fair share of this swill and that very magic that is like a wraith. Until the end, literally until the very end, you don’t understand for sure whether it exists or not. Although, of course, you understand that this is exactly how she should be in that place. Well, and a touch of sentimentality. That’s right, and not the more pleasant-to-hear word “sentimentality,” because the story is about boys and girls who don’t like to snot, but still feel, more acutely, and longer, and just differently, for real.
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They are frightened by appearance. Scares worse than death, worse than oblivion. They don't want to know that there is something outside the walls of their House.
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The characters... No, I can't call them that. They are as real as you and I. Even more lively, more voluminous, or something. Blind, Sphinx, Vulture, Wolf, Tobacco, Smoker, Elephant, Redhead, Mermaid, Macedonian, Lord, Black, Humpback, Lary...
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They are a pack. Even though they are constantly fighting with each other, they are all on board. Probably, it is about this community, where almost no one from the outside, “normal” world wants, that the book is talking about. At least for me.
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They observe their crazy rituals (what is the Night of Fairy Tales worth!), drink incomprehensibly what, eat incomprehensibly when, are terribly afraid of the infirmary (or burial ground), love multi-colored beads, feathers and rat skulls, suffer when one of their own is taken away, They mock the newcomers and scribble the walls with the most philosophical sayings in the world.
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Yes, the House accepted me. So, it seems they say, when did you like this novel? Or I accepted it. I'm not sure, we probably both tried.
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For some reason I don’t want to write how much I liked this book. This will remain between her and me. This is something very personal. And I will not recommend it to anyone. You will understand for yourself whether this book is yours or not. You will understand that's all.
17 9 0
Friend of the Grasshopper (Sphinx). The boys met in the Burial Ground, where the Grasshopper saved the Wolf from “certain death.” Helped Grasshopper and the others separate from the Athlete's flock to move to the Plague Room. After he learned about Makedonsky’s talents, he was killed in his sleep by him for blackmail
7 8 0
Resident of the fourth. A hunchback, six-fingered, secretly writes poetry. Feeds stray dogs. Plays the flute. Jumper
6 12 2
The main “flyer” of the House: periodically escapes to the Exterior, remaining there for some time. From the outside he brings orders - small things like cigarettes, magazines or records. The world around us perceives only with the help of small mirrors that hang around her neck. After the Law was passed, she became engaged to Blind
24 9 1
The Wheelchairman, at the beginning of the book - Pheasant, after which the Fourth lives. A wonderful artist. Got to the House in the midst of events, doesn’t understand anything, so he often asks questions that drive others crazy
33 14 3
The wheelchair driver, the owner of an incredibly beautiful appearance, knows how to move quickly and gracefully without a wheelchair. Unlocks his walker abilities due to a drug called Moon Road No. 64. He is taken away from the House for a while, but later returns thanks to Ralph
6 2 0
Educator, “Catcher of Children's Souls.” Idol of the Blind. Was killed in the battle of clans on the eve of the penultimate issue
3 4 1
Leader of the Banderlogs, lives in the fourth. Always up to date with all events. Skinny, whole face covered in acne, dresses like a punk
18 12 2
Angel, red dragon. Lives in the fourth. All covered in freckles. He ended up in the House two years before graduation due to the fact that his relatives were tired of the cult followers besieging their house, who considered the Macedonian an angel. He made a promise to the Sphinx not to use his abilities, but he was only partially able to keep it.
4 3 0
Former leader of the Sixth. I got into the house not long ago and didn’t know its rules at all. He was a “deeply complex personality,” as the Jackal put it. He wore neckerchiefs, sideburns, and preferred jewelry made from live or half-dead bats, even carrying one live mouse with him. He aimed for the place of the Blind, for which he paid with his life
13 5 1
A girl with impossibly long hair. Was raised from a magic egg by the Blind for the Sphinx. She is modest, knits sweaters and vests, which she likes to give as gifts.
10 10 0
Jumper. A girl with bright red hair, Red's friend, Lord's girlfriend. As a child, she secretly entered the fourth room, where she left various gifts and messages, signing herself “Jonathan the Seagull.” As a child I was in love with Blind
36 14 1
The leader of the rats. Her hair is bright red, and her eyes are constantly covered by glasses. He has clown-like mannerisms. He spent his entire childhood in the Cemetery, where he was known as “not a resident,” for which he received his first nickname - Death. Dreams of those who will die soon. Hates plastic bags
40 36 2
Leader of the House and the Fourth. Blind from birth. Walker, werewolf on the Upside Down. Sees other people's dreams. Constantly wears a stretched sweater from Moose, the teacher. His hair is long, black, and hangs in icicles. Also noteworthy are the thin long fingers who seem to live their own lives
38 7 2
Leader of the Third, Birds. Papa Vulture. He limps and constantly walks with a cane. After the death of his twin brother, Max is constantly in mourning. Loves plants and collecting keys. Grandson of the Godmother, the girls' teacher. Jumper
39 30 1
Strict "mother" of the House. After his first and last jump, he lost all the hair on his head, except for his eyebrows and eyelashes. Spent six years on the Upside Down, when, as in real life no more than two months have passed. He lacks both arms, which does not prevent him from fighting well with his feet. Often wears prosthetics with black gloves.
The specificity of the work’s image system is determined, first of all, by a single center in relation to which all the heroes of the novel are characterized. This single center, around which all events will be built, becomes the place of events itself - a special boarding school for disabled children, called the Home.
Image of the House
We began to say that the House is the main spatial mythology, symbolic image peace. There is every reason for this statement, because the pupils of the House are not ready to be content with reality alone, determined by the laws of the material world. They themselves fill the House with mythology and mysticism (“This place is too ours. We created it ourselves.”) – from ordinary stories and legends, under which both everyday lack of information and childish naivety are hidden; to the harsh and often cruel rituals to which the life of the House is subordinated. But this “everyday” layer does not exhaust the mysticism of the House. Some of the guys who know more about the House than others can come into direct contact with the sacred space, like, for example, Blind - at night he wanders through the nooks and crannies of the House, which turns into a Forest for him. And the quiet Macedonian, ready to serve everyone, suddenly turns out to be an angry flaming Dragon - and this is also “reality” for the students of the House: in his former life, he was forced to play this role for the adherents of some sect. In general, the House organizes the lives of teenagers and subordinates them to itself. If you look into explanatory dictionary S.I. Ozhegova, then we can verify this. "Home is
1) Residential building, structure.
2) a) Living space, apartment.
b) People living together; family.
V) decomposition Farming of a separate family.
3) trans. outdated Reigning family, dynasty.
4) Place of permanent residence of a person, characterized by certain relationships and way of life.
5) An institution that has cultural significance or dedicated to memory some historical person.
6) Establishment.
All six meanings are present in the work, even more: “ Students simply call it Home, uniting in this capacious word everything that our school symbolizes for them - family, comfort, mutual understanding, care.<…>The house was indeed called Home. Combining a lot of everything in this damn word.” The House seems to have its own soul, as if it can communicate with specific inhabitants: when Tabaqui draws the Lord at night in the form of a white dragon, veiledly asking the House to return his friend, and he returns; when the Sphinx accidentally notices one of the Leopard’s drawings on the wall - everyone thought that his other works had long since disappeared from the walls of the House; when Red briefly recounts to the Smoking Man how Tabaqui found the entire history of the House in the archives. Everything in the lives of the heroes is connected with the House, and each place in it has its own function.
From the very first pages of the novel we can see how the House centralizes space around itself: “ The director's office was clean, but somewhat unkempt. It was clear that this was not the center of the House, not the place where everything flows and flows, but rather a guard booth».
The house is divided into several parts: 1. bedrooms of teenagers (which are symbolically summarized by such names as Pheasants, Birds, Banderlogs, Rats, Plague Wheezers), 2. Crossroads (intersection of corridors from where you can get to any part of the House) 3. Burying ground (therapeutic department). 4. Coffee pot (the “bar” created by the guys). Interesting fact: there are no special names for classrooms, as if they exist by default, as if everything that relates at least indirectly to Appearance does not have special names (“ The house seems like a huge hive. Each cell has a bedroom, each bedroom has a separate world. There are empty cells of classrooms and playrooms, dining rooms and locker rooms, but they do not glow at night with amber-honey windows, which means they cannot be considered real»).
But the description of the House itself is important, since the image takes on human outlines: « The house is a boy running away into the empty corridors. Falling asleep in class, spotted with bruises, consisting of many nicknames.<…>The house turns to the one entering acute angle. This is the corner on which you break until you bleed. Then you can log in » .
Two things happen simultaneously: the children themselves fill the House with mythology, rituals, and mysticism (Night of Fairy Tales, The Longest Night); The house does the same in response, sometimes repaying it a hundredfold. (Grasshopper asks Grey-haired for an amulet to become strong. Grasshopper calls this amulet “Great Power on a string”).
The house is a closed space with its own laws. But there is no specific set of rules, which again mythologizes the image of the House. They sound like character hints (“The house took you in. It let you in. Wherever you are, you are now a part of it. And it doesn’t like it when its parts are scattered everywhere.”). The only law that is directly named is the “Law of Choice,” told by the Sphinx before the battle with Pompey.
In these same hints, the idea emerges that the House is an intermediary between the worlds. Between the Outside and the Inside Out. This thought is heard in the words of the Blind (“ Remember: now you have a piece of the Dark Forest on you. Be impeccable in your desires"); in Red's explanations about Jumpers and Walkers (“ Those who have visited the wrong side of the House. Only the jumpers seem to be thrown there, and the walkers get there themselves. Walkers come back and forth whenever they want, but jumpers cannot. They must wait until they are thrown out."); in the dialogue between the Sphinx and the Lord (“ Everything works out by itself. There’s no point in talking about something you don’t understand.”).
The house gives clues that there is something beyond just the building. Another world, which is either called the Upside Down or the Forest. The inscriptions on the Wall hint at another world: “ Nobody reads everything that is written on them. Except for those who know what they are looking for and where to look." Knowledgeable students came up with the Night of Fairy Tales, which was previously called “The Night When You Can Talk,” to talk about their transitions to the other side. The guys believe in ghosts and the shadow side of the House. “Each room of the House had its own dead. When the ghosts didn't have enough rooms, they began to wander around the corridors. Security signs were drawn against unwanted guests, and amulets were hung on their necks.”.
But not everyone in the House knows about the Upside Down. For the Smoker, all the hints are nothing more than one constructed game of all the inhabitants of the House, although at times he begins to realize that the House is something more than just a building. Here it should be noted that M. Petrosyan enters into a fundamental dispute with the category of play, as it is understood in postmodernism. The element of play in postmodernism is the basis of life, it is devoid of a tragic beginning and axiological meaning, and in Petrosyan’s case any game is answered seriously, with life and death.
Black refuses to believe in all mysticism. For teachers, Home is just a place of work; building, which has existed since 1870, only R First, the teacher of the third and fourth bedrooms, is trying to figure out what is real and what is fictional. It is from the words of R First that the reader understands that the House exists autonomously from real world: “They decided - a House is a House, and the exterior is not what it is in, but something completely different" Windows facing the street painted black are not only a way to isolate yourself from the world, but also a manifestation of fear of the unknown world. Snow fights come along with darkness, because " residents of the House do not like to frolic in public view" Helps reveal the secrets of the House of R to the First Vulture, for whom it is "guess what I meant if you're so smart" game. R The first discovered the shadow side of the House thanks to a conversation with the Sphinx. The Sphinx talks about Jumpers and Walkers, about cruel morals At home (“I don’t jump. You don’t have to do what you can. You don’t have to love it”; “A house requires a reverent attitude, secrecy. Honor and reverence. It accepts or does not accept, gifts or robs, kills, ages, gives wings... this a powerful and capricious deity, and if he doesn’t like something, it’s when they try to simplify him with words. For this he has to pay."). In fact, the Sphinx is one of the guys who has penetrated the secrets of the House more deeply than the rest. But at the same time, he doesn’t need these secrets. This is why the Sphinx will choose a life in Appearance.
If we perceive the House as a kind of divine substance, it seems that it divides people into two groups (to put it very roughly, omitting almost all the nuances): people who were children of the House even before they found themselves within its walls, and people whom the House remodels to suit himself. This place has strict and cruel rules. A rat, having got a tattoo, does not wear clothes with sleeves, “because you can’t hide something like that”. Perfect mistake could turn out to be anything. When the guys tried to overthrow Red as leader, Blind was ready to punish them for breaking the Law. When the Godmother is dragged to the Upside Down, the Blind Man has to pay for this decision. The Smoker, who perceived events as a game, realized the magic of the House while already outside it. The blind man, trying to keep the Sphinx in the House, agrees to a love spell, which happens for a reason. The blind man is the Master of the House, the exponent of his will and laws (“He lives according to the laws. The way the House wishes, whose desires he guesses. He hears them when others do not.”). He is inextricably linked with the House and the Sphinx - his best friend. Therefore, with the departure of the Sphinx, the House loses its significance for the Blind Man.
The house is truly at the same time closed magical world, and a mediator between the Outside and the Inside. A modified portal with its own rules and will.
Thus, the heroes exist on the edge of at least three worlds: the outside world, inner world and the third force (Outside, Home and Inside Out), and they easily migrate from one world to another and back, because, in fact, they do not belong to any one.
Essentially, the story of the novel is a story about the choices of teenagers. They really face the question of choosing a specific world. They are in a “transitional” age, and they are forced to deal with many questions that do not always have a clear answer.
Symbolism of names
It has long been believed that a name is not just a set of letters that do not affect anything. A name is of great importance in a person's life. The naming ritual was usually combined with the initiation rite of receiving a sacred connection with the gods and ancestors. The outstanding Russian philosopher and philologist A.F. Losev in his work “The Thing and the Name” says that “rational human activity comes down to the search for true reality. Names belong to things; things have their own names. It is clear that both things and their names relate to reality and are some aspect of it.” Continuing his thought, in the works “Dialectics of Myth” and “Myth - an Expanded Magical Name,” he states that “ Myth is a personal form, an expanded magical name».
We have already said that the House is the main mythologem, that mythology is supported at all levels of creating the world of the book, involving all the details. One of the important details of the novel is the names of the characters. The House does not have names that usually exist in our world. As the teacher at the House says to the newcomer: “ Everyone in the House has nicknames, that's just the way it is here. You don't have one yet. When will you move to shared bedroom, and you will also have a nickname. If you're lucky, she'll be pretty. Just you in the House new person. It will take some time before they get used to you».
In the House, names always contain a hint of the hero's history or character and are given according to several different principles:
1) Mythologized name.
· The Sphinx is a person who knows too much. He is like a petrified mystery: silent about all the secrets that could harm his friends. In addition, the Sphinx is a link between the Upside Down and the Home, a guide to another world, which is also considered mythical creature– sphinx.
· Lord is a beautiful face for others, but non-existent for himself. He hates his appearance. It is believed that he has a dragon on his coat of arms and has his own castle somewhere. You can trace the connection with Celtic mythology.
· Rat is a girl cornered by her family and the truth about the Upside Down of the House. She is the only girl from the House who runs away to the Outside. The rat finds or steals objects that are everyday life do not have the meaning and significance that the pupils of the House give them. Every time she comes back without being caught by anyone. She carries mirrors that are small windows into other worlds. It is curious, but in many Asian myths, the Rat is considered the embodiment of cunning, dexterity, and vitality. She overcomes all obstacles to achieve her goal.
· Rusalka is a girl who considers herself too uninteresting for others. In their long hair weaves bells. Quiet, calm. In Slavic folklore, mermaids were represented as girls with long brown hair.
· Tabaki the Jackal - an allusion to the ancient Egyptian god Anubis, who was represented with the head of a jackal and the body of a man. Anubis is the guide of the dead to the afterlife; one of the judges of the kingdom of the dead, keeper of poisons and medicines. Tabaqui is the custodian of the House's time and artifacts.
· Red is a very ambiguous name, given either because of the color of her hair, or because everyone descended from Cro-Magnons, and she from Neanderthals, as an article in the magazine she stole said. The name may be a reference to Celtic culture, as there were many redheads among the Celts.
2) A name that is a mask.
· Red, who used to be called Death, is a boy for whom everyone predicted a short life, he was able to overcome the disease and survive.
· Shadow and Vulture, who were called Siamese in childhood, were changed by equal children. One began to put pressure on the other until he turned into an insignificant shadow.
3) A name that shows a person’s attitude towards others:
· Stinky (Tabaki the Jackal) - sings songs, annoying everyone; drives those around him to white heat; maliciously and sarcasticly expresses his point of view.
· Cat lady. Lives in a room with three cats.
4) And a name that contains a distinctive feature, a characteristic feature. Such names are given to the youngest children of the House and are subsequently changed to something else. A sign name differs from a mask name in that it does not hide anything. It tells what a person is like. Such names are most often given to educators and teachers.
· Grasshopper - an armless boy often jumped, it was more convenient for him to move.
· Siamese are two twin brothers who are as alike as two peas in a pod.
· Shark – the director’s smile reminded the students of the grin of a shark.
5) Names that contain sarcastic meaning.
· Godmother is the most unpleasant teacher in the female part of the House.
· Solomon (called Pyshka in childhood) - the guy did not master the basic knowledge of the school curriculum by the time he graduated.
6) Names whose meaning remains unclear.
· Ralph or R First
· Smoker. A distinctive feature is cigarettes. But at the same time, he constantly spoils the situation in the pack because of his questions and sarcastic answers.
· Blind. Note that in the House there are very, very few names that indicate the wearer’s injury. A blind man really cannot see, but at the same time he tries not to notice some problems in his pack.
We can say that the names of all the characters that we see in sufficient detail fit into the listed categories. But what lies behind these names requires the most detailed consideration.
2.3.3. The novel's character system
In the work, Mariam Petrosyan created a special system of characters. This system is built around the image of the House, which we discussed in detail above. Metaphorically, all the heroes are grouped like planets around the sun - around the House. This is a network in which every thread brings any storyline to its logical conclusion.
The house occupies a central place in the system of characters in the novel, since all the main threads of the narrative converge on it. It connects various episodes and situations of the novel, minor characters outlined in such a way that, without losing independent meaning, they, each in their own way, revealed the drama of each of the heroes.
The character system of "The House in Which" is dynamic: ratio characters and the characters who have left the stage are constantly changing. Some heroes stop participating in the action, others, on the contrary, appear.
Table No. 2.
As such, the main character does not exist in the story. The characters are almost identical to each other. Although some chapters of the characters represent a variable narrative of each other.
Let's look at the main images of the characters.
Sphinx.
One of the most complex images in the novel is the image of the Sphinx. The Sphinx seems to be a balancing link in the fourth, reliable and constant. He is the support of the Blind, the support of the new arrivals, the guardian of all facets of the House.
The image of the Sphinx is a link between the past and the present, a link between two parts of the story. When he was ten years old, he disappeared and grew up six years older in another world. Ten to sixteen long haul For all teenagers, everything that can change changes, but on the Upside Down we had to grow up faster. Jumpers have to wait to get back. The Sphinx, who lived for six years in another world, returned to the body of a ten-year-old boy. He realized that the past years would have to be lived again, that these years would be different. It can be assumed that, being wise and more mature than he should have been at his age, the Sphinx plunged into the life of the Grasshopper and played with childhood.
But it is the Sphinx that is the semantic axis of the fourth. He is the only one who can talk/persuade/talk to the Blind Man. The only one who deigns to help newcomers: to explain the rules to the Macedonian about miracles, to getting the Lord “on his feet,” to talking with the annoying, needy Smoker. The Sphinx feels all this and at times curses herself for her gift or her duty.
And in this leadership, in his wisdom, his constancy and impermanence at the same time, his character is the most alive, the most complex and constantly developing. Take, for example, the fact that he understood Cherny and, in the end, forgave him, thanking him for the discovery, which, nevertheless, hurt. After all, it is the Sphinx, and not the Hunchback or Tabaki, not even the Black, who explains to the Smoker what is not customary to talk about; advises listening to Tabaki; gets upset when he realizes that it is too late or hopeless to change something; feels a certain sense of guilt when the Smoker takes a test and his parents have to come for him. The dialogue between the Black and the Sphinx is indicative:
“I have two of these myself. But for some reason I still think about him more. Strange. it seems like it’s better for them, but you feel like a traitor. I don't understand why this is so.
- Because it is so. We betrayed them."
Unlike Black, who does not understand why he should feel guilty, the Sphinx is treacherously honest with himself.
Parting with Home is no less painful. The Sphinx decides to go into the Outside and live her life without the wonders of this strange place. Becomes a pediatric psychologist. Perhaps to some he may seem like a fool who missed everything he could - all his loved ones and much more. He was almost a leader ( right hand and left eye), but still put absolutely everything on the line, from his hands to his heart, just so as not to be part of the House.
But the choice of the Sphinx turned out to be one of the most difficult. He lost best friend, for whom there was no other world except the Upside Down, and who wanted to give this world to the Sphinx. Despite the later realization that the House was not such a terrible place as the Sphinx perceived it, much could no longer be corrected. Tabaqui comes to the rescue and gives the Sphinx a feather - the opportunity to get into an alternative reality, to any circle, and change something. Little Blind in the epilogue is taken by the Sphinx from an alternate reality. There was no way he could pull it out of his past, because it had already happened. He received the opportunity to change something in one of the realities (or even kidnap someone from there) thanks to a pen - a gift from Tabaca. But you need to understand that the Blind will be in that other House, which we see in the very last chapter, unless this is the circle from which the Sphinx pulled him out. The blind man wanted to give the Sphinx his world. The Sphinx tries to do the same for him.
The Sphinx will always sacrifice itself for the people close to it, as it feels responsible for them. It is the Sphinx in Samaya Long Night did not calm down until he had gathered the whole flock in their room, even Smoker and Black.
In essence, the Sphinx serves as the interpreter of the House; he is a guide, a teacher, establishing connections between worlds for himself and others. Along the way, it should be noted that M. Petrosyan excellently develops the dichotomy of being/seeming: the Sphinx turns out to be versatile and wise, but at the same time practically blind (he didn’t keep track of the Smoker, didn’t talk to the Blind Man in time, refused the House).
Smoker
The Smoker is ambiguously represented in the novel. For many readers it evokes contempt, irritation and hatred, and for others it evokes pity. It is interesting to analyze why the Smoking Man was unable to understand the magic of the House in time.
We open the House thanks to the chapters of the Smoker. He is quite new to the House, and his rules seem somewhat strange to the Smoker.
The Smoker was initially doomed to failure because he appeared in the House too late: one year is not enough for the House to understand the newcomer, he has hundreds of children, chicks and pups, his own rules and games. A year is not enough for the House to see through and accept the boy in red sneakers, drawing in notebooks.
Until the end of the story, it’s all a game for the Smoker, who has moments of enlightenment, cruel and bright, real: the death of Pompey, the night of Fairy Tales, rare conversations with the Sphinx, poker with the Vulture, when he turned into a cat. The Smoker tries to penetrate, to merge, but his personality is so accustomed to the Appearance from which he has just emerged, so attached to the rules of the Pheasants, that his attempts and questions are insignificant before the magic of the fourth group-flock.
It is no coincidence that the Smoker is an artist. Thanks to his imagination and creative inclinations, he should have understood and accepted the House. The smoker knows how to think creatively, this is one of the reasons why he leaves pheasants.
But, despite all the efforts of the Sphinx, the Smoker in every possible way rejects everything that does not fit into his ideas about reality, rejecting any attempts to introduce him to this “altered reality”: “As soon as you begin to understand something, your first reaction is to shake it out of yourself.”. In the general context of the novel, this seems especially tragic, since the Smoker, who considers himself a “black sheep,” is an artist creative personality, endowed with the complexity of perception and protesting against universal unification. It is in one of the paintings of the Smoker that the Sphinx will subsequently find the ideal image of time as a system of concentric circles
At the same time, the Smoker has the same choice as everyone else. The Smoker knows more than others about Appearance, so he cannot believe in something supernatural, he simply takes it on faith. He has more Appearance, maybe that’s why he listens to the words of the Black One, and not to the Sphinx. Having been a black sheep among the “pheasants” for a long time, he himself chooses to communicate with the “black sheep,” which turns out to be Black (the antipode, this is how you can read his nickname). The smoker reached for those words that turned out to be more understandable to him. A smoker belongs to the category of those people who want understanding, but do not want to understand in return. He selfishly demands attention to his person, answers to his questions. Moreover, the Smoker is not interested in true answers, but in those that correspond to his perception of reality. His egoism does not allow him to accept other points of view.
The episode in the Vulture's tent clearly proves that even after coming into contact with the other side of the House, the Smoking Man shrugs it off. He visited part of the Upside Down. He experiences the shock of turning into a cat, no one explains what happened, because for others this is the norm. In this case, the smoker acts as always - he needs specific answers. He tells Black, who, in principle, does not need the Upside Down.
Throughout the novel, the Smoker faces obstacles and he does not overcome any of them. The smoker resists everything he sees. The sad thing is that no one really helps him. The Sphinx's help is half-hearted. In comparison, the Sphinx did more for the Macedonian than for the Smoker. When someone returns from the Burial Ground, he is greeted with almost fanfare. The Smoker found himself in an already established flock, with its leader, participants and black sheep. In fact, there was initially no place for it. Two actions happened simultaneously: the pack did not accept him, and the Smoker did not accept the pack as it was.
But as soon as he begins to understand something, the House disappears along with all its inhabitants, not giving a chance for a single circle. His resentment for the perceived lack of choice is understandable. If he had appeared two years earlier, everything would have been different. The House divides people into two groups: the children of the House and the children whom the House remakes for itself. And the Smoker belongs to the second group along with Black.
He appeared when he was supposed to, and as a result, the madness and magic of the fourth overtook him later, remaining in his drawings, in his life, in his diary, which turned into a memorable album, where everyone who was in the fourth that evening wrote, knowing that A smoker will not appreciate it. He will appreciate this gift much more. It’s not for nothing that the Sphinx at his exhibitions says that the Smoker took more from the House than he himself thinks.
Interesting fact: The Smoker is the only character who has a real last name and first name. This is a defining moment in the image of the hero: Eric has too much knowledge from the outside world, so it is difficult for him to accept on faith the existence of another world.
The Smoker is opposed to almost every character in the fourth. A special connection is observed with the image of the Sphinx - they are very clearly contrasted in artistic system text. By the way, at times it may seem that the Smoker and the Sphinx are mirror images of each other, diametric opposites. At first you might even think that the whole book is a narrative of one thing and then the other alternately. Both of them, the Smoker and the Sphinx as children, face the hostility of others (they are persecuted by their own “packs”, trying to get rid of them), both are given a chance to change their fate in the House, to create a new model of relationships with the world and others. As a result, the Smoker resists everything that he does not understand, and the Sphinx manages not only to completely change himself, but also to change the reality around him; he tries to achieve the fulfillment of his desires not on the territory of the House, but in the space of everyday life.
The difference between the Smoker and the Sphinx is due to fundamentally different behavior in a key situation for the entire novel - the situation of free choice and acceptance of responsibility for the choice made.
Blind.
This hero may seem simple in its complexity. The blind man is not only the leader of the fourth group, but also the Master of the House, its will-maker. He is truly blind from birth. Has been in the House since the very early childhood. The Sphinx was seven years old, and the Blind Man was already in the House. For him there is no other world except Home. If the Blind is not the God of the House, then he is involved in it with all his body and soul. The blind man does not reveal himself right away. A silent teenager who talks as much as necessary. As a child, he was the same gloomy and serious boy, and at the same time, for the Blind Man there was a person who was the light in the window for him. Moose was the teacher who brought and opened the House to the Blind. But because of his defect, the Blind Man had to rely only on himself; He built his value system carefully and thoughtfully. Due to a difficult childhood, when stronger guys beat him, he was unable to make friends with anyone more than the Sphinx.
The Blind Man is indifferent to almost everything. He doesn’t care what he does, how he sleeps, who he sleeps with, or what he looks like. This indifference is connected with an episode when he saw himself in other people's dreams, did not like himself - and therefore decided not to pay attention to it. Maintains an even relationship with the guys in the pack. For the Blind, there is no other world than Home and the Inside Out. In his mind, these two worlds are intertwined into one. At first glance, he seems indifferent: from a conversation with Gorbach, we learn that he, too, corrected the dreams of his flock so that they would dream good things.
Like any hero in a novel, the Blind Man is forced to choose whether to follow the laws of the House or break them in order to keep his best friend against his will. In the final conversation with the Sphinx, he says that he will sacrifice his time and life only for the sake of the only person to cross, that this person is the Sphinx. His feelings are hidden deep behind a mask of indifference. For him, the Sphinx’s departure from the House is a spiritual collapse that destroys the connection between the House and him. Therefore, after graduation, Blind becomes a werewolf and goes into the Forest completely and irrevocably.
The blind man and the Sphinx complement each other and form a single whole. The blind man wanted to give the Sphinx his world. The Sphinx tries to do the same for him.
Tobacco
The most deceptive image in the novel. His nickname, Tabaki the Jackal, is an allusion to the ancient Egyptian god Anubis, guide of the dead and guardian of medicines.
Here is a man with unstoppable energy, with a lot of hobbies, who understands the nuances of the House. He knows how to harass his comrades with songs of various contents, screams and joyless predictions, and has the gift of a storyteller. For his flock, he is ready to do any trick, for example, sneak into the Burial Ground at night to see the Lord in order to cheer him up. The most important hobby is searching for unnecessary things, exchanging them and collecting “nobody's things” that really do not have an owner. Among such nobody's things, Tabaqui knows how to find unique artifacts, with the help of which it is possible to get to the “other circle” or start life with clean slate. Tabaki knows how to see the unique in the people around him.
In fact, Tabaqui is connected to Doma even more closely than the Blind Man. The joker and jester of the boarding school, who hates clocks and destroys them with manic passion, turns out to be a “time keeper” on the Upside Down - a guide between times, capable of providing the heroes with the opportunity to return to the previous circle and try to live this circle again. He doesn’t remember how many circles he lived in the House, he doesn’t think about the number of years. Almost everything possible is in his power, within the limits of the House’s powers. That is why he collects various artifacts, and his songs and screams contain more meaning than it might seem.
The ending of each round for Tabaca is another personal tragedy. The guys will all leave again, he will again be left alone and with them, but different. There cannot be identical guys on the same lap. For him, graduation is a collapsing world again, and what is happening is worse than fights and wars, because the pack is no longer there, everyone is changed and separated, while he wants at least someone to stay with him. He is the only one who left no memories behind when he left. Tabaki erased himself from the world, leaving small gifts and some people with a memory of himself. The Smoker and the Sphinx were the only ones from the fourth group who remembered him. Since Tabaqui really exists inseparably from the House, he moved on to the next circle. It is he who meets the Sphinx in the finale, trying to make him happy.
Macedonian
A very economical, quiet, uncomplaining young man who appeared in the House a little earlier than the Smoker. He loves and knows how to be invisible, but at the same time completely irreplaceable: he makes coffee, cleans, washes the floors. But in the House everything is not what it seems. Behind the behavior of the quiet Macedonian lies a strong nature, capable of giving miracles that are not inferior in power to Tabaka’s talent. The Sphinx and Tabaqui saw a gift that could bring as many troubles as joys. Therefore, the Macedonian was given a condition - not to give miracles.
It was this ability to fulfill desires that ruined him. The Macedonian quietly gave dreams, took away pain, thereby trying to thank him for being accepted into the pack. But Wolf, one of the guys in the fourth pack, noticed this gift and wanted to direct it in the right direction for himself. The Wolf demanded that the Blind Man be removed from the Sphinx, expelled forever from the House, because he hated the Blind Man. The wolf put pressure on Makedonsky so much that at some point he could not withstand the pressure. One day the Wolf did not wake up and died in his sleep. Macedonian was afraid of the moment when the Sphinx would find out about this. He never expected forgiveness from the entire fourth pack. Maybe that’s why Macedonsky withdrew into himself and tormented himself for his weakness and committed actions.
His fate will not be known until the end. It contains furious energy that can destroy Macedonsky himself and the world around him. This same power can also save. Only the price of power turns out to be high even for the owner. Macedonian needs help, because he is not omnipotent - the Sphinx is trying to save him at the cost of prosthetics. Having realized the inner essence, Macedonsky disappeared from the House.
Black
« White Crow"in the character system. Despite the fact that he lived in the House for as long as the Blind Man, Black never understood the House. To be more precise, he denied everything connected with the mystical side of the House. Black - main reason the bad childhood of the Sphinx and the Blind. It was Black and his flock who fought in childhood and did not give them rest. Black tries to put pressure on those around him with his physical strength and the strength of his pack. It was because of this relentless pressure that his pack disintegrated, moving towards the Sphinx and the Blind Man.
Driving force Black – envy and jealousy. Note that Black can be considered a double of the Sphinx, because Black wanted to have not only the same qualities as the Sphinx, but also position. As a child, Black lost his pack, and throughout his life in the House he tried to regain this position. Therefore, Black is trying to win the Smoker over to his side. We can also say that the Smoker is between two poles: between the Black and the Sphinx. After all, it was Black who constantly confused the Smoker’s thoughts and, in his own way, directed him to a materialistic perception of reality. And having become the leader of the Dogs, he found his place.
Lord
Outstanding beauty, nervous temperament, possible noble pedigree - distinctive features this character. Tabaqui compares him to an elven prince, and tells the Smoker that the Lord clearly had dragons in his family and has a two-headed lizard on his coat of arms. Tabaqui compared him to a white dragon for his exclusivity.
He has been in the House for two years. Over the years, he has established himself as a mentally unstable person. It was this fact that played a role when Lord was sent to another clinic for treatment. His return amazed everyone - practically no one from the Appearance returned. The lord changed and matured; a completely different person with different habits and a different attitude appeared before the fourth flock.
Lord, unnoticed by himself,