The main character of the story is I.A. Bunin "" was a man without a name or surname, without title or rank. Nobody could remember his name. Everyone simply called him - Mister from San Francisco.
The main character of the work was a prominent representative of capitalist society. All his life he worked hard, denied himself many things, which allowed him to amass quite a bit of capital and become one of the richest people in the United States.
And so, at the end of his life, the gentleman from San Francisco decides that it’s time to rest. And goes on a trip with his family European countries. At that time, the gentleman from San Francisco was fifty-eight years old.
Describing his appearance, Bunin shows his main character as a man of small stature, unremarkable. He had a strong build with a bald head shining in the sun. The only thing that made him stand out from the crowd were his huge gold teeth and a luxurious tuxedo with a starched shirt. Yes, and also, he was very rich. All his gestures, actions, words constantly emphasized his enormous wealth.
The gentleman from San Francisco begins his journey to old Europe on the Atlantis liner. Atlantis was like a huge floating hotel that carried its passengers from the USA to Europe and back. The ship had everything a millionaire could need: expensive alcohol, cigars, live music and, of course, the servants.
It is worth noting that main character possessed bad character. He was constantly unhappy with those around him, grumbling at everyone for no reason. Even the fact of being on vacation brought him only irritation.
While on the island of Capri and preparing for dinner, the gentleman from San Francisco said: “Oh, this is terrible!” He doesn't even focus on what's terrible. And this terrible thing still happened. While in the reading room, the gentleman from San Francisco dies of a heart attack. Death breaks his dreams of dear and rich life. The gentleman from San Francisco returns to America as a forgotten and nameless man in a tarred coffin.
Questions for the lesson
2. Find the symbols in the story. Think about what specific and general meaning they have in the story.
3. For what purpose did Bunin give his ship the name “Atlantis”?
From December 1913, Bunin spent six months in Capri. Before that, he traveled to France and other European cities, visited Egypt, Algeria, and Ceylon. The impressions from these travels were reflected in the stories and stories that made up the collections “Sukhodol” (1912), “John the Weeper” (1913), “The Cup of Life” (1915), and “The Master from San Francisco” (1916).
The story “Mr. from San Francisco” continued the tradition of L.N. Tolstoy, who depicted illness and death as major events, revealing the true value of an individual. Along with the philosophical line, Bunin’s story developed social issues associated with a critical attitude towards lack of spirituality, towards the exaltation of technical progress to the detriment of internal improvement.
The creative impetus for writing this work was given by the news of the death of a millionaire who came to Capri and stayed at a local hotel. Therefore, the story was originally called “Death on Capri.” The change of title emphasizes that the author’s focus is on the figure of a nameless millionaire, fifty-eight years old, sailing from America on vacation to blessed Italy.
He devoted his entire life to the unbridled accumulation of wealth, never allowing himself relaxation or rest. And only now, a person who neglects nature and despises people, having become “decrepit”, “dry”, unhealthy, decides to spend time among his own kind, surrounded by the sea and pine trees.
It seemed to him, the author sarcastically notes, that he “had just started life.” The rich man does not suspect that all that vain, meaningless time of his existence, which he has taken beyond the brackets of life, must suddenly end, end in nothing, so that he is never given the opportunity to know life itself in its true meaning.
Question
What is the significance of the main setting of the story?
Answer
The main action of the story takes place on the huge steamship Atlantis. This is a kind of model of bourgeois society, in which there are upper “floors” and “basements”. Upstairs, life goes on as in a “hotel with all the amenities,” measured, calm and idle. There are “many” “passengers” who live “prosperously”, but there are much more – “a great multitude” – of those who work for them.
Question
What technique does Bunin use to depict the division of society?
Answer
The division has the character of an antithesis: rest, carelessness, dancing and work, “unbearable tension” are opposed; “the radiance… of the palace” and the dark and sultry depths of the underworld”; “gentlemen” in tailcoats and tuxedos, ladies in “rich” “charming” “toilets” and drenched in acrid, dirty sweat and naked people to the waist, crimson from the flames.” Gradually a picture of heaven and hell is being built.
Question
How do “tops” and “bottoms” relate to each other?
Answer
They are strangely connected to each other. “Good money” helps to get to the top, and those who, like “the gentleman from San Francisco,” were “quite generous” to people from the “underworld”, they “fed and watered... from morning to evening they served him, warning him of the slightest desire, protected his cleanliness and peace, carried his things...".
Question
Drawing a unique model of bourgeois society, Bunin uses a number of magnificent symbols. What images in the story have symbolic meaning?
Answer
Firstly, the ocean steamer with a significant name is perceived as a symbol of society "Atlantis", on which a nameless millionaire is sailing to Europe. Atlantis is a sunken legendary, mythical continent, symbol lost civilization, unable to withstand the onslaught of the elements. Associations also arise with the Titanic, which sank in 1912.
« Ocean, who walked behind the walls of the ship, is a symbol of the elements, nature, opposing civilization.
It is also symbolic captain's image, “a red-haired man of monstrous size and bulk, resembling... a huge idol and very rarely appearing to people from his mysterious chambers.”
Symbolic image title character (the title character is the one whose name is in the title of the work; he may not be the main character). The gentleman from San Francisco is the personification of a man of bourgeois civilization.
He uses the underwater “womb” of the ship to the “ninth circle”, speaks of the “hot throats” of gigantic furnaces, makes the captain appear, a “red worm of monstrous size”, similar “to a huge idol”, and then the Devil on the rocks of Gibraltar; The author reproduces the “shuttle”, meaningless cruising of the ship, the formidable ocean and the storms on it. The epigraph of the story, given in one of the editions, is also artistically capacious: “Woe to you, Babylon, strong city!”
The richest symbolism, the rhythm of repetition, the system of allusions, the ring composition, the condensation of tropes, the most complex syntax with numerous periods - everything speaks of possibility, of the approach, finally, of inevitable death. Even the familiar name Gibraltar takes on its ominous meaning in this context.
Question
Why is the main character deprived of a name?
Answer
The hero is simply called “master” because that is his essence. At least he considers himself a master and revels in his position. He can allow himself “solely for the sake of entertainment” to go “to the Old World for two whole years”, can enjoy all the benefits guaranteed by his status, believes “in the care of all those who fed and watered him, served him from morning to evening, warning his slightest desire,” can contemptuously throw at the ragamuffins through clenched teeth: “Get out!”
Question
Answer
Describing the gentleman’s appearance, Bunin uses epithets that emphasize his wealth and his unnaturalness: “silver mustache”, “golden fillings” of teeth, “strong bald head” is compared to “old ivory”. There is nothing spiritual about the gentleman, his goal - to become rich and reap the fruits of this wealth - was realized, but he did not become happier because of it. The description of the gentleman from San Francisco is constantly accompanied by the author's irony.
In depicting his hero, the author masterfully uses the ability to notice details(I especially remember the episode with the cufflink) and using contrast, contrasting the external respectability and significance of the master with his internal emptiness and squalor. The writer emphasizes the deadness of the hero, the likeness of a thing (his bald head shone like “old ivory”), a mechanical doll, a robot. That is why he fiddles with the notorious cufflink for so long, awkwardly and slowly. That’s why he doesn’t utter a single monologue, and his two or three short, thoughtless remarks are more like the creaking and crackling of a wind-up toy.
Question
When does the hero begin to change and lose his self-confidence?
Answer
“Mister” changes only in the face of death, humanity begins to appear in him: “It was no longer the gentleman from San Francisco who was wheezing - he was no longer there, but someone else.” Death makes him human: his features began to become thinner and brighter...” “Deceased”, “deceased”, “dead” - this is what the author now calls the hero.
The attitude of those around him changes sharply: the corpse must be removed from the hotel so as not to spoil the mood of other guests, they cannot provide a coffin - only a soda box (“soda” is also one of the signs of civilization), the servants, who fawned over the living, laugh mockingly over the dead. At the end of the story there is a mention of “the body of the dead old man from San Francisco returning home to his grave on the shores of the New World” in a black hold. The power of the “master” turned out to be illusory.
Question
How are the other characters in the story described?
Answer
Equally silent, nameless, mechanized are those who surround the gentleman on the ship. In their characteristics, Bunin also conveys lack of spirituality: tourists are busy only with eating, drinking cognacs and liqueurs, and swimming “in the waves of spicy smoke.” The author again resorts to contrast, comparing their carefree, measured, regulated, carefree and festive lifestyle with the hellishly intense work of the watchmen and workers. And in order to reveal the falsity imaginary have a nice holiday, the writer portrays a hired young couple who feign love and tenderness for the joyful contemplation of an idle audience. In this pair there was a “sinfully modest girl” and “a young man with black, as if glued-on hair, pale with powder,” “resembling a huge leech.”
Question
Why are such episodic characters as Lorenzo and the Abruzzese mountaineers introduced into the story?
Answer
These characters appear at the end of the story and are outwardly in no way connected with its action. Lorenzo is “a tall old boatman, a carefree reveler and a handsome man,” probably the same age as the gentleman from San Francisco. Only a few lines are dedicated to him, but it is given sonorous name, unlike the title character. He is famous throughout Italy and has served as a model for many painters more than once.
“With a regal demeanor” he looks around, feeling truly “royal”, enjoying life, “showing off with his rags, a clay pipe and a red wool beret lowered over one ear.” The picturesque poor man, old Lorenzo, will live forever on the canvases of artists, but the rich old man from San Francisco was erased from life and forgotten before he could die.
The Abruzzese highlanders, like Lorenzo, personify the naturalness and joy of being. They live in harmony, in harmony with the world, with nature. The mountaineers give praise to the sun and morning with their lively, artless music. That's what it is true values life, in contrast to the brilliant, expensive, but artificial imaginary values of the “masters”.
Question
What image summarizes the insignificance and perishability of earthly wealth and glory?
Answer
This is also an unnamed image, in which one recognizes the once powerful Roman emperor Tiberius, who lived the last years of his life in Capri. Many “come to look at the remains of the stone house where he lived.” “Humanity will forever remember him,” but this is the glory of Herostratus: “a man who was unspeakably vile in satisfying his lust and for some reason had power over millions of people, inflicting cruelties on them beyond all measure.” In the word “for some reason” there is an exposure of fictitious power and pride; time puts everything in its place: it gives immortality to the true and plunges the false into oblivion.
The story gradually develops the theme of the end of the existing world order, the inevitability of the death of a soulless and spiritual civilization. It is contained in the epigraph, which was removed by Bunin only in the last edition in 1951: “Woe to you, Babylon, strong city!” This biblical phrase, reminiscent of Belshazzar's feast before the fall of the Chaldean kingdom, sounds like a harbinger of great disasters to come. The mention in the text of Vesuvius, the eruption of which destroyed Pompeii, reinforces the ominous prediction. An acute sense of the crisis of a civilization doomed to oblivion is coupled with philosophical reflections on life, man, death and immortality.
Bunin's story does not evoke a feeling of hopelessness. In contrast to the world of the ugly, alien to beauty (Neapolitan museums and songs dedicated to Capri nature and life itself), the writer conveys the world of beauty. The author's ideal is embodied in the images of the cheerful Abruzzese highlanders, in the beauty of Monte Solaro, it is reflected in the Madonna who decorated the grotto, in the sunniest, fabulously beautiful Italy, which rejected the gentleman from San Francisco.
And then it happens, this expected, inevitable death. In Capri, a gentleman from San Francisco dies suddenly. Our premonition and the epigraph of the story are justified. The story of placing the gentleman in a soda box and then in a coffin shows all the futility and meaninglessness of those accumulations, lusts, and self-delusion with which the main character existed until that moment.
A new reference point for time and events arises. The death of the master, as it were, cuts the narrative into two parts, and this determines the originality of the composition. The attitude towards the deceased and his wife changes dramatically. Before our eyes, the hotel owner and the bellboy Luigi become indifferently callous. The pitifulness and absolute uselessness of the one who considered himself the center of the universe is revealed.
Bunin raises questions about the meaning and essence of being, about life and death, about value human existence, about sin and guilt, about God's judgment for the criminality of acts. The hero of the story does not receive justification or forgiveness from the author, and the ocean rumbles angrily as the steamer returns with the coffin of the deceased.
Teacher's final words
Once upon a time, Pushkin, in a poem from the period of southern exile, romantically glorified the free sea and, changing its name, called it “ocean”. He also painted two deaths at sea, turning his gaze to the rock, “the tomb of glory,” and ended the poems with a reflection on goodness and the tyrant. Essentially, Bunin proposed a similar structure: the ocean - a ship, “kept by whim,” “a feast during the plague” - two deaths (of a millionaire and Tiberius), a rock with the ruins of a palace - a reflection on the good and the tyrant. But how everything was rethought by the writer of the “iron” twentieth century!
With epic thoroughness, accessible to prose, Bunin paints the sea not as a free, beautiful and capricious element, but as a formidable, ferocious and disastrous element. Pushkin's “feast during the plague” loses its tragedy and takes on a parodic and grotesque character. The death of the hero of the story turns out to be unmourned by people. And the rock on the island, the emperor’s refuge, this time becomes not a “tomb of glory”, but a parody monument, an object of tourism: people dragged themselves across the ocean here, Bunin writes with bitter irony, climbed the steep rock on which lived a vile and depraved monster, dooming people to countless deaths. Such a rethinking conveys the disastrous and catastrophic nature of the world, which finds itself, like the steamship, on the edge of the abyss.
Literature
Dmitry Bykov. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin. // Encyclopedia for children “Avanta+”. Volume 9. Russian literature. Part two. XX century M., 1999
Vera Muromtseva-Bunina. Bunin's life. Conversations with memory. M.: Vagrius, 2007
Galina Kuznetsova. Grasse diary. M.: Moscow worker, 1995
N.V. Egorova. Lesson developments in Russian literature. Grade 11. I half of the year. M.: VAKO, 2005
D.N. Murin, E.D. Kononova, E.V. Minenko. Russian literature of the 20th century. 11th grade program. Thematic lesson planning. St. Petersburg: SMIO Press, 2001
E.S. Rogover. Russian literature of the 20th century. SP.: Parity, 2002
The story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” was written by Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, a great Russian poet and Nobel Prize laureate.
The history of the creation of this literary masterpiece also dates back to 1915. The author himself recalls that he was inspired to write the story by Thomas Mann’s book “The Death of Venice.”
Bunin first saw this book in a bookstore on Kuznetsky Most, but for some reason did not buy it.
According to the plot, the book describes the sudden death of a resident of the United States of America who came to the island of Capri.
At first it was called "Death on Capri". But then the author decided to change the title to “Mr. from San Francisco.”
Interesting Facts:
- The story was written by the author in the Vasilievsky village in the Oryol province.
- The author claims that it only took him 4 days to write the story.
Important! This was the first work to which the author paid special attention to writing.
According to his reviews, the story turned out incredible, because he thought through every detail to the smallest detail and was very emotional about all the events he wrote.
Summary
The plot of the text is divided into 2 parts:
- The first part describes the events during the life of an elderly and wealthy entrepreneur who decided to go on a trip with his family to Capri.
- The second part highlights the death of Mr. from a seizure and the main problems of the staff administration regarding hiding this tragedy from other guests.
Description of characters
The story turned out to be very moral and philosophical. He reminds a person that everything he has planned can be destroyed at any moment.
Note! This work very clearly conveys the character and mood of the main characters, who are described in great detail by the author in the text.
Character characteristics table:
| Character | Short description |
| Mister or Mister from San Francisco | The author made the image of the main character very restrained, but temperamental. This character is deprived of a name due to his ambition to buy the unsaleable. He appreciates false values, loves work. It is work that helps Mr. become rich and financially independent. The hero's age is 58 years. His appearance is described very restrainedly. According to the description, the main character is a short and bald man. The personal characteristic consists of the fact that the author shows that the character likes to be content with money, he happily spends it in restaurants. It is very difficult to understand his character. During the entire period of travel on the ship, he does not show emotions |
| Mister's wife (Mrs.) | The main character's wife also has no name. She acts as his faceless shadow. Throughout the story, she rarely expresses emotion. They can be observed in the text only after the death of the husband |
| Mister's daughter | Shy, sweetie, kind girl, nothing like her family |
In addition to the above characters, the story contains many episodic characters who detail goals and aspirations in life.
The image of the main character
Quotes from the story indicate a person's constant dissatisfaction, even when he is in a premium environment.
Psychological portrait of the main character:
- Indifference to morality, lack of spirituality. The main character cannot be called cruel, but he does not accept the requests and problems of strangers.
He exists in his own rich world, beyond which he is very afraid to go.
- Limitation. Rubber stamp. Wealth imposed its own stereotypes of life on him, which are difficult not to obey.
Important! Main feature hero - narcissism.
Analysis and problem
Text analysis:
- The main idea of the story is that a person can lose his life in one moment, even if he has fabulous wealth.
- Initially, determining the genre of writing a work is very difficult.
But at the end of the story, we can conclude that this is an instructive story, indicating that fate is unpredictable and it is worth preparing for the most unforeseen situations.
- The outline of the story can be indirectly divided into 2 parts: before and after the death of Mr.
The first part is dominated by the features of indifference and willfulness of the protagonist, who does not take into account society. He is not loved, but respected for his many achievements in life.
In the second part, the hero dies, and respect for his person disappears.
The death occurs in a hotel, so the hotel manager immediately finds arguments and reasons for hiding the tragic incident from the public.
After death, other characters show fear for their position in society, neglecting the feelings and emotions of the widow.
From the epigraphs of the characters one can understand that the author wanted to highlight and highlight the following problems:
- The true importance of money.
- The purpose of man in the world.
Today the story is very popular. He enters school curriculum, so it is not forgotten.
Based on the work, schoolchildren write summaries, retellings, notes, and stage theatrical performances.
Many people think that the book is poorly received by teenagers, but this is not so. The work teaches you to take care and be grateful for what you have.
Reading this story makes you want to rethink your actions, become a more noble and kind person.
Today films are made based on this work. This is a very instructive story that could help many people.
Thanks to technological progress, the work has appeared in audiobook format, which allows you to listen to it rather than read it.
Many literary critics advise reading the complete edition rather than summary story in order to feel its full meaning and understand the images of the main characters.
The idea of the work symbolizes the desire for respect and disregard for life values for the sake of making money and personal pleasure.
Useful video
Story by I.A. Bunina introduces us to a certain gentleman from San Francisco. His name remains unknown. The reader learns little about the gentleman himself. He is 58 years old, but he does not feel old. He has a family - a wife and a young daughter. He is rich and has achieved everything through his own labor, working hard all his life. And now, having made a fortune, I decided to see the world, as many wealthy people do.
“Until that time, he did not live, but only existed, although very well, but still pinning all his hopes on the future...”
He is quite nondescript - bald, small in stature, but probably quite energetic and strong.
“The tuxedo and starched linen made the gentleman from San Francisco look very young. Dry, short, poorly cut, but tightly sewn, trimmed to a gloss and moderately animated... There was something Mongolian in his yellowish face with a trimmed silver mustache, gold fillings glittered with him large teeth, old ivory - a strong bald head."
Leaving San Francisco with his daughter and wife, he planned a long, extensive journey of two and a half years. But enjoying the beauties of different countries is not his only desire. Frankly speaking, the beauty of sunny Italy does not make a strong impression on him; probably the gentleman from San Francisco is not inclined to admire beauty and waste energy on contemplating beauty. A hearty dinner of ten dishes pleases this practical person much more than scenic views Italian Riviera.
He doesn't forget about business either. For example, a long trip is a great way to find a good match for your daughter. In a word, business and worldly worries do not leave him even when away from home, during rest.
During the trip, the rich gentleman stays in the best hotels, spends money, drinks a lot and even periodically visits brothels. He does everything to reward himself after for long years works His generosity makes him a welcome guest in all hotels, and the servants and footmen are very helpful to the rich and wasteful gentleman from San Francisco.
“He was quite generous on the way and therefore fully believed in the care of all those who fed and watered him, served him from morning to evening, preventing his slightest desire... It was like that everywhere...”
But his journey ends as quickly as it began. On Capri he dies unexpectedly, probably from a heart attack. The attitude towards his wife and daughter changes dramatically. The body of a very recently desired rich guest is first locked in some small dirty room, and then very urgently exposed to his wife and daughter. So that this whole situation does not embarrass other guests.
In order to remove the body as quickly as possible, there is no coffin for a person who yesterday wasted money and made big plans - it is transported in an ordinary box for soda drinks. And on a gigantic ship, luxurious, shining with expensive decoration, with a chic audience on board - the same one on which the gentleman traveled to Europe as a dear guest, he goes home in a dusty hold in a coffin hastily nailed up, so as not to embarrass the passengers.
“The body of a dead old man from San Francisco was returning home, to his grave, on the shores of the New World. Having experienced a lot of humiliation, a lot of human inattention, having spent a week moving from one port warehouse to another, it finally ended up again on the same famous ship , on which so recently, with such honor, he was transported to the Old World."
Everything that a person earned during his lifetime has no meaning after his death. Immediately after the last breath of any person - rich or not, the world will not change, the world will remain the same. With your worries, aspirations, endless desire to make money on everything and absolute indifference.
Module 1
Paths and main trends in the development of Russian literature turn of the XIX century– XX centuries
Answer the questions of a heuristic conversation based on I. Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco.”
Heuristic conversation on
I. Bunin's story "Mr. from San Francisco"
Initially, this work had an epigraph, which the writer later removed, perhaps in order to keep the reader in suspense until the end, without giving him a ready answer.
Having analyzed the story, we will have to guess what idea I. Bunin prefaced his story. To do this we will need to formulate main idea story.
Now let's turn to the text.
I.A.Bunin's story is written in the best traditions of Russian classical literature, and therefore imbued with an ironic note literally from the first lines:
“He was firmly convinced that he had every right to rest, to pleasure, to travel excellent in all respects. For such confidence, he had the argument that, firstly, he was rich, and secondly, he had just started life, despite his fifty-eight years”;
- “The ocean that walked outside the walls was terrible, but they didn’t think about it, firmly believing in the power over it of the commander, a red-haired man of monstrous size and weight...”;
- “...on the forecastle, a siren constantly howled with hellish gloom and squealed with frantic anger, but few of the diners heard the siren - it was drowned out by the sounds of a beautiful string orchestra, exquisitely and tirelessly playing in a two-story hall, festively flooded with lights, crowded with low-cut ladies and men in tailcoats and tuxedos...";
- “...a daughter, tall, thin, with magnificent hair, beautifully dressed, with aromatic breath from violet cakes and with the most delicate pink pimples near her lips and between her shoulder blades, slightly powdered...”
- “Naples grew and approached; the musicians, shining with brass instruments, had already crowded on the deck and suddenly deafened everyone with the triumphant sounds of a march, the giant commander, in full dress uniform, appeared on his bridge and, like a merciful pagan god, shook his hand at the passengers in greeting. And when the Atlantis finally entered the harbor, rolled up to the embankment with its multi-story bulk, dotted with people, and the gangplank rumbled, how many porters and their assistants in caps with gold braid, how many all kinds of commission agents, whistling boys and hefty ragged men with stacks of colored postcards in hands rushed towards him with an offer of services!
Imperceptibly, irony gives way to satire and reveals the egoism inherent in man - directly and openly.
2. By what principle does the hero choose a route?
“A gentleman from San Francisco - no one remembered his name either in Naples or Capri - went to the Old World for two whole years, with his wife and daughter, solely for the sake of entertainment.
…The people to whom he belonged had the custom of beginning the enjoyment of life with a trip to Europe, India, and Egypt. He decided to do the same.”
Which of the upcoming pleasures for the hero alarm the reader?
“The route was developed by the gentleman from San Francisco and was extensive.
In December and January, he hoped to enjoy the sun of Southern Italy, ancient monuments, tarantella, serenades of traveling singers and the fact that people at his age feel especially sensitively - love of young Neapolitan girls , even if not completely disinterested;" - not romance ancient country attracts the hero, but ordinary sensual passions, and the desire for them is based not so much on own desire, how much on the position “it’s customary”, on public opinion (“and here’s public opinion, the spring of honor, our idol, and this is what the world revolves on!” - A. Pushkin);
- « he thought to hold the carnival in Nice, in Monte Carlo, where people flock at this time the most selective society , where some enthusiastically indulge in car and sailing races, others in roulette, others in what is commonly called flirting, and still others in shooting pigeons, which soar very beautifully from cages over the emerald lawn, against the backdrop of a sea the color of forget-me-nots, and immediately hit white lumps on the ground;" - in principle, a rather aimless pastime, again for the sake of society, and not for himself (probably, the hero does not really realize his complete psychological dependence on the “spring of honor”; the desire to “get out among the people” has absorbed him as a person...
Are there any inconsistencies?
- “he wanted to devote the beginning of March to Florence” - people usually come to this city to enjoy the magnificent architecture, sculpture, frescoes, paintings, to learn more about Lorenzo the Magnificent, at whose court opera and musical theater were born...
- “to come to Rome for the passion of the Lord to listen to the Miserere there; 1" - from the pleasures of a secular, worldly person, the hero is “pulled” to cult religious-Christian values;
- “his plans included Venice, and Paris, and a bullfight in Seville, and swimming in the English islands, and Athens, and Constantinople, and Palestine, and Egypt,” - again a set of pleasures of a person who has not decided on his preferences, but goes to this or that place because it is customary to see something there;
- “and even Japan, of course, is already on the way back...” - here is already an overt hyperbole, enhancing the satirical tone of the story.
Or maybe some phrase could have been rearranged? Then the logic of the story would change.
Perhaps, if not for the subsequent sentence (“And everything went fine at first” ) , the story would have turned out not invective, but comic.
3. Why don’t the main characters of the story have names? Which one is the most individual?
The literature of critical realism, in the traditions of which I. Bunin writes, strived for typification and generalization, which is presented in this story.
However, what may be incredible, Bunin’s typical heroes have their own hidden history, in some places similar to people of similar character, age, in others more individual. Everything is manifested in the light touches with which Bunin portrays his characters.
For example, a portrait of the gentleman himself from San Francisco (“Dry, short, poorly cut, but tightly sewn, he sat ... " ) gives sufficient scope to imagine exactly how this person earned his fortune. And the casually said phrase about the man in the bowler hat? The image of the main character is certainly typical, but at the same time, his story may not be so common.
The same can be said about other characters.
It’s quite easy to “read” the story of the protagonist’s daughter, who guesses a lot:“And the daughter, in some vague awkwardness, tried not to notice him.” (father who “he kept looking at the famous beauty standing next to him, a tall, amazingly built blonde with eyes painted in the latest Parisian fashion, who was holding a tiny, bent, shabby dog on a silver chain and kept talking to her...”) Many details make it possible to understand that the girl is sensual, attentive, and still naive, and that perhaps her fate will be very difficult:“...her heart was suddenly squeezed by melancholy, a feeling of terrible loneliness on this strange, dark island...” The hotel owner's attitude towards the wife and daughter of the deceased gentleman changes dramatically. Why? Does his money disappear when a hero dies? But the daughter has a presentiment of her future "terrible loneliness...
An elegant couple in love,” about which only one commander knew that she was hired... What circumstances forced these people to constantly wander around the world, pretending that they were in love? Even peacefully disposed towards each other (the author says nothing about the love of these heroes), the gentleman and lady from San Francisco began to quarrel, tired of the voyage. And this couple?..
And the “crown prince” is probably a typical gigolo? What an unusually bright portrait accompanies this image:"a small man, all wood, wide-faced, narrow-eyed, wearing gold glasses, slightly unpleasant - because he is large his mustache looked like a dead man's , in general, sweet, simple and modest" !..
You can also build an image of the owner of the hotel (what makes him show cruelty towards the relatives of the deceased, why does he explain in rude terms the importance of the reputation of his apartments?) ...
Less individual, perhaps, is the image of the master's wife. Her image, in my opinion, is most typical and universal.
4. How is the ship depicted? What was he like?
Of course, the image of the ship is an allegory. The ship represents a world of people whose thoughts are occupied with entertainment - the same as on solid ground: “There were many passengers, the ship - the famous Atlantis - looked like a huge hotel with all amenities , - with a night bar, with oriental baths, with its own newspaper... on the forecastle, a siren constantly howled with hellish gloom and squealed with frantic anger, but few of those dining heard the siren - it was drowned out by the sounds of a beautiful string orchestra, exquisitely and tirelessly playing in the two-light hall , festively flooded with lights, crowded with low-cut ladies and men in tailcoats and tuxedos, slender footmen and respectful head waiters, among whom one, the one who took orders only for wine, even walked with a chain around his neck, like a lord mayor.”
Let's turn to the daily routine on the ship. How can you formulate in three or four words what the passengers were doing?
The ship's passengers passed their time (rested heavily):“...life there was very measured: we got up early,...put on flannel pajamas, drank coffee, chocolate, cocoa; then they sat in the baths, did gymnastics, stimulating appetite and good health, performed daily toilets and went to the first breakfast; until eleven o'clock they were supposed to walk cheerfully along the decks, breathing in the cold freshness of the ocean, or play sheffleboard and other games to whet their appetite again, and at eleven they had to refresh themselves with sandwiches with broth; having refreshed themselves, they read the newspaper with pleasure and calmly waited for the second breakfast, even more nutritious and varied than the first; the next two hours were devoted to rest; all the decks were then filled with long reed chairs, on which travelers lay, covered with blankets, looking at the cloudy sky and at the foamy mounds flashing overboard, or sweetly dozing off; at five o'clock, refreshed and cheerful, they were given strong fragrant tea with cookies; at seven they announced with trumpet signals what was the main goal of this entire existence, its crown...” - a dinner similar to a party (or ball).
5. What episodes and details show that the main character is a purely material, selfish person, with a sleeping soul, somewhat immoral, just like the other passengers of Atlantis?
Bunin uses an antithesis, depicting the rich passengers of the ship, who with all their might do not want to think about the terrible, vast ocean, do not think about and do not notice the people who provide passengers with not just coziness, but luxurious comfort.
“The dinner lasted more than an hour, and after dinner there was dancing in the ballroom, during which the men, including, of course, the gentleman from San Francisco, with their legs in the air, smoked Havana cigars until their faces were crimson red and got drunk on liqueurs in the bar , where blacks served in red camisoles, with whites that looked like peeling hard-boiled eggs. The ocean roared behind the wall like black mountains, the blizzard whistled strongly in the heavy rigging, the whole steamer trembled, overcoming both it and these mountains, as if with a plow, breaking apart their unsteady masses, which now and then boiled and fluttered high with foamy tails, in the siren suffocated by the fog moaned in mortal melancholy, the watchmen on their watchtower were freezing from the cold and went crazy from the unbearable strain of attention, the gloomy and sultry depths of the underworld, its last, ninth circle was like the underwater womb of the steamer - the one where the gigantic furnaces cackled dully, devouring with their hot the mouths of piles of coal, with a roar thrown into them by people drenched in acrid, dirty sweat and naked to the waist, crimson from the flames; and here, in the bar, they carelessly threw their feet up on the arms of the chairs, sipped cognac and liqueurs, swam in waves of spicy smoke, in the dance hall everything shone and shed light, warmth and joy, couples either waltzed or twisted in tango - and music persistently, in sweet, shameless sadness, she kept praying for one thing, all for the same thing...”
6. Why are the 9 circles of hell mentioned? What work is the author referring us to? Can we talk about duplication?
The story not only mentions the 9 circles of hell (“her(underworld) the last, ninth circle was like the underwater womb of a steamship" ) – this comparison more clearly illustrates the monotonous (albeit filled with many sounds, colors, movements) world and strengthens the antithesis, contrasting the careless passengers (who “they carelessly threw their feet up on the arms of their chairs, sipped cognac and liqueurs, and swam in waves of spicy smoke..") And " waist-deep naked people, crimson from the flames" fireboxes
Like N. Gogol, who conceived a poem about Chichikov in 3 volumes, and then M. Bulgakov in the novel “The Master and Margarita,” I. Bunin turns to “ Divine Comedy"Dante Alighieri, where the lyrical hero, wanting to see his dead beloved again, first descends into the underworld, going through all 9 (as represented in Christian mythology) circles of hell.
Both Gogol, Bunin, and then Bulgakov do not use duplication, but a kind of reference to the medieval text. This is how the space of the story expands, becoming not a single episode, but a universal, a typification. In addition, this comparison expresses the author's attitude.
7. In these pictures it sounds only social theme or philosophical too? In what episodes is the social theme still heard in the story?
Of course, the description of the pastime of the passengers of “Atlantis” (where the name of the ship is symbolic) and the people who ensure this voyage are both social and philosophical pictures: everyone lives as it is destined for him, and also due to the choice that he himself performed by a (“loving” dancing couple).
When passengers disembark, in Italy - the land of romance, antiquity, beauty - however, the same atmosphere reigns as on board the Atlantis:“It was so everywhere, it was so in sailing, it should have been so in Naples.
Life in Naples immediately flowed according to routine : early in the morning - breakfast in the gloomy dining room, cloudy, unpromising sky and crowd of guides at the lobby doors ; then the first smiles of the warm pinkish sun, the view from the high-hanging balcony of Vesuvius, shrouded in shining morning vapors to the foot, of the silver-pearl ripples of the bay and the subtle outline of Capri on the horizon, of those running below, along the embankment, tiny donkeys in gigs and squads of small soldiers walking somewhere with cheerful and defiant music; then - exit to the car and slow movement along crowded narrow and damp street corridors , among the tall, many-windowed houses, inspection of deathly clean and smooth, pleasant, but boring, like snow, illuminated museums or cold, wax-smelling churches, in which everywhere it’s the same thing: a majestic entrance, closed with a heavy leather curtain, and inside there is a huge emptiness, silence , the quiet lights of the seven-branched candlestick, blushing in the depths on the throne, decorated with lace, lonely old woman among dark wooden desks , slippery coffin slabs underfoot and someone’s “Descent from the Cross”, certainly famous; at one o'clock - second breakfast on Mount San Martino, where people arrive by noon many people of the very first class and where one day the daughter of a gentleman from San Francisco almost felt ill: it seemed to her that a prince was sitting in the hall, although she already knew from the newspapers that he was in Rome; at five - tea in the hotel, in the elegant salon, where it is so warm from the carpets and blazing fireplaces; and there again preparations for dinner - again the powerful, imperious roar of the gong across all floors, strings again silks rustling along the stairs and reflected in the mirrors of low-necked I'll give , Widely and welcomingly open again dining hall , and red musicians' jackets on the stage, and a black crowd of footmen near the head waiter , with extraordinary skill pouring thick pink soup into plates..."
8. Why are the ocean, waves, wind, siren described in such detail? What does he want to say about modern man Bunin? Does he approve of it?
Nature (ocean, waves, wind...) is not in harmony with the people who are on Atlantis:“It was the end of November, all the way to Gibraltar we had to sail either in icy darkness or amid a storm with sleet... The ocean moving behind the walls was terrible... The ocean was roaring behind the wall like black mountains, the blizzard was whistling tightly in the heavy gear, the whole ship was trembling , overcoming both her and these mountains, - as if with a plow, breaking apart their unsteady, now and then boiling masses with foamy tails flying high, - the siren, suffocated by the fog, moaned in mortal anguish ... " as if warning people to remember the main thing (maybe about God, about duty, their purpose...) But the passengers did not hear the sirens, intoxicated with all kinds of entertainment; but those on watch, in order to stay alive, to save the ship, must overcome the power of the elements (“the watchmen on their tower were freezing from the cold and going crazy from the unbearable strain of attention "), and then follows a comparison with the underworld...
And in the behavior of passengers,
And in behavior "all those who fed and watered him (gentlemen from San Francisco), from morning to evening they served him, preventing his slightest desire, guarded his cleanliness and peace, carried his things, called porters for him, delivered his chests to hotels,” as well as the belongings of other wealthy passengers.
And the last lines of the story confirm this."And again painfully wriggled and sometimes frantically faced Among this crowd, among the sparkle of lights, silks, diamonds and naked female shoulders, a thin and flexible pair of hired lovers: sinfully modest girl with drooping eyelashes, with an innocent hairstyle, and a tall young man with black, as if glued-on hair, pale with powder, in the most elegant patent leather shoes, in a narrow tailcoat with long tails - a handsome man who looks like a huge leech . And no one knew what already I've been bored for a long time this couple pretend to suffer their blissful torment accompanied by shamelessly sad music, nor what stands deep, deep beneath them, at the bottom of the dark hold, in the vicinity of the gloomy and sultry bowels of the ship, heavily overcome darkness, ocean, blizzard..."
9. What descriptions and episodes of the story foreshadow the death of the main character? Does God or fate give him signs that he needs to prepare for the most important thing?
1. “On the day of departure - very memorable for the family from San Francisco! - there was no sun even in the morning . Heavy fog Vesuvius hid to the very foundation, low gray above the leaden swell of the sea. The island of Capri was not visible at all - as if he never existed in the world ».
2. " And a small steamboat... it was lying around like that from side to side, that a family from San Francisco was lying on the sofas in the miserable wardroom of this ship, wrapping their legs in blankets and closing their eyes from lightheadedness... Mister, lying on his back, in a wide coat and a large cap, did not unclench his jaws all the way ; his face became dark, his mustache white, his head was seriously aching: in recent days, thanks to the bad weather, he drank too much in the evenings and admired too much “living pictures” in some dens.”
3. At the stops, in Castellamare, in Sorrento, it was a little easier; but even here it swung terribly, the shore with all its cliffs, gardens, pine trees, pink and white hotels, and smoky, curly-green mountains flew up and down outside the window, as if on a swing... And the gentleman from San Francisco, feeling as he should be - quite an old man , - I was already thinking with melancholy and anger about all these greedy, garlic-smelling little people called Italians ... "
4. "Bowed politely and elegantly master, an extremely elegant young man who met them, struck the gentleman for a moment from San Francisco: he suddenly remembered that that night, among other confusion that beset him in his sleep, he saw this particular gentleman , exactly the same as this one, wearing the same business card and with the same mirror-combed head. Surprised, he even almost paused. But since not even a mustard seed of any so-called mystical feelings remained in his soul a long time ago, his surprise immediately faded: he jokingly told his wife and daughter about this strange coincidence of dream and reality, walking along the hotel corridor. The daughter, however, looked at him with alarm at that moment: her heart was suddenly squeezed by melancholy , a feeling of terrible loneliness on this alien, dark island...”
5. " And, after hesitating, thinking something, but without saying anything, the gentleman from San Francisco dismissed him with a nod of his head.
And then he again began to prepare for the crown : he turned on electricity everywhere, filled all the mirrors with the reflection of light and shine, furniture and open chests, began to shave, wash and ring every minute, while other impatient calls rushed along the entire corridor and interrupted him - from the rooms of his wife and daughter... The floor was still shaking under him, it was very painful for his fingertips, the cufflink sometimes bit hard flabby skin in the depression under the Adam's apple, but he was persistent and finally, with eyes shining with tension, all gray from the excessively tight collar squeezing his throat , finally finished the job - and in exhaustion he sat down in front of the dressing table, all reflected in it and repeated in other mirrors.
- without trying to understand, without thinking what exactly is terrible ».
Of course, fate warns the hero:
A heavy fog hides the island, as if it does not exist (so the hero will disappear into oblivion),
On the boat the gentleman got very seasick, he felt old and weak (this is a reason to think about life and death once again!),
The heart of the gentleman's daughter, probably a sensual and emotional girl, was suddenly gripped by melancholy when her father told her and his wife that he had seen the owner of the hotel where they were staying in a dream the day before (an extremely unpleasant sign!)
When the gentleman gets dressed for dinner, the objects surrounding him (the floor, the cufflink, the collar) seem to not obey the person...
And what does it mean to prepare for death?
« What did the gentleman from San Francisco feel and think on this so significant evening for him? ?
He, like anyone who has experienced a rollercoaster, only really wanted to eat, dreamed with pleasure about the first spoon of soup, about the first sip of wine and performed the usual task of toileting even in some excitement, which left no time for feelings and reflections .
Having shaved, washed, properly inserted a few teeth, he, standing in front of the mirrors, moistened and tidied up with brushes in a silver frame the remnants of pearl hair around his dark-yellow skull, pulled a creamy silk tights over his strong old body with a waist that was getting fuller from increased nutrition, and on his dry legs with flat feet - black silk socks and ballroom shoes, squatting, he tidied up his black trousers, pulled up high with silk braces, and a snow-white shirt with his chest bulging out, tucked the cufflinks into the shiny cuffs and began to struggle with catching the neck cufflink under the hard collar.
But then, loudly, as if in a pagan temple, the second gong buzzed throughout the house ... "
Starting from the opposite, it can be noted that the author is thinking about the approach of death: it is necessary to devote some time “to feelings and thoughts” and, of course, not to worry about food and clothes at this moment.
10. Does he catch the signs of fate, does he think about death, about God? Was there at least a second of insight?
Unfortunately, the gentleman from San Francisco does not see the signs of fate, does not notice them, and openly ignores them. Seeing the owner of the hotel in which the hero was destined to die, “Surprised, he even almost paused. But since not even a mustard seed of any so-called mystical feelings remained in his soul a long time ago, his surprise immediately faded: he jokingly told his wife and daughter about this strange coincidence of dream and reality, walking along the hotel corridor.” .
Perhaps a spark of insight ran through the hero’s mind when, dressed for dinner, he looked at himself in the mirror: “...The floor was still shaking under him, it was very painful for his fingertips, the cufflink sometimes bit hard on the flabby skin in the recess under his Adam’s apple, but he was persistent and finally, with eyes shining from tension, all blue from the excessively tight collar squeezing his throat, finally finished the job - and, exhausted, sat down in front of the dressing table, all reflected in it and repeated in other mirrors.
- Oh, this is terrible! - he muttered, lowering his strong bald head and without trying to understand, without thinking what exactly is terrible”...
11. How did he spend the last, as it turned out, 2 hours before his death? Did he sin, as usual, or did he become thoughtful and sad? Does the reader's attitude towards him change? At what point?
As it turned out, the last 2 hours before his death, the gentleman from San Francisco spent the same way as many other hours on this journey - dressing up for dinner. Of course, he did not commit mortal sins while dressing in front of the mirror, and he also did not feel sad, although more than once he suddenly felt old and tired, but he tried to drive away these thoughts and sensations as unnecessary and false. But in vain.
As I already said, the story begins with lines permeated with irony, and sometimes sarcasm. But Russian writers are unique because they are unusually humane. Just as Bazarov “deceived” Turgenev’s plan, so Bunin, denouncing an indifferent “well-fed” man, does not dare to mock Death and exposes the callousness and indifference of those who do not console the widow and daughter, but seem to deliberately make everything more painful for them, in the worst conditions sending the body of the gentleman from San Francisco home to America...
Death is always unsightly and scary. Describing the last hours and minutes of his hero’s life, Bunin no longer presents us with a master, but simply a man.
12. How do the last 2 minutes of his life characterize him?
“... hastily getting up from his seat, the gentleman from San Francisco pulled his collar even tighter with a tie, and his stomach with an open vest, put on his tuxedo, straightened the cuffs, looked at himself in the mirror again... cheerfully leaving his room and walking along the carpet to the next one, wife, asked loudly if they were coming soon?
- In five minutes! - a girl’s voice echoed loudly and cheerfully from behind the door.
- Great,” said the gentleman from San Francisco.
And he slowly walked down the corridors and stairs covered with red carpets, looking for the reading room.
- The servants he met pressed against the wall, and he walked as if not noticing them.
- An old woman who was late for dinner, already stooped, with milky hair, but low-cut, in a light gray silk dress, hurried ahead of him with all her might, but funny, like a chicken, and he easily overtook her.
- Near the glass doors of the dining room, where everyone was already assembled and began to eat, he stopped in front of a table cluttered with boxes of cigars and Egyptian cigarettes, took a large manilla and threw three lire on the table;
- on the winter veranda, he glanced casually out the open window: a gentle air blew on him from the darkness, he imagined the top of an old palm tree spreading its fronds across the stars, which seemed gigantic, and he heard the distant, even sound of the sea...”
As soon as we meet the hero, we learn that he recovers on his journey, being“I firmly believe that I have every right to rest, to enjoyment, to have an excellent trip in all respects.
For such confidence, he had the argument that, firstly, he was rich, and secondly, he had just started life, despite his fifty-eight years. Until that time, he had not lived, but only existed, although very well, but still pinning all his hopes on the future. He worked tirelessly - the Chinese, whom he hired thousands of to work for him, knew well what this meant! - and finally saw that a lot had already been done, that he was almost equal to those whom he had once taken as a model, and decided to take a break ».
These lines introduce us to a man who achieved wealth through great difficulty (which, in principle, cannot but evoke at least some respect for him). Probably, the road up was (as is usually the case) not easy; I often had to hide my true feelings, and especially my pain. The hero quite “cheerfully” went into the room that was fatal for him, behaving (or pretending?) at ease: I think that this a strong character, quite stubborn, stubborn. You can hardly call him stupid, but an entangled “idol” (as Pushkin calls public opinion) - undoubtedly.
13. Prove that in the scene of the master’s death social and philosophical topics. Death loved one shows true relationships in the family. What can you say about this?
“The wife, daughter, doctor, servants stood and looked at him. Suddenly, what they were waiting for and fearing happened - the wheezing stopped. And slowly, slowly, in front of everyone, pallor flowed over the face of the deceased, and his features began to thin out and brighten...” Moreover, in the previous sentence Bunin wrote that“It was no longer the gentleman from San Francisco who was wheezing,” he was no longer there, “but someone else.” So from an ironic image the author moves on to a philosophical, life-like one, wise by the experience of past years, personal losses...
“The owner came in. "Già é morto" , - the doctor told him in a whisper. The owner with expressionless face shrugged. The Mrs., with tears quietly rolling down her cheeks, came up to him and said timidly that now we need to move the deceased to his room.
- Oh no, madam - hastily, correctly, but already without any courtesy and not in English, but in French, he objected an owner who was not at all interested in the trifles that those who came from San Francisco could now leave in his cash register. “This is completely impossible, madam,” he said and added in explanation that he really values these apartments, that if he fulfilled her wish, then all of Capri would know about it and tourists would begin to avoid them.
Miss , who had been looking at him strangely all the time, sat down on a chair and, Covering her mouth with a handkerchief, she began to sob . Mrs.'s tears immediately dried up, her face flushed . She raised her tone and began to demand, speaking in her own language and still not believing that respect for them had been completely lost.”
The highlighted expressions illustrate those social aspects when sincere human feelings are manifested:
Callousness, greed, fear for the reputation of the establishment - on the part of the owner,
Pain, compassion, experience - on the part of relatives, as well as the strength of character of the Mrs., offended by the “that respect for them (her still alive a few years ago! to her husband, to herself, to her daughter)completely lost."
14. Condemning the world of the rich, does the author idealize the world of the poor? Prove it.
Condemning the world of the rich, Bunin does not idealize the world of the poor.
Perhaps the writer is relying on the opinion of Pushkin, who, reflecting on the correct, precise words for “Anchar”, left the lines in the final edition: “But human person sent to the powerful anchar glance, And he obediently went on his way and by morning he returned with poison. He brought mortal resin and a branch with withered leaves, and sweat rolled down his pale brow in cold streams. Brought , and weakened, and lay down under the arch of the hut on his basts, and died poor slave at the feet of the invincible lords …»
So and " simple people“Bunin is not endowed with those qualities that make us admire them and be proud.
- «… when the Atlantis finally entered the harbor, rolled up to the embankment with its multi-story bulk, dotted with people, and the gangplank rumbled - how many receptionists and their assistants in caps with gold braid, so many commission agents, whistling boys and hefty ragamuffins with packs of colored postcards in hands rushed to meet him with an offer of services! »
- “The dead man remained in the dark, blue stars looked at him from the sky, a cricket sang with sad carefreeness on the wall... In the dimly lit corridor, two maids were sitting on the windowsill, mending something. Luigi came in with a bunch of clothes on his arm and shoes on.
- Pronto? (Ready?) - he asked worriedly in a ringing whisper, pointing with his eyes at the scary door at the end of the corridor. And he lightly shook his free hand in that direction. - Partenza! - he shouted in a whisper, as if seeing off the train, what they usually shout in Italy at stations when trains depart, - and maids choking on silent laughter , fell with their heads on each other's shoulders." .
Although, of course, not all people are like that. Bunin presents us with them too, living carefree, at ease, with reverence for God and his Mother.
But it is not the world of people that the writer idealizes, but the image of the Mother of God - inanimate, molded by human hands and illuminated by the Creator: “...all illuminated by the sun, all in its warmth and shine, she stood in snow-white plaster robes and in a royal crown, golden-rusty from the weather ... "
15. Are there characters in the story who, from the author’s point of view, live righteously, correctly, or at least naturally (in some ways they have a more correct attitude towards life and death, sin and God)?
Yes, and such images - sincere and natural - are presented by Bunin in his short story.
« Only the market in a small square traded - fish and herbs, and there were only ordinary people among whom, as always, stood without any business Lorenzo, a tall old boatman, a carefree reveler and a handsome man , famous throughout Italy, who more than once served as a model for many painters: he brought and already sold for next to nothing two lobsters he caught at night, rustling in the apron of the cook of the very hotel where the family from San Francisco spent the night, and now he could calmly stand even until the evening , looking around with a regal demeanor, showing off with his rags, a clay pipe and a red woolen beret pulled down over one ear.
And along the cliffs of Monte Solaro, along the ancient Phoenician road, carved into the rocks, along its stone steps, we descended from Anacapri two Abruzzese highlanders . One had a bagpipe under his leather cloak - a large goatskin with two pipes, the other had something like a wooden bagpipe. They walked - and the whole country, joyful, beautiful, sunny, stretched out under them: the rocky humps of the island, which almost all lay at their feet, and that fabulous blue in which he swam, and the shining morning vapors over the sea to the east, under the dazzling sun, which was already warming hotly, rising higher and higher, and the foggy azure, still unsteady in the morning, massifs of Italy, its near and distant mountains, the beauty of which human words are powerless to express.
Halfway there they slowed down: above the road, in the grotto of the rocky wall of Monte Solaro, all illuminated by the sun, all in its warmth and shine, stood in snow-white plaster robes and in a royal crown, golden-rusty from the weather, Mother of God, meek and merciful, with her eyes raised to heaven, to the eternal and blessed abodes of her thrice blessed son . They bared their heads - and naive and humbly joyful praises poured out to the sun, to the morning, to her, the immaculate intercessor of all those who suffer in this evil and beautiful world, and to the one born from her womb in the cave of Bethlehem, in a poor shepherd’s shelter, in the distant land of Judah...”
16. Why do you think the ship was named “Atlantis” and why was the gentleman from San Francisco there again?
The ship was named “Atlantis” for a reason:
Firstly, written in 1915, the huge ship, of course, its name echoes the tragically famous Titanic;
And secondly, ancient Atlantis is the legendary island where ancient civilization reached incredible heights of technical and terrible human sins, for which she was punished by the gods and wiped off the face of the earth.
Everything in life comes full circle and returns to its origins - so the master (or rather, what was before him) returns to his homeland. This is the first thing. And secondly, what is the contrast without a description of a living millionaire who went to Europe in incredible comfort, and a description of the pitiful coffin with his body on the way back?!
Is it just a ship that looks like a hotel?
Basically, the answer to this question already given: the ship is an allegory secular society, satiated with pleasures, all sorts of options for a prosperous - FAT - life, where people do not think about what surrounds them, and are even afraid to think about it. "The ocean moving outside the walls was terrible, but they didn’t think about it, firmly believing in the commander’s power over it...few of the diners heard the siren - it was drowned out by the sounds of a beautiful string orchestra, exquisitely and tirelessly playing in the two-story hall...”
As mentioned above, the ironic intonation of the story is replaced by deep philosophical understanding.
The bright, dazzling atmosphere of the dining room on the ship is represented by cheerful, joyful faces: “...in the dance hall
everything shone and shed light, warmth and joy,
the couples were either spinning in waltzes or bending into tangos - and the music insistently, in sweet, shameless sadness, begged for the same thing, always for the same thing...
Was among this brilliant crowd a certain great rich man, shaved, tall, in an old-fashioned tailcoat,
was famous spanish writer,
was all-world beauty ,
there was an elegant couple in love, whom everyone watched with curiosity and who did not hide their happiness: he danced only with her, and everything turned out so subtly, charmingly for them ... " A series of vivid enumerations ends with a description of a couple in love. And the subsequent remark is more dissonant with this false joy: “...only one commander knew that this couple had been hired by Lloyd to play at love for good money and had been sailing on one ship or another for a long time.”
When the tone of the story changes from ironic to philosophical, when the body of the gentleman from San Francisco returns in a completely different way on this brilliant ship, the author’s bitter remark reinforces the main idea of the work: “And no one knew either that this couple had long been tired of pretending to suffer their blissful torment to the shamelessly sad music, or that it stood deep, deep beneath them, at the bottom of the dark hold, in the vicinity of the gloomy and sultry bowels of the ship, overcome by darkness, ocean, blizzard... »
What can you say about Bunin’s concept of love?
Bunin's concept of love is tragic. Moments of love, according to Bunin, become the pinnacle of a person’s life.
Only by loving can a person truly feel another person, only feeling justifies high demands on himself and his neighbor, only a lover is able to overcome his selfishness. The state of love is not fruitless for Bunin’s heroes; it elevates souls.
In the story “Mr. from San Francisco,” the theme of love is not the leading one, but some points can be pointed out:
Does the protagonist's wife love her husband?
What is further fate hero's daughter?
What kind of love does the writer welcome and praise?
Considering the image of the wife of the Mr. from San Francisco, at first you perceive this woman in the same way as the other images sarcastically presented in the story: she does not go to Europe out of her own desire, personal aspiration, passion, but because “that’s how it is in the world.” society,” “so the daughter will find a worthy match for herself,” perhaps also because “her husband said so.” But death takes the master, takes the man - and the image of this heroine becomes “warmer”, more humane: we feel sorry for the woman who has lost a loved one (how often men climb to the top of the hierarchical ladder, leaning on the shoulders of a faithful wife!), who is unexpectedly insulted and humiliated the ashes of her husband... "The Mrs.'s tears immediately dried up and her face flushed. She raised her tone and began to demand, speaking in her own language and still not believing that respect for them was completely lost. The owner besieged her with polite dignity: if Madame does not like the order of the hotel, he does not dare detain her; and firmly stated that the body should be taken out today at dawn, that the police had already been given knowledge that its representative would now appear and carry out the necessary formalities... Is it possible to get at least a simple ready-made coffin in Capri, asks Madame? Unfortunately, no, in no case, and no one will have time to do it. We’ll have to do something differently... He gets English soda water, for example, in large, long boxes... the partitions from such a box can be removed...”
I have already spoken about the hero’s daughter: it seems to me that she could have had a very difficult fate (for example, if the girl had connected her life with the “crown prince”), perhaps the girl would face many trials even now. The lines of Leo Tolstoy, with which his novel “Anna Karenina” begins, became an aphorism: “All happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
But the story still contains the sound of love: for the wonderful past - magnificent Italy, for the incomprehensible and majestic Nature, for God and the Virgin Mary.
- “Ten minutes later, a family from San Francisco got off into a large barge, fifteen minutes later they stepped onto the stones of the embankment, and then got into a light trailer and buzzed up the slope, among the stakes in the vineyards, dilapidated stone fences and wet, gnarled, covered here and there, thatched canopies of orange trees, with the shine of orange fruits and thick glossy foliage, sliding downhill, past open windows trailer... The land in Italy smells sweet after rain, and each of its islands has its own special smell!”
- “And at dawn, when the window of room forty-three turned white and the damp wind rustled the torn leaves of the banana, when the blue morning sky rose and spread over the island of Capri and the clean and clear peak of Monte Solaro turned golden against the sun rising behind the distant blue mountains of Italy ... But the morning was fresh, in such air, in the middle of the sea, under the morning sky, the hops soon disappear and soon carefreeness returns to a person... The steamboat, lying like a beetle far below, on the gentle and bright blue with which the Gulf of Naples is so thick and full, the last beeps were already sounding - and they were cheerfully echoing throughout the entire island, every bend of which, every ridge, every stone was so clearly visible from everywhere, as if there was no air at all.”
- “They walked - and the whole country, joyful, beautiful, sunny, stretched under them: the rocky humps of the island, which almost all lay at their feet, and that fabulous blue in which he swam, and the shining morning vapors over the sea to the east, under the dazzling sun, which was already warming hotly, rising higher and higher, and the misty azure, still unsteady in the morning, massifs of Italy, its near and distant mountains, the beauty of which human words are powerless to express. Halfway there they slowed down: above the road, in the grotto of the rocky wall of Monte Solaro, all illuminated by the sun, all in its warmth and shine, stood in snow-white plaster robes and in a royal crown, golden-rusty from the weather, the Mother of God, meek and merciful , with her eyes raised to heaven, to the eternal and blessed abodes of her thrice-blessed son. They bared their heads - and naive and humbly joyful praises poured out to the sun, to the morning, to her, the immaculate intercessor of all those who suffer in this evil and beautiful world, and to the one born from her womb in the cave of Bethlehem, in a poor shepherd's shelter, in the distant land of Judah... ."
17. Why is the raging ocean depicted in detail again? Why is the devil watching the ship from the rocks? Why does the ship seem to wink at him?
Bunin's story is designed for a thoughtful, attentive reader who knows how to compare the images presented by the writer with the main questions of humanity: why do we live, what are we doing wrong, since troubles and misfortunes do not lag behind people (what to do? who is to blame? does God exist?) Ocean - this is the personification of existence, the element of life, sometimes merciless and evil, sometimes incredibly beautiful and full of freedom...
In this story, the ocean is furious: nature does not accept the crazy fun of the Atlantis passengers, opposed to Nature.“And again, again the ship went on its long sea journey. At night he sailed past the island of Capri, and his lights were sad, slowly disappearing into the dark sea for those who looked at them from the island. But there, on the ship, in the bright halls shining with chandeliers, there was, as usual, a crowded ball that night.” Therefore, it is logical that the devil is watching the ship from the rocks, counting how many souls will soon go to hell...
The expression “crowded ball” is perceived in a negative sense, in some way, perhaps, associating with a satanic ball. And then Bunin draws a parallel between the image of the Devil and the ship: “The devil was huge, like a cliff, but the ship was also huge, multi-tiered, multi-pipe, created by the pride of the New Man with an old heart.” And so they, created by pride, wink at each other.
18. Do you remember when the story was written? What were the moods in society?
The story was written in 1915, which followed the tragic years of 1912 and 1914.
The wreck of the Titanic - a maritime disaster that occurred on the night of April 14-15when the Filipino crashed
To understand the causes of the First World War, one must remember the balance of power in Europe, where the three major world powers - Russian empire, Great Britain and England to 19th century have already divided spheres of influence among themselves.
Having grown stronger in late XIX century economically and militarily, Germany began to urgently need new living space for its growing population and markets for its goods. Colonies were needed, which Germany did not have. To achieve this, it was necessary to begin a new redivision of the world by defeating the allied bloc of three powers - England, Russia and France. In response to the German threat, the Entente alliance was created, consisting of Russia, France and England, which joined them.
In addition to Germany's desire to win living space and colonies, there were other reasons for the First World War. This issue is so complex that there is still no single point of view on this matter.
Another reason for the war is the choice of the path of development of society. “Could the war have been avoided?” – this question was probably asked by every person during these difficult years.
All sources unanimously say that it is possible if the leadership of the countries participating in the conflict really wanted this. Germany was most interested in the war, for which it was fully prepared, and made every effort to get it started.
And every thoughtful writer sought to explain the causes of the war not only by political and economic reasons, but by moral and spiritual ones.
In principle, the word “criticism” does not have a negative meaning (this is a literal translation of the word “judgment”), but the definition of literature (both Russian and world) is 2nd half of the 19th century century is the literature of critical - accusatory - realism. And Bunin, in the story “The Gentleman from San Francisco,” continues the tradition of exposing the moral character of a person, clearly represented in the works of critical realism.
Also along with the word "Armageddon » used in the meaningor catastrophes on a planetary scale.
IN this work, undoubtedly, the word is used in last value. Moreover, this strengthens the comparison of the ship with the Devil, the comparison of the boilers of the steamship with fiery hell, and the actions of the passengers with satanic reckless revelry.
“- The blizzard beat in his (ship) rigging and wide-necked pipes, white with snow, but he was stoic, firm, majestic and terrible .
- On the very top of its roof, those cozy, dimly lit chambers where, immersed in a sensitive and anxious slumber, sat above the whole ship, sat alone among the snow whirlwinds. overweight driver (ship commander, a red-haired man of monstrous size and bulk),resembling a pagan idol. He heard the heavy howls and furious squeals of a siren, suffocated by the storm, but he calmed himself by the proximity of what was ultimately the most incomprehensible to him that was behind his wall: that armored cabin, which was constantly filled with a mysterious hum, trembling and dry crackling. blue lights flashed and burst around a pale-faced telegraph operator with a metal half-hoop on his head. - At the bottom, in the underwater womb of Atlantis, dimly shone with steel, thousand-pound huge boilers were hissing with steam and oozing boiling water and oil and all sorts of other machines, that kitchen, heated from below by hellish furnaces, in which the movement of the ship was cooked - forces bubbling, terrible in their concentration, were transmitted to its very keel, into an endlessly long dungeon, into a round tunnel, faintly illuminated by electricity, Where slowly, with overwhelming human soul rigor, the gigantic shaft rotated in its oily bed, like a living monster, stretching in this tunnel, similar to a vent.
- And the middle of Atlantis, dining rooms and ballrooms light and joy poured out from her, buzzed with the talk of a smart crowd , smelled of fresh flowers, sang with a string orchestra.”
This ship-underworld parallel opens the narrative and completes it, as if placing the image of a person in the circle of this lexical paradigm.
20. Formulate the main idea of the story. How does this idea resonate with the epigraph to the story, which was later withdrawn by the author?
The original title of the story was "Death on Capri". As an epigraph, the author took lines from the Apocalypse: “Woe to you, Babylon, strong city!” The meaning of the statement is revealed if we remember the sad fate of Babylon, which turned out to be far from being as strong as it seemed. This means that nothing lasts forever on earth. Especially a person whose life is a moment compared to eternity.
While working on the work, the author abandoned the title, which contained the word “death.” Despite this, the feeling of catastrophe, indicated in the first version of the title and epigraph, permeates the entire content of “The Gentleman from San Francisco.” I. A. Bunin with the help symbolic images speaks of the inevitability of the death of the kingdom of profit and lust.
Only already in the very latest edition, shortly before his death, Bunin removed a significant epigraph. He took it off, perhaps because these words, taken from the Apocalypse, seemed to him too openly expressing his attitude towards what was described. But he left the name of the ship on which the American rich man is sailing with his wife and daughter to Europe - “Atlantis”, as if wanting to once again remind readers of the doom of existence, the main content of which was the passion for pleasure.