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 portrayed illness and death as the most important events that reveal 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 many 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, a symbol of a lost civilization that could not resist 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 of the 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 the 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 falsehood of an ostensibly beautiful vacation, the writer depicts a hired young couple who imitate love and tenderness for the joyful contemplation of an idle public. 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 he is given a sonorous name, unlike the title character. He is famous throughout Italy and has repeatedly served as a model for many painters.
“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. These are the true values of 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 Mount 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 existence, about life and death, about the value of 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. 11th grade. 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
Stepanova E.E. The role of symbols and details in the story of I.A. Bunin “Mr. from San Francisco” // International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities. – 2016. – T. 8. No. 1. – pp. 210-212.
THE ROLE OF SYMBOLS AND DETAILS IN I.A.’S STORY BUNINA
"THE MR. FROM SAN FRANCISCO"
HER. Stepanova, with student
Branch of Omsk State Pedagogical University in G . Tara
(Russia, Tara)
Abstract. This article is devoted to the study of details and symbols, as well as consideration of their rolein the text using the example of a story by I. A. Bunin "Mr. from San Francisco".Through analysis of the story, it is proven that the characters in those To ste are an artistic means of revealing the author's position. Cancel e The characteristic features of details and symbols in the system of the depicted world of I.’s work are also expected. A. Bunina.
Key words: Bunin, detail, symbol, apocalypse, philosophical parable.
Feeling of tragedy and hopelessness d of the mundane existence of waves O number of many writers and poets of the turn of the 10th I X-XX centuries. These are the moods e tions formed the basis of the thoughts of the philosopher O Fovs and writers of this period about the meaning and transience of earthly life h nor, the tragedy of life, time and h time. All this made sense T expression in their works. Approx. And the existence of something uncertain, in A to some extent, even sinister, was in you are called the beginning of the first world warand permeated with a sense of fear of lo m some of the established centuries-old foundations of life, inspired by the revolutionary events in Russia. In light of these s thoughts about the fate of society are reproduced And were perceived as the onset of the coming apocalypse of all mankind. P O similar sentiments are found in ra s skaze I. Bunin "Mr. from San Francisco" [ 4 ].
The hero was sure that everything in this m and re p subject to the fulfillment of his desiresand the desires of his equals: “He was d O freely generous on the way and therefore fully believed in the thoughtfulness of all those who r miles and gave him water from morning to evening at lived for him, preventing his slightest desire. ... It was like that everywhere, it was like that in sailing, it should have been like that in Naples.”.
Of course, material wealth O a strange traveler, as if at gum key, opened most t at the door, but alas, not all. Wealth did not contribute to prolongation of life, Mr.but it didn’t help him after death with honors and amenities until b fight to the last pier. The owner of the hotel did not allow his body to be moved to his good room, arguing that this would alienate the guests, and did not allow anyone to enter his property. e not a good coffin, but onlyjust offered an empty box from- under soda about howl . That's it for the humiliation- how much? the number of tourists does not end, and his body at dawn is carried by a small boat to the bay, where torso the master migrates to the hold, to the people, the cat O Some were not even noticed on the ship. T A Thus, the admiration for one’s nature, which this person saw during his lifetime, turned into direct and opposite the humiliation experienced by his mortal body after life.
The author of the story shows how e the power of money in the mortal world is significant and what awaits a person who bets on it. Here it is not only disrespect And respectful attitude towards the deceased, but also to the name, because it no one remembers either. The story “Mr. from San Francisco” shows the ephemerality and destructiveness of this path for people about eternity.
Many writers and poets at timeswrote their works in the genre of parables(I.V. Turgenev “Alms”, A.S.Pushkin “The Shoemaker”, A.P.Sumarokov and others). R story by Yves on Alekseevich can also be attributed toa parable pointing toman's place in our world and its relationship with the surrounding reality. And we must remember b that man is mortal, butthe most offensive thing, as one of them said Bulgakovsky characters, he is mortalapno. Therefore it is impossibletirelessly indulge in pleasures, and need to remember that you cannot feed your soul with such joys. All outstanding scientific and technical achievements are modernmilitary society will not release the main characterfrom death. This is the whole tragedy e diya of life, a person is born and dies A Yes, but the soul lives forever.
The story "Mr. from San Francisco" refers to the philosophical parable of blessingsary to the characters embedded in it. And first of all it's about b times the main character. We know practically nothing about him, with the exception of those lines at the beginning of the story that show his life in the most general form; we know neither his appearance nor his nameneither. He's just one of the gentlemenstrong world, an ordinary, typical representative of his class. Yes m o b at once, it acts as a symbolof this bourgeois class, a symbol of its m A ner, moral principles or their t presence.
In addition to the symbols, the picture of life e Roya is filled with details. And if at T If the image of nature or things is given only when necessary, then in Bunin we meet one bright image e tal after another, thereby he will carry out V expressed his objective principle and body. The story contains all the possible details that appear more than once O multiple times to attract attention cheat A telians to their true meaning. This may include the name of the ship, its captain, the image of the ocean and a couple in love. These images are symbolic because in their typical, individual form they show the behavior and foundations of an entire society.
The story “The Master from San Francisco” has an epigraph from the Bible: “Woe to you, Babylon, mighty city!” , here it is identified with the description A the presence of heroes and situations of current life, which sets the stage for the perception of philosophical reflections and in the torus.
The ocean at the end of the story also becomes symbolic. Storm tied up in most cultures with God e vom and punishment. There's a storm in the story depicted like a global cataclysm - in e ter whistles like a funeral song forto the owner who has lost his former powerthe world, and with it the whole society. Scary in the story and “living miracles” and more" - a gigantic shaft in the belly of steam oh yes, ensuring its movement, and " hellish pki" his underworld, in ra With the red-hot throat of which bubbles e home strength, and sweaty dirty people with reflections of crimson flame on their faces. Ho the inhabitants of the ship do not hear these things d at the same time wailing and clanging sounds: they are drowned out by the melodies of beautiful With a large orchestra and thick cabin walls.
You can also see the symbol in the image of a ship captain, compare from the wood him a pagan deity. The appearance is really looks like a deity: a huge red-haired man in a naval uniform with gold stripes, nah O he behaves as God should m, in on and the highest part of the ship– the captain's cabin, symbolizing a certain Olympus, where ordinary passengers are prohibited from entering. He can occasionally be seen on A Lube, but his power and knowledge, neither O there is no doubt. But in reality the captain is an insecure h e a trapper hoping for a telegraph n parat, who was in the radio b ke .
At the beginning and end of the story we watch love linen pair, and attracting the attention of ship passengers what they don't hide t of your love. And only tothe captain knows their secret, to about which lies in the simple deception, they are simple mercenaries to entertain the ship's guests. They symbolize precisely the deception that A modern society includes the falsity of true feelings and good sex u chiya.
Bunin in his story uses a variety of techniques to create A Various symbols: removeand all subjective featuresand sticking out all the immoral traits ( lack of spirituality , desire for wealth, self-satisfaction), he makes a symbol out of an ordinary hero about th society. I create other symbols t xia based on the similarity of designs: ship with society; by similarity of function y: k a pitan and pagan deity; on ass about Cative rapprochement: the ocean with people e human life, a man with a ship,furnaces with the fire of hell.
The characters in the story are thin O a powerful means of revealing a V Tor's position. Through them Bunin from O brazed insincerity and depravity with O temporary rich society, forgotten V living in moral lawlessness.
Bibliography
1. Bunin, I.A. Easy breathing: stories, stories, poems[Text] / I.A. Bunin. – Moscow: Eksmo, 2015. – 1 92 p.
2. Literary encyclopedia Fedorova, O.A. Symbolic imagein reality in I.'s story.Bunin "Mr. from San Francisco"[Text] / 5. O.A. Fedorova, E. E. Stepanova // Philological readings: collection of articlesinternational scientific and practicalth conference, May 25, 2016, G . Tara. – Omsk: Publishing House Omsk State Pedagogical University, 2016. – P. 99-100.
HE ROLE OF THE PARTS AN D CHARACTERS IN THE STORY OF I.A. BUNIN
"T HE GENTLEMAN FROM SAN FRANCISCO»
E.E. Stepanova, student
Omsk pedagogical state university branch in Tara
(Russia, Tara)
Abstract. This article is devoted to the study of parts and symbols, as well as consider a tion of their role in the text on the example of the story of I.A.Bunin's "the Gentleman from San Francisco". Through the analysis of the story, it is proven that the characters in the text serve as an artistic means of revealing the author’s position. Marked and characteri s tic peculiarities of parts and symbols in the system And the depicted world works I.A. Bunin.
Keywords: Bunin, detail, symbol, Apocalypse, a philosophical parable.
Composition
I. A. Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” was written in 1915. At this time, I. A. Bunin was already living in exile. With his own eyes, the writer observed the life of European society at the beginning of the 20th century, saw all its advantages and disadvantages.
It can be said that “Mr. from San Francisco” continues the tradition of L.N. Tolstoy, who depicted illness and death as the most important events in a person’s life (“The Death of Ivan Ilyich”). It is they, according to Bunin, who reveal the true value of the individual, as well as the importance of society.
Along with the philosophical issues addressed in the story, social issues are also developed here. It is associated with the writer’s critical attitude towards the lack of spirituality of bourgeois society, towards the development of technical progress to the detriment of the spiritual, internal.
With hidden irony and sarcasm, Bunin describes the main character - a gentleman from San Francisco. The writer does not even honor him with a name. This hero becomes a symbol of the soulless bourgeois world. He is a dummy who has no soul and sees the purpose of his existence only in the pleasure of the body.
This gentleman is full of snobbery and self-righteousness. All his life he strived for wealth, trying to achieve greater and greater well-being. Finally, it seems to him that the set goal is close, it’s time to relax and live for his own pleasure. Bunin ironically remarks: “Until that moment, he did not live, but existed.” And the gentleman is already fifty-eight years old...
The hero considers himself the “master” of the situation. Money is a powerful force, but it cannot buy happiness, love, life. When planning to travel around the Old World, a gentleman from San Francisco carefully plans a route. The people to whom he belonged had the custom of beginning the enjoyment of life with a trip to Europe, India, Egypt...
The route developed by the gentleman from San Francisco looked very impressive. In December and January he hoped to enjoy the sun in Southern Italy, the ancient monuments, the tarantella. He thought of holding the carnival in Nice. Then Monte Carlo, Rome, Venice, Paris and even Japan. It seems that everything about the hero was taken into account and verified. But the weather, beyond the control of a mere mortal, lets us down.
Nature, its naturalness, is the opposite force to wealth. With this opposition, Bunin emphasizes the unnaturalness of the bourgeois world, the artificiality and far-fetchedness of its ideals.
For money, you can try not to notice the inconveniences of the elements, but power is always on its side. Moving to the island of Capri becomes a terrible ordeal for all passengers on the Atlantis ship. The fragile steamer barely coped with the storm that hit it.
The ship in the story is a symbol of bourgeois society. On it, just as in life, a sharp separation occurs. On the upper deck, in comfort and coziness, the rich sail. Maintenance personnel are floating on the lower deck. He, according to the gentlemen, is at the lowest stage of development.
The Atlantis ship also contained one more tier - fireboxes, into which tons of coal were thrown, salted from sweat. No attention was paid to these people at all, they were not served, they were not thought about. The lower strata seem to drop out of life; they are called upon only to please the masters.
The doomed world of money and lack of spirituality is clearly symbolized by the name of the ship - Atlantis. The mechanical running of the ship across the ocean with unknown, terrible depths speaks of retribution awaiting. The story pays great attention to the motive of spontaneous movement. The result of this movement is the inglorious return of the master in the hold of the ship.
The gentleman from San Francisco believed that everything around him was created only to fulfill his desires; he firmly believed in the power of the “golden calf”: “He was quite generous on the way and therefore fully believed in the care of all those who fed and watered him , from morning to evening they served him, preventing his slightest desire. ... It was like this everywhere, it was like this in sailing, it should have been like this in Naples.”
Yes, the wealth of the American tourist, like a magic key, opened many doors, but not all. It could not prolong the hero’s life; it did not protect him even after death. How much servility and admiration this man saw during his life, the same amount of humiliation his mortal body experienced after death.
Bunin shows how illusory the power of money is in this world. And the person who bets on them is pathetic. Having created idols for himself, he strives to achieve the same well-being. It seems that the goal has been achieved, he is at the top, for which he worked tirelessly for many years. What did you do that you left for your descendants? No one will even remember this person's name. In the story “Mr. from San Francisco,” Bunin showed the illusory and disastrous nature of such a path for a person.
Other works on this work
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Bunin "Mr. from San Francisco" The role of sound organization in the compositional structure of a story. The role of symbolism in Bunin’s stories (“Easy Breathing”, “Mr. from San Francisco”) Symbolism in I. Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” The meaning of the title and problems of I. Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” A combination of the eternal and the temporary? (based on the story by I. A. Bunin “The Gentleman from San Francisco”, the novel by V. V. Nabokov “Mashenka”, the story by A. I. Kuprin “Pomegranate Brass” Is man's claim to dominance tenable? Social and philosophical generalizations in I. A. Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” The fate of the gentleman from San Francisco in the story of the same name by I. A. Bunin The theme of the doom of the bourgeois world (based on the story by I. A. Bunin “The Gentleman from San Francisco”) Philosophical and social in I. A. Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” Life and death in A. I. Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” Philosophical problems in the works of I. A. Bunin (based on the story “The Gentleman from San Francisco”) The problem of man and civilization in Bunin’s story “Mr. from San Francisco” Essay based on Bunin's story "Mr. from San Francisco" The fate of the gentleman from San Francisco Symbols in the story "The Mister from San Francisco" The theme of life and death in the prose of I. A. Bunin. The theme of the doom of the bourgeois world. Based on the story by I. A. Bunin “Mr. from San Francisco” History of creation and analysis of the story "Mr. from San Francisco" Analysis of I. A. Bunin's story "Mr. from San Francisco." Ideological and artistic originality of I. A. Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” A symbolic picture of human life in the story by I.A. Bunin "Mr. from San Francisco". Eternal and “material” in the image of I. Bunin The theme of the doom of the bourgeois world in Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” The idea of the meaning of life in I. A. Bunin’s work “The Gentleman from San Francisco” The theme of disappearance and death in Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” Philosophical problems of one of the works of Russian literature of the twentieth century. (The meaning of life in I. Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco”) The symbolic image of “Atlantis” in I. A. Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” (First version) The theme of the meaning of life (based on the story by I. A. Bunin “The Gentleman from San Francisco”) Money rules the world The theme of the meaning of life in I. A. Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” Genre originality of the story "Mr. from San Francisco" The symbolic image of “Atlantis” in I. A. Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” About the meaning of life in the story "Mr. from San Francisco" Reflections on I. A. Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco”Story by I.A. Bunin's "" can be called a parable about human life. The author tried to show us that human life cannot be bought for any money. He reminded us that we will all die someday.
The ocean liner Atlantis plays a huge role in Bunin’s story “.” It was a ship equipped with the latest technology. The richest people traveled on it from America to Europe and back. There was everything a person could need here: a night bar with expensive alcohol and cigars, an oriental bathhouse, a live orchestra playing on the deck, even a newspaper. There was luxury and tranquility all around. Thousands of people worked on the ship, creating this comfort and coziness.
The Atlantis passengers led a very measured life. They were not bothered by the raging ocean; everyone relied on the experienced captain and the ship itself.
Bunin is trying to show us that such carelessness can be very dangerous. It is enough to pay attention to the name of the liner and remember how the depths of the sea once swallowed up an entire country called Atlantis, compared to which the ship is a small sliver in a raging ocean.
It is worth noting that when reading a story, you involuntarily prepare yourself for something terrible, for some kind of catastrophe; the work constantly keeps you in suspense. And, indeed, a disaster occurs. True, it has the scale of one person, but that makes it no less tragic. The author showed us that death is a natural process that will affect us all. And no matter how we try to delay this moment, it will certainly come.
But don’t be discouraged, because life goes on, and “Atlantis” sails on with its joy, care and pleasure.
Symbolism and existential meaning of the story
"Mr. from San Francisco"
In the last lesson, we got acquainted with the work of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin and began to analyze one of his stories “Mr. from San Francisco.” We talked about the composition of the story, discussed the system of images, and talked about the poetics of Bunin's word.Today in the lesson we will have to determine the role of details in the story, note the images and symbols, formulate the theme and idea of the work and come to Bunin’s understanding of human existence.
Let's talk about the details in the story. What details did you see; Which of them seemed symbolic to you?
First, let’s remember the concept of “detail”.
Detail – a particularly significant highlighted element of an artistic image, an expressive detail in a work that carries a semantic, ideological and emotional load.
Already in the first phrase there is a certain irony towards Mr.: “no one remembered his name either in Naples or Capri,” thereby the author emphasizes that Mr. is just a person.
The gentleman from S-F is himself a symbol - he is a collective image of all the bourgeois of that time.
The absence of a name is a symbol of facelessness, the inner lack of spirituality of the hero.
The image of the steamship "Atlantis" is a symbol of society with its hierarchy:the idle aristocracy of which is contrasted with the people who control the movement of the ship, working hard at the “gigantic” firebox, which the author calls the ninth circle of hell.
The images of ordinary residents of Capri are alive and real, and thereby the writer emphasizes that the external well-being of the rich strata of society means nothing in the ocean of our life, that their wealth and luxury are not protection from the flow of real, real life, that such people are initially doomed to moral baseness and dead life.
The very image of the ship is a shell of an idle life, and the ocean isthe rest of the world, raging, changing, but in no way touching our hero.
The name of the ship, “Atlantis” (What is associated with the word “Atlantis”? - lost civilization), contains a premonition of a disappearing civilization.
Does the description of the ship evoke any other associations for you? The description is similar to the Titanic, which reinforces the idea that a mechanized society is doomed to a sad outcome.
Still, there is a bright beginning in the story. The beauty of the sky and mountains, which seems to merge with the images of the peasants, nevertheless affirms that there is something true, real in life, which is not subject to money.
Siren and music are also a symbol skillfully used by the writer; in this case, the siren is world chaos, and music is harmony and peace.
The image of the ship captain, whom the author compares with a pagan god at the beginning and end of the story, is symbolic. In appearance, this man really looks like an idol: red-haired, monstrously large and heavy, in a naval uniform with wide gold stripes. He, as befits God, lives in the captain's cabin - the highest point of the ship, where passengers are prohibited from entering, he is rarely shown in public, but the passengers unconditionally believe in his power and knowledge. And the captain himself, being after all a man, feels very insecure in the raging ocean and relies on the telegraph apparatus standing in the next cabin-radio room.
The writer ends the story with a symbolic picture. The steamer, in the hold of which a former millionaire lies in a coffin, sails through the darkness and blizzard in the ocean, and the Devil, “as huge as a cliff,” watches him from the rocks of Gibraltar. It was he who got the soul of the gentleman from San Francisco, it is he who owns the souls of the rich (pp. 368-369).
gold fillings of the gentleman from San Francisco
his daughter - with “the most delicate pink pimples near the lips and between the shoulder blades”, dressed with innocent frankness
Negro servants “with whites like flaky hard-boiled eggs”
color details: Mr. was smoking until his face was crimson red, the stokers were crimson from the flames, the red jackets of the musicians and the black crowd of lackeys.
the crown prince is all wood
The beauty has a tiny bent and shabby dog
a pair of dancing “lovers” – a handsome man who looks like a huge leech
20. Luigi's respect is brought to the point of idiocy
21. the gong in the hotel on Capri sounds “loudly, as if in a pagan temple”
22. The old woman in the corridor, “stooped, but low-cut,” hurried forward “like a chicken.”
23. Mr. was lying on a cheap iron bed, a soda box became his coffin
24. From the very beginning of his journey, he is surrounded by a lot of details that foreshadow or remind him of death. First, he is going to go to Rome to listen to the Catholic prayer of repentance there (which is read before death), then the ship Atlantis, which is a dual symbol in the story: on the one hand, the ship symbolizes a new civilization, where power is determined by wealth and pride, therefore in the end, a ship, especially with such a name, must sink. On the other hand, “Atlantis” is the personification of hell and heaven.
What role do numerous details play in the story?
How does Bunin paint a portrait of his hero? What feeling does the reader have and why?
(“Dry, short, poorly cut, but tightly sewn... There was something Mongolian in his yellowish face with a trimmed silver mustache, his large teeth glittered with gold fillings, his strong bald head was like old bone...” This portrait description is lifeless; it evokes a feeling disgust, since we have some kind of physiological description before us. The tragedy has not yet arrived, but it is already felt in these lines).
Ironic, Bunin ridicules all the vices of the bourgeois imagelife through the collective image of the gentleman, numerous details - the emotional characteristics of the characters.
You may have noticed that the work emphasizes time and space. Why do you think the plot develops during the journey?
The road is a symbol of the path of life.
How does the hero relate to time? How did the gentleman plan his trip?
when describing the world around us from the point of view of the gentleman from San Francisco, time is indicated accurately and clearly; in a word, the time is specific. The days on the ship and in the Neapolitan hotel are planned by the hour.
In which fragments of the text does the action develop rapidly, and in which plot time seems to stop?
The count of time goes unnoticed when the author talks about a real, full life: a panorama of the Bay of Naples, a sketch of a street market, colorful images of the boatman Lorenzo, two Abruzzese highlanders and - most importantly - a description of a “joyful, beautiful, sunny” country. And time seems to stop when the story begins about the measured, planned life of a gentleman from San Francisco.
When is the first time a writer calls a hero something other than master?
(On the way to the island of Capri. When nature defeats him, he feelsold man : “And the gentleman from San Francisco, feeling as he should have - a very old man - was already thinking with melancholy and anger about all these greedy, garlic-smelling little people called Italians...” It was now that feelings awakened in him: “melancholy and anger", "despair". And again the detail arises - “enjoyment of life”!)
What do the New World and the Old World mean (why not America and Europe)?
The phrase “Old World” appears already in the first paragraph, when the purpose of the gentleman’s trip from San Francisco is described: “solely for fun.” And, emphasizing the circular composition of the story, it also appears at the end - in combination with the “New World”. The New World, which gave birth to a type of people who consume culture “solely for the sake of entertainment,” the “Old World” is living people (Lorenzo, highlanders, etc.). The New World and the Old World are two facets of humanity, where there is a difference between isolation from historical roots and a living sense of history, between civilization and culture.
Why do the events take place in December (Christmas Eve)?
this is the relationship between birth and death, moreover, the birth of the Savior of the old world and the death of one of the representatives of the artificial new world, and the coexistence of two time lines - mechanical and genuine.
Why did the man from San Francisco die in Capri, Italy?
It is not for nothing that the author mentions the story of a man who once lived on the island of Capri, very similar to our master. The author, through this relationship, showed us that such “masters of life” come and go without a trace.
All people, regardless of their financial situation, are equal in the face of death. A rich man who decides to get all the pleasures at once“just starting to live” at 58 years old (!) , suddenly dies.
How does the death of an old man make others feel? How do others behave towards the master’s wife and daughter?
His death does not cause sympathy, but a terrible commotion. The hotel owner apologizes and promises to sort everything out quickly. Society is outraged that someone dared to ruin their vacation and remind them of death. They feel disgust and disgust towards their recent companion and his wife. The corpse in a rough box is quickly sent into the hold of the steamer. A rich man who considered himself important and significant, having turned into a dead body, is not needed by anyone.
So what is the idea of the story? How does the author express the main idea of the work? Where does the idea come from?
The idea can be traced in the details, in the plot and composition, in the antithesis of false and true human existence (fake rich people are contrasted - a couple on a steamboat, the strongest image-symbol of the world of consumption, love plays, these are hired lovers - and the real inhabitants of Capri, mostly poor).
The idea is that human life is fragile, everyone is equal in the face of death. Expresses through a description the attitude of others towards the living Mr. and towards him after death. The gentleman thought that money gave him an advantage.“He was sure that he had every right to rest, to pleasure, to travel excellent in all respects... firstly, he was rich, and secondly, he had just started life.”
Did our hero live a full life before this journey? What did he devote his whole life to?
Mr. until this moment did not live, but existed, i.e. his entire adult life was devoted to “comparing himself with those whom Mr. took as his model.” All the gentleman’s beliefs turned out to be wrong.
Pay attention to the ending: it is the hired couple that is highlighted here - why?
After the death of the master, nothing has changed, all the rich also continue to live their mechanized lives, and the “couple in love” also continues to play love for money.
Can we call the story a parable? What is a parable?
Parable – a short edifying story in an allegorical form, containing a moral lesson.
So, can we call the story a parable?
We can, because it tells about the insignificance of wealth and power in the face of death and the triumph of nature, love, sincerity (images of Lorenzo, Abruzzese highlanders).
Can man resist nature? Can he plan everything like the gentleman from S-F?
Man is mortal (“suddenly mortal” - Woland), therefore man cannot resist nature. All technological advances do not save people from death. This is iteternal philosophy and the tragedy of life: a person is born to die.
What does the parable story teach us?
“Mr. from...” teaches us to enjoy life, and not to be internally unspiritual, not to succumb to a mechanized society.
Bunin's story has an existential meaning. (Existential - associated with being, the existence of a person.) The center of the story is questions of life and death.
What can resist non-existence?
Genuine human existence, which is shown by the writer in the image of Lorenzo and the Abruzzi highlanders(fragment from the words “Only the market traded in a small square...367-368”).
What conclusions can we draw from this episode? What 2 sides of the coin does the author show us?
Lorenzo is poor, the Abruzzese mountaineers are poor, singing the glory of the greatest poor in the history of mankind - Our Lady and Savior, who was born “inpoor shepherd's shelter." “Atlantis”, a civilization of the rich, which is trying to overcome the darkness, the ocean, the blizzard, is an existential delusion of humanity, a diabolical delusion.
Homework: