The purposes and means in the mister from a dignity. The desire for big money as a path to loneliness in the story "The Gentleman from San Francisco

The writing

Bunin's story "The Gentleman from San Francisco" has an acute social orientation, but the meaning of these stories is not limited to criticism of capitalism and colonialism. The social problems of capitalist society are only a background that allows Bunin to show the aggravation of the "eternal" problems of mankind in the development of civilization. In the 1900s, Bunin traveled around Europe and the East, observing the life and order of capitalist society in Europe and the colonial countries of Asia. Bunin is aware of the whole immorality of the order that prevails in an imperialist society, where everyone works only to enrich the monopolies. Wealthy capitalists are not ashamed of any means to increase their capital.

This story reflects all the features of Bunin's poetics, and at the same time it is unusual for him, its meaning is too prosaic.

The story has almost no plot. People travel, fall in love, earn money, that is, they create the appearance of activity, but the plot can be told in a nutshell: "A man died." Bunin generalizes the image of the gentleman from San Francisco to such an extent that he does not even give him any specific name. We don't know much about his spiritual life. Actually, this life did not exist, it was lost behind the thousands of everyday details that Bunin lists to the smallest detail. Already at the very beginning, we see the contrast between the cheerful and easy life in the cabins of the ship and the horror that reigns in its depths: orchestra..."

The description of life on the ship is given in a contrasting image of the upper deck and hold of the ship: “Giant fireboxes rumbled deafly, devouring piles of red-hot coal, with a roar thrown into them by people covered in caustic, dirty sweat and waist-deep naked people, purple from the flame; and here, in the bar, they carelessly threw their legs on the arms of their chairs, smoked,
sipped cognac and liqueurs ... ”With this abrupt transition, Bunin emphasizes that the luxury of the upper decks, that is, the highest capitalist society, was achieved only through the exploitation, enslavement of people who constantly work in hellish conditions in the hold of the ship. And their pleasure is empty and false, the symbolic meaning is played in the story by a couple hired by Lloyd "to play love for good money."

On the example of the fate of the gentleman from San Francisco, Bunin writes about the aimlessness, emptiness, worthlessness of the life of a typical representative of capitalist society. The thought of death, repentance, sins, God never came to the gentleman from San Francisco. All his life he strove to compare himself with those "whom he once took as a model." By old age, there was nothing human left in him. He became like an expensive thing made of gold and ivory, one of those that always surrounded him: “his large teeth shone with gold fillings, his strong bald head was old ivory.”

Bunin's idea is clear. He talks about the eternal problems of mankind. About the meaning of life, about the spirituality of life, about the relationship of man to God.

Money. Money rules the world. Money can do everything. If people treated money as a means of subsistence, then the rich would be much happier, much more fulfilling, because they would think more about others, their life would not belong to money, it could be beautiful. But they devote their lives to earning money, so that later they can live on this money. So does the gentleman from San Francisco from Bunin's story. Money for him is a goal, not a means of realizing his plans and desires. Money is what he lives for. The description of his entire life, fifty-eight years, is only half a page. We see that he never had a real, full and happy life. He also sees this and therefore arranges for himself a two-year journey dedicated to ???.

He thinks that he will finally rest, have fun and live. But throughout his life he did not learn to enjoy life, the sun, the morning, he did not learn to enjoy pleasant little things, sensations and feelings. He simply did not have feelings and sensations. Therefore, he does not experience joy during rest. The gentleman from San Francisco has always been convinced that pleasure can be bought, and now that he has a lot of money, there will be a lot of pleasure. But he was wrong. He bought expensive cigars, the best rooms, high society company, a lot of expensive food.

But he did not buy what he really needs - happiness. He was not used to joys, he kept postponing his life for later, but when it came, as he thought, he simply could not use it. He knows exactly what to do: behave like the rest of the rich people, the so-called "cream of society". He goes to the theater not because he wants to enjoy the performance, but because others do. He goes to churches not to admire their beauty and pray, but because it is necessary. Churches for him are emptiness, monotony, a place where there are no words and, therefore, boring. He thinks that if he does things that please others, they will please him too. The gentleman from San Francisco does not understand the joys of other people, he does not understand why he is unhappy, and this makes him irritable. It seems to him that he only needs to change the place, and it will be better for him, that the weather, the city, but not himself, are to blame for everything. He never got to feel happy.

A gentleman from San Francisco is contemptuous of people below him in position, because they cannot pay for everything like him. They exist to serve him ("He walked down the corridor, and the servants pressed against the walls, but he did not notice them").

It has no spirituality, no sense of beauty. He does not notice the beautiful scenery from the open window. (“From the darkness a gentle air blew on him, he imagined the top of an old palm tree, spreading its fronds across the stars, which seemed gigantic, he heard the distant steady sound of the sea ...”) The gentleman from San Francisco does not see the beauty of nature, and after all, only she will remain with him after his death. The open window symbolizes the world that is open before him, but which he is not able to enjoy. He casually glances at the German in the reading room, “who looks like Isben, with round silver glasses and crazy, astonished eyes,” because he doesn’t want to think about what he could be like if he had started living earlier, if he had learned to be surprised at his surroundings. the world. He simply closed himself off from this German, from the window, from the whole world with a newspaper. The same symbolic gesture is that he closes the window, which smells of kitchen and flowers.

The gentleman from San Francisco lives a measured life, no shocks, no surprises, nothing ever changes in the daily routine. He eats and drinks a lot. But does food give him pleasure? Probably not. And if so, it doesn't change anything. It's just that his stomach needs food, a lot of food, and the gentleman from San Francisco serves him, indulges him. He is no longer a man, his life flows automatically. No wonder he planned his life ahead for two years. "He hoped to enjoy the sun of southern Italy in December and January, he thought of holding a carnival in Nice, in Monte Carlo, he wanted to dedicate the beginning of March to Florence, to come to Rome to the passions of the Lord. Venice, Paris, and the battle were included in his plans bulls in Seville, and bathing in the English Isles, and Athens, and Constantinople, and Palestine, and Egypt, and even Japan." The "love" couple on the ship is very symbolic. This couple pretends to love each other for money, and they are already terribly tired of it, but, probably, they don’t want to or don’t know how to do anything else. (“He danced only with her, and everything came out of them so subtly, charmingly, that only one commander knew that this couple was hired to play love for good money and had been sailing on one ship or another for a long time"). This is essentially what the gentleman from San Francisco does - he pretends to live. And just as this couple may never be able to know love, so the gentleman from San Francisco is not destined to truly live.

In general, the gentleman from San Francisco is a symbolic image, because he does not even have a name. He is the symbol of an entire class. The absence of a name also speaks of the absence of individuality. He is just a typical rich man.

He died just beginning, in his opinion, to live. Maybe that's why he died? His life has changed, now he does not even have such a goal as making money. The gentleman from San Francisco was not a worthy man, and those who showed him respect in life, after death, despise him and laugh at him. Luigi imitates him, laughs at him. The owner of the hotel, seeing that the gentleman from San Francisco is no longer a source of income, refuses to leave his body in a decent room. They do not find a decent coffin for him and they take him home in some kind of wooden box. And when the dead lay in a bad room, only nature, which he rejected, remained with us and did not turn away from him. ("The blue stars looked at him from the sky, the cricket sang with sad carelessness on the wall." One nature experiences sadness after his death.
The story ends where it began, on Atlantis. "Atlantis" symbolizes the frailty of everything that exists, reminds us that everything will come to an end. The ring composition says that the history of a person has ended, but there are still many such people who are destined to live or simply exist. People will depend on money until they understand its true meaning. The gentleman from San Francisco is just another victim of theirs. He died long before physical death. First there was spiritual death.

The gentleman from San Francisco is a typical person, but how are you different from him? Maybe this story will help you understand who you really are and change your life.

Other writings on this work

Lesson topic: Preparation for the final essay based on the story by I.A. Bunin "The Gentleman from San Francisco" (direction "Aims and Means").
During the classes
I. INTRODUCTION TO THE LESSON
1. Conversation with students, based on the parable "Taste of the air"
Tell me, can you taste the air?
Are taste and smell the same thing?
Let's lament the parable, which is called "The Taste of the Air."
One day Master asked me:
- Can you taste the air?
I sniffed the forest air and named a few scents.
Yes, you have a good nose. But what about taste?
I stuck out my tongue like a dog several times, but remained perplexed.
- Good, - Teacher smiled and, jumping up from behind, grabbed me and covered my mouth and nose.
I realized that resistance was useless, but after a minute the instinct of self-preservation made me twitch my limbs and squirm. Then the Teacher let me go, and I breathed Life in full.
“The taste of life,” I said, catching my breath a little.
- Right. You should always feel this taste. This taste is also in water, in food and in many other things. Do not eat anything that does not have the main taste. Don't talk to someone who is mentally dead. Drink from the Cup of Life with pleasure, but do not rush, because you can empty it ahead of time, or you can even spill it.
What is the moral of this parable? What lesson did the Master teach his student? What is it calling for?
What should be the basis of life? What goals should a person set for himself?
What life values ​​should be prioritized in life so that a person does not regret the lost years, so that he can truly enjoy life?
2. Compilation of the mind map "Life Values"

Can we say that a person does not need material values, that he should strive only for spiritual ones? Justify your answer?
II. "DIPPING INTO THE TISSUE" STORY BY I.A.BUNIN
What values ​​are central to the life of a gentleman from San Francisco? Prove it with text.
Is it bad or good? Can we give a definite answer?
What has the gentleman from San Francisco acquired over the years of work?
What did he lose by acquiring wealth?
Does this mean that if a person sets himself the wrong goal, then he loses the “taste of life”?
The hero is 58 years old. Did he really live?
Does he understand that he sacrificed his life for material goods?
Why does Bunin take only a few sentences to describe the life of a gentleman from San Francisco? Read them.
Until that time, he had not lived, but only existed, though not badly, but still pinning all his hopes on the future. He worked tirelessly - the Chinese, whom he ordered to work for him by the thousands, knew well what this meant! - and finally he saw that a lot had already been done, that he had almost caught up with those whom he had once taken as a model, and decided to take a break.
What are the means by which he achieves wealth?
What does money give him?
Find in the story a description of this power over people.
Having power over people, does the hero become happy?
Is it possible to immediately, at will, as if by the wave of a magic wand, become happy, learn to enjoy simple little things, experience a variety of sensations and feel the life boiling around?
Does he really enjoy and relax during the holidays? Justify your answer.
What does the gentleman from San Francisco not have, despite being rich?
What leads to the deceitfulness of goals?
Let's put it all in the form of a diagram.

FUNDS
GOAL

Wealth

Deceitfulness of goals

The work of thousands of Chinese

Power over people

Victim
yellow body

DEATH
spiritual
physical

What conclusion does the writer lead us to?
1. We must hurry to live, not postponing life for later!
2. Deceitfulness of goals leads to spiritual and physical death
Is the story of I.A. Bunin "The Gentleman from San Francisco" modern? Justify your answer.
III. WORK ON THE THEME OF THE ESSAY
1. Choosing a theme
1. How does the goal set by a person in front of him affect his fate?
2. What is more important for a person - spiritual or material goals?
3. Do you agree with V. Hugo's statement: “Our life is a journey, an idea is a guide. There is no guide and everything has stopped. The goal is lost, and the strength is as if it had not happened”?
2. Work on the composition of the essay
1. Introduction. A reference to an authoritative opinion on an issue close to the problem under discussion (for example, the words of Academician D.S. Likhachev: “Only a vital goal allows a person to live his life with dignity and get real joy.”)
2. The main part. The answer to the question posed in the topic of the essay:
1) argument 1 + illustration (story by I.A. Bunin “The Gentleman from San Francisco”);
2) argument 2 + illustration (goals of Pierre Bezukhov and Andrey Bolkonsky, heroes of L.N. Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" // goals of Alexei Meresyev, hero of B. Polevoy's "Tale of a Real Man", etc.)
3. Conclusion. Appeal, appeal to the reader//reasoning about the relevance of the topic.
IV. HOMEWORK.
Write an essay on one of the suggested topics.

LIFE GOALS OF LITERARY HEROES
Artwork, author hero The purpose of life
L.N. Tolstoy,
novel "War and Peace" by Pierre Bezukhov Saving the life of a loved one, family members, one's country, mankind
Prince Vasily Kuragin Money, material values
Kuprin, story "Garnet Bracelet" Telephonist Zheltkov Lyubov
F.M. Dostoevsky,
novel "Crime and Punishment" Sonechka Marmeladova Christian Love
A.S. Pushkin, the story "The Shot" by Silvio Revenge
A.S. Pushkin, novel "Dubrovsky" Vladimir Dubrovsky M. Gorky,
the story "Old Woman Izergil" Danko Life for the sake of people
Larra Life for yourself
A.T. Tvardovsky,
poem "Vasily Terkin" Vasily Terkin Peace on earth, victory over the Nazis
Parable about the purpose in life
The teacher stopped, looked at the river and said to his disciples:
- Look carefully at this river - it is like our life, flowing either rapidly or slowly. At any moment it can change and will never return to its former face.
The students looked at the river intently. Then the sage asked them a question:
- And what would you choose the path to your intended goal?
The younger student replied:
- I would not be afraid of the current and swim towards it in order to reach the goal.
- You are brave, - said the Mentor, - but there is a big risk that you will drown without reaching the goal.
The average student replied:
- I would choose the path, going with the flow, like that branch that confidently floats along the river, and along the way I would gain experience.
- A good answer, but only if the current goes in the direction of your goal, and if not, then you are threatened, like this branch, to cling to the shore of an unfamiliar place and rot, - said the Mentor.
The senior student thought and answered:
- I would swim to my goal, changing tactics, then going with the flow, then against it. If I got tired, I stopped for a halt, and then, gaining strength, moved on to my goal.
- You thought well about the mistakes of your friends, but still your answer was not wise enough.
Then the Master turned around and walked slowly home. The disciples, puzzled, stood for a while by the river and followed the sage. When they caught up with him, they immediately asked:
- Mentor, which way would you choose along the River of Life?
He stopped, looked at his students, smiled and replied:
I wouldn't even go swimming.
“Is your goal already achieved,” the students were surprised.
- No, - answered the Mentor, - but not always, in order to reach the goal, you need to swim. In order to achieve the goal, you must first go ...

In the works of I.A. Bunin, everything has a deep meaning, there is nothing accidental or superfluous.

Teacher: What is the peculiarity of the titles of the writer's works? (“First Love”, “Silence”, “Antonov Apples”, “Dawn All Night”, “Dark Alleys”).

W: There is a special lyricism in the names, hidden sadness, longing for the departed.

Teacher : But this is not in the title of the story "The Gentleman from San Francisco." Why?

W: Perhaps we will talk about a life in which there is no place for beauty, a life in which there is nothing to admire. The measured, colorless, lifeless existence of the master and the people of his circle.

Teacher: Who is the main character of the story?

W.: Gentleman from San Francisco.

Teacher: “The gentleman from San Francisco” - this is how he is presented in the title, this is how those around him will be called and perceived, under this sign he will be imprinted in the memory of the reader.And why? Why instead of a name - an indirect definition?

W: Placed in the title and repeated many times in the story, this definition is perceived as a neutral formula, a conditionally distant designation of the protagonist. But if we decompose this formula into components and think about their original meaning, then its hidden evaluative nature will be revealed. In the word “master” in this case, a well-defined social role is fixed: the hero “was rich” and belonged to a select circle of people who “used to start enjoying life with a trip to Europe, India, Egypt”; he could afford to travel "for two whole years, with his wife and daughter, just for the sake of pleasure." In other words, " mister from San Francisco” - the master of the situation, the master of life. It was not by chance that Bunin deprived the protagonist of the name, one might say, thereby depersonalizing him, because it is the name that distinguishes a person from the crowd, which means that the author depicted almost the entire bourgeois society of his century, generalizing this society precisely in the image of a gentleman from San Francisco ".

Teacher: So gentleman from san francisco- this is already a characteristic, as a characteristic is the significant fact that "no one remembered his name either in Naples or in Capri." Here questions arise:why did no one remember the name?

W: Because of the facelessness, colorlessness, inexpressiveness of the hero himself, or maybe the whole point is the indifference of those with whom fate brought him together, the fact that for them he was just one of the profitable rich clients, and nothing more.

Teacher: In the title of the story, both the self-awareness of a wealthy American, and the author's irony over this, and the characterization of the dull facelessness of the protagonist come through at the same time. He is not free, he does not live, but only intends to live, this "man with an old heart."

The behavior of the Master, greedy for the pleasures of everyday life, the toilet, is the peak of the blindness of one who has already touched the abyss of non-existence.Let's analyze how the appearance of the hero is described?

W: The appearance of the hero is extremely "materialized", the leitmotif detail, acquiring a symbolic character, becomes the brilliance of gold, the leading colors are yellow, gold, silver, that is, the colors of death,
the absence of life, the color of external brilliance. For example: "There was something Mongolian in his sallow face with trimmed silver mustaches, his big eyes glittered with gold fillings.

teeth, old ivory - a strong bald head.

Teacher: And how is the environment of the master described? Give a description of one of the most vivid images that you remember.

W: The prince of "an Asian state, traveling incognito", for example, is described as follows: "a small man, all wooden, broad-faced, narrow-eyed, in gold

glasses, slightly unpleasant - the fact that his large black mustache showed through, like a dead…”

Teacher: In general, what was the environment of the protagonist?

W: “Among this brilliant crowd there was a certain great

a rich man, clean-shaven, tall, resembling a prelate, in an old-fashioned tailcoat, there was a famous Spanish writer, there was a universal beauty, there was an elegant couple in love, whom everyone watched with curiosity and who did not hide

his happiness: he danced only with her, and everything came out of them so subtly, charmingly that only one commander knew that this couple was hired by Lloyd to play love for good money and had been sailing for a long time now on one ship, then on another.

Teacher: What do you think the author emphasizes, thus describing the society on the deck of the ship?

Wu: The author emphasizes artificiality, unnaturalness.In this sham brilliant crowd, not so much peoplehow many puppets, theatrical masks, wax museum sculptures.

Teacher: The motive of artificiality, automatism is enhanced when Bunin describes the passengers of the Atlantis, it is no coincidence that a voluminous paragraph is devoted to the scheduletheir day: this is a model of the deadly regimentation of their existence, in which there is no place for accidents, secrets, surprises, that is, just what
makes human life truly exciting. The author conveys a feeling of boredom, repetitiveness, creates an image
clockwork with its dull regularity and absolute predictability, and the use of lexical and grammatical means with the meaning of generalization ("it was supposed to walk briskly", "get up ... drink ... sit down ... do ... commit ... walk") emphasizes the impersonality of this brilliant "crowd" (not by chance this is how the writer defines the society of the rich and celebrities gathered on the Atlantis).What happens in the hold during the voyage, what is the life of the people below depicted? What does it say?

W: "Atlantis" is a social model with the opposition of the "upper" and "lower" floors of life, the personification of social heaven and hell. The device of the steamer symbolizes the "device" of bourgeois civilization - upstairs, on the deck, there is a joyful enjoyment of life, which is provided by the workers below, in the "underwater womb of the steamer". It is no coincidence that Bunin likens the working part of the ship to "the gloomy and sultry bowels of the underworld, its last, ninth circle." Hell also exists in this, earthly life, which the author of the story described. This is the motive of social injustice.

Teacher: J writer's wife, V.N. Muromtseva-Bunina, believed that "The Gentleman from San Francisco" was born under the influence of a dispute that Bunin had on board a steamer on the way from Italy to Odessa in 1909. He then said to his opponent: “If we cut the steamer vertically, we will see: we are sitting, drinking wine, talking on various topics, and the drivers in hell, black from coal, are working, etc. Is it fair? And most importantly, those who sit at the top do not consider those who work for them to be people ... ”

Reading Bunin's short story, you probably noticed the name of the ship - "Atlantis". It must be said that the author changed the originalthe name of the ship is “Princess Eleonora” (the name of a real ship that sailed from Italy to America at the beginning of the 20th century), to the name “Atlantis”.What associations does this name evoke in you? What can you say about it?

Wu: I recall the legend of the existence of a civilization on earth that perished without a trace. Perhaps the author, by the symbolic name of the ship, warns of imminent death.

Teacher: Is it only the symbolism of the name of the ship that is a harbinger of disaster? Let's pay attention to the description of the ocean along which the vacationers' path lay.

What alerted you? Why did thoughts of imminent disaster arise?(We are working on the episode "In the evenings, the floors of Atlantis...".)

W: In my opinion, the ocean is a symbol of life, which is alien, incomprehensible to passengers, even hostile to them. They rest, they are flooded with light; everything on the ship is depicted in bright colors.

We hear the sounds of a beautiful orchestra, "exquisitely and tirelessly playing in a two-light hall, festively flooded with lights." The life of “people of the most selective society”, as the author called them, is cloudless, easy. They rest and have fun. And there, behind the ship, another life passes, stormy and real, nothing like their holiday. "The ocean was scary." But the passengers did not see and did not know this terrible life.

Teacher: Yes, you are right, the image of the ocean along which the path of the Atlantis passengers is laid is very symbolic. The ocean is a symbol of life, which is alien and incomprehensible to the "choice society", even hostile to it. Resting passengers have fun, not suspecting that another life is passing overboard, stormy, real, nothing like a holiday, but indifferent to them. Therefore, "the ocean is terrible" with "black mountains" and "foamy tails."

The steamer returns back, accompanied by a "mad blizzard". But if in the first part it was a warning, now comes the denouement. The ocean is buzzing "like a funeral mass", and the waves are "mourning mountains". This is not only the funeral of a gentleman from San Francisco, but the whole world, based on lack of spirituality, cruelty and vulgarity. And again the siren "screams furiously, strangled by the storm."

And in the underwater womb of "Atlantis" we see "hellish fireboxes" that "sizzle with steam and ooze boiling water and steam." There is no salvation either for Atlantis or for those who are on it.

Teacher: What is the peculiarity of the description of the behavior of a gentleman from San Francisco before dinner in Capri, in the last minutes of his life?

W: Filled with respect for himself, he behaves with the servants emphatically arrogantly, answers “with unhurried distinctness”, “offensively-polite voice”, carefully keeping a distance - he always remembers this.

His preparation for dinner is described by Bunin with particular care, and this description begins with the famous phrase: "And then he again began to prepare for the crown." The crown in human culture is present in the rite of marriage, coronation, but also in funerals.

Teacher: “What did the master think, what did the gentleman feel on this evening so significant for him?”

W: After the pitching, he was very hungry and was in some excitement, "leaving no time for feelings and reflections." He did not foresee anything - he did not know how to do it; the sensation of the master of life seemed to insure him against all unpleasant accidents. A gentleman from San Francisco cleans himself meticulously, and his exclamation: “Oh, this is terrible!” refers to the length and intensity of his manipulation of the cufflink. The worst thing in his life is already approaching. This is announced by the second gong, which "loudly, as if in a pagan temple, buzzed throughout the house." The elderly American, playfully thinking about the dancer whom he would now see, went, in anticipation of his wife and daughter, to the reading room. This can be called his final procession - as he felt it - the winner of life, from whom the servants pressed against the walls, who easily overtook the old woman who hurried ahead of him with all her might ... , a German "with crazy, amazed eyes" - this was the last person he saw. Death, which, apparently, came from an apoplexy, as a stroke was then called, interrupted his occupation, and his body, "desperately fighting with someone," crawled to the floor.

Teacher: When does Bunin for the first time call a hero not a master? And what does he call it?

W: When nature overcomes him, he is a man, not a master. Bunin again does not give his name, but only gives him a new, but also generalizing: "old man."

Teacher: Let's analyze the last actions of the hero and note the artistic details: "silver frame", "pearl hair of the skull", "black socks", "black trousers", "muttering", "groaning", "cracked throat", etc.

So who is before us - a man or a master?

W: Before us is a person with living feelings, and before death he behaves like a person, and not a “wind-up mechanism.” He dies for a very long time, because he clings to life with all his might, because only now he understands that it is impossible to postpone “enjoyment of life”, it is necessary appreciate life today, now, as it is.

Teacher: Explain the change in attitude towards the gentleman from San Francisco after his death.

W: From the point of view of the owner of the hotel, what the American “did” is a “terrible incident”, and the horror is not in death itself, but in its commercial, so to speak, consequences. It is necessary to cancel the tarantella, it is necessary to keep tourists, who, of course, will be unpleasant to be near the dead - that's what the old man "did".

Death overtook him suddenly and rudely, he was just beginning to live, he was not ready to meet with her. And he "persistently fought against death."

The evening, however, "was spoiled", the tourists had "offended faces". The owner of the hotel was in a decent annoyance and gave his word that he would take "all measures depending on him ..." The open mouth of the dead American was "illuminated by the reflection of gold" of his fillings, gold is the main value of this person and this world.

After his death, i.e. the disappearance of what was the main thing for this world - money (the owner of the hotel "was not at all interested in those trifles that the widow and daughter could now leave in his cash desk"), his attitude towards the old man changed radically. The owner talks to the grief-stricken women "without any courtesy anymore" and refuses them the room where the deceased lived, as this will scare away tourists.

The despair of the widow and daughter did not in the least shake the determination of the owner of the hotel to remove the body as soon as possible, without even waiting for the coffin - a soda box would do.

The tourists calmed down after they learned that the dead old man, who "frightened them with a reminder of death," was taken to Naples.

Teacher: Our hero is about to return: how does he return?

W: The body of the dead old man, after a week of space between the ports, "experienced a lot of humiliation, a lot of human inattention" and again fell on the same "Atlantis" that was taking him to the Old World. Everything has now changed in his position: now he was “deeply lowered in a tarred coffin into a black hold” - the wheel of his fortune turned. When Bunin began to call the gentleman from San Francisco a "dead old man", sad intonations appeared in the descriptions, human pity for the one who was so far hidden from the merry people.

On the ship, as always at night, there was a ball ... "ballroom music thundered again amidst a furious blizzard ... like a funeral mass ..."

Teacher: The picture of final doom is ending image of the devil , which follows the ship leaving into the night and blizzard. The devil directly personifies the dark unknowable beginnings that dominate the destinies of mankind. But in the story there is an image with which the salvation of mankind can be associated. This is the image of the Mother of God. She is illuminated by the sun, in warmth and splendor, in snow-white gypsum clothes and in a royal crown. She is meek and merciful. It is to her that “naive and humbly joyful” praises are dedicated.

Teacher: Why does Bunin associate the image of the Mother of God and the idea of ​​saving mankind with the highlanders?

W: Highlanders are close to nature, their souls are not corrupted by light, they do not know deceit, hypocrisy, betrayal. They have pure and naive souls, they are frank in their feelings. With the advent of mountaineers, nature changes. Gloomy tones disappear, replaced by warm, gentle ones. The people on the Atlantis could not see and did not see the beauty, it seemed that they were sailing at night. And the highlanders know how to enjoy life and what surrounds them. The nature surrounding them is beautiful: “... a whole country, joyful, beautiful, sunny, stretched under them: ... and the rocky humps of the island, and the fabulous blue, and the shining morning couples under the dazzling sun, and the misty-azure massifs of Italy ". In this ugly world they will be saved, because their souls are pure, they are simple, sincere.

About the life path of a person to death through wealth. The author of the story did not give the protagonist a name. After all, the name is something purely spiritual, it leaves an imprint on life. Bunin tells that this man is deprived of all good aspirations. He claims that there is not even a spiritual beginning in him.

In addition, the gentleman from San Francisco is a typical rich old man who travels from America in order to enjoy life before his expected death. At the beginning of the work, the reader finds himself on a journey on a ship called Atlantis. Here the hero enjoys the benefits of civilization. The author ironically talks about the events that the master is going through - meals and dressing for them. It seems that he is the king of this life, he can take from her everything that is given for money. But you can not buy the main thing - spiritual values.

However, to outsiders, he seems to be just a puppet on strings, led by a competent puppeteer. The master is already old for a long time, without unnecessary thoughts he drinks wine, eats food, forgetting about what a simple person rejoices. He gave his whole life to earn a fortune, never realizing how meaningless his life was.

In Bunin's understanding, the beginning and end of the life path are equal. However, he describes life very sensually, with many details. And death is just a means of transition to something new, to another state of the soul. There is only one question left. Did this important gentleman from San Francisco have the very soul that should find its rest? Bunin tells about his death rather rudely, making it clear that he did not suffer from spiritual wounds, because only a spiritual person is capable of this. And the hero of this story, apparently, did not possess it. His death was simply the death of the body.

The second part of the work tells about the journey of the remains of the master: "The body of the dead old man from San Francisco was returning home, to the grave, to the shores of the New World." It was just a living shell filled with money and honor, and after death only e remained. No one regretted that he was gone, because they respected him only for money and power. No one cares about the dead body of the master. Nothing has changed in this world after our hero passed away. The ship "Atlantis" is still sailing, the audience is still smartly dressed. Perhaps only the wife and daughter survive the death of their breadwinner, but this is only the reader's speculation, the author does not show this to us.

This story reminds the living that it is not money and fame that matters, but something more.

The meaning of the life of a gentleman from San Francisco

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Bunin is a great master of words, who accurately and correctly depicts in his beautiful works the world of love, landscape sketches, the world of village life, but still he always returns to the problems of humanity, which cannot but excite him. His life is a journey, being in which, he observed how people manifest themselves under the capitalist system, and under colonial conditions of life. His trips to the East and Europe, analysis of the conditions for the existence of obleys in these states gave him the richest material for writing stories.

Ivan Alekseevich shows in his works that there is absolutely no morality in the capitalist world, because the power of money kills it. Each member of such a society has only one goal in life - to increase their savings by any means.

But Bunin creates his stories special, lyrical, reflecting all the bright and sensual movements of the human soul. Therefore, among the rest of Bunin's works, which have lyricism and poetic narration, the plot of the story "The Gentleman from San Francisco" stands out, which has a simple and simple plot and a complete absence of any lyricism or movements of the human soul.

A terrible world of soulless people opens up before readers, who simply create the illusion of life, but still they do not live, but exist. This is how they earn money, even travel and can fall in love, like the daughter of the protagonist, but they do it dryly, and their soul does not come to life, does not respond to these feelings. The protagonist of the story has neither a name nor any roots. Thus, Bunin shows that this image is collective, he is a bright representative of the society in which he and his family exist.

The writer shows a hero who does not have his inner world at all, there are no experiences and any movements of the soul. This is such an everyday person, about whom the author does not say anything, since everything can be understood from those everyday details, of which there are many in the story.

Bunin begins his work with a description of the deck where bourgeois society is having fun. He shows that this fun goes on all the time, but none of them even tries to think about those people and their overwork that are on the lower deck. They are not interested, and even if they knew, they were completely indifferent.

The author specifically in his story uses a literary device - contrast. The reader sees how the cheerful and unrestrained life of bourgeois society is contrasted with the life of people who work day and night in a dark and dirty hold.

The writer also shows that even love does not exist in this world. They do not know these real feelings that excite the soul. Therefore, a couple was hired on the ship for money, which showed love, showed feelings, but they were also not real. And the author constantly emphasizes this to show that human feelings are absent in this indifferent world.

The rich gentleman from Bunin's story is a bright representative of his society, he is empty and worthless. In his life there is no other goal than enrichment. Therefore, throughout the whole story, he has no thoughts about anything, much less experiences. He is shown by Ivan Alekseevich as a thing, as some kind of inanimate object. Bunin raises and touches upon the eternal problems of the human world with the plot of his story: about spirituality, about the movements of the human soul, and about its purpose in this world, but about God.