Mr. from San Francisco analysis of the work. Analysis of the work “Mr. from San Francisco” (Bunin)

The hero of the story - the Master - is one of many like him. The presence of irony when depicting the Master does not make his image grotesque; there is no caricature in it. Before us is a very rich man who consistently strives for his goal. And so, at the age of fifty, he “decided to take a break.” Human feelings are not alien to him: “...I was happy for my wife and daughter.” The Lord embodies the characteristic features of the clan to which he belongs. This is arrogance and selfishness, the conviction that “there is and cannot be a doubt about the correctness” of his desires, a disdainful attitude towards other people social status. But despite all the lack of spirituality, dissatisfaction with the way of life that he leads awakens in the Master. After rocking on the ship, he says: “Oh, this is terrible!” “Terrible” is the approaching old age, the pursuit of monotonous and tedious entertainment. Sudden death The mistress unexpectedly emphasized his human features: “... his features began to become thinner and brighter - with the beauty that already befitted him.”

It turned out that everything accumulated by the Master has no meaning before the eternal laws of life. The conclusion is simple: the meaning of life is not in acquiring wealth, but in something else - in worldly wisdom, kindness, spirituality. The “selected society” was offended that death ruined the dinner and disrupted the fun. No one had a word of sympathy for the Master’s family. The body was dragged into the dampest and coldest room and placed in a soda water box.

In contrast (the main compositional principle of the story) with the “selected society”, Bunin depicts mountaineers who are close to nature and far from the “charms” of civilization. They know how to enjoy the beauty of the sea, mountains, and sky. “They bared their heads, put their lanterns to their lips - and naive and humbly joyful praises poured out to them to the sun, to the morning, to her, the immaculate intercessor of all those who suffer in this evil and beautiful world...”

The ending of the story is very significant. No one in the halls of Atlantis, which radiated light and joy, knew that “deep beneath them” stood the coffin of the Master. The coffin in the hold is a kind of sentence to a madly merry society. Ballroom music (contrast!) thunders “among the frantic blizzard sweeping over the ocean that was humming like a funeral mass.”

The story expresses the author's conviction of an impending global catastrophe. This idea is conveyed through symbolic images of the Ocean, the Abyss, Chaos, the Devil, Atlantis - a huge disappeared island. Bunin proceeds from his idea of the illusory nature of social laws, the deceit and meaninglessness of human relationships, and the depravity of the nature of “civilized” people. The author expresses the idea of the frailty of everything on earth. The Master's passion for momentary pleasures means a shift in values in the world, as a result of which a person's life becomes insignificant. The meaninglessness of human existence is also emphasized by the image of a cruising ship in the raging abyss of the ocean.

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The work “Mr. from San Francisco,” which we will now analyze, is a story in its genre. It was written by Ivan Bunin. The cruel plan literally excited Bunin’s critics and contemporaries. This story differs significantly from his earlier works. The story was published in the magazine "Slovo" in 1915.

Genre originality and composition of the story

Speaking about the genre of the work, and this is very important to understand when analyzing “The Gentleman from San Francisco,” let us clarify that this is not just a story, but a socio-philosophical story. That is, the author’s idea is much deeper than just pleasing the reader interesting story and beautiful storytelling. Important questions are raised, the answers to which can be seen by looking closely at the author’s point of view, or thought out independently, based on an analysis of events. The composition of the story is interesting in that the story can be divided into two parts:

1. Travel by boat from San Francisco

2. Traveling to the USA in the hold

Thus, when creating the story, a ring composition was used. those. where the story began is how it ended.

I. Bunin is one of the few figures of Russian culture appreciated abroad. In 1933 he was awarded Nobel Prize in literature "For the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose." One can have different attitudes towards the personality and views of this writer, but his mastery in the field belles lettres undoubtedly, therefore his works are at least worthy of our attention. One of them, “Mr. from San Francisco,” received such a high rating from the jury, which awarded the most prestigious award peace.

An important quality for a writer is observation, because from the most fleeting episodes and impressions you can create a whole work. Bunin accidentally saw the cover of Thomas Mann’s book “Death in Venice” in a store, and a few months later, when he came to visit his cousin, he remembered this title and connected it with an even older memory: the death of an American on the island of Capri, where the author himself was vacationing. And so it turned out to be one of the best Bunin's stories, and not just a story, but a whole philosophical parable.

This literary work was enthusiastically received by critics, and the writer’s extraordinary talent was compared with the gift of L.N. Tolstoy and A.P. Chekhov. After this, Bunin stood with the venerable experts on words and the human soul on the same level. His work is so symbolic and eternal that it will never lose its philosophical focus and relevance. And in the age of the power of money and market relations, it is doubly useful to remember what a life inspired only by accumulation leads to.

What a story?

The main character, who does not have a name (he is simply a gentleman from San Francisco), has spent his entire life increasing his wealth, and at the age of 58 he decided to devote time to rest (and at the same time to his family). They set off on the ship Atlantis on their entertaining journey. All passengers are immersed in idleness, but the service staff works tirelessly to provide all these breakfasts, lunches, dinners, teas, card games, dances, liqueurs and cognacs. The stay of tourists in Naples is also monotonous, only museums and cathedrals are added to their program. However, the weather is not kind to tourists: December in Naples turned out to be stormy. Therefore, the Master and his family rush to the island of Capri, pleasing with warmth, where they check into the same hotel and are already preparing for routine “entertainment” activities: eating, sleeping, chatting, looking for a groom for their daughter. But suddenly the death of the main character bursts into this “idyll”. He died suddenly while reading a newspaper.

And this is where the main idea of the story is revealed to the reader: that in the face of death everyone is equal: neither wealth nor power will save you from it. This Gentleman, who only recently wasted money, spoke contemptuously to the servants and accepted their respectful bows, is lying in a cramped and cheap room, respect has disappeared somewhere, his family is being kicked out of the hotel, because his wife and daughter will leave “trifles” at the box office. And so his body is taken back to America in a soda box, because even a coffin cannot be found in Capri. But he is already traveling in the hold, hidden from high-ranking passengers. And no one really grieves, because no one can use the dead man’s money.

Meaning of the name

At first, Bunin wanted to call his story “Death on Capri” by analogy with the title that inspired him, “Death in Venice” (the writer read this book later and rated it as “unpleasant”). But after writing the first line, he crossed out this title and named the work by the “name” of the hero.

From the first page, the writer’s attitude towards the Master is clear; for him, he is faceless, colorless and soulless, so he did not even receive a name. He is the master, the top of the social hierarchy. But all this power is fleeting and fragile, the author reminds. The hero, useless to society, who has not done a single good deed in 58 years and thinks only of himself, remains after death only an unknown gentleman, about whom they only know that he is a rich American.

Characteristics of heroes

There are few characters in the story: the gentleman from San Francisco as a symbol of eternal fussy hoarding, his wife, depicting gray respectability, and their daughter, symbolizing the desire for this respectability.

The gentleman “worked tirelessly” all his life, but these were the hands of the Chinese, who were hired by the thousands and died just as abundantly in hard service. Other people generally mean little to him, the main thing is profit, wealth, power, savings. It was they who gave him the opportunity to travel, live at the highest level and not care about those around him who were less fortunate in life. However, nothing saved the hero from death; you can’t take the money to the next world. And respect, bought and sold, quickly turns into dust: after his death nothing changed, the celebration of life, money and idleness continued, even the last tribute to the dead had no one to worry about. The body travels through authorities, it is nothing, just another piece of luggage that is thrown into the hold, hidden from “decent society.”
The hero's wife lived a monotonous, philistine life, but with chic: without any special problems or difficulties, no worries, just a lazily stretching string of idle days. Nothing impressed her; she was always completely calm, probably having forgotten how to think in the routine of idleness. She is only concerned about the future of her daughter: she needs to find her a respectable and profitable match, so that she too can comfortably float with the flow all her life.
The daughter did her best to portray innocence and at the same time frankness, attracting suitors. This is what interested her most. A meeting with an ugly, strange and uninteresting man, but a prince, plunged the girl into excitement. Perhaps it was one of the last strong feelings in her life, and then the future of her mother awaited her. However, some emotions still remained in the girl: she alone foresaw trouble (“her heart was suddenly squeezed by melancholy, a feeling of terrible loneliness on this strange, dark island”) and cried for her father.

Main themes

Life and death, routine and exclusivity, wealth and poverty, beauty and ugliness - these are the main themes of the story. They immediately reflect the philosophical orientation of the author's intention. He encourages readers to think about themselves: are we not chasing something frivolously small, are we getting bogged down in routine, missing out on true beauty? After all, a life in which there is no time to think about oneself, one’s place in the Universe, in which there is no time to look at surrounding nature, people and notice something good in them, lived in vain. And you can’t fix a life you’ve lived in vain, and you can’t buy a new one for any money. Death will come anyway, you can’t hide from it and you can’t pay off it, so you need to have time to do something really worthwhile, something so that you will be remembered with a kind word, and not indifferently thrown into the hold. Therefore, it is worth thinking about everyday life, which makes thoughts banal and feelings faded and weak, about wealth that is not worth the effort, about beauty, in the corruption of which lies ugliness.

The wealth of the “masters of life” is contrasted with the poverty of people who live equally ordinary lives, but suffer poverty and humiliation. Servants who secretly imitate their masters, but grovel before them to their faces. Masters who treat their servants as inferior creatures, but grovel before even richer and more noble persons. A couple hired on a steamship to play passionate love. The Master's daughter, feigning passion and trepidation to lure the prince. All this dirty, low pretense, although presented in a luxurious wrapper, is contrasted with the eternal and pure beauty of nature.

Main problems

The main problem of this story is the search for the meaning of life. How should you spend your short earthly vigil not in vain, how to leave behind something important and valuable for others? Everyone sees their purpose in their own way, but no one should forget that a person’s spiritual baggage is more important than his material one. Although at all times they have said that in modern times all eternal values have been lost, every time this is not true. Both Bunin and other writers remind us, readers, that life without harmony and inner beauty is not life, but a miserable existence.

The problem of the transience of life is also raised by the author. After all, the gentleman from San Francisco spent his mental strength, made money and made money, postponing some simple joys, real emotions for later, but this “later” never began. This happens to many people who are mired in everyday life, routine, problems, and affairs. Sometimes you just need to stop, pay attention to loved ones, nature, friends, and feel the beauty in your surroundings. After all, tomorrow may not come.

The meaning of the story

It is not for nothing that the story is called a parable: it has a very instructive message and is intended to give a lesson to the reader. The main idea of the story is the injustice of class society. Most of it survives on bread and water, while the elite waste their lives mindlessly. The writer states the moral squalor of the existing order, because most of the “masters of life” achieved their wealth by dishonest means. Such people bring only evil, just as the Master from San Francisco pays and ensures the death of Chinese workers. The death of the main character emphasizes the author's thoughts. No one is interested in this recently so influential man, because his money no longer gives him power, and he has not committed any respectable and outstanding deeds.

The idleness of these rich people, their effeminacy, perversion, insensitivity to something living and beautiful proves the accident and injustice of their high position. This fact is hidden behind the description of the leisure time of tourists on the ship, their entertainment (the main one is lunch), costumes, relationships with each other (the origin of the prince whom the main character’s daughter met makes her fall in love).

Composition and genre

"The Gentleman from San Francisco" can be seen as a parable story. Most people know what a story (a short piece of prose containing plot, conflict, and one main storyline) is, but how can we characterize a parable? A parable is a small allegorical text that guides the reader on the right path. Therefore, the product in plot-wise and in form it is a story, and in philosophical, substantive terms it is a parable.

Compositionally, the story is divided into two large parts: the journey of the Master from San Francisco from the New World and the stay of the body in the hold on the way back. The culmination of the work is the death of the hero. Before this, describing the steamship Atlantis and tourist places, the author gives the story an anxious mood of expectation. In this part, a sharply negative attitude towards the Master is striking. But death deprived him of all privileges and equated his remains with luggage, so Bunin softens and even sympathizes with him. It also describes the island of Capri, its nature and local people; these lines are filled with beauty and understanding of the beauty of nature.

Symbols

The work is replete with symbols that confirm Bunin’s thoughts. The first of them is the steamship Atlantis, on which an endless celebration of luxurious life reigns, but there is a storm outside, a storm, even the ship itself is shaking. So at the beginning of the twentieth century, the whole society was seething, experiencing a social crisis, only the indifferent bourgeois continued the feast during the plague.

The island of Capri symbolizes real beauty (that’s why the description of its nature and inhabitants is covered in warm colors): a “joyful, beautiful, sunny” country filled with “fairy blue”, majestic mountains, the beauty of which cannot be conveyed in human language. The existence of our American family and people like them is a pathetic parody of life.

Features of the work

Figurative language and bright landscapes are inherent in Bunin’s creative style; the artist’s mastery of words is reflected in this story. At first, he creates an anxious mood, the reader expects that, despite the splendor of the rich environment around the Master, something irreparable will soon happen. Later, the tension is erased by natural sketches written in soft strokes, reflecting love and admiration for beauty.

The second feature is the philosophical and topical content. Bunin castigates the meaninglessness of the existence of the elite of society, its spoiling, disrespect for other people. It was because of this bourgeoisie, cut off from the life of the people and having fun at their expense, that two years later a bloody revolution broke out in the writer’s homeland. Everyone felt that something needed to be changed, but no one did anything, which is why so much blood was shed, so many tragedies happened in those difficult times. And the theme of searching for the meaning of life does not lose relevance, which is why the story still interests the reader 100 years later.

Interesting? Save it on your wall!

Module 1

Paths and main trends in the development of Russian literature at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries.

Practical work

Answer the questions in 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 the main idea of the 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 is 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;" - It is not the romance of the ancient country that attracts the hero, but ordinary sensual passions, and the desire for them is based not so much on one’s own desire, but on the position “this is how it is,” on public opinion (“and here is 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 is typical heroes Bunin have their own, hidden history, in some places similar to people, similar in 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 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, slender footmen and respectful head waiters, among whom one, the one who took orders only for wine, even walked around 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 main character- a purely material person, selfish, with a sleeping soul, somewhat immoral, like, indeed, 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.

"Lunch lasted more than an hour, and after dinner there were dances in the ballroom, during which the men, including, of course, the gentleman from San Francisco, with their feet in the air, their faces crimson red, smoked Havana cigars and got drunk on liqueurs in a bar where blacks served in red camisoles, with whites that looked like flaky 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, now and then boiling and fluttering 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 piles of jaws coal, with a roar, people drenched in acrid, dirty sweat and naked to the waist, crimson from the flames, are thrown into them; 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 Dante Alighieri’s “The Divine Comedy,” where lyrical hero, wanting to see his deceased beloved again, he 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 Bunin want to say about modern man? 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 masses, now and then boiling and soaring high with foamy tails, - 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 ached severely: last 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 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 and interrupted him throughout the corridor - 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 clothing 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 has achieved wealth with 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 he certainly is an entangled “idol” (as public opinion calls Pushkin).

13. Prove that social and philosophical themes are intertwined in the scene of the master’s death. The death of a loved one shows true relationship in 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.” Thus, the author moves from an ironic image 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 with an impassive 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:

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 “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 …»

Likewise, Bunin’s “ordinary people” are 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 it swam, and the shining morning steam 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 a legendary island where an ancient civilization reached incredible heights of technology and terrible human sins, for which it 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?

In principle, the answer to this question has already been given: the ship is an allegory of a 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 the future fate of the 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 similar to each other, 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 the open windows of the trailer... The land in Italy smells sweet after the rain, and each of its islands has its own special smell!”

- “And at dawn, when the window of number 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 all over the 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 bad 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 had already divided spheres of influence between themselves by the 19th century.

Having strengthened economically and militarily at the end of the 19th century, 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 the latter meaning. 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 a rigor overwhelming the human soul, 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?

Original title 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 of 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 removed it, 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.

Probably the first thing that catches your eye when reading this work by Bunin is the biblical and mythological associations. Why “from San Francisco?” Are there really few cities in America where a fifty-eight-year-old gentleman could have been born and lived his life, going to travel around Europe, and before that working “tirelessly” (in this definition, Bunin has a barely noticeable irony: what kind of “work” was that? - the Chinese knew well, “whom he ordered thousands of to work for him”; a modern author would write not about work, but about “exploitation,” but Bunin, a subtle stylist, prefers that the reader himself guess the nature of this “labor”) . Is it because the city is named after the famous Christian saint Francis of Assisi, who preached extreme poverty, asceticism, and renunciation of any property? Doesn’t it thus become more obvious, in contrast to his poverty, the irrepressible desire of the nameless gentleman (hence, one of many) to enjoy everything in life, and to enjoy it aggressively, persistently, in the absolute confidence that he has every right to do so? As the writer notes, the gentleman from San Francisco was constantly accompanied by “a crowd of those whose duty it was to receive” him with dignity. And “it was like this everywhere...” And the gentleman from San Francisco is firmly convinced that it should have always been like this.

Only in the very last edition, shortly before his death, Bunin removed the significant epigraph that had always previously opened this story: “Woe to you, Babylon, strong city.” He removed it, perhaps, because these words, taken from the Apocalypse, a New Testament book prophesying the end of the world, telling about the city of vice and debauchery Babylon, 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. And as it arises detailed description the daily routine of those traveling on this ship - “they got up early, with the sounds of trumpets, sharply heard along the corridors even at that gloomy hour, when the light was so slowly and inhospitably over the gray-green water desert, heavily agitated in the fog; putting on flannel pajamas, drinking 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 on the deck, breathing in the cold freshness of the ocean, or play sheffle board 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 existence, its crown...” - the feeling grows that we are looking at a description of Belshazzar’s feast. This feeling is all the more real because the “crown” of each day was indeed a luxurious dinner-feast, followed by dancing, flirting and other joys of life.

And there is a feeling that, as at the feast organized, according to biblical legend, by the last Babylonian king Belshazzar on the eve of the capture of the city of Babylon by the Persians, incomprehensible words will be inscribed on the wall by a mysterious hand, fraught with a hidden threat: “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.” Then, in Babylon, only the Jewish sage Daniel could decipher them, who explained that they contained a prediction of the death of the city and the division of the Babylonian kingdom between the conquerors. And so it soon happened. In Bunin, this formidable warning is present in the form of the incessant roar of the ocean, raising its huge waves behind the side of the steamer, a snow blizzard swirling above it, darkness covering the entire space around, the howl of a siren, which constantly “howled with hellish gloom and squealed with frantic anger " Just as scary are the “living monster” - the gigantic shaft in the belly of the steamship, which ensures its movement, and the “hellish furnaces” of its underworld, in the hot mouth of which unknown forces bubble, and sweaty dirty people with reflections of crimson flame on their faces. But just as those feasting in Babylon do not see these menacing words, so the inhabitants of the ship do not hear these simultaneously wailing and clanging sounds: they are drowned out by the melodies of a beautiful orchestra and the thick walls of the cabins. As the same alarming omen, but addressed not to all the inhabitants of the ship, but to one gentleman from San Francisco, his “recognition” of the owner of a hotel in Capri: “exactly this” elegant young man “with a mirror image” can be perceived combed head" last night he saw in a dream...

It is surprising that Bunin, who was always famous for not resorting, unlike Chekhov, to repeating details, in this case repeatedly uses the technique of repetition, exacerbation of the same actions, situations, details. He is not satisfied with telling in detail about the daily routine on the ship. With the same care, the writer lists everything that travelers do upon arriving in Naples. This is again the first and second breakfasts, visits to museums and ancient churches, an obligatory climb up the mountain, five-hour tea at the hotel, a hearty dinner in the evening... Everything here is calculated and programmed, just like in the life of the gentleman from San Francisco, who is already ahead for two years he knows where and what awaits him. In the south of Italy he will enjoy the love of young Neapolitan women, in Nice - admire the carnival, in Monte Carlo - participate in car and sailing races and play roulette, in Florence and Rome - listen to church masses, and then visit Athens, Palestine, Egypt and even Japan.

However, these very interesting and attractive things in themselves do not contain genuine joy for the people who use them. Bunin emphasizes the mechanical nature of their behavior. They did not enjoy, but “had the custom of beginning the enjoyment of life” with one activity or another; they apparently have no appetite, and it must be stimulated, they do not stroll along the deck, but they are supposed to walk briskly, they must perch on small gray donkeys, exploring the surroundings, they do not choose museums, but they are always shown someone’s “certainly the famous “Descent from the Cross”. Even the captain of the ship appears not as a living being, but as a “huge idol” in his embroidered gold uniform. This is how the writer makes his noble and wealthy heroes captives of a golden cage, in which they imprisoned themselves and in which they carefreely remain for the time being, unaware of the approaching future... This future has so far awaited only one gentleman from San Francisco among them . And this future was Death!

The melody of death begins to sound latently from the very first pages of the work, quietly creeping up on the hero, but gradually becoming the leading motive. At first, death is extremely aestheticized and picturesque: in Monte Carlo, one of the favorite pastimes of rich idlers is “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 the ground with white lumps.” (Bunin is generally characterized by the aestheticization of things that are usually unsightly, which should rather frighten than attract the observer. Well, who else but him could write about the “slightly powdered, delicate pink pimples near the lips and between the shoulder blades” on the daughter of a gentleman from San Francisco, compare the whites the eyes of blacks with “flaking hard balls” or calling a young man in a narrow tailcoat with long tails “a handsome man, like a huge leech”!) Then a hint of death appears in the description of the portrait of the crown prince of one of the Asian states, sweet and pleasant in general person, whose mustache, however, “saw like a dead man’s,” and the skin on his face was “as if stretched.” And the siren on the ship is choking in “mortal melancholy,” promising evil, and the museums are cold and “deadly pure,” and the ocean is moving with “mourning mountains of silver foam” and hums like a “funeral mass.”

But the breath of death is felt even more clearly in the appearance of the main character, in which yellow-black-silver tones prevail: a yellowish face, gold fillings in the teeth, an ivory-colored skull. Cream silk underwear, black socks, trousers, and a tuxedo complete his look. And he sits in the golden-pearl glow of the dining hall. And it seems that from him these colors spread to nature and the whole the world. Except that an alarming red color has been added. It is clear that the ocean is rolling its black waves, that crimson flames are escaping from its furnaces; It is natural that Italian women have black hair, that the rubber capes of cab drivers give off a black look, and the crowd of footmen is “black,” and musicians may have red jackets. But why is the beautiful island of Capri also approaching “with its blackness,” “drilled with red lights,” why even “humble waves” shimmer like “black oil,” and “golden boas” flow along them from the lit lanterns on the pier?

Thus, Bunin creates in the reader an idea of the omnipotence of the gentleman from San Francisco, capable of suppressing even the beauty of nature. In the poem “Retribution,” Blok wrote about the “dark” years of Russia, when the evil genius of Pobedonostsev “stretched out his owl’s wings” over it, plunging the country into darkness. Isn’t that how the gentleman from San Francisco spreads his wings of evil over the whole world? After all, even sunny Naples is not illuminated by the sun while this American is there, and the island of Capri seems like some kind of ghost, “as if it never existed in the world,” when he approaches it...

And Bunin needs all this to prepare the reader for climax narrative - the death of the hero, which he does not think about, the thought of which does not penetrate his consciousness at all. And what kind of surprise can there be in this programmed world, where formal dressing for dinner is done in such a way as if a person is preparing for a crown (i.e., the happy pinnacle of his life), where there is a cheerful smartness, albeit middle-aged, but well-shaven and still a very elegant man who so easily overtakes an old woman who is late for dinner? Bunin has only one detail that “stands out” from a series of well-rehearsed actions and movements: when a gentleman from San Francisco gets dressed for dinner, the neck cuff does not obey his fingers, it does not want to be fastened... But he still defeats it , painfully biting “the flabby skin in the recess under the Adam’s apple,” wins “with eyes shining from tension,” “all gray from the tight collar squeezing his throat.” And suddenly at that moment he utters words that in no way fit with the atmosphere of general contentment, with the delight that he was prepared to receive. “Oh, this is terrible! - he muttered, and repeated with conviction: “This is terrible...” What exactly turned out to be terrible in this world designed for pleasure, the gentleman from San Francisco, not used to thinking about the unpleasant, never tried to understand. However, it is amazing that before this an American who spoke mainly English or Italian (his Russian remarks are very short and are perceived as “passing”) repeats this word twice in Russian... By the way, it is generally worth noting his abrupt, as if barking speech : He doesn't say more than two or three words at a time.

“Terrible” was in fact the first touch of Death, which was never realized by a person in whose soul “for a long time there were no longer... any mystical feelings left.” After all, as Bunin writes, the intense rhythm of his life did not leave “time for feelings and reflection.” However, some feelings, or rather sensations, were still there, however, the simplest, if not base... The writer repeatedly points out that the gentleman from San Francisco perks up only at the mention of the tarantella performer (his question asked “in an expressionless voice ”, about her partner: is he not her husband? - this just reveals hidden excitement), only imagining how she, “swarthy, with feigned eyes, looking like a mulatto, in a flowery outfit” dances, only anticipating “the love of young Neapolitan women, albeit not entirely disinterested,” only admiring the “living pictures” in brothels or looking so openly at the famous blonde beauty that his daughter becomes embarrassed. He feels despair only when he begins to suspect that life is slipping out of his control: he came to Italy to enjoy himself, but here there is fog, rain and terrifying pitching... But he is given the pleasure of dreaming about a spoonful of soup and a sip of wine.

And for this, and also for his entire life, in which there was self-confident efficiency, and cruel exploitation of other people, and endless accumulation of wealth, and the conviction that everyone around was called to serve him, to prevent his slightest desires, to carry his things, for lack of any living principle, Bunin executes him. And he executes cruelly, one might say, mercilessly.

The death of the gentleman from San Francisco is shocking in its ugliness and repulsive physiology. Now the writer takes full advantage aesthetic category“ugly"', so that a disgusting picture will forever be imprinted in our memory when “his neck tensed, his eyes bulged, his pince-nez flew off his nose... He rushed forward, wanted to take a breath of air - and wheezed wildly; his lower jaw fell off..., his head fell on his shoulder and began to roll... - and the whole body, writhing, lifting the carpet with its heels, crawled to the floor, desperately struggling with someone." But this was not the end: "... he was still fighting. He persistently fought with death, he never wanted to succumb to it, which so unexpectedly and rudely fell upon him. He shook his head, wheezed as if he had been stabbed to death, rolled his eyes as if drunk..." The hoarse bubbling continued to be heard from his chest even later, when he was already lying on a cheap iron bed, under rough woolen blankets, dimly lit by a single light bulb. Bunin spares no repulsive details to recreate the picture of the pathetic, disgusting death of a once powerful man, whom no wealth can save from subsequent humiliation. And only when a particular gentleman from San disappears -Francisco, and in his place “someone else” appears, overshadowed by the greatness of death, the writer allows himself several details that emphasize the significance of what had happened: “slowly... pallor flowed over the face of the deceased, and his features began to thin out and brighten.” And later, the dead person is given genuine communication with nature, which he was deprived of, which he never felt the need for while alive. We remember well what the gentleman from San Francisco strived for and what he “aimed” at for the rest of his life. Now, in a cold and empty room, “the stars looked at him from the sky, the cricket sang with sad carefreeness on the wall.”

It seems that in depicting the further humiliations that accompanied the posthumous earthly “being” of the gentleman from San Francisco, Bunin even comes into conflict with the truth of life. The reader may have a question: why, for example, does a hotel owner consider the money that the wife and daughter of a deceased guest could give him in gratitude for transferring the body to the bed of a luxurious room as a trifle? Why does he lose the remnants of respect for them and even allows himself to “besiege” Madame when she begins to demand what is rightfully due to her? Why is he in such a hurry to “say goodbye” to the body, without even giving his loved ones the opportunity to purchase a coffin? And now, by his order, the body of the gentleman from San Francisco turns out to be immersed in a long soda box of English water, and at dawn, secretly, a drunken cab driver rushes down to the pier in order to hastily load it onto a small steamer, which will transfer its burden to one from port warehouses, after which it will again end up on Atlantis. And there the black, tarred coffin will be hidden deep in the hold, in which it will remain until returning home.

But such a state of affairs is really possible in a world where Death is perceived as something shameful, obscene, “unpleasant”, violating the orderly order, like moveton (bad taste, bad upbringing), capable of ruining the mood, unsettling. It is no coincidence that the writer chooses a verb that should not be consistent with the word death: done. “If there had been a German in the reading room, not a single soul of the guests would have known what he had done.” Consequently, death in the perception of these people is something that needs to be “hushed up”, hidden, otherwise “offended persons”, claims and a “ruined evening” cannot be avoided. That is why the hotel owner is in such a hurry to get rid of the deceased, that in the world of distorted ideas about what is proper and what is not proper, about what is decent and what is indecent (it is indecent to die like this, at the wrong time, but it is decent to invite an elegant couple to “play love for good money”, pleasing the eyes satiated loafers; you can hide the body in a bottle box, but you can’t let guests disturb their exercise). The writer persistently emphasizes the fact that, were it not for the unwanted witness, the well-trained servants “instantly, in reverse, would have rushed away by the legs and head of the master from San Francisco to hell,” and everything would have gone as usual. And now the owner has to apologize to the guests for the inconvenience: he had to cancel the tarantella and turn off the electricity. He even makes promises that are monstrous from a human point of view, saying that he will take “all measures in his power to eliminate the trouble.” (Here we can once again be convinced of the subtle irony of Bunin, who manages to convey the terrible conceit of a modern man, convinced that he can do something to oppose the inexorable death, which is in his power to “correct” the inevitable.)

The writer “rewarded” his hero with such a terrible, unenlightened death in order to once again emphasize the horror of that unrighteous life, which only could end in such a way. And indeed, after the death of the gentleman from San Francisco, the world felt relief. A miracle happened. The very next day the morning “got rich” blue sky, “peace and tranquility returned to the island,” ordinary people poured into the streets, and the city market was graced with the presence of the handsome Lorenzo, who serves as a model for many painters and, as it were, symbolizes beautiful Italy. Everything about him is in stark contrast to the gentleman from San Francisco, although he is also an old man, just like that one! And his calmness (he can stand in the market from morning to evening), and his disinterestedness (“he brought and already sold for next to nothing two lobsters caught at night”), and the fact that he is a “carefree reveler” (his idleness gains moral value compared to the American's fussy readiness to consume pleasure). He has “royal habits,” while the slowness of the gentleman from San Francisco seems retarded, and he does not need to dress or preen himself specially: his rags are picturesque, and his red woolen beret, as always, is pulled jauntily over his ear.

But the peaceful procession from the mountain heights of two Abruzzese highlanders confirms the grace that has descended on the world to an even greater extent. Bunin deliberately slows down the pace of the narrative so that the reader can discover and enjoy the panorama of Italy with them: “... the whole country, joyful, beautiful, sunny, stretched beneath them: and 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 steam 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 stop along the way that these two people make is also important - in front of the snow-white statue of the Madonna, illuminated by the sun, wearing a crown, golden-rust from the weather. To her, the “immaculate intercessor of all those who suffer,” they offer “humbly joyful praises.” Ho and the sun. And in the morning. Bunin makes his characters half-Christian, half-pagan, children of nature, pure and naive. And this stop, which turns an ordinary descent from the mountain into a long journey, also makes it meaningful (again, in contrast to the meaningless accumulation of impressions that should have crowned the journey of the gentleman from San Francisco).

Bunin openly embodies his aesthetic ideal in ordinary people. Even before this apotheosis of natural, chaste, religious life, which appears shortly before the end of the story, his admiration for the naturalness and uncloudedness of their existence was visible. Firstly, almost all of them received the honor of being named. Unlike the nameless Mr., his wife, Mrs., his daughter, Miss, as well as the impassive owner of the hotel in Capri, the captain of the ship - the servants, the dancers have names! Carmella and Giuseppe dance the tarantella superbly, Luigi bitingly imitates the English speech of the deceased, and old Lorenzo allows visiting foreigners to admire him. But it is also important that death has brought the arrogant gentleman from San Francisco on an equal footing with mere mortals: in the hold of the ship he is next to the infernal machines, serviced by naked people “drenched in acrid, dirty sweat.”

But Bunin is not so clear as to limit himself to a direct contrast of the horrors of capitalist civilization with the modesty of simple life. With the death of the gentleman, social evil disappeared from San Francisco, but cosmic, indestructible evil remained, the one whose existence is eternal because the Devil is vigilantly watching over it. Bunin, who is usually not inclined to resort to symbols and allegories (the exception is his stories created in turn of the 19th century and XX centuries, - “Pass”, “Fog”, “Velga”, “Hope”, where romantic symbols of faith in the future, overcoming, perseverance, etc. arose), here the Devil himself perched on the rocks of Gibraltar, keeping his eyes on from a ship leaving into the night, and “by the way” I remembered a man who lived on Capri two thousand years ago, “indescribably vile in satisfying his lust and for some reason had power over millions of people, inflicting cruelties on them beyond all measure.”

According to Bunin, social evil can be temporarily eliminated - whoever was “everything” became “nothing”, what was “above” turned out to be “below”, but cosmic evil, embodied in the forces of nature, historical realities, is irremovable. And the guarantee of this evil is the darkness, the vast ocean, the furious blizzard, through which the persistent and majestic ship heavily passes, on which the social hierarchy is still preserved: below are the mouths of hellish furnaces and slaves chained to them, above are elegant, lush halls, endlessly lasting a ball, a multilingual crowd, the bliss of languid melodies...

But Bunin does not paint this world as socially two-dimensional; for him, there are not only exploiters and exploited in it. The writer is not creating a socially accusatory work, but a philosophical parable, and therefore he makes a small amendment. Above all, above the luxurious cabins and halls, lives the “overweight driver of the ship,” the captain, he “sits” above the entire ship in “cozy and dimly lit chambers.” And he is the only one who knows for certain about what is happening: about the pair of lovers hired for money, about the dark cargo that is at the bottom of the ship. He is the only one who hears “the heavy howls of a siren, suffocated by the storm” (for everyone else, as we remember, it is drowned out by the sounds of the orchestra), and this worries him, but he calms himself down, pinning his hopes on technology, on the achievements of civilization, just like those sailing on the ship believe in him, convinced that he has “power” over the ocean. After all, the ship is “huge”, it is “steadfast, solid, majestic and terrible”, it was built by the New Man (these capital letters used by Bunin to designate both man and the Devil are noteworthy!), and behind the wall of the captain’s cabin there is a radio room where the telegraph operator receives any signals from any part of the world. In order to confirm the “omnipotence” of the “pale-faced telegraph operator,” Bunin creates a kind of halo around his head - a metal half-hoop. And to complete the impression, it fills the room with “a mysterious hum, trembling and dry crackling of blue lights bursting around...”. But before us is a false saint, just like the captain - not a commander, not a driver, not a god, but just a “pagan idol” that they are used to worshiping. Their omnipotence is false, just as the whole civilization is false, covering up its own weakness with the external attributes of fearlessness and strength, persistently driving away thoughts of the end. It is as false as all this tinsel splendor of luxury and wealth, which are unable to save a person either from death, or from the dark depths of the ocean, or from universal melancholy, a symptom of which can be considered the fact that the charming couple, perfectly demonstrating boundless happiness, “has long been bored ... pretend to suffer with your blissful torment.” The terrible mouth of the underworld, in which “forces terrible in their concentration” bubble, is open and awaits its victims. What forces did Bunin have in mind? Perhaps this is the anger of the enslaved - it is no coincidence that Bunin emphasized the contempt with which the gentleman from San Francisco perceives genuine people Italy: “greedy, garlic-smelling little people” living in “pathetic, thoroughly moldy stone houses, stuck on top of each other near the water, near boats, near some rags, tins and brown nets.” But, undoubtedly, this is a technique that is ready to get out of control, only creating the illusion of safety: it is not for nothing that the captain is forced to reassure himself with the proximity of the telegraph operator’s cabin, which in fact only looks “as if armored.”

Perhaps the only thing (besides the chastity of the natural world of nature and people close to it) that can counter the pride of the New Man with an old heart is youth. After all, the only living person among the puppets inhabiting ships, hotels, and resorts is the daughter of a gentleman from San Francisco. And even though she doesn’t have a name either, it’s for a completely different reason than her father. In this character, for Bunin, everything that distinguishes youth from the satiety and fatigue brought by the years has merged. She is all about the anticipation of love, on the eve of those happy meetings when it doesn’t matter whether your chosen one is good or bad, what matters is that he is standing next to you and you “listen to him and from excitement do not understand what he ... says,” you are thrilled by the “inexplicable charm,” but at the same time you stubbornly “pretend that you are looking intently into the distance.” (Bunin clearly demonstrates condescension towards such behavior, stating that “it doesn’t matter what exactly awakens a girl’s soul - whether it’s money, fame, or nobility of the family” - what’s important is that it is capable of awakening.) The girl almost falls into fainting when it seems to her that she saw the crown prince of an Asian state she liked, although it is known for certain that he cannot be here at this moment. She is capable of becoming embarrassed, intercepting the indiscreet glances with which her father sees off the beauties. And the innocent frankness of her clothing clearly contrasts with the only youthful attire of her father and the rich attire of her mother. Only her heart is squeezed by melancholy when her father confesses to her that in a dream he saw a man who looked like the owner of a hotel in Capri, and at that moment she is visited by “a feeling of terrible loneliness.” And only she sobs bitterly, realizing that her father is dead (her mother’s tears immediately dry up as soon as she receives a rebuff from the owner of the hotel).

In exile, Bunin creates the parable “Youth and Old Age,” which sums up his thoughts about the life of a person who has taken the path of profit and acquisition.

“God created heaven and earth... Then God created man and said to man: you, man, will live thirty years in the world - you will live well, you will rejoice, you will think that God created and made everything in the world for you alone . Are you happy with this? And the man thought: it’s so good, but only thirty years of life! Oh, not enough... Then God created a donkey and said to the donkey: you will carry waterskins and packs, people will ride on you and beat you on the head with a stick. Are you satisfied with this time frame? And the donkey burst into tears, cried and said to God: why do I need so much? God give me just fifteen years of life. “And give me fifteen more,” the man said to God, “please, add from his share!” - And so God did, he agreed. And the man had forty-five years of life... Then God created a dog and also gave it thirty years of life. You, God told the dog, will always live angry, you will guard the master’s wealth, you will not trust anyone else, you will lie to passers-by, you will not sleep at night from worry. And... the dog even howled: oh, I’ll have half of this life! And again the man began to ask God: add this half to me too! And again God added to him... Well, and then God created a monkey, gave it also thirty years of life and said that it would live without work and without care, only it would have a very ugly face... bald, wrinkled, bare eyebrows they climb on her forehead, and everyone... will try to get people to look at her, and everyone will laugh at her... And she refused, asked for only half... And the man begged for this half... The man is his own He lived like a human being for thirty years - he ate, drank, fought in war, danced at weddings, loved young women and girls. And he worked for fifteen donkey years and accumulated wealth. And fifteen dogs took care of their wealth, kept lying and getting angry, and didn’t sleep at night. And then he became so ugly and old, like that monkey. And everyone shook their heads and laughed at his old age...”

The story “Mr. from San Francisco” can be considered a full-blooded canvas of life, later folded into the tight rings of the parable “Youth and Old Age”. But it already pronounces a harsh sentence on the donkey man, the dog man, the ape man, and most of all, on the New Man with an old heart, who established cruel laws on earth, on the entire earthly civilization, which shackled itself in the shackles of false morality.

In the spring of 1912, news spread throughout the world about the collision of the largest passenger ship, the Titanic, with an iceberg, about the terrible death of more than one and a half thousand people. This event sounded a warning to humanity, intoxicated by scientific successes, convinced of its limitless possibilities. The huge Titanic for some time became a symbol of this power, but its immersion in the waves of the ocean, the self-confidence of the captain who did not heed danger signals, the inability to withstand the elements, the helplessness of the crew once again confirmed the fragility and insecurity of man in the face of cosmic forces. Perhaps Bunin perceived this catastrophe most acutely, seeing in it the result of the activities of “the pride of a New Man with an old heart,” which he wrote about in his story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” three years later, in 1915.