Mr. from San Francisco reasoning. Mr. from San Francisco essay
A gentleman from San Francisco, who is never named by name in the story, since, the author notes, no one remembered his name either in Naples or Capri, goes with his wife and daughter to the Old World for two whole years so that to have fun and travel. He worked hard and is now rich enough to afford such a vacation.
At the end of November, the famous Atlantis, which looks like a huge hotel with all the amenities, sets sail. Life on the ship goes smoothly: they get up early, drink coffee, cocoa, chocolate, take baths, do gymnastics, walk along the decks to whet their appetite; then they go to the first breakfast; afterwards they read the newspapers and calmly wait for second breakfast; the next two hours are devoted to relaxation - all decks are lined with long reed chairs, on which travelers lie, covered with blankets, looking at the cloudy sky; then - tea with cookies, and in the evening - what constitutes the main goal of this entire existence - dinner.
A wonderful orchestra plays exquisitely and tirelessly in a huge hall, behind the walls of which the waves of the terrible ocean roar, but low-cut ladies and men in tailcoats and tuxedos do not think about it. After lunch at ballroom dancing begins, the men in the bar smoke cigars, drink liqueurs, and are served by blacks in red camisoles.
Finally, the ship arrives in Naples, the family of the gentleman from San Francisco stays in an expensive hotel, and here their life also flows according to routine: early in the morning - breakfast, after - visiting museums and cathedrals, second breakfast, tea, then preparing for dinner and in the evening - a hearty lunch. However, December in Naples this year turned out to be unsuccessful: wind, rain, mud on the streets. And the family of the gentleman from San Francisco decides to go to the island of Capri, where, as everyone assures them, it is warm, sunny and lemons bloom.
A small steamer, rolling from side to side on the waves, transports a gentleman from San Francisco and his family, who are seriously suffering from seasickness, to Capri. The funicular takes them to a small stone town at the top of the mountain, they settle into a hotel, where everyone warmly welcomes them, and prepare for dinner, having already fully recovered from seasickness. Having dressed before his wife and daughter, a gentleman from San Francisco heads to a cozy, quiet hotel reading room, opens a newspaper - and suddenly the lines flash before his eyes, his pince-nez flies off his nose, and his body, writhing, slides to the floor. Another hotel guest who was present runs into the dining room screaming, everyone jumps up from their seats, the owner tries to calm the guests, but the evening is already irreparably ruined.
The gentleman from San Francisco is transferred to the smallest and worst room; his wife, daughter, servants stand and look at him, and now what they were waiting for and fearing happened - he dies. The wife of a gentleman from San Francisco asks the owner to allow the body to be moved to their apartment, but the owner refuses: he values these rooms too much, and tourists would begin to avoid them, since the whole of Capri would immediately know about what happened. You can't get a coffin here either - the owner can offer a long box of soda water bottles.
At dawn, a cab driver delivers the body of a gentleman from San Francisco to the pier, a steamboat transports him across the Bay of Naples, and the same Atlantis, on which he arrived with honor in the Old World, now carries him, dead, in a tarred coffin, hidden from the living deep below, in the black hold. Meanwhile, on the decks the same life continues as before, everyone has breakfast and lunch in the same way, and the ocean wavering behind the windows is still just as scary.
The gentleman from San Francisco - at the very beginning of the story, the hero’s lack of a name is motivated by the fact that “no one remembered him.” G. “went to the Old World for two whole years, with his wife and daughter, solely for the sake of entertainment.” He was firmly convinced that he had every right to rest, pleasure, and 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.” Bunin sets out in detail the route of the upcoming trip: Southern Italy - Nice - Monte Carlo - Florence - Rome - Venice - Paris - Seville - Athens - Palestine - Egypt, “even Japan, of course, is already on way back" “Everything went fine at first,” but in this dispassionate statement of what is happening, the “hammers of fate” can be heard.
G. - one of many passengers big ship"Atlantis", similar "to a huge hotel with all the amenities - with a night bar, with oriental baths, with its own newspaper." The ocean, which has long become a symbol of life in world literature in its variability, menace and unpredictability, “was terrible, but no one thought about it”; “on the forecastle the 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.” “Siren” is a symbol of world chaos, “music” is a symbol of calm harmony. The constant juxtaposition of these leitmotifs determines the stylistic intonation of the story. Bunin gives a portrait of his hero: “Dry, short, poorly cut, but tightly sewn. There was something Mongolian in his yellowish face with a trimmed silver mustache, his large teeth glittered with gold fillings, and his strong bald head was old ivory.” Another important, as it turns out later, deceptive detail: “The tuxedo and starched underwear made you look very young” G.
When the ship arrived in Naples, G. and his family decide to get off the ship and go to Capri, where, “everyone assured,” it was warm. Bunin does not indicate whether G.’s tragic outcome was predetermined if he had remained on Atlantis. Already during the voyage on a small boat to the island of Capri, G. felt “like himself, just as he should have, a completely old man” and thought with irritation about the goal of his journey - about Italy.
The day of his arrival in Capri became “significant” in G’s life. He was looking forward to an elegant evening in the company of a famous beauty, but when he gets dressed, he involuntarily mutters: “Oh, this is terrible!”, “without trying to understand, without thinking what exactly is terrible.” He overcomes himself, waits for his wife in the reading room, reads newspapers - “when suddenly the lines flashed before him with a glassy shine, 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, illuminating his entire mouth with gold fillings, his head fell onto his shoulder and began to roll, the chest of his shirt stuck out like a box - and his whole body, writhing, lifting up the carpet with his heels, crawled to the floor, desperately struggling with someone.” G.'s agony is depicted physiologically and dispassionately. However, death does not fit into the lifestyle of a wealthy hotel. “If it weren’t for the German in the reading room, they would have quickly and deftly managed to hush up this terrible incident at the hotel, they would have rushed off by the feet and by the head of the gentleman from San Francisco to hell - and not a single soul of the guests would have known what he had done.” G. “persistently fights death,” but calms down “in the smallest, worst, coldest and dampest room, at the end of the lower corridor.” A quarter of an hour later, everything is in order at the hotel, but with a reminder of death, “the evening was irreparably ruined.”
On Christmas Day, the body of “a dead old man, having experienced many humiliations, a lot of human inattention” in “a long box of English water soda” along the same route, first on a small steamer, then on “the same famous ship” goes home. But the body is now hiding from the living in the womb of the ship - in the hold... A vision of the Devil appears, observing “a ship, multi-tiered, multi-pipe, created by the pride of a New Man with an old heart.”
At the end of the story, Bunin re-describes the brilliant and easy life passengers of the ship, including the dance of a pair of hired lovers: and no one knew their secret and fatigue from pretense, no one knew about G.’s body “at the bottom of the dark hold, in the vicinity of the gloomy and sultry bowels of the ship, heavily overcome by darkness, the ocean, blizzard..." This ending can be interpreted as a victory over death and at the same time as submission to the eternal circle of existence: life - death. T. Mann put the story on a par with “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” by L. Tolstoy.
The story was originally titled "Death on Capri". Bunin connected the idea of the story with Thomas Mann’s story “Death in Venice,” but in to a greater extent with memories of sudden death one American who came to Capri. However, as the writer admitted, he invented “San Francisco and everything else” while living on his estate cousin in Yeletsky district of Oryol province.
SYMBOLICS IN I. A. BUNINA’S STORY “THE LORD FROM SAN FRANCISCO.”
Plan
1.Introduction.
Prose of I. A. Bunin.
2. Main part.
2.1 Eternal and earthly in the story “Mr. from San Francisco.”
2.2 Image of modern civilization.
Two ways of human existence.
3. Conclusion.
The disastrous path of modern civilization.
The devil was huge, like a cliff, but the ship was also huge, multi-tiered, multi-pipe, created by the pride of a New Man with an old heart.
I.A.Bunin
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, a remarkable writer of Russian literature of the early twentieth century, was known as a brilliant poet and outstanding prose writer. All of Bunin's works are worn in one way or another philosophical character. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s about love or social phenomena They. The author makes readers think about the meaning of human existence, about man's place in this world.
The story “Mr. from San Francisco” is Bunin’s work, the most rich in symbols and metaphors. Behind the simple plot of the story are hidden deep philosophical meaning and the writer’s views on the fate of human civilization.
The work is not rich in events, and its plot can be retold in a nutshell. Main character story, a gentleman from San Francisco is traveling with his family to Europe by ship. He plans to spend two years there, traveling and having fun, but suddenly dies in a hotel on the island of Capri, and, by chance, his body is sent to last way home on the same ship.
The hero himself - collective image. He has neither a first nor a last name. He is devoid of any individual traits. The gentleman from San Francisco symbolizes the ruling class of wealthy people. We feel the author's irony when we read that the hero did not live for almost sixty years, but was only preparing to live, earning money and making plans for the future. Finally, at the end of life, having reached financial well-being, he goes on a trip on a luxury ocean liner.
On the ship, wealthy travelers can afford a lot of pleasures, but none of them is able to enjoy life. Dear cigars, tasty food, luxury clothes, wonderful music, magnificent nature - all this leaves the hero indifferent. The gentleman from San Francisco pretends to enjoy the trip. In fact, nothing touches or worries him.
The hero symbolizes the class of wealthy and powerful people, whose main goal is money for the sake of money. The ship on which the family travels wears symbolic name- "Atlantis". This was the name of a developed civilization that died as a result of a natural disaster.
Ancient Atlantis disappeared from the face of the Earth, and no achievements of progress saved it from destruction. Yes and modern civilization rich and influential people, according to the author, are on the verge of death. The ship itself is a model of the existing world order. The richest passengers live on the upper decks. Below are those who are poorer. And at the very bottom, in the holds, there are sailors serving the ship and ensuring its operation. The holds resemble the circles of hell.
During his lifetime, the gentleman from San Francisco evoked obsequiousness and respect from those around him, which was due to his wealth. “He was quite generous on the way and therefore fully believed in the care of those who fed and watered him, served him from morning to evening, preventing his slightest desire...” After his death, the attitude towards him changed.
The owner of the hotel, “who was not at all interested in the trifles that those who came from San Francisco could now leave in his box office, was concerned only with the speedy removal of the body. A gentleman from San Francisco left Capri in a long bottle crate. soda water. “Having experienced a lot of humiliation, a lot of human inattention... it (the body) again ended up... on the same famous ship... on which it was carried with such honor to the Old World.”
The tarred coffin was lowered into the hold of the ship so that nothing would disturb other travelers, and the gentleman from San Francisco went home.
"Atlantis" sails on a raging ocean, cold, powerful, uncontrollable. The ship is surrounded by night, mysterious and terrible. The raging ocean, the dark endless night symbolize the natural eternal beginning, an element that man is unable to control.
The gentleman from San Francisco is contrasted in the story with an episodic hero - his peer, the poor boatman Lorenzo, a carefree reveler and handsome man.
Unlike the main character, he has a name, and therefore an individuality. Lorenzo sincerely enjoys life: he exposes his body to the sun, feels the sea water on his skin. Poverty does not depress him. Content with little, Lorenzo enjoys life and lives in in every sense this word. And Bunin welcomes this way of existence, considering it the only correct and possible one.
In his work, the author tries to warn modern man lost in the vanity of life true values. Nature, the elements are stronger than any civilization built by man. According to Bunin, one should live in harmony with the world around us.
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About a person's life path to death through wealth. The author of the story did not give the main character a name. After all, a name is something purely spiritual; it leaves an imprint on life. Bunin narrates that this man is deprived of all good aspirations. He claims that even spiritual origin it doesn't have it.
In addition, the gentleman from San Francisco is a typical rich old man who comes from America in order to enjoy life before his expected death. At the beginning of the work, the reader finds himself on a journey on a ship called Atlantis. Here the hero enjoys the benefits of civilization. The author ironically talks about the events that the gentleman experiences - meals and dressing for them. It seems that he is the king of this life, he can take from it everything that is given for money. But you cannot buy the main thing - spiritual values.
However, to outsiders he seems to be just a puppet on strings, led by a competent puppeteer. The gentleman has long been old, without any extra thoughts he drinks wine, eats food, forgetting about what a common man enjoys. He gave his whole life to earn a fortune, never realizing how meaningless his life was.
In Bunin's understanding, the beginning and the end life path- equal rights. However, he describes life very sensually, with many details. And death is only a means for transition to something new, to a different state of mind. There's only one question left. Did this important gentleman from San Francisco have the same soul that should find its peace? Bunin talks about his death quite rudely, making it clear that he did not suffer from mental wounds, because only a spiritual person is capable of this. And the hero this story Apparently, he didn’t have it. His death was simply the death of a body.
The second part of the work tells about the journey of the master’s remains: “The body of the dead old man from San Francisco was returning home, to the grave, to the shores of the New World.” It was just a living shell, filled with money and honor, and after death only e remained. No one regretted that he was gone, because they respected him only for his money and power. Before dead body no one cares about the gentleman anymore. Nothing has changed in this world after our hero passed away. The Atlantis ship is still sailing, the audience is still dressed up. Perhaps only the wife and daughter survive the death of their breadwinner, but this is just the reader’s speculation, the author does not show us this.
This story reminds those alive that it is not money and fame that are important, but something more.
The meaning of life of the gentleman from San Francisco
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Money. Money rules the world. Money can do anything. If people treated money as a means of subsistence, then the rich would be much happier, because they would think more about others, their life would not belong to money, it could be wonderful. But they dedicate their lives to making money, and then that money enslaves them.
This is what the gentleman from San Francisco does from A. Bunin’s story. For him, money is a goal, not a means of realizing his plans and desires. This is what he lives for. The description of his entire life (fifty-eight years) is only half a page. We see that he never had her real, full and happy. He also realizes this and therefore arranges a two-year trip for himself, thinking that he will finally rest and have fun. But he never learned to enjoy the sun, the morning, nor did he learn to enjoy pleasant little things, sensations and feelings. He simply didn't have them. Therefore, he does not experience joy during rest.
The gentleman from San Francisco has always been convinced that pleasure can be bought, and now that he has a lot of money, there will be a lot of joy. But he was wrong. He bought expensive cigars best numbers, high society company, expensive food. But he did not buy what he really needed - happiness. He was not used to joys, he kept postponing his life until later, but when this “later” came, he simply could not take advantage of it.
He knows exactly what needs to be done: behave like other rich people, the so-called cream of society. He goes to theaters not because he wants to enjoy the performance, but because others do so. He goes to churches not to admire their beauty and pray, but because it is necessary. Church for him is emptiness, monotony, a place where there are no words, and therefore boring. He thinks that if he does things that bring pleasure to others, then they will bring pleasure to him. The gentleman from San Francisco does not understand the joys of other people, does not understand why he is unhappy, and this makes him irritable. It seems to him that he just needs to change the place, and it will be better for him, that the weather and the city are to blame for everything, but not himself. He never got to feel happy.
The gentleman from San Francisco is contemptuous of people below him in position, because they cannot pay for everything like he can. They exist to serve him (“He walked along the corridor, and the servants huddled along the walls, but he did not notice them”). There is no spiritual principle in him, no sense of beauty. He doesn't notice beautiful landscape from an open window. (“From the darkness, a gentle air blew on him, he imagined the top of an old palm tree spreading its fronds across the stars, which seemed gigantic, he heard the distant, even sound of the sea...”). The gentleman from San Francisco does not see the beauty of nature, but only she will remain with him after his death. The window symbolizes the world that is open to him, but which he is unable to enjoy.
An equally symbolic gesture is that he closes the window from which the smell of kitchen and flowers smells. The gentleman from San Francisco lives a measured life, without shocks, without surprises, and never changes anything in his daily routine. He eats and drinks a lot. But does food give him pleasure? Most likely no. And if so, then it doesn’t change anything. It’s just that his stomach requires food, a lot of food, and the gentleman from San Francisco serves him, indulges him. He is no longer a person, his life flows automatically. It’s not for nothing that he planned everything two years in advance. “He hoped to enjoy the sun of Southern Italy in December and January, he thought of holding the carnival in Nice, in Monte Carlo, he wanted to devote the beginning of March to Florence, and come to Rome for the Passion of the Lord. 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, and even Japan.”
The “love” couple on the ship is very symbolic. They pretend to love each other for money, and they are already terribly tired of this, but, probably, they don’t want anything else or don’t know how to do anything. (“He danced only with her, and everything turned out so subtly and charmingly that only one commander knew that this couple had been hired to play at love for good money and had been sailing on one ship or another for a long time.”) Then The gentleman from San Francisco is essentially doing the same thing - he is pretending to live. And just as this couple may never be able to know love, so the gentleman from San Francisco will never truly live.
In general, the gentleman from San Francisco is a generalized image, because he doesn’t even have a name. He is a symbol of an entire class. The absence of a name also indicates a lack of individuality. He's just a typical rich guy. He died only when, in his opinion, he began to live. Or maybe that's why he died? His life has changed, now he doesn’t even have such a goal as making money. The gentleman from San Francisco was not worthy person, and those who showed him respect during life despise him after death. Luigi imitates him, laughs at him. The hotel owner, seeing that the gentleman from San Francisco is no longer a source of income, refuses to leave his body in a decent room. They don’t find a decent coffin for him and take him home in some kind of wooden box. And when the dead man lay in a bad room, only nature, which he rejected, remained with him and did not turn away from him (“Blue stars looked at him from the sky, a cricket sang with sad carefreeness on the wall.”) Only she is sad after his death.
The gentleman from San Francisco is just another victim. He died long before physical death. First there was spiritual death. The story ends where it began - on Atlantis. “Atlantis” symbolizes the frailty of everything that exists, reminding us that everything will come to an end. Ring composition says that human history has ended, but there are still many people who are destined to live or simply exist. People will depend on money until they understand its real meaning.
"The soul is stuffy"
(B. Pasternak)
For the gentleman from San Francisco from Bunin's story, money was a goal, not a means of realizing his plans and desires. Money is what he lives for. The description of his entire life, fifty-eight years, is only half a page. We see that he never had a real, complete and happy life. He sees this too and therefore arranges for himself a two-year trip and vacation. He thinks that he will finally rest, have fun and live for his own pleasure. But throughout his life he has not learned to enjoy life, the sun, the morning, he has not learned to enjoy pleasant little things, sensations and feelings. He simply had no feelings or sensations. Therefore, he does not experience joy during rest.
The gentleman from San Francisco has always been convinced that pleasure can be bought, and now that he has a lot of money, there will be a lot of pleasure. But he was wrong. He bought expensive cigars, the best rooms, high society company, and a lot of expensive food. But he did not buy what he really needed - happiness. He was not used to joys, he kept postponing his life until later, but when it came later, as he thought, he simply could not take advantage of it.
He knew exactly what to do: behave like other rich people, the so-called “cream of society.” He went to theaters not because he wanted to enjoy the performance, but because others did so. He went to churches not to admire their beauty and pray, but because it was necessary. Churches for him are emptiness, monotony, a place where it is boring. He thought that if he did things that pleased others, they would bring him pleasure too.
The gentleman from San Francisco did not understand the joys of other people, did not understand why he was unhappy, and this made him irritable. It seemed to him that he just needed to change the place and it would be better for him, that the weather and the city were to blame for everything, but not himself. He never got to feel happy.
The gentleman from San Francisco was contemptuous of people below him in position, because they could not pay for everything like he could. They exist to serve him (“He walked along the corridor, and the servants huddled along the walls, but he did not notice them”).
There was no spiritual principle in him, no sense of beauty. He did not notice the beautiful landscape from the open window. (“From the darkness, a gentle air blew on him, he imagined the top of an old palm tree spreading its leaves, which seemed gigantic, over the stars, the distant even sound of the sea was heard...”) The gentleman from San Francisco did not see the beauty of nature, but only she remained with him after his death. Open window symbolizes the world that is open to him, but which he is not able to enjoy. He casually looks at the German in the reading room, “who looks like Ibsen, with silver round glasses and with crazy, amazed eyes,” because he doesn’t want to think about what he could be like if he had started living earlier, if he had learned to be surprised by his surroundings to the world. He simply closed himself off from this German, from the window, from the whole world with a newspaper. An equally symbolic gesture is that he closed the window from which the smell of kitchen and flowers smells.
The gentleman from San Francisco lived a measured life, without shocks, without surprises, never changing anything in his daily routine. He ate and drank a lot. But did food give him pleasure? Most likely no. And if so, then it didn’t change anything. His stomach simply demanded food, a lot of food, and the gentleman from San Francisco served him, indulged him.
He is no longer a person, his life flowed automatically. It’s not for nothing that he planned his life two years in advance. “He hoped to enjoy the sun of Southern Italy in December and January, he thought to hold the carnival in Nice, in Monte Carlo, he wanted to devote the beginning of March to Florence, to come to Rome for the passion of the Lord. His plans included Venice, Paris, and the battle bulls in Seville, and swimming in the Antilles, and Athens, and Constantinople, and Palestine, and Egypt, and even Japan."
The “love” couple on the ship is very symbolic. This couple pretended for money that they loved each other, and they were already terribly tired of it, but, probably, they didn’t want or didn’t know how to do anything else. (“He danced only with her, and everything came out so subtle, charming for them , that only one commander knew that this couple was hired to play at love for good money and had been sailing on one or another ship for a long time." The gentleman from San Francisco essentially does the same thing - he pretends to live. And just as this couple may never be able to know love, so the gentleman from San Francisco will never truly live.
In general, the gentleman from San Francisco is symbolic image, because he doesn’t even have a name. He is a symbol of an entire class. The absence of a name also indicates a lack of individuality. He's just a typical rich guy.
He died only when, in his opinion, he began to live. Or maybe that's why he died? His life has changed, now he doesn’t even have such a goal as making money.
The gentleman from San Francisco was not a worthy man, and those who showed him respect during his life despise and laugh at him after his death. Luigi imitates him, laughs at him. The hotel owner, seeing that the gentleman from San Francisco is no longer a source of income, refuses to leave his body in a decent room. They don’t find a decent coffin for him and take him home in some kind of wooden box. And when the dead man lay in a bad room, only nature, which he rejected, remained with him and did not turn away from him. (“Blue stars looked at him from the sky, a cricket sang with sad carefreeness on the wall.” Only nature feels sad after his death.
The story ends where it began - on Atlantis. “Atlantis” symbolizes the frailty of everything that exists, reminding us that everything will come to an end. The ring composition suggests that the story of a person has ended, but there are still many people who are destined to live or simply exist. Money. Money rules the world. Money can do anything. If people treated money as a means of subsistence, they would be much happier, their life would be much more fulfilling, it would not belong to money, it could be wonderful.
People will depend on money until they understand its real meaning. The gentleman from San Francisco is just another of their victims. He died long before physical death. First there was spiritual death.
