Citizen of san francisco man and society. All school essays on literature

I.A. Bunin displayed in this story the problems of his time, when concerns about acquiring capital and increasing it became paramount in society. The author drew with hard strokes character traits capitalism, seen by him in reality. The foreign bourgeois world is portrayed by the writer without iridescent colors and sentimentality, which corresponded to the onslaught of growing capitalism. Display social problems has become a kind of background against which the struggle of eternal, true values ​​with imaginary, false ideals becomes more vivid, intensifies.

The main character, to whom the author does not give a name, is shown at that period of his life when he had already achieved everything. The absence of a name here is symbolic: this technique allows you to generalize a typical representative of bourgeois society. This is an ordinary capitalist who achieved great wealth through incredible efforts, when for a long time he had to deny himself a lot: “He worked tirelessly - the Chinese, whom he signed out to work for him by the thousands, knew well what that meant!” The main thing for him was to get as much income as possible through cheap labor. Inability for mercy or pity, complete disregard for human rights and justice in relation to those who created capital for him, monstrous greed - all these are the personality traits of a “model capitalist”. These conclusions are also confirmed by the complete contempt of the master for the poor, impoverished, destitute people whom he sees during the journey, leaving in the cities where the steamer stopped. This is reflected with the help of the author's remarks: the master either does not notice the poor, or grins, looking arrogantly and contemptuously, or drives the beggars away, saying through his teeth: “Get out!”.

Man reduced the meaning of life to gain, the accumulation of wealth, but he did not have time to enjoy the fruits of his many years of “labor”.
And his life turned out to be meaningless: money and luxury did not bring joy. Death came quickly, suddenly, crossing out those values ​​that the master considered a priority. He surrounded himself with expensive things and at the same time lost his humanity, becoming both internally and externally some kind of soulless idol with gold teeth and expensive rings. The creation of such an image emphasizes the author's position in relation to the capitalist gentlemen who lose their human appearance due to the passion for profit.

Further, the author shows how death equates the rich man with those who had neither gold nor jewelry - with the workers in the hold. Using the technique of contrast, antitheses, Bunin tells how in the dirty hold of the comfortable steamer Atlantis, when money turned out to be useless (they did not provide a separate luxurious cabin for the dead), the gentleman “travels” further, since it was in the hold that the coffin with his body was placed. The rich man wanted to satisfy his vanity by allowing himself idle rest in luxurious cabins and sumptuous feasts in the restaurants of the Atlantis. But quite unexpectedly, he lost power, and no amount of money will help the deceased to demand submission from the workers or respect from the attendants to his person. Life has put everything in its place, separating the true values ​​from the imaginary ones. The wealth that he was able to accumulate, he will not need "in the next world." He did not leave a good memory of himself (he did not help anyone, and he did not build hospitals or roads), and the heirs will quickly squander the money.

At the end of the story, the image of the Devil, who was watching the movement of the Atlantis ship, naturally arises. And this leads to reflection: what attracts the interest of the ruler of hell to the ship and its inhabitants? In this regard, it becomes necessary to return to those lines in the work where the author gives detailed description steamer, which "looked like a huge hotel with all the comforts." Bunin repeatedly emphasized that the frightening force of the movement of the ocean and the howl of a siren screeching “with furious malice”, with “hellish gloominess” could cause unconscious anxiety and longing among the passengers of the Atlantis, but everything was drowned out by the relentlessly sounding music. No one thought of those people who provided the idle public with all the comforts of a pleasant journey. Also, no one suspected that the "underwater womb" of a comfortable "hotel" can be compared with the gloomy and sultry bowels of the underworld, with the ninth circle of hell. What was the author hinting at with these descriptions? Why does he contrast the lives of wealthy cruising gentlemen spending huge amounts of money on luxurious leisure and hellish working conditions, such as workers in the hold?

Some researchers of the work of I.A. Bunin saw in the features of the story "The Gentleman from San Francisco" the author's negative attitude towards the bourgeois world and the prophecy of a possible catastrophe. Y. Maltsev in one of his works notes the influence of the First World War on the mood of the writer, who allegedly perceived the events of this era as “the last act of the world tragedy - that is, the completion of the degeneration of Europeans and the death of the mechanical, godless and unnatural civilization of modern times .. .". However, it is difficult to fully agree with this. Yes, the apocalyptic motive is present, the author's position can be clearly traced in relation to the bourgeoisie, which is under the close attention of the Devil. But it is unlikely that Bunin could predict the death of capitalism: the power of money is too strong, capitals have already grown too much in that era, spreading their vicious ideals all over the world. And the defeat of this civilization is not expected even in the XXI century. So the writer, who clearly does not sympathize with the master and his fellow capitalists, nevertheless did not resort to global prophecies, but showed his attitude to eternal values ​​and to false, far-fetched, transient values.

For example, the author contrasts the image of a rich gentleman with the image of the boatman Lorenzo, who can sell the fish he caught for nothing, and then, carelessly walking along the shore in his rags, enjoy a sunny day, admire the landscape. Lorenzo's life values ​​are just those that are considered eternal: work that makes it possible to live, a kind attitude towards people, the joy of communicating with nature. In this he sees the meaning of life, and the intoxication of wealth is incomprehensible and unknown to him. This is a sincere person, he has no hypocrisy either in behavior or in assessing the achievements, the results of his work. The appearance of the boatman is drawn in light colors, it causes nothing but a smile. Only a few lines are allocated to create an image-symbol, but the author managed to convey to the reader that Lorenzo is sympathetic to him as the opposite of the main character, the capitalist.

Indeed, the writer had the right to a contrasting image of the characters, and the reader sees that the author does not condemn Lorenzo for carelessness, for frivolity in relation to money. On several pages of the work, with irony, endless breakfasts, lunches and dinners of wealthy passengers, their leisure, that is, playing cards, dancing in the restaurants of Atlantis, are depicted, for which huge amounts of money are spent. And this money is the same profit from the labor of people who were not paid fairly for their hard labor. So isn't it better to challenge the exploiters and not participate in the creation of capital for the masters? Apparently, such a philosophy could lead Lorenzo to a carefree lifestyle, and he allows himself to be free in this cruel bourgeois world. That is why man did not live by bread alone. But Lorenzo's followers, of course, cannot be many: people must support their families, feed their children.

Bunin also showed wandering musicians wandering along the slopes of the mountains: "... and a whole country, joyful, beautiful, sunny, stretched under them ...". And when these people saw a plaster statue of the Mother of God in the grotto, they stopped, "uncovered their heads - and naive and humbly joyful praises poured out to their sun, morning and her, the immaculate intercessor ...". These deviations from the main theme (the depiction of the life and death of the master) give reason to conclude about the author's position: Bunin does not sympathize with the gentlemen with gold rings on their fingers, with gold teeth, but these vagabonds without a penny in their pockets, but with "diamonds in their souls" .

The main theme of Bunin's work - love - is also covered in the story "The Gentleman from San Francisco", but the reverse, false side of a great feeling is shown here, when there is really no love. The writer symbolically showed the falsity of the feelings of the bourgeois elite, people who are sure that everything can be bought for money. A couple in love was portrayed for a good fee by two artists: they diversified the leisure of a wealthy clientele in such a way as to add romance to the journey. "Circus number" - fake bait instead of true love; ghostly happiness with a "bag of money" instead of true joys... and so on. In this work, many human values ​​look like counterfeit banknotes.

Thus, through portrait characteristics, contrasting images, details, remarks and remarks, thanks to the use of antitheses, epithets, comparisons, metaphors, the author reflected his position in understanding the true and imaginary human values. The artistic merits of this work, the special, unique style, the richness of the language were highly appreciated by contemporaries of I.A. Bunin, and critics, and readers of all eras.

Reviews

Zoya, good afternoon.

And a wonderful article and a wonderful work by Bunin, the analysis of which it is dedicated to.

A strong work: both by the images that Bunin presented, and by the beautiful literary description with which his literary work is full, the text itself.

The man from San Francisco and the boatman Lorenzo - what a good parallel, giving a comparison of values. An interesting literary move is not to name the main character, making him a household name.

And the image of the Devil! How aptly Bunin expressed it!

Zoya, thank you very much for analyzing Bunin's work.

Interesting article, correct and well written.

The topic raised by Bunin is eternal and important. For every time a person makes a choice how to live and live life: imaginary or real, enslaved by the passion of gain or living by eternal values ​​and virtues.

Good luck, Zoya. Good Sunday to you.

With kind regards and best wishes,

The theme of the essence of the human personality and the meaning of life has excited and will excite the hearts and minds of more than one generation of people, and this is no coincidence. After all, society is determined by the level of consciousness, the consciousness of what you mean in this huge life that lasts for centuries on our Earth, what you brought and will leave behind your descendants. Or maybe, after some time, no one will remember you? And the thread that binds generations will be completely broken ...
Undoubtedly, this is the problem of problems, which many writers and poets thought about in their works. Turning to I. A. Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco”, where the role of a person in contemporary society is vividly shown, we see that this is the main idea here as well.
And the story is simple. An elderly gentleman from San Francisco had worked hard all his life to get rich and dreamed of living luxuriously at least in his old age. Therefore, together with his wife and daughter, he went on a trip to the Old World on the steamer Atlantis. The life of vacationers was full of entertainment worthy of high society, but at the same time everything was terribly monotonous: breakfasts, dinners, conversations, dances, breakfasts, dinners, etc. All the gentlemen were rich, and therefore respected, and their money was given they have the right not to think about some difficulties, problems of everyday life, about those who sailed with them, but a class below, who only existed in the mud that reigned there. And they had fun, danced and tenderly looked at the hired dancing couple, "playing in love." Together with all this round dance of fun and happiness, they traveled from island to island, but suddenly this series of happy sunny days ended. The gentleman from San Francisco is dying. And now all that respect and subservience with which they used to treat him and his family has disappeared somewhere. His unfortunate body is placed in the dirtiest room of the hotel, and no one pays attention to the tears of his daughter and wife, everyone feels only disgust and disgust. There was a man and he was gone. And everyone forgot. His body is taken away to his homeland so as not to scare away visitors from the hotel, and by chance it ends up on the very ship where he himself once traveled. But now he is already floating below, in a tarred soda box, among dirt and disease, in the hold, and above everyone is also having fun, a couple “playing in love” is dancing.
In this story, the author wanted to show how insignificant human life is in the eyes of others, if it is so quickly forgotten; how much money has entered not only into our lives, but also into our souls. And now people are often judged by their money. If you have money - you are a person, if not - no one. But they are just pieces of paper that cannot be compared with wealth. human soul. And it is quite clear why the author's intention included the death of the master at the moment of the highest, it would seem, takeoff. After all, all this serenity, happiness, wealth of the upper world is a falsehood, a deceit, a game. And after death, the game of silks and diamonds continues.
The story is small in volume, but how much is said in its lines and between them. The author, in order to achieve his goal, to convey to the reader the full depth of this problem, used such an artistic means of expression as symbolism. In my opinion, the steamship Atlantis symbolizes our whole life and society here. It is, as it were, divided into two halves: the upper one is light, all radiant and shiny - these are the upper layers with their serene "happiness" and tranquility; the lower one - dirty, miserable - these are the bottoms, where a person loses everything that he had, where no one needs him, the path of a gentleman from San Francisco is a path from top to bottom, from the heights of imaginary success to the abyss of humiliation. It is no coincidence that the author does not mention his name. This is a generalized image of many people.
The author also talks about a man who lived in Cyprus for a long time, who was cruel and subjugated people. And they have not forgotten him, they come to look at the ruins of his house. But is this the man who deserves to be remembered? Are all these rich people with their money and happy masks worthy of memory, or the servants from the hotel, “overwhelmed by their debauchery”?
So who is worth it? Who is the real Man with a capital letter?
The author's answer to this question is addressed to religion. He spoke about two wandering Abruzzi highlanders who, without wealth and fame, walk along the roads, rejoicing in what God has given them: "a joyful, beautiful, sunny country, the stony humps of the island, the fabulous blue, the dazzling sun." They are grateful to God, the mother of God, for their lives. They are clean before him and therefore happy.
So what is a person? Real man- this is a person who is sincere in his feelings, actions, who, although he may not be an adherent of religion, but acts according to the commandments of God, which are actually very wise and form the basis of our life. A Real Man appreciates and loves people, he does not exist senselessly, he goes to his intended goal. And not everyone lives up to this ideal. In our life, we all make mistakes sooner or later, but we must strive for the ideal, we must leave something behind, otherwise our life will be meaningless.

The writing

This year, at the lesson of Russian literature, I got acquainted with the story of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin "The Gentleman from San Francisco", in which the writer describes the tragic fate of the gentleman, whose name no one remembers. The author in the story shows the world of heartlessness, vulgarity, lies, the world of wealth for some and the humiliation of others. Bunin describes pictures of people's lives as they really are. Using the example of a gentleman from San Francisco, the writer wants to show that those people are insignificant who strive only for wealth, for the acquisition of capital, who want everyone to obey them, who do not care about the poor who serve them, and the whole world. Bunin has a negative attitude towards his main character. This can be seen from the very first lines, from the fact that the hero has no name. "A gentleman from San Francisco - no one remembered his name either in Naples or in Capri ..." - the author writes. This man devoted his whole life to the accumulation of money, without stopping working until old age. And only at the age of fifty-eight he decided to go on a trip for fun. Outwardly, he looks very significant, rich, but inside, in his soul, he has emptiness.

To travel, a rich gentleman rides on the steamer Atlantis, where “the most selective society is located, the very one on which all the benefits of civilization depend: the style of tuxedos, and the strength of thrones, and the declaration of war, and the well-being of hotels.” These people are carefree, they have fun, dance, eat, drink, smoke, dress beautifully, but their life is boring, sketchy, uninteresting. Every day is like the previous one. Their life is like a scheme where hours and minutes are planned and scheduled. Bunin's heroes are spiritually poor, narrow-minded. They are created only to enjoy food, dress, celebrate, have fun. Their world is artificial, but they like it and enjoy living in it. Even a special pair of young people was hired on the steamer for a very large sum of money, who played lovers in order to amuse and surprise rich gentlemen, and who had long been tired of this game. “And no one knew that this couple had long been bored with pretending to suffer their blissful torment to shamelessly sad music ...”

The only real thing in the artificial world was the nascent feeling of love for the young prince in the daughter of a gentleman from San Francisco.

The steamboat on which these people are sailing consists of two floors. The upper floor is dominated by the rich, who think they have a right to everything that they are allowed to do, and the lower floor is occupied by stokers, dirty, bare-chested, crimson from the flames. Bunin shows us the split of the world into two parts, where one is allowed everything, and the other nothing, and the symbol of this world is the steamer "Atlantis".

The world of millionaires is insignificant and selfish. These people are always looking for their own benefit, so that they alone feel good, but they never think about the people who surround them. They are arrogant and try to avoid people of lower rank, treat them with disdain, although ragamuffins will faithfully serve them for pennies. This is how Bunin describes the cynicism of a gentleman from San Francisco: “And when the Atlantis finally entered the harbor, rolled up to the embankment with its multi-storey bulk, dotted with people, and the gangway rumbled - how many porters and their assistants in caps with gold galloons, how many commission agents, whistling boys and hefty ragamuffins with bundles of colored postcards in their hands rushed to meet him with an offer of services! And he grinned at these ragamuffins, and calmly spoke through his teeth now in English, now in Italian: “Get out! Away!"".

A gentleman from San Francisco travels across different countries, but he does not have a sense of admiration for beauty, he is not interested in seeing the sights, museums, churches. All his senses are reduced to eating well and relaxing, leaning back in his chair.

When a gentleman from San Francisco dies, suddenly feeling some kind of illness, then the whole society of millionaires became agitated, feeling disgust for the deceased, because he violated their peace, their constant state of celebration. People like them never think about human life, about death, about the world, about some global issues. They just live without thinking about anything, doing nothing for the sake of humanity. Their life passes aimlessly, and when they die, no one will remember that these people existed. In life, they have not done anything significant, worthwhile, therefore they are useless to society.

This is very well illustrated by the example of a gentleman from San Francisco. When the wife of the deceased asked to be moved to her husband's room, the owner of the hotel refused, as he had no benefit from this. The dead old man was not even placed in a coffin, but in a box of English soda water. Bunin contrasts: how respectfully they treated a wealthy gentleman from San Francisco and how disrespectfully they treated a dead old man.

The writer denies the kind of life that the gentleman from San Francisco and the rich gentlemen from the steamer Atlantis led. He shows in the story how insignificant power, money before death. main idea The story is that everyone is equal before death, that some class, property lines that separate people are not important before death, so you need to live your life in such a way that after death a long memory of you remains.

Other writings on this work

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The purpose of the lesson: to reveal the philosophical content of Bunin's story.

Methodological techniques: analytical reading.

During the classes.

I. The word of the teacher.

The first one was already World War, there was a crisis of civilization. Bunin turned to the problems that are relevant, but not directly related to Russia, to the current Russian reality. In the spring of 1910 I.A. Bunin visited France, Algeria, Capri. In December 1910 - in the spring of 1911. I have been to Egypt and Ceylon. In the spring of 1912 he again left for Capri, and in the summer of the following year he visited Trebizond, Constantinople, Bucharest and other European cities. From December 1913 he spent half a year in Capri. The impressions of these travels were reflected in the stories and short stories that compiled the collections Sukhodol (1912), John the Rydalets (1913), The Cup of Life (1915), and The Gentleman from San Francisco (1916).

The story "The Gentleman from San Francisco" (originally titled "Death on Capri") continued the tradition of L.N. Tolstoy, who depicted illness and death as major events, revealing the true value of the individual ("Polikushka", 1863; "The Death of Ivan Ilyich", 1886; "Master and Worker", 1895). Along with the philosophical line in Bunin's story, social problems were developed, associated with a critical attitude to the lack of spirituality of bourgeois society, to the rise of technical progress to the detriment of internal improvement.

Bunin does not accept bourgeois civilization as a whole. The pathos of the story is in the feeling of the inevitability of the death of this world.

Plot built on the description of an accident that unexpectedly interrupted the well-established life and plans of the hero, whose name "no one remembered". He is one of those who, until the age of fifty-eight, "worked tirelessly" to become like rich people, "whom he once took as a model."

II. Storytelling conversation.

What images in the story are symbolic?

(Firstly, the symbol of society is perceived as an ocean steamer with the significant name "Atlantis", on which an unnamed millionaire sails to Europe. Atlantis is a sunken legendary, mythical continent, a symbol of a lost civilization that could not resist the onslaught of the elements. There are also associations with the deceased in 1912 year "Titanic" The "ocean that walked behind the walls" of the steamer is a symbol of the elements, nature, opposed to civilization.
The image of the captain is also symbolic, “a red-haired man of monstrous size and heaviness, similar ... to a huge idol and very rarely appeared in front of people from his mysterious chambers.” Symbolic image of the title character ( reference: the title character is the one whose name is placed in the title of the work, he may not be the main character). The gentleman from San Francisco is the personification of a man of bourgeois civilization.)

To more clearly imagine the nature of the relationship between "Atlantis" and the ocean, you can apply a "cinematic" technique: the "camera" first slides along the floors of the ship, demonstrating rich decoration, details that emphasize the luxury, solidity, reliability of "Atlantis", and then gradually "sails away", showing the enormity of the ship as a whole; moving further, the “camera” moves away from the steamer until it becomes like a nutshell in a huge raging ocean that fills the entire space. (Let's recall the final scene of the film Solaris, where, it would seem, the found father's house turns out to be only an imaginary one, given to the hero by the power of the Ocean. If possible, you can show these shots in class).

What is the main setting of the story?

(The main action of the story takes place on the huge ship famous "Atlantis". The limited plot space allows you to focus on the mechanism of the functioning of bourgeois civilization. It appears as a society divided into upper "floors" and "basements". Upstairs, life goes on like in a "hotel with everyone comforts ", measured, calm and idle. "Passengers" living "safely", "many", but much more - "a great many" - those who work for them "in cooks', scullery" and in the "underwater womb" - at the "gigantic furnaces".)

What technique does Bunin use to portray the division of society?

(The division has the nature of the antithesis: rest, carelessness, dances and work, unbearable tension are opposed ”; "radiance ... of the chamber" and "gloomy and sultry bowels of the underworld"; "gentlemen" in tailcoats and tuxedos, ladies in "rich", "charming" "toilets" and "naked people covered in caustic, dirty sweat and waist-deep, purple from the flames." Gradually, a picture of heaven and hell is being built.)

How do "tops" and "bottoms" relate to each other?

(They are strangely related to each other. "Good money" helps to get to the top, and those who, like "the gentleman from San Francisco", were "quite generous" to people from the "underworld", they "fed and watered .. .from morning to evening they served him, preventing his slightest desire, guarded his cleanliness and peace, dragged his things ... ".)

Why main character nameless?

(The hero is simply called “master” because that is what he is. At least he considers himself a master and revels in his position. He can afford to “just for the sake of entertainment” go “to the Old World for two whole years”, can enjoy all the benefits guaranteed by his status, believes "in the caring of all those who fed and watered him, served him from morning till night, warned his slightest desire", can contemptuously throw to the ragamuffins through his teeth: "Go away! Via!". ("Away!").)

(Describing the appearance of the gentleman, Bunin uses epithets that emphasize his wealth and his unnaturalness: “silver mustache”, “golden fillings” of teeth, “strong bald head”, is compared with “old ivory”. There is nothing spiritual in the gentleman, his goal is to become rich and reap the benefits of this wealth - came true, but he did not become happier because of this. The description of the gentleman from San Francisco is constantly accompanied by the author's irony.)

When does the hero begin to change, lose his self-confidence?

(“The master” changes only in the face of death, it is no longer the gentleman from San Francisco that begins to appear in him - he was no longer there - but someone else. " Death makes him a man: "his features began to thin, brighten .. .". "Dead", "deceased", "dead" - this is how the author of the hero now calls. The attitude of those around him changes dramatically: the corpse must be removed from the hotel so as not to spoil the mood of other guests, they cannot provide a coffin - only a box from - under a soda ("soda water" is also one of the signs of civilization), the servant, trembling before the living, mockingly laughs at the dead. At the end of the story, the "body of a dead old man from San Francisco" is mentioned, which returns "home, to the grave, to the shores of the New World ", in a black hold. The power of the "master" turned out to be illusory.)

How is society shown in the story?

(The steamboat - the last word in technology - is a model of human society. Its holds and decks are the layers of this society. On the upper floors of the ship, which looks like "a huge hotel with all amenities," the life of the rich, who have achieved complete "well-being," flows measuredly. This life is indicated the longest indefinitely personal sentence, occupying almost a page: "get up early, ... drink coffee, chocolate, cocoa, ... sit in the baths, stimulating appetite and well-being, make daily toilets and go to the first breakfast ...". These proposals emphasize the impersonality, lack of individuality of those who consider themselves the masters of life. Everything they do is unnatural: entertainment is needed only to artificially stimulate appetite. "Travelers" do not hear the evil howl of a siren, foreshadowing death - it is drowned out by "the sounds of a beautiful string orchestra" .
The passengers of the ship represent the nameless “cream” of society: “There was a certain great rich man among this brilliant crowd, ... there was a famous Spanish writer, there was a world-class beauty, there was an elegant couple in love ...” The couple portrayed love, was “hired by Lloyd to play love for good money." It is an artificial paradise filled with light, warmth and music.
And there is hell. The “underwater womb of the steamer” is like the underworld. There, "gigantic fireboxes cackled deafly, devouring with their red-hot mouths piles of coal, with a roar thrown into them by people covered in caustic, dirty sweat and waist-deep naked people, purple from the flame." Note the disturbing coloring and menacing sound of this description.)

How is the conflict between man and nature resolved?

(Society is just like a well-oiled machine. Nature, which seems to be an object of entertainment along with “antiquity monuments, a tarantella, serenades of wandering singers and ... the love of young Neapolitan women,” recalls the illusory nature of life in a “hotel.” It is “huge”, but around it - the "water desert" of the ocean and the "cloudy sky". Man's eternal fear of the elements is muffled by the sounds of the "string orchestra". He is reminded of the "permanently calling" from hell, groaning "in mortal anguish" and "furious malice" siren, but they hear it "few". All the rest believe in the inviolability of their existence, guarded by the "pagan idol" - the commander of the ship. The specificity of the description is combined with symbolism, which makes it possible to emphasize the philosophical nature of the conflict. The social gap between rich and poor is nothing compared to the abyss that separates man from nature and life from non-existence.)

What is the role of episodic heroes of the story - Lorenzo and the Abruzzo highlanders?

(These characters appear at the end of the story and are in no way connected with its action. Lorenzo is “a tall old boatman, a carefree reveler and a handsome man,” probably the same age as a gentleman from San Francisco. Only a few lines are dedicated to him, but a sonorous name is given, in contrast from the title character. He is famous throughout Italy, served as a model for many painters more than once. "With a regal habit" he looks around, feeling truly "royal", enjoying life, "drawing with his tatters, a clay pipe and a red woolen beret lowered on one ear.” The picturesque poor old man Lorenzo will live forever on the canvases of artists, and the rich old man from San Francisco was deleted from life and forgotten before he could die.
The Abruzzi highlanders, like Lorenzo, personify the naturalness and joy of being. They live in harmony, in harmony with the world, with nature: “They walked - and a whole country, joyful, beautiful, sunny, stretched under them: and the stony humps of the island, which almost all lay at their feet, and that fabulous blue, in which he swam, and the radiant morning vapors over the sea to the east, under the dazzling sun ... ". The goat-skin bagpipe and the highlanders' wooden forearm are contrasted with the "beautiful string orchestra" of the steamer. The highlanders give their lively, unsophisticated music of praise to the sun, the morning, "the immaculate intercessor of all those who suffer in this evil and beautiful world, and born from her womb in the cave of Bethlehem ...". These are the true values ​​of life, as opposed to the brilliant, expensive, but artificial, imaginary values ​​of "masters".)

What image is a generalizing image of the insignificance and perishability of earthly wealth and glory?

(This is also a nameless image, which recognizes the once powerful Roman emperor Tiberius, who lived the last years of his life in Capri. Many "come to look at the remains of the stone house where he lived." "Humanity will forever remember him," but this is the glory of Herostratus : "a man who is unspeakably vile in satisfying his lust and for some reason had power over millions of people, who inflicted cruelty on them beyond measure. " In the word "for some reason" - exposure of fictitious power, pride; time puts everything in its place: gives immortality to the true and casts the false into oblivion.)

III. Teacher's word.

In the story, the theme of the end of the existing world order, the inevitability of the death of a soulless and soulless civilization gradually grows. It is embedded in the epigraph, which was removed by Bunin only in the last edition of 1951: “Woe to you, Babylon, strong city!” This biblical phrase, reminiscent of the feast of Belshazzar before the fall of the Chaldean kingdom, sounds like a harbinger of future great catastrophes. The mention in the text of Vesuvius, the eruption of which killed Pompeii, reinforces the formidable prediction. A keen sense of the crisis of civilization, doomed to non-existence, is associated with philosophical reflections on life, man, death and immortality.

IV. Analysis of the composition and conflict of the story.
Material for the teacher.

Composition The story is circular. The hero's journey begins in San Francisco and ends with the return "home, to the grave, to the shores of the New World." The "middle" of the story - a visit to the "Old World" - in addition to the specific, has a generalized meaning. " New person”, returning to history, reassesses his place in the world. The arrival of the heroes in Naples, Capri opens up the possibility for inclusion in the text of the author's descriptions of the "wonderful", "joyful, beautiful, sunny" country, the beauty of which is "powerless to express the human word", and philosophical digressions due to Italian impressions.
Climax is the scene of "unexpectedly and rudely falling" on the "master" of death in the "smallest, worst, dampest and coldest" room of the "lower corridor".
This event, only by coincidence, was perceived as a “terrible incident” (“if there hadn’t been a German in the reading room” who escaped from there “with a cry”, the owner would have been able to “calm ... with hasty assurances that this is so, a trifle ...”). The unexpected disappearance into non-existence in the context of the story is perceived as the highest moment of the collision of the illusory and the true, when nature "rudely" proves its omnipotence. But people continue their "carefree", insane existence, quickly returning to peace and tranquility. They cannot be awakened to life not only by the example of one of their contemporaries, but even by the memory of what happened “two thousand years ago” during the time of Tiberius, who lived “on one of the steepest slopes” of Capri, who was the Roman emperor during the life of Jesus Christ.
Conflict The story goes far beyond the scope of a particular case, in connection with which its denouement is connected with reflections on the fate of not one hero, but all past and future passengers of Atlantis. Doomed to the "hard" path of overcoming "darkness, the ocean, blizzards", closed in the "hellish" social machine, humanity is suppressed by the conditions of its earthly life. Only the naive and simple, like children, can enjoy the joy of communion "with the eternal and blissful abode." In the story, the image of “two Abruzzo highlanders” appears, baring their heads in front of a plaster statue of the “immaculate intercessor of all those who suffer”, recalling “her blessed son”, who brought the “beautiful” beginning of good to the “evil” world. The devil remained the owner of the earthly world, watching "from the stony gates of the two worlds" the deeds of the "New Man with an old heart." What will choose where will he go humanity, whether it will be able to defeat the evil inclination in itself, is the question to which the story gives a “suppressing ... soul” answer. But the denouement becomes problematic, since in the finale the idea of ​​a Man is affirmed, whose "pride" turns him into the third force of the world. The symbol of this is the ship's path through time and the elements: "The blizzard fought in its gear and wide-mouthed pipes, whitened with snow, but it was steadfast, firm, majestic and terrible."
Artistic originality The story is connected with the interweaving of the epic and lyrical principles. On the one hand, in full accordance with the realistic principles of depicting the hero in his relationship with the environment, on the basis of social and everyday specifics, a type is created, the reminiscent background for which, first of all, are images " dead souls”(N.V. Gogol. “Dead Souls”, 1842), At the same time, just like Gogol’s, thanks to the author’s assessment, expressed in lyrical digressions, the problems deepen, the conflict acquires a philosophical character.

Additional material for the teacher.

The melody of death latently begins to sound from the very first pages of the work, gradually becoming the leading motive. At first, death is extremely aestheticized, picturesque: in Monte Carlo, one of the activities of wealthy loafers is “shooting pigeons, which soar very beautifully and cages over an emerald lawn, against the backdrop of a sea the color of forget-me-nots, and immediately knock white lumps on the ground.” (In general, Bunin is characterized by the aestheticization of things that are usually unsightly, which should rather frighten than attract the observer - well, who, except him, could write about “slightly powdered, delicate pink pimples near the lips and between the shoulder blades” in the daughter of a gentleman from San Francisco, compare the whites of the eyes of blacks with “peeled hard-boiled eggs” or call 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 verbal portrait of the crown prince of one of the Asian states, a sweet and pleasant person in general , whose mustache, however, "through, like a dead man", and the skin on the face was "as if stretched". And the siren on the ship chokes in "mortal anguish", promising evil, and the museums are cold and "deadly clean", and the ocean walks "mournful mountains from silver foam" and buzzes like a "funeral mass".
But even more clearly the breath of death is felt in the appearance of the main character, in whose portrait yellow-black-silver tones prevail: a yellowish face, gold fillings in the teeth, an ivory skull. Creamy silk underwear, black socks, trousers, and a tuxedo complete his look. Yes, and he sits in the golden-pearl radiance of the hall of the dining room. And it seems that from him these colors spread to nature and the whole the world. Unless an alarming red color is added. It is clear that the ocean rolls its black waves, that a crimson flame escapes from the furnaces of the ship, it is natural that the Italians have black hair, that the rubber capes of the cabbies give off black, that the crowd of lackeys is “black”, and the musicians may have red jackets. But why is the beautiful island of Capri also approaching with “its blackness”, “drilled with red lights”, why even “resigned waves” shimmer like “ black oil”, and “golden boas” flow along them from the lit lanterns on the pier?
So Bunin creates in the reader an idea of ​​the omnipotence of a gentleman from San Francisco, capable of drowning out even the beauty of nature! (...) After all, even sunny Naples is not illuminated by the sun while an American is there, and the island of Capri seems to be some kind of ghost, “as if it had never existed in the world”, when a rich man approaches him ...

Remember, in the works of which writers there is a “talking color scheme. What role does yellow play in Dostoevsky's image of Petersburg? What other colors are significant?

Bunin needs all this in order to prepare the reader for the climax of the story - the death of the hero, about which he does not think, the thought of which does not penetrate his consciousness at all. And what a surprise can there be in this programmed world, where the solemn dressing for dinner is done in such a way as if a person is preparing for the “crown” (that is, the happy peak of his life!), Where there is a cheerful smartness, albeit not young, but well-shaven and a very elegant man who so easily overtakes an old woman who is late for dinner! Bunin saved only one detail, which is "knocked out" from a series of well-rehearsed deeds and movements: when a gentleman from San Francisco is dressing for dinner, his neck cufflink does not obey his fingers. She does not want to fasten in any way ... But he still defeats her. Painfully biting "flabby skin in the recess under the Adam's apple", wins "with eyes shining from tension", "all gray from the tight collar that squeezed his throat." And suddenly, at that moment, he utters words that in no way fit in with the atmosphere of general contentment, with the enthusiasm that he was prepared to receive. “- Oh. This is terrible! - he muttered ... and repeated with conviction: - This is terrible ... ”What exactly seemed terrible to him in this world designed for pleasure, the gentleman from San Francisco, who was not used to thinking about unpleasant things, did not try to understand. However, it is striking that an American who previously spoke mainly English or Italian (his Russian remarks are very short and are perceived as “passing through”) repeats this word twice in Russian ... By the way, it is worth noting in general his jerky, as barking speech: he does not speak more than two or three words in a row.
"Terrible" was the first touch of Death, which was never realized by a person in whose soul "for a long time ... there were no mystical feelings left." After all, as Bunin writes, the intense rhythm of his life did not leave "time for feelings and reflections." However, some feelings, or rather sensations, he still had, however, the simplest, if not base ones ... The writer repeatedly points out that the gentleman from San Francisco revived only at the mention of the tarantella performer. (his question, asked “in an expressionless voice”, about her partner: is he not her husband - just gives out hidden excitement), only imagining how she, “swarthy, with feigned eyes, like a mulatto, in a flowery outfit ( ...) dances”, only anticipating “the love of young Neapolitans, albeit not entirely disinterested”, only admiring the “live pictures” in brothels or looking so frankly at the famous blonde beauty that his daughter felt embarrassed. He feels despair only when he begins to suspect that life is slipping out of his control: he came to Italy to enjoy, and here it is foggy rains and terrifying pitching ... But it is given to him with pleasure to dream about a spoonful of soup and a sip of wine.
And for this, as well as for the whole life lived, in which there was self-confident businesslikeness, and cruel exploitation of other people, and the endless accumulation of wealth, and the conviction that everything around is called to “serve” him, “prevent his slightest desires”, “ carry his things”, for the lack of any living principle, Bunin executes him and executes him cruelly, one might say, mercilessly.
The death of a gentleman from San Francisco shocks with its ugliness, repulsive physiology. Now the writer makes full use of the aesthetic category of "ugly" in order to permanently imprint a disgusting picture in our memory. Bunin does not spare repulsive details in order to recreate a man whom no amount of wealth can save from the humiliation that followed after his death. Later, the dead person is also granted genuine communion with nature, which he was deprived of, which, being alive, he never felt the need for: “the stars looked at him from the sky, the cricket sang with sad carelessness on the wall.”

What works can you name where the death of the hero is described in detail? What is the significance of these “finals” for understanding the ideological intent? How is the author's position expressed in them?

The writer “rewarded” his hero with such an ugly, unenlightened death in order to once again emphasize the horror of that unrighteous life, which could only end in such a way. Indeed, after the death of a gentleman from San Francisco, the world felt relieved. A miracle happened. The very next day, the morning blue sky “became richer”, “peace and tranquility again settled on the island”, ordinary people poured into the streets, and the city market was decorated with his presence by the handsome Lorenzo, who serves as a model for many painters and, as it were, symbolizes beautiful Italy .. .