Society Mr. from San Francisco. Civilized society

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Goal: to analyze what is the lack of spirituality in the existence of the heroes of I.A. Bunin’s story “The Mister from San Francisco.”

• Formulate the concepts of “lack of spirituality” and “spirituality”.
• Reveal the manifestation of these concepts using the example of I.A. Bunin’s story “Mr. from San Francisco.”
• Create conditions for students to freely choose priorities in the life of society.

Equipment: interactive whiteboard (presentation made in the Smart Notebook program), texts of the work of art by I.A Bunin “The Gentleman from San Francisco”.

During the classes

Social studies teacher:

What is the spiritual world of man? In scientific usage, the concept “spiritual life of people” covers the entire wealth of feelings and achievements of the mind, unites the assimilation by mankind of accumulated spiritual values ​​and the creative creation of new ones.

Before you are two concepts - spirituality and lack of spirituality. Your task is to distribute the proposed characteristics in such a way as to reveal the essence of each of them; perhaps you will supplement this list with your own characteristics.

Within three minutes, formulate a definition of the concepts of “spirituality” and “lack of spirituality.”

SPIRITUALITY is the highest level of development and self-regulation of a mature personality; at this level, the motive and meaning of a person’s life are not personal needs and relationships, but the highest human values. The assimilation of certain values, such as truth, goodness, beauty, creates value orientations, i.e. a person’s conscious desire to build his life and transform reality in accordance with them.

LESS SPIRITUALITY is a low level of development of spiritual life; a person is not able to see and feel all the diversity and beauty of the world around him. Such an individual is not capable of creating something valuable that would leave a mark in the memory of even those close to him.

Today we have to understand and comprehend these categories using the example of the story of I.A. Bunin “Mr. from San Francisco”.

Literature teacher:

To understand the meaning of what is happening and explain the existing reality, Bunin goes abroad.

In the spring of 1910 I.A.Bunin visited France, Algeria, Capri. And in December 1910 and spring 1911 he was in Egypt and Ceylon. In the spring of 1912 he again went to Capri, and in the summer of the following year he visited Trebizond, Constantinople, Bucharest and other European cities. The impressions from these travels were reflected in his stories and novels, one of which is “The Gentleman from San Francisco” (1916).

The story “Mr. from San Francisco” continued the tradition of Leo Tolstoy, who depicted illness and death as the most important events that reveal the true value of an individual. Along with the philosophical line, Bunin’s story developed social issues related to a critical attitude towards the lack of spirituality of bourgeois society, towards the exaltation of technical progress to the detriment of internal improvement

Social studies teacher:

Bourgeois civilization demonstrates lack of spirituality, and as a result, the inevitability of the death of this world.

Literature teacher.

An example of the manifestation of this concept is the plot of Bunin’s story, which is built on a description of an accident that unexpectedly interrupted the well-established life and plans of a hero whose name “no one remembered.”

Bunin in his story uses many symbols to depict a specific situation.

• “Atlantis” is a sunken legendary mythical continent, a symbol of a lost civilization that could not resist the onslaught of the elements.
• “The master has no name” - the personification of a man of bourgeois civilization
• “The ocean that walked behind the walls” of the steamship is a symbol of the elements, nature, opposing civilization.
• A “couple in love” hired for money to portray love - a symbol of the fact that in bourgeois society everything is bought and sold. (slide on the board)

Analysis of the story.

Let's turn to the content of the story.

Listen to an excerpt from “The Mister from San Francisco.”

A. Bunin “Mr. from San Francisco” (presentation, slide 6)

Why is the main character deprived of a name? (The hero is called simply “master.” At least, he considers himself a master and revels in his position: he can afford to go to the “Old World” for two whole years for fun, he can enjoy all the benefits guaranteed by his status, he can contemptuously humiliate people by telling them “Get out!”)

How does the author describe the “master”? (His wealth and his unnaturalness are emphasized: “silver mustache”, “gold fillings on teeth”, etc. There is nothing spiritual about the “master”. His goal - to become rich and reap the fruits of this wealth - was realized. But he did not become happier from this) .

When does the hero begin to change and lose his self-confidence? (“The master” changes in the face of death, humanity begins to appear in him. Death makes him human: his features began to “thinner and brighten...” The attitude of those around him changes sharply: no one sympathizes or regrets his death, but the servants, who were in awe of the living , mockingly laughs at the dead).

How is society shown in the story? (Working with the text of the story)(On the upper floors of the ship, the life of the rich, who have achieved “complete well-being,” takes place. Society is impersonal, devoid of individuality. Everything they do is unnatural: a hired pair of lovers is an indicator of the lack of real feelings. This is an artificial paradise, filled with warmth and music)

Social studies teacher:

This literary example shows the theme of the end of the existing world order, the inevitability of the death of a soulless and spiritual civilization. An acute sense of the crisis of civilization, doomed to oblivion, is combined with philosophical reflections on life, man, death and immortality. It’s up to each of us to make our own choice: “I want to be like “Mr,” or I can become “Lorenzo.” Either you are a slave of the era, or you are the master of life.”

Try now to formulate at least five categories that will reflect the society in which you would like to live.

Creative task.

Write an essay on the topic “The more you live a spiritual life, the more independent you are from fate, and vice versa.” L.N. Tolstoy.

I. Bunin is one of the few figures of Russian culture appreciated abroad. In 1933 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for the rigorous 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 of fine literature is undeniable, so his works are, at a minimum, worthy of our attention. One of them, “Mr. from San Francisco,” received such a high rating from the jury awarding the most prestigious prize in the world.

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. This is how one of Bunin’s best stories turned out, 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 just 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.

1. 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.”
2. 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.
3. 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 this 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 the surrounding nature, people and notice something good in them, is 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 that contains a plot, a conflict, and has one main storyline) is, but how can you characterize a parable? A parable is a small allegorical text that guides the reader on the right path. Therefore, the work in terms of plot and form is a story, and in terms of philosophy and content 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 anticipation. 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!

Lesson 5. An acute sense of the crisis of civilization

in the story by I. A. Bunin “Mr. from San Francisco”

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

Methodical techniques: analytical reading.

During the classes

I. Teacher's word

The First World War was already underway, and there was a crisis of civilization. Bunin addressed current problems, but not directly related to Russia, to current Russian reality. In the spring of 1910, I. A. Bunin visited France, Algeria, and Capri. In December 1910 - spring 1911. I was in Egypt and Ceylon. In the spring of 1912 he again went to Capri, and in the summer of the following year he visited Trebizond, Constantinople, Bucharest and other European cities. From December 1913 he spent six months in Capri. The impressions from these travels were reflected in the stories and stories that made up the collections “Sukhodol” (1912), “John the Weeper” (1913), “The Cup of Life” (1915), “The Master 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 the most important events that reveal the true value of an individual (“Polikushka”, 1863; “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, 1886; “Master and Worker”, 1895). Along with the philosophical line, Bunin’s story developed social issues related to a critical attitude towards the lack of spirituality of bourgeois society, towards the exaltation of technical progress to the detriment of internal improvement.

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

Plot is based on a 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 the rich people “whom he once took as a model.”

II. Conversation based on the story

What images in the story have symbolic meaning?

(Firstly, the symbol of society is an ocean steamer with the significant name “Atlantis”, on which a nameless millionaire is sailing to Europe. Atlantis is a sunken legendary, mythical continent, a symbol of a lost civilization that could not resist the onslaught of the elements. Associations also arise with those who died in 19I2 year “Titanic.” “The ocean that walked behind the walls” of the ship is a symbol of the elements, nature, opposing civilization.

The image of the captain, “a red-haired man of monstrous size and bulk, similar... to a huge idol and very rarely appearing in public from his mysterious chambers,” is also symbolic. The image of the title character is symbolic (reference: the title character is the one whose name is in the title of the work; he may not be the main character). The gentleman from San Francisco is the personification of a man of bourgeois civilization.)

To more clearly imagine the nature of the relationship between “Atlantis” and the ocean, you can use a “cinematic” technique: the “camera” first glides along the floors of the ship, demonstrating the rich decoration, details emphasizing 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 further and further away from the steamer until it becomes like a nutshell in a huge raging ocean that fills the entire space. (Let us remember the final scene of the movie “Solaris”, where the seemingly acquired father’s house turns out to be only imaginary, given to the hero by the power of the Ocean. If possible, you can show these shots in class).

What is the significance of the main setting of the story?

(The main action of the story takes place on the huge steamship of the famous Atlantis. The limited plot space allows us to focus on the mechanism of functioning of bourgeois civilization. It appears as a society divided into upper “floors” and “basements.” Upstairs, life goes on as in a “hotel with everyone comforts", measuredly, calmly and idlely. There are "many" "passengers" living "prosperously", but there are much more - "a great multitude" - of those who work for them "in the cooks', sculleries" and in the "underwater womb" - at the “gigantic fireboxes.”)

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

(The division has the character of an antithesis: relaxation, carefreeness, dancing and work, unbearable tension are opposed"; "the radiance... of the palace" and "the dark and sultry depths of the underworld"; "gentlemen" in tailcoats and tuxedos, ladies in "rich", " “delightful” “toilets” and “drenched in acrid, dirty sweat and naked people to the waist, crimson from the flames.” A picture of heaven and hell is gradually being built.)

How do “tops” and “bottoms” relate to each other?

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

Why is the main character deprived of a name?

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

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

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

(“The gentleman” 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 human: “his features began to become thinner, brighter... ". "Deceased", "deceased", "dead" - this is how the author now calls the hero. The attitude of those around him changes sharply: the corpse must be removed from the hotel so as not to spoil the mood of other guests, they cannot provide a coffin - only a box from - under soda ("soda" is also one of the signs of civilization), the servants, who were in awe of the living, mockingly laugh 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 the black hold. The power of the "master" turned out to be illusory.)

How is society shown in the story?

(The steamship - the latest 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 designated with a long, vaguely personal sentence, taking up almost a page: “they got up early, ... drank coffee, chocolate, cocoa, ... sat in the baths, stimulating their appetite and good health, performed their daily toilets and went to their first breakfast...”. These sentences emphasize the impersonality, lack of individuality of those who consider themselves masters of life. Everything they do is unnatural: entertainment is needed only to artificially stimulate the 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 ship's passengers 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-famous beauty, there was an elegant couple in love...” The couple pretended to be in love, were “hired by Lloyd to play at love.” for good money." This is an artificial swarm, flooded with light, warmth and music. And there is also hell.

The “underwater womb of the steamship” is like hell. There, “gigantic furnaces cackled dully, devouring with their red-hot mouths piles of coal, with a roar thrown into them by people drenched in acrid, dirty sweat and naked to the waist, crimson from the flames.” Let us note the alarming coloring and threatening sound of this description.)

How is the conflict between man and nature resolved?

(Society only looks like a well-oiled machine. Nature, seeming like antiquity, a tarantella, serenades of wandering singers and... the love of young Neapolitan women, recalls the illusory nature of life in the “hotel”. It is “huge”, but around it is the “water desert” of the ocean and "cloudy sky". Man's eternal fear of the elements is drowned out by the sounds of the "string orchestra". It is reminded of by the siren "constantly calling" from hell, moaning "in mortal anguish" and "furious anger", but "few" hear it. Everyone else believe in the inviolability of their existence, protected by a "pagan idol" - the commander of the ship. The specificity of the description is combined with symbolism, which allows us 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 the episodic characters in the story - Lorenzo and the Abruzzese 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 the gentleman from San Francisco. Only a few lines are dedicated to him, but he is given a sonorous name, unlike from the title character. He is famous throughout Italy, more than once he served as a model for many painters. “With a regal demeanor" he looks around, feeling truly “royal,” enjoying life, “showing off with his rags, a clay pipe and a red woolen beret lowered on one ear.” The picturesque poor old man Lorenzo will live forever on the canvases of artists, but the rich old man from San Francisco was erased from life and forgotten before he could die.

The Abruzzese highlanders, like Lorenzo, personify the naturalness and joy of being. They live in harmony, in harmony with the world, with nature: “They walked - and the whole country, joyful, beautiful, sunny, stretched under them: and the rocky humps of the island, which almost all lay at their feet, and that fabulous blue, in which he floated, and the shining morning vapors over the sea to the east, under the dazzling sun...” The goat-skin bagpipes and the wooden foregrip of the Highlanders are contrasted with the “beautiful string orchestra” of the steamship. With their lively, artless music, the mountaineers give praise to the sun, the morning, “the immaculate intercessor of all those who suffer in this evil and beautiful world, and the one born from her womb in the cave of Bethlehem...”. These are the true values ​​of life, in contrast to the brilliant, expensive, but artificial, imaginary values ​​of the “masters.”)

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

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

III. Teacher's word

The story gradually develops the theme of the end of the existing world order, the inevitability of the death of a soulless and spiritual civilization. It is contained in the epigraph, which was removed by Bunin only in the last edition in 1951: “Woe to you, Babylon, strong city!” This biblical phrase, reminiscent of Belshazzar's feast before the fall of the Chaldean kingdom, sounds like a harbinger of great disasters to come. The mention in the text of Vesuvius, the eruption of which destroyed Pompeii, reinforces the ominous prediction. An acute sense of the crisis of a civilization doomed to oblivion is coupled with philosophical reflections on life, man, death and immortality.

IV. Analysis of story composition and conflict

Material for teachers

Composition The story has a circular character. The hero's journey begins in San Francisco and ends with a 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 one, also has a generalized meaning. The “New Man,” returning to history, reassesses his place in the world. The heroes’ arrival in Naples and Capri opens up the opportunity to include in the text the author’s descriptions of a “wonderful,” “joyful, beautiful, sunny” country, the beauty of which “the human word is powerless to express,” and philosophical digressions conditioned by Italian impressions.

The climax is the scene of “unexpectedly and rudely falling” on the “master” of death in the “smallest, worst, most damp and cold” but least “lower corridor”.

This event, only by coincidence of circumstances, was perceived as a “terrible incident” (“if it weren’t for the German in the reading room” who burst out of there “screaming”, the owner would have been able to “calm down... with hasty assurances that it was so, a trifle..."). The unexpected departure into oblivion in the context of the story is perceived as the highest moment of the collision of the illusory and the true, when nature “roughly” proves its omnipotence. But people continue their “carefree”, crazy existence, quickly returning to peace and quiet.” 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, and therefore its denouement is connected with reflections on the fate of not just one hero, but all past and future passengers of Atlantis. Doomed to the “hard” path of overcoming “darkness, ocean, blizzard”, locked in a “hellish” social machine, humanity is suppressed by the conditions of its earthly life. Only the naive and simple, like children, have access to the joy of joining “the eternal and blissful abodes.” In the story, the image of “two Abruzzese highlanders” appears, baring their heads in front of a plaster statue of the “unvicious intercessor of all those who suffer,” remembering her “blessed son,” who brought the “beautiful” beginning of good into the “evil” world. The master of the earthly world remained the devil, watching “from the rocky gates of two worlds” the actions of the “New Man with an old heart.” What will humanity choose, where will humanity go, will it be able to defeat the evil inclination within itself - this is a question to which the story gives a “suppressing... soul” answer. But the denouement becomes problematic, since the finale affirms the idea of ​​a Man whose “pride” turns him into the third force of the world. A symbol of this is the ship’s path through time and the elements: “The blizzard beat in its rigging and wide-necked pipes, white with snow, but it was steadfast, firm, majestic and terrible.”

Artistic originality The story is associated with the interweaving of epic and lyrical principles. On the one hand, in full accordance with the realistic principles of depicting the hero in his relationships 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 of “dead souls” (N.V. Gogol. “The Dead” souls”, 1842), At the same time, just like in Gogol, thanks to the author’s assessment, expressed in lyrical digressions, the problems deepen, the conflict acquires a philosophical character.

2. Prepare to review the stories, think about their problems and linguistic and figurative features.

Additional material for teachers 1

The melody of death begins to sound latently from the very first pages of the work, gradually becoming the leading motive. At first, death is extremely aestheticized and picturesque: in Monte Carlo, one of the activities of rich idlers is “shooting pigeons, which soar very beautifully and perch 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 “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 of the eyes of blacks with “flaking hard balls” or calling a young man in a narrow tailcoat with long tails “a handsome man who looks like a huge leech!”) Then a hint of death appears in a verbal portrait of the crown prince of one of the Asian states, a sweet and pleasant person in general , whose mustache, however, “saw like a dead man’s,” and the skin on his face was “as if stretched.” And the people on the ship are 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.”

Lesson development By Russian literature XIX century. 10 Class. 1st half of the year. - M.: Vako, 2003. 4. Zolotareva I.V., Mikhailova T.I. Lesson development By Russian literature ...

Bunin’s story “Mr. from San Francisco” tells the story of how everything is devalued before the fact of death. Human life is subject to decay, it is too short to be wasted in vain, and the main idea of ​​this instructive story is to understand the essence of human existence. The meaning of life for the hero of this story lies in his confidence that he can buy everything with his existing wealth, but fate decided otherwise. We offer an analysis of the work “Mr. from San Francisco” according to plan; the material will be useful in preparing for the Unified State Exam in literature in 11th grade.

Brief Analysis

Year of writing– 1915

History of creation– In a store window, Bunin accidentally noticed the cover of Thomas Mann’s book “Death in Venice”, this was the impetus for writing the story.

Subject– The opposites that surround a person everywhere are the main theme of the work - life and death, wealth and poverty, power and insignificance. All this reflects the philosophy of the author himself.

Composition– The problems of “Mr. from San Francisco” contain both a philosophical and socio-political character. The author reflects on the frailty of existence, on man’s attitude to spiritual and material values, from the point of view of various strata of society. The plot of the story begins with the master's journey, the climax is his unexpected death, and in the denouement of the story the author reflects on the future of humanity.

Genre– A story that is a meaningful parable.

Direction– Realism. Bunin's story takes on a deep philosophical meaning.

History of creation

The history of the creation of Bunin's story dates back to 1915, when he saw the cover of a book by Thomas Mann. After that, he was visiting his sister, he remembered the cover, for some reason it evoked an association in him with the death of one of the American vacationers, which happened during a vacation in Capri. Immediately a sudden decision came to him to describe this incident, which he did in the shortest possible time - the story was written in just four days. With the exception of the deceased American, all other facts in the story are completely fictitious.

Subject

In “The Gentleman from San Francisco,” an analysis of the work allows us to highlight the main idea of ​​the story, which consists of the author’s philosophical reflections on the meaning of life, on the essence of being.

Critics were enthusiastic about the work of the Russian writer, interpreting the essence of the philosophical story in their own way. Theme of the story- life and death, poverty and luxury, in the description of this hero, who lived his life in vain, reflects the worldview of the entire society, divided into classes. High society, possessing all material values, having the opportunity to buy everything that is on sale, does not have the most important thing - spiritual values.

On the ship, the dancing couple, depicting sincere happiness, is also fake. These are actors who were bought to play love. There is nothing real, everything is artificial and feigned, everything is purchased. And the people themselves are false and hypocritical, they are faceless, which is what meaning of the name this story.

And the master has no name, his life is aimless and empty, he does not bring any benefit, he only uses the benefits created by representatives of another, lower class. He dreamed of buying everything possible, but he didn’t have time; fate had its own way and took his life. When he dies, no one remembers him; he only causes inconvenience to those around him, including his family.

The point is that he died - and that’s it, he doesn’t need any wealth, luxury, power or honor. He doesn't care where he lies - in a luxurious inlaid coffin, or in a simple soda box. His life was in vain, he did not experience real, sincere human feelings, did not know love and happiness in the worship of the golden calf.

Composition

The narrative of the story is divided into two parts: how a gentleman sails on a ship to the coast of Italy, and the journey of the same gentleman back, on the same ship, only in a coffin.

In the first part, the hero enjoys all the possible benefits that money can buy, he has all the best: a hotel room, gourmet dishes, and all the other delights of life. The gentleman has so much money that he planned a trip for two years, together with his family, his wife and daughter, who also do not deny themselves anything.

But after the climax, when the hero suffers sudden death, everything changes dramatically. The hotel owner does not even allow the gentleman’s corpse to be placed in his room, having allocated the cheapest and most inconspicuous one for this purpose. There is not even a decent coffin in which to place the gentleman, and he is placed in an ordinary box, which is a container for some kind of food. On the ship, where the gentleman was blissfully on deck among high society, his place is only in the dark hold.

Main characters

Genre

“Mr. from San Francisco” can be briefly described as genre story ah, but this story is filled with deep philosophical content, and differs from other Bunin works. Usually, Bunin's stories contain descriptions of nature and natural phenomena that are striking in their liveliness and realism.

In the same work there is a main character around whom the conflict of this story is tied. Its content makes you think about the problems of society, about its degradation, which has turned into a soulless, mercantile being who worships only one idol - money, and has renounced everything spiritual.

The whole story is subordinated philosophical direction, and in plot-wise- This is an instructive parable that gives a lesson to the reader. The injustice of a class society, where the lower part of the population languishes in poverty, and the cream of high society waste their lives senselessly, all this, in the end, leads to a single ending, and in the face of death everyone is equal, both poor and rich, it cannot be bought off by any money.

Bunin's story "Mr. from San Francisco" is rightfully considered one of the most outstanding works in his work.

Work test

Rating Analysis

Average rating: 4.6. Total ratings received: 769.

Bunin's story The Gentleman from San Francisco has a highly social focus, but the meaning of these stories is not limited to criticism of capitalism and colonialism. The social problems of capitalist society are only a background that allows Bunin to show the aggravation of the eternal problems of humanity in the development of civilization.

In the 1900s, Bunin traveled around Europe and the East, observing the life and order of capitalist society in Europe and the colonial countries of Asia. Bunin realizes the immorality of the orders that reign in imperialist society, where everyone works only to enrich the monopolies. Rich capitalists are not ashamed of any means to increase their capital.

This story reflects all the features of Bunin’s poetics, and at the same time it is unusual for him, its meaning is too prosaic. The story has almost no plot. People travel, fall in love, earn money, that is, they create the appearance of activity, but the plot can be told in two words: A man has died. Bunin generalizes the image of the gentleman from San Francisco to such an extent that he does not even give him any specific name. We don't know much about his spiritual life. Actually, this life did not exist; it was lost behind thousands of everyday details, which Bunin lists down to the smallest detail. Already at the very beginning we see the contrast between the cheerful and easy life in the cabins of the ship and the horror that reigns in its bowels: The siren constantly cried out with hellish gloom and squealed with frantic anger, but few of the inhabitants heard its siren, drowned out by the sounds of a beautiful string orchestra...

The description of life on the steamship is given in a contrasting image of the upper deck and the hold of the ship: Gigantic furnaces rumbled dully, devouring piles of hot coal, with a roar they were thrown into them, drenched in caustic, dirty sweat and naked to the waist, people crimson from the flames; and here, in the bar, they carelessly threw their feet up on the arms of the chairs, smoked,

They drank cognac and liqueurs... With this sharp transition, Bunin emphasizes that the luxury of the upper decks, that is, the highest capitalist society, was achieved only through the exploitation and enslavement of people who continuously work in hellish conditions in the hold of the ship. And their pleasure is empty and false; a symbolic meaning is played in the story by a couple hired by Lloyd to play at love for good money.

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

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

about man's relationship to God. The rich gentleman travels on the ship Atlantis, where the most selected society is located, the same one on which all the benefits of civilization depend: the style of tuxedos, the strength of thrones, 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 similar to the previous one. Their life is like a diagram where hours and minutes are planned and scheduled. Bunin's heroes are spiritually poor and narrow-minded. They were created only to enjoy food, dress, celebrate, and have fun. Their world is artificial, but they like it, and they live in it with pleasure. Even a special couple of young people were hired on the ship for a lot 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 ship on which these people are sailing consists of two floors. The top floor is dominated by the rich, who believe that they have the right to everything, that everything is allowed to them, and on the bottom floor the stokers work until exhaustion, dirty, naked to the waist, crimson from the flames. Bunin shows us the split of the world into two parts, where for some everything is allowed, and for others nothing, and the symbol of this world is the steamship Atlantis.

The world of millionaires is insignificant and selfish. These people are always looking for benefits for themselves, so that they alone can feel good, but they never think about the people who surround them. They are arrogant and try to avoid people of lower rank, treating them with disdain, although ragged people will faithfully serve them for a pittance. Here's how Bunin describes the cynicism of the gentleman from San Francisco: And when Atlantis finally entered the harbor, rolled onto the embankment with its multi-story bulk, dotted with people, and the gangway rumbled, how many porters and their assistants in caps with gold braid, how many all kinds of commission agents, whistling boys and hefty ragamuffins with packs of colored postcards in their hands rushed to meet him offering services! And he grinned at these ragamuffins... and calmly said through his teeth, either in English or in Italian: “Get out! Away!".

A gentleman from San Francisco travels to different countries, but he has no sense of admiration for beauty, he is not interested in visiting the sights, museums, churches. All his feelings are reduced to eating well and relaxing, relaxing in a chair.

When a gentleman from San Francisco dies, suddenly feeling some kind of illness, the entire society of millionaires became agitated, feeling disgust towards the deceased, because he disturbed their peace, their constant state of celebration. People like them never think about human life, about death, about the world, about any global issues. They simply live, without thinking about anything, without doing anything for the sake of humanity.

without thinking about anything, without doing anything for the sake of humanity. Their lives are aimless, and when they die, no one will remember that these people existed. They have not done anything significant or worthwhile in life, and therefore are useless to society.

This is very well illustrated by the example of the gentleman from San Francisco. When the wife of the deceased asked to move her husband to the room, the hotel owner refused, since there was no benefit for him 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 the rich gentleman from San Francisco and how disrespectful they treated the deceased old man.

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