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 tragic fate a 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.

The wealthy gentleman travels on the steamship 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 ship 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 worked to exhaustion by stokers, dirty, bare to the waist, 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. Here 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-story 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's story "The Gentleman from San Francisco" has an acute social orientation, but the meaning of these stories is not limited to criticism of capitalism and colonialism. Social problems capitalist society are only a background that allows Bunin to show the aggravation of the "eternal" problems of mankind in the development of civilization.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“The Gentleman from San Francisco” is a revealing story about a millionaire capitalist, in the symbolic meaning of which Ivan Bunin put his value judgment about the bourgeoisie.

The writer does not honor the hero with the privilege of bearing any name, so we get to know him as a typical "master", that is, only his social position is revealed to us. This artistic device not only reflects the completely disapproving attitude of the author towards his character, but also speaks of the generality of the character he created.

Throughout his miserable life, the aristocrat has been chasing money, which is never enough. Only in his old age did he finally decide to spend some part of them on vacation with his wife and daughter. But this is not the type of worker. Bunin's hero achieved success at the cost of poverty and the deaths of other people who were not so lucky in life. He is so narrow-minded that, apart from the desire for profit and pleasure, he has no other desires. Even the gentleman is going on a cruise simply because it is customary for others. He does not think about the pleasure of seeing the world, its beauty, but only thinks about what can be tried on the ship for money.

The writer severely condemns the life of masters and shows us a vivid example of how death erases all class boundaries, exposing the insignificance of power and money. This means that a person should strive to live with dignity, so that after death not only his name is remembered, but also the good that he managed to accomplish during his term.

The theme of criticism of bourgeois reality was reflected in Bunin's work. One of the best works On this topic, one can rightly call the story "The Gentleman from San Francisco", which was highly appreciated by V. Korolenko. The idea to write this story came to Bunin while working on the story "The Brothers", when he learned about the death of a millionaire who had come to rest on the island of Capri. At first, the writer called the story that way - "Death on Capri", but later renamed it. It is the gentleman from San Francisco with his millions who is in the center of the writer's attention.

Describing the insane luxury of the life of the rich, Bunin takes into account every little thing. And he does not even give the master himself a name, no one remembers this man, he has no face and soul, he is only a bag of money. The writer creates a collective image of a bourgeois businessman, whose whole life is the accumulation of money. Having lived to the age of 58, he finally decided to get all the pleasures that can be bought: “... he thought of holding a carnival in Nice, in Monte Carlo, where at that time the most selective society flocks, where some enthusiastically indulge in car and sailing races , others to roulette, third to what is commonly called flirting, fourth to shooting pigeons. All his life this gentleman saved up money, never rested, became "decrepit", unhealthy and devastated. It seems to him that he "has just begun to live."

In Bunin's prose there is no moralizing or denunciation, but the author treats this hero of his with sarcasm and causticity. He describes it appearance, habits, but there is no psychological portrait, because the hero has no soul. Money took his soul. The author notes that for many years the master has learned to suppress any, even weak, manifestations of the soul. Having decided to have fun, the rich man cannot imagine that his life could end at any moment. Money replaced his common sense. He is sure that while they are there, he has nothing to fear.

Bunin, using the technique of contrast, depicts the external solidity of a person and his inner emptiness and primitiveness. In describing the rich man, the writer uses comparisons with inanimate objects: a bald head like ivory, a doll, a robot, etc. The hero does not speak, but utters several lines in a hoarse voice. The society of wealthy gentlemen, in which the hero rotates, is just as mechanical and soulless. They live by their own laws, trying not to notice ordinary people treated with scornful contempt. The meaning of their existence comes down to eating, drinking, smoking, enjoying and talking about them. Following the travel program, the rich man visits museums, inspects monuments with the same indifference. The values ​​of culture and art are empty words for him, but he paid for the excursions.

The steamer Atlantis, on which the millionaire is sailing, is depicted by the writer as a scheme of society. It has three tiers: on top - the captain, on the middle - the rich, in the lower - workers and attendants. Bunin compares the lower tier with hell, where tired workers in terrible heat day and night throw coal into red-hot fireboxes. A terrible ocean rages around the ship, but people trusted their life of the dead car. All of them consider themselves masters of nature and are sure that if they paid, then the ship and the captain are obliged to deliver them to their destination. Bunin shows the thoughtless self-confidence of people living in the illusion of wealth. The name of the ship is symbolic. The writer makes it clear that the world of the rich, in which there is no purpose and meaning, will one day disappear from the face of the earth, like Atlantis.

The writer emphasizes that everyone is equal in the face of death. The rich man, who decides to get all the pleasures at once, suddenly dies. His death causes not sympathy, but a terrible commotion. The innkeeper apologizes and promises to settle everything quickly. Society is outraged that someone dared to ruin their vacation, to remind them of death. To a recent companion and his wife, they experience disgust and disgust. The corpse in a rough box is quickly sent to the hold of the steamer.

Bunin draws attention to a sharp change in attitude towards the dead rich man and his wife. The obsequious owner of the hotel becomes arrogant and callous, and the servants become inattentive and rude. The rich man, who considered himself important and significant, turned into a dead body, is not needed by anyone. The writer ends the story with a symbolic picture. The steamer, in the hold of which the former millionaire lies in a coffin, sails through the darkness and blizzard in the ocean, and from the rocks of Gibraltar the Devil, “huge as a cliff”, watches him. It was he who got the soul of the gentleman from San Francisco, it is he who owns the souls of the rich.

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 made up the collections Sukhodol (1912), John 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 portrayed illness and death as the most important events that reveal the true value of a person (Polikushka, 1863; 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 a description of an accident that unexpectedly interrupted a well-established life and hero plans whose name "no one remembers". 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 weight, similar ... to a huge idol and very rarely appeared to 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” keeps moving 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 frames 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", measuredly, calmly and idlely. "Passengers" living "safely", "many", but much more - "a great many" - those who work for them "in the 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?

(Steamboat - the last word 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 by 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 masters of life. Everything they do is unnatural: entertainment is needed only to stimulate appetite artificially. "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 universal 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". Everyone else believes in the inviolability of their existence, guarded by a "pagan idol" - the commander of the ship. The specificity of the description is combined with symbolism, which allows emphasizing 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 have nothing to do 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 that stone house where he lived." "Humanity will remember him forever," 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 a civilization doomed to non-existence is combined 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 characters 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 digressions, there is a deepening of the problem, the conflict acquires a philosophical character.

Supplementary 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 to 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 verbal portrait crown prince of one of the Asian states, sweet and pleasant in general human, 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 goes "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 protagonist, whose portrait is dominated by yellow-black-silver tones: a yellowish face, gold fillings in the teeth, an ivory-colored 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 “reconciled waves” shimmer like “black oil”, and “golden boas” flow over 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 enter his consciousness at all. And what a surprise can there be in this programmed world, where 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 an elderly, but well-shaven and still a very elegant man who so easily overtakes an old woman who is late for dinner! Bunin saved up 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 had previously spoken mainly in English or Italian (his Russian remarks are very short and are perceived as "passing") - repeats this word twice in Russian ... By the way, it is 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, never human conscious, in the soul of which "for a long time there was no ... any mystical feelings." 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 simulated 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 “goldened”, “peace and tranquility again settled on the island”, ordinary people poured into the streets, and the handsome Lorenzo adorned the city market with his presence, who serves as a model for many painters and, as it were, symbolizes beautiful Italy .. .