Bunin, gentleman from San Francisco, history of creation. General conclusion about the work
The history of the creation of Shla Pervaya world war, there was a crisis of civilization. Bunin addressed current problems, but not directly related to Russia, to current Russian reality. The First World War was going on, and there was a crisis of civilization. Bunin addressed current problems, but not directly related to Russia, with the current Russian reality year - in the spring visited France, Algeria, Capri year - in the spring visited France, Algeria, Capri year - visited Egypt and Ceylon year - visited Egypt and Ceylon. From December 1913 he lived in Capri for six months. From December 1913 he lived in Capri for six months. The impressions from these travels are reflected in many stories. The impressions from these travels are reflected in many stories.
Philosophical line The story continues the tradition of L.N. Tolstoy, who depicted illness and death as major events, revealing the true value of an individual. The story continues 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 in the story, social issues associated with a critical attitude towards the lack of spirituality of bourgeois society, towards the exaltation technical progress to the detriment of internal improvement. The pathos of the story lies in the feeling of the inevitability of the death of this world. Along with the philosophical line, the story develops 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. The pathos of the story lies in the feeling of the inevitability of the death of this world.
Plot Description of an accident that unexpectedly interrupted the smooth life of a hero whose name “no one remembered.” He is one of those who “worked tirelessly” until he was fifty-eight years old. Description of an accident that unexpectedly interrupted the smooth life of a hero whose name “no one remembered.” He is one of those who “worked tirelessly” until he was fifty-eight years old.
Climax The scene of death “suddenly and rudely falling” on the “master” in the “smallest, worst, most damp and cold” room of the “lower corridor.” The scene of death “suddenly and rudely falling” on the “master” in the “smallest, worst, most damp and cold” room of the “lower corridor.”
Conflict The conflict goes far beyond the scope of a particular case, and therefore its denouement is associated with reflections on the fate of not just one hero, but all past and future passengers of Atlantis. The conflict goes far beyond the scope of a particular case, and therefore its denouement is associated with reflections on the fate of not just one hero, but all past and future passengers of Atlantis.
Symbolism of the story The symbol of society is the steamship Atlantis. The symbol of the society is the steamship Atlantis. The symbol of the elements, nature, and opposition to civilization is the ocean. The symbol of the elements, nature, and opposition to civilization is the ocean. Symbolizes monstrosity, heaviness, the idol image of the captain. Symbolizes monstrosity, heaviness, the idol image of the captain. The title character is the personification of a man of bourgeois civilization. The title character is the personification of a man of bourgeois civilization.
“Atlantis” Upper “floors”: life as in a “hotel with all amenities”; There are “a lot of people living safely.” Upper “floors”: life as in a “hotel with all amenities”; There are “a lot of people living safely.” “Basements”: “a great multitude” of those who work in the “underwater womb” - at the “giant furnaces”.
Antithesis Relaxation, dancing, carelessness; “gentlemen” in tailcoats and tuxedos”, ladies in “rich”, “lovely” “toilets”; graceful couple in love. Relaxation, dancing, carefree; “gentlemen” in tailcoats and tuxedos”, ladies in “rich”, “lovely” “toilets”; graceful couple in love. Work, “unbearable stress”; “the radiance ... of the palace” and “the dark and sultry depths of the underworld”; “drenched in acrid, dirty sweat and waist-deep naked people, crimson from the flames." In the story, the theme of the end of the existing world order, the inevitability of the death of a soulless and spiritual civilization gradually grows. It is contained in the epigraph: “Woe to you, Babylon, strong city!” This biblical phrase sounds like a harbinger of great catastrophes to come. In the story, the theme of the end of the existing world order, the inevitability of the death of a soulless and spiritual civilization gradually grows. It is contained in the epigraph: “Woe to you, Babylon, strong city!” This biblical phrase sounds like a harbinger of great catastrophes to come.
History of the story
The story of the great famous writer I.A. Bunin’s “Mr. from San Francisco” was first published in popular collection"Word". This event took place in 1915. The writer himself told the story of writing this work in one of his essays. In the summer of that year, he was walking around Moscow and, passing along the Kuznetsky Bridge, stopped near the Gautier bookstore to carefully examine its window, where sellers usually displayed new or popular books. Ivan Alekseevich’s gaze lingered on one of the brochures on display. It was a book foreign writer Thomas Mann "Death in Venice".Bunin noticed that this work had already been translated into Russian. But, after standing for several minutes and carefully examining the book, the writer never entered the bookstore and did not buy it. He will regret this many times later.
In the early autumn of 1915, he went to the Oryol province. In the village of Vasilyevskoye, Yeletsk district, the great writer lived with a cousin, with whom he often visited a lot, taking a break from the city noise and bustle. And now, being on his relative’s estate, he remembered the book he had seen in the capital. And then he remembered his vacation on Capra, when he stayed at the Kwisisana hotel. In this hotel at that time it happened sudden death some rich American. And suddenly Bunin wanted to write the book “Death on Capra.”
Working on a story
The story was written by the writer quickly, in just four days. Bunin himself describes this time as follows, when he wrote calmly and slowly:“I’ll write a little, get dressed, take a loaded double-barreled shotgun, and walk through the garden to the threshing floor.” Bunin wrote: “I was excited and wrote, even through enthusiastic tears, only the place where the Zaponyars go and praise the Madonna.”
The writer changed the title of the story as soon as he wrote the first line of his work. This is how the name “Mr. from San Francisco” appeared. Initially, Ivan Alekseevich took the epigraph from the Apocalypse. It goes like this: “Woe to you, Babylon, strong city!” But already during the first republication this epigraph was removed by the writer himself.
Bunin himself claimed in his essay “The Origin of My Stories” that all the events of his work are fictitious. Researchers of Bunin’s work argue that the writer did a lot of hard work, as he tried to get rid of pages of the story that contained edifying or journalistic elements, and also got rid of epithets and foreign words. This can be clearly seen from the manuscript, which has survived to this day.
A certain rich gentleman from San Francisco spent his entire life trying to achieve a certain position in society. And he was able to achieve this only when he became rich. All his life he earned money in different ways, and finally, at 58 years old, he was able to deny himself and his family nothing. That's why he decided to go on a long journey.
A gentleman from San Francisco, whose name no one knew, goes with his family to the Old World for 2 years. His route was planned in advance by him:
✔ December, as well as January, is a visit to Italy;
✔ he will celebrate the carnival in Nice, and also in Monte Carlo;
✔ early March – visit to Florence;
✔ the passion of God is a visit to Rome.
And on the way back he was going to visit other countries and states: Venice, Paris, Seville, Egypt, Japan and others. But these plans fail to come true. First, on the huge ship "Atlantis", amidst fun and constant celebration, the gentleman's family sails to the shores of Italy, where they continue to enjoy everything that they could not afford before.
After being in Italy, they are transported to the island of Capri, where they check into an expensive hotel. Maids and servants were ready to serve them every minute, clean up after them and fulfill their every desire. They get good tips for it every time. That same evening, the gentleman sees a poster advertising a beautiful dancer. Having learned from the servant that her partner is brother beauty, he decides to look after her a little. That's why for a long time dressing up in front of the mirror. But the tie squeezed his throat so tightly that he could hardly breathe. Having learned that his wife and daughter were not yet ready, he decided to wait for them downstairs, reading the newspaper or spending this time in pleasant communication.
The composition of the story is divided into two parts. The first part shows all the delights of the bourgeois world, and the second part is the result of the life that is led by people who decide to go through and experience all the sins. Therefore the second compositional part begins from the moment when a gentleman without a name comes downstairs and picks up a newspaper to read. But at the same moment he falls to the floor and, wheezing, begins to die.
The servants and the innkeeper tried to provide him with a little help, but most of all they were afraid for their reputation, so they hastened to console their living clients. And the half-dead gentleman was moved to the poorest room. This room was dirty and dark. But the hotel owner refused the demands of his daughter and wife to move the gentleman to his apartment, because then he would no longer be able to rent out this room to anyone, and the rich residents, having learned about such a neighborhood, would simply run away.
This is how a rich gentleman without a name from San Francisco died in a poor and wretched environment. And neither the doctor nor his relatives - no one could help him at that moment. Only him adult daughter she cried, because some kind of loneliness came into her soul. Soon the protagonist’s wheezing subsided, and the owner immediately asked the relatives to remove the body before the morning, otherwise the reputation of their establishment could suffer greatly. The wife started talking about the coffin, but no one on the island could make it so quickly. Therefore, it was decided to remove the body in a long box in which soda water was transported and the partitions removed from it.
On a small ship they transported both the coffin and the gentleman’s family, who were no longer treated with the same respect as before, to Italy and there they were loaded into the dark and damp hold of the steamship Atlantis, on which the journey of the gentleman without a name and his family began . Having experienced many humiliations, the old man’s body returned to its homeland, and on the upper decks the fun continued, and no one cared at all that there, below, stood a small coffin with the body of a gentleman from San Francisco. A person’s life also ends quickly, leaving either memories or emptiness in people’s hearts.
Characteristics of the gentleman from San Francisco
The writer does not specifically indicate the name of the main character, since his character is a fictitious person. But still, you can learn a lot about him from the entire narrative:Elderly American;
he is 58 years old;
rich;
he has a wife;
The hero also has an adult daughter.
Bunin gives a description of it appearance: “Dry, low, poorly cut, but tightly sewn, polished to a gloss and moderately lively.” But the writer then moves on to more detailed description hero: “There was something Mongolian in him yellowish face with a trimmed silver mustache, his large teeth shining with gold fillings, his strong bald head with old ivory.”
The gentleman with no name from San Francisco was a hardworking man and quite purposeful, since he once set himself the goal of getting rich and worked hard all these years until he achieved his goal. It turns out that he did not even live, but existed, thinking only about work. But in his dreams, he always imagined how he would go on vacation and enjoy all the benefits, having prosperity.
And so, when he achieved everything, he went with his family to travel. And here he began to drink and eat a lot, but also visited brothels. He stays only in the best hotels and gives such tips that the servants surround him with attention and care. But he dies without realizing his dream. A rich gentleman without a name goes back to his homeland, but in a coffin and in a dark hold, where he is no longer given any honors.
Story Analysis
The power of Bunin's story, of course, lies not in the plot, but in the images that he painted. Frequent images are symbols that appear in the story:
★ The stormy sea is like a wide field.
★ The captain's image is like an idol.
★ Dancing couple lovers who were hired to pretend to be in love. They symbolize the falsehood and rottenness of this bourgeois world.
★ The ship on which a rich gentleman without a name sails from San Francisco on an exciting journey, then carries his body back. So this ship is a symbol human life. This ship symbolizes human sins, which most often accompany rich people.
But as soon as the life of such a person ends, these people become completely indifferent to the misfortune of others.
The external imagery that Bunin uses in his work makes the plot more dense and rich.
Criticism about the story of I.A. Bunin
This work was highly appreciated by writers and critics. Thus, Maxim Gorky said that he read the new work of his favorite writer with great trepidation. He hastened to report this in a letter to Bunin in 1916.
Thomas Mann wrote in his diary that “in its moral power and strict plasticity it can be placed next to some of Tolstoy’s most significant works - with “Polykushka”, with “The Death of Ivan Ilyich.”
Critics noted this story by the writer Bunin as his most outstanding work. It was said that this story helped the writer achieve highest point of its development.
Francis of Assisi became famous not only for his holy deeds, but also gave the name to one of the most famous cities in the world. True, most residents of this beautiful corner of the planet are unlikely to know about it. The story began in 1776 with the landing of Spanish travelers on the coast of the peninsula.
The history of San Francisco can be briefly represented by the following stages:
- pre-colonial history, residence of Indian tribes;
- mid XVII centuries - early colonies, first Spanish settlers;
- second half XIX century– the beginning of gold mining, the “gold rush”;
- end of XIX – XX centuries – “Western Paris”;
- modern life metropolis.
Naturally, this division is conditional; each period had its own important and minor events for the townspeople.
From Spanish settlement to world city
In the territories where today the beautiful American metropolis is located, Indians belonging to the Ohlone tribe have long lived. Archaeologists have found household items that date back to the third century BC.
The Spaniards wrote San Francisco into the history book (as settlement) first pages. It was they who built a military fort near the strait, which today bears the beautiful name - “Golden Gate”. The first name of the settlement that appeared near the fort was Yerba Buena.
The development of the settlement was facilitated by the discovery of mid-19th centuries of gold deposits in California and the beginning of the so-called “gold rush”. Since 1848, there has been rapid growth of the city - both residential areas and public buildings and government institutions. This year was also remembered by residents for the fact that the settlement with the unattractive name of Yerba Buena was renamed to the sonorous San Francisco.
« Gold rush"led to a sharp increase in the number of residents, very soon San Francisco became the largest urban settlement (west of the Mississippi), only in 1920 it lost first place to Los Angeles. Gold mining contributed to the development of industry, trade and entertainment.
"Western Paris"
San Francisco received such a beautiful name in late XIX century - a famous person was invited European architect, who developed new plan development of the city, many beautiful buildings and structures.
It is clear that a metropolis cannot live without problems related to the provision of housing, food, hygiene and sanitation (the city has been repeatedly subjected to plague epidemics). In 1906, the townspeople experienced the largest earthquake in the history of San Francisco, and previously a terrible fire. These tragic events contributed to the renewal of the city, many of the architectural masterpieces were preserved.
“The Gentleman from San Francisco” appeared in print in 1915. The story was preceded by an epigraph from the Apocalypse: “Woe to you, Babylon, strong city!” Here is the immediate context of these words in the final book of the New Testament: “Woe, woe to you, the great city Babylon, the mighty city! for in one hour your judgment has come” (Revelation of St. John the Theologian, chapter 18, verse 10). In later reprints the epigraph will be removed; Already in the process of working on the story, the writer abandoned the initially invented title “Death on Capri.” However, the feeling of catastrophism evoked by the first version of the title and epigraph permeates the very verbal flesh of the story.
The story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” was highly appreciated by M. Gorky. “If you knew with what trepidation I read The Man from San Francisco,” he wrote to Bunin. One of the greatest German writers of the 20th century. Thomas Mann was also delighted with the story and wrote that it “in its moral power and strict plasticity can be placed next to some of Tolstoy’s most significant works.”
The story tells about recent months the life of a wealthy American businessman who arranged for his family a long and “pleasure” trip to southern Europe. Europe - on the way back home - was to be followed by the Middle East and Japan. The cruise undertaken by the American is explained in tedious detail in the exposition of the story; the plan and route of the trip are set out with business clarity and thoroughness: everything is taken into account and thought out by the character in such a way that absolutely no room is left for accidents. The famous steamship Atlantis, which looks like a “huge hotel with all the amenities,” was chosen for the trip, and the days spent on it on the way across the Atlantic do not in any way darken the mood of the wealthy tourist.
However, the plan, remarkable for its thoughtfulness and richness, begins to collapse as soon as it begins to be implemented. The violation of the millionaire's expectations and his growing discontent correspond in the structure of the plot to the plot and development of the action. The main “culprit” for the rich tourist’s irritation is nature, beyond his control and therefore seemingly unpredictably capricious, mercilessly breaking the promises of tourist brochures (“the morning sun deceived me every day”); we have to adjust the original plan and, in search of the promised sun, go from Naples to Capri. “On the day of departure, - very memorable for the family from San Francisco! .. - Bunin uses in this sentence the technique of anticipating an imminent outcome, omitting what has already become familiar word“Mr.,” - ...even in the morning there was no sun.”
As if wanting to slightly delay the inexorably approaching catastrophic climax, the writer extremely carefully, using microscopic details, gives a description of the move, a panorama of the island, details the hotel service and, finally, devotes half a page to the clothing accessories of the gentleman preparing for a late lunch.
However, the plot movement is unstoppable: the adverb “suddenly” opens the climactic scene, depicting the sudden and “illogical” death of the main character. It would seem that the plot potential of the story has been exhausted and the outcome is quite predictable: the body of a rich dead man in a tarred coffin will be lowered into the hold of the same ship and sent home, “to the shores of the New World.” This is what happens in the story, but its boundaries turn out to be wider than the boundaries of the story about a loser-American: the story continues at the will of the author, and it turns out that the story told is only part big picture life within the author's field of vision. The reader is presented with a plot-unmotivated panorama of the Gulf of Naples, a sketch of a street market, colorful images of the boatman Lorenzo, two Abruzzese highlanders and - most importantly - a generalizing lyrical description of a “joyful, beautiful, sunny” country. The movement from exposition to denouement turns out to be only a fragment of the unstoppable flow of life, overcoming the boundaries of private destinies and therefore not fitting into the plot.
The final page of the story returns us to the description of the famous “Atlantis” - the ship that returns the dead gentleman to America. This compositional repetition not only gives the story a harmonious proportionality of parts and completeness, but also enlarges the scale of the picture created in the work. It is interesting that the gentleman and members of his family remain nameless in the story until the end, while the peripheral characters - Lorenzo, Luigi, Carmella - are given their own names.
The plot is the most noticeable aspect of the work, a kind of façade of an artistic building that forms the initial perception of the story. However, in “The Mister from San Francisco” the coordinates of the general picture of the world being drawn are much wider than the actual plot time and spatial boundaries.
The events of the story are very precisely “tied to the calendar” and fit into geographical space. The journey, planned for two years in advance, begins at the end of November (sailing across the Atlantic), and is suddenly interrupted in December, most likely the week before Christmas: in Capri at this time pre-holiday revival is noticeable, the Abruzzese mountaineers offer “humbly joyful praises” Mother of God in front of her statue “in the grotto of the rocky wall of Monte Solaro”, and also pray to “the one born from her womb in the cave of Bethlehem, ... in the distant land of Judah...”. Thanks to this implicit calendar detail, the content of the story is enriched with new facets of meaning: it is about not only the private fate of the nameless gentleman, but about life and death as key - eternal - categories of existence.
Accuracy and utmost authenticity - the absolute criteria of Bunin's aesthetics - are manifested in the care with which the daily routine of wealthy tourists is described in the story. Indications of the “hours and minutes” of the life they lived, the list of attractions visited in Italy seemed to be verified from reliable tourist guides. But the main thing, of course, is not Bunin’s meticulous fidelity to verisimilitude.
The sterile regularity and inviolable routine of the master’s existence introduce into the story the most important motif for him of artificiality, the automatism of civilized pseudo-existence central character. Three times in the story the plot movement almost stops, canceled first by a methodical presentation of the cruise route, then by a measured account of the daily routine on the Atlantis, and, finally, by a careful description of the order established in the Neapolitan hotel. The “graphs” and “points” of the master’s existence are mechanically lined: “firstly”, “secondly”, “thirdly”; “at eleven”, “at five”, “at seven o’clock”. In general, the punctuality of the lifestyle of the American and his companions sets a monotonous rhythm for the description of everything that comes into his field of vision of the natural and social world.
The element of living life turns out to be an expressive contrast to this world in the story. This life, unknown to the gentleman from San Francisco, is subject to a completely different time and spatial scale. There is no place for schedules and routes, number sequences and rational motivations, and therefore there is no predictability and “understandability” for the sons of civilization. The vague impulses of this life sometimes excite the consciousness of travelers: then the daughter of an American will think that she sees the crown prince of Asia during breakfast; then the owner of the hotel in Capri will turn out to be exactly the gentleman whom the American himself had already seen in a dream the day before. However, the “so-called mystical feelings” do not leave any traces in the soul of the main character.
The author's view constantly corrects the limited perception of the character: thanks to the author, the reader sees and learns much more than what the hero of the story is able to see and understand. The most important difference between the author’s “omniscient” view is its extreme openness to time and space. Time is counted not by hours and days, but by millennia, by historical eras, and the spaces that open to the eye reach the “blue stars of the sky.” That is why, having parted with the deceased character, Bunin continues the story with an inserted episode about the Roman tyrant Tiberius. What is important to the author is not so much the associative parallel with the fate of the title character, but the opportunity to extremely enlarge the scale of the problem.
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I. Bunin is one of the few figures of Russian culture appreciated abroad. In 1933 he was awarded Nobel Prize in literature “For the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose" One can have different attitudes towards the personality and views of this writer, but his mastery in the field belles lettres undoubtedly, therefore his works are at least worthy of our attention. One of them, “Mr. from San Francisco,” received such a high rating from the jury 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 extraordinary talent the writer was compared with the gift of L.N. Tolstoy and A.P. Chekhov. After this, Bunin stood with venerable experts on words and human soul in one row. 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 is the story about?
The main character, who does not have a name (he is just a gentleman from San Francisco), spent his whole 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, dancing, 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 it opens up to the reader main idea the story that in the face of death everyone is equal: neither wealth nor power can save you from it. This Gentleman, who only recently wasted money, spoke contemptuously to the servants and accepted their respectful bows, is lying in a cramped and cheap room, respect has disappeared somewhere, his family is being kicked out of the hotel, because his wife and daughter will leave “trifles” at the box office. And so his body is taken back to America in a soda box, because even a coffin cannot be found in Capri. But he is already traveling in the hold, hidden from high-ranking passengers. And no one really grieves, because no one can use the dead man’s money.
Meaning of the name
At first, Bunin wanted to call his story “Death on Capri” by analogy with the title that inspired him, “Death in Venice” (the writer read this book later and rated it as “unpleasant”). But after writing the first line, he crossed out this title and named the work by the “name” of the hero.
From the first page, the writer’s attitude towards the Master is clear; for him, he is faceless, colorless and soulless, so he did not even receive a name. He is the master, the top of the social hierarchy. But all this power is fleeting and fragile, the author reminds. The hero, useless to society, who has not done a single good deed in 58 years and thinks only of himself, remains after death only an unknown gentleman, about whom they only know that he is a rich American.
Characteristics of heroes
There are few characters in the story: the gentleman from San Francisco as a symbol of eternal fussy hoarding, his wife, depicting gray respectability, and their daughter, symbolizing the desire for this respectability.
- The gentleman “worked tirelessly” all his life, but these were the hands of the Chinese, who were hired by the thousands and died just as abundantly in hard service. Other people generally mean little to him, the main thing is profit, wealth, power, savings. It was they who gave him the opportunity to travel, live at the highest level and not care about those around him who were less fortunate in life. However, nothing saved the hero from death; you can’t take the money to the next world. And respect, bought and sold, quickly turns into dust: after his death nothing changed, the celebration of life, money and idleness continued, even there was no one to worry about the last tribute to the dead. The body travels through authorities, it is nothing, just another piece of luggage that is thrown into the hold, hidden from “decent society.”
- The hero's wife lived a monotonous, philistine life, but with chic: without any special problems or difficulties, no worries, just a lazily stretching string of idle days. Nothing impressed her; she was always completely calm, probably having forgotten how to think in the routine of idleness. She is only concerned about the future of her daughter: she needs to find her a respectable and profitable match, so that she too can comfortably float with the flow all her life.
- The daughter did her best to portray innocence and at the same time frankness, attracting suitors. This is what interested her most. Meeting the ugly, strange and uninteresting person, but the prince, plunged the girl into excitement. Perhaps it was one of the last strong feelings in her life, and then the future of her mother awaited her. However, some emotions still remained in the girl: she alone foresaw trouble (“her heart was suddenly squeezed by melancholy, a feeling of terrible loneliness on this strange, dark island”) and cried for her father.
Main topics
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 author's intention. He encourages readers to think about themselves: are we not chasing something frivolously small, are we getting bogged down in routine, missing out on true beauty? After all, a life in which there is no time to think about oneself, one’s place in the Universe, in which there is no time to look at surrounding nature, people and notice something good in them, lived in vain. And you can’t fix a life you’ve lived in vain, and you can’t buy a new one for any money. Death will come anyway, you can’t hide from it and you can’t pay off it, so you need to have time to do something really worthwhile, something so that you will be remembered kind words, 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 steamboat 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 said that in modern times all eternal values, every time it's not true. Both Bunin and other writers remind us, readers, that life without harmony and inner beauty- 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, I made money and made money, putting off 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 injustice 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 person, 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. What is a story (a short work in prose containing a plot, a conflict and having one main storyline) is known to most, but how can you characterize the parable? A parable is a small allegorical text that guides the reader on the right path. Therefore, the product in plot-wise and in form it is a story, and in philosophical, substantive terms it is a parable.
Compositionally, the story is divided into two large parts: the journey of the Master from San Francisco from the New World and the stay of the body in the hold for 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 residents, 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(therefore, the description of its nature and inhabitants is covered in warm colors): a “joyful, beautiful, sunny” country, filled with “fairy-tale 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, vibrant landscapes are inherent in a creative manner Bunin, the mastery of the word artist 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 precisely because of this bourgeoisie, cut off from the life of the people, having fun at their expense, that two years later a riot broke out in the writer’s homeland. bloody revolution. 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.
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