Story by I.A. Bunin's "" can be called a parable about human life. The author tried to show us that human life cannot be bought for any money. He reminded us that we will all die someday.
The ocean liner Atlantis plays a huge role in Bunin’s story “.” It was a ship equipped with last word technology. The richest people traveled on it from America to Europe and back. There was everything a person could need here: a night bar with expensive alcohol and cigars, an oriental bathhouse, a live orchestra playing on the deck, even a newspaper. There was luxury and tranquility all around. Thousands of people worked on the ship, creating this comfort and coziness.
The Atlantis passengers led a very measured life. They were not bothered by the raging ocean; everyone relied on the experienced captain and the ship itself.
Bunin is trying to show us that such carelessness can be very dangerous. It is enough to pay attention to the name of the liner and remember how the depths of the sea once swallowed up an entire country called Atlantis, compared to which the ship is a small sliver in a raging ocean.
It is worth noting that when reading a story, you involuntarily prepare yourself for something terrible, for some kind of catastrophe; the work constantly keeps you in suspense. And, indeed, a disaster occurs. True, it has the scale of one person, but that makes it no less tragic. The author showed us that death is a natural process that will affect us all. And no matter how we try to delay this moment, it will certainly come.
But don’t be discouraged, because life goes on, and “Atlantis” sails on with its joy, care and pleasure.
“The Mister from San Francisco” is a philosophical story-parable about man’s place in the world, about the relationship between man and the world around him. According to Bunin, a person cannot withstand world upheavals, cannot resist the flow of life that carries him like a river carries a chip. This worldview was expressed in the philosophical idea of the story “The Gentleman from San Francisco”: man is mortal, and (as Bulgakov’s Woland claims) suddenly mortal, therefore human claims for dominance in nature, for understanding the laws of nature are groundless. All the wonderful scientific and technological achievements modern man do not save him from death. This is the eternal tragedy of life: a person is born to die.
The story contains symbolic details, thanks to which the story of death individual person becomes a philosophical parable about the death of an entire society, ruled by gentlemen like the main character. Of course, the image of the main character is symbolic, although it cannot in any way be called a detail of Bunin’s story. The backstory of the gentleman from San Francisco is outlined in a few sentences in the very general view, there is no detailed portrait of him in the story, his name is never mentioned. Thus, main character is typical actor parables: he is not so much a specific person as a type-symbol of a certain social class and moral behavior.
In a parable, the details of the narrative are of exceptional importance: a picture of nature or a thing is mentioned only when necessary, the action takes place without decoration. Bunin breaks these rules of the parable genre and uses one bright detail after another, realizing his artistic principle subject representation. In the story, among the various details, repeating details appear that attract the reader’s attention and turn into symbols (“Atlantis,” its captain, the ocean, a couple of young people in love). These repeating details are symbolic simply because they embody the general in the individual.
The epigraph from the Bible: “Woe to you, Babylon, strong city!”, according to the author’s plan, set the tone for the story. Combining a verse from the Apocalypse with an image modern heroes and circumstances modern life already sets the reader in a philosophical mood. Babylon in the Bible is not just big city, this is a city-symbol of vile sin, various vices (for example, the Tower of Babel is a symbol of human pride), because of them, according to the Bible, the city died, conquered and destroyed by the Assyrians.
In the story, Bunin draws in detail the modern steamship Atlantis, which looks like a city. A ship in the waves of the Atlantic becomes a symbol for the writer modern society. In the underwater belly of the ship there are huge fireboxes and an engine room. Here, in inhuman conditions - in the roar, in the hellish heat and stuffiness - stokers and mechanics work, thanks to them the ship sails across the ocean. On the lower decks there are various service spaces: kitchens, pantries, wine cellars, laundries, etc. Sailors, service personnel and poor passengers live here. But on the upper deck there is a select society (about fifty people in total), who enjoy a luxurious life and unimaginable comfort, because these people are the “masters of life.” The ship (“modern Babylon”) is named symbolically - after the name of a rich, densely populated country, which in an instant was swept away by the waves of the ocean and disappeared without a trace. Thus, a logical connection is established between the biblical Babylon and the semi-legendary Atlantis: both powerful, prosperous states are perishing, and the ship, symbolizing an unjust society and named so significantly, also risks perishing every minute in the stormy ocean. Among the ocean's shaking waves, a huge ship looks like a fragile vessel that cannot resist the elements. It is not for nothing that the Devil is watching from the rocks of Gibraltar after the steamship leaving for the American shores (it is no coincidence that the author wrote this word with a capital letter). This is how it appears in the story philosophical idea Bunin about the powerlessness of man before nature, incomprehensible to the human mind.
The ocean becomes symbolic at the end of the story. The storm is described as a global catastrophe: in the whistle of the wind, the author hears a “funeral mass” for the former “master of life” and all modern civilization; the mournful blackness of the waves is emphasized by white shreds of foam on the crests.
The image of the ship captain, whom the author compares with a pagan god at the beginning and end of the story, is symbolic. By appearance this man really looks like an idol: red-haired, monstrously large and heavy, in a naval uniform with wide gold stripes. He, as befits God, lives in the captain's cabin - the highest point of the ship, where passengers are prohibited from entering, he is rarely shown in public, but passengers unconditionally believe in his power and knowledge. The captain himself, being after all a man, feels very insecure in the raging ocean and relies on the telegraph apparatus standing in the next cabin-radio room.
At the beginning and at the end of the story, a couple in love appears, which attracts the attention of the bored passengers of the Atlantis by the fact that they do not hide their love and their feelings. But only the captain knows that the happy appearance of these young people is a deception, for the couple “breaks the comedy”: in fact, she was hired by the owners of the shipping company to entertain passengers. When these comedians appear among the glittering society of the upper deck, falsehood human relations, which they so persistently demonstrate, extends to everyone around them. This “sinfully modest” girl and the tall young man, “like a huge leech,” become a symbol high society, in which, according to Bunin, there is no place for sincere feelings, and depravity is hidden behind the ostentatious brilliance and prosperity.
To summarize, it should be noted that "Mr. from San Francisco" is considered one of best stories Bunin both in idea and in its artistic embodiment. The story of a nameless American millionaire turns into philosophical parable with broad symbolic generalizations.
Moreover, Bunin creates symbols in different ways. The gentleman from San Francisco becomes a sign-symbol of bourgeois society: the writer removes all the individual characteristics of this character and emphasizes his social traits: lack of spirituality, passion for profit, boundless complacency. Other symbols in Bunin are based on associative convergence ( Atlantic Ocean- the traditional comparison of human life with the sea, and the person himself with a fragile boat; fireboxes in the engine room - hellish fire of the underworld), on approach according to the design (multi-deck ship - human society in miniature), on rapprochement by function (the captain is a pagan god).
The characters in the story become expressive means for disclosure author's position. Through them, the author showed the deceit and depravity of bourgeois society, which had forgotten about moral laws, in true sense human life and is approaching a universal catastrophe. It is clear that Bunin’s premonition of a catastrophe became especially acute in connection with the world war, which, as it flared up more and more, turned into a huge human massacre before the author’s eyes.
I. I. Bunin: realism or impressionism? (They write differently about I. Bunin’s method of creativity: some consider him a realist, others note the features of impressionism in his work. The story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” describes recognizable types. But the description itself, the construction of the plot, the techniques of depiction, including including the use of images-symbols, indicate the features of impressionism.)
II. “Atlantis” is the main image-symbol of the story.
1."Atlantis" - a model of the world. (The Atlantis steamship is a multi-valued symbol. The very possibility of sailing on it is an indication of social status and the material capabilities of the protagonist. In addition, “Atlantis” is an image-symbol of a world divided into poor and rich, like on a steamship, where there is an upper deck, a lower deck, and a hold. “A great multitude of servants in the kitchens, sculleries and wine cellars” serve those who have managed to settle on the upper deck of life. And although they do not see each other, do not enter into any relationship, they all float together “in the icy darkness,” “among a storm with sleet.”)
2."Atlantis" - symbol lost civilization, a symbol of illusoryness. (It is Atlantis that the disappeared civilization is called. Material evidence of its existence is sometimes given by the ocean. But it is swallowed up by the abyss of the ocean.
The world of Atlantis is as fragile as ghost world real Atlantis. This is evidenced by the return of the hero in the hold of the same ship, in a box from under water. The distance between the decks is so small, and no one knows where he will be tomorrow.)
3. “In love” parana “Atlantis”. (A pair of dancing young people on Atlantis, who portrayed lovers, causing the tenderness of the public, turned out to be just a pair of hired actors. They had been playing this role for a long time and were mortally tired of each other. The reader will find out about this later. Thus, this “couple” is also takes on the meaning of a symbol. This is a symbol of deception, the illusory nature of the surrounding world.)
III. Mister from San Francisco. (Nobody remembers the gentleman’s name, because it’s not important. He himself is the embodiment of a certain attitude towards life. He spent all the time allotted to him on earth to earn money. Did he live, did his loved ones live? And that’s all for the sake of a cruise on the prestigious Atlantis. Thus, through the image of the main character, the author brings the reader to another meaning of Atlantis - this is a dream, the goal of life, which in reality also turns out to be an illusion.)
IV. "Atlantis" and time. (The general mood of the story is anxiety. Is it the death of a person? In part, Bunin seems to be preparing the reader for a sad end. And yet this anxiety is born from the feeling of the inexorable movement of time. Time judges. Time absorbs civilizations. Time counts down the minutes of everyone’s life. “Atlantis "as if floating through time. Time is inevitable. “Atlantis” is a reminder to humanity of how illusory and fragile the world is, how insignificant a person is in this world, where he is given so little time.)
"THEM,
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin portrayed real life Russia, therefore, reading his works, one can easily imagine how the Russian people lived on the eve of the revolution. Bunin picturesquely depicts life noble estates And common people, the culture of the nobles and the lopsided huts of the peasants, and a thick layer of black soil on our roads. But still, what interests the author most of all is the soul of the Russian person, which is impossible to comprehend and understand completely.
Bunin feels that big changes will soon take place in society, which will lead to a catastrophe of existence and a catastrophe social structure life. Almost all the stories he wrote in 1913-1914 are devoted to this topic. But in order to convey the approach of a catastrophe, to express all his feelings, Bunin, like many writers, uses symbolic images. One of the most striking such symbols is the image of a steamboat from the story “Mr. from San Francisco,” written by the author in 1915.
By boat from a telling name“Atlantis” the main character of the work goes on a long journey. He worked hard and for a long time, earning his millions. And now he has reached the level where he can afford to go and see the Old World, rewarding himself in a similar way for his efforts. Bunin gives the exact and detailed description the ship on which his hero boards. It was a huge hotel, which had all the amenities: the bar was open around the clock, there were oriental baths, and even published its own newspaper.
"Atlantis" in the story is not only the place where it happens most events. This is a kind of model of the world in which both the writer and his characters live. But this world is bourgeois. The reader is convinced of this when he reads how this ship is divided. The second deck of the ship is given over to the ship's passengers, where fun takes place all day long on the snow-white deck. But the lower tier of the ship looks completely different, where people work around the clock in the heat and dust; this is a kind of ninth circle of hell. These people, standing near the huge stoves, set the steamship in motion.
There are many servants and dishwashers on the ship who serve the second tier of the ship and provide them with a well-fed life. The inhabitants of the second and last deck of the ship never meet each other, there are no relations between them, although they sail on the same ship in terrible weather, and boil and rage overboard huge waves ocean. Even the reader feels the trembling of the ship, which is trying to fight the elements, but bourgeois society does not pay any attention to this.
It is known that Atlantis is a civilization that strangely disappeared into the ocean. This legend about a lost civilization is included in the name of the ship. And only the author hears and feels that the time of disappearance of the world that exists on the ship is approaching. But time will stop on the ship only for a rich gentleman from San Francisco, whose name no one remembers. This death of one hero indicates that very soon the death of the whole world will come. But no one pays attention to this, since the bourgeois world is indifferent and cruel.
Ivan Bunin knows that there is a lot of injustice and cruelty in the world. He had seen a lot, so he was anxiously waiting for the Russian state to collapse. This also influenced his subsequent life: he was never able to understand and accept the revolution and spent the rest of his life, almost thirty years in exile. In Bunin's story, the steamship is a fragile world where a person is helpless and no one is interested in his fate. A civilization is moving in a vast ocean that does not know its future, but it does not want to remember the past.
I.A.Bunin. "Mr. from San Francisco" (1915)
Published in 1915, the story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” was created during the First World War, when the motifs of the catastrophic nature of existence, the unnaturalness and doom of technocratic civilization noticeably intensified in Bunin’s work. Image of a giant ship with symbolic name“Atlantis” was prompted by the sinking of the famous “Titanic,” which many saw as a symbol of future world catastrophes. Like many of his contemporaries, Bunin felt the tragic beginning of a new era, and therefore everything higher value During this period, themes of rock, death, and the motif of the abyss acquired in the works of writers.
Symbolism of Atlantis. The ship "Atlantis", bearing the name of a once sunken island, becomes a symbol of civilization in the form in which it was created by modern humanity - a technocratic, mechanistic civilization that suppresses man as an individual, far from the natural laws of existence. Antithesis becomes one of the main techniques for creating a figurative story system: “Atlantis,” with its contrast of deck and hold, with its captain like “ pagan god"or "idol" - the world is disharmonious, artificial, false, and therefore doomed. She is majestic and formidable, but the world of “Atlantis” rests on the illusory foundations of “money,” “fame,” “nobility of the family,” which completely replace the value of human individuality. This world artificially created by people is closed, fenced off from the elements of existence as a hostile, alien and mysterious element for him: “The blizzard beat in his gear and the wide-mountain pipes, white with snow, but he was steadfast, firm, majestic and terrible.” This grandeur is terrible, trying to overcome the elements of life itself, to establish its dominion over it, this illusory grandeur, so unsteady and fragile before the face of the abyss, is terrible. The doom is also palpable in how contrasting the “lower” and “middle” worlds of the ship are, the peculiar models of “hell” and “paradise” of a spiritless civilization: the light and color palette, aromas, movement, the “material” world, sound - everything is different in them , the only common thing is their isolation, isolation from the natural life of existence. The “upper” world of “Atlantis”, its “new deity” is a captain, similar to a “merciful pagan god”, a “huge idol”, a “pagan idol”. This repetition of comparisons is not accidental: the modern era is portrayed by Bunin as the dominance of a new “paganism” - obsession with empty and vain passions, fear of the omnipotent and mysterious Nature, the riot of carnal life outside its sanctification by the life of the spirit. The world of “Atlantis” is a world where voluptuousness, gluttony, passion for luxury, pride and vanity reign, a world where God is replaced by an “idol.”
Passengers of Atlantis. M In contrast to artificiality and automatism, it intensifies when Bunin describes the passengers of Atlantis; it is no coincidence that a voluminous paragraph is devoted to their daily routine: this is a model of the deathly regimentation of their existence, in which there is no place for accidents, secrets, surprises, that is, precisely what makes human life truly exciting. The rhythmic-intonation pattern of the line conveys a feeling of boredom, repetition, creates an image of a clock mechanism with its dull regularity and absolute predictability, and the use of lexical and grammatical means with the meaning of generalization (“they were supposed to walk briskly”, “got up... drank... sat down... did... committed... walked") emphasizes the impersonality of this brilliant “crowd” (it is no coincidence that the writer defines the society of the rich and famous gathered on “Atlantis” in this way). In this fake brilliant crowd there are not so many people as puppets, theatrical masks, wax museum sculptures: “Among this brilliant crowd there was a certain great rich man, there was a famous Spanish writer, there was a world-famous beauty, there was an elegant couple in love.” Oxymoronic combinations and semantically contradictory comparisons reveal a world of false moral values, ugly ideas about love, beauty, human life and personal individuality: “a handsome man who looks like a huge leech” (a surrogate for beauty), “hired lovers”, “disinterested love” of young Neapolitan women, which the gentleman hoped to enjoy in Italy (a substitute for love).
The people of “Atlantis” are deprived of the gift of surprise at life, nature, art, they have no desire to discover the secrets of beauty, it is no coincidence that they carry this “trail” of deadness with them wherever they appear: museums in their perception become “deadly pure”, churches are “cold”, with “enormous emptiness, silence and quiet lights of the seven-branched candlestick”, art for them is only “slippery gravestones underfoot and someone’s “Descent from the Cross”, certainly famous.”
The main character of the story. It is no coincidence that the main character of the story is deprived of a name (his wife and daughter are also not named) - precisely what first of all separates a person from the “crowd”, reveals his “self” (“no one remembered his name”). Keyword The title “Mr.” defines not so much the personal and unique nature of the protagonist as his position in the world of technocratic Americanized civilization (it is no coincidence that the only proper noun in the title is San Francisco, thus Bunin defines the real, earthly analogue of the mythological Atlantis), his worldview : “He was firmly convinced that he had every right for rest, for pleasure... he was quite generous on the road and therefore fully believed in the care of all those who fed and watered him, from morning to evening.” The description of the gentleman’s entire previous life takes only one paragraph, and life itself is defined more precisely - “until that time he did not live, but only existed.” In the story there is no detailed speech characterization of the hero; his inner life is almost not depicted. The inner speech of the hero is extremely rarely conveyed. All this reveals that the master’s soul is dead, and his existence is just the fulfillment of a certain role.
The appearance of the hero is extremely “materialized”, the leitmotif detail, acquiring a symbolic character, is the shine of gold, the leading color scheme is yellow, gold, silver, that is, the colors of deadness, lack of life, the color of external brilliance. Using the technique of analogy, likening, Bunin, with the help of repeated details, creates external “doubles” portraits of two completely different similar friends on the friend of people - the master and the eastern prince: in the world of domination of facelessness, people mirror each other.
The motive of death in the story. The antithesis “life-death” is one of the plot-forming elements in the story. The “heightened sense of life” characteristic of Bunin was paradoxically combined with a “heightened sense of death.” Quite early, a special, mystical attitude towards death awakened in the writer: death in his understanding was something mysterious, incomprehensible, which the mind cannot cope with, but which a person cannot help but think about. Death in the story “Mr. from San Francisco” becomes a part of Eternity, the Universe, Being, but this is precisely why the people of “Atlantis” try not to think about it, they experience a sacred, mystical fear of it that paralyzes consciousness and feelings. The gentleman tried not to notice the “harbingers” of death, not to think about them: “In the gentleman’s soul a long time ago, there were no so-called mystical feelings left... he saw in a dream the owner of the hotel, the last in his life... without trying to understand, without thinking what exactly was terrible ...What did the gentleman from San Francisco feel and think on this so significant evening? He was just really hungry." Death struck the millionaire from San Francisco suddenly, “illogically,” rudely and repulsively, crushing him just at the time when he was about to enjoy life. Death is described by Bunin in an emphatically naturalistic manner, but it is precisely such a detailed description, paradoxically, that enhances the mysticism of what is happening: as if a person is fighting something invisible, cruel, mercilessly indifferent to his desires and hopes. Such death does not imply the continuation of life in another - spiritual - form, it is the death of the body, final, plunging into oblivion without hope of resurrection, this death has become the logical conclusion of an existence in which there has been no life for a long time. Paradoxically, fleeting signs of the soul lost by the hero during his lifetime appear after his death: “And slowly, slowly, in front of everyone, pallor flowed over the face of the deceased, and his features began to thin out and brighten.” It was as if that divine soul, given at birth to everyone and killed by the gentleman from San Francisco himself, was freed again. After death, strange and, in fact, terrible “shifters” happen to the now “former master”: power over people turns into inattention and moral deafness of the living towards the deceased (“there is and cannot be a doubt about the correctness of the desires of the gentleman from San Francisco”, “the owner bowed politely and elegantly” - “This is completely impossible, madam,... the owner besieged her with polite dignity... the owner with an impassive face, already without any courtesy”); instead of Luigi’s insincere, but still kindness, there is his buffoonery and antics, the giggling of the maids; instead of luxurious apartments, “where a high-ranking person stayed,” - “a room, the smallest, the worst, the dampest and coldest,” with a cheap iron bed and coarse woolen blankets; instead of a brilliant deck on the Atlantis there is a dark hold; instead of enjoying the best - a box of soda water, a hungover cab driver and a horse dressed up in Sicilian style. Near death, petty, selfish human vanity suddenly flares up, in which there is both fear and annoyance - there is only no compassion, empathy, no sense of the mystery of what has happened. These “shifters” became possible precisely because the people of “Atlantis” are distant from the natural laws of existence, of which life and death are part, that the human personality is replaced by the social position of “master” or “servant”, that “money”, “fame”, “nobility of the family” completely replaces man. The “proud man’s” claims to dominance turned out to be illusory. Dominance is a transitory category, these are the same ruins of the palace of the all-powerful Emperor Tiberius. The image of ruins hanging over a cliff is a detail that emphasizes the fragility of the artificial world of “Atlantis”, its doom.
Symbolism of images of the ocean and Italy. Confronts the world of "Atlantis" huge world nature, Being itself, all that exists, the embodiment of which is Italy and the ocean in Bunin’s story. The ocean has many faces and is changeable: it walks with black mountains, chills with a white water desert, or amazes with the beauty of “waves as colorful as a peacock’s tail.” The ocean frightens the people of Atlantis precisely because of its unpredictability and freedom, the element of life itself, changeable and ever-moving: “the ocean that walked outside the walls was scary, but they didn’t think about it.” The image of the ocean goes back to the mythological image of water as the original element of existence, which gave birth to life and death. The artificiality of the world of “Atlantis” is also manifested in this alienation from the elements of the ocean-being, protected from it by the walls of an illusory majestic ship.
Italy becomes the embodiment of the diversity of the ever-moving and multifaceted world in Bunin's story. The sunny face of Italy was never revealed to the gentleman from San Francisco; he only managed to see its prosaic, rainy face: palm leaves shiny with tin, wet from the rain, a gray sky, constantly drizzling rain, shacks smelling of rotten fish. Even after the death of the gentleman from San Francisco, the Atlantis passengers, continuing their journey, do not meet either the careless boatman Lorenzo or the Abruzzese highlanders; their path is to the ruins of the palace of Emperor Tiberius. The joyful side of existence is forever closed from the people of “Atlantis”, because they are not ready to see this side, to open up to it spiritually.
On the contrary, the people of Italy - the boatman Lorenzo and the Abruzzese mountaineers - feel themselves to be a natural part of the vast Universe; it is no coincidence that at the end of the story the artistic space sharply expands, including the earth, the ocean, and the sky: “the whole country, joyful, beautiful, sunny, stretched under them." A childish joyful intoxication with the beauty of the world, naive and reverent surprise at the miracle of life is felt in the prayers of the Abruzzese mountaineers addressed to Mother of God. They, like Lorenzo, are integral to the natural world. Lorenzo is picturesquely handsome, free, royally indifferent to money - everything about him is contrary to the description of the main character. Bunin affirms the greatness and beauty of life itself, whose powerful and free flow frightens the people of “Atlantis” and draws in those who are capable of becoming an organic part of it, spontaneously, but childishly wise, to trust it.
The existential background of the story. The artistic world of the story includes limiting, absolute values: equal participants in the story about the life and death of an American millionaire include the Roman Emperor Tiberius and the “cricket” singing with “sad carefreeness” on the wall, hell and heaven, the Devil and the Mother of God. The connection of the heavenly and earthly worlds paradoxically appears, for example, in the description of the forty-third issue: “The dead man remained in the dark, blue stars looked at him from the sky, a cricket sang with sad carefreeness on the wall.” The eyes of the Devil are watching the ship as it departs into the night and blizzard, and the face of the Mother of God is turned to the heavenly heights, the kingdom of her Son: “The countless fiery eyes of the ship behind the snow were barely visible to the Devil, who was watching the ship... Above the road, in the grotto of the rocky wall of Monte Solaro, all illuminated by the sun, all in its warmth and shine, stood in snow-white plaster robes... the Mother of God, meek and merciful, with her eyes raised to heaven, to the eternal and blissful abodes of her thrice-blessed son.” All this creates an image of the world as a whole, a macrocosm, including light and darkness, life and death, good and evil, moment and eternity. Infinitesimal against this background turns out to be the closed world of “Atlantis”, which considers itself great in this isolation. It is no coincidence that the structure of the story is characterized by a compositional ring: the description of “Atlantis” is given at the beginning and end of the work, while the same images vary: the lights of a ship, a beautiful string orchestra, the hellish fireboxes of the hold, a dancing couple playing in love. This is a fatal circle of isolation, fenced off from being, a circle created by a “proud man” and turning him, who realizes himself as a master, into a slave.
Man and his place in the world, love and happiness, the meaning of life, eternal struggle good and evil, beauty and the ability to live with it - these eternal problems are at the center of Bunin’s story.