Composition
How little has been lived
We've been through so much...
S.Ya.Nadson
Main topic the story “The Shepherd and the Shepherdess” - a man at war^ Usually in military prose The war is depicted as a huge national event, and the individual hero who overcomes it is a grain of sand in this great event. In Astafiev, this usual scheme is inverted: the war becomes a terrible background, and a specific person comes to the fore, in tragic fate which the writer discovers a philosophical, that is, universal, meaning. Such a hero in the story is nineteen-year-old lieutenant, infantry platoon commander Boris Kostyaev.
Due to his age, character, and upbringing, Boris finds it difficult to adapt to brutal war, it is impossible to protect yourself from the soul-shaking military impressions. But this very young man goes to the front because he considers it unworthy to hide from the war behind other people’s backs. Mind, subtle spiritual qualities helped platoon commander Kostyaev understand the ordinary soldiers. At first, he, a young, “nimble lieutenant” from the regimental school, mistook the prudence and thoroughness in battle of experienced soldiers for cowardice, but “after many battles, after being wounded, after the hospital, Boris was ashamed of himself being so daring and awkward, he realized in his head that he was not a soldier behind him, and he behind the soldiers" (II, "Date"). The lieutenant felt the front-line brotherhood and became attached to the soldiers of his platoon: the solid worker from Moscow Lantsov, the good-natured Altai godfathers Karyshev and Malyshev, the young orderly Shkalik, the experienced assistant platoon commander Sergeant Major Mokhnakov.
They had already wanted to promote Boris several times and make him a company commander, but he refused, not wanting to abandon “his own.” In a night battle, when a German tank began to “iron” the confused Red Army soldiers in the trenches, the lieutenant rushed with a grenade at the tank and blew it up. When the night battle ended, Boris first of all took care of the wounded and accommodation for the healthy, but mortally tired soldiers. When he himself was wounded in the shoulder near an unnamed farm, he did not leave his soldiers and remained in the trench for 24 hours until another commander was sent. For human attitude to his subordinates and for his decency, the soldiers love their lieutenant, which is expressed in the touching attention to him: the wounded man is brought beet tea and homemade rye cake, and when he goes on foot to the field hospital, the soldiers get a cart so that Shkalik can take the platoon commander at least to dressing station.
Boris was born into a teaching family with long traditions preserved from their Decembrist ancestors. Culture, education, and spirituality are valued here. It is not for nothing that a through-cutting image-symbol appears in the story - a pastoral shepherdess and shepherdess, personifying refined feelings and beautiful, true love. This symbol accompanies the main character from childhood to death: Boris tells Lyusa about his impression of the pastoral ballet, which he saw as a boy in Moscow; V last time images of murdered old men - a shepherd and a shepherdess - appear in the fading consciousness of the hero on the ambulance train. This sentimental symbol, ridiculed by Soviet ideologists, helps to reveal the sensitivity, vulnerability, romanticism of Boris, his dream of his only love. In life, Boris, as befits a romantic young man, immediately falls in love with a strange young woman with mysteriously changeable eyes, and falls in love for life. The story contains a scene invented by the hero himself, when he asks the regimental political officer for leave and goes to the place where Lyusya lives. In the lieutenant’s imagination, this scene seems completely real, which once again proves the strength of his love and the depth of his longing for his beloved.
For all his spiritual sophistication (Mokhnakov more than once calls the commander “mumbler”), Boris is a determined person. He forbids Sergeant Major Mokhnakov from pestering Lyusya, and the seasoned Sergeant Major obeys, faced with the inflexible will of the lieutenant. At first, however, Mokhnakov was very angry, but then he admitted to Boris: “You are a bright guy! I honor you. For this I honor that I myself do not have...” (II, “Date”). Mokhnakov means kindness, the ability to compassion and love, which the lieutenant retains in his soul, but the sergeant himself lost during three years of war.
In the story “The Shepherd and the Shepherdess” not only the usual scheme of man - war is violated, but also the usual plot device: usually in war stories the love of the heroes stronger than death, and for Astafiev, even extraordinary love could not overcome mortal melancholy at all young man, military impressions “broke” him. All the platoon soldiers (except Malyshev), who are close to Boris, die before his eyes. Pafnutyev is blown up in a minefield, Altai resident Karyshev is killed by a German sniper, Mokhnakov explodes along with a fascist tank. The last to be blown up by a mine was Shkalik, who was in a hurry to deliver the wounded lieutenant to the dressing station and, out of excitement, did not notice the signs of the mine fence. In the field hospital, Boris felt an insulting and suspicious attitude from the medical staff: here he was considered a burden and a cunning man, who was hiding from the front in a hospital tent: “Yes, it turns out that he is taking someone’s place, eating someone’s bread in vain, breathing someone’s air...” (IV, “Assumption”). The medical staff, it seems to the lieutenant, care about him only because he is needed at the front. This “double-hearted mercy”, the world’s hatred of man, shocked Boris: he does not die from a trivial wound, but from nervous and moral exhaustion. That is why war is disgusting to human nature - Astafiev also comes to this conclusion, expressed by L.N. Tolstoy in his epic novel “War and Peace” (3, 1, I). It is not the hero’s fault that the war crushed him: he turned out to be weaker, but no rougher than the war.
To summarize, we note that the writer clearly expressed the most important idea in his story: victory in the Great Patriotic War was paid for more than it seems at first glance. A soldier can be killed not only by a bullet, but also by the moral stress associated with war.
This happened with Boris Kostyaev. In the bloody hell of the night battle (I, “Battle”), the hero survived: he forgets the man in himself, acts with some kind of animal strength and instinct, and, together with his platoon, repels the attack of the fascists, who were also brutalized with fear and despair. But after the battle, Boris regains human feelings: he feels sorry for the wounded, and looks sympathetically at the mortally tired nurse. In the hospital (IV, “Assumption”), having distanced himself a little from the war, that is, looking at it from the outside, he was horrified by the cruelty of the world to the point that he did not want to live, did not want to cling to “the young grass” (ibid.), as he advised he has an elderly soldier neighbor in the ambulance car. The lieutenant's soul turned out to be more merciful than his time.
Option 1.
(1) Many years have passed since I left the village of my childhood. (2) I wanted to get there because the country of my childhood lies in an unusually loud and quiet area. (3) Wherever I am, I have never seen such a sky, such transparent sunrises, when you wake up and suddenly freeze in pain, that you overslept something very important, and you want to jump up
and run beyond the jagged mountains, to find out what lies beyond.
(4) And so it happened that fate threw me into the country of my childhood. (5) Nothing has changed here. (6) I walked around places familiar to me, happily recognizing them. (7) Suddenly he stopped: Sharik was walking towards me - my Sharik! (8) I forgot about him a long time ago, but here he hobbles towards me like an old man and still doesn’t see me. (9) I remembered how we shared our bitter days with him, because he was my only friend, how he accompanied me to the concrete road, not suspecting that I was leaving forever. (10) He became completely gray and old.
- (11) Ball! – I called out to him in a trembling voice.
(12) He shuddered, stopped in fear, but immediately turned away and turned off the path.
- (13) Ball!
(14) But he didn’t even look back. (15) I saw that he recognized me, but did not want to recognize the person whom he thought best friend, who betrayed him, leaving him to his fate. (16) This meeting was unpleasant for him...
(17) I was ashamed. (18) The whole next day I thought about Sharik, tried to convince myself that I wasn’t really to blame for what happened: where could I take him then, because I myself didn’t know where to put myself. (19) But he was your best friend! (20) And does he really care about such subtleties?!
(21) And then I met a classmate. (22) He told me that Sharik was very bored after I left, he kept looking for me, running on the road, howling at night...
(23) I walked around the village in the hope of meeting Sharik, but when he saw me, he ran away from me with the last of his senile strength. (24) But then he whined, lay down and closed his eyes.
- (25) Ball! – I pressed my face to his cold muzzle. - (26) Well, forgive me, forgive me! – I stroked his gray head, covered in burrs.
(27)…The next day I was leaving. (28) Behind the bus stop I saw Sharik: he secretly came to say goodbye. (29) I threw myself on the ground next to him and suddenly, unexpectedly for myself, began to cry. (30) The ball began to lick my hands and cheeks, and suddenly something from long ago appeared in it - from childhood.
- (31) Okay, old man, goodbye. (32) Forgive me for everything if you can.
(33) His eyes immediately dimmed, as if a handful of ash had been thrown at them, but he overpowered himself and wagged his drooping tail knowingly, as if he wanted to smile, but the smile did not work.
(34) The bus started moving. (35) Old and gray-haired, Sharik sat in the clouds of road dust and looked gloomily at the ground...
- (36) Stop! (37)Slow down!
(38) The driver, dissatisfied, stopped the bus, and I, seeing only Sharik’s happy eyes and his no longer drooping tail, jumped out onto the dusty country road. (39) I jumped out so that I would never again part with the most devoted friend in my life... (According to M.A. Chvanov*)
2. Which answer option contains the information necessary to substantiate the answer to the question: “Why did Sharik, seeing his old friend, last bit of strength ran away from him?
Sharik was gray-haired and old and did not recognize his former friend.
Sharik did not want to recognize the person who once betrayed him and left him to his fate. 3) This meeting was unpleasant for Sharik, because he knew about his friend’s imminent departure. 4) Sharik was afraid to approach strangers.
3. Indicate a sentence in which the highlighted means of expressive speech is a phraseological unit.
4. From sentences 34–39, write down a word in which the spelling of the prefix depends on the deafness - the voicedness of the subsequent consonant.
5. From sentences 8–10, write down a word in which the spelling of the suffix is determined by the rule: “In the suffixes of denominal adjectives formed with the suffix -ENN-, NN is written.”
6. Replace the colloquial word “toddles” in sentence 8 with a stylistically neutral synonym. Write this synonym.
7. Replace the phrase “concrete road”, built on the basis of coordination, with a synonymous phrase with the control connection. Write the resulting phrase.
8. Write down the grammatical basis of sentence 19.
9. Among sentences 14–18, find a sentence with isolated circumstance. Write the number of this offer
10. In the sentences below from the text read, all commas are numbered. Write down the numbers indicating commas when addressing.
The ball began to lick my hands, (1) cheeks, (2) something from long ago - from childhood - suddenly appeared in it.
- Well, okay, (3) old man, (4) goodbye. Forgive me for everything (5) if you can.
11. Specify quantity grammar basics in sentence 38. Write the answer in numbers.
12. In the sentences below from the text read, all commas are numbered. Write down the number(s) indicating the comma(s) between parts of a complex sentence connected by a coordinating connection.
I forgot about him a long time ago, (1) and here he is hobbling towards me like an old man and still doesn’t see me. I remembered (2) how we shared our bitter days with him, (3) because he was my only friend, (4) how he accompanied me to the beaten path, (5) not suspecting, (6) that I was leaving forever.
13. Among sentences 17–24, find complex sentence with the non-union
and union subordinating connection between parts. Write the number of this offer.
14. Among sentences 14–20, find a complex sentence
with uniform and consistent subordination of subordinate clauses. Write the number of this offer.
| 15.1. Write an essay-reasoning, revealing the meaning of the statement of the famous linguist Nikolai Maksimovich Shansky: “Using the example complex sentence you can trace how a person expresses the relationship between the world and his own point of view." When justifying your answer, give two examples from the text you read. When giving examples, indicate the numbers of the necessary sentences or use citations. You can write a work in a scientific or journalistic style, revealing the topic on linguistic material. You can start your essay with the words of N.M. Shansky. The volume of the essay must be at least 70 words. Work written without relying on the text read (not based on this text) is not evaluated. If the essay is a paraphrase or a complete rewrite source without any comments, such work is scored zero points. Write your essay neatly and in legible handwriting. | |||
| 15.2. | Write an argumentative essay. Explain how you understand the meaning of the ending of the text: “I jumped out to never again part with the most devoted friend in my life...” In your essay, give two arguments from the text you read that confirm your reasoning. When giving examples, indicate the numbers of the required sentences or use citations. The essay must be at least 70 words. If the essay is a retelling or a complete rewrite of the original text without any comments, then such work is scored zero points. Write your essay neatly and in legible handwriting. | ||
| 15.3. | How do you understand the meaning of the word KINDNESS? Formulate and comment on the definition you have given. Write an essay-argument on the topic “What is kindness”, taking the definition you gave as the thesis. When arguing your thesis, give 2 (two) examples-arguments that confirm your reasoning: give one example-argument from the text you read, and the second from your life experience. The essay must be at least 70 words. If the essay is a retelling or a complete rewrite of the original text without any comments, then such work is scored zero points. Write your essay neatly and in legible handwriting. | ||
Option 2
1) I was dragging along the street and suddenly I saw a crowd... (2) Ten boys, high school students, and to the side, on the sidelines, stood the Gas Cylinder, the main instigator of all the most “wrong”, dishonest deeds.
(3) The boys hastily bent down to the ground, made snowballs and threw them at the wall of the new house: there, on the rough concrete wall, a squirrel was climbing.
(4) The boys were having fun, shooting snowballs at the wall, and the squirrel moved in bold short jerks higher and higher, to the very roof, clinging to who knows what. (5) The taiga was nearby, squirrels often ran into the village, but they easily ran back through the trees, but this one was unlucky, she was probably running across the ground, when she was noticed, rushed to the house and was now climbing the wall, defenseless from blows snowballs.
(6) Snow shells, like cannonballs, exploded next to the squirrel with a dull snort; it shuddered with its entire small body, its fluffy tail pressed against the wall, as if helping itself even with them.
(7) Ten hefty thugs against a small defenseless squirrel! (8) But these ten were people. (9) And each had a head on his shoulders, and a heart in his chest. (10) The Gas Cylinder stood nearby with a stone face. (11) I waited with interest to see how it would all end.
(12) The blood began to pound indignantly in my temples.
- (13) You! – I shouted, trembling with hatred. - (14) You bastards! (15) What are you doing!
(16) The Gas Cylinder turned to me, his eyes narrowed slyly.
- (17) Ah! General! – he grimaced. - (18) You’re in command again!
(19) And he laughed: - (20) A general without an army!
(21) Another time I would have gone crazy from these unpleasant words, again I would have thrown something out, maybe, but here I barely heard it.
– (22) Stop it! – I yelled, glaring at the squirrel, which was already barely moving along the wall.
(23) The snowballs were no longer clapping near her. (24) Frozen clods of earth and stones clicked. (25) And then the squirrel fell down.
(26) She fell down, and I was still looking at the wall of the house. (27) There, on the rough concrete, there was a red spot...
(28) I threw my briefcase, pulled my hat down further and, accelerating, slammed my head into the healthy guy’s stomach. (29) He groaned, fell, and I rammed the next one, the next one. (30) The boys were taken aback for a while, then I felt the prickly snow on my face and began to suffocate in a snowdrift. (31) They hit me on the back and on the head, but I didn’t feel pain, but spun around furiously, trying to jump up and ram someone else.
(32) Suddenly the blows stopped. (33) I shook myself off. (34) There were no high school students, and there was no squirrel anywhere to be seen. (35) Only the Gas Cylinder stood in its old place.
(36) My lips trembled and my hands shook when I wiped away the melting snow
from his face and saw his grandfather. (37) He was breathing heavily, looking gloomily at the retreating boys.
“(38) I saw everything,” he said, catching his breath, “you’re great!” (According to A.A. Likhanov*)
2. Which answer option contains the information necessary to justify the answer to the question: “Why main character rushed into a fight with the boys?
He wanted to prove Gas Cylinder that he is not a coward.
2) He saw that his grandfather-general was expecting some action from him.
Department of Education of Nesvizh District Executive CommitteeEducational institution
"Nesvizh State Belarusian Gymnasium"
Russian literature, 6th grade
Makarova Tatyana Leonidovna,
teacher of Russian language and literature
highest qualification category
Nesvizh, 2008
Lesson topic: Moral Strength hero of the story (based on the story by V. Rasputin “French Lessons”)
Objective of the lesson: try to reveal the concept of “moral fortitude”;
show the problem of good and evil in human actions;
develop skills in analyzing a work of art;
learn to express own opinion about moral
positions of literary heroes;
develop creative imagination and student abilities. Methods: analytical reading, expressive reading, detailed and selective retelling, teacher’s word.
Technology: developing critical thinking skills through reading and writing.
Lesson progress
1. Teacher's introduction
At the last lesson, we began to get acquainted with the kind, smart and wise writer - V. Rasputin and his hero from the story “French Lessons”.
Let's once again re-read the words written down in the last lesson, which characterize the writer's work as a whole, determine the main motives of his work.
Call. Teacher's word
You have already formed your first idea of the hero. We noted with you that the hero and the narrator are one person. What kind of hero is he, in your opinion? Would you like to be friends with him if you were in the same class? Why?
Statements by students (Characteristics given by students are written on the board)
I I respect your opinion, and today I would like to, together with you, understand some of the hero’s actions and, together with you, determine the main character traits of the main character that make him so attractive.
Together with you, we will carefully read the text again, we will try to analyze it, retell it close to the text on behalf of the main character, and most importantly, think: learn to analyze, compare, and draw conclusions. We will devote part of the lesson to checking homework which you did in groups.
We will write down our observations and character traits of the hero on the board and notebooks.
What the hero himself says about himself, about his family, about the life of the village. How does he feel about learning and how does this characterize him?
Vocabulary work. Bonds are securities, which were issued to people during the war and after it to count wages. “Real” money went to the cause of defense, for the front.
The family had no money. “Where do they come from?” says the author. For collective farmersdidn't pay any money; for shifts worked (« workdays") they were given“sticks” into accounting books, and then flour was given out using these “sticks”,potatoes, etc.
Why did the writer’s independent life begin so early, at the age of eleven? (In the first post-war, unsettled famine years, peoplehad to grow up, take on adult responsibilities. In the village,where the family lived, there was only primary school. To study further, you needwas to move to the regional center.
2. Semantic stage
Work in groups on pre-prepared tasks
Students from each group go to the board and write down the main character traits of the main character.
Teacher. So, the hero found himself in a completely new environment. How did he feel in the city? (See card of the 1st group)
What does the hero himself say about this? (Retelling from the words “I studied here and it’s good...”
But this was at school, what happened when he was alone? (Expressive reading of the passage from the words “But as soon as I was left alone...”) Which stylistic device the author uses to convey internal state hero? (Repetitions, synonyms, ascending gradation).
Very soon a new, very serious test arose. The boy discovered that the food his mother sent him was disappearing somewhere. Let's find a description of this moment in the text, read it and express our opinion about what is happening.
(The first group makes their conclusion.)
Difficulties with French. It was hard to bear the hunger. It was even harder to realize that someone was stealing the food that my mother sent. But the worst thing was homesickness. Should have been a hero courageous, persistent, patient, to endure all these trials. Boy extremely honest The very idea of tracking, finding out, suspecting causes him aversion. The trials developed in the boy sense of responsibility and caring
attitude towards mother.
|
1st group | ||
|
1. What difficulties did you have to face? independent life in the city? ( |
the hero will encounter at first. 68-70) How does this characterize him? |
|
|
(What character traits have emerged formulate and write down). |
in the fight |
with these difficulties, |
|
-(Prepare a detailed retelling from the words “I studied here and it’s good. What |
||
|
did I have any left? - p.68; |
||
|
-(P. 69 - from the words “But as soon as I was left alone, melancholy immediately fell... until |
||
|
words “I came to my senses and ran away” ~ prepare an expressive reading of the passage. |
||
|
What stylistic device does the author use to illustrate? |
||
|
the hero's internal state?) (Repetition is used as a means |
||
|
expressiveness to enhance the impression) |
||
|
- Theft. The hero's attitude to what is happening. How does this characterize him? |
||
Teacher Hunger... Hunger and loneliness, which further intensified the feeling of hunger. Compare: hunger in the countryside and hunger in the city. Where was it felt most and why?
First game for money. Why did the boy start playing? (The boy started playing “chika” because there was a real opportunity to winmuch-needed money for a mug of milk. In addition, at first he did not understand the dishonest nature of the game; there was a desire to show dexterity)
Why did the boy-narrator so quickly understand the intricacies of the game and begin to win? (The hero already had some practice in the game, he was dexterous and persistent.)
Dexterity, persistence -write on the board.
Vocabulary work:Excitement -strong excitement, enthusiasm, passion(Work with passion)
Gambling -games in which winning depends on chance.) (A hero cannot be considered a gambling person, because he relies onown skill, and not by chance and always wins exactlyenough to fill a mug of milk.)
Find the episode in the text that begins with the words “Once upon a time in September...” (p. 71), a description of the clearing where they played “chiku” and a description of the same clearing on p. 77. Determine its semantic meaning. (In the firstexcerpt - “Fedka took me beyond the vegetable gardens...” the clearing appears“clean and smooth”, the path to it was overgrown with “nettles, already black, with droopingpoisonous clusters of seeds." This is an alarming prediction of trouble,which will soon follow. In the second excerpt - “Bird rushed after me...” the hero looks at the clearing from which he was expelled, deceived andhaving beaten, with different eyes. The predictions came true: “black nettle” “hard dry grass” - and bitter resentment: “It wasn’t and couldn’t have beento be in the whole wide world a person more unhappy than me.”
2nd group
|
1. Compare: hunger in the village and in the city. Why was hunger felt more strongly in the city? (P. 70) |
|
2. First game for money. Why did the boy start playing? (pp. 71-77). |
|
Teacher question: What quality can we add to the characteristics of the hero? (Persistence, the ability to correctly assess the situation, not to give in to general excitement). |
|
3. Find in the episode that begins with the words “Once upon a time in September...” (p. 71), a description of the clearing where they played “chiku” (p. 77), determine its semantic meaning |
|
4. Why did the boy-narrator so quickly understand the intricacies of the game and begin to win? (p. 71 - from the words “It didn’t cost anything to figure out the game...” |
|
to the words “So I had some skill.” - p. 72, p.73 from the words “In the evenings, when everyone left, I came back here again.” to the end of the paragraph. |
Teacher “On that day there was not and could not be in the whole wide world a person more unhappy than me.” This is how the hero feels after he was beaten by Vladik and Ptah. Why did they do this? In your answer to the question, use a selective retelling of the text from the words “now I have money...” to the words “... the puck, as if magnetized, flew towards the money...”
- You will expressively read the text from the words “How was I to know...” to the words “... I had to learn the hard way.” How do you understand the idea expressed by the author?
Who started the fight? Express your attitude towards her. What do Vadik and Ptah look like in this massacre? What is their relationship based on? Expressive reading of the text from the words “First, again from behind, Ptah hit me...” to the words “
Bitterly, I cried bitterly." (The boy was first meanly hit from behind,then he hit Ptah, again from behind. The boys who beat the herowere older and stronger. Particularly disgusting is the third one, whichdepicted as a small animal). The hero knows that no one will stand up for him. He hardly defends himself, he only shouts in despair: “He turned it over!”, defending justice. “Everything somehow hardened and closed in on me.offense,” writes the narrator.
Durability - writing on the board.
3rd group
|
- Why did Vladik and Ptah beat the hero? Who started the fight? Express yours |
|
attitude towards her. What do Vadik and Ptah look like in this massacre? On what |
|
Is their relationship holding up? How does the hero behave in a fight and after it? |
|
(Prepare a selective retelling of the text from the words “Now I have |
|
money appeared...", p. 74, to the words “... the puck, as if magnetized, flew |
|
definitely worth the money...", p. 75. |
|
- Prepare an expressive reading of the text from the words “Where was I from?” |
|
know..." to the words "... had to comprehend it the hard way. ", |
|
P.75. From the words “Ptah hit me first, again from behind.”, p.76 to words |
|
“...bitterly, I cried bitterly.”, p. 77 |
Physical education minute
Teacher In the morning, a new test awaited the hero. Which? What character traits appeared in him?
Self-love, pride, fear of not meeting the hopes of the mother and fellow villagers.
4th group
Prepare a selective retelling of the text from the words “In the morning I looked at myself in the mirror with fear...” to the words “... but you can’t go home like that”, pp. 78-80. What character traits of the main character are manifested in this episode?
Teacher Now let's read the qualities that we have identified as the main ones in the character of the hero .(The guys read what they have doneinscriptions).
All the qualities we have listed are called moral fortitude. Vocabulary work
Moral -Rules governing behavior; spiritual and emotionalqualities necessary for a person in society.
Persistent- durable, unflagging.
3. Reflection
Identify for yourself the qualities that you would like to cultivate in yourself or, perhaps, you already have. (The guys complete the task and read it out if they wish)
4. D/z General assignment: pp. 96 - 97 questions 4, 6-8.
Optional: draw illustrations for a story or write a mini-essay “What a real teacher should be like”
To beat or not to beat - that is the question that sooner or later any Orthodox parent with boys is faced with. And we are not talking about physical punishment of our own children at all. The way a boy’s life works is that sometimes one has to assert oneself in it through a banal fight.
Here, for an Orthodox dad, cognitive dissonance inevitably arises: on the one hand, you understand that the ability to stand up for yourself and for other people who need your protection is a necessary skill for a future man. But you can only acquire it in practice. How can you do this without violating the direct and completely unambiguous commandment of the Lord - if someone hits you on your left cheek, turn your right? This problem has arisen before me twice. The first time was when my boys just started school, and the second time was when they were 15-16 years old. I’ll now try to tell you how we solved it together.
About a month after starting academic year my first-grader Nikita came up and said:
Dad, they beat me at school.
Classmates.
Well, then give them back.
And then something happened that I still remember with shame for my failure as a father. Nikita batted his eyelashes and somehow answered very artlessly:
Dad, I don't know how to fight back.
It was a shock for me. For some reason, it seemed to me that the ability to fight in boys appeared on its own, simply in the process of life. In any case, this is exactly what happened to me as a child. But I grew up in a working-class neighborhood, where clashes with bloody noses or fights from yard to yard were business as usual. And before school, my sons lived exclusively surrounded by our parish children, who were just as calm, kind, and capable of resolving any conflict peacefully. And now the time has come to reap the benefits of such a “closed” upbringing. Here preschooler Glebushka joined the current conversation from the next room:
Yes, dad, we don't know how to hit.
I held out my open palm and said to Nikita:
Come on, let's see. Hit.
The son hesitantly poked his poorly shaped fist into his palm.
You pushed, but you need to hit. Come on again.
Nikita tried again. The result was about the same. Then Gleb tried to hit him. Nothing worked out for him either.
It's clear. Take off your shirts.
The boys readily undressed and stretched out in front of me, like soldiers at a drill review. From the very first glance at this “system” I wanted to cry and punch myself in the face at the same time. Why haven't I seen this before? Both are thin, arms like sticks, the skin seems to be stretched right over the ribs, muscles are not visible at all. Only the blue veins show through under the protruding collarbones.
Once in my youth, I was quite seriously involved in sambo and judo, and went with the team to competitions. Then life took a completely different direction, and I forgot about sports for many years. My children now had to pay the price of this daddy’s “forgetfulness” with interest.
Well, better late than never. And we immediately began to catch up. I began to show my sons how to properly do push-ups, squats, do stretching exercises, and pump up the abs. It was necessary to see with what delight they immediately rushed into this new element for them. We set our own training time - 2 hours a day. And they strictly followed this rule, urging each other on if someone suddenly decided to cheat. After a couple of months, when they got stronger, I began to show them strikes and techniques. Of course, according to Yuri Shevchuk’s classification, I was rather a typical “kung fu theorist.” But there were no other coaches in our town.
During this period, the boys, perhaps for the first time, seriously appreciated the fact that they had each other. It’s such a blessing for a fighter when he doesn’t have to look for a sparring partner and can practice his next move with his brother at any time without leaving home!
Mom's strange hobby
And then our mother added fuel to this burning fire of children's love for sports. The fact is that my dear wife, mother of many children, housewife living in the countryside - this sweet Orthodox woman suddenly decided that she should have a hobby. Well, the point is generally clear: life in the provinces is boring, everyone wants to find something to their liking. The only strange thing was her choice. And even very strange. Because our mother became interested in the work of... Jackie Chan. She ordered some rare books with his biography by mail, collected a complete collection of his films, managed to find somewhere several CDs with his songs (it turned out that he also sings), and even began to study Chinese. Well, of course, during that period, our whole family watched films of a cheerful and good-natured stuntman from Hong Kong (and where to go if my mother has a hobby?). 
It turned out that this actor and director is surprisingly scrupulous in moral issues. In all his cinematic leg waving, Jackie Chan tried so consistently to expose evil and affirm goodness that Western film critics at that time were already habitually ridiculing him for being too didactic. But for our boys, such a strange combination of moralism and karate action turned out to be a real godsend. Boys always need a hero whom they would like to be like. And here he is, Jackie - fearless, dexterous, strong and at the same time kind, honest, funny. Something like D’Artagnan-Boyarsky, only without the musketeer pursuits of other people’s women and the continuous drunkenness in the frame.
But the main discovery for the guys was documentary about how Jackie Chan comes up with, prepares and films his stunts. Or rather, the episode where the training of his stunt team was shown. It turned out that behind all the on-screen splendor of dizzying jumps, throws and blows there is an ordinary daily work in the gym - all the same push-ups (though Jackie himself has the norm for them - 2000 times in one approach), abs, stretching, jumping rope and other prosaic things. For my boys, this slightly open door to the stunt kitchen changed their entire outlook on life.
They suddenly realized that if you do something for a long time and persistently, there will definitely be results. And with childish naivety they set themselves the task of becoming as strong and dexterous as Jackie Chan. After a year of hard training at home, they did 300 push-ups, did good pull-ups, and climbed a rope. And, of course, we learned how to effectively swing our legs and arms in the best traditions of Hong Kong film karate.
Boris and Gleb rush to the rescue
At that time I had not yet connected these activities of theirs with the commandment “turn the other cheek.” In my opinion, boyish fights up to a certain age cannot be called a fight - just ordinary fuss, like with young dogs or kittens. Moreover, the sons were non-conflict by nature and did not at all strive to implement their new skills for self-affirmation among their peers. Only around the fourth grade did Gleb and his friend Boris begin to periodically get involved in clashes with school bullies. Boris’s mother (by the way, then the head of our parish Sunday school) after another call to the director, looked pitifully into my eyes and asked:
- Sasha, but we need to do something about this?
Irina, you heard everything yourself just now. They stood up for their classmates, the girls confirmed this. What don't you like?
Well... it was possible to somehow solve everything with words. They are Orthodox, after all.
You know, Irin, I remember myself at their age. And I know for sure that there are situations in a boy’s life that cannot be resolved with words. All that remains is to either pass by or fight. Would you really be happier if our guys passed by?
Irina sighed:
Of course not. But still... somehow it’s not good. And most importantly, what are their names - Boris and Gleb. Holy passion-bearers. And here...
Yes, we somehow didn’t get the names right, that’s for sure...
To be honest, these incidents did not cause me much concern. Of course, every time I conducted my own, papal inquiry, I listened not only to Gleb, but also to other witnesses or participants in the “battle.” And it never happened that Gleb started or provoked a fight.
One day he simply drove me into a stupor with a description of his next fight. When asked about the abrasion on his cheek, he shrugged his shoulders, smiled his pinocchio smile and said the following:
- Dad, it’s Korostylev again. You know he doesn’t live in peace. We were walking home from school with Boris. Crake and his gang caught up with us and surrounded us. Boris says: “Why are you in a crowd? Let one of you come face to face with me. Or over there - with Gleb. Such are the heroes." Well, Korostylev decided to mess with me. “Only too much, without legs,” he says. “We fight only with our hands.”
I smiled knowingly. Well done Korostylev, he thinks correctly, even though he is a second year student. The mawashi-geri kick Gleb then learned to hit in such a way that in a fight using his legs the school bullies had no chance at all against him.
Then we went to the park. The crutch rushed at me and missed me a couple of times. He waves his arms like a windmill. And I caught him in the opposite direction. In short, he broke his nose. He stands there, his shirt is covered in blood, snot and tears are smeared all over his face. Yells: “Come on, let’s continue! I’ll do you now!”
And what do I... I see that he has really gone wild. Now I either have to beat him seriously, to kill him, or he will cripple me himself. Healthy. And bad. I figured it out, looked at him, and said: “Listen, you’re clearly out of shape today. Let's agree this way: now you go home and clean yourself up. And we will continue tomorrow, after lessons. Is it coming? Well, we parted ways on this.
This prudence in an eleven-year-old boy both surprised and delighted me. I realized that my son knows how to calmly balance the response even in such an acute situation. This skill is rarely found in adults either.
Illusions go away, hooliganism remains
This is how we lived. But everything comes to an end someday. My boys’ childhood is over too. Before my wife and I had time to look back, our curly-haired and funny boys suddenly turned overnight into awkward teenagers, nervous, withdrawn, living their own lives, incomprehensible to us.
And here we have a second, already truly serious crisis related to the problem of “to hit or not to hit.”
Both the nimble and handsome Jackie Chan and the many hours of daily sports had long been abandoned. At some point, the sons realized that no matter how much you study, you still won’t become Jackie Chan. Well, the loss of childhood illusions is a necessary element of growing up...
In general, the illusions are gone. But school bullying remains.
In adolescence, this is much more difficult for children than in childhood. A couple of years of age difference makes the enemy unattainable for a symmetrical response. Everything influences here - and physical development(between 16 and 14 years old there is a whole abyss), and the status point - the “elders” are inviolable. But perhaps the hardest thing to experience is some kind of irrational animal fear that crazy high school students are able to instill in kids just a couple of years younger than themselves. At our school we had a group of gops of different ages who found joy in humiliating those who were not part of it. Moreover, we were not talking about beatings. It was a complex multi-stage system of moral suppression, consisting of slaps on the head, slaps in the face, kicks in the ass, insults, public “attacks” and many other small dirty tricks that made life unbearable. It was this gang that got my sons at the mercy of them at their most difficult age.
The saddest thing is that I simply didn’t know much then, and perhaps I still don’t know some things. Teenagers are secretive people, especially when it comes to humiliation. I remember one day I accidentally saw my brave Glebushka, like a partisan in the forest, hiding behind a tree right in front of the porch of our house. About thirty meters away, a crowd of young guys, about eight of them, was walking through the intersection. For some reason my son was hiding from them, afraid that they would see him. And what should dad do?
Of course, I tried to ask carefully and brought them into conversation. And in general the picture was clear. But I didn’t know what to do next. To watch for the offenders on the approaches to the school and make sure that they, too, become afraid to live? The very first wish was exactly this. Thank God I was smart enough not to do this.
IN big city I could just change schools. But we only have two of them, and both are worth each other in this regard.
When I increasingly began to hear sad arguments from my boys about how they “forgive” their offenders because they “don’t know what they’re doing,” I realized that I couldn’t hesitate any longer. Because it was not Christian piety that stood behind these good and in the right words, but ordinary cowardice and cowardice.
Now I would really like to write that I thought about everything carefully then and found a universal way to combine masculinity and Christianity in raising my children. But alas, unfortunately, I could not find such a method then.
Several years ago I taught them to be strong, not to be afraid of pain, to hit themselves and to competently avoid the blows of others. In short, I taught them how to fight. Now the situation has changed qualitatively. They already knew how to fight, but they were afraid of their opponents. And I had to decide - to accept this fear of theirs as an inevitable reality or to awaken in them a fighting spirit and a willingness to defend their dignity, if necessary, with their fists. At the same time, I understood that the second option directly contradicts the words of the Gospel about the other cheek, which needs to be turned, and also those moral principles, which they had heard about in Sunday school classes for several years in a row.
I understood all this, but I had to choose only from two options. Either my sons became jaded outcasts with pious demagoguery and broken character, or they learned, having been hit on the right cheek, to calmly and competently hit the enemy on the left. The choice, frankly speaking, is not rich...
That's it guys, childhood is over
And suddenly it turned out that I was late again. While I was busy with these fatherly thoughts of mine, the boys were not sitting idle either. And they have already decided everything themselves.
After watching the movie “Fight Club”, they drew some rather strange conclusions from it. In the evenings, they and three or four other children from our Sunday school gathered in the forest behind the stadium. Here they split into pairs and... began sparring in full contact with their bare hands without any protection.
Or, translated into ordinary language - to beat each other up, in the words of the classic “who - how and with what - into what.” In David Fincher's sophisticated psychedelic film, they only liked this simple idea - in order not to be afraid of blows to the face, you need to practice giving and receiving them at your leisure. This is what the guys did with all their diligence. True, this improvised “Fight Club” of theirs did not last long, because from this exotic experience my guys took main idea: you need to engage in hand-to-hand combat seriously and systematically, without wild sparring under young birch trees.
But how and where? There were no sections in our town. Only the local gym was equipped with a “rocking chair”, where the same school gopniks with swear words worked on their muscles, periodically running out into the street to smoke. So I just bought the boys punching bags, gloves, protective helmets and other sports stuff. And they began to train at home, fortunately we have a place for this - a whole garden. And when the student is ready, as we know, the teacher comes. At first, a neighbor down the street, our parishioner, who was seriously involved in boxing in his youth, began to train them. Then suddenly other teachers appeared - two local guys serving in the Moscow riot police, whom my guys met during daily jogging. Regular classes with masters, push-ups, abs, jump rope, bag work, training fights... After a year and a half of such a life, instead of motivating my sons to protect self-esteem I had to very seriously and for a long time explain to them why a person with a planned blow should not hit another person in the head or stomach. I told them something like this:
That's it, boys, childhood is over. At the age of ten you could afford to go out and wave to someone. Now you weigh twice as much, and your blow is ten times stronger. But the nose, jaws, ribs and other parts of the body of your opponents have not become stronger. You have learned the kind of blows that can easily cripple and even kill a person. And in your soul you have accumulated a lot of resentment and hatred towards those who did not allow you to live in peace. And if now you suddenly decide to get even for those old humiliations, it will no longer be a school fight, but an ordinary crime. Therefore, remember a simple but very important thing: you can no longer hit anyone on the street.
Thank God, the guys heeded these admonitions of mine. And when my Gleb was attacked by one of the leaders of the local hooligans, my son did not strike him a single blow. But during their short skirmish he understood very well that he should no longer fight with Gleb and that it was better to find a simpler object for self-affirmation. In a strange way, the boys earned authority in the same Gopatsk environment with virtually no fights. Perhaps the reason for this was their several training sessions in the gym, when the gopniks, distracted from their hardware, had the opportunity to watch their sparring with slack jaws and figure out how hard they could get hit by these smiling and friendly guys. Or maybe people who are ready to fight just give off a certain wave of self-confidence, and a bully has a very good nose for such things. Be that as it may, none of the local punks dared to offend my boys either on the street or at school.
Perhaps there are some other ways to instill courage in boys that are not related to the ability to stand up for themselves. I fully admit this, because several times I have seen unbending strength of spirit in people who do not have physical strength and combat skills. How this is achieved - God knows. I would be very interested in learning about this experience. For us, everything turned out the way it turned out.
You see for yourself Christian motives there's not much here. But this does not mean that they are not there at all. Well, for example, the well-known episode in the Garden of Gethsemane, when the guards came for Jesus and He forbade the Apostle Peter to defend Himself with weapons. It would seem a direct indication of the inadmissibility of violence. But what happens next? Surprisingly, Jesus says that He Himself could have taken care of His own protection if He had wanted to: ... or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will present to Me more than twelve legions of Angels?
I'll tell you about myself. I'm over 50 now. I grew up in an environment where most men were drinkers. On the street, across the house, convicts lived. The older boys fought street to street. I was the youngest and did not participate in the fights, I just watched. At school I was respected and for the most part everyone treated me well, but there were cases when they beat me out of revenge. I didn't resist. As a rule, it was one hit. In the 5th grade we played football, I was in defense and kicked one boy. In the evening he persuaded his older friends and they met me. The elders took my left and right hands, and he hit me in the face. I burst into tears from resentment. Two adults saw this picture and came running to my rescue. After some time, I signed up for a boxing class, which I didn’t attend for long, because during training I received a blow against all the rules, which unexpectedly subsequently affected my hearing. I was beaten a couple of times in a pioneer camp because I didn’t like my appearance, and at school a couple of times because of hooligan motives. I had no desire to fight or take revenge. I always mentally cried out to God, although my parents did not go to church and I don’t remember my baptism. But I came to faith after 30 years, and even then not immediately. Some of my offenders are no longer alive. Some drank themselves to death. The Lord says do not take revenge, beloved, vengeance is mine. From a worldly point of view, this is cowardice. Then the slogan turn the other cheek is cowardice. And from God’s point of view, there is fulfillment of the commandment. The commandment is never fulfilled mechanically. If so, then this is it. According to St. Apostle Paul, God gives birth to his own desires and desires in everyone. We always think in fragments, not seeing the whole scenario of life and judge through our corrupted nature. That's why the Lord said don't judge. And the thief on the cross said: “I accept what is worthy according to deeds. Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”
It is important to know the meaning of the words, hit one, substitute the other. There is a situation where you need to think about the case, maybe you got it. I agree that there is no need to be cowardly and you need to be able to protect yourself and others. The monks on the Kulikovo field fought with swords!
In Jewish law, the role of the principle of talion is very important. The Old Testament contains one of the oldest known formulations of this principle - the phrase "an eye for an eye" is a quotation from the Book of Exodus (21:23-27), also repeated in Leviticus (24:20). The legislator prescribed - an eye for an eye, not so that we would tear out each other's eyes, but so that we would keep our hands from offending; after all, the threat that makes one fear punishment curbs the desire for criminal deeds. - says John Chrysostom, St. in Discourses on the Gospel of Matthew, XVII.
I absolutely agree with the author. As a child, a child must learn to stand up for himself. And already as an adult, act according to the commandment, i.e. do not give in to provocations. If you hit your left cheek, offer your right one. A right-handed person can hit the left cheek only with the back of his palm, i.e. provoking conflict, humiliating the enemy. To substitute the right means not to escalate the conflict.
The author of the novel “Anna Karenina” is the people's educator, psychologist, classic novelist, philosopher and Russian writer L. N. Tolstoy. The beginning of it literary activity falls in 1852. It was then that his autobiographical story “Childhood” was published. This was the first part of a trilogy. Somewhat later, the works “Adolescence” and “Youth” appeared.
Another one of the most famous works L. N. Tolstoy is the epic novel “War and Peace”. The reason for writing the work was the Sevastopol and Caucasian events. The novel describes a military campaign and family chronicles unfolding against its background. This work, the main character of which the author considers the people, conveys to the reader the “people's thought.”
L. N. Tolstoy reflected the problems of married life in his next work - the novel Anna Karenina.
The significance of Tolstoy's work
The works of the outstanding Russian writer significantly influenced world literature. Tolstoy's authority during his lifetime was truly irrefutable. After the death of the classic, his popularity grew even more. There is hardly a person who will remain indifferent if he comes across “Anna Karenina” - a novel that tells not only about the fate of a woman. The work vividly describes the history of the country. It also reflects the morality that the life of the very bottom adheres to. The reader is shown the splendor of salons and the poverty of the village. Against the backdrop of this ambiguous Russian life, an extraordinary and bright personality striving for happiness.
The image of a woman in literary works
The heroes of the works of the classics of the past were often representatives of the fair half of humanity. There are many examples of this. This is Ekaterina from “The Thunderstorm” and Larisa from “Dowry” by the writer Ostrovsky. The image of Nina from Chekhov’s “The Seagull” is vivid. All these women, in the struggle for their happiness, oppose public opinion.
L.N. touched on the same topic in his brilliant work. Tolstoy. Anna Karenina is the image of a special woman. A distinctive feature of the heroine is her belonging to the highest level of society. She seems to have everything. Anna is beautiful, rich and educated. They admire her, her advice is taken into account. However, she is deprived of happiness in her married life and experiences loneliness in her family. Probably, the fate of this woman would have turned out differently if love had reigned in her house.
The main character of the novel
In order to understand why Anna Karenina throws herself under a train at the end of the work, you need to carefully read the work of the great writer. Only understanding the image of this heroine will allow us to draw certain conclusions.
At the beginning of the story, Anna Karenina appears before the reader as an attractive young woman belonging to high society. L. N. Tolstoy describes his heroine as friendly, cheerful and pleasant to talk to. Anna Karenina is an exemplary wife and mother. Most of all she loves her little son. As for the husband, outwardly their relationship is simply exemplary. However, upon closer examination, artificiality and falsehood are noticeable in them. A woman is connected with her husband not by love, but by respect.
Meeting with Vronsky
With her unloved husband, Anna lived in luxury and prosperity. They had a son, Serezhenka. It seems like life is good. However, everything changes radically with a meeting with Vronsky. From this moment on, the image of Anna Karenina undergoes radical changes. The heroine's thirst for love and life awakens.
The emerging new feeling inexorably pulls her towards Vronsky. His strength is such that Anna is simply not able to resist. Anna Karenina appears to the reader as honest, sincere and open. gives an understanding that she is simply not able to live in a false and difficult relationship with her husband. As a result, Anna gives in to the passionate feeling that arises.
Parting
The image of Anna Karenina is contradictory. Confirmation of this lies in her life outside of marriage. According to the heroine, happiness can only be possible when the laws are strictly followed. She tried to start new life. In this case, the basis was the misfortune of people close to her. Anna feels like a criminal. At the same time, generosity emanates from Karenin. He is ready to forgive his wife everything and save the marriage. However, this high morality of her husband only evokes hatred in Anna.
Through the mouth of his wife, the author compares Karenin to an evil and soulless machine. He checks all his feelings with the norms of the law, which are established by the church and the state. Undoubtedly, he suffers from the fact that his wife cheated on him. However, he does it in a unique way. He just wants to shake off the “dirt” with which Anna “spattered” him and calmly continue his feelings. The basis of his feelings is not heartfelt experiences, but a cold mind. Karenin's rationality allows him to find a path of cruel punishment for Anna. He separates her from her son. The heroine is faced with a choice. And she goes to Vronsky. However, this path turned out to be disastrous for her. He led her to the abyss, and this can explain the fact that Anna Karenina threw herself under a train.
The second main character of the work “Anna Karenina”
Alexey Vronsky is a brilliant representative of the highest circles of Russia of the period described in the novel. He is handsome, rich and well connected. Adjutant Vronsky is kind and sweet by nature. He is smart and educated. The lifestyle of the novel's protagonist is typical of a young aristocrat of that time. He serves in the guards regiment. His expenses per year amount to 45,000 rubles.
Vronsky, who shares the habits and views of the aristocratic environment, is loved by his comrades. After meeting Anna, the young man reconsiders his life. He understands that he is obliged to change her usual way of life. Vronsky sacrifices freedom and ambition. He resigns and, having parted with his usual secular environment, is looking for new life paths. The restructuring of his worldview did not allow him to gain satisfaction and peace of mind.
Life with Vronsky
Why does Anna Karenina throw herself under a train at the end of the novel, because fate connected her with a wonderful young man, giving her a sincere and deep feeling? Despite the fact that love has come to the main character, after leaving her husband, the woman cannot find peace.
Neither Vronsky’s deep feeling for her, nor the little daughter who was born, nor entertainment and trips bring her peace. Anna's mental discord is further aggravated by separation from her son. Society doesn't understand her. Her friends turn away from her. Over time, Anna increasingly comes to realize the depth of her misfortune. The character of the heroine changes. She becomes suspicious and irritable. As a sedative, Anna begins to take morphine, which further intensifies the feelings that arise. The woman begins to be jealous of Vronsky without any reason. She feels dependent on his desires and love. However, Anna understands perfectly well that because of her, Vronsky gave up many important things in life. That is why she seeks to replace his entire world with herself. Gradually, it becomes more and more difficult to unravel the tangle, and thoughts of death begin to come to the heroine. And this is in order to stop being guilty, shifting the feeling that has arisen onto Vronsky, while simultaneously freeing herself. All this will serve as an answer to the question: “Why does Anna Karenina throw herself under a train?”
Tragedy
In character main character In his novel, Tolstoy showed a spontaneous and integral woman who lives by feeling. However, it would be wrong to explain the entire tragedy of fate and situation only by her nature. It is located much deeper, because it is social environment became the reason that Anna Karenina felt the alienation of society.
The characterization of the image of the main character indicates that she is only concerned about personal problems - marriage, love and family. The situation that developed in her life after leaving her husband did not prompt a decent exit from the current situation. Why does Anna Karenina throw herself under a train? Her desperate step can be explained by the unbearable life that arose due to the rejection of her action by society.
Origins of the tragedy
The difficult fate of women is described in many literary works. She didn't pass Pushkin's Tatiana and Turgenev’s Elena, Nekrasov’s Decembrists and Ostrovsky’s heroines. What they have in common with Anna Karenina is the naturalness and sincerity of actions and feelings, purity of thoughts, as well as the deep tragedy of fate. Tolstoy showed the experiences of his heroine to readers most deeply, completely and psychologically subtly.
Anna's tragedy began not even when she married woman, a real challenge was thrown at society. Dissatisfaction with her fate arose even during the period when she, still a very young girl, was married off to a tsarist official. Anna sincerely tried to create happy family. However, she failed. Then she began to justify her life with her unloved husband by love for her son. And this is already a tragedy. Being a lively and bright person, Anna for the first time realized what true love. And it is not surprising that the woman tried to break free from the world that disgusted her. However, in doing so she lost her son.
The heroine's mental anguish
Anna did not want to hide her new life from others. Society was simply shocked. A real wall of alienation has grown around Karenina. Even those who had done much worse in their lives began to condemn her. And Anna could not come to terms with this rejection.
Yes, high society showed his hypocrisy. However, the woman had to realize that she was not in a vacuum. Living in a society, you have to reckon with its laws and orders.
Tolstoy is a wise psychologist. Mental anguish He describes the heroines of his novel simply amazing. Does the author condemn this woman? No. He suffers and loves with her.