Is the human claim to Bunin dominance tenable? (Bunin about man’s place in the world in the story “The Gentleman from San Francisco”). Is man's claim to dominance tenable?

Is man's claim to dominance tenable?

In his story “Mr...” I.A. Bunin criticizes bourgeois reality. This is because rich people do not have a specific goal to which they strive, other than to get rich. Luxury is the meaning of their life. The author does not agree with such a system of society, when each person is assigned to the stratum to which his monetary capital corresponds. It is money, or rather the amount of it, that determines how others will treat you.

The gentleman from San Francisco is collectively all the bourgeoisie of America. People of his kind occupy a dominant place in the world. But other than elevating oneself above others, this position is not very remarkable. After all, such people are devoid of spiritual content. It is easy to notice that throughout the entire story the name of the main character was never mentioned - everyone calls him Master. But this doesn’t matter: the main thing is that he had a lot of money...

Throughout the story, several times the author addresses the topic of man’s place in the world. The first time was on the ship Atlantis. While there was fun on the decks of the ship in the evening (“... in the dance hall everything was shining and pouring out light, warmth and joy”), the watchmen on duty stood at their responsible posts (“... were freezing from the cold and going crazy from the unbearable strain of attention on duty tower...") and the stokers were busy with exhausting work ("...the ninth circle was like the underwater womb of a steamship, where gigantic furnaces cackled, devouring piles of coal, with a roar thrown into them, drenched in caustic, dirty sweat and waist-deep naked people, crimson from the flames”). An incomprehensible position in society is occupied by a “couple in love”, hired to play love for good money.

The next time the author returns to the above topic is the stay of a family from San Francisco in Capri. And again, everyone’s main emphasis is on availability large sums money. Already at the first meeting with the inhabitants of the island, the Master is more popular than other visitors. As Bunin writes, he was the first to be provided with a number of services, hoping for his generosity: “He and his ladies were hastily helped to get out, they ran forward in front of him, showing the way...”, etc. At the hotel, the head waiter curries favor with visitors. His goal is to extract more money from the Master. In the hotel, just like on the Atlantis ship, you can monitor the social status of certain people. The lowest rung, it seems to me, is occupied by the receptionists; above are the owner and head waiter, and above them are the residents. But, as can be seen from the text, the highest level is again occupied by a gentleman from San Francisco: “A high-ranking lady has just left Capri, and the guests from San Francisco were given the very apartments that he occupied.”

But the unexpected death of the main character changes everything radically. The situation develops according to the following scheme: no person - no money, no money - no corresponding respect. Therefore, soon the gentleman from San Francisco occupies a place lower than which you cannot imagine. At the hotel he is placed in the worst room, a drunken junior porter takes him to the ship in a cab, and on the Atlantis the coffin with the Master lies next to some stokers.

From the story I read, I concluded that position in society can be “bought” with money. The gentleman from San Francisco is a prime example of this.

Star, igniting the firmament. Suddenly, for a single moment, the Star flies, not believing in its death, in its last fall. I. A. Bunin The subtle lyricist and psychologist - Ivan Alekseevich Bunin in the story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” seems to deviate from the laws...

"Mr. from San Francisco" is one of best stories Bunina. The depth of the concept of this work is revealed already in the choice of its name. The author fundamentally leaves his hero without a name: his position in the story is not limited to social...

Bunin’s story “Mr. from San Francisco” has a highly social focus, but the meaning of these stories is not limited to criticism of capitalism and colonialism. Social problems capitalist society are only a background that allows Bunin...

I. A. Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” is devoted to a description of the life and death of a man who has power and wealth, but, by the will of the author, does not even have a name. After all, the name contains a certain definition of spiritual essence, the germ of fate. Bunin...

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin is a recognized classic, one of the brightest masters of words. Sensitive to the image, the author creates wonderful prose, original and original, existing as if outside of time and space, although it has clear time boundaries....

...There is and cannot be any doubt about the correctness of the wishes of the gentleman from San Francisco... I. Bunin. Mr. from San Francisco There have often come times in the history of mankind when people began to arrogantly believe in their own ability to comprehend with their minds all the laws of life, to direct the course of life. historical process. Man put himself at the center of the world, the Universe, feeling himself to be the unsurpassed crown of creation. So does the gentleman from San Francisco (note that he is so typical that he doesn’t even have own name ) was confident that he could plan his life minute by minute, just as he planned his trip. And this confidence was usually reliably supported by an indisputable trump card in the world of capital - money. Self-satisfied and arrogant, this gentleman spent his whole life striving for wealth, creating idols for himself and trying to achieve the same prosperity as them. In fact, he was not even the master of his own life, which he always sought to build “in the image and likeness” of others: he behaved like all very rich people, planned a trip along the route that all very rich people follow, had a wife and daughter, who were not much different from the wives and daughters of all rich people. Money is a powerful force that helped this man create the illusion that it was possible to buy prosperity, happiness, life, just as he bought confidence in his own rightness, respect and hypocritical smiles of those around him: “He was quite generous on the road and therefore fully believed in the care of all those who fed and watered him, served him from morning to evening, preventing his slightest desire, protected his cleanliness and peace, carried his things, called porters for him, delivered his chests to hotels.” But everything in the world is much more complex than the most ingenious and well-calibrated plan that can be created by the human mind. The illusion of absolute protection from accidents is violated in the story at every step. The elements are beyond the control of man, and the weather more than once upset the plans of the millionaire at the very beginning of his journey, forcing him to hide in the comfortable cabins of the ship, chew sour lemon for seasickness, or change his carefully planned route. If people have the opportunity to more or less independently manage their own lives, then no one has yet been able to conquer death. Without warning, unexpectedly, this insidious lady laughed in the face of the smug millionaire, instantly turning him from the “master” of life into an old man, into a body. And was he a man with a soul before that? Did he manage to achieve something truly valuable that prolongs human life even after death, remaining in the memory of descendants? No, I couldn't. A slave of capital, a slave of desires and meaningless ideals, he was the master only of his own illusions. With irony, Bunin seeks to show the futility of human claims to dominance in the world, since he is sure that man is not the center of the Universe, but only a small grain of sand. And even human death is unable to stop or slow down the stormy and full-flowing river of life.

Is man's claim to dominance tenable?

The gentleman from San Francisco is a collective image of all the bourgeoisie of America. People of his kind occupy a dominant place in the world. But other than elevating oneself above others, this position is not very remarkable. After all, such people are devoid of spiritual content. It is easy to notice that throughout the entire story the name of the main character was never mentioned - everyone calls him Master. But this doesn’t matter: the main thing is that he had a lot of money...

Throughout the story, several times the author addresses the topic of man’s place in the world. The first time was on the ship Atlantis. While there was fun on the decks of the ship in the evening (“... in the dance hall everything was shining and pouring out light, warmth and joy”), the watchmen on duty stood at their responsible posts (“... were freezing from the cold and going crazy from the unbearable strain of attention on duty tower...") and the stokers were busy with exhausting work ("... the ninth circle was like the underwater womb of a steamship, where gigantic furnaces cackled, devouring with their hot throats piles of coal, with a roar thrown into them by people drenched in acrid, dirty sweat and naked to the waist, crimson from the flames”). An incomprehensible position in society is occupied by a “couple in love”, hired to play love for good money.

The next time the author returns to the above topic is the stay of a family from San Francisco in Capri. And again, everyone’s main emphasis is on having large sums of money. Already at the first meeting with the inhabitants of the island, the Master is more popular than other visitors. As Bunin writes, he was the first to be provided with a number of services, hoping for his generosity: “He and his ladies were hastily helped to get out, they ran forward in front of him, showing the way...”, etc. At the hotel, the head waiter curries favor with visitors. His goal is to extract more money from the Master. In the hotel, just like on the Atlantis ship, you can monitor the social status of certain people. The lowest rung, it seems to me, is occupied by the receptionists; above are the owner and head waiter, and above them are the residents. But, as can be seen from the text, the highest level is again occupied by a gentleman from San Francisco: “A high-ranking lady has just left Capri, and the guests from San Francisco were given the very apartments that he occupied.”

From the story I read, I concluded that position in society can be “bought” with money. The gentleman from San Francisco is a prime example of this.