An acute sense of the crisis of civilization. Analysis of “Mr. from San Francisco” Bunin Antithesis in Mister from San Francisco

The school course of knowledge in the discipline “Literature” cannot cover all the issues of literary criticism that are relevant to the student. The elective courses offered by the school are more aimed at acquiring expressive reading skills and developing stage talent. However, schoolchildren and students need knowledge of literary terms, since the Unified State Exam awaits them, and it is very difficult to do without certain knowledge. I offer material that will help students consolidate literary and linguistic terms using the example of the work of I.A. Bunin (based on the story “Mr. from San Francisco”).

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“The study of literary and linguistic terms using the example of the work of I.A. Bunin (based on the story"Mr. from San Francisco").

In modern NGOs and secondary vocational education, in classes on “Russian language and literature” there is not the required amount of time to study literary and linguistic terms, although students came from secondary schools with certain knowledge and skills in literary criticism. The school course of knowledge in the discipline “Literature” cannot cover all the issues of literary criticism that are relevant to the student. The elective courses offered by the school are more aimed at acquiring expressive reading skills and developing stage talent. However, schoolchildren and students need knowledge of literary terms, since the Unified State Exam awaits them, and it is very difficult to do without certain knowledge.

In my opinion, a teacher is obliged to find time in class to give his students the opportunity to consolidate existing knowledge and complete Unified State Examination tasks, if necessary. I propose to consider a way in which you can remember the basic terms of literary criticism and linguistics, consolidate knowledge by studying the story of I.A. Bunin "Mr. from San Francisco". We will be mainly interested in the terms of literary criticism and linguistics that were used by I.A. Bunin in this story. To begin with, let us briefly recall the history of the creation of the story and move on to the main issue of the article.

The story "Mr. from San Francisco" belongs to the most famous works I.A. Bunin and many critics are assessed as the pinnacle of his pre-October creativity. Published in 1915, the story was created during the First World War, when the motives of the catastrophic nature of existence, the unnaturalness and doom of technocratic civilization noticeably intensified in the writer’s work.

Story "Mr. from San Francisco" is filled with a huge number of artistic tropes and stylistic figures. Let's try to find the most famous of them.Syntactic parallelism is actively used. PARALLELISM ( from Greek - walking next to) - identical or similar arrangement of speech elements in adjacent parts of the text, creating a single poetic image.

(He ran quickly... He rushed forward... He persistently fought against death... He shook his head...)

Anaphoras are mainly function words. ANAPHORA (Greek anaphora - carrying out) - repetition of the initial words, line, stanza or phrase.

(And again she wriggled painfully and sometimes convulsively collided among this crowd, and no one knew anything that had long since become boring...)

On the other hand, “Mr. from San Francisco” is perhaps the only work by Bunin in which such simple artistic tropes as epithets, comparisons and metaphors are quite often found.

EPITHET (Greek attached) - this is one of the tropes, which is an artistic, figurative definition.

Adjectives serve as epithet:emerald lawn, icy haze and so on.

COMPARISON – a word or expression containing the likening of one object to another, one situation to another. (“In the Mediterranean Sea there was a large and flowery wave, like a peacock’s tail,” “the commander, like a merciful pagan god”...).

METAPHOR (Greek transfer) - a type of so-called complex trope, a speech turn in which the properties of one phenomenon (object, concept) are transferred to another. A metaphor contains a hidden comparison, a figurative likening of phenomena using the figurative meaning of words; what the object is compared to is only implied by the author. No wonder Aristotle said that “to compose good metaphors means to notice similarities.”

(The gigantic furnaces cackled dully, devouring piles of coal with their red-hot mouths). (Through binoculars, Naples was already visible with lumps of sugar sprinkled at the foot of something gray).

In the story by I.A. Bunin we find personifications that decorate the text and make it more dynamic.

PERSONALIZATION (prosopopoeia, personification) - a type of metaphor; transferring the properties of animate objects to inanimate ones (the sun was happy, the floors were gaping) .

The plot is based on the fate of the main character - “Mr. from San Francisco”, who goes on a trip to the Old World and unexpectedly dies on Capri, so there are many sentences with inversion in the story.

INVERSION (Latin - permutation) - a stylistic figure consisting of a violation of the generally accepted grammatical sequence of speech; rearranging parts of a phrase gives it a unique expressive tone.

(Life in Naples immediately went on as usual...)

PHRASEOLOGISM (Greek - expression) - a lexically indivisible, stable in its composition and structure, complete in meaning, phrase, reproduced in the form of a ready-made speech unit.

(He worked tirelessly...).

Thus, tropes are concentrated in a small space of the text and reflect the plurality and mobility of the author’s points of view, the dynamics of time perceived by a specific observer. Of course, we haven't touched everyoneliterary and linguistic terms, but tried to cover those that are studied in schools and institutions of NGOs and secondary vocational education.

I. Bunin is one of the few figures of Russian culture appreciated abroad. In 1933 he was awarded Nobel Prize in literature "For the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose." One can have different attitudes towards the personality and views of this writer, but his mastery in the field belles lettres undoubtedly, therefore his works are at least worthy of our attention. One of them, “Mr. from San Francisco,” received such a high rating from the jury awarding the most prestigious prize in the world.

An important quality for a writer is observation, because from the most fleeting episodes and impressions you can create a whole work. Bunin accidentally saw the cover of Thomas Mann’s book “Death in Venice” in a store, and a few months later, when he came to visit his cousin, he remembered this title and connected it with an even older memory: the death of an American on the island of Capri, where the author himself was vacationing. This is how one of Bunin’s best stories turned out, and not just a story, but a whole philosophical parable.

This literary work was enthusiastically received by critics, and the writer’s extraordinary talent was compared with the gift of L.N. Tolstoy and A.P. Chekhov. After this, Bunin stood with venerable experts on words and human soul in one row. His work is so symbolic and eternal that it will never lose its philosophical focus and relevance. And in the age of the power of money and market relations, it is doubly useful to remember what a life inspired only by accumulation leads to.

What is the story about?

The main character, who does not have a name (he is just a gentleman from San Francisco), has spent his entire life increasing his wealth, and at the age of 58 he decided to devote time to rest (and at the same time to his family). They set off on the ship Atlantis on their entertaining journey. All passengers are immersed in idleness, but the service staff works tirelessly to provide all these breakfasts, lunches, dinners, teas, card games, dancing, liqueurs and cognacs. The stay of tourists in Naples is also monotonous, only museums and cathedrals are added to their program. However, the weather is not kind to tourists: December in Naples turned out to be stormy. Therefore, the Master and his family rush to the island of Capri, pleasing with warmth, where they check into the same hotel and are already preparing for routine “entertainment” activities: eating, sleeping, chatting, looking for a groom for their daughter. But suddenly the death of the main character bursts into this “idyll”. He died suddenly while reading a newspaper.

And this is where it opens up to the reader main idea the story that in the face of death everyone is equal: neither wealth nor power can save you from it. This gentleman, who only recently wasted money, spoke contemptuously to the servants and accepted their respectful bows, is lying in a cramped and cheap room, respect has disappeared somewhere, his family is being kicked out of the hotel, because his wife and daughter will leave “trifles” at the box office. And so his body is taken back to America in a soda box, because even a coffin cannot be found in Capri. But he is already traveling in the hold, hidden from high-ranking passengers. And no one really grieves, because no one can use the dead man’s money.

Meaning of the name

At first, Bunin wanted to call his story “Death on Capri” by analogy with the title that inspired him, “Death in Venice” (the writer read this book later and rated it as “unpleasant”). But after writing the first line, he crossed out this title and named the work by the “name” of the hero.

From the first page, the writer’s attitude towards the Master is clear; for him, he is faceless, colorless and soulless, so he did not even receive a name. He is the master, the top of the social hierarchy. But all this power is fleeting and fragile, the author reminds. The hero, useless to society, who has not done a single good deed in 58 years and thinks only of himself, remains after death only an unknown gentleman, about whom they only know that he is a rich American.

Characteristics of heroes

There are few characters in the story: the gentleman from San Francisco as a symbol of eternal fussy hoarding, his wife, depicting gray respectability, and their daughter, symbolizing the desire for this respectability.

The gentleman “worked tirelessly” all his life, but these were the hands of the Chinese, who were hired by the thousands and died just as abundantly in heavy service. Other people generally mean little to him, the main thing is profit, wealth, power, savings. It was they who gave him the opportunity to travel, live at the highest level and not care about those around him who were less fortunate in life. However, nothing saved the hero from death; you can’t take the money to the next world. And respect, bought and sold, quickly turns into dust: after his death nothing changed, the celebration of life, money and idleness continued, even the last tribute to the dead had no one to worry about. The body travels through authorities, it is nothing, just another piece of luggage that is thrown into the hold, hidden from “decent society.”
The hero's wife lived a monotonous, philistine life, but with chic: without any special problems or difficulties, no worries, just a lazily stretching string of idle days. Nothing impressed her; she was always completely calm, probably having forgotten how to think in the routine of idleness. She is only concerned about the future of her daughter: she needs to find her a respectable and profitable match, so that she too can comfortably float with the flow all her life.
The daughter did her best to portray innocence and at the same time frankness, attracting suitors. This is what interested her most. A meeting with an ugly, strange and uninteresting man, but a prince, plunged the girl into excitement. Perhaps this was one of the last strong feelings in her life, and then the future of her mother awaited her. However, some emotions still remained in the girl: she alone foresaw trouble (“her heart was suddenly squeezed by melancholy, a feeling of terrible loneliness on this strange, dark island”) and cried for her father.

Main topics

Life and death, routine and exclusivity, wealth and poverty, beauty and ugliness - these are the main themes of the story. They immediately reflect the philosophical orientation author's intention. He encourages readers to think about themselves: are we not chasing something frivolously small, are we getting bogged down in routine, missing out on true beauty? After all, a life in which there is no time to think about oneself, one’s place in the Universe, in which there is no time to look at the surrounding nature, people and notice something good in them, is lived in vain. And you can’t fix a life you’ve lived in vain, and you can’t buy a new one for any money. Death will come anyway, you can’t hide from it and you can’t pay off it, so you need to have time to do something really worthwhile, something so that you will be remembered kind words, and not indifferently thrown into the hold. Therefore, it is worth thinking about everyday life, which makes thoughts banal and feelings faded and weak, about wealth that is not worth the effort, about beauty, in the corruption of which lies ugliness.

The wealth of the “masters of life” is contrasted with the poverty of people who live equally ordinary lives, but suffer poverty and humiliation. Servants who secretly imitate their masters, but grovel before them to their faces. Masters who treat their servants as inferior creatures, but grovel before even richer and more noble persons. A couple hired on a steamship to play passionate love. The Master's daughter, feigning passion and trepidation to lure the prince. All this dirty, low pretense, although presented in a luxurious wrapper, is contrasted with the eternal and pure beauty of nature.

Main problems

The main problem of this story is the search for the meaning of life. How should you spend your short earthly vigil not in vain, how to leave behind something important and valuable for others? Everyone sees their purpose in their own way, but no one should forget that a person’s spiritual baggage is more important than his material one. Although at all times they have said that in modern times all eternal values have been lost, every time this is not true. Both Bunin and other writers remind us, readers, that life without harmony and inner beauty is not life, but a miserable existence.

The problem of the transience of life is also raised by the author. After all, the gentleman from San Francisco spent his mental strength, made money and made money, postponing some simple joys, real emotions for later, but this “later” never began. This happens to many people who are mired in everyday life, routine, problems, and affairs. Sometimes you just need to stop, pay attention to loved ones, nature, friends, and feel the beauty in your surroundings. After all, tomorrow may not come.

The meaning of the story

It is not for nothing that the story is called a parable: it has a very instructive message and is intended to give a lesson to the reader. The main idea of the story is the injustice of class society. Most of it survives on bread and water, while the elite waste their lives mindlessly. The writer states the moral squalor of the existing order, because most of the “masters of life” achieved their wealth by dishonest means. Such people bring only evil, just as the Master from San Francisco pays and ensures the death of Chinese workers. The death of the main character emphasizes the author's thoughts. No one is interested in this recently so influential man, because his money no longer gives him power, and he has not committed any respectable or outstanding deeds.

The idleness of these rich people, their effeminacy, perversion, insensitivity to something living and beautiful proves the accident and injustice of their high position. This fact is hidden behind the description of the leisure time of tourists on the ship, their entertainment (the main one of which is lunch), costumes, relationships with each other (the origin of the prince whom the main character’s daughter met makes her fall in love).

Composition and genre

"The Gentleman from San Francisco" can be seen as a parable story. What is a story (a short work in prose containing a plot, a conflict and having one main storyline) is known to most, but how can you characterize the parable? A parable is a small allegorical text that guides the reader on the right path. Therefore, the product in plot-wise and in form it is a story, and in philosophical, substantive terms it is a parable.

Compositionally, the story is divided into two large parts: the journey of the Master from San Francisco from the New World and the stay of the body in the hold on the way back. The culmination of the work is the death of the hero. Before this, describing the steamship Atlantis and tourist places, the author gives the story an anxious mood of expectation. In this part, a sharply negative attitude towards the Master is striking. But death deprived him of all privileges and equated his remains with luggage, so Bunin softens and even sympathizes with him. It also describes the island of Capri, its nature and local people; these lines are filled with beauty and understanding of the beauty of nature.

Symbols

The work is replete with symbols that confirm Bunin’s thoughts. The first of them is the steamship Atlantis, on which an endless celebration of luxurious life reigns, but there is a storm outside, a storm, even the ship itself is shaking. So at the beginning of the twentieth century, the whole society was seething, experiencing a social crisis, only the indifferent bourgeois continued the feast during the plague.

The island of Capri symbolizes real beauty (that’s why the description of its nature and inhabitants is covered in warm colors): a “joyful, beautiful, sunny” country filled with “fairy blue”, majestic mountains, the beauty of which cannot be conveyed in human language. The existence of our American family and people like them is a pathetic parody of life.

Features of the work

Figurative language and bright landscapes are inherent in Bunin’s creative style; the artist’s mastery of words is reflected in this story. At first he creates an anxious mood, the reader expects that, despite the splendor of the rich environment around the Master, something irreparable will soon happen. Later, the tension is erased by natural sketches written in soft strokes, reflecting love and admiration for beauty.

The second feature is the philosophical and topical content. Bunin castigates the meaninglessness of the existence of the elite of society, its spoiling, disrespect for other people. It was because of this bourgeoisie, cut off from the life of the people and having fun at their expense, that two years later a bloody revolution broke out in the writer’s homeland. Everyone felt that something needed to be changed, but no one did anything, which is why so much blood was shed, so many tragedies happened in those difficult times. And the theme of searching for the meaning of life does not lose relevance, which is why the story still interests the reader 100 years later.

I.A. Bunin reflected in this story the problems of his time, when concerns about acquiring capital and increasing it became paramount in society. The author drew with hard strokes characteristic features capitalism, which he saw in reality. The foreign bourgeois world is portrayed by the writer without rosy colors and sentimentality, which corresponded to the onslaught of growing capitalism. Display social problems has become a kind of background against which the struggle of eternal, true values with imaginary, false ideals appears more clearly and intensifies.

The main character, to whom the author does not give a name, is shown at that period of his life when he has already achieved everything. The absence of a name here is symbolic: this technique allows us to generally draw a typical representative of bourgeois society. This is an ordinary capitalist who achieved great wealth through incredible efforts, when for a long time he had to deny himself many things: “He worked tirelessly - the Chinese, whom he hired thousands of to work for him, knew well what this meant!” The main thing for him was to get as much income as possible through cheap labor. Inability to show mercy or pity, complete disregard for human rights and justice in relation to those who created his capital, monstrous greed - all these are the personality traits of the “model capitalist”. These conclusions are also confirmed by the master’s complete contempt for the poor, beggars, destitute people whom he sees during the journey, leaving in the cities where the ship stopped. This is reflected with the help of the author’s remarks: the gentleman either does not notice the poor, or grins, looking arrogantly and contemptuously, or drives the beggars away, saying through clenched teeth: “Get out!”

Man reduced the meaning of life to profit, the accumulation of wealth, but did not have time to enjoy the fruits of his many years of “labor.”
And his life turned out to be meaningless: money and luxury did not bring joy. Death came quickly, suddenly, crossing out the values that the master considered priority. He surrounded himself with expensive things and at the same time lost his humanity, becoming both internally and externally some kind of soulless idol with gold teeth and expensive rings. Creating such an image emphasizes author's position in relation to the capitalist masters who are losing their human appearance due to the passion for profit.

Further, the author shows how death equates the rich man with those who had neither gold nor jewelry - with the workers in the hold. Using the technique of contrast, antithesis, Bunin narrates how, in the dirty hold of the comfortable steamship Atlantis, when the money turned out to be useless (the dead man was not provided with a separate luxurious cabin), the gentleman “travels” further, since it was in the hold that the coffin with his body was placed. The rich man wanted to satisfy his vanity by allowing himself idle holidays in luxurious cabins and luxurious feasts in Atlantis restaurants. But quite unexpectedly, he lost power, and no amount of money will help the dead man to demand obedience from the workers or respect from the service personnel towards his person. Life has put everything in its place, separating true values from imaginary ones. He will not need the wealth that he was able to accumulate “in the next world.” He did not leave a good memory of himself (he did not help anyone, and did not build hospitals or roads), and his heirs quickly squandered the money.

At the end of the story, the image of the Devil naturally appears, watching the movement of the Atlantis ship. And this makes me think: what attracts the interest of the ruler of hell to the ship and its inhabitants? In this regard, it becomes necessary to return to those lines in the work where the author gives a detailed description of the ship, which “looked like a huge hotel with all the amenities.” Bunin repeatedly emphasized that the terrifying force of the movement of the ocean and the howl of a siren, screeching “with furious anger”, with “hellish gloom”, could cause unconscious anxiety and melancholy among the passengers of Atlantis, but everything was drowned out by the tirelessly sounding music. No one thought about those people who provided the idle public with all the comforts of a pleasant journey. Also, no one suspected that the “underwater womb” of a comfortable “hotel” could be compared with the dark and sultry depths of the underworld, with the ninth circle of hell. What was the author hinting at with these descriptions? Why does he paint such a contrast between the lives of rich gentlemen who go on a cruise, spending huge amounts of money on luxurious leisure, and the hellish working conditions, for example, of workers in the hold?

Some researchers of I.A. Bunin’s work saw in the features of the story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” the author’s negative attitude towards the bourgeois world and a prophecy of a possible catastrophe. Y. Maltsev in one of his works notes the influence of the First World War on the mood of the writer, who allegedly perceived the events of this era as “the last act of a world tragedy - that is, the completion of the degeneration of Europeans and the death of the mechanical, godless and unnatural civilization of modern times.. ." However, it is difficult to agree with this completely. Yes, there is an apocalyptic motive, the author’s position can be clearly seen in relation to the bourgeoisie, which is under the close attention of the Devil. But Bunin could hardly have predicted the death of capitalism: the power of money was too strong, capital had already grown too much in that era, spreading its vicious ideals throughout the world. And the defeat of this civilization is not expected even in the 21st century. So the writer, who clearly does not sympathize with the master and his fellow capitalists, still did not resort to global prophecies, but showed his attitude towards eternal values and towards false, far-fetched, transitory values.

For example, the author contrasts the image of a rich gentleman with the image of the boatman Lorenzo, who can sell the fish he catches for next to nothing, and then, carefreely walking along the shore in his rags, enjoy a sunny day and admire the landscape. At Lorenzo's life values just those that are considered eternal: work that makes it possible to live, a kind attitude towards people, the joy of communicating with nature. In this he sees the meaning of life, and the intoxication of wealth is incomprehensible and unknown to him. This is a sincere person, he has no hypocrisy either in his behavior or in his assessment of achievements and the results of his work. The boatman's appearance is painted in light colors; he evokes nothing but a smile. Only a few lines are allocated to create a symbolic image, but the author managed to convey to the reader that he likes Lorenzo as the antipode to the main character, the capitalist.

Indeed, the writer had the right to a contrasting portrayal of the characters, and the reader sees that the author does not condemn Lorenzo for carelessness, for frivolity in relation to money. Several pages of the work ironically depict the endless breakfasts, lunches and dinners of wealthy passengers, their leisure time, that is, playing cards, dancing in Atlantis restaurants, for which huge amounts of money are spent. And this money is the same profit from the labor of people who were not paid fairly for their hard labor. So isn't it better to challenge the exploiters and not participate in the creation of capital for the masters? Apparently, such a philosophy could lead Lorenzo to a carefree lifestyle, and he allows himself to be free in this cruel bourgeois world. That is why man did not live “by bread alone.” But Lorenzo, of course, cannot have many followers: people must support their families and feed their children.

Bunin also showed wandering musicians wandering along the slopes of the mountains: “...and the whole country, joyful, beautiful, sunny, stretched beneath them...”. And when these people saw a plaster statue of the Mother of God in the grotto, they stopped, “bared their heads - and naive and humbly joyful praises poured out to them to the sun, the morning and to her, the immaculate intercessor...”. These deviations from the main theme (the depiction of the life and death of a gentleman) give reason to draw a conclusion about the author’s position: Bunin sympathizes not with gentlemen with gold rings on their fingers, with gold teeth, but with these penniless tramps, but with “diamonds in their souls” .

The main theme of Bunin's work - love - is also covered in the story "The Gentleman from San Francisco", but the reverse, false side of the great feeling is shown here, when there really is no love. The writer symbolically showed the falsity of the feelings of the bourgeois elite, people who are confident that money can buy everything. A couple in love was portrayed by two artists for a good fee: they diversified the leisure time of the wealthy clientele in order to add romance to the trip. "Circus act" - a fake bait instead true love; illusory happiness with a “bag of money” instead of true joys... and so on. In this work, many human values look like counterfeit bills.

Thus, through portrait characteristics, contrasting images, details, remarks and remarks, thanks to the use of antithesis, epithets, comparisons, metaphors, the author reflected his position in the understanding of true and imaginary human values. The artistic merits of this work, the special, unique style, and the richness of the language were highly appreciated by I. A. Bunin’s contemporaries, critics, and readers of all eras.

Reviews

Zoya, good afternoon.

And a wonderful article and a wonderful work by Bunin, to the analysis of which it is dedicated.

A powerful work: both in the images that Bunin presented, and in the literary beautiful description with which his literary work is full, the text itself.

The man from San Francisco and the boatman Lorenzo - what a good parallel, giving a comparison of values. An interesting literary move is not to name the main character, making him a household name.

And the image of the Devil! How aptly Bunin expressed it!

Zoya, thank you very much for analyzing Bunin’s work.

Interesting article, correct and well written.

The topic raised by Bunin is eternal and important. For every time a person makes a choice how to live and live life: imaginary or real, enslaving to the passion of profit or living by eternal values and virtues.

Good luck and good luck, Zoya. Have a nice Sunday.

With kind regards and best wishes,

Bunin's story "Mr. from San Francisco" tells the story of how everything is devalued before the fact of death. Human life is subject to decay, it is too short to be wasted in vain, and the main idea of this instructive story is to understand the essence of human existence. The meaning of life for the hero of this story lies in his confidence that he can buy everything with his existing wealth, but fate decided otherwise. We offer an analysis of the work “Mr. from San Francisco” according to plan; the material will be useful in preparing for the Unified State Exam in literature in 11th grade.

Brief Analysis

Year of writing– 1915

History of creation– In a store window, Bunin accidentally noticed the cover of Thomas Mann’s book “Death in Venice”, this was the impetus for writing the story.

Subject– The opposites that surround man everywhere are main theme works are life and death, wealth and poverty, power and insignificance. All this reflects the philosophy of the author himself.

Composition– The problematics of “Mr. from San Francisco” contain both a philosophical and socio-political character. The author reflects on the frailty of existence, on man’s attitude to spiritual and material values, from the point of view of various strata of society. The plot of the story begins with the master's journey, the climax is his unexpected death, and in the denouement of the story the author reflects on the future of humanity.

Genre– A story that is a meaningful parable.

Direction– Realism. Bunin's story takes on a deep philosophical meaning.

History of creation

The history of the creation of Bunin's story dates back to 1915, when he saw the cover of a book by Thomas Mann. After that, he was visiting his sister, remembered the cover, for some reason it evoked an association in him with the death of one of the American vacationers, which happened during a vacation in Capri. Immediately a sudden decision came to him to describe this incident, which he did in the shortest possible time - the story was written in just four days. With the exception of the deceased American, all other facts in the story are completely fictitious.

Subject

In “The Gentleman from San Francisco,” an analysis of the work allows us to highlight the main idea of the story, which consists in philosophical reflections the author about the meaning of life, about the essence of being.

Critics were enthusiastic about the creation of the Russian writer, interpreting the essence in their own way. philosophical story. Theme of the story- life and death, poverty and luxury, in the description of this hero, who lived his life in vain, reflects the worldview of the entire society, divided into classes. High society, possessing all material values, having the opportunity to buy everything that is on sale, does not have the most important thing - spiritual values.

On the ship, the dancing couple, depicting sincere happiness, is also fake. These are actors who were bought to play love. There is nothing real, everything is artificial and feigned, everything is purchased. And the people themselves are false and hypocritical, they are faceless, which is what meaning of the name this story.

And the master has no name, his life is aimless and empty, he does not bring any benefit, he only uses the benefits created by representatives of another, lower class. He dreamed of buying everything he could, but he didn’t have time; fate had its own way and took his life. When he dies, no one remembers him; he only causes inconvenience to those around him, including his family.

The point is that he died - and that’s it, he doesn’t need any wealth, luxury, power or honor. He doesn't care where he lies - in a luxurious inlaid coffin, or in a simple soda box. His life was in vain, he did not experience real, sincere human feelings, did not know love and happiness in the worship of the golden calf.

Composition

The narrative of the story is divided into two parts: how a gentleman sails on a ship to the coast of Italy, and the journey of the same gentleman back, on the same ship, only in a coffin.

In the first part, the hero enjoys all the possible benefits that money can buy, he has all the best: a hotel room, gourmet dishes, and all the other delights of life. The gentleman has so much money that he planned a trip for two years, together with his family, his wife and daughter, who also do not deny themselves anything.

But after the climax, when the hero suffers sudden death, everything changes dramatically. The hotel owner does not even allow the gentleman’s corpse to be placed in his room, having allocated the cheapest and most inconspicuous one for this purpose. There is not even a decent coffin in which to place the gentleman, and he is placed in an ordinary box, which is a container for some kind of food. On the ship, where the gentleman was blissfully on deck among high society, his place is only in the dark hold.

Main characters

Genre

"Mr. from San Francisco" can be briefly described as genre story ah, but this story is filled with deep philosophical content, and differs from other Bunin works. Usually, Bunin's stories contain a description of nature and natural phenomena, striking in its liveliness and realism.

In the same work there is main character, around which the conflict of this story is tied. Its content makes you think about the problems of society, about its degradation, which has turned into a soulless, mercantile being who worships only one idol - money, and has renounced everything spiritual.

The whole story is subordinated philosophical direction, and in plot-wise- This is an instructive parable that gives a lesson to the reader. The injustice of a class society, where the lower part of the population languishes in poverty, and the cream of high society waste their lives senselessly, all this, in the end, leads to a single ending, and in the face of death everyone is equal, both poor and rich, it cannot be bought off by any money.

Bunin's story "Mr. from San Francisco" is rightfully considered one of the most outstanding works in his work.

Work test

Rating analysis

Average rating: 4.6. Total ratings received: 769.

The writer reflected in this story the problems of his time, when concerns about acquiring capital and increasing it became paramount in society. Bunin, with harsh strokes, drew the characteristic features of capitalism, which he saw in reality. The foreign bourgeois world is portrayed by the writer without rosy colors and sentimentality, which corresponded to the onslaught of growing capitalism. The display of social problems has become a kind of background against which the struggle between eternal, true values and imaginary, false ideals appears more clearly and intensifies.

Man reduced the meaning of life to profit, the accumulation of wealth, but did not have time to enjoy the fruits of his many years of “labor.” And his life turned out to be meaningless: money and luxury did not bring joy. Death came quickly, suddenly, crossing out the values that the master considered priority. He surrounded himself with expensive things and at the same time lost his humanity, becoming both internally and externally some kind of soulless idol with gold teeth and expensive rings. The creation of such an image emphasizes the author’s position in relation to the capitalist masters, who are losing their human appearance due to the passion for profit.