Stepanova E.E. The role of symbols and details in the story of I.A. Bunin “Mr. from San Francisco” // International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities. – 2016. – T. 8. No. 1. – pp. 210-212.
THE ROLE OF SYMBOLS AND DETAILS IN I.A.’S STORY BUNINA
"THE MR. FROM SAN FRANCISCO"
HER. Stepanova, with student
Branch of Omsk State Pedagogical University in G . Tara
(Russia, Tara)
Abstract. This article is devoted to the study of details and symbols, as well as consideration of their rolein the text using the example of a story by I. A. Bunin "Mr. from San Francisco".Through analysis of the story, it is proven that the characters in those To ste are artistic medium disclosure of the author's position. Cancel e The characteristic features of details and symbols in the system of the depicted world of I.’s work are also evident. A. Bunina.
Key words: Bunin, detail, symbol, apocalypse, philosophical parable.
Feeling of tragedy and hopelessness d of the mundane existence of waves O number of many writers and poets of the turn of the 10th I X-XX centuries. These are the moods e tions formed the basis of the thoughts of the philosopher O Fovs and writers of this period about the meaning and transience of earthly life h nor, the tragedy of life, time and h time. All this made sense T expression in their works. Approx. And the existence of something uncertain, in A to some extent, even sinister, was in you are called the beginning of the first world warand permeated with a sense of fear of lo m some of the established centuries-old foundations of life, inspired by the revolutionary events in Russia. In light of these s thoughts about the fate of society are reproduced And were perceived as the onset of the coming apocalypse of all mankind. P O similar sentiments are found in ra s skaze I. Bunin "Mr. from San Francisco" [ 4 ].
The hero was sure that everything in this m and re p subject to the fulfillment of his desiresand the desires of his equals: “He was d O freely generous on the way and therefore fully believed in the thoughtfulness of all those who r miles and gave him water from morning to evening at lived for him, preventing his slightest desire. ... It was like that everywhere, it was like that in sailing, it should have been like that in Naples.”.
Of course, material wealth O a strange traveler, as if at gum key, opened most t at the door, but alas, not all. Wealth did not contribute to prolongation of life, Mr.but it didn’t help him after death with honors and amenities until b fight to the last pier. The owner of the hotel did not allow his body to be moved to his nice room, arguing that this would alienate the guests, and did not allow anyone to enter his possession e not a good coffin, but onlyjust offered an empty box from- under soda about howl . That's it for the humiliation- how much? the number of tourists does not end, and his body at dawn is carried by a small boat to the bay, where torso the master migrates to the hold, to the people, the cat O Some were not even noticed on the ship. T A Thus, the admiration for one’s nature, which this person saw during his lifetime, turned into direct and opposite the humiliation experienced by his mortal body after life.
The author of the story shows how e the power of money in the mortal world is significant and what awaits a person who bets on it. Here it is not only disrespect And respectful attitude towards the deceased, but also to the name, because it no one remembers either. The story “Mr. from San Francisco” shows the ephemerality and destructiveness of this path for people about eternity.
Many writers and poets at timeswrote their works in the genre of parables(I.V. Turgenev “Alms”, A.S.Pushkin “The Shoemaker”, A.P.Sumarokov and others). R story by Yves on Alekseevich can also be attributed toa parable pointing toman's place in our world and its relationship with the surrounding reality. And we must remember b that man is mortal, butthe most offensive thing, as one of them said Bulgakovsky characters, he is mortalapno. Therefore it is impossibletirelessly indulge in pleasures, and need to remember that you cannot feed your soul with such joys. All outstanding scientific and technical achievements are modernmilitary society will not release the main characterfrom death. This is the whole tragedy e diya of life, a person is born and dies A Yes, but the soul lives forever.
The story "Mr. from San Francisco" refers to the philosophical parable of blessingsary to the characters embedded in it. And first of all it's about b times the main character. We know practically nothing about him, with the exception of those lines at the beginning of the story that show his life in the most general form; we know neither his appearance nor his nameneither. He's just one of the gentlemenstrong world, an ordinary, typical representative of his class. Yes m o b at once, it acts as a symbolof this bourgeois class, a symbol of its m A ner, moral principles or their t presence.
In addition to the symbols, the picture of life e Roya is filled with details. And if at T If the image of nature or things is given only when necessary, then in Bunin we meet one bright image e tal after another, thereby he will carry out V expressed his objective principle and body. The story contains all the possible details that appear more than once O multiple times to attract attention cheat A telians to their true meaning. This may include the name of the ship, its captain, the image of the ocean and a couple in love. These images are symbolic because in their typical, individual form they show the behavior and foundations of an entire society.
The story “The Master from San Francisco” has an epigraph from the Bible: “Woe to you, Babylon, mighty city!” , here it is identified with the description A the presence of heroes and situations of current life, which gives an orientation to the perception of philosophical reflections A in the torus.
The ocean at the end of the story also becomes symbolic. Storm tied up in most cultures with God's grace e vom and punishment. There's a storm in the story depicted like a global cataclysm - in e ter whistles like a funeral song forto the owner who has lost his former powerthe world, and with it the whole society. Scary in the story and “living miracles” and more" - a gigantic shaft in the belly of steam oh yes, ensuring its movement, and " hellish pki" his underworld, in ra With the red-hot throat of which bubbles e home strength, and sweaty dirty people with reflections of crimson flame on their faces. Ho the inhabitants of the ship do not hear these things d at the same time wailing and clanging sounds: they are drowned out by the melodies of beautiful With a large orchestra and thick cabin walls.
You can also see the symbol in the image of a ship captain, compare from the wood him a pagan deity. The appearance is really looks like a deity: a huge red-haired man in a naval uniform with gold stripes, nah O he behaves as God should m, in on and the highest part of the ship– the captain's cabin, symbolizing a certain Olympus, where ordinary passengers are prohibited from entering. He can occasionally be seen on A Lube, but his power and knowledge, neither O there is no doubt. But in reality the captain is an insecure h e a trapper hoping for a telegraph n parat, who was in the radio b ke .
At the beginning and end of the story we watch love linen pair, and attracting the attention of ship passengers what they don't hide t of your love. And only tothe captain knows their secret, to about which lies in the simple deception, they are simple mercenaries to entertain the ship's guests. They symbolize precisely the deception that A modern society includes the falsity of true feelings and good sex u chiya.
Bunin in his story uses a variety of techniques to create A Various symbols: removeand all subjective featuresand sticking out all the immoral traits ( lack of spirituality , desire for wealth, self-satisfaction), he makes a symbol out of an ordinary hero about th society. I create other symbols t xia based on the similarity of designs: ship with society; by similarity of function y: k a pitan and pagan deity; on ass about Cative rapprochement: the ocean with people e human life, a man with a ship,furnaces with the fire of hell.
The characters in the story are thin O a powerful means of revealing a V Tor's position. Through them Bunin from O brazed insincerity and depravity with O temporary rich society, forgotten V living in moral lawlessness.
Bibliography
1. Bunin, I.A. Easy breathing: stories, stories, poems[Text] / I.A. Bunin. – Moscow: Eksmo, 2015. – 1 92 p.
2. Literary encyclopedia Fedorova, O.A. Symbolic imagein reality in I.'s story.Bunin "Mr. from San Francisco"[Text] / 5. O.A. Fedorova, E. E. Stepanova // Philological readings: collection of articlesinternational scientific and practicalth conference, May 25, 2016, G . Tara. – Omsk: Publishing House Omsk State Pedagogical University, 2016. – P. 99-100.
HE ROLE OF THE PARTS AN D CHARACTERS IN THE STORY OF I.A. BUNIN
"T HE GENTLEMAN FROM SAN FRANCISCO»
E.E. Stepanova, student
Omsk pedagogical state university branch in Tara
(Russia, Tara)
Abstract. This article is devoted to the study of parts and symbols, as well as consider a tion of their role in the text on the example of the story of I.A.Bunin's "the Gentleman from San Francisco". Through the analysis of the story, it is proven that the characters in the text serve as an artistic means of revealing the author’s position. Marked and characteri s tic peculiarities of parts and symbols in the system And the depicted world works I.A. Bunin.
Keywords: Bunin, detail, symbol, Apocalypse, a philosophical parable.
Sorrowful, wise, harsh paintings by Bunin. A completely different, frenzied, frightening world of Andreev’s world. And yet all this was, appeared in one era, with an equally powerful attraction to its upheavals and conflicts. It’s no wonder that deep contacts existed. Everywhere there is a seal – let’s use Kuprin’s definition – “a confused, oppressed consciousness.”
Bunin’s sober, searching gaze not only in his homeland (the story “The Village”), but all over the world found signs of not just decay, but of imminent catastrophe. So wide
The generalization is striking - a calmer definition simply would not convey the power of impressions - the story “The Gentleman from San Francisco”.
Already in the first phrase a lot is concentrated: the consumer philosophy of the Master and other rich rulers, the essence of an inhumane bourgeois civilization, the image of a beautiful but suppressed nature. The narrative's leisurely tone seems to be due to the abundance of everyday information. Their connections and coloring lead us, however, into the author’s thoughts about the general order of things. How are specific observations combined with the interpretation of their essence? The skill of symbolizing details and motifs has been brought to perfection. The name of the ship on which the Master travels - “Atlantis” - immediately gives an idea of the approaching death. Accurate sketches of brilliant salons, servants, dirty stokers of the “hellish furnace” - about the social hierarchy of society. A mechanically cruising ship, taking the Master for entertainment to Europe and delivering his dead body back to America, reveals the ultimate nonsense of human existence.
Here main conclusion– the inevitability and lack of understanding by travelers of the retribution that awaits them. The Master’s preoccupation with momentary pleasures on the path to non-existence conveys the complete spiritual blindness of this “New man with the old.” And all the entertaining passengers of “Atlantis” don’t even suspect anything bad: “The ocean that walked outside the walls was terrible, but they didn’t think about it, firmly believing in the power of the commander over it.” At the end of the story, the threatening darkness thickens to hopelessness. But “again, in the middle of a frenzied blizzard, sweeping over the ocean that roared like a funeral mass and walked with mountains mourning from silver foam,” ballroom music thundered. There is no limit to ignorance and narcissistic confidence, as Bunin put it, “senseless power”, unconsciousness among disadvantaged people. The writer captured the “cosmic” stage of spiritual decay by making a huge Devil, similar to the rocks of Gibraltar, an observer of a ship leaving into the night and blizzard.
Bunin's emotions were painful. The greedy search for an enlightening beginning is endless. But as before, they were crowned with penetration into the natural, natural values of life. This is the image of the Abruzzese peasants in “The Gentleman from San Francisco”, merged with the beauty of the mountains and sky.
(No ratings yet)
Essay on literature on the topic: Symbols in the story “The Gentleman from San Francisco”
Other writings:
- I. A. Bunin wrote the story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” in 1915. Initially, the story was called “Death on Capra” and had an epigraph taken from the Apocalypse, the New Testament: “Woe to you, Babylon, strong city,” which the writer later removed, apparently wanting to replace the main theme Read More ......
- ...It's very new, very fresh and very good, just too compact, like a thickened broth. A.P. Chekhov The mastery and lyricism of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin’s works have several components. His prose is distinguished by laconicism and a reverent depiction of nature, close attention to the hero and Read More......
- The world in which the Master from San Francisco lives is greedy and stupid. Even the rich gentleman does not live in it, but only exists. Even his family does not add to his happiness. In this world, everything is subordinated to money. And when the Master gets ready to travel, Read More......
- The theme of criticism of bourgeois reality was reflected in Bunin's work. One of the best works on this topic can rightfully be called the story “Mr. from San Francisco,” which was highly appreciated by V. Korolenko. The idea to write this story came to Bunin while working on Read More......
- I. A. Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” was written during the First World War, when entire states were involved in a senseless and merciless massacre. The fate of an individual began to seem like a grain of sand in the whirlpool of history, even if that person was surrounded by wealth and fame. Read More......
- 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 denies his hero this Read More......
- Fire, rocked by a wave In the vastness of the dark ocean... What do I care about the starry fog, What do I care about the milky abyss above me! I. A. Bunin Ivan Alekseevich Bunin was passionately in love with life, with the diversity of its manifestations. The artist’s imagination was disgusted by everything artificial, replacing natural impulses Read More ......
- Bunin's story The Gentleman 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 to show the aggravation eternal problems humanity in the development of civilization. In the 1900s, Bunin Read More ......
Symbolism and existential meaning of the story
"Mr. from San Francisco"
In the last lesson, we got acquainted with the work of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin and began to analyze one of his stories “Mr. from San Francisco.” We talked about the composition of the story, discussed the system of images, and talked about the poetics of Bunin's word.Today in the lesson we will have to determine the role of details in the story, note the images and symbols, formulate the theme and idea of the work and come to Bunin’s understanding of human existence.
Let's talk about the details in the story. What details did you see; Which of them seemed symbolic to you?
First, let's remember the concept of “detail”.
Detail – particularly significant highlighted element artistic image, expressive detail in a work, carrying a semantic, ideological and emotional load.
Already in the first phrase there is a certain irony towards Mr.: “no one remembered his name either in Naples or Capri,” thereby the author emphasizes that Mr. is just a person.
The gentleman from S-F is himself a symbol - he is a collective image of all the bourgeois of that time.
The absence of a name is a symbol of facelessness, the inner lack of spirituality of the hero.
The image of the steamship "Atlantis" is a symbol of society with its hierarchy:the idle aristocracy of which is contrasted with the people who control the movement of the ship, working hard at the “gigantic” firebox, which the author calls the ninth circle of hell.
The images of the ordinary inhabitants of Capri are alive and real, and thereby the writer emphasizes that the external well-being of the rich strata of society means nothing in the ocean of our life, that their wealth and luxury are not protection from the current of the present, real life that such people are initially doomed to moral baseness and a life of death.
The very image of the ship is a shell of an idle life, and the ocean isthe rest of the world, raging, changing, but in no way touching our hero.
The name of the ship, “Atlantis” (What is associated with the word “Atlantis”? - lost civilization), contains a premonition of a disappearing civilization.
Does the description of the ship evoke any other associations for you? The description is similar to the Titanic, which reinforces the idea that a mechanized society is doomed to a sad outcome.
Still, there is a bright beginning in the story. The beauty of the sky and mountains, which seems to merge with the images of the peasants, nevertheless affirms that there is something true, real in life, which is not subject to money.
Siren and music are also a symbol skillfully used by the writer; in this case, the siren is world chaos, and music is harmony and peace.
The image of the ship captain, whom the author compares with a pagan god at the beginning and end of the story, is symbolic. By appearance this man really looks like an idol: red-haired, monstrously large and heavy, in a naval uniform with wide gold stripes. He, as befits God, lives in the captain's cabin - the highest point of the ship, where passengers are prohibited from entering, he is rarely shown in public, but the passengers unconditionally believe in his power and knowledge. And the captain himself, being after all a man, feels very insecure in the raging ocean and relies on the telegraph apparatus standing in the next cabin-radio room.
The writer ends the story with a symbolic picture. The steamer, in the hold of which a former millionaire lies in a coffin, sails through the darkness and blizzard in the ocean, and the Devil, “as huge as a cliff,” watches him from the rocks of Gibraltar. It was he who got the soul of the gentleman from San Francisco, it is he who owns the souls of the rich (pp. 368-369).
gold fillings of the gentleman from San Francisco
his daughter - with “the most delicate pink pimples near the lips and between the shoulder blades”, dressed with innocent frankness
Negro servants “with whites like flaky hard-boiled eggs”
color details: Mr. was smoking until his face was crimson red, the stokers were crimson from the flames, the red jackets of the musicians and the black crowd of lackeys.
the crown prince is all wood
The beauty has a tiny bent and shabby dog
a pair of dancing “lovers” – a handsome man who looks like a huge leech
20. Luigi's respect is brought to the point of idiocy
21. the gong in the hotel on Capri sounds “loudly, as if in a pagan temple”
22. The old woman in the corridor, “stooped, but low-cut,” hurried forward “like a chicken.”
23. Mr. was lying on a cheap iron bed, a soda box became his coffin
24. From the very beginning of his journey, he is surrounded by a lot of details that foreshadow or remind him of death. First, he is going to go to Rome to listen to the Catholic prayer of repentance there (which is read before death), then the ship Atlantis, which is a dual symbol in the story: on the one hand, the ship symbolizes a new civilization, where power is determined by wealth and pride, therefore in the end, a ship, especially with such a name, must sink. On the other hand, “Atlantis” is the personification of hell and heaven.
What role do numerous details play in the story?
How does Bunin paint a portrait of his hero? What feeling does the reader have and why?
(“Dry, short, poorly cut, but tightly sewn... There was something Mongolian in his yellowish face with a trimmed silver mustache, his large teeth glittered with gold fillings, his strong bald head was as old as bone...” This portrait description lifeless; it evokes a feeling of disgust, since we have before us some kind of physiological description. The tragedy has not yet arrived, but it is already felt in these lines).
Ironic, Bunin ridicules all the vices of the bourgeois imagelife through the collective image of the gentleman, numerous details - the emotional characteristics of the characters.
You may have noticed that the work emphasizes time and space. Why do you think the plot develops during the journey?
The road is a symbol of the path of life.
How does the hero relate to time? How did the gentleman plan his trip?
when describing the world around us from the point of view of the gentleman from San Francisco, time is indicated accurately and clearly; in a word, the time is specific. The days on the ship and in the Neapolitan hotel are planned by the hour.
In which fragments of the text does the action develop rapidly, and in which plot time seems to stop?
The count of time goes unnoticed when the author talks about a real, full life: a panorama of the Bay of Naples, a sketch of a street market, colorful images of the boatman Lorenzo, two Abruzzese highlanders and - most importantly - a description of a “joyful, beautiful, sunny” country. And time seems to stop when the story begins about the measured, planned life of a gentleman from San Francisco.
When is the first time a writer calls a hero something other than master?
(On the way to the island of Capri. When nature defeats him, he feelsold man : “And the gentleman from San Francisco, feeling as he should have - a very old man - was already thinking with melancholy and anger about all these greedy, garlic-smelling little people called Italians...” It was now that feelings awakened in him: “melancholy and anger", "despair". And again the detail arises - “enjoyment of life”!)
What do the New World and the Old World mean (why not America and Europe)?
The phrase “Old World” appears already in the first paragraph, when the purpose of the gentleman’s trip from San Francisco is described: “solely for fun.” And, emphasizing the circular composition of the story, it also appears at the end - in combination with the “New World”. The New World, which gave birth to the type of people who consume culture “solely for the sake of entertainment”, the “Old World” is living people (Lorenzo, highlanders, etc.). The New World and the Old World are two facets of humanity, where there is a difference between isolation from historical roots and a living sense of history, between civilization and culture.
Why do the events take place in December (Christmas Eve)?
this is the relationship between birth and death, moreover, the birth of the Savior of the old world and the death of one of the representatives of the artificial new world, and the coexistence of two time lines - mechanical and genuine.
Why did the man from San Francisco die in Capri, Italy?
It is not for nothing that the author mentions the story of a man who once lived on the island of Capri, very similar to our master. The author, through this relationship, showed us that such “masters of life” come and go without a trace.
All people, regardless of their financial situation, equal in the face of death. A rich man who decides to get all the pleasures at once“just starting to live” at 58 years old (!) , suddenly dies.
How does the death of an old man make others feel? How do others behave towards the master’s wife and daughter?
His death does not cause sympathy, but a terrible commotion. The hotel owner apologizes and promises to sort everything out quickly. Society is outraged that someone dared to ruin their vacation and remind them of death. They feel disgust and disgust towards their recent companion and his wife. The corpse in a rough box is quickly sent into the hold of the steamer. A rich man who considered himself important and significant, having turned into a dead body, is not needed by anyone.
So what is the idea of the story? How does the author express main idea works? Where does the idea come from?
The idea can be traced in the details, in the plot and composition, in the antithesis of false and true human existence (fake rich people are contrasted - a couple on a steamboat, the strongest image-symbol of the world of consumption, love plays, these are hired lovers - and the real inhabitants of Capri, mostly poor).
The idea is that human life is fragile, everyone is equal in the face of death. Expresses through a description the attitude of others towards the living Mr. and towards him after death. The gentleman thought that money gave him an advantage.“He was sure that he had every right to rest, to pleasure, to travel excellent in all respects... firstly, he was rich, and secondly, he had just started life.”
Did our hero live a full life before this journey? What did he devote his whole life to?
Mr. until this moment did not live, but existed, i.e. his entire adult life was devoted to “comparing himself with those whom Mr. took as his model.” All the gentleman’s beliefs turned out to be wrong.
Pay attention to the ending: it is the hired couple that is highlighted here - why?
After the death of the master, nothing has changed, all the rich also continue to live their mechanized lives, and the “couple in love” also continues to play love for money.
Can we call the story a parable? What is a parable?
Parable – a short edifying story in an allegorical form, containing a moral lesson.
So, can we call the story a parable?
We can, because it tells about the insignificance of wealth and power in the face of death and the triumph of nature, love, sincerity (images of Lorenzo, Abruzzese highlanders).
Can man resist nature? Can he plan everything like the gentleman from S-F?
Man is mortal (“suddenly mortal” - Woland), therefore man cannot resist nature. All technological advances do not save people from death. This is iteternal philosophy and the tragedy of life: a person is born to die.
What does the parable story teach us?
“Mr. from...” teaches us to enjoy life, and not to be internally unspiritual, not to succumb to a mechanized society.
Bunin's story has an existential meaning. (Existential - associated with being, the existence of a person.) The center of the story is questions of life and death.
What can resist non-existence?
Genuine human existence, which is shown by the writer in the image of Lorenzo and the Abruzzi highlanders(fragment from the words “Only the market traded in a small square...367-368”).
What conclusions can we draw from this episode? What 2 sides of the coin does the author show us?
Lorenzo is poor, the Abruzzese mountaineers are poor, singing the glory of the greatest poor in the history of mankind - Our Lady and Savior, who was born “inpoor shepherd's shelter." “Atlantis”, a civilization of the rich, which is trying to overcome the darkness, the ocean, the blizzard, is an existential delusion of humanity, a diabolical delusion.
Homework:
Story by I.A. Bunin's "" can be called a parable about human life. The author tried to show us that human life cannot be bought for any money. He reminded us that we will all die someday.
The ocean liner Atlantis plays a huge role in Bunin’s story “.” It was a ship equipped with last word technology. The richest people traveled on it from America to Europe and back. There was everything a person could need here: a night bar with expensive alcohol and cigars, an oriental bathhouse, a live orchestra playing on the deck, even a newspaper. There was luxury and tranquility all around. Thousands of people worked on the ship, creating this comfort and coziness.
The Atlantis passengers led a very measured life. They were not bothered by the raging ocean; everyone relied on the experienced captain and the ship itself.
Bunin is trying to show us that such carelessness can be very dangerous. It is enough to pay attention to the name of the liner and remember how the depths of the sea once swallowed up an entire country called Atlantis, compared to which the ship is a small sliver in a raging ocean.
It is worth noting that when reading a story, you involuntarily prepare yourself for something terrible, for some kind of catastrophe; the work constantly keeps you in suspense. And, indeed, a disaster occurs. True, it has the scale of one person, but that makes it no less tragic. The author showed us that death is a natural process that will affect us all. And no matter how we try to delay this moment, it will certainly come.
But don’t be discouraged, because life goes on, and “Atlantis” sails on with its joy, care and pleasure.
1) Title of the story
itself is symbolic. Master is a man who has reached great heights, is rich, enjoys life, does something for himself every year. The city of San Francisco is a “golden” place, a city inhabited by immoral people who are accustomed to achieving their goals by any means necessary and who do not value others who are less rich or who do not occupy a worthy, honorable place in high society.
The symbol is
2) steamship "Atlantis",
huge, luxurious, comfortable. His fate must correspond to that of the famous sunken Atlantis, whose inhabitants were as immoral as the inhabitants of San Francisco.
3) Couple in love,
hired by Captain Lloyd to “play love for good money”, symbolizes the atmosphere of artificial life, where everything is bought and sold - if only there was money.
4)Weather in December:
dull, deceptive, gray, rainy, damp and dirty - symbolizes internal state the souls of the story's characters, in to a greater extent main character - Mr. from San Francisco.
5) The behavior of the German in the reading room
is also a symbol. Instead of helping a man who felt bad, who was dying, the German “burst out of the reading room screaming, he alarmed the whole house, the whole dining room.” He is the personification dead people morally, soulless, thinking only about themselves.
The same thing is symbolized
6) people who shunned the family of the deceased Mr. from San Francisco,
not sympathetic, in some sense even cruel towards his wife and daughter, as well as
7) owner,
who “shrugged his shoulders in impotent and decent irritation, feeling guiltlessly guilty, assuring everyone that he perfectly understood “how unpleasant this is,” and giving his word that he would take “all measures in his power” to eliminate the trouble.”
8)Devil
symbolizes something mystical, terrible, most likely, which will befall all these immoral people in the future, plunging them into the abyss of hell, the symbol of which was
9) black hold,
where the dead and useless gentleman from San Francisco lay.
“The Mister from San Francisco” is a philosophical story-parable about the place of man in the world, about the relationship between man and the world around him. According to Bunin, a person cannot withstand world upheavals, cannot resist the flow of life that carries him like a river carries a chip. This worldview was expressed in the philosophical idea of the story “The Gentleman from San Francisco”: man is mortal, and (as Bulgakov’s Woland claims) suddenly mortal, therefore human claims to dominance in nature, to understanding the laws of nature are groundless. All the wonderful scientific and technological achievements modern man do not save him from death. This is the eternal tragedy of life: a person is born to die.
The story contains symbolic details, thanks to which the story of the death of an individual becomes a philosophical parable about the death of an entire society, ruled by gentlemen like the main character. Of course, the image of the main character is symbolic, although it cannot be called a detail of Bunin’s story. The backstory of the gentleman from San Francisco is presented in a few sentences in the most general form; there is no detailed portrait of him in the story, his name is never mentioned. Thus, main character is typical actor parables: he is not so much a specific person as a type-symbol of a certain social class and moral behavior.
In a parable, the details of the narrative are of exceptional importance: a picture of nature or a thing is mentioned only when necessary, the action takes place without decoration. Bunin breaks these rules of the parable genre and uses one bright detail after another, realizing his artistic principle subject representation. In the story, among various details, repeating details appear that attract the reader’s attention and turn into symbols (“Atlantis,” its captain, the ocean, a couple of young people in love). These repeating details are symbolic simply because they embody the general in the individual.
The epigraph from the Bible: “Woe to you, Babylon, strong city!”, according to the author’s plan, set the tone for the story. Combining a verse from the Apocalypse with a depiction of modern heroes and circumstances modern life already sets the reader in a philosophical mood. Babylon in the Bible is not just a big city, it is a city-symbol of vile sin, various vices (for example, the Tower of Babel is a symbol of human pride), because of them, according to the Bible, the city died, conquered and destroyed by the Assyrians.
In the story, Bunin draws in detail the modern steamship Atlantis, which looks like a city. A ship in the waves of the Atlantic becomes a symbol for the writer modern society. In the underwater belly of the ship there are huge fireboxes and an engine room. Here, in inhuman conditions - in noise, in hellish heat and stuffiness - stokers and mechanics work, thanks to them the ship sails across the ocean. On the lower decks there are various service spaces: kitchens, pantries, wine cellars, laundries, etc. Sailors, service personnel and poor passengers live here. But on the upper deck there is a select society (about fifty people in total), who enjoy a luxurious life and unimaginable comfort, because these people are the “masters of life.” The ship (“modern Babylon”) is named symbolically - after the name of a rich, densely populated country, which in an instant was swept away by the waves of the ocean and disappeared without a trace. Thus, a logical connection is established between the biblical Babylon and the semi-legendary Atlantis: both powerful, prosperous states are perishing, and the ship, symbolizing an unjust society and named so significantly, also risks perishing every minute in the stormy ocean. Among the ocean's shaking waves, a huge ship looks like a fragile vessel that cannot resist the elements. It is not for nothing that the Devil is watching from the rocks of Gibraltar after the steamship leaving for the American shores (it is no coincidence that the author wrote this word with a capital letter). This is how it appears in the story philosophical idea Bunin about the powerlessness of man before nature, incomprehensible to the human mind.
The ocean becomes symbolic at the end of the story. The storm is described as a global catastrophe: in the whistle of the wind, the author hears a “funeral mass” for the former “master of life” and all modern civilization; the mournful blackness of the waves is emphasized by white shreds of foam on the crests.
The image of the ship captain, whom the author compares with a pagan god at the beginning and end of the story, is symbolic. In appearance, this man really looks like an idol: red-haired, monstrously large and heavy, in a naval uniform with wide gold stripes. He, as befits God, lives in the captain's cabin - the highest point of the ship, where passengers are prohibited from entering, he is rarely shown in public, but the passengers unconditionally believe in his power and knowledge. The captain himself, being a human being after all, feels very insecure in the raging ocean and relies on the telegraph apparatus standing in the next cabin-radio room.
At the beginning and at the end of the story, a couple in love appears, which attracts the attention of the bored passengers of the Atlantis by the fact that they do not hide their love and their feelings. But only the captain knows that the happy appearance of these young people is a deception, for the couple “breaks the comedy”: in fact, she is hired by the owners of the shipping company to entertain passengers. When these comedians emerge among the glittering society of the upper deck, the falsity of human relationships, which they so persistently demonstrate, spreads to everyone around them. This “sinfully modest” girl and a tall young man, “resembling a huge leech,” become a symbol of high society, in which, according to Bunin, there is no place sincere feelings, and behind the ostentatious brilliance and prosperity hides depravity.
To summarize, it should be noted that “The Mister from San Francisco” is considered one of Bunin’s best stories, both in idea and in its artistic embodiment. The story of a nameless American millionaire turns into a philosophical parable with broad symbolic generalizations.
Moreover, Bunin creates symbols in different ways. The gentleman from San Francisco becomes a sign-symbol of bourgeois society: the writer removes all the individual characteristics of this character and emphasizes his social traits: lack of spirituality, passion for profit, boundless complacency. Other symbols in Bunin are based on associative rapprochement (the Atlantic Ocean is a traditional comparison of human life with the sea, and man himself with a fragile boat; the fireboxes in the engine room are the hellish fire of the underworld), on rapprochement in structure (a multi-deck ship is human society in miniature), on rapprochement by function (the captain is a pagan god).
The characters in the story become expressive means to reveal the author's position. Through them, the author showed the deceit and depravity of bourgeois society, which had forgotten about moral laws, in true sense human life and is approaching a universal catastrophe. It is clear that Bunin’s premonition of a catastrophe became especially acute in connection with the world war, which, as it flared up more and more, turned into a huge human massacre before the author’s eyes.
The finale of the story "Mr. from San Francisco"
The ending of the story takes us back to the description of the famous “Atlantis” - the ship that returns the body of a dead gentleman to America. This compositional repetition not only gives the story a harmonious proportionality of parts and completeness, but also increases the size of the picture created in the work.
Think about how fully the content of the story is summarized in the title? Why do the "master" and his family members remain nameless, while the peripheral characters - Lorenzo, Luigi, Carmella - are given their own names? Are there other unnamed characters in the story? Why does the writer “forget” about the wife and daughter of the deceased rich man in the last pages of the story? What elements of the picture depicted are not motivated by the plot, i.e. are not connected with it in any way? In which fragments of the text does the action develop rapidly, and in which plot time seems to stop? What compositional technique gives completeness to the story and increases the degree of generalization in the work?
Temporary and spatial organization story. The character's point of view and the author's point of view. The plot is the most obvious feature of the work, a kind of façade of an artistic building that forms the initial perception of the story. However, in “The Mister from San Francisco” big picture The reproduced world is much wider than the actual plot time and space boundaries.
The events of the story correspond very precisely to the calendar and fit into geographical space. The journey, planned for two years in advance, begins at the end of November (sailing across the Atlantic), and is suddenly interrupted in December, most likely the week before Christmas: at this time in Capri there is a noticeable pre-holiday revival, the Abruzzese mountaineers offer “humbly joyful praises” Mother of God in front of her statue “in the grotto of the rocky wall of Monte Solaro”, and they also pray to “the one born from her womb in the cave of Bethlehem... in the distant land of Judah...”. (Think, what special meaning is contained in this implicit calendar detail and how is the content of the story enriched?) Accuracy and utmost authenticity - the absolute criteria of Bunin's aesthetics - are also manifested in the care with which the daily routine of rich tourists is described in the story. The exact time indications and the list of attractions visited in Italy seem to have been verified from reliable tourist guides. But the main thing, of course, is not Bunin’s meticulous fidelity to verisimilitude.
The master's unbreakable routine introduces into the story the most important motif for him: artificiality, the automatism of the civilized pseudo-existence of the central character. A methodical presentation of the cruise route, then a measured report on the “daily routine” on the Atlantis, and, finally, a careful description of the order established in the Neapolitan hotel almost stops the plot movement three times. The sequence of actions of the master and his family is mechanically determined: “firstly”, “secondly”, “thirdly”; “at eleven”, “five”, “seven o’clock”. (Find other examples of the monotonous regulation of life in the text.) In general, the punctuality of the lifestyle of the American and his family sets a measured rhythm for the description of everything that comes into his field of vision of the natural and social world.
The element of living life becomes an expressive contrast to this world in the story. This reality, unknown to the gentleman from San Francisco, is subject to a completely different time and spatial scale. There is no place in it for schedules and routes, numerical sequence and rational motivations, and therefore there is no predictability and “understandability”. The vague impulses of this life sometimes excite the consciousness of travelers: then the daughter of an American will think that she sees the crown prince of Asia during breakfast; then the owner of the hotel in Capri will turn out to be exactly the gentleman whom the American himself had already seen in a dream the day before. However, the soul of the main character is not affected by “so-called mystical feelings”. (Find other examples of characters’ irrational states in the text.)
The author's narrative perspective constantly corrects the limited perception of the character: thanks to the author, the reader sees and learns much more than what the hero of the story is able to see and understand. The most important difference between the author’s “omniscient” view is its extreme openness to time and space. Time is counted not in hours and days, but in millennia, in historical eras, and the spaces that open to the eye reach the “blue stars of the sky.”
Why does the story not end with the death of the hero and Bunin continues the story with an inserted episode about the Roman tyrant Tiberius (in Bunin’s test he is called Tiberius)? Is it only the associative parallel with the fate of the title character that motivates the introduction of this semi-legendary story?
At the end of the story, the author’s assessment of what is depicted reaches its maximum values, pictures of life are given in the most general plan. The story about the collapse of life of the self-confident “master of life” develops into a kind of meditation (lyrically rich reflection) about the connection between man and the world, about the greatness of the natural cosmos and its insubordination to human will, about eternity and the unknown mystery of existence. The final sketch of the Atlantis steamship takes on a symbolic meaning. (Atlantis is a semi-legendary island west of Gibraltar, which sank to the bottom of the ocean as a result of an earthquake.)
The frequency of use of symbolic images is increasing: the raging ocean, the “countless fiery eyes” of the ship; the Devil, “as huge as a rock”; captain, looking like a pagan idol. Moreover: in an image projected onto the infinity of time and space, any detail (images of characters, everyday realities, sound scale and light-color palette) acquires a symbolic meaningful meaning. What associations, in your opinion, may arise in connection with such details of the final scene: “the ocean humming like a funeral mass”; “mourning mountains of silver foam” waves; “high throated trumpets”, “furious squeals of sirens”; “huge boilers” and “hellish furnaces” in the “underwater womb” of the ship?
Subject detail of Bunin's text. Bunin himself called this aspect of writing technique external figurativeness. One of the most striking features of the writer’s skill, which I noticed at the beginning of his creative path and A.P. Chekhov appreciated, emphasizing the density of Bunin’s depiction in words, the density of the reconstructed plastic paintings: “... this is very new, very fresh and very good, only too compact, like a condensed broth.”
It is remarkable that with the sensual richness and “texture” of what is depicted, any detail is fully provided by the exact knowledge of the writer: Bunin was unusually strict about the specificity of the image. Here is just one example: “...until eleven o’clock they were supposed to cheerfully walk along the decks...or play ...” (The name of the game given in the author’s text is deliberately omitted here; can you remember this name and explain in general terms the nature of the game?) It would seem important to have an accurate knowledge of the games popular with older Americans on vacation? But for Bunin, absolute accuracy of detail is the basics of the craft of writing, the starting point for creating an artistically convincing picture.
The role of mystical-religious subtext in I. Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco”
Researchers of I. A. Bunin’s work most often talk about the truthfulness and depth of realistic comprehension of life in his works, emphasizing the philosophical nature of the prose, the mastery of psychologism, and analyze in detail the writer’s visual style, unique in its expressiveness and unexpectedness of artistic solutions. From this angle, the story “The Gentleman from San Francisco”, which has long since become a textbook, is usually viewed. And yet, precisely this work, which is traditionally considered one of the “pinnacle” examples of Bunin’s realism, completely unexpectedly ends with a seemingly inappropriate and, however, completely “natural”, and not at all allegorical appearance of the Devil...
To understand the meaning and internal logic of its appearance at the end of the story, we must remember one of the most interesting and, in aesthetic and philosophical terms, very productive branches of Russian modernism - “mystical realism” of the 20th century. For Bunin, the artistic method of “mystical realism” is not as characteristic and all-determining as, say, for F. Sologub, A. Bely, L. Andreev, M. Bulgakov or V. Nabokov. However, “The Mister from San Francisco” is one of the great examples of Russian “mystical realism”. And only from this point of view can the depth, scale of the moral and philosophical generalization contained in this work, the skill, and originality of its artistic form be fully understood.
In April 1912, the largest passenger ship, the Titanic, sank in the Atlantic Ocean after colliding with an iceberg, killing about one and a half thousand people. This tragic event, which became the first in a series of great disasters of the 20th century, concealed something ominously paradoxical: a ship created with the latest technology and declared “unsinkable” crashed, and many of those who sailed on it, richest people world, met their death in the icy water. Anyone who has more or less carefully read the details of the disaster gets a very definite impression: as if this passenger liner found itself at the epicenter of mystical forces, fatally becoming the focusing point for the application of some invisible but powerful will. It was as if a warning and threatening sign had been given from above to humanity.
Bunin accepted the signal of fate, foreshadowing the death of the old world. Although the known evidence does not say anything about this, it was the sinking of the Titanic, as it seems to me, that was the main impetus for writing “The Gentleman from San Francisco.” The typological similarities between the literary text and its prototype are too obvious here.
The myth of Atlantis and, more broadly, the plot of death in the waves in the art of the early twentieth century. acquired the meaning of an archetype (for example, the poem “The Death of Atlantis” by V. Khlebnikov). However, Bunin’s allusion to the Titanic disaster is specific. Thus, the name of the ship, “Atlantis,” focused two “reminders”: about the place of death - in the Atlantic Ocean - of the mythical island-state mentioned by Plato, and the real Titanic.
In the coincidence of the location of the disaster, Bunin apparently saw a mystical sign: in the finale of his story, “Atlantis,” like the “Titanic,” emerges from the Strait of Gibraltar to meet its death, accompanied by the gaze of the Devil fixed on it. And the algorithm of the poetics of the story at all its structural levels is also determined by the logic of the fatal suddenness of the collapse of what seemed powerful and unshakable, hidden in the tragedy of the Titanic.
The real event is comprehended and shown in “The Gentleman from San Francisco” as a fatal omen that has a global social, moral and philosophical meaning. And the model of “artistic dual worlds”, typical of “mystical realism,” connecting the material and transcendental levels of existence, turned out to be optimal for solving this creative problem. It realizes itself both in the narrative model, when the story about “real” events is invariably highlighted with symbolic overtones, and in genre symbiosis realistic story and an allegorical parable.
The logic of understanding a single case as having a global meaning also realizes itself in the plot-compositional model of “expanding circles”: the body of a gentleman from San Francisco returns to the New World, having completed his individual “cruise” in the hold of the ship “Atlantis” ( l-th circle) along with the rest of the passengers (2nd circle), which, apparently, predicts the completion of the circle of modern civilization (3rd circle).
In “The Mister from San Francisco,” the writer’s visionary gift was revealed, embodied in the mystical-religious subtext of the story. Moreover, the allegorical beginning acquires a dominant meaning in the second part of the work, and in the first it seems to highlight the realistic layer of the narrative.
The genre-narrative structure of the story is two-faced. Its plot, at first glance, is extremely simple: a man went to have fun, but instead died overnight. In this sense, the incidents with the gentleman from San Francisco go back to the genre of anecdote. I can’t help but remember the well-known story about how a merchant came into a tavern on Maslenitsa, ordered vodka, pancakes, caviar, salmon and other dishes appropriate for the occasion, poured a glass, carefully wrapped the caviar in a pancake, put it on a fork, brought it to his mouth - and died.
In essence, the same thing happened to the gentleman from San Francisco. Throughout his life, he “worked tirelessly,” and when he finally decided to “reward himself for his years of work” with a magnificent cruise on a luxury ship, he suddenly died. He was just about to begin “to live” (after all, “until that time he had not lived, but only existed, although very well, but still pinning all his hopes on the future”) - and he died. He dressed “just for the crown” for a magnificent evening show (the famous Carmella had to dance her tarantella), not knowing that he was actually preparing himself for his deathbed.
Why does fate (and in its person the author) punish the hero so cruelly, and even with a mocking twist? In the West, the opinion was expressed that the archetype of thinking of the Russian writer with his characteristic elements of moral rigorism was reflected here: “... a strong feeling of antipathy towards wealth... a thirst for ideal social justice, a longing for the equality of people.”
The “guilt” of the hero of Bunin’s story, of course, also social aspect: He acquired his wealth by mercilessly exploiting the unfortunate Chinese coolies. Bunin's prose is truly distinguished by a clear social-critical orientation. And in this story the theme of social contrasts is outlined very expressively. Pictures-visions of “hell”, “the bottom” of the hold, where, sweating, covered with soot, slaves work in the suffocating heat, so that “above”, “in paradise”, rich people from all over the world can have fun and enjoy all the exquisite pleasures that modern civilization has provided them, truly amaze the imagination. And at the end of the story, the circle of social justice is closed: the corpse of the gentleman from San Francisco is lowered into the same black hold, similar to “the underworld, its last, ninth circle” in the womb of the steamship.
But if the idea of the story boiled down to the fact that it is immoral to enjoy the fruits of the hard labor of workers, or to indignation at the rich who relax and enjoy life, while there are poor people on earth, it would, of course, be too primitive. The superficiality of such a reading is obvious; especially if you take a closer look at those “examples” from world history and culture that shine through the surface layer of an anecdotal “history” that is not without caustic gloating. First of all, this is a parallel with the Roman tyrant Tiberius, who once lived on the island of Capri, where the gentleman from San Francisco was destined to die: “On this island two thousand years ago there lived a man who was unspeakably vile in satisfying his lust and why “he had power over millions of people, inflicted cruelties on them beyond all measure, and humanity remembered him, and many, many from all over the world come to look at the remains of that stone house where he lived on one of the steepest slopes of the island.”
There lived in the world, although at different times, two people, powerful in this world (each, naturally, on its own scale), before whom everyone trembled and fawned, and nothing remained of them except the ruins of the magnificent palace of one of them. The name of one of them, Tiberius, has been preserved in human memory, thanks to his incredible cruelty and abomination. No one remembered the name of the gentleman from San Francisco. Obviously, because the scale of his abomination and cruelty is much more modest.
Even more significant is the ramified allusion to the great collapse of the pagan stronghold - Babylon. The epigraph to “Mr. from San Francisco” was taken (in an abbreviated version) from the words from “Apocalypse”: “Woe, woe to you, the great city of Babylon, the strong city! for in one hour your judgment will come” (Rev. 18:21). From this epigraph a hidden thread will stretch to the climactic moment of the death of the gentleman from San Francisco: “He quickly skimmed the titles of some articles, read a few lines about the never-ending Balkan war, turned the newspaper over with a familiar gesture - when suddenly the lines flashed before him with a glassy sheen, the neck he tensed up, his eyes bulged..." Just as suddenly, in the midst of the feast, fatal letters flashed on the wall and in the luxurious chambers of the Babylonian king Belshazzar, predicting his quick, sudden death: “Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin” (Dan. 5). In addition, in the reader’s imagination, based on the principle of additional associations, an allusion to the fall of the famous Tower of Babel arises. Moreover, the motif of the multilingualism of the inhabitants of “Atlantis”, like their ancient forefathers - the builders of the Tower of Babel, is dissolved in the stylistic fabric of the story.
The “guilt” of the gentleman from San Francisco is not that he is rich, but that he is confident that he “has the right” to all the best in this life, because he owns what he believes is the main wealth. And the sin of “covetousness” is one of the greatest, since it is a type of idolatry. A person suffering from the “love of money” violates the second commandment: “You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of it...” (Deut. 5:8). Thus, the theme of wealth, the entire ramified network of images, motifs and symbols, as well as the very stylistic fabric of the narrative in which it is embodied, gives rise in the reader’s imagination to associations with the pagan worship of the golden calf.
The life of the gentleman from San Francisco, as well as the passengers of the Atlantis, is indeed depicted in figurative system pagan world. Like a pagan god made of precious materials, the “rich man” himself from the New World, sitting “in the golden-pearl radiance ... of the palace”: “There was something Mongolian in his yellowish face with a trimmed silver mustache, his large teeth glittered with gold fillings , old ivory - a strong bald head." They serve him like an idol: “He was quite generous on the way 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 he, in accordance with the logic of a pagan’s worship of his idol, will be thrown into a landfill as soon as he stops fulfilling the wishes of his priests - giving money.
But the pagan world is dead, because it is devoid of spirituality. And the theme of death is literally dissolved in the stylistic fabric of the narrative. The gentleman from San Francisco is also dead: “In his soul a long time ago there was not even a mustard seed left of any so-called mystical feelings...” - this phrase evokes an allusion to the famous words of Christ about the “mustard seed of faith”, which “moves mountains.” In the soul of the gentleman from San Francisco there was not only faith the size of a “mustard seed” - not even a trace of elementary human intuition remained.
A man without a soul is a corpse. The motif of the deathly existence of the gentleman from San Francisco is dominant in the story. Until he was 58, he “worked hard” and did not live. And to enjoy life for him means getting high on “Havana cigars until your face turns red, getting drunk on “liqueurs in the bar” and admiring “living pictures in... dens.”
And here is a wonderful phrase: “Reassured by the fact that the dead old man from San Francisco, who was also planning to go with them... had already been sent to Naples, the travelers slept soundly...”. It turns out that a dead old man was planning to go along with the others to see the next sights?!
This motif of mixing the dead with the living will be heard in one of the final paragraphs of the story: “The body of the dead old man from San Francisco was returning home, to the grave, to the shores of the New World. Having experienced a lot of humiliation, a lot of human inattention, having spent a week wandering from one port shed to another, it finally found itself again on the same famous ship on which so recently, with such honor, it was transported to the Old World. But now they were hiding him from the living - they lowered him deep into a black hold in a tarred coffin.”
Bunin does not emphatically distinguish, but, on the contrary, confuses the use of the 3rd person personal pronoun - when it refers to a body, to a corpse, and when to a living person. And then the deep and, admittedly, eerie meaning of this passage will be revealed: it turns out that the gentleman from San Francisco was only a body even when he was traveling on a steamer (still alive!) to the Old World. The only difference is that then he was “carried with honor,” but now with complete neglect. The mystical meaning of the combination of words in the initial phrase of the paragraph is also revealed: “the body was returning home to the grave.” If at the level of a realistic reading the phrase home, to the grave is perceived separately (a corpse is a grave, a person is a house; the body will be buried in the person’s homeland, where he lived), then at the allegorical level everything closes in a logically inextricable circle: the corpse’s house is a grave. This is how the individual, smaller circle of the narrative closed: “they were taking him” to have fun, and now they are taking him home, to his grave.
But the gentleman from San Francisco is not an individual - he is one of many. That is why no name was given to him. A society of similar bodies gathered on “Atlantis” - a floating micro-model of modern civilization (“... the steamer... looked like a huge hotel with all the amenities - with a night bar, with oriental baths, with its own newspaper”). And the name of the liner also promises them a return home, to the grave. In the meantime, these bodies live in a world of eternal celebration, in a world flooded with bright light - gold and electricity, this double bright yellow lighting is symbolic: gold is a sign of wealth, electricity - scientific and technological progress. Wealth and technological progress are what gives power over the world to the inhabitants of Atlantis and ensures their limitless power. Bunin has these two levers of influence of modern masters of life on the world around us(ancient - Mammon, and modern - scientific and technological progress) acquire the meaning of pagan idols.
And life on the ship is depicted in the figurative system of the pagan world. “Atlantis” itself, with its “multi-storey bulk”, shining with “fiery countless eyes”, is like a huge pagan deity. There is here its own high priest and god at the same time - the captain (a red-haired man of “monstrous size and bulk”, similar “in his uniform with wide golden stripes to a huge idol... a giant commander, in full dress uniform, appeared on his bridge and, like a merciful pagan god, shook his hand at the passengers in greeting... an overweight driver, looking like a pagan idol"). Regularly governing this deathly ordered life, “the powerful, imperious hum of a gong sounds throughout all floors.” At a precisely set time, “loudly, as if in a pagan temple,” a gong sounds “throughout the whole house,” calling the inhabitants of “Atlantis” to their sacred rites, to that “which was the main goal of this entire existence, its crown” - to food
But the world of idols is dead. And the passengers of the Atlantis live according to the law of a herd controlled by someone: mechanically, as if performing a ritual, visiting the required attractions, having fun, as their kind “had a custom.” This world is soulless. And even “an elegant couple in love, whom everyone watched with curiosity and who did not hide their happiness,” was in fact “hired... to play at love for good money and has been sailing on one or another ship for a long time.” The only living soul here is the daughter of the gentleman from San Francisco. That’s probably why she was “slightly painful” - it’s always hard for a living soul among the dead.
And this world is illuminated by lifeless light - the radiance of gold and electricity (it is symbolic that, having begun to dress for his burial, the gentleman from San Francisco “lit electricity everywhere,” the light and brilliance of which was multiplied many times over by mirrors). For comparison, let us remember the amazing, unearthly sunlight in the story “ Sunstroke" It was the light of joy, unearthly bliss and happiness, and the color of passion and inhuman suffering - but it was the light of the sun. The passengers of the Atlantis hardly saw the sun (due to bad weather), and in any case, their main life takes place inside the ship, “in the golden-pearl glow” of the halls of the cabins and hall.
And here is a significant detail: on the pages of the story there is living sunlight (“And at dawn, when the window of number forty-three turned white and the humid wind rustled the torn leaves of a banana, when the blue morning sky rose and spread over the island of Capri and turned golden against the sun rising in the distant blue mountains of Italy, the clean and clear peak of Monte Solaro..." appears immediately after the glow of gold from the teeth of the gentleman from San Francisco, who, by the way, seemed to have outlived his owner, has faded: "The bluish, already dead face gradually froze , the hoarse bubbling sound escaping from the open mouth, illuminated by the reflection of gold, weakened. It was no longer the gentleman from San Francisco - he was no longer there - but someone else.”
At the end of the story, an animated symbol of the power of the modern “rich man” and the entire civilized world appears: “... a ship, multi-tiered, multi-tube, created by the pride of a New Man with an old heart. The blizzard beat against his rigging and wide-necked pipes, white with snow, but he was steadfast, firm, majestic and terrible. On his upper decks there is another ball, and in the dark depths his soul is hidden - “a gigantic shaft, like a living monster.”
Here the main “fault” of the gentleman from San Francisco and others like him is named - this is the pride of the New Man, who, thanks to the fantastic achievements of scientific and technological progress and his wealth, which made him the owner of these achievements, felt himself to be the absolute ruler of the world.
If the ancient rich man nevertheless understood that there are forces beyond his control and more powerful than him - these are, first of all, the elements of nature, then in the twentieth century, thanks to the achievements of civilization, a great illusion of his absolute omnipotence was born, and, accordingly, permissiveness.
But the only thing that remains beyond the control of the modern New Man is death. And every reminder of her causes panic horror here. Remarkable in this sense is the reaction of the Atlantis passengers to the death of the gentleman from San Francisco: “If there had not been a German in the reading room, the hotel would have quickly and deftly managed to hush up this terrible incident... and not a single soul of the guests would have known what he had done He. But the German burst out of the reading room screaming, alarming the whole house, the whole dining room...” After the phrase: “If there weren’t a German in the reading room...”, the reader unconsciously expects a continuation: if the German hadn’t been nearby, the gentleman from San Francisco would have been left without help. But the German, instead of running to the person who has become ill (a natural reaction to the misfortune of a “neighbor”, or at least one of his own kind?!), quickly runs out of the reading room. “Perhaps to call for help?” - the reader continues to hope. But no, of course. The turmoil is not caused by sadness (even if only a little) over the death of the “old man” (and they ate, drank, smoked, walked “together” for a month!), but by something completely different: an animal fear of death, on the one hand, and the desire to hush up this “trouble,” on the other.
It is paradoxical, but at the same time quite logical, that these omnipotent masters of life are afraid of death, although they already exist in a state of mental death!
The world of modern civilization is like an ancient pagan temple. It is in this sense, Bunin notes, as if in passing, that the modern New Man has an old heart. This is the same heart, filled with pride and thirst for sensual pleasures, that has been with all the powerful of this world since time immemorial. Only over many millennia has it completely worn out. And the kingdom of the modern New Man faces the same end as ancient Babylon. Punishment will overtake him for his pride and debauchery, as it once did for the builders of the Tower of Babel and the Babylonian king Belshazzar. And finally, Babylon will fall before the second coming of Christ, as it is said in the Apocalypse - the allegorical stronghold of the kingdom of the Antichrist. This is how the modern parallel, civilization, realizes itself at the subtext level.
And just as the ancient pagan world opposed the One God, so modern world tramples on the values of Christianity. This existential, and not just social and moral, “guilt” of the hero and those others to whom he is similar is indicated on the very first page of the story. The intended route of the gentleman from San Francisco is very significant: “In December and January, he hoped to enjoy the sun of Southern Italy, ancient monuments, tarantella and serenades of wandering singers and what people at his age feel especially subtly - the love of young Neapolitan women, even and not entirely selfless; he thought of holding the carnival in Nice, in Monte Carlo, where at this time the most selective society flocks, where some enthusiastically indulge in automobile and sailing races, others in roulette, others in what is commonly called flirting, and others in shooting pigeons, which they soar very beautifully from the cages over the emerald lawn, against the backdrop of a sea the color of forget-me-nots, and immediately hit the ground with white lumps; he wanted to devote the beginning of March to Florence, to come to Rome for the Passion of the Lord to listen to “Miserere” there; His plans included Venice, and Paris, and a bullfight in Seville, and swimming in the English islands, and Athens, and Constantinople, and Palestine, and Egypt, and even Japan - of course, already on the way back...”
When planning his trip, the gentleman from San Francisco, as it were, “skims the cream” from everything wonderful that is in the world: a carnival, of course, in Nice, a bullfight in Seville, swimming on the shores of Albion, etc. He is convinced that that has the right to all the best in this life. And so, among the entertainment of the highest class, along with flirting, selfless love of young Neapolitan women, roulette, carnival and pigeon shooting, there is the Good Friday Mass... For it, of course, you need to be in Rome in time, the best Good Friday Mass, of course , in Rome. But this is the service of the most tragic day for all humanity and the universe, when the Lord suffered and died for us on the Cross!
In the same way, “someone’s removal from the cross, certainly famous,” will be in the daily routine of the Atlantis passengers between two breakfasts. It’s wonderful that this is “someone’s”! Bunin again emphatically confuses two meanings - who is being filmed or who is the author of the picture? The tourists of Atlantis, apparently, are as indifferent to who painted the picture as they are to Whom they take down from the Cross - what matters is that they were and saw. Anyone, even a relatively religious person, will feel blasphemy in this.
And retribution for this existential blasphemy will not slow down. It is over him, over the all-powerful gentleman from San Francisco that one should sing “Miserere” (“Have mercy”), for he, who planned to be in time for the Mass of the Passion of the Lord in Rome, will not live to see Christmas. And by the time everything good people will offer “naive and humbly joyful praises to the sun, to the morning, to her, the immaculate intercessor of all those who suffer in this evil and beautiful world, and to the one born from her womb in the cave of Bethlehem, in a poor shepherd’s shelter, in the distant land of Judah,” - Mr. San Francisco will shake “its dead head in a soda box.” He will hear a mass, but not to the Crucified One, but a funeral mass for himself and not in Rome, but when, already in a coffin, in the black hold of a ship, he returns from the Old World to the New. And the mass will be celebrated in a furious ocean blizzard.
The choice of two main Christian holidays, Easter and Christmas, as the temporary limits of the hero’s life and death is symbolic: the system of Christian values seems to push the gentleman from San Francisco out of life.
Images of the history and culture of the Ancient World, from antiquity and the Old Testament (Vesuvius, Tiberius, Atlantis, Babylon), appear quite clearly on the artistic fabric of the story, and they predict the death of the old civilization. This mythological highlight is sarcastic: the passengers of the liner live in an eternal holiday, as if not noticing the name of their ship; they walk happily at the foot of the smoking Vesuvius and Etna, as if forgetting about the countless eruptions that claimed the lives of thousands of people... But the complex of Christian allusions is much less obvious: it seems to highlight the narrative from the depths of the subtext. But it is Christian images and motives that play a leading role in solving moral and philosophical problems.
And both cultural and religious figurative complexes of allusions will unite in the mystical final chord of the story: The Devil will open his face, fixing his fiery gaze on a huge ship - the personification of the dead world of the old civilization, mired in sin: “Countless fiery eyes The ships were barely visible behind the snow to the Devil, who was watching from the rocks of Gibraltar, from the rocky gates of two worlds, the ship leaving into the night and blizzard. The devil was huge, like a cliff, but the ship was huge too...” The old world, armed with the powerful means of modern scientific and technological progress, desperately resists (just as the gentleman from San Francisco resisted his death with all the animal forces of nature), but in confronting the Devil he is, of course, doomed.
What is the meaning of this terrible mystical-transcendental confrontation?
Let us pay attention, first of all, to the fact that the ship is shown here at the point of intersection of three views. “To one who looked ... from the island” (this is an objective view), “its lights were sad,” and the steamer seemed like a small luminous point in the darkness and gloom, surrounded by a black water mass of the ocean, which was about to swallow it. “But there, on the ship, in the bright halls shining with chandeliers, there was, as usual, a crowded ball,” - from such a (subjective) perspective, the whole world is flooded with the joyful glow of the holiday (gold and electricity), and about the mortal threat, and even more so imminent death, no one suspects.
The overlap of these two perspectives, from the outside and from the inside, gives a meaning that is amazing in the depth of comprehension of the fate of modern civilization: the powers that be live in a feeling of eternal celebration, not knowing that they are doomed. Moreover, the motive of fatal ignorance about the true meaning of what is happening, a certain secret, ugly and gloomy, reaches its culmination in the final lines: “And no one knew either that this couple had long been tired of pretending to suffer their blissful torment to the shamelessly sad music, or that , which stands deep, deep below them, at the bottom of the dark hold, in the vicinity of the gloomy and sultry bowels of the ship, which was heavily overcome by the darkness, the ocean, the blizzard...” And there stood, as we know, a coffin with a corpse.
In addition to the crossing of two perspectives at the level of “real life,” there is a third, mystical one, the Devil’s gaze directed at “Atlantis,” as if dragging it into a black hole. But here’s the paradox: he destroys his own creation, the stronghold of his own will! Yes, that's right. Because the Devil cannot do anything other than put to death. He destroys his own with every right.
It is generally accepted that Bunin is characterized by an atheistic worldview, which was later transformed into a philosophy of pantheism, that is, essentially pagan. However, the story “Mr. from San Francisco”, I think, convincingly refutes this popular opinion. This small masterpiece embodies the concept of history, in which the fate of human civilization is comprehended from the point of view of Christian moral and spiritual values, and the evangelical reminiscent background provides that reference point of truth, from the height of which the author comprehends the meaning of the events taking place.
.
