Analysis of the work in Rasputin's French lessons. Rasputin “French Lessons” - analysis of the work. The moral significance of V. Rasputin’s story “French Lessons”
French lessons analysis of a work according to plan
1. History of creation. “French Lessons” is an autobiographical story by V. G. Rasputin, who described real episodes from his difficult childhood: leaving the village, half-starved study, difficulties in mastering the French language.
The prototype of the teacher was the future writer’s class teacher, Lidia Mikhailovna Molokova. In a letter to the staff of the Ust-Udinsk Museum, she admitted that she did not send the boy a parcel with pasta.
While creating the image of an ideal teacher, Rasputin deviated slightly from the truth. The story was first published in Soviet Youth (1973). Rasputin dedicated it to A. Vampilov’s mother, Anastasia Prokopyevna Kopylova.
2. The meaning of the name. At school, Valentin Grigorievich really had great difficulty with French pronunciation. This problem stuck with him for many years.
In a broader sense, “French lessons” symbolize the boy’s struggle for survival: constant hunger, missing potatoes, an unexpected beating for the truth. The lessons are hard, but not in vain. Each new blow of fate makes the boy stronger.
3. Theme. The central theme of the story is the relationship between the child and the teacher. Moving to the regional center became a difficult test for the main character. At the age of eleven, the boy began an independent life. Difficulties with nutrition were aggravated by shame for his unsightly appearance: “a washed-out jacket,” “pants altered from his father’s riding breeches,” “teal” (peasant shoes made from one piece of leather).
Unlike other boys, the main character plays for money only to buy milk. It is no coincidence that the French teacher pays special attention to the poor but very gifted boy. He is amazed that instead of punishing him for playing chica, she first asks him not to play anymore, and then prescribes additional lessons. The class teacher does her best to help the child and make him believe in himself. The woman does this very carefully, without in any way infringing on the child’s pride.
Homeschooling is just an excuse (“there were so many guys who spoke French no better than me”). The teacher is trying to “stir up” a timid and shy boy. Despite his hunger, the main character flatly refuses to eat. The parcel was the first and only rash step of the teacher. She didn’t even imagine that there was never any pasta in the village.
The woman goes to extreme measures, starting to play “measures” with the student for money. The boy is easily deceived and spends his “honest winnings” on milk. The sudden appearance of Vasily Andreevich in the midst of the game leads to the dismissal and departure of the teacher. The director regarded her actions as “Crime. Corruption. Seduction.” The class teacher, of course, did not explain the reasons for her action. It is enough for her to know that when he grows up, the boy will understand everything and will be grateful to her for this deception.
4. Issues. The main problem of the story is a difficult post-war childhood. The Great Patriotic War claimed the lives of millions of men. The main burden fell on the shoulders of women. The main character's mother is struggling to feed her three children (the writer's father received a long sentence for losing government money). Sending her eldest son to the regional center, she hopes that education will allow him to “get out among the people” and live a normal life. The boy is literally on the verge of survival. A whole generation of Soviet children had similar fates. Some, naturally, gave up and gave up, but the majority overcame all difficulties and persistently moved towards their intended goal.
Composition
History of creation
“I am sure that what makes a person a writer is his childhood, the ability at an early age to see and feel everything that then gives him the right to take up the pen. Education, books, life experience nurture and strengthen this gift in the future, but it should be born in childhood,” wrote Valentin Grigoryevich Rasputin in 1974 in the Irkutsk newspaper “Soviet Youth.” In 1973, one of Rasputin’s best stories, “French Lessons,” was published. The writer himself singles it out among his works: “I didn’t have to invent anything there. Everything happened to me. I didn't have to go far to get the prototype. I needed to return to people the good that they did for me in their time.”
Rasputin's story "French Lessons" is dedicated to Anastasia Prokopyevna Kopylova, the mother of his friend, the famous playwright Alexander Vampilov, who worked at school all her life. The story was based on a memory of a child’s life; it, according to the writer, “was one of those that warms even with a slight touch.”
The story is autobiographical. Lydia Mikhailovna is named in the work by her own name (her last name is Molokova). In 1997, the writer, in a conversation with a correspondent of the magazine “Literature at School,” talked about meetings with her: “I recently visited me, and she and I long and desperately remembered our school, and the Angarsk village of Ust-Uda almost half a century ago, and a lot from that difficult and happy time.”
Genre, genre, creative method
The work “French Lessons” is written in the short story genre. The heyday of the Russian Soviet story occurred in the twenties (Babel, Ivanov, Zoshchenko) and then the sixties and seventies (Kazakov, Shukshin, etc.) years. The story reacts more quickly to changes in social life than other prose genres, since it is written faster.
The story can be considered the oldest and first of the literary genres. A brief retelling of an event - a hunting incident, a duel with an enemy, etc. - is already an oral story. Unlike other kinds and types of art, which are conventional in their essence, storytelling is inherent in humanity, having arisen simultaneously with speech and being not only the transfer of information, but also a means of social memory. The story is the original form of literary organization of language. A story is considered to be a completed prose work of up to forty-five pages. This is an approximate value - two author's sheets. Such a thing is read “in one breath.”
Rasputin's story “French Lessons” is a realistic work written in the first person. It can fully be considered an autobiographical story.
Subjects
“It’s strange: why do we, just like before our parents, always feel guilty before our teachers? And not for what happened at school, no, but for what happened to us.” This is how the writer begins his story “French Lessons”. Thus, he defines the main themes of the work: the relationship between teacher and student, the depiction of life illuminated by spiritual and moral meaning, the formation of the hero, his acquisition of spiritual experience in communication with Lydia Mikhailovna. French lessons and communication with Lydia Mikhailovna became life lessons for the hero and the education of feelings.
From a pedagogical point of view, a teacher playing for money with her student is an immoral act. But what is behind this action? - asks the writer. Seeing that the schoolboy (during the hungry post-war years) was malnourished, the French teacher, under the guise of additional classes, invites him to her home and tries to feed him. She sends him packages as if from her mother. But the boy refuses. The teacher offers to play for money and, naturally, “loses” so that the boy can buy milk for himself with these pennies. And she’s happy that she succeeds in this deception.
The idea of the story lies in the words of Rasputin: “The reader learns from books not life, but feelings. Literature, in my opinion, is, first of all, the education of feelings. And above all kindness, purity, nobility.” These words directly relate to the story “French Lessons”.
Main characters
The main characters of the story are an eleven-year-old boy and a French teacher, Lidia Mikhailovna.
Lydia Mikhailovna was no more than twenty-five years old and “there was no cruelty in her face.” She treated the boy with understanding and sympathy, and appreciated his determination. She recognized her student's remarkable learning abilities and was ready to help them develop in any way possible. Lydia Mikhailovna is endowed with an extraordinary capacity for compassion and kindness, for which she suffered, losing her job.
The boy amazes with his determination and desire to learn and get out into the world under any circumstances. The story about the boy can be presented in the form of a quotation plan:
1. “In order to study further... and I had to equip myself in the regional center.”
2. “I studied well here too... in all subjects except French, I got straight A’s.”
3. “I felt so bad, so bitter and hateful! “worse than any disease.”
4. “Having received it (the ruble), ... I bought a jar of milk at the market.”
5. “They beat me in turns... there was no more unhappy person that day than me.”
6. “I was scared and lost... she seemed to me like an extraordinary person, not like everyone else.”
Plot and composition
“I went to fifth grade in 1948. It would be more correct to say, I went: in our village there was only an elementary school, so in order to study further, I had to travel from home fifty kilometers to the regional center.” For the first time, due to circumstances, an eleven-year-old boy is torn away from his family, torn from his usual surroundings. However, the little hero understands that the hopes of not only his relatives, but also the entire village are placed on him: after all, according to the unanimous opinion of his fellow villagers, he is called to be a “learned man.” The hero makes every effort, overcoming hunger and homesickness, so as not to let his fellow countrymen down.
A young teacher approached the boy with special understanding. She began to additionally study French with the hero, hoping to feed him at home. Pride did not allow the boy to accept help from a stranger. Lydia Mikhailovna’s idea with the parcel was not crowned with success. The teacher filled it with “city” products and thereby gave herself away. Looking for a way to help the boy, the teacher invites him to play wall game for money.
The climax of the story comes after the teacher begins to play wall games with the boy. The paradoxical nature of the situation sharpens the story to the limit. The teacher could not help but know that at that time such a relationship between a teacher and a student could lead not only to dismissal from work, but also to criminal liability. The boy did not fully understand this. But when trouble did happen, he began to understand the teacher’s behavior more deeply. And this led him to realize some aspects of life at that time.
The ending of the story is almost melodramatic. The package with Antonov apples, which he, a resident of Siberia, had never tried, seemed to echo the first, unsuccessful package with city food - pasta. More and more new touches are preparing this ending, which turned out to be not at all unexpected. In the story, the heart of a distrustful village boy opens up to the purity of a young teacher. The story is surprisingly modern. It contains the great courage of a little woman, the insight of a closed, ignorant child, and the lessons of humanity.
Artistic originality
With wise humor, kindness, humanity, and most importantly, with complete psychological accuracy, the writer describes the relationship between a hungry student and a young teacher. The narrative flows slowly, with everyday details, but its rhythm imperceptibly captures it.
The language of the narrative is simple and at the same time expressive. The writer skillfully used phraseological units, achieving expressiveness and imagery of the work. Phraseologisms in the story “French Lessons” mostly express one concept and are characterized by a certain meaning, which is often equal to the meaning of the word:
“I studied well here too. What was left for me? Then I came here, I had no other business here, and I didn’t yet know how to take care of what was entrusted to me” (lazyly).
“I had never seen a bird at school before, but looking ahead, I’ll say that in the third quarter it suddenly fell on our class out of the blue” (unexpectedly).
“Hunging and knowing that my grub would not last long, no matter how much I saved it, I ate until I was full, until my stomach hurt, and then after a day or two I put my teeth back on the shelf” (fast).
“But there was no point in locking myself away, Tishkin managed to sell me whole” (betray).
One of the features of the story’s language is the presence of regional words and outdated vocabulary characteristic of the time the story takes place. For example:
Housing - renting an apartment.
A lorry is a truck with a carrying capacity of 1.5 tons.
A teahouse is a type of public canteen where visitors are offered tea and snacks.
Toss - to sip.
Naked boiling water is clean, without impurities.
To blather - to chat, talk.
To bale is to hit lightly.
Khluzda is a rogue, a deceiver, a cheater.
Hiding is something that is hidden.
Meaning of the work
The works of V. Rasputin invariably attract readers, because next to the everyday, everyday things in the writer’s works there are always spiritual values, moral laws, unique characters, and the complex, sometimes contradictory, inner world of the heroes. The author's thoughts about life, about man, about nature help us discover inexhaustible reserves of goodness and beauty in ourselves and in the world around us.
In difficult times, the main character of the story had to learn. The post-war years were a kind of test not only for adults, but also for children, because both good and bad in childhood are perceived much brighter and more acutely. But difficulties strengthen character, so the main character often displays such qualities as willpower, pride, a sense of proportion, endurance, and determination.
Many years later, Rasputin will again turn to the events of long ago. “Now that quite a large part of my life has been lived, I want to reflect and understand how correctly and usefully I spent it. I have many friends who are always ready to help, I have something to remember. Now I understand that my closest friend is my former teacher, a French teacher. Yes, decades later I remember her as a true friend, the only person who understood me while studying at school. And even years later, when we met, she showed me a gesture of attention, sending me apples and pasta, as before. And no matter who I am, no matter what depends on me, she will always treat me only as a student, because for her I was, am and will always remain a student. Now I remember how then, taking the blame upon herself, she left school, and at parting she said to me: “Study well and don’t blame yourself for anything!” By doing this, she taught me a lesson and showed me how a real good person should act. It’s not without reason that they say: a school teacher is a teacher of life.”
Rasputin's story “French Lessons” is a work where the author depicted a short period in the life of a village boy who was born into a poor family where hunger and cold were commonplace. Having familiarized ourselves with Rasputin’s work “French Lessons” and his, we see that the writer touches on the problem of rural residents who have to adapt to city life, the hard life in the post-war years is also touched upon, the author also showed relationships in the team, and also, and this is probably the main thought and idea of this work, the author showed the fine line between such concepts as immorality and morality.
Heroes of Rasputin's story "French Lessons"
The heroes of Rasputin's story “French Lessons” are a French teacher and an eleven-year-old boy. It is around these characters that the plot of the entire work is built. The author talks about a boy who had to leave for the city to continue his school education, since in the village there was school only up to the fourth grade. Due to this, the child had to leave his parents’ nest early and survive on his own.
Of course, he lived with his aunt, but that didn’t make it any easier. The aunt and her children ate the guy. They ate food donated by the boy's mother, which was already in short supply. Because of this, the child did not eat enough and the feeling of hunger haunted him constantly, so he contacted a group of boys who played the game for money. To earn money, he also decides to play with them and begins to win, becoming the best player, for which he paid for it one fine day.
Here teacher Lidia Mikhailovna comes to the rescue, she saw that the child was playing because of his position, playing in order to survive. The teacher invites the student to study French at home. Under the guise of improving his knowledge on this subject, the teacher decided to feed the student in this way, but the boy refused the treats, because he was proud. He also refused the parcel of pasta, having seen through the teacher’s plan. And then the teacher uses a trick. A woman invites a student to play a game for money. And here we see a fine line between moral and immoral. On the one hand, this is bad and terrible, but on the other hand, we see a good deed, because the goal of this game is not to get rich at the expense of the child, but to help him, the opportunity to fairly and honestly earn money with which the boy would buy food.
Rasputin's teacher in the work "French Lessons" sacrifices her reputation and work, just by deciding to selflessly help, and this is the culmination of the work. She lost her job because the director caught her and a student gambling for money. Could he have acted differently? No, because he saw an immoral act without understanding the details. Could the teacher have acted differently? No, because she really wanted to save the child from starvation. Moreover, she did not forget about her student in her homeland, sending from there a box of apples, which the child had only seen in pictures.
Rasputin “French Lessons” brief analysis
Having read Rasputin’s work “French Lessons” and analyzing it, we understand that here we are talking not so much about school lessons in French, but rather that the author teaches us kindness, sensitivity, and empathy. The author showed, using the example of the teacher from the story, what a teacher should really be like and this is not only a person who gives children knowledge, but also who instills in us sincere, noble feelings and actions.
Analysis of the work
Valentin Rasputin became known to a wide circle of readers as a “village” writer. He is primarily interested not in the innovations of our life, but in the ancient, primordially Russian, deep things that are leaving our lives.
But besides this, he also depicted the hardships that fell on the shoulders of the peasants, which could not but affect the destinies of children. In the story “French Lessons,” Rasputin describes the difficult, half-starved life of a village boy. His mother tries her best to educate him. At eleven years old
His independent life begins.
And although he studies very well, hunger remains his constant companion. He lost so much weight that even his mother was afraid of him. He understands perfectly well that it is not easy for her, so he hides the hardships of his life from her and tries not to upset her with complaints. He knows perfectly well the value of money, the price of each mother's parcel.
Such a small man, not yet psychologically strong, nevertheless has a tough inner core that does not allow him to break under the blows of fate. He proudly and steadfastly endures hunger and rejects the help of teacher Lydia Mikhailovna. He endures
Humiliation from Chiku players. This game one day becomes his only hope for survival.
But the cruelty of his peers forces him to leave the field of play.
Lidia Mikhailovna helps him out. French lessons are moved from school to her home. And here the teacher herself invites the boy to play. She understands perfectly well that the little proud man will never accept her gifts.
Therefore, she gives him the opportunity to earn them honestly, to win. It is with this thought that he calms himself down, taking the money. Young, but already wise and shrewd, she first plays along with the boy, and then, realizing how this offends him, she begins to cheat right before his eyes. This convinces him that the money he earned is honest. “I immediately completely forgot that just yesterday Lydia Mikhailovna tried to play along with me, and I only made sure that she did not deceive me.
Well well! It’s called Lidia Mikhailovna.”
Thus, French lessons will become lessons of kindness and generosity, although not appreciated or understood. The ending of the work is sad. Lidia Mikhailovna is fired and leaves for her homeland. But even there she does not forget about her student, sends him a parcel with pasta, and at the bottom there are, as the boy guesses, three apples.
Sadness creeps into the final lines: the boy had seen them before only in the picture.
Rasputin thinks about the fate of children who have taken on their fragile shoulders the heavy burden of the era of coups, wars and revolutions. But, nevertheless, there is kindness in the world that can overcome all difficulties. Belief in the bright ideal of kindness is a characteristic feature of Rasputin’s works.
Plan
1. A village boy comes to school. He studies well.
2. Due to his poor existence and constant hunger, he begins to gamble for money. He is beaten for his luck in the game.
3. Teacher Lidia Mikhailovna forces him to study French additionally.
4. At her house they start playing for money. The boy again has money for food.
5. The director catches them playing one of the games. This ends with the dismissal of Lydia Mikhailovna.
Research work on the topic: “French Lessons” by Valentina Rasputin The authors of the project are 5th grade student Diana Kharartiya and Svetlana Marysheva supervisor: Valentina Ivanovna Shubunova. State budgetary educational institution secondary school No. 422, Kronstadt district of St. Petersburg
Object of study: V. Rasputin’s story “French Lessons” Topic: “Lessons of kindness in the story.” Goal: To show that lessons in kindness can help overcome difficulties. Objectives: study and analyze literature on the topic.
Chapter I. Who is Valentin Rasputin? Our task: to get to know the writer. Valentin Grigorievich Rasputin is a Russian writer, prose writer, representative of “village prose”, as well as a Hero of Socialist Labor. Rasputin was born on March 15, 1937 into a peasant family in the village of Atalanka (Irkutsk region). His childhood was spent in the village, where he went to primary school. He continued his studies 50 km from home, where the nearest secondary school was. He later wrote the story “French Lessons” about this period of study.
Chapter II. The difficult life of the main character after the war. At the age of 11, the hero’s independent life began, as his mother sent him to study in the city in the 5th grade. Life was difficult in a foreign city, where he felt lonely and unnecessary: “...I felt so bad, so bitter and hateful! “worse than any disease.” Melancholy and hunger fell upon the boy, and we will look at how the hero dealt with them in the following chapters.
Chapter III. Analysis of the episode “The Game of Chica” Hunger made the boy think about how he could get money, and he began to play “chica”. The hero treated the game as the only way he could earn money for milk. For him this game was not fun.
Analyzing the first day of the game, we conclude that the boy was kind, smart and naive. He won a ruble, believing that he would have enough for milk, and left. This happened several times until the players beat him for allowing himself to beat them... It is clear that the hero feels resentment and pain from human injustice.
Chapter IV. Analysis of the episode “French Lessons” The French teacher, Lidia Mikhailovna, having learned about the student’s troubles, decided to help him, but he refused. Then she offered classes in French, which he was not good at. Every time after the lesson she gave the boy a treat, but he refused...
Lidia Mikhailovna decides to play “measures” with her student for money, deliberately losing to him. It ended with the school director finding out about this and firing the teacher. We thought: why did the teacher decide to teach the boy? It seems to us that she understood what kind of child was in front of her: serious, defenseless, smart, but his studies are hampered by a feeling of constant hunger and homesickness: “... you definitely need to study... how many well-fed loafers we have at school, and you are capable “You shouldn’t leave school…” we wondered if the main character understood that the teacher treated him kindly and, losing a ruble, wanted to help in any way.
The teacher’s spiritual generosity played a big role in the teenager’s life. Some time later, the teacher sent the former student a parcel with apples and pasta. Conclusion. Lessons in kindness. Of course, not to remind us of ourselves, but again – to help. And the hero of the story, it seems to us, was able to understand the true meaning of the game and French lessons - this is kindness.
The story “French Lessons” by Valentin Rasputin teaches a person compassion and the desire for knowledge. In the text, the author clearly showed that the main character learns important life lessons and faces dishonesty and injustice. What was inherent in him from birth receives its development - the moral fortitude of the hero. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
