From birth, a person is among people. He grows, matures, becomes part of this very society. Since a person constantly communicates with people, moves in his circle, he depends on society, which shapes his character, worldview, lifestyle, and habits. It’s not for nothing that people say: “Whoever you mess with, that’s how you’ll gain.”
Russian writers often reflected on this topic in their works.
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The interaction between man and society is clearly shown in the story “Mr. from San Francisco” by I.A. Bunina
Events begin on a huge white ship with the catchy name “Atlantis”, which sets off to travel from America to Europe. Rich people have fun, sleep, eat, pretend to live. The entire narrative is based on contrast: a sparkling festive deck and a black, rumbling hold. Thanks to this technique, the writer shows the striking gap between those who work and those who use these works. There is practically no plot. During the trip, a rich tourist dies, who would like to live and live. A gentleman from San Francisco has died. The author does not give him a name, the reader knows little about his past. The goal of his entire previous life: to become as rich as possible, he spared neither his strength nor the strength of his many workers. Even going to Europe for two years, he cannot make a travel plan himself. He simply borrows from those he wants to follow as an example. The voyage does not bring much pleasure. But the rich tourist carries out a clearly defined plan. Only life makes its own adjustments. The American has never thought about the transience of life, and therefore death comes at the most inopportune moment. At the very moment when the gentleman dreams of earthly things: a delicious dinner, oh beautiful girl, about money.
What about the people around him on this luxurious journey? For them, this millionaire is no longer a person from their circle. This is just an unpleasant incident that ruined their long-awaited vacation. A soulless society, for which only money has value, is incapable of empathy. The way back home is far from the pomp with which the gentleman set off on his long journey. He is secretly sent from the island not in a coffin, but in an ordinary soda box. We need to get rid of this problem quickly. Thus, the author shows that from false power to insignificance is one moment.
If people are obsessed with ideas of wealth and power, then society becomes unhealthy. Therefore, only through self-improvement can the world around us be made better.
Updated: 2018-10-07
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Bunin’s story “Mr. from San Francisco” tells the story of how everything is devalued before the fact of death. Human life is subject to decay, it is too short to be wasted in vain, and the main idea of this instructive story is to understand the essence of human existence. The meaning of life for the hero of this story lies in his confidence that he can buy everything with his existing wealth, but fate decided otherwise. We offer an analysis of the work “Mr. from San Francisco” according to plan; the material will be useful in preparing for the Unified State Exam in literature in 11th grade.
Brief Analysis
Year of writing– 1915
History of creation– In a store window, Bunin accidentally noticed the cover of Thomas Mann’s book “Death in Venice”, this was the impetus for writing the story.
Subject– The opposites that surround a person everywhere are the main theme of the work - life and death, wealth and poverty, power and insignificance. All this reflects the philosophy of the author himself.
Composition– The problematics of “Mr. from San Francisco” contain both a philosophical and socio-political character. The author reflects on the frailty of existence, on man’s attitude to spiritual and material values, from the point of view of various strata of society. The plot of the story begins with the master's journey, the climax is his unexpected death, and in the denouement of the story the author reflects on the future of humanity.
Genre– A story that is a meaningful parable.
Direction– Realism. Bunin's story takes on a deep philosophical meaning.
History of creation
The history of the creation of Bunin's story dates back to 1915, when he saw the cover of a book by Thomas Mann. After that, he was visiting his sister, he remembered the cover, for some reason it evoked an association in him with the death of one of the American vacationers, which happened during a vacation in Capri. Immediately a sudden decision came to him to describe this incident, which he did as quickly as possible. short term– the story was written in just four days. With the exception of the deceased American, all other facts in the story are completely fictitious.
Subject
In “The Gentleman from San Francisco,” an analysis of the work allows us to highlight the main idea of the story, which consists of the author’s philosophical reflections on the meaning of life, on the essence of being.
Critics were enthusiastic about the work of the Russian writer, interpreting the essence of the philosophical story in their own way. Theme of the story- life and death, poverty and luxury, in the description of this hero, who lived his life in vain, reflects the worldview of the entire society, divided into classes. High society with everything material assets Those who have the opportunity to buy everything that is on sale do not have the most important thing - spiritual values.
On the ship, the dancing couple, depicting sincere happiness, is also fake. These are actors who were bought to play love. There is nothing real, everything is artificial and feigned, everything is purchased. And the people themselves are false and hypocritical, they are faceless, which is what meaning of the name this story.
And the master has no name, his life is aimless and empty, he does not bring any benefit, he only uses the benefits created by representatives of another, lower class. He dreamed of buying everything he could, but he didn’t have time; fate had its own way and took his life. When he dies, no one remembers him; he only causes inconvenience to those around him, including his family.
The point is that he died - and that’s it, he doesn’t need any wealth, luxury, power or honor. He doesn't care where he lies - in a luxurious inlaid coffin, or in a simple soda box. His life was in vain, he did not experience real, sincere human feelings, did not know love and happiness in the worship of the golden calf.
Composition
The narrative of the story is divided into two parts: how a gentleman sails on a ship to the coast of Italy, and the journey of the same gentleman back, on the same ship, only in a coffin.
In the first part, the hero enjoys all the possible benefits that money can buy, he has all the best: a hotel room, gourmet dishes, and all the other delights of life. The gentleman has so much money that he planned a trip for two years, together with his family, his wife and daughter, who also do not deny themselves anything.
But after the climax, when the hero suffers sudden death, everything changes dramatically. The hotel owner does not even allow the gentleman’s corpse to be placed in his room, having allocated the cheapest and most inconspicuous one for this purpose. There is not even a decent coffin in which to place the gentleman, and he is placed in an ordinary box, which is a container for some kind of food. On the ship, where the gentleman was blissfully on deck among high society, his place is only in the dark hold.
Main characters
Genre
“Mr. from San Francisco” can be briefly described as genre story ah, but this story is filled with deep philosophical content, and differs from other Bunin works. Usually, Bunin's stories contain a description of nature and natural phenomena, striking in its liveliness and realism.
In the same work there is main character, around which the conflict of this story is tied. Its content makes you think about the problems of society, about its degradation, which has turned into a soulless, mercantile being who worships only one idol - money, and has renounced everything spiritual.
The whole story is subordinated philosophical direction, and in plot-wise- This is an instructive parable that gives a lesson to the reader. Injustice class society, where the lower part of the population languishes in poverty, and the cream of high society waste their lives senselessly, all this, in the end, leads to a single ending, and in the face of death, everyone is equal, both poor and rich, and no amount of money can buy it off.
Bunin's story "Mr. from San Francisco" is rightfully considered one of the most outstanding works in his work.
Work test
Rating Analysis
Average rating: 4.6. Total ratings received: 799.
Composition
This year, in a Russian literature lesson, I became acquainted with Ivan Alekseevich Bunin’s story “Mr. from San Francisco,” in which the writer describes tragic fate a gentleman whose name no one remembers. The author in the story shows the world of callousness, vulgarity, lies, the world of wealth for some and humiliation for others. Bunin describes pictures of people's lives as they really are. Using the example of the gentleman from San Francisco, the writer wants to show that those people who strive only for wealth, for making capital, who want everyone to obey them, who do not care about the poor people who serve them and the whole world are insignificant. Bunin has a negative attitude towards his main character. This is clear from the very first lines, from the fact that the hero has no name. “A gentleman from San Francisco - no one remembered his name either in Naples or Capri...” writes the author. This man devoted his entire life to accumulating money, never stopping working until his old age. And only at the age of fifty-eight did he decide to travel for fun. Outwardly, he looks very significant, rich, but inside, in his soul, he has emptiness.
The rich gentleman travels on the steamship Atlantis, where “the most selective society is located, the same one on which all the benefits of civilization depend: the style of tuxedos, the strength of thrones, the declaration of war, and the well-being of hotels.” These people are carefree, they have fun, dance, eat, drink, smoke, dress beautifully, but their life is boring, sketchy, uninteresting. Every day is similar to the previous one. Their life is like a diagram where hours and minutes are planned and scheduled. Bunin's heroes are spiritually poor and narrow-minded. They were created only to enjoy food, dress, celebrate, and have fun. Their world is artificial, but they like it, and they live in it with pleasure. Even a special couple of young people were hired on the ship for a lot of money, who played lovers in order to amuse and surprise rich gentlemen, and who had long been tired of this game. “And no one knew that this couple had long been bored with pretending to suffer their blissful torment to shamelessly sad music...”
The only real thing in the artificial world was the nascent feeling of love for the young prince in the daughter of a gentleman from San Francisco.
The ship on which these people are sailing consists of two floors. The top floor is dominated by the rich, who believe that they have the right to everything, that everything is allowed to them, and on the bottom floor the stokers work until exhaustion, dirty, naked to the waist, crimson from the flames. Bunin shows us the split of the world into two parts, where some are allowed everything, and others are allowed nothing, and the symbol of this world is the steamship Atlantis.
The world of millionaires is insignificant and selfish. These people are always looking for benefits for themselves, so that they alone can feel good, but they never think about the people who surround them. They are arrogant and try to avoid people of lower rank, treating them with disdain, although ragged people will faithfully serve them for a pittance. This is how Bunin describes the cynicism of the gentleman from San Francisco: “And when the Atlantis finally entered the harbor, rolled onto the embankment with its multi-story bulk, dotted with people, and the gangway rumbled, how many porters and their assistants in caps with gold braid, how many different commission agents, whistling boys and hefty ragamuffins with packs of colored postcards in their hands rushed to meet him offering services! And he grinned at these ragamuffins, and calmly said through his teeth, either in English or in Italian: “Get out!” Away!"".
A gentleman from San Francisco travels around different countries, but he has no sense of admiration for beauty, he is not interested in visiting the sights, museums, churches. All his feelings are reduced to eating well and relaxing, relaxing in a chair.
When a gentleman from San Francisco dies, suddenly feeling some kind of illness, the entire society of millionaires became agitated, feeling disgust for the deceased, because he disturbed their peace, their constant state of celebration. People like them never think about human life, about death, about the world, about any global issues. They simply live, without thinking about anything, without doing anything for the sake of humanity. Their lives are aimless, and when they die, no one will remember that these people existed. They have not done anything significant or worthwhile in life, and therefore are useless to society.
This is very well illustrated by the example of the gentleman from San Francisco. When the wife of the deceased asked to move her husband to the room, the hotel owner refused, since there was no benefit for him from this. The dead old man was not even put in a coffin, but in a soda box. English water. Bunin contrasts: how respectfully they treated the rich gentleman from San Francisco and how disrespectful they treated the deceased old man.
The writer denies the kind of life that the gentleman from San Francisco and the rich gentlemen from the ship Atlantis led. He shows in the story how insignificant power and money are before death. The main idea of the story is that before death everyone is equal, that before death any class or property lines that separate people are not important, therefore you need to live your life in such a way that after death there will be a long memory of you.
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In 1933 he was awarded Nobel Prize in literature "For the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose." One can have different opinions about the personality and views of this writer, but his mastery in the field of fine literature is undeniable, so his works are at least worthy of our attention. One of them, “Mr. from San Francisco,” received such a high rating from the jury awarding the most prestigious prize in the world.
An important quality for a writer is observation, because from the most fleeting episodes and impressions you can create a whole work. Bunin accidentally saw the cover of Thomas Mann’s book “Death in Venice” in a store, and a few months later, when he came to visit his cousin, he remembered this title and connected it with an even older memory: the death of an American on the island of Capri, where the author himself was vacationing. This is how one of Bunin’s best stories turned out, and not just a story, but a whole philosophical parable.
This literary work was enthusiastically received by critics, and the writer’s extraordinary talent was compared with the gift of L.N. Tolstoy and A.P. Chekhov. After this, Bunin stood with venerable experts on words and human soul in one row. His work is so symbolic and eternal that it will never lose its philosophical focus and relevance. And in the age of the power of money and market relations, it is doubly useful to remember what a life inspired only by accumulation leads to.
What is the story about?
The main character, who does not have a name (he is just a gentleman from San Francisco), spent his whole life increasing his wealth, and at the age of 58 he decided to devote time to rest (and at the same time to his family). They set off on the ship Atlantis on their entertaining journey. All passengers are immersed in idleness, but the service staff works tirelessly to provide all these breakfasts, lunches, dinners, teas, card games, dancing, liqueurs and cognacs. The stay of tourists in Naples is also monotonous, only museums and cathedrals are added to their program. However, the weather is not kind to tourists: December in Naples turned out to be stormy. Therefore, the Master and his family rush to the island of Capri, pleasing with warmth, where they check into the same hotel and are already preparing for routine “entertainment” activities: eating, sleeping, chatting, looking for a groom for their daughter. But suddenly the death of the main character bursts into this “idyll”. He died suddenly while reading a newspaper.
And this is where the main idea of the story is revealed to the reader: that in the face of death everyone is equal: neither wealth nor power will save you from it. This Gentleman, who only recently wasted money, spoke contemptuously to the servants and accepted their respectful bows, is lying in a cramped and cheap room, respect has disappeared somewhere, his family is being kicked out of the hotel, because his wife and daughter will leave “trifles” at the box office. And so his body is taken back to America in a soda box, because even a coffin cannot be found in Capri. But he is already traveling in the hold, hidden from high-ranking passengers. And no one really grieves, because no one can use the dead man’s money.
Meaning of the name
At first, Bunin wanted to call his story “Death on Capri” by analogy with the title that inspired him, “Death in Venice” (the writer read this book later and rated it as “unpleasant”). But after writing the first line, he crossed out this title and named the work by the “name” of the hero.
From the first page, the writer’s attitude towards the Master is clear; for him, he is faceless, colorless and soulless, so he did not even receive a name. He is the master, the top of the social hierarchy. But all this power is fleeting and fragile, the author reminds. The hero, useless to society, who has not done a single good deed in 58 years and thinks only of himself, remains after death only an unknown gentleman, about whom they only know that he is a rich American.
Characteristics of heroes
There are few characters in the story: the gentleman from San Francisco as a symbol of eternal fussy hoarding, his wife, depicting gray respectability, and their daughter, symbolizing the desire for this respectability.
- The gentleman “worked tirelessly” all his life, but these were the hands of the Chinese, who were hired by the thousands and died just as abundantly in hard service. Other people generally mean little to him, the main thing is profit, wealth, power, savings. It was they who gave him the opportunity to travel, live at the highest level and not care about those around him who were less fortunate in life. However, nothing saved the hero from death; you can’t take the money to the next world. And respect, bought and sold, quickly turns into dust: after his death nothing changed, the celebration of life, money and idleness continued, even there was no one to worry about the last tribute to the dead. The body travels through authorities, it is nothing, just another piece of luggage that is thrown into the hold, hidden from “decent society.”
- The hero's wife lived a monotonous, philistine life, but with chic: without any special problems or difficulties, no worries, just a lazily stretching string of idle days. Nothing impressed her; she was always completely calm, probably having forgotten how to think in the routine of idleness. She is only concerned about the future of her daughter: she needs to find her a respectable and profitable match, so that she too can comfortably float with the flow all her life.
- The daughter did her best to portray innocence and at the same time frankness, attracting suitors. This is what interested her most. A meeting with an ugly, strange and uninteresting man, but a prince, plunged the girl into excitement. Perhaps this was one of the last strong feelings in her life, and then the future of her mother awaited her. However, some emotions still remained in the girl: she alone foresaw trouble (“her heart was suddenly squeezed by melancholy, a feeling of terrible loneliness on this strange, dark island”) and cried for her father.
Main topics
Life and death, routine and exclusivity, wealth and poverty, beauty and ugliness - these are the main themes of the story. They immediately reflect the philosophical orientation of the author's intention. He encourages readers to think about themselves: are we not chasing something frivolously small, are we getting bogged down in routine, missing out on true beauty? After all, a life in which there is no time to think about oneself, one’s place in the Universe, in which there is no time to look at surrounding nature, people and notice something good in them, lived in vain. And you can’t fix a life you’ve lived in vain, and you can’t buy a new one for any money. Death will come anyway, you can’t hide from it and you can’t pay off it, so you need to have time to do something really worthwhile, something so that you will be remembered with a kind word, and not indifferently thrown into the hold. Therefore, it is worth thinking about everyday life, which makes thoughts banal and feelings faded and weak, about wealth that is not worth the effort, about beauty, in the corruption of which lies ugliness.
The wealth of the “masters of life” is contrasted with the poverty of people who live just as ordinary, but suffer poverty and humiliation. Servants who secretly imitate their masters, but grovel before them to their faces. Masters who treat their servants as inferior creatures, but grovel before even richer and more noble persons. A couple hired on a steamship to play passionate love. The Master's daughter, feigning passion and trepidation to lure the prince. All this dirty, low pretense, although presented in a luxurious wrapper, is contrasted with the eternal and pure beauty of nature.
Main problems
The main problem of this story is the search for the meaning of life. How should you spend your short earthly vigil not in vain, how to leave behind something important and valuable for others? Everyone sees their purpose in their own way, but no one should forget that a person’s spiritual baggage is more important than his material one. Although at all times they have said that in modern times all eternal values have been lost, every time this is not true. Both Bunin and other writers remind us, readers, that life without harmony and inner beauty is not life, but a miserable existence.
The problem of the transience of life is also raised by the author. After all, the gentleman from San Francisco spent his mental strength, made money and made money, putting off some simple joys, real emotions for later, but this “later” never began. This happens to many people who are mired in everyday life, routine, problems, and affairs. Sometimes you just need to stop, pay attention to loved ones, nature, friends, and feel the beauty in your surroundings. After all, tomorrow may not come.
The meaning of the story
It is not for nothing that the story is called a parable: it has a very instructive message and is intended to give a lesson to the reader. The main idea of the story is the injustice of class society. Most of it survives on bread and water, while the elite waste their lives mindlessly. The writer states the moral squalor of the existing order, because most of the “masters of life” achieved their wealth by dishonest means. Such people bring only evil, just as the Master from San Francisco pays and ensures the death of Chinese workers. The death of the main character emphasizes the author's thoughts. No one is interested in this recently so influential man, because his money no longer gives him power, and he has not committed any respectable or outstanding deeds.
The idleness of these rich people, their effeminacy, perversion, insensitivity to something living and beautiful proves the accident and injustice of their high position. This fact is hidden behind the description of the leisure time of tourists on the ship, their entertainment (the main one is lunch), costumes, relationships with each other (the origin of the prince whom the main character’s daughter met makes her fall in love).
Composition and genre
"The Gentleman from San Francisco" can be seen as a parable story. Most people know what a story (a short piece of prose containing plot, conflict, and one main storyline) is, but how can you characterize a parable? A parable is a small allegorical text that guides the reader on the right path. Therefore, the work in terms of plot and form is a story, and in terms of philosophy and content it is a parable.
Compositionally, the story is divided into two large parts: the journey of the Master from San Francisco from the New World and the stay of the body in the hold on the way back. The culmination of the work is the death of the hero. Before this, describing the steamship Atlantis and tourist places, the author gives the story an anxious mood of expectation. In this part, a sharply negative attitude towards the Master is striking. But death deprived him of all privileges and equated his remains with luggage, so Bunin softens and even sympathizes with him. It also describes the island of Capri, its nature and local people; these lines are filled with beauty and understanding of the beauty of nature.
Symbols
The work is replete with symbols that confirm Bunin’s thoughts. The first of them is the steamship Atlantis, on which an endless celebration of luxurious life reigns, but there is a storm outside, a storm, even the ship itself is shaking. So at the beginning of the twentieth century, the whole society was seething, experiencing a social crisis, only the indifferent bourgeois continued the feast during the plague.
The island of Capri symbolizes real beauty (that’s why the description of its nature and inhabitants is covered in warm colors): a “joyful, beautiful, sunny” country filled with “fairy blue”, majestic mountains, the beauty of which cannot be conveyed in human language. The existence of our American family and people like them is a pathetic parody of life.
Features of the work
Figurative language and bright landscapes are inherent in Bunin’s creative style; the artist’s mastery of words is reflected in this story. At first he creates an anxious mood, the reader expects that, despite the splendor of the rich environment around the Master, something irreparable will soon happen. Later, the tension is erased by natural sketches written in soft strokes, reflecting love and admiration for beauty.
The second feature is the philosophical and topical content. Bunin castigates the meaninglessness of the existence of the elite of society, its spoiling, disrespect for other people. It was because of this bourgeoisie, cut off from the life of the people and having fun at their expense, that two years later a bloody revolution broke out in the writer’s homeland. Everyone felt that something needed to be changed, but no one did anything, which is why so much blood was shed, so many tragedies happened in those difficult times. And the theme of searching for the meaning of life does not lose relevance, which is why the story still interests the reader 100 years later.
Interesting? Save it on your wall!Bunin managed to achieve a generalized image, without speech characteristics, internal monologues, or dialogue. The image of the main character does not suffer from grotesqueness, even despite the presence of irony in his description, he is by no means caricatured. Moreover, the author points out the positive qualities of this person, because in order to achieve the position that he occupies, extraordinary qualities of character, business acumen, will, intelligence, and knowledge are required. Before us is a very rich man who consistently strived for his goal and by the age of 58, when he was convinced that he was practically equal to those whom he had previously taken as a model, he “decided to take a break 66 Bunin I. A. The Man from San Francisco./Bunin I. A. Novels and stories. Comp. Devel A. A. L.; Lenizdat, 1985. P. 374.” “he wanted to reward himself first of all for his years of work; however, he was happy for his wife and daughter 77 Ibid. P. 374."
His image embodies characteristic features that society, civilized and respected people to which he belongs. The gentleman from San Francisco is arrogant and selfish, convinced of the undoubted rightness of his desires, he does not hide his disdainful, even sometimes cynical attitude towards people who are not equal to him in status. He was “offensively polite 88 Ibid. P. 384." with the servants who “huddled against the wall from him, and he walked, as if not noticing them 99 Ibid. P. 386."
Speaking about this character trait of the main character of the story, in the context of this topic it is also worth noting that he was arrogant not only in relation to people unequal to him in status, but also to individual nations. So, in Italy, “he saw under a rocky cliff a bunch of such pitiful, completely moldy stone houses, stuck on top of each other near the water, near boats, near some rags, tins and brown nets, that he remembered that this was true Italy , which he came to enjoy, he felt despair 110 Ibid. pp. 381-382. 0".
The author very colorfully paints for the readers the future that the gentleman from San Francisco has been striving for all his life: “throwing on flannel pajamas, drinking coffee...then sat in the baths, did gymnastics...performed daily toilets and went to the first breakfast; until eleven o'clock they were supposed to walk cheerfully along the decks... at eleven - to refresh themselves... read the newspaper with pleasure and calmly waited for the second breakfast, even more nutritious and varied than the first; the next two hours were devoted to rest;... at the fifth hour, refreshed and cheerful, they were given strong fragrant tea with cookies; at seven they announced with a trumpet signal what was the main goal of all existence, its crown 111 Bunin I. A. The Man from San Francisco./Bunin I. A. Novels and Stories. Comp. Devel A. A. L.; Lenizdat, 1985. P. 375. 1...” Bunin describes the meaningless and stupidly wasted life of people, high society, where the goal and main meaning of existence is eating - it is to this “sacrament” that all measured life on “Atlantis” is subordinated.
It is worth paying attention to the author’s phrase about the dying minute of the unfortunate man: “It was no longer the gentleman from San Francisco who was wheezing, he was no longer there, but someone else 112 Ibid. P. 388. 2 ". He ceased to be the master before whom those forced or born to be flatterers among people fawned with feigned timidity and obedience even when they felt the departure of the spirit from his mortal body.
It is ambivalent to understand Bunin’s words that after death his face changed “his features began to become thinner and brighter 113 Ibid. P. 388. 3...” It’s as if he felt better after death, or he became better, as if, having not been useful during his life, he is now useful.
Luigi's ridicule, the change in the attitude of the hotel owner towards the family from San Francisco - all this suggests that such gentlemen, who during life feel like persons of great importance inherent in kings, after death become the same pawns as their servants.
Could the gentleman from San Francisco imagine that when he, dead, was left alone in the worst room of the hotel, a cricket would serve as a funeral service for him, still warm from his pleasure trip, and a coffin, instead of a stained and gilded one, would serve as a soda box. That they will take him, hungover, in a carriage with clattering bells to the same “Atlantis”, in order to send him on his last journey along the same route, only in a slightly different capacity. And his funeral mass will be served in a mad blizzard with a roaring ocean, when he, transferred from a box to a tarred coffin, will be carried back on a ship, hidden from passengers - in contrast to that already distant, flattering attention 114 Stepanov M. This is how earthly glory passes. / Literature. No. 1, 1998. P. 12. 4.
