Criticism bourgeois society- one of the central themes of Russian and Western European literature at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. In a number of stories, I. A. Bunin exposes the vices of European bourgeois civilization.

In the story "Brothers" the terrible figure of a cruel and cynical English colonialist appears before the writer. The plot of the work is based on the story of how an Englishman tortured a young rickshaw driver, driving him all day through the sultry Colombo. Seeing his bride sold to whites, despairing of grief, a young rickshaw consciously accepts a deadly snakebite. Love has been trampled on, a young life has been ruined, and the "businesslike bourgeois" - the Europeans - are to blame.

This theme is even more pronounced in the story "The Gentleman from San Francisco". Its main idea is injustice class society. Its small part enjoys all the blessings of life - these are representatives ruling circles. I. A. Bunin shows that these people do not deserve the luxury that surrounds them. They lead an idle life, their tastes are perverted, they do not understand the truly beautiful.

To emphasize the meaninglessness of the existence of these people, I. A. Bunin cuts off the life of his hero. The deceased "arbiter of fate" is of no interest to anyone. The explanation for such indifference to one of the "rulers of the world" is that in his entire life he has not done anything not only outstanding, but simply human.

Falseness has enslaved people sailing on a luxurious ship. Here is a young couple hired to pose as lovers. All this is a bad game, contrary to the spirit healthy life, the game behind which - spiritual dying.

In The Gentleman from San Francisco, I. A. Bunin shows how bourgeois civilization levels the personality, deprives it of its inner content, turns it into a soulless doll. He sees the main vice of the modern bourgeoisie in its life views, in the conviction that supreme value human existence lies in pleasure, comfort, money.

The falsity of such views is especially noticeable in relation to death. According to I. A. Bunin, a person only feels the power and richness of life when he feels the inevitability of death. Therefore, the death of the hero of the story is the only event that falls out of the alternation of entertainment and meals.

The death of the hero is described in detail, in all its ugliness. The hero dies like an animal because he has no spiritual readiness for the end. Characteristically, other characters perceive death as an unfortunate incident. Such a civilization is doomed to destruction, people on the ship are sailing in the net of the devil.

However, the image of the world, which symbolizes the ship "Atlantis", is not all-encompassing. While the body of a gentleman from San Francisco is floating in a soda box, and tourists are bored on the deck, another life passes: Abruzzo shepherds walk along the Monte Solaro road, rejoicing in the sun and morning, praising the “immaculate patron of all suffering in this evil and beautiful world.

The story "The Gentleman from San Francisco" is one of the best works I. A. Bunina. The hero has no name, which shows the universality of his fate. I. A. Bunin precedes the story with an epigraph from the Apocalypse: “Woe to you, Babylon, ancient city!”

Fate modern world the same as the fate of Babylon. Such is the fate of the hero, who unexpectedly suffered death: in the face of fate, all the rulers of the world are unarmed.

The writing

The story "The Gentleman from San Francisco" was written by I. A. Bunin in 1915, at the height of the world war, in which the criminal and inhuman nature of the bourgeois world was especially clearly manifested. This is probably the only story by Bunin in which the author's assessments are fairly straightforward, weakened as much as possible. lyrical beginning which distinguishes his prose as a whole. Bunin tells about the life of people to whom money, it would seem, gave all the joys and blessings that exist in the world. This is how the hero of the story is going to have fun when he arrives in Europe: “... He thought of holding a carnival in Nice, in Monte Carlo, where at that time the most selective society flocks, where some enthusiastically indulge in car and sailing races, others - roulette, others - what is commonly called flirting, and the fourth - shooting at pigeons, which soar very beautifully from the cages over the emerald lawn and immediately knock white lumps on the ground ... ”In the list of“ benefits that are used powers of the world this is a bitter irony. Bunin shows the emptiness and satiety of those who, by virtue of acquired wealth, consider themselves superior to the rest of humanity. After all, wealthy tourists who came to Europe on a luxurious steamer are not really interested in the architecture of the ancient cities of Italy, or painting, or music, or the life of people with their customs and way of life. They are indifferent to the beauty of Italian nature. It's just that in "high society" it is customary to travel. This is one of the external evidence of their wealth, power, prosperity. Bunin tells in detail, on several pages, how tourists spend their time on a steamboat: their leisure imperceptibly stretches from one hearty meal to another: “... The steamboat - the famous Atlantis - looked like a huge hotel with all amenities - with a night bar, with Eastern baths, with its own newspaper, - and life on it proceeded very measuredly ... ”In this world, everything is measured, once and for all established. There is no place for fantasy and creativity. Power and money deadened and leveled everyone. Therefore, the hero of the story, a gentleman from San Francisco, not even honored by the author with a name, seems like a mechanical clockwork puppet, capable of only the most elementary movements. The main joy of being for all his kind is wine, food, cards. All for self-pleasure and nothing for others. However, others are left with the right to work to satisfy the womb of the "masters of life." Next to the world of masters there is a world of obliging slaves who have no right to weariness, to own feelings and desires. Bunin sharply compares two worlds, two tiers of one steamer: “The watchmen on their tower, the gloomy and sultry bowels of the underworld, were frozen from the cold and went crazy from the unbearable tension of attention, its last, ninth circle was like the underwater womb of the steamer, - the one where the gigantic furnaces that devoured piles of hard coal, with a roar thrown into them by people covered in caustic, dirty sweat and waist-deep naked people, purple from the flames ... ”Bunin in his story focused on the“ senseless power ”of those who cruelly oppress millions of people. So it was already two thousand years ago, when Capri ruled bloody tyrant Tiberius. But Bunin does not want to believe that this will always be the case. He shifts the possibility of retribution on the shoulders of the Lord, at the discretion of the devil. The story is full of dark forebodings. The very name of the ship looks like a warning metaphor: Atlantis was the name of the mythological continent that sank in the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, the story was written three years after the Titanic tragedy that shocked the world. Therefore, the description of the terrible ocean raging overboard, and the heavy burning gaze of the devil, directed after the ship, seem like an alarming warning. What he has long known about people, they themselves do not want to know in the whirlwind of life that has captured them.

However, wealthy travelers try not to notice the secret signs. They rely on the captain in everything - "a red-haired man of monstrous size and weight, always as if sleepy, similar in his uniform with wide gold stripes to a huge idol ...". But both the captain and the stokers who look like devils, throwing coal into the furnace, are powerless in the fight against fate, with the madness that has swept the world.

Both the gentleman from San Francisco and the rest of the ship's passengers are impersonal. Bunin only sketches their contours with light strokes - “a certain great rich man, shaved, long, in an old-fashioned tailcoat”, “famous Spanish writer”, “worldwide beauty”, etc. A young beautiful couple is also mentioned here, hired to play love to maintain the interest of a jaded public . And this staging of love is organically woven into the narrative as yet another proof of the venality of the world of the rich. No one here is capable of strong feelings Everything has a price and is subject to calculation.

A gentleman from San Francisco can buy a lot, but he cannot make his own daughter happy. He takes her to travel, hoping to meet some billionaire (after all, a synonym for happiness in his understanding is wealth). Even the girl's interest in the eastern prince is based primarily on the fact that nobility has its own considerable price. The world of the meager purchased joys of the gentleman from San Francisco is opposed by the living world of Italy. The paintings created by the writer amaze with the accuracy of individual details, brightness and abundance of colors. But here, too, the beauty of nature sets off human poverty and ugliness. Rich tourists perceive this country as something designed to please them, so they are annoyed by the shacks and rags of the poor.

But death, which equalizes all, reduces the gentleman from San Francisco to the position of the last poor man. During his lifetime, money erected a kind of decoration around him. Death mercilessly destroys them, showing the fragility of human power bought with money. It is no coincidence that Bunin introduces a story about the Roman emperor Tiberius, who went down in history because of his cruelty, into a lyrical and journalistic digression. He once again reminds that wealth and power, achieved by cruelty and humiliation, do not bring happiness to a person.

We see that the feast of life on board the Atlantis is like a feast during a plague. The shadow of retribution, embodied not only in the image of the Devil, but also in the rampant elements outside the ship, invisibly hovers over this feast. At the end of the story, a tragic intensity is felt: in the salon flooded with light, already other “masters of life” are trying to have fun, but the fragility of their world, the futility of their efforts is reminiscent of a tarred coffin standing deep in the hold - a symbol of the end, the doom of a world engulfed in war. Thought about imminent disaster acquires final completeness, becomes a terrible prophecy, which largely came true in the twentieth century.

Other writings on this work

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Ivan Alekseevich Bunin is called "the last classic". And this is not surprising. In his works, he shows us the whole range of problems late XIX- the beginning of the XX century. The work of this great writer has always evoked and still evokes a response in human soul. Indeed, the themes of his works are relevant in our time. Bunin's reflections on life, on its deep processes, result in perfect art forms. The originality of the composition, images, details are subject to the intense author's thought. writer received their recognition not only in Russia. After being awarded in 1933 Nobel Prize Bunin has become a symbol of Russian literature all over the world.

One of the most interesting topics his works was the theme of the inevitable death of the bourgeois world. A prime example is the story "The Gentleman from San Francisco". With the smallest detail, mentioning every detail, Bunin describes the luxury of the masters of the new time. Their greed, thirst for profit and complete lack of spirituality. In the center of the work is an American millionaire who does not even have own name. Or rather, it is, but "neither in Naples nor in Capri, no one remembered it." And does he need a name? This is a collective image of the capitalist of that time. Until the age of 58, his life was subordinated to hoarding, obtaining material values. He works tirelessly: "he did not live, but only existed, very well, but still placing all his hopes on the future." Becoming a millionaire, a man from San Francisco wants to get everything he was deprived of long years. He longs for the pleasures that money can buy: “... he thought of holding a carnival in Nice, in Monte Carlo, where at that time the most selective society flocks, where some indulge in car and sailing races., others - roulette, others , which is commonly called flirting, and the fourth is shooting pigeons, which soar very beautifully from the cages over the emerald lawn against the background of the forget-me-not-colored sea, and immediately knock white lumps on the ground ... ". The author truthfully shows the life of the townsfolk who have lost everything spirituality and internal content. For them, any feelings are alien. Even tragedy is not capable of awakening the human element in them. So, the death of a gentleman from San Francisco is perceived with displeasure, because "he was irreparably spoiled." However, soon everyone forgets about the "dead old man", taking this situation as a small unpleasant moment. In this world, value is taken wealth and money is everything. So, hotel guests want to receive only pleasure for their pay, while the owner is interested in profit. After the death of the protagonist, the attitude towards his family changes dramatically. Now they are looked down upon and do not receive even simple human attention.

Symbolic in the work is the image of a huge, like a cliff, devil, which is a kind of warning to humanity. In general, the story contains many biblical allegories. The hold of the ship is like hell, in which the gentleman from San Francisco found himself, having sold his soul for earthly pleasures. It is no coincidence that he got on the same ship, where people on the upper decks also continue to have fun, knowing nothing and not being afraid of anything.

Bunin showed us the insignificance of even a powerful person before death. Here money does not decide anything, the eternal law of life and death moves in its own direction. Any person is equal before him and powerless. Obviously, the meaning of life lies not in the accumulation of various wealth, but in something else. In something more sincere and humane. So that after yourself you can leave people some kind of memory, impressions, regrets. The master or “dead old man” did not evoke any emotions in those around him, only frightened them with a “reminder of death”. The consumer society has robbed themselves. They are waiting for the same result as the gentleman from San Francisco. And it doesn't evoke sympathy.

The story "The Gentleman from San Francisco" was written by I. A. Bunin in 1915, at the height of the world war, in which the criminal and inhuman nature of the bourgeois world was especially clearly manifested. This is probably the only story by Bunin in which the author's assessments are given quite directly, the lyrical beginning, which distinguishes his prose as a whole, is maximally weakened. Bunin tells about the life of people to whom money, it would seem, gave all the joys and blessings that exist in the world. This is how the hero of the story is going to have fun when he arrives in Europe: “... He thought of holding a carnival in Nice, in Monte Carlo, where at that time the most selective society flocks, where some enthusiastically indulge in car and sailing races, others - roulette, others - what is commonly called flirting, and the fourth - shooting at pigeons, which soar very beautifully from the cages over the emerald lawn and immediately knock white lumps on the ground ... "

There is a bitter irony in the list of "goods" used by the powerful of this world. Bunin shows the emptiness and satiety of those who, by virtue of acquired wealth, consider themselves superior to the rest of humanity. After all, wealthy tourists who came to Europe on a luxurious steamer are not really interested in the architecture of the ancient cities of Italy, or painting, or music, or the life of people with their customs and way of life. They are indifferent to the beauty of Italian nature. It's just that in "high society" it is customary to travel. This is one of the external evidence of their wealth, power, prosperity. Bunin tells in detail, on several pages, how tourists spend their time on a steamboat: their leisure imperceptibly stretches from one hearty meal to another: “... The steamboat - the famous Atlantis - looked like a huge hotel with all amenities - with a night bar, with Eastern baths, with its own newspaper, - and life on it proceeded very measuredly ... ”In this world, everything is measured, once and for all established. There is no place for fantasy and creativity. Power and money deadened and leveled everyone. Therefore, the hero of the story, a gentleman from San Francisco, not even honored by the author with a name, seems to be a mechanical clockwork puppet, capable of only the most elementary movements.

The main joy of being for all his kind is wine, food, cards. All for self-pleasure and nothing for others. However, others are left with the right to work to satisfy the womb of the "masters of life." Next to the world of masters, there is a world of obliging slaves who have no right to weariness, to their own feelings and desires. Bunin sharply compares two worlds, two tiers of one steamer: “The watchmen on their tower, the gloomy and sultry bowels of the underworld, were frozen from the cold and went crazy from the unbearable tension of attention, its last, ninth circle was like the underwater womb of the steamer, - the one where the gigantic furnaces, devouring piles of coal with their red-hot mouths, with a roar thrown into them by people doused with acrid, dirty sweat and waist-deep naked people, purple from the flames ... ”Bunin in his story focused on the“ senseless power ”of those who cruelly oppress millions of people . So it was already two thousand years ago, when the bloody tyrant Tiberius ruled Capri. But Bunin does not want to believe that this will always be the case. He shifts the possibility of retribution on the shoulders of the Lord, at the discretion of the devil. The story is full of dark forebodings. The very name of the ship looks like a warning metaphor: Atlantis was the name of the mythological continent that sank in the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, the story was written three years after the Titanic tragedy that shocked the world. Therefore, the description of the terrible ocean raging overboard, and the heavy burning gaze of the devil, directed after the ship, seem like an alarming warning. What he has long known about people, they themselves do not want to know in the whirlwind of life that has captured them.

However, wealthy travelers try not to notice the secret signs. They rely on the captain in everything - "a red-haired man of monstrous size and weight, always as if sleepy, similar in his uniform with wide gold stripes to a huge idol ...". But both the captain and the stokers who look like devils, throwing coal into the furnace, are powerless in the fight against fate, with the madness that has swept the world.

Both the gentleman from San Francisco and the rest of the ship's passengers are impersonal. Bunin only sketches their contours with light strokes - “a certain great rich man, shaved, long, in an old-fashioned tailcoat”, “famous Spanish writer”, “worldwide beauty”, etc. A young beautiful couple is also mentioned here, hired to play love to maintain the interest of a jaded public . And this staging of love is organically woven into the narrative as yet another proof of the venality of the world of the rich. Here no one is capable of strong feelings, everything has a price and is subject to calculation.

A gentleman from San Francisco can buy a lot, but he cannot make his own daughter happy. He takes her to travel, hoping to meet some billionaire (after all, a synonym for happiness in his understanding is wealth). Even the girl's interest in the eastern prince is based primarily on the fact that nobility has its own considerable price. The world of the meager purchased joys of the gentleman from San Francisco is opposed by the living world of Italy. The paintings created by the writer amaze with the accuracy of individual details, brightness and abundance of colors. But here, too, the beauty of nature sets off human poverty and ugliness. Rich tourists perceive this country as something designed to please them, so they are annoyed by the shacks and rags of the poor.

But death, which equalizes everyone, reduces the gentleman from San Francisco to the position of the last poor man. During his lifetime, money erected a kind of decoration around him. Death mercilessly destroys them, showing the fragility of human power bought with money. It is no coincidence that Bunin introduces a story about the Roman emperor Tiberius, who went down in history because of his cruelty, into a lyrical and journalistic digression. He once again reminds that wealth and power, achieved by cruelty and humiliation, do not bring happiness to a person.

We see that the feast of life on board the Atlantis is like a feast during a plague. The shadow of retribution, embodied not only in the image of the Devil, but also in the rampant elements outside the ship, invisibly hovers over this feast. At the end of the story, a tragic intensity is felt: in the salon flooded with light, already other “masters of life” are trying to have fun, but the fragility of their world, the futility of their efforts is reminiscent of a tarred coffin standing deep in the hold - a symbol of the end, the doom of a world engulfed in war. The idea of ​​an imminent catastrophe acquires final completeness, becomes a terrible prophecy, which in many respects came true in the 20th century.

The story "The Gentleman from San Francisco" is based on Bunin's impressions from his travels around foreign countries between 1905 and 1914. And this story appeared in 1915. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin tells about the life of people of the bourgeoisie, who have access to almost everything for money: automobile and sailing races, roulette, shooting, bullfighting, staying in any country in the world. The huge "Atlantis" in which the millionaire travels is a model capitalist society. On the lower floors are workers, on the upper - wealthy people, on which "... the style of tuxedos and the strength of thrones, and the declaration of war, and the well-being of hotels" depend. Here the reader feels the irony of the author explaining that war and hotels are equal phenomena that bring income. Before the trip, the gentleman from San Francisco “... did not live, but only existed, though not badly, but still placing all hopes on the future. He worked tirelessly, the Chinese, whom he ordered to work for him by the thousands, knew well what this meant! tastes, desires. They are all dressed in "flannel pajamas"; sleep, eat, walk at the same time. The main event of the day is dinner, wine, dancing, music. Bunin reveals to the reader the life of service personnel: servants, workers, watchmen. The names of the gentleman from San Francisco, his daughter, wife and other characters are not named to emphasize the typicality of these people. Bunin holds the idea that the strength of these people is based on money. This idea is reinforced by the staging of love by a graceful couple in love, hired by Lloyd "... to play love for good money ...". A San Francisco gentleman can do a lot, but he can't buy love for his daughter. Bunin outlines the features of spiritual and physical degeneration. The daughter of a master from San Francisco is sickly and thin

And I. "The prince is not at all well-behaved." He has a disproportionate big head and tiny ears. But the girl admires the prince, because "... it doesn't matter what exactly awakens the girl's soul - whether it's money, fame, nobility of the family ...". That is, in fact, there was no love. With bright colors, Ivan Alekseevich depicts Italy, Naples, Capri, the wealth of nature, city ​​life. A gentleman from San Francisco despairs at the unsightly panorama of shacks in the rain, but thoughts of poverty in these dilapidated houses do not occur to him. Several pages of the text of the story are devoted to describing the daily routine on the ship and in the hotels of Naples and Capri. Bunin holds the idea that power and money leveled tastes. The story gradually brings the reader to an understanding of the inevitability of the death of the established order. The epigraph, the storm in the ocean, the death of the master show this. In the description of his death, Bunin does not indicate anything significant, he deliberately stretches the description of the “catching” of the cufflink. The return journey of the deceased rich American is already in the hold. The death of the master divides the story into two parts. Corridor Luigi is now mocking the master, copying his mannerisms. The author compares the capitalists with Tiberius, the military dictate slave state. But in the story there are images in which the reader understands author's attitude to life. Noble natures, like the gentleman from San Francisco, are opposed by the old boatman Lorenzo, who is content with a few lire for food. Lorenzo is drawn by Bunin happy and full of life. At the passage of Gibraltar, the Devil is mentioned. “The devil was as big as a cliff…” The author adds an alarming tone to the long feast of the rich. The couple in love is back on the ship, but how tired she is of portraying love! The story of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin "The Gentleman from San Francisco" leads the reader to the idea of ​​the impossibility of happiness for a person