Review of the story by V. Tendryakov “Bread for the dog”
The childhood of Vladimir Tendryakov passed in the bleak era of post-revolutionary Russia of Stalinist repressions, the entire horror of which remained in his memory as a gloomy trace of childhood memories that formed the basis of the story “Bread for the Dog”. Perhaps it was the effect of childhood impressions that helped the author so clearly and impartially describe the events that took place in a small settlement near the station, in which the first years of his life passed.
And what happened there was the same as in many other similar settlements: the dispossessed “prosperous” peasants, exiled to Siberia and not reaching the place of exile, were left to die of starvation in a small birch forest in front of the inhabitants of the village. Adults tried to avoid this terrible place. And the children… “No amount of horror could dampen our animal curiosity,” the author writes. “Petrified by fear, disgust, exhausted by hidden panic pity, we watched…”. Children watched the death of “kurkuli” (as they called “living” in a birch forest).
To enhance the impression produced by the picture, the author resorts to the method of antithesis. Vladimir Tendryakov describes in detail the horrifying scene of the death of the “kurkul”, who “stands up to his full height, wraps his brittle radiant arms around the smooth strong trunk of a birch tree, presses his angular cheek against it, opens his mouth, spaciously black, dazzlingly toothy, was probably about to shout (...) a curse, but wheezing flew out, foam bubbled. Peeling off the skin on the bony cheek, the "rebel" slid down the trunk and (...) calmed down for good. In this passage, we see the opposition of brittle, radiant hands to a smooth, strong birch trunk. Such a technique leads to increased perception of both individual fragments and the whole picture.
This description is followed by the philosophical question of the head of the station, who, on duty, is forced to watch the “curcules”: “What will grow out of such children? They love death. What kind of world will live after us? What kind of world?…”. A similar question sounds as if from the author himself, who many years later is amazed at how he, an impressionable boy, did not go crazy at the sight of such a scene. But then he recalls that he had previously witnessed how hunger forced "tidy" people to go to public humiliation. This somewhat “blinded” his soul.
I got calloused, but not so much as to remain indifferent to these starving people, being full. Yes, he knew that being full is a shame, and he tried not to show it, but still he secretly took out the rest of his food to the “kurkuls”. This went on for some time, but then the number of beggars began to grow, and the boy could no longer feed more than two people. And then there was a breakdown - a “cure”, as the author himself called it. One day, a lot of hungry people gathered at the fence of his house. They stood in the way of the boy returning home and began to ask for food. And suddenly…
“My eyes darkened. A wild voice burst out of me in a sobbing gallop:
Go away! Go away! Bastards! Reptiles! Bloodsuckers! Go away!
(...) The rest went out at once, lowered their hands, began to turn their backs to me, crawling away without haste, sluggishly.
And I couldn’t stop and screamed sobbing.”
How emotional this episode is! With what simple, common words in everyday life, in just a few phrases, Tendryakov conveys the emotional anguish of the child, his fear and protest, adjacent to the humility and hopelessness of doomed people. It is thanks to the simplicity and surprisingly accurate choice of words that the reader's imagination looms with extraordinary brightness of the pictures that Vladimir Tendryakov narrates.
So this ten-year-old boy was healed, but was he completely healed? Yes, he would no longer take out a piece of bread to the “kurkul” dying of hunger standing under his window. But was his conscience calm? He didn’t sleep at night, he thought: “I’m a bad boy, I can’t help myself - I feel sorry for my enemies!”
And then the dog appears. Here it is - the hungriest creature in the village! Volodya seizes on it as the only way not to go crazy with the horror of the realization that he "eats" the lives of several people every day. The boy feeds this unfortunate dog, which does not exist for anyone, but understands that “I did not feed the dog, shabby from hunger, with pieces of bread, but my conscience.”
It would be possible to end the story on this relatively joyful note. But no, the author included one more episode that reinforces the heavy impression. “That month, the head of the station shot himself, who, on duty, had to walk in a red hat along the station square. He did not think of finding an unfortunate little dog for himself to feed every day, tearing bread from himself.
Thus ends the story. But, even after that, the reader for a long time does not leave the feeling of horror and moral devastation caused by all the suffering that he unwittingly, thanks to the skill of the author, he experienced with the hero. As I have already noted, in this story the author's ability to convey not only events, but also feelings is striking.
"Burn the hearts of the people with the verb." Such an instruction to a true poet sounds in a poem by A.S. Pushkin "Prophet" And Vladimir Tendryakov succeeded. He managed not only to colorfully present his childhood memories, but also to awaken compassion and empathy in the hearts of readers.
Class:Grade 10
Lesson topic: Preparation for writing a competitive essay-reflection on the topic “A person is determined by what he is alone with his conscience” based on the book “Bread for a Dog” by V. F. Tendryakov (on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the creation of the work)
Lesson Objectives:
cognitive: development of semantic reading skills, analysis of the work, hypotheses and their justification
Practical: writing an essay-reasoning on a given topic
general subject e:
Bring up:
interest in the subject under study in the course of analyzing the work and preparing to write an essay-reasoning
language personality of a student who develops different types competence
moral qualities of students (awareness of such a moral category as "conscience")
the ability to develop certain views on moral concepts, an emotional attitude towards them
Develop:
memory (visual, auditory, logical, mechanical, associative, figurative), logical thinking (mental operations: analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization, classification, systematization); speech, types speech activity(listening, speaking, reading, writing), abilities, will, emotions.
Shape: the ability to independently replenish knowledge when referring to reference literature.
6 .Lesson objectives:
Continue to work on the development of students' speech
Develop students' creativity
Strengthen the ability to write and design an essay-reflection
To promote the development of logical thinking, oral, monologue, dialogic speech
Activate the emotional and moral sphere of the personality of schoolchildren
7.Planned educational outcomes:
Students will learn to give a moral and ethical assessment of the actions of the heroes of the work
Students will be able to clearly set learning objectives and plan (draw up a sequence of actions) to achieve this learning objective, evaluate the intermediate and final results of their activities, assess the level of learning
Improve the skill of semantic reading, establishing cause-and-effect relationships, building a logical chain of reasoning
Will be able to plan educational cooperation with peers, express their thoughts fully and accurately in accordance with the task
Lesson stagesIntroductory (organizational and motivational) stage
Teacher: Guys, you read the story of V.F. Tendryakov "Bread for the dog." The action of the story takes place in the most terrible years of the life of our country - the 1930s. Years of great collectivization and great famine. Today we will try to reflect on the read work. Do you think the ability to pose a problem and reason about it is an important skill for you? Are you familiar with this work? Why is it interesting for you? What is new? What does it mean to "think" anyway?
Children's answers. For self-examination, refer to the “Dictionary of the Russian Language” by S. I. Ozhegov.
Teacher: Let's go back to V. F. Tendryakov's story "Bread for the Dog." What impression did the story make on you? Read out the passages that particularly shocked you?
Reasoned responses of children.
Main (information-analytical) stage
Teacher: To write an essay - reasoning, what needs to be done first? Children's answers. That's right, you first need to determine the topic on which you will later discuss. What topic do you identify in this story that you would like to reflect on?
Children's answers.
The students come to the problem of human conscience.
Teacher: Do you think the words of O. Volkov: “A person is determined by what he is alone with his conscience”, can be defined as the topic of our essay?
Children's answers.
Teacher: To talk about such an important moral concept as "conscience", let's use the technique of syncwine.
The task is given to compose a syncwine with the word "conscience". Work in pairs. Reading created syncwines. Discussion.
Teacher: Let's go to explanatory dictionary S. I. Ozhegova.
Reading a dictionary entry. "A sense of moral responsibility for one's behavior before the surrounding people, society.". Comparison with the proposed interpretations of this word in syncwines.
Teacher: Try to explain your understanding of expressions:
live according to conscience
sick conscience
pangs of conscience
Teacher: Have you ever experienced pangs of conscience?
Children's answers.
Teacher: Let's try to answer a number of questions raised in the story. You worked in groups in the last lesson. What questions would you like to ask your comrades?
I group:
1. Why suffers main character story?
2. How does he manage to experience pangs of conscience? (text: “It seems to me that conscience tends to wake up more often in the body of well-fed people than hungry people. A hungry person is forced to think more about himself, about getting his daily bread, the very burden of hunger forces him to selfishness. A well-fed person has more opportunity to look around, think about others" (Tendryakov V.F. Bread for a dog, M. Education, 1983, p. 5)
3. What solution from the current situation is the main character trying to find?
4. How do you understand the words: “ Isn't it dangerous to openly lend a helping hand?(Tendryakov V.F. Bread for a dog, M. Education, 1983, p. 7)
II group:
1. What would you do if you were Volodya Tenkov? Would your conscience bother you in this situation?
2. Why does he describe how he feels when he gives the bread to the elephant : “I was happy all day. Inside, in the hypochondrium, where the soul lives, it was cool and quiet.(Tendryakov V.F. Bread for a dog, M. Education, 1983, p. 11)
Do you understand his feelings?
3. Why did pity for enemies arise in the soul of a child?
4. What emotional distress is the child experiencing? Text: " Probably, my hysteria was perceived by the goners as a complete cure for boyish pity.(Tendryakov V.F. Bread for a dog, M. Education, 1983, p. 13)
III group
1. How do you understand the words: “ I didn’t feed a shabby dog with pieces of bread, but my conscience”?(Tendryakov V.F. Bread for a dog, M. Education, 1983, p. 14)
2. Comment on the words: “… my conscience continued to inflame, but not so much, not life-threatening.(Tendryakov V.F. Bread for a dog, M. Education, 1983, p. 16)
3. And what would happen to your conscience if you were in the place of a boy?
4. Were there heroes among adults who could not stand the pangs of conscience? What happened to them? Do you understand their actions?
Let's try to evaluate the behavior of the protagonist in relation to the levels of moral self-regulation of the individual, proposed by G. K. Selevko. Let's remember them. Level 1 - receiving a reward or avoiding punishment. Level 2 - concern for public opinion (seem). Level 3 - obedience to social norms (obey). Level 4 - internal moral principles (be yourself). (Selevko G.K. Manage yourself M., National Education, 2002, p.50-51)
Children's answers.
Of course the boy is on highest level: he remains himself. Evaluate yourself according to this gradation, imagining that you are in the place of the main character of the story.
Teacher: And now, guys, try to express your thoughts in an essay - a discussion on the topic “A person is determined by what he is alone with his conscience”, based on personal impressions from the story of V. F. Tendryakov “Bread is the share of a dog” ”
Let us recall the compositional scheme of composition-reasoning.
Proof
Use words - supports and expressions for reasoning: Conscience is .. Judge for yourself ... Because ... Why is this happening ... Probably because ...
Writing essays-reasoning.
Final (evaluative-reflexive) stage
Teacher: Edit your text using Reminder for essay writing- reasoning. (See Attachment). Reading works. Discussion. (Truntseva T.N. How to learn to write reasoning essays, Literacy, 2008, p.29-30)
Teacher: Once V. F. Tendryakov said: “The art of living does not fit into any stencils. Impossible to give ready recipes. I'm looking for them myself ". (Tendryakov V.F. Memoirs, M. Enlightenment, 1984, p.123) Will the recipe for life that the protagonist of the story “Bread for the Dog” find for himself will be useful to you in your life? Is this recipe correct?
Did you like the lesson?
Was it difficult for you to cope with the task of the lesson?
What conclusion can you draw from the lesson?
Appendix
Reminder for writing an essay-reasoning
What general question does the essay answer?
What is the topic of the essay (the subject is described, you are narrating or discuss why this event occurs).
Did you state at the very beginning of the text about the problem you want to investigate, did you ask the question you want to answer?
Make a compositional reasoning scheme ( thesis-proof-conclusion), highlight its components with colored paste.
You provided evidence for your assumption, statement ( 2.3 or more). Substitute at the beginning of each proof with a pencil the words because, since.
Do you end your argument with a conclusion? Used inference constructs that's why and that's why?
Check for causal constructs why because.
Have you used statements as proof? authoritative authors, proverbs, sayings?
The expression of belief is the main tone of your reasoning, is it so?
Reread your work. Read it to your friends: did you convince
Literature
1. Plenkin N. A. Lessons in the development of speech in grades 5-9, M. Enlightenment, 1995
2. Ozhegov S. I. Dictionary of the Russian language, ed. Shvedova N. Yu., M. Russian language, 1987
3. Tendryakov V. F. Stories, M. Enlightenment, 1993
4. Tendryakov V. F. Memoirs, M. Enlightenment, 1984
5. Truntseva T. N. How to learn to write an essay-reasoning, Literacy, 2008
6. Selevko G.K. Manage yourself, M. Public education, 2002.
The story of V.F. Tendryakova addressed to people different generations: both to those who survived the terrible years in the life of our country, and to those who have to build the future. The author calls to be responsible for one's actions, to be attentive to others, to be responsible to one's conscience.
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Lesson topic:"Hunger as a moral problem in the storyVF Tendryakov "Bread for the dog." Literature lesson in grade 7 under the program "School 2100"
Goals
General: to bring students to the understanding that each person must be responsible for his actions, be attentive to any living creature, listen to the voice of his conscience.
Private: to continue work on the formation of research, analytical, creative skills of students.
With the story of V.F. Tendryakov “Bread for the dog”, the study of the new section “I and I” begins (see the textbook on literature “The path to the station“ I ”edited by R.N. Buneev, E.V. Buneeva / M .: Balass, 2003). The teacher explains to the students that the conversation will be about the internal and external state of the human "I", about the conscience and moral responsibility of each of us to society and to ourselves.
vocabulary work
Students are encouraged to explain their understanding of the concepts (see slide number 2):"to live according to conscience"; "sick conscience"; "remorse of conscience".
Slide #2
From thinking about these questions, we proceed directly to the analysis of the story.
Guys! The statements of VF Tendryakov are written on the board. Let's read them (see slide number 3).
Slide #3
Question. What words particularly touched you?
(Students comment on one of the statements, write it down in a notebook.)
Question. How do you imagine a person who says this (see slide number 4)?
Slide #4
V.F. Tendryakov is a restless writer, a writer who "strikes the bells" - this is how his contemporaries spoke of him.
Question. What do you know about Vladimir Fedorovich Tendryakov?
(Students talk about the brightest episodes of the writer's life.).
Born in December 1923 in the village of Makarovskaya, Verkhovazhsky District, Vologda Region, in the family of a rural employee.
The morning after school prom went to the front, in 1943 he was seriously wounded and demobilized.
In 1945 he entered the Moscow Institute of Cinematography, and a year later he transferred to the Literary Institute. M. Gorky, who graduated in 195.
He worked as a journalist - correspondent for the Ogonyok magazine. His first stories are about the village (“Behind the running day”, “Date with Nefertiti”).
Rural reality of the 1940s, school and teenager, religion as an element of spirituality, art are the main themes of VF Tendryakov's work. Fundamental to his code of ethics is conscience.
The stories "Spring Changelings" and "The Night After Graduation" are autobiographical, they directly address the most acute problems of morality. The works of VF Tendryakov have always caused heated debate. He was often ahead of events, posed questions that the reader was not ready to discuss. The writer did not offer unequivocal answers, many of his works are still topical today.
V.F. Tendryakov wrote the story "Bread for the Dog" at the end of the 60s of the last century, and only in 1988, after the author's death, the story was published in the Novy Mir magazine.
Question. Why do you think this work has not been published for so many years? Pay attention to the time of action (1933).
(The topic of the famine of 1932-1933 was one of the forbidden ones, the government did not want to admit the egregious facts of the most severe famine in the country, all information about this terrible time for people was classified, those who died of starvation were buried in strict secrecy.)
History reference
(See slide number 5.)
- For 2 years, about 600 thousand families were dispossessed, of which 240 thousand were evicted to the North, the Urals, Siberia, Kazakhstan.
- According to Stalin, the famine covered 25-30 million people.
- 1932 - 18 million centners of grain were exported abroad.
- 1933 - 10 million centners of grain were exported.
- On August 7, 1932, Stalin signed a decree that read: “To apply as a judicial repression for theft (theft) of collective farm and cooperative property the highest measure of social protection - execution with confiscation of property ...”. For 5 months, 55 thousand people were convicted, 2 thousand were shot.
- During the 8 months of the famine, according to various sources, from 8 to 10 million people died.
Slide #6
Slide number 7
Slide #8
Slide #9
Slide #10
Slide #11
Slide #12
Teacher's comment. Not so long ago it was not safe to even mention this time. And it was only by a miracle that the old men and women who survived the Holodomor, mournfully living out their days alone with the terrible memory of those eight months of the famine of 1932-1933, lit furtively memorial candles. A curse was placed on the memory of this state power. They tried to erase it, destroy it and ban it. But she lived, sometimes timidly breaking through the pages of books.
Question. Let us turn to the story of V.F. Tendryakov "Bread for the dog". The author introduces a documentary remark into the story. What for?
(Confirm the factual basis of what was writtenMillions of families have been affected by this disaster.)
Homework was to find out about this time, you can use family archives. Students are encouraged to comment on this issue.
Analytical work on the text
As homework, students were asked to fill out an individual reading card.(when analyzing the story, students will refer to the map (see slide number 13), supplement it, compare your answers with the answers of classmates.)
Map of individual reading of the story
- Was the content of the story unexpected or not for you?
- What struck you, caused bewilderment?
- Why is the story so named?
- What do you think is the main idea of the story?
- What issues are raised by the author?
- What questions came up while reading the story?
- What did the story make you think about?
Exercise 1. What did you feel when you read the story?
(The terrible pictures of the famine described by the author, the inhuman treatment of the exiles, but at the same time, even in such terrible time there are people who are able to sympathize and be not indifferent to others).
Task 2. I suggest you determine the main theme of the story. You have been offered suggested topics, choose which one, in your opinion, is the main one? Why? Are other themes covered in the story? (See slide number 14.)
"hunger like moral problem».
"Inhuman treatment of the exiles."
"The image of a certain era in the life of our country."
(The leading theme, of course, is "Hunger as a moral problem", but at the same time, all the topics presented are reflected in the story).
Task 3. Try to formulate the topic of today's lesson. (Students independently formulate the topic of the lesson, write it down:Hunger as a moral problem in V.F.Tendryakov's story "Bread for the Dog".)(See slide number 15.)
Slide #15
Epigraph to the lesson there will be the words of the Russian philosopher N.A. Berdyaeva: “When you are hungry, this is a biological problem, when a person is hungry next to you, your brother, this is already a moral problem.” (See slide number 16.)
Slide #16
Question. How consonant are the words of N.A. Berdyaev the topic of our lesson?
(In the story of V.F. Tendryakov, the famine is not mentioned as biological problem, this is a moral problem, a problem of human conscience.)
The theme of hunger is not new to Russian literature. Let's remember "Children of the Underground" by V. Korolenko and the words of the hero A.P. Chekhov: “It is necessary that someone with a hammer stands at the door of every happy, happy person and constantly reminds by knocking that there are unfortunate people, that, no matter how happy he is, life will sooner or later show him its claws, trouble will strike - illness, poverty, loss, and no one will hear him, just as now he does not hear or see others.
The story "Bread for the Dog" is about a difficult period in the history of our country. We will try to understand what is the topicality of the story, whether the problems raised by the author help to comprehend our reality.
I would really like you to understand that every person must be responsible for his actions, be attentive to everything that surrounds him, listen to the voice of his conscience.
(The purpose of the lesson is formulated, students write it down in their notebooks.)
Task 4. We see everything that happens through the eyes of a boy, your age, Volodya Tenkov. What kind of person is he? ( Work on cards of individual reading.)
(Volodya enters the age when the inner “I”, the voice of conscience, awakens. He discovers truths that he had not thought about before: how you can help one, but not the other, why it is dangerous to lend a helping hand to another. He experiences pangs of conscience full before hungry.)
Task 5. Why was Volodya more than death shocked by the episode with spilled milk? What does "get pissed off" mean?
"Man" and "subhuman" ... Where is the line between them? What is she? Where does it take place? The questions are controversial and complex. One thing can be said - the line is thin, very thin, and everyone has their own. It is enough for one to experience envy, jealousy, and he loses his human image, for another - fear, hunger, poverty, or, conversely, plunge into luxury, for the third - an animal grin from birth. Lots of tests. Hence the great number of destinies. Some do not endure, give up and die, physically or spiritually - there is no difference, moreover, the death of the "soul" is much more terrible. Others, too, seem to bend, but tirelessly continue to search for a saving straw, and find it, because it cannot be missing ... Tendryakov's story "Bread for the Dog" is just about this finest line ...
Hungry post-revolutionary Russia
post-revolutionary Russia. What words to describe it? With what colors to depict the hunger and horror that reigned everywhere? Only black! But black without white does not make sense, however, as well as white without black. Therefore, Vladimir Tendryakov, in his work “Bread for a Dog” (a brief summary follows), of course, uses all shades of light along with gloomy tones. There are not as many of them as we would like, but they are, which means that there is hope, and love, and justice ...
"Bread for the dog": a summary of the work of V. Tendryakov
It was 1933. Summer. Small Russian city. The smoky station building. Not far from it is a peeled fence, behind it is a through birch square, and in it, on the dusty grass, are those who have long been considered no people. Indeed, they had documents, worn out, but proving their identity: last name, first name, patronymic, year of birth, for which they were convicted and where they were sent ... But this no longer bothered anyone, just like what they eat, drink, where they live, who they work. They are dispossessed peasants, dispossessed, enemies of the people, or, as they were called, "kurkuli", which means that they fell out of the ranks of the people.
However, they did not look and behave like people either. Exhausted by hunger and disease, some looked like dark-skinned skeletons with huge empty eyes, others looked like “elephants” swollen with dropsy, their skin blue from tension. Some gnawed at the bark on the trees or ate garbage from the ground, others lay in the dust, moaning, staring blankly at the sky. But most of all, those who had already left the world of the living looked like people. They lay quietly, peacefully. However, among them were "rebels". With a farewell sigh, real madness seized them - they got up, tried to shout out murderous poisonous curses, but only wheezing flew out, foam bubbled, and they calmed down, forever ... The story "Bread for the Dog" does not end in this episode.
The main character of the story
Adults tried to bypass this gloomy place. The kids didn’t come in either, they were afraid, but curiosity, some kind of “animal”, took over, and they climbed onto the fence and watched what was happening from there. They were choked with fear, disgust, they were exhausted from hidden, and therefore unbearably sharp, piercing pity, but continued to look with all their eyes. “What will grow out of such children? Admiring death ... "- said the head of the station, wandering on duty along the platform.
Among those children was a ten-year-old boy, Volodya Tenkov, the protagonist of the story "Bread for the Dog." The analysis of the work will help to better understand the theme, idea and problems of the work. The story unfolds like a series of memories, therefore, the story is told in the first person - on behalf of this boy. Already an adult, he was surprised for quite a long time and could not understand how, being a child, vulnerable, impressionable, with a fragile psyche, he did not get sick and not from that darkness and horror. But then he recalls that by that time his soul had already been “blinded”. A person gets used to everything sooner or later, puts up with it. So his soul is used to seeing pain, suffering, public humiliation of "tidy" people from hunger alone. However, are you used to it? No, rather, it has developed its own “protective layer”. She suffered and suffered endlessly, but she continued to breathe deeply, empathize and look for saving ways out of hopelessness.
It's embarrassing to be full
At first, Volodya tried to honestly share his breakfast - four pieces of bread - with classmates. But there were too many willing and "suffering" - hands were reaching out from all sides. The bread fell, and several legs of impatience, without any malicious intent, walked over the pieces and crushed them ...
Volodya was tormented, but at the same time, one more thought did not let him go crazy: those who died in the birch square were enemies. And what do they do with the enemies? They are destroyed, otherwise - nothing, because the defeated enemy is still one enemy: he will never forgive and will definitely sharpen the knife behind his back. On the other hand, can one be considered an enemy who gnaws at the bark in a birch forest? Or are those old people and children who died of starvation in dispossessed villages the enemies? He found his answer to these questions: he cannot “absorb” his “food” alone, share with someone - it is simply necessary, even if he or she is an enemy ... “Bread for the dog”, a summary of which is given in This article is a story about which are terrible, but without which it dies.
Who is the hungriest?
He stealthily did not eat up what was served to him for lunch or dinner, and honestly saved "thieves'" products he took to the one who, in his opinion, was the most-hungry. Such a person was both easy and difficult to find. Everyone in the village was hungry, but who was the most? How to find out? You can't go wrong...
He gave his "pocket burning" remnants of dinner to one "uncle" with a pale, swollen face, and made sure to do this every day. He managed to “make happy” one, but over time, the number of beggars began to grow inexorably. Every day a great multitude of them gathered near his house. They stood all day and tirelessly waited for him to come out. What to do? Feed more than two - not enough strength. But my father said that it is impossible to scoop out the sea with a teaspoon ... And then a breakdown happened to him, or, as he himself said, a “cure”. In an instant, his eyes darkened, and from somewhere in the bowels of his soul burst out uncontrollable sobs and a cry: “Go away! Go away! Reptiles! Bastards! Bloodsuckers! And they silently turned around and left. Forever.
V. Tendryakov: "Bread for the dog", or "Food for the conscience"
Yes, he was cured of boyish pity, but what to do with his conscience? It is impossible to get rid of it, otherwise - death. He is full, very full, one might say, to satiety. Probably, five of these products would have been enough to escape from a fierce starvation. He did not save them, he simply ate their lives. These thoughts did not allow him to eat or sleep. But one day a dog came up to their porch. She had empty, “unwashed” eyes ... And suddenly Volodya was bathed in steam: here it is - the hungriest and most unfortunate creature in the world! And he began to feed her: every day he took out a piece of bread for her. She grabbed him on the fly, but never once approached the boy. The most devoted person on earth has never trusted him. But Volodya did not need this gratitude. He fed not a skinned dog, but his conscience. It cannot be said that the conscience liked the proposed “food” so much. She "fell ill" from time to time, but without the threat of a fatal outcome. The story doesn't end there. V. Tendryakov ("Bread for the Dog") included another episode, quite small, but very effective, one might say, from the author's emotional "total".
That same month, the same stationmaster walking along the platform committed suicide. “Human” and “subhuman”: he crossed this fine line and could not stand it ... How did he not guess to find some bald dog for himself to tear off something from himself and share it every day? Here is the truth!
Once again, I would like to remind you that the article is devoted to the story of V. Tendryakov "Bread for the dog." Summary cannot fully reflect that emotional anguish in the soul of a little boy, describe his fear and at the same time a silent protest against the existing world order. Therefore, reading the work in its entirety is simply necessary.
“Behind the door of a happy person there must be someone with a hammer,
constantly knocking and reminding that there are unfortunate people "
A.P. Chekhov.
The basis of the story "Bread for the Dog" is the childhood events of Vladimir Tendryakov. This is the era of post-revolutionary Russia and Stalinist repressions.
The problems of the story include consideration of the following issues: hunger as a moral problem, inhuman treatment of the exiles, mental anguish of the protagonist and, of course, the author pays great attention to the human conscience.
The author clearly and impartially describes the events that take place in a small village near the station. Dispossessed "wealthy" peasants were exiled to this small Siberian village, who did not reach the place of exile. They were left to starve to death in front of the villagers. “For the most part, these are dispossessed peasants from near Tula, Voronezh, Kursk, Orel, from all over Ukraine. Together with them, the southern word "kurkul" also arrived in our northern places.
Adults tried to bypass this terrible haven of people abandoned to the mercy of fate. Children, with curiosity and hidden horror, watched the suffering of these emaciated people. “We, the boys, didn’t go into the square itself either, but watched from behind the fence. No horrors could stifle our animal curiosity. Petrified with fear, disgust, exhausted by hidden panic pity, we watched bark beetles, flashes of "rebels" ending in wheezing, foam, sliding down the trunk.
Vladimir Tendryakov resorts to antithesis in his work, which enhances the impression of what is happening. He describes the terrifying scene of the death of the “kurkul”, who “stands up to his full height, wraps his brittle radiant arms around the smooth strong birch trunk, presses his angular cheek against it, opens his mouth, spaciously black, dazzlingly toothy, was probably about to shout () a curse, but wheezing flew out, foam bubbled. Peeling off the skin on a bony cheek, the "rebel" slid down the trunk and () calmed down for good. In this passage, we see the opposition of brittle, radiant hands to a smooth, strong birch trunk.
In the mouth of the head of the station, who kept order, the author puts a question that carries a philosophical meaning: “What will grow out of such children? They love death. What kind of world will live after us? What is the world? ".
Tendryakov in this work appears before us as a master of the short story. The character of his hero becomes clear through an emergency, tragic events of life. The author is interested in a person in ordinary circumstances at a sharp turn, a break in his fate.
Tendryakov tells how an impressionable boy watches a devastating picture of hunger, forced "tidy" people to go to humiliation. “The milk spilled into the icy, unclean footprint of a horse's hoof. The woman sank down in front of him, as if in front of her daughter's grave, gave a strangled sob, and suddenly took out a simple gnawed wooden spoon from her pocket. She cried and scooped milk with a spoon from the hoof hole on the road, wept and ate, wept and ate, carefully, without greed, well-mannered.
But the child's soul did not harden. On the contrary, he tried to help people. He knew it was shameful to be full, but still he secretly took out the rest of his food to the “kurkuls”. But, as they say, "you can't warm all of us." Every day more and more people gathered at the boy's house, of course, there was not enough food for everyone. And the child has a nervous breakdown. “A strange, wild voice broke out of me in a sobbing gallop: - Go away! Go away ts!! Bastards! Reptiles! Bloodsuckers!! Go away! The author throughout the story shows the inner experiences of his hero. This can be seen in his thoughts, conversations with his father. Tendryakov emotionally describes in simple words fear and protest of the child. It is thanks to the simplicity and surprisingly accurate choice of words that the reader's imagination looms with extraordinary brightness of the pictures that Vladimir Tendryakov narrates.
The boy did not sleep at night, he thought: “I am a bad boy, I can’t help myself - I feel sorry for my enemies!” The child was constantly tormented by conscience, did not allow to live in peace.
And here comes the dog. “Unexpectedly, below, under the porch, as if a dog had grown out of the ground.” She had desert-dull, some kind of unwashed yellow eyes and abnormally disheveled hair on her sides, on her back, in gray tufts. She turned out to be the hungriest creature in the village. The boy sees his salvation in this dog. Volodya feeds this unfortunate dog, which does not exist for anyone, but understands that “I did not feed a dog that was shabby from hunger with pieces of bread, but my conscience. I will not say that my conscience liked this suspicious food so much. My conscience continued to inflame, but not so much, not life-threatening.
The story ends tragically. “That month, the head of the station shot himself, who, on duty, had to walk in a red hat along the station square. He did not think of finding an unfortunate little dog for himself to feed every day, tearing bread from himself.
Vladimir Tendryakov managed not only to convey his childhood memories, but also to awaken compassion and empathy in the hearts of readers. V.Tendryakov's terrible story "Bread for the Dog" shows the abyss between the cold world of ideas and true, living human participation. Humanity can manifest itself only in compassion, empathy, sympathy for a specific living person.
Tendryakov puts the reader before a choice: live according to moral laws, according to conscience, compassionate and empathizing, or take care only of your well-being.
In the article “The Flesh of Art”, Tendryakov wrote: “We are all people living in one world, one life, and it is impossible that your grief causes me joy, and the reasons for my delight were hateful for you. Feel my grief as your own, if you do not want us to poison each other's existence! This should be the goal not only of art, but of any society.”
Tendryakov's stories do not leave the reader indifferent, and such works are needed. The author wants to convey to us the idea that every person needs to be responsible for his actions, to be attentive to any living being, responsible to people and himself, to his conscience.
