Rasputin's story “French Lessons” is a work where the author depicted a short period in the life of a village boy who was born into a poor family where hunger and cold were commonplace. Having familiarized ourselves with Rasputin’s work “French Lessons” and his, we see that the writer touches on the problem of rural residents who have to adapt to city life, the hard life in the post-war years is also touched upon, the author also showed relationships in the team, and also, and this is probably the main thought and idea of ​​this work, the author showed the fine line between such concepts as immorality and morality.

Heroes of Rasputin's story "French Lessons"

The heroes of Rasputin's story “French Lessons” are a French teacher and an eleven-year-old boy. It is around these characters that the plot of the entire work is built. The author talks about a boy who had to leave for the city to continue his school education, since in the village there was school only up to the fourth grade. Due to this, the child had to leave his parents’ nest early and survive on his own.

Of course, he lived with his aunt, but that didn’t make it any easier. The aunt and her children ate the guy. They ate food donated by the boy's mother, which was already in short supply. Because of this, the child did not eat enough and the feeling of hunger haunted him constantly, so he contacted a group of boys who played the game for money. To earn money, he also decides to play with them and begins to win, becoming best player, for which he paid the price one day.

Here teacher Lidia Mikhailovna comes to the rescue, she saw that the child was playing because of his position, playing in order to survive. The teacher invites the student to study French at home. Under the guise of improving his knowledge on this subject, the teacher decided to feed the student in this way, but the boy refused the treats, because he was proud. He also refused the parcel of pasta, having seen through the teacher’s plan. And then the teacher uses a trick. A woman invites a student to play a game for money. And here we see a fine line between moral and immoral. On the one hand, this is bad and terrible, but on the other hand, we see a good deed, because the goal of this game is not to get rich at the expense of the child, but to help him, the opportunity to fairly and honestly earn money with which the boy would buy food.

Rasputin's teacher in the work "French Lessons" sacrifices her reputation and work, just by deciding to selflessly help, and this is the culmination of the work. She lost her job because the director caught her and a student gambling for money. Could he have acted differently? No, because he saw an immoral act without understanding the details. Could the teacher have acted differently? No, because she really wanted to save the child from starvation. Moreover, she did not forget about her student in her homeland, sending from there a box of apples, which the child had only seen in pictures.

Rasputin “French Lessons” brief analysis

Having read Rasputin’s work “French Lessons” and analyzing it, we understand that we are talking not so much about school lessons in French, how much the author teaches us kindness, sensitivity, empathy. The author showed, using the example of the teacher from the story, what a teacher should really be like and this is not only a person who gives children knowledge, but also who instills in us sincere, noble feelings and actions.

Essay on the topic “The meaning of the title of the story “French Lessons” by V. Rasputin” 3.00 /5 (60.00%) 2 votes

“French Lessons” The meaning of the title of the story by V. G. Rasputin
The story takes place in the post-war years. That is why it is difficult for us modern readers to understand how difficult life was at that time, how difficult it was for people. The main character of the story is a poor, starving, sick boy. The image of this hero is collective, that is, he is not the only one, there are many like him - the whole country. Many people lived this way: after the war, families were left without male fathers, and in addition to the main character, there were many more children in the family. The mother is exhausted by life, she cannot feed her children. But, realizing that her children should have a better future, she sends her son to study. The mother hopes that her son will graduate and be able to provide for himself better life. After all, before this nothing good had happened in the life of their family.

The hero was lucky. He is a talented and capable boy, everyone notices this, that’s why he was sent to study in the city. The boy has a very difficult time in his new place: no one needs him, he has no friends, no one to take care of him, and besides, he was constantly beaten. Plus, there is constant hunger, dizziness, and his food is often stolen. The boy's life is full of obstacles and difficulties. In this difficult post-war time, everyone tried to survive and save their children, so there was nowhere to wait for help. But the resourceful boy finds a way out of this situation. He begins to gamble for money; gambling for money gives him the opportunity to buy milk for treatment. Due to his frequent winnings, they begin to beat him. A young French teacher, Lidia Mikhailovna, comes to the aid of the main character. She sees how strong the boy’s desire is to study and live, to live with dignity, so she begins to help him with everything she can. But the boy, accustomed to harsh living conditions, could not accept help from a complete stranger. Then the teacher decides to cheat and comes up with a game for money, doing everything possible to make the boy win.
The amazing act of the young teacher greatly helped the boy. It shows kindness, compassion and a desire to help. The meaning of the title of the story is that each of us should think about our importance to another person who needs help. After all, it was these “French Lessons” that played a role in the boy’s life main role, helped him get back on his feet, get stronger in the difficult, cruel post-war world, and by her act the teacher taught the boy a lesson in humanism and compassion. She showed the hero and everyone who read this story that even in such difficult years, when life was difficult for everyone, absolutely everyone, a person has the opportunity to help others, lend a helping hand and perhaps, through his actions, completely change the life of this person.

Educating the soul

Library lesson based on the story by V. Rasputin “French Lessons”

Objective of the lesson:

Develop the ability to analyze work of art;

Reveal spiritual values. Moral laws by which V. Rasputin’s heroes live;

Promote education ethical standards student relationships.

Lesson progress:

1.Introductory speech by the librarian

Hello guys! Today we are conducting a lesson “Education of the Soul” based on the story “French Lessons” by Valentin Rasputin. As an epigraph, I offer you the words of Rasputin: “To be together and understand each other in our service to the one God - the moral and sublime education of the human soul.”

The work of Valentin Rasputin invariably attracts readers, because along with the ordinary, everyday in the writer’s works there are always spiritual values, moral laws, unique characters, complex, sometimes contradictory, inner world heroes.

2. Biography of the writer

Rasputin Valentin Grigorievich was born in the Siberian village of Ust-Uda. His childhood partially coincided with the war: the future writer entered first grade in 1944. After graduating from 4th grade, Rasputin wanted to continue his studies. But the school, where there were 5th and subsequent grades, was located in the regional center, and this is as much as 50 kilometers from my native village, you don’t run into each other every day, you had to move and get used to living without parents, alone. “So, at the age of 11, my independent life began,” wrote Valentin Rasputin. After graduating from the Faculty of History and Philology of Irkutsk University in 1959, he worked for 7 years as his own correspondent for youth newspapers on construction sites in Siberia. In 1966, his first books of essays and stories were published. Since 1970, they have been published one after another:“Deadline”, “Live and Remember”, “Farewell to Matera”, “Fire”.

Rasputin is considered a village writer. Back in the late 60s and early 70s, he supported other writers who spoke loudly about the roots of national life, about the disappearance of the moral foundations of primordial village life. In his works one can hear nostalgia for a bygone civilization.

Rasputin pays much attention to the theme of childhood in his works. In stories and short stories, children exist in the context of adult life. The attitude of adults towards them is a measure of humanity or proof of cruel indifference. The writer talks about the sudden invasion of tragic events into the world of childhood, about the catastrophic experience of trouble in the lives of loved ones, about betrayed trust. He immerses his heroes in emotional state, caused by the unexpected discovery of his loneliness.

Books, the writer believes, teach not life, but feelings. His young heroes They comprehend the world with feeling, and it is important that they find themselves in a changing world, without despair, without losing faith, hope and love.

Rasputin believes and hopes for the revival of the human soul, fallen, entangled in contradictions, walking along the wrong road. This is indicated by the open endings of his works.

The writer convinces all writers to “be together and understand each other in their service to the one God - the moral and sublime education of human souls

3. Questions for discussion:

. Why did his mother send him to study in the district?

(He could not get a decent education in the village, but the boy is capable,“I went to school with pleasure and in the village I was recognized as literate.”)

. What feelings did you have? main character, finding yourself far from home?

(Feeling of loneliness, homesickness. For the village, resentment, anger: the food that mother brought strangely disappeared, and the boy was starving. "I felt so bad, so bitter and disgusted! - worse than any disease.")

Why did the main character refuse to return to the village when his mother called him with her, because he felt bad alone?

(Firstly, the main character wanted to study, especially since he was successful in his studies - he had A's in all subjects except French, and secondly, he was the first person sent from the village to the region to study, this he was responsible, they believed in him, and he could not let him down.)

. How did the fight start? How were the forces distributed in it?

(The main character played better than the rest of the guys, and as a result he won more money. The older boys Vadik and Ptah could not come to terms with this. They felt that the force was on their side and started a fight.)

. What lesson did the main character learn while playing “chicka”?

(“How was I to know that no one has ever been forgiven if he gets ahead in his business? Then do not expect mercy, do not seek intercession, for others he is an upstart, and the one who hates him most is the one who follows him. I had to learn this science that autumn on my own skin.”)

. What feelings did the main character experience during the fight and after it?

(Feeling annoyance And grievances: « The resentment overcame the fear in me, I was no longer afraid of anything in the world. Everything in me somehow hardened and closed in resentment, I did not have the strength to get a word out of myself... There was not and could not be a person in the whole wide world more unhappy than me on that day.”)

. Why did he come to play again after the feelings he experienced?

(“I knew that I was going to humiliation, but no less humiliation was to once and for all come to terms with the fact that I was beaten and kicked out. I was itching to see how Vadik and Ptah would react to my appearance and how I could behave. But most of all driven by hunger.")

. Why did the French teacher invite the boy home to study?

(She saw that he was capable, but he was very lonely, he had to starve and play “chika” for money to buy milk (he was sick with anemia). She decided to help him out. After class, Lidia Mikhailovna invited the student to have dinner with her, but he refused.)

The teacher sent a parcel of food to her student at school, why? Why didn’t the boy take the parcel, although he was hungry, and how did he guess that the parcel was not from his mother?

(Lydia Mikhailovna understood that she would not be able to support him in any other way - he would not take it.“I know you're starving. But I live alone, I have a lot of money... Why can’t I help you - for the only time in my life? , - Lidia Mikhailovna complained. Apart from her, there was no one to help the boy. The parcel contained pasta, sugar and hematogen - these products were not sold in the village, so the hero immediately realized that it was not his mother who sent the parcel. The main character did not take the parcel because he considered it humiliating.)

Playing for money is ugly and wrong. But why does the teacher invite her student to play wall? What was driving her?

(Perhaps she wanted to prove to him that pity does not humiliate a person, she is trying to show participation in the fate of this boy, to pay attention to him; during the game she cheated so that the boy could win money and buy food for himself, he would not take the money just like that , and this game allowed you to do it.)

. Why is the story called “French Lessons”?

(Lidiya Mikhailovna appears in the story not so much as a French teacher, but as an older friend; she managed to give the most important life lesson to her student - a lesson of mutual understanding, respect for human dignity, help that does not humiliate the one to whom it is addressed.)

4.Conclusion

Mark Twain said: “Being kind is noble, but teaching others to be kind is even more noble.”

This is how Valentin Rasputin’s books teach simple and important values!

History of creation

“I am sure that what makes a person a writer is his childhood, his ability to early age to see and feel everything that then gives him the right to take up the pen. Education, books, life experience nurture and strengthen this gift in the future, but it should be born in childhood,” wrote Valentin Grigorievich Rasputin in 1974 in the Irkutsk newspaper “Soviet Youth.” In 1973, one of the best stories Rasputin "French Lessons". The writer himself singles it out among his works: “I didn’t have to invent anything there. Everything happened to me. I didn't have to go far to get the prototype. I needed to return to people the good that they did for me in their time.”

Rasputin's story "French Lessons" is dedicated to Anastasia Prokopyevna Kopylova, the mother of his friend, the famous playwright Alexander Vampilov, who worked at school all her life. The story was based on a memory of a child’s life; it, according to the writer, “was one of those that warms even with a slight touch.”

The story is autobiographical. Lydia Mikhailovna is named in the work by her own name(her last name is Molokova). In 1997, the writer, in a conversation with a correspondent of the magazine “Literature at School,” talked about meetings with her: “I recently visited me, and she and I long and desperately remembered our school, and the Angarsk village of Ust-Uda almost half a century ago, and a lot from that difficult and happy time.”

Genre, genre, creative method

The work “French Lessons” is written in the short story genre. The heyday of the Russian Soviet story occurred in the twenties (Babel, Ivanov, Zoshchenko) and then the sixties and seventies (Kazakov, Shukshin, etc.) years. The story reacts more quickly than other prose genres to changes in public life, since it is written faster.

The story can be considered the oldest and first of the literary genres. Brief retelling an event - a hunting incident, a duel with an enemy, and the like - is already an oral story. Unlike other kinds and types of art, which are conventional in their essence, storytelling is inherent in humanity, having arisen simultaneously with speech and being not only the transfer of information, but also a means of social memory. The story is the original form of literary organization of language. A story is considered to be a completed prose work of up to forty-five pages. This is an approximate value - two author's sheets. Such a thing is read “in one breath.”

Rasputin's story “French Lessons” is a realistic work written in the first person. It can fully be considered an autobiographical story.

Subjects

“It’s strange: why do we, just like before our parents, always feel guilty before our teachers? And not for what happened at school at all - no, but for what happened to us.” This is how the writer begins his story “French Lessons”. Thus, he defines the main themes of the work: the relationship between teacher and student, the depiction of life illuminated by spiritual and moral meaning, the formation of the hero, his acquisition of spiritual experience in communication with Lydia Mikhailovna. French lessons and communication with Lydia Mikhailovna became life lessons for the hero and the education of feelings.

Idea

From a pedagogical point of view, a teacher playing for money with her student is an immoral act. But what is behind this action? - asks the writer. Seeing that the schoolboy (during the hungry post-war years) was malnourished, the French teacher, under the guise of additional classes, invites him to her home and tries to feed him. She sends him packages as if from her mother. But the boy refuses. The teacher offers to play for money and, naturally, “loses” so that the boy can buy milk for himself with these pennies. And she’s happy that she succeeds in this deception.

The idea of ​​the story lies in the words of Rasputin: “The reader learns from books not life, but feelings. Literature, in my opinion, is, first of all, the education of feelings. And above all kindness, purity, nobility.” These words directly relate to the story “French Lessons”.

Main characters

The main characters of the story are an eleven-year-old boy and a French teacher, Lidia Mikhailovna.

Lydia Mikhailovna was no more than twenty-five years old and “there was no cruelty in her face.” She treated the boy with understanding and sympathy, and appreciated his determination. She recognized her student's remarkable learning abilities and was ready to help them develop in any way possible. Lydia Mikhailovna is endowed with an extraordinary capacity for compassion and kindness, for which she suffered, losing her job.

The boy amazes with his determination and desire to learn and get out into the world under any circumstances. The story about the boy can be presented in the form of a quotation plan:

1. “In order to study further... and I had to equip myself in the regional center.”
2. “I studied well here too... in all subjects except French, I got straight A’s.”
3. “I felt so bad, so bitter and hateful! “worse than any disease.”
4. “Having received it (the ruble), ... I bought a jar of milk at the market.”
5. “They beat me in turns... there was no more unhappy person that day than me.”
6. “I was scared and lost... she seemed to me like an extraordinary person, not like everyone else.”

Plot and composition

“I went to fifth grade in 1948. It would be more correct to say, I went: in our village there was only primary school, therefore, in order to study further, I had to travel fifty kilometers from home to the regional center.” For the first time, due to circumstances, an eleven-year-old boy is torn away from his family, torn from his usual surroundings. However little hero understands that the hopes of not only his relatives, but also the entire village are placed on him: after all, according to the unanimous opinion of his fellow villagers, he is called to be “ learned man" The hero makes every effort, overcoming hunger and homesickness, so as not to let his fellow countrymen down.

A young teacher approached the boy with special understanding. She began to additionally study French with the hero, hoping to feed him at home. Pride did not allow the boy to accept help from a stranger. Lydia Mikhailovna’s idea with the parcel was not crowned with success. The teacher filled it with “city” products and thereby gave herself away. Looking for a way to help the boy, the teacher invites him to play wall game for money.

The climax of the story comes after the teacher begins to play wall games with the boy. The paradoxical nature of the situation sharpens the story to the limit. The teacher could not help but know that at that time such a relationship between a teacher and a student could lead not only to dismissal from work, but also to criminal liability. The boy did not fully understand this. But when trouble did happen, he began to understand the teacher’s behavior more deeply. And this led him to realize some aspects of life at that time.

The ending of the story is almost melodramatic. Parcel with Antonov apples, which he, a resident of Siberia, had never tried, seems to echo the first, unsuccessful package with city food - pasta. More and more new touches are preparing this ending, which turned out to be not at all unexpected. In the story, the heart of a distrustful village boy opens up to the purity of a young teacher. The story is surprisingly modern. It contains the great courage of a little woman, the insight of a closed, ignorant child, and the lessons of humanity.

Artistic originality

With wise humor, kindness, humanity, and most importantly, with complete psychological accuracy, the writer describes the relationship between a hungry student and a young teacher. The narrative flows slowly, with everyday details, but its rhythm imperceptibly captures it.

The language of the narrative is simple and at the same time expressive. The writer skillfully used phraseological units, achieving expressiveness and imagery of the work. Phraseologisms in the story “French Lessons” mostly express one concept and are characterized by a certain meaning, which is often equal to the meaning of the word:

“I studied well here too. What was left for me? Then I came here, I had no other business here, and I didn’t yet know how to take care of what was entrusted to me” (lazyly).

“I had never seen a bird at school before, but looking ahead, I’ll say that in the third quarter it suddenly fell on our class out of the blue” (unexpectedly).

“Hunging and knowing that my grub would not last long, no matter how much I saved it, I ate until I was full, until my stomach hurt, and then after a day or two I put my teeth back on the shelf” (fast).

“But there was no point in locking myself away, Tishkin managed to sell me whole” (betray).

One of the features of the story’s language is the presence of regional words and outdated vocabulary, characteristic of the time of action of the story. For example:

Lodge - rent an apartment.
One and a half truck - a truck with a lifting capacity of 1.5 tons.
Teahouse - a type of public canteen where visitors are offered tea and snacks.
Toss - sip.
Naked boiling water - pure, without impurities.
Blather - chat, talk.
Bale - hit lightly.
Hlyuzda - rogue, deceiver, cheater.
Pritaika - what is hidden.

Meaning of the work

The works of V. Rasputin invariably attract readers, because next to the everyday, everyday things in the writer’s works there are always spiritual values, moral laws, unique characters, and the complex, sometimes contradictory, inner world of the heroes. The author's thoughts about life, about man, about nature help us discover inexhaustible reserves of goodness and beauty in ourselves and in the world around us.

In difficult times, the main character of the story had to learn. The post-war years were a kind of test not only for adults, but also for children, because both good and bad in childhood are perceived much brighter and more acutely. But difficulties strengthen character, so the main character often displays such qualities as willpower, pride, a sense of proportion, endurance, and determination.

Many years later, Rasputin will again turn to the events of long ago. “Now that quite a large part of my life has been lived, I want to comprehend and understand how correctly and usefully I spent it. I have many friends who are always ready to help, I have something to remember. Now I understand that my closest friend is my former teacher, a French teacher. Yes, decades later I remember her as true friend, the only person, who understood me while I was at school. And even years later, when we met, she showed me a gesture of attention, sending me apples and pasta, as before. And no matter who I am, no matter what depends on me, she will always treat me only as a student, because for her I was, am and will always remain a student. Now I remember how then, taking the blame upon herself, she left school, and at parting she said to me: “Study well and don’t blame yourself for anything!” By doing this, she taught me a lesson and showed me how a real good person should act. It’s not for nothing that they say: school teacher- teacher of life."

The author's works are always a kind of diary, which captures the innermost thoughts, experiences and events that happened to him in life. The story of Valentin Rasputin, which will be discussed, is more autobiographical than his other works. Let's find out why. The story is called “French Lessons”. It is based on true story- as a teenager, the writer was forced to leave his home to continue his studies at the secondary level secondary school: V native village there was only an initial one. It is no coincidence that the story is told in the first person. Even the teacher's name - Lidia Mikhailovna - is by no means fictitious.

Post-war childhood

The main character of the story “French Lessons,” just like Valentin Rasputin once did, ended up in the city and settled with his aunt. It was 1948, a time of famine. Here the boy had a very hard time, the meager supplies that his mother sent him from the village disappeared in a matter of days: one of his aunt’s children got into the habit of carrying food. Often the hero had to be content with just boiling water. It was even harder for him to be separated from his family, and there was not a single person around who was ready to tell the boy kind word. The boy suffered from anemia; every day he needed at least a glass of milk. His mother sometimes sent him small money for this same milk, and the boy bought it at the market. One day he decided to invest coins in a game called “chika”, practiced for a long time and finally began to win. He only needed a ruble to buy milk, so the boy, having won it, left the game. The boys beat the cautious and lucky player. This circumstance gave impetus to events that changed the hero’s thinking. And the reader begins to understand why the story is called “French Lessons.”

An extraordinary teacher

Lidia Mikhailovna - young beautiful woman originally from Kuban. To the hero she seemed like a celestial being. Everything about her delighted and surprised him: the mysterious language she taught, the unearthly smell of her perfume, her softness, freedom and confidence. She didn’t look like a teacher at all and seemed to be perplexed: why was she here?

Human involvement

Lidia Mikhailovna quickly and carefully examined each student to make sure that everything was okay with the children. It’s no wonder that she immediately noticed the bruises and abrasions on the boy’s face. Having learned that he was playing for money, she did not drag the boy to the director, as was customary, but decided to have a heart-to-heart talk with him. When she heard that the child was buying milk, not candy, she thought about it. The conversation ended with the boy promising not to gamble for money anymore. But hunger forced him to hunt in a similar way again. He was beaten again. The teacher understood that the boy was surviving as best he could. She really wanted to help him somehow. For classes, Lidia Mikhailovna began to invite her ward to her home, communicated with him in a friendly and sympathetic manner, and tried to feed him. But it was impossible to seat the timid and proud boy dining table. Then the teacher left a parcel of food at the school in the boy’s name, as if from his mother. It contained pasta, sugar and hematogen. The outlandish set gave away the benefactor: the boy guessed who the parcel was from and flatly refused to take it. Wanting to make the child’s life easier, Lidia Mikhailovna commits a pedagogical “crime”: she plays “wall” with a student for money, contriving to “cheat” not in her favor. This climax in the story makes Rasputin's story very dramatic and humane.

French lessons

In parallel with these relationships, marked by deep moral content, between teacher and student, learning takes place. French. The boy managed everything except pronunciation. But daily classes awakened his interest and ability in language. The purposeful hero overcame difficulties step by step. Gradually, instead of torture, language lessons became a pleasure for him. But, of course, this is not the only answer to the question of why the story is called “French Lessons.”

The Science of Kindness

Living compassion, mercy without formalism - this is how this amazing teacher enriched the hero’s inner world. Formally, gambling with a student for money is an immoral act, but when we understand why the young woman is doing this, it takes on a completely different spiritual meaning. Remembering the teacher, Rasputin wrote that she had some kind of special independence that protected her from hypocrisy. She did not need to deliver educational monologues about nobility, honesty and kindness. It’s just that everything she did easily and naturally became the best life lessons for her young charges.

There were, of course, other good teachers in the author’s life. But a childhood memory of a French teacher, who, along with the wisdom of a foreign dialect, revealed subtleties not prescribed in ethics textbooks, forever determined the spiritual make-up of the writer. That's why the story is called "French Lessons."

The players were caught by the director, Lidia Mikhailovna was fired, and she went to her home in Kuban. And soon the boy received a parcel containing ruddy Antonov apples under the pasta.