The numbers are brief. Story "Numbers"

Retelling plan

1. The narrator’s quarrel with his nephew.
2. The boy is eager to receive gifts from his uncle, but he does not want to spoil him.
3. The child does not respond to adults’ comments while playing a noisy game. Uncle punishes him. The boy is crying.
4. When he calms down, the adults convince him that he should ask his uncle for forgiveness. The boy is adamant.
5. The boy softens, and his uncle shows him how to write the numbers.

Retelling
I

The narrator recalls a quarrel with his nephew. The boy is a big naughty boy. Usually, after a wild day spent, he comes up, presses him to the shoulder, and one kind word is enough for him to forget all the insults and rush to kiss and hug his uncle.

But this time there was too much quarrel. And the boy did not dare to come close, but only wished “good night” and shuffled his foot, like a very well-mannered child. But “having suffered through his grief”, forgetting the grievances, the boy again asked to show him the numbers: “Uncle, forgive me... I won’t do it again... And please, still show me the numbers! Please!" The uncle hesitated in answering.

That day the boy woke up with a new dream: “to have his own picture books, pencil case, colored pencils - definitely colored! - and learn to read, draw and write numbers. And all this at once, in one day, as soon as possible.”

Having woken up, he immediately called his uncle to him and “bombarded him with fervent requests.” Tom did not want to go into the city, and he began to come up with various reasons not to do this, promising to buy everything tomorrow. My heart told me that I shouldn’t refuse and deprive my child of joy, but a rule popped up in my head that I shouldn’t spoil children either. The boy became agitated and boldly threatened: “Remember this for yourself.” He behaved very badly all day.

In the evening, when his grandmother, mother and uncle gathered for tea, the boy found another outlet for his emotions.

He came up with a wonderful game: “jump up, kick the floor with all your might and at the same time scream so loudly that our eardrums almost burst.” The boy did not respond to the requests of his grandmother and mother. Then his uncle reprimanded him. But the boy responded by jumping even harder and screaming even more shrilly. Uncle pretended not to notice him anymore. This is where the story begins. The boy shouted again and with such divine joy that “the Lord God himself would have smiled at this cry.” But my uncle jumped up from his chair in a rage and shouted at the top of his lungs: “Stop it!”

The boy's face contorted in horror for a second, but to hide it, he pathetically kicked the floor again. The uncle rushed to him and pulled him by the arm so that the boy turned over like a top, spanked him and, pushing him out of the room, closed the door.

Out of resentment and unexpected insult, the boy “roared into such a terrible, piercing viola that no singer in the world is capable of.” The boy screamed, sobbed, asked for help, but the adults were inexorable. The grandmother could barely restrain her tears and the desire to run into the nursery.

Exhausted by his sobs, drunk with his childhood grief, which perhaps no human grief can compare with, he fell silent.

The uncle maintained his temper and half an hour later, after the child had quieted down, he looked into the nursery. The boy sat on the floor, twitching with sighs, and played. My uncle's heart sank, but he didn't show it. The child raised his head and looked with eyes full of contempt: “Now I will never love you again!” Then he threatened his uncle that he would not buy him anything and would even take the Japanese penny he had once given him. To which the uncle replied: “Please!”

Then his grandmother and mother came to see the boy. They said that it was not good for children to grow up disobedient; they advised the boy to go to his uncle and ask for forgiveness. But the child persisted, and then everyone pretended to forget about him.

My uncle was worried and decided to wander around the city. The grandmother began to shame the boy, then, after a pause, “struck the most sensitive string” of his heart. She said: “Who will buy you a pencil case, papers, a book with pictures? What about the numbers? This broke the boy's pride. The adults made him resign himself, since he did not want to endure it. And he resigned himself.

Coming out of the nursery, the boy asked his uncle for forgiveness, begging him to give at least a drop of the happiness he so longed for. His uncle scolded him a little more and agreed. The boy's eyes shone with great joy. With extraordinary diligence, he began to write out the numbers: one... two... five... Meanwhile, his uncle enjoyed the child’s joy, looking at him with tenderness.

In the story “Figures,” Bunin tells how a little boy named Zhenya and his uncle had a quarrel. The story begins with a scene in which the boy says good night and, unable to resist, asks to show him the numbers. He is very worried, because his uncle may once again refuse him, and seeing the numbers is so important for him.

Zhenya has a lot of educational things. There are colored pencils and picture books, and even a pencil case. In the morning, as soon as he opened his eyes, he called his uncle. The boy really wanted to start studying numbers as soon as possible, to get the treasured books and magazines, as well as pencils.

Uncle, on the contrary, did not want to work with the child, so he came up with a royal day and refused to go to the store. He told Zhenya that everything was closed on the king’s day and that today the boy should find something else to do. He did not agree, but having received a threat that he would not receive anything at all, the boy calmed down and stopped bothering him.

After waiting a little, the boy again pestered his uncle and pointed out that even though all the stores were closed on Tsar’s Day, there was no law prohibiting hiding numbers. The boy's grandmother decided to intervene in the conversation. She said that today the police are especially carefully checking all those who can at least tell something about the numbers.

Uncle did not like this statement, and he honestly admitted to Zhenya that he did not want to pay attention to numbers today. But at the same time, he promised that tomorrow he would definitely set aside time to go and buy everything he needed to practice numbers, work with his nephew and introduce him to numbers.

His wife didn’t like that they didn’t want to work with him, and he didn’t believe that tomorrow something would change. He wanted to see the numbers so badly. The uncle saw the child’s desire to study the numbers today, but he could not give in, since he believed that there was no need for indulgences for the children.

The boy could not find a place for himself all day. He was furious, demolishing tables and chairs, screaming loudly, and he chatted all lunch. He screamed so loudly that the ears of those around him were blocked. It was this behavior that led to a quarrel between the child and his uncle.

In the evening, while drinking tea, Zhenya came up with a new idea. The boy was jumping up and down. He kicked and screamed as loud as possible. The adults who drank tea with him even began to have stuffy ears. Many times they asked the child to stop his fun and calmly drink tea, but he continued to scream even more. After another kick and scream, Uncle Zhenya could not stand it, jumped up from his seat, spanked him and kicked him out of the room. At that moment, the uncle was very angry with the child for his disobedience.

The boy, in turn, was very upset, cried, but no one spoke to him. Even the grandmother and mother did not pay attention to the child’s sobs. Zhenya screamed for a long time, left alone in the room, until his voice became hoarse. After a while he calmed down and found something to do. And after some time, his uncle decided to check on Zhenya, and his heart sank from the picture he saw, because the child was sitting on the floor, and empty matchboxes served as toys for him.

Very gloomy and hoarse, he said that he no longer loved his uncle. No matter how hard my grandmother and mother tried to reconcile their men, nothing worked. In the end, they had to leave the room and leave little Zhenya alone so that he could think about what had happened. The child could not forgive the adults for scolding him and leaving him alone.

Time passed and the boy’s grandmother, a wise woman, figured out how to reconcile the boy with his uncle. She approached the child and asked who, if not his uncle, could show him the numbers? After all, it’s easy to buy a pencil case and even books, but can you really buy numbers? Zhenya was confused and didn’t know what to answer.

Of course, the child agreed to reconcile with his uncle. He asked for forgiveness. The evening passed quietly, in the family circle. Everyone enjoyed the silence, and the boy was glad that he would finally learn everything about the treasured numbers. Zhenya, with particular persistence, drew number after number with a pencil, and each time he did better.

The uncle, in turn, could not stop looking at the child, from whom the smell of a child wafted, his uncle inhaled with special pleasure. For a minute it seemed to him that he himself had become a child. When Zhenya lost count, and he did this every minute, his uncle tirelessly corrected him. And after some time, the boy began to get his first numbers.

The psychological subtleties of Ivan Bunin’s work still interest the reader, although the realities about which he wrote have sunk into oblivion. The problem of the small landed nobility is no longer relevant, but the theme of a person’s growing up, which is the semantic center of the story “Numbers,” is still ineradicable.

Already in the second half of the 19th century, a tradition of addressing the theme of childhood developed in Russian literature. Leo Tolstoy, Sergei Aksakov, Maxim Gorky and others wrote about this wonderful time of life. To look at the world through the eyes of a child, to understand what he feels and experiences, what this small and not yet fully formed, but already quite original personality dreams about - all this interested and continues to interest writers. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin’s story “Numbers” is dedicated to the problem of childhood.

This work was written in 1906 and represents the confession of an adult, an uncle, to his nephew. Before the reader is a first-person story in three parts about one incident, or rather an incident, from those times when little boy Zhenya was just learning to read, count and write, and his biggest dream was to quickly learn numbers.

Meaning of the name

Why was Bunin's story called "Numbers"? The dream of learning numbers completely captured the main character. The author puts it in the title of the story. However, this is more than just the whim of young Zhenya.

The name “numbers” is a symbol of a child’s dream, and at the same time it can be interpreted as a bone of discord, an object that puts an adult and a child at odds. opposite sides a conflict in which it is very difficult to find the right one.

The essence

The plot of the work centers on the conflict between an uncle and his nephew, the boy Zhenya. The child, full of energy to learn, asks him to show him the numbers, but the adult is too lazy to go to the city for pencils, and he refuses, constantly postponing the lesson.

Zhenya, so inflamed with a thirst for knowledge, cannot bear it and begins to behave too actively, which irritates his uncle. As a result, a major quarrel occurs, during which neither one nor the other wants to admit that they were wrong - and, meanwhile, it is characteristic of both of them - only the grandmother makes attempts to reconcile the “men”. In the end, she succeeds, and, having gone through this conflict, both the child and the adult, having learned a life lesson from it, sit down at the table and count.

Genre, direction, composition

The story consists of seven parts, in each of which the narrator is the uncle himself. He begins his story by addressing his wife with words about some quarrel that occurred between them in the past. Thus, the author immediately determines the subject that will be discussed. Using the “look into the past” technique, the writer forms a special perception of this story - edifying, instructive. At the same time, the narrator himself evaluates his actions and draws a moral conclusion from them.

Moreover, his speech is not just a statement of events, it is a living memory; The author’s language is light, dynamic and emotional, thanks to which we sincerely empathize with the characters and try to find an excuse for them in this quarrel.

The main characters and their characteristics

The central images are, of course, the narrator and his nephew. Their relationship drives the action and becomes the basis of the conflict of the work. Despite the fact that we see everything that is happening from my uncle’s side, his words are quite objective and contain a component of analysis.

A very touching and at the same time accurate description of Zhenya is given in the first part:

...You are a big naughty person. When something captivates you, you don’t know how to resist. From early morning until late at night, you often haunt the whole house with your screaming and running around. But I don’t know anything more touching than you, when you, having enjoyed your riot, become quiet, wander around the rooms and, finally, come up and forlornly press yourself against my shoulder!

Characteristics of Zhenya - active, curious and very loving child, despite the fact that sometimes he is overwhelmed by whims. His uncle loves him very much, every time when strictness and inflexibility were required from him, as from an adult, he felt incredibly sorry for the child. However, the quarrel between the two of them is largely his fault, because he failed to show leniency and tenderness in time; Pride and stubbornness took over him. This is a characteristic of an uncle - an emotional and hot-tempered man, but sincerely attached to his nephew.

Also in the story are Zhenya’s mother and grandmother, who are also divided in their opinions: the mother is on the uncle’s side, and the grandmother is on Zhenya’s side. However, she does not scold those who quarreled, but tries to reconcile them. Grandmother, as an example of wisdom and balance, as an experienced person in life, understands the stupidity of this discord, and in the finale only she manages to establish peace between the main characters.

Topics

The theme of the story is the relationship between children and adults. For a child, everything around him is an unknown reality, it is curious and alluring, but for an adult this reality is no longer of such interest. The result is misunderstanding, which leads to conflict.

The author demonstrates a child's perception of the world to an adult reader in order to fill the gap of misunderstanding between members of the same family. Childhood is fleeting, it is easily forgotten, so it is very difficult for adults to realize and feel what the child is experiencing.

However, early life is the most crucial time when the foundation of personality is laid. His fate depends on whether the parents can understand their heir. An uncle must do his best to encourage his nephew’s curiosity, only in this way will he grow up to be an educated person. However, at the same time, one cannot indulge his whims, otherwise the entire educational effect of enlightenment will come to naught.

Problems

In his work, the author raises the problem of upbringing, relationships between adults and children, and the difference in their perception of the world around them. Also important are issues of children's curiosity and dreams, the desire to learn and develop, characteristic of every child, issues of human nature, which, through stubbornness and laziness, sometimes interferes with a reasonable solution to a problem.

The moral issues of the work directly point to the eternal vices of people of all ages: categoricalness, selfishness, optionality, etc. Over the years, an adult only aggravates children's shortcomings and competes with the child, succumbing to nervous excitement. Showing how willingly respectable gentlemen fall into childhood, the author draws attention to the fact that maturity is determined by the ability to manage oneself, and not by age.

Meaning

The main idea of the story is that when communicating with children it is necessary to behave like an adult. The numbers in determining age do not mean anything, because over the years a person may not change. The uncle easily loses his temper, setting a bad example for the capricious pupil. He may wean off being capricious, but he will instill in the nascent personality even more negative traits such as stubbornness, hot temper and categoricalness.

The idea is that the uncle, under the influence of worldly wisdom from the lips of the grandmother, chooses the right path: he goes back and corrects his mistake, realizing the promise made long ago. Zhenya and his teacher calmly begin to study the numbers.

What does it teach?

The author makes us think about the need to remember and take into account this difference in experience, in relation to the world, because a child is a completely different creature, unlike adults, and requires a special approach. The conclusion is simple: you need to take a responsible approach to raising the younger generation, without setting a negative example.

Moreover, in a conflict it is impossible to clearly identify the right side, because in any conflict everyone has their own truth, but everyone is wrong to some extent, so you always need to be able to compromise and find it. This is the moral meaning of the story.

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In his work, entitled “Numbers,” Bunin makes the main characters a little boy and his uncle. They are shown to have a warm relationship and have been friends for a long time. The uncle loves his nephew, but keeps him at a distance because he is of the personal opinion that spoiling children is very harmful. Life is shown through the perception of an adult with experience and the ability to control his feelings. But a child cannot understand this. He doesn't have that kind of life experience. The boy Zhenya decides to rebel.

The story was created by Bunin not to torment children with moral teachings, but so that the older generation could see themselves from the outside. During the conflict with the baby, they are very worried. Grandmother's lips tremble, uncle begins to condemn himself for laziness. While the boy forgot what happened on one of the winter evenings, the adults remember everything well. The child’s heart quickly forgot the grievances, without torment of conscience, he was not going to do harm to anyone. The boy lived in the joy of every moment in life. But it was precisely such an incident that forced my uncle to look critically at himself and conduct a deep analysis of his life.

Bunin's main task has been completed. The writer introduces the reader to the most complex world relationships between adults and children. Everyone should understand that sometimes adults behave too domineeringly towards children, not noticing them as small, but human beings. Children are people with their own desires and feelings that should be respected. You need to treat children more carefully so as not to hurt a sensitive soul.

In his narration, the author makes a deep assessment of the child’s psyche and compares it with that of an adult. Children and elders live in the same house, speak their native language, and are faced with a complete misunderstanding of each other. When every such child grows up, he completely forgets his childhood moments in life. It is possible to remember certain incidents in life, but it is almost impossible to restore your childish attitude towards them.

A quarrel between an adult man and a child is examined from two completely different points of view. The feeling of joy was extinguished by pride and a certain irritability of an adult. The kid tried to explore the world as quickly as possible, study the numbers, but the adult considered this to be self-indulgence and postponed all learning until later. Inadvertently causing pain to a child.

Main idea

The main idea is that children should be raised with affection and kindness, without imposing personal concepts. Bunin's main idea, necessary to convey to every reader.

The main conclusion of Bunin's story "Numbers" is education in happiness.

Chapter 1

It begins with an introduction, where a brief summary is provided. The author's thoughts about childhood and children in general about the difficulties of the educational process are expressed. It is important to act judiciously. The author repeatedly asks questions about the right tools in education that are used.

Chapter 2

is a description of the pictures that led to the conflict between the child and the adult. The nephew begs his uncle to buy everything in order to quickly study numbers and learn to read. Uncle cannot overcome the feeling of laziness and postpones everything to the next day. The child is left without the joy of learning and languishes in anticipation.

Chapter 3

Not knowing how to behave correctly and to appease his curiosity, the baby begins to scream loudly and stomp on the floor. The uncle begins to get angry, scolds him and kicks the child out of the room.

Chapter 4

represent a picture of a child’s tears, his great grief. All adults, including uncle, mother, grandmother, calmly continue their conversation, without giving the appearance that a tragedy has happened. They try to justify their actions with educational measures.

Chapter 5

The boy forgets about the offense and entertains himself with boxes. The uncle pauses and does not put up with the boy. Adults completely forget about Zhenya.

Chapter 6

The strict attitude and policy of the elders took its toll. The child and his pride were broken; he resigned himself to punishment in the hope of the possible happiness of learning numbers.

Chapter 7

The child himself takes a step towards reconciliation, the uncle makes a sad face. But still, he relented and taught his nephew numbers. Feeling the joy of my nephew's happiness.

I. A. Bunin's story "Numbers" is an ideal example of the multilingualism of children and adults. The case described in the work is typical for society.

I.A. Bunin is an unsurpassed master of the Russian language. From all the variety of Russian words, Bunin selected the most picturesque and powerful ones for his works. In his work, the author shows a deep interest in human relationships, describes all their spiritual experiences and deep inner world. He always clearly reveals to the reader good and bad character traits and motivations for actions.

Bunin is the author of literary works written at the very beginning of the twentieth century. A difficult time for all of Russia, which was experiencing a turning point. All values in life are being reviewed. Bunin's literary treasures are always at the peak of modernity and reveal the tasks of humanity, acts of conscience and morality.