Summary: "A golden cloud spent the night" (A. Pristavkin)

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Among the works about wartime, the story “A golden cloud spent the night” written by Anatoly Pristavkin stands apart: it not only shows the pain and misfortune experienced by the whole country, but also how this misfortune brings together people belonging to different nationalities, to different cultures.

Retelling

A. Pristavkin sharpens the impact on the reader by telling the story of two boys. This is a brief summary. “A golden cloud spent the night” depicts how the war brought two orphans to the southern village of Caucasian Waters. Sasha and Kolya Kuzmins, Kuzmenyshs, as they are called, were brought by Regina Petrovna, teacher of the orphanage. But even here, in the blessed land, there is no peace and quiet. The locals are in constant fearthe city is being raided by Chechens hiding in the mountains. By decision of the authorities, they were exiled to distant Siberia, but they managed to escape to the mountains and forests.

Encounter with cruelty

The story of Pristavkin, as well as its summary, tells about the first clashes with hatred and cruelty. “A golden cloud spent the night” tells how Regina Petrovna’s house was once burned down. Children from the orphanage worked together with adults at the factory. They were driven by a driver Vera. But she, too, dies at the hands of fugitive Chechens. One day, Kolya and Sasha were returning with Demyan from the subsidiary farm to the boarding school, but they found a terrible picture: the house was destroyed and empty, the children's things were lying around the yard. And here the bandits ruled. Demyan with the children tries to run away and hide. Sasha in a panic loses his fellow travelers and runs away. Bandits overtake him. “A golden cloud spent the night,” a summary, and even more so, an original work, has a powerful effect on the reader’s emotions. The pages about Sasha's death can be considered a tragic climax. Kolya, having waited out the danger, returns to the village and sees his brother on the street. It's like he's on a fence. But when Kolya comes closer, he sees a terrible picture. Sasha is hanging on the stakes of the fence, his stomach is torn open, all the insides are hanging over his legs, corn cobs are sticking out of the wound in his stomach and from his mouth. The story "A golden cloud spent the night" shows simply and therefore even more terrifyingly the tragedy of the fate of the Kuzmenysh. Kolya fulfills the wish of his dead brother, who dreamed of seeing the mountains closer. Hetransports Sasha on a trolley to the train. To get a full understanding of the story, of course, you need to read it. But the direction of the development of the plot will present the reader with even a summary. "A golden cloud spent the night" shows the fate of the children of the war.

Tragic ending optimism

Very important and life-affirming is the finale of the story. A soldier accidentally finds two homeless boys sleeping. One of them is Kolya Kuzmin, the second is a Chechen boy. Also an orphan, Alkhuzur found warmth and sympathy in Kolya. The boys called themselves Sasha and Kolya Kuzmin. The touching ending of the story suggests that it is not nationality that separates people. Evil is born by criminals, wherever they come from: from Nazi Germany or from the Caucasus Mountains. You don't have to stop after reading the summary. "A golden cloud spent the night" by the great writer Anatoly Pristavkin deserves to take its place in your library.