Summary of "French Lessons" - a story by Valentin Rasputin

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

Valentin Rasputin is a Soviet and Russian writer whose work belongs to the genre of the so-called "village prose". While reading the works of this author, one gets the impression that what they say happens to your good friends, their heroes are so vividly and vividly described. Behind the seeming simplicity of the presentation lies a deep immersion in the characters of people who are forced to act in difficult everyday circumstances.

The story "French Lessons", a summary of which will be presented in this article, is largely autobiographical. It describes a difficult period in the life of the writer, when, after graduating from elementary school, he was sent to the city to study in high school. The future writer, like the hero of the story, had to live with strangers in the hungry post-war years. How he felt at the same time and what he experienced, you can find out by reading this small but vivid work.

Summary of "French Lessons". Chica game

Storyis conducted on behalf of a village boy sent to the city to continue his studies in high school. There was a hungry year in 1948, the owners of the apartment also had children who needed to be fed, so the hero of the story had to take care of his own food. Mom sometimes sent parcels from the village with potatoes and bread, which quickly ran out, and the boy was almost always hungry.

One day he came to a wasteland where the children played for money in "chiku" and joined them. Soon he got used to the game and began to win. But each time he left after gaining a ruble, for which he bought himself a mug of milk in the market. He needed milk as a cure for anemia. But this did not last long. The guys beat him twice, after which he stopped the game.

Summary of "French Lessons". Lidia Mikhailovna

The hero of the story studied well in all subjects, except for the French language, in which he was not given any pronunciation. The French teacher, Lidia Mikhailovna, noted his diligence, but lamented over the obvious shortcomings in oral speech. She learned that her student had gambled to buy milk, that he had been beaten by his comrades, and was filled with sympathy for the able but poor boy. The teacher offered to study additional French at her home, hoping to feed the poor fellow under this pretext.

Summary of "French Lessons". "Zaperyashki"

However, she did not yet know what a tough nut she had to face. Allher attempts to seat him at the table were unsuccessful - the wild and proud boy flatly refused to "eat" with his teacher. Then she sent a parcel with pasta, sugar and hematogen to the address of the school, supposedly from her mother from the village. But the hero of the story knew perfectly well that it was impossible to buy such products in the general store, and returned the gift to the sender.

Then Lidia Mikhailovna went to extreme measures - she invited the boy to play with her a game for money, familiar to her from childhood - "zameryashki". He did not immediately, but agreed, considering it "honest earnings." From that day on, every time after French lessons (in which he began to make great strides), the teacher and the student played "zameryashki". The boy had money for milk again, and his life became much more satisfying.

Summary of "French Lessons". End of everything

Of course, it couldn't go on like this forever. One day, the headmaster caught Lydia Mikhailovna playing with a student for money. Of course, this was considered a misdemeanor, incompatible with her further work at the school. The teacher left three days later for her homeland, for the Kuban. And after some time, on one of the winter days, a parcel with pasta and apples came to the boy's name at school.

The story "French Lessons" (a brief summary of which became the subject of this article) inspired director Yevgeny Tashkov to shoot the film of the same name, which was shown for the first time in 1978. He immediately fell in love with the audience and is still being released on discs.