"Christ's boy on the tree": summary. "Christ's boy on the Christmas tree" (F.M. Dostoevsky)

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

Sometimes there is not enough time to read the entire work of one of the great classics of literature. Quickly get acquainted with it, the main characters will help a brief summary. "The Boy at Christ's Tree" is a story written by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. In it, the famous writer shares his thoughts with readers, makes it possible to see from the outside what human indifference leads to, comes up with a very kind and positive ending, which can be not only a figment of fantasy, but also a reality.

Structure of the work

So, we begin to acquaint us with the story summary. "The Boy at Christ's Tree" consists of two parts, the second is called that way, and the first writer titled "The Boy with a Pen".

The first and second chapters are about different guys. They have the same only age and low social status.origin. Despite the fact that both children are very poor, the second is more sympathetic than the first. For his uncorrupted soul, for the fact that he did nothing wrong to anyone, for the unjust insults to which he was subjected, Christ will reward the second child according to his deserts.

Part One - "Boy with a Pen"

It is with it that the work itself and its summary begin. "Christ's Boy on the Christmas Tree" first introduces us to one child. The writer says that before Christmas he met a boy who was no more than seven years old. In severe frost, he was dressed almost in summer. The child was begging, children like him were called “with a pen” for walking around with outstretched hands and begging.

To the writer's questions, the child replied that his sister was sick, so he went to ask. Further, Dostoevsky tells that there were many such children at that time, he reveals to the reader the fate that awaits these kids. A lot of them become thieves. In dysfunctional families - drinking parents, they send their children for vodka. Fathers, uncles who beat their wives, “for the sake of laughter” can pour this fiery water into the mouth even of their son, nephew. Then those non-humans also laugh when the children fall unconscious to the floor…

Naturally, in such a family it is very difficult for a child to become a good person, therefore, having already matured, and even going to work in a factory, teenagers become real criminals, and themselves, like their parents, begin to drink. Like thisa bleak picture was described by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky.

Christ's boy on the tree

The main characters of this story are boys who didn't know each other. One of them was somehow adapted to a beggarly existence, the other ended up in that world full of hardships, unprepared and found himself there all alone - without protection, without adult care.

Dostoevsky begins the second chapter of the story with the words that he is, after all, a novelist. The author says that it seems to him that he had already heard something similar, or maybe it was just a dream.

The second story also happened on the eve of Christmas. It starts in the basement. Here, with a bale under her head, lies a seriously ill woman. Beside her sits a boy of six years or less. In another corner lies a strange old woman who often grumbles at the child. He and his mother came to this city from somewhere far away. Apparently, hunger drove the family from their homes. Mom and boy came here to feed themselves. Perhaps the woman wanted to get a job here, but fell ill or was completely weak from hunger. This begins the second chapter, which Dostoevsky called "The Boy at Christ on the Christmas Tree." The summary of the story continues.

All alone

The child wanted to eat. He was able to get drunk, but there was no food. He had already tried many times to wake up his mother, but she did not open her eyes. The boy touched the woman, she was cold. The child was terrified, he did not understand exactlywhat happened, but he felt that he was cold and scared in this dark basement, where no lights were turned on.

The kid put on his light outerwear, which the author calls a dressing gown, and went outside, she amazed him. There were many lights around, the child had never seen such a thing. Where he came from, one dim lantern burned in the street in the evenings, and everyone sat in their houses after sunset.

Here there was heavy traffic, windows of houses were burning with bright light. In one large window, the child saw a huge Christmas tree on which toys and apples hung. Driven by a feeling of intense hunger, the baby opened the door to this magical world. After all, many rich guests, invited by the owners of a large Christmas tree for the holiday, entered through it. But the lady waved her hands at him, thrust a kopeck into the child, and drove him away. The kid got scared, ran and dropped the change.

Bad people

This instructive work, which F. M. Dostoevsky called "The Boy at Christ on the Tree", tells about such hard-hearted people. The summary of the story tells about these moments in a little more detail. After all, by that time the child was already freezing. It was terribly cold, and he was dressed quite lightly. The child's fingers and toes were very sore - they turned red, there was frostbite.

If that lady had allowed the child to bask in warmth, fed him, he could have survived. But this woman is not the only one to blame. After all, when the boy was walking down the street, the guardian of order passed by and deliberately turned away so as not to see the baby. Although he was obliged to do his duty, to take the child toarea, hospital or shelter. It was because of such people that this sweet little angel disappeared. Dostoevsky came up with a very kind ending to the story, very soon we will get to it.

In Heaven

Summary continues. The boy at Christ on the Christmas tree will be very soon. Running out of a rich house, he stopped near the shop window and stared at the funny mechanical dolls. At this time, someone evil pulled off his dressing gown. The child was frightened again, ran and hid in the yard behind a pile of firewood. He dozed off, he felt warm and well. The boy felt that he was hovering near an unusually beautiful Christmas tree. The same angels fly around him - boys and girls. They hug and kiss him, their mothers, who stand a little apart and look at their children with tears in their eyes.

The boy's mother was also there, and Christ arranges the Christmas tree for those children who did not have it in earthly life, like our hero of the work, which Dostoevsky called "Christ's Boy on the Christmas Tree". A brief retelling, like the story itself, ends here. It remains to tell only that the next morning the janitor found the corpse of the boy, and his mother died even earlier.

This is such a sad and at the same time bright story that Dostoevsky wrote and called it "Christ's Boy on the Christmas Tree". Criticism of that time and modern appreciated the work. Readers of the 21st century say that they really liked the story, which awakens a sense of compassion and touches the best strings of the human soul.