M. Gorky "Childhood": a summary

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

Gorky's story "Childhood" is a vivid example of an autobiographical work. The story is told in the first person, which made it possible for the writer to depict events more reliably, to accurately convey the thoughts and feelings of the main character. In addition, the named work helps to understand who M. Gorky really was. "Childhood", a summary of which will be given below, is a unique opportunity to get to know one of the geniuses of Russian literature.

Maxim Gorky "Childhood": summary

Despite the fact that the work "Childhood" is autobiographical, Gorky narrates on behalf of the boy Alyosha. Already on the first pages of the story, we learn about the difficult circumstances in the boy's family: the funeral of his father, the grief of his mother, the death of a newborn brother. Alyosha is having a hard time with all these events. His grandmother is always by his side.

After the described tragic events, Alyosha, together with his grandmother and mother, goes to visit relatives. True, the boy did not like anyone, as Gorky writes. "Childhood", a summary of whichdoes not convey many details, pays much attention to the inner experiences of the hero. So, Alyosha often calls his life a harsh fairy tale. For example, he was very afraid of his grandfather. Once the latter, despite the protests of his grandmother and mother, flogged his grandson so that he fell ill. When Alyosha was still sick, grandfather often came to him and talked about himself. Therefore, soon the main character ceased to be afraid of him. In addition, the boy was visited by Tsyganok, the adopted son Ivan, who received the mentioned nickname because of his appearance. It was with him that Alexey became friends the most. More than once Tsyganok put his hand under the rods with which grandfather beat Alexei. True, the named hero often stole. Soon Tsyganok dies.

Mother rarely appeared in the house. Very quickly, their house gained a bad reputation, because fights often took place here. The grandfather was attacked by his own son Michael, as the story goes. Alexei's childhood was full of the most terrible events. So, the boy was rarely allowed to walk alone, because he constantly "became the culprit of riots." In addition, he had no comrades, as Gorky writes. "Childhood", the summary of which misses a lot, tells the story of Alexei's move with his grandparents to a new home. There he met a man nicknamed "Good Deed" (he often used the said phrase) and Uncle Peter, who was a robber.

One day mother came again. She began to teach Alexei to read and write. Then his mother took him to school. At the same time, the boy noted that hisonly the grandmother felt sorry, the others were either indifferent or harsh. Only his grandmother looked after Alyosha when he fell ill.

Soon the main character's mother got married again, and he and his family ended up in Sormov. The stepfather was very strict with Alexei. The boy's education at school is also described. It is emphasized that the teacher and the priest immediately disliked the boy, constantly threatening to kick him out of school. Then he again moves to his grandfather, begins to earn money and finds friends. At the end of the story, Alexei's mother dies, and his grandfather invites him to join the people and earn his own living. This is how Gorky himself ends the story.

"Childhood", a summary of which was described above, is one of the best examples of realism in Russian literature.