Summary of "Chelkash", Maxim Gorky

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

The summary of the story "Chelkash", which you will read below, will not be able to convey in detail the full intensity of feelings and experiences of two very different people, whom fate brought together for a short time in the port and forced them to pass side by side.

The story begins with a vivid description of the bustling southern port, full of peculiar grandeur, but those who created this entire "hymn to Mercury" are pathetic and insignificant. Fussy and dusty as ants, they were captured by their own

children.

In this port, among the ragamuffins, Grishka Chelkash, a predatory, similar to a steppe hawk, a drunkard and a clever thief, stands out. He is looking for his partner Mishka, with whom he steals. But it turns out that he crushed his leg and was taken to the hospital.

Leaving the port, the thief thinks about his "case", which is further described in the story "Chelkash" by Gorky. The summary will go straight to his meeting with the village boy Gavrila.

Chelkash offered a guy in dire need of money a night job. And, looking at him, he was imbued with complex feelings for Gavrila, in which something “fatherly andhousehold.”

Only already in the boat, in the night sea, which cannot be described in brief, Chelkash shows his dexterity and love for this unbridled element. Here he is at home. And Gavrila admits that she is afraid of the sea, in addition, he finally guesses about the purpose of their journey, and this causes real panic in him. Chelkash, so that his partner does not run away, takes away his passport, and Gavrila is forced to obey.

Dying of fear, the guy waits in the boat for the thief while he leaves for prey, and then, trying not to fall into the spotlight of the customs cruiser, encouraged by Chelkash's kicks, passes obstacles.

On the way to the buyers of stolen goods, the thief draws Gavrila into a conversation about rural life, farming and recalls his village family. Experiencing the most conflicting feelings that a brief summary cannot describe, Chelkash was carried away by a discussion about what freedom is for a peasant. The tramp believed that a piece of land makes a peasant his own master. And then he stops because of Gavrila's remark that what was said is true, because Chelkash got off the ground and that's what he became!

Painfully stung by the peasant's words, Chelkash invites him to board the barge, where they will take away the stolen goods and, promising that there will be money by morning, goes to bed with him.

In the morning, Gavrila already called Chelkash a master, because he saw him transformed, dressed in worn leather pants and a shirt. And having found five iridescent pieces of paper in the hands of a chuckling thief, the village peasant loses his head. Having received his share, he catches up with Grishka and, pulling his legs, knocks him to the ground. The tramp expected a fight, but heard only a whisper, with a plea to give all the money, because Chelkash is lost, he has no way.

About what a squeamish feeling the thief experienced towards the peasant, will not tell a briefcontent. Chelkash, on the other hand, threw the whole pack to Gavrila, wondering how one could be so humiliated for the sake of money. And the man, collecting money, explained that he was going to kill his partner, anyway, because they would not look for him. The thief couldn't take it. Taking everything back, he walked away. But a stone thrown by Gavrila flew into his head from behind him. Chelkash fell. And he woke up from the fact that he was disturbed by a frightened man and asked for forgiveness.

Giving money back to Gavrila, this time Chelkash went to his side, and the man who begged for forgiveness crossed himself to his.

The drama between two people, which cannot be fully conveyed by the summary, "Chelkash" reveals vividly and unforgettably. And it makes you think about what a person is and what he is capable of.