Chekhov, "White-fronted": a summary of the story

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

This out-of-genre story about a she-wolf and a puppy, written by the "engineer of human souls" Chekhov, is quite childishly named - "White-fronted". Its summary is completely uncomplicated: the unsuccessful hunt of an aged she-wolf, the luck of a stupid puppy. It was already written by a venerable, experienced writer. It was far from his first attempt at writing: Anton Pavlovich created the story at the age of 35.

It's all about the love of nature, passing through the whole life of the writer. And in relation to children. He, suffering from tuberculosis, could not have his own. And for a stranger, a peasant, he built schools for his own money. "White-fronted" Chekhov wrote in his estate Melikhovo.

Melikhovo estate. The corner inspired by the idea of "White-fronted"

Chekhov's story "White-fronted" was written in 1895. The place of writing is a museum-reserve, and earlier - the writer's estate. It is located in the village of Melikhovo near the city of Chekhov, Moscow Region. The Melikhovsky period of creativity was the period of maturity of the writer and the happiest time of his short life. Way of lifeAnton Pavlovich in the estate meant staying in nature, talking with friends. The writer's favorites were two dachshunds: Hina and Brom. From the memoirs it is known that the Chekhovs were engaged in gardening a lot and willingly, and everything grew and bore fruit with them, no matter what they planted. The real passion of the writer were rose bushes. Until now, the museum staff takes care of the "Alley of Love" and the garden "Corner of France".

The plot of "White-fronted"

Why did Chekhov call his story like this: "White-fronted"? The summary testifies: a more worthy character is a she-wolf. At least she has intelligence, thinking. However, a puppy is a puppy. He is cute precisely because of his stupidity.

On a cold March night, a wolf went hunting to a human winter hut, located four miles from her hole. In her lair were three wolf cubs, who were just as hungry as she was. She was already in years, the prime of life had long passed, so she had to be content with medium-sized prey. The she-wolf went to the winter quarters. There, an elderly watchman, Ignat, was guarding a barn where, next to other cattle, there were two sheep, possibly with lambs. She can drag one of them away.

Chekhov retells her thoughts to us in detail. "White-fronted" (a brief summary in particular) kind of introduces us to her logic of thinking, worries and fears. She needs to feed the wolf cubs, and she herself is hungry. She is suspicious, her thoughts are confused. (As you can see, Anton Pavlovich in her description is generous with metaphors, endowing the beast with human features.) You have to be careful, the watchman has a big blacka dog named Arapka.

The she-wolf climbed into the shed by jumping from the snowdrift onto the thatched roof and making her way through it. There was a noise in the shed, someone barked, the sheep pressed against the wall. She had to urgently run away, fearing the watchman with Arapka, grabbing the nearest lamb in her teeth.

Only after running so far that the barking could no longer be heard, she noticed that the living lump in her teeth was clearly heavier than a lamb. It was a large black puppy with a white spot on its forehead. Natural disgust did not allow her to eat this baby. She left him and ran with nothing to the hole.

However, the fool ran after her. He fawned over the she-wolf for a long time and played with the cubs. Somehow, after one of these games, she decided to eat him a second time. But the stupid creature licked her nose, it smelled disgustingly of a dog, and the she-wolf finally changed her mind.

Fans of the classics even have a version of why Chekhov chose such a suit - a white-fronted puppy. Its brief content lies in the writer's hobby: dachshunds. Bromine was black, Hina was red, but S altpeter, which appeared later, had light spots.

Back to the plot. Since he was not fed like wolf cubs, White-fronted, having played enough, went to the winter hut on his own. The wolf went there too. Go hunting again. But the stupid puppy that followed her, returning home, joyfully barked, and the she-wolf again had to run away with nothing. Ignat, believing that White-fronted made a hole in the roof, and all the noise and din because of him, gave him a beating in the morning.

Conclusion

The story "White-fronted" teacheschildren understand nature, love it. The author, ironically, hopes that they will grow smarter and thinner than the watchman Ignat, who argues in “technical categories”: “full front” or “the spring in the brain has burst.”

Anton Pavlovich paid much attention to peasant children. In the vicinity of Melikhovo, three schools were built at his expense. It was for children that Chekhov wrote "White-browed". The main idea of this work, first published by the magazine "Children's Reading": people should be more attentive to animals, try to understand their needs, then their spiritual world will become deeper. The surrounding nature is subtle, it needs to be understood, and not treated mechanically, simplistically.