A few trivial sentences are not enough to convey the summary of "In a Bad Society". Despite the fact that this fruit of Korolenko’s creativity is considered to be a story, its structure and volume are more reminiscent of a story.
On the pages of the book, a dozen characters await the reader, whose fate will move along a loop-rich rut for several months. Over time, the story was recognized as one of the best opuses that came out of the pen of the writer. It was also reprinted many times, and a few years after the first publication was slightly modified and published under the title "Dungeon Children".
Protagonist and scene
The main character of the work is a boy named Vasya. He lived with his father in the city of Knyazhye-Veno in the South-Western Territory, populated mainly by Poles and Jews. It will not be amiss to say that the city in the story was captured by the author "from life". Exactly the second half of the XIX century is recognized in landscapes and descriptions. The content "In a Bad Society" Korolenko generally rich in descriptions of the world.
The mother of the child died when he was only six years old. The father, busy with the judicial service and his own grief, paid little attention to his son. At the same time, Vasya was not prevented from independently getting out of the house. That is why the boy often wandered around his native city, full of secrets and mysteries.
Castle
One of these local attractions was the old castle, which formerly served as the count's residence. However, the reader will not find him in the best of times. Now the walls of the castle are destroyed by impressive age and lack of care, and its interior has been chosen by the poor in the immediate vicinity. The prototype of this place was the palace, which belonged to the noble family of the Lubomirskys, who wore the title of princes and lived in Rivne.
Scattered, they did not know how to live in peace and harmony due to differences in religion and conflict with former count servant Janusz. Using his right to decide who has the right to remain in the castle and who does not, he pointed to the door to all those who did not belong to the Catholic flock or the servants of the former owners of these walls. Outcasts settled in the dungeon, which was hidden from prying eyes. After this incident, Vasya stopped visiting the castle he had visited earlier, despite the fact that Janusz himself called for the boy whom he considered the son of a respected family. He did not like what was done to the exiles. The immediate events of Korolenko’s short story “In a Bad Society,” a brief summary of which cannot be dispensed with without mentioning this episode, start from this point.
Meeting in the chapel
Once Vasya and his friends climbed into the chapel. However, after the children realized that there was someone else inside, Vasya’s friends cowardly fled, leaving the boy alone. In the chapel were two children from the dungeon. It was Valek and Maroussia. They lived with the exiles, whom Janusz had evicted.
The leader of the entire community, hiding underground, was a man named Tyburtius. Summary "In a bad society" can not do without its characteristics. This person remained a mystery to those around him, almost nothing was known about him. Despite his penniless lifestyle, it was rumored that this man had previously been an aristocrat. This conjecture was confirmed by the fact that an extravagant man quoted ancient Greek thinkers. Such an education did not correspond to his common people's appearance. Contrasts gave the citizens an opportunity to consider Tyburtia a sorcerer.
Vasya quickly made friends with the children from the chapel and began to visit them and feed them. These visits for the time being remained a secret to others. Their friendship passed the test of Valek’s recognition that he steals food in order to feed his sister.
Vasya began to visit the dungeon itself, while there were no adults inside. However, sooner or later such negligence should have betrayed the boy. And during the next visit, Tyburtius noticed the judge’s son. The children were afraid that the unpredictable owner of the dungeon would expel the boy, but he, on the contrary, allowed the guest to visit them, taking his word from him that he would be silent about a secret place. Now Vasya could visit friends without fear. This is the summary of "In a Bad Society" before the start of dramatic events.
Dungeon inhabitants
He met and became close with other exiles of the castle. They were different people: a former official Lavrovsky, who loved to tell incredible stories from his past life; Turkevich, who called himself a general and loved to visit under the windows of eminent residents of the city, and many others.
Despite the fact that they all differed from each other in the past, now they all lived together and helped their neighbors, sharing the modest way of life, which they arranged by fighting on the street and stealing, like Valek or Tyburtius himself. Vasya loved these people and did not condemn their transgressions, realizing that they were all brought to such a state by poverty.
Sonia
The main reason the protagonist escaped into the dungeon was the tense atmosphere in his own home. If the father did not pay any attention to him, then the servant considered the boy a spoiled child, who, in addition, constantly disappeared in unknown places.
The only person who pleases Vasya at home is his younger sister Sonia. He really loves a four-year-old playful and cheerful girl. However, their own nanny did not allow the children to communicate with each other, because she considered her older brother a bad example for the daughter of a judge. Father Sonya himself loved much more than Vasya, because she reminded him of his dead wife.
Maroussi's disease
Sister Valeka Maroussia with the onset of autumn seriously ill. Throughout the work “In a Bad Society,” the content can be safely divided into “before” and “after” this event. Vasya, who could not calmly look at his friend’s grave condition, decided to ask Sonya for the doll that remained after her mother. She agreed to borrow a toy, and Maroussia, who did not have anything like this because of poverty, was very happy about the gift and even began to recover in her dungeon "in a bad society." The main characters have not yet realized that the denouement of the whole story is closer than ever.
Mystery revealed
It seemed that everything would work out, but suddenly Janusz came to the judge to convey to the inhabitants of the dungeon, as well as to Vasya, who was noticed in an undesirable company. The father was angry with his son and forbade him to leave the house. At the same time, the nanny discovered the doll was missing, which caused another scandal. The judge tried to get Vasya to confess where he goes and where his sister’s toy is now. The boy only replied that he really took the doll, but did not say what he had done with it. Even a brief summary of “In a Bad Society” shows how strong Vasya was in spirit, despite his young age.
Denouement
A few days have passed. Tyburtius came to the boy’s house and gave the judge Sonya’s toy. In addition, he spoke about the friendship of such different children. Struck by history, the father felt guilty about his son, whom he did not devote time to and who, due to this, began to communicate with beggars who were not loved by anyone in the city. Finally Tyburtius said that Maroussia died. The judge allowed Vasya to say goodbye to the girl, and he himself gave money to her father, having previously given advice to escape from the city. Here ends the story "In a bad society."
The unexpected visit of Tyburtia and the news of the death of Marousi destroyed the wall between the main character of the story and his father. After the incident, they both began to visit the grave at the chapel, where for the first time three children met. In the story "In a Bad Society" the main characters could not appear all together in one scene. No one else saw the beggars from the dungeon in the city. All of them suddenly disappeared, as if they were not there.