"Kids": a brief summary. "Children", Chekhov: the main characters

It is difficult to write a summary of the story of "Children." Chekhov was a skilful master of the short story. It belongs to him the phrase that brevity is the sister of talent. The greatest Russian writer with an amazing sense of humor, he could convey in two words a genre scene that came to life before his eyes.

A kind of abstract

It is impossible to compete with genius in laconicism. It is also impossible to summarize the beauty of his tongue. "Children" (Chekhov) is a small but incredibly vibrant work. In the author’s stories you enjoy every word. Nevertheless, you can try to convey the main idea in the form of an abstract: “Late evening. Parents went to christenings to a familiar officer. Four younger children and a Kuharkin son play lotto. In the next room, the eldest gymnasium son is bored; in the kitchen, the nanny teaches the cook how to cut. They play for money. While four are looking for a rolling penny, beautiful Sonya falls asleep. She is carried to her mother’s bed, on which all other players instantly peacefully fall asleep. ”

Favorite from the first publication

Here is a summary. "Children" (Chekhov) - a brilliant story, published during the lifetime of the author 19 times. It was first published on pages 19 of the Petersburg newspaper on January 20, 1886. Readers immediately fell in love with him, and he was favorably received by critics. Anton Pavlovich made the title of the story on the cover of a collection of works for children.

The book was published in 1899, and in 1903 Chekhov published the story of “Children” with drawings by D. Kardovsky, a famous teacher and a talented illustrator (for example, he belongs to illustrations of the book “Woe from Wit” by Griboedov) of Russian classical literature. Everything speaks of the popularity of the story - it could not be otherwise. A brilliant sketch, showing a small period of time in the life of children of one family. Clever, kind, beautifully written story. What is called good Russian classical prose.

Joyful atmosphere of the story

In some articles, the work of "Children" (Chekhov) is referred to the genre of the "Christmas story". This is not entirely true. Chekhov does not have a hint of a time period. Late evening - that's all. The only thing that makes the story related to the genre is the kindness with which it is permeated, and the interior is a lighted table on which multi-colored glass glistens, a shell from nuts and a piece of paper, obviously candy wrappers from candies. That is, the atmosphere is festive. But isn’t it a holiday when you can stay up late with the whole company, give each other cuffs, make peace, overeat sweets, and all this without the shouts of adults, because they are not nearby.

Prototypes of heroes

Parents and Aunt Nadia went to christenings, a nanny in the kitchen teaches a cook to cut, one child in the dining room - this is a brief summary (“Children”, A. Chekhov). It is unlikely that the descriptions of the main characters can be so briefly conveyed - their charm, and possibly the charm of the whole story, will be lost. The ingenious writer in his work created a few phrases with specific characters. Briefly retelling them is difficult.

Grisha, the eldest and the main at the table, has brown eyes running around, he is always turning from excitement. He is overwhelmed by fear, greed and "financial considerations." In the story, every word is worth its weight in gold, and it is impossible to convey concise works of a unique author in a concise manner - all the charm and magic of the sketch is lost. Chekhov described the family of Colonel B. Mayevsky, with whom he was friendly and closely communicated, living in Voskresensk in 1883-1884. He had the opportunity to observe the children whose names he kept in the story - two girls, Ani and Sonya, and the baby Alyosha.

Just a brilliant sketch

A thin and intelligent observer, a man who sincerely loves and understands children, completely devoid of “lisp” in relation to them, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov wrote wonderful stories about small people. Many major writers noted his ability to create images very moving, but without a gram, as V. Nabokov said, of sentimentality. The story of "Children" by Chekhov was written by an adult for adults. It should be noted that the work is completely devoid of edification and morality - no children “abandoned to their fate”, no generational conflict and adult understanding of the children's world. On the contrary, reading gives the impression that we are talking about a very friendly family of good people.

Nice family of Russian intellectuals

Kukharkin’s son Andrei played on equal terms with them, handed back cuffs to Alyosha’s little boy, about whom the author said that he was “that very beast” in his soul, and as a result fell asleep on the edge of the master’s bed in a heap with everyone. And they heard his "horror stories" about the night, the cemetery and robbers respectfully, without ridicule. That says a lot. Obviously, the views of the family were quite democratic, they lived together, without tantrums. The fact that the nanny Agafya Ivanovna did not go to the kitchen for 5 minutes, and, probably, the main characters of Chekhov’s story “Children” asked about the freedom of servants in the family.

The reason for the violation of the regime

The children wanted, like adults, to play lotto for money, and most importantly, wait for their parents and Aunt Nadia to find out in detail how the christening went, what they served for dinner and what the baby looked like. Obviously, this has happened before. And we can assume that the young, beautiful and beloved aunt talked about the evening spent at a party, very funny. All this, of course, is an assumption, but this is the author’s talent - he pronounces a long, short phrase, and it expresses so much that you can talk about it and talk about it. So, at the lighted table were four housekeepers and a cook son, very passionate about the game.

Portraits of children

A few words are devoted to each, and each can be clearly imagined. Moreover, one can imagine what this child is in life. A charming coquette is six-year-old Sonya, a direct, good-natured girl with the complexion of an expensive doll, as A.P. Chekhov wrote. The kids loved her, and, asleep, they all went to see her off. Three words - the complexion of the bonbonniere - and you see a snow-white porcelain physiognomy with a delicate blush. The elder sister, Anya, is smart and proud, passionate, able to shut up the truth for the sake of winning.

What else can be summarized? "Children" (Chekhov) is sophistication and at the same time simplicity of narration. One phrase describes the appearance of the eldest at the table - Grisha. And try to describe - it turns out half a page. The game captured the children, everyone needed a victory for various reasons, they needed a penny (a bet in the game), which then, falling asleep, they scattered all over the floor, as if they had lost their value and significance. A bored elder high school brother who visited the kids during the game is very good. He adopted the image of an all-knowing adult, a little Byron, a little Pechorin, looking at everything from the side and condemning the morals of modern people - children play for money! He is indignant and mentally grumbles. Here such a proverb is relevant to Chekhov’s story “Children”: “Money game will not bring to good!”. So he thought, playing a bored adult, but, as the author writes, “the children played so deliciously” that brother Vasya, a student of the fifth grade of the gymnasium, began to beg for companions and even “lost his temper”.

Features of "Russian Lotto"

Children really played contagiously. Imitating adults, they shouted the jokes laid out when playing the Russian lotto. One of them is: “One, two - the mountain fell. Three, four - hooked. Five, six - hit the wool. Seven, eight - mowing hay. Nine, ten - to weigh money, "and so on. This tradition has been preserved even now. Where lotto is played, there are certain names for certain numbers, for example, 11 - drum sticks, 90 - grandfather. This is the" charm "of a popular family game Anton Pavlovich aptly, precisely, succinctly conveyed the atmosphere of the evening, the whole house, the characters of children.

A wonderful example of great Russian literature

After reading, there remains a feeling of joy. And I don’t really want to think about what could happen to all these nice people, as representatives of the middle class, after some 15-20 years. Which countries could they be scattered around. Probably, in France they did not put numbers on the cards for playing lotto with colorful glasses. A.P. Chekhov did not like "literature for children", a prominent representative of which was Lydia Charskaya. But everything he wrote about children is wonderful and wonderful. The stories of "Grisha", "Vanka", "Kashtanka" and several others - unfortunately, there are not so many of them - masterpieces. They must be taken at school in order to understand and love Russian literature.