“Kusaka” is a straightforward, vital and very moving story about a mutt who was able to earn people's love, even despite her cautiousness and distrust. The story “Kusaka”, reviews of which are more enthusiastic, makes the reader think about the attitude towards our smaller brothers.
Love does not choose
After all, you can love not only your comfortable, domesticated puppies and kittens. Street mongrels who have the same big heart are worthy of love. Modern literature rarely raises questions that are touched on by the Kusaka story. Feedback from grateful readers suggests that this small literary work makes you literally go outside and caress a homeless animal, feed the cur and give a little love to an abandoned puppy without a pedigree. Human love is very selective: a pretty mongrel is fed much more often than a battered and dirty one. "Kusaka" shows how it really hurts these miserable, useless mutts.
Leonid Andreev and the skill of his imagery
Probably, almost everyone who would like to write a review about the story “Kusaka” would definitely mention in it an abundance of stylistic figurative means, to which its author Leonid Andreev resorts. The central character of the story is a rootless cur, whose behavior is argued from a human point of view. Describes the feelings and thoughts of the dog, its expectations and disappointments. This technique is called anthropomorphism in the literature when animals are endowed with human qualities. Leonid Andreev also uses many epithets, with the help of which he shows his attitude to the unfortunate abandoned dog. The author argues her aggressive behavior, telling the story of how the dog lost the last drops of confidence in the person. It is unlikely that anyone would be able to create the same vivid and quite realistic image of a dog, which turned out in Andreev, his Kusak. The reviews of literary critics about this work, in general, were sustained in the same enthusiastic manner as the reviews of grateful readers.
Temporary happiness of the unsociable Kusaki
In addition to the characteristic dog, several other characters appear in the story. One of them, the man-drunkard, becomes the cause of the eternal distrust of the mongrels to the human race. At first, the man is going to caress the dog, but in the end the green snake overshadows his mind, and the animal, getting ready for affection, receives only cuffs. Little girl Lelya, in turn, gives the dog love, even though she manages to tear a whole piece from the hem of her dress. The good-natured girl becomes the first to manage to tame a frightened and incredulous mutt. It is amazing what a huge spectrum of human feelings and emotions shows the story of “Kusaka”. Reader reviews suggest that all the characters are depicted very realistically and vividly, while Leonid Andreev uses a minimal number of dialogs and descriptions. The relationship of the incredulous Kusaki with people improves every day: the dog learns to trust people and take care of them, learns to beg for treats and amuse the children.
What to do if you don’t like the ending of the story
The mongrel enjoys a happy, carefree life and does not think that this unexpected happiness will end very soon. When the cold season begins, people leave the summer house, and little Lele fails to convince her mother to take her beloved Kusaka with him. The reader becomes a little offended: was it really necessary to resort to the ending that Leonid Andreev used for the sake of greater realism? “Kusaka”, reviews of which are diverse, can cause the reader a sense of injustice or even resentment. But perhaps it is precisely these feelings that will make him once again go outside and feed a homeless animal or even build a small house for him. The story of “Kusak” shows how little an ordinary dog really needs: love, food, and a person to come to for petting. Such stories awaken in people the very good that they have.