Summary "Lessons of the French" - a story by Valentin Rasputin

Valentin Rasputin is a Soviet and Russian writer, whose work is attributed to the genre of so-called "village prose". During the reading of the works of this author, it seems that what they are said about happens to your good acquaintances, their heroes are so vividly and vividly described. Behind the seeming simplicity of the presentation lies a deep immersion in the characters of people forced to act in difficult everyday circumstances.

The short story "Lessons of the French", the summary of which will be outlined in this article, is largely autobiographical. It describes a difficult period in the writer's life, when, after completing primary school, he was sent to the city to study in high school. The future writer, like the hero of the story, had to live with strangers in the famine post-war years. How he felt at the same time and what he experienced, you can learn by reading this small but bright work.

Summary "Lessons of the French". Playing "Chica"

The story is conducted on behalf of a village boy, sent to the city to continue his studies in high school. There was a hungry 1948, the owners of the apartment also had children who needed to be fed, so the hero of the story had to take care of his own food. Mom sometimes sent from the village transfers with potatoes and bread, which quickly ended, and the boy almost always hunger.

Once he was in a waste ground, where children played money for "chiku", and joined them. Soon he adapted himself to the game and began to win. But each time he left after he had collected a ruble, which he bought himself a mug of milk on the market. Milk was necessary for him as a cure for anemia. But this did not last long. The boys beat him twice, after which he stopped playing.

Summary "Lessons of the French". Lydia Mikhailovna

The hero of the story studied well in all subjects, except French, in which he was not given a pronunciation. The teacher of French, Lydia Mikhailovna, noted his diligence, but lamented the obvious shortcomings in oral speech. She learned that her student was playing with money to buy milk, that he was beaten by his comrades, and was filled with sympathy for a capable but poor boy. The teacher offered to study French in addition to her at home, counting on this pretext to feed the poor fellow.

Summary "Lessons of the French". "Measurements"

However, she did not yet know with what a tough nut she had encountered. All her attempts to sit him at the table were unsuccessful - a wild and proud boy flatly refused to "mess" with his teacher. Then she sent a parcel with macaroni, sugar and hematogen to the school's address, like from my mother from the village. But the hero of the story knew perfectly well that it was impossible to buy such products in the village, and returned the gift to the sender.

Then Lidia Mikhailovna went to extreme measures - suggested the boy to play with her in the game for money, familiar to her since childhood - "zameryashki." He did not immediately, but agreed, considering it "honest earnings." From this day on, every time after the lessons of French (in which he began to make great progress), the teacher and pupil played "measurements". The boy again had money for milk, and his life became much more substantial.

Summary "Lessons of the French". The end of everything

Of course, this could not go on forever. Once the principal of the school found Lidia Mikhailovna playing with the student for money. Of course, this was considered a misdemeanor, incompatible with her future work at school. The teacher left in three days to her homeland, to the Kuban. And after some time, one of the winter days, the boy came to school with a parcel with pasta and apples.

The story "French Lessons" (which briefly became the topic of this article) inspired director Yevgeny Tashkov to shoot the film of the same name, which was shown for the first time in 1978. He immediately fell in love with the viewer and is still released on discs.