The main theme in the work of Albert Likhanov is the relationship of the child, adolescent with the cruel world of adults. He devoted the majority of his works to the formation of the younger generation. The theme of military childhood also did not go unnoticed by this writer. The children of the war, their hardships and by no means childish sufferings, were dedicated by Likhanov “Last Colds”. A summary of this story is presented in the article.
Children and war
In military prose, Likhanov reflected the feelings experienced by him in childhood. The writer was born in 1935, and became a witness to the tragic events of the past war as a child. Children and war are a terrible and unnatural combination. The works dedicated to the military childhood of this author are journalistic and soulfully truthful. The most tragic of them was given the symbolic name Likhanov - “Last Colds”. The summary of this book is a story about the ordeals that children had to endure during the war. Reading this work, you experience admiration and fear.
The story is told in the first person. On behalf of that boy who, decades later, was able to look at what he had experienced through the eyes of an adult, and then tell his readers about heroism and courage. These children were capable of much in the most terrible moments of their lives.
Anna Nikolaevna
At the beginning of the story, the author refers to the memories of his first school years. With love and respect, she talks about the first teacher Likhanov. “The Last Colds,” a brief summary of which is hunger, cold, and the diseases that accompany children of war, are not without good nostalgic descriptions.
The most striking image that will remain in the heart of the protagonist, Anna Nikolaevna - is a teacher of elementary grades. She combined the lessons of arithmetic, the Russian language and geography with the wise lessons of life, which at times, as if thinking about something, she presented to her students in an unobtrusive way. “One cannot deceive oneself in teaching. You can lie to the teacher, never to yourself, ”she suddenly said quietly, as if talking to herself.
Food Stamps
The main character of the work is called Kolya. The action takes place in a small town, in the rear. Children here, in spite of everything, continue to go to school, mothers go to work. Fathers are somewhere far away fighting the enemy. But in reality, war is everywhere, even where there are no battles and battles. The last year of the war, which is discussed in the story, is its summary (A. A. Likhanov). “Last Colds” is a story about the decisive battles for the motherland, which were fought not only by brave soldiers on the front lines, but also by civilians in the rear. And even the children.
During this period, the voice of the announcer Levitan, who solemnly announces another victory, is spreading everywhere from the radio sets. But hunger and disease undermined people's health. Adolescents and children suffer especially hardships. The main character, like other students in this rear city, relies on food stamps. Mother and grandmother do everything so that the boy does not feel hunger. But the feeling of satiety still does not leave him.
Dining room number 8
The writer Likhanov depicts rear life with great reliability. “The Last Colds”, the summary of which is, first of all, the difficult conditions in which children are, is a wise work. The description of the dining room, in which the boy receives additional food, is given great attention. This diet, as the author himself puts it, was really complementary. It could not be called the main one. Sour cabbage soup, tasteless oatmeal - such food did not please Kolya. Although on the first day of visiting the dining room, he noticed that the children here established a peculiar attitude to food. They ate quickly, with appetite, and were very respectful of Aunt Grune, the local distributor.
Jackals
Eating a tasteless dinner, Kolya was taught by her mother. And even in this cold dining room he struggled to swallow sticky unappetizing oatmeal due to his upbringing. He grew up among loved ones who love him. But there are children in the world with a more complex fate, which Albert Likhanov narrates in his work. “The Last Colds,” a brief summary of which allows one to realize the severity of adversity that has befallen the child’s consciousness, is also a work of fate that even against a military background seems extremely tragic.
Jackals. So called in this rear city of children who experienced such a severe hunger that daily visited in the dining room number 8, in order to beg for the remnants of an insignificant dinner with children with a better fortune. Kolya’s first meeting with such children made an indelible impression on him. To "jackals" he did not feel hostility and contempt. He kept thinking about how many days and nights you could not eat to start begging and eat up someone else's scraps ...
Vadim and Marya
The need to understand and sympathize with a person, even when his life is far and not at all like yours, is the main idea of the work and its brief content. A. A. Likhanov, “The Last Colds,” wrote many years after the events that formed the basis of this story. In the book, he wanted to convey not only to children, but also to adults, how important it is for a person to feel participation and support in difficult moments.
The protagonist was disgusted by the behavior of a new acquaintance - Vadim, one of the so-called jackals. But later, Kolya realized how unfair he was in his thoughts. Vadim and his sister, Marya, became his friends.
The content of Likhanov’s novel “The Last Colds” is a sad, but at the same time optimistic story about children who have matured too early. Trying to survive, they learned not only to get their own bread. First of all, they became people capable of loving, compassion, and helping others.