There is one remarkable work of the classic and romance of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin in the school curriculum of literature. The poet and writer himself did not indicate his authorship, giving it to a fictional character - the late Ivan Petrovich Belkin. “Belkin's Tales,” a summary of which is known to absolutely everyone from an early age, are five unique stories about worldly ups and downs of different heroes. They are united only by the narrator, who became an accidental witness of these scenes, transmitting their summary.
Belkin's Tales is five separate stories about ordinary people scattered in different parts of the vast Russian Empire. These are dramas, and comedies, and parodies that were present in the realities of that time. But now they are taking place in the modern world. In them, the theme of the struggle for one’s own happiness is a common thread. After all, it is different for each person and the path to it is also diverse. What is Belkin's Tale? Summary of real earthly happiness, worldly wisdom, the foundations of generally accepted morality and everyday behavior.
"Belkin's Tale": a summary
The first story is called "Shot." It tells about Silvio - a brave man with a strong character and an exotic name. He knew all the hard life in the outback and army garrisons. He was used to the fact that fate did not spoil him, and he was used to paying bills for everything. Once in a duel, he met with another person who was always successful. He was not even afraid of death. Having refused a duel then, he searches for the count several years later when he was going to get married. Silvio taught him a lesson: you should always cherish what you have.
The story “Snowstorm” is a romantic ballad about unequal love and parental prohibition. A couple in love secretly runs away to marry in a small church under the howling of a blizzard. But, alas, happiness was short-lived: although his parents adopted the poor son-in-law, he soon perishes.
In The Undertaker, the narrator tells the audience about the gray everyday life of Adrian Prokhorov, who invites the dead to visit. As in the famous opera about Don Giovanni, they come to him. But the undertaker's soul, coarse from everyday worries, was not even afraid. The hero began to recall the details of the funeral of each guest: what were the coffins, how much he earned on them ... In the morning, he simply discarded the memories of a dark dream and returned to his duties.
The “Young Lady Peasant” is a happy story about the Russian Romeo and Juliet. And the Station Warden is the best part of the Belkin Story cycle. Its summary is the separation of the daughter and father, longing for each other, the struggle of reason and feelings. The death of Vyrin and the arrival of a noble young lady on his grave show that all the torment of the old man was in vain: Dunya was happy, and her lover was not a scoundrel. The last “forgive” the girl already spoke to a small burial mound.
These five stories teach us that there are no small and big people. There is only the Man who forges his own fate and is responsible for it. And the tools in this difficult task are perseverance, faith in the best, fortitude, nobility and sincere love. This is what Pushkin wrote about. Belkin's Tales, a brief summary of which cannot convey the beauty of the artistic word that is inherent in genius, makes the reader think about the meaning of being.