Lidia Alekseevna Charskaya, like a real engineer of human souls, introduces a girl with the talent of kindness and self-sacrifice into the outline of her story. For many generations of Russian girls, they considered it their handbook, Notes of a Little Schoolgirl. A brief summary of it shows how a person who possesses not real, but real virtues is able to change the world around him for the better. The main character of the story is a nine-year-old girl. She is bright and kind (in Greek, the name Elena means "light").
Orphaned Helen
The reader gets to know her when she rushes on a train from her native Volga Rybinsk to Petersburg. It’s a sad ride; it is not of its own accord that it rushes. The girl was orphaned. Her beloved “sweetest, kindest” mother with eyes similar to the eyes of an angel depicted in the church caught a cold “when the ice broke”, and, having become thin, becoming “like a wax”, she died in September.
The notes of the little schoolgirl begin tragically. A brief summary of the introductory part is to educate the pure and gentle nature of the child.
Mom, sensing the approach of her death, turned to her cousin Ikonin Mikhail Vasilievich, who lives in St. Petersburg and has the rank of general (state adviser), to raise a girl.
Maryushka bought a girl a train ticket to St. Petersburg, sent a telegram to her uncle to meet the girl, and instructed Nikohor Matveevich, a friend, to look after Lena on the way.
In the house of uncle
Colorfully, the scene taking place in the house of the state councilor is described by
Lydia Charskaya. The Notes of the Little Schoolgirl depict an unfriendly, humiliating meeting between her sister and two brothers. Helen went into the living room in galoshes, and this did not go unnoticed, immediately turned to reproach her. Opposite her, grinning, with a clear sense of superiority, stood a blond, looking like a
porcelain doll with Nina capriciously upturned upper lip; an older boy, with traits similar to her, is Zhorzhik, and the lean, grimy youngest son of a state adviser, Tolya.
How did they perceive the cousin who came from the province? The story “Notes of a little schoolgirl” answers this question: with disgust, with a sense of superiority, with specific childish cruelty (“beggar”, “wood lice”, “we don’t need her”, taken “out of pity”). Helen persistently endured bullying, but when Tolik, teasing and grimacing, mentioned the deceased mother of the girl in conversation, she pushed him, and the boy broke an expensive Japanese porcelain vase.
Broken vase
Immediately, these little Ikonins ran to complain to Bavaria Ivanovna (as they called themselves governess Matilda Frantsevna), in their own way reversing the situation and accusing Lenochka.
Touchingly describes the scene of the perception of the deed by the tender and unapproved girl Lydia Charskaya. “Notes of a little schoolgirl” contain an obvious contrast: Helen does not think about his brothers and sister with anger, does not call them names in thoughts, as they constantly do. "Well, what should I do with these badasses?" she asks, looking at the gray Petersburg sky and imagining her deceased mother. She talked to her with her "strong heart."
Very soon, "Uncle Michelle" arrived (as uncle introduced himself to his niece) with his wife, Aunt Nellie. Aunt, as it was seen, was not going to treat her niece as if she were her own, but simply wanted to send her to the gymnasium, where she would be “trained”. Uncle, learning about the broken vase, frowned. Then everyone went to dinner.
The eldest daughter of the Ikonins - Julia (Julie)
During lunch, Helen met another resident of this house, the hunchback Julie, the oldest daughter of Aunt Nelly. "Notes of a little schoolgirl" describe her disfigured ailment, narrow-minded, flat-chested, hunchbacked, vulnerable and embittered girl. She was not understood in the Ikonins' family, she was an outcast. Helen turned out to be the only one who wholeheartedly felt sorry for the poor girl, disfigured by nature, who only had beautiful eyes that looked like “two diamonds”.
However, Julie hated the newly arrived relative for having been brought into the room previously owned by her.
Julie's Revenge
The news that she should go to the gymnasium tomorrow pleased Lenochka. And when Matilda Frantsevna in her style ordered the girl to go “sort her things” in front of the school, she ran to the living room. However, things have already been transferred to a tiny little room with one window, a narrow bed, a washstand and a chest of drawers (Julie's former room). Contrasting with the nursery and the living room is this boring corner of Lydia Charskaya. Her books often seem to describe the difficult childhood and youth of the writer herself. She, like the main character of the story, lost her mother early. Lydia hated her stepmother, so she ran away from home a couple of times. From the age of 15 she kept a diary.
However, let us return to the plot of the story "Notes of a little schoolgirl." A summary of further events lies in the evil pranks of Julie and Ninochka. First, the first, and then the second, scattered things around the room from Lenochka’s suitcase, then broke the table. And then Julie accused the unfortunate orphan that she hit Ninochka.
Undeserved punishment
With competence (obvious personal experience) describes the subsequent punishment of the main character Lydia Charskaya. The Little Schoolgirl's Notes contain an oppressive scene of violence against an orphan and flagrant injustice. An angry rude and merciful governess pushed the girl into a dusty, dark, cold non-residential room and closed the shutter behind her from the outside of the door. Suddenly in the dark a pair of huge yellow eyes arose, flying straight to Helen. She fell to the ground and lost consciousness.
The governess, having found Lena's limp body, was frightened herself. And she released the girl from captivity. She was not warned that a handmade owl lives there.
Iconina First and Iconina Second
The next day, the governess brought the girl to the director of the gymnasium - Chirikova Anna Vladimirovna, a tall and stately lady with gray hair and a young face. Matilda Frantsevna described Helen, putting all the blame on her for the tricks of her sisters and brothers, but the boss did not believe her. Anna Vladimirovna warmly reacted to the girl, who, as the governess was leaving, burst into tears. She sent Helen to the classroom, saying that the student in it, Julie (Julia Iconina), would introduce the girl to the others.
Dictation. Bullying
Julie's “recommendation” was peculiar: she lied to Helen in front of the whole class, saying that she did not consider her sister, accusing her of pugnacity and deceit. Slander has done its job. In a classroom where the first violin was played by two or three selfish, physically strong impudent girls, quick to reprisal and persecution, an atmosphere of intolerance was created around Helen.
Teacher Vasily Vasilievich was surprised at such an unrelated relationship. He sat Helen near Zhebelova, and then a dictation began. Helen (Iconina the second, as the teacher called her) wrote it calligraphically and without blots, and Julie (Iconina the first) made twenty mistakes. Further events in the class where everyone was afraid to argue with the insolent Ivina, we will describe briefly.
“Notes of a little schoolgirl” contain a scene of brutal harassment of a new student by the whole class. She was surrounded, pushed from all sides, pulled. Envious Zhebeleva and Julie talked at her. However, these two were far from the naughty and daredevils Ivina and Zhenya Rosh known in the gymnasium.
Why did Ivina and others initiate this pressure? To “break” the new one, to deprive of will, to force to be obedient. Did the young hooligans succeed? Not.
Lena suffers for Julie’s act. First miracle
On the fifth day of staying at Uncle’s house, another misfortune struck Lenochka. Julie, pissed at Georges for reporting to the pope about the unit she received in the lesson of God's law, closed his poor owl in a box.
Georges was attached to a bird that he trained and fed. Julie, unable to resist the glee, betrayed herself in the presence of Helen. However, Matilda Frantsevna had already found the poor little Filka's body and, in her own way, identified his killer.
She was supported by the wife of the general, and Helen should have been carved. Cruel mores in this house show "Notes of a little schoolgirl." The main characters are often not only merciless, but also unfair.
However, here the first miracle happened, the first soul opened to Good. When Bavaria Ivanovna brought a rod over the poor girl, the execution was interrupted by a heart-rending cry: "Do not dare to slash!" He was published by the younger brother of Tolya, who was rushing into the room and was shaking, with large tears on his face. "She is an orphan, she is not to blame! She needs to be sorry." From that moment, he and Lena became friendly.
White crow
Once, the little black Ivina and the chubby Zhenya Rosh decided to “hound” the literature teacher Vasily Vasilyevich. As usual, the rest of the class supported them. Only Helen, summoned by the teacher, answered the homework without mockery.
Lenochka had never seen such a flash of self-hatred ... She was dragged along the corridor, pushed into an empty room and closed. The girl was crying, she was very hard. She called mommy, she was even ready to return to Rybinsk.
And then a second miracle happened in her life ... A darling of the whole gymnasium, a senior student, Countess Anna Simolin came up to her. She, being meek and kind, she understood what treasure is the soul of Helen, wiped her tears, calmed and sincerely offered her friendship to the unfortunate girl. Iconina-the second after that literally "rose from the ashes", she was ready to continue studying in this gymnasium.
Little victory
Soon, the uncle of the girl announced to the children that there will be a ball in the house, and invited them to write an invitation to their friends. As the general said, there will be only one guest from him - the daughter of the boss. About how Georges and Ninochka invited school friends, and Lenochka - Nyurochka (daughter of conductor Nikifor Matveyevich), the writer Lydia Charskaya conducts her further story. “Notes of a little schoolgirl” represent for Lenochka and Nyurochka the first part of the ball, a failure: they turned out to be the object of ridicule from children raised in contempt for “peasants”. However, the situation diametrically changed when the guest arrived from uncle.
What surprise was Lenochka when she turned out to be Anna Simolin! Little high-society snobs tried to cling to the "daughter of the minister", but Anna spent the whole evening only with Lena and Nyurochka.
And when she danced a waltz with Nyura, everyone froze. The girls danced in such a plastic and expressive way that even Matilda Frantsevna, dancing like a machine gun, after looking at it, made two mistakes. But then, the boy nobles excitedly invited the "commoner" Nyura to the dance. It was a small victory.
New misery for Julie’s misconduct. Miracle number 4
However, soon fate prepared Lena a real test. It happened in the gymnasium. Julie burned the red booklet of a German teacher with dictations. Lena immediately recognized this from her words. She took the sister’s guilt upon herself, turning to the teacher with words of regret. “Ah, a gift from my late sister Sofia!” the teacher cried out ... She was not generous, she did not know how to forgive ... As you can see, the notes of a little schoolgirl revive vital characters.
A summary of subsequent events is a new test that befell this courageous girl. Lena was publicly accused of theft in front of the entire gymnasium. She stood in the hallway with a sheet of paper with the inscription “Thief” pinned to her clothes with a pin. She took the guilt of another person. This note was torn from her by Anna Simolin, announcing to everyone that she did not believe in Lena's guilt.
Bavaria Ivanovna told the incident, and she told Aunt Nelly. Even more difficult trials were waiting for Elena ... The Generals openly called Elena a thief, a disgrace to the family. And then a fourth miracle happened. Julie came all night in her tears repenting repentance. She really repented. Truly Christian sister's humility woke her soul!
The fifth miracle. Consent in the Iconin family
Soon the newspapers were full of news of the tragedy. Train Nikifor Matveyevich Rybinsk - Petersburg had an accident. Elena asked Aunt Nelly to let her go, to visit him, to help. However, the callous general was not allowed. Then Elena in the gymnasium pretended that she had not learned the lesson of the law of God (the head of the gymnasium and all the teachers attended the lesson) and was punished - left for three hours after the lessons. Now it was easier than ever to escape to see Nikifor Matveyevich.
The girl went into a cold and a snowstorm on the outskirts of the city, lost her way, exhausted and crouched in a snowdrift, she felt good, warm ... She was saved. By chance, Pope Anna Simolin returned from hunting in this area. He heard a moan, and a hunting dog spotted a girl who was almost covered with snow in a snowdrift.
When Lena came to, she was reassured, the news of the train crash turned out to be a newspaper typo. In the house of Anna, under the supervision of doctors, Lena recovered. Anna was shocked by the dedication of her friend, and she invited her to stay, becoming a named sister (her father agreed).
Grateful Lena could not even dream of such happiness. Anna and Elena went to their uncle's house to announce this decision. Anna said that Elena would live with her. But then Tolik and Julie fell to their knees and began ardently asking their sister not to leave home. Tolik said that, like Friday, he would not be able to live without Robinson (i.e. Elena), and Julie asked her, because without her she could not really get better.
And then the fifth miracle happened: finally, the soul of Aunt Nelli began to see. She only now realized how generous Lena was, what truly priceless she had done for her children. The mother of the family finally accepted her as her own daughter. Georges, indifferent to everything, also, having felt his temper, cried, his eternal neutrality between good and evil was discarded in favor of the former.
Conclusion
Both Elena and Anna realized that Lena was needed in this family. After all, this orphan girl, who initially did not meet kindness in her path, managed to melt the ice around her with her warm heart. She managed to bring the rays of love and true Christian humility of high standard into an arrogant, ugly, cruel house.
Today (almost a hundred years after writing) is again at the peak of popularity of "Notes of a little schoolgirl." Reader reviews claim that the story is vital.
How often do our contemporaries live in response to blow to blow, take revenge, hate. Does this make the world around them better? Unlikely.
The book of Charskaya makes it clear to us that only kindness and sacrifice can really change the world for the better.