In this article you will find a summary of Leskov’s short story “Pearl Necklace”. The work belongs to the cycle "Sacred Stories" and was written in 1885.
Literary dispute
This "story in a story" was written by Nikolai Leskov. The Pearl Necklace, a brief summary of which you will read in this article, is a vivid story in the genre of realism. The work is unusual in that it lacks a mystical component. We begin to disassemble the story "Pearl Necklace" (Leskov). A summary of the chapters begins with a conversation in one educated family over tea.
The narration is conducted in the first person, starting with the first chapter. The author describes a literary dispute that arose among friends. We are talking about the holy stories of Dickens, suffering from some uniformity, like all works of this kind.
The form of the story is strict and canonical: it must be timed to coincide with the events of the holy night (this is the period from Christmas to Epiphany), it must contain something mystical or fantastic and necessarily moral, and the end must be fun.
One of the guests claims that because of such a tight framework, the writer’s imagination is limited, and the stories are not diverse. The author refutes this opinion, since even within the framework of the holy story one can reflect the present and mores. He undertakes to describe the real story that happened 3 years ago, and is fully consistent with the canons. The protagonist of the story will be the author’s younger brother.
Intention to marry
We continue to talk about the story "Pearl Necklace" (Leskov). Summary of the second chapter.
At the Christmas time from the province comes younger brother. He asks the author and his wife to find his wife. I am very serious about it, I intend to marry Baptism right away (you cannot marry during Christmas time), and with my new wife go back to the province.
The elder brother says that you can’t get married so quickly, first you need to get to know the bride well, to arrange her for yourself. He offers to continue empty fantasies about the wedding in the company of his wife and goes to the service. But when the author returns home, it turns out that in the afternoon his wife Mashenka came to his wife, the younger brother met her and decided to marry this girl.
The author is stunned. The wife praises Masha, lists the numerous virtues of the girl. Brother is also a noble man, they both agree to marriage and go to the bride's parents in the evening! Then the older brother reminds his wife - Masha's father, although a wealthy man, he left two of her older sisters without a dowry. The wife objects - Masha, like her beloved youngest daughter, can receive part of her father’s fortune. She draws her husband's attention to the fact that she herself was a dowager, and even a girl from a poor family can become a good wife.
Matchmaking
What will happen next in the story “Pearl Necklace” (Leskov)? The summary of the third chapter begins with the fact that the author wants to make peace with his wife after a dispute. But she left with her husband’s younger brother to the parents of the future bride. The narrator thinks that the girl’s father deceived two sons-in-law with a dowry, although the guys themselves are not a miss, and his kind younger brother is doubly inflated.
The author’s wife comes back and tells how well the girl’s father received them and treated them to champagne. A few days later, the narrator, who was very busy with work, finds out that the couple was officially engaged. Again he argues with his wife.
The man recalls how he took care of his wife for a year before the wedding, in order to better know her character, strengths and weaknesses. To which the woman replies with a laugh - he came because he was in love, and, accordingly, could not unbiasedly evaluate her. The author internally agrees.
Gift
We continue to study the story “Pearl Necklace” (Leskov). The summary of the fourth chapter tells about an unusual gift that the father of the bride made to her daughter. With all he put on her neck a very expensive and chic pearl necklace.
The girl was not happy about the gift and cried. According to legend, pearls portend tears, so on New Year's it is not customary to give it. The father reassured her daughter: the day after the wedding she will reveal a secret to her and she will understand that you should not be upset about a New Year's gift. At Baptism, the young were married.
After wedding
How will the story “Pearl Necklace” (Leskov) end? A summary of the last, fifth, chapter tells about the events that occurred after the wedding.
The day after the wedding, the author and his wife visited the newlyweds. They were met by a younger brother in a great mood. He reported on a letter from his father-in-law received in the morning. It was reported that the spouses can no longer worry about signs with a necklace, since the pearls in it are fake. This joke really amused the guy. The newly made husband was not upset, because he did not think about the dowry and did not count the bride’s money.
He gladly met his father-in-law, but asked permission not to talk about fake Masha, because he does not want her to think badly about her father. Then the old man said why he had not given money to two other sons-in-law. Men only wanted a dowry, and because of this, they quarreled with their daughters. But in his young son-in-law, he sees love only for Masha, so he will give him money, and immediately.
The young man refused, as the girl would be uncomfortable in front of the sisters because she was the only one to receive a dowry. Then the old man called his daughter and gave her three tickets of fifty thousand rubles for her and the sisters, and said that she had chosen a good husband.
What conclusions can be drawn from the story “Pearl Necklace” (Leskov), the summary of which you just read? The pearl necklace was a test for both the groom and father. The groom proved his disinterestedness, and the father, seeing bright sincere feelings, himself showed love and took a step towards reconciliation with his elder daughters.