Wrote the story "Man on the Clock" Leskov. The summary will introduce the reader to this work in just a couple of minutes, the original would have to read much longer.
A story event takes place in 1839, on Epiphany days. The hero of the work is the Plotnikov soldier. He guarded the palace of Tsar Nicholas, standing at the post.
“The man on the watch”, Leskov
A brief summary can begin with a description of the tragic incident, which ended well. Postnikov stood at a post in his booth. Suddenly he heard someone asking for help. It is important to mention that the weather in those days of January was warm, so the Neva River was not all frozen, there were visible ice-holes on it. It was in this hole that the man who called for help fell through. So begins Leskov's book “Man on the Clock”. The soldier fought with himself for a long time. He was a good man. On the one hand, a sense of duty was struggling in him, which did not allow him to leave the post. On the other hand, the soldier was tormented by pity for a man who could drown at any time. In the end, he decided and ran to provide assistance. The soldier held out the butt of the gun to the drowning man and pulled it out. Then Postnikov brought it to the shore and handed it to an officer passing by.
He decided to use this case in his own interests, took the drowning man to the police department and said that it was he, the disabled officer, who saved the man. Here is an interesting content invented by Leskov. The man on the watch at this time reported the incident to his immediate superior Miller.
The boss decides what to do
The officer ordered for the time being to send the soldier who had left the post to the punishment cell, and he contacted his superior, the battalion commander Svinyin, to ask what to do in this case. He arrived at the guardroom of the Winter Palace and personally questioned Postnikov. After that, he decided to go to his boss. This is how Leskov depicts negligent bureaucratic people in his story “The Man on the Clock”. The summary will tell about the further ups and downs of heroes in modern language. Indeed, in the nineteenth century they expressed themselves in a slightly different way, so it is sometimes difficult to read the full text of the story, it will take more time.
Unfair reward and punishment
Svinin went to General Kokoshkin, his boss. He listened to the report and ordered that the bailiff of the Admiralteysky part be brought to him, where they brought the sinking and disabled officer who brought him there. He ordered to bring to him the one that was drowning. The whole trinity did not arrive soon, since then there were still no telephones, and the messenger delivered the orders. During this time, the general managed to take a nap. It can be seen that, with the help of many episodes in a negative light, the bureaucracy is depicted in his work “The Man on the Clock” by Leskov. Summary goes to the final part.
Arriving said that it was the officer who showed miracles of nobility and saved the man. The rescued himself did not remember exactly who helped him and confirmed that it was probably an officer.
As a result, the pseudo-rescuer was awarded the medal "For the Salvation of the Deceased." The authorities decided to punish the true hero with two hundred blows of the rod. But Plotnikov was glad that he was not put on trial by a military court.