Gorky's childhood & the story of insects

Childhood, together with its sequels On Earth and My University, constitutes Gorky's autobiographical novel trilogy, and Childhood is the first one. In this novel, the author describes the childhood life of 10 years old. It describes the growth and life course of the protagonist and the suffocating narrow world full of terrible scenes. When Aletha was four years old, his father died, so he and his grandparents lived a poor and hard life. Grandpa has a complicated personality and a kind heart, but the greed for money has corrupted his soul. In this cold world, only grandma sheltered him, cared for him, gave him infinite warmth and love, and gave him useful teaching.

Summary of works

When Aletha (Gorky as a child) was very young, his father fell ill and died, and his mother took him back to his grandparents' home.

The arrival of Alisha's mother caused a fight between her eldest brother Mikhail and her younger brother Yakov. They were afraid that their mother would come to beg for a dowry, so they split it up and the family became a ball. Alesha first realized that the atmosphere of mutual hatred pervaded her grandfather's family. Big JIU played a trick on Gregory, an old tailor, and asked his nephew to put a hot thimble on Gregory's hand. Unexpectedly, it was accidentally put on by his grandfather, who slapped his grandson. Aletha was severely beaten by his grandfather for putting the tablecloth in the dye vat. During the beating, everyone gloated. Even his mother was afraid to stop him because she was afraid of his grandfather. Only his grandmother protected Alisha. After playing in Alesha, my grandfather came to see him and told him about his time as a tracker on the Volga River when he was young. Alisha thinks my grandfather has grown up like a cloud, from a thin little old man to a Hercules in a fairy tale. After being beaten, Aletha met a young man, Zigang, who became Aletha's best friend. Every time Alisha is beaten, he always reaches out to help him. Every Saturday, he takes Alisha to play all kinds of games. He is good at dancing and dreams of having a good voice. Aletha loved him very much, but he was forced by two uncles to carry a load-bearing oak cross to the cemetery. After stumbling halfway, he was crushed by a cross and bled to death.

After Tzgang's death, Aletha became more attached to her grandmother. Before going to bed, I played a joke with my grandmother, who told him the story of God and imp. Grandma is Alisha's favorite person.

"Before my grandmother arrived, I seemed to fall asleep, as if hiding in the dark. Her appearance awakened me and made me see the light. She connects everything around me and weaves colorful lace patterns. She soon became my lifelong friend and my closest person. She knows me best and is my most precious person, because she is full of selfless love for the world. This kind of love has enriched me and filled me with great power in difficult years. " Grandma knows countless stories, poems, legends and fairy tales, and Aletha is fascinated by them. One night, there was a sudden fire at home, and the whole family panicked. Grandma is very brave. She covered her head with an empty bag and was covered with a horse quilt. She rushed into the fire without fear, took out a bottle filled with sulfate as big as a bucket and calmly directed others to put out the fire. After the fire, I endured great pain to deliver the baby.

In early spring, my uncles separated, my grandfather bought himself a new house, and alessa lived with his grandparents. It was a gentle day, and only my grandparents were in contact with Alisha. Grandma told him about her life. Grandma is an orphan and her mother is poor and disabled. In order to make a living, she followed her mother around begging, and later made a living by weaving lace. Grandpa also talked about getting along with French soldiers when I was a child. Grandpa began to teach Alisha to read during this time. Grandpa relapsed and beat grandma, which made alessa feel unbearable.

The quiet days were soon broken. In order to divide grandpa's property, two uncles joined forces to make trouble at his grandparents' house, especially the big uncle Mikhail, who made trouble when he was drunk, wandered around the house all night, pulled out all the marlin bushes and sour chestnut trees with his help, damaged the bathroom and broke the glass. Once he hit the door with a thick wooden root, and grandpa called two tenants and the wife of the hotel owner to deal with him. In order to help her son, my grandmother's arm was broken by my uncle. Aletha hates my uncle very much.

Then another monotonous day. Grandma prays every day, and grandpa prays every day. Alessa thinks that grandma's god is kind and merciful, but grandpa's god keeps people away, which is daunting. Alisha likes grandma's god, hates grandpa's god, and deliberately catches grandpa's mistakes in prayer and plays tricks on him. In the meantime, Aletha often fights with children in the street, because the practical jokes of these children make him unbearable. At this time, grigori, an old craftsman who worked for my grandfather all his life, became a beggar because he was blind and was fired by my uncle. Alisha was embarrassed by this.

Grandpa suddenly sold his original house and bought a house elsewhere. Alisha has met many people here. There are tenants nicknamed "Good Things", Uncle Peter who robbed the church disguised as a coachman, and three children of Ovsin Nico's family. Alisha has established friendship with them all, but the relationship with "good things" is the closest. "Good thing" is a pharmacist who is busy doing experiments all day. He has a thorough understanding of life and often instructs Aletha to observe the details of life and teach him the truth of life. "In my opinion, this yard is bland, and there is nothing worth noting. But as long as he pushed it gently, or gave me a few words of advice, everything I saw was different, as if all these things had a unique meaning and left a particularly deep impression on me. " But the "good thing" was finally driven away by my grandfather because it was not understood by people around me. Aletha was very angry, but there was nothing he could do.

Bored, mom is back. After staying in several cities for a long time, she gave birth to another child. She returned to her grandfather's house and had no choice. She began to teach Aletha to read and made him recite many poems. Grandpa forced his mother to remarry, and her mother resisted desperately. Grandpa was so angry that he passed his anger on to grandma, gave her a good beating, and stuck her hairpin deeply in her scalp. Aletha avenged his grandmother by cutting her grandfather's favorite saint into pieces.

Aletha was sent to school by his mother, but was soon forced to drop out of school because of chicken pox. Worried about her mother's marriage, grandma began to drink heavily and told Alisha about her father's and mother's past. Soon, my mother took a fancy to a surveying and mapping student and insisted on marrying him. Alisha doesn't like her stepfather and new grandmother, and she doesn't want her mother to remarry, but there's nothing she can do. After her mother remarried, Aletha continued to live with her grandparents. He began to grow up and have his own confidence. Aletha went back to school, but the teacher didn't like him, and only the bishop appreciated him. He was beaten by his mother because he bought a fairy tale book with a ruble. The stepfather was very unkind to his mother and kicked her. Alisha and her stepfather worked hard and were sent back to grandpa's house.

Grandpa went bankrupt, and Alisha and grandma lived alone. After passing the third grade exam, he stopped going to school and began to support himself. He made many friends. They helped each other, collecting junk and pulling wood together. In August, my mother died, and my grandfather said that Aletha was not a medal and could not be hung around her neck all the time. So Alisha went to the world and went out to make a living.

Childhood is the first part of Gorky's autobiography trilogy, which mainly describes Aletha's childhood. The other two in the trilogy, On Earth and My University, mainly describe alessa's adolescent experience. In order to let readers have a complete understanding of Aletha's growing process, here is a brief introduction to the contents of the last two works. On Earth depicts Alisha's experience of going out to make a living when she was/1years old. He has suffered a lot from life, done all kinds of labor, been bullied, insulted, fooled, even beaten and framed, experienced the hardships at the bottom of social life and realized the ugliness of human nature. However, grandma's kindness, chef's integrity and La Reine Margot's erudition made him see the bright side of life. His contact with cultural relics appraisers, firefighters and carpenters also made him feel that human nature is multifaceted and complicated. He loves books so much that he reads all the books he can meet whenever he has the chance, which makes him suffer a lot. My university described his activities and growing experience in Kazan. He 16 years old came to Kazan with the hope of going to college, but his dream could not be realized. The slums and docks of Kazan became his social university. He has no place to live and shares a bed with others. Working in docks, bakeries and grocery stores. Later, due to contact with college students, middle school students, members of secret groups and revolutionaries exiled from Siberia, their thoughts changed. He read works of revolutionary democracy and Marxism until he took part in revolutionary activities. Under the guidance of revolutionaries, he got rid of the mental crisis of suicide. During his four years in Kazan, his thoughts, knowledge and social experience have made great progress.

Third, ideological content.

19 14 Russian writer Thoreau Cooper wrote: "I felt sorry when I read Gorky's autobiographical novel trilogy in the Writer's Diary. I can't help thinking of lev tolstoy's sweet childhood. On the contrary, it is fighting, fighting Europe and whipping ... it is simply a sadist who is psychologically incomprehensible. " Indeed, the whole "childhood" depicts a colorful, bizarre and indescribable life. That life seems to be a tragic fairy tale told by a kind and extremely honest genius. In that dark life, there were too many cruel social affairs.

If a child does something wrong, he should take off his pants and be beaten. In order to separate, the father and son fought and even beat their heads off; Grandma has no fault and can't escape grandpa's punching and kicking; Uncle Mikhail made fun of the old craftsman grigori with a red-hot thimble. Mother knelt on the ground and begged her stepfather not to fool around outside. Stepfather kicked her in the chest in boots. Grigori worked for his grandfather all his life. When he was blind and lost his ability to work, he was driven out of the dyehouse and lived on the streets begging for food. Grandpa not only exploited the workers cruelly, but also was denied by his six relatives. When cooking tea with his wife, he has to count the tea in his hand carefully for fear of losing money. Finally, he kicked his wife and grandson out of the house and left them to fend for themselves. However, despite so many horrible and ugly things described in the work, the whole work still exudes optimism like sunshine penetrating through clouds. Aletha, the hero, is not overwhelmed by the hardships, pain and humiliation of life. He is full of confidence, works hard, breaks through all kinds of obstacles and misfortunes, and constantly explores a new life. This optimism makes his works have a positive color in ideological content. Gorky, the author, repeatedly explained in his childhood: "Whenever I recall the oppressive, dirty and barbaric life in Russia, I often ask myself: Is it necessary to write about this ugly behavior?" I always answer myself confidently: it is necessary! Because this is the living ugly reality of life, which still exists at present. To change this reality, to remove its influence from people's memories and hearts, and from our heavy and dirty life, we must thoroughly understand this reality. ""I describe this ugly behavior in real life for a more positive reason: although these ugly behaviors are disgusting and make us feel depressed; Although they have killed countless beautiful souls, the hearts of Russians are still so healthy and young, and they are overcoming and finally being able to overcome this ugly behavior. " "Our life is wonderful. In our life, although there is fertile soil that breeds all kinds of shameless scum, this fertile soil will eventually grow into an excellent, healthy and creative force, and grow into a kind and humane thing, constantly inspiring us to build a bright and humane new life. "On the one hand, it shows Gorky's aesthetic principle: writers don't have to avoid any ugliness in life, but their purpose is to attract people's attention and completely eliminate it. They firmly believe that human society has a self-regulation mechanism of truth, goodness and beauty. On the other hand, it also shows that Gorky's purpose in writing his tragic childhood experience is not to show people how sympathetic and pitiful he is, nor to simply recall his childhood life, but to tell readers with his own personal experience, no matter how bad the environment is and how difficult life is. There are always some kind and beautiful people who can cultivate healthy and upright hearts with an upward heart in a dirty environment. So we say that the ideological content of this book is positive, not decadent.

The works mainly portray two kinds of characters, and the author expresses his love and hate for them through the narration of these two kinds of characters. There are two kinds of characters: one is a selfish and cruel person represented by grandpa, and the other is an honest and kind person represented by grandma. Grandpa is a great nuisance to alessa. There is always a bitter irony in his description of appearance and the engraving of inner world. He is short and thin, only his grandmother's shoulder is high, he walks fast and thin, he is selfish and cruel, he is savage and rude, he often hits people and curses, and even if something goes wrong, he will have hysterical attacks. In order to maintain his shaky position as a small business owner and a broken family, he cruelly abused the workers' buddies, even broke off relations with his six relatives, and drove grigori, an old craftsman who had worked for him all his life, out of the house. He has to fend for himself with his wife who has lived with him all his life. With money, you will be arrogant and arbitrary. After bankruptcy, it is more greedy and stingy, and under the character. Material bankruptcy, mental breakdown. Although this bourgeoisie still has a trace of humanity, for example, when he was young, he worked as a tracker on the Volga River, lived a poor and heavy life, and was a fighter and soldier of life. When he told Aletha about his experiences at that time, he showed a sincere and excited expression. Another example is his name is alessa, and he also shows his love for alessa. But all this can't hide his cruelty and selfishness in the whole human nature. Aletha is very disgusted with grandpa's bad behavior, especially hitting his kind grandmother for no reason. He was furious and took revenge on his grandfather. This kind of disgust and anger also exists in the author's mind. Through the description of Aletha's rebellion against his grandfather, the author expresses his contempt, disgust and denial of the kind of people represented by his grandfather, and also expresses his denial of the filth and filth of ordinary citizens. Contrary to his dislike of people like grandpa, the author expressed his love and reverence for the working people represented by grandma through his memories of grandma and others. Grandma is kind, loving her relatives, neighbors and everyone. She is willing to bear all the pressures in life without complaint. The hardships of life, the beating of her husband and the disobedience of her son can't extinguish the light of love in her heart. She is a dynamic and poetic professional woman. She can sing and dance, and tell all kinds of legends, fairy tales and folk stories. She is also a brave person. When the workshop caught fire, everyone panicked. Only she rushed into the fire and grabbed buckets of sulfuric acid. Therefore, although she has the shortcomings of obedience and patience to evil forces and blind belief in God, this does not affect her overall brilliance in human nature. People of my grandmother's kind are the young man Zokan and the tenant "good things". The young man Zgang was an abandoned baby, adopted by his grandmother and became an employee of his grandfather when he grew up. He is industrious and capable, and his strength is boundless. Although he is used by his grandfather and uncle as a cow and horse, he is still very kind and optimistic. Compared with the young Zoka Oka, the tenant "Good Thing" is an adult who has a thorough understanding and perception of life. He is one of countless outstanding figures in the motherland. He is knowledgeable and teaches Aletha to observe and discover life attentively, and do everything he does skillfully. These people are loved and revered by Aletha. They have had an important influence on the formation of Alisa's outlook on life, and aroused Alisa's warm yearning for life from the front. These people have opened their hearts to Aletha to varying degrees, helping him understand that there are healthy and creative things in life besides scandals. The author wrote in his works: "When I was a child, I imagined myself as a beehive. Some ordinary people, like bees, sent their knowledge and ideas about life there. Everyone tried their best to enrich my mind generously. This kind of honey is often dirty and bitter, but this knowledge is still honey. " Therefore, Gorky showed his love and praise for these people in his works, and eulogized them through Aletha's enthusiasm for communicating with them.

Through the description of Aletha's childhood experience, the works also exposed the social reality at that time. At that time, Russian society was in the 1970s and 1990s. It was on the eve of the Russian revolution that the whole society was under the rule of the czar and the people were displaced. Stealing has become an ethos among villagers, and it is no longer a sin. For ordinary citizens who are half hungry and half full, it is almost the only way to make a living. Children have no money to go to school, and eventually they live on the streets and collect junk for a living. Broadly speaking, it is this social environment in which people are in poverty that causes Alisha's personal tragedy.

Fourth, artistic features.

Gorky is an outstanding representative of Russian socialist realism. In his creation, he adhered to the principle of realism and attached importance to the authenticity of description and the accuracy of details. In 1937, Gorky said in response to a question from Leningrad Writers Publishing House about what materials (autobiographies, books, observations and records) he used for his creation: "I mainly use autobiographical materials, but I make myself stand as a witness of the incident and avoid standing out as a party, so as not to hinder myself as a narrator of life." The work Childhood follows such a realistic creative principle. Through the objective description of Aletha's life experience, on the one hand, it describes the formation process of Aletha's character, on the other hand, it extensively describes the Russian social life from 65438 to the 1970s and 1990s in 2009, exposing the darkness and evil of Russian autocratic system and reflecting the vulgarity, selfishness and emptiness of ordinary citizens. The whole article clearly shows the conflict between two forces: on the one hand, it is the dark, cruel and barbaric habit of ordinary citizens, on the other hand, it is the excellent spiritual strength of the Russian people-pure in mind, strong in will, sympathetic to the weak, loving justice, full of fantasy, yearning for a bright, happy and reasonable life, and making unremitting efforts for its realization. All these contents are expressed through objective and calm realistic description and narration. What is described in the book are all real life scenes, and the characters' language, movements and objective environment are consistent with real life. This is completely different from his early romantic works, such as Song of Haiyan. The whole poem Haiyan is full of romantic spirit, which shows readers a magnificent picture of the heroic struggle between the revolutionary people and the reactionary forces on the eve of the revolutionary storm: on the boundless sea, the wind gathers dark clouds, thunder rumbles, and the angry sea sets off huge waves and goes straight into the sky to fight fiercely with them; Flying Haiyan shouted with the victorious prophet, "Let the storm come more violently!" " "This work is different from childhood. Instead of describing real life truthfully, the author uses symbolic techniques to express strong subjective feelings through exaggerated descriptions of natural phenomena.

Under the guidance of the principle of realistic creation, Gorky also successfully used a variety of artistic techniques to create a series of vivid childhood characters. Cruel, selfish, insidious and irritable grandfather, greedy uncle, indifferent mother, kind and kind grandmother, happy and capable Shigang, hardworking and capable old craftsman grigori, happy and lovely nanny Evgeniya. Among these characters, grandparents left the deepest impression on readers. Grandma is one of the most vivid and poetic female images in the history of Russian literature. She is a symbol of the great mother and the miserable life in Russia. She likes singing, telling stories and dancing. She is kind, kind and strong, and she can attract people around her in very noisy and chaotic situations, adding a pleasant mood to a hard and suffocating life. Gorky quoted a large number of folk songs, fairy tales and stories through her appearance description, language and movements, and portrayed her image in an all-round way. Gorky described her appearance like this: "Grandma talks like a singer, which is very beautiful. Everything she said is like a blooming flower, gentle, fresh and free and easy. "