I want to start this post with the words of Bernard Shaw. "A miracle is an event that gives rise to faith. This is the very essence and purpose of miracles. To those who see them, they may seem very amazing, and to those who create them, very simple. But it does not matter. If they strengthen or generate faith are true miracles."
A real miracle happens in Alexander Kuprin's touching story "The Miraculous Doctor" - it is on my list of the best New Year's books for children aged 5-7 (I already wrote about three books from this list earlier). Of course, this Christmas story can be read at an older age, it is written in simple but elegant language. My daughters are now 5 and 7 years old, and I believe that they are already able to comprehend this work of Kuprin at least a little.

The story was written in Kyiv in 1897 and is based on real events. On Christmas Eve, two hungry, shabbily dressed boys peer at the goodies behind a grocery store window. Only the boys are not destined to taste them - over the past year their family has become impoverished. After a serious illness, the father lost his job, the mother has a baby in her arms, her sister is seriously ill, one child has already died, and all the efforts of the father to find a new job have so far come to nothing. a dark, damp basement... All the more so, returning without salty slurping - a desperate mother sent the boys to ask for help from people whose father used to work, but they only brushed them aside, referring to holiday chores.

Much harder for the father of the family. Returning home after a vain search became unbearable:

"He did not say a single word to his wife, she did not ask him a single question. They understood each other by the despair that they read in each other's eyes"

With heavy thoughts, a man wanders into a public garden. Here everything is quiet, calm, unfussy... The thought of suicide no longer frightens him. It is here that he meets a "wonderful doctor" who not only helps with money and medicines, but also gives him a chance to change his life. A real Christmas miracle happens.

"... - Let's go!" said the stranger, pulling Mertsalov by the hand. "Let's go soon! .. Your happiness that you met with the doctor. Of course, I can't vouch for anything, but... let's go!"
Ten minutes later, Mertsalov and the doctor were already entering the basement. Elizaveta Ivanovna was lying on the bed next to her sick daughter, her face buried in dirty, greasy pillows. The boys slurped borscht, sitting in the same places. Frightened by the long absence of their father and the immobility of their mother, they wept, smearing the tears down their faces with dirty fists and spilling them profusely into the smoky iron. Entering the room, the doctor threw off his overcoat and, remaining in an old-fashioned, rather shabby frock coat, went up to Elizaveta Ivanovna. She didn't even raise her head at his approach.
- Well, that's enough, that's enough, my dear, - the doctor spoke, affectionately stroking the woman on the back. - Get up! Show me your patient..."

I will not review the book now, maybe I will do it when we read it with the children - I am interested in their reaction. But I will reveal one secret: a wonderful doctor - wise, kind, merciful - none other than Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov - the famous Russian surgeon and anatomist, the founder of Russian military field surgery, naturalist and teacher, founder of the Russian school of anesthesia.

Christmas story as a genre of Russian literature

In the 19th century, a special genre of the story developed in literature - the Christmas story. Traditionally, such a story is timed to coincide with Christmas, Christmas time, or one Christmas night. It is during the Christmas holidays that people strive to be better, do good deeds. Christmas is the days of mercy, kindness and love. This is a holiday of waiting for a miracle. This is the time when Christian values ​​acquire special significance. In the Christmas stories, the main characters are people who find themselves in a difficult situation, faced with the indifference and indifference of others. Either the intervention of higher powers, or the unexpected help of merciful people helps them overcome the obstacle. There are also children among the characters. After all, Christmas is a holiday for children. Only a child trustingly expects a miracle, sincerely rejoices at gifts and feels happy from one kind of elegant Christmas tree. No wonder Christmas Eve was called the Night of the Babies. The Christmas story always contains a moral lesson that awakens mercy and sympathy in the souls of readers.

Most Christmas stories begin with a description of the misfortunes of the heroes. But by the end, each of them finds his own happiness: a terminally ill person recovers, enemies reconcile, lovers meet after a long separation, people become better, insults are forgotten.

Thus, the Christmas story can be defined by the main features:

The action takes place on Christmas Eve.

A miracle is happening

The protagonist is often a child or a person in trouble,

happy ending,

Moral lesson.

And the main task of the writers was to instill a festive mood in the souls of readers, so that they would forget about the difficulties of life and not forget about those in need, about showing them mercy and sympathy.And the authors always gave money for the publication of Christmas stories to needy families and orphans.

In the genre of the Christmas story, great Russian writers created their works: N.V. Gogol, A.I. Kuprin, V.G. Korolenko and others.

The first acquaintance of students with the Christmas story takes place in the 6th grade when studying the story “The Miraculous Doctor” by A. Kuprin. And the task of the teacher is not only to acquaint them with the genre of the Christmas story, but also, relying on them, to educate mercy and compassion, traditional for the Russian people. Therefore, the main, key words in the lesson will be the words: mercy, sympathy, compassion, love. These words refer to the concept of morality. This is what makes us more human.

The story "The Wonderful Doctor" is based on a real event of Christmas night - a chance meeting of the protagonist with Dr. Pirogov. The doctor performed a real miracle for the Mertsalov family. He showed them mercy and compassion. Thanks to him, the life of a large family changes in the most amazing way.

Let's make a morphemic analysis of the words "mercy" and "compassion" and see what parts they consist of. The word "compassion" consists of compassion + suffering, where the prefix co means to suffer together. So, compassion is the willingness to feel and take on the pain of another person.

The word "mercy" consists of two roots: mil + serd = dear to the heart. Mercy is the willingness to help someone out of compassion, to show kindness, love, care.

IN AND. Dahl gave such an interpretation of the terms "mercy" and "compassion": "This is heartache, sympathy, love in deed, willingness to do good to everyone, pity, kindness."

So, a hopeless situation has developed in the Mertsalov family. To make students feel involved in the events of the story, we involve their role-playing game: “How would you help the Mertsalov family?” Students offer different options.: support with a kind word, show sympathy, give money from your savings, give things to children, buy medicine for a sick girl. Answering the question, the children are actively working, discussing the topics of kindness, compassion. In the course of analyzing the situation, we bring students to the conclusion: everything will be fine in the Mertsalov family if they have money, clothes, medicines, and work for their father. But so far, the Mertsalovs have none of this, and they are in poverty. We turn to students with a question: « What attempts does Mertsalov himself make to help the family?»

- He looked for work, tried to beg, but was shamed and threatened with being sent to the police.

We see that he did not sit idly by. The whole family is shown in action.

What were the relationships in the Mertsalov family?

This question causes difficulty for students, because nothing is said about it in the text. A.I. Kuprin only writes: “He did not say a single word to his wife, she did not ask him a single question. They understood each other by the despair that they read in each other's eyes. The heroes are laconic, but by their experiences we can judge that they support each other, never swear, do not blame each other for anything.

A hopeless situation leads Mertsalov to the garden. What thought came into his mind?

The thought of suicide: “I wish I could lie down and fall asleep,” he thought, “and forget about my wife, about hungry children, about sick Mashutka.” Putting his hand under his waistcoat, Mertsalov felt for a rather thick rope that served as his belt. But he was not horrified by this thought, did not shudder for a moment before the darkness of the unknown, but thought: “Instead of dying slowly, wouldn’t it be better to choose a shorter path?”

Is it possible to understand Mertsalov's desire to die?

What prevented Mertsalov from carrying out his plans?

Reading and analysis of the dialogue "In the garden":

Why didn't the stranger leave after Mertsalov's screams, but listened to him and wanted to help?

Did the miracle happen in the story?

Who helped make this miracle happen?

Is it possible to say that with the advent of the doctor, everything has changed in the Mertsalov family? Why?

Mertsalov remained alive; with the money given by the doctor, Mertsalov bought buns, tea, and hot dishes; the boys lit the stove and put on the samovar; after some time, Mertsalov found a job, Mashutka recovered, the boys began to study at the gymnasium.

What qualities do you need to have to perform a miracle?

It is compassion, sympathy, mercy, kindness.
The professor didn't want to give his name. What character trait is shown here? Modesty. Modest people are humble and try to keep a low profile, not wanting to draw too much attention to themselves. But the Mertsalov family still managed to find out the name of the “wonderful doctor”:“On the pharmacy label attached to the vial of medicine, it was written in the pharmacist’s clear hand: “According to the prescription of Professor Pirogov.”

According to the professor's prescription, a medicine for Mashutka was made. And we will make Pirogov's recipe for life. May he always be with you and in difficult times will benefit you. Find in the text those words of Pirogov that will become the basis for our recipe (“Never lose heart”).

So we have the recipe:"Don't ever lose hearthelp those who need help, reach out to your neighbor.” Live according to Professor Pirogov's recipe, and everything will be fine with you.

Work at the lesson teaches children to show mercy and compassion for people, to help the poor, the destitute.

“Emigration completely chewed me up, and remoteness from the Motherland flattened my spirit,” said Kuprin. In 1937, the writer received government permission to return. He returned to Russia as a terminally ill old man.

Kuprin died on August 25, 1938 in Leningrad, he was buried on the Literary bridges of the Volkovsky cemetery.

Tatiana Klapchuk

The following story is not the fruit of idle fiction. Everything I have described really happened in Kyiv about thirty years ago and is still sacred, to the smallest detail, preserved in the traditions of the family that will be discussed. I, for my part, only changed the names of some of the characters in this touching story and gave the oral story a written form.

- Grish, and Grish! Look, a piglet ... Laughing ... Yes. And he has something in his mouth! .. Look, look ... weed in his mouth, by God, weed! .. That's something!

And the two little boys, standing in front of the huge, solid glass window of the grocery store, began to laugh uncontrollably, pushing each other in the side with their elbows, but involuntarily dancing from the cruel cold. For more than five minutes they had stood in front of this magnificent exhibition, which excited their minds and stomachs in equal measure. Here, illuminated by the bright light of hanging lamps, towered whole mountains of strong red apples and oranges; regular pyramids of tangerines stood, tenderly gilded through the tissue paper wrapping them; stretched out on platters with ugly gaping mouths and bulging eyes, huge smoked and pickled fish; below, surrounded by garlands of sausages, there were juicy cut hams with a thick layer of pinkish fat ... Countless jars and boxes with salted, boiled and smoked snacks completed this spectacular picture, looking at which both boys for a minute forgot about the twelve-degree frost and about the important task entrusted on them as a mother, - an assignment that ended so unexpectedly and so deplorably.

The eldest boy was the first to break away from contemplation of the charming spectacle. He pulled his brother's sleeve and said sternly:

- Well, Volodya, let's go, let's go ... There's nothing here ...

At the same time, suppressing a heavy sigh (the eldest of them was only ten years old, and besides, both of them had not eaten anything since morning, except for empty cabbage soup) and throwing a last loving-greedy glance at the gastronomic exhibition, the boys hurriedly ran down the street. Sometimes, through the misted windows of some house, they saw a Christmas tree, which from afar seemed like a huge bunch of bright, shining spots, sometimes they even heard the sounds of a cheerful polka ... But they courageously drove away from themselves the tempting thought: to stop for a few seconds and stick an eye to the glass.

As the boys walked, the streets became less crowded and darker. Beautiful shops, shining Christmas trees, trotters rushing under their blue and red nets, the squeal of runners, the festive animation of the crowd, the cheerful hum of shouts and conversations, the laughing faces of smart ladies flushed with frost - everything was left behind. Wastelands stretched out, crooked, narrow lanes, gloomy, unlit slopes ... At last they reached a rickety dilapidated house that stood apart; its bottom - the basement itself - was stone, and the top was wooden. Walking around the cramped, icy and dirty yard, which served as a natural garbage pit for all the residents, they went down to the basement, went through the common corridor in the darkness, found their door by feel and opened it.

For more than a year the Mertsalovs lived in this dungeon. Both boys had long since become accustomed to these smoky, damp-weeping walls, and to wet rags drying on a rope stretched across the room, and to this terrible smell of kerosene fumes, children's dirty laundry and rats - the real smell of poverty. But today, after all that they saw on the street, after this festive jubilation that they felt everywhere, their little children's hearts sank from acute, unchildish suffering. In the corner, on a dirty wide bed, lay a girl of about seven; her face burned, her breathing was short and difficult, her wide-open shining eyes stared intently and aimlessly. Next to the bed, in a cradle suspended from the ceiling, a baby was crying, grimacing, straining and choking. A tall, thin woman, with a haggard, tired face, as if blackened with grief, was kneeling beside the sick girl, straightening her pillow and at the same time not forgetting to push the rocking cradle with her elbow. As the boys entered and the white puffs of frosty air rushed into the cellar behind them, the woman turned her anxious face back.

- Well? What? she asked abruptly and impatiently.

The boys were silent. Only Grisha noisily wiped his nose with the sleeve of his overcoat, remade from an old wadded dressing gown.

- Did you take the letter? .. Grisha, I ask you, did you give the letter back?

- So what? What did you say to him?

Yes, just like you taught. Here, I say, is a letter from Mertsalov, from your former manager. And he scolded us: “Get out of here, you say… You bastards…”

– Yes, who is it? Who was talking to you?.. Speak plainly, Grisha!

- The porter was talking ... Who else? I told him: "Take, uncle, a letter, pass it on, and I'll wait for an answer here." And he says: “Well, he says, keep your pocket ... The master also has time to read your letters ...”

- Well, what about you?

- I told him everything, as you taught,: “There is, they say, nothing ... Mashutka is sick ... Dying ...” I say: “When dad finds a place, he will thank you, Savely Petrovich, by God, he will thank you.” Well, at this time, the bell will ring, how it will ring, and he tells us: “Get the hell out of here as soon as possible! So that your spirit is not here! .. ”And he even hit Volodya on the back of the head.

“And he’s on the back of my head,” said Volodya, who followed his brother’s story with attention, and scratched the back of his head.

The older boy suddenly began rummaging preoccupiedly in the deep pockets of his dressing gown. Finally pulling out a crumpled envelope, he laid it on the table and said:

Here it is, the letter...

The mother didn't ask any more questions. For a long time in the stuffy, dank room, only the frantic cry of the baby and the short, frequent breathing of Mashutka, more like uninterrupted monotonous groans, were heard. Suddenly the mother said, turning back:

- There is borscht there, left over from dinner ... Maybe we could eat? Only cold - there is nothing to warm up ...

At this time, someone's hesitant steps and the rustling of a hand searching for a door in the darkness were heard in the corridor. The mother and both boys, all three of them even pale with intense anticipation, turned in this direction.

Mertsalov entered. He was wearing a summer coat, a summer felt hat, and no galoshes. His hands were swollen and blue from the cold, his eyes sunken in, his cheeks stuck around his gums like a dead man's. He did not say a single word to his wife, she did not ask him a single question. They understood each other by the despair they read in each other's eyes.

In this terrible, fatal year, misfortune after misfortune persistently and ruthlessly rained down on Mertsalov and his family. First, he himself contracted typhoid fever, and all their meager savings went to his treatment. Then, when he recovered, he learned that his place, the modest position of a house manager for twenty-five rubles a month, was already occupied by another ... any household rags. And then the kids got sick. Three months ago, one girl died, now another is lying in a fever and unconscious. Elizaveta Ivanovna had to simultaneously take care of a sick girl, breastfeed a little one and go almost to the other end of the city to the house where she washed clothes every day.

The whole day I was busy trying to squeeze out at least a few kopecks from somewhere for Mashutka's medicine through superhuman efforts. To this end, Mertsalov ran around almost half the city, begging and humiliating himself everywhere; Elizaveta Ivanovna went to her mistress, the children were sent with a letter to that gentleman, whose house Mertsalov used to manage ... But everyone tried to dissuade him either with festive chores, or lack of money ... Others, like, for example, the doorman of the former patron, simply drove petitioners from the porch .

In his novel “Fathers and Sons”, I. S. Turgenev depicted social processes in Russia in the 59-60s of the 19th century. At that time, the main question was the question of the future of Russia, about what transformations should be in order to improve the life of the people, because everyone came to understand the need to change the existing and obsolete orders. In relation to this issue, society was divided into two camps: revolutionary democrats and liberals in alliance with conservatives.
In the novel, I. S. Turgenev presented these two camps as the world of “fathers” and “children”. The only representative of the generation of “children” is Evgeny Bazarov, a young man who graduated from the university, who is fond of medicine and the natural sciences. The opposite camp includes the Kirsanov brothers - Nikolai Petrovich and Pavel Petrovich, Bazarov's parents, as well as Arkady Kirsanov, a representative of the younger generation of the nobility.
Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov, a retired military man, a former secular lion, is Bazarov's antagonist, his ideological opponent. If Evgeny is a nihilist, that is, a person who does not believe in authorities and rejects principles, then Pavel Petrovich, on the contrary, cannot imagine his life without “principles” and authorities. “We, the people of the old age, we believe that without principles ... you can’t take a step, you can’t breathe,” he says. Pavel Petrovich is a representative of the liberal movement, leaning toward conservatism. Most of all, he bows before the English aristocracy. For him, the ideal state is England. Pavel Petrovich considers himself a useful person: he sometimes stands up for the peasants before his brother, several times he lent him money when the estate was on the verge of ruin. But Bazarov reproaches him that, speaking about the people, Pavel Petrovich is not able to act, he “sits idly by”, and covers his insolvency and inaction with the mask of an unsuccessful person with a broken fate. However, Pavel Petrovich is a worthy person in his own way: he loves his brother and nephew, treats Fenechka with respect, is noble in his actions, impeccably polite. Unfortunately, practicality is not a distinctive quality of this nobleman: seeing that his brother's innovations only upset the estate, he cannot do anything to improve things. Pavel Petrovich does not agree that “his song is sung”, he is convinced that the “children” are wrong and that his ideas are much more correct than theirs. Pavel Petrovich's speech is peculiar. He often uses foreign words, while Russians speak in the French manner, instead of the generally accepted “this” and “this”, he says “eftim” and “efto”. His speech is replete with expressions such as “I consider it my duty”, “would you please ...”, etc.
Pavel Petrovich's brother, Nikolai Petrovich, a nobleman, father of a family and a liberal, is also a representative of the "fathers". He is a liberal and proud of it. “It seems that I am doing everything to keep up with the times: I arranged for peasants, started a farm ...; I read, I study, I try to keep up with modern requirements...” But all his fashionable transformations only upset the estate. Turgenev shows a picture of poverty, backwardness of the people: “ponds with thin dams”, villages with “half-swept roofs”, peasants, “shabby, on bad nags” ... Overhearing Bazarov’s words that “his song is sung”, Nikolai Petrovich agrees to this without protesting. He willingly believed that the ideas of youth were more modern and useful. Nikolai Petrovich is a wonderful, caring and loving father, an attentive brother, a sensitive and tactful person. The fact that at the age of forty he plays the cello, reads Pushkin and admires nature, does not cause us indignation and misunderstanding, like Bazarov, but only a smile of tenderness. Nikolai Petrovich is a man created for family happiness, for a quiet life on his estate.
His son Arkady, who has just graduated from the university, as they say, is the son of his father. At first, he was carried away by the ideas of Bazarov, but, in the end, we see that he was only a temporary companion of a young nihilist and would later repeat the fate of his father.
So, on the example of the images of the Kirsanovs, Turgenev shows the position in which the nobility of post-reform Russia was, their inability to adapt to new conditions, the futility of their activities. Turgenev himself wrote that he showed the "cream" of the noble society. If the best of the nobles cannot survive in the new conditions, then what can we say about all the rest ...

Vinnitsa, Ukraine. The well-known Russian surgeon Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov lived and worked here in the Cherry estate for 20 years.

On December 25, 1897, the work of A.I. Kuprin "A wonderful doctor (true incident)", which begins with the lines: "The following story is not the fruit of idle fiction. Everything I have described really happened in Kyiv about thirty years ago…”, which immediately puts the reader in a serious mood: after all, we perceive real stories closer to our hearts and are more worried about the characters.

So, this story was told to Alexander Ivanovich by a familiar banker, who, by the way, is also one of the heroes of the book. The real basis of the story is no different from what the author portrayed.

“The Miraculous Doctor” is a work about the amazing philanthropy, about the mercy of a famous doctor who did not strive for fame, did not expect honors, but only selflessly provided assistance to those who needed it here and now.

The meaning of the name

Secondly, no one, except Pirogov, wanted to lend a helping hand to people in need, passers-by replaced the bright and clean message of Christmas with the pursuit of discounts, profitable goods and holiday foods. In this atmosphere, the manifestation of virtue is a miracle that can only be hoped for.

Genre and direction

“The Miraculous Doctor” is a story, or to be more precise, a Christmas, or Christmas, story. By all the laws of the genre, the heroes of the work find themselves in a difficult life situation: troubles fall one after another, there is not enough money, which is why the characters even think about taking their own lives. Only a miracle can help them. This miracle is a chance meeting with a doctor who, in one evening, helps them overcome life's difficulties. The work “The Miraculous Doctor” has a bright ending: good triumphs over evil, the state of spiritual decline is replaced by hopes for a better life. However, this does not prevent us from attributing this work to a realistic direction, because everything that happened in it is pure truth.

The action of the story takes place on the eve of the holidays. Decorated Christmas trees peep out of the shop windows, there is an abundance of delicious food everywhere, laughter is heard on the streets, and the ear catches the cheerful conversations of people. But somewhere, very near, poverty, grief and despair reign. And all these human troubles on the bright holiday of the Nativity of Christ are illuminated by a miracle.

Composition

The whole work is built on contrasts. At the very beginning, two boys are standing in front of a bright shop window, a festive spirit is in the air. But when they go home, everything around becomes gloomy: old crumbling houses are everywhere, and their own dwelling is located in the basement. While people in the city are preparing for the holiday, the Mertsalovs do not know how to make ends meet just to survive. There is no talk of a holiday in their family. This sharp contrast allows the reader to feel the desperate situation in which the family found itself.

It is worth noting the contrast among the heroes of the work. The head of the family turns out to be a weak person who is no longer able to solve problems, but is ready to run away from them: he is thinking about suicide. Professor Pirogov, on the other hand, is presented to us as an incredibly strong, cheerful and positive hero who, with his kindness, saves the Mertsalov family.

essence

In the story "The Wonderful Doctor" A.I. Kuprin tells about how human kindness and indifference to one's neighbor can change life. The action takes place approximately in the 60s of the 19th century in Kyiv. The atmosphere of magic and the approaching holiday reigns in the city. The work begins with the fact that two boys, Grisha and Volodya Mertsalov, happily stare at the shop window, joke and laugh. But it soon turns out that their family has big problems: they live in the basement, there is a catastrophic lack of money, their father was driven from work, their sister died six months ago, and now the second one, Mashutka, is very ill. Everyone is desperate and seems ready for the worst.

That evening, the father of the family goes to beg, but all attempts are in vain. He walks into a park, where he talks about the hard life of his family, and he begins to have suicidal thoughts. But fate turns out to be favorable, and in this very park Mertsalov meets a man who is destined to change his life. They go home to an impoverished family, where the doctor examines Mashutka, prescribes the necessary medicines for her, and even leaves a large sum of money. He does not give a name, considering what he did as his duty. And only by the signature on the prescription the family learns that this doctor is the famous Professor Pirogov.

Main characters and their characteristics

The story involves a small number of characters. In this work for A.I. Kuprin, the wonderful doctor himself, Alexander Ivanovich Pirogov, is important.

1. Pirogov- famous professor, surgeon. He knows the approach to any person: he looks at the father of the family so attentively and interestedly that he almost immediately inspires confidence in him, and he tells about all his troubles. Pirogov does not need to think about whether to help or not. He heads home to the Mertsalovs, where he does his best to save desperate souls. One of Mertsalov's sons, already an adult man, remembers him and calls him a saint: "... that great, powerful and holy thing that lived and burned in the wonderful doctor during his lifetime died out irretrievably."
2. Mertsalov- a man broken by adversity, who is gnawed by his own impotence. Seeing the death of his daughter, the despair of his wife, the deprivation of the rest of the children, he is ashamed of his inability to help them. The doctor stops him on the way to a cowardly and fatal act, saving, first of all, his soul, which was ready to sin.

Themes

The main themes of the work are mercy, compassion and kindness. The Mertsalov family is doing everything possible to cope with the troubles that have piled up. And in a moment of despair, fate sends them a gift: Dr. Pirogov turns out to be a real magician who, with his indifference and sympathy, heals their crippled souls.

He does not stay in the park when Mertsalov loses his temper: being a man of incredible kindness, he listens to him and immediately does his best to help. We do not know how many such acts Professor Pirogov committed in his life. But you can be sure that in his heart lived a great love for people, indifference, which turned out to be a saving straw for an unfortunate family, which he extended at the most necessary moment.

Problems

AI Kuprin in this short story raises such universal problems as humanism and the loss of hope.

Professor Pirogov personifies philanthropy, humanism. The problems of strangers are not alien to him, and he takes the help of his neighbor for granted. He does not need gratitude for what he has done, he does not need glory: it is only important that people around him fight and not lose faith in the best. This becomes his main wish to the Mertsalov family: "... and most importantly - never lose heart." However, the entourage of the heroes, their acquaintances and colleagues, neighbors and just passers-by - all turned out to be indifferent witnesses of someone else's grief. They did not even think that someone's disaster concerns them, they did not want to show humanity, thinking that they were not authorized to correct social injustice. This is the problem: no one cares about what is happening around, except for one person.

Despair is also described in detail by the author. It poisons Mertsalov, deprives him of the will and strength to move on. Under the influence of sorrowful thoughts, he descends to a cowardly hope for death, while his family perishes from hunger. The feeling of hopelessness dulls all other feelings and enslaves a person who is able to feel sorry only for himself.

Meaning

What is the main idea of ​​A. I. Kuprin? The answer to this question lies precisely in the phrase that Pirogov says when leaving the Mertsalovs: never lose heart.

Even in the darkest times, one must hope, seek, and if there is no strength left at all, wait for a miracle. And it does happen. With the most ordinary people on one frosty, say, winter day: the hungry become full, the cold become warm, the sick recover. And these miracles are performed by people themselves with the kindness of their hearts - this is the main idea of ​​the writer, who saw salvation from social cataclysms in simple mutual assistance.

What does it teach?

This small work makes you think about how important it is to be indifferent to the people around us. In the hustle and bustle of days, we often forget that neighbors, acquaintances, compatriots are suffering somewhere very close by, somewhere poverty reigns and despair reigns. Entire families do not know how to earn their living and barely live to see their paycheck. Therefore, it is so important not to pass by and be able to support: with a kind word or deed.

Helping one person will not change the world, of course, but it will change one part of it, and the most important one for giving and not accepting help. The giver is enriched much more than the petitioner, because he receives spiritual satisfaction from what he has done.

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