"Filipok" - Leo Tolstoy. L

Review of Leo Tolstoy's story "Filipok", written as part of the contest "My Favorite Book 2015". Khalyavina Polina (8 years old), Khalyavina Anastasia (14 years old).

"Filipok" is an exceptional story about a little boy driven by a thirst for knowledge. From my point of view, Filipok is an extraordinary child. Despite the fact that the hero is a little younger than me, he was able to teach me a lot. He showed me that it is necessary to set a goal, go towards it and achieve a dream, despite all the small and big difficulties. On the example of his story, I realized that it is impossible to retreat in any case, that we must fight to the end.

“If you are up to something, then retreating is almost the same as hanging a sign on your chest that says “loser”. © Oleg Roy.

After reading this book for the second time, I realized that Filipok had become a role model for me. I appreciate his courage and determination. I believe that this is exactly what a person should be - a "warrior", a fighter for his happiness!

For this little boy, learning is the highest goal. "Learning is light and ignorance is darkness". Our ancestors thought so, Filipok thought so, and so do I! Some will say that Filipko's goal is insignificant. On the one hand, yes, he did not dream of conquering the world, the country, or at least his village, he did not go to school for this, overcoming all the obstacles that were huge for such a little boy. But study gives rise to science, and science benefits not only the person himself, but also the state.

“If you stock up on patience and show diligence, then the seeds of knowledge sown will certainly give good shoots. The root of learning is bitter, but the fruit is sweet” © Leonardo da Vinci.

As you know, you need to start small, since all the great scientists who changed the course of history also just came to school / university one day!

I believe that the further the course of history goes, the more unique this unusual boy, Filipok, becomes. For example, now it is already very difficult to meet a person who would strive for learning, who would like to go to school. Now other values, knowledge do not play any role when we evaluate a person as a person. Now we look at external beauty, forgetting that sometimes the cover of a book does not match its content. In my opinion, knowledge is intelligence, namely, it reflects the true inner spiritual beauty of a person!

Perhaps that is why for me Filipok is something more than just a little boy who, through great work, came to his goal!

“To study and, when the time comes, to apply what has been learned to business - isn’t it wonderful!” © Confucius.

Khalyavina Polina (8 years old)
Khalyavina Anastasia (14 years old)
City of Serov, Sverdlovsk region

In the story "Filipok" the little reader is presented with a story that could well have happened to him or his peers; No wonder the story is subtitled "Falle". Filippok got bored sitting in the hut, and he decided to go to school. He came, but he was so confused that in response to the questions of the teacher he only kept silent and cried. The teacher left him in the classroom "Well, sit on the bench next to your brother. And I'll ask your mother to let you go to school." Despite the brevity of the story, the character of the boy is created in it. As soon as Philippok realizes that he wants to study at school, nothing can lead him astray, neither the dogs that attacked him, nor the fear of the teacher.

Not finding his hat, Filippok sets off on his father's hat, which is great for him, but at hand. In the halls of the school, the boy takes off his hat and only after that opens the door: he is well acquainted with peasant etiquette. Having recovered from the first fright, he uttered his name in words, and although everyone laughed, he began to "say the Mother of God" to show that he knows prayers; but "every word was spoken wrongly." The teacher stopped him: "You wait a moment to boast, but learn."

Year of writing: 1875

Genre of work: story

Main characters: filippok- boy.

Plot

One day, all the children in the village went to school in the morning. Philip wanted to go with them, but his mother said that he was still small. The parents left for work, and the boy was left alone with his grandmother. She fell asleep on the stove, it became boring. Taking his father's old hat, the boy boldly headed towards the school. And she was outside the village. On the way, dogs attacked Filippok, but the kind peasant drove them away. The boy, without explaining where he was in a hurry, ran from there. There was a lesson at school, it was hard to decide to enter. But I didn't want to go back to the dogs. Entering, Phillipok, out of fear, could not answer the simple questions of the teacher. The guys intervened and said that this was Kostyushkin's brother. The teacher sat him next to his brother, and promised that he would agree with his mother so that Philip was constantly at school. The boy said that he was clever, but the teacher showed that he still had nothing to boast of. So Philippok began to study with older children.

Conclusion (my opinion)

The desire to learn at an early age can affect later life. Filipko's determination was rewarded. The boy was brave and courageous. The attack of the dogs did not make them run home. And although he wept with fear of the teacher, he defeated himself. The teacher showed how important it is to be humble.

There was a boy, his name was Philip. All the boys went to school. Philip took his hat and wanted to go too. But his mother told him:

— Where are you going, Filipok?

- To school.

- You're still small, don't go. And his mother left him at home.

The guys went to school. In the morning my father left for the forest, my mother went to day work. Filipok remained in the hut and grandmother on the stove.

Filipka became bored alone, grandmother fell asleep, and he began to look for a hat. I didn’t find my own, took my father’s old one and went to school.

The school was outside the village near the church. When Filipok walked through his settlement, the dogs did not touch him - they knew him. But when he went out to other people's yards, a bug jumped out, barked, and behind the bug a big dog, Volchok. Filipok started to run, the dogs behind him. Filipok began to scream, stumbled and fell. A man came out, drove the dogs away and said:

- Where are you, shooter, running alone?

Filipok said nothing, picked up the floors and set off at full speed. He ran to the school. There is no one on the porch, and in the school, you can hear the voices of the children buzzing. Fear came over Filipka: “What, how will the teacher drive me away?” And he began to think what to do. Go back - the dog will seize again, go to school - the teacher is afraid. A woman with a bucket walked past the school and said:

Everyone is learning, and why are you standing here?

Filipok went to school.

In the vestibule he took off his hat and opened the door. The school was full of kids. Everyone shouted their own, and the teacher in a red scarf walked in the middle.

— What are you? he shouted at Philip.

Filipok grabbed his hat and nothing

did not tell.

— Who are you?

Filipok was silent.

Or are you mute?

Filipok was so frightened that he could not speak.

“Well, go home if you don’t want to talk.

But Filipok would be glad to say something, but his throat was dry from fear. He looked at the teacher and wept. Then the teacher felt sorry for him. He stroked his head and asked the guys who this boy was.

- This is Filipok, Kostyushkin's brother, he has been asking for school for a long time, but his mother does not let him, and he came to school furtively.

- Well, sit on the bench next to your brother, and I'll ask your mother to let you go to school.

The teacher began to show Filipok the letters, but Filipok already knew them and could read a little.

- Come on, put down your name.

Filipok said;

- Hwe-i - hvi, le-i - whether, pe-ok - pok.

Everyone laughed.

“Well done,” the teacher said. - Who taught you to read?

Filipok dared and said:

- Kitty! I'm poor, I immediately understood everything. What a dexterous passion I am!

The teacher laughed and said:

- You wait to boast, but learn.

Since then, Filipok began to go to school with the guys.

Reading the story of L.N. Tolstoy "Filipok" through the eyes of a modern student and even a modern teacher, we get a number of logical inconsistencies: over a period of almost a century and a half between people of that time and ours, a still not very thick information wall has grown from forgotten background knowledge and new false stereotypes.

The story is often published in school textbooks and on the Internet in an “edited” form, sometimes without an episode with a dialect pronunciation, sometimes without an episode with a prayer. A naive rationalist will say: who is now interested in the details of what happened in the pre-revolutionary rural school? And he will be right: indeed, few people. So why do our children read about it?

We may be interested in this story only in the thoughts of the great Tolstoy, and not at all in any particular village (there is no specifics there, the subtitle “reality” is not about that at all) and not a boy named Philip: maybe there was no boy ...

From an early age, the reader needs to learn three simple truths:

In any work of art (not only literary), a large-scale, socially significant idea is hidden behind a specific image, character, event, and in terms of the scale of Tolstoy's thought, he is also in Tolstoy's children's story. By the way, the author of "War and Peace" wrote in a letter to Strakhov dated November 12, 1872: "I am so sure that I erected a monument with this" ABC "" (in which our story was also published).
The world depicted in a work of art is completely created by the author to the smallest features; therefore, if he was concerned about placing some small details in this world, then, therefore, he wanted to say something by this. This is well known to modern photographers: a real master will remove unnecessary, meaningless, blurring details from his picture.
Any sign, any trifle in a work of art is a stimulus for the birth / turn of the thought of the person to whom the work is addressed: the reader, viewer, listener, i.e. Your thoughts, my dear Reader!

Do you doubt the skill of Leo Tolstoy? Then let's read his story with complete confidence, not suspecting the Master of careless talkativeness. The proposed comment is just a comment that does not require the reader to have any special linguistic knowledge or skills.

There was a boy, his name was Philip. All the boys went to school. Philip took his hat and wanted to go too. But his mother said to him: where are you going, Filipok? - To school. - You are still small, do not go, - and his mother left him at home. The guys went to school. In the morning my father left for the forest, my mother went to day work. Filipok remained in the hut and grandmother on the stove. Filipka became bored alone, grandmother fell asleep, and he began to look for a hat. I didn’t find my own, I took my father’s old one and went to school.

All children go to school

First detail. It is clearly said, "once all the guys went to school." The popular stories of teachers that “before, not all children could go to school” (see lesson publications) do not find confirmation in the text. Filipka's mother leaves her at home only because of her age. Tolstoy wrote a story about post-reform Russia, after liberation from serfdom, and wrote just about the fact that now all people can determine their own fate, all children go to school, including the children of poor rural residents. There is no direct mention of poverty, any social inequality in the story, free villagers are depicted working ... Only here “day work” is not just work paid by the day, as they explain in textbooks (if the work of any invited specialist is paid according to the number of workers days, his work will still not be called day work), but only unskilled and usually hard low-paid work. In winter, in the village, this could be the work of a laundress, a cleaner, a housekeeper. Reader, note that all children go to school, including the children of a rural day laborer. At the end of the story, it turns out that Filipko's older brother, Kosciuszka, goes to school, and Filipok has been asking to go there for a long time, which excludes an accidental adventure from boredom.

grandmother on the stove

Second detail: grandmother lies on the stove, literally and figuratively. Firstly, modern children should be shown at least in the picture a Russian stove with a stove bench, on which old people, children, and cats loved to lie ...

Modern children on a warm traditional bed also like:

But there is another association: “lying on the stove” means “lounging”, as well as “not taking active steps”, “not changing anything in your life”.

Remember the fabulous Emelya, who goes to the king lying on the stove; in the fairy tale he is depicted quite approvingly: the Russian people still do not really like people who are busy solely for the sake of wealth, power or glory.

Leo Tolstoy writes a true story, not a fairy tale, therefore he shows a completely different situation: in the Filipka family, adults work, only the grandmother, personifying, by the way, antiquity, family, traditions, lies on the stove, as she should. Little Filipko can also “lie on the stove”, that is, not work, not care about anything, but he chooses movement ... Movement is the main theme of the story, and this is easy to follow through the chain of words with the meaning “movement”.

Reader, this is important: our hero easily overcame the first terrible (and very Russian) temptation - the temptation of laziness!

Reading the second paragraph:

The school was outside the village near the church. When Philip walked through his settlement, the dogs did not touch him, they knew him. But when he went out to other people's yards, a bug jumped out, barked, and behind the bug a big dog, Volchok. Filipok rushed to run, the dogs followed him. Filipok began to scream, stumbled and fell. A peasant came out, drove the dogs away and said: where are you running, little rat, alone?

Village, school, church

Third detail: "The school was outside the village near the church."

Village in Russia in the 19th century. only a relatively large settlement in which there is a church was officially named. That is why it stands behind the village, because the inhabitants of all the surrounding villages go to it. But why is the school in this description tied to the church?

Firstly, the school, as well as the church, is attended by children from several surrounding villages.

Secondly, in Russia, Cyrillic writing was officially adopted along with baptism, and it appeared in direct connection with the Eastern Orthodox religious and cultural choice of the Slavic peoples; it was the monasteries that were the stronghold of ancient Russian literature, especially in the “Tatar-Mongolian” era. Our peasant great-great-grandfathers received their primary education in parochial schools.

Thirdly: science and religion are two manifestations of the spiritual life of a person, they compete or interact. Even the most stubborn materialism is also a manifestation of mentality, that is, spiritual life. And, finally: the reader has, of course, already noticed that the whole plot of the story is Filipko's journey to school; now it is clear that it is also becoming a symbolic "road to the temple."

Beetle and Top

Fourth detail: familiar dogs did not touch Filipka, and in a strange settlement (in a strange part of the village, on a strange street) the dogs were unfamiliar. Tolstoy is confusing something: if they are strangers, how does Filipok know their nicknames? And here's where: Beetles were called black dogs, like a beetle, and Tops, respectively, similar to a wolf. In the illustrations of various artists, a black dog is invariably present:

What difference does it make to a writer how to name dogs and what their appearance is like? The fact is that the black dog in Russian folklore has always been a symbol of evil. He guarded the border between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Here is an example:

Suddenly, the waters on the river were agitated, the eagles screamed on the oaks - a miracle Yudo with six heads leaves. He rode into the middle of the Kalinov Bridge - the horse stumbled under him, the black raven on his shoulder started up, behind black Dog bristled.(Fairy tale "Ivan - a peasant son and a miracle Yudo", http://skazkoved.ru/index.php?fid=1&sid=1&tid=38)

In the Bible Encyclopedia, dogs are persecutors. The wolf, of course, also symbolizes danger. So, danger arises on the path of Filipko, the persecutors block the path.

And he overcomes the second temptation, the temptation of fear!

The man is a wonderful helper

Fifth detail: the man drove the dogs away.

Reader, remember how in Russian fairy tales, wonderful helpers appear out of nowhere and save the hero: who is the gray wolf, who is Sivka-Burka, who is the magic comb ... This means that behind his success is the approval of popular opinion and higher powers.

shooter

sixth detail: A man asked: where are you running, little shooter?

A shot is not just a naughty, literally this word meant “shot” (our shot has ripened everywhere!), And a shot is, first of all, movement towards a specific goal. It is clear that Filipok ran even faster.

Filipok said nothing, picked up the floors and started running at full speed. He ran to the school. There is no one on the porch, and the voices of the children are heard in the school. Fear came over Filipka: what, how will the teacher drive me away? And he began to think what to do. Go back - the dog will seize again, go to school - he is afraid of the teacher. A woman with a bucket walked past the school and said: everyone is studying, and why are you standing here? Filipok went to school. In the vestibule he took off his hat and opened the door. The school was full of kids. Everyone shouted their own, and the teacher in a red scarf walked in the middle.

Grandma with a bucket

Seventh detail: when Filipka began to overcome the third temptation, doubt, on the threshold of the school, again, out of nowhere, a wonderful helper, a woman with a bucket, appeared. Artists depicted her in different ways: some with a heavy, full bucket, and some with a light, empty one.

A bucket, full or empty, is one of the most popular folk signs, portending, respectively, good or bad luck. In order for the whole campaign not to be in vain, Filipok himself must decide to enter, therefore the text does not say whether the bucket is full or empty, and the woman, like the savior man, only asks a prompting question.

And the temptation of doubt is overcome!

red scarf

Eighth detail: a red scarf that highlights the teacher. Colors in general “represent differentiation, something manifest, diversity, the affirmation of light. Colors that reflect light, such as orange, yellow and red, are active, warm, directed towards the viewer… (http://www.onlinedics.ru/slovar/sim.html). Red is the zenith of the color, which in many nations symbolizes activity, life, and in any case makes its bearer the center of attention. In Tolstoy's novel, all Rostovs blush endlessly, and all the "white" characters - the little princess with white teeth, Helen with white shoulders, Anatole in a white uniform, Prince Andrei with white hands - they all die. And even before the battle of Austerlitz, Bolkonsky sees white Russian soldiers from the hill on the red earth ...

– What are you? he shouted at Philip. Filipok grabbed his hat and said nothing. - Who are you? Filipok was silent. Or are you mute? Filipok was so frightened that he could not speak. - Well, go home if you don't want to talk. - And Filipok would be glad to say something, but his throat was dry from fear. He looked at the teacher and wept. Then the teacher felt sorry for him. He stroked his head and asked the guys who this boy was.

- This is Filipok, Kostyushkin's brother, he has been asking for school for a long time, but his mother does not let him, and he came to school furtively.

- Well, sit on the bench next to your brother, and I'll ask your mother to let you go to school.

The teacher began showing Filipok the letters, but Filipok already knew them and could read a little.

- Come on, put down your name. - Filipok said: hwe-i-hvi, le-i-li, pe-ok-pok. Everyone laughed.

“Well done,” the teacher said. - Who taught you to read?

Filipok dared and said: Kostyushka. I'm poor, I immediately understood everything. What a dexterous passion I am! The teacher laughed and said: do you know prayers? - Filipok said: I know, - and began to speak to the Mother of God; but every word was spoken not so. The teacher stopped him and said: wait a moment to boast, but learn.

Since then, Filipok began to go to school with the guys.

eternal questions

Ninth detail: Everyone asks Filipka questions - both the man who drove the dogs away, and the woman with the bucket, and the teacher simply bombarded him with questions. Where are you running, why are you standing, what are you (why did you come?), who are you ...

Agree, reader, the questions are meaningful, eternal, associated with the fund of world idioms (quo vadis, camo come, etc.). Questions that the Russian people have been trying to answer for centuries and cannot answer unequivocally... Filipok, in fact, did not answer them, and, therefore, it was Tolstoy who left them open.

About Russian

Tenth detail:

Barely taught the alphabet, Filipok correctly puts his name out of the letters, but pronounces the name of the letter F strangely.

In some Russian dialects there was no sound [f] and it was replaced by a combination [hv]. Now it’s clear why Leo Tolstoy called his hero Philip: the diminutive name turned out to be so sweet, round, affectionate, and you can’t confuse it with fairy-tale characters, and dialect pronunciation is easy to clearly and clearly demonstrate. Filipok speaks his native language only in its uncultivated local version, he does not know the literary language, the language of culture and science, which makes us all one people, regardless of the characteristics of our "small motherland". This is equivalent to the case when a modern underage in admiration finds only the word “cool” instead of “good, right, beautiful, cute, charming, wonderful, smart ...”, and simply does not understand many words in the texts. Just as dialects preserved traces of the ancient division of the future Russian nation into many tribes, so modern slang divides us into groups and groups according to age, education, occupation, makes a person a stranger in another part of the city and even in his own family. In this sense, the “nationality” of speech does not at all serve the unity of the Russian people. So, maybe Orthodoxy will save us?

Prayer

Eleventh detail: Filipok and in prayer "he pronounced every word wrong." Hence, his faith turns out to be an unreasonable mechanical muttering; Prayer also needs to be learned! Any religion is also a kind of Teaching.

In episodes with Filipko's dialect pronunciation and prayer, we encounter echoes of a long-outdated polemic around a concept that is now often referred to as "Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality"; it is of interest only to historians. But discussions between purists and anti-normalizers do not subside, disputes between supporters of “folk speech” (in particular, freedom of slang and obscenities in public communication and literature: “the people say so!”) And defenders of literary and ethical norms in speech. The revived influence of religion and the church also poses a number of acute questions for society and the state. Therefore, Tolstoy's thought is quite applicable to our life. Without denying nationality and Orthodoxy as the beginnings of Russian life, the great writer proves the need for broad public education and movement forward, development, and not stagnation.

wait to brag

Twelfth detail:

brag " I'm poor, I immediately understood everything. What a dexterous passion I am!" turned out to be completely unfounded. Doesn't it remind you, reader, of modern praises of our Russian ingenuity? What was Tolstoy's answer to this in the teacher's words? Directly and without any allegory: You wait to boast, but learn.

Of course, there is an element of subjectivity in my reading. In the sense that you, the reader, of course, will find other reasons for comments and reasoning in this story. For example, find out the symbolic meaning of the details associated with the father: he went into the forest, and Filipok put on his hat ... And the name Filipok also cannot be accidental and requires interpretation; and for some reason in the title it is written not in accordance with the Greek source, with one letter P ...

Illustrations by A.F. Pakhomov, G.K. Spirin, as well as frames of the filmstrip by R.V. Bylinskaya (Lapina).

The text was verified (including the spelling and punctuation of the dubious sentence in the third paragraph: There's no one on the porch, but at school are heard the voices of the children are buzzing.) according to the SS in 20 vols. I - M .: GIHL, vol. 10, 1963, p. 12-13.