In bad company. Essay on the work “In Bad Society” B

In Korolenko’s work “Children of the Dungeon,” the author created memorable images, tragic, but true. One of the main characters is the girl Marusya, who lives in the dungeon of the chapel with her older brother and Master Tyburtsy. The portrait of Marusya (In Bad Society) is very important for understanding the idea of ​​the entire work; she is a symbol of poverty, hunger, beauty and doom.

Description of Marusya

The author describes the appearance of a four-year-old girl touchingly, with love: “a dirty little face framed by blond hair and sparkling at me with childishly curious blue eyes...”. Describing in detail Marusya’s sad, childish look, the author notes the sparkle in her eyes, unhealthy blush, and pallor. Marusya is sick, she looks like a flower that doesn’t have enough sun. According to his brother, “the gray stone is sucking the life” out of Marusya. The dungeon - the house in which the children are forced to live - really deprives the girl of her health, and constant hunger does not give her a chance for recovery.

Girl's illness

At four years old, Marusya walks poorly, she is extremely thin and pale. The girl rarely smiles, she does not like to play like other children. Most likely because there is not enough strength to run and jump like healthy children. Over time, Marusya gets worse, the disease takes away her last strength, she stops going out and sleeps a lot. Vasya and Valek try their best to please the girl, but to no avail. The girl’s last joy came from the doll Vasya stole from her sister. Marusya had never held toys in her hands, but the girl liked such a wonderful doll so much that she did not let it out of her hands until the last day of her life.

When I read Korolenko’s story “In Bad Society,” I was very touched by the description of the unfortunate girl Marusya. Marusya is an unhappy four-year-old child who does not know her mother’s affection, does not have a warm bed, and always suffers from hunger. Marusya's named father Tyburtsy, who takes care of the girl to the best of his ability, cannot even feed her enough, because Tyburtsy is poor, like a church rat. He is a beggar who took responsibility by taking care of homeless children who are strangers to him - Valka and Marusya.

Marusya's appearance is described by the author in a very unique way. Blond hair, turquoise and childishly curious eyes, a pale face, tiny hands, long eyelashes... At first glance, this is a very touching description of a small child. The author just added that four-year-old Marusya’s legs are crooked and weak, she moves very poorly for her age, walks slowly, is weak, her arms are very thin, the girl suffers from excessive thinness and is extremely painful. Besides, Marusya almost never laughs.

Due to the inability to enjoy simple things and laugh, like all children, Tyburtsy and Valek consider the girl strange. Sometimes Marusya’s weak laughter can still be heard, but it is like a silver bell that is carried into the distance - it is almost inaudible and quickly fades away.

The unfortunate child, whose home is an old abandoned chapel, and whose named father she considers to be a beggar who is even capable of theft, does not know how to distinguish good deeds from bad and shameful ones. When Tyburtsy reported that he had to steal to feed the children, Marusya was not shocked. On the contrary, she praised Tyburtsy for the theft, because thanks to this she managed to eat. The hungry have their own truth.

Marusya never had her own toys. This fact touched the soul of little Marusya’s new friend. Valka and Marusya's new acquaintance, whose name is Vasya, is from a normally wealthy, but single-parent family. Vasya’s mother died, his father doesn’t care about him, and the boy, wanting to find friends so as not to feel abandoned and lonely, wanders around and ends up in the very chapel that serves as a refuge for the poor. He became friends with Marusya and began to feel even greater tenderness for her than for his own sister. After all, he didn’t feel as sorry for his healthy and needy sister as he did for the sick and always hungry little Marusya. When poor Marusya became completely ill and stopped getting up, Vasya decided for her sake not to steal the doll from his own sister. Vasya manages to bring the first and last joy in life to an unfortunate child. The doll had a very positive effect on Marusya - the baby began to get up to play, and even began to weakly laugh and walk again. But the insidious disease did its dirty work. The joy of owning a doll did not save the sick child. Marusya died from a serious illness.

If adults had even a drop of compassion, like little Vasya, then the baby could have been saved. But, unfortunately, those around them were not touched by the problems of the poor.

Essay about Marusya

The most unfortunate character in Korolenko's story "In Bad Society" is a little girl, four-year-old Marusya. Marusya is not the main character, she is a minor character, but the reader follows her life and health with sympathy throughout the entire story about the “children of the dungeon.”

Marusya is only four years old, and in her short life the baby has already experienced many of the hardships of life, which are often too much for adults to endure. Cold and hunger, the loss of parents, global poverty - so many hardships fell on the thin shoulders of a small child. Marusya's named father Tyburtsy does not have the opportunity to provide his children with a warm home. The children, Valek and Marusa, live in an old chapel that is completely unsuitable for living. Poor, homeless, constantly hungry children evoke sympathy and indignation. The people of the city do not care about disadvantaged children. If at least one of them had shown sympathy and found suitable shelter for the poor children, the girl would not have died because she lived in a cold stone chapel. The "gray stone" of the chapel sapped her strength daily and sucked the life out of the sickly little girl.

The author describes Marusya's appearance as very pretty - the girl has turquoise eyes, an open look, thick blond hair and a fragile physique. Side by side with the description of Marusya’s appearance there is a description of her physical defects, which developed from poor nutrition and constant malnutrition. The girl lags behind her peers in development - Marusya walks unsteadily, her weak legs get tangled, she often falls, and she cannot run at all. A weak girl cannot play outdoor games. The baby's toys were replaced by wildflowers, which she could sort through for hours.

By chance, the little girl had a new friend, Vasya, who came from a wealthy family and was the son of a judge. But the judge did little with the boy and stopped paying attention to him completely after the death of his wife, Vasya’s mother. Left to his own devices, the boy began to be friends with Marusya and even take part in her quiet games.

Over time, Marusya became completely ill and stopped going out into the fresh air. When she didn’t even have the strength to get up, the compassionate Vasya brought the baby a doll, which he borrowed from his sister. He didn't want to steal the doll - he just wanted to bring joy to his dying girlfriend. The first and last joy in her short life... Faithful to childhood friendship, Vasya, even as an adult, visited Marusya’s grave, all his life remembering the suffering of the little destitute child.

Several interesting essays

I am delighted with our Russian language class. It would seem like an ordinary class, nothing special, but no. And the whole point is that the teacher of Russian language and literature is Alla Ivanovna

• Comparative characteristics of Olga Ilyinskaya and Agafya Pshenitsyna Table

  Comparative characteristics of Olga Ilyinskaya and Agafya Pshenitsyna

• Essay The life path of Andrei Bolkonsky in the novel War and Peace by Tolstoy

  In Tolstoy's wonderful work War and Peace there are many characters who make the reader feel empathy, sadness about his fate, or some other emotion

• The main characters of the story About Peter and Fevronia of Murom

  The story of Peter and Fevronia of Murom, perhaps, can be called a story about true and bright love, which everyone tries to find in their lives.

• The image and characteristics of Lyuba in the story by Yama Kuprin essay

  Lyuba or Lyubka is one of the many heroines of A. I. Kuprin’s story Yama. Lyuba is not the leading character, but a secondary character, at first glance, very uninteresting and inexpressive.

To convey a summary of “In Bad Society,” a few trivial sentences are not enough. Despite the fact that this fruit of Korolenko’s creativity is usually considered a story, its structure and volume are more reminiscent of a story.

On the pages of the book, a dozen characters await the reader, whose fate will move along a track rich in loops over the course of several months. Over time, the story was recognized as one of the best opuses from the writer’s pen. It was also reprinted many times, and several years after the first publication it was slightly modified and published under the title “Children of the Dungeon.”

Main character and setting

The main character of the work is a boy named Vasya. He lived with his father in the city of Knyazhye-Veno in the South-Western region, populated mainly by Poles and Jews. It would not be out of place to say that the city in the story was captured by the author “from nature.” In the landscapes and descriptions one can recognize exactly the second half of the 19th century. The content of “In a Bad Society” by Korolenko is generally rich in descriptions of the world around us.

The child's mother died when he was only six years old. The father, busy with judicial service and his own grief, paid little attention to his son. At the same time, Vasya was not prevented from getting out of the house on his own. That is why the boy often wandered around his hometown, full of secrets and mysteries.

Lock

One of these local attractions was which formerly served as the count's residence. However, the reader will find him not at the best of times. Now the walls of the castle are destroyed due to impressive age and lack of maintenance, and its interior has been chosen by the poor of the immediate surroundings. The prototype of this place was the palace that belonged to the noble Lyubomirsky family, who bore the title of princes and lived in Rivne.

Scattered, they did not know how to live in peace and harmony due to differences in religion and conflict with the former count's servant Janusz. Exercising his right to decide who had the right to remain in the castle and who did not, he showed the door to all those who did not belong to the Catholic flock or the servants of the former owners of these walls. The outcasts settled in a dungeon, which was hidden from prying eyes. After this incident, Vasya stopped visiting the castle that he had visited before, despite the fact that Janusz himself called the boy, whom he considered the son of a respected family. He didn't like how the exiles were treated. The immediate events of Korolenko's story "In a Bad Society", a brief summary of which cannot do without mentioning this episode, begin precisely from this point.

Meeting in the chapel

One day Vasya and his friends climbed into the chapel. However, after the children realized that there was someone else inside, Vasya’s friends cowardly ran away, leaving the boy alone. In the chapel there were two children from the dungeon. It was Valek and Marusya. They lived together with the exiles who were evicted by Janusz.

The leader of the entire community hiding underground was a man named Tyburtius. A summary of “In Bad Society” cannot do without its characteristics. This personality remained a secret to those around him; almost nothing was known about him. Despite his penniless lifestyle, there were rumors that the man had previously been an aristocrat. This guess was confirmed by the fact that the extravagant man quoted ancient Greek thinkers. Such an education did not in any way correspond to his common appearance. The contrasts gave the townspeople reason to consider Tyburtius a sorcerer.

Vasya quickly became friends with the children from the chapel and began to visit them and feed them. These visits for the time being remained a secret to others. Their friendship also withstood such a test as Valek’s confession that he steals food in order to feed his sister.

Vasya began to visit the dungeon itself while there were no adults inside. However, sooner or later such carelessness was bound to give the boy away. And during his next visit, Tyburtsy noticed the judge’s son. The children were afraid that the unpredictable owner of the dungeon would throw the boy out, but he, on the contrary, allowed the guest to visit them, taking his word that he would remain silent about the secret place. Now Vasya could visit his friends without fear. This is the summary of “In Bad Society” before the start of dramatic events.

Dungeon Dwellers

He met and became close to other exiles of the castle. These were different people: former official Lavrovsky, who loved to tell incredible stories from his past life; Turkevich, who called himself a general and loved to visit the windows of eminent residents of the city, and many others.

Despite the fact that they were all different from each other in the past, now they all lived together and helped their neighbors, sharing the modest life they had built, begging on the street and stealing, like Valek or Tyburtsy himself. Vasya fell in love with these people and did not condemn their sins, realizing that they were all brought to such a state by poverty.

Sonya

The main reason why the main character ran into the dungeon was the tense atmosphere in his own home. If his father did not pay any attention to him, then the servants considered the boy a spoiled child, who, moreover, constantly disappeared in unknown places.

The only person who makes Vasya happy at home is his younger sister Sonya. He loves the four-year-old, playful and cheerful girl very much. However, their own nanny did not allow the children to communicate with each other, because she considered the older brother a bad example for the judge's daughter. Father himself loved Sonya much more than Vasya, because she reminded him of his deceased wife.

Marusya's disease

With the onset of autumn, Valek's sister Marusya became seriously ill. In the entire work “In Bad Society,” the content can be safely divided into “before” and “after” this event. Vasya, who could not calmly look at the serious condition of his friend, decided to ask Sonya for the doll left to her by her mother. She agreed to borrow a toy, and Marusya, who had nothing of the kind due to poverty, was very happy about the gift and even began to recover in her dungeon “in bad company.” The main characters did not yet realize that the outcome of the whole story was closer than ever.

Secret Revealed

It seemed that everything would work out, but suddenly Janusz came to the judge to denounce the inhabitants of the dungeon, as well as Vasya, who was noticed in unfavorable company. The father was angry with his son and forbade him to leave the house. At the same time, the nanny discovered the doll was missing, which caused another scandal. The judge tried to get Vasya to confess where he goes and where his sister’s toy is now. The boy only replied that he had indeed taken the doll, but did not say what he did with it. Even the summary of “In Bad Society” shows how strong in spirit Vasya was, despite his young age.

Denouement

Several days passed. Tyburtsy came to the boy’s house and gave Sonya’s toy to the judge. In addition, he talked about the friendship of such different children. The father, struck by the story, felt guilty before his son, to whom he did not devote time and who, because of this, began to communicate with beggars who were not loved by anyone in the city. Finally Tyburtsy said that Marusya had died. The judge allowed Vasya to say goodbye to the girl, and he himself gave money to her father, after giving advice to escape from the city. This is where the story "In Bad Society" ends.

The unexpected visit of Tyburtsy and the news of Marusya’s death destroyed the wall between the main character of the story and his father. After the incident, the two of them began to visit the grave near the chapel, where the three children met for the first time. In the story “In Bad Society,” the main characters were never able to appear all together in one scene. The beggars from the dungeon were never seen in the city again. They all suddenly disappeared, as if they had never existed.

The hero's childhood took place in the small town of Knyazhye-Veno in the Southwestern Territory. Vasya - that was the boy's name - was the son of the city judge. The child grew up “like a wild tree in a field”: the mother died when the son was only six years old, and the father, consumed by his grief, paid little attention to the boy. Vasya wandered around the city all day long, and pictures of city life left a deep imprint on his soul.

The city was surrounded by ponds. In the middle of one of them, on the island, stood an ancient castle that once belonged to a count's family. There were legends that the island was filled with captured Turks, and the castle stood “on human bones.” The owners left this gloomy dwelling a long time ago, and it gradually collapsed. Its inhabitants were urban beggars who had no other shelter. But a split occurred among the poor. Old Janusz, one of the count's former servants, received some right to decide who can live in the castle and who cannot. He left only “aristocrats” there: Catholics and the former count’s servants. The exiles found refuge in a dungeon under an ancient crypt near an abandoned Uniate chapel that stood on the mountain. However, no one knew their whereabouts.

Old Janusz, meeting Vasya, invites him to come into the castle, because there is now “decent society” there. But the boy prefers the “bad company” of exiles from the castle: Vasya feels sorry for them.

Many members of the "bad society" are well known in the city. This is a half-mad elderly “professor” who always mutters something quietly and sadly; the ferocious and pugnacious bayonet-cadet Zausailov; a drunken retired official Lavrovsky, telling everyone incredible tragic stories about his life. And Turkevich, who calls himself General, is famous for “exposing” respectable townspeople (police officer, secretary of the district court and others) right under their windows. He does this in order to get money for vodka, and achieves his goal: those “accused” rush to pay him off.

The leader of the entire community of “dark personalities” is Tyburtsy Drab. His origins and past are unknown to anyone. Others assume that he is an aristocrat, but his appearance is common. He is known for his extraordinary learning. At fairs, Tyburtsy entertains the public with lengthy speeches from ancient authors. He is considered a sorcerer.

One day Vasya and three friends come to the old chapel: he wants to look there. Friends help Vasya get inside through a high window. But seeing that there is someone else in the chapel, the friends run away in horror, leaving Vasya to the mercy of fate. It turns out that Tyburtsiya’s children are there: nine-year-old Valek and four-year-old Marusya. Vasya begins to often come to the mountain to visit his new friends, bringing them apples from his garden. But he only walks when Tyburtius cannot find him. Vasya does not tell anyone about this acquaintance. He tells his cowardly friends that he saw devils.

Vasya has a sister, four-year-old Sonya. She, like her brother, is a cheerful and playful child. Brother and sister love each other very much, but Sonya’s nanny prevents their noisy games: she considers Vasya a bad, spoiled boy. My father shares the same view. He finds no place in his soul for love for a boy. Father loves Sonya more because she looks like her late mother.

One day, in a conversation, Valek and Marusya tell Vasya that Tyburtsy loves them very much. Vasya speaks of his father with resentment. But he unexpectedly learns from Valek that the judge is a very fair and honest person. Valek is a very serious and smart boy. Marusya is not at all like the playful Sonya; she is weak, thoughtful, and “cheerless.” Valek says that “the gray stone sucked the life out of her.”

Vasya learns that Valek is stealing food for his hungry sister. This discovery makes a difficult impression on Vasya, but still he does not condemn his friend.

Valek shows Vasya the dungeon where all the members of the “bad society” live. In the absence of adults, Vasya comes there and plays with his friends. During a game of blind man's buff, Tyburtsy unexpectedly appears. The children are scared - after all, they are friends without the knowledge of the formidable head of the “bad society”. But Tyburtsy allows Vasya to come, making him promise not to tell anyone where they all live. Tyburtsy brings food, prepares dinner - according to him, Vasya understands that the food is stolen. This, of course, confuses the boy, but he sees that Marusya is so happy about the food... Now Vasya comes to the mountain without hindrance, and the adult members of the “bad society” also get used to the boy and love him.

Autumn comes, and Marusya falls ill. In order to somehow entertain the sick girl, Vasya decides to ask Sonya for a while for a large beautiful doll, a gift from her late mother. Sonya agrees. Marusya is delighted with the doll, and she even feels better.

Old Janusz comes to the judge several times with denunciations against members of the “bad society.” He says that Vasya communicates with them. The nanny notices the doll is missing. Vasya is not allowed to leave the house, and after a few days he runs away secretly.

Marusya is getting worse. The inhabitants of the dungeon decide that the doll needs to be returned, and the girl will not even notice. But seeing that they want to take the doll, Marusya cries bitterly... Vasya leaves her the doll.

And again Vasya is not allowed to leave the house. The father is trying to get his son to confess where he went and where the doll went. Vasya admits that he took the doll, but says nothing more. The father is angry... And at the most critical moment Tyburtsy appears. He is carrying a doll.

Tyburtsy tells the judge about Vasya’s friendship with his children. He is amazed. The father feels guilty before Vasya. It was as if the wall that had separated father and son for a long time had collapsed, and they felt like close people. Tyburtsy says that Marusya died. The father lets Vasya go to say goodbye to her, while he passes through Vasya money for Tyburtsy and a warning: it is better for the head of the “bad society” to hide from the city.

Soon almost all the “dark personalities” disappear somewhere. Only the old “professor” and Turkevich remain, to whom the judge sometimes gives work. Marusya is buried in the old cemetery near the collapsed chapel. Vasya and his sister are taking care of her grave. Sometimes they come to the cemetery with their father. When the time comes for Vasya and Sonya to leave their hometown, they pronounce their vows over this grave.

Retold