>Essays based on Yushka's work

Kindness

In his story “Yushka”, Andrei Platonov touched on one of the most relevant social and moral themes of all times - the theme of goodness and mercy. The main character of the work is a man of about forty, aged early due to illness, who has an unusually sincere and pure heart. Yushka looks exhausted due to consumption. Overcoming his illness, he works day after day at the forge, helping the owner.

Many residents on this street mock him and often insult him, but he always remains unfailingly kind. He takes their causticism towards him, and sometimes even physical aggression, calmly, calling it a kind of love and gratitude addressed to him. His kind view of the world remains misunderstood. Perhaps it was only after his death that some people understood what he meant. After all, Yushka is gone and there is no one to take out his anger on. Therefore, people began to quarrel with each other more often.

The surprising thing is that the adults were not particularly different from the stupid children. They, in turn, could also be rude to a seriously ill person and push him. In fact, that’s how the poor guy died. Having stumbled upon a drunken rude man, for the first time in his life Yushka could not stand the insult directed at himself, and responded with pride. And he took it and pushed him in the sore chest, knocking him to the ground. Wise from experience, the author knew for sure that kindness does not die, even if the good person is gone.

Yushkin's legacy remained to live on in the orphan girl, whom he always helped financially so that she could study to become a doctor. This girl became the continuer of his kindness. After Yushka’s death, she came to the city and stayed there to treat free of charge patients with consumption and everyone who needed her help. Nothing could turn the hero's kind heart into stone, and nothing could stop his kindness.

Yushka's whole life was spent working. He worked all day long, overcoming pain and difficulties. The blacksmith's family treated him well. He could live with the owner and eat, but he always put aside his hard-earned money to pay for the education of an orphan whose existence no one knew. People said that he had a daughter who was as poor and unhappy as himself. It turned out that the “adopted daughter” is, in fact, as kind and sympathetic as him.

The story “Yushka” was written by Platonov in the first half of the 30s, and published only after the writer’s death, in 1966, in “Izbranny”.

Literary direction and genre

“Yushka” is a story that reveals in a few pages the way of thinking of the population of an entire town and the mentality of a person as such.

The work has an unexpected ending associated with the arrival of an orphan trained to be a doctor in the city. This ending makes the story look like a novella. There are similarities in the work with a parable, if you perceive the ending as a morality showing true mercy.

Topic, main idea and issues

The theme of the story is the nature of good and evil, mercy and cruelty, beauty human soul. The main idea can be expressed by several biblical truths at once: one must do good unselfishly; human hearts are deceitful and extremely wicked, so people do not know what they are doing; you must love your neighbor as yourself. The problems of the story are also connected with morality. Platonov raises the problem of belated gratitude, contempt and cruelty towards those who are different from everyone else. One of the most important problems is the moral deadness of the heroes, contrasted with the moral liveliness of Yushka, although it is precisely his liveliness that the children doubt.

Plot and composition

The story takes place “in ancient times.” Such a reference to the past makes the story almost a fairy tale, beginning with the words “once upon a time there lived in a certain kingdom.” That is, the hero of the story is immediately presented as a universal, timeless hero, who embodies moral guidelines humanity.

The blacksmith's assistant Yushka, whom all the inhabitants of the city laugh at as a meek and unrequited creature, leaves for a month every summer. According to him, either to his niece, or to another relative in the village or in Moscow. That year, when Yushka did not go anywhere, feeling very bad, he died, knocked down by another mocker.

In the fall, an orphan appeared in the city, whom Yushka fed and taught all her life. The girl came to cure her benefactor of tuberculosis. She remained in the city and devoted her whole life to selflessly helping the sick.

Heroes

The story is named after the main character. Yushka is not a nickname, as many readers think, but a diminutive name, which in the Voronezh province was formed from the southern Russian version of the name Efim - Yukhim. But the word Yushka in the same southern Russian dialect it means liquid food like soup, liquid in general, and even blood. Thus, the name of the hero seems to be telling. It hints at the hero’s ability to adapt to the harsh, evil world, just as water adapts to the shape of a vessel. And also the name is a hint at the death of the hero, who died from bleeding, obviously provoked by a blow to the chest.

Yushka is a blacksmith's assistant. Nowadays, a person who does such work “that needed to be done” would be called a laborer. His age is defined as "old-looking". Only in the middle of the story does the reader learn that Yushka was 40 years old, and he looked weak and old due to illness.

The story turned out to be prophetic for Platonov himself, who died of tuberculosis, having become infected from his son, who went to prison at the age of 15 and was released 2.5 years later, already seriously ill.

The portrait of Yushka emphasizes his thinness and short stature. The eyes are especially highlighted, white, like a blind man’s, with tears constantly standing in them. This image is not accidental: Yushka sees the world not as it really is. He does not notice evil, considering it a manifestation of love, and seems to always cry for the needs of others.

Yushka looks like the blessed one that the Russian people imagined them to be. The only difference is that it was not customary to offend the blessed. But Yushka is humiliated and beaten, calling him not blessed, but blessed, unlike, animal, God's scarecrow, worthless fool. And they demand that Yushka be like them, live like everyone else.

Yushka considers all people equal “by necessity.” He is accidentally killed by a fellow villager precisely because he dared to compare himself with him.

We even compare the hero with Christ, who suffered for the people, enduring torment. When the Roman soldiers mocked Christ, he remained silent, without explaining anything to them. But the hero of Bulgakov’s novel, written a little later than Yushka, in 1937, is even more similar to Yushka. Yeshua, unlike the biblical Jesus, actively justifies the offenders, calling them kind people. So Yushka calls the children who offend him relatives, little ones.

Yushka believes that both children and adults need it. He would seem to wrongly conclude that children and adults need him because they love him. But over the years, it becomes clear that they really loved him, just unable to express either love or need for him. And that’s exactly what Yushka, who was offended, thought.

Like many blessed people, Yushka gets by with little. Yushka does not spend his tiny income (seven rubles and sixty kopecks a month) on tea and sugar, being content with the simple free food of the blacksmith - bread, cabbage soup and porridge. Yushka’s clothes are just as simple, which over all the years do not seem to wear out, remaining uniformly shabby and full of holes, but fulfilling its purpose.

The people offended Yushka, because in the hearts of people "fierce rage", "evil grief and resentment". Yushka's meekness is contrasted with people's aggression, provoked by their grief, of which everyone considers Yushka to be the culprit.

Dasha, the blacksmith’s daughter, is kind to Yushka. She tries to explain to Yushka that no one loves him, that his life is in vain. But Yushka knows why he lives: by the will of his parents and for a purpose that he does not tell anyone about, as well as about his love for all living things.

Yushka does not need people the way they need him, but when he went to deserted places, Yushka experienced unity with nature. He felt orphaned even by the death of a beetle or insect. Exactly Live nature healed the hero, giving him strength.

After his death, Yushka shares the fate of many holy fools and saints. The carpenter who found his corpse immediately asks for forgiveness: “People rejected you”. All the people came to say goodbye to him. But then Yushka was forgotten, just as ordinary people, holy fools, and saints are forgotten. Lonely Yushka turned out to be a benefactor, giving the people someone who began to take care of them - an orphan raised and educated with his money, who became a doctor. They call her the daughter of the good Yushka, without remembering him.

Style Features

The story contains motifs traditional for Platonov. One of them is the motive of death. The children doubt that Yushka is alive because he does not respond with evil to their evil.

The landscape in the story reveals the source of the hero’s spiritual strength. Unlike people who draw energy from the pleasure of offending the weak, Yushka supported the weak and perceived himself as part of nature. A strange Platonic expression "beetle faces", found in other works, shows that Yushka perceived nature as equal to himself, humanizing it.

Platonov creates a convincing image of the happiness that happens to people despite their evil deeds. The writer's life was in many ways similar to the life of his hero: hard, thankless work into which he poured his soul, and premature death from illness.

Honor and dishonor.

Each of us has encountered people of honor. People who can selflessly help a person. Such people can come to the aid of even a stranger without demanding anything in return. But there is also a dark side of honor, one that gains strength day by day. Dishonor is negative quality a person, which is expressed in meanness, deceit, deception and betrayal. Dishonest people value only their ego; they help others for their own benefit. Can such people be trusted? Can you rely on them in difficult times? Of course not.

Today we understand that dishonor is growing, gaining momentum, while destroying the moral values ​​of a person. Nowadays it is difficult to find a person who will help, understand and console.

“Take care of honor from a young age,” - this is exactly the epigraph of the story by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin “ Captain's daughter" The concept of honor became central to the work. Honor is decency moral purity heroes such as Pyotr Grinev, his parents, the entire family of Captain Mironov; This is military honor, loyalty to the oath, this, by and large, is love for the Motherland. The story contrasts Pyotr Grinev and Alexey Shvabrin. Both are young, of the noble class, officers, but how different they are in character and moral principles. Grinev is a man of honor, whether it concerns his relationship with Masha Mironova, or his loyalty to the oath, perseverance to the end during the Pugachev rebellion. Without honor and conscience Alexey Shvabrin. He is rude to Masha, it costs him nothing to go over to the rebels, violating the officer’s honor. Captain Mironov, commandant, evokes deep sympathy Belogorsk fortress. He did not lose his dignity, remained faithful to his oath, and did not bend his knee to Pugachev. In the Grinev family, the concept of honor was the basis of the character of Father Petrusha. Despite the fact that Peter, like all children, loved to play pranks, the main thing was brought up in him - human dignity, decency, and this is honor. The hero shows it by returning the gambling debt and not being humiliated by betrayal, as Shvabrin did.

Let us turn to the work “Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, the young guardsman and the daring merchant Kalashnikov” by Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov. The writer touches on one of the most important problems facing man - the problem of honor. How to protect the honor of yourself and your loved ones, no matter what, how to remain human in any situation?

The action takes place in the distant sixteenth century, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, when the guardsmen could commit outrages, knowing that they would not be punished by the tsar. Kiribeevich is shown as such a guardsman, who, without thinking about the fate of the woman, Alena Dmitrievna, puts her in a terrible position. The neighbors see him trying to caress her, a married woman, which in those years was considered the greatest sin. Shame on an innocent woman. Her husband, the merchant Kalashnikov, is outraged and challenges the guardsman to open battle. Defending the honor of his wife and family, he went to the duel, realizing that he would not have mercy from the king in any case. And here a duel is played out between truth, honor and dishonor. Because of a man devoid of morality, the noble Kalashnikov dies, his children are left without a father, and a young innocent girl is left a widow. So Kiribeevich ruined the life not only of himself, but also of the woman he loved. And all because of this, that a person who does not have spiritual values ​​will never be able to comprehend true love, which exalts one to good deeds, in which honor remains pure and innocent. This work teaches a lot: that you always need to defend the honor of your family and loved ones, and not to offend anyone.

In conclusion, I would like to call people to conscience. To what has always been the concept of honor. Honor is one of the highest moral qualities of a person. It is formed from childhood. After all, the foundations of human dignity are a long and thorny path from selfishness to the establishment of moral principles. From person to person, from generation to generation, the basics of honor, etiquette and human dignity have been passed on, and only the person himself chooses which moral ideals to choose as a guide in this life. So let us not be dishonest people, let us not become like those who have already been swallowed up by their own ego, selfishness and selfishness. After all, the manifestation of honor is a feat not only for oneself, but also for the whole world!

Dubrovny Egor

It is better to be poor with honor than rich with dishonor.

Honor... What is it? Honor is the moral qualities of a person, his principles worthy of respect and pride, this is a high spiritual force that can keep a person from meanness, betrayal, lies and cowardice. Without honor a man has no real life. It is better to be poor with honor than rich with dishonor.

World classics fiction have created many works that tell about heroes who have different attitudes to the concept of honor and dignity. Thus, in the prose poem “The Counterfeit Coin” by Charles Baudelaire, the meanness of man and the choice of dishonor are shown. The main character gives a poor man a counterfeit coin, not thinking that this unfortunate man might be arrested. An arrest was the least that could be done; he could have been flogged, beaten, or even simply killed. This poor fellow's life is already not so good, but it will become even worse. The person who gave this coin committed dishonest act, he chose wealth instead of honor, although one coin would not have made him poor. The author wants to convey to us the idea that it is unforgivable to be evil, and even worse - to do evil out of stupidity. This is the most dishonest thing! Even the kindest deed can conceal enormous meanness in its depths.

In Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” main character Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov serves as a vivid example of dishonor. Throughout the poem he deceives people for his own benefit. Pavel Ivanovich wanted to get rich by buying up “dead souls.” These were documents for the ownership of peasants who died but were considered alive. Chichikov buys up “dead souls” in order to deceive the entire society. Pavel Ivanovich did not think about people, he blatantly lied to them and did everything for himself. Looking at these two examples, we see that more often people choose wealth. But I believe that it is better to be poor with honor than rich with dishonor.

“Honor is like a precious stone: the slightest spot takes away its shine and takes away all its value,” Edmond Pierre Beauchaine once said. Yes, this is indeed true. And everyone, sooner or later, will have to decide how to live - with honor or without it.

Cheboltasov Igor

Where do dishonest people come from?

Dishonor is a negative quality of a person, which is expressed in meanness, deceit, deceit and betrayal. It entails shame, destruction of oneself as an individual. Even in the most difficult moment, a person must continue to follow an honest path, without doubting for a second. From birth, parents raise their children to be honest, so where do dishonest people come from?

It seems that different answers can be given to this question, but I believe that dishonor is, first of all, a lack of respect for oneself and others. Therefore, it is very important that we understand that the main values ​​in life are honor and conscience. But, unfortunately, not everyone understands this and chooses the wrong path. By committing any deception, we are approaching dishonor. And with each subsequent betrayal we become dishonest.

The theme of dishonor is touched upon in the story “The Captain's Daughter” by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. In this work, two heroes are contrasted: Pyotr Grinev and Alexey Shvabrin. You can judge a person by his actions in difficult times. For the heroes, the test was the capture of the Belogorsk fortress by Pugachev, where Shvabrin showed his dishonor. He saves his life by deception. We see him on the side of the rebels, while whispering something in Pugachev’s ear. Grinev is ready to share the fate of Captain Mironov and stand for his Motherland.

Let us turn to Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”. The main character Anatol Kuragin is an irresponsible and hypocritical person. He does not think about the consequences of his actions, does not think about the future and does not pay attention to the opinions of others. Kuragin's dishonor is his desire to marry Marya Bolkonskaya because of her wealth. It shows how the hero, for his own good and his own benefit, is ready for any dishonorable act. The author wants to convey to us that a dishonest person is ready to commit a vile act for his own benefit.

Summarizing what has been said, we can conclude that dishonor means the loss of one’s moral character. Having acted dishonestly once, a person cannot stop, becoming a traitor and a liar. We often meet dishonest people these days, but we would like there to be as many honest people as possible.

Evstropova Victoria

The value of human life is undeniable. Most of us agree that life is an amazing gift, because everything that is dear and close to us, we learned once we were born... Reflecting on this, you involuntarily wonder if there is at least something more valuable than life?

To answer this question, you need to look into your heart. There, many of us will find something for which we can accept death without a second thought. Someone will give their life to save their loved one. Some are ready to die heroically fighting for their country. And someone, faced with a choice: to live without honor or to die with honor, will choose the latter.

Yes, I think that honor can be more valuable than life. Despite the fact that there are quite a lot of definitions of the word “honor,” they all agree on one thing. A person of honor has the best moral qualities, which are always highly valued in society: self-esteem, honesty, kindness, truthfulness, decency. For a person who values ​​his reputation and good name, loss of honor is worse than death.

This point of view was close to A.S. Pushkin. In his novel, the writer shows that the ability to preserve one’s honor is the main moral criterion of an individual. Alexei Shvabrin, to whom life is more valuable than noble and officer honor, easily becomes a traitor, going over to the side of the rebel Pugachev. And Pyotr Grinev is ready to die with honor, but not to refuse the oath to the empress. For Pushkin himself, protecting his wife’s honor also turned out to be more important than life. Having received a mortal wound in a duel with Dantes, Alexander Sergeevich washed away the dishonest slander from his family with his blood.

A century later, M.A. Sholokhov in his story will create the image of a real Russian warrior - Andrei Sokolov. This simple Soviet driver will face many trials at the front, but the hero always remains true to himself and his code of honor. Sokolov’s steely character is especially clearly demonstrated in the scene with Muller. When Andrei refuses to drink German weapons to the victory, he realizes that he will be shot. But the loss of honor of a Russian soldier frightens a man more than death. Sokolov's fortitude evokes respect even from his enemy, so Muller abandons the idea of ​​killing the fearless captive.

Why are people, for whom the concept of “honor” is not an empty phrase, ready to die for it? They probably understand that human life is not only an amazing gift, but also a gift that is given to us for a short time. Therefore, it is so important to manage our lives in such a way that subsequent generations will remember us with respect and gratitude.

Prepared the material creator online SAMARUS school.

Yushka is the main character of the story of the same name by A.P. Platonov. Describing his difficult tragic fate, the author is trying to evoke in us compassion for our neighbors, to teach us to love people. Yushka, not yet an old man, was exhausted by a serious illness, tuberculosis, so he looked almost old. He was weak in body, but he always worked properly. Yushka was silent, kind-hearted, and it was difficult to offend him in any way.

This is probably why many people considered him strange, almost a holy fool. The children laughed when they saw him and threw stones and branches at Yushka. And he was just happy. In his naivety, he thought that foolish children loved him, but could not yet express their love in any other way. Adults were not much different from stupid children. They believed that if Yushka was not like the others, then there was no place for him on this earth. And everyone tried to push him, call him a rude word, or even beat him, and take out their bad mood on the unfortunate man.

But nothing could turn Yushka’s kind heart into stone. He still admired the perfection of nature and loved every living creature. He kissed flowers, “raised butterflies and beetles from the path” so that they would not be crushed, listened to the singing of birds. In nature, Yushka rested his soul, had fun, forgot about his illness and the anger of people.

But tuberculosis made itself felt more and more often. Yushka grew weaker before our eyes. One day, as usual, a passer-by accosted him on the street and began to insult him. And Yushka, for the first time in his life, rebuffed him and said that since he was born, it means that the whole world needs him. A passerby got angry, pushed Yushka, he fell and never got up again.

And only after the death of the poor fellow did people accidentally find out that with his hard-earned money, Yushka supported an orphan in Moscow, b...