What did Rasputin write about in the autobiographical work and why is the story called "Lessons of the French"

The author's works are always a kind of diary, where the innermost thoughts, experiences and events that happened to him in life are imprinted. The story of Valentin Rasputin, which will be discussed, is, to a greater extent, than his other works, autobiogaphic. Let's see why. The story "Lessons of the French" is called. It is based on a real story - a teenager writer was forced to leave his home in order to continue his education in the middle section of the general education school: there was only an elementary school in his native village. It is no accident that the story is from the first person. Even the name of the teacher - Lydia Mikhailovna - is by no means fictional.

Postwar childhood

The protagonist of the story "Lessons of the French", just as Valentin Rasputin used to be, found himself in the city, he settled with his aunt. It was 1948, a hungry time. Here, the boy had a very hard time, the meager supplies that his mother sent him from the village, disappeared in a matter of days: one of the aunty kids got used to carry food. Often the hero had to be content with one boiling water. Even more difficult was his separation from his relatives, and there was not a single person around who was ready to say a kind word to the boy. The boy suffered from anemia, every day he needed at least a glass of milk. Mother sometimes sent him little money for this very milk, and the boy bought it at the market. Once he decided to put coins into a game called "chica", he trained for a long time and finally began to win. He needed only a ruble to buy milk, so the boy, having won it, left the game. Cautious and successful player beat the boys. This circumstance gave impetus to the events that changed the hero's thinking. And the reader begins to understand why the story "Lessons of the French" is called.

The Unusual Teacher

Lydia Mikhailovna - a young beautiful woman from the Kuban. She seemed a hero to a hero. In it he was fascinated and surprised by everything: the mysterious language she taught, the odor of her perfume, softness, freedom and confidence. She was completely different from the teacher and as if she wondered why she was here.

Human participation

Lidia Mikhailovna quickly and carefully looked at each student to make sure that everything was in order with the children. No wonder she immediately noticed the bruises and abrasions on the boy's face. Learning that he plays for money, she did not turn the boy to the director, as was customary, but decided to talk to him heart to heart. Hearing that the child buys not sweets, and milk, she thought. The conversation ended with the boy's promise not to gamble anymore. But hunger made him re-engage in this way. He was beaten again. The teacher understood that the boy was surviving as best he could. She really wanted to help him somehow. For classes, Lydia Mikhailovna began to invite the ward to her home, communicated with him in a friendly way, tried to feed him. But the timid and proud boy could not be seated at the dinner table. Then the teacher left in the school in the name of the boy a parcel with food, as if from her mother. It was pasta, sugar and hematogen. An outlandish set issued a benefactor with a head: the kid guessed from whom the parcel was, and flatly refused to take it. Wanting to facilitate the life of the child, Lydia Mikhailovna goes to pedagogical "crime": she plays with the student in the "parlor" for money, trying to "cheat" not in their favor. This climax in the narrative makes Rasputin's story very dramatic and humane.

French lessons

In parallel with these, marked by deep moral content, the relationship between the teacher and the student, the French language is taught. The boy could do everything except pronunciation. But daily activities aroused in him interest and ability to language. Purposeful hero step by step overcame difficulties. Gradually instead of torture, language lessons became a pleasure for him. But, of course, this is not the only answer to the question of why the story "Lessons of the French" is called.

The Science of Kindness

Alive compassion, mercy without formalism - that's what enriched the hero's inner world, this amazing teacher. Formally, playing with a student for money - an act is immoral, but when we understand why a young woman does this, it takes on a completely different spiritual meaning. Remembering about the teacher, Rasputin wrote that in it there was some special independence, which saved her from hypocrisy. She did not need to pronounce educational monologues about nobility, honesty and kindness. Just everything that she did, naturally and naturally became the best life lessons for her young wards.

In the author's life there were, of course, other good teachers. But the childhood memory of the teacher of French, revealing with the wisdom of foreign dialect subtlety not prescribed in the textbooks of ethics, forever determined the writer's spiritual warehouse. That's why the story called "French Lessons" is called.

The players were caught by the director, Lidia Mikhailovna was fired, and she went to her place in Kuban. And soon the boy received a parcel, in which, under the pasta, ruddy Antonov's apples lay.