Analysis of the story by V. P

In the story, the reader is presented with a poetic picture of a Russian village. The residents know each other very well, and it seems as if they are all members of the same big family. The world we see through the eyes of a little boy, which means it is very direct and simple. Everything around him seems interesting and entertaining. Together with him we are interested in fishing, scaring birds, we are captured by the feeling of horror when you run into a cave with evil spirits. In fact, the entire story is a recollection of an already adult person about his playful boyhood life. That is why in his story there is a barely noticeable irony and tenderness: how important their affairs seemed to the little people. Well, could there be anything more important than catching a nasty-looking aquatic creature living under stones? And how tempting it can be to sneak into Levontiy’s house and listen to songs! Children's perception is so emotional and vivid that the reader involuntarily feels like an accomplice in all the boys' affairs, an active participant.

Nevertheless, this story is not just a poetic reproduction of the world of childhood, but an image of the education of the human soul.

The boy goes for a berry. But, having lost her, he, under the influence of his friends, decides to deceive his grandmother. He puts the grass at the bottom of the box, and sprinkles it with handfuls of strawberries on top. This deception is not immediately revealed. But the boy’s conscience torments him almost all the time. Out of shame and fear, he runs away from his grandmother and is afraid to return home. The boy understands perfectly well that he deserves punishment. And in the morning, delighted by the appearance of his grandfather, touched, he asks for forgiveness and humbly listens to the grandmother’s reproaches. But then the unexpected happens: despite such treachery of her grandson, the grandmother buys him the promised gingerbread - a horse with pink mane. The narrator remembers this moment as one of the brightest in his life. This is where a person’s faith in goodness is born. For him, this is the best lesson in generosity and spiritual generosity. He swears to himself that he will never resort to meanness and deceit again. After all, it is always much easier to deceive and cheat than to create something, than to work on your soul, than to ask for forgiveness and repent. Treachery does not require a lot of intelligence and endurance, “a bad deed is not cunning,” people say. But how much mental courage and courage is needed to admit what you have done, to forgive, to give in, and just to love! In his work, Astafiev shows us goodness in a concentrated form, simple, unpretentious, wise.

Astafiev places his characters in a very picturesque environment and masterfully conveys the customs and life of the Russian hinterland. And it seems as if you can find such heroes in any village, wherever you look. This is the boy’s wise, thrifty grandmother - Ekaterina Petrovna, and the frivolous aunt Vasenya, and her husband - the hotshot Levontii, and a typical village child. Perhaps the most significant way of creating images for Astafiev is language.

“There’s no point in peeking out,” she thundered. “There is no point in eating these proletarians, they themselves have a louse in their pocket,” the grandmother used to say to her grandson, who was about to sneak away to a feast with Levontius. And the language of the children: “But grandma will buy me a gingerbread horse! - Maybe a mare? - Sanka grinned, spat at his feet and immediately realized something; “It’s better to say that you’re afraid of her and you’re also greedy!” - I? - You! - Greedy? - Greedy! - Do you want me to eat all the berries? - I said this and immediately repented, I realized that I had fallen for the bait ... " Material from the site

Astafiev seemed to understand that the progress of science and technology does not at all mean the progress of humanity, its inner world. Therefore, he returns to the roots - to the Russian hinterland, where, in his opinion, all the spiritual forces of the nation are concentrated.

Plan

1. The grandmother sends the boy to buy strawberries.
2. A boy picks berries with his neighbor's kids. Yielding to their provocations, he gives them all the collected food. He covers the box with grass and sprinkles a few berries on top.
3. Grandmother takes away strawberries to sell. The boy is tormented by his conscience.
4. Grandma is returning. Punishment is inevitable, it would be worse if there were no grandfather.
5. The boy receives a carrot - a horse with a pink mane - despite his misconduct.

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The story “A Horse with a Pink Mane” by V. P. Astafiev was written in 1968. The work was included in the writer’s story for children and youth “The Last Bow”. In the story “The Horse with a Pink Mane,” Astafiev reveals the theme of a child growing up, the formation of his character and worldview. The work is considered autobiographical, describing an episode from the author’s own childhood.

Main characters

Main character(narrator)- an orphan, the grandson of Katerina Petrovna, the story is narrated on his behalf.

Katerina Petrovna- grandmother of the main character.

Sanka- the son of neighbor Levontii, “more harmful and evil than all the Levontii guys.”

Levontius- former sailor, neighbor of Katerina Petrovna.

The grandmother sends the main character with the neighboring Levontiev boys to buy strawberries. The woman promised that she would sell the berries collected by her grandson in the city and buy him a gingerbread horse - “the dream of all village kids.” “He’s white, white, this horse. And his mane is pink, his tail is pink, his eyes are pink, his hooves are also pink.” With such a gingerbread, “I immediately get so much honor and attention.”

The father of the children with whom the grandmother sent the boy to pick berries, neighbor Levontii, worked on the badogs, logging timber. When he received money, his wife immediately ran around the neighbors, distributing debts. Their house stood without a fence or gate. They didn’t even have a bathhouse, so the Levontievskys washed at their neighbors’.

In the spring, the family tried to make a fence from old boards, but in the winter it all went into kindling. However, to any reproaches about idleness, Levontius replied that he loved “sloboda.”

The narrator liked to come and visit them on Levontius’s pay days, although his grandmother forbade him to overeat from the “proletarians.” There the boy listened to their “crown song” about how a sailor brought a small monkey from Africa, and the animal was very homesick. Usually the feasts ended with Levontius getting very drunk. The wife and children ran away from home, and the man spent the whole night “breaking the remaining glass in the windows, swearing, thundering, crying.” In the morning he fixed everything and went to work. And after a few days, his wife went to the neighbors asking to borrow money and food.

Having reached the rocky ridge, the guys “scattered through the forest and began to take strawberries.” The elder Levontyevsky began to scold the others for not picking berries, but only eating them. And, indignant, he himself ate everything he managed to collect. Left with empty dishes, the neighbor kids went to the river. The narrator wanted to go with them, but he had not yet collected a full vessel.

Sashka began to tease the main character that he was afraid of his grandmother, calling him greedy. Indignant, the boy behaved “weakly” at Sankino, poured the berries onto the grass, and the boys instantly ate everything they had collected. The boy felt sorry for the berries, but pretending to be desperate, he rushed with the others to the river.

The guys spent the whole day walking. We returned home in the evening. To prevent the grandmother from scolding the main character, the guys advised him to fill the bowl with grass and sprinkle berries on top. The boy did just that. The grandmother was very happy, did not notice the deception and even decided not to pour in the berries. To prevent Sanka from telling Katerina Petrovna about what happened, the narrator had to steal several rolls of bread for him from the pantry.

The boy regretted that his grandfather was on a farm “about five kilometers from the village, at the mouth of the Mana River,” so he could run away to him. Grandfather never swore and allowed his grandson to walk until late.

The main character decided to wait until the morning and tell his grandmother everything, but woke up when the woman had already sailed to the city. He went fishing with the Levontiev boys. Sanka caught some fish and lit a fire. Without waiting for the fish to finish cooking, the Levontiev boys ate it half-raw, without salt and without bread. After swimming in the river, everyone fell into the grass.

Suddenly, a boat appeared from behind the cape, in which Ekaterina Petrovna was sitting. The boy immediately started running, although his grandmother shouted menacingly after him. The narrator stayed at the house until dark cousin. His aunt brought him home. Hiding in the closet among the rugs, the boy hoped that if he thought well of his grandmother, “she would guess about it and forgive everything.”

The main character began to remember his mother. She also took people to the city to sell berries. One day their boat capsized and the mother drowned. Having learned about the death of her daughter, the grandmother stayed on the shore for six days, “hoping to appease the river.” She was “almost dragged home,” and after that she was sad for the deceased for a long time.

The main character woke up from the rays of the sun. He was wearing his grandfather's sheepskin coat. The boy was happy - his grandfather had arrived. All morning the grandmother told everyone who visited them how she sold berries to a “cultured lady in a hat” and what dirty tricks her grandson had committed.

Having gone into the pantry to get the reins, the grandfather pushed his grandson into the kitchen so that he would apologize. Crying, the boy asked his grandmother for forgiveness. The woman “still irreconcilably, but without the storm” called him to eat. Listening to his grandmother’s words about “what a bottomless abyss his “cheating” had plunged him into,” the boy burst into tears again. Having finished scolding her grandson, the woman nevertheless placed a white horse with a pink mane in front of him, telling him to never deceive her again.

“How many years have passed since then! My grandfather is no longer alive, my grandmother is no longer alive, and my life is coming to an end, but I still can’t forget my grandmother’s gingerbread - that marvelous horse with a pink mane.”

Conclusion

In the work “The Horse with a Pink Mane,” the author portrayed an orphan boy who looks at the world naively. He doesn’t seem to notice that the neighborhood kids take advantage of his kindness and simplicity. However, the incident with the gingerbread horse becomes an important lesson for him that under no circumstances should one deceive loved ones, that one must be able to be responsible for one’s actions and live according to one’s conscience.

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V.P. Astafiev is one of the writers who had a difficult childhood in the difficult pre-war years. Having grown up in the village, he was well acquainted with the peculiarities of the Russian character, the moral foundations on which humanity has rested for centuries.

His works, which made up the “Last Bow” cycle, are devoted to this topic. Among them is the story “The Horse with the Pink Mane.”

Autobiographical basis of the work

At the age of seven, Viktor Astafiev lost his mother - she drowned in the Yenisei River. The boy was taken in by his grandmother, Katerina Petrovna. Until the end of his life, the writer was grateful to her for her care, kindness and love. And also for the fact that she formed in him true moral values, which the grandson never forgot. One of important points of his life, forever etched in the memory of the already matured Astafiev, and he tells in his work “The Horse with a Pink Mane.”

The story is told from the perspective of a boy, Viti, who lives with his grandparents in a taiga Siberian village. His daily routine is similar to each other: fishing, playing with other kids, going to the forest to pick mushrooms and berries, helping with housework.

The author pays special attention to the description of the Levontius family, who lived in the neighborhood. In the story “The Horse with a Pink Mane,” it is their children who will play an important role. Enjoying unlimited freedom, with little idea of ​​what true kindness, mutual assistance and responsibility are, they will push the main character to commit an act that he will remember all his life.

The plot begins with the grandmother's news that the Levontiev children are going to the ridge to buy strawberries. She asks her grandson to go with them, so that later he can sell the berries he collected in the city and buy the boy gingerbread. A horse with a pink mane - this sweetness was the cherished dream of every boy!

However, the trip to the ridge ends in deception, to which Vitya goes, having never picked strawberries. The guilty boy tries in every possible way to delay the disclosure of the offense and the subsequent punishment. Finally, the grandmother returns from the city lamenting. So the dream that Vitya would have a wonderful horse with a pink mane turned into regret that he had succumbed to the tricks of the Levontiev children. And suddenly the repentant hero sees that same gingerbread in front of him... At first he does not believe his eyes. The words bring him back to reality: “Take it... You’ll see... when you fool your grandmother...”.

Many years have passed since then, but V. Astafiev could not forget this story.

“The Horse with a Pink Mane”: main characters

In the story, the author shows the period of growing up of a boy. In a country devastated by civil war, everyone had a hard time, and in a difficult situation, everyone chose their own path. Meanwhile, it is known that many character traits are formed in a person in childhood.

Getting to know the way of life in the house of Katerina Petrovna and Levontia allows us to conclude how different these families were. Grandmother loved order in everything, so everything went her own, predetermined course. She instilled the same qualities in her grandson, who was left an orphan at an early age. So the horse with the pink mane was supposed to be his reward for his efforts.

A completely different atmosphere reigned in the neighbor's house. Lack of money alternated with a feast, when Levontius bought various things with the money he received. At such a moment, Vitya loved to visit his neighbors. Moreover, the tipsy Levontius began to remember his deceased mother and slipped the best piece to the orphan. The grandmother did not like these visits of her grandson to the neighbors’ house: she believed that they themselves had a lot of children and often had nothing to eat. And the children themselves were not distinguished by good manners; what good could they do? bad influence on the boy. They will really push Vitya into deception when he goes with them to get the berries.

The story “The Horse with a Pink Mane” is the author’s attempt to determine the reason for what may guide a person who commits bad or good deeds in life.

Hike to the ridge

The writer describes in some detail the road for strawberries. The Levontiev kids behave unreasonably all the time. Along the way, they managed to climb into someone else’s garden, pull onions and use them on whistles, and fight with each other...

On the ridge, everyone began to pick berries, but the Levontievskys didn’t last long. Only the hero conscientiously put the strawberries into the container. However, after his words about the gingerbread caused only ridicule among his “friends”, wanting to show his independence, he succumbed to the general fun. For some time, Vitya forgot about his grandmother and the fact that until recently his main desire was a horse with a pink mane. The retelling of what amused the children that day includes the murder of a defenseless siskin and the massacre of fish. And they themselves constantly quarreled, Sanka especially tried. Before returning home, he told the hero what to do: fill the container with grass, and put a layer of berries on top - so the grandmother will not find out anything. And the boy followed the advice: after all, nothing would happen to Levontievsky, but he would be in trouble.

Fear of punishment and remorse

To explore the human soul at the decisive moments of life is a task that is often solved by fiction. “The Horse with a Pink Mane” is a work about how difficult it was for a boy to admit his mistake.

The next night and the whole long day, when the grandmother went to the city with the tuesk, turned into a real test for Vitya. Going to bed, he decided to get up early and confess everything, but did not have time. Then the grandson, again in the company of neighboring children and constantly teased by Sashka, fearfully awaited the return of the boat on which the grandmother had sailed away. In the evening, he did not dare to return home and was glad when he managed to lie down in the pantry (Aunt Fenya brought him home already after dark and distracted Katerina Petrovna). He could not sleep for a long time, constantly thinking about his grandmother, feeling sorry for her and remembering how hard she experienced the death of her daughter.

Unexpected ending

Fortunately for the boy, his grandfather returned from the farm at night - now he had help, and it was not so scary.

Lowering his head, pushed by his grandfather, he timidly entered the hut and roared at the top of his voice.

His grandmother put him to shame for a long time, and when she finally ran out of steam and there was silence, the boy timidly raised his head and saw an unexpected picture in front of him. A horse with a pink mane “galloped” across the scraped table (V. Astafiev remembered this for the rest of his life). This episode became one of the most important for him. moral lessons. Grandmother's kindness and understanding helped develop such qualities as responsibility for one's actions, nobility and the ability to resist evil in any situation.

This is the story of a boy who was left an orphan and lives with his grandmother. His mother drowned while crossing the river on a boat with other villagers. The red strawberries that fell into the water were closely intertwined in the boy’s imagination with the image of red blood.

The boy lives ordinary life a tomboy, not thinking about the past and actively communicates with the neighborhood kids. Always hungry and fighting over all sorts of trifles, quarrelsome children somehow live with their parents. Their father is sometimes rowdy and often drinks, but the main character perceives these moments of simple family idyll with shared eating of goodies and sad singing as something amazing that causes him extreme melancholy. Deprived of such “happiness,” he greedily draws it from the neighboring family.

Hoping that the deception will not be noticed, in the depths of his soul the child realizes the ugliness of his own act; he is consumed not so much by the fear of punishment as by the pain that his act will cause to his grandmother. He remembers the day of his mother’s death, those red berries spreading on the water, and his grandmother dying of grief on the shore. And his friends also advise him to hide, then his grandmother will think that he, too, drowned. And he won’t be angry with him.

Returning home late only postpones his melancholy until the morning. And in the morning, having received all his grandmother’s indignation in full, the boy conscientiously begged her that he would never do that again. Closing his eyes, he awaited her punishment. But grandma only gave him a gingerbread in the shape of a horse with a pink mane. Years will pass, but the love for his grandmother will remain in the hero’s heart forever.

Summary, 6th grade. Short essay.

Life lessons in the story by V.P. Astafiev "Horse with a pink mane"

The books of Viktor Petrovich Astafiev can be considered autobiographical. Story about pink horse not an exception. The main character of the story, like the author himself, is an orphan left without parents, raised by his grandmother and grandfather. In his stories, Astafiev wrote about his native Siberian village, about its inhabitants, about his grandparents.

The story-parable “The Horse with a Pink Mane” reproduces an episode from the author’s childhood. The hero and the neighbor kids head out to pick strawberries. The grandmother, having sold it at the market, will buy her beloved grandson a sweet - a gingerbread pink horse. In the first post-war years, the gingerbread horse was “the dream of all village kids”; he received “so much honor and attention” from other boys.

With the intention of picking up a full bowl of berries and “earning gingerbread with his labor,” the boy goes to the ridge. But his plans are disrupted by cunning, resourceful boys from a neighboring family. First, having picked a few berries, the hero succumbs to the cunning of the eldest of the Levontiev boys, who accused him of greed and cowardice. Trying to prove otherwise, he gives them his berries. Then the neighboring “eagles” lure him with games, fun activities, and the river attracts with its coolness.

When the time comes to return home, the grandson, on the advice of the same comrades, decides to deceive his grandmother. He pushed the herbs into the container, and covered it with hastily collected berries on top. The hero really wanted to get a pink horse.

At night the boy cannot sleep, he worries, tosses and turns for a long time, and is ashamed of his action. Deciding that when he wakes up he will confess everything, he falls asleep. But the old woman left early, and heavy remorse torments the hero until her return. The mischievous man cannot find a place for himself, the deceiver is not happy with the beautiful summer day, the liar is very ashamed and feels sorry for himself and his grandmother, and now he wants only one thing: forgiveness. Let his grandmother reprimand him, punish him, he understands that this will be a well-deserved punishment. The hero had to endure another difficult night, and the grandson asks for forgiveness for his fraud. The next morning, having expressed all her grievances, the grandmother still gives her granddaughter that magic horse.

A lot of time has passed, but remembering grandma’s lesson, the author admits: “I still can’t forget grandma’s gingerbread - that marvelous horse with a pink mane.”

This parable helps to understand the lessons of responsibility, the ability to admit and correct mistakes. Every person, big or small, must be held accountable for what they have done. The grandmother, despite the deception, gave her beloved grandson a pink horse. He, of course, will remember this story, the kindness of his grandmother, all his life, and it is unlikely that after this the boy will deceive anyone. “I won’t do that!” - he says to Sanka when he offers him ways to avoid punishment.

You shouldn’t be afraid to admit your mistakes; you need to tell the truth to those closest to you. If you realize your mistakes, then you won’t repeat them, and attempts to be cunning and dodge bring suffering to both your loved ones and yourself.

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What is the story “The Horse with the Pink Mane” about and what is its main idea?

The story The Horse with the Pink Mane is about a boy who was raised by his grandmother. The main character was envious of the freedom and permissiveness of the neighboring children; it seemed to him that if he followed their example, his life would become easier. Vitya deceived his grandmother, and the grandmother, in response to his bad deed, did not stop loving Vitya, but showed that she loved him and would always love him, even if Vitya committed a bad deed. The main character appreciated the attitude of his grandmother and for him her kindness remained in his memory forever, as the warmest memory of his childhood. A person has no one closer to him than his family, and you can grow strong only by knowing that your family loves you for nothing.

Astafiev’s stories are sometimes so instructive that you even want to cry. Take for example the Horse with a Pink Mane. The little boy turns out to be so defenseless against the teasing of his older and more cunning friends that it costs nothing to induce him to deceive his grandmother. And after all, the baby is tormented by remorse and is afraid of punishment, but immediately while playing he forgets about everything and, with the frivolity characteristic of youth, continues to play. Only when the time of inevitable retribution approaches, in anticipation of which the same friends who encouraged the hero to eat strawberries almost make a bet, only then does the boy go home and hide from his grandmother, realizing that he will not see the promised gingerbread in the form of a horse and fearing punishment. But a grandmother always remains a grandmother, and even such a good-for-nothing grandson she still loves and is ready to spoil, so the boy still gets a horse. And he remembers the lesson from his action for the rest of his life.

Hence the conclusion: do not be afraid to tell your loved ones the most bitter truth, if they love you, they will still forgive and understand, and trying to hide your mistake will only lead to great suffering for you and your loved ones. And the boy in the story turns out to have punished himself with pangs of conscience and therefore the grandmother had a fight for the sake of warning, but she still saved the carrot.

The grandmother sent her grandson to the forest to pick strawberries. For a basket of strawberries, the grandmother promised her grandson a gingerbread horse with a pink mane. For the post-war hungry years it was a very valuable gift. The boy picked strawberries, but ate them with his friends. And so that his grandmother would not scold him, the boy used a trick: he put grass on the bottom of the basket and some strawberries on top. In the morning the boy wanted to confess to his grandmother, but did not have time. She went to the city to sell berries there. The boy was afraid of exposure, and after his grandmother returned, he did not even want to return home.

But I still had to return. How embarrassing it was to listen to the angry grandmother, who had already told everyone about his fraud! The boy asked for forgiveness and the grandmother gave her grandson that same gingerbread horse with a pink mane. Grandmother taught her grandson a good lesson. And indeed, the author says: How many years have passed since then! How many events have passed! and I still can’t forget my grandmother’s gingerbread from that marvelous horse with a pink mane.

What does this story teach? Shows how bad and shameful it is to lie, because lies always come out. And the author, V.P. Astafiev, teaches us that sometimes experienced shame and forgiveness, i.e. moral punishment is stronger than physical punishment.