Year of writing: 1876
Genre: Christmas story
Main characters: child
Plot
The boy's mother died in a dark and cold basement, where the same unfortunate and impoverished people lived. The little boy was very cold there and was terribly hungry, but no one cared about him. He left the basement and walked down the street. It was Christmas Eve, smart and cheerful people were walking everywhere, many toys and sweets were displayed in brightly decorated shop windows. But no one paid attention to the baby in poor clothes with red, frozen hands.
He tried to enter a house where well-dressed ladies poured tea and treated guests to pies, but he was kicked out.
Then he hid in the entrance courtyard and suddenly saw a huge Christmas tree and cheerful children around this Christmas tree. And the owner of this tree, Jesus himself, invited him to visit him. And the next morning, the janitors found a frozen child.
Conclusion (my opinion)
It is believed that on Christmas there should not be unhappy and hungry, but rich people were not up to the unfortunate baby who died of hunger and cold on the kindest holiday of the year.
Children are a strange people, they dream and imagine. In front of the Christmas tree and in the very Christmas tree before Christmas, I kept meeting on the street, on a certain corner, one boy, no more than seven years old. In the terrible frost, he was dressed almost like a summer dress, but his neck was tied with some kind of old stuff, which means that someone was sending him out after all. He walked "with a pen"; it is a technical term, it means to beg. The term was invented by these boys themselves. There are many like him, they spin on your road and howl something learned by heart; but this one did not howl, and spoke somehow innocently and unaccustomedly, and looked trustingly into my eyes—so, he was just beginning his profession. In response to my questions, he said that he had a sister, she was unemployed, sick; maybe it’s true, but only later I found out that these boys are in darkness and darkness: they are sent out “with a pen” even in the most terrible frost, and if they don’t get anything, then they will probably be beaten. Having collected kopecks, the boy returns with red, stiff hands to some basement, where some gang of negligent people are drinking, one of those who, “having gone on strike at the factory on Sunday on Saturday, return to work again no earlier than on Wednesday evening” . There, in the cellars, their hungry and beaten wives drink with them, their hungry babies squeak right there. Vodka, and dirt, and debauchery, and most importantly, vodka. With the collected kopecks, the boy is immediately sent to the tavern, and he brings more wine. For fun, they sometimes pour a pigtail into his mouth and laugh when he, with a short breath, falls almost unconscious on the floor,
... and bad vodka in my mouth
Ruthlessly poured...
When he grows up, they quickly sell him somewhere to the factory, but everything that he earns, he is again obliged to bring to the caretakers, and they again drink it away. But even before the factory, these children become perfect criminals. They wander around the city and know such places in different basements that you can crawl into and where you can spend the night unnoticed. One of them spent several nights in a row with a janitor in a basket, and he never noticed him. Of course, they become thieves. Theft turns into a passion even in eight-year-old children, sometimes even without any consciousness of the criminality of the action. In the end, they endure everything - hunger, cold, beatings - for only one thing, for freedom, and run away from their negligent wanderers already from themselves. This wild creature sometimes does not understand anything, neither where he lives, nor what nation he is, whether there is a God, whether there is a sovereign; even such convey things about them that are unbelievable to hear, and yet they are all facts.
Dostoevsky. The boy at Christ on the Christmas tree. video film
II. The boy at Christ on the Christmas tree
But I am a novelist, and it seems that I composed one "story" myself. Why do I write: “it seems”, because I myself know for sure what I composed, but I keep imagining that it happened somewhere and sometime, it happened just on the eve of Christmas, in some huge city and in a terrible freezing.
It seems to me that there was a boy in the basement, but still very small, about six years old or even less. This boy woke up in the morning in a damp and cold basement. He was dressed in some kind of robe and was trembling. His breath came out in white steam, and he, sitting in the corner on the chest, out of boredom, purposely let this steam out of his mouth and amused himself, watching how it flies out. But he really wanted to eat. Several times in the morning he approached the bunks, where on a bedding as thin as a pancake and on some bundle under his head, instead of a pillow, lay his sick mother. How did she get here? She must have come with her boy from a foreign city and suddenly fell ill. The mistress of the corners was captured by the police two days ago; the tenants dispersed, it was a festive matter, and the remaining one dressing gown had been lying dead drunk for a whole day, not even waiting for the holiday. In another corner of the room, some eighty-year-old old woman was moaning from rheumatism, who had once lived somewhere in nannies, and now she was dying alone, groaning, grumbling and grumbling at the boy, so that he already began to be afraid to come close to her corner. He got a drink somewhere in the entryway, but he didn’t find a crust anywhere, and once in the tenth he already came up to wake his mother. He felt dreadful at last in the darkness: evening had already begun long ago, but no fire had been lit. Feeling his mother's face, he was surprised that she did not move at all and became as cold as a wall. “It’s very cold here,” he thought, stood a little, unconsciously forgetting his hand on the dead woman’s shoulder, then breathed on his fingers to warm them, and suddenly, groping for his cap on the bunk, slowly, gropingly, went to the cellar. He would have gone earlier, but he was still afraid upstairs, on the stairs, of a big dog that had been howling all day at the neighbor's door. But the dog was gone, and he suddenly went out into the street.
God, what a city! Never before had he seen anything like it. There, from where he came, at night such black darkness, one lamp on the whole street. Wooden low houses are locked with shutters; on the street, it gets a little dark - nobody, everyone shuts up at home, and only whole packs of dogs howl, hundreds and thousands of them, howl and bark all night. But it was so warm there and they gave him food, but here - Lord, if only he could eat! And what a knock and thunder here, what light and people, horses and carriages, and frost, frost! Frozen steam pours from driven horses, from their hotly breathing snouts; horseshoes clinking against the stones through the loose snow, and everyone is pushing like that, and, Lord, I so want to eat, at least a piece of some kind, and my fingers suddenly hurt so much. A law enforcement officer passed by and turned away so as not to notice the boy.
Here again the street - oh, what a wide! Here they will probably crush them like that; how they all shout, run and ride, but the light, the light! And what's that? Wow, what a big glass, and behind the glass is a room, and in the room there is a tree up to the ceiling; this is a Christmas tree, and there are so many lights on the Christmas tree, how many gold pieces of paper and apples, and around there are dolls, little horses; and children running around the room, smart, clean, laughing and playing, and eating, and drinking something. This girl started dancing with the boy, what a pretty girl! Here is the music, you can hear it through the glass. The boy looks, wonders, and already laughs, and his fingers and legs already hurt, and his hands have become completely red, they can’t bend and move painfully. And suddenly the boy remembered that his fingers hurt so much, began to cry and ran on, and now again he sees through another glass a room, again there are trees, but on the tables there are pies, all sorts - almond, red, yellow, and four people are sitting there. rich ladies, and whoever comes, they give him pies, and the door opens every minute, many gentlemen enter them from the street. A boy crept up, suddenly opened the door and went in. Wow, how they shouted and waved at him! One lady came up quickly and thrust a kopeck into his hand, and she herself opened the door to the street for him. How scared he was! And the kopeck immediately rolled out and rang on the steps: he could not bend his red fingers and hold it. The boy ran out and went quickly, quickly, but where he did not know. He wants to cry again, but he's afraid, and he runs, runs and blows on his hands. And longing takes him, because he suddenly felt so lonely and terrifying, and suddenly, Lord! So what is it again? People are standing in a crowd and marveling: on the window behind the glass are three dolls, small, dressed in red and green dresses and very, very much like they are alive! Some old man sits and seems to be playing a big violin, two others stand right there and play small violins, and shake their heads in time, and look at each other, and their lips move, they talk, they really talk, - only because of the glass is not audible. And at first the boy thought that they were alive, but when he completely guessed that they were pupae, he suddenly laughed. He had never seen such dolls and did not know that there were such! And he wants to cry, but it's so funny, funny on pupae. Suddenly it seemed to him that someone grabbed him by the dressing gown from behind: a big angry boy stood nearby and suddenly cracked him on the head, tore off his cap, and gave him a leg from below. The boy rolled to the ground, then they screamed, he was stupefied, he jumped up and ran and ran, and suddenly ran he didn’t know where, into the doorway, into someone else’s yard, and sat down for firewood: “They won’t find it here, and it’s dark.”
He sat down and writhed, but he himself could not catch his breath from fear, and suddenly, quite suddenly, he felt so good: his arms and legs suddenly stopped hurting and it became as warm, as warm as on the stove; now he shuddered all over: oh, why, he was about to fall asleep! How good it is to fall asleep here: “I’ll sit here and go again to look at the pupae,” the boy thought and grinned, remembering them, “just like they are alive! ..” And suddenly he heard that his mother sang a song over him. "Mom, I'm sleeping, oh, how good it is to sleep here!"
“Come to my Christmas tree, boy,” a quiet voice suddenly whispered above him.
He thought it was all his mother, but no, not her; Who called him, he does not see, but someone bent over him and hugged him in the dark, and he held out his hand to him and ... and suddenly, - oh, what a light! Oh what a tree! Yes, and this is not a Christmas tree, he has not yet seen such trees! Where is he now: everything glitters, everything shines and all around are dolls - but no, they are all boys and girls, only so bright, they all circle around him, fly, they all kiss him, take him, carry him with them, yes and he himself flies, and he sees: his mother looks and laughs at him joyfully.
- Mother! Mother! Oh, how good it is here, mom! - the boy shouts to her, and again kisses the children, and he wants to tell them as soon as possible about those dolls behind the glass. - Who are you boys? Who are you girls? he asks, laughing and loving them.
- This is the "Christ tree", - they answer him. “Christ always has a tree on that day for little children who don’t have their own tree there ...” And he found out that these boys and girls were all the same as him, children, but some were still frozen in their baskets, in which they were thrown on the stairs to the doors of Petersburg officials; others suffocated at the little chicks, from the orphanage for feeding, still others died at the withered breasts of their mothers (during the Samara famine), the fourth suffocated in third-class carriages from the stench, and yet they are here now, they are all now like angels, everyone Christ, and he himself is in the midst of them, and stretches out his hands to them, and blesses them and their sinful mothers ... And the mothers of these children all stand right there, on the sidelines, and cry; each recognizes her boy or girl, and they fly up to them and kiss them, wipe their tears with their hands and beg them not to cry, because they feel so good here ...
And downstairs, in the morning, the janitors found a small corpse of a boy who had run in and froze for firewood; they also found his mother ... She died even before him; both met with the Lord God in the sky.
And why did I write such a story, so not going into an ordinary reasonable diary, and even a writer? He also promised stories mainly about real events! But that's the thing, it always seems and imagines to me that all this could really happen - that is, what happened in the basement and behind the firewood, and there about Christ's Christmas tree - I don't know how to tell you could it happen or not? That's why I'm a novelist, to invent.
... and nasty vodka into my mouth // Ruthlessly poured ...– An inaccurate quote from N. A. Nekrasov’s poem “Childhood” (1855), which is the second edition of the poem “Fragment” (“I was born in the province ...”, 1844). During the lifetime of Nekrasov and Dostoevsky, "Childhood" was not published, but went on the lists. When and how Dostoevsky met him is not clear; nevertheless, the whole scene of the drunkenness of a young boy echoes the following passage from "Childhood":
Stealthily from mother
He planted me
And nasty vodka in my mouth
Drop by drop poured:
"Well, refuel from a young age,
Fool, grow up -
You won't die of hunger.
Don't drink your shirt!" -
So he said - and furiously
Laughed with friends
When I'm crazy
And fell and screamed ...
(Nekrasov N. A. Complete collection of works and letters: V 15 t. L., 1981. T. 1. S. 558).
... others suffocated at the little chicks, from the foster home to feed ...- Orphanages were called shelters for foundlings and homeless babies. Dostoevsky's attention was drawn to the St. Petersburg Orphanage as early as 1873 by a note in Golos (March 9, 1873), which contained a letter from the priest John Nikolsky about the high mortality among the pupils of this institution, distributed to the peasant women of his parish in Tsarskoye Selo district. The letter stated that peasant women take children in order to get linen and money for them, but they do not take care of babies; in turn, doctors who issue documents for the right to take a child show complete indifference and indifference to whose hands the children fall into. In the May issue of The Writer's Diary, when talking about his visit to the Orphanage, Dostoevsky mentions his intention to "go to the villages, to the chukhonkas, to whom the babies have been given out" (see p. 176).
Chukhonets- Finn.
... during the Samara famine ...- In 1871 - 1873. The Samara province suffered catastrophic crop failures, which caused severe famine.
... the fourth suffocated in third-class carriages from the stench ...- "Moskovskie Vedomosti" (1876. January 6) cited an entry from the complaint book at st. Voronezh that on the train, in the third-class carriage, a boy and a girl died and that the state of the latter is hopeless. “The reason is the stench in the car, from which even adult passengers fled.”
November 29, 2015F. M. Dostoevsky is one of the world's greatest writers. His work is permeated with spirituality and reflections on good and evil.
Among the writer's novels, The Brothers Karamazov occupies a special place. The work consists of 4 parts and an epilogue. In this article we will retell Dostoevsky's story "The Boys". It belongs to the fourth part of the novel, the tenth book.
F. M. Dostoevsky, the story "Boys". "Kolya Krasotkin"
Upon learning of this, his mother was in fits for several days. In the gymnasium where Kolya studied, the authorities did not like this news. However, the teacher Dardanelov, who was in love with Krasotkin's mother, stood up for the guy. But Kolya is against this relationship and makes it clear to the widow. He shows his superiority over the teacher by asking him a question to which he does not know the answer.
The guy gets a dog, teaches it commands and tyrannizes it. However, the dog loves the owner.
At the end of this chapter about Kolya Krasotkin, we learn that this is the same guy who was stabbed by Ilyusha Snegirev with a knife.
Dostoevsky, "The Brothers Karamazov", "Boys". "Kids"
In this part, we learn that other people live in the house where Kolya Krasotkin lives with his mother, dog and maid Agafya: a doctor with two children and a maid Katerina. On the day in question main character I was going to go to an important business, but I was forced to sit out with “bubbles”. So he called the doctor's children - Nastenka and Kostya. There were no adults at home besides him. Katerina was about to give birth, so she, Krasotkin's mother and the doctor went to the midwife, and Agafya went to the market. To entertain the children, Kolya showed them a cannon. When the Krasotkins' maid returned, he quarreled with her.
"Schoolboy"
Kolya, together with a younger boy, Matvey Smurov, decided to visit the sick and dying Ilyusha Snegirev. Summary (Dostoevsky, "Boys") can be continued by the fact that along the way Krasotkin is insolent to others: merchants, guys, peasants. He considers himself smarter than others and shows it to people in every possible way. When they get to Ilyusha's house, Krasotkin tells Smurov to call Alyosha Karamazov.
"Bug"
When Karamazov goes to see Krasotkin, Kolya becomes noticeably nervous. He had dreamed of meeting him for a long time. Kolya tells Alyosha about their friendship with Ilyusha, about how he stabbed him with a knife. And it was like this: the boys were friends, Snegirev idolized Krasotkin, but the more he was drawn to him, the more Kolya repelled him with his coldness. Once Ilyusha did a vile deed: he put a pin in bread and threw it to Zhuchka. The dog ate, squealed and ran away. After such an act, Kolya said that he did not want to deal with him. Everyone laughed at Ilyusha, offended him, and at such a moment he stabbed Krasotkin.
When Snegirev became seriously ill, he said that God had punished him so much for the dog he might have killed.
Colin's dog named Chime looked like a Beetle. The guys went home, and Kolya promised to surprise us with the unusual appearance of the dog.
"At Ilyushin's bed"
The summary (Dostoevsky, "Boys") of this part includes a description of Kolya's character. Krasotkin showed himself to be a proud, narcissistic and boastful guy. He brought the dog (Chim) and said that it was actually a Bug. Kolya admitted that he kept the dog at home to teach him commands in order to return him to Ilyusha and surprise him with the skills that the animal acquired.
By that time, a pedigreed puppy had been given to the sick boy to make him feel better.
Krasotkin behaves provocatively in front of everyone. He gives his cannon to Ilyusha, puts in his place one boy who dared to say that he knows the answer to the question that baffled the teacher. He tries to impress Alyosha by telling stories about himself and showing off his knowledge. And then the doctor comes.
"Early development"
Here is a dialogue between Alyosha and Kolya. Krasotkin again tries to impress Karamazov. He shares his thoughts on medicine, faith, attributing his judgments to famous philosophers, critics and writers. To which Karamazov replies that these are not his words, that his conceit is a matter of age. Kolya finds out how Alyosha treats him.
"Ilyusha"
How does he finish his work? summary) Dostoevsky? "The Boys" is a short story that ends with the doctor telling him that the sick man doesn't have long to live. He looked at these people with disgust. Krasotkin began to taunt him in response, but Alyosha stopped him. They approached Ilyusha, everyone was crying. In tears, Kolya ran home, promising to return in the evening.
F. M. Dostoevsky is one of the world's greatest writers. His work is permeated with spirituality and reflections on good and evil.
Among the writer's novels, The Brothers Karamazov occupies a special place. The work consists of 4 parts and an epilogue. In this article we will retell Dostoevsky's story "The Boys". It belongs to the fourth part of the novel, the tenth book.
F. M. Dostoevsky, the story "Boys". "Kolya Krasotkin"
Upon learning of this, his mother was in fits for several days. In the gymnasium where Kolya studied, the authorities did not like this news. However, the teacher Dardanelov, who was in love with Krasotkin's mother, stood up for the guy. But Kolya is against this relationship and makes it clear to the widow. He shows his superiority over the teacher by asking him a question to which he does not know the answer.
The guy gets a dog, teaches it commands and tyrannizes it. However, the dog loves the owner.
At the end of this chapter about Kolya Krasotkin, we learn that this is the same guy who was stabbed by Ilyusha Snegirev with a knife.
Dostoevsky, "The Brothers Karamazov", "Boys". "Kids"
In this part, we learn that other people live in the house where Kolya Krasotkin lives with his mother, dog and maid Agafya: a doctor with two children and a maid Katerina. On the day described, the main character was going to go to an important business, but he was forced to sit out with “bubbles”. So he called the doctor's children - Nastenka and Kostya. There were no adults at home besides him. Katerina was about to give birth, so she, Krasotkin's mother and the doctor went to the midwife, and Agafya went to the market. To entertain the children, Kolya showed them a cannon. When the Krasotkins' maid returned, he quarreled with her.
"Schoolboy"
Kolya, together with a younger boy, Matvey Smurov, decided to visit the sick and dying Ilyusha Snegirev. Summary (Dostoevsky, "Boys") can be continued by the fact that along the way Krasotkin is insolent to others: merchants, guys, peasants. He considers himself smarter than others and shows it to people in every possible way. When they get to Ilyusha's house, Krasotkin tells Smurov to call Alyosha Karamazov.
"Bug"
When Karamazov goes to see Krasotkin, Kolya becomes noticeably nervous. He had dreamed of meeting him for a long time. Kolya tells Alyosha about their friendship with Ilyusha, about how he stabbed him with a knife. And it was like this: the boys were friends, Snegirev idolized Krasotkin, but the more he was drawn to him, the more Kolya repelled him with his coldness. Once Ilyusha did a vile deed: he put a pin in bread and threw it to Zhuchka. The dog ate, squealed and ran away. After such an act, Kolya said that he did not want to deal with him. Everyone laughed at Ilyusha, offended him, and at such a moment he stabbed Krasotkin.
When Snegirev became seriously ill, he said that God had punished him so much for the dog he might have killed.
Colin's dog named Chime looked like a Beetle. The guys went home, and Kolya promised to surprise us with the unusual appearance of the dog.
"At Ilyushin's bed"
The summary (Dostoevsky, "Boys") of this part includes a description of Kolya's character. Krasotkin showed himself to be a proud, narcissistic and boastful guy. He brought the dog (Chim) and said that it was actually a Bug. Kolya admitted that he kept the dog at home to teach him commands in order to return him to Ilyusha and surprise him with the skills that the animal acquired.
By that time, a pedigreed puppy had been given to the sick boy to make him feel better.
Krasotkin behaves provocatively in front of everyone. He gives his cannon to Ilyusha, puts in his place one boy who dared to say that he knows the answer to the question that baffled the teacher. He tries to impress Alyosha by telling stories about himself and showing off his knowledge. And then the doctor comes.
"Early development"
Here is a dialogue between Alyosha and Kolya. Krasotkin again tries to impress Karamazov. He shares his thoughts on medicine, faith, attributing his judgments to famous philosophers, critics and writers. To which Karamazov replies that these are not his words, that his conceit is a matter of age. Kolya finds out how Alyosha treats him.
"Ilyusha"
How does Dostoevsky complete his work (summary)? "The Boys" is a short story that ends with the doctor telling him that the sick man doesn't have long to live. He looked at these people with disgust. Krasotkin began to taunt him in response, but Alyosha stopped him. They approached Ilyusha, everyone was crying. In tears, Kolya ran home, promising to return in the evening.
Read in 13 minutes
Very briefly
A schoolboy boy comes to a friend who is dying of a serious illness in order to make peace with him.
The work "Boys" is the tenth book of the fourth part of the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky "".
Kolya Krasotkin
The thirty-year-old widow of the provincial secretary Krasotkin lived "with her own capital" in a small, clean house. The husband of this pretty, timid and gentle lady died thirteen years ago. Having married at the age of eighteen, she lived in marriage for only a year, but managed to give birth to her son Kolya, to whom she devoted "all of herself."
Throughout childhood, the mother trembled over her son, and when the boy entered the progymnasium, “I rushed to study all the sciences with him in order to help him and rehearse lessons with him.” Kolya was about to be teased as a “sissy”, but his character turned out to be strong, and he managed to defend himself.
Kolya studied well, seeing the respect of his classmates, he did not exalt himself, he behaved in a friendly manner and knew how to restrain his character, especially when communicating with elders. Kolya was proud, and even managed to subdue his mother to his will. The widow willingly obeyed her son, but sometimes it seemed to her that the boy was "insensitive" and "loves her little." She was wrong - Kolya loved his mother very much, but could not stand "calf tenderness."
From time to time, Kolya liked to play pranks - to perform miracles and show off. There were several books left from his father in the house, and the boy "read something that he should not have been allowed to read at his age." This inappropriate reading led to more serious pranks.
One summer, the widow took her son to visit her friend, whose husband worked at the railway station. There, Kolya argued with the local boys that he would lie motionless under a train rushing at full speed.
These fifteen-year-olds turned up their noses in front of him too much and at first did not even want to consider him a comrade, as a "little one", which was already unbearably insulting.
Kolya won the argument, but lost consciousness when the train passed over him, which he admitted some time later to his mother, who was frightened to death. The news of this “feat” reached the gymnasium, and Kolya’s reputation as a “desperate” was finally strengthened. The boy was even going to be expelled, but the teacher Dardanelov, who was in love with Mrs. Krasotkina, stood up for him. The grateful widow gave the teacher a little hope for reciprocity, and Kolya began to treat him more respectfully, although he despised Dardanelov for his "feelings."
Soon after that, Kolya dragged a mongrel into the house, called her Chime, locked her in his room, did not show anyone, and diligently taught all sorts of tricks.
kids
It was frosty November. There was a day off. Kolya wanted to go out "on one very important matter," but he could not, because everyone left the house, and he remained to look after the children - his brother and sister - whom he loved very much and called "bubbles." The children belonged to the Krasotkins' neighbor, the wife of the doctor who abandoned the family. The doctor's maid was about to give birth, and both ladies took her to the midwife, while Agafya, who served the Krasotkins, lingered at the market.
The boy was greatly amused by the "bubbles" reasoning about where babies come from. The brother and sister were afraid to be alone at home, and Kolya had to entertain them - show them a toy gun that can shoot, and force Chime to do all sorts of tricks.
Finally, Agafya returned, and Kolya departed on his important business, taking Perezvon with him.
Pupils
Kolya met with the eleven-year-old boy Smurov, the son of a wealthy official, who was two classes younger than Krasotkin. Smurov's parents forbade their son to hang out with the "desperate naughty" Krasotkin, so the boys talked secretly.
The schoolchildren went to their friend Ilyusha Snegirev, who was seriously ill and could not get out of bed. Alexei Karamazov persuaded the guys to visit Ilyusha to brighten up his last days.
Kolya was surprised that Karamazov was busy with the baby when there was trouble in his own family - they would soon be tried for the patricide of his older brother. For Krasotkin, Alexei was a mysterious person, and the boy dreamed of meeting him.
The boys walked through the market square. Kolya announced to Smurov that he had become a socialist and a supporter of universal equality, then he spoke about the early frost, to which people were not yet accustomed.
People have a habit, in everything, even in state and political relations. Habit is the main driver.
On the way, Kolya spoke and quarreled with peasants and merchants, declaring that he liked to "talk to the people." He even managed to make a small scandal from scratch and confuse the young clerk.
Approaching the house of Staff Captain Snegiryov, Kolya ordered Smurov to call Karamazov, wanting first to "sniff" with him.
bug
Kolya anxiously waited for Karamazov - "there was something sympathetic and enticing in all the stories he heard about Alyosha." The boy decided not to lose face, to show his independence, but he was afraid that, because of his small stature, Karamazov would not accept him as an equal.
Alyosha was glad to see Kolya. In delirium, Ilyusha often remembered his friend and suffered greatly that he did not come. Kolya told Karamazov how they met. Krasotkin noticed Ilyusha when he went to the preparatory class. Classmates teased the weak boy, but he did not obey and tried to fight back. Kolya liked this rebellious pride, and he took Ilyusha under his protection.
Krasotkin soon noticed that the boy was too attached to him. Being an enemy of "all sorts of calf tenderness", Kolya began to treat Ilyusha more and more coldly in order to "school the character" of the baby.
One day, Kolya learned that the Karamazov's lackey taught Ilyusha a "brutal joke" - to wrap a pin in a crumb of bread and feed this "treat" to a hungry dog. The pin was swallowed by a homeless Bug. Ilyusha was sure that the dog was dead, and suffered greatly. Kolya decided to take advantage of Ilyushin's remorse and, for educational purposes, declared that he was no longer talking to him.
Kolya intended to "forgive" Ilyusha in a few days, but classmates, seeing that he had lost the protection of the elder, again began to call Ilyusha's father a "washcloth". During one of these "battles" the baby was severely beaten. Kolya, who was present at the same time, wanted to intercede for him, but it seemed to Ilyusha that the former friend and patron was also laughing at him, and he poked Krasotkin in the thigh with a penknife. On the same day, Ilyusha, extremely excited, bit Alyosha on the finger. Then the baby lay down. Kolya was very sorry that he had not yet come to visit him, but he had his own reasons for that.
Ilyusha decided that God had punished him with illness for killing Zhuchka. Snegiryov and the guys searched the whole city, but the dog was never found. Everyone hoped that Kolya would find Zhuchka, but he stated that he was not going to do this.
Before entering Ilyusha, Kolya asked Karamazov who the boy's father, Staff Captain Snegiryov, was. In the city he was considered a jester.
There are people who feel deeply, but somehow suppressed. Their buffoonery is like a malicious irony towards those to whom they do not dare to tell the truth in their eyes because of their long-term humiliating timidity in front of them.
Snegiryov adored his son. Alyosha was afraid that after the death of Ilyusha Snegirev would go crazy or from grief "take his own life."
The proud Kolya was afraid that the guys would tell tales about him to Karamazov. For example, they said that during breaks he plays “Cossack robbers” with the kids. But Alyosha did not see anything wrong with this, considering the game "an emerging need for art in a young soul." The reassured Kolya promised to show Ilyusha some kind of "performance".
At Ilyushin's bed
The cramped and poor little room of the Snegiryovs was full of children from the gymnasium. Alexei unobtrusively, one by one, brought them together with Ilyusha, hoping to alleviate the boy's suffering. He could not approach only the independent Krasotkin, who told Smurov sent to him that he had "his own calculation", and he himself knew when to go to the patient.
Ilyusha was lying in bed under the images, his legless sister was sitting next to him, and the “crazy mother” - a half-crazy woman who resembled a child in behavior. Ever since Ilyusha fell ill, the staff captain had almost given up drinking, and even mother had become silent and thoughtful.
Snegiryov tried his best to cheer up his son. Occasionally he ran out into the hallway and "began to sob with some kind of flooded, shaking cry." Both Snegiryov and mother rejoiced when their home was filled with children's laughter.
Recently, the wealthy merchant's wife Katerina Ivanovna began to help the Snegirev family. She gave money and paid for the doctor's regular visits, and the staff captain "forgot his former ambition and humbly accepted alms." So today they were expecting a famous doctor from Moscow, whom Katerina Ivanovna asked to see Ilyusha.
Kolya was amazed at how Ilyusha had changed in just two months.
He could not even imagine that he would see such a thin and yellowed face, such burning in a feverish heat and as if terribly enlarged eyes, such thin hands.
Sitting down by his friend's bed, Kolya mercilessly reminded him of the vanished Beetle, not noticing that Alyosha was shaking his head. Then Smurov opened the door, Kolya whistled, and Chimes ran into the room, in which Ilyusha recognized Zhuchka.
Kolya told how he searched for a dog for several days, and then locked it up and taught him different tricks. That is why he did not come to Ilyusha for so long. Krasotkin did not understand how such a shock could have a devastating effect on the sick boy, otherwise he would not have thrown out "such a thing." Probably, only Aleksey understood that it was dangerous to worry the patient, all the rest were glad that Zhuchka was alive.
Kolya forced the chime to show all the tricks he had learned, and then handed Ilyusha a cannon and a book, which he had exchanged with a classmate especially for a friend. Mother liked the cannon very much, and Ilyusha generously gave her the toy. Then Kolya told the patient all the news, including the story that had recently happened to him.
Walking around the market square, Kolya saw a herd of geese and prompted one stupid guy to check whether the cart wheel would cut the goose's neck. The goose, of course, died, and the instigators got to the justice of the peace. He decided that the goose would go to the guy who would pay the owner of the bird a ruble. The judge released Kolya, threatening to report to the authorities of the gymnasium.
Just then an important Moscow doctor arrived, and the guests had to leave the room for a while.
Early development
Krasotkin got the opportunity to talk with Alexei Karamazov alone, in the hallway. In an effort to appear mature and educated, the boy laid out to him his thoughts about God, Voltaire, Belinsky, socialism, medicine, the place of a woman in modern society and other things. Thirteen-year-old Kolya believed that God was needed “for the world order”, Voltaire did not believe in God, but “loved mankind”, Christ, if he lived now, would certainly join the revolutionaries, and “a woman is a subordinate creature and must obey.”
After listening to Kolya very seriously, Alyosha was amazed at his early development. It turned out that Krasotkin didn’t really read Voltaire and Belinsky, or “forbidden literature”, except for the only issue of the Kolokol magazine, but he had a firm opinion about everything. In his head there was a real "porridge" of unread, read too early and not completely understood.
Alyosha felt sad that this young man, who had not yet begun to live, was already perverted by "all this rude nonsense" and too proud, however, like all Russian gymnasium students, whose main property is "no knowledge and selfless conceit."
Show a Russian schoolboy a map of the starry sky, about which he had no idea until then, and tomorrow he will return this map to you corrected.
Alyosha believed that Kolya would correct communication with people like the Snegiryovs. Kolya told Karamazov how his morbid pride sometimes torments him. Sometimes it seems to the boy that the whole world is laughing at him, and in response he himself begins to torment those around him, especially his mother.
Alyosha noticed that “the devil embodied in this pride and climbed into the whole generation,” and advised Kolya not to be like everyone else, especially since he is still capable of self-condemnation. He foresaw a difficult but blessed life for Kolya. Krasotkin, on the other hand, was delighted with Karamazov, especially the fact that he spoke to him as an equal, and hoped for a long friendship.
Ilyusha
While Kolya and Karamazov were talking, the doctor in the capital examined Ilyusha, his sister, and his mother, and went out into the hallway. Krasotkin heard the doctor say that now nothing depended on him, but Ilyusha's life could be extended if he was taken to Italy for at least a year. Not at all embarrassed by the poverty surrounding him, the doctor advised Snegirev to take his daughter to the Caucasus, and his wife to a Paris psychiatric clinic.
Kolya was so annoyed by the speech of the swaggering doctor that he spoke rudely to him and called him "doctor". Alyosha had to yell at Krasotkin. The doctor stamped his feet in anger and drove away, while the staff captain "trembled with silent sobs."
Clenching his head with both fists, he began to sob, squealing somehow absurdly, bracing himself with all his strength, however, so that they would not hear his screams in the hut.
Ilyusha guessed what sentence the doctor had pronounced on him. He asked his father after his death to take another boy for himself, and Kolya to come along with Chime to his grave. Then the dying boy hugged Kolya and his father tightly.
Unable to bear it, Krasotkin hurriedly said goodbye, jumped out into the hallway and began to cry. Alyosha, who caught him there, took from the boy a promise to come to Ilyusha as often as possible.