History of creation

“I am sure that a person’s writer is made by his childhood, his ability to early age see and feel everything that then gives him the right to take up the pen. education, books, life experience they educate and strengthen this gift in the future, but it should be born in childhood,” wrote Valentin Grigoryevich Rasputin in 1974 in the Irkutsk newspaper “Soviet Youth”. In 1973, one of the best stories Rasputin "French Lessons". The writer himself singles it out among his works: “I didn’t have to invent anything there. Everything happened to me. I didn't have to go far for the prototype. I needed to return to people the good that they once did for me.

Rasputin's story "French Lessons" is dedicated to Anastasia Prokopievna Kopylova, the mother of his friend, the famous playwright Alexander Vampilov, who worked at school all her life. The story was based on the memory of a child's life, it, according to the writer, "was one of those that warm even with a slight touch to them."

The story is autobiographical. Lidia Mikhailovna is named in the work as her own name(her last name is Molokova). In 1997, the writer, in an interview with a correspondent for the Literature at School magazine, spoke about meetings with her: “Recently she was visiting me, and we long and desperately remembered our school, and the Angarsk village of Ust-Uda almost half a century ago, and much of that difficult and happy time."

Genus, genre, creative method

The work "French Lessons" is written in the genre of the story. The heyday of the Russian Soviet short story falls on the twenties (Babel, Ivanov, Zoshchenko) and then the sixties and seventies (Kazakov, Shukshin, etc.). More quickly than other prose genres, the story reacts to changes in public life, as it is written faster.

The story can be considered the oldest and the first of the literary genres. A brief retelling of an event - an incident on a hunt, a duel with an enemy, and the like - is already an oral story. Unlike other kinds and forms of art, conditional in its essence, the story is inherent in humanity, having arisen simultaneously with speech and being not only the transmission of information, but also a means of social memory. The story is the original form of the literary organization of language. A story is considered to be a completed prose work of up to forty-five pages. This is an approximate value - two author's sheets. Such a thing is read "in one breath."

Rasputin's story "French Lessons" is a realistic work written in the first person. It can be fully considered an autobiographical story.

Subject

“It’s strange: why do we, just like before our parents, every time feel guilty before our teachers? And not for what happened at school, no, but for what happened to us later. So the writer begins his story "French Lessons". Thus, he defines the main themes of the work: the relationship between the teacher and the student, the image of life illuminated by spiritual and moral meaning, the formation of the hero, the acquisition of spiritual experience by him in communication with Lydia Mikhailovna. French lessons, communication with Lydia Mikhailovna became life lessons for the hero, education of feelings.

Idea

Playing for money a teacher with her student, from the point of view of pedagogy, is an immoral act. But what is behind this act? - asks the writer. Seeing that the schoolboy (when hungry post-war years) is malnourished, the French teacher, under the guise of additional classes, invites him to her home and tries to feed him. She sends him packages, as if from her mother. But the boy refuses. The teacher offers to play for money and, of course, "loses" so that the boy can buy milk for these pennies. And she is happy that she succeeds in this deception.

The idea of ​​the story lies in the words of Rasputin: “The reader learns from books not about life, but about feelings. Literature, in my opinion, is primarily the education of feelings. And above all, kindness, purity, nobility. These words are directly related to the story "French Lessons".

Main heroes

The main characters of the story are an eleven-year-old boy and French teacher Lidia Mikhailovna.

Lidia Mikhailovna was no more than twenty-five years old and "there was no cruelty in her face." She treated the boy with understanding and sympathy, appreciated his determination. She saw remarkable learning abilities in her student and is ready to help them develop in any way. Lidia Mikhailovna is endowed with an extraordinary ability for compassion and kindness, for which she suffered, having lost her job.

The boy impresses with his determination, desire to learn and go out into the world under any circumstances. The story about the boy can be presented in the form of a quotation plan:

1. "In order to study further ... and I had to equip myself in the district center."
2. “I studied well here ... in all subjects, except French, I kept fives.”
3. “I felt so bad, so bitter and disgusted! - worse than any disease.
4. "Having received it (ruble), ... I bought a jar of milk at the market."
5. "They took turns beating me ... that day there was no person more unfortunate than me."
6. "I was frightened and lost ... she seemed to me an extraordinary person, not like everyone else."

Plot and composition

“I went to the fifth grade in forty-eight. It would be more correct to say, I went: in our village there was only Primary School, therefore, in order to study further, I had to equip myself from home fifty kilometers away to the regional center. For the first time, an eleven-year-old boy, by the will of circumstances, is cut off from his family, torn from his usual environment. However, the little hero understands that the hopes of not only relatives, but of the whole village are pinned on him: after all, according to the unanimous opinion of his fellow villagers, he is called to be “ learned man". The hero makes every effort, overcoming hunger and homesickness, so as not to let his countrymen down.

With special understanding, a young teacher approached the boy. She began to additionally engage with the hero French, hoping to feed him at home. Pride did not allow the boy to accept help from a stranger. The idea of ​​Lidia Mikhailovna with the parcel was not crowned with success. The teacher filled it with "urban" products and thereby gave herself away. In search of a way to help the boy, the teacher invites him to play for money in the "wall".

The climax of the story comes after the teacher began to play with the boy in the wall. The paradox of the situation sharpens the story to the limit. The teacher could not help but know that at that time such a relationship between a teacher and a student could lead not only to dismissal from work, but also to criminal liability. The boy did not fully understand this. But when the trouble did happen, he began to understand the behavior of the teacher more deeply. And this led him to realize some aspects of the life of that time.

The ending of the story is almost melodramatic. The parcel with Antonov apples, which he, a resident of Siberia, never tried, seems to echo the first, unsuccessful parcel with city food - pasta. More and more strokes are preparing this finale, which turned out to be not at all unexpected. In the story, the heart of an incredulous village boy opens before the purity of a young teacher. The story is surprisingly modern. It contains the great courage of a little woman, the insight of a closed, ignorant child, and the lessons of humanity.

Artistic originality

With wise humor, kindness, humanity, and most importantly, with complete psychological accuracy, the writer describes the relationship between a hungry student and a young teacher. The narration flows slowly, with everyday details, but the rhythm imperceptibly captures it.

The language of the story is simple and at the same time expressive. The writer skillfully used phraseological turns, achieving expressiveness and figurativeness of the work. Phraseologisms in the story "French Lessons" for the most part express one concept and are characterized by a certain meaning, which is often equal to the meaning of the word:

“I studied here and it’s good. What was left for me? Then I came here, I didn’t have anything else to do here, and I didn’t know how to treat everything that was entrusted to me in a slipshod way” (lazily).

“At school, I had not seen a bird before, but, looking ahead, I’ll say that in the third quarter, he suddenly, like snow on his head, fell on our class” (unexpectedly).

“Hungry and knowing that my grub would not last long, no matter how much I saved it, I ate to satiety, to pain in my stomach, and then after a day or two I again planted my teeth on the shelf” (starve).

“But there was no point in locking myself up, Tishkin managed to sell me with giblets” (betray).

One of the features of the language of the story is the presence of regional words and obsolete vocabulary, characteristic of the time of the story. For example:

Lodge - rent an apartment.
Lorry - a truck with a carrying capacity of 1.5 tons.
Tea room - a kind of public dining room, where tea and snacks are offered to visitors.
toss - sip.
Naked boiling water - pure, without impurities.
Blather - talk, speak.
bale - hit hard.
Hluzda - a swindler, a deceiver, a trickster.
pritaika - what is hidden.

The meaning of the work

The work of V. Rasputin invariably attracts readers, because next to the ordinary, everyday in the works of the writer there are always spiritual values, moral laws, unique characters, complex, sometimes contradictory, inner world heroes. The author's thoughts about life, about man, about nature help us to discover in ourselves and in the world around us inexhaustible reserves of goodness and beauty.

IN difficult time had to learn the main character of the story. The post-war years were a kind of test not only for adults, but also for children, because both good and bad in childhood are perceived much brighter and sharper. But difficulties build character, so main character often shows such qualities as willpower, pride, sense of proportion, endurance, determination.

Many years later, Rasputin will again turn to the events of bygone years. “Now that a fairly large part of my life has been lived, I want to comprehend and understand how correctly and usefully I spent it. I have many friends who are always ready to help, I have something to remember. Now I understand that my closest friend is my former teacher, a French teacher. Yes, decades later, I remember her as a true friend, the only person who understood me while I was at school. And even years later, when we met with her, she showed me a gesture of attention, sending apples and pasta, as before. And whoever I am, no matter what depends on me, she will always treat me only as a student, because for her I was, am and will always remain a student. Now I remember how then she, taking the blame on herself, left the school, and said goodbye to me: “Study well and don’t blame yourself for anything!” By this she taught me a lesson and showed me how a real a kind person. After all, they often say: school teacher is a teacher of life.

Frame from the film "French Lessons" (1978)

“It’s strange: why do we, just like before our parents, every time feel guilty before our teachers? And not for what happened at school - no, but for what happened to us after.

I entered the fifth grade in 1948. In our village there was only a junior school, and in order to study further, I had to move to the regional center 50 kilometers from home. At that time we lived very hungry. Of the three children in my family, I was the oldest. We grew up without a father. IN elementary school I studied well. In the village, I was considered a literate person, and everyone told my mother that I should study. Mom decided that it wouldn’t be worse and hungrier than at home anyway, and she attached me to her friend in the regional center.

Here I also studied well. The exception was French. I easily memorized words and turns of speech, but my pronunciation did not go well. “I scribbled in French in the manner of our village tongue twisters,” which made the young teacher wince.

I had the best time at school, among my peers, but at home I felt a longing for native village. In addition, I was severely malnourished. From time to time, my mother sent me bread and potatoes, but these products very quickly disappeared somewhere. “Who was dragging - whether Aunt Nadya, a noisy, wrapped up woman who hung around alone with three children, one of her older girls or her youngest, Fedka, - I didn’t know, I was afraid to even think about it, let alone follow.” Unlike the village, in the city it was impossible to catch a fish or dig up edible roots in the meadow. Often for dinner I got only a mug of boiling water.

Fedka brought me to a company that played for money in "chika". Vadik, a tall seventh-grader, was in charge there. Of my classmates, only Tishkin appeared there, "a fussy boy with blinking eyes." The game was easy. The coins were stacked tails up. They had to be hit with a cue ball so that the coins turned over. Those that turned out heads up became the winners.

Gradually, I mastered all the tricks of the game and began to win. Occasionally, my mother would send me 50 kopecks for milk - and I played with them. I have never won more than a ruble a day, but life has become much easier for me. However, the rest of the company did not like my moderation in the game at all. Vadik began to cheat, and when I tried to catch him, I was severely beaten.

In the morning I had to go to school with a broken face. The first lesson was French, and the teacher Lidia Mikhailovna, who was our classmate, asked what happened to me. I tried to lie, but then Tishkin leaned out and betrayed me with giblets. When Lidia Mikhailovna left me after school, I was very afraid that she would take me to the principal. Our director Vasily Andreevich had a habit of "torturing" the guilty on the line in front of the whole school. In this case, I could be expelled and sent home.

However, Lidia Mikhailovna did not take me to the director. She began to ask why I needed money, and was very surprised when she found out that I was buying milk with it. In the end, I promised her that I would do without gambling, and I lied. In those days, I was especially hungry, I again came to Vadik's company, and soon I was beaten again. Seeing fresh bruises on my face, Lidia Mikhailovna announced that she would work with me individually, after the lessons.

“Thus began a painful and awkward day for me.” Soon, Lidia Mikhailovna decided that “we have little time left at school until the second shift, and told me to come to her apartment in the evenings.” For me it was real torture. Timid and shy, in the clean apartment of the teacher, I was completely lost. “Lidiya Mikhailovna was then probably twenty-five years old.” She was a beautiful woman who had already been married, a woman with regular features and slightly slanting eyes. Hiding this flaw, she constantly squinted her eyes. The teacher asked me a lot about my family and constantly invited me to dinner, but I could not endure this test and ran away.

One day they sent me a strange package. She came to the school. The wooden box contained pasta, two large lumps of sugar, and several hematogen tiles. I immediately understood who sent me this parcel - there was nowhere for mother to get pasta. I returned the box to Lidia Mikhailovna, and flatly refused to take the food.

The French lessons did not end there. Once Lidia Mikhailovna struck me with a new invention: she wanted to play with me for money. Lidia Mikhailovna taught me the game of her childhood, the “wall”. Coins should be thrown against the wall, and then try to get your fingers from your coin to someone else's. You get it - the win is yours. Since then, we played every evening, trying to argue in a whisper - the director of the school lived in the next apartment.

Once I noticed that Lidia Mikhailovna was trying to cheat, and not in her favor. In the heat of the argument, we did not notice how the director entered the apartment, having heard loud voices. Lidia Mikhailovna calmly admitted to him that she was playing with a student for money. A few days later she went to her place in the Kuban. In the winter, after the holidays, I received another package, in which “tubes of pasta lay in neat, dense rows,” and under them were three red apples. "I used to only see apples in pictures, but I guessed they were."

Valentin Rasputin belongs to the galaxy of the most talented contemporary writers. His work is so multifaceted that every reader, regardless of age, will find in him something especially important for himself.

His heroes are characterized by such qualities as justice, mercy, kindness, self-sacrifice, sincerity and honesty. The author continues to inherit the humanistic traditions of twentieth-century literature in his work.

One of the works in which eternal human values ​​and virtues are proclaimed is the story French Lessons.

The history of the creation of the story "French Lessons"

The story is based on the autobiographical story of the author. The prototype of the image of Lidia Mikhailovna is the teacher V. Rasputina, who occupied a very important place in his life.

According to Rasputin, it is precisely such a woman who has the power to change what is not subject to ordinary person. It was the teacher who helped the author to set the right life priorities and understand what is good and what is evil.

In the story "French Lessons" we see an ordinary rural boy and his teacher. The child is clean and good soul However, difficult living conditions, eternal poverty, hunger, pushes him onto the wrong path. In order to earn authority among the boyish company, the child begins to play “chika” with them so that they will quickly accept him.

But still, this does not help, and the boy is forced to endure constant humiliation and even assault from the older guys. This situation was noticed in time by the French teacher, Lydia Mikhailovna. She is trying to find out from the child what prompted him to play for money.

The boy, who is not accustomed to a kind attitude and ordinary human participation, begins to tell the teacher that he plays in order to have friends and earn money for his food, because because of the poverty of his parents he is constantly starving.

The problem of awakening conscience

Lidia Mikhailovna sincerely wants to help him and, under the pretext of studying French, invites him to her home. The teacher always tried to feed the child, but pride and self-esteem did not allow him to accept food.

Lidia Mikhailovna nevertheless found a way to help the boy, she offered him to play the already known game for money. The teacher often succumbed, thus providing her student with money for a hearty lunch every day.

Helping the boy, the teacher cunningly took him away from the dubious company, and also did not go against his principles. The heroine of Lydia Mikhailovna is that ray of good that disadvantaged people so need. She did not remain indifferent to the misfortune of the little man, but willingly began to help him, risking losing her job.

The author in his story, as is characteristic of him, glorifies human kindness and noble impulses. After all, both the boy and the teacher were honest people, with a humanistic value system. The story also sharply raises the topic of social insecurity of young children who are forced to earn money on their own for the most necessary food.

We offer you to get acquainted with one of the best stories in the work of Valentin Grigorievich and present his analysis. Rasputin published "French Lessons" in 1973. The writer himself does not distinguish it from his other works. He notes that he did not have to invent anything, because everything described in the story happened to him. The photo of the author is presented below.

Meaning of the title of this story

The word "lesson" has two meanings in the work created by Rasputin ("French Lessons"). An analysis of the story allows us to note that the first of them is an academic hour dedicated to a certain subject. The second is something instructive. It is this meaning that becomes decisive for understanding the intent of the story that interests us. The boy carried the lessons of cordiality and kindness taught by the teacher through his whole life.

To whom is the story dedicated?

Kopylova Anastasia Prokopyevna was dedicated by Rasputin to "French Lessons", the analysis of which interests us. This woman is the mother of the famous playwright and friend Valentin Grigorievich. She has worked at school all her life. Memories of childhood life formed the basis of the story. According to the writer himself, the events of the past were able to warm even with a slight touch.

french teacher

Lidia Mikhailovna in the work is called by her own name (her last name is Molokova). In 1997, the writer told a correspondent of the Literature at School publication about his meetings with her. He told that Lidia Mikhailovna was visiting him, and they recalled the school, the village of Ust-Uda and much of that happy and difficult time.

Features of the genre of the story

According to the genre "French Lessons" - a story. In the 1920s (Zoshchenko, Ivanov, Babel), and then in the 1960s and 1970s (Shukshin, Kazakov and others), the Soviet story flourished. This genre reacts faster than any other prose to changes in the life of society, since it is written faster.

It can be considered that the story is the first and oldest of literary genera. After all brief retelling some event, for example, a duel with an enemy, an incident on a hunt, and the like, is, in fact, an oral story. Unlike all other types and kinds of art, the story is inherent in mankind from the beginning. It arose along with speech and is not just a means of transmitting information, but also acts as an instrument of social memory.

The work of Valentin Grigorievich is realistic. Rasputin wrote "French Lessons" in the first person. Analyzing it, we note that this story can be considered fully autobiographical.

The main themes of the work

Starting the work, the writer wonders why we feel guilty every time before the teachers, as well as before the parents. And the blame is not for what happened at school, but for what happened to us after. Thus, the author defines the main themes of his work: the relationship between the student and the teacher, the image of a life illuminated by moral and spiritual meaning, the formation of a hero who, thanks to Lidia Mikhailovna, acquires spiritual experience. Communication with the teacher, French lessons became life lessons for the storyteller.

Game for money

The game of a teacher with a student for money, it would seem, is an immoral act. However, what is behind it? The answer to this question is given in the work of V. G. Rasputin ("French Lessons"). The analysis allows you to reveal the motives that drive Lidia Mikhailovna.

Seeing that in the post-war famine years the schoolboy is malnourished, the teacher invites him under the guise of extra classes to her home to feed him. She sends him a package, supposedly from her mother. But the boy refuses her help. The idea with the parcel was not crowned with success: it contained "urban" products, and the teacher gave herself away with this. Then Lidia Mikhailovna offers him a game for money and, of course, "loses" so that the boy can buy milk for these pennies. The woman is happy that she succeeds in this deception. And Rasputin does not condemn her at all ("French Lessons"). Our analysis even allows us to say that the writer supports it.

The climax of the work

The climax of the work comes after this game. The story exacerbates the paradox of the situation to the limit. The teacher did not know that at that time such a relationship with the ward could lead to dismissal and even criminal liability. The boy didn't even know this. But when trouble nevertheless happened, he began to understand the behavior of his school teacher more deeply and realized some aspects of the life of that time.

Story ending

Almost melodramatic is the ending of the story, which was created by Rasputin ("French Lessons"). An analysis of the work shows that the parcel with Antonov apples (and the boy never tried them, since he was a resident of Siberia) seems to echo the unsuccessful first parcel with pasta - city food. This ending, which turned out to be by no means unexpected, is also preparing new touches. The heart of a distrustful village boy in the story opens before the purity of the teacher. Rasputin's story is surprisingly modern. The writer portrayed in him the courage of a young woman, the insight of an ignorant, withdrawn child, taught the reader the lessons of humanity.

The idea behind the story is that we learn feelings, not life, from books. Rasputin notes that literature is the education of feelings, such as nobility, purity, kindness.

Main characters

Let's continue "French Lessons" by V. G. Rasputin with a description of the main characters. They in the story are an 11-year-old boy and Lydia Mikhailovna. She was at that time no more than 25 years old. The author notes that there was no cruelty in her face. She treated the boy with sympathy and understanding, was able to appreciate his determination. The teacher saw great learning abilities in her student and was ready to help them develop. This woman is endowed with compassion for people, as well as kindness. She had to suffer for these qualities by losing her job.

In the story, the boy is striking in his determination, the desire to learn and go out to people under any circumstances. He entered the fifth grade in 1948. In the village where the boy lived, there was only an elementary school. Therefore, he had to go to the regional center, which was 50 km away, in order to continue his studies. For the first time, an 11-year-old boy, by the will of circumstances, was cut off from his family, from his usual environment. But he understands that not only relatives, but also the village have hopes for him. According to fellow villagers, he should become a "learned man." And the hero makes all his efforts for this, overcoming homesickness and hunger in order not to let down his countrymen.

With kindness, wise humor, humanity and psychological accuracy depicts the relationship with a young teacher of a hungry student Rasputin ("French Lessons"). The analysis of the work presented in this article will help you understand them. The narration flows slowly, rich in everyday details, but its rhythm gradually captures.

The language of the work

Simple and expressive at the same time is the language of the work, the author of which is Valentin Rasputin ("French Lessons"). Analysis of it language features reveals the skillful use of phraseological turns in the story. The author thus achieves figurativeness and expressiveness of the work ("sell with giblets", "like snow on the head", "sleeveless", etc.).

One of the language features is also the presence of obsolete vocabulary, which was typical for the time of action of the work, as well as regional words. This, for example: "lodge", "one and a half", "tea", "toss", "blather", "bale", "hlyuzda", "tack". After analyzing Rasputin's story "French Lessons" on your own, you can find other similar words.

The moral value of the work

The main character of the story had to study at a difficult time. The post-war years were a serious test for adults and children. In childhood, as you know, both bad and good are perceived much sharper and brighter. However, difficulties also temper character, and the main character often displays such qualities as determination, endurance, a sense of proportion, pride, and willpower. The moral significance of the work lies in the chanting of eternal values ​​- philanthropy and kindness.

The value of Rasputin's work

The work of Valentin Rasputin invariably attracts more and more readers, because next to the mundane, everyday in his works there are always moral laws, spiritual values, unique characters, the contradictory and complex inner world of the characters. The writer's thoughts about man, about life, about nature help to find inexhaustible reserves of beauty and goodness in the surrounding world and in oneself.

This concludes the analysis of the story "French Lessons". Rasputin is already one of the classical authors whose works are studied at school. Undoubtedly, this is an outstanding master of modern fiction.

The moral meaning of V. Rasputin's story "French Lessons"

V. G. Rasputin is one of the greatest contemporary writers. In his works, he preaches the eternal values ​​of life on which the world rests.

The story "French Lessons" is an autobiographical work. The hero of the story is a simple village boy. His family is having a hard time. A single mother brings up three children who know well what hunger and deprivation are. Nevertheless, she still decides to let her son go to the district to study. Not because he does not know that it will be hard for him there, not because he is heartless, but because "it will not get worse." The boy himself agrees to leave to study. Despite his age, he is quite purposeful and has a craving for knowledge, and he has good natural inclinations. “Your brainy guy is growing up,” everyone in his mother’s village said. So she went "against all misfortunes."

Finding himself among strangers, the destitute boy suddenly realizes how lonely he is, how “bitter and shameful,” “worse than any illness.” Homesickness overcomes him, for maternal affection, for warmth, for his native corner. From mental anguish, he physically weakens, loses weight so that it immediately catches the eye of his mother who came to him.

There are not enough maternal transmissions for the boy, he is really starving. Showing spiritual sensitivity, he does not undertake to look for who is stealing his poor supplies from him - Aunt Nadia, exhausted by a heavy share, or one of her half-starved children like himself.

The little man realizes how hard it is for his mother to get these miserable pieces, he understands that she is tearing the last from herself and from his brother and sister. With all his might, he tries to study, and everything comes easy to him, except French.

Eternal malnutrition and hungry swoons push the hero onto the path of finding money, and he finds it rather quickly: Fedka invites him to play "chika". It was easy for the smart boy to figure out the game, and, having adapted to it rather quickly, he soon began to win.

The hero immediately understood a certain subordination in the company of guys, where everyone treated Vadik and Ptakh with fear and fawning. Vadik and Ptakha prevailed not only because they were older and more physically developed than the rest, they did not hesitate to use their fists, openly cheated, cheated in the game, behaved cheekily and arrogantly. The hero does not intend to indulge them in their unkind deeds and undeservedly endure insults. He speaks openly about the perceived deceit and, without stopping, repeats this, all the time while he is being beaten for it. Do not break this small, honest man, do not trample on his moral principles!

Playing for money for the hero is not a means of profit, but a way to survive. He sets a threshold for himself in advance, beyond which he never goes. The boy wins exactly by a mug of milk and leaves. He is alien to the aggressive excitement and passion for money, which are controlled by Vadik and Ptah. He firmly controls himself, has a firm and unbending will. This is a persistent, courageous, independent, stubborn person in achieving the goal.

The impression that remained for a lifetime was in his life a meeting with a French teacher, Lydia Mikhailovna. By the right of a class teacher, she was more interested than others in the students of the class where the hero studied, and it was difficult to hide anything from her. Seeing for the first time the bruises on the boy's face, she asked him about what had happened with kind irony. Of course he lied. Telling everything means exposing everyone who played for money, and this is unacceptable for the hero. But Tishkin, without hesitation, reports who beat his classmate and for what. He does not see anything reprehensible in his betrayal.

After that, the hero no longer expected anything good. "Gone!" he thought, because for playing money he could easily be expelled from school.

But Lidia Mikhailovna turned out to be not the kind of person to raise a fuss without understanding anything. She strictly stopped Tishkin's mockery, and decided to talk to the hero after school, one on one, just as a real teacher should have done.

Having learned that her student wins only a ruble, which is spent on milk, Lidia Mikhailovna understood a lot about his unchildishly difficult, long-suffering life. She also understood very well that playing with money and such fights would not bring the boy to good. She began to look for a way out for him and found him, deciding to give him additional classes in French, with which he did not get along. Lidia Mikhailovna's plan was unpretentious - to distract the boy from hiking in the wasteland and, inviting him to visit her, feed him. Such a wise decision was made by this woman who is not indifferent to the fate of others. But coping with the stubborn boy was not so easy. He feels a huge gulf between himself and the teacher. It is no coincidence that the author draws their portraits nearby. Her - so smart and beautiful, smelling of perfume and him, untidy without a mother, skinny and miserable. Once visiting Lydia Mikhailovna, the boy feels uncomfortable, awkward. The most terrible test for him is not the French language classes, but the persuasion of the teacher to sit down at the table, which he stubbornly refuses. To sit at the table next to the teacher and satisfy his hunger at her expense and in front of her eyes is more terrible for a boy than death.

Lidia Mikhailovna is diligently looking for a way out of this situation. She collects a simple package and sends it to the hero, who quickly realizes that his poor mother could not send him any pasta, much less apples.

The teacher's next decisive step is gambling with the boy. In the game, the boy sees her completely different - not a strict aunt, but a simple girl, not alien to the game, passion, delight.

Everything is ruined by the sudden appearance in the apartment of Lydia Mikhailovna of the director, who found her in the midst of playing with a student for money. "It is a crime. Corruption. Seduction, ”he shouts, not intending to understand anything. Lidia Mikhailovna behaves with dignity in a conversation with her boss. She shows courage, honesty, self-esteem. Her act was guided by kindness, mercy, sensitivity, responsiveness, sincere generosity, but Vasily Andreevich did not want to see this.

The word "lesson" in the title of the story has two meanings. Firstly, this is a training hour dedicated to a separate subject, secondly, it is something instructive, from which a conclusion can be drawn for the future. It is the second meaning of this word that becomes decisive for understanding the intent of the story. The lessons of kindness and cordiality taught by Lidia Mikhailovna, the boy remembered for the rest of his life. Literary critic Semenova calls the act of Lydia Mikhailovna " higher pedagogy”, “the one that pierces the heart forever and shines with a pure, ingenuous light of a natural example, ... in front of which one is ashamed of all one’s adult deviations from oneself.”

The moral significance of Rasputin's story lies in the glorification of eternal values ​​- kindness and human love.