Alexander Grin is known for several works. But it will not be an exaggeration to say that for many it is associated with the work "Scarlet Sails". Almost all the works of the authors can be attributed to a particular genre. "Scarlet Sails" is called both a story, and extravaganza, and a fairy tale, and a story. And this is fair. When I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down, I was so fascinated by its plot. The book covers only a few actors, but how bright they are in character!
On the one hand, each person is the blacksmith of his own happiness. But on the other hand, much is still predetermined from above. For both points of view, there is a lot of evidence both in literature and in life. The "scarlet sails" that adorn the sailboat accompany the entire storyline.
Already at the very beginning of the extravaganza main character Sailor Longren gave his daughter Assol a small boat with scarlet sails. Unfortunately, this was preceded by many tragic events: the early death of her mother, and slander, and the difficult existence of this poor family. The whole village took up arms against them because he did not help his fellow villager when he was on the high seas. Few people were interested that this was done out of revenge, since he, at one time, did not help his wife.
The title of the story is not accidental. The author emphasizes that wind is necessary for the movement of sails, just as forces are necessary for life. To achieve the goal, dreams need to make a lot of effort. For Assol, her dream came true, despite the fact that many in the village considered the girl crazy. The story shows that if you believe in a better future, strive for it with all your might, then it will definitely come. Red became for Assol a symbol of love, joy, and white - the personification of hope and a brighter future.
The fairy tale "Scarlet Sails" is the brightest, life-affirming work of the famous Russian writer A. S. Green. The idea of the story arose from the author on the basis of the real story about red sails known to him, which, according to him, he followed with enthusiasm. As the writer himself admitted, he “was captivated by the idea of intervening in this story, so that it would end as if written by me, and then, then I would describe it ...”.
Confidence in the need to create such a work was strengthened when one day, passing by showcases with toys, Green saw a beautiful ship there, which stood out against the background of other objects with its sails, which seemed bright red under the rays of sunlight. The story was not created immediately. The author postponed his book for a while, as he thought over for a long time "unusual circumstances in which something decisive had to happen", arising from "some long-term misfortune or expectation, resolved by a ship with red sails." But over time, all the circumstances were thought out, and real story turned into a wonderful fairy tale, affirming the power of pure love and faith in a dream.
According to the original plan of A. S. Green, the action was to take place during the revolution in cold and hungry Petrograd. And he called his story "Red Sails": after all, red is a traditional symbol of revolution. But later, reality and fantasy changed places, the action was transferred to the invented Caperna (a name consonant with the New Testament Capernaum), symbolizing human emptiness, stupidity and lack of spirituality. The author came up with ports and seas and put a NEW meaning into his work. Now it was called "Scarlet Sails", the writer excluded from it the political meaning of red. Instead, scarlet appeared - "the color of wine, roses, dawn, ruby, healthy lips, blood and small tangerines, the skin of which smells so seductively of pungent volatile oil, this color - in its many shades - is always cheerful and accurate." As you can see, A. Green's favorite color was not chosen by chance: “False or vague interpretations will not stick to him. The feeling of joy it evokes is like a full breath in the midst of a lush garden.”
The very name of the story "Scarlet Sails", thus, has become deeply symbolic. The first thing we imagine when we hear it is the approach, the announcement of something joyful, magical, beautiful. We begin to firmly believe in this magic, in this inevitable happiness. And the plot of the work with each page convinces us more and more of the truth of this faith. We see that everything fabulous, lofty, beautiful, bright, everything that sometimes seems unrealizable, “essentially is just as feasible and possible as a country walk.” Realizing this, Green himself wrote: “I understood one truth. It is to do miracles with your own hands...” Having decorated reality with his fantasies, bringing it closer to a fairy tale, the author, nevertheless, left it extraordinarily real, thereby urging readers to always believe in Scarlet Sails.
And readers believed: scarlet sails became a symbol, an anthem of the generation of the 60-70s of the XX century. On long voyages, near forest fires, in geologists' tents, in student groups, they composed and sang songs with familiar names and names of cities. Today's readers also believe, because, having become acquainted with this work and its heroes, it is impossible not to be imbued with bright and good hopes.
Thus, having created his story and giving it such a bright name, Alexander Grin created an undying symbol that lives in the minds of people and will probably continue to live for many more centuries. Because, no matter how the world changes, people are so arranged that they must believe in a dream - bright, pure, beautiful - believe that, no matter how unrealistic their desires may seem, they will certainly come true. “You write in such a way that everything is visible,” said M. Slonimsky, to whom A. S. Grin was the first to read his story. And indeed, in the work everything is so obvious and real that we see, feel, feel everything that happens to its heroine. Perhaps that is why every girl is waiting for her handsome prince, who will certainly sail for her on a ship with scarlet sails. And on this ship her true happiness will sail to her. Of course, the ship, the sails, and the prince are figurative symbols. Perhaps the handsome prince is walking down the street next to us - it is only important that we meet him so that he sees us. And loved. And he wanted, like Gray, to fulfill our dream.
In the minds of many people who are not even familiar with the work of A. Green, the phrase “scarlet sails” is strongly associated with the concept of “dream”. But another question arises: what is a dream in the understanding of the writer himself and the main characters of his work? And why did scarlet sails become a kind of dream symbol?
When scarlet sails are first mentioned in the story, they are scarlet sails on a toy racing yacht. These scarlet sails were made from scraps of silk, "used by Longren for pasting steamboats
cabins - toys of a rich buyer. At that moment, our heroine Assol was holding a small boat in her hand. How did the yacht end up in her hands? The fact is that the girl grew up with her father, who makes a living by making toys. The girl's mother died early from pneumonia. Involved in her death was the innkeeper, a wealthy man Menners. He refused to lend money to a woman in a desperate situation.
Mary was forced to go into the city in cold windy weather to pawn a ring for next to nothing. When Mary returned, she fell ill and died. Longren took upon himself the upbringing of his daughter: “he also did all the housework himself and went through the complicated art of raising a girl, unusual for a man.” Longren soon committed an act, the consequences of which were very sad.
During a storm, the merchant Menners was in mortal danger, but Longren did not help his offender. After this incident, the neighbors began to be unfriendly towards the father and daughter. Assol grew up without friends, all alone, in her own world of dreams and fantasies, which soon took on a real shape.
The moment when for the first time a yacht with scarlet sails was in the hands of Assol became perhaps the most important in all children's life. The girl was delighted, admiring the white boat with scarlet sails. But her delight was not limited to contemplation: Assol decided to subject the toy to a small test. By chance, the yacht, like a real one, floated downstream. Trying to catch up with a fast yacht, the girl met a real wizard on the way. In fact, the wizard was the famous collector of songs and legends, Egle. Egle, noticing in the face of the girl "an involuntary expectation of a beautiful, blessed fate", decided to tell a fairy tale. Naturally, his imagination could not miss such an important detail as scarlet sails. Therefore, the prince in Aigle's tale appears not on a white horse, but on a white ship with scarlet sails.
Longren did not try to refute the wizard's interesting prediction. The wise father decided not to take away “such a toy”: “And about scarlet sails, think like me: you will have scarlet sails.” As you can see, many unfavorable and favorable circumstances served to ensure that in Assol's heart a strong, unshakable place was taken by the dream of a happy future and fiery love, which, under scarlet sails, was to break into her gray life.
In Assol, the daughter of a sailor, a craftsman and a “living poem with all the wonders of its consonances and images, with the secret of the neighborhood of words, in all the reciprocity of their shadows and light” were mixed “in wonderful beautiful irregularity”. And this second Assol, who “beyond the general phenomena saw the reflected meaning of a different order,” could not get out of the power of the fairy tale. Assol seriously looked out for a ship with scarlet sails in the sea.
If Assol lived comfortably in her fantasy, then Arthur Gray was accustomed from childhood to violate the generally accepted canons, which somehow fettered his freedom. Did he dream of anything? Just as Assol was inspired to grow a dream in his heart by the narrator Egl, so Arthur Gray was inspired by the fruit of human creativity - a painting depicting a ship rising to the crest of a sea rampart. Above the vast sea, the darkness of the abyss towered the figure of the captain. In Arthur's mind, the captain was the destiny, soul and mind of the ship. The dream forced Arthur to leave home at the age of fifteen and plunge into the world of adult games. And in this world from the dreams of a boy, the young man had to work hard, but he achieved his goal.
The meeting of Assol and Arthur was as if predetermined by fate. They each in their own way anticipated unusual changes in their lives. Gray saw a sleeping young girl. In the midst of the riot of nature, Arthur "saw her differently." He saw her not so much with his eyes as with his heart. And from that moment on, Arthur began to act at the prompting of his heart. Leaving an expensive family ring on the girl's little finger, he tries to find out everything about the beautiful vision. And when he heard the collier's story about a wonderful girl, about an empty basket that bloomed in an instant, he realized that his heart did not deceive him: “Now he acted decisively and calmly, knowing to the smallest detail everything that lay ahead on the wonderful path.”
Arthur was especially careful in choosing the fabric for the sails. And his choice fell on the color “completely pure, like a scarlet morning stream, full of noble fun and royalty ... There were no mixed shades of fire, poppy petals, play of violet or lilac hints in it; there was also no blue, no shadow, nothing to be doubted. He glowed like a smile with the beauty of a spiritual reflection.”
This is the color Arthur Gray chose, the color is completely pure, unquestionable and reflecting the spiritual principle - just as pure, not questionable is a dream. Only for some, a dream becomes an object of passionate desires, while for others, such as Arthur Gray, it becomes a powerful source of energy for transformation and improvement.
Arthur fell in love with Assol and, quite possibly, could achieve her favor in a different, simpler and uncomplicated way. But the inner need for a miracle, the rejection of the ordinary world with established patterns of behavior, move Arthur. And if for someone a miracle is a smile, fun, forgiveness, a word spoken in time, then for Green's heroes this miracle will remain “forever in the scarlet luster of sails created by the depth of the heart that knows what love is.”
Equally, scarlet sails are both a symbol of a dream that comes true, that gives happiness, sitting “in the soul like a fluffy kitten”, and a symbol of love that can work miracles.
Glossary:
- analysis of the work Scarlet Sails
- what names of the ships are mentioned in the story and green's scarlet sails
- what names of the ships are mentioned in Green's story scarlet sails
– green scarlet sails analysis of the work
- the meaning of the name scarlet sails
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