"Gutta-percha boy": summary, reviews, main characters

The work "Gutta-percha boy" was written by the famous Russian writer Dmitry Grigorovich in 1883. It tells about the hard life of the round orphan Peti, given to training the circus acrobat Becker. "Gutta-percha boy" is the most famous story of Grigorovich. Her reading causes readers compassion and pity for the unfortunate child, who in his tiny life had to see only deprivation and cruelty.

A little about the creative life of the author

Grigorovich Dmitry Vasilievich (1822-1900) was born in the family of a Russian officer and a Frenchwoman. The first of his stories the writer published in literary almanacs. Real fame came to him after writing in 1846-1847 years of great stories "Village" and "Anton Goremyka."

Since the 60s of the XIX century in the writer's biography of Grigorovich there was a long lull. Over the next 20 years, he served as an active secretary in the Society for the Encouragement of Arts. Only in 1883 Grigorovich was able to return to his literary career. "Gutta-percha boy" and several other works are published during this period from under his pen. The tale of the unhappy little acrobat Petya was especially popular with the public. In many families in pre-revolutionary Russia, the book "Gutta-percha boy" was considered compulsory for reading by the younger generation.

The meaning of the book

Empathy, the ability to understand the need and grief of another person - this is what the reader learns the novel "Gutta-percha boy". The summary of the work gives a pretty good idea of the hard life of a poor eight-year-old child who was left in early childhood without a father and mother. In contrast, Petya Grigorovich displays images of children from a rich family (Faith, Zina and Paul). Against the background of their luxurious life, Petty's miserable existence looks even more miserable.

Getting to Edwards, Petya and Becker

From 7 small chapters is the story "Gutta-percha boy". The summary introduces readers to the main characters and events. First, the story takes place in a circus. The story begins with a description of Edwards - an elderly clown with a painted face, which is the main ornament of the performances. He stands out against the background of other circus artists with his sad look. Edwards periodically goes into drinking. The director of the circus is very concerned about the clown's craving for alcohol and asks him not to drink at least until the end of the Carnival, after all the fast will come and the circus will stop giving performances. Edwards does not answer him anything intelligible and leaves to change.

On the way to the dressing room Edwards looks into the room of Acrobat Becker - a rough and cruel giant, from whom no one heard a tender word. The clown is interested in the pupil of the circus - the slender boy Petya. He treats with pity the little artist who can hardly cope with the heavy physical exertions that the mentor gives him. Edwards asks Becker to let the boy go with him, trying to explain to him that after a short rest Petya gets strength and will be easier to work with, but the acrobat does not even want to hear about it. The tutor swings at a frightened and almost crying child with a whip and takes him to the training.

A sad story about an orphan boy

Particular attention to the first years of life Petya in his story Grigorovich. Gutta-percha boy was the son of cook Anna and a certain soldier. During the life of the mother, he often had to starve and suffer from it beatings. Petya remained an orphan when he was in his fifth year. In order for the boy not to die of hunger, the laundress Varvara (Anna's countrywoman) gave him to the education of acrobat Bekker. The circus was very cruel to the child. He forced him to perform the most difficult acrobatic stunts, which were not always within his power. Even if the boy fell during training from the pole and hit hard, the mentor did not regret it, and at times even beat. The only one who treated Pete well was Edwards. However, he could not protect the child from the arbitrariness of Becker.

Offspring of Counts of Leaflets

In the story "Gutta-percha boy" the main characters are not only Petya and other circus performers, but also the children of Count Listomirov. Eight-year-old Vera, her younger sister Zina and brother Pavel (Paf) grew up in luxury, and they were surrounded on all sides by caress. In recent days, Maslenitsa, as a reward for the good obedience of the children, was taken to a circus performance. Verochka learned from the poster that in one of the rooms the gutta-percha boy would perform and she was impatient to see him.

The last performance of Petya

And so, Becker and the gutta-percha boy appeared in the arena. A brief summary of what happened next makes even adults cry. Having climbed the pole high up, Petya makes several dangerous acrobatic stunts, from which the audience of the circus is delighted. The boy remains in the air to perform the last complex maneuver, and here he suddenly falls to the ground for all.

Circus quickly take away the weightless body of Petit and take him backstage. To distract the attention of the audience from what happened, clowns rushed out into the arena. They try to amuse the audience, but the upset audience leaves the circus. Through the noise issued by the crowd, one can hear Verochka's crying and desperate cry: "Ah, boy! The boy! "The girl can not calm down for a long time, even after she was brought home with her brother and sister.

And what about Peter? His broken ribs and broken breasts were wrapped in rags and then left on the mattress in a deserted circus. And only Edwards care about the poor child. He is the only one who stayed near the dying boy. The shocked clown again started drinking: near him stands an empty decanter of alcohol.

The next day in the playbill there was no longer a room with a small acrobat. And this is not surprising, because Petit by that time did not become alive. This ends the story "Gutta-percha boy". Its summary is not as colorful as the full version of Grigorovich's work. Anyone who is interested in this sad story, it is recommended to read it completely.

"Gutta Percha Boy": Readers' Comments

The story of a small acrobat Petya is familiar to many children of secondary school age. It is very interesting to learn about what readers think about the work "Gutta-percha boy". Reviews about the story of children and adults are very sad: everyone sincerely feels sorry for Petya, worry about the fact that fate has turned out to be so unfriendly to him. Occasionally you can hear the thought that this book is not worth reading in childhood, because it catches up on the child anguish and depression. Each reader has his own opinion about the work, but one can not but agree that acquaintance with such books allows to cultivate in a person such an important quality as compassion for one's neighbor.