Уроки английкого ч. II

Which literature character you can identify yourself with? Why?

Twelve years ago, my senior friend and mentor asked me, "Have you read Victor Hugo's novel “Toilers of the Sea?" In this novel, the main character Gilliat saves a sinking ship alone and restores it, he has to fight a giant octopus alone. The owner of the rescued ship promised him the hand of his daughter, a young beauty, as a reward. She knows Gigliatte and once liked him. But while he was performing deeds Deryuchette fell in love with the young pastor, and when Gilliat returns disfigured from the heat and hard work, Deryuchette is frightened. He helps Deryushette escape on a yacht with the pastor without her father's knowledge. Gilliatt had two steps left to achieve his dream. But for the sake of his beloved, he ripped out his heart. My senior friend and mentor hinted to me that I could somehow repeat the fate of Gilliatt. I was sure that in my case everything would be different. But the friend was more experienced and was right. I was unable to change the plot of Victor Hugo.

What lessons did you learn from him/her?
The best lesson from literary heroes is taught by the master from Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita. He won a large sum of money in the lottery. But money for him is only a means, not an end. Money allowed him to be independent, allowed him to completely surrender to creativity. At the same time, he understands that Margarita entered his life not for his merits. She is a gift from above for him.

What would you change in the story?

In the finale of The Master and Margarita, Yeshua says about the master: “He did not deserve light, he deserved peace.” For Mikhail Bulgakov, exhausted in recent years by illness and criticism, peace was a coveted reward. But I believe that eternal rest for a creative person is a swamp. Eternal rest for the gray-haired pyramids. And for the star that fell and falls, there is only a moment, a dazzling moment.

How would you like the story to end?

There was one rare execution in ancient China. From the body of the condemned, they slowly cut out hundreds or thousands of cubes in stages. The writer Vladimir Nabokov believed that those students who read the novels of great writers in a brief retelling are similar to the ancient Chinese executioners. If the master lived in the twenty-first century, he would have undergone Chinese execution. But Vladimir Nabokov was mistaken in believing that a person is born only for pleasure. Suffering in a person's life is salt. A person who has not gone through trials is like unsalted porridge. And it is better to undergo a slow execution, but be alive. Better to have a fiery heart, even if you die thirsty.