"Scarlet Sails" main characters. “Scarlet Sails” characteristics of Assol Speech characteristics of Assol

Composition

Perhaps, no less than Gray, Assol inspires faith in success and brings the glow of good luck. Two people coexisted in Gray's soul. And in Assol’s soul there lived two Assols, “mixed in a wonderful, beautiful irregularity.” One was the daughter of a sailor, an artisan, who knew how to make toys, diligently sew, cook, and wash floors. The other, the one that Green called a living poem “with all the wonders of its consonances and images,” was itself the embodiment of poetry. Trembling and worrying, Assol lived in anticipation of a miracle. And in this reciprocity of shadows and light, in this beautiful irregularity, like Gray, there was a correctness of its own, there was a high art inherent in both of them to transform the world, with inspiration to make many amazing discoveries “ethereal-subtle”, “inexpressible”, “but important, like cleanliness and warmth.”

Everything that Assol saw around her, everything that she lived with, became “a lace of secrets in the image of everyday life.” The very sound of her name, as strange and unusual to the ear as the tender name Suok in “Three Fat Men,” foreshadowed a meeting with a creature unlike the others. Aigle, for example, likes that the name is so strange, so monotonous, musical, like the whistle of an arrow or the noise of a sea shell. “What would I do,” he says thoughtfully to Assol, “if you were called one of those euphonious, but unbearably familiar names that are alien to the Beautiful Unknown? Moreover, I don’t want to know who you are, who your parents are and how you live. Why break the spell?

What is the source of Assol's charm? Greene is not going to ask us any riddles about this. There is so much purity, spontaneity, naturalness in her soul, such a readiness to see the world with eyes in which nothing adult remains - the big eyes of a child, that together with her we are imbued with the expectation of the Beautiful Unknown. Assol enthusiastically promises his friend, the coal miner Philip, that one day, when Philip fills his basket with coal, it will turn into a fragrant bush. And Philip really begins to imagine that buds are creeping out of the old twigs and leaves are splashing across the basket. Trembling and worrying, Assol goes to the seashore, intensely looking for a white ship with a scarlet sail on the horizon. And we, too, not believing that we believe, are waiting for his appearance.

“These minutes were happiness for her,” Green wrote about his heroine, “it’s difficult for us to escape into a fairy tale, it would be no less difficult for her to get out of her power and charm.” And what a triumph over the prosaic, rough, one-dimensional, flat and philistine idea of ​​life, devoid of any flight of fancy, does the author of the book experience together with his heroes, when, in front of the shocked residents of Kaperna, a ship suddenly appears with the very sails whose name is still for a time it sounded like mockery.

The heroine of “Scarlet Sails” at one time seemed to some critics of the book to be a character, although poetic, but passive and inactive. This reproach was addressed to Green more than once. Is he really that fair? Gray was given the strength, opportunity, and desire to make Assol’s dream come true. But let us remember that it was none other than Assol who inspired Gray to do his act! Assol helped Gray understand one simple truth. Understand and have faith in it: you need to do so-called miracles with your own hands. And maybe that’s why Gray didn’t want anyone else but Assol.

Here, it turns out, how in Green’s extravaganza, fate, will and character traits are ultimately happily, almost fabulously, and at the same time irreversibly, inevitably intertwined. The meeting of the storyteller Egle with Assol determines the purpose of her existence. The painting depicting a ship rising on the crest of a sea wall, which Gray loved to look at for a long time as a child, became for him “that necessary word in the conversation of the soul with life, without which it would be difficult for him to understand himself.” A huge sea gradually settled inside the little boy. He got along with it...

But isn't that fleeting vision of a miniature boat that Greene once saw in a toy store window somewhere in the same category? This insignificant impression turned out to be very necessary and very important for the writer.

Other works on this work

The story for true romantics “Scarlet Sails” was originally called “Extravaganza”. He began making sketches for a literary work back in 1916, while working on “Running on the Waves.” The book was published in 1923 with a dedication to the writer's wife. At the center of the story is the story of a young girl, Assol, whose life is filled with dreams and fantasies. Living in the real world, the heroine dreams of a fairy tale that is destined to come true one day.

Young Assol is a lyrical and poetic image. This is a sophisticated girl, persistent and strong in spirit, like the main heroines of Russian dramatic works. When working on any work, the author puts a part of himself into the characters he describes. The image of Assol is woven from features characteristic of Green. Grinevsky (the writer's real name) dreamed of becoming a sailor and going on a long voyage. The romanticism in his soul collided with the harsh everyday life, so instead of getting on a ship, Alexander became a coaster worker.

Faced with the rudeness of professional sailors, Green gained skepticism, which connects him with the sailor Longren, Assol’s father. The talented writer was not handsome, his naval career did not work out, and fate was not kind. “Scarlet Sails” combines the symbolism of Alexander Green’s life’s ups and downs, his hopes and dreams, coupled with the hardships of reality.

History of creation

Assol's characterization echoes the worldview and ideals of the author. It was difficult for him, like the lovely girl, to exist in a world where there is no place for a fairy tale. Grinevsky describes the main character of the story just enough to give the reader an idea of ​​her. Hope is the main feature that symbolizes her mental structure. The character is described vaguely, and readers tend to independently ennoble the girl through imagination.

The heroine lives in the coastal town of Kaperna. As a child, Assol was not the life of the party; her peers did not accept her because of her father’s bad reputation. Having survived this, she learned to be self-sufficient and not pay attention to grievances. Having invented his own world, where dreams can be fulfilled, Assol waits for instructions from fate in order to enjoy life and love someone other than his father and the surrounding nature.

The characterization of the heroine's appearance has become a secondary nuance of the story, but the description is present in the narrative. The heroine wears her thick dark brown hair in a headscarf and wears a simple dress with a pink flower. The girl has a pleasant, gentle smile and a sad gaze. A thin, fragile figure does not stop Assol from working.

The modest dreamer was left without a mother early. She lives with her father, a former sailor, and they sell wooden toys to support themselves. Despite the crazy love of her parent, Assol is lonely. One day she learns about a prediction that says that a prince will come to her on a beautiful ship and take the girl with him. The stranger’s words were enough for gullible Assol to believe in the legend. Her faith was not based on frivolity, but on the desire to change her life. Steadfastly enduring the ridicule of others, the dreamer was true to her dream, and it came true.

Plot

The main line in the work is the story of Assol. She lives in a small village with an unsociable and withdrawn father. Fellow villagers do not like their family because of the accident in which Longren was involved. During the storm, he witnessed the death of the innkeeper Menners, but did not save his fellow countryman, remembering that in a similar situation no one came to the aid of his wife.

In fact, the wife of the former sailor died because of his callousness and stinginess, which became the reason for hatred of the family on the part of ill-wishers. One day a girl went to the city to sell crafts, among which was a boat with scarlet sails. Assol let him go along the stream, and the toy got lost. The ship was found by the storyteller Egle. He predicted to the girl that when she grew up, Assol would be taken from her native land by a prince who sailed on a ship with scarlet sails.

Arthur Gray, from a wealthy family, had a passion for adventure and sailing. One day, after setting off on a ship, he went out on a boat to go fishing. After spending the night on the shore, in the morning Gray saw Assol sleeping. Amazed by her beauty, he left his ring on the girl’s hand. In a nearby tavern, Arthur learned the girl’s story, embellished by local legends. Without listening to gossip, convinced of the nobility of Assol’s dreams, Gray bought scarlet silk in a shop and ordered sails to be sewn. The next day, the ship that Assol saw in her dreams approached the Kaperna pier. Gray took her to a distant country, as the storyteller predicted.

• Alexander Grinevsky, dreaming of the sea, made it a symbol of hope and the realization of dreams not of the girl’s faith in the prince’s arrival, but of the ship. An allusion to the author's unfulfilled hopes, the scarlet sails became a sign that if dreams did not come true, this does not mean that they were impossible. Assol was not waiting for Gray. She was waiting for the ship, into which she invested faith, accumulated over years of loneliness and misunderstanding.

• Perhaps the hidden symbolism of the work made it a favorite book of communists who firmly believe in the dream and are confident in its achievement. The romantic background in the perception of readers and the author’s presentation fades into the background.
• It is noteworthy that even the magical name Assol appeared by chance. According to rumors, Green was buying tomato juice at the store and asked: “What about salt?” – I heard a combination of sounds that inspired the writer to create a name for the main character of the work.

• Musicals and plays based on the story have been staged more than once. It was filmed by director Alexander Ptushko in 1961. The actress became the creator of the main female image. The young man embodied Arthur Gray in the frame.
• Pictures from the book “Scarlet Sails” still inspire artists to create graphic images, mosaics, sculptures and other objects in various techniques. The main character embodied by the artists is the girl Assol, and the subject is a ship with scarlet sails.

Quotes

Alexander Green's work is full of morality contained in the monologues and remarks of the main characters. Notable quotes from the story “Scarlet Sails” have become catchphrases.

“Now children do not play, but study. They all study and study and will never begin to live.”

These words remain relevant today. They characterize not children, but adults who begin to live as is typical for their age and forget about their dreams.

"Miracles are made with your own hands."

The replica hints that you should not live in anticipation, while decisive actions will quickly lead to the desired result. Perhaps Green was guided by these words when he hired himself to work on the ship and dreamed of steering the ship.

“We love fairy tales, but we don’t believe in them.”

Assol was a dreamer, and her fantasies came true. This happened thanks to unwavering faith and fortitude. Sometimes faith allows circumstances to develop as desired.

“The sea and love do not like pedants”

This is what the romantic Green wrote, comparing two wayward elements. When dealing with them, the little things that pedants value are not important. Dreamers and people who feel the ability to create their destiny according to their dreams get what they are looking for.

Alexander Green created Scarlet Sails in those years when the world order around him was collapsing. He wrote a fairy tale about a poor girl, offended by everyone and seemingly homeless, when he himself was almost poor and hungry.

The writer took the notebook with the manuscript of this book with him to the front when he, a thirty-nine-year-old, sick, exhausted man, was called up to fight the White Poles (1919). He carried the treasured notebook with him to hospitals and typhoid barracks. And despite everything, he believed that “Scarlet Sails” would take place. The story itself is permeated with this faith.

Her idea was born back in 1916, seemingly by accident. From a childhood dream (the sea) and a random impression (a toy boat with a sail seen in a store window), Greene gave birth to the main images of the story, which he called “an extravaganza.” This is what is usually called a theatrical performance with a fairy tale content. But “Scarlet Sails” is not a play or a fairy tale, but the real truth. After all, villages like Kaperna are not at all uncommon. The heroes of the story are not like those in fairy tales, even those like Egle, only little Assol could mistake him for a wizard. And yet, despite the realism of the characters and paintings, “Scarlet Sails” is an extravaganza.

The image of Assol in the story “Scarlet Sails”

The main characters are Assol and Gray. First, the author introduces Assol. The unusual nature of the girl is indicated by her name - Assol. It has no "literal meaning". But “it’s good that it’s so strange,” Egle will say.

Assol’s “strangeness” is not only in his name, but also in his words and behavior. This is especially noticeable against the background of the inhabitants of Kaperna. They lived an ordinary life - traded, fished, transported coal, slandered, drank. But, as Egle noted, they “tell no tales... do not sing songs.” “Scarlet Sails” were mentioned by them only as a “mockery” of the one who believed in them. And when they saw real scarlet sails, they looked at them “with nervous and gloomy anxiety, with evil fear,” “the dumbfounded women flashed like a snake hiss,” and “poison crept into their heads.” It is noteworthy that not only adults became embittered, but also children... This means that anger and cruelty are not traits of individual people, but a disease that affects everyone, regardless of age.

Assol was completely different... She is a stranger in Kapern. The girl could go at night to the seashore, “where... she looked out for a ship with scarlet sails.” In nature she felt like she belonged.

And it was also filled with love. “I would love him,” said little Assol to Eglu, who predicted scarlet sails and a prince for her. She loves her father and consoles him with her feelings. Love separated her from the inhabitants of Kaperna, united by anger and poverty of soul.

The image of Gray in the story “Scarlet Sails”

Gray's story also begins in childhood. His surroundings are his parents and ancestors, who are present, however, only in portraits. Gray was supposed to live according to a “pre-drawn plan.” The logic and course of his life were predetermined by his family. Actually, like Assol’s life. The only difference was that he was ordered to flourish, and she was to vegetate in an atmosphere of rejection and even hatred of the people around her. But the life program drawn up for Gray failed very early. It did not take into account his lively and independent character.

It all started with the fact that Gray wanted to choose the role of “knight”, “seeker” and “miracle worker” in life. In childhood, this role manifested itself in a childish way. Gray covered up the nails in the painting of the crucified Christ. Then, in order to feel the pain of the maid who had scalded her hand, he scalded his own hand. He slipped her his piggy bank, supposedly from Robin Hood, so that she could get married. The picture on the library wall and his rich imagination helped Gray decide on his future. He decided that he should become a captain. Green gave Gray his dream.

Thus, both Assol and Gray saw their future in childhood. Only Assol simply waited patiently, and Gray immediately began to act. At the age of fifteen, he secretly leaves home and enters the unknown life of a sailor. The contrast between domestic and sea life is striking. There is the mother’s love, indulgence in all his quirks, and here there is rudeness and physical activity. But Gray “silently endured ridicule, mockery and inevitable abuse until he became captain.”

This hero is a subtle nature. He is able to understand the signs of fate. When he first saw sleeping Assol, “everything moved, everything smiled in him.” And he put the ring on the finger of the sleeping Assol.

After hearing her story, Gray already knew what he would do. Greene describes in great detail how he selects the silk for his sails to show how important what he is about to do is to him.

Why did Assol and Gray, so distant from each other both by distance and position, still manage to meet? Fate? Yes, definitely. And Gray admits this: “How closely fate, will and character traits are intertwined here.” He put “Fate” first. But there are patterns in their history. All Gray’s actions after he learned about the prediction for Assol are absolutely in character: “I understood one simple truth. It’s about doing so-called miracles with your own hands.”

Of course, A. Green embellished life. He showed what he would like to see in her, and not what is. But his tale supports our faith in miracles that happen in life. And already for many people.

Scarlet sails are a symbol of hope, with which it all began...

Main features of the story “Scarlet Sails”:

• genre: extravaganza story;
• plot: prediction and its fulfillment;
• contrast of “worlds”: the “brilliant world” of Assol and Gray and the everyday world of Kaperna and the sailors;
• the ideal hero at the center of the story;
• presence of symbols;
• the concept of a “miracle” created with one’s own hands;
• the meeting of two spiritually close people as the semantic center of the extravaganza.

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“Scarlet Sails” by Alexander Green captivates the reader not only with its romantic and fairy-tale plot, but also with its main characters. The image of Assol in the story embodies a bright faith in dreams and fairy tales, kindness and tenderness, meekness and love.

Childhood Assol

Assol was born into the family of a sailor Longren. The girl's mother died when she was not even a year old. Assol was raised by his father. The girl helped him in everything, was obedient and kind, and learned everything quickly. A characterization of Assol from the work “Scarlet Sails” is impossible without mentioning some moments of her life in Kapern.

In her early childhood, the heroine suffered because other children, on the instructions of their parents, were afraid of her and did not play with her, because they considered the girl’s father a murderer. Soon, having cried a sea of ​​​​tears and overcome resentment, the girl learned to play herself, living in her mysterious world of fantasy and dreams. In her own world, completely different from reality, Assol did not lose the ability to rejoice and love. Her love and kindness extend to nature and the only person, besides her father, who understands her in Caperne - the coal miner Philip.

The girl is kind, she does not remember the insults and malice with which the inhabitants of Kaperna shower her, she is smart and hardworking, never despairs, and also knows how to truly dream - this is the characteristic of Assol from “Scarlet Sails”.

Meeting with a storyteller

Assol often helped her father; she took toys to the city for sale and bought the necessary products. One day, while walking through the forest, the girl met an old collector of legends, Egl, who told her about how a ship with scarlet sails would sail to Kaperna and take her away from here forever.

“One morning a scarlet sail will sparkle in the distance of the sea... Then you will see a brave and handsome prince; he will stand and stretch out his hands to you.” So said the old storyteller, and Assol began to wait for the scarlet sails, believing the prediction with all her heart. Old Longren decided not to deprive the girl of such a gift, thinking that she would grow up and forget about this strange meeting in the forest.

Dream and Kaperna

Unfortunately, Assol lives in a very mundane place. It is very difficult for her here, because both she and those around her are aware of her alienation and peculiarity.

“But you don’t tell fairy tales... don’t sing songs. And if they tell and sing, then these are stories about cunning men and soldiers, dirty as unwashed feet... quatrains.” - this is what Aigle says about Caperne.

It would seem that in such a place it is impossible for Assol’s fragile dream to survive, but the girl carefully carries it through dirty ridicule and insults. And it doesn’t matter that she is considered crazy and is evilly called “the ship’s Assol”; Gray only needs one look at her to understand that all the stories are vile fiction.

The characteristics of Assol and Gray are completely different from the characteristics of the inhabitants of the town, both of them are from a completely different world. There is no place for them in Kaperna.

Scarlet Sails

Little Assol, like an insanely expensive toy, keeps the prediction of an old collector of legends. And even though they laugh at her and consider her crazy, the girl does not despair.

When Assol wakes up one day with Gray's ring on her finger, she realizes that her Scarlet Sails are already on their way.

The main idea of ​​the work is that you need to be able to dream, not forget and not betray your dream, and then it will definitely come true. The description of Assol from the story “Scarlet Sails” confirms this.

Work test

Important! At the age of 17-20, when she meets Captain Gray, Assol has turned into an attractive short girl with thick brown hair and delicate features.

Rice. 1. Illustrations for the extravaganza story “Scarlet Sails”. Nonna Aleshina

Assol family

Important! Longren (Assol's father) was a cruel and callous man, but still he gives up his fishing business and remains in the village to raise Assol.

Rice. 2. Illustrations for the extravaganza story “Scarlet Sails”. Nonna Aleshina

The character of Assol in “Scarlet Sails”

Important! In search of warmth, the girl gets closer to the surrounding nature - she talks to trees and bushes. Her own world of illusions helped Assol maintain the ability to love and rejoice.

Important! As a child, the song collector Egle tells her the story of the scarlet sails, in which it is said that one day a ship with scarlet sails will end up in Kapern and will take her away from here forever. This dream conquers Assol's heart. She believes in it with all her soul and does not give up on it even under the weight of ridicule from her neighbors. The girl constantly sits on the shore and waits for her ship.

Rice. 3. Illustrations for the extravaganza story “Scarlet Sails”. Nonna Aleshina One day she woke up with a ring on her finger, which Gray had carefully put on her as she slept, and realized that the legend would soon become a reality. After several days, a ship with the noble Captain Gray appeared on the horizon, who made her dream come true. Wild stories are told about Assol in the village, but one glance was enough for the lover to understand that this was a lie. Assol in the story “Scarlet Sails” is sharply contrasted with the inhabitants of his village. She is the embodiment of kindness and humility, romance and dreaminess. Alexander Green created a portrait that subsequently inspired many writers, artists, musicians and ordinary people who were shown that dreams can come true. We recommend watching an interesting video about the story “Scarlet Sails”.