The meaning of the title of the work of Bunin's figures. Bunin, analysis of the work of figures, plan. Mommy, give it! Mommy dear, what do you need?

Literature lesson in 7th grade.

Lesson topic: “The complexity of relationships between adults and children in the family.

Finding kindness and harmony."

Target: show the relationship between children and adults in I. Bunin’s story, based on knowledge of psychology.

Tasks:

Educational:

reveal the reasons for the conflict between uncle and nephew;

find ways out of a conflict situation using the example of the characters in the story;

characterize the characters.

Educational:

develop expressive reading skills;

develop the ability to analyze prose text;

develop coherent speech skills.

Educational:

cultivate a sense of humanism and compassion;

cultivate interest in the writer’s work;

cultivate a respectful attitude towards family and friends.

During the classes

1. Conversation with students

What does the word "conflict" mean?

How do you feel when you are in conflict with someone?

What is needed for conflict?

What happens when conflict goes wrong or is suppressed?

2. Teacher's word

Let's turn to I. Bunin's story and analyze the conflict situation of this story.

3. Reading the first lines of the story from the words “My dear, when you grow up, will you remember how one day”... to the words “but it was too big a fight.”

What is unusual about this beginning? What pronoun appears in each of his sentences? Why is there always “you” in a first-person story?

We are witnessing someone's explanation. An adult wants to explain something to you. With your help, he is trying to understand something that he did not understand before. Where did this thing begin that even years later haunts this nameless adult uncle?

4. Role-based reading of scenes from the second chapter.

Teacher: It turns out that acquaintance with numbers, so important for the boy, was postponed until tomorrow only because an adult did not want to do it.

Why does my uncle evaluate his action years later as a “great sin”?(it’s a sin to dismiss children; the boy sought to understand the world, but he was deprived of this joy).

How many of you are familiar with this situation? Who have adults ever brushed aside in difficult times? (discussion of the issue).

5. Write on the board

Scheme of conflict escalation.

1 . Disagreement.

2. Dissatisfaction.

3. Opposition.

4. Humiliation.

5. Depression.

6. Break.

6. Let's see how the conflict between uncle and nephew grows .

1) So, disagreement . How did it manifest itself?

Boy: “Show me the numbers.” Uncle: “I don’t want to now. Tomorrow".

– Why didn’t the uncle meet the boy halfway?(he doesn’t want to worry himself, but to justify his laziness, he refers to the wise rule: “It’s harmful to spoil children”).

2) The second stage of the conflict –discontent . What did it mean? Find and read lines in the text that talk about the behavior of the uncle and the boy.

Boy: “Well, okay, uncle,” you threatened boldly and cheerfully. “Remember this to yourself.” (Rumbling of chairs and distant screams) - Uncle does not pay attention to the noise.

3) The next stage of the conflict’s growth isopposition . Find the lines that reflect this stage.

Boy: “He started jumping up, kicking the floor, screaming.” Uncle: “Stop it!”

4) After opposition comes the stage of conflict -humiliation .

The uncle "grabbed the child by the hand and pushed him out of the room."

Now find in the text of the third chapter words that evaluate the behavior of an adult and the behavior of a boy.

Uncle: “jumped up in a rage,” “barked at the top of his lungs,” “pulled his hand,” “slapped him with pleasure,” “pushed him out of the room.”

Boy: “a soul overflowing with life,” “a ringing cry of divine joy,” “the Lord God himself would have smiled,” “he shouted in confusion.”

– What can be said about the behavior of an adult and a child based on these words?(the uncle humiliates his nephew, but he doesn’t seem to understand this).

But the story was not written to tell children how not to behave. The author’s goal is to give adults the opportunity to look at themselves from the outside.

5) Chapter in which it appearsaggression, fourth - the next stage of the conflict between uncle and nephew(The uncle becomes hysterical. The boy outwardly tries to remain calm.)

Do other adults sympathize with the boy? Find examples in the text. Why didn't they console him?(following the rules is more important to them than the impulses of their own heart).

6) Chapter five begins with the question: “And we immediately made peace?” - you ask.”

What does this phrase tell us?(the boy has already forgotten what happened in the evening).

Why did you forget? (he is not tormented by his conscience, he did not want harm to anyone, a child’s heart is easy-going).

What was the boy doing?(moving empty match boxes).

Why didn’t the child’s sobs or his tear-stained face touch his uncle? Did your heart sank at the sight of empty boxes?(the boxes are a symbol of the child’s helplessness and insecurity).

7) What lesson, according to the uncle, should the child learn from this quarrel?(any joy in life must be earned, and not begged for. You will not achieve anything from life by screaming, crying, or stomping).

Read the words from part six that confirm this idea.

7. Teacher's word

The conflict is ripe. Are there ways out of this situation? Let's turn to science.

A word from a psychologist who tells us ways out of the conflict. Discussion.

Tenderness

Humor

Compromise

Arbitration court

Analysis of your actions

Listening skills

Understanding

Agreement

Which way out did the boy choose? (“you have humbled yourself”). The boy became delicate. Now let’s work on the word “delicate.” What does it mean?

8. Working with a dictionary.

Delicate - polite, gentle in handling.

Does the boy's behavior meet this definition?

This quality is positive, will you take it for yourself?

Did the boy's uncle teach him to write numbers?

Did he himself learn any lesson from the boy?

What alphabet did the boy discover to his “very, very smart uncle”?(you need to respect not only adults, but also children).

9. Summing up the lesson.

What do you think the boy was guilty of?

What is uncle's fault?

Whose side is the author on in this conflict?

And you?

10. Homework: answer in writing the question “What did I.A.’s story teach me?” Bunin "Numbers?"

At the literature lesson we got acquainted with another story by Bunin Numbers for the 7th grade. It is easy and enjoyable to read, and raises the current topic of the relationship between adults and children. Having become familiar with the work, we can now briefly write down the information for the reader’s diary and his work Numbers by making.

Bunin's story Figures

Analyzing Bunin's story, I would like to say that this work is dedicated to the indomitable thirst for knowledge by a person who is just growing up and wants to know everything at once. It’s just that adults don’t understand this. It seems to them that these are just the machinations of children, which is why conflict situations arise. But how can you express yourself without hysterics, reach adults and attract attention? This is exactly what a hero does when he is denied such a simple thing as learning numbers.

The story itself is a description of one day. It consists of seven chapters, where we get acquainted with the heroes of the work.

Features of genre and narrative

If we talk about the genre, then this work is a psychological novel, which the author built on the presentation of individual moments of a quarrel. A story about an adult’s reluctance to meet a child, all because he’s lazy.

If we dwell in more detail on the features of the narrative, then this is a story that is told in the first person. On behalf of the adult hero, the same uncle who refused to allow his nephew to study numbers with him. This situation gave the hero the opportunity to look at himself from the outside and evaluate his actions. The uncle is still tormented by his conscience, he is worried, so he tries, under any pretext, to look into the room of the offended and punished child. But again, he does this with a serious face, without admitting his mistake. His pride did not allow him to make reconciliation, while the child turned out to be morally wiser. He was the first to ask for forgiveness for his behavior, after which his uncle showed the child how numbers were written and called. The child has long forgotten this story, but his uncle still remembers an incident where he was unable to correctly assess the situation.

Heroes of the story

The heroes of Bunin's story are the boy Zhenya and his uncle. The secondary characters are mother and grandmother.

Zhenya is an inquisitive child who is interested in everything. He wanted to study the numbers, but due to the laziness of the adults, he was refused. He can’t understand why he can’t work out with him, so he throws a tantrum. As a result, the child managed to forget the offense and apologize. The uncle nevertheless paid attention to the child, because he himself admitted his guilt and wrongness of actions, his cruelty towards his nephew.

Uncle is strict, reserved. Taking the child's sincere desire to study numbers as a whim, he refused him, forgetting his desires in childhood. And when he realized his mistake, he could not overcome his pride, and therefore did not take the first step towards reconciliation. But after the child’s apology, he grabbed the first opportunity and began to study the numbers with him with pleasure.

The quarrel between the characters brings us to the relationship between adults and children. Can people always understand each other? Can adults always understand children? Coming to mutual understanding can sometimes be very difficult, and children especially suffer from this. And adults can make unforgivable mistakes.

The author raises not only the problems of relationships between adults and children, but also philosophical problems about a person’s opposition to the generally accepted laws of life, which an adult who understands them can come to terms with, but a child cannot yet.

The story is narrated in the first person, more precisely, on behalf of the hero-narrator. It is important for the author to understand how the hero and his nephew feel and what thoughts they live.

“My dear, when you grow up, will you remember how one winter evening you walked out of the nursery into the dining room, stopped on the threshold - this was after one of our quarrels with you - and, lowering your eyes, made such a sad face?
I have to tell you: you are a big naughty person. When something captivates you, you don’t know how to resist. From early morning until late at night, you often haunt the whole house with your screaming and running around. But I don’t know anything more touching than you, when you, having enjoyed your riot, become quiet, wander around the rooms and, finally, come up and forlornly press yourself against my shoulder! If it happens after a quarrel, and if at that moment I say at least one kind word to you, then it is impossible to express what you do with my heart then! How impulsively you rush to kiss me, how tightly you wrap your arms around my neck, in an excess of that selfless devotion, that passionate tenderness of which only childhood is capable!”

But this time the quarrel between uncle and nephew was too strong.

“Having suffered through your grief, your heart returned with new passion to that cherished dream that so captivated you all that day. And in the evening, as soon as this dream took possession of you again, you forgot your resentment, your pride, and your firm decision to hate me all your life. You paused, gathered your strength, and suddenly, in a hurry and worry, you said to me:
- Uncle, forgive me... I won’t do it again... And please, still show me the numbers! Please!
Was it possible to delay the answer after that? But I still hesitated. You see, I’m a very, very smart uncle.”

It is surprising that the author describes his hero with such epithets: smart, reasonable, wise - this is how the narrator characterizes himself. But is this reality? Very often these words are spoken with irony. Is a smart and reasonable person the one who acts like everyone else? The second chapter allows us to see the beginning of the conflict.

“On this day you woke up with a new thought, with a new dream that captured your whole soul.
Unexpected joys have just opened up for you: having your own picture books, pencil case, colored pencils - definitely colored! - and learn to read, draw and write numbers. And all this at once, on one day, as soon as possible. Opening your eyes in the morning, you immediately called me into the nursery and bombarded me with fervent requests: to subscribe you to a children’s magazine as soon as possible, to buy books, pencils, paper, and to immediately start working on numbers...

But joy, mixed with impatience, excited you more and more. And so, when we - grandmother, mother and I - were sitting over tea in the evening, you found another outcome for your excitement.”

The boy does not agree to wait for his dream to come true, and this is an external conflict, but at the same time, an internal conflict appears in his uncle’s soul. The uncle, as expected, must wait his time, he acts as the rules require, and the child does not understand him. But my uncle continues to show his firmness. “My heart quietly told me that at this moment I was committing a great sin - I was depriving you of happiness, joy... But then a wise rule came to mind: it’s harmful, it’s not supposed to spoil children.” Thus, an internal conflict develops in the uncle’s soul. What should he do: as his heart dictates or as he should according to the rules?

In the third chapter we can follow the continuation of the conflict. “Not only did I not forget about you after your impudent cry, but I became completely cold from the sudden hatred of you. And I already had to make an effort to pretend that I didn’t notice you, and continue to play the role of a calm and reasonable one.” All the adults at this moment unite against the boy. They are all in pain, they are worried, but they endure this pause.

“From the pain, from the sharp and sudden insult that so rudely hit you in the heart in one of the most joyful moments of your childhood, you, flying out the door, rolled into such a terrible, such a piercing alto, which no singer in the world is capable of. And he froze for a long, long time... Then he took even more air into his lungs and raised the viola to an incredible height...
Then the pauses between the upper and lower notes began to shorten, and the screams flowed incessantly. Sobs were added to the screams, and cries for help were added to the sobs.”

“...I lit a cigarette without looking up at my grandmother. And grandmother’s lips and eyebrows suddenly began to tremble, and, turning to the window, she began to quickly, quickly pound the table with a teaspoon...

And the grandmother could hardly sit still.
Her heart yearned to go to the nursery, but, for the sake of me and my mother, she stood strong, looked from under her trembling eyebrows at the darkening street and quickly knocked on the table with her spoon.
Then you understood that we decided not to give up, that no one would quench your pain and resentment with kisses and pleas for forgiveness.”

The boy screams to the point of exhaustion; at this moment his condition is depicted not as a whim, but as real human grief. And adults understand that for a child, every moment of his life is the discovery of something new, and he experiences this moment much more acutely than adults. The child feels this resentment; it penetrates his heart much more strongly. But the conflict continues. Something forces the child to reconcile. Grandma hit where it hurt most.

“Who will buy him a pencil case, papers, a book with pictures now? What a penalty! Pencil case - back and forth. What about the numbers? After all, you can’t buy this for any money. However,” she added, “do as you please.” Sit here alone in the dark.
And she left the nursery.
It’s over - your pride was broken! You have been defeated."

“The more unrealizable the dream, the more captivating, the more captivating, the more unrealizable. I already know this.
From my earliest days I have been in her power. But I also know that the more dear my dream is to me, the less hope I have of achieving it. And I have been fighting it for a long time. I'm lying: I pretend that I'm indifferent. But what could you do?
Happiness, happiness!
You opened your eyes in the morning, filled with a thirst for happiness. And with childish gullibility, with an open heart, he rushed towards life: quickly, quickly!
But life answered:
- Be patient.
- Oh please! - you exclaimed passionately.
- Shut up, otherwise you won't get anything!
- Well, wait a minute! - you shouted angrily.
And he fell silent for a while.
But your heart was wild. You went into a rage, knocked down chairs with a crash, kicked the floor, screamed loudly from the joyful thirst that filled your heart... Then life, with all its might, hit you in the heart with a dull knife of resentment. And you burst into a mad cry of pain, a call for help.
But even here not a single muscle on the face of life flinched... Humble yourself, humble yourself!
And you have come to terms with it.”

In the next chapter, love and tenderness returns to the hero’s soul. The conflict has been overcome, and it has been overcome at the cost of childish humility.

“Do you remember how timidly you came out of the nursery and what you said to me?
- Uncle! - you told me, exhausted by the struggle for happiness and still craving it. “Uncle, forgive me.”

At the cost of children's generosity, purity and openness, the conflict between uncle and nephew is overcome.

“Well, God bless you! Bring a chair here to the table, give me pencils, paper...
And what joy your eyes shone!
How you worked! How afraid you were to anger me, how submissive, delicate, careful you tried to be in every move you made.” (Fig. 2.)

Rice. 2. Uncle and nephew ()

The uncle's perception of the nephew allows us to conclude that the uncle understands the boy very well and sees why the child behaves the way he does. He admires his joy, but very often his heart begins to be indignant when the child does not obey the orders of adults. The uncle is filled with acute pity for the boy, and he understands that the child is also capable of feeling insults. Now let's see how my uncle perceives himself.

“My heart quietly told me that I was committing a great sin at this moment - I was depriving you of happiness, joy... But then a wise rule came to mind: it’s harmful, it’s not supposed to spoil children...

It was unbearable for me too. I wanted to get up from my seat, open the door to the nursery and immediately, with one hot word, put an end to your suffering. But is this consistent with the rules of reasonable upbringing and with the dignity of a fair, albeit strict uncle?

All the time, my uncle behaves unnaturally and acts as he should. And here another conflict arises - the conflict between the heart and mind. In our case, reason wins, the uncle pauses, and the child is the first to reconcile. But it’s not for nothing that after many years the boy no longer remembers this incident, but this incident remained in his uncle’s soul. And now the heart wins, and, despite the passing of years, the uncle understands that he was wrong.

With his story, Ivan Bunin wants to say how important it is in life to understand each other and try not to offend. It is very easy to offend, but being the first to reconcile can be much more difficult. Let's return to the title of the story. Numbers are like a dream, numbers are a symbol of calculation (my uncle is smart, he knows numbers). But in life you don’t always have to be smart and follow the rules. Sometimes you need to listen to your heart.

Bibliography

1. Korovina V.Ya. Literature textbook for 7th grade. Part 1. - 20th ed. - M.: Education, 2012.
2. Vantenkov I.P. Bunin the narrator (Stories 1890-1916). / I.P. Vantenkov. - Minsk, 1974.
3. Kucherovsky N.M. I.A. Bunin and his prose (1887-1917) / N.M. Kucherovsky. - Tula, 1980.
4. Scientific library of dissertations and abstracts disserCat ().

1. Lit-helper.com ().
2. 5litra.ru ().
3. 900igr.net ().

Homework

• Answer the questions.

1. How did Zhenya behave after his uncle refused to show him the number? Support your words with quotes from the text of the story.
2. How did your uncle feel at the time of the quarrel with his nephew? Can his attitude towards Zhenya be considered cruel? Justify your answer.
3. What conclusion can be drawn about the boy’s character? What qualities did the author endow him with?
4. Why didn’t the adults take pity on the crying Zhenya? Is this fair, in your opinion?
5. What is the story of I.A. Bunin's "Figures"?

• Answer in writing the question: why is the story of I.A. Bunin is called “Numbers”?
• Write a description of one of the characters in the story.

The psychological subtleties of Ivan Bunin's work still interest the reader, although the realities about which he wrote have sunk into oblivion. The problem of the small landed nobility is no longer relevant, but the theme of a person’s growing up, which is the semantic center of the story “Numbers,” is still ineradicable.

Already in the second half of the 19th century, a tradition of addressing the theme of childhood developed in Russian literature. Leo Tolstoy, Sergei Aksakov, Maxim Gorky and others wrote about this wonderful time of life. To look at the world through the eyes of a child, to understand what he feels and experiences, what this small and not yet fully formed, but already quite original personality dreams of - all this interested and continues to interest writers. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin’s story “Numbers” is dedicated to the problem of childhood.

This work was written in 1906 and represents the confession of an adult, an uncle, to his nephew. Before the reader is a first-person story in three parts about one incident, or rather an incident, from those times when the little boy Zhenya was just learning to read, count and write, and his biggest dream was to quickly learn numbers.

Meaning of the name

Why was Bunin's story called "Numbers"? The dream of learning numbers completely captured the main character. The author puts it in the title of the story. However, this is more than just the whim of young Zhenya.

The name “numbers” is a symbol of a child’s dream, and at the same time it can be interpreted as a bone of discord, an object that puts an adult and a child on opposite sides of a conflict in which it is very difficult to find the right one.

The essence

The plot of the work centers on the conflict between an uncle and his nephew, the boy Zhenya. The child, full of energy to learn, asks him to show him the numbers, but the adult is too lazy to go to the city for pencils, and he refuses, constantly postponing the lesson.

Zhenya, so inflamed with a thirst for knowledge, cannot bear it and begins to behave too actively, which irritates his uncle. As a result, a major quarrel occurs, during which neither one nor the other wants to admit that they were wrong - and, meanwhile, it is characteristic of both of them - only the grandmother makes attempts to reconcile the “men”. In the end, she succeeds, and, having gone through this conflict, both the child and the adult, having learned a life lesson from it, sit down at the table and count.

Genre, direction, composition

The story consists of seven parts, in each of which the narrator is the uncle himself. He begins his story by addressing his wife with words about some quarrel that occurred between them in the past. Thus, the author immediately determines the subject that will be discussed. Using the “look into the past” technique, the writer forms a special perception of this story - edifying, instructive. At the same time, the narrator himself evaluates his actions and draws a moral conclusion from them.

Moreover, his speech is not just a statement of events, it is a living memory; The author’s language is light, dynamic and emotional, thanks to which we sincerely empathize with the characters and try to find an excuse for them in this quarrel.

The main characters and their characteristics

The central images are, of course, the narrator and his nephew. Their relationship drives the action and becomes the basis of the conflict of the work. Despite the fact that we see everything that is happening from my uncle’s side, his words are quite objective and contain a component of analysis.

A very touching and at the same time accurate description of Zhenya is given in the first part:

...You are a big naughty person. When something captivates you, you don’t know how to resist. From early morning until late at night, you often haunt the whole house with your screaming and running around. But I don’t know anything more touching than you, when you, having enjoyed your riot, become quiet, wander around the rooms and, finally, come up and forlornly press yourself against my shoulder!

Characteristics of Zhenya - an active, curious and very loving child, despite the fact that sometimes he is overwhelmed by whims. His uncle loves him very much, every time when strictness and inflexibility were required from him, as from an adult, he felt incredibly sorry for the child. However, the quarrel between the two of them is largely his fault, because he failed to show leniency and tenderness in time; Pride and stubbornness took over him. This is a characteristic of an uncle - an emotional and hot-tempered man, but sincerely attached to his nephew.

Also in the story are Zhenya’s mother and grandmother, who are also divided in their opinions: the mother is on the uncle’s side, and the grandmother is on Zhenya’s side. However, she does not scold those who quarreled, but tries to reconcile them. Grandmother, as an example of wisdom and balance, as an experienced person in life, understands the stupidity of this discord, and in the finale only she manages to establish peace between the main characters.

Themes

The theme of the story is the relationship between children and adults. For a child, everything around him is an unknown reality, it is curious and alluring, but for an adult this reality is no longer of such interest. The result is misunderstanding, which leads to conflict.

The author demonstrates a child's perception of the world to an adult reader in order to fill the gap of misunderstanding between members of the same family. Childhood is fleeting, it is easily forgotten, so it is very difficult for adults to realize and feel what the child is experiencing.

However, early life is the most crucial time when the foundation of personality is laid. His fate depends on whether the parents can understand their heir. An uncle must do his best to encourage his nephew’s curiosity, only in this way will he grow up to be an educated person. However, at the same time, one cannot indulge his whims, otherwise the entire educational effect of enlightenment will come to naught.

Problems

In his work, the author raises the problem of upbringing, relationships between adults and children, and the difference in their perception of the world around them. Also important are issues of children's curiosity and dreams, the desire to learn and develop, characteristic of every child, issues of human nature, which, through stubbornness and laziness, sometimes interferes with a reasonable solution to a problem.

The moral issues of the work directly point to the eternal vices of people of all ages: categoricalness, selfishness, optionality, etc. Over the years, an adult only aggravates children's shortcomings and competes with the child, succumbing to nervous excitement. Showing how willingly respectable gentlemen fall into childhood, the author draws attention to the fact that maturity is determined by the ability to manage oneself, and not by age.

Meaning

The main idea of ​​the story is that when communicating with children it is necessary to behave like an adult. The numbers in determining age do not mean anything, because over the years a person may not change. The uncle easily loses his temper, setting a bad example for the capricious pupil. He may wean off being capricious, but he will instill in the nascent personality even more negative traits such as stubbornness, hot temper and categoricalness.

The idea is that the uncle, under the influence of worldly wisdom from the lips of the grandmother, chooses the right path: he goes back and corrects his mistake, realizing the promise made long ago. Zhenya and his teacher calmly begin to study the numbers.

What does it teach?

The author makes us think about the need to remember and take into account this difference in experience, in relation to the world, because a child is a completely different creature, unlike adults, and requires a special approach. The conclusion is simple: you need to take a responsible approach to raising the younger generation, without setting a negative example.

Moreover, in a conflict it is impossible to clearly identify the right side, because in any conflict everyone has their own truth, but everyone is wrong to some extent, so you always need to be able to compromise and find it. This is the moral meaning of the story.

“Numbers” by I.A. Bunin

1) Features of the genre. Work by I.A. Bunin's "Numbers" belongs to the short story genre.

2) Features of the narration in the story. The story is narrated in the first person, on behalf of the uncle, who describes the incident and gives a moral assessment of his action. Having punished the boy, the uncle feels that he is wrong, so he “half an hour after you quieted down, looked into the nursery. And how? I walked up to the doors, put on a serious face and opened them with an air as if I had some business to do.” An adult is faced with a moral choice: admit his guilt and make peace with the child. But pride and the desire to maintain character did not allow the uncle to immediately establish relations with his nephew. The little hero of the story turned out to be morally wiser; he humbled himself, timidly left the nursery and asked his uncle for forgiveness: “Uncle, forgive me. And give me at least a drop of that happiness, the thirst for which so sweetly torments me.” Many years have passed, but it is the uncle who remembers that long-ago incident with all the details, since at that moment he could not correctly assess the situation.

From whom is the story narrated? (on behalf of uncle)

How does the narrator characterize the time of childhood? (it’s time for “selfless, that passionate tenderness”)

How, according to the uncle, does a child differ from an adult? (The child is incapable of dissembling, quickly forgets the insult, and strives to immediately fulfill his dream.)

3) Features of the plot of the work. The plot of the story by I.A. Bunin's "Numbers" is based on a description of a quarrel between a boy and his uncle, which occurred due to the boy's desire to find out the numbers as quickly as possible and the uncle's reluctance to show them on that particular day. Both heroes were faced with a choice: the nephew had to wait until tomorrow, and the uncle had to not be guided by the wise rule: “it’s harmful, you shouldn’t spoil children.” The spontaneity of a child’s nature led to the fact that the boy “came up with an excellent game: jumping up, kicking the floor with all his might and at the same time screaming so loudly that our eardrums almost burst.”

4) Characteristics of the characters in the story.

What was the boy's cherished dream? (see numbers)

What caused the quarrel between uncle and nephew? (The boy wanted to fulfill his wish as quickly as possible: to see the numbers, but his uncle decided to stay in character and show the numbers to his nephew the next day.)

What motivated the uncle when he decided not to show his nephew the numbers that day? (a wise rule: “it’s harmful, you shouldn’t spoil children”)

How did the boy behave when he learned about his uncle’s decision not to show the numbers that day? (the nephew began to play pranks)

Why did the uncle yell at his nephew, which made him angry? (the nephew impudently misspoke to his uncle)

Who is to blame for the quarrel between the boy and his uncle? (both uncle and nephew) Explain your point of view<

Whose side did mom and grandma take? (uncle) 11why?

How did the quarrel between the boy and his uncle end? (the boy humbled himself and asked his uncle for forgiveness)

Did your uncle forgive himself for this quarrel? Explain your point of view. (Uncle did not forgive himself, otherwise he would not remember the quarrel.)

5) Features of the author’s position in the story. The author tries to objectively assess the situation without blaming anyone. Everyone (both the boy and the uncle) is to blame for the quarrel in his own way, but an adult should be wiser and try to find a way out of this situation.

6) The meaning of the story's title. Story by I.A. Bunin is called “Numbers”, since numbers are the boy’s dream, the object over which there was a quarrel between his nephew and uncle.