Summary of the “Criticism” of Shukshin


In the beginning of the article I would like to say a few words about the author. Shukshin lived in Soviet Russia, was a screenwriter, director, actor. But first of all went down in history as a writer. What did he write about? About the village and the villagers. They are present in each of his stories. His works are not large, they describe only one episode of the life of the protagonist, but the passage is enough to reveal the character of a person and bring the idea to the stories before the reader.

But let’s go on to the brief content of Shukshin’s story “Critics”:

In the center of the story there is a grandson and grandfather. Grandchild 13 years old, Grandfather 73. Both of them loved to go to the movies. When they were sitting in the cinema, they were noisy, and after the movie they argued about the picture they saw. Usually it came to the point that the grandfather said that they say the way that they do not appear in movies and because

of this they condemn the whole film.

One day they watched a comedy in the cinema, it was not funny, and in this connection they came home angry. And there the parents of Petit (grandfather’s son and his wife), Aunt Petit and her husband are watching TV. First, the grandson and grandfather joined them, then the grandson left, and the grandfather began to criticize the actor from the film. He says that the hero of the film incorrectly holds the ax and that he does not look like a carpenter. The grandfather in the past carpenters and really knows this. Aunt Petty, however, protests to his grandfather that these details are not important, the role itself, in which the actor reincarnates, is more interesting. Grandfather argues that if such details are not important to him, then it is important for him that he can not be deceived. Father Petit tries to soften the words of his grandfather, but her aunt and her husband laughed at their grandfather. Father Petty sends his grandfather to help his grandson learn the lessons, and he chuckles at him, though cautiously.

The grandfather leaves, complains to Petka,

that he is considered a fool and does not understand anything in life. Petya tells him not to pay attention to them. But my grandfather does not calm down. He takes the money and goes to get drunk.

Comes back home, Petya wants to calm him, helps him undress, but his grandfather became heated, went into the room with the TV and threw a boot at him. They called the police, wrote a protocol. The policeman wrote down everything clumsily, and when asked Peti’s parents what kind of film they were watching at that time, they could not answer, they said that the film was about the collective farm and they watched it from the middle.

Petya looked at it all, not realizing what was happening. Then when the grandfather began to take him away, he understood everything and cried. My grandfather was carried away for a night in a sobering-up, the boy cried, and his mother and aunt calmed him down.

So, a little analyze. Who is to blame for the dispute? On the one hand, my grandfather, because he broke the TV because of a simple insult, and on the other. my grandfather was hot and angry with them. But let’s start in order.

Yes, indeed, life is different from “cine reality”. That’s why it’s a movie. But do not rush to draw conclusions, Petty’s parents and his relatives watched the film not from the beginning and did not know what it’s called! Just fascinated watching the picture, as sometimes watching grandmothers series: several times the same series can watch and every time it is for them almost a novelty. With a book, too, sometimes so, but it’s different, when you read it again, you already understand that you have already read this work.

But we moved away from the topic. His parents and relatives only laughed at his grandfather, and he worked more than he did when he was young. And we should have respect for the elders, he, for sure, and the house in which Petya’s parents live, he himself built. In addition, the films for the grandfather were a novelty (that is, they watch movies from the young, and then he started watching only in old age), so the attitude to the films and to the TV is also different. It turns out a conflict of generations. The younger generation laughs at the elders, although there is no fault of the old people: they just see all things in their own way, and we just do not approve of them and laugh at them.

So, what conclusion can be drawn from the book? Understand the older generation or at least respect it. The old people are used to their time when they were still young, and some still perceive the world as before, as if it did not change. Respect them, someday and we will become as stragglers from the era.


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Summary of the “Criticism” of Shukshin