“Tsar-fish” Astaf’ev in brief summary
Ignatich is the protagonist of the novel. This fellow is respected by fellow villagers for being always happy to help with advice and deed, for skill in fishing, for intelligence and sharpness. This is the most prosperous person in the village, everything does “okay” and is reasonable. Often he helps people, but in his actions there is no sincerity. The hero of the novella does not develop a good relationship with his brother.
In the village Ignatich is known as the most successful and skillful fisherman. It is felt that he has in abundance a fishing instinct, an experience of his ancestors and his own, acquired for many years. Ignatich often uses his skills to the detriment of nature and people, because he is engaged in poaching. Destroying the fish without counting, causing irreparable damage to the natural resources of the river, he realizes the illegality and unseemliness of his actions, he is afraid of a “shame” that can be comprehended if the poacher
The fish was like a “prehistoric lizard”, “eyes without eyelids, without eyelashes, naked, staring with snake coldness, something melted in themselves.” Ignatich is struck by the size of sturgeon, which grew up on some “goats” and “wanderers”, he calls it “a riddle of nature” with surprise. From the very beginning, from the moment Ignatyitch saw the king-fish, something “ominous” seemed to him in her, and later realized that “one can not cope with such a monster.”
The desire to call for a brother’s help with a mechanic was replaced by an all-consuming greed: “To divide the sturgeon? .. There are two buckets in sturgeon caviar, if not more.” Caviar is also for three! ” At that moment Ignatyitch even felt ashamed of his feelings. But after a while, “greed, he considered passion,” and the desire to catch a sturgeon
Discarding doubts, “it was easy, with all the swing Ignatich jabbed the ax with his ax in the forehead of the Tsar-fish…”. Soon the unlucky fisherman found himself in the water, entangled by his own blows with hooks, burying himself in the bodies of Ignatich and the fish. “The king and the tsar are all the tsars – on the same trap,” the author writes. Then the fisherman realized that a huge sturgeon “does not hold his hand”. Yes, he knew this from the very beginning of their struggle, but “because of this bastard man has been forgotten in man.” Ignatich and the Tsar-fish “tied one share”. They are both waiting for death. The passionate desire to live makes a man break with hooks, in desperation he even talks to sturgeon. “Well, you! .. I’m waiting for my brother, and whom are you?” – Ignatyitch is praying. The thirst for life pushes the hero and yes, to overcome his own pride. He shouts: “Bra-ate-Elnie-and-and-Ik! ..”
Ignatich feels that he is dying. The fish “densely and gently clung to him with a thick and delicate belly.” The hero of the novel experienced a superstitious horror from this almost feminine affection of cold fish. He understood: the sturgeon presses on him because both of them are waiting for death. At this moment a person begins to remember his childhood, youth, maturity. In addition to pleasant memories, there are thoughts that his failures in life were related to poaching. Ignatich begins to understand that the brutal fishing will always lie on his conscience with a heavy load. I remembered the hero of the novel and the old grandfather who instructed the young fishermen: “Ezhli you, you, for the soul, there is, a serious sin, what a disgrace, varnachestvo – do not tie with the king-fish, the codes will get – release at once.”
The words of his grandfather make the Astafiev hero think about his past. What sin did Ignatich commit? It turned out that the heavy wine lies on the conscience of the fisherman. Hurling at the feeling of the bride, he committed a misdemeanor without justification. Ignatich realized that this incident with the king-fish was a punishment for his bad deeds.
Turning to God, Ignatich asks: “Lord, let us divide you! Let this thing go free!” She does not hold me by the hand! ” He asks forgiveness from a girl who once offended: “Pros-sti-uteeee… her-eeeee… Gla-ah-asha-ah, forgive-and-and.” After this, the king-fish is released from the hooks and floats away to the native element, carrying in the body “dozens of deadly uds.” Ignatich immediately becomes easier: the body – because the fish did not hang on it dead weight, the soul – because nature forgave him, gave one more chance to atone for all sins and start a new life.
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