"The Tale of Kish": a brief retelling. "The Tale of Kish" by Jack London

Gritsenko Elizaveta

Research work.The image of the main character in Jack London's work "The Tale of Kish".

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branch of the Municipal educational institution

Secondary school No. 17 –

Secondary school No. 3

Research work

The image of the main character in Jack London's work "The Tale of Kish"

Performed:

Gritsenko Elizaveta,

5th grade student

Branch of Municipal Educational Institution Secondary School No. 17-Secondary School No. 3

Supervisor:

Tolmacheva Natalya Mikhailovna

teacher of Russian language and literature

Kartaly, 2015

  1. Introduction…………………………………………………………….3
  2. Main part
  1. Interesting facts from the writer’s biography…………………... 4
  2. Terms: Image, main character, legend…………………….6
  3. Image of Kisha………………………………………………………8
  1. Conclusion………………………………………………………10
  2. References……………………………………………………………..11
  1. Introduction

I just started doing scientific research and this is my first job. But I can say with full responsibility that doing literary research is very useful for several reasons:

  1. You expand your horizons and gain new knowledge.
  2. Perhaps we (young scientists) will be able to find something new that researchers have not noticed before. After all, we look at works from a completely new angle.
  3. We (young scientists) will be able to reveal the images of the heroes of the works we have studied, which will help our classmates save time and broaden their horizons just as much as ours.

My choice fell on Jack London’s work “The Tale of Kish”, not only because it is interesting to read. The image of the main character seemed quite complex to me and relevant for our time.Most guys really want to grow up, they try to seem like adults. Girls start putting on makeup early, and boys show their masculinity in conversations by using obscene language. In my opinion, revealing the main character will help many young children understand what it means to be adults at such an early age.

The degree of knowledge of the problem.

I could only find various lesson notes for teaching “The Tale of Kish”: either one lesson or a series of literature lessons with foreign authors. This allows us to say that little attention has been paid to this work, and therefore the topic of my research has been little studied. It follows from this that it is relevant.

The purpose of my work: Reveal the image of the main character and at the same time show how, at a very young age, you can not just seem like an adult, but act like an adult.

Thus, the tasks my research became:

  1. Identify the main stages of the main character’s growing up.
  2. Study his life position.
  3. To answer the main question: Does Kishi seem like an adult or is he a precocious toddler?

Object of study:The main character (Kishi).

Subject of study:"The Tale of Kish" by Jack London.

Methodological basis of the study. During the study, the comparative literary method, the biographical method, as well as the principle of selectivity and the principle of integrity were used.

  1. Main part

2.1 Interesting facts from the biography of Jack London

In my opinion, Jack London is not only a great author, but also very interesting. One of the lakes in the Far East was named in his honor. There are two versions of the name of this lake.

One version says that old-timers living near this lake claim that during the discovery of the lake, Jack London’s book “Martin Eden” was found on the shore.

However, there is another version of the origin of this name near the lake. There is a version that many geologists were very fond of London’s works. There are beliefs that as many as two leaders of various expeditions wanted to name some of the geographical objects in honor of this author. And in 1932, geologist P.I. Skornyakov, fulfilled his dream and named one of the lakes in the northeast in his honor, giving it the name Jack London.

As Irina Evgenievna Lunina notes in her dissertation “The Artistic World of Jack London,” “according to a UNESCO study conducted in 1952, J. London was recognized as the most popular writer in Europe and Russia and the most “translated” writer.”

I think it's important to know that Jack London is not his real name. Present - John Griffith Cheney. Jack is short for John, as his closest people called him. His mother married John London, and at that time baby Cheney was almost a year old. After his mother's marriage, everyone began to call John Griffity Cheyne, like his stepfather, John London.

Little Jack London knew firsthand what it meant to behave like an adult. The boy worked no less than an adult man. He began his working life early, which was full of hardships. In elementary school, he sold morning and evening newspapers. After graduating from primary school, he began working at a canning factory as a simple worker, but the work turned out to be too hard for the boy, and he left. After that, he illegally caught oysters in San Francisco Bay. After which he was hired as a sailor on a schooner, where he visited the sea for the first time. The schooner that Jack hired on was a fishing boat, it went to the shores of Japan and the Bering Sea.

I believe that it was precisely this varied and working life of Jack London that allowed him to write one of the most remarkable works, which I analyze in my work - “The Tale of Kish”.

But if Jack London had been an uneducated sailor, we would never have been able to read his works. That is why I think that in my work it is worth talking about the education of this writer.

He prepared himself and passed all the exams in order to enter the University of California. However, after the 3rd semester, due to lack of funds for studies, I was forced to leave. In the spring of 1897, he goes to the mines, at that time it was called the “gold rush”. He went to Alaska. He returned to San Francisco in 1898. London experienced all the “delights” of the northern winter. He was not showered with gold, but fate gave him a huge number of meetings, I think that it was there that he met our hero Kishi.

Thus, Jack London was a man who:

I believe that it was the events of his life that I have listed that allowed London to create the image of “Kisha”.

  1. Terms: Image, main character, legend.

Having examined the term image in various explanatory dictionaries, I came to the conclusion that in the dictionaries edited by Efremova, Ozhegov, Shvedova and Ushakov, there are similarities and differences. General things can be considered: appearance, appearance, likeness. Different in these explanatory dictionaries - living, reflection, idea, feeling, image, generalization, reflection, type, character.

And in the philosophical encyclopedic dictionary, in my opinion, the most correct concept of image is given: “the result of the reflection of an object in the human mind.”

Thus, each definition complements and extends what is common to them. I derived my definition of the image in order to understand what I mean when talking about the image of Kishi.

An image is the result of a reflection in a person’s consciousness of an appearance, appearance, likeness, which is a living, generalized reflection of the ideas, feelings and character of someone.

Since I am considering not just the image in the work, but the image of the main character, it is necessary to consider the definition: the main character.

When I was looking for a definition of this term, I ran into a problem. I couldn't find this exact phrase. The formulation of the term “hero” is very common, and in the literary dictionary you can also find the term “literary hero”:« one of the main characters in a work of art (as opposed to a character).” In my opinion, this definition can be equated to the desired concept of “protagonist”. In explanatory dictionaries, in the definition of the word “hero” there is an indication of a literary hero. The common things in explanatory dictionaries edited by Ozhegov, Shvedova and Efremova are: main, active, exploits, person; and different: unusual, arouses interest, embodies the features of the era.

Thus, the terms literary hero and the main character of a work can be considered identical. To the term in the literary dictionary “literary hero”, for a complete understanding it is necessary to add what is common and different that is in explanatory dictionaries. We get the following definition:The main character is the main character of the work, which is unusual due to the fact that it embodies the features of the era, and therefore arouses interest.

The work in which I will consider the image of the main character is a legend, this is indicated in the very title of the work: “The Tale of Kisha.” It turns out that the author himself implies knowledge of this word from the very beginning. This says that we simply need to talk about the meaning of this word.

The meaning of this definition can only be found in a literary dictionary. So in the dictionary edited by Fritsche and Lunacharsky it is said that legend implies several types: historical, hagiographic, apocryphal, teachings and stories. Having read the work itself, we can say with certainty that it belongs to a story. A tale-story is “a broad genre of secular and spiritual stories, translated and original, which are similar to the modern literary story.”

From all of the above it follows that in the story-legendThe image of the main character can be considered the result of reflection in the human mind of the appearance, the appearance of the main character in the work.

2.3 Image of Kisha

The events described in the legend took place near the polar sea, where the main character lived. He lived in an igloo. An igloo is an Eskimo ice house that has a dome shape.

The main character is a boy, Kishi, who is 12 years old.

His voice is heard at the council, despite the fact that such little ones were forbidden to speak out. The first time his voice was heard was because,when they ate, the meat was tough and old and there were a lot of bones in it.Then Kish's voice rang out again, because he was proud of his father. The boy openly, without fear of anyone, declares that he will be able to go hunting and kill bears on his own.

"Fairness" is a key concept in Kish's words. Kish wanted to achieve justice and equality, despite his age. He believed it was fair to help your tribe if you could do it, no matter how old you were. It is fair that every resident of the city gets a good piece of meat. But the men of the tribe considered it unfair for some little boy who had not seen life to tell them.

I compiled a table of evidence that suggests the tribe’s hunters were right and arguments to the contrary, and this is what happened:

Thus, the reader must understand both the boy who speaks like a grown man and the men of the tribe.

Leaving the council, Kish felt angry, upset and frustrated. The author conveys his feelings with the words: “Kish’s eyes lit up, his blood began to boil and a hot blush rushed to his cheeks…. he gritted his teeth and walked.”

Kish still managed to defend his case, because he was able to prove that he could kill a bear himself without any help.

The successful hunt of the protagonist began to cause rumors of witchcraft in the village. There is an explanation for this. The boy killed five bears, remained unscathed, and had no scratches on him. That's why the residents considered him a sorcerer.

Kish did not consider his successful and easy hunt a secret or mystery. He took whale oil and stuck it to the crumpled baleen, the ends of which were very sharp, and it turned out to be a lump of fat with whalebone inside. These lumps of fat caused great pain to the bear and could be easily dealt with. The men wanted to get the secret of his hunt on the sly, but they only had to ask. When Klosh-Kwan came to him and asked him to tell him how he hunts. The boy spoke about it without hesitation.

The only parent the main character had was his mother. She did not live richly, the city residents did not pay attention to her, she received bad meat, like many women from the tribe. Kisha's mother lived in a small igloo. But then, when Kish began to catch bears, Kish’s mother and himself were looked at differently.

Despite the fact that he was driven out of the council, he did not become embittered, he brought meat to the entire village, fed everyone, divided everything fairly, as promised, did not forget about his family, about his home: “I want to build myself a new igloo,” Kish once said to Klosh-Kwan and the other hunters. “It must be a spacious igloo so that Aikige and I can live comfortably in it.”

I believe that Kish can be called an honest, kind, proud and hardworking person.

The writer explains to us why Kish became the first person in the tribe, and then the leader: You need to think and work not only with your hands, but also with your head, you don’t need to rely on a miracle, his ingenuity helped him rise, not witchcraft.

  1. Conclusion

Conducting my research to study the image of the main character of the work “The Tale of Kishi,” I became familiar with the terms: image, main character, legend, and I also derived the most complete definitions, covering all aspects of these definitions. I got acquainted with the work and studied literary terminology.

The goal of my work was to reveal the image of the hero in such a way as to show how a teenager should act if he wants adults to listen to him and consider him equal.

I believe that the goal has been achieved. The main characteristics of the main character are:

  1. Words correspond to deeds.
  2. Words are not thrown into the wind.
  3. Goes to hard work, work that is not correlated with age.
  4. Labor should be not only physical, but also mental.
  5. "Fairness" is the key concept in the words.

The main stages of growing up are the following:

First: He boldly expresses his point of view at the council.

Second: He decides to go on a difficult task - hunting.

Third: He begins to benefit the tribe, bringing good catch from the hunt.

Fourth: The realization that he is entitled to appropriate housing according to his status. He cannot build it himself, since he is constantly busy hunting; his fellow tribesmen, who feed at his expense, must build it for him.

Fifth: He easily reveals the secret of his successful hunt, thereby helping other hunters bring more meat to the tribe.

Sixth: Becomes the first person of the tribe, and subsequently the leader.

So, to answer the question: Does Kishi seem like an adult or is he a precocious toddler? We can safely say that he is a grown-up kid. He had to grow up because his father died early, and his mother needed help, she needed to eat well. This is why Kishi goes through all the stages of growing up.

By conducting this research, I will be able to introduce a large number of students not only to the terms, but also to the image of the main character of “The Tale of Kishi.” I will be able to convey to them my message that the painted faces of girls and curses from the mouths of boys do not make them adults. I can confirm this with the example of a twelve-year-old boy named Kishi.

  1. Bibliography
  1. Dissertation of Doctor of Philological Sciences. - Lunina, Irina Evgenievna. – Moscow//Philological Sciences. Fiction - USA - American Literature - con. 19 - beginning 20th century (2nd half of the 90s of the 19th century - 1917) - Personality of writers-- London Jack (1876-1916) - writer - General characteristics and significance of the writer’s work. – 618 C.
  2. Efremova T. F. New dictionary of the Russian language. Explanatory and word-formative. – M.: Russian language, 2000
  3. Literary encyclopedia. - At 11 t.; M.: Publishing House of the Communist Academy, Soviet Encyclopedia, Fiction. Edited by V. M. Fritsche, A. V. Lunacharsky. 1929-1939.
  4. S.I. Ozhegova, N.Yu. Shvedova Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. – M., 2005
  5. Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language / Ed. D.N. Ushakova. - M.: State. Institute "Soviet encyclical"; OGIZ; State foreign publishing house and national words., 1935-1940. (4 volumes)
  6. Terminological dictionary-thesaurus on literary criticism. From allegory to iambic. - M.: Flinta, Science. N.Yu. Rusova. 2004.
  7. Philosophical encyclopedic dictionary. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Ch. editor: L. F. Ilyichev, P. N. Fedoseev, S. M. Kovalev, V. G. Panov. 1983.
  8. Electronic resource: Jack London “The Tale of Kishi”.

    Goal of the work consists of studying the content and originality of Jack London’s work, primarily in the aspect of his perception and artistic representation of the image of the main character.

    The first chapter of the project talks about Jack London as the author of the book “The Tale of Kish”. Having studied the biographical information about this author, the following factors were identified that influenced the content of the text under consideration:

    1. In early childhood I experienced the most varied and difficult work.
    2. He was engaged in self-education, since he did not have enough money to get an education at the university.
    3. I met a huge number of people, whose images, in my opinion, became the basis of many works.
    4. Visited the Seas of Japan and the Baltic, as well as in the north.

    In the second paragraph of the project, the terms necessary for literary analysis of the image were considered, namely: main character, image, legend.

    The third paragraph reveals the image of the main character in the work “The Tale of Kish”.

    Kish can be called an honest, kind, proud and hardworking person. The writer explains to us why Kish became the first person in the tribe, and then the leader: You need to think and work not only with your hands, but also with your head, you don’t need to rely on a miracle, his ingenuity helped him rise.

    Kish will grow up to be a good boy, since at such a young age he thinks not only about himself, but about the whole tribe.

    The story of Kishi teaches us that we should not just say words, but do them. If you want to be more mature, then be ready to do adult things. Be prepared that they will not believe in you. And only through perseverance and hard work can you achieve respect among adults.

    The new knowledge gained will allow me not only to reveal the image of the hero when discussing this work during extracurricular activities, but also to show the children what it means to be an adult.

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    Gritsenko Elizaveta 5th grade, branch of MOUSOSH No. 17 Secondary School No. 3

    “The image of the main character in Jack London’s work “The Tale of Kish”

    Thank you for your attention!

On the shores of the harsh northern sea, where the winter night is endless and the summer is so short, lived an Eskimo tribe. People hunted bears and stored meat for future use, because the hunt was not always successful. The main character's father, Bok, brought the most prey, because he was an experienced and intelligent hunter.

It so happened that Bok died while hunting a huge bear, and his son Kish was left alone with his mother and became the only breadwinner in the family. Soon the boy noticed that the weak - women, old people, children - got the rest of the spoils. These poor people often cry from hunger in their igloos at night, while strong hunters suffer from gluttony.

Kish inherited from his father a keen sense of justice, pride and courage. At one of the councils, the boy boldly spoke out in defense of the weak, which caused ridicule from his older fellow tribesmen. The boy was expelled from the council, and he had to prove his case in practice. He went hunting. Soon people appreciated the courage and ingenuity of young Kish, who, to the shame of his elders, proved how a brave hunter and a real man should act. After some time he returns with the loot. He manages to kill a mother bear and two cubs. He shares the meat with others fairly.

Things are going well, Kish goes hunting and returns with prey. He only kills bears and butchers them himself, like a real man should. Even experienced hunters do not understand how he manages to cope with ferocious bears, and especially with mother bears who walk with children. They even begin to suspect him of witchcraft. When the people of his tribe ask him a direct question about this, the boy reveals his secret.

Very simple things helped him - whalebone and whale oil. He twisted the whalebone, placed it in a ball of fat, and left it in the cold. Then he fed these balls to the bears, and when they melted in their stomach, the whalebone straightened, and with its sharp ends caused unbearable pain to the victim. After several days of torment, the exhausted bear no longer posed a threat to the boy, and Kish killed him with a spear.

Mind and strength

We see how the boy’s intelligence helped him earn respect from the people of the tribe and save them from hunger. But in addition to intelligence, the boy has courage and perseverance.

Thus, he was able to defend justice in relation to the old and weak people of the tribe. Respect for him becomes so great that they want to make him leader when Klosh-Kwan, the old leader of the tribe, dies.

Kish – “equal among equal men”

Children's images occupy a special place in the works of Jack London. They are written with great warmth and love, perhaps a little autobiographical.

The fact is that the life of the writer himself was not easy from early childhood: too early, little Jack had to become an adult and learn what hard work is. Jack London said about himself that from a young age he was “an equal among equal men.” Perhaps this explains the appearance in his works of such a hero as the proud and wise Kish, who is not content with scraps, but wants a decent existence for himself, his mother, and other deprived people. “Never again will I speak at a council, never before you come to me and say: “Speak, Kish, we want you to speak.” Kish utters words full of great dignity, and later his fellow tribesmen actually come to him and ask him to speak.

Legend, legend, parable...

“The Tale of Kish” is a work that is not entirely typical of the work of Jack London. It is written in the style of a legend, as indicated by the beginning “a long time ago.” The author refers to the remoteness of events, pointing out that life expectancy, the measurement of periods of time, is calculated by the heroes of the work in “suns”. London writes: “Kish has already seen 13 suns,” that is, the boy is 13 years old.

The characters' vocabulary is also very specific. And this is not surprising. Wandering around America, the writer observed the life of the indigenous population, took a closer look at their way of life, and studied cultural traditions. In other works, the author more than once expresses admiration for the resourcefulness, strength and endurance of local residents, Indians, and Eskimos. The writer’s favorite heroes are real men, taciturn and courageous. Their nationality and belonging to different eras does not matter. The main thing is that they all live in harsh conditions, have their own code of honor, are painfully fair, and sometimes merciless, both to themselves and to others. The Kisha tribe lives far from civilization. The tribe has its own laws, from our point of view strange, tough, sometimes cruel, but with a certain degree of justice.

"...look each other in the face"

It is worth noting the deep philosophical nature of The Tale of Kish. “The sun rises above the earth so that people can warm up and look each other in the face.” This phrase has a great meaning: people’s hopes for the best, the expectation of warmth not only from the sun’s rays, but also from those with whom you live side by side, the confidence that life goes on, and the sun warms not only bodies, but also souls.

People in the tribe cannot definitely be called evil and unkind. They are ordinary, with the advantages and disadvantages characteristic of the entire human tribe. Having ridiculed Kish from the council, they at the same time begin to be sincerely worried when the boy does not appear in the settlement for a long time, and even send a rescue expedition after him. Later, even the biggest skeptics recognize the boy’s right to his opinion and the justice of his claims.

The boy's love for the animals that live in the tribe and faithfully serve man is touching. For a very long time, the people of the tribe could not understand why Kish did not take dogs with him when hunting, because every Eskimo knows that there is no better assistant than a well-trained hunting dog. And only later, when the boy reveals the secrets of his success, the tribesmen understand that Kish takes care of the dogs in this way: having eaten the ball by mistake, the four-legged friends will die in agony. Kish cannot allow this, and leaves the dogs in the camp.

Jack London's stories are specific; they carry a charge of ineradicable faith in man.

The writer went down in history and literature as a true humanist and idealist. His beliefs are obvious to every reader: the world will be changed for the better by strong, kind and fair working men. That’s how he was, who started earning money while still a child. Selling newspapers, exhausting work at a cannery, the hard work of a sailor... easy to read: a dynamic plot with clearly defined semantic details makes the work easier for those who want to write a short retelling of it. "The Tale of Kish" is no exception. This is a retelling of the legend of a 13-year-old Canadian Eskimo named Kish.

Story for children

Why did the American writer choose as the main character of his story not the physically strongest and not the most educated hunter, but a teenage boy? Moreover, the events he describes are divorced from the spirit of the times; they belong to hoary antiquity. At that time, the entire life of the Eskimos was determined by tribal relations. Jack London, a writer by vocation and a socialist by conviction, was prompted to create the plot by the idea of ​​social justice. The story of the boy's intelligence, courage and kindness contains our brief retelling. “The Tale of Kish” introduces the reader to the difficult life of the Canadian Eskimos.

Scene

The tribe lives off the Canadian coast of the harsh Arctic Ocean, beyond the Arctic Circle.

There is such a layer of snow on the ground that it is impossible to move without skis. Dogs serve as draft force for Eskimo sleds. Most of the year is occupied by the polar night and the tribe is headed by the leader Klosh-Kwan. Eskimos are destined to live together and face cold and hunger together. The tundra is a very harsh environment for life. Hunters are considered the breadwinners of the tribe. The fate of the tribe whose hunters are unfortunate is sad.

The feat of the hunter Bok, father of Kish

The young man Kish is proud of his father, who was the best hunter and died a glorious death, worthy of being remembered by subsequent generations of his fellow tribesmen. During his life, he hunted for two, and when the prey was divided among his fellow tribesmen, Bok made sure that the old and infirm were not deprived. This man had a big heart. When hard times came and the best hunters of the tribe returned from hunting with nothing, and the old people, children and women seemed to have completely lost hope, he decided on a brave act. The tribe, languishing from hunger, was in dire need of food. And the selfless hunter dared to defeat the storm of the snowy tundra - the bear.

The hunt turned out to be very dramatic, as evidenced by its brief retelling. “The Tale of Kish” tells us the story of the feat of a man, exhausted by hunger, who clashed in a mortal duel with a mighty beast. Bok's hand was faithful; he managed to deliver a decisive blow to him with his faithful spear. However, the strength of the owner of the tundra significantly exceeded that of a human. Even his last strength was enough for him to crush Bok and take his life.

Thanks to the dedication of their best hunter, the tribe then survived...

Dishonest division of provisions

The further fate of the family of the deceased was not easy: the widow Aikiga and the son Kish. The weeds of selfishness and selfishness sprouted in the hearts of their fellow tribesmen: after the death of Bok, the hunters of the tribe forgot about a fair and equal division of the spoils and providing everyone with a sufficient amount of meat.

The family of the leader Klosh-Kvan, a family of hunters: Ug-Gluk and Massuk, lived well. But at the same time, people like Aikiga and Kish were malnourished in the tribe, as a brief retelling tells readers. “The Tale of Kish” is the story of the establishment and emergence of a new leader of the Canadian Eskimo tribe, determined to put an end to this dishonesty and ugliness.

An innate intelligence and the ability to speak, rare even for his adult fellow tribesmen, distinguished the 13-year-old teenager.

Kish's brave speech to the tribe

One evening, when the tribe gathered for council in the largest igloo belonging to the leader, Kish unexpectedly took the floor. His performance was bold to the point of recklessness. He opposed the greed of adult male hunters, being in the minority (the rest of his fellow tribesmen were obviously afraid). At first, the boy reminded the presumptuous hunters of his father’s feat. Then he formulated the main idea of ​​his speech: families that have lost their hunter-breadwinner also deserve to receive good pieces of meat, not bones, when dividing the spoils. From Kish’s words it followed that both the experienced hunter Ugh-Gluk and the strongest man of the Massuk tribe acted dishonestly.

The fact that the guy was practically kicked out of the council after such words is told in “The Tale of Kisha.” The summary of the work contains a scene when the selfish hunters Ugh-Gluk and Massuk tried to confuse the boy with angry shouts and convince the present tribesmen that he did not have an advisory voice.

A young hunter goes into the tundra

But Kish, to their surprise, was not afraid of them, turning out to be a “tough nut to crack.” He answered them quite decently and not in a childish way. His words surprised the men with their strong self-confidence and, again, childish integrity. He obviously expected the support of his deprived and starving fellow tribesmen. But they were frightenedly silent. Then Kish had to go all-in. A thirteen-year-old boy openly opposed himself to the rule of the strong that had developed in the tribe, when the best pieces went to strong men, while widows and old people remained hungry, and promised to change them. How did that sound?

He recalled the fair division of the spoils by his father Bock, in the past the best hunter of the tribe, whose feat begins the story “The Tale of Kish.” The summary of his speech can be characterized as a statement of a fundamentally different society.

Then, at the tribe meeting, no one took the boy’s words seriously. Ridicule followed him as he left the leader's igloo. But his words turned out to be not the child’s passion: the next day, Kish, armed with his father’s hunting supplies, himself went hunting in the direction where the ocean ice met the snow-covered land. The unexpectedly low temperature did not stop him either.

The son turned out to be worthy of his father

On the third day of his absence a fierce storm broke out. There was practically no hope that the guy would survive. And so on the morning of the third day, he appeared in the village, when the tribe’s hunters were about to go for his corpse, and his desperate mother Aikiga, in anticipation of the loss, was tearing out her hair and smearing her face with soot.

The effect of unexpected action was fully exploited by the author of the story, Jack London (“The Tale of Kish”). A brief retelling of the work reflects the main aspect of this event. Kish returned from the tundra with prey (he carried on his shoulder a heavy piece cut from the carcass of a bear he had killed). He triumphed because he proved to be a worthy successor to his father. The mother bear and two cubs he killed during the hunt were extremely difficult prey, which only an outstanding master of the hunt could handle. After all, a nursing bear attacks anyone who wanders into her domain with incredible cruelty.

The main breadwinner of the tribe

Addressing the men of the tribe, the teenager said that they could bring the carcasses of his hunting trophy to the village if they followed in his footsteps with the sledges. So the hunters of the tribe were put to shame by the boy who provided all his fellow tribesmen with bear meat in abundance. They were perplexed, because such a hunt was beyond their capabilities. For his fellow tribesmen, an ordinary boy suddenly acquired mystery and mystery.

A brief retelling of the story “The Tale of Kish” confirms the seriousness of the protagonist’s intentions, which he expressed earlier at the council in the Klosh-Kwan igloo. He proved that he was right with new hunting successes. The hunters openly envied the boy, who had become a real breadwinner for his tribe. Evil tongues (and the first among them was Ugh-Gluk) openly accused the young hunter of witchcraft. But their machinations were destroyed by the opinions of other tribesmen of Kish. After all, thanks to him, everyone, even widows and old people, were now well-fed. Following the she-bear, the young man's prey was first a young bear, and then a really huge bear.

New home

One day, a young, but already recognized as the best, hunter told the leader that he wanted to build a new spacious house (igloo) for himself and his mother. Having received the formal “go-ahead”, Kish did not stop there. He knew his worth, and therefore, by right of the main breadwinner of the tribe, he demanded that his fellow tribesmen build a new igloo for him. This really made sense, because hunting required complete dedication from the boy, and while staying in the village, he had to regain his strength. But now his mother, who lives in the most spacious igloo of the tribe, has become the most respected woman. Her self-esteem rose, women began to consult with her.

Eskimo fears

The story is truly mysterious. How to compare the strength of a bear and a teenage boy? Readers of the story are intrigued, and soon D. London tells them this secret (“The Tale of Kish”). A brief retelling of the work tells us about the secret council of hunters. Ugh-Gluk continued to insist that the young lucky man was using witchcraft and insisted on secretly sending spies from the best hunters of the tribe after Kish when he went hunting. After heated debates, they finally agreed with the old hunter. Skilled hunters Bone and Bim were tasked with keeping an eye on Kish. They were supposed to follow the boy, but not to catch his eye.

A brief retelling of the fairy tale “The Tale of Kish” at this stage should not be limited to a dry statement of the events of the plot, it should contain an assessment of the characters. The fact is that in this work there is a conflict, but there are no negative characters. In the understanding of the Eskimos, the boy’s amazing success borders on a miracle. It is not for nothing that the cautious Ugh-Gluk organizes surveillance of Kish. This is quite consistent with the Eskimos’ views on the world around them. They are convinced that witchcraft is a sin that can bring misfortune to the entire tribe. It is unacceptable. Jack London (The Tale of Kish) is convincing in his narrative logic. The summary of the story further contains a convincing solution to the boy’s victories over huge bears, testifying to his main asset - his sharp mind.

Unusual hunt of Kish. View from the outside

Hunters Bim and Bone really went as spies after the tribe's breadwinner. They followed him like a shadow and watched as he killed the bear. His hunt seemed strange and mysterious to them. Returning to the village, they hastened to tell about what they had seen.

From afar, Bim Bone noticed how the bear Kish met did not pay any attention to him at all and followed his own path. However, the boy provoked him with loud screams and persecution. The predator rushed after him. Here Kish needed all his agility and speed. However, the young hunter did not just run away at full speed. On the path of the bear, he sometimes threw small light balls, and he immediately ate them during the chase.

But the beast was not destined to overtake the boy. Soon he howled in pain. Obviously, these balls turned out to be fatal for him... The bear weakened before our eyes, falling behind Kish. Soon he turned back, then his tracks began to get confused... The weakened giant began to roar in pain and roll helplessly on the ground. Here he was overtaken by Kish's well-calibrated fatal blow...

Instead of a conclusion

The ending of the story is somewhat reminiscent of the final scene of Gogol’s “The Inspector General” - general amazement. The summary of the story “The Tale of Kish” shows in detail the outcome of the plot.

From the story of Bim and Bone, the Eskimos concluded that they were dealing with a sorcerer.

But they soon had to change their minds. When a crowd of hunters led by the leader broke into Kish's igloo, he was eating. Having greeted those who entered, he seated the guests according to seniority. Then the leader announced to the boy that he was accused of witchcraft and demanded an explanation.

The summary of the story “The Tale of Kish” originally describes the boy’s answer. He clearly showed them his know-how in the beginning. Kish cut off a piece of whalebone and demonstrated to the audience its elasticity and sharpness. Then he took a piece of it and rolled it into a ring. Then the boy put the whalebone into a small hole in the earth and filled it. The result was a ball, a simple device that first melted in the bear’s esophagus and then hit him.

After such a revelation, the tribesmen began to respect Kish even more. When his time came, he replaced Klosh-Kwan at the head of the tribe. Thanks to his intelligence, justice and wisdom, his fellow tribesmen not only respected him, but also loved him. Hundreds of years later, his name is remembered by subsequent generations of Canadian Eskimos.

characteristics of quiche from a fairy tale the legend of quiche


Answers:
1. Kish is the main character of the story;
Klosh-Kwan - the leader of the tribe;
Bok is Kish's father;
Aikiga – the hero’s mother;
Massuk – fellow tribesman;
Ugh-Gluk - hunter of the tribe;
Bim and Bone are two young, best hunters in the village.
============================
The main character, a 13-year-old boy, is a role model for many; with his actions and actions, Kish deserves to be called an “adult”
From a little boy, Kish became the leader of the tribe. He succeeded in this thanks to his character qualities. Which one? Fearlessness, ingenuity, observation, willpower, sense of justice, responsibility to fellow tribesmen. The triumph of human will and responsibility.
The North forces you to fight for existence. And this requires not only strong biceps and a clear head, but an undulling sense of mercy and responsibility. It is this that lifts a person above the harsh nature and makes him feel like a part and master of it.
Yes, these are not the qualities of a little boy, a teenager, these are the qualities of a man who can come to the rescue at any moment. Probably, Kish, who lived only “13 suns,” saw himself this way.

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Development of a literature lesson based on Jack London's "The Tale of Kish"

Lesson development sent by: Naumova Marina Nikolaevna, teacher of Russian language and literature, senior category, Municipal Educational Institution Secondary School No. 6 of the city of Volzhsk, Republic of Mari El.

"The 13 suns of Kish..." (Literature lesson in 5th grade based on Jack London's work "The Tale of Kish")

The purpose of the lesson:

  • - Introduce students to D. London’s work “The Tale of Kish”;
  • - Introduce the concept of “legend” in the context of literary education;
  • - Continue working on the characterization of the hero;
  • - Define what it means to be an adult.

Equipment: Text of the work; "Workbooks on literature for grade 5 by M.N. Naumova; portrait of D. London; supporting materials for the lesson.

During the classes:

I. Preliminary work on the topic of the lesson.

Teacher: Our journey through the country of Literature continues... We have already read the works of great Russian and foreign writers this academic year. These are not just works, this is the beginning of a great acquaintance with the treasures of Russian and world art. Our lessons are based on the program of A.G. Kutuzov. We learn not only to read works, but also to think, think, and express our point of view.

Today is another meeting with the great... This Jack London's story "The Tale of Kish".

Jack London- one of the most popular American writers in our country. His biography, his personality as an active, strong-willed man, somewhat reminiscent of his Jack London heroes, aroused no less interest than his work, in which the autobiographical principle was strongly felt.

So who is Jack London?

Pupil: Jack London, the illegitimate son of astrologer William Cheney and spiritualist Flora Wellman, never met his father and bore the surname of his stepfather, John London, a farmer. John London's business was going with varying degrees of success, so his stepson, barely graduating from primary school, got a job in a canning factory with a ten-hour working day. It was a living hell, and at the age of fifteen Jack left the factory to join the oyster pirates of San Francisco Bay. Then he alternated free life with forced labor and attempts to complete his education. Ocean voyage on the schooner Sophie Sutherland, Oakland jute mill, vagrancy, prison, a year and a half in high school, a semester at the University of California, odd jobs; at the height of the “gold rush” - wintering in the Klondike.

From there, Jack returned without an ounce of gold and determined to make a living by writing. He was clearly aware that he had plenty of talent, impressions and diligence. He made it a rule to produce a thousand words a day. The magazines couldn't resist. Twenty-four-year-old Jack London entered the twentieth century as a professional writer. And he quickly became a famous and highly paid writer. However, he did not rest on this. In 1902, specifically to write the book "People of the Abyss", Jack London, a member of the American Socialist Party, spent three months in the London slums, posing as a sailor written off ashore. At the beginning of 1904, he went as a correspondent to the Russian-Japanese War. In 1907, according to his own design, he built the yacht “Snark” and made a two-year voyage on it to the islands of Oceania. He did not allow himself any concessions in his work: a thousand words a day - “The Call of the Wild”, “The Sea Wolf”, “Martin Eden”... Crazy money and crazy spending. It cannot be said that he was lucky. The barely built "Wolf House", conceived as a "family castle" for future generations of London, burned down. The long-awaited heir never appeared. Creative imagination has dried up.

Yes, guys, Jack London was a special person, even in appearance. This is how the writer I. Stone describes him: “Jack was naturally kind, recklessly generous - truly a friend of friends, the king of nice little ones... What an excellent example of the human race he was! He had a pure, full of joy, gentle, kindly heart... He looked older than his years, his body was flexible and strong, his neck was open at the collar, a mop of tangled hair - it fell on his forehead, and he, busy in a lively conversation, impatiently threw it back. Not a room dweller, but a man of free spaces. - in a word, a real person, a man. He was obsessed with the thirst for truth" (Address to the portrait of the writer)

He lived his life as a fighter, “a sailor in the saddle,” as he once put it, and became a great writer, although life from childhood heaped one obstacle after another on him. He passed away at the age of forty. Fifty books are the result of his literary activity. One of these books includes the story "The Tale of Kish." You read this work at home.

II. Text analysis work.

Did you like the story? Why? (Yes, he talks about a brave boy, about how the hero, at the age of 13, was not afraid of the tribal leader and entered into a confrontation with him; this is a story about a courageous boy).

Name the heroes of the story.

  • Quiche- the main character of the story;
  • Klosh-Kwan- leader of the tribe;
  • Side- Kisha's father;
  • Aikiga- mother of the hero;
  • Massouk- fellow tribesman;
  • Ugh-Gluk- hunter of the tribe;
  • Bim and Bone- two young, best hunters in the village.

In what part of the world does the story take place? (In the northern United States of America).

Continuation of the lesson in the archive.....