Analysis of the novel "Heart of a Dog"

The story is based on a great experiment. Everything that happened around and what was called the construction of socialism was perceived by Bulgakov precisely as an experiment - huge in scale and more than dangerous. To attempts to create a new perfect society by revolutionary, i.e. methods that do not exclude violence, he was extremely skeptical about educating a new, free person by the same methods. For him, this was such an interference in the natural course of things, the consequences of which could be disastrous, including for the "experimenters" themselves. The author warns readers about this in his work.

The hero of the story, Professor Preobrazhensky, came to Bulgakov's story from Prechistenka, where the hereditary Moscow intelligentsia had long settled. A recent Muscovite, Bulgakov knew and loved this area. He settled in Obukhov (Chisty) Lane, where "Fatal Eggs" and "Heart of a Dog" were written. Here lived people who were close to him in spirit and culture. Professor N.M. Pokrovsky. But, in essence, it reflected the type of thinking and the best features of that layer of the Russian intelligentsia, which, in Bulgakov's circle, was called "Prechistinka".

Bulgakov considered it his duty to "stubbornly portray the Russian intelligentsia as the best stratum in our country." He respectfully and lovingly treated his hero-scientist, to some extent Professor Preobrazhensky is the embodiment of the outgoing Russian culture, the culture of the spirit, aristocracy.

Professor Preobrazhensky, no longer a young man, lives alone in a beautiful comfortable apartment. the author admires the culture of his life, his appearance - Mikhail Afanasyevich himself loved aristocracy in everything, at one time he even wore a monocle.

The proud and majestic Professor Preobrazhensky, who is still sprinkling with old aphorisms, the luminary of Moscow genetics, the ingenious surgeon is engaged in profitable operations to rejuvenate aging ladies and brisk old men: the author's irony is merciless - sarcasm in relation to prosperous Nepmen.

But the professor plans to improve nature itself, he decides to compete with Life itself and create a new person by transplanting a part of the human brain into a dog.

In Bulgakov's story, the theme of Faust sounds in a new way, and it is also tragic, or rather, tragicomic in Bulgakov's way. Only after accomplishment does the scientist realize all the immorality of "scientific" violence against nature and man.

The professor who transforms a dog into a man bears the surname Preobrazhensky. And the action itself takes place on Christmas Eve. Meanwhile, by all possible means, the writer points out the unnaturalness of what is happening, that this is anti-creation, a parody of Christmas. And by these signs, we can say that in "Heart of a Dog" the motives of Bulgakov's last and best work - a novel about the devil - are already visible.

The relationship between the scientist and the street dog Sharik-Sharikov forms the basis of the plot outline of the story. Creating the image of Sharik, the author certainly used the literary tradition. And here the author follows his teacher Gogol, his Notes of a Madman, where in one of the chapters a person is shown from a dog's point of view and where it says: "Dogs are smart people." Close to the author is the great German romantic Ernest Hoffmann with his cat Murr and smart talking dogs.

The basis of the story is the internal monologue of Sharik, the eternally hungry, miserable street dog. He is not very stupid, in his own way evaluates the life of the street, life, customs, characters of Moscow during the NEP with its numerous shops, tea houses, taverns on Myasnitskaya "with sawdust on the floor, evil clerks who hate dogs", "where they played the harmonica and smelled like sausages."

The whole chilled, hungry dog, besides scalded, observes the life of the street, makes conclusions: "Janitors of all proletarians are the most vile scum." "The cook comes across different. For example, the late Vlas from Prechistenka. How many lives he saved."

He sympathizes with the poor young lady - a typist, frozen, "running into the doorway in her lover's sergeant stockings." “She doesn’t even have enough for the cinema, they deducted from her in the service, fed rotten meat in the dining room, and the manager stole half of her canteen forty kopecks ...”. In his thoughts - ideas, Sharik contrasts the poor girl with the image of a triumphant boor - the new master of life: "I am now the chairman, and no matter how much I steal, everything goes to the female body, to cancerous necks, to Abrau-Durso." "I'm sorry for her, I'm sorry. And I feel even more sorry for myself," complains Sharik.

Seeing Philip Filippovich Preobrazhensky, Sharik understands: "he is a man of mental labor ..." "this one will not kick with his foot."

And now Sharik lives in a luxurious professorial apartment. One of the leading, cross-cutting themes of Bulgakov's work begins to sound - the theme of the House as the center of human life. The Bolsheviks destroyed the House as the basis of the family, as the basis of society. To the habitable, warm, it seemed, eternally beautiful house of the Turbins ("Days of the Turbins"), the writer contrasts the decaying Zoya's apartment (the comedy "Zoyka's Apartment"), where there is a fierce struggle for living space, for square meters. Maybe that's why in Bulgakov's stories and plays a stable satirical figure is the chairman of the house committee? In "Zoyka's apartment" this is Harness, whose dignity is that he "was not at the university", in "Heart of a Dog" he is called Shvonder, in "Ivan Vasilyevich" - Bunsha, in "The Master and Margarita" - Barefoot. He, the head of the house committee, is the true center of the small world, the center of power and a vulgar, predatory life.

Such a socially aggressive administrator, confident in his permissiveness, is Shvonder, a man in a leather jacket, a black man in the story "Heart of a Dog" by the foreman committee. Accompanied by "comrades", he comes to Professor Preobrazhensky in order to seize "extra" space from him, to take away two rooms. The conflict with uninvited guests becomes acute: "You are a hater of the proletariat!" the woman said proudly. "Yes, I don't like the proletariat," Philipp Philippovich agreed sadly. He does not like lack of culture, dirt, devastation, aggressive rudeness, complacency of the new masters of life. "This is a mirage, smoke, a fiction," - this is how the professor assesses the practice and history of the new owners.

But now the professor is performing the main work of his life - a unique operation - an experiment: he transplants the human pituitary gland into the dog Sharik from a 28-year-old man who died a few hours before the operation.

This man - Klim Petrovich Chugunkin, twenty-eight years old, sued three times. "Profession - playing the balalaika in taverns. Small in stature, poorly built. The liver is enlarged (alcohol). The cause of death is a stab in the heart in a pub."

As a result of the most complicated operation, an ugly, primitive creature appeared - non-human, who completely inherited the "proletarian" essence of his "ancestor". The first words he uttered were swearing, the first distinct words: "bourgeois". And then - street words: "do not push!" "Scoundrel", "get off the bandwagon", etc. He was a disgusting "man of small stature and unsympathetic appearance. The hair on his head grew stiff ... The forehead struck with its small height. Almost directly above the black threads of the eyebrows, a thick head brush began." Just as ugly and vulgar, he "dressed up".

The smile of life lies in the fact that as soon as he stands on his hind limbs, Sharikov is ready to oppress, drive into a corner the "daddy" who gave birth to him - the professor.

And now this humanoid creature demands a residence document from the professor, confident that the house committee will help him in this, which "protects the interests."

• - Whose interests, may I inquire?
• - It is known whose - labor element. Philip Philipovich rolled his eyes.
• Why are you a hard worker?
• - Yes, you know, not Nepman.

From this verbal duel, taking advantage of the professor's confusion about his origin ("you are, so to speak, an unexpectedly appeared creature, laboratory"), the homunculus emerges victorious and demands that he be given the "hereditary" surname Sharikov, and he chooses a name for himself - Polygraph Poligrafovich. He arranges wild pogroms in the apartment, chases (in his canine nature) after cats, arranges a flood ... All the inhabitants of the professor's apartment are demoralized, there can be no talk of any reception of patients.

It should also be noted Shvonder, chairman of the house committee, who bears no less responsibility than a professor for a humanoid monster. Shvonder supported Sharikov's social status, armed him with an ideological phrase, he is his ideologist, his "spiritual shepherd".

The paradox is that, as it is already clear even from the above dialogue, helping a creature with a "dog's heart" to establish itself, he is also digging a hole for himself. Setting Sharikov against the professor, Shvonder does not understand that someone else can easily set Sharikov against Shvonder himself. It is enough for a man with a dog's heart to point out anyone, say that he is an enemy, and Sharikov will humiliate him, destroy him, etc. How reminiscent of the Soviet era and especially the thirties ... And even today this is not uncommon.

Shvonder, the allegorical "black man," supplies Sharikov with "scientific" literature and gives him the correspondence between Engels and Kautsky to "study." An animal-like creature does not approve of either author: "They write, they write ... Congress, some Germans ...", he grumbles. He draws one conclusion: "We must share everything."

Do you know the way? - asked the interested Bormental - Yes, what's the way, - becoming talkative after vodka, Sharikov explained, - it's not a tricky thing. And then what: one settled in seven rooms, he has forty pairs of trousers, and the other hangs around, looking for food in trash boxes.

So the lumpen Sharikov instinctively "smelled" the main credo of the new masters of life, all the Sharikovs: rob, steal, take away everything created, as well as the main principle of the so-called socialist society that was being created - universal leveling, called equality. What this led to is well known.

Sharikov, supported by Shvonder, is becoming more and more unrestrained, hooligans openly: To the words of the exhausted professor that he will find a room for Sharikov to move out, the lumpen answers:

Well, yes, I'm such a fool to move out of here, - Sharikov answered very clearly and showed the dumbfounded professor Shvonder's paper that he was supposed to have a living area of ​​16 meters in the professor's apartment.

Soon "Sharikov embezzled 2 chervonets in the professor's office, disappeared from the apartment and returned late, completely drunk." He appeared in the Prechistensky apartment not alone, but with two unknown personalities who robbed the professor.

Finest hour for Polygraph Poligrafovich was his "service". Disappearing from the house, he appears before the astonished professor and bormental as a kind of young man, full of dignity and respect for himself, "in a leather jacket from someone else's shoulder, in shabby leather trousers and high English boots. The terrible, incredible smell of cats immediately spread over the entire front "To the dumbfounded professor, he shows a paper that says that Comrade Sharikov is the head of the subdepartment for cleaning the city from stray animals. Of course, Shvonder put him there. When asked why he smells so disgusting, the monster replies:

Well, well, it smells ... it is known: in the specialty. Yesterday cats were strangled - strangled ...

So Bulgakov's Sharik made a dizzying leap: from stray dogs to orderlies to clean up the city from stray dogs / and cats, of course /. Well, the persecution of their own is a characteristic feature of all Sharikovs. They destroy their own, as if covering up the traces of their own origin...

Sharikov's next move is an appearance in the Prechistina apartment together with a young girl. "I sign with her, this is our typist. Bormental will have to be evicted ... - Sharikov explained extremely hostilely and gloomily." Of course, the villain deceived the girl, telling stories about himself. He behaved with her so ugly that a grandiose scandal broke out again in the Prechistenka apartment: the professor and his assistant, driven to white heat, began to defend the girl ...

The last, final chord of Sharikov's activity is a denunciation-libel about Professor Preobrazhensky.

It should be noted that it was then, in the thirties, that denunciation became one of the foundations of a "socialist" society, which would be more correctly called totalitarian. Since only a totalitarian regime can be based on a denunciation.

Sharikov is alien to conscience, shame, morality. He has no human qualities except meanness, hatred, malice...

It is good that on the pages of the story the sorcerer-professor managed to reverse the transformation of a monster man into an animal, into a dog. It is good that the professor understood that nature does not tolerate violence against itself. Alas, in real life, the Sharikovs won, they turned out to be tenacious, crawling out of all the cracks. Self-confident, arrogant, confident in their sacred rights to everything, semi-literate lumpen brought our country to the deepest crisis, because the Bolshevik-Shvonder thesis of the "great leap forward of the socialist revolution", mocking disregard for the laws of the development of evolution could only give birth to the Sharikovs.

In the story, Sharikov returned to dogs, but in life he went a long and, as it seemed to him, and others were inspired, a glorious path and in the thirties and fifties he poisoned people, as he once did stray cats and dogs in the line of duty. Throughout his life, he carried dog anger and suspicion, replacing them with dog loyalty that has become unnecessary. Entering into rational life, he remained at the level of instincts and was ready to adapt the whole country, the whole world, the whole universe in order to satisfy these bestial instincts. He is proud of his low origin. He prides himself on his low education. He is proud of everything low, because only this raises him high - above those who are high in spirit, who are high in mind, and therefore must be trampled into the mud so that Sharikov can rise above them. You involuntarily ask yourself the question: how many of them were and are among us? Thousands? Tens, hundreds of thousands?

Outwardly, the balls are no different from people, but they are always among us. Their inhuman nature is just waiting to be revealed. And then the judge, in the interests of his career and the fulfillment of the plan for solving crimes, condemns the innocent, the doctor turns away from the patient, the mother abandons her child, various officials, for whom bribes are already in the order of things, these are politicians who, at the first opportunity to grab a tidbit, drop the mask and show their true nature, ready to betray their own. Everything that is most lofty and holy turns into its opposite, because the non-human has awakened in them and tramples them into the mud. Coming to power, a non-human tries to dehumanize everyone around, because non-humans are easier to control, they have all human feelings replaced by the instinct of self-preservation.

In our country, after the revolution, all conditions were created for the appearance of a huge number of Sharikovs with dog hearts. The totalitarian system is very conducive to this. Probably due to the fact that these monsters have penetrated into all areas of life, that they are among us now, Russia is going through hard times now. The Sharikovs, with their truly canine vitality, no matter what, will go everywhere over the heads of others.

The heart of a dog in union with the human mind is the main threat of our time. That is why the story, written at the beginning of the century, remains relevant today, serving as a warning to future generations. Today is so close to yesterday... At first glance, it seems that outwardly everything has changed, that the country has become different. But the consciousness, stereotypes, way of thinking of people will not change either in ten or twenty years - more than one generation will pass before the Sharikovs disappear from our lives, before people become different, before there are no vices described by Bulgakov in his immortal work . How I want to believe that this time will come!

Such are the gloomy reflections on the consequences (on the one hand, possible, on the other, accomplished) of the interaction of three forces: apolitical science, aggressive social rudeness, and spiritual authority reduced to the level of a house committee.

The work of Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov is an incredible phenomenon in the artistic culture of the 20th century.

The tragic fate of the master, who did not have the opportunity to be published and appreciated, is known to many. For thirteen years, Bulgakov did not manage to get through to the publishers and see even one of his works in the press.

The ideological basis of the story

The name of this widely known today appeared in the literature for the first time during the Soviet era. He had to feel for himself all the complexities and peculiarities of the Soviet reality of the thirties. Previously, the childhood and youth of the writer were spent in Kyiv, and more mature years - already in Moscow. It was during his stay in Moscow that the story "Heart of a Dog" was written. In it, with the finest skill and talent, the theme of absurd disharmony is revealed, which took place solely because of human intervention in the eternal laws of nature.

"Heart of a Dog" is a filigree example of satirical fiction. If satirical works are just that, the purpose of satirical fiction is to warn of the potential consequences of human activity. Mikhail Bulgakov speaks about this in his story. "Heart of a Dog" is a work in which the eminent master displayed his ideas regarding the need for non-interference in the normal course of evolution. He believes that violent, aggressive innovations cannot take place here, that everything must go

in its turn. This theme was and remains eternal both in Bulgakov's time and in the 21st century.

An analysis of Bulgakov's Heart of a Dog only helps to understand that the revolution that took place in Russia was not the result of a rational and gradual spiritual development of the entire society and each person individually, but just a senseless premature experiment. But, according to the author, in order to avoid all the terrible consequences that await society, it is enough to create in the country the situation that existed before the revolution.

Professor Preobrazhensky

The heroes of Bulgakov's "Heart of a Dog" are the most typical Moscow inhabitants of the thirties of the last century. One of the main acting characters is Professor Preobrazhensky. He is a democratic person both in origin and in convictions. He is a great scientist, and his ambition is to help people without harming them. Being a well-known and educated representative of medicine, the processor Preobrazhensky is engaged in operations aimed at rejuvenating aging ladies. He decides on an operation, during which a part of the human brain will be transplanted into the dog. The "patient" of the professor was an ordinary dog ​​named Sharik.

Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov

The results of the experiment were amazing. A "new man" was born - Sharikov, who, according to the writer's idea, is the image of a Soviet man. In the novel "The Heart of a Dog", the analysis of which is rather difficult for many reasons, Mikhail Bulgakov showed the average representative of the Soviet era: an alcoholic with three previous convictions. It is from such people, according to the author, that it is planned to build a new society.

The "new man" even needed a full name - Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov. Like any other inhabitant, he passionately wants to break into people, but does not understand at all how this can be achieved. The character of the hero leaves much to be desired, he is aggressive and arrogant, Professor Preobrazhensky constantly has conflicts with him.

Insolence, hypocrisy and deceit - these are the qualities Bulgakov wanted to expose in the Soviet man. “Heart of a Dog” (an analysis of the work confirms this) shows how unbearable and hopeless the state of society becomes. Sharikov does not seek to learn anything, he remains an ignorant slob. terribly dissatisfied with his ward, to which he replies that at such a time everyone has their rights.

Shvonder

In his unwillingness to become a useful member of society, Polygraph Poligrafovich is not alone, he finds his “like-minded person” - Shvonder, who works as chairman of the house committee. Shvonder becomes Sharikov's ideal mentor and begins to teach him Soviet life. He provides the newly-minted "man" with literature for study, from which he draws only one conclusion - everything must be divided. It was at this moment that Sharikov became a “real” person, he realized that the main aspirations of the powerful of this world are robbery and theft. The author showed this in his story "Heart of a Dog". An analysis of the behavior of the main characters proves that the main principle of social ideology, that is, the so-called equality, can only lead to negative consequences.

Sharikov's work

Significant in understanding the images of the story is the work that Polygraph Poligrafovich enters. He disappears for some time from the apartment of Professor Preobrazhensky, who is already pretty tired of him, and then reappears, but very badly.

smelling. Sharikov explains to his creator that he has found a job and is now engaged in trapping in the city.

This episode shows how close the main character is to a complete reincarnation, because he has already begun to "hunt" animals, forgetting that he has a dog's heart inside. The analysis of the hero accurately demonstrates all the qualities that are promoted in human society. The last betrayal in Sharikov's life was the denunciation of the professor himself, after which Preobrazhensky decided to turn everything back and turned Polygraph Poligrafovich back into Sharik.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, such changes usually occur much more complicated and longer than in the story "Heart of a Dog". Its analysis proves that the author showed the possibility of changes, but it is worth implementing them or not, whether to become a righteous and honest person, everyone decides on their own.

In the story "Heart of a Dog" M. A. Bulgakov sharply shows the contradiction between different classes of society. Even despite the fact that the historical events of that time should have evened out the class inequality of society. In the revealed realities, the differences between the representatives of the intelligentsia and the working class became even more acute.

Bulgakov M.A. was a participant in those events and observed what happened in the society of that time.

So, in the story, an intellectual and spiritual confrontation between two types of people runs like a red thread through the whole narrative.

The first type is representatives of the "old" intelligentsia, who have gone through a long stage of the formation of their own personality. Professor Preobrazhensky and his faithful assistant Dr. Bormenthal. Both of these characters not only have amazing intellectual qualities, but also have high moral principles based on humanistic ideas: service to man and society, significant moral and spiritual constants. Of course, the heroes of this series are not devoid of human qualities.

Dr. Bormenthal may have a physical impact on a bully or a rude person, pushing him out the door, but the distinguishing feature of such behavior is a strong sense of natural justice and the conviction that the truth must always prevail.

The other wing is headed by an odious figure - Sharikova. Everyone remembers the history of its origin in our world very well. So, Sharikov is a collective character who shows all the absurdity of the new intelligentsia. This character is built on contradictions, which are expressed not only externally, but also internally.

Sharikov tries to dress fashionably, but his entire appearance is sloppy. He reads new books that he does not understand. He tries to say smart things in public, but all this is a rough retelling of already voiced ideas.

The oddity lies in the fact that society perceives this person and even some kind of career growth begins with him. This further emphasizes the moral and spiritual state of society.

main idea Bulgakova M.A. is to show that a person must develop, work on himself, suffer, grieve, rejoice, but only in this way can a person become better, only in this way does the growth of individuality occur. No fashionable things, smart books will replace the internal state of a person, will not make him better.

Detailed Analysis

Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasyevich is one of the most famous Russian writers who was able to give the world immortal works known to all the world. His work is still popular today. In many educational institutions, the study of the work of Mikhail Bulgakov is included in the curriculum. For example, The Master and Margarita, Diaboliad, Heart of a Dog. I would like to pay special attention to the last poem.

The analyzed work takes its history in January 1925. It was officially published after the death of the author himself. Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov was able to very accurately reflect the current reality, which is reflected in today's day. To enhance the real reality and create the right atmosphere, fantastic events were included in the work. Namely, the transformation of the dog Sharik into citizen Sharikov.

The work raises a number of philosophical questions that make the reader think about many things. For example, the possibility of changing the world for the better, the re-education of a person and his significance for society. The author skillfully illustrates the life of the intelligentsia and the common people. Their connection and influence on each other.

Consider ideological component of the story. The work includes a description of two worlds at once: Preobrazhensky's apartment and beyond. Through the eyes of the main characters, the reader sees that everything around is dirty, miserable and evil. Passers-by are scary and greedy. The presence of Peace and Chaos is felt, where the World is just the apartment of Preobrazhensky. Cozy and warm home and boundless space.

The story has dynamics. The characters are in search of balance in these two worlds, and are also fighting with themselves.

The main actors The stories "Heart of a Dog" are:

1. Dog Sharik (hereinafter citizen Sharikov). At the very beginning, he is presented as an intelligent and reflective animal. After the experiment, becoming a man, he ceased into a rude and uncultured person.
2. Professor Philip Philipovich Preobrazhensky. He is a representative of the "world" of the intelligentsia, a deeply moral person.

"Heart of a Dog" tells how Professor Filipp Filippovich decided on the most dangerous experiment of transplanting the internal key organs of a human into a dog. The operation was successful, and Sharik acquired a human form. The professor is expressed admiration and enthusiasm, many are interested in such an experiment. But Philip Philipovich himself is concerned, because he does not know who Sharikov will eventually become.

As time goes by, Sharikov becomes a drunkard and an ignoramus, and in addition falls under the influence of Shvonder, who turns him against Professor Preobrazhensky. Sharikov is rude and cheeky in Philip Philipovich's apartment and demands that he be registered in these apartments.

For a long time, the professor did not dare to reverse the experiment, hoping that the situation would change for the better. But this did not work out, and Sharikov, after another organ transplant, becomes a stray dog.

Summing up, I would like to note that people have different inclinations and oddities. More often this is manifested in a negative form and corresponding qualities. But one question remains unchanged - can a person change? Everyone must answer this question for himself. The fate of a person is only in his hands and everyone decides for himself what it will be. Everyone creates their own personality.

We add that classical literature should be read by everyone. After all, many are forced to study such literature, especially in schools. Classical literature should not be read under duress. Many only re-read Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Bulgakov, Pushkin and other writers only at a conscious age. After all, only in such works eternal philosophical questions are raised.

Option 3

In the work "Heart of a Dog" the author with particular subtlety reflects the current issues that challenge the new time. The author discusses the moral value that science should carry. About what kind of moral responsibility falls on the shoulders of a scientist conducting a scientific experiment.

Progressive science is powerless before the transformation of human consciousness. The professor managed to solve only a superficial issue of change, which did not lead to the desired result. The idea of ​​progress cannot be based only on the constant rejuvenation of man. If the cyclical change of generations is violated, the development of the world will slow down.

The plot of the story is multifaceted. Responsible obligations that the creator must bear for the result of his experiment come to the fore. The theme of individual freedom remains significant. The author proves that a free person is one who has the right to his beliefs.

The writer introduces ironic elements into the narrative, which are combined with the means of artistic expression. A feature is a reception based on satire, when each character appears before the reader in the view of the layman: "a rich eccentric", "a handsome man - bitten", "a certain fruit". Sharikov's inability to engage in a dialogue with the residents, to articulate his thoughts clearly, contributes to a number of comical situations.

With his story, the writer tries to convey to the minds of the people that any violent act is a crime. All living beings that live on Earth have every right to exist, which is an unwritten law of nature. It is important throughout life to be able to maintain the purity of spiritual thoughts. This opinion of the writer allows him to condemn the violent interventions of Preobrazhensky, who, with his experiments, violates the natural course of things.

Lermontov Mikhail Yurievich, the greatest Russian poet, a well-known bright mind who created many of the greatest creations. One of the creations is a novel called "a hero of our time." This is the best and most famous

This work combines three genre and artistic forms: fantasy, social dystopia and satirical pamphlet.

The fantastic is the operation that Professor Preobrazhensky carried out, as well as the results that immediately followed it. Nevertheless, the fantastic events served for the author only as a plot basis for revealing social problems.

The main characters: Professor Philipp Filippovich Preobrazhensky, his assistant and assistant Dr. Ivan Arnoldovich Bormental, the dog Sharik, aka Polygraph Polygraphovich Sharikov. Secondary characters: chairman of the house committee Shvonder, cook and housekeeper, janitor. The episodic characters are members of the house committee, the professor's patients, journalists, the typist Vasnetsova, and just curious people from the street.

The plot of the story - the professor finds a homeless dog on the street and brings him to his home. There are several climaxes:

1. an operation to transplant Sharik with human glands;
2. the appearance in the professor's apartment of representatives of the house committee;
3. Sharikov's denunciation is brought to the professor, and the professor and the doctor decide on an operation to turn Polygraph back into "the cutest dog". material from the site

The denouement is the last visit of Shvonder, accompanied by police officers, to the professor's apartment. Epilogue - Calm has been restored in Preobrazhensky's apartment. Everything remained in the same places - the professor goes about his business, the dog Sharik is pleased with his dog's happiness.

The plot of this story was not entirely invented by the writer. In the 20s of the last century, some scientists performed practical experiments, both on animals and on humans, similar to those operations that were carried out by Professor Preobrazhensky. The surgical operation performed by the professor, transplanting the human pituitary and gonads into a yard dog, led to unexpected results. Preobrazhensky is trying to figure out why such a Polygraph Po-ligrafovich appeared from the “cutest dog”. In search of an answer, he studies the identity of the donor. It turns out that this man was tried three times and acquitted three times (he was lucky with his origin). An interesting detail is that the last punishment he was sentenced to was hard labor for 15 years on probation. This Klim Chugunkin is a socially dangerous person, but also a socially privileged one. Dr. Bormental at first admires only the fact that "the surgeon's scalpel brought to life a new human unit", while the professor understands which unit he brought to life, and realizes that all responsibility for what he did falls on his shoulders. “You know what kind of work I have done - it is incomprehensible to the mind. And now the question is - why? To one day turn the sweetest dog into such scum that your hair stands on end. Unfortunately, under the pressure of circumstances, the professor is forced to participate in giving the dog social functions. But soon the professor realizes that this can no longer continue, and the end of Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov is near, and the action of the story is moving towards its denouement.

In the work, a conflict arises and develops more and more between Philip Philipovich Preobrazhensky, a man of high culture, strict moral rules, and Shvonder, a representative of a new life. Their conflict reaches its highest point during a conversation about Sharikov's living in the professor's apartment. The environment in which his upbringing will be carried out is shown. But the influence of Shvonder was added to the natural qualities of Sharikov, whose upbringing turned out to be more effective than Preobrazhensky's desire and desire to somehow ennoble and humanize the type he reproduced. The principles of socialism turned out to be so close and understandable to the animal nature of Polygraph Poligrafovich that he very quickly and without much hesitation and doubt finds a place for himself in the new Soviet country.

The social order in the post-revolutionary state is shown in the style of a satirical pamphlet. Depicting him, the author does not use the grotesque technique, describing Sharikov's behavior or, for example, drawing images of members of the house committee. But at the same time, this story, despite its fantasticness and improbability, is remarkable for its amazing plausibility. This happens due to the use of recognizable specific signs of the time, for example: a city landscape, a scene of action - Obukhovsky Lane, a house, an apartment, along with its life, appearance and behavior of the characters. That is why the story with Sharikov is perceived quite realistically.

Bulgakov wanted to describe a specific social phenomenon and its danger to others. Fantasy in the story with extraordinary power has a convincing effect on others. Sharikov in everyday life is not such a rare phenomenon.

Plan

1. In one of the gateways, a hungry dog ​​with a scalded side dies.
2. The appearance of a stranger who treated the dog with sausage, called Sharik and took him to his home.
3. Description of the professor's apartment, acquaintance with its inhabitants.
4. Sharik was fed and given medical assistance.
5. Professor Preobrazhensky is receiving patients.
6. The first visit of the house committee to the professor's apartment.
7. At dinner, the professor expresses his thoughts about the existing system and the people who create this system.
8. Operation to transplant donor material to Sharik.
9. Diary of Dr. Bormenthal.
10. There is a new tenant in the professor's apartment - citizen Sharikov has appeared here instead of a dog. His antics are absolutely un-possible. He has a spiritual mentor - chairman of the house committee Shvonder.
11. Sharikov took office. After that, he finally untied himself.
12. The end of Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov.
13. Epilogue. Lost calm was restored in the professor's apartment.

"Heart of a Dog" Bulgakov M.A.

In "The Heart of a Dog", one of the three Moscow stories, M. Bulgakov creates a grotesque image of modernity. The story is based on a typical grotesque motif of transformation: its plot is based on the story of how a creature was born that combined an ordinary stray mongrel and lumpen, an alcoholic Klim Chugunkin.

The action of the story begins with the fact that Professor Preobrazhensky, who rejuvenates NEPmen and Soviet officials and is engaged in improving the human breed, lures a dog to his home to practice performing pituitary transplants. At first, an ordinary incident (the bait of a stray dog), thanks to reminiscences from A. Blok's poem - a bourgeois, a rootless dog, a poster played by the wind ("Wind, wind - / In all God's world!"), - acquires an unusual scale, provokes the expectation of a miracle transformation. The further development of events and their fantastic turn, releasing the forces of not good, but evil, give a mystical meaning to everyday intrigue, creating a grotesque situation based on the combination of everyday and global, plausible and fantastic, tragic and comic.

Bulgakov uses a fantastic assumption: a dog scalded with boiling water from Prechistenka and a frequenter of pubs, Klim Chugunkin, convicted three times, turn into a fantastic creature - the man-dog Polygraph Poligraphovich Sharikov. The transformation of Sharik into Sharikov and everything that followed it appears in Bulgakov as a literal realization of an idea popular in the post-revolutionary years, the essence of which is expressed in the words of the famous party anthem: “Who was nothing, he will become everything.” The fantastical situation helps to expose the absurdity of this idea. The same situation reveals the absurdity of another, no less popular thought, that of the necessity and possibility of creating a “new man” from the lumpenized mass.

In the artistic space of the story, the act of transfiguration is replaced by an invasion of the holy of holies of the universe itself. The expressive details used in the description of the operation, which should serve to create a new “breed” of people, emphasize the absurd, satanic meaning of violence against nature.

As a result of a fantastic operation, the grateful, affectionate, faithful, intelligent dog, as he was in the first three chapters of the story, turns into a stupid, capable of betrayal, an ungrateful pseudo-human, a fantastic explosive mixture called “Sharikov”, which has become a household name today.

The correlation of paradoxically dissimilar situations (the Transfiguration of the Lord - and the operation to transplant the gonads), as well as their consequences (enlightenment - the strengthening of the dark, aggressive principle) enhances the impression of the absurdity of the world, characteristic of the grotesque. The situation receives a plot development based on the combination of the plausible and the fantastic.

Yesterday's Sharik acquires "papers" and the right to a residence permit, gets a job as the head of the subdepartment for cleaning the city from stray cats; the dog is trying to “register” with the young lady, the mongrel claims to be the professor’s living space and writes a denunciation of him. Professor Preobrazhensky finds himself in a tragicomic position: the creation of his mind and hands threatens the very fact of his existence, encroaches on the foundations of his world order, almost destroys his “universe” (the motive of the “flood” caused by Sharikov’s inability to handle water taps is significant).

The relationship between Sharikov and Preobrazhensky is aggravated due to the existence of a provocateur - a representative of the “grassroots power” Shvonder, who seeks to “compact” the professor, win back part of his rooms - in other words, point the intelligentsia to its place in today's world. Combining the lines of Shvonder and Sharikov, Bulgakov uses the method of metaphor implementation, which is characteristic of the grotesque, when the metaphor takes on a literal meaning: Shvonder “let the dog down” - uses Sharikov to attack the professor: makes Sharikov “comrades”, inspires him with the idea of ​​his proletarian origin and advantages of the latter, finds service for him in accordance with the inclination of the heart, “straightens” his “papers” and inspires the idea of ​​the right to the professor’s living space. He also inspires Sharikov to write a denunciation of the professor.

The grotesque image of Sharikov forced researchers to raise the question of Bulgakov's attitude to some of the moral traditions of Russian literature, in particular, to the complex of guilt and admiration for the people, characteristic of the intelligentsia. As the story testifies, Bulgakov rejected the deification of the people, but at the same time he did not remove the blame from either Preobrazhensky or Shvonder. He boldly showed a kind of irresponsibility of the people, not protected in any way either from the experiments of Preobrazhensky (the initial readiness of Sharik to exchange his freedom for a piece of sausage is symbolic), or from the “ideological” processing of Shvonder. From this point of view, the end of the story is also pessimistic: Sharik does not remember what happened to him, he is denied insight, he has not acquired any immunity to attacks on his independence.

Bulgakov believed that in a situation where the Shvonders used for their own purposes the people's distrust of the intelligentsia inherited from the past, when the lumpenization of the people was becoming threatening, the traditional idea that the intelligentsia had no right to self-defense was subject to revision.

“The irresistibility of unarmed truth” is an expression of one of the characters in B. Pasternak’s novel “Doctor Zhivago”, Nikolai Nikolayevich Vedenyapin:

“I think,” says Vedenyapin, “that if the slumbering beast in man could be stopped by the threat, anyway, of prison or the afterlife, the highest emblem of humanity would be a circus tamer with a whip, and not a self-sacrificing righteous man. But the fact of the matter is that for centuries man has been lifted above the animal and carried upwards not by a stick, but by music: the irresistibility of unarmed truth, the attractiveness of its example.

Preobrazhensky would like to follow a similar ideal model of behavior, who rejects the right to violence against another person and calls on Dr. Bormenthal to keep “clean hands” at all costs. But Bulgakov refutes the possibility of following this model by the development of a situation that threatens the very existence of people of culture.

Ivan Arnoldovich Bormental appears as a representative of a new generation of intelligentsia. He is the first to decide on a "crime" - he returns Sharik to his original appearance and thereby affirms the right of a person of culture to fight for his right to be.

The acuteness of the problem, the masterful use of fantasy made Bulgakov's story a significant phenomenon in Russian literature of the 20th century.