About the product
The short story “Scarlet Sails” was first published in 1923. The author sought to show in his work the possibility of the victory of dreams over everyday life. Alexander Green's story "Scarlet Sails" tells about the girl Assol, her loyalty to her dream and desire for it. The main conflict of the story “Scarlet Sails” is the confrontation between dreams and reality.
If you don’t have enough time to read the full version, you can read a summary of “Scarlet Sails” chapter by chapter and a description of the characters on our website.
The material was prepared jointly with a teacher of the highest category, Kuchmina Nadezhda Vladimirovna.
Experience as a teacher of Russian language and literature - 27 years.
Other characters
- Longren is an old sailor who lives with his daughter Assol. His wife died, he is raising his daughter himself and makes a living by creating wooden ship models.
- Egle is a collector of fairy tales and legends. One day in the forest he sees Assol with a toy yacht with scarlet sails and tells the girl that the same ship will come for her someday.
- Hin Menners is the son of the deceased tavern owner Menners. He hates Assol's father and the girl herself, because Longren did not help his father when his boat was drifting into the open sea.
- Residents of Kaperna are down-to-earth, cynical people. They don’t like Longren, and they think Assol is crazy. The story about the scarlet sails becomes another reason for them to ridicule the girl.
And we also have:
for the most impatient -
A very brief summary of “Scarlet Sails”
for the most sociable -
The main characters of "Scarlet Sails"
for the busiest -
Reader's diary "Scarlet Sails"
for the most curious -
Analysis of “Scarlet Sails” Green
Plot - summary:
Longren returns from a voyage and learns that his wife has died, and his neighbor is caring for his eight-month-old daughter. The girl is growing up. No one wants to play with her because of her father's behavior. Assol grows up as a dreamer and visionary. While playing with a boat, she accidentally enters the forest and meets a man who says that in a few years a prince will sail to her on a ship with scarlet sails. Arthur Gray grew up in a rich family and was bored, he read a lot of books about the sea. After a while, he sets sail, ends up in the city where Assol lives, falls in love with her, and learns about her dream. Soon a ship with scarlet sails sailed to the shore. It was Gray who sailed to pick up Assol and her father.
Summary
Chapter 1. Prediction
Longren, a sailor who went to sea on the brig Orion, after ten years of sailing, leaves his service and returns home. He is forced to do this because one day, having returned to the small village of Kaperna, he learned that he had an eight-month-old daughter, and his beloved wife Mary had died of double pneumonia.
The birth was difficult; almost all the savings in the house were spent on recovery. The poor woman was forced to go into the city in cold weather to pawn her wedding ring - her only value - and buy bread. After a three-hour journey, Mary fell ill and soon died.
A widow neighbor moved into the empty house. She raised little Assol. Longren also learned that his wife asked to lend her money from the wealthy tavern owner Menners. He “agreed to give money, but demanded love for it.”
After the death of his beloved wife, the sailor became even more unsociable; he lived raising a girl and making a living from wooden toys in the form of ships and boats.
When Assol was five years old, “an event occurred, the shadow of which, falling on the father, also covered the daughter.” In terrible bad weather, Longren was standing at the pier and smoking when he saw Menners in his boat being carried far out to sea. Menners asked to help him, but Longren just stood there and was silent, and when the boat was almost out of sight, he shouted: “She also asked you! Think about this while you’re still alive...” Returning home at night, he told the awakened Assol that he “made a black toy.”
Six days later, Menners was found; he was picked up by a ship, but he was in a dying state. The residents of Kaperna learned from him how Longren silently watched his impending death. After this, he completely became an outcast in the village. Subsequently, Assol also lost friends. The children didn't want to play with her. She was feared and pushed away. At first the girl tried to establish communication with them, but this ended in bruises and tears. She soon learned to play alone.
In good weather, Longren would let the girl go into town to sell the toys he made. One day, eight-year-old Assol saw a beautiful white yacht in a basket, and its sails were made of scarlet silk. The girl could not resist the temptation to play with an unusual boat and let it swim in a forest stream. But there was a strong current, it quickly carried the boat down. Running for a toy. Assol found herself deep in the forest and saw Egle, an old collector of songs and fairy tales.
“I don’t know how many years will pass, but in Kaperna a fairy tale will bloom, memorable for a long time. One morning, in the distant sea, a scarlet sail will sparkle under the sun... You will see a brave, handsome prince... I have come to take you forever to my kingdom, he will say...”
The joyful girl returned to her father and told him this story. He, not wanting to disappoint his daughter, supported her. A beggar passed nearby, heard everything and told it in the tavern. After this incident, the children began to tease Assol even more, calling her a princess and shouting that “her red sails” had come for her. The girl began to be considered insane.
Chapter 2. Gray
Arthur Gray was a descendant of a respected family and lived on a wealthy family estate. The boy was uncomfortable within the framework of family etiquette and a boring home.
Once a boy painted the hands of the crucified Christ in a picture, explaining his action by not wanting “to have blood flowing in his house.” At the age of eight, he began to explore the back streets of the castle and went into the wine cellar, where wine was stored, with the ominous inscription “Gray will drink me when he is in Paradise.” Young Arthur was indignant at the illogicality of the inscription and said that he would drink it someday.
Arthur grew up as an unusual child. There were no more children in the castle, and he played alone, often in the castle's back yards, in the weeds and old defense ditches.
When the boy was twelve, he wandered into a dusty library and saw a picture that depicted a ship in a storm with the captain standing at the bow. The picture, and especially the figure of the captain, struck Gray. From that moment on, the sea became the meaning of life for him, a dream that he could only study from books.
At the age of fifteen, Arthur ran away from the estate and went to sea as a cabin boy on the schooner “Anselm”, on which Captain Gop first took him out of interest and a desire to show the pampered boy the real sea and the life of sailors. But during the voyage, Arthur turned from a little prince into a real strong sailor; from his past life he saved only his free, soaring soul. The captain, seeing how the boy had changed, once told him: “Victory is on your side, rogue.” From that moment on, Gop began to teach Gray everything he knew.
In Vancouver, Gray received a letter from his mother, she asked him to return home, but Arthur replied that she also needed to understand him: he could not imagine his life without the sea.
After five years of sailing, Gray came to visit the castle. Here he learned that his old father had died. A week later, with a large sum of money, he met with Captain Gop, to whom he informed that he would now be the captain of his own ship. At first, Gop pushed young Arthur away and wanted to leave, but he caught up and sincerely hugged him, after which he invited the captain and crew to the nearest tavern, where they feasted all night.
Soon, the Secret, Gray’s huge three-masted ship, stood in the port of Dubelt.
He sailed on it for about three years, engaged in merchant affairs, until, by the will of fate, he ended up in Lisse.
Chapter 3. Dawn
On the twelfth day of his stay in Lisse, Gray became sad and went to inspect the ship before departure. He wanted to go fishing. With the sailor Letika, they sailed in a boat along the night shore. So slowly they reached Caperna and stopped there.
Wandering through the forest at night, he saw Assol sleeping on the grass. The girl slept in a sweet, serene sleep and seemed to Arthur the embodiment of beauty and tenderness. Without realizing why he was doing this, Gray put his family ring on her little finger.
Afterwards, at Menners' tavern, the captain began asking Hin Menners about the girl he had seen. He said that this was apparently “Ship Assol,” a crazy girl who was waiting for the prince under scarlet sails. The story of the sails was distorted and told in a way of ridicule and irony, but its innermost essence “remained untouched” and struck Gray to the core.
Khin also spoke about the girl's father, calling him a killer. The drunken coal miner who was sitting next to him suddenly sobered up and called Menners a liar. He said that he knows Assol, he has brought her to the city many times in his cart, and the girl is absolutely healthy and sweet. While they were talking, Assol went about her business past the tavern window. One glance at the girl’s concentrated face and serious eyes, in which a sharp, lively mind was read, was enough for Gray to be convinced of Assol’s mental health.
Chapter 4. The day before
Seven years have passed since Assol and Egle met. For the first time in these years, the girl returned home very upset and with a basket full of unsold toys. She told Longren that the owner of the shop no longer wanted to buy their crafts. They also did not want to accept them in other stores that the girl visited, citing the fact that modern mechanical toys are now more valued than Longren’s “wooden trinkets.” The old sailor decides to go to sea again to earn a living for himself and his daughter, although he does not want to leave his daughter alone.
Upset and thoughtful, Assol went for a wander along the evening shore of Kaperna and fell asleep in the forest, and woke up with Gray’s ring on her finger. At first it seemed like someone's joke to her. Having thought well, the girl hid it and did not even tell her father about the strange find.
Chapter 5. Combat preparations
Returning to the ship, Gray gave orders that surprised his assistant and went to the city stores in search of scarlet silk. Gray's assistant Panten was so surprised by the captain's behavior that he believed that he had decided to start transporting contraband.
Having finally found the right shade, Arthur bought two thousand meters of the fabric he needed, which surprised the owner, who quoted an exorbitant price for his product.
On the street, Gray saw Zimmer, a wandering musician whom he knew before, and asked him to gather fellow musicians to serve with Gray. Zimmer happily agreed and after a while came to the port with a crowd of street musicians.
Chapter 6. Assol is left alone
After spending the night in his boat at sea, Longren returned home and told Assol that he was going on a long voyage. He left his daughter a gun for protection. Longren did not want to leave and was afraid to leave his daughter for a long time, but he had no choice.
Assol was troubled by strange premonitions. Everything in her such a dear and close home began to seem alien. Having met the coal miner Philip, the girl said goodbye to him, saying that she would soon leave, but where she did not yet know.
Chapter 7. Scarlet “Secret”
The “Secret”, under scarlet sails, followed the river bed. Arthur reassured his assistant Paten by revealing to him the reason for such unusual behavior. He told him that he saw a miracle in Assol’s image, and now he must become a real miracle for the girl. This is why he needs scarlet sails.
Assol was home alone. She was reading an interesting book, and an annoying bug was crawling along the leaves and lines, which she kept brushing down. Once again the insect climbed onto the book and stopped at the word “Look.” The girl, sighing, raised her head and suddenly in the opening between the roofs of the houses she saw the sea, and on it - a ship under scarlet sails. Not believing her eyes, she ran to the pier, where all of Kaperna had already gathered, perplexed and making noise. There was a silent question on the faces of the men, and undisguised anger on the faces of the women. “Never before has a large ship approached this shore; the ship had those same sails whose name sounded like a mockery.”
When Assol found herself on the shore, there was already a huge crowd screaming, asking, hissing with anger and surprise. Assol ran into the thick of it, and people moved away from her, as if afraid. A boat with strong oarsmen separated from the ship, among whom was “the one... whom she knew, vaguely remembered from childhood.” Assol rushed into the water, where Gray took her into his boat. “Assol closed her eyes; then, quickly opening her eyes, she boldly smiled at his shining face and, out of breath, said: “Absolutely like that.”
Once on the ship, the girl asked if Gray would take old Longren. He answered “Yes” and kissed the happy Assol. The holiday was celebrated with the same wine from Gray's cellars.
The heroes of the story - their destinies and characters
- Assol is the only and beloved daughter of the fisherman Longren, who raised her without a mother. A sympathetic, kind, dreamy girl once met the collector of legends, Aigle. And he promised Assol that one day a prince would sail for her on a ship with scarlet sails. From this meeting, her life turned into waiting for the prince.
- Longren is a sailor. His wife died and he raised his daughter alone, earning a living by carving wooden models of ships.
- Arthur Gray is a young and handsome young man, he is the heir of a noble family, who, from the age of fifteen, has been traveling the seas on a ship.
- Hin Menners is the son of the deceased inn owner. He hates Assol and Longren with all his heart because he did not save his father, the innkeeper Menners.
- Egle is a collector of legends who predicted Assol the appearance of her lover in her life on a ship with scarlet sails.
- Kaperna's people are residents of the village where Assol and her father live. They do not like Longren, and consider his daughter crazy for believing in the prophecy.
This is interesting: a biography of Chekhov, briefly the most important things.
