“The First Teacher” summary of Aitmatov’s story

About the product

The story “The First Teacher” by Aitmatov was written in 1962. The book describes the difficult period of the formation of Soviet power in Kyrgyzstan - the struggle against patriarchal traditions that did not allow young people to learn and develop.

In the center of the plot is a teacher who, after serving in the army, returns to his small homeland, to a remote village, and with his own efforts creates the first school in the village.

We recommend reading the online summary of “The First Teacher” on our website. A retelling of the story will be useful in preparing for a literature lesson.

The material was prepared jointly with the highest category teacher Lyubov Alexandrovna Koroshchup.

Experience as a teacher of Russian language and literature - 30 years.

Popular retellings today

House - a summary of Abramov’s novel
A work called “House” is the authorship of the Russian writer Fyodor Abramov. Misha Pryaslin comes from the capital to visit his sister Tanya.
Crucian carp the idealist - a summary of the tale by Saltykov-Shchedrin
Once a crucian carp argued with a ruff about the fact that one can serve honestly and regularly. This is what the crucian carp claimed, and the ruff believed that in some places it was possible to deceive. The crucian carp, obedient and prone to idealism, is very loved by monks.
Scarlet - summary of Koval's story
A soldier whose last name is Koshkin arrived to serve on the State Border. It is known that service at the border without dogs is impossible, so he was sent to a school for service dog instructors.
On an ice floe - summary of Zhitkov's story
Winter brought with it a frozen sea. There are many fishermen on the collective farm. Eight people got together, harnessed their horses to a sleigh and went for winter fishing. Among them was the hero of Zhitkov’s story “On the Ice Floe” Andrei

Summary

While hatching the idea of a new painting, the artist could not decide what exactly to depict on the canvas. It was not in his rules to discuss the idea of the canvas with relatives or friends, since he himself did not know what would turn out in the end. It was as difficult as “guessing how a child who is still in the cradle today will grow up.”

But one day the artist decided to “share with people his thoughts about a painting that has not yet been painted.” He was inspired to do so by a story about his native village, which seriously disturbed his soul.

In the Kazakh village of Kurkureu, a local landmark was a hill, which “for some reason was called the “Dyuishen school”.” They said that once upon a time there was a school on this site, but now there are no traces of it left. It was organized by a local old man, Duishen, who at that time was a young Komsomol member.

The artist was invited to his native village “for the grand opening of a new school, which the collective farm built on its own.” Among the guests of honor was Altynai Sulaymanova, a prominent scientific figure. The elderly woman “headed a department at the university, gave lectures on philosophy, worked at the academy, and often traveled abroad.” Many fellow countrymen sent congratulatory telegrams. They were delivered by the same Duishen, who opened the first school in the village. They still laughed at the old man because he was not particularly literate. These ridicule became the reason for the unexpected departure of Altynai Sulaymanova. Already in Moscow, she sent the artist a letter of confession with a request to convey it to the residents of her native village.

This story took place in 1924. The young revolutionary Duishen was sent to the Kurkureu village “to open a school here and teach children.” In those distant times, among ordinary village people, “words such as “school” and “study” were new.” They sincerely did not understand how school could help their children earn a living. The overwhelming majority of the village residents were completely illiterate people, and that is why they so persistently resisted the opening of the school. Fortunately, Duishen managed to convince his fellow villagers that literacy would be very useful for children. He turned to them for all possible help - “to repair this bai stable on the mountain, we need to build a bridge over the river, the school needs firewood.” However, the residents, having learned that Duishen would receive a salary for his work, offered him to solve all the problems with this money.

Duishen began to repair the abandoned stable on his own. While working, he met a girl named Altynai, an orphan who lived with her uncle. In someone else's house, the girl was not loved, treated rudely and assigned to do the most difficult work.

When the school was ready, Duishen began to go around the courtyards and invite the children to study. Aunt Altynai really didn’t want to let the orphan who helped her with the housework go to school, but Duishen managed to talk to the girl’s uncle, and he let her go to school.

It is amazing how “an illiterate guy, who himself had difficulty reading syllables and did not have a single textbook at hand,” dared to teach children to read and write. He placed the students on the floor on straw, gave each of them a notebook, a pencil and a tablet that served as a table, and got to work. Thus, for the poor Kyrgyz children, who had never left their village, “a new, unheard of and never seen before world” suddenly opened up.

With the arrival of spring, my aunt increasingly complained that no one had yet wooed Altynai. Soon her prayers were answered, and matchmakers appeared in the house. Altynai learned that her uncle had decided to sell her as a wife to a rich man. This also became known to Duishen, who sheltered the girl. Soon he had to get into a fight with the “groom” and his comrades, who severely beat the teacher. Altynai was taken to the mountains, where at the age of fifteen she became the wife of an old rich man.

However, Duishen did not give up. He returned for Altynai, accompanied by police officers, who arrested her husband. The teacher asked the girl to forget about everything as if it were a bad dream. He took Altynai to the city, where a completely new life awaited her.

Altynai fulfilled the teacher’s behest and continued her studies at school, then at the workers’ faculty, and after that at the institute in Moscow. She faced many trials, but she endured them with dignity, achieving great heights. Throughout her life, Altynai Sulaymanova carried love, gratitude and boundless respect for her first teacher.

Two poplars

The narrative begins with the reader seeing with his inner eye an artist who cannot paint another picture, or rather, choose a theme for it. For inspiration, he recalls his childhood, which he spent in the Kurkureu village, in the steppe of Kazakhstan. He thinks warmly about two poplars on a hillock away from the village. This hillock in his native place (the artist remembered it from childhood) was called “the school of Duishen.” Once upon a time, about 40 years ago, there really was a school for children in that place. It was founded by an ideological Komsomol member, Duishein.

The artist is thinking of visiting his native place and seeing those poplars, but there is still no reason. And then they send him a letter (telegram) with an invitation to participate in the opening of a new school in the village.

The artist, without thinking twice, flies to his native land on the wings of nostalgia. He sees two poplars on the hill, and his acquaintances and friends. Among the guests comes an already middle-aged woman, academician Altynai Sulaymanovna Sulaymanova. She looks sadly at the poplars, with that feeling when between a person and an inanimate creature there is some kind of secret connection, known only to them. In general, it must be said that Ai’s story is filled with subtle symbolism, visible only if you read the work in its entirety.

At the festival in honor of the opening of the school, everyone remembers with laughter how an uneducated man, who read syllables, taught children the basics of literacy. At the height of the action, telegrams arrive from former students with congratulations. They are carried away by the already elderly and even old Duishen. He doesn’t come to the celebration itself because he has a lot of work to do.

For some reason Altynai becomes terribly ashamed, she is in a hurry to leave her native place for Moscow. The artist first asks her to stay, then asks if someone has upset her. She says that she has nothing to be offended by him or the local residents in general. If she has grievances, it is only against herself.

She leaves, and then writes a long letter to the artist, in which she confesses and tells him her story. The story is told from her perspective. And the reader, turning the last page of the prehistory, catches himself thinking that the poplars will still have their say in this story. Aitmatov wrote the story “The First Teacher” wonderfully from beginning to end, as evidenced by the introductory part of the work.

Test on the story

Check your memorization of the summary content with the test:

/10
Question 1 of 10
Who is the author of “The First Teacher”?
Start test

Hall of Fame

To get here, take the test.

Ainat Salimbaev
10/10
Lyuba Ziferman
10/10

Man from Nowhere

In 1924, a man wearing an overcoat made of black cloth came to the village. This was very unusual, but what seemed even stranger was what he proposed to do to the local population: to set up a school in an abandoned stable on a hillock. This man's name was Duishein, he was a convinced communist.

If you think about it, it is very characteristic that man actually appeared out of nowhere. He didn't have parents. He was a flesh and blood son of Soviet power, the embodiment of the ideal man of that time. Yes, he lacked education, but this was more than compensated for by his spiritual fervor and conviction that he was right.

Altynai's unexpected marriage and beating of a teacher

So some time passed. But Aunt Altynai was still bothered by the fact that the girl went to school and did not help her with the housework. And she came up with an insidious plan: to marry the girl to rich mountaineers. There are benefits everywhere: firstly, money, and secondly, in the mountains, when Altynai will be in the rank of “second wife”, she will not really need a letter. Thus, the evil aunt will still break the spirit of the proud child!

Therefore, one day, when Altynai returned from school, she found her aunt in an unusually good mood, and her uncle drunk. He played board games under pressure with fat men of disgusting appearance. In other words, there was a holiday in the house.

Altynai realized that she was being married off. She ran and told everything to her teacher, and he told her not to worry about anything, to continue going to school and for now to live with her distant relatives who lived in the same village. The image of Duishen is filled with great human courage. We hope that this is exactly how Ch. Ai intended it - a story inspiring heroic deeds.

But my aunt was no slouch either. One day she took some strong guys with her and disrupted the calm and benevolent atmosphere of an ordinary school lesson. She planned to take Altynai by force. The teacher, of course, tried to stop them, but could not. His ribs and arms were broken, he was severely beaten, and the girl was thrown over the saddle and taken to the mountains.

Reviews of the book The First Teacher

A wonderful story by our beloved Soviet writer Chingiz Aitmatov! It lifts the spirit of Soviet comrades, guides them along a good, creative path, and helps us understand how much the Soviet Union and grandfather Lenin gave us. After all, there are such difficult times ahead, we need to unite, be imbued with patriotism, and this book shows how much the Soviet Union and grandfather Lenin gave us with such a “soft, warming look, speaking of a wonderful future” for all of us. Now let's get serious. “Don’t spare the heat of your hearts, come closer, I have to tell this story.” It was a good introduction. Please feel for the heroes of the story, for the time in which they found themselves. A kind and sad book, it touches on both the tragedy of one person and the problem of humanity growing up. The narrator, being an artist, makes us wonder what the story was about. It is multifaceted and difficult to fit on one canvas (although they did release a commemorative stamp https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Stamps_of_Kyrgyzstan%2C_2009-581.jpg and a coin https://upload .wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/KG_Ag_Teacher_a.jpg).

But since the book is called “The First Teacher,” then, first of all, the book is about him. A book about a good man Duishen. He does with his soul what society (Soviet power) and his heart told him to do. To describe him, I have only one word: virtuous, good-natured, conscientious. His words, thoughts and deeds are united (you rarely see this), he believes in a bright future and makes others believe in it. In this regard, the author openly poses the question: “When did we lose the ability to truly respect the common man?” A question worthy of a fairly large book. I will only say that Duishen is definitely simple - in the sense that you won’t expect any tricks from him, he is honest, unambitious and does his job well. I can’t help it, but such people make me sincerely pity, I would like a more rosy fate for them, but since they are satisfied with soldier service and the profession of a postman in adulthood (although everything is not so clear here in connection with the plot), then Let them be happy with their little joys.

Next - about “background” problems, about the social situation in which events unfold. Firstly, the story describes the restructuring of the social structure. And the confrontation between education and agricultural activities that arose. I have no negative attitude towards the people who bullied teacher Duishen, who interfered, who were indignant about the school. After all, children are extra working hands, and they wipe their pants when it’s time to mow. We see the usual social rejection of both innovation and absolutely incomprehensible activities unrelated to direct survival. Secondly, this is, of course, the degraded position of women. So much has already been said about this that I don’t even want to start. It’s nice that a description is given of both the reverent and careful attitude and the disrespectful and user-friendly one in the same cultural environment (Glory to the Soviets!). Thirdly, I noted the benefits of motivation. Romantically colored activities make letters a miracle, make them “go to school on their own,” lead them through life and help them reach great heights. The formation of the educational institution described in the story really makes us think that letters are truly a miracle, that books are the joy of many miracles, that everything we have is built on the labor and hardships of someone who was, and everything that will happen depends on our efforts. And finally, the overall picture unfolds, of course, against the backdrop of the rise of Soviet power. Now the phrase that “the school is being built for the establishment of Soviet power” is already perceived as funny. But no school, no Lenin - no light, only darkness and deprivation. Of course, the best thing that could be come up with was to provide free education with the accompanying inculcation of ideology. But these ideas didn’t bother me at all; I replaced the words “Lenin”, “communist”, “Soviet” with “Good”, “honest man” and so on. And everything turned out to be a good picture. Of course, any mass ideology is fraught with consequences, which we all remember very well, but the idea that is the basis of the story, the values that Aitmatov preaches, do not cause any complaints from me.

So, what's the main point in this story? The main thing is that it will help the reader become a little better. Do not spare the heat of your hearts... #M1_3course