Chapter 1
The stray dog Sharik gets burns from the canteen cook. This is not the first time that an animal simply looking for food in a garbage heap has encountered the cruelty of this person. The dog complains about his difficult fate - they beat him with a boot, pour boiling water on him, and hit him in the ribs with a brick.
Then Sharik talks about people - about vile janitors, about cooks, and about typists who endure French love for fildepers stockings from their lover.
Sitting in the gateway, the dog sees a certain gentleman. And this gentleman gives Sharik a piece of Krakow sausage. Filled with gratitude, the dog follows the man. Together they come to the house, where Philip Philipovich (that is the name of this kind passer-by) is greeted by the doorman. And, lo and behold, no one drives the animal away from a warm home.
Chapter 1. Introduction
The Moscow life of the stray dog Sharik is described. Let's give a brief summary. “The Heart of a Dog” begins with the dog talking about how his side was scalded with boiling water near the dining room: the cook poured hot water and it fell on the dog (the reader’s name is not yet revealed).
The animal reflects on its fate and says that although it experiences unbearable pain, its spirit is not broken.
Desperate, the dog decided to stay in the gateway to die, he was crying. And then he sees the “master,” the dog paid special attention to the stranger’s eyes. And then, just by appearance, he gives a very accurate portrait of this man: confident, “he won’t kick, but he himself is not afraid of anyone,” a man of mental work. In addition, the stranger smells of hospital and cigar.
The dog smelled the sausage in the man’s pocket and “crawled” after him. Oddly enough, the dog gets a treat and gets a name: Sharik. This is exactly how the stranger began to address him. The dog follows his new friend, who calls him. Finally, they reach the house of Philip Philipovich (we learn the stranger's name from the mouth of the doorman). Sharik's new acquaintance is very polite to the gatekeeper. The dog and Philip Philipovich enter the mezzanine.
Chapter 2
While they go up to the apartment, Sharik remembers how he learned to read different letters. “M” is from the sign of a butcher shop, “A” and “B” are from Glavryba.
The dog and Philip Philipovich are met by the maid Zina, and, literally from the threshold, they want to take him to the examination room. Sharik doesn't like this idea and tries to escape. He is caught by Zina, F.F., and another gentleman (Dr. Bormental). The animal's wounds are treated and bandaged.
While Sharik comes to his senses, he observes an unusual visitor in this apartment - with green hair and a wrinkled pink face. His legs were also strange - one jumped like a child’s nutcracker, and the other did not bend. He tells Philip Philipovich about his extraordinary success with the ladies and thanks him.
After the man comes a lady who stubbornly hides her age. She receives some kind of miraculous injection and talks about her great passion for one man. F.F. tells the lady that he will insert monkey ovaries into her.
The visitors change one after another, Sharik falls asleep.
Waking up, he sees that four people from the new building management have arrived - Shvonder, Vyazemskaya, Pestrukhin and Zharovkin. They are trying to convince Professor Preobrazhensky (Philip Fillipovich) that seven rooms for him alone is too much, and the house management wants him to give at least two. In response to this, the scientist calls his friend and patient, Pyotr Alexandrovich. After a short conversation with the authorities, the applicants no longer want to take extra rooms.
Finally, they try to sell the professor magazines in favor of children in Germany, but nothing works.
The company, calling the owner a hater of the proletariat, leaves.
Chapter 2. First day in a new apartment
In the second and third chapters, the action of the first part of the story “Heart of a Dog” develops.
The second chapter begins with Sharik's memories of his childhood, how he learned to read and distinguish colors by the names of stores. I remember his first unsuccessful experience, when instead of meat, having mixed it up, the then young dog tasted insulated wire.
The dog and his new acquaintance enter the apartment: Sharik immediately notices the wealth of Philip Philipovich’s house. They are met by a young lady who helps the gentleman take off his outerwear. Then Philip Philipovich notices Sharik’s wound and urgently asks the girl Zina to prepare the operating room. Sharik is against treatment, he dodges, tries to escape, commits a pogrom in the apartment. Zina and Philip Philipovich cannot cope, then another “male personality” comes to their aid. With the help of a “sickening liquid” the dog is pacified - he thinks he is dead.
After some time, Sharik comes to his senses. His sore side was treated and bandaged. The dog hears a conversation between two doctors, where Philip Philipovich knows that only with affection it is possible to change a living being, but in no case with terror, he emphasizes that this applies to animals and people (“red” and “white”) .
Philip Philipovich orders Zina to feed the dog Krakow sausage, and he himself goes to receive visitors, from whose conversations it becomes clear that Philip Philipovich is a professor of medicine. He treats delicate problems of wealthy people who are afraid of publicity.
Sharik dozed off. He woke up only when four young men, all modestly dressed, entered the apartment. It is clear that the professor is not happy with them. It turns out that the young people are the new house management: Shvonder (chairman), Vyazemskaya, Pestrukhin and Sharovkin. They came to notify Philip Philipovich about the possible “densification” of his seven-room apartment. The professor makes a phone call to Pyotr Alexandrovich. From the conversation it follows that this is his very influential patient. Preobrazhensky says that due to the possible reduction of rooms, he will have nowhere to operate. Pyotr Aleksandrovich talks with Shvonder, after which the company of young people, disgraced, leaves.
Chapter 3
Preobrazhensky and Bormenthal are having lunch. Sharik sits right there and gets a piece of sturgeon and roast beef as lunch.
The sounds of a general meeting can be heard from another floor, and the professor is very upset about this. He recalls that until March 1917 there was a shoe shoe in the house, and not a single pair of shoes was lost from it, but now there is no shoe shoe, and everyone walks up the marble stairs in dirty shoes. He is also upset that the flowers have been removed from the sites, and the electricity now goes out regularly.
Lunch ends, Bormenthal leaves, and Preobrazhensky is going to the Bolshoi Theater to see Aida.
For a second, it seems to the dog that he is in a magical dream, where he is taken care of, fed, and is about to wake up and find himself on the street again.
Chapter 4
But the gateway already seemed like a dream. Sharik gained weight, grew taller and looked at himself in the mirror with interest. Philip Philipovich became his master and God, the dog greeted him joyfully, chewed his jacket and was invariably present at dinners. He was not even punished for chewing his galoshes and only slightly for tearing up a stuffed owl. They bought a collar for Sharik, and he quickly got used to it and was already proudly walking past stray dogs.
At some point, he decided to visit Daria Petrovna’s kingdom - the kitchen. The first couple of times he was chased away, but then he was already lying next to the basket of coals and watching how it worked.
But one day Sharik seemed to be struck with a premonition and was overcome with melancholy. I didn't feel like eating. After the walk with Zina, everything seemed to be going as usual. Exactly until the professor got a call.
Dr. Bormenthal arrived with a foul-smelling suitcase. Sharik was locked in the bathroom and left without lunch. The dog rushed about in the dark and howled. Then he was dragged into the examination room. They put a collar on him, poked him in the nose with cotton wool and his legs suddenly stopped holding Sharik.
The dog lies on the table, with its belly and head trimmed. The professor and the doctor are discussing the upcoming operation. Preobrazhensky admits that it would be a pity to lose the dog, but he is already accustomed to Sharik.
First, the animal's seminal glands were replaced with human ones. And then they opened the skull and replaced one of the parts of the brain - the pituitary gland. The operation is completed, the dog is alive. But the professor is sure that it won’t last long.
Chapter 3. The professor’s well-fed life
Let's continue with the summary. “Heart of a Dog” – chapter 3. It all starts with a rich dinner served to Philip Philipovich and Dr. Bormenthal, his assistant. Something falls from the table to Sharik.
During the afternoon rest, “mournful singing” is heard - a meeting of Bolshevik tenants has begun. Preobrazhensky says that, most likely, the new government will lead this beautiful house into desolation: theft is already evident. Shvonder wears Preobrazhensky's missing galoshes. During a conversation with Bormenthal, the professor utters one of the key phrases that reveals to the reader the story “Heart of a Dog” what the work is about: “Devastation is not in closets, but in heads.” Next, Philip Philipovich reflects on how the uneducated proletariat can accomplish the great things for which it positions itself. He says that nothing will change for the better as long as there is such a dominant class in society, engaged only in choral singing.
Sharik has been living in Preobrazhensky’s apartment for a week now: he eats plenty, the owner pampers him, feeding him during dinners, he is forgiven for his pranks (the torn owl in the professor’s office).
Sharik’s favorite place in the house is the kitchen, the kingdom of Daria Petrovna, the cook. The dog considers Preobrazhensky a deity. The only thing that is unpleasant for him to watch is how Philip Philipovich delves into human brains in the evenings.
On that ill-fated day, Sharik was not himself. It happened on Tuesday, when the professor usually does not have an appointment. Philip Philipovich receives a strange phone call, and commotion begins in the house. The professor behaves unnaturally, he is clearly nervous. Gives instructions to close the door and not let anyone in. Sharik is locked in the bathroom - there he is tormented by bad premonitions.
A few hours later the dog is brought into a very bright room, where he recognizes the face of the “priest” as Philip Philipovich. The dog pays attention to the eyes of Bormental and Zina: false, filled with something bad. Sharik is given anesthesia and placed on the operating table.
Chapter 5
Bormenthal's diary. He describes the details of the operation and the days after it. First, the dog is in a dying state, with a high fever. A few days later, improvements appear - the pulse and pupil reaction normalize. On December 29, Bormental notes hair loss on the dog’s forehead and sides. Then - the first bark, which looks like moans. The fur continues to fall out, and the dog itself grows by about 30 cm. On December 31, at noon, Sharik clearly pronounces “abyr”, and on January 1 he laughs. In the evening he pronounces the word “abyrvalg”. January 2 – gets up. Then he scolds Preobrazhensky for his mother’s sake and says the word “beer house.” The tail falls off. Sharik’s vocabulary is replenished with the words “cab driver”, “no seats”, “evening newspaper”, “the best gift for children” and swearing.
The fur remained only on the head, chest and chin. The genitals are like those of a developing man.
On January 8, the professor realizes that his theory was wrong: replacing the pituitary gland does not rejuvenate, but humanizes.
Sharik walks around the apartment on his own and swears. The professor asks him to stop, but it has no effect.
He is forced to wear clothes. The patient begins to eat at the table, deliberately swear and carry on a conversation.
The professor is sitting over the medical history of the man from whom Sharik received a pituitary gland transplant. Klim Chugunkin, 25 years old – drunkard, thief. The former dog is finally shaping into a human being – small, poorly built, smoking and independent in everything.
Chapter 6
At the door to the reception area hangs a sheet of paper with notes from all the residents of the apartment. There are bans on sunflower seeds, a “moratorium” on playing musical instruments, and the question of when the glazier will come, and correspondence that Sharik has gone somewhere and Zina should bring him.
Preobrazhensky reads a newspaper article written by Shvonder. He accuses the professor of having an illegitimate son and too many rooms.
Sharik arrives wearing a tie, a torn jacket and patent leather boots. Preobrazhensky scolds him for his appearance and for the fact that Sharik sleeps in the kitchen, disturbing the women.
During the dialogue, it becomes clear what the interlocutor is like - he throws cigarette butts, is careless with the urinal, is rude to women.
Sharik also makes a claim that he did not ask to be turned into a human, and can sue the professor. He also wants to get a passport and other documents. He plans to be named as Poligraf Poligrafovich Sharikov.
Together with Shvonder, Philip Philipovich issues a passport for the new person.
Suddenly a cat appears in the apartment, Sharikov drives it into the bathroom and locks himself there, accidentally twisting a pipe along the way. To get him out of there, an entire rescue operation has to be launched - the doorman Fyodor climbs through the dormer window into the bathroom. Sharikov was saved, the apartment was slightly flooded.
Fyodor says that the residents of Sharikov’s house no longer like him very much - sometimes he threw stones at one, sometimes he hugged someone else’s cook. And Philip Philipovich has to pay for the damage caused.
Chapter 7
Dinner. Sharikov sits with a napkin behind his collar. But this does not affect his behavior. He drinks vodka, and the professor and Dr. Bormental understand that this is the legacy of his donor, Klim. They are planning the evening. The hero, as always, wants to go to the circus. The scientist invites him to visit the theater, but he refuses, saying that “this is all just counter-revolution.”
Sharikov begins promoting the idea of “dividing everything.” Otherwise, someone lives in seven rooms, and someone rummages through garbage dumps. In response, he is offered to chip in to help eliminate the consequences of the flood. The professor did not accept 39 people, which means that the tenant of the apartment should pay for it. He is indignant. They remember that he killed someone else's cat, grabbed a woman by the breast, and then bit her. They are trying to explain to him the need for education and socialization. But the only book that Sharikov is ready to read is the correspondence between Engels and Kautsky.
After lunch, Bormental goes to the circus with Sharikov. Left alone, Preobrazhensky takes out a jar in which a piece of the dog’s brain floats.
Chapter 4. Operation
In the fourth chapter, M. Bulgakov puts the climax of the first part. “Heart of a Dog” here undergoes the first of its two semantic peaks – Sharik’s operation.
The dog lies on the operating table, Dr. Bormenthal trims the hair on his stomach, and at this time the professor gives recommendations that all manipulations with the internal organs should take place instantly. Preobrazhensky sincerely feels sorry for the animal, but, according to the professor, he has no chance of survival.
After the head and belly of the “ill-fated dog” are shaved, the operation begins: after ripping open the belly, they exchange Sharik’s seminal glands for “some other ones.” After trephination of the skull, the dog almost dies, but a weak life still glimmers in it. Philip Philipovich, penetrating into the depths of the brain, changed the “white lump”. Surprisingly, the dog showed a thread-like pulse. Tired Preobrazhensky does not believe that Sharik will survive.
Chapter 8
Sharikov received his documents. But Bormental and Preobrazhensky refuse to call him by his first name and patronymic. And the hero, in turn, does not want to be “Mr. Sharikov,” because “the gentlemen are all in Paris.” The professor understands that Shvonder’s influence is becoming stronger. And he invites the victim of the experiment, in this case, to move out of the apartment. In response, he shows papers from Shvonder that Preobrazhensky is obliged to provide him with living space. The situation is becoming increasingly tense.
The tenant behaves more and more cheekily - he steals money, comes drunk and with strange comrades (who steal the professor’s hat, cane and ashtray), accuses Zina of theft. After this story, the professor and the doctor finally understand that it will not be possible to make a worthwhile person out of Sharikov. And there is no point in this whole operation and discovery. Because simple women and evolution can create geniuses, albeit from tons of all kinds of scum. It is the pituitary gland that creates personality, and that is why they got Klim Chugunkin - a thief and a drunkard.
Bormenthal offers to poison the resulting nonentity, but Philip Philipovich refuses.
Daria Petrovna appears with a drunken Sharikov. He climbed into the women's bedroom.
Chapter 7. Attempts at education
Let's continue with the summary. “The Heart of a Dog” in the 7th chapter tells about the attempts of Doctor Bormental and the professor to instill decent manners in Sharikov.
The chapter begins with lunch. Sharikov is taught proper table manners and is denied drinks. However, he still drinks a glass of vodka. Philip Philipovich comes to the conclusion that Klim Chugunkin is visible more and more clearly.
Sharikov is offered to attend an evening performance at the theater. He refuses under the pretext that this is “one counter-revolution.” Sharikov chooses to go to the circus.
It's about reading. The polygraph admits that he is reading the correspondence between Engels and Kautsky, which Shvonder gave him. Sharikov even tries to reflect on what he read. He says that everything should be divided, including Preobrazhensky’s apartment. To this, the professor asks to pay his penalty for the flood caused the day before. After all, 39 patients were refused.
Philip Philipovich urges Sharikov, instead of “giving advice on a cosmic scale and cosmic stupidity,” to listen and heed what people with a university education teach him.
After lunch, Ivan Arnoldovich and Sharikov leave for the circus, having first made sure that there are no cats in the program.
Left alone, Preobrazhensky reflects on his experiment. He almost decided to return Sharikov to his dog form by replacing the dog’s pituitary gland.
Chapter 9
The next morning Sharikov disappears - he is neither in the house nor in the trade union committee. It turns out that he left at dawn along with all his documents. The day before, he took money from the trade union committee and borrowed it from Daria Petrovna. Three days later, the hero appears and reports that he has accepted the position of head of the department for clearing Moscow of stray animals.
A few days later, Sharikov brings the typist Vasnetsova, his fiancee, to the house. The professor opens her eyes to the origins of her fiancé, and she refuses to marry him. In response, he threatens to fire her. Bormenthal takes the matter under personal control and promises to find out every day whether the girl has been fired.
One of his patients comes to the professor and shows Sharikov’s complaints and accusations against Philip Philipovich. When the former dog arrives from work in the evening, the scientist orders him to get out of the apartment. The tenant shows a shish and takes out a revolver. An enraged Bormenthal rushes over and begins to strangle him.
All the doors in the apartment are closed, there is a note at the entrance stating that there is no reception, and the bell wires are cut.
