Vacation. Review of R. Bradbury's story "Holidays" Rugby holidays main characters and summary

On the eve of the holidays, according to the program of the school course, the story of the great science fiction writer Ray Bradbury "Vacation" is being studied.
The writer has always pleased fans of science fiction - the colorful images of his works are always complemented by a deep meaning. Bradbury's boundless fantasy with each story opens up previously unknown worlds, colorful and fantastic.

Questions and tasks

1. Bradbury's story "Vacation" is quite complex. Read it carefully and think about what, combining fantasy and reality, the author wants to tell us, what to warn about?

Bradbury tries to convey to the reader the main idea - "Any action entails certain consequences." Weaving reality and fantasy, he reinforces and exaggerates the idea of ​​the complexity of life choices. When all the people around disappeared, the main characters of the story realized that they could not be happy without "this petty human fuss."
He also tries to warn - every desire should be carefully considered. A dream cannot be momentary, born over a cup of tea on a Saturday evening, like the heroes of Bradbury's fantastic story "Vacation".

2. Read the story aloud. Why was there such a strange silence around: "The sea was restless, and the sea was silent"?

With the help of such paradoxical phrases, Bradbury tries to prepare the reader: to create tension, and at the same time, to show that nothing is happening. The further development of the plot is fully consistent with this idea: There are no people on the whole planet, that's why it's so quiet around. However, life goes on as usual, everything else (plants, animals, fish and birds) continues to develop. It seems that nature did not notice that she had lost a whole part of herself.

Why was the railroad made of rust?

Throughout Bradbury's story "Holidays" the development of the main idea is traced - created by human hands exists as long as the person himself exists. Who needs "tedious work" except for the worker, who will read books, except for the reader, what will happen to the railway if it is not repaired? Rust is a symbol of abandonment. The main characters of the story realized that they could not live in a world without people.

Why was the path finally destroyed?

Bradbury's story "Vacation" tells that the main characters, after several months of travel, the road was no longer a joy. Each rest was a way for them to remind themselves at least for a little while of a past life - with minor worries, unnecessary deeds and small joys. Therefore, each broken section of the path foreshadowed relief for weary travelers.

3. Bradbury paints a picture of a world from which people left a few months ago. What made them leave?

The writer makes it possible to imagine a distant future - when there will be no people on the planet. The main characters of the story seriously thought about it, and their wish came true overnight - they were left alone on the entire globe.

What happens to the rest? Is it possible to be happy without people and without the usual things?

The rest go to travel, spending time carefree, stopping where the heart tells. A few months later, during the next halt, the husband tells his wife how good it would be if everything returned: all the absurdities, noise and din, evil people and stupid children, hopes, aspirations and love ... As it turned out, human happiness is unthinkable without these components.

This is what Ray Bradbury wants to tell the reader. "Vacations" is his little warning to people.

4. What kind of world do the father and mother of this small family dream of? How do they make their life plans? Why did the husband cry and wished to return everything back?

Before the disappearance of people, the main characters dream of a world without violence, cruelty, overeating, meaningless activities. They also want to take a 30-year vacation - travel anywhere, not compete with more successful colleagues, not fill up a car and not get stuck in traffic jams.
Once in a world without people, the main characters only plan a couple of things - where they will go and how they will spend their time. All the usual worries are gone, and now the only people on the planet do not know what to do. They only think about cities where it will be easier to survive.
The husband cried in despair - he wanted to return everything back, but did not know how. Most likely, for several months of such a life, he had already thought about this more than once, not daring to speak out.

To fully understand the meaning of what is happening with the main characters, it is worth reading "Vacations" (summary).

5. What do you think the boy wrote about in the note? Why was the mother afraid that the son's note was not their dream?

I think the boy just wanted to bring people back. He had no one to play with. The mother was afraid that her son would wish that she and his father would not be the same as the others. She did not want to disappear, like the rest of humanity - forever, just as silently and without a trace.

6. How do you define the meaning of the story, its title? What worries the writer and what do his works warn people against?

The meaning of Bradbury's story "Vacation" lies in a simple idea - you need to think through the consequences of your desires and actions in advance. Human life is not so simple that when one factor gets rid of it, it becomes happy. "Vacation" is the perfect title for the story. It fully reflects the essence of the work - a long idleness.
The writer is concerned that people often do not attach importance to the important aspects of their lives, do not see the main thing, do not understand that life without these very aspects will become unbearable. From mistakes that cannot be corrected later, Bradbury warns his readers.

Bradbury "Vacation": Summary

Deserted beach, sunny and carefree nature of the sandy shore. Noisy, swarming, bees, flowers bend to the ground, the sea rages. Rusty rails disturb the peace with their trembling - a two-cylinder trolley is shown from behind a hillock. A family of husband, wife and son travels on it. They stop for a halt - gasoline is over, you need to fill it from a spare canister. They unfold the tablecloth, sit down to eat, and remember the past.
A few months ago, on one of those warm evenings, a husband and wife were thinking about how nice it would be if all people disappeared. They didn't die, they just disappeared as if they didn't exist. The next morning, they wake up in complete silence - their wish comes true. Then they begin to travel - on the way to stock up in abandoned stores, spend the winter in large cities.
But on this halt. on the seashore, something is changing. The husband cries, arguing that he would like to return everything. The wife agrees. The son, angry with his parents, also cries, writes some desire on a piece of paper and, corking it in a bottle, throws it into the sea. A few hours later they are on their way again.

Bradbury's "Vacations" are distinguished by subtlety and thoughtfulness. Analysis of the story allows you to understand what the writer wanted to say.

Related content:

American writer Ray Bradbury is one of the authors who were able to turn science fiction into art. In his novels and even short stories, Bradbury always touches on many of the most important topics for everyone. The work “Vacation”, the genre of which can be defined as a dystopia, shows readers what scares loneliness, the lack of clear life plans, and why communication and the ability to find a common language with others are so important for us.

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Problems of the story

The work of Ray Bradbury "Vacation" describes the possibility of life on earth without people. The main idea is "Fear your desires, they can come true." The writer tried to consider the following tasks with his work:

• inability to set certain goals;
• excessive communication with people;
• loneliness, boredom.

The protagonist wished for himself a certain development of events, but when it happened, he did not know what to do next and how to manage the opportunity given to him.

Bradbury reminds his readers that although there are many people on earth who want to be completely alone, they have no idea what to do later when the desire is fulfilled. In the story, the writer touches on many problems of his time. The reader sees that the main characters, who fulfilled their dream, did not become happier. What they dreamed of brought them awareness of their bitter fate.

For a modern person, the surrounding people are not always pleasant and desirable, the usual activities cause boredom. The writer is trying to convey to his readers that without certain foundations and principles, the existence of society is impossible. Creativity Bradbury helps a person to understand their essence and purpose in this world.

The main characters of the story are a husband and wife and their little son. Left alone in the whole world, they travel, stopping periodically. The writer tells us about their experiences and aspirations.

The story begins with a description of a beautiful summer morning, fresh and sunny. Clouds floated, butterflies and dragonflies flew, there was a smell of flowers and herbs. A trolley is moving along the railroad, on which a husband and wife and their seven-year-old son are sitting. When gasoline ran out, travelers were forced to stop for a halt.

The boy constantly asks his parents where all the people have gone. From the words of a man and a woman, it turns out that one morning the father made a wish that all people on earth disappear, and they could only rest with their families. The man dreamed that there would be no work, bosses, noisy environment, some obligations and other things. There would be constant summer around them.

The next morning they woke up and their wish was granted. People disappeared, cities were overgrown with grass and flowers, birds sang, and the sounds of machines and mechanisms fell silent. After breakfast, the wife was afraid that her husband was not going to work. She still did not fully believe that, indeed, there was no one. The man laughed and happily said that he would never see a disgruntled boss and flattering employees again. According to him, they now owe nothing to anyone, their duty is to be happy. Thus began their lonely 30-year vacation.

The wife believed that they needed to have more children, but the husband said that their son would be the last person on earth. Then the world will belong to animals, birds and plants. Perhaps then another kind of creatures will arise that will combine natural curiosity with natural happiness and build a different world. The family gathers and goes on an endless journey through deserted cities.

The boy's mother blames herself a little for the disappearance of people, but her husband reassures her, saying that they did not experience torment, they just disappeared and that's it. After resting, the family decides to move on. The father takes the atlas to pave the way forward, and then his wife sees a tear fall on the paper. The man cannot stand it and says that he really wants people to return to the world, and everything was as before.

The boy hears the conversation of his parents and also begins to cry. He runs away to the sea, and there he writes his desire on paper, seals it in a bottle and throws it into the water. Parents do not know what he wrote about. The family again continues its difficult lonely route through a deserted world.

Conclusions from Bradbury's story

Bradbury's book "Vacations" vividly demonstrates the desperation of people who have not coped with their desires. The child does not want a repetition of the fate of his parents, he wants to return the world to its previous state.

Because of their haste, people found themselves in complete isolation and the long-awaited vacation became a tedious expectation of meeting with any person. The father of the family put on a formal suit and hat for the trip, as if he was constantly waiting for a meeting with people who had previously been unpleasant to him. But he realized that it was impossible to live alone. Making his wish, he did not think what would happen next. He didn't even care what it would be like for his son when he was the only inhabitant of the earth. Now the man has an epiphany.

The writer, by his narrative, makes it clear that a person cannot exist alone. To live, we all need:

• society;
• moral principles;
• foundations, traditions.

Even if the people around us are not always pleasant to us, we must adapt and take into account the interests of others. "Vacation" speaks of the mental suffering of adults and children. The father worries about his stupid desire, and the boy understands that adults can also be wrong. He wants to correct the mistakes of his father and makes efforts for this. study the link.

"Vacationinnowhere"

Dubovtseva Yulia Vasilievna

You can read Ray Bradbury endlessly, this is my subjective opinion. Every word is a shot, every thought is an arrow, and everything undoubtedly reaches the goal. It stirs the heart of the reader. It's like he's telling you, "Stop. Look around. Think." The author wrote, as he himself said, not waiting for inspiration, it itself “pushed” him in the side. And it turned out wonderful!

Each work of R. Bradbury for me is not only a pleasant communication with the book, but also a stormy work of the brain, causing a huge number of disputes with myself. My Bradbury is able to create a palette of different feelings and emotions: delight and indignation, smiles and fear… His mysteriousness taught me to read between the lines, to see the unusual in ordinary things. With him, I acquired my own “time machine”, reading “Dandelion Wine”, I was able to see the world without literature, without books and thoughts in the dystopia “451 degrees Fahrenheit”.

The story "Vacation" was written in 1963 and is considered one of the writer's most mysterious stories. After reading, you can feel some kind of ambiguity of thought, understatement. After all, we do not know how the second wish of the heroes came true, whether it was fulfilled again, just as we do not know what the boy wrote on a piece of paper. There are many mysteries in the creations of Ray Bradbury, which beckons and never ceases to attract the reader to his work.

The author poetically paints a picture of the surrounding world at the beginning of the story. Quiet, good morning. Everything is subject to a unique rhythm - this is the law of the universe. Nature has a special rhythm, the life of society, the beating of the human heart. Each rhythm is unique. When the rhythm of the beating of the human heart is disturbed, the person dies - such is the law. The nature of Bradbury continues to live in a unique rhythm, but the rhythm of human life in "Vacations" is broken, it simply does not exist. The author skillfully contrasts the harmonious world of nature with the disappeared world of people.

The heroes of the story are short-sighted egoists. Dreaming of the disappearance of people, all of them completely, except for their three, they did not think for a minute about how they would fill the void that had formed in their lives, they probably forgot that the family is the unit of society, its part, the most important link! Selfishness, envy, ambition - this is the "dashing" trio that took them on a "vacation to nowhere." Selfish adults wanted to get freedom from all the fuss, from work, other troubles, they wanted to go to eternal rest filled with happiness, not realizing that rest is good only when it is not eternal. After all, overcoming difficulties, achieving goals, gaining experience from mistakes made, a person is spiritually renewed. Isn't that what happiness is? A person loves weekends, holidays and vacations because they bring some variety to everyday life and give time to transform their feelings, and this is undoubtedly necessary for a person. However, too long a rest is boring, the daily variety ceases to be varied, and a person needs new difficulties, new achievements. This happened to the heroes of the story, they need new transformations of the soul, but they have no ground for these transformations, they have absolutely nowhere to strive, they have no difficulties, and, as a result, there is no happiness! Feeling and realizing the terrible consequences of their ridiculous desire, the heroes want to return what they did not appreciate - all the absurdities, the noise and din, hatred, all the horrors, all the nightmares, evil people and stupid children, all this mess, pettiness, vanity, all hopes , aspirations and love. Adults are punished - empty, silent streets and the unknown ahead ...

What will happen to their child? What did he do to deserve mute silence, gray, aimless everyday life? Why Bradbury deprives the boy of the right to choose? Because his parents decided for him! Why didn't they want to be alone? After all, they do not need other children, and this child should, in their opinion, be the last. Cruel! If they wanted to stay in the world with a child they love so much, then why don’t they think about how it will exist, because you can’t call such a life otherwise when they are gone.

The image of the boy's personality is a mystery to me, his behavior is very strange, but can be explained by the complete loneliness of the child. Holidays… What a wonderful word! A cloudless childhood, the sun, a river, friends, a lot of warm memories are associated with him. They must be! But after all not on thirty years?! And here, according to the selfish desire of his parents, the boy was left completely alone, he has no peers, he has no one to talk to, no one to play with - he is unhappy. What did the parents want to achieve with their desire? Run away from problems? Maybe!

Awareness of what happened is always happening - it's just a matter of time. The main characters have realized it, it becomes especially terrible and painful when suddenly, in the middle of a conversation, a child appears. His accusatory cries, like a sharp knife, pierce the hearts of parents and break the unique rhythm of natural silence.

The story is very instructive and must be read. After all, it says that you need to appreciate what you have, you need to cherish every moment of life. The author urges us not to be afraid of difficulties and not to run away from them, since any difficulties can be overcome, receiving a worthy and happy life as a reward.

R. Bradbury is no more, but his stories must be read and re-read, no doubt. He wrote easily, but he wrote about very difficult things. He made the complex understandable and accessible. The writer is still moving you forward and not letting our heads go on vacation - "holidays to nowhere."

The main characters of Ray Bradbury's story "Vacation" are a father, mother and their son Jim. One evening, the head of the family, sitting on the terrace, dreamed aloud that there would be no people on Earth in an instant. He considered people cruel and insatiable, capable of destroying the world in which they live with their aggressiveness.

The next morning it turned out that his wish had come true in some incredible way. Not a single person remained in the town where this family lived. The man tried to call by phone in different cities, but no one answered him. Then it became clear that only the three of them really remained on Earth.

The delighted man said that now he does not have to go to the service, and his son does not have to go to school. He also promised that they would gather supplies and go on a long journey across the country.

On an old trolley equipped with a gasoline engine, the family went on a journey by rail. They traveled for many days, making stops to rest and eat. And then one day, during such a vacation, sitting on the seashore, the man began to tell his wife in detail about which cities they could still visit during the trip. But at the end of the story, the woman noticed how a tear rolled down her husband's cheek.

And then her husband told her that in fact he dreams of people returning to this world again, returning, despite all their shortcomings. The wife agreed with her husband. She also wanted life to return to its former tracks.

Their son, Jim, approached them. He understood what his parents were talking about. The boy was also bored in the empty world, he had no one to play with. Jim ran to the seashore and there he wrote a note on a piece of paper. He put it in a bottle, tightly closed the neck, and threw the bottle into the sea.

The mother realized that the son wrote some kind of wish. Later, the boy asked that if you make a wish, will it come true? The father replied that sometimes wishes come true, and sometimes they come true too much.

The family boarded the railcar and set off again.

This is the summary of the story.

The main idea of ​​Bradbury's story "Vacation" is that it is important to calculate the possible consequences of one's actions and even desires. The head of the family wished out loud that the Earth would be freed from people whom he considered bad. His wish unexpectedly came true. However, the eternal holidays that came in the life of the family did not bring happiness to anyone. The heroes of the story realized that life without other people is boring and monotonous.

The story teaches not to rush words and calculate the consequences of their desires and actions.

The main message of Bradbury's "Vacation" is this: don't focus on the flaws. Be able to see the main thing. The main thing in life is people, human communication. What about disadvantages? Yes, they are in the world. But know how to see people behind the shortcomings.

What proverbs fit Bradbury's story "Vacation"?

Words are silver and silence is gold.
Trouble falls on the head from the tongue.
Fear your desires, for they come true.

Analysis of R. Bradbury's stories "All Summer in One Day", "Vacation"

bradbury fantasy story creativity

Story "Vacation"

Genre - fantasy story. However, when we read it, we do not immediately understand it. The story begins with a landscape exposition.

“The day was fresh - the freshness of the grass that stretched up, the clouds that floated in the sky, the butterflies that settled on the grass. The day was woven from silence, but it was not mute at all, it was created by bees and flowers, land and ocean, everything that moved, fluttered, fluttered, rose and fell, obeying its own flow of time, its own unique rhythm. The edge was motionless, and everything moved. The sea was restless and the sea was silent. A paradox, a complete paradox, silence merged with silence, sound with sound.

The landscape is perfect for its majestic tranquility. Harmony is broken with just one sentence: "Paradox, sheer paradox." The word "paradox" as an alien creature disturbs the earth's landscape. What does it mean?

Paradox (from other Greek - unexpected, strange) is a situation (statement, statement, judgment or conclusion) that can exist in reality, but has no logical explanation.

What is paradoxical in the description of the landscape? This is some kind of unnatural silence, an unusual calmness. Such that it becomes uncomfortable and somehow disturbing in the soul: “The flowers swayed, and the bees fell on the clover in small cascades of golden rain. The waves of the hills and the waves of the ocean, two kinds of movement, were separated by a railway, deserted, built of rust and a steel core, a road that, at a glance, no trains ran for many years. Thirty miles to the north it wound, winding, then lost in the hazy distance; thirty miles to the south pierced the islands of flying shadows, which before our eyes shifted and changed their outlines on the slopes of distant mountains.

The railway marked the presence of man and at the same time emphasized his mysterious absence. What is the reason for desolation, why don't trains run on the road? Maybe it's just an abandoned railway line, and trains don't run here anymore? However, soon a small four-wheeled trolley appears on the horizon, on which the family rides: a married couple with a seven-year-old son. They stop to eat in nature. At first it seems that there is nothing strange in this: an ordinary weekend when the family went out of town for a picnic. And only from the conversation we learn something terrible: it turns out that apart from them, there are no more people in the world. How could this happen? And it all started with a conversation, when one evening, exhausted by everyday routine work, the hero dreamed: “- And it would be wonderful ... To wake up tomorrow, and there is not a soul in the whole world, start all over again!

He sat and smoked, a folded newspaper in his hand, his head thrown back on the back of the chair.

• - If you could press such a button now, would you press it?
• “Probably yes,” he replied. - Without violence. Everything will just disappear from the face of the earth. Leave the land and the sea, and everything that grows - flowers, grass, fruit trees. And let the animals stay too. Leave everything, except for a man who hunts when he is not hungry, eats when he is full, is cruel, although no one hurts him.
• "But we must stay," she smiled softly.
• “It would be nice,” he thought. - Ahead - as long as you want. The longest vacation ever...

We understand the hero's dreams. Which of us, in moments of fatigue, has not dreamed of a long vacation. However, something else is alarming: for some reason, for the final happiness, the heroes wanted to destroy all people. Why? Tired of comparing with others: after all, someone is more successful in business, someone has a bigger house, a more expensive car, a happier and more interesting life. And now the dream came true:

“They woke up and heard the soft sounds of the earth, which was now just a meadow, the cities were drowning in a sea of ​​grass - ants, marigolds, daisies, bindweeds. At first they took it surprisingly calmly, probably because they had not loved the city for so many years and there were so many imaginary friends behind, and there was a closed life in solitude, in a mechanized hive.

The husband got out of bed, looked out the window, and calmly, as if talking about the weather, remarked: - Everyone disappeared. He understood it from the sounds that the city no longer made.

The life of the heroes has changed: no need to go to work and school, you can travel a lot. At first they were infinitely happy:

“- And now we are not obliged to anyone. We have one duty - to be happy. Thirty years of happiness ahead, is it bad?

But the illusion of happiness did not last long. Every day the heroes feel more and more acutely the need for people, the need to communicate with them, albeit not always pleasant, but, as it turned out, so important. Their little son is bored because he has no one to play with. He openly expresses his emotions: “The boy jumped back. -- Fools! Fools! Silly fools! You fools, you fools! He took off, ran to the sea and, standing by the water, burst into tears.

Adults are not so frank, especially the father. After all, he dreamed of endless vacations. Now it is difficult for him to admit his mistake. Watching the hero, we see that he lives in the hope that everything will return to normal: “Mother and son were already sitting in front of the spread tablecloth, when the man came down to them, he was wearing a formal suit with a vest, a tie and a hat, like as if he expected to meet someone along the way. As he handed out sandwiches and removed pickled vegetables from cool green jars, he gradually let go of his tie and unbuttoned his waistcoat, all the while looking around, as if ready to button up all the buttons again at any second.

The culmination of the story was the moment when the father, with an atlas in his hands, makes plans for further travels. It seems that the hero is cheerful, cheerful and even happy, especially when he talks about the possibility of fulfilling a dream and taking a boat down the Mississippi. “He was about to slam the atlas shut with clumsy hands, but something bright flashed in the air and fell on the paper. It rolled down on the sand, and it turned out to be a wet lump. The wife glanced at the wet speck and immediately turned her gaze to his face. His serious eyes glittered suspiciously. And a wet path stretched along one cheek.

Our hero makes plans for a happy future and cries. His tears are tears of despair, powerlessness and at the same time hope that everything can be changed:

“-- Well, really, if we went to bed in the evening, and at night everything somehow returned to its place. All the absurdities, noise and din, hatred, all horrors, all nightmares, evil people and stupid children, all this mess, pettiness, vanity, all hopes, aspirations and love. Wouldn't it be nice?"

The heroes of Bradbury's story understood that happiness does not consist only in living for oneself. It turns out that a person needs friends and a job to be happy. And even the difficulties that a person overcomes allow you to enjoy the joy of victory, the awareness of your personal growth.

Bradbury's story ends with the boy writing a letter and sending it to sea in a corked bottle. We do not know what he wrote in it, but together with his parents we hope that it says something like this: “People, please come back! And let everything be as it was before!

"All Summer in One Day"

In Ray Bradbury's short story "All Summer in a Day" the tone of the narrator is absolutely serious and even poetically sublime. He remains the same when describing the heroine - the girl Margot: "... the rain seemed to wash away all the colors from her: blue eyes, pink lips, red hair - everything faded. She was like an old faded photograph that was taken out of a forgotten album ..." The name of the girl, in combination with her appearance, does not create the impression of a clear dissonance. It sounds royally sublime, but Margo herself has an almost royal privilege compared to other children: she is the only one who remembers what the sun looks like - "a bright yellow pencil, a coin - so big that you can buy the whole world."