My Childhood (Gorky)

Microsummary

The boy's father died. Together with his mother, they moved in with a cruel, greedy grandfather and a kind grandmother. The mother married and died after giving birth. The grandfather did not want to feed the orphaned grandson and kicked him out of the house.

Short summary

Alyosha's father died and his mother had to move to Nizhny Novgorod.

👤

Alyosha Peshkov — Narrator (Gorky himself), boy, about 9 years old, docile, impressionable, loves his mother and grandmother.

Alyosha and his mother settle in the big house of his grandfather, the owner of the dye shop.

Besides his grandfather and grandmother, Alesh's uncles with their wives and children lived in the house. Everyone in this big family was feuding. Aleshin's grandfather was stingy and cruel. On Saturdays, he punished his grandchildren for their week's accumulated faults, and once beat Aliosha to within an inch of his life.

One of the few good people who lived in his grandfather's house was a stepchild, but he was ruined by his uncles, too - they made him carry a heavy cross, and the boy overworked himself and died. Aleshu was loved only by his grandmother, she became his outlet in this hopeless life.

In the spring the family separated. Grandfather bought a big house and started renting out rooms. Alyosha's mother also left, and the boy stayed with his grandfather and grandmother. But even in the new place a quiet life did not work out. His sons started showing up at his grandfather's house and demanding money.

After living in a new house for the summer and part of the winter, grandfather moved out again. Then Alyosha's mother moved in and soon married. The stepfather turned out to be a crook, a gambler and a very cruel man. He beat Alyosha's pregnant mother, the boy hated him and once attacked him with a knife.

Alyosha grew up pugnacious and did poorly in school. Grandfather began to eat separately from his grandmother and did not give his grandson a penny. To support himself and help his grandmother, Aliosha collected scrap metal, robbed drunks, and stole firewood. Because of this, his classmates mocked him.

Soon his stepfather disappeared somewhere. Alyosha's seriously ill mother died, leaving her newborn son. His stingy grandfather said he was no longer going to support him and kicked him out of the house.

Detailed summary

The titles of the chapters are conditional.

Chapter 1. Father's death, moving to Nizhny Novgorod, meeting his grandfather

Alyosha's first memory is of his father's death. He did not realize that his father was gone, but he remembered Varvara's cries.

👤

Varvara — Alyosha's mother, a widow, still young and beautiful, large, strong, with thick blond hair, unruly with a strong character,.

Grandmother Akulina came to help with the funeral and the severely ill Alyosha.

👤

Akulina Ivanovna Kashirina — Akulina Kashirina, a large, fat, big-headed grandmother with huge eyes, a loose nose and long black thick hair, very kind, wise and strong, knows many fairy tales.

The day her husband died, Varvara went into premature labor and the baby was born weak. After the funeral, the grandmother took everyone to Nizhny Novgorod. On the way, on the steamer, the baby died.

At first, the grandmother seemed strange and funny to Alyosha. She said that she came from Nizhny Novgorod by water, but the very young boy did not understand where the water came from in the city. The grandmother spoke, chanting the words in a peculiar way, and in the boy's imagination they became like flowers. Grandmother's selfless love illuminated Aleshin's life. She became his friend, "the closest to his heart... the most understandable and dearest person.

The trip on the Volga became for Alyosha "the first days of saturation with beauty. His grandmother was admiring the passing shores and repeated, "Look how nice it is."

At Nizhny, they were met by Vasily Kashirin, his two sons, and their children.

👤

Vasily Vasilievich Kashirin — Alyosha's grandfather, small, gaunt, with a red beard, a bird's nose and green eyes, the owner of a dye shop, not poor, but very stingy, angry and bossy, loves no one.

The boy did not like the grandfather; he regarded him with wary curiosity and "at once felt an enemy in him."