Two Boys

Two Boys, Two Authors, Two Solutions to Problems

                                                                A.Charumati Ramdas

Children seldom occupy centre place in a literary work. Literature often moves around the elder members of the society. But recently two short stories, dealing with the dreams and ambitions of two eight year old boys, have appeared in fat literary journals. The aspirations of these two boys vis-a-vis the support/opposition they receive from their parents are depicted in two entirely different ways by the authors.

The first among these stories which is going to be discussed here is called Chasyi (The Alarm Clock) written by Elena Olegovna Dolgopyat (b. 28.12.1963). It appeared in the journal Druzhba Narodov, No.8/2004. And the second one is Anton by Nina Victorovna Gorlanova (b.23.11.1947). It appeared in Zarubezhniye Zapiskyi, No.14/2008.

It won’t be out of place to have some information about the two authors:

Elena Olegovna Dolgopyat was born in Murom of Vladimir region in the family of a military officer and her mother was a teacher. She completed the Moscow Institute of Transport Engineers and also a course in Script Writing from Vladimir Institute of Cinematography. She is being published in various journals since 1993.

Nina Victorovna Gorlanova is comparatively much elder to Elena Dolgopyat. She was born in a village in the Perm province and is presently stationed at Perm, along with her husband Bukur, who is also a well known writer and in whose co-authorship Nina Victorovna has written a few works. She was even nominated for the Russian Booker Prize.

Nina Gorlanova completed Philology Faculty of the Perm University in 1970. She worked as a junior scientist in Perm Institute, then as a librarian and also methodologist in the House of Pioneers and School Children. She has won many awards; but in spite of that her financial condition is very miserable. She lives in a community flat, her husband is very sick and she too has always been a sickly person. Her neighbour gives her a lot of trouble. All these problems of life get reflected in her works. Having a very thorough knowledge of the child psychology, she, along with her husband, has written Roman Vospitaniya. In the short story, Anton, which is going to be discussed in this paper, one gets a clear glimpse of Gorlanova’s understanding of a child’s inner world.

Coming to the plot of the two stories:

Elena Dolgopyat narrates the story of eight year old Sashka whom his mother has sent to get some bread and sugar. As  Sashka is about to enter the Departmental Store, a very dirty, poor, badly suntanned man in just a coat wrapped over his body stops him and offers an angry alarm clock for money. Hesitatingly, Sashka gives him all the money, that his mother had given him and takes possession of the Alarm Clock.

Sashka comes home. His mother is busy watching a detective movie on the TV. She asks from there itself, “Have you brought?” Sashka answers in the affirmative. During the breaks (when they are showing ads there on the TV) mother enters the kitchen and finds out that Sashka has used the money for clock. Obviously Sashka is scolded and then the mother relents. The clock is placed on the shelf in the kitchen, near a flower vase and mother again goes back to watch her detective.

Sashka tries to bring down the clock and breaks the flower vase. Thanks to the loud chase of cars on the TV, mother does not hear the sound. Sashka gathers the pieces of the broken vase and throws them into the dust bin. He starts examining the angry clock. He notices that instead of the customary two keys, it has a third one as well, which Sashka could move only in the anticlockwise direction. As soon as this extra key is moved, a strange man appears in front of Sashka and asks for his ‘command’. Sashka understands that this man is the ‘genie’ of the alarm clock and asks him to get for himself some bread and sugar, but the man says that his job is only to correct an event in the past.

Sashka first asks him to restore the flower vase…this is done and the man disappears.

Sashka again winds the key and calls him, but suddenly the mother enters the kitchen. Sashka introduces the man to his mother as “he stays in the next building.”

Mother goes back to watch her movie without paying any serious attention to him. And then, Sashka tells the man, “Look! Last year I had broken my leg and so, I could not go for skiing along with other boys. They all went there: Petka, and Seryozha, and Tanka. Taking advantage of my absence Tanka got friendly with Petka, though earlier she was my friend. I don’t care about it at all, but is it possible to do like this, that my leg is not broken and then I would go with others for skiing?”

The man closes his eyes, mutters something in lips, then he opens his eyes and says, “If the fracture in your leg is removed from your past, many things will change in your present. And all the more, Tanka will not be there at all!

“How come?”

“You will be living in another house, will be studying in another school, your mother will get married.”

“How come?”

“This is how….You will go for skiing. She will go to visit her friend; there she will meet a person whom she will marry eventually. You will go to live with him. His flat will be much bigger and better than yours. He will teach you how to drive a car.”

This car, this temptation, does the trick. Though the man tells him that this change will be last change in Sashka’s life; he will not remember anything from his past life, and, of course, the angry clock will also not remain with him, Sashka agrees to everything.

Everything happens as narrated by the man, and in the last scene, Sashka is seen alighting from the car to buy chocolate for his mother. The new father is also there. And the same strange man appears again and offers him the clock for money, but Sashka refuses to accept it even for free and the man vanishes into darkness.

Nina Gorlanova’s Anton is from a more familiar background. Anton’s parents find it difficult to manage everything that their four children would expect.

Here, the mother is complaining that she is unable to buy herself a new purse, while Anton, the eldest of the four children is demanding a bicycle. He argues that it helps in improving the mathematical capabilities of children.

Anton’s classmate Timoshin gifts him his old bicycle which immediately breaks down as Anton’s sisters and their friends recklessly ride it.

The very next day Timoshin gifts it to another boy Gladkov, and so, the bicycle is taken back by Timoshin. It was a heartbreaking episode for Anton, but then the parents buy him the children’s logic kit and using it Anton is able to tell the character of a person. Bicycle could not be purchased for him, but in the month of August, a bicycle is hired for him for one whole week.

Coming to the comparison of the two protagonists:

Anton comes from a very ordinary family. He has three sisters and when his mother complains that she is unable to manage things for all the four children, Anton quips, “You should have thought well about your means and strength before producing the fourth child!”

The mother again complains that she banked upon Anton’s help and here is Anton, driving her mad with his mischief.

When papa does not allow Anton to have an apple at night, Anton shouts and says that he won’t give them any apple in their old age! Papa starts cutting apples into pieces and saving them in a big carton for their old age!

In short, it is a happy family, in spite of non-availability of comforts. They love each other; they fight with each other and live for each other.

This warmth is missing in Dolgopyat’s story. Sashka is a loner. The mother seems least interested in him. While requesting the ‘genie’ to change his past, Sashka does not deem it fit to consult his mother. His mother’s prospective marriage too is not going to make any difference to him, as he is delighted by the thought of getting a car!

Both these children are of the same age…about eight years. In both stories the action starts in the evening. In Alarm Clock it gets over within that evening, while in Anton it lasts for a few more months.

Both the children get what they long for: Sashka gets a car and Anton- a bicycle; in two spells; once as a gift for a day and then, on rent for one whole week! Probably he won’t feel the urge for it later. A very practical solution!

Both the authors have shown fulfillment of their dreams. Dolgopyat uses the magical device which gives instant result; Gorlanova, on the other hand, goes about it in a more practical way, which is easily accepted by the readers. Dolgopyat goes the escapist way, while Gorlanova believes in struggle to achieve the goal.

Gorlanova writes in a very simple, day-to-day manner. The reader feels that he has become a part of Anton’s family, sharing their small joys, small grieves!  Dolgopyat’s description, on the other hand, is like a script for a film. The reader remains a spectator, is eager to know what will happen next.

Gorlanova’s story seems complete in itself, but it still ends with the mention of the bicycle which was broken and repaired and not returned by Timoshin to Anton. The reader understands that this bicycle is not going to find a place in Anton’s future life.

“The Alarm Clock” has an open end. The story ends exactly as it had begun: The same strange man is seen offering his alarm clock to Sashka; but this time Sashka refuses to accept it, thereby indicating that there would be no place for miracles in Sashka’s life in future.

Thus we can conclude that children are slowly finding a place in literature- may be , to a limited extent, and the authors are trying to study their problems, their psyche and making an attempt to fulfill their ambitions in their own way, again depending on their social background and approach to life.