Dec 23, 2009

Twenty-Six Men and a Girl | Twenty-Six Men and a Girl

At a glance:

Author: Maxim Gorki
First Published: 1899
Type of Plot: Social realism
Time of Work: The late 1890's
Setting: Provincial Russian town
Principal Characters: A Group of unnamed pretzel makers, Tanya, A handsome baker
Genres: Social realism, Short fiction
Subjects: Psychology or psychologists, Oppression, Working class, Russia or Russian people, Sympathy, Baking
Locales: Russia

The Story

Maxim Gorky begins this first-person narrative with a description of a wretched working environment: a basement-level bakery where twenty-six men, “living machines,” as the narrator calls them, work long hours making pretzels. The room is cramped, airless, and stuffy. The huge oven that dominates the room stares pitilessly at the workers like a horrible monster. The workers themselves move and act like automatons, for their vital feelings have been crushed by their ceaseless toil. Only when they begin to sing do they feel a sense of lightness and gain a glimpse of...

[The entire page is 1325 words long]

Twenty-Six Men and a Girl | Twenty-Six Men and a Girl

At a glance:

The Story

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