Writers do not always write what they see in life. Some do not manage to delve into the depths of real tragedy, others are well generalized, and from small trifling stories, profound dramas are obtained. After reading a piercing story, it would be nice not to believe the author, because insufficient penetration and excessive generalizations are often combined in one text.
Alexander Kuprin wrote so that under the influence of his works the beliefs of contemporaries changed. Only the “Pit” carries a dozen ideas that have changed the world. And one of these ideas is useless to save . It is useless to save the fallen women, they will still return to their craft. It is useless to save even those who were just clean, even the innocent victim of vice irrevocably loses light in the soul.
The proof is Lyubushka. A young girl loves a businessman. The businessman, who called himself Horizon, gives rise to her dreams of a prosperous family future, in the long term about the signs “Horizon and Son” on the streets of the city to which they go. But – business, we have to wait, and Lyubushka stays at the hotel, and the businessman receives a lot of money from the owner of the “establishment”, since under the red lights at a great price the girls are young, never touched by anyone. Business! In the evening oily scum piles on Lyubushka.
Miracles do happen, and student Peter, who was traveling in the same compartment with Horizon and happy in love with Anya, meets the suffering resisting Lyubushka. Obviously, the girl got into the “Pit” unexpectedly for her, became a victim of a crime. Peter does not pass by. The student is not rich, and it is extremely difficult for him to rescue the girl from captivity.
And then something unimaginable begins. The student lives on ideas and wants to be noble to the end. He did not buy the girl in order to use her. Love may happen between them, but love is not a deal. And the girl already loves her savior.
Love has great problems with patience, and the day lasts like a year. Lovely and urgently need to close a wound in the shower. But instead of the love that heals, she is offered detached care and education. Education in the form of words about something abstract. And this is after the practice at the University of Life, which she involuntarily went through after being sold into slavery and is now painfully trying to realize it.
At this moment there was a way out of the Pit. Slightly less abstractions from the side of the girlfriend appeared and more listening (without neglect and disgust). A little more affection on the part of student Petit and less concern for speculative principles. Luba has more humility. Less neighborly lust and unprincipledness.
Unfortunately, what happened is what happened.
Peter sees Lyubushka with Sobakin and “nobly” leaves them. Luba is innocent and is looking for Peter to explain himself. For Peter it is no longer a secret that he loves Lyuba. At this moment, insignificant help would allow those who love to unite and become in this world an island of kindness and happiness. It didn’t work out, there were a lot of scum in the town, as it happens in places with hot places. Scum in power allows the existence of casinos and houses for sex services, and those spoil the souls of everyone who is nearby.
Lyuba sleeps in the open air, goes hungry, suffers insults. She would have to know at this moment that there is a monastery for the fallen girls. But, alas, the places in the monastery are offered to those girls who benefit from the usual vice, and not to those who do not have a roof over their heads.
Quite a lot of time has passed, but Lyuba still feels dirty and does not believe that she is entitled in one way or another to claim a normal place in normal life. She is well-educated and well-dressed, could find a good job or just a shelter, but she is ashamed of what happened to her, and therefore remains alone. Now she is drawn to the “Pit”, because there are people there with whom she could communicate.
“Pit” from shame turns into an elusive dream. Lyuba with tears begs permission to return under the roof of a shameful institution. Fate again sends her a chance to break free: beloved Peter comes to her. And again, something is missing a little somewhere. For example, Peter lacks the resolve to marry, in response to the cry “Marry a prostitute!” Why not! After all, he loves and knows that he loves. And that is mutual. They sympathize with their love, there are practically no obstacles. Come on! After all, I wanted to save, so save.
It didn’t work out. Did not work out. Lyuba goes to avenge the slave trader Horizon and dies. Peter marries not a mentally pure girl who was ashamed of her involuntary fall, but a prostitute by conviction. Congratulations!
So is it useless to save? No, it is possible and necessary. In this story many times there was a chance to save and be saved. The return to the “Pit” was not logical. In life, such chances are even greater. The less meanness and more nobility, the less often such stories happen and more often there are successful endings.
Who watched the series? Were you wary when Horizon sold images of naked girls in the vestibule? Did it already become clear at that moment that he was carrying meanness and death? Did you think even then that the pig will find dirt and he will take the charming girl to shame?
Evil can be seen from afar and prevented. For example, today it is possible to prevent the appearance of a gambling zone in the Crimea. At any level of life, from household dirt to important political decisions, you can prevent the evil from arising or correct its consequences. Better, of course, to eliminate single causes than thousands of consequences. But who will meet what. It’s worth remembering the story of Lyuba, who could have gone a different way many times, if there were a little less meanness and a little more kindness around.