The allegorical story “Red Flower” was written in 1883. Garshin himself, answering questions from friends who is the prototype of the protagonist, answered briefly: “I”. Mental illness, manifested even at a young age, served as the plot for the creation of this work, a brief retelling of which was prepared by the Literaguru team.
I chapter
A patient is brought to a mental hospital. His appearance is terrible: dirty, with a cramp and not sleeping for ten days. While he talks about being here last year, he is being led to the bathtubs. This is a dark and dark room.
Once inside, the patient loses control over himself: the patient is terrified, he is trying to escape, but he is pushed into the bathroom. He calms down, but as soon as he is pulled out and put a fly on his head, again enraged. The guard tears the fly from the head hurt, and the hero faints.
II and III chapters
At night he wakes up, feeling weak and pain. But calmly falls asleep. Describes the view from the window of the chamber during the sleep of the patient.
The doctor examines the hero. He behaves normally, but says that he does not care what happens and what happens to him, because the main thing is to have a great thought in yourself. And that his thought is “I am nowhere and everywhere.”
The day passes calmly, but when the paramedic weighs him, the patient's face burns with madness, but he calms down right away. Every day he loses weight more and more, despite a good appetite.
Chapter IV
The existence of the hero is twofold. At night, he realizes where he is and what he is sick with, but during the day, from an excess of impressions, he falls into madness. His consciousness is a mixture of rational, imagination, thoughts and painful delirium.
The weather was fine, and the warden forced the sick to work in the garden. The hero is impressed by the garden, especially the small but bright scarlet poppy growing near the porch. He wanted to pick it, but at first it seemed to him that the flower was burning him, and then the watchman forbade him. At the end of the walk, the patient still manages to pick a flower and hide on his chest. Until dinner, he madly keeps it there, wanting to break it. During dinner, he eats a lot, saying that he needs a lot of strength. After the hero says goodbye to the overseer, because they may not see tomorrow, as he believes. He goes to bed, feeling poisoned.
Chapter v
He tries to fall asleep, thinking that the flower is a symbol of all evil, and therefore he had to pluck it and destroy it. And absorb all evil into your soul, not let anyone know about it.
In the morning he picks a second flower. He is immersed in madness and rapidly losing weight. Morphine does not work, the doctor says that he has two days left. And for the hero is a struggle with the plant.
Chapter VI
He was tied up. The patient almost escaped, but the guard again tied him up and watched him all day.
At night, waiting for the guard to fall asleep, the hero is released. With difficulty, he was able to climb over the fence behind the third flower and plucked it. Returning to the room, he falls dead. In the morning he is found with a flower in his hand. But the hand does not open, he is buried with him.
