The tragic fate of a talented person in the tale “Lefty. Characteristics of a left-handed person from Leskov's story Talent in the work of a left-handed person

People with a dominant left hand, in other words, left-handed people, have always been born. In ancient centuries, left-handers were considered sorcerers and witches, because they often had extraordinary abilities. And such people were burned at the stake. In Ancient Rus', left-handers were not allowed to testify in court. It was believed that the devil was left-handed.

Fortunately, times have changed, and it has long been known that magic does not play any role here. A left-handed person is already born. Nature created us asymmetrical. Our brain itself chooses which hand will be dominant. If the right hemisphere of the brain is more developed, then the left hand becomes active, and on the contrary, if the left hemisphere is more developed, then the right hand will be the main hand.

We have selected 5 of the most interesting facts from the life of left-handers:

- Left-handed people are very gifted people who have extraordinary abilities or have some outstanding talent. For example, scientist Albert Einstein, Roman emperor Gaius Julius Caesar, writer Leo Tolstoy, artist Pablo Picasso, actress Marilyn Monroe - they were all left-handed. But still, modern psychologists believe that a person’s genius does not depend on which hand is dominant. But the thinking of left-handers and right-handers is different. And this remains a fact.

- Left-handed people are more creative, active, they do not sit still, they absorb information whole. But here they may have problems with logic. Left-handed people are able to grasp information on the fly, they see the whole problem, right-handed people need to sort everything out. If a purely left-handed person has difficulties with mathematical problems, then it will be easier for him to explain the material using images. Right-handers, on the contrary, prefer logic. They make good analysts and excellent strategists.

- Statistics indicate that There are many left-handed people among successful athletes. Tennis player Rafael Nadal, football player Pele. Left-handed tennis player Martina Navratilova held the title of world number one for nine years. This was an absolute record.

Statistics show that 40 percent of gold medals are won by left-handed athletes.

There are not so many pure left-handers in the world. In the animal world the opposite is true. There are more lefties there. For example, monkeys and polar bears have a stronger left paw. But, as an exception, right-footed animals are also found in the fauna world, although much less frequently.

The other side of the coin is that left-handers are more likely to suffer from schizophrenia and alcoholism. However, scientists from different countries disagree about this extraordinary fact.

In order to determine who your child is, you can conduct a simple test. First, let's determine the main hand - to do this, ask the child to clasp his hands. Whichever finger is on top - that hand will be the leading one. You can also fold your hands in front of you in the Napoleon pose (clasp your hands together in front of your chest); if the right hand is on top, then it is the child’s main one. Now let's try to determine the leading ear. Ask your child to listen to the ticking of a wristwatch. Whichever ear he reaches for them will be the dominant one. In order to determine the active eye, you need to make a small round hole in a piece of paper and ask the child to look into it. Whichever eye looks into this hole will be the main one. Finally, you can check the child's leg. Just ask him to cross his legs. The leg that is on top will be the leading one.

If the child did everything with his left hand, then you are looking at a pure left-hander, of whom there are no more than 10 percent on our planet. And about 45 percent are pure right-handers. If, when performing the test, “left” and “right” are mixed up, then it means that your child is a hidden left-hander; there are about 50 percent of such people. There are also ambidextrous people. There are very few of them. These are people in whom both hands function equally well and the dominant one does not stand out. Such people have the ability to use both hemispheres at once. Ambidextrous children learn new information better, are more intelligent, and adapt more easily to new conditions. When raising such a child, you need to take into account that if both hemispheres of the brain are under heavy load, then the child may experience neurasthenia, he will become very tired, and headaches may occur.

To avoid this, you need to try to reduce the load on the left hemisphere, which is responsible for intellectual development and logic, and instead develop more of the right hemisphere, which is responsible for creativity. For example, instead of additional math classes, take your child to drawing, dancing, or enroll your child in a music school. Then the child’s brain will not experience excessive stress.

But our world is more suitable for right-handers, since they are still the majority. For example, if you take a store. In all supermarkets, movement around the sales floor goes counterclockwise. This was invented to make it easier for right-handed shoppers to add items to their cart. The more goods are taken, the faster store sales grow.

Marketing move. Sports stadiums are built on the same principle. Athletes run counterclockwise around the stadium so that when turning, the active right leg can protect the runner from falling. The turnstiles in the subway are adapted for right-handed people, as is the hand hole in the sewing machine. For left-handed people, we were able to find only stationery supplies - scissors, sharpeners, and rulers with a mirror scale. For now, lefties have to deal with the rest themselves.

I consider N. S. Leskov to be the first Russian writer who managed to create the broadest picture of Russian life not with the help of a novel, but with a set of works of a small genre - short stories and novellas. He also wrote about the tragic fate of talented people from the people who, due to lack of demand, were unable to benefit their homeland and glorify it. It is this problem that the writer touches on in the fairy tale “Lefty”.
“Lefty” N. S. Leskov has an amazing literary destiny. Having appeared in print, the work immediately gained popularity, but criticism received it ambiguously. Leskov was accused of a lack of patriotism, of mocking the Russian people, but critics agreed on one thing: the author had heard enough stories of Tula artisans and “concocted” his “Lefty” from them.
Meanwhile, “Lefty” was invented by Leskov from the first to the last word. And all the supposedly “folk” words were invented by him. It’s amazing how this man knew, felt, and loved the people. No writer has studied the Russian soul so deeply and seriously. The Russian peasant is called the “silent people.” At Leskov's he spoke.
“Lefty” is a sad story, everything seems simple in it, but every word is doubled, irony is hidden behind a smile, pain and resentment are hidden behind love. Here are the wonderful Tula craftsmen who shod the English steel flea “without small scopes”, who studied “from the Psalter and the Half-Dream Book”. But... they ruined the mechanism: the flea no longer dances. Here is Lefty with the English, seducing him with money and a bride. He looks at the English workers, whose apprentices go “without a boilie,” and he envies. And he’s eager to go home, so much so that on the ship everyone asks where Russia is and looks in that direction. And he is in a hurry to bring home an important English “secret” that neither the kings nor the generals have discovered.
How does his homeland greet him? The English skipper - a warm bed, doctor's care. Left-handed - a block away, because he does not have a “tugament”. They undressed the poor fellow, accidentally dropped the back of his head on the parapet, and while they were running around looking for Platov or the doctor, “Lefty was already gone, because the back of his head was split on the parapet.” And, dying, he discovered a “secret”: you don’t need to clean the inside of a gun with a brick! They're not good for shooting! But the important “secret” did not reach the sovereign. As for guns, this is a non-fictional fact. The guns were cleaned with crushed bricks, and the authorities demanded that the barrels sparkle from the inside. And inside there was a carving... So the soldiers destroyed it out of excess zeal. It hurts Leskov because we are diligently destroying what can save us in difficult times. And the Englishman said a kind word about the master, who with his skill stood up for the entire Russian people against foreigners: “Even though he has a sheep’s fur coat, he has the soul of a man.”
Leskov's irony and sarcasm are bitter. The writer wants to understand why Rus', which gives birth to craftsmen, geniuses, poets, deals with them with its own hands.
And he doesn’t find an answer.

Thoughts about rejection and even open mockery in Russia of smart, talented, but belonging to the lower class individuals were among the most important topics that worried the writer Nikolai Leskov. In one of his letters, he once noted that a simple, hard-working and at the same time immensely talented man in our country is taken for granted, something that will always be there and something that makes no sense to patronize.

Leskov categorically disagrees with this trend, believing that any person has the right to have normal living and working conditions, and a talented person working at full capacity for the benefit of his homeland has a doubly right to this. His tale “Lefty” is just some kind of proof of the tragic fate of the Russian people and the need for drastic changes.

In the tale, the true defenders of the glory of their homeland are the craftsmen from Tula, who managed to shoe a flea, and who, in a talent competition with the British, were able not only to demonstrate their boundless talent, but also to maintain dignity and a sense of patriotism.

Lefty is one of the Tula masters, whom it was decided to take with him to the sovereign, and then to Europe in order to demonstrate his work. He has accomplished the impossible, but does not become arrogant and accepts the need to meet with the sovereign as a working moment. He comes to the meeting in his old clothes. He did not try to flatter the emperor, did not try to please him, he spoke quietly, calmly and simply, as best he could. Everyone around was amazed at this simplicity, trying to hint at the need to be more helpful. Lefty, of course, understood that the ruler of the country was standing in front of him, but this did not in any way affect the manner of his communication. He treated everyone modestly and respectfully, be it the sovereign or his fellow worker. For Lefty, all people are equal.

Indeed, manners and expensive clothes are insignificant in front of true talent: clothes can wear out, manners can be forgotten in certain situations, but talent will always remain with a person.

Lefty, thanks to his ingenuity and golden hands, reached the emperor and abroad, became a very unhappy person. In fact, his new environment did not understand him at all. And the temporary increased attention to a man is only ostentatious. They washed him in the bathhouse, changed his clothes and took him with them to London. But he spends the entire journey without eating a bite and maintains his strength only with Platov’s sour milk. The Emperor publicly kisses Lefty, but does nothing to make his life better or even truly thank him for what he has done.

In contrast to the Russians, the British show humane care for Lefty and strive to create for him all the conditions for a good trip. Compatriots do not see in the master a person who is worthy of even a drop of respect; for them he is a slave, obliged to do all this. The British invite Lefty to their place, promising decent work and remuneration. But despite this, our master dreams only of Russia, and longs to return home as soon as possible. In your dark closet.

He returned to St. Petersburg in a sick state, as he had been drinking all the way on a bet with the skipper. However, upon arrival, the skipper is sent to the hospital, where he is quickly brought to his senses. O simple man, Lefty drags himself all night with exceptional carelessness from the doors of one hospital to another, and, without receiving proper help, dies. A man who glorified his country, instead of honor and respect, received complete indifference. Left-handed people were not accepted in hospitals because he did not have a document or money.

But Lefty was not mentally broken until the very last minute of his life: he was only worried about how to convey the information that the British did not clean their guns with bricks, and this made them last longer. He turned out to be the only wise man with an open soul, the only patriot of his country among the masses of heartless people who had lost the purity of their souls in the pursuit of fame and material wealth.

The tale of Lefty who shoed a flea became a legend, and Lefty himself became a symbol of the boundless talent of the ordinary Russian person, often oppressed and forgotten.

Ed Wright / Ed Wright published the book: Left-handed History of the World / Great left-handers in the history of the world, where he talked about the following people: Pharaoh Ramses the Great, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Joan of Arc, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael , Isaac Newton, Napoleon Bonaparte, Ludwig van Beethoven, Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, Friedrich Nietzsche, Henry Ford, Marie Sklodowska-Curie, Mahatma Gandhi, Charlie Chaplin, Alan Turing, Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Bill Gates, Martina Navratilova.

“Today left-handed people account for about 10% population of the Earth. It can be assumed that this indicator did not change significantly in different eras and in different cultures. Although, where discrimination against left-handers took on more acute forms, people were less inclined to advertise their left-handedness (for example, in the conformist culture of Japan only 5% of the population openly consider themselves left-handed). Many genetic left-handers, under pressure from the surrounding society, were forced to retrain to be right-handed. Since discrimination against left-handers has existed in some degree or form in almost all times and in all cultures (the only exception, perhaps, was the ancient Incas, who considered left-handedness to be a sign of luck and happiness), it is impossible to determine how many great people were actually “hidden” or “reoriented” left-handers. History is silent about this. If the share of left-handers in the total population of the planet is, as already noted, about 10% , then among the male population it is slightly higher - 12%, and among the female population it is slightly lower - 8%. That is, men are almost 2 times more likely to be left-handed than women. According to one theory, this is due to the fact that left-handedness is a consequence of excess levels of the male hormone testosterone during intrauterine maturation of the fetus. […]

Among primates, only in humans, every tenth person is left-handed. Modern science cannot yet explain this. All animals, with some exceptions, are almost equally left-handed and right-handed. According to one hypothesis, right-handedness is associated with speech, for which, like the functioning of the right hand, centers located in the left hemisphere of the brain are responsible. Another possible explanation: the emergence of more complex tools during development, such as scissors, required the development of new skills, which in turn led to the dominance of one hand over the other. The question then arises: why has the ratio between right-handers and left-handers remained almost unchanged throughout human history? It is partly believed that in the process of evolution, left-handers ensured their survival thanks to the effect of surprise, creating which in hand-to-hand combat with the actions of their main hand they received a serious advantage. Just imagine: most people expect an opponent to strike with their right hand and, as a rule, do not know how to parry a blow delivered with their left. And if the number of left-handers were higher, left-handedness, obviously, would no longer provide obvious advantages.

To some extent, this assumption can also be used to explain the high performance of left-handed athletes, given their relative scarcity in sports such as tennis, baseball and cricket. The trajectory of the ball sent to the opponent’s side with the left hand is almost impossible to predict in advance, since the strikes are carried out at non-standard angles. It can also be argued that if left-handed people have this advantage physically, then their brains, as they evolve, have learned to use it mentally. In other words, the scope of application of the ability of left-handed people to amaze with unusualness, to be able to take an enemy by surprise, is not limited only to martial arts, be it hand-to-hand combat or a sports competition. This is confirmed by the brilliant military careers of such left-handers as Alexander the Great and Napoleon, who became brilliant commanders largely thanks to the ability to mislead the enemy with their unexpected strategic decisions on the battlefield. It can be assumed that the ability of left-handed people to act unexpectedly transforms into their ability to construct non-standard stratagems and manifests itself in different spheres of social life.

There is an expression in English: “Only left-handed people are right-handed.” Indeed, the left side of the body is controlled by the right hemisphere of the brain, and in left-handers, it is the right hemisphere that is dominant. At the same time, research has shown that the right and left hemispheres of the brain perform different functions.

The right hemisphere is primarily responsible for visual and spatial perception. That's why there are so many left-handers among architects. Developed visual-spatial abilities are a valuable quality in many areas of human activity. For example, this allowed Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael to reach the top in the fine arts, Henry Ford - in industrial design; Babe Ruth, Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe - in sports, and Napoleon, who had a phenomenal gift of mentally reconstructing a map of a particular area, - in the military field. Visual-spatial perception is also associated with the ability for abstract thinking, thanks to which mathematical genius is born.

Numerous studies suggest that at the dawn of humanity, most people were better at using their left hand than their right, and only in the later stages of evolution did the right hand outstrip the left in development. There are several theories explaining why a person began to use his right hand more.

The most popular of them, attributed by some to Pie-Smees and others to Carlyle, is the “sword and shield theory.” According to it, the ancient warrior held a shield in his left hand to protect his heart, and a sword in his right hand, which thanks to this was better developed. Other scientists talk about the uneven distribution of body weight, the difference in loads on the cardiovascular system in the left and right halves of the body. But most modern scientists associate priority in the development of hands with the characteristics of the brain.

About a hundred years ago, scientists established that the hemispheres of the brain bear an unequal load and perform different functions. In the left hemisphere there are centers that control the ability to speak and understand speech, read, write, count, and remember. And the right hemisphere allows you to perceive music, distinguish intonations, sing, and recognize the voices of loved ones. To the right hemisphere we owe the ability to remember visual images, to consciously monitor the changing picture of what is happening. Memories dear to the heart or unpleasant experiences of past years are also reproduced by the right hemisphere.

To summarize, we can say that the left hemisphere is responsible for concrete thinking, and the right hemisphere is responsible for the sensory sphere and abstract cognition. Scientists who study the psychology of the creative process believe that we owe analytical abilities to the left hemisphere, and developed intuition and emotionality to the right.

In accordance with the laws of higher nervous activity, the right hemisphere controls the left half of the body, and the left hemisphere controls the right half. Therefore, for left-handed people, the right hemisphere of the brain is dominant. But since the brain functions as a single whole, in the close interconnection of all its departments, we can not talk about a mechanical division of its functions, but only about the predominance of certain tendencies.

And yet there is reason to assert: people who use their left hand better than their right hand often have an irrational perception of the world, subtle intuition, and creative abilities.

Psychiatrists Tamara Dobrokhotova and Natalia Brag, studying the amazing mental manifestations of left-handers, saw in them much in common with the fairy-tale world described by Lewis Carroll, who, by the way, himself was left-handed. They believe that left-handers look at the world from behind the looking glass and observe the flow of processes in time and space in the opposite direction compared to right-handers. It is quite possible that along with fluency in their left hand, they are born with an unexpected view of the world, a special perspective of vision. For example, scientists had to spend many years deciphering the diaries left by Leonardo da Vinci: they were written in a mirror way - from right to left with the left hand. These diaries amaze with the originality of their judgments about space and time. Many outstanding people were left-handed: Emperor Tiberius, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Michelangelo, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, Charlie Chaplin, Pablo Picasso.

Priority control of the left hand does not appear immediately in the child. At what age does this become noticeable? Usually at 2-2.5 years. The preference for the left hand is finally determined by the age of 5-6 years. Sometimes a child uses both hands equally.

How to determine which hand will be the dominant one?

The following simple tests can be offered to young children: ask them to unscrew the cap of a bottle, untie a knot in a rope, or pick up an object from the floor. With these actions, the child will more actively use his dominant hand.

Left-handedness is associated with the hereditary system of brain functioning. And retraining a left-handed child means seriously changing his biology, reshaping a persistent stereotype of mental activity.

From this point of view, the data from dermatoglyphic studies are interesting. Dermatoglyphics has nothing to do with palmistry. This science studies the nature of the skin pattern on the inner surface of the palms and soles of a person. Since the skin and the nervous system are interconnected in origin, the features of dermatoglyphics can be used in the study of the brain.

How should parents behave if they find out that their child is left-handed? Some psychologists consider it most reasonable to develop both hands. Do not prohibit children from actively using their left hand, but gently encourage them to perform certain actions with their right hand as well. Of course, under no circumstances should you tell a left-handed child that he is not like everyone else. It is better to encourage and praise your baby when he does something with both hands. Over the years, naturally, the child will notice his own characteristics, but by then his parents will have taught him to adapt to the problems that arise due to the fact that everything in the world around him is designed for right-handers. Please note: all tools, starting with the simplest (for example, scissors), a pay phone, household appliances, subway turnstiles, and car control levers are oriented towards the right hand.

It must be said that during the initial development of speech, left-handed children even have advantages over their right-handed peers, since the speech of preschoolers is more connected with emotions and immediate impressions - an area that is better developed in left-handed people. Only later, by the age of 8-10, in most children the verbal-logical center of speech takes its rightful place in the left temporal lobe of the brain.

Doctors and speech therapists are aware of the phenomenon of “mirror writing,” which is often observed in left-handed children. For example, instead of “machine” they write “anisham”. Mirror writing occurs in 80% of left-handed children. This usually manifests itself before the age of seven and is sometimes temporary and transient. In addition, when writing, left-handed children make characteristic mistakes - they confuse letters that are similar in shape: instead of “s” and “e” they write “e” or “z”. Left-handed children often confuse the upper and lower parts of letters, for example, capital "t" and "sh", "p" and "i". Under no circumstances should you scold a child for this; teaching a left-hander is a delicate matter that requires great patience. It is useful to resort to a figurative representation of difficult letters: next to the “o” draw a balloon or a hoop, and next to the “p” - a crossbar. When teaching left-handers, all kinds of visual aids and pictures help, since these children are characterized by imaginative thinking and emotional perception.

At a desk, a left-handed child must sit on the left, then the neighbor’s hand will not interfere with him. The left-handed person holds the notebook with his right hand, and the left hand rests freely on the table, resting on the lower part of the palm and the bent little finger. The notebook should be tilted to the right - the lower right corner of the page should be directed towards the middle of the chest. When a left-handed child writes, he most often makes movements from right to left, and the most difficult moment in learning is to teach him to write with his left hand from left to right. The school teacher should be warned from the very first day that your child is left-handed, this will help prevent learning difficulties.

Don’t forget to train your child’s right hand all the time: let him move small toys with it while playing, fasten and unfasten buttons.

In all languages ​​of the world, as linguists have established, the word “left” is often used with a negative connotation. Let's remember the Russian phraseological units: “got up with the left foot”, “left earnings”, “written with the left hand”. Why such injustice? - those who happen to be born left-handed have the right to ask.

“Left-handed people,” says Professor Tamara Dobrokhotova, who heads the psychological research group at the Burdenko Institute of Neurosurgery, “sometimes experience insurmountable difficulties adapting to the “right-wing world.” Left-handedness turns out to be an obstacle in learning and mastering a craft. Trying to change yourself. Making your right hand your dominant hand sometimes leads to tragedies. For example, the following case is known: a retrained left-handed pilot died unsuccessfully trying to reach the parachute ring with his left hand.”

Try putting a watch on your right hand and winding it - and you will feel how difficult life is for the left-handed minority. It is believed that about 10% of people in the world are left-handed. According to some experts, this figure is significantly underestimated, since it is impossible to take into account those who were retrained. Some countries are already taking steps to make life easier for people who are better with their left hand. In Brazil, for example, they produce school supplies, cameras, and household items in a mirrored version - for example, a corkscrew with a reverse thread. And in Japan, left-handers are surrounded by special respect; they have long been revered as skillful, talented people. There is also an example of such an attitude in Russian literature - the famous Lefty who shod a flea.

Vladislav Pechkin