Someone is lucky with relatives, and someone is not so lucky. Those who are lucky will understand the folk aphorism "hunger is not an aunt." People who are not familiar with good relations with relatives do not realize the full depth of the proverb we are considering. In any case, for those and for others, we will conduct a small study. In it, we will reveal the meaning and significance of the connection between good relatives and hunger.
Knut Hamsun, "Hunger"
Hunger is a terrible state if it sharpens a person long enough. In order not to starve, people steal, sometimes kill. A person needs to eat three times a day, or at least twice. Some manage to eat once a day, but this is only when circumstances force.
Literature gives vivid examples of the fact that hunger is not an aunt. First of all, this is the novel by Knut Hamsun "Hunger". The finale of the novel is quickly erased from memory, but the masterful descriptions of a man who has not eaten for more than one day remain withreader forever.
The most interesting thing is that Hamsun's character is a journalist. He needs to write in order to eat, but he cannot write a single article because he is hungry. The letters merge. Cramps and pains in the abdomen interfere with work. It is not for nothing that Hamsun is called the “Norwegian Dostoevsky”, because he writes out the hero’s ordeals with amazing psychological accuracy, bordering on meticulousness. A man in a classic novel would agree without thinking that hunger is not an aunt.
Charles Bukowski
Creator of autobiographical novels Charles Bukowski also knew what hunger was, firsthand, because the hero of most of his novels, Henry Chinaski, constantly wants to eat, but as soon as he has money, they immediately go down in the nearest bar. Nevertheless, Book (as the founder of “dirty realism” was lovingly called by friends) argues in his writings with two common truths: first, the artist must be hungry all the time in order to create something out of the ordinary; secondly, "a well-fed belly is deaf to the teaching." Answering both arguments at once, he concludes: a) hunger is not an aunt; b) he personally works better when he eats a good portion of boiled potatoes with meat or sausages.
Sergey Dovlatov
Does not lag behind foreign authors and Sergey Dovlatov. Somewhere in the vastness of his not too impressive, but sparkling prose, the image of a hungry journalist was lost, who, sitting in the park, lustfully looks at the swans swimming in the pond and is already trying on how to make them better.catch.
But everything ends well: the hero meets a rich middle-aged lady who takes care of his food supply. Say: "Alphonse!" And what to do, the proverb "hunger is not an aunt" speaks the truth.
By the way, Dovlatov claims in his notebooks that this story had a real prototype and everything was exactly as described. However, we promised to talk about relatives and hunger, so we will deal with a direct linguistic interpretation.
Relatives and hunger
The saying “hunger is not an aunt” implies that a person has good relatives, and they will definitely feed and caress him if necessary. What can not be said about hunger - it is ruthless and torments a person inexorably until he saturates his womb. Such a blissful picture, probably, was where the saying came from. The situation is pleasant because a person has relatives who will not let him disappear just like that.
Now, when a person is seized by the spirit of competition and greed, all family relationships go to hell. “Man is a wolf to man,” said the Roman sage, and he was absolutely right. Apparently, relations between people were not very pleasant in ancient Rome.
In other words, we are very happy for those who have somewhere to go. With each turn of capitalism (especially in Russia), a person is rapidly dehumanizing and individualizing. Relationships between people are broken. People turn into islands in the ocean of life, drifting by themselves. Watching such a bleak picture, one involuntarily thinks: what will happen if suddenly from the worlddisappear aunts, uncles, parents? Where will the starving wanderer go?
