Clean Monday what genre. The problem of tragic love in the story of I.A.
The story “Clean Monday” is amazingly beautiful and tragic at the same time. The meeting of two people leads to the emergence of a wonderful feeling - love. But love is not only joy, it is a huge torment, against the background of which many problems and troubles seem invisible. The story described exactly how the man and woman met. But the story begins from the moment at which their relationship had already continued for quite a long time. Bunin pays attention to the smallest details, to how “the Moscow gray winter day darkened,” or to where the lovers went for dinner - “to Prague, to the Hermitage, to the Metropol.”
The tragedy of separation is anticipated at the very beginning of the story. The main character does not know where their relationship will lead. He simply prefers not to think about this: “I didn’t know how it would end, and I tried not to think, not to speculate: it was useless - just like talking to her about it: she once and for all turned away conversations about our future.” Why does the heroine reject conversations about the future?
Is she not interested in continuing the relationship with her loved one? Or does she already have some idea about her future? judging by the way Bunin describes the main character, she appears as a completely special woman, unlike many around. She takes courses, not realizing, however, why she needs to study. When asked why she was studying, the girl answered: “Why is everything done in the world? Do we understand anything in our actions?”
The girl loves to surround herself with beautiful things, she is educated, sophisticated, smart. But at the same time, she seems somehow surprisingly detached from everything that surrounded her: “It looked like she didn’t need anything: no flowers, no books, no dinners, no theaters, no dinners out of town.” At the same time, she knows how to enjoy life, enjoys reading, delicious food, and interesting experiences. It would seem that the lovers have everything they need for happiness: “We were both rich, healthy, young and so good-looking that in restaurants and at concerts they looked at us.” At first it may seem that the story describes a real love idyll. But in reality everything was completely different.
It is no coincidence that the main character comes up with the idea of the strangeness of their love. The girl denies in every possible way the possibility of marriage, she explains that she is not fit to be a wife. The girl cannot find herself, she is in thought. She is attracted to a luxurious, fun life. But at the same time she resists it, wants to find something different for herself. Conflicting feelings arise in the girl’s soul, which are incomprehensible to many young people accustomed to a simple and carefree existence.
The girl visits churches and Kremlin cathedrals. She is drawn to religion, to holiness, herself, perhaps, not realizing why she is attracted to this. Quite suddenly, without explaining anything to anyone, she decides to leave not only her lover, but also her usual way of life. After leaving, the heroine informs in a letter of her intention to decide to take monastic vows. She doesn't want to explain anything to anyone. Parting with his beloved turned out to be a difficult test for the main character. Only after a long time was he able to see her among the line of nuns.
The story is called “Clean Monday” because it was on the eve of this holy day that the first conversation about religiosity took place between the lovers. Before this, the main character had not thought or suspected about the other side of the girl’s nature. She seemed quite happy with her usual life, in which there was a place for theaters, restaurants, and fun. The renunciation of secular joys for the sake of a monastic monastery testifies to the deep internal torment that took place in the soul of the young woman. Perhaps this is precisely what explains the indifference with which she treated her usual life. She could not find a place for herself among everything that surrounded her. And even love could not help her find spiritual harmony.
Love and tragedy go hand in hand in this story, as, indeed, in many other works of Bunin. Love in itself does not seem to be happiness, but rather a difficult test that must be endured with honor. Love is sent to people who cannot, do not know how to understand and appreciate it in time.
What is the tragedy of the main characters in the story “Clean Monday”? The fact is that a man and a woman were never able to understand and appreciate each other properly. Each person is a whole world, a whole Universe. The inner world of the girl, the heroine of the story, is very rich. She is in thought, in a spiritual search. She is attracted and at the same time frightened by the surrounding reality; she does not find anything to become attached to. And love appears not as salvation, but as another problem that weighs on her. That is why the heroine decides to give up love.
Refusal of worldly joys and entertainment reveals a strong nature in a girl. This is how she answers her own questions about the meaning of existence. In the monastery she does not have to ask herself any questions; now the meaning of life for her becomes love for God and service to him. Everything vain, vulgar, petty and insignificant will never touch her again. Now she can be in her solitude without worrying that it will be disturbed.
The story may seem sad and even tragic. To some extent this is true. But at the same time, the story “Clean Monday” is sublimely beautiful. It makes you think about true values, about the fact that each of us sooner or later has to face a situation of moral choice. And not everyone has the courage to admit that the choice was made incorrectly.
At first, the girl lives the way many of those around her live. But gradually she realizes that she is not satisfied not only with the way of life itself, but also with all the little things and details that surround her. She finds the strength to look for another option and comes to the conclusion that love for God can be her salvation. Love for God simultaneously elevates her, but at the same time makes all her actions completely incomprehensible. The main character, a man in love with her, practically ruins his life. He remains alone. But the point is not that she leaves him completely unexpectedly. She treats him cruelly, making him suffer and suffer. True, he suffers with him. He suffers and suffers of his own free will. This is evidenced by the heroine’s letter: “May God give me the strength not to answer me - it is useless to prolong and increase our torment...”.
Lovers are separated not because unfavorable circumstances arise. In fact, the reason is completely different. The reason is a sublime and at the same time deeply unhappy girl who cannot find the meaning of existence for herself. She cannot but deserve respect - this amazing girl who was not afraid to change her destiny so dramatically. But at the same time, she seems to be an incomprehensible and incomprehensible person, so unlike everyone who surrounded her.
Theme and idea, severity of the conflict and artistic features of the play
A. P. Chekhova"The Cherry Orchard".
RESPONSE PLAN
1. The origins of the play.
2. Genre features of the play.
4. The conflict of comedy and its features.
5. Basic images of comedy.
6. The main idea of the play.
7. The symbolic sound of the title of the play.
1. A.P. Chekhov finished his play “The Cherry Orchard” in 1903, when the new century was knocking on the door. There was a reassessment of centuries-old values. The nobility was ruined and stratified. It was a class doomed to destruction. It was replaced by a powerful force - the bourgeoisie. The dying of the nobility as a class and the arrival of capitalists is the basis of the play. Chekhov understands that the new masters of life will not last long as a class, since another, young force is growing up that will build a new life in Russia.
2. The play “The Cherry Orchard” is imbued with a bright, lyrical mood. The author himself emphasized that “The Cherry Orchard” is a comedy, since he managed to combine a dramatic, sometimes tragic beginning with a comic one.
3. The main event of the play is the purchase of the cherry orchard. All the problems and experiences of the characters are built around this. All thoughts and memories are connected with him. The cherry orchard is the central image of the play.
4. Truthfully depicting life, the writer talks about the fate of three generations, three social strata of society: the nobility, the bourgeoisie and the progressive intelligentsia. A distinctive feature of the plot is the absence of a pronounced conflict. All events take place in the same estate with permanent characters. The external conflict in the play is replaced by the drama of the characters’ experiences.
5. The old world of serf Russia is personified by the images of Gaev and Ranevskaya, Varya and Firs. Today's world, the world of the business bourgeoisie, is represented by Lopakhin, the world of undecided trends of the future - by Anya and Petya Trofimov.
6. The expectation of change is the main leitmotif of the play. All the heroes of “The Cherry Orchard” are oppressed by the temporality of all things, the frailty of existence. In their life, as in the life of contemporary Russia, “the connecting thread has broken,” the old has been destroyed, but the new has not yet been built, and it is unknown what this new will be like. They all unconsciously grasp at the past, not realizing that it no longer exists.
Hence the feeling of loneliness in this world, the awkwardness of existence. Not only Ranevskaya, Gaev, Lopakhin are lonely and unhappy in this life, but also Charlotte and Epikhodov. All the characters in the play are closed in on themselves, they are so absorbed in their problems that they do not hear or notice others. Uncertainty and anxiety about the future still gives birth in their hearts to hope for something better. But what is this better future? Chekhov leaves this question open... Petya Trofimov looks at life exclusively from a social point of view. There is a lot of truth in his speeches, but they do not have a concrete idea of \u200b\u200bresolving eternal issues. He understands little about real life. Therefore, Chekhov gives us this image in contradiction: on the one hand, he is an accuser, and on the other, a “klutz,” “an eternal student,” “a shabby gentleman.” Anya is full of hope and vitality, but she still has so much inexperience and childhood.
7. The author does not yet see in Russian life a hero who could become the real owner of the “cherry orchard”, the guardian of its beauty and wealth. The very title of the play carries deep ideological content. The garden is a symbol of passing life. The end of the garden is the end of the outgoing generation - the nobles. But in the play, the image of a new garden grows, “more luxurious than this.” “All of Russia is our garden.” And this new blooming garden, with its fragrance, its beauty, will be cultivated by the younger generation.
31. Main themes and ideas of prose I. A. Bunina .
RESPONSE PLAN
1. A word about the writer’s work.
2. The main themes and ideas of I. A. Bunin’s prose:
a) the theme of the passing patriarchal past (“Antonov Apples”);
b) criticism of bourgeois reality (“Mr. from San Francisco”);
c) the system of symbols in I. A. Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco”;
d) the theme of love and death (“Mr. from San Francisco”, “Transfiguration”, “Mitya’s Love”, “Dark Alleys”).
3. I. A. Bunin - Nobel Prize laureate.
1. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin (1870-1953) is called “the last classic.” Bunin's reflections on the deep processes of life result in a perfect artistic form, where the originality of the composition, images, and details are subordinated to the intense author's thought.
2. In his stories, novellas, and poems, Bunin shows us the whole range of problems of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. The themes of his works are so diverse that they seem to be life itself. Let's trace how the themes and problems of Bunin's stories changed throughout his life.
a) The main theme of the early 1900s is the theme of the passing patriarchal past of Russia. We see the most vivid expression of the problem of a change of system, the collapse of all the foundations of noble society in the story “Antonov Apples”. Bunin regrets Russia's fading past, idealizing the noble way of life. Bunin’s best memories of his former life are saturated with the smell of Antonov apples. He hopes that, together with the dying Russia of the nobility, the roots of the nation will still be preserved in its memory.
b) In the mid-1910s, the themes and problems of Bunin's stories began to change. He moves away from the theme of Russia's patriarchal past to a critique of bourgeois reality. A striking example of this period is his story "The Master from San Francisco." With the smallest detail, mentioning every detail, Bunin describes the luxury that represents the true life of the gentlemen of modern times. At the center of the work is the image of a millionaire who doesn’t even have his own name, since no one remembered it - and does he even need it? This is a collective image of the American bourgeoisie. “Until the age of 58, his life was devoted to accumulation. Having become a millionaire, he wants to get all the pleasures that money can buy: ... he thought of holding the carnival in Nice, in Monte Carlo, where at this time the most selective society flocks, where some enthusiastically indulge in automobile and sailing races, others roulette, others to what is commonly called flirting, and fourth to shooting pigeons, which soar very beautifully from cages over the emerald lawn, against the backdrop of a sea the color of forget-me-nots, and immediately hit the ground with white lumps...” - this is a life devoid of internal content . The consumer society has erased everything human in itself, the ability for empathy and condolences. The death of the gentleman from San Francisco is perceived with displeasure, because “the evening was irreparably ruined,” the hotel owner feels guilty, and gives his word that he will take “all measures in his power” to eliminate the trouble. Money decides everything: guests want to have fun for their money, the owner does not want to lose profit, this explains the disrespect for death. Such is the moral decline of society, its inhumanity in its extreme manifestation.
c) There are a lot of allegories, associations and symbols in this story. The ship "Atlantis" acts as a symbol of civilization; The gentleman himself is a symbol of the bourgeois well-being of a society where people eat deliciously, dress elegantly and do not care about the world around them. They are not interested in him. They live in society as if in a case, closed forever to people of another circle. The ship symbolizes this shell, the sea symbolizes the rest of the world, raging, but in no way touching the hero and others like him. And nearby, in the same shell, are the people who control the ship, working hard at the gigantic firebox, which the author calls the ninth circle of hell.
There are many biblical allegories in this story. The hold of a ship can be compared to the underworld. The author hints that the gentleman from San Francisco sold his soul for earthly goods and is now paying for it with death.
Symbolic in the story is the image of a huge, rock-like devil, who is a symbol of the impending catastrophe, a kind of warning to humanity. It is also symbolic in the story that after the death of the rich man, the fun continues, absolutely nothing has changed. The ship sails in the opposite direction, only with the body of the rich man in a soda box, and ballroom music thunders again “among the mad blizzard sweeping over the ocean that was buzzing like a funeral mass.”
d) It was important for the author to emphasize the idea of the insignificance of human power in the face of the same mortal outcome for everyone. It turned out that everything accumulated by the master has no meaning before that eternal law to which everyone, without exception, is subject. Obviously, the meaning of life is not in acquiring wealth, but in something else that cannot be assessed monetaryly or aesthetic wisdom. The theme of death receives varied coverage in Bunin's work. This is both the death of Russia and the death of an individual. Death turns out to be not only the resolver of all contradictions, but also the source of absolute, purifying power (“Transfiguration”, “Mitya’s Love”).
Another of the main themes of the writer’s work is the theme of love. The cycle of stories “Dark Alleys” is devoted to this topic. Bunin considered this book the most perfect in artistic skill. “All the stories in this book are only about love, about its “dark” and most often very gloomy and cruel alleys,” wrote Bunin. The collection “Dark Alleys” is one of the last masterpieces of the great master.
3. In the literature of Russian abroad, Bunin is a star of the first magnitude. After being awarded the Nobel Prize in 1933, Bunin became a symbol of Russian literature throughout the world.
Analysis of the story by I.A. Bunin "Clean Monday"
The story “Clean Monday” is amazingly beautiful and tragic at the same time. The meeting of two people leads to the emergence of a wonderful feeling - love. But love is not only joy, it is a huge torment, against the background of which many problems and troubles seem invisible. The story described exactly how the man and woman met. But the story begins from the moment at which their relationship had already continued for quite a long time. Bunin pays attention to the smallest details, to how “the Moscow gray winter day darkened,” or to where the lovers went for dinner - “to Prague, to the Hermitage, to the Metropol”...
The tragedy of separation is anticipated at the very beginning of the story. The main character does not know where their relationship will lead. He simply prefers not to think about this: “I didn’t know how it was going to end, and I tried not to think, not to speculate: it was useless - just like talking to her about it: she once and for all turned away conversations about our future.”
Why does the heroine reject conversations about the future? Is she not interested in continuing her relationship with her loved one? Or does she already have some idea about her future? Judging by the way Bunin describes the main character, she appears as a very special woman, unlike many around. She takes courses, not realizing, however, why she needs to study. When asked why she was studying, the girl answered: “Why is everything done in the world? Do we understand anything in our actions?
The girl loves to surround herself with beautiful things, she is educated, sophisticated, smart. But at the same time, she seems somehow surprisingly detached from everything that surrounded her: “It looked like she didn’t need anything: no flowers, no books, no dinners, no theaters, no dinners out of town.” At the same time, she knows how to enjoy life, enjoys reading, delicious food, and interesting experiences. It would seem that the lovers have everything they need for happiness: “We were both rich, healthy, young and so good-looking that in restaurants and at concerts they looked at us.” At first it may seem that the story describes a real love idyll. But in reality everything was completely different.
It is no coincidence that the main character comes up with the idea of the strangeness of their love. The girl denies in every possible way the possibility of marriage, she explains that she is not fit to be a wife. The girl cannot find herself, she is in thought. She is attracted to a luxurious, fun life. But at the same time she resists it, wants to find something different for herself. Conflicting feelings arise in the girl’s soul, which are incomprehensible to many young people accustomed to a simple and carefree existence.
The girl visits churches and Kremlin cathedrals. She is drawn to religion, to holiness, herself, perhaps, not realizing why she is attracted to this. Quite suddenly, without explaining anything to anyone, she decides to leave not only her lover, but also her usual way of life. After leaving, the heroine informs in a letter of her intention to decide to take monastic vows. She doesn't want to explain anything to anyone. Parting with his beloved turned out to be a difficult test for the main character. Only after a long time was he able to see her among the line of nuns.
The story is called “Clean Monday” because it was on the eve of this holy day that the first conversation about religiosity took place between the lovers. Before this, the main character had not thought or suspected about the other side of the girl’s nature. She seemed quite happy with her usual life, in which there was a place for theaters, restaurants, and fun. The renunciation of secular joys for the sake of a monastic monastery testifies to the deep internal torment that took place in the soul of the young woman. Perhaps this is precisely what explains the indifference with which she treated her usual life. She could not find a place for herself among everything that surrounded her. And even love could not help her find spiritual harmony.
Love and tragedy in this story go hand in hand, as, indeed, in many other works of Bunin. Love itself does not seem to be happiness, but the most difficult test that must be endured with honor. Love is sent to people who cannot, do not know how to understand and appreciate it in time.
What is the tragedy of the main characters in the story “Clean Monday”? The fact is that a man and a woman were never able to understand and appreciate each other properly. Each person is a whole world, a whole Universe. The inner world of the girl, the heroine of the story, is very rich. She is in thought, in a spiritual search. She is attracted and at the same time frightened by the surrounding reality; she does not find anything to become attached to. And love appears not as salvation, but as another problem that weighs on her. That is why the heroine decides to give up love.
Refusal of worldly joys and entertainment reveals a strong nature in a girl. This is how she answers her own questions about the meaning of existence. In the monastery she does not have to ask herself any questions; now the meaning of life for her becomes love for God and service to him. Everything vain, vulgar, petty and insignificant will never touch her again. Now she can be in her solitude without worrying that it will be disturbed.
The story may seem sad and even tragic. To some extent, this is true. But at the same time, the story “Clean Monday” is sublimely beautiful. It makes you think about true values, about the fact that each of us sooner or later has to face a situation of moral choice, and not everyone has the courage to admit that the choice was made incorrectly.
At first, the girl lives the way many of those around her live. But gradually she realizes that she is not satisfied not only with the way of life itself, but also with all the little things and details that surround her. She finds the strength to look for another option and comes to the conclusion that love for God can be her salvation. Love for God simultaneously elevates her, but at the same time makes all her actions completely incomprehensible. The main character, a man in love with her, practically ruins his life. He remains alone. But the point is not that she leaves him completely unexpectedly. She treats him cruelly, making him suffer and suffer. True, he suffers with him. He suffers and suffers of his own free will. This is evidenced by the heroine’s letter: “May God give me the strength not to answer me - it is useless to prolong and increase our torment...”.
Lovers are separated not because unfavorable circumstances arise. In fact, the reason is completely different. The reason is a sublime and at the same time deeply unhappy girl who cannot find the meaning of existence for herself. She cannot but deserve respect - this amazing girl who was not afraid to change her destiny so dramatically. But at the same time, she seems to be an incomprehensible and incomprehensible person, so unlike everyone who surrounded her.
33. Theme of love in prose A.I. Kuprina . (Using the example of one work.)
Option 1
Kuprin portrays true love as the highest value of the world, as an incomprehensible mystery. For such an all-consuming feeling there is no question “to be or not to be?” It is devoid of doubt, and therefore is often fraught with tragedy. “Love is always a tragedy,” wrote Kuprin, “always struggle and achievement, always joy and fear, resurrection and death.”
Kuprin was deeply convinced that even an unrequited feeling can transform a person’s life. He wisely and touchingly spoke about this in “The Garnet Bracelet,” a sad story about the modest telegraph official Zheltkov, who was so hopelessly and selflessly in love with Countess Vera Sheina.
Pathetic, romantic in the nature of its figurative embodiment, the central theme of love is combined in “Pomegranate Bracelet” with a carefully reproduced everyday background and reliefly outlined figures of people whose lives have not come into contact with the feeling of great love. The poor official Zheltkov, who has loved Princess Vera Nikolaevna for eight years, while dying, thanks her for the fact that she was for him “the only joy in life, the only consolation, the only thought,” and a fellow prosecutor, who thinks that love can be stopped by administrative measures, - people of two different life dimensions. But Kuprin’s living environment is not clear-cut. He especially highlighted the figure of the old General Anosov, who is sure that high love exists, but it “must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world”, which knows no compromises.
For I. A. Bunin, the feeling of love is always a secret, great, unknowable and miracle beyond the control of human reason. In his stories, no matter what kind of love it is: strong, real, mutual, it never reaches marriage. He stops it at the highest point of pleasure and immortalizes it in prose.
From 1937 to 1945 Ivan Bunin writes an intriguing work, which will later be included in the collection “Dark Alleys”. While writing the book, the author emigrated to France. Thanks to the work on the story, the writer was to some extent distracted from the dark streak that was going on in his life.
Bunin said that “Clean Monday” is the best work that he wrote:
I thank God for giving me the opportunity to write “Clean Monday.”
Genre, direction
“Clean Monday” was written in the direction of realism. But before Bunin they didn’t write about love like that. The writer finds those only words that do not trivialize feelings, but each time rediscover emotions familiar to everyone.
The work “Clean Monday” is a short story, a small everyday work, somewhat similar to a short story. The difference can only be found in the plot and compositional structure. The short story genre, unlike the short story, is characterized by the presence of a certain turn of events. In this book, such a turn is a change in the heroine’s outlook on life and a sharp change in her lifestyle.
Meaning of the name
Ivan Bunin clearly draws a parallel with the title of the work, making the main character a girl who rushes between opposites and does not yet know what she needs in life. She changes for the better on Monday, and not just the first day of the new week, but a religious celebration, that turning point, which is marked by the church itself, where the heroine goes to cleanse herself of the luxury, idleness and bustle of her former life.
Clean Monday is the first holiday of Lent in the calendar, leading to Forgiveness Sunday. The author draws the thread of the turning point in the heroine’s life: from various amusements and unnecessary fun, to the adoption of religion, and leaving for a monastery.
The essence
The story is told in the first person. The main events are as follows: every evening the narrator visits a girl who lives opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, for whom he has strong feelings. He is extremely talkative, she is very silent. There was no intimacy between them, and this keeps him in bewilderment and some kind of expectation.
For some time they continue to go to theaters and spend evenings together. Forgiveness Sunday is approaching, and they go to the Novodevichy Convent. Along the way, the heroine talks about how yesterday she was at the schismatic cemetery, and with admiration describes the burial ceremony of the archbishop. The narrator had not previously noticed any religiosity in her, and therefore listened attentively, with glowing, loving eyes. The heroine notices this and is amazed at how much he loves her.
In the evening they go to a skit party, after which the narrator accompanies her home. The girl asks to let the coachmen go, which she hasn’t done before, and come up to her. It was just their evening.
In the morning, the heroine says that she is leaving for Tver, to the monastery - there is no need to wait or look for her.
The main characters and their characteristics
The image of the main character can be viewed from several angles of the narrator: a young man in love evaluates his chosen one as a participant in the events, and he also sees her in the role of a person who only remembers the past. His views on life after falling in love, after passion, change. By the end of the story, the reader now sees his maturity and depth of thoughts, but at the beginning the hero was blinded by his passion and did not see the character of his beloved behind it, did not feel her soul. This is the reason for his loss and the despair into which he plunged after the disappearance of the lady of his heart.
The girl's name cannot be found in the work. For the storyteller, this is simply the same one - unique. The heroine is an ambiguous nature. She has education, sophistication, intelligence, but at the same time she is withdrawn from the world. She is attracted by an unattainable ideal, to which she can only strive within the walls of the monastery. But at the same time, she fell in love with a man and cannot just leave him. The contrast of feelings leads to an internal conflict, which we can glimpse in her tense silence, in her desire for quiet and secluded corners, for reflection and solitude. The girl still cannot understand what she needs. She is seduced by a luxurious life, but at the same time, she resists it and tries to find something else that will illuminate her path with meaning. And in this honest choice, in this loyalty to oneself lies great strength, there is great happiness, which Bunin described with such pleasure.
Topics and issues
- The main theme is love. It is she who gives a person meaning in life. For the girl, the guiding star was divine revelation, she found herself, but her chosen one, having lost the woman of his dreams, lost his way.
- The problem of misunderstanding. The whole essence of the tragedy of heroes lies in misunderstanding each other. The girl, feeling love for the narrator, does not see anything good in this - for her this is a problem, and not a way out of a confusing situation. She is looking for herself not in the family, but in service and spiritual calling. He sincerely does not see this and tries to impose on her his vision of the future - the creation of marriage bonds.
- Theme of choice also appears in the novella. Every person has a choice, and everyone decides for themselves what to do right. The main character chose her own path - entering a monastery. The hero continued to love her, and could not come to terms with her choice, because of this he could not find inner harmony, find himself.
- Also I. A. Bunin can be traced theme of human purpose in life. The main character does not know what she wants, but she feels her calling. It is very difficult for her to understand herself, and because of this the narrator also cannot fully understand her. However, she follows the call of her soul, vaguely guessing her destiny - the destiny of higher powers. And this is very good for both of them. If a woman made a mistake and got married, she would remain unhappy forever and blame the one who led her astray. And the man would suffer from unrequited happiness.
- The problem of happiness. The hero sees him in love with the lady, but the lady moves along a different coordinate system. She will find harmony only alone with God.
the main idea
The writer writes about true love, which ultimately ends in breakup. The heroes make such decisions themselves; they have complete freedom of choice. And the meaning of their actions is the idea of the entire book. Each of us must choose exactly that love that we can worship without complaint throughout our lives. A person must be true to himself and the passion that lives in his heart. The heroine found the strength to go to the end and, despite all doubts and temptations, to reach her cherished goal.
The main idea of the novel is an ardent call for honest self-determination. There is no need to be afraid that someone will not understand or judge your decision if you are sure that this is your calling. In addition, a person must be able to resist those obstacles and temptations that prevent him from hearing his own voice. Fate depends on whether we are able to hear him, both our own fate and the position of those to whom we are dear.
Interesting? Save it on your wall!This article will focus on his work called “Clean Monday,” which was written in 1944. This story was included in the famous collection “Dark Alleys,” which reveals to the reader a special world where, even in a dark space, there is a place for love. But notes of love are not the only attractive effect. With his stories, the author tried to show as accurately as possible the life of Russia, both in pre-revolutionary times and after great events, which for some were constructive, and for others destructive.
He goes out with her a lot, takes her to various taverns and theaters, showers her with various gifts, but until the very end he cannot understand how it will all end. The girl is silent about the future and her intentions.
And although the main characters do not have intimacy, the young man is already truly happy next to his beloved.
The girl is taking a history course, she lives alone, her father is a merchant on the road. She accepts gifts from the hero, thanks him, but it seems that she is completely indifferent.
It looked like she didn’t need anything: no flowers, no books, no lunches, no theaters, no dinners out of town.
She, like every girl, has her favorite flowers, she loves sweets. However, her real passion lies in chic clothes. According to the work, the hero himself and his girlfriend are young and beautiful. He looks somewhat like an Italian, and she looks like a Persian princess. By nature, the hero is talkative and cheerful, but she is quite the opposite, silent and very tactful.
The main character often recalls how he met his beloved. This happened during a lecture when the teacher was running around the audience and singing songs. Then this amused the guy so much that he laughed uncontrollably, and the girl was very attracted to this. From the first meetings, the young man felt charmed and was happy, although the desire to be even closer with the girl did not leave him.
All this happens in the same tone over several months. Maslenitsa has passed and the girl asks the hero to come to her earlier than usual. Afterwards they go together to the monastery, where along the way she told about the burial ceremony of the archbishop. Then the hero was very surprised. He realized that he didn’t know her well since he had not noticed such a strong passion for religion.
Near the monastery they visit a cemetery, where they walk for a long time among the graves. The hero looks at her so lovingly that the girl understands that this is not a simple hobby, it is probably love. When, having wandered, they find themselves in a tavern, the heroine continued to talk about monasteries and expressed a desire to happily leave to serve God. However, the narrator admires her so much that he does not notice what she is saying and does not take her words seriously.
A day later, she asks the hero to bring her to the theater for a skit. She drank champagne and danced all evening. Afterwards the hero took her home, and she asked him to come up to her. Later they made love, and the next morning she said that she was leaving for Tver forever and asked not to look for her, she would write herself. The letter said this:
I won’t return to Moscow, I’ll go to obedience for now, then maybe I’ll decide to take monastic vows... May God give me the strength not to answer me - it’s useless to prolong and increase our torment...
The hero was in despair, began to drink a lot, and completely lost faith in himself and in life. Two years later, he again remembered his beloved and repeated the path that he had once taken with her on Forgiveness Sunday. Inside there was a service for the princess and prince, the hero, handing some money to the janitor, went there. A religious procession takes place here. The princess goes first, followed by the sisters with candles. One of them raised her eyes and looked straight at the hero, but he turned and left.
Analysis of the story “Clean Monday”
The name of this story was not invented without reason, Clean Monday, this is the date of the first week during Lent. There is also another meaning here; you can consider that the actions take place on the last holiday before the war in Moscow. The work has a strong and varied atmosphere, perhaps this is all due to the fact that the work itself is written in the first person. Everything is described here quite simply, everything happens in a strange city, where the hero suffers from an incomprehensible love for a mysterious girl. The hero doesn’t even think about the future; he doesn’t care what happens. The story is written using a refrain that enhances the sensations of a waking dream.
“And why, why do you have to torture me and yourself so cruelly?”
Life in Moscow is described in great detail; the story contains a lot of specifics. For example, the fact that the author’s morning smells of both snow and the smell of bakeries, but the day is damp - this also deserves special attention. There are also many detailed descriptions here, here are some of them: “gray coral branches in the frost”, “crowded, diving trams”, “snowy sidewalks dimly blackening passers-by”. As you can see, life in the Soviet metropolis is described in detail, the reader is imbued with the work and it already seems that he himself is present at the scene of events and feels all these smells.
The city is described surprisingly accurately. The story shows many sights of Moscow. The author, without being lazy, describes both monasteries and cathedrals, taverns and restaurants. Even restaurant menus are described quite colorfully. The main characters either eat pink hazel grouse in fried sour cream or pancakes with homemade herbal tea.
When you read this work, you get the feeling that there is eternal movement going on here. The hero himself came from what is now Penza, so he is already in Moscow and falls in love, and the girl herself is not from Moscow either, she is from Tver. The characters, having met, are constantly doing something, reading and discussing books, going to theaters, attending concerts and not forgetting about lectures.
Even the place where they live is remarkable. So the man lives at the Red Gate, and she lives near the temple. All this points to the temperament of the heroes. And although their appearance and characters were different, they were drawn to each other.
“For some reason I was handsome, with a southern, hot beauty...”, “And she had some kind of Indian, Persian beauty...”
The story describes everything clearly and in detail. Everything is captured in the work: meeting places, conversations, the mood of the characters, it is even described in detail how certain objects are located in the apartment. Their love is called strange and mysterious, somewhat incomprehensible. Then there is this separation, the girl goes to the monastery and, most likely, will give lunch.
This work emphasizes not only the psychological aspect, there is a lot of philosophy and history. A concrete example shows the dullness of everyday life in Russia. There is melancholy all around and there is no hope for a bright future, only mystery and a fatal premonition. You read this work and want to think about Mother Russia.
It is interesting that, unlike Bunin’s other stories, there is a specific time frame here. The action takes place at the end of Maslenitsa and at the beginning of Lent. Although the work is small in volume, the time range here is quite wide. There are several dates, for example, the events developed in 1912, and their last meeting took place in 1914.
You can observe the hero's inner experiences by several things, such as movement in time and real historical events. So he fell in love, his life seemed to have acquired a new meaning, more sublime, but the tragedy of that time was all around. The writer very subtly emphasized the details of that era, the lyrics here are drawn through the epic narrative.
Although the story is filled with many details and descriptions of that era, all the lyricism and tragedy of the work is clearly visible here. What’s interesting is that the heroes break up not because something obliges them. It’s just that their habit of each other began to develop into love, and this is the reason for the separation. In this case, love did not bring the couple together, but separated them.
Like most of Bunin's stories, love is a flash that does not lead to anything good, and this work was no exception. The choice has been made, and everyone has chosen their own path.
In 1937, Ivan Bunin began work on his best book. The collection “Dark Alleys” was first published after the end of World War II. This book is a collection of short tragic love stories. One of Bunin's most famous stories is “Clean Monday”. An analysis and summary of the work is presented in today's article.
"Dark alleys"
The analysis of Bunin’s “Clean Monday” should begin with a brief history of the creation of the work. This is one of the last stories included in the collection “Dark Alleys”. Bunin completed work on the work “Clean Monday” on May 12, 1944. The story was first published in New York.
The writer was probably pleased with this essay. After all, in his diary, Bunin wrote: “I thank God for the opportunity to create Clean Monday.”
Bunin, in each of his works included in the collection “Dark Alleys,” reveals to the reader the tragedy and catastrophism of love. This feeling is beyond human control. It suddenly comes into his life, gives fleeting happiness, and then certainly causes unbearable pain.
The narration in the story “Clean Monday” by Bunin is told in the first person. The author does not name the names of his heroes. Love breaks out between two young people. They are both beautiful, rich, healthy and seemingly full of energy. But something is missing in their relationship.
They visit restaurants, concerts, theaters. They discuss books and plays. True, the girl often shows indifference, even hostility. “You don’t like everything,” the main character once says, but he himself does not attach any significance to his words. A passionate romance is followed by a sudden separation - sudden for the young man, not for her. The ending is typical of Bunin's style. What caused the break between the lovers?
On the eve of the Orthodox holiday
The story describes their first meeting, but the narrative begins with events that occur some time after they met. The girl attends courses, reads a lot, and otherwise leads an idle lifestyle. And she seems quite happy with everything. But this is only at first glance. He is so absorbed in his feeling, his love for her, that he is not even aware of the other side of her soul.
It is worth paying attention to the title of the story - “Clean Monday”. The meaning of Bunin's story is quite deep. On the eve of the holy day, the lovers have their first conversation about religiosity. Before this, the main character had no idea that the girl was attracted to everything connected with the church. In his absence, she visits Moscow monasteries, moreover, she is thinking about becoming a monk.
Clean Monday is the beginning of Lent. On this day, cleansing rituals are carried out, the transition from fast food to Lenten restrictions.
Parting
One day they go to the Novodevichy Convent. By the way, this is a rather unusual route for him. Previously, they spent time exclusively in entertainment establishments. The visit to the monastery is, of course, the idea of the protagonist's beloved.
The next day, intimacy occurs between them for the first time. And then the girl leaves for Tver, from there she sends a letter to her lover. In this message she asks not to wait for her. She became a novice in one of the Tver monasteries, and perhaps she will decide to take monastic vows. He will never see her again.
After receiving the last letter from his beloved, the hero began to drink, go downhill, and then finally came to his senses. One day, after a long time, I saw a nun in a Moscow church, in whom I recognized my former beloved. Perhaps the image of his beloved was too firmly entrenched in his mind, and it was not her at all? He didn't tell her anything. He turned and walked out of the temple gates. This is the summary of Bunin’s “Clean Monday”.
Love and tragedy
Bunin's heroes do not find happiness. In "Clean Monday", as in other works of the Russian classic, we are talking about love, which brings only bitterness and disappointment. What is the tragedy of the heroes of this story?
Probably the fact that, being close, they did not know each other at all. Each person is a whole Universe. And sometimes even loved ones cannot unravel his inner world. Bunin spoke about loneliness among people, about love, which is impossible without complete mutual understanding. An analysis of a work of art cannot be done without characterizing the main characters. What do we know about the girl who, living in prosperity and being loved, went to a monastery?
main character
When analyzing Bunin’s “Clean Monday”, it is worth paying attention to the portrait of a nameless girl that the author creates at the beginning of the work. She led an idle life. She read a lot, studied music, and loved visiting restaurants. But she did all this somehow indifferently, without much interest.
She is educated, well-read, and enjoys immersing herself in the world of luxurious social life. She likes good cuisine, but she wonders “how people don’t get bored having lunch and dinner every day”? She calls acting skits vulgar, while she ends the relationship with her lover by visiting the theater. Bunin's heroine cannot understand what his purpose in this life is. She is not one of those who is content to live in luxury and talk about literature and art.
The inner world of the main character is very rich. She constantly thinks and is in a spiritual search. The girl is attracted by the surrounding reality, but at the same time she is frightened. Love becomes not a salvation for her, but a problem that terribly burdens her, forcing her to make the only correct sudden decision.
The main character refuses worldly joys, and this shows her strong nature. “Clean Monday” is not the only story from the collection “Dark Alleys” in which the author paid a lot of attention to the female image.
Bunin brought to the fore the hero's experiences. At the same time, he showed a rather controversial female character. The heroine is satisfied with the lifestyle she leads, but all sorts of details, little things, depress her. Finally, she decides to go to a monastery, thereby destroying the life of the man who loves her. True, by doing this she causes suffering to herself. After all, in the letter that the girl sends to her lover there are the words: “May God give me the strength not to answer you.”
Main character
Little is known about the future fate of the young man. He had a hard time being separated from his beloved. He disappeared into the dirtiest taverns, drank and became miserable. But still he came to his senses and returned to his previous way of life. It can be assumed that the pain that this strange, extraordinary and somewhat exalted girl inflicted on him will never subside.
In order to find out who the writer was during his lifetime, you just need to read his books. But is the biography of Ivan Bunin really so tragic? Was there true love in his life?
Ivan Bunin
The writer's first wife, Anna Tsakni, was the daughter of an Odessa Greek, editor of a popular magazine at that time. They got married in 1898. Soon a son was born, who did not live even five years. The child died of meningitis. Bunin took the death of his son very hard. The relationship between the spouses went wrong, but his wife did not give him a divorce for a long time. Even after he connected his life with Vera Muromtseva.
The writer's second wife became his "patient shadow." Muromtseva replaced his secretary, mother, and friend. She did not leave him even when he began an affair with Galina Kuznetsova. Yet it was Galina Muromtseva who was next to the writer in the last days of his life. The creator of “Dark Alleys” was not deprived of love.