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 love is: strong, real, mutual, it never reaches marriage. He stops her highest point pleasures and perpetuates 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" - This best job which was written by him:

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 construction. 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 power, there is great happiness, which Bunin described with such pleasure.

Topics and issues

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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 - destiny 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.
5. 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.

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Theme and idea, the severity of the conflict and artistic features plays

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 new Age knocked on doors. 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 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. Exactly The Cherry Orchard is centrally plays.

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. Distinctive feature The plot is the absence of a pronounced conflict. All events take place in the same estate with permanent characters. External conflict in the play it 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 real life. Therefore, Chekhov gives us this image in contradiction: on the one hand, he is an accuser, and on the other, a “klutz”, “ eternal student», « shabby gentleman" Anya is full of hope, vitality, but there is still so much inexperience and childhood in her.

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 - laureate Nobel Prize.

1. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin (1870-1953) is called “the last classic.” Bunin's reflections on the deep processes of life result in perfect art form, where the originality of the composition, images, details are subordinated to the author’s intense thought.

2. In his stories, novellas, and poems, Bunin shows us the whole range of problems late XIX- beginning of the 20th century. 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) main topic the early 1900s - the theme of Russia's fading patriarchal past. 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 collective image American bourgeois. “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. I didn’t think about it before, I didn’t suspect it main character about the other side of a 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 in itself does not seem to be happiness, but a very 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. Inner world 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 from worldly joys and entertainment reveals in a girl strong nature. 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, 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 “ Garnet bracelet», 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 central theme love is combined in the “Pomegranate Bracelet” with a carefully reproduced everyday background and clearly 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.

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.

“Clean Monday” I.A. Bunin considered his best work. Largely due to its semantic depth and ambiguity of interpretation. The story occupies an important place in the cycle " Dark alleys" The time of its writing is considered to be May 1944. During this period of his life, Bunin was in France, far from his homeland, where the Great Patriotic War.

In this light, it is unlikely that the 73-year-old writer devoted his work only to the theme of love. It would be more correct to say that through the description of the relationship between two people, their views and worldviews, the truth is revealed to the reader modern life, its tragic background and the urgency of many moral problems.

At the center of the story is the story of the relationship between a quite wealthy man and a woman, between whom feelings for each other develop. They have an interesting and pleasant time visiting restaurants, theaters, taverns, and many others. etc. The narrator and the main character in one person are drawn to her, but the possibility of marriage is immediately ruled out - the girl clearly believes that she is not suitable for family life.

One day on the eve of Clean Monday on Forgiveness Sunday, she asks to pick her up a little earlier. After which they go to the Novodevichy Convent, visit the local cemetery, walk among the graves and remember the funeral of the archbishop. The heroine understands how much the narrator loves her, and the man himself notices the great religiosity of his companion. The woman talks about life in a monastery and herself threatens to go to the most remote of them. True, the narrator does not attach much importance to her words.

The next day in the evening, at the girl’s request, they go to a theatrical skit. A rather strange choice of place - especially considering that the heroine does not like and does not recognize such gatherings. There she drinks champagne, dances and has fun. After which the narrator brings her home at night. The heroine asks the man to come up to her. They are finally getting closer.

The next morning the girl reports that she is leaving for Tver for a while. After 2 weeks, a letter arrives from her in which she says goodbye to the narrator and asks not to look for her, since “I won’t return to Moscow, I’ll go to obedience for now, then maybe I’ll decide to take monastic vows.”

The man fulfills her request. However, he does not disdain spending time in dirty taverns and taverns, indulging in an indifferent existence - “he got drunk, sinking in every possible way, more and more.” Then he comes to his senses for a long time, and two years later he decides to go on a trip to all the places that he and his beloved visited on that Forgiveness Sunday. At some point, the hero is overcome by a kind of hopeless resignation. Arriving at the Marfo-Maryinsky monastery, he finds out that there is a service going on there and even goes inside. Here, for the last time, the hero sees his beloved, who participates in the service along with other nuns. At the same time, the girl does not see the man, but her gaze is directed into the darkness, where the narrator stands. After which he quietly leaves the church.

Story composition
The composition of the story is based on three parts. The first serves to introduce the characters, describe their relationships and pastimes. The second part is dedicated to the events Forgiveness Sunday and Clean Monday. The shortest, but semantically important third part completes the composition.

Reading the works and moving from one part to another, one can see the spiritual maturation of not only the heroine, but also the narrator himself. At the end of the story, we are no longer a frivolous person, but a man who has experienced the bitterness of parting with his beloved, capable of experiencing and comprehending his actions of the past.

Considering that the hero and the narrator are one person, you can see changes in him even with the help of the text itself. The hero’s worldview changes radically after a sad love story. Talking about himself in 1912, the narrator resorts to irony, showing his limitations in the perception of his beloved. Only physical intimacy is important, and the hero himself does not try to understand the woman’s feelings, her religiosity, outlook on life, and much more. etc.

In the final part of the work we see a narrator and a man who understands the meaning of the experience. He evaluates his life retrospectively and the overall tone of writing the story changes, which speaks of the inner maturity of the narrator himself. When reading the third part, one gets the impression that it was written by a completely different person.

By genre features Most researchers classify “Clean Monday” as a short story, because at the center of the plot there is a turning point that forces a different interpretation of the work. We are talking about the heroine leaving for a monastery.

Novella I.A. Bunin is distinguished by a complex spatio-temporal organization. The action takes place at the end of 1911 - beginning of 1912. This is supported by the mention of specific dates and textual references to real historical figures who were known and recognizable at the time. For example, the heroes first meet at a lecture by Andrei Bely, and at a theatrical skit the artist Sulerzhitsky appears before the reader, with whom the heroine dances.

The time range of a small work is quite wide. There are three specific dates: 1912 - the time of the plot events, 1914 - the date of the last meeting of the heroes, as well as a certain “today” of the narrator. The entire text is filled with additional time references and references: “the graves of Ertel, Chekhov”, “the house where Griboyedov lived”, pre-Petrine Rus' is mentioned, Chaliapin’s concert, the schismatic Rogozhskoe cemetery, Prince Yuri Dolgoruky and much more. It turns out that the events of the story fit into the general historical context, turn out to be not just a specific description of the relationship between a man and a woman, but personify an entire era.

It is no coincidence that a number of researchers call to see in the heroine the image of Russia itself, and to interpret her act as the author’s call not to follow a revolutionary path, but to seek repentance and do everything to change the life of the whole country. Hence the title of the short story “Clean Monday”, which, as the first day of Lent, should become the starting point on the path to better things.

Main characters in the story “Clean Monday” there are only two. This is the heroine and the narrator himself. The reader never learns their names.

At the center of the work is the image of the heroine, and the hero is shown through the prism of their relationship. The girl is smart. He often says philosophically wisely: “Our happiness, my friend, is like water in delirium: if you pull it, it’s inflated, but if you pull it out, there’s nothing.”

Opposite essences coexist in the heroine; there are many contradictions in her image. On the one hand, she likes luxury, social life, visiting theaters and restaurants. However, this does not interfere with the internal craving for something different, significant, beautiful, religious. She is interested in literary heritage, not only domestic, but also European. Often quoted famous works world classics, hagiographic literature tells about ancient rituals and funerals.

The girl categorically denies the possibility of marriage and believes that she is not fit to be a wife. The heroine is looking for herself, often in thought. She is smart, beautiful and wealthy, but the narrator was convinced every day: “it looked like she didn’t need anything: no books, no lunches, no theaters, no dinners outside the city...” In this world she is constantly and to some extent pores pointlessly searching for oneself. She is attracted by the luxurious, cheerful life, but at the same time she is disgusted by it: “I don’t understand how people won’t get tired of this all their lives, having lunch and dinner every day.” True, she herself “had lunch and dinner with a Moscow understanding of the matter. Her obvious weakness was only good clothes, velvet, silk, expensive fur...” It is precisely this contradictory image of the heroine that I.A. creates. Bunin in his work.

Wanting to find something different for herself, she visits churches and cathedrals. The girl manages to break out of her usual environment, albeit not thanks to love, which turns out to be not so sublime and omnipotent. Faith and withdrawal from worldly life help her find herself. This act confirms the strong and strong-willed character of the heroine. This is how she responds to her own thoughts about the meaning of life, understanding the futility of the one she leads into secular society. In the monastery, the main thing for a person becomes love for God, service to him and people, while everything vulgar, base, unworthy and ordinary will no longer bother her.

The main idea of ​​the story by I.A. Bunin "Clean Monday"

In this work, Bunin brings to the fore the history of the relationship between two people, but the main meanings are hidden much deeper. It is impossible to interpret this story unambiguously, since it is simultaneously dedicated to love, morality, philosophy, and history. However, the main direction of the writer’s thought comes down to questions of the fate of Russia itself. According to the author, the country must be cleansed of its sins and reborn spiritually, as the heroine of the work “Clean Monday” did.

She gave up a wonderful future, money and position in society. I decided to leave everything worldly because it became unbearable to stay in the world where I had disappeared true beauty, and all that remained were the “desperate cancans” of Moskvin and Stanislavsky and “pale from drunkenness, with heavy sweat on his forehead,” barely standing on his feet.

Ivan Bunin’s work “Easy Breathing” has a very intricate plot and complex philosophical idea, touching on the problem love relationship and hostility of society towards the individual.

Bunin’s story “Antonov Apples” is dedicated to the theme of the change of eras, the period of the nobility and new Russia, where the nobles lost their authority, wealth and meaning of existence.

The gallery of such images could be continued for a long time. Simply in the description of secular Moscow of the 1910s, in reflecting on the heroine’s actions, understanding her own thoughts and statements, it becomes clear main idea story. It is quite simple and complex at the same time: someday Clean Monday will come for every person living in Russia, and for the entire country as a whole. The narrator, having experienced a breakup with his beloved, having spent 2 years in constant reflection, was able not only to understand the girl’s action, but also to take the path of purification. According to the author, only through faith and the desire for moral principles can one get rid of the shackles of vulgar social life, change morally and spiritually for a new and better life.

Bunin's tragic love story forms the basis of the story "Clean Monday". Two people suddenly meet, and a beautiful and pure feeling flares up between them. Love brings not only joy, lovers experience enormous torment that torments their souls. The work by Ivan Bunin describes a meeting between a man and a woman, which made them forget about all their problems.

The author begins his story not from the very beginning of the novel, but immediately from its development, when the love of two people reaches its climax. I. Bunin perfectly describes all the details of this day: the Moscow day was not only winter, but, according to the author’s description, dark and gray. The lovers dined in different places: today it could be “Prague”, and tomorrow they ate at the “Hermitage”, then it could be “Metropol”, or some other establishment.

From the very beginning of Bunin's work, there is a premonition of some kind of misfortune, a great tragedy. Main character tries not to think about what will happen tomorrow, about what this relationship might lead to. He understood that he shouldn’t talk about the future with someone who was so close to him. After all, she simply did not like these conversations and she did not answer any of his questions.

But why main character didn’t want, like many girls, to dream about the future and make plans? Maybe this is a momentary attraction that should end soon? Or does she already know everything that is about to happen to her in the future? Ivan Bunin describes his heroine as if she were a perfect woman who cannot be compared with other beautiful female images.

The main character is studying in courses, not understanding how she manages to do this later in life. The Bunin girl is well educated, she has a sense of sophistication and intelligence. Everything in her house should be beautiful. But the world she is not at all interested, she moves away from him. From her behavior it seemed that she was indifferent to theaters, and to flowers, and to books, and to dinners. And this indifference does not prevent her from completely immersing herself in life and enjoying it, reading books and getting impressions.

The beautiful couple seemed ideal to the people around them; they were even watched as they went. And there was something to envy! Young, beautiful, rich - all these characteristics suited this couple. This happy idyll turns out to be strange, since the girl does not want to become the wife of the main character. This makes you think about the sincerity of the lover’s and the man’s feelings. For all his questions, the girl finds only one explanation: she does not know how to be a wife.

It is clear that the girl does not understand what her purpose in life is. Her soul is tossing: a luxurious life attracts her, but she wants something else. That is why she constantly arrives in thoughts and reflections. The feelings that the girl experiences are incomprehensible to her, and the main character cannot understand them either.

She is attracted to religion, the girl goes to church with pleasure, and admires holiness. The heroine herself cannot understand why this attracts her so much. One day she decides to take an important step - to cut her hair as a nun. Without telling her lover anything, the girl leaves. After a while, the main character receives a letter from her, where the young woman reports her action, but she doesn’t even try to explain.

The main character finds it difficult to cope with the actions of his beloved woman. One day he was able to see her by chance among the nuns. It is no coincidence that Bunin gives his work the title “Clean Monday.” The day before this day, the lovers had a serious conversation about religion. The main character was surprised for the first time by the thoughts of his bride, they were so new and interesting to him.

External contentment with life hid the depth of this nature, her subtlety and religiosity, her constant torment, which led the girl to the monastery of a nun. Deep internal searches also help explain the young woman’s indifference to social life. She did not see herself among everything that surrounded her. Happy and mutual love does not help her find harmony in her soul. In this Bunin story, love and tragedy are inseparable. Love is given to the heroes as a kind of test that they have to pass.

The love tragedy of the main characters lies in the fact that they could not fully understand each other and could not correctly evaluate the individuals who had found their soul mate. Bunin, with his story “Clean Monday,” affirms the idea that every person is a huge and rich world. The inner world of a young woman is rich spiritually, but her thoughts and reflections do not find support in this world. Love for the main character is no longer a salvation for her, but the girl sees this as a problem.

The heroine’s strong will helps her to leave love, to abandon it, to abandon it forever. In the monastery, her spiritual search ceases, and the young woman develops new affection and love. The heroine finds the meaning of life in love for God. Everything petty and vulgar now does not concern her; now no one disturbs her loneliness and peace.

Bunin's story is both tragic and sad. Moral choice stands before every person and must be done correctly. The heroine chooses her life path, and the main character, continuing to love her, cannot find himself in this life. His fate is sad and tragic. The young woman’s act towards him is cruel. They both suffer: the hero because of the act of his beloved, and she of her own free will.