Story easy breathing analysis. Analysis of Bunin's work "Easy breathing

And again about love ... And if it’s about love, then it’s definitely about Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, because so far he has no equal in literature in the ability to so deeply, accurately,

and at the same time, it is easy and easy to convey an endless palette of colors and shades of life, love and human destinies, and what is most surprising - all this is on two or three sheets. In his stories, time is inversely proportional to the emerging fullness of feelings and emotions. Here you are reading his story “Easy Breathing” (an analysis of the work follows), and it takes five to ten minutes at the most, but at the same time you manage to immerse yourself in the life, and even the soul of the main characters, and live with them for several decades, and sometimes for the rest of your life. Isn't it a miracle?

The story of I.A. Bunin "Easy breathing": analysis and summary

From the first lines, the author introduces the reader to the main character of the story - Olya Meshcherskaya. But what is this acquaintance? An analysis of the story "Easy Breathing" draws attention to the scene - a cemetery, a fresh clay mound on the grave and a heavy, smooth oak cross. Time - cold, gray days of April, still bare trees, icy wind. A medallion is inserted into the very cross, and in the medallion there is a portrait of a young girl, a schoolgirl, with happy, "amazingly lively eyes." As you can see, the narrative is built on contrasts, hence the dual sensations: life and death are spring, the month of April, but still bare trees; a strong tomb cross with a portrait of a young girl, in the prime of her awakening femininity. You involuntarily think about what this earthly life is, and you are amazed at how close the atoms of life and death adjoin each other, and along with them beauty and ugliness, simplicity and cunning, stunning success and tragedy ...

main character

The principle of contrast is used both in the image of Olga Meshcherskaya herself and in the description of her short but brilliant life. As a girl, she paid no attention to herself. The only thing that could be said was that she was one of the many sweet, rich and absolutely happy girls who, due to their age, are playful and careless. However, she soon began to develop rapidly and become prettier, and at her incomplete fifteen she was known as a real beauty. She was not afraid of anything and was not embarrassed, and at the same time, her fingers or disheveled hair looked much more natural, neat and elegant than the deliberate neatness or thoroughness of her friends' styled hair. No one danced so gracefully at balls as she did. No one skated as skillfully as she did. No one had as many fans as Olya Meshcherskaya ... The analysis of the story "Light Breath" does not end there.

Last winter

As they said in the gymnasium, “Olya Meshcherskaya went completely crazy with fun during her last winter.” She flaunts herself everywhere: she combs her hair defiantly, wears expensive combs, ruins her parents for shoes “twenty rubles”. She openly and simply declares to the headmistress that she has long been no longer a girl, but a woman ... She flirts with high school student Shenshin, promises him to be faithful and loving, and at the same time is so fickle and capricious in dealing with him, bringing him once to attempted suicide. She, in fact, lures and seduces Alexei Mikhailovich Malyutin, an adult of fifty-six years old, and then, realizing her disadvantageous position, as an excuse for her dissolute behavior, arouses in herself a feeling of disgust for him. Further - more ... Olya enters into a relationship with a Cossack officer, ugly, plebeian-looking, who had nothing to do with the society in which she moved, and promises him to marry him. And at the station, seeing him off to Novocherkassk, he says that there can be no love between them, and all these conversations are just a mockery and mockery of him. As proof of her words, she gives him to read that page of the diary, which spoke of her first connection with Malyutin. Without taking the insult, the officer shoots at her right there, on the platform ... The question arises: why, why does she need all this? What corners of the human soul is trying to open to us the work "Light Breath" (Bunin)? An analysis of the sequence of actions of the main character will allow the reader to answer these and other questions.

fluttering moth

And here the image of a fluttering moth involuntarily suggests itself, frivolous, reckless, but possessing an incredible thirst for life, a desire to find some kind of its own, special, fascinating and beautiful destiny, worthy only of the elect. But life is subject to other laws and rules, the violation of which must be paid. Therefore, Olya Meshcherskaya, like a moth, bravely, without fear, and at the same time easily and naturally, regardless of the feelings of others, flies towards the fire, towards the light of life, towards new sensations in order to burn to ashes: smooth the lined notebook, not knowing about the fate of your line, where wisdom, heresy are mixed ... ”(Brodsky)

contradictions

Indeed, everything was mixed up in Ole Meshcherskaya. “Easy breathing”, the analysis of the story, allows us to distinguish in the work such as antithesis - a sharp opposition of concepts, images, states. She is beautiful and at the same time immoral. She was not stupid, she was capable, but at the same time superficial and thoughtless. There was no cruelty in her, "for some reason, no one was loved as much by the lower classes as she was." Her merciless attitude towards other people's feelings was not meaningful. She, like a raging element, demolished everything in her path, but not because she sought to destroy and suppress, but only because she could not do otherwise: “... how to combine with this pure look that terrible thing that is now connected with the name of Olya Meshcherskaya?” Both beauty and were her essence, and she was not afraid to show both of them to the fullest. Therefore, she was so loved, admired, drawn to her, and therefore her life was so bright, but fleeting. It could not be otherwise, which is proved to us by the story “Light Breath” (Bunin). Analysis of the work gives a deeper understanding of the life of the main character.

cool lady

The antithetical composition (antithesis) is observed both in the description of the very image of the classy lady Olechka Meshcherskaya, and in an indirect, but so guessable comparison of her with the schoolgirl under her charge. For the first time, I. Bunin ("Light Breath") introduces the reader to a new character - the head of the gymnasium, in the scene of a conversation between her and Mademoiselle Meshcherskaya regarding the defiant behavior of the latter. And what do we see? Two absolute opposites - a youthful, but gray-haired madame with an even parting in neatly frilled hair and a light, graceful Olya with a beautifully tidied up, albeit beyond her years, hairstyle with an expensive comb. One behaves simply, clearly and lively, fearing nothing and boldly responding to reproaches, despite such a young age and unequal position. The other one does not take her eyes off the endless knitting and secretly begins to get annoyed.

After the tragedy

We remind you that we are talking about the story "Light Breath". An analysis of the work follows. The second and last time the reader encounters the image of a classy lady after Olya's death, in the cemetery. And again we have before us the sharp but vivid clarity of the antithesis. A "middle-aged girl" in black kid gloves and in mourning goes to Olya's grave every Sunday, keeping her eyes on the oak cross for hours. She devoted her life to some kind of "incorporeal" feat. At first, she cared about the fate of her brother, Alexei Mikhailovich Malyutin, that very remarkable ensign who had seduced a beautiful schoolgirl. After his death, she devoted herself to work, merging entirely with the image of an "ideological worker." Now Olya Meshcherskaya is the main theme of all her thoughts and feelings, one might say, a new dream, a new meaning of life. However, can her life be called life? Yes and no. On the one hand, everything that exists in the world is necessary and has the right to exist, despite the seeming worthlessness and uselessness to us. And on the other hand, in comparison with the splendor, brilliance and audacity of the colors of Olya's short life, it is rather a "slow death". But, as they say, the truth is somewhere in the middle, because a colorful picture of the life path of a young girl is also an illusion, behind which lies emptiness.

Talk

The story "Light Breath" does not end there. A classy lady sits near her grave for a long time and endlessly recalls the same conversation of two girls overheard once ... Olya was chatting with her friend at a big break and mentioned one book from her father's library. It talked about what a woman should be. First of all, with large black eyes boiling with resin, with thick eyelashes, a delicate blush, longer than usual arms, a thin figure ... But the main thing is that a woman should be with easy breathing. Olya understood literally - she sighed and listened to her breathing, the expression "easy breathing" still reflects the essence of her soul, thirsting for life, striving for its fullness and alluring infinity. However, “light breathing” (the analysis of the story of the same name is coming to an end) cannot be eternal. Like everything worldly, like the life of any person and like the life of Olya Meshcherskaya, sooner or later it disappears, dissipates, perhaps becoming part of this world, the cold spring wind or the leaden sky.

What can be said in conclusion about the story "Light Breathing", the analysis of which was carried out above? Written in 1916, long before the collection "Dark Alleys" was born, the short story "Light Breathing" can be called without exaggeration one of the pearls of I. Bunin's work.

OLGA MESHHERSKAYA

OLGA MESHHERSKAYA - the heroine of the story by I.A. Bunin "Easy breathing" (1916). The story is based on a newspaper chronicle: an officer shot a schoolgirl. In this rather unusual incident, Bunin caught the image of an absolutely natural and uninhibited young woman who entered the world of adults early and easily. O.M. - a sixteen-year-old girl, about whom the author writes that "she did not stand out in the crowd of brown gymnasium dresses." The point is not at all in beauty, but in inner freedom, unusual and unusual for a person of her age and gender. The charm of the image lies precisely in the fact that O.M. does not think about his own life. She lives in full force, without fear and caution. Bunin himself once said: “We call it uterine, and I called it light breathing there. Such naivety and lightness in everything, both in insolence and in death, is “light breathing”, “non-thinking”. O.M. she has neither the lazy charm of an adult woman, nor human talents, she has only this freedom and lightness of being, not constrained by decency, and also a human dignity, rare for her age, with which she brushes aside all the reproaches of the headmistress and all the rumors around her name. O.M. - a person is a fact of his life.

Psychologist L.S. Vygotsky emphasized the heroine’s love conflicts in the story, emphasizing that it was this frivolity that “led her astray.” K. G. Paustovsky argued that "this is not a story, but an insight, life itself with its trembling and love, the sad and calm reflection of the writer - an epitaph to girlish beauty." Kucherovsky believed that this was not just an "epitaph to girlish beauty", but an epitaph to the spiritual "aristocratism" of being, which is opposed by the brute force of the "plebeian".

M.Yu.Sorvina

literary heroes. - Academician. 2009 .

See what "OLGA MESHHERSKAYA" is in other dictionaries:

Wikipedia has articles about other people with that surname, see Meshcherskaya. Meshcherskaya Kira Alexandrovna ... Wikipedia

Runova (Olga Pavlovna, born Meshcherskaya) is a novelist. Born in 1864. Graduated from. Petersburg pedagogical courses. In the Week from 1887 to 1900, her novels and stories appeared: On the night of Christmas, As you have sinned, so repent, ... ... Biographical Dictionary

- (née Meshcherskaya) novelist. Genus. in 1864 she graduated from St. Petersburg pedagogical courses. In "Nedelya" from 1887 to 1900, her novels and stories appeared: "On the night of Christmas", "As you have sinned, so repent", ... ... Big biographical encyclopedia

- (born Meshcherskaya) novelist. Genus. in 1864 she graduated from St. Petersburg pedagogical courses. In the Week from 1887 to 1900, her novels and stories appeared: On the night before Christmas, As you have sinned, repent, Head of Medusa, Dashing gifts, Mold ...

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Books

Apple and apple tree. Or a guide to a happy pregnancy and the moods that accompany it, Olga Meshcherskaya. The pregnancy diary of a girl with an enthusiastic soul, filling out against the backdrop of Italian landscapes and realities, full of original tips and tricks for a happy pregnancy, will become your ... electronic book
Benefit-calendar to strengthen and renew feelings. For new lovers and experienced couples, Olga Meshcherskaya. This perpetual calendar is designed for those who are crazy about their soul mate. He will tell you how to please the object of your feelings throughout the year. Will bring bright colors to the picture of your love ...

The first impression of the story "Easy Breath" brought me into a state of some kind of incomprehensible feeling, bewilderment, a feeling of unfinished events, as if some secret of the author had eluded me. I wanted to re-read it again, go deeper, understand the secret meaning of the work and trace the techniques used by I. Bunin to achieve the effect of mystery. To do this, you need to analyze the story.

Let's start with the history of creation. I. Bunin's story is written on the eve of the First World War. During this period, the situation in the country is quite tense. And the questions of "life", "death" and "meaning of life" were widely discussed in journalism. The old theories are being replaced by new ones. The most popular was the theory of "living life", which was preached by the famous realist writer V. Veresaev. In his opinion, to live a “living life” means to follow nature, to be imbued with a sense of the inexhaustible intrinsic value of life. Its meaning is in itself, it in itself is of the greatest value, regardless of its content. These theories and disputes are reflected in some of Bunin's stories, including the story "Light Breath".

Bunin writes about the idea as follows: “One winter I wandered into a small cemetery in Capri and came across a grave cross with a photographic portrait on a convex porcelain medallion of some little girl with unusually lively and joyful eyes. I immediately made this girl mentally Russian, Olya Meshcherskaya, and, dipping my pen in the inkwell, began to invent a story with that delightful speed that happened in some of the happiest moments of my writing.

The plot itself (storyline) is very trivial. A provincial schoolgirl, the story of her fall into sin, indicated by just one phrase addressed to the head of the gymnasium, and small excerpts from the diary, a dissolute, in fact, and such a short life, and a nightmarish ending - the murder of a girl by a Cossack officer, whose heart was broken by Olya. It is noteworthy that this entire storyline, despite all the tragedy, is presented in a calm tone, as if by the way. And the feeling of tragedy does not remain at all in the finale.

Bunin called his story "Easy breathing". The title sets you up for the perception of something light, bright, joyful. How can breathing be light? After all, this is something initially light, familiar. Breathing is given by nature, it is natural for every person and is not a difficult job. However, the author wanted to emphasize that light breathing is something elusive and very short-lived.

In the story, “light breathing” turns from an ordinary detail of a portrait into a “leitmotif, a “musical” key, the main lyrical theme, which is supported by the use of other words with the root “dykh-”: “the field air is blowing freshly”, “a study that breathed so well on frosty days with the warmth of a brilliant Dutch woman", "took only one deep breath". This motif bursts into the story from the first lines with a "cold wind" and "rings a porcelain wreath at the foot of the cross", not at all corresponding to the mood of the opening chord of the story: "light breathing" and a cemetery.

Bunin compares the main character - Olya Meshcherskaya - with "easy breathing", because Olya lived her whole short but bright life as if in one breath - "light breathing". This is evidenced by the following lines: "without any worries and efforts somehow everything that so distinguished her from the whole gymnasium came to her imperceptibly - grace, elegance, dexterity, a clear sparkle in her eyes, "" she began to flourish, develop by leaps and bounds, "" she rushed around the assembly hall like a whirlwind from chasing after her and blissfully squealing first-graders", "and there was already talk that she was windy" - nature gave her what many would like to have.

The author even gives the name of his heroine harmonious and light. Olya Meshcherskaya ... Let's remember Paustovsky. Meshchery is denseness, untouchedness. When applied to the main character, this means the "denseness" of consciousness, its underdevelopment and at the same time originality. Phonosemantic assessment of the name shows that the image of the word gives the impression of something good, beautiful, simple, safe, kind, strong, bright. Against her background, death seems absurd and does not look sinister. It is no coincidence that I. Bunin begins the story with a message about the death of Olya, this deprives this fact of the murder of emotional coloring. So the reader is puzzled not by the result of life, but by the dynamics of life itself, Olya's story.

The image of the boss is opposed to the image of Olya Meshcherskaya. Unlike the boss, the girl cares little about how others perceive her. In addition, the opposition lies in the appearance of the heroines, hairstyles are compared. Olya Meshcherskaya draws attention to the "smooth parting in milky, neatly ruffled hair", which, apparently, takes a lot of time to create. And Olya, having learned that her boss is calling her, preens in just a few seconds: “She stopped with a run, took only one deep breath, straightened her hair with a quick and already familiar female movement.” And this is already familiar to her. The boss is annoyed by Olya's frivolous behavior, her simple and cheerful answers.

The image of a cool lady is presented to the reader at the end of the story. The author pays a lot of attention to the image of a classy lady. She doesn't have a name. The reader meets "a little woman in mourning, in black kid gloves, with an ebony umbrella," heading towards the cemetery. The author's selection of details-symbols said everything about this woman. She goes to Olya's grave, does not take her eyes off the oak cross, which from the very beginning symbolizes the common life cross. The little woman does not just look at the cross, she carries the cross of life. She cannot be happy. Her mourning is not so much mourning for Olya, but evidence that the life of a classy lady is an endless mourning.

We learn about Alexei Mikhailovich Malyutin from the diary of Olya Meshcherskaya: "he is fifty-six years old, but he is still very handsome and always well dressed." Malyutin, who is old enough to be Olya's grandfather, has sexual relations with the child, thus violating social norms. Malyutin committed a crime, but for the hero this is a deliberate overstepping of boundaries, which he motivates with literary allusions and flirtations. I would like to ask the question: what was this man thinking about, how could he afford to take such a reckless vile step? After all, he was a friend and neighbor of the father of this young girl, which means that he knew Olya for a long time and she was almost like his own. The motivation of his behavior is revealed through the portrait. In her diary, Olya several times emphasizes the youthfulness (pseudo-youth) of the hero, and this youthfulness is depicted on the rise: first Olya notes that Malyutin is “still very handsome”, and then describes the “very young” black eyes. Olya also notes "... was He was very lively and behaved like a gentleman with me, he joked a lot that he had been in love with me for a long time. These actions of Malyutin do not at all correlate with his old age! The name and patronymic of the hero significantly coincides with the name and patronymic of the sovereign ancestor of that very “young tsar”, whose portrait the girl “really liked”; and his last name - Malyutin - provokes the reader to recall the favorite of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, Malyuta Skuratov.

The image of the schoolboy Shenshin is mentioned only once in the story “...her gymnasium fame has imperceptibly strengthened, and rumors have already begun that she is windy, that she cannot live without admirers, that the schoolboy Shenshin is madly in love with her, that she is his loves, but is so changeable in dealing with him that he attempted suicide...” Shenshin expected constancy from Olya and could not forgive her changeable nature. For I.A. Bunin, this image is important. Many details of Shenshin's image remain unknown to the reader, for example, the author does not give accurate information about the hero's suicide, but relies on rumors that circulate in the gymnasium.

I.A. Bunin describes the events in the story "Light Breath" through the eyes of several participants at once. On five pages, he covers the life of Olya Meshcherskaya from different points of view.

The short story by I.A. Bunin "Easy Breath" has long been an example of an unusual, "inverted" construction of the composition. As you know, the first to note this feature and tried to explain it back in the 20s. 20th century L.S. Vygotsky in one of the chapters of his book "The Psychology of Art"

The composition of the work has a ring structure, i.e. is a story within a story. The "frame" is the description of the cemetery and one of the graves (beginning) and the woman who visits this grave, reflecting on the fate of the girl buried here (end). The fate of the girl is at the center of the story. The story about her also has a non-standard composition: the plot of the story, the reasons for the internal drama of Olya Meshcherskaya become clear after the tragic death of the girl.

The plot of the story, moved to the end, illuminates the whole story in a new way, which makes it possible to feel it especially sharply. Only at the end of the story is it revealed that Olya Meshcherskaya is not empty and dissolute, but unhappy and cruel, primarily towards herself. And death, perhaps, is exactly what she was striving for.

A feature of the composition of "Light Breath" is its mismatch with the disposition (the chronological order of events). If you highlight the semantic parts of the text, it turns out that each part breaks off at the moment of the highest emotional stress. At the beginning of the work, it should be noted the interweaving of contrasting motifs of life and death. The description of the city cemetery, the monotonous ringing of a porcelain wreath create a sad mood. Against this background, the portrait of a schoolgirl with joyful, amazingly lively eyes is especially expressive. The next sentence (This is Olya Meshcherskaya) is separated into a separate paragraph. In Bunin's story, the mentioned name does not yet mean anything, but we are already involved in the action. Many questions arise: "Who is this girl? What is the cause of her death?" The author deliberately hesitates to answer, maintaining the intensity of perception.

The main compositional technique that Bunin uses is antithesis, that is, opposition. The author uses it from the very first lines: the theme of life and death prevails at the beginning of the story. Bunin begins with a description of the cross: "heavy, strong," a symbol of death. He contrasts clear, sunny April days with gray days (gloomy, inanimate). Instead of fresh flowers, there is a porcelain wreath on the grave, personifying lifelessness, death. All this gloomy description is contradicted by the image of Olya Meshcherskaya: "A rather large, convex porcelain medallion is embedded in the very cross, and in the medallion there is a photographic portrait of a schoolgirl with joyful, amazingly lively eyes. This is Olya Meshcherskaya." Bunin does not say directly that this is the grave of Olya Meshcherskaya, as if he does not want to associate this cheerful and cheerful girl with the cemetery, with death.

When describing the life of a girl in a gymnasium, the author again turns to the antithesis: "as a girl, she did not stand out in the crowd of brown gymnasium dresses," but unlike her peers, who were very careful about their appearance and face, she "was not afraid of anything - not ink spots on the fingers, no flushed face, no disheveled hair, no bloated knee when falling on the run. Bunin constantly emphasizes that Olya Meshcherskaya was the best in everything: in skating, in dancing, she was looked after like no other schoolgirl. No one else was loved by the lower classes as much as her! Olya's life - cheerful, without worries, constantly on the move - does not correspond in any way with the image of the cemetery. She swept through this life like a whirlwind, a bright star. He even contrasts Malyutin and the Cossack officer. Malyutin is a handsome elderly man, and the Cossack officer does not stand out in any way.

Bunin constantly emphasizes her eyes: "clear sparkle of eyes", "shining eyes". Light is a symbol of life. He introduces a rhetorical question: "Is it possible that under him is the one whose eyes shine so immortally from this convex porcelain medallion on the cross, and how to combine with this pure look that terrible thing that is now connected with the name of Olya Meshcherskaya?" Even after death, the eyes shine "immortally".

The author distracts the reader from seemingly significant events, clutters them up with words. For example, the word "shot" is extinguished by the author among the description of an officer and a platform, a crowd of people, a train that has just arrived. Thus, our attention is persistently directed to some secret springs of Olya's life.

The motive of a woman runs like a red thread through the entire story of I. A. Bunin.

Let us first dwell on its verbal incarnations. The words woman and female are mentioned 7 times in the story. For the first time this word is heard in a conversation between Olya Meshcherskaya and the school principal. "It's a woman's hairstyle!" - the boss says reproachfully. "... I am a woman," Olya answers her. Then this word is mentioned in Olya's diary: "Today I have become a woman!" After Olya's death, a "little woman" comes to her grave - a cool lady (the word "woman" is mentioned 3 times ). And, finally, at the end of the story, the words of Olya herself are again cited about "what beauty a woman should have." Following the use of this motive in the story, we can conclude that Olya Meshcherskaya in her actions is guided by the desire to become a woman, but the transformation into a woman turns out to be completely different from what the girl imagined. The author reveals to us not only the beauty of the girl, of course, not her experience, but only these undeveloped wonderful opportunities. They, according to the author, cannot disappear, just as the craving for beauty, fortunately, for perfection, never disappears.
Beauty and death, love and separation - the eternal themes that have received such a touching and enlightened embodiment in the work of I. A. Bunin, excite us today:

And it comes to me
The light of your smile
Not a plate, not a crucifix
Before me so far -
Institute dress
And shining eyes.

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About Bunin's "Light Breath"

Literature of the highest category

Ivannikova V.I.

MBOU Lyceum №8

G. Stavropol

This material is not a lesson summary, but not an article in the classical sense of the word. This is my vision of what Bunin wanted to say with his story “Easy breathing”, as well as an analysis of the lessons in different 11th grades on this work, which retained the logic of these lessons, so that each teacher can easily restore their structure and create their own lesson.

On the eve of October, Bunin writes stories about the loss and loneliness of a person, about the catastrophic nature of his life, about the tragedy of his love, about the transience and fragility of beauty in our life. Perhaps the most complete expression of all these themes was found in the poetic miniature "Light Breath", which tells the sad story of the schoolgirl Olya Meshcherskaya, built as a chain of memories and thoughts about the fate of the heroine, caused by the contemplation of her grave. One cannot but agree with the researcher of life and work I.A. Bunina Smirnova L.A., who called the story “Easy breathing” the pearl of Bunin’s prose - “the image of the heroine is so concisely and vividly captured in it, the feeling of the Beautiful is so reverently conveyed, despite her bleak fate.”

When studying the writer's work at school, it seems impossible to ignore this work: it equally captivates both teachers and high school students. Causing a lively response in the souls of students, because the heroine is their age, whose life was so absurdly and tragically cut short, the story nevertheless turns out to be difficult for them in terms of understanding and comprehending the main idea, the motives of the behavior of the main character, the seeming inconsistency of her actions. Moreover, both in literary criticism and in criticism there is no unambiguous assessment of this work. So, the psychologist L.S. Vygotsky reduced the whole content of Bunin's story to Olya's love affairs with Malyutin and a Cossack officer - all this "led her astray." K. Paustovsky argued: “This is not a story, but an insight, life itself with its trembling and love, the writer’s sad and calm reflection is an epitaph to girlish beauty.” N. Kucherovsky gave his conclusion: “Light breathing” is not just and not only an “epitaph for girlish beauty”, but also an epitaph for the spiritual “aristocratism” of being, which in life is opposed by the rough and merciless power of “plebeianism”. L.A. Smirnova believes that "Olya ... does not notice her frivolous intoxication with empty pleasures ... The story "Light Breath" develops Bunin's fundamental theme - an unconscious state that is dangerous for human relations and for the fate of the individual."

This miniature is also interpreted differently by school teachers. As a practicing teacher, who has studied this work with high school students for the first time, I have my own view on “Easy Breathing”, my own version of studying this story in literature classes in grade 11.

It is a well-known fact that Bunin's prose very often echoes his poetic work. The story "Light Breath" was written in 1916, and in spirit, mood, general theme, the poems "Epitaph" and "Non-Sunset Light" (September 1917), as well as the previously written "Portrait" (1903), are closest to him in my opinion. G.).

Epitaph

On earth you were like a wondrous bird of paradise

On the branches of cypress, among the gilded tombs.

And radiant suns shone from black eyelashes.

Rock marked you. On earth you were not a tenant.

Beauty only in Eden knows no forbidden boundaries.

19.IX.17

Sunset light

There, in the fields, in the churchyard,

In a grove of old birches,

Not graves, not bones -

Kingdom of joyful dreams.

The summer wind blows

Greens of long branches -

And it comes to me

The light of your smile

Not a plate, not a crucifix -

Before me so far

Institute dress

And shining eyes.

Are you alone?

Are you not with me

In our distant past

Where was I different?

In the world of the earthly circle,

of the present day

young, former

Long time no me!

24.IX.17

The poems "Epitaph" and "Unsunsetting Light" were taken by me as an epigraph to the lesson. The lesson begins with their discussion. Direct analysis of the work opens with the question:

What feelings and emotions does the main character of the story Olya Meshcherskaya evoke in you?The answers of the students show that the perception of the heroine by young people is very different, the emotions are complex and contradictory. Someone likes a girl for her beauty, naturalness, independence; many condemn her for her frivolous behavior and windiness, someone Olya both attracts and repels, but most high school students are perplexed by the connection of the heroine with the Cossack officer. After summing up the student's perception, we turn to the question:

How do you think the author feels about his character?In order to answer this question, we recall the features of Bunin's poetics, which were studied in previous lessons. Bunin is very concise in expressing his attitude towards the characters, and, nevertheless, according to the words that the author selects, and especially according to the intonation, mood conveyed by the writer, his attitude can be determined. Students, often not understanding the meaning of the work, usually very accurately feel its atmosphere. The mood of light sadness, sadness, regret for the heroine who has passed away, which is imbued with Easy Breath, is unmistakably felt by them. And many high school students say that the author, as it seems to them, admires his heroine. According to the students, this is reflected in the title of the work (beautiful, poetic, airy, like the main character herself - the statements of the students), and in the conversation between Olya and her friend about female beauty, overheard by the cool lady, and in the last lines of the story. Obviously, the feelings of the students and the author in relation to Ole Meshcherskaya are different. We are trying to understand what caused Bunin's mood, his admiration of the heroine and attitude towards her, because Olya's actions and behavior can hardly be called moral. And first of all, we pay attention to how and how many times the eyes and eyes of Olya are depicted in this poetic miniature, because the eyes are a mirror of the soul (one or more students are given a preliminary task - to find and write out all the epithets that the author gives to the eyes of the heroine) . Here are these epithets: “a photographic portrait of a schoolgirl with joyful, amazingly lively eyes”, “a clear sparkle of eyes”, “shining eyes”, “looking at her clearly and vividly”, “whose eyes shine so immortally”, “with this pure look” . Such close attention to the eyes of the heroine, I think, cannot be an accident. A clean, clear, radiant look indicates that Olya's soul is also pure. But how then can one explain the connection of the heroine with Malyutin and the Cossack officer, the rumors about her windiness, frivolity and inconstancy?What should we believe - Olya's pure look or her actions?We turn to Olya's conversation with her friend about female beauty, overheard by the cool lady (the episode is read out by a trained student or staged). Of all the signs of beauty, this girl, with some inner instinct, chooses the most important, immortal - light breathing. Question for high school students:

What associations does the phrase “easy breathing” give you?Purity, freshness, freedom, elusiveness, immediacy. These words are most often heard in the answers of students. We pay attention to the fact that all these are signs not of external, but of internal beauty. And all of them - both external and internal signs - are present in Ole Meshcherskaya. This is what captivates the main character of the story: physical and spiritual beauty organically merged in her, which, only when united together, create harmony. Internal wholeness and harmony, the gift of femininity and beauty, not noticing and not realizing themselves, the talent to live a full life - this is exactly what distinguishes Olya from others. That is why "she was not afraid of anything - neither ink stains on her fingers, nor a flushed face, nor disheveled hair, nor a knee that became naked when she fell on the run ...".

And now let's turn to what happened to Olya in the summer and what we learn from her diary. Question for students:

How does the heroine perceive what happened? What lines of the diary do you think are the most important?High school students note the amazing calmness and even some detachment of the heroine when describing what happened to her at the beginning of the diary and literally an explosion of emotions at the very end: “I don’t understand how this could happen, I went crazy, I never thought that I am! Now there is only one way out for me ... I feel such disgust for him that I can’t survive this! .. ”. It is these lines, according to the students (and I absolutely agree with them), that are the most significant, as they make it possible to understand the character and actions of Olya Meshcherskaya and all subsequent events. Answering the questions: “What happened to Olya? How do you understand the words "I never thought I was like that!"? What way out, in your opinion, are we talking about?”, the students come to the conclusion that the heroine has lost her “light breath”, her purity, innocence, freshness, and this loss is perceived by her as a tragedy. Apparently, the only way she sees is to die.

But how then to understand Olya's behavior in the last winter of her life?We turn to this episode already knowing what happened to the heroine in the summer. The task of the students is to find words and sentences that show Olya's condition. High school students highlight the following sentences: “In her last winter, Olya Meshcherskaya went completely crazy with fun,as they said in high school…”, “imperceptibly her gymnasium fame has been strengthened, and rumors have already begunthat she is windy, cannot live without admirers”, “... the crowd in which Olya Meshcherskaya seemed the most carefree, the happiest.". We focus students' attention on the highlighted phrases:as they said in high school», « rumors have already gone, « seemed the most carefree, the happiest". In most cases, young men and women are able to independently conclude that this is an external look, far from a true understanding of what is actually happening in the soul of the heroine. Olya really only seems carefree and happy. And her crazy fun is, in my opinion, just an attempt to forget, to get away from the pain, from what happened in the summer. The attempt, as we know, failed. Why? It’s hard for me to agree with those critics and teachers who say that Olya does not notice her intoxication with empty pleasures, that she easily and carelessly flutters through life, imperceptibly and calmly stepping over moral norms and rules, that she is a “sinner”, not remembering his fall. In my opinion, Bunin's text does not give us grounds for such conclusions. Olya cannot come to terms with the loss of “easy breathing”, with the realization that “she is like that!”. The heroine judges herself, and her moral maximalism does not give her the possibility of justification. What is the way out? Olya will find him. The students again turn to the text, they read out (we are staging this episode) an episode in which the life of the heroine tragically ends. Question for students:

Do you think the murder of Olya Meshcherskaya by a Cossack officer was a tragic accident?(the task of students is to find words and expressions that help to understand the motives and reason for Olya's actions). On their own or with the help of a teacher, high school students highlight the following points: “a Cossack officer,ugly and plebeian looking, which did not have exactly nothing in common with the circle to which Olya Meshcherskaya belonged”, “said that Meshcherskaya lured him in was close to him, vowed to be his wife, and at the station ... suddenly told him that she and never thought to lovehim that all this talk of marriage -one mockery above them let him readthat page of the diary where it was said about Malyutin. All the highlighted phrases and words, in my opinion, clearly tell us about the intention, consciousness, purposefulness of the actions of the main character. It is quite obvious that, having an affair with an “ugly ... plebeian-looking” Cossack officer not of her circle, Olya pursued some goal. And her behavior at the station, at the moment of parting, is nothing but a provocation. A provocation that could not have ended otherwise than with a shot. And this shot, which tragically cut short the life of Olya Meshcherskaya, is the only way out that was found by the heroine of the story: it was not possible to get away from herself, to come to terms with the loss of “easy breathing”, it was impossible to live on with the realization that she was “like that”. But on her own to leave the life of the one who, according to the writer, is the embodiment of life itself, did not have the courage. And Bunin shows not a murder scene, but a successful suicide attempt. Awareness of this fact makes students look at the main character of the story with different eyes. Having lost physical purity and innocence, Olya Meshcherskaya did not lose her integrity and spiritual purity - her moral maximalism confirms this. And with her death, she regained again "a light breath, which again dissipated in the world, in this cloudy sky, in this cold spring wind."

What did Bunin want to say with his story, what is its hidden meaning?The composition of the story helps us answer this question. It is very complex and chaotic at first glance, but only at first glance... It is this construction of the story, in my opinion, that gives us the key to unraveling and understanding the essence of the work. Together with the students, we draw the compositional scheme of the story: “Easy breathing” (in this case, the title is undoubtedly a full-fledged element of the composition) - a cemetery - the heyday of the heroine and her last winter, including a conversation with the head of the gymnasium (an external look at the heroine) - a murder scene - a diary - again a cemetery - the story of a cool lady - Olya's conversation with her friend about easy breathing - the end of the story (“Now this is easy breathing ...”). After drawing up the diagram, the ring composition becomes obvious, moreover, the double one (cemetery - cemetery, light breathing - light breathing), of this lyrical miniature, and the central place of Olya's diary, and the fact that the author leads us from an external look at the heroine to comprehending her inner essence . All this, according to L.A. Smirnova, “allows you to preserve the amazing breath of beauty, the eyes of the main character “immortally shining” with a “clean look”. I cannot but agree with her, especially since the composition of the “cemetery-cemetery” ring is located inside the “easy breathing – easy breathing” ring. Thus, with the whole structure of his story, fanned by quiet sadness and lyrics, rhythmic, like the breath of the main character, a story written at the height of World War I, I.A. Bunin convinces us of the triumph of life over death, of fragility and at the same time indestructibility of beauty and love.

An analysis of the story would be incomplete without discussing two more questions:

What role does the conversation of the main character with the head of the gymnasium play in the story? Why is the story of her classy lady given in a work about the life and death of Olya Meshcherskaya? These questions are offered to students as homework, and the next lesson on the work of I.A. Bunin will begin with a discussion of them.

Literature:

1. Smirnova L.A. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin. - M., "Enlightenment", 1991. -192p.

2. Vygotsky L.S. Psychology of art. - M., 1987. - p.140-156.

In the cemetery, over a fresh earthen embankment, there is a new cross made of oak, strong, heavy, smooth. April, the days are gray; the monuments of the cemetery, spacious, county, are still far away visible through the bare trees, and the cold wind tinkles and tinkles the china wreath at the foot of the cross. A fairly large, convex porcelain medallion is embedded in the cross itself, and in the medallion is a photographic portrait of a schoolgirl with joyful, amazingly lively eyes. This is Olya Meshcherskaya. As a girl, she did not stand out in the crowd of brown gymnasium dresses: what could be said about her, except that she was one of the pretty, rich and happy girls, that she was capable, but playful and very careless about the instructions that the class lady gives her ? Then it began to flourish, to develop by leaps and bounds. At fourteen, with a thin waist and slender legs, her breasts and all those forms were already well outlined, the charm of which the human word had never yet expressed; at fifteen she was already a beauty. How carefully some of her friends combed their hair, how clean they were, how they watched their restrained movements! But she was not afraid of anything - not ink stains on her fingers, not a flushed face, not disheveled hair, not a knee that became naked when she fell on the run. Without any of her worries and efforts, and somehow imperceptibly, everything that had distinguished her so much in the last two years from the whole gymnasium came to her - grace, elegance, dexterity, a clear sparkle in her eyes ... Nobody danced at balls like Olya Meshcherskaya, no one skated like she did, no one was looked after at balls as much as she was, and for some reason no one was loved by the younger classes as much as she was. She imperceptibly became a girl, and her gymnasium fame imperceptibly strengthened, and there were already rumors that she was windy, could not live without admirers, that the schoolboy Shenshin was madly in love with her, that she seemed to love him too, but was so changeable in her treatment of him. that he attempted suicide. During her last winter, Olya Meshcherskaya went completely crazy with fun, as they said in the gymnasium. The winter was snowy, sunny, frosty, the sun set early behind the high spruce forest of the snowy gymnasium garden, invariably fine, radiant, promising frost and sun tomorrow, a walk on Cathedral Street, a skating rink in the city garden, a pink evening, music and this in all directions the crowd sliding on the skating rink, in which Olya Meshcherskaya seemed the most carefree, the happiest. And then one day, at a big break, when she was running like a whirlwind around the assembly hall from the first-graders chasing after her and squealing blissfully, she was unexpectedly called to the headmistress. She stopped in a hurry, took only one deep breath, straightened her hair with a quick and already familiar female movement, pulled the corners of her apron to her shoulders and, beaming her eyes, ran upstairs. The headmistress, youthful but gray-haired, sat calmly with knitting in her hands at the desk, under the royal portrait. "Hello, mademoiselle Meshcherskaya," she said in French, without looking up from her knitting. “Unfortunately, this is not the first time I have been forced to call you here to speak with you about your behavior. "I'm listening, madame," Meshcherskaya answered, going up to the table, looking at her clearly and vividly, but without any expression on her face, and sat down as lightly and gracefully as she alone could. “It will be bad for you to listen to me, I, unfortunately, was convinced of this,” said the headmistress, and, pulling the thread and twisting a ball on the lacquered floor, which Meshcherskaya looked at with curiosity, she raised her eyes. "I won't repeat myself, I won't speak at length," she said. Meshcherskaya really liked this unusually clean and large office, which on frosty days breathed so well with the warmth of a brilliant Dutch and the freshness of lilies of the valley on the desk. She looked at the young king, painted to his full height in the midst of some brilliant hall, at the even parting in the milky, neatly frilled hair of the boss, and was expectantly silent. “You are no longer a girl,” the headmistress said meaningfully, secretly beginning to get annoyed. "Yes, madam," Meshcherskaya answered simply, almost cheerfully. “But not a woman either,” the headmistress said even more significantly, and her dull face flushed slightly. First of all, what is this hairstyle? It's a woman's hairstyle! “It’s not my fault, madame, that I have good hair,” Meshcherskaya answered, and lightly touched her beautifully trimmed head with both hands. "Ah, that's how it is, you're not to blame!" the headmistress said. “You are not to blame for your hair, you are not to blame for these expensive combs, you are not to blame for ruining your parents for shoes worth twenty rubles!” But, I repeat to you, you completely lose sight of the fact that you are still only a schoolgirl... And then Meshcherskaya, without losing her simplicity and calmness, suddenly politely interrupted her: — Excuse me, madame, you are mistaken: I am a woman. And blame for this - you know who? Friend and neighbor of the pope, and your brother Alexei Mikhailovich Malyutin. It happened last summer in the village... And a month after this conversation, a Cossack officer, ugly and plebeian in appearance, who had absolutely nothing to do with the circle to which Olya Meshcherskaya belonged, shot her on the station platform, among a large crowd of people who had just arrived with a train. And the incredible confession of Olya Meshcherskaya, which stunned the boss, was completely confirmed: the officer told the judicial investigator that Meshcherskaya had lured him, was close to him, swore to be his wife, and at the station, on the day of the murder, seeing him off to Novocherkassk, she suddenly told him that she and never thought to love him, that all this talk about marriage was just her mockery of him, and gave him to read that page of the diary that spoke about Malyutin. “I ran through these lines and right there, on the platform where she was walking, waiting for me to finish reading, I shot at her,” said the officer. - This diary, here it is, look what was written in it on the tenth of July last year. The following was written in the diary: “It is now the second hour of the night. I fell asleep soundly, but immediately woke up ... Today I have become a woman! Dad, mom and Tolya, they all left for the city, I was left alone. I was so happy to be alone! In the morning I walked in the garden, in the field, was in the forest, it seemed to me that I was alone in the whole world, and I thought as well as never before in my life. I dined alone, then played for an hour, to the music I had the feeling that I would live without end and be as happy as anyone. Then I fell asleep in my father's office, and at four o'clock Katya woke me up and said that Alexei Mikhailovich had arrived. I was very happy with him, it was so pleasant for me to receive him and occupy him. He arrived on a pair of his vyatki, very beautiful, and they stood at the porch all the time, he stayed because it was raining, and he wanted it to dry out by evening. He regretted that he did not find dad, was very animated and behaved like a gentleman with me, he joked a lot that he had been in love with me for a long time. When we were walking in the garden before tea, the weather was lovely again, the sun shone through the whole wet garden, although it became quite cold, and he led me by the arm and said that he was Faust with Marguerite. He is fifty-six years old, but he is still very handsome and always well dressed - the only thing I did not like was that he arrived in a lionfish - he smells of English cologne, and his eyes are very young, black, and his beard is elegantly divided into two long parts and is completely silver. We were sitting at tea on the glass veranda, I felt as if I was unwell and lay down on the couch, and he smoked, then moved to me, began again to say some courtesies, then to examine and kiss my hand. I covered my face with a silk handkerchief, and he kissed me several times on the lips through the handkerchief ... I don’t understand how this could happen, I went crazy, I never thought that I was like that! Now there is only one way out for me ... I feel such disgust for him that I can’t survive this! .. ” During these April days, the city became clean, dry, its stones turned white, and it is easy and pleasant to walk on them. Every Sunday after mass, a little woman in mourning, wearing black kid gloves, and carrying an ebony umbrella, walks down Cathedral Street, which leads out of the city. She crosses along the highway a dirty square, where there are many smoky forges and fresh field air blows; farther, between the monastery and the prison, the cloudy slope of the sky turns white and the spring field turns gray, and then, when you make your way through the puddles under the wall of the monastery and turn to the left, you will see, as it were, a large low garden, surrounded by a white fence, above the gates of which the Assumption of the Mother of God is written. The little woman makes a small cross and habitually walks along the main avenue. Having reached the bench opposite the oak cross, she sits in the wind and in the spring cold for an hour or two, until her feet in light boots and her hand in a narrow husky are completely cold. Listening to the spring birds singing sweetly even in the cold, listening to the sound of the wind in a porcelain wreath, she sometimes thinks that she would give half her life if only this dead wreath were not in front of her eyes. This wreath, this mound, this oak cross! Is it possible that under him is the one whose eyes shine so immortally from this convex porcelain medallion on the cross, and how to combine with this pure look that terrible thing that is now connected with the name of Olya Meshcherskaya? “But in the depths of her soul, the little woman is happy, like all people devoted to some passionate dream. This woman is a classy lady Olya Meshcherskaya, a middle-aged girl who has long been living in some kind of fiction that replaces her real life. At first, her brother, a poor and unremarkable ensign, was such an invention - she united her whole soul with him, with his future, which for some reason seemed to her brilliant. When he was killed near Mukden, she convinced herself that she was an ideological worker. The death of Olya Meshcherskaya captivated her with a new dream. Now Olya Meshcherskaya is the subject of her relentless thoughts and feelings. She goes to her grave every holiday, does not take her eyes off the oak cross for hours, recalls the pale face of Olya Meshcherskaya in the coffin, among the flowers - and what she once overheard: once, at a big break, walking in the gymnasium garden, Olya Meshcherskaya quickly, she quickly said to her beloved friend, plump, tall Subbotina: - I read in one of my father's books - he has a lot of old, funny books - I read what beauty a woman should have ... There, you know, so much is said that you can’t remember everything: well, of course, black eyes boiling with resin, - By God, that's what it says: boiling with tar! - black as night, eyelashes, a gently playing blush, a thin figure, longer than an ordinary arm - you understand, longer than usual! - a small leg, moderately large breasts, correctly rounded calves, shell-colored knees, sloping shoulders - I learned a lot almost by heart, so all this is true! But the main thing, you know what? - Easy breath! But I have it, - you listen to how I sigh, - is it true, is it? Now that light breath has dissipated again in the world, in that cloudy sky, in that cold spring wind. 1916