Easy breathing analysis. And

The question of the meaning of life is eternal, in the literature of the early twentieth century, the discussion of this topic also continued. Now the meaning was seen not in achieving some clear goal, but in something else. For example, according to the theory of "living life", the meaning of human existence is in itself, regardless of what this life is. This idea was shared by V. Veresaev, A. Kuprin, I. Shmelev, B. Zaitsev. I. Bunin also reflected “Living Life” in his writings, his “Easy Breath” is a vivid example.

However, the reason for creating the story was not life at all: Bunin conceived the short story while walking around the cemetery. Seeing a cross with a portrait of a young woman, the writer was struck by how her cheerfulness contrasts with the surrounding sad environment. What was life like? Why did she, so alive and joyful, leave this world so early? Nobody could answer these questions. But Bunin's imagination drew the life of this girl, who became the heroine of the short story "Light Breath".

The plot is outwardly unpretentious: the cheerful and developed beyond her years Olya Meshcherskaya arouses a burning interest in the opposite sex with her female attractiveness, her behavior irritates the head of the gymnasium, who decides to conduct an instructive conversation for the pupil about how important modesty is. But this conversation ended unexpectedly: the girl said that she was no longer a girl, she became a woman after meeting the brother of the boss and friend of Father Malyutin. It soon turned out that this was not the only love story: Olya met with a Cossack officer. The latter planned a quick wedding. However, at the station, before her lover left for Novocherkassk, Meshcherskaya said that their relationship was insignificant for her and she would not marry. Then she offered to read the diary entry about her fall. The military man shot the windy girl, and it is with the description of her grave that the short story begins. A cool lady often goes to the cemetery, the fate of the student has become a meaning for her.

Topics

The main themes of the novel are the value of life, beauty and simplicity. The author himself interpreted his story as a story about the highest degree of simplicity in a woman: "naivety and lightness in everything, both in audacity and in death." Olya lived without limiting herself to rules and principles, including moral ones. It was in this simple-heartedness, reaching the level of depravity, that the charm of the heroine lay. She lived as she lived, true to the theory of "living life": why restrain yourself if life is so beautiful? So she sincerely rejoiced at her attractiveness, not caring about neatness and decorum. She also had fun courting young people, not taking their feelings seriously (the schoolboy Shenshin was on the verge of suicide because of his love for her).

Bunin also touched upon the theme of the meaninglessness and dullness of being in the form of a teacher Olya. This “old girl” is contrasted with her student: the only pleasure for her is a suitable illusory idea: “At first, her brother, a poor and unremarkable ensign, was such an invention - she connected her whole soul with him, with his future, which for some reason she looked 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.

Issues

The issue of balance between passions and propriety is rather controversially revealed in the short story. The writer clearly sympathizes with Olya, who chooses the first, sings in her "easy breathing" as a synonym for charm and naturalness. In contrast, the heroine is punished for her frivolity, and severely punished - by death. From this follows the problem of freedom: society with its conventions is not ready to give the individual permissiveness even in the intimate sphere. Many people think that this is good, but they are often forced to carefully hide and suppress the hidden desires of their own souls. But to achieve harmony, a compromise is needed between the society and the individual, and not the unconditional primacy of the interests of one of them.
You can also highlight the social aspect in the problematic of the novel: the bleak and dull atmosphere of a provincial town, where anything can happen if no one finds out. There really is nothing else to do in such a place, except to discuss and condemn those who want to break out of the gray routine of being, if only through passion. Social inequality manifests itself between Olya and her last lover (“ugly and plebeian-looking, who had absolutely nothing to do with the circle to which Olya Meshcherskaya belonged”). Obviously, the same class prejudices served as the reason for the refusal.
The author does not dwell on relations in Olya's family, but judging by the feelings of the heroine and the events in her life, they are far from ideal: “I was so happy that I was 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. Obviously, no one was involved in raising the girl, and her problem lies in abandonment: no one taught her, at least by his own example, how to balance between feelings and reason.

Characteristics of heroes

The main and most revealed character of the novel is Olya Meshcherskaya. The author pays great attention to her appearance: the girl is very beautiful, graceful, graceful. But little is said about the inner world, the emphasis is only on windiness and frankness. Having read in a book that the basis of female charm is light breathing, she began to actively develop it both externally and internally. She not only sighs shallowly, but also thinks, fluttering through life like a moth. Moths, circling around the fire, invariably scorch their wings, so the heroine died in her prime.
The Cossack officer is a fatal and mysterious hero, nothing is known about him, except for a sharp difference from Olya. How they met, the motives for the murder, the course of their relationship - all this can only be guessed at. Most likely, the officer is a passionate and enthusiastic nature, he fell in love (or believed that he loved), but he was clearly not satisfied with Olya's frivolity. The hero wanted the girl to belong only to him, so he was even ready to take her life.
The classy lady unexpectedly appears in the finale, as an element of contrast. She never lived for pleasure, she sets goals for herself, living in a fictional world. She and Olya are two extremes of the problem of balance between duty and desire.

Composition and genre

The genre of “Easy Breathing” is a short story (short plot story), many problems and topics are reflected in a small volume, a picture of the life of different groups of society is drawn.

The composition of the story deserves special attention. The narrative is sequential, but it is fragmentary. First, we see Olya's grave, then her fate is told, then we return to the present again - a visit to the cemetery by a classy lady. Speaking about the life of the heroine, the author chooses a special focus in the narrative: he describes in detail the conversation with the head of the gymnasium, the seduction of Olya, but her murder, acquaintance with the officer is described in a few words. Bunin concentrates on feelings, sensations, colors, his story is as if written in watercolor, it is filled with airiness and softness, therefore the impartial is described captivatingly.

The meaning of the name

“Light breathing” is the very first component of female charm, according to the creators of the books that Olya’s father has. Ease, turning into frivolity, the girl wanted to learn. And she reached the goal, although she paid the price, but "this light breath again dissipated in the world, in this cloudy sky, in this cold spring wind."

Also, lightness is associated with the style of the novel: the author diligently avoids sharp corners, although he speaks of monumental things: true and far-fetched love, honor and dishonor, illusory and real life. But this work, according to the writer E. Koltonskaya, leaves the impression of "bright gratitude to the Creator for the fact that there is such beauty in the world."

One can treat Bunin in different ways, but his style is full of imagery, beauty of presentation and courage - this is a fact. He talks about everything, even the forbidden, but knows how not to go beyond the brink of vulgarity. That is why this talented writer is still loved today.

- an outstanding personality in world literature, one of the few writers who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He lived a pretty busy life. Due to the fact that the origin of the writer stretches from a respected noble family, he did not feel strong hardships and problems in his life. Those rules of noble life demanded that Ivan start an independent life early. This led to many problems and mistakes in his seemingly easy life. Ivan repeatedly made mistakes in his own work affairs, in his personal life, and bitter experience taught the young writer and poet the real real Voronezh life.

In contact with

At a young age, he began working for small magazines and newspapers. His abilities, by the way, were quickly noticed by the editors. The fame of Bunin's simple and understandable style quickly spread throughout the city. The future writer is gaining great popularity, which is easily emphasized by all the innovations in the work of that time. The meaningful life of a young and profound person makes one breathe unevenly towards his work. The versatile personality of this man made it possible to write chic texts. Bunin often wrote:

Articles.
Stories.
Reasoning.
Poems.
Novels.

That is, Bunin himself argued that his creative potential could easily be realized in any direction.

"Easy breathing" - the peak of the author's creativity

It is known that short stories rarely make their author known to the whole world. But Bunin was lucky, because his most beautiful story called "Easy breath" instantly spread all over the world. Almost all people, critics and other writers were able to feel this incredible story. Many call "Easy Breath" Bunin's best story.

It is interesting that the history of the creation of this tragic story began with a random walk of the writer. He is brought to the cemetery, where he accidentally sees a beautiful girl on one of the crosses. At the same time, a story about Olya Meshcherskaya arose in his head.

In the hope of writing a new story for the editors of the Moscow magazine "Russian Word", he began to create. It is such an interesting and fascinating prehistory of the appearance of "Easy Breath".

Lonely woman stands over a gray cross. A cool breeze makes the fallen leaves dance around the grave. Gray clouds did not give a single chance for the sun to shed light on the mortal earth.

Olya Meshcherskaya, at first glance, is a typical simple girl who, after school, should become a real lady. Almost all of her friends did not resist the rules and learned the manners of a modest and virginal personality. However, the violent character and unprincipled views on life quickly changed Olya's entire fate. The girl behaves quite freely in society, breathes easily to her full chest and does not accept the typical rules of behavior. Thanks to this, she gained a bad reputation, and those close to her began to consider Olga a girl of easy virtue.

It was not the family or relatives who suffered the most from such a girl. , and the gymnasium, where she spent hours reading textbooks and learning all the most important rules of behavior in society and among men. This provoked repeated general developmental conversations between the main character and the head of the educational institution. However, the last dialogue between them put everything on the shelves.

Under strong pressure from the teacher, Olya says that she is no longer an innocent girl. A storm of emotions and anger almost forced the head of the gymnasium to raise her hand against the pupil. After that, Olya also clarified that her first man in her life was not a simple passer-by boy from a neighboring yard, but an experienced and wealthy Alexei Dmitrievich Milyutin. He was not only an acquaintance of Olya's father, but also turned out to be the brother of the head of the institution where she studied.

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since the very moment when she admitted that at the age of fifteen she had long said goodbye to innocence . More than these years she was not destined to live. An unknown officer shoots her and kills her with only one bullet. The proceedings were quite loud, everyone knew what had happened.

Later it became known that this officer, whom no one knew about, had a close relationship with Olya. At a loud trial, everyone learned that the once sweet girl, albeit without a clear framework for behavior, brutally destroyed all the dreams of this officer. Before he left for Novocherkassk, she gave him only one page from her diary to read. It literally describes the story of Malyutin. Before the trial, with his hand on his heart, the officer said that his mind was clouded. His hand reached for the gun on its own. So, in the middle of the pyron, in front of many unknown people, he decided the future fate of the sweet girl Olya.

This small diary was devoted not only to the life story of Olya Meshcherskaya. There are several pages about how silly the class lady lived her life. Each word from this diary created an imaginary impression that Olya was trying to become the very heroine of her father's books, who managed to find easy breathing.

A sudden gust of spring wind was finally able to dispel the desired light breath of the once sweet and wayward Olya.

Brief analysis of the main characters

Most of the story focused on the diary of a dead high school student, the story "Easy breathing" managed to reveal many images in a couple of sentences.

Analysis of Easy Breathing

If we take into account the general morality of history, then Ivan Bunin tried to show the injustice of the whole world. Where women have no rights, but at the same time, they are able to decide the fate of many men. The plot shows the ordinary everyday life of society at the beginning of the 20th century. If you delve into this little story, you will notice that the retelling will take no more than a few sentences. Thus, Ivan Bunin showed the typicality of the current situation of that time.

Ivan Bunin in every image shows the vices of the human soul, and the fact that their harmful influence leads to the most terrible consequences. “Easy breathing” is an indirect allusion to the fact that a person truly gains freedom only after leaving this dirty and callous world. It's a shame that in the story everyone is a victim. Even the strong head of the gymnasium became a victim of strong and cruel restrictions.

Bunin, as if speaking through a distorted mirror that the world is a big bank in which people are like insects. To survive, you have to get along with other residents, or destroy everyone.

After reading this work, all literary critics and strong personalities proclaimed this short story by Ivan Bunin as the pinnacle of art in writing a word. Reading this work is necessary to understand that all actions and words are always fraught with consequences.

This story allows us to conclude that it belongs to the novel genre. The author managed to convey in a short form the life story of the schoolgirl Olya Meshcherskaya, but not only her. According to the definition of the genre, a short story in a unique, small, concrete event should recreate the whole life of the hero, and through it - the life of society. Ivan Alekseevich, through modernism, creates a unique image of a girl who is still dreaming of true love.

Not only Bunin wrote about this feeling ("Easy breathing"). The analysis of love was carried out, perhaps, by all the great poets and writers, very different in character and worldview, therefore, many shades of this feeling are presented in Russian literature. Opening the work of another author, we always find something new. Bunin also has his own. In his works, tragic endings are not uncommon, ending in the death of one of the heroes, but it is more bright than deeply tragic. We come across a similar ending after reading Easy Breath.

First impression

At first glance, the events seem messy. The girl plays love with an ugly officer, far from the circle to which the heroine belonged. In the story, the author uses the so-called method of "proof from the return", because even with such vulgar external events, love remains something untouched and bright, does not touch everyday dirt. Arriving at Olya's grave, the class teacher asks herself how to combine all this with a clear look at "that terrible thing" that is now associated with the name of the schoolgirl. This question does not require an answer, which is present in the entire text of the work. They are permeated through Bunin's story "Easy breathing".

The character of the main character

Olya Meshcherskaya seems to be the embodiment of youth, thirsty for love, a lively and dreamy heroine. Her image, contrary to the laws of public morality, captivates almost everyone, even the lower grades. And even the guardian of morals, teacher Olya, who condemned her for early growing up, after the death of the heroine comes to the cemetery to her grave every week, constantly thinks about her and at the same time even feels "like all people devoted to a dream", happy.

The peculiarity of the character of the main character of the story is that she longs for happiness and can find it even in such an ugly reality in which she had to find herself. Bunin uses "light breathing" as a metaphor for naturalness, vital energy. the so-called "lightness of breath" is invariably present in Olya, surrounding her with a special halo. People feel this and therefore are drawn to the girl, while not even being able to explain why. She infects everyone with her joy.

contrasts

Bunin's work "Light Breath" is built on contrasts. From the very first lines, a double feeling arises: a deserted, sad cemetery, a cold wind, a gray April day. And against this background - a portrait of a schoolgirl with lively, joyful eyes - a photograph on the cross. Olya's whole life is also built on contrast. Cloudless childhood is contrasted with the tragic events that took place in the last year of the life of the heroine of the story "Light Breath". Ivan Bunin often emphasizes the contrast, the gap between the real and the apparent, the internal state and the outside world.

Storyline

The plot of the work is quite simple. The happy young schoolgirl Olya Meshcherskaya first becomes the prey of her father's friend, an elderly voluptuary, after which she becomes a living target for the aforementioned officer. Her death inspires a classy lady - a lonely woman - to "serve" her memory. However, the apparent simplicity of this plot is violated by a striking contrast: a heavy cross and lively, joyful eyes, which involuntarily makes the reader's heart shrink. The simplicity of the plot turned out to be deceptive, since the story "Light Breath" (Ivan Bunin) is not only about the fate of a girl, but also about the unfortunate fate of a classy lady who is used to living someone else's life. Olya's relationship with the officer is also interesting.

Relationship with an officer

The already mentioned officer, according to the plot of the story, kills Olya Meshcherskaya, involuntarily misled by her game. He did this because he was close to her, believed that she loved him, and could not survive the destruction of this illusion. Not every person can evoke such a strong passion in another. This speaks of Olya's bright personality, says Bunin ("Easy breathing"). The act of the main character was cruel, but, as you might guess, having a special character, she intoxicated the officer unintentionally. Olya Meshcherskaya was looking for a dream in a relationship with him, but she could not find it.

Is Olya to blame?

Ivan Alekseevich believed that birth is not the beginning, and therefore death is not the end of the existence of the soul, the symbol of which is the definition used by Bunin - "light breathing". Its analysis in the text of the work allows us to conclude that this concept is souls. She does not disappear without a trace after death, but returns to the source. About this, and not only about the fate of Olya, the work "Light Breath".

It is not by chance that Ivan Bunin drags out the explanation of the causes of the death of the heroine. The question arises: "Maybe she is to blame for what happened?" After all, she is frivolous, flirting now with the high school student Shenshin, then, albeit unconsciously, with her father's friend Alexei Mikhailovich Malyutin, who seduced her, then for some reason promises the officer to marry him. Why did she need all this? Bunin ("Easy breathing") analyzes the motives of the heroine's actions. Gradually it becomes clear that Olya is beautiful, like an element. And just as immoral. She strives in everything to reach the depth, to the limit, to the innermost essence, and the opinion of others is not interested in the heroine of the work "Easy Breath". Ivan Bunin wanted to tell us that in the actions of the schoolgirl there is neither a sense of revenge, nor a meaningful vice, nor firmness of decisions, nor the pain of remorse. It turns out that the feeling of fullness of life can be fatal. Tragic (like a classy lady) even unconscious longing for her. Therefore, every step, every detail of Olya's life threatens with disaster: prank and curiosity can lead to serious consequences, to violence, and a frivolous game with other people's feelings can lead to murder. Bunin leads us to such a philosophical thought.

"Light breath" of life

The essence of the heroine is that she lives, and not just plays a role in the play. This is also her fault. To be alive without observing the rules of the game means to be doomed. The environment in which Meshcherskaya exists is completely devoid of a holistic, organic sense of beauty. Life here is subject to strict rules, the violation of which leads to inevitable retribution. Therefore, the fate of Olya turns out to be tragic. Her death is natural, Bunin believes. "Easy breathing", however, did not die with the heroine, but dissolved in the air, filling it with itself. In the finale, the thought of the immortality of the soul sounds like this.

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 a few excerpts from the diary, 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, “easy breathing” turns from an ordinary detail of a portrait into a “leitmotif, a “musical” key, the main lyrical theme, which is reinforced 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 from the first lines bursts into the story with a "cold wind" and "rings a porcelain wreath at the foot of the cross", not at all corresponding to the mood of the initial 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 as if she were 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 quoted 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.

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin entered the history of Russian literature as a writer capable of surprisingly subtly and reverently describing such a multifaceted feeling as love. One of his most striking works on this topic was the work "Easy breathing". Analysis of the story will allow you to better understand the psychology of this feeling, and will be especially useful for 11th grade students in preparing for a lesson in literature.

Brief analysis

Year of writing- 1916.

History of creation– The story was written under the influence of a walk through the cemetery, where the writer accidentally stumbled upon the grave of a young girl. The contrast between the sad place and the medallion depicting a beautiful woman with unusually lively and joyful eyes shook Bunin deeply.

Topic– The central theme of the work is the charm and tragedy of careless youth.

Composition– The composition is distinguished by the absence of a chronological order and a clear “start-climax-denouement” scheme. Events begin and end in the cemetery, the plot does not always coincide with the plot, there are episodes that, at first glance, have nothing to do with the history of Olya Meshcherskaya.

Genre- Novella (short plot story).

Direction- Modernism.

History of creation

Bunin's story "Light Breath" was written in March 1916 and published in the same year in the newspaper "Russian Word".

During Ivan Alekseevich's stay at the Vasilievskoye estate, he was approached from the capital's newspaper "Russian Word" with a request to provide some small work for publication in the Easter issue. Bunin was not averse to sending his work to a reputable publication, but by that time he had no ready-made new stories.

Then the writer remembered his walks around Capri, when he accidentally came across a small cemetery. Walking along it, he discovered a grave cross with a portrait of a blooming cheerful girl. Looking into her laughing, full of life and fire eyes, Bunin drew pictures for himself from the past of this young beauty, who had gone so early into another world.

Memories of that walk served as an impetus for writing a love story, the main character of which was the high school student Olya Meshcherskaya, whose image was “copied” from a portrait in the cemetery.

However prerequisite for writing short stories were more profound memories of the writer, recorded in his diary. At the age of seven, he witnessed the death of his younger sister Sasha, the favorite of the whole family. The tragedy that occurred on a February night deeply shocked the boy, forever leaving in his soul the images of a girl, winter, a cloudy sky, death.

Topic

Love Theme is central to the story "Easy Breathing". The author reveals her through the prism of the character and behavior of Olya Meshcherskaya - an incredibly cheerful, charming and spontaneous girl.

For Bunin, love is, above all, a passion. All-consuming, violent, destructive. It is not surprising that death is always a faithful companion of love in the work (the young high school student Shenshin was on the verge of suicide from unrequited love for Olya, and the main character herself became the victim of a distraught lover). Such is the peculiarity of Ivan Alekseevich's concept of love.

Despite the immoral actions of the schoolgirl, the writer, nevertheless, does not criticize her behavior. On the contrary, Olya's inexhaustible vital energy, her ability to see life only in joyful, bright colors, her disarming charm and femininity attract the author. True female beauty lies not in external features, but in the ability to inspire and charm people. That's what it is the basic idea works.

Carelessness and some superficiality of Meshcherskaya is only the other side of the coin of her nature. And the main problem of the girl is that no one from her inner circle could teach her to balance between lightness and “fluttering” through life and responsibility for her actions.

Such indifference causes the death of a girl. However, death is not able to take the charm of youth with it into the abyss - the “light breath” dissipates in the universe, only to be reborn again soon. The writer leads readers to this conclusion, thanks to which the work does not leave a heavy residue.

Composition

The main features of the composition of the novel should include contrast and lack of chronological sequence. The work begins with a description of Olya's grave, then the author talks about the girl's early childhood, then again "jumps" to her last winter. After that, there is a conversation between Meshcherskaya and the head of the gymnasium, during which it becomes known about her connection with an elderly officer. Then - the news of the murder of a schoolgirl. And at the very end of the story, the author adds a seemingly insignificant episode from Olya's life, in which she shares her idea of female beauty with her friend.

Thanks to temporary movements and a quick change of all actions, the author managed to create a feeling of lightness and some kind of emotional detachment. In the work, everything is designed to emphasize the lively and direct nature of the main character. All events occur rapidly, making it impossible to properly analyze them. So the life of Olya Meshcherskaya, who always lived exclusively for today, flashed and faded away, without thinking about the consequences of her actions.

In his story, Bunin immediately deprives the plot of unpredictability and climactic denouement. It has already happened - and this is the death of a young schoolgirl. Realizing that the most important thing has already happened, the reader switches to the events that led to the sad ending.

Intentionally destroying the causal relationships in the story, the writer emphasizes that neither the motives of Olya's behavior nor the further development of events in the story matter. The inevitable doom of the heroine is in her seme, in her incredibly attractive feminine essence, charm, immediacy. A huge passion for life and led her to such a quick end.

This is what the meaning of the name story. “Easy breathing” is an incredible thirst for life, the ability to soar above everyday reality with amazing ease, not noticing problems and sincerely enjoying every day, every minute.

Genre

Carrying out an analysis of the genre of the work in Easy Breathing, it should be noted that it was written in the genre of a short story - a short plot story that fully reflects the main issues and ideas that excite the author, presents a picture of the life of heroes from various groups of society.

Being a follower of realism, Ivan Alekseevich could not remain aloof from modernism, which was gaining more and more momentum in the 20th century. The brevity of the plot, the symbolization and ambiguity of details, the fragmentation of the described history and the demonstration of unadorned reality indicate that "Easy Breath" corresponds to modernism, in which the main tendencies of realism are present.

Artwork test

Analysis Rating

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