And it’s unclear why Bunin is Clean Monday. Analysis of the story “Clean Monday” (Bunin I
Bunin's tragic love story forms the basis of the story " Clean Monday" Two people suddenly meet, and beauty and beauty flare up between them. pure feeling. Love brings not only joy, lovers experience enormous torment that torments their souls. The work by Ivan Bunin describes a meeting between a man and a woman, which made them forget about all their problems.
The author begins his story not from the very beginning of the novel, but immediately from its development, when the love of two people reaches its climax. I. Bunin perfectly describes all the details of this day: the Moscow day was not only winter, but, according to the author’s description, dark and gray. The lovers dined at different places: today it could be “Prague”, and tomorrow they ate at the “Hermitage”, then it could be “Metropol”, or some other establishment.
From the very beginning of Bunin’s work, there is a premonition of some kind of misfortune, great tragedy. Main character tries not to think about what will happen tomorrow, about what this relationship might lead to. He understood that he shouldn’t talk about the future with someone who was so close to him. After all, she simply did not like these conversations and she did not answer any of his questions.
But why didn’t the main character want to, like many girls, dream about the future and make plans? Maybe this is a momentary attraction that should end soon? Or does she already know everything that is about to happen to her in the future? Ivan Bunin describes his heroine as if she were a perfect woman who cannot be compared with other beautiful female images.
The main character is studying in courses, not understanding how she manages to do this later in life. The Bunin girl is well educated, she has a sense of sophistication and intelligence. Everything in her house should be beautiful. But the world she is not at all interested, she moves away from him. From her behavior it seemed that she was indifferent to theaters, and to flowers, and to books, and to dinners. And this indifference does not prevent her from completely immersing herself in life and enjoying it, reading books and getting impressions.
The beautiful couple seemed ideal to the people around them; they were even watched as they went. And there was something to envy! Young, beautiful, rich - all these characteristics suited this couple. This happy idyll turns out to be strange, since the girl does not want to become the wife of the main character. This makes you think about the sincerity of the lover’s and the man’s feelings. For all his questions, the girl finds only one explanation: she does not know how to be a wife.
It is clear that the girl does not understand what her purpose in life is. Her soul is tossing: a luxurious life attracts her, but she wants something else. That is why she constantly arrives in thoughts and reflections. The feelings that the girl experiences are incomprehensible to her, she cannot and main character understand them.
She is attracted to religion, the girl goes to church with pleasure, and admires holiness. The heroine herself cannot understand why this attracts her so much. One day she decides to important step- cut my hair into a nun. Without telling her lover anything, the girl leaves. After a while, the main character receives a letter from her, where the young woman reports her action, but she doesn’t even try to explain.
The main character finds it difficult to cope with the actions of his beloved woman. One day he was able to see her by chance among the nuns. It is no coincidence that Bunin gives his work the title “Clean Monday.” The day before this day, the lovers had a serious conversation about religion. The main character was surprised for the first time by the thoughts of his bride, they were so new and interesting to him.
External contentment with life hid the depth of this nature, her subtlety and religiosity, her constant torment, which led the girl to the monastery of a nun. Deep internal searches help explain the young woman’s indifference that she showed towards social life. She did not see herself among everything that surrounded her. Happy and mutual love does not help her find harmony in her soul. In that Bunin's story love and tragedy are inseparable. Love is given to the heroes as a kind of test that they have to pass.
The love tragedy of the main characters lies in the fact that they could not fully understand each other and could not correctly evaluate the individuals who had found their soul mate. Bunin, with his story “Clean Monday,” affirms the idea that every person is a huge and richest world. The inner world of a young woman is rich spiritually, but her thoughts and reflections do not find support in this world. Love for the main character is no longer a salvation for her, but the girl sees this as a problem.
The heroine’s strong will helps her to leave love, to abandon it, to abandon it forever. In her monastery spiritual search stops, the young woman develops new affection and love. The heroine finds the meaning of life in love for God. Everything petty and vulgar now does not concern her; now no one disturbs her loneliness and peace.
Bunin's story is both tragic and sad. Moral choice stands before every person and must be done correctly. The heroine chooses her life path, and the main character, continuing to love her, cannot find himself in this life. His fate is sad and tragic. The young woman’s act towards him is cruel. They both suffer: the hero because of the act of his beloved, and she of her own free will.
TOPIC: Symbolism of the title of I. A. Bunin’s story “Clean Monday”
Class: Grade 11
Form of conduct: reflection lesson
Program section. Creativity of I.A.Bunin. Stories about love (grade 11).
Topic of the lesson. The symbolism of the title of I. A. Bunin’s story “Clean Monday”
Didactic goal – create conditions for awareness, comprehension, systematization and generalization on the topic using the method creative reading and complex pedagogical technologies: problem-based learning technologies, project method and computer technology.
Lesson equipment:
Multimedia projector
Computer
Story text
Goals and objectives of the lesson:
| Goals | Tasks |
| 1. Identification of the features of Bunin’s understanding of love, disclosure of the theme of Russia, artistic manner writer | 1. Reveal the peculiarity of Bunin’s understanding of love through comparative characteristics characters (portrait, hobbies, attitude towards each other, understanding of the meaning of life). 2. Reveal Bunin’s attitude towards Russia through the mention of monuments of ancient Moscow, the use of the realities of modern Moscow, everyday sketches, and the heroes’ conclusions about Rus'. 3. Conduct an analysis of Bunin’s “philology”: artistic means (metaphors, epithets, oxymorons, etc.) and literary devices. |
| 2. Activation of students’ research activities, development of creative reading skills, deepening understanding and experience of the events of the story. | 1. Strengthen text analysis skills: Defining the topic; Formulation main idea; Definition of artistic means and their role in the text; Comparison (determination of the subject of comparison, similarities and differences, etc.) Generalization, formulation of conclusions; Identification of cause-and-effect relationships. 2. Continue work on enrichment and complexity vocabulary language of students in the process of text analysis. 3. Include in the lesson process tasks for the development of imagination and fantasy. |
Teaching methods: creative reading method, problem-based, project method.
Forms of organization educational activities: individual, frontal, group.
Leading homework to the lesson.
Taking advantage encyclopedic dictionary, talk about the writers whose names are mentioned in the story.
Tell about the religious holidays that are indicated in the story
Repeat means of artistic expression
LESSON PLAN.
Organizing time
Preparing students to perceive the material
Goal setting
Updating knowledge
Primary assimilation of knowledge
Reflection
Homework
During the classes
SLIDE 1
SLIDE 2
The path to Bunin philosophy lies through Bunin philology.
Vl. Khodasevich
Organizing time.
Preparing students to perceive the material.
Teacher's word(on the background bell ringing)
SLIDE 3
Between time and eternity
Like over splashing water,
Abandoned to us by infinity
The air bridge is golden, -
playing with colors,
Visible only for
Who's soul is waiting
Loves his God
Who, having forgotten his viciousness,
Defeated a host of evils
And, like a fragile rainbow,
Shined and surpassed
K. Balmont.
Why does a person come into the world? What is more important: material or spiritual? Each of us sooner or later thinks about these questions and gives our own answer to them.
Today I invite you to think about this together with I. Bunin in an unusual lesson, a lesson - a reflection on the story “Clean Monday”.
SLIDE 4
This story by I.A. Bunin is included in the collection “ Dark alleys”, which was created by the writer during the “damned years” of emigration. The writer himself called this collection his best book, A best story- story “Clean Monday”.
At home you got acquainted with the story and formed your own opinion. On clean slate I will ask you to define in 1-2 words what impression the story made on you? (possible answers: mysterious, incomprehensible, strange).
So, the initial impression is recorded, we will return to it at the end of the lesson.
How do you understand the expression “spiritual quest”?
Human search for answers to moral issues, your purpose in life
Which of the characters in the story is this concept primarily associated with?
With the main character
The storyline of the story is a story of unhappy love, but what deep meaning story? Express your opinion in one word: what is this story about? (students’ options are recorded on the board) For example: Love Separation Tragedy
The teacher adds a word "gain" . The class gives an interpretation of the word through a selection of synonyms.
SLIDES 5, 6, 7
Determining the goals and objectives of the lesson, stating the problem
Staging problematic issue: Which of the concepts reflected on the board is key in the story?(add to words question mark).
The purpose of the lesson is formulated by students independently, based on the problematic question of the lesson and the topic of the lesson ( analyze the spiritual quest of the heroes, identify author's position, answering the problematic question).
Updating knowledge
Analysis of the story.
SLIDE 8
Who is the main character of the story?
Analyze the portrait of the heroine. Which keywords used to create an image?
She had some kind of Indian, Persian beauty
Why oriental beauty?
Emphasize its unusualness, dissimilarity, difference from others with unearthly charm
The only thing that was special was outer beauty heroines? How did she surprise the main character? What epithets and comparisons are used and what is their role in creating the image? main character?
Mysterious, incomprehensible, oriental beauty, Shamakhan queen
How does the narrator characterize his beloved?
At the center of the story is the image of a heroine, “incomprehensible” to the narrator. The words “mysteriousness” and “strangeness” are used to describe the heroine.
Strengthen the hero’s misunderstanding, the motive of the heroine’s dissimilarity from other girls
Analyze the description of the main character’s room. What interior details highlight the character traits of the heroine?
SLIDE 9
A combination of eastern and western motifs, a portrait of a barefoot Tolstoy
Why is this particular portrait in the room?
Portrait of a writer in late period life, when he renounces all manifestations of the material world, spiritual quests characterize this period of the writer’s life
Which musical motive connected with the image of the main character?
(Students listen to an excerpt from “ Moonlight Sonata"Beethoven")
Why did Bunin take this particular work? What facets of the heroine’s character does the music reveal?
What is dominant in the character of the heroine?
SHE – mystery, dissimilarity
Comparative characteristics of heroes
Work with text. The teacher names the subject of comparison, the students give examples
SLIDES 10, 11, 12
| Subject of comparison | Hero | Heroine |
| I... was beautiful at that time for some reason southern, hot beauty, was even “indecently handsome,” as one famous actor once told me... “The devil knows who you are, Sicilian some kind of “... and my character was southern, lively, always ready for a happy smile, for good joke» | And she has the beauty was somehow Indian, Persian: dark-amber face, magnificent and somewhat ominous hair in its thick blackness, softly shining like black sable fur, eyebrows, eyes black as velvet coal; captivating mouth with velvety crimson lips... |
|
| I am from Penza provinces | She is from Tver, and her grandmother is from Astrakhan |
|
| Literary names | I brought her boxes of chocolate, new books - Hofmannsthal, Schnitzler, Tetmyer, Przybyszewski You finished reading"Fire Angel"? (novel by V. Bryusov) And we for some reason we went to Ordynka... but who could show us where Griboyedov lived? Who needs it? L. Andreev, A. Bely | ...on the sofa, above which for some reason a portrait of a barefoot man hung Tolstoy - I finished watching it. It's so pompous that it's embarrassing to read. She likes to quote Russians chronicles legends, she is especially fascinated by ancient Russian The story of the faithful spouses Peter and Fevronia of Murom. Somewhere on Ordynka there is a house where Griboyedov lived. Let's go look for him... She lingered at the graves Chekhov and Ertel |
| Musical preferences | Why did you suddenly leave the concert yesterday? Chaliapin? He does not feel the surrounding vulgarity, which is wonderfully captured by Bunin both in the performance of the “Polish woman Tranblanc”, when his partner shouts out a meaningless set of phrases “goat”, and in the cheeky performance of gypsy songs by the old gypsy “with the gray muzzle of a drowned man” and the gypsy woman “with a low forehead under the tar bangs" | He was too daring. And than yellow-haired Rus I don't like it at all. She kept learning the slow, somnambulistically beautiful beginning "Moonlight Sonata"- only one start She can listen to church hymns. The very vowel sounds of the words of the Old Russian language will not leave her indifferent, and she will repeat them as if spellbound. |
Using the table, describe the characters
He is a realist, happy with this rich, idle life, loving life. She combines these two worlds: she visits restaurants, skit parties, concerts, but also goes to churches, cemeteries, and is interested in history.
Her inner world is as different from the inner world of the narrator as the inner world of Tolstoy is different from the world of Tetmyer, A. Bely, and even the “overly daring” Chaliapin. Clean Monday is just as different from Maslenitsa.
She is unusual, she has inexplicable contradictions. On the one hand, “it looked like she didn’t need anything: no flowers, no books, no dinners, no theaters, no dinners out of town, although she still had her favorite and least favorite flowers: she read all sorts of books, loved eat and immediately talked about why people eat in general.” It seemed that she liked the luxurious life: going to restaurants, theaters, concerts. She loved good clothes, velvet, silk, fur. On the other hand, for some reason I took courses, was interested in history, visited churches, the Raskolniche cemetery, etc. The hero admits that she is incomprehensible to him.
Primary assimilation of knowledge
The story mentions historical places Moscow, which the main characters visit. How do the signs of a specific era and reminders of antiquity correlate in the story?
Let's follow the heroes to Moscow.
Where did the hero take his beloved?
Every evening I took her to dinner in Prague, the Hermitage, the Metropol, after dinner to theaters, concerts, and then to Yar, Strelna...
SLIDES 13, 14, 15, 16
This is “Modern Moscow”
What historical places did the heroine enjoy visiting?
Conception Monastery, Chudov Monastery, Archangel Cathedral, Marfo-Mariinsky Convent, Iverskaya Chapel, Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Kremlin, Novodevichy Convent, Rogozhskoye Cemetery.
SLIDES 17, 18, 19
This is “Ancient Holy Moscow”
So, we have traced the routes of each of the heroes. What character traits of the main character does the choice of travel route indicate?
In the story, the signs of the modern era are correlated with the inner world of the narrator, yet, as for antiquity, churches, cemeteries - the inner world of the heroine testifies to Bunin’s deep nostalgia.
“Orthodoxy, now that it was so persecuted in its homeland, was recognized by Bunin as an inseparable part of Russia, its culture, its history and its national essence"(Maltsev "I. Bunin"). In which of these areas is she “real”?
The heroine is more comfortable in “Ancient Moscow”, but she also visits “Modern Moscow”, trying to make a choice between the earthly and spiritual
Why was the view from the window of the Kremlin and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior so important for the heroine?
This is a symbol of the Motherland.
How do you understand the heroine’s statement “yellow-haired Rus'”
In the mouth of the main character, Bunin puts his understanding of Russia: not as some kind of feigned “Russianness” but as its genuine antiquity, Orthodoxy, severity (“only in some northern monasteries does this Rus' now remain”).
To fully perceive the story, it is necessary to understand some of the realities of everyday life, church rituals, and the literary and artistic life of the beginning of the century.
CommentsSLIDES 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26
A. Bely. His lecture is parodied in the story.
V. Bryusov."Fire Angel" - historical novel V.Ya. Bryusova
L. Andreev.“Once again I talked all evening only about strangers,” about new production Art Theater, about Andreev’s new story...
Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Austrian Symbolist.
Arthur Schnitzler. Austrian playwright and prose writer, impressionist.
Tetmajer Kazimierz. Polish lyricist, author of sophisticated erotic poetry.
St. Przybyszewski. German-Polish novelist
Why does Bunin fill the story with an abundance of names of writers?
To create the characters' characters, the author does not use internal monologues and does not explain in words the thoughts and feelings of the characters. But to show the different inner world of the heroine and the hero, he uses literary names(tell me what you're reading and I'll tell you who you are). The hero gives his beloved fashionable works of European decadence, a “pompous” novel by V. Bryusov, which are not interesting to her. In her hotel room, “for some reason, there is a portrait of a barefoot Tolstoy,” and somehow, out of the blue, she remembers Platon Karataev... In the aristocratically refined and mysterious, the features of Katyusha Maslova, a sacrificial and pure resurrector of the soul from last novel L.N. Tolstoy's "Resurrection".
Thus, her inner world is as different from the inner world of the narrator as Tolstoy’s inner world is different from the world of Tetmyer, A. Bely, and even the “overly daring” Chaliapin. Clean Monday is just as different from Maslenitsa.
What religious holidays are discussed in the story? SLIDES 27, 28, 29
Clean Monday is the first day of Lent, which comes after the riotous Maslenitsa.
Maslenitsa – Shrovetide week, the week preceding Lent. The last day of Maslenitsa week - Sunday - is called Forgiveness Sunday. On this day, “Orthodox pious people go to monasteries, visit cathedrals, bow to holy relics and shrines. In monasteries and churches, the rite of forgiveness is performed.”
On Forgiveness Sunday, it is customary to ask each other for forgiveness for all sins committed, imperfect, and only thought.
Lent (7 weeks before Easter) is a time of severity, holiness, abstinence, it begins with Clean Monday, which is the day of transition to a new life, cleansing from sinful, vain things, at this time believers abstain from immodest food and do not participate in entertainment , do not marry. The fast was established in remembrance of the 40-day fast of Christ in the desert
Awareness and comprehension of the material
Why don't we find out the names of the heroes when large quantities proper names in the story?
Proper names help the author to recreate a specific era, show the spirit of contradictions of that time, create a historical and philosophical background for eternal history love and parting... Heroes are the embodiment of man’s eternal aspirations for happiness in love and the tragic failure to realize this dream
The author does not give names to his characters in order to give a generalized meaning. The nomination of heroes is not so important; Bunin explores the culture of Russia, the life of people, their entertainment, everything that occupied their souls, i.e. spiritual life of people.
Is it possible to imagine the heroine in a situation of “earthly happiness”? Is the heroine happy? How does she define what happiness is?
“Happiness is like water in delirium: if you pull it, it’s inflated, but if you pull it out, there’s nothing.”
What is the meaning of the story's title?
Clean Monday – purification, threshold in life, beginning. On Clean Monday, a person receives communion with the mystery of faith.
SLIDE 30
V.I. Dal in the “Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language” gives the following interpretations of the word “communion”:
The sacrament in which the believer, under the guise of bread and wine, receives the Body and Blood of the Lord, through this he is united with Christ and becomes a participant in eternal life.
Participation, affinity, connection, touch.
Which meaning is closer to the meaning of the story? Prove your point.
What day does she choose to enter the monastery?
Clean Monday
Is the title of the story symbolic?
Clean Monday - on Orthodox tradition- a kind of border, a line between life - vanity, full of temptations, and the period of Great Lent, when a person is called to cleanse himself of the filth of worldly life.
Clean Monday is both a transition and a beginning: from a secular, sinful life to an eternal, spiritual one.
Reinforcing educational material
How did the writer's skill manifest itself? Let's reveal the “secrets” of Bunin, the stylist, with the help of philological analysis, especially since, in the apt expression of V. Khodasevich, “The path to Bunin’s philosophy lies through Bunin’s philology”
Which artistic media does Bunin use in this story?
Epithets, metaphors, oxymorons.
Let's remember what an oxymoron is?
From Greek literally - witty-stupid. Stylistic figure, a paradoxical-sounding antithesis presented in the form of contrasting words. “Crowd of the dead” (Nekrasov), “lush decay of nature (Pushkin).”
Find oxymorons in the text?
Indecently beautiful, beauty and horror in the cemetery. Using this technique, the author shows the inconsistency of the characters.
The climactic scene is a fireworks display of various details of poetry, smell and light. Find evidence in the text.
Smell the room connects with the smell of flowers.
Light At the beginning of the story there is twilight and kisses.
The climactic scene takes place in a lit bedroom. And in the finale next to it there will be the word “dark” repeated three times: “And then one of the nuns or sisters walking in the middle fixed her gaze on dark eye in darkness...What could she do? darkness to see how she could feel my presence...” The light illuminates love. And, on the contrary, love is a flash of light.
So it is in this story. Just as Maslenitsa is replaced by Clean Monday, so the heroine, who has finally given the long-awaited intimacy to the hero, goes to the monastery. It lit up and disappeared.
The story “Clean Monday” shows I. Bunin’s favorite theme of a painfully happy moment of love, brief and at the same time eternal, unforgettable:
Russia is on the verge of terrible trials...World War I, revolutions, Civil War. The Stalinist regime, an outrage against history and the past...
Maybe this is purification through suffering. Trials in the name of salvation? Great Lent, as a time of repentance and a test of faith, is replaced by a great holiday. Maybe this is where the author saw Russia’s path?..
Thus, characterizing “Bunin philology”, we came to understand the “Bunin philosophy” of love as about“a certain highest intense moment of existence” that illuminates a person’s entire life.”
Generalization and systematization of material
SLIDE 31
Theses – conclusions:
The heroine does not find harmony and beauty either in contemporary art or in society;
The story contrasts modernity and ancient Russian art, secular and Orthodox church culture;
The heroine’s departure to the monastery is a search for beauty and finding the meaning of life;
The heroine's sense of homeland is more developed than the feeling of love.
SLIDE 32
Conclusions:
"Clean Monday" is a story about love, understood as “a certain highest intense moment of existence” that illuminates all human life.
"Clean Monday" is a story about the author’s nostalgia, about Bunin’s deep love for Russia.
Bringing together musical, pictorial, poetic, ancient and new, the author writes a kind of “gold touch on velvet” portrait of the era, recreating its atmosphere. Creating a poetic portrait of the era, Bunin gave the story the volume of an epic.
"Clean Monday" - this is another evidence of the unsurpassed skill of the writer - “the best stylist modernity" (Gorky).
Reflection
Let's go back to the notes on the board. Which of these words do you think reflects the meaning of the story?
Love
Parting
Tragedy
Finding
Is it possible to talk about gain in a story, since the characters are breaking up?
What does the heroine gain?
Spiritual calm (church episode)
SLIDE 33
Do you think the acquisition took place only for the main character?
What changes for the main character?
SLIDE 34
Conclusion:
The story contains both love and separation, but the main thing is a person’s finding his place on earth, realizing his destiny.
I ask you to return to the work with which you started the lesson. On the sheets where the initial impression of the story was recorded, write down your feelings, thoughts, sensations after analyzing the story.
Homework (optional):
SLIDE 35
Task No. 1 – Answer the questions in writing: How has the understanding of the story changed after the analysis? What did this lesson make you think about? (for all students)
Task No. 2 – message (+ presentation) about the life and work of A.I. Kuprin (individual)
Egorova N.V., Zolotareva I.V. Lesson-based developments on Russian literature. XX century Grade 11. M.: VAKO, 2004.
Turyanskaya B.I., Gorokhovskaya L.N., Millionshchikova T.M. Literature in 11th grade. Lesson after lesson. M.: LLC "TID" Russian word- RS", 2005
Medvedeva V. “All love is great happiness.” Conversation with 11th graders about Bunin’s book “Dark Alleys” // Literature at school. - M., 1997. - No. 3. - P. 13.
Nikolina M.A. Linguistic analysis of the story by I.A. Bunin “Clean Monday” // Russian literature. - M., 1996. - No. 3. - P. 79.
Dolgopolov L. The story “Clean Monday” in the system of Bunin’s creativity emigrant period. - L., 1985. - P. 340.
Internet resources:
http:// rudocs. exdat. com› docs/ index-516313. html
www.zavuch.info
http://rudocs.exdat.com/docs/index-11836.html
Short description:
A reflection lesson based on I. A. Bunin’s story “Clean Monday” is carried out using elements of a project methodology to resolve a problematic situation. Problem situation is that after reading the story, students consider the story “strange, incomprehensible.” The teacher’s task is to analyze the story to reveal ideological originality. The use of ICT in the classroom allows you to make the lesson visual, interesting, and meaningful. Pupils occupy in the lesson active position. They independently conduct mini-research on the characteristics of the characters in the story, formalize their observations in the form of a table, build associative chains, and make presentations in class. And as a result, they come to understand the deep meaning of the story.
This article will focus on his work called “Clean Monday,” which was written in 1944. This story was included in the famous collection “Dark Alleys,” which reveals to the reader a special world where, even in a dark space, there is a place for love. But notes of love are not the only attractive effect. With his stories, the author tried to show the life of Russia as accurately as possible, as in pre-revolutionary time, and after great events, which for some were creative, and for others destructive.
In the story, written in the first person, every evening the hero visits one apartment, which is located opposite the temple. In this place lives a girl with whom he is madly in love. He goes out with her a lot, takes her to various taverns and theaters, showers her with various gifts, but until the very end he cannot understand how it will all end. The girl is silent about the future and her intentions.
And although the main characters do not intimacy, the young man is already truly happy next to his beloved.
The girl is taking a history course, she lives alone, her father is a merchant on the road. She accepts gifts from the hero, thanks him, but it seems that she is completely indifferent.
It looked like she didn’t need anything: no flowers, no books, no lunches, no theaters, no dinners out of town.
She, like every girl, has her favorite flowers, she loves sweets. However, her real passion lies in chic clothes. According to the work, the hero himself and his girlfriend are young and beautiful. He looks somewhat like an Italian, and she looks like a Persian princess. By nature, the hero is talkative and cheerful, but she is quite the opposite, silent and very tactful.
The main character often recalls how he met his beloved. This happened during a lecture when the teacher was running around the audience and singing songs. Then this amused the guy so much that he laughed uncontrollably, and the girl was very attracted to this. From the first meetings, the young man felt charmed and was happy, although the desire to be even closer with the girl did not leave him.
All this happens in the same tone over several months. Maslenitsa has passed and the girl asks the hero to come to her earlier than usual. Afterwards they go together to the monastery, where along the way she told about the burial ceremony of the archbishop. Then the hero was very surprised. He realized that he didn’t know her well since he had not noticed such a strong passion for religion.
Near the monastery they visit a cemetery, where they walk for a long time among the graves. The hero looks at her so lovingly that the girl understands that this is not a simple hobby, it is probably love. When, having wandered, they find themselves in a tavern, the heroine continued to talk about monasteries and expressed a desire to happily leave to serve God. However, the narrator admires her so much that he does not notice what she is saying and does not take her words seriously.
A day later, she asks the hero to bring her to the theater for a skit. She drank champagne and danced all evening. Afterwards the hero took her home, and she asked him to come up to her. Later they made love, and the next morning she said that she was leaving for Tver forever and asked not to look for her, she would write herself. The letter said this:
I won’t return to Moscow, I’ll go to obedience for now, then maybe I’ll decide to take monastic vows... May God give me the strength not to answer me - it’s useless to prolong and increase our torment...
The hero was in despair, began to drink a lot, and completely lost faith in himself and in life. Two years later, he again remembered his beloved and repeated the path that he had once taken with her on Forgiveness Sunday. Inside there was a service for the princess and prince, the hero, handing some money to the janitor, went there. Happening here procession. The princess goes first, followed by the sisters with candles. One of them raised her eyes and looked straight at the hero, but he turned and left.
Analysis of the story “Clean Monday”
Name this story invented for a reason, Clean Monday is the date of the first week during Lent. There is also another meaning here; you can consider that the actions take place on the last holiday before the war in Moscow. The work has a strong and varied atmosphere, perhaps this is all due to the fact that the work itself is written in the first person. Everything is described here quite simply, everything happens in a strange city, where the hero suffers from an incomprehensible love for mysterious girl. The hero doesn’t even think about the future; he doesn’t care what happens. The story is written using a refrain that enhances the sensations of a waking dream.
“And why, why do you have to torture me and yourself so cruelly?”
Life in Moscow is described in great detail; the story contains a lot of specifics. For example, the fact that the author’s morning smells of both snow and the smell of bakeries, and the day is damp - this too Special attention. There are also many detailed descriptions here, here are some of them: “gray coral branches in the frost”, “crowded, diving trams”, “snowy sidewalks dimly blackening passers-by”. As you can see, life in the Soviet metropolis is described in detail, the reader is imbued with the work and it already seems that he himself is present at the scene of events and feels all these smells.
The city is described surprisingly accurately. The story shows many sights of Moscow. The author, without being lazy, describes both monasteries and cathedrals, taverns and restaurants. Even restaurant menus are described quite colorfully. The main characters either eat pink hazel grouse in fried sour cream or pancakes with homemade herbal tea.
When you read this work, you get the feeling that there is eternal movement going on here. The hero himself came from what is now Penza, so he is already in Moscow and falls in love, and the girl herself is not from Moscow either, she is from Tver. The characters, having met, are constantly doing something, reading and discussing books, going to theaters, attending concerts and not forgetting about lectures.
Even the place where they live is remarkable. So the man lives at the Red Gate, and she lives near the temple. All this points to the temperament of the heroes. And although their appearance and characters were different, they were drawn to each other.
“For some reason I was handsome, with a southern, hot beauty...”, “And she had some kind of Indian, Persian beauty...”
The story describes everything clearly and in detail. Everything is captured in the work: meeting places, conversations, the mood of the characters, it is even described in detail how certain objects are located in the apartment. Their love is called strange and mysterious, somewhat incomprehensible. Then there is this separation, the girl goes to the monastery and, most likely, will give lunch.
IN this work emphasized not only psychological aspect, there's a lot of philosophy and history here. On specific example shows all the dullness of everyday life in Russia. There is melancholy all around and there is no hope for a bright future, only mystery and a fatal premonition. You read this work and want to think about Mother Russia.
It is interesting that, unlike Bunin’s other stories, there is a specific time frame here. The action takes place at the end of Maslenitsa and at the beginning of Lent. Although the work is small in volume, the time range here is quite wide. There are several dates, for example, events developed in 1912, and already last meeting they occurred in 1914.
You can observe the hero’s inner experiences by several things, such as movement in time and real historical events. So he fell in love, his life seemed to have found new meaning, more sublime, but there is the tragedy of that time all around. The writer very subtly emphasized the details of that era, the lyrics here are drawn through the epic narrative.
Although the story is filled with many details and descriptions of that era, all the lyricism and tragedy of the work is clearly visible here. What’s interesting is that the heroes break up not because something obliges them. It’s just that their habit of each other began to develop into love, and this is the reason for the separation. IN in this case love did not bring the couple together, but separated them.
Like most of Bunin's stories, love is a flash that does not lead to anything good, and this work was no exception. The choice has been made, and everyone has chosen their own path.
Ivan Bunin is known to many readers as brilliant writer and poet. For my creative career the writer created great amount poems, stories, novellas and novels. They are all imbued deep meaning and have an interesting and exciting plot. The collection of short stories “Dark Alleys” gained particular popularity. All works from it tell about love. For the writer himself, this feeling evokes conflicting emotions - happy and sad at the same time. To talk about love in more detail, Bunin wrote “Clean Monday”. shows how ambiguous and deep it is.
The strangeness of love between the characters of the story
Love is not only the joy of meetings, but also the torment of parting, this is also shown by analysis. Bunin wrote “Clean Monday” to show the depth of feelings of his characters. The writer didn’t even give them names, because the story is told by the hero himself, and the image of the heroine is so complex, multifaceted and mysterious that she doesn’t need a name. Even at the beginning of the work, it becomes clear that the lovers will have no future. This is a beautiful, young full of strength and steam energy, but they are too different.
A man is fixated on his feelings, and this prevents him from knowing better spiritual world to your beloved. They spend a lot of time together, have a picnic, go to restaurants, visit the theater, but the girl seems too distant. The heroine is in search of her true purpose - this is exactly what the analysis shows. Bunin composed “Clean Monday” to talk about the fact that sooner or later every person will have to decide what to do next, to determine whether he has chosen the right path. The girl does not want to talk about the future, categorically denies the possibility of marriage, and says that she is not ready to become a wife. The man understands that this is not normal, but still agrees with the oddities of his beloved.
Finding your place in this world
The heroine cannot find herself - this is also shown by the analysis. Bunin wrote “Clean Monday” to show soul feelings girls. She did everything that was accepted in society: she studied, dressed beautifully, attended the theater, met with her loved one. But deep down, the woman realized that all this was not what she needed. This is what explains the main character’s detachment and her reluctance to talk about a future together with her lover. She always did everything the way everyone else did, but that didn’t suit her.
Painful separation
Conflicting feelings increasingly arise in the girl’s soul; she can no longer live simply and carefree, like most young people. The decision to radically change her life has long been brewing for the heroine, and the analysis speaks to this. It was not in vain that Bunin chose Clean Monday for turning point in the fate of the characters. On the first day of Lent, the girl decides to devote herself to serving God. The heroine makes a man suffer from separation, but she herself suffers from this.
The story "Clean Monday" is mainly devoted to strong personality a girl who was not afraid to do differently from everyone else, to dramatically change her life and find the meaning of her existence.
I. Bunin’s work “Clean Monday” begins with a description of the character of a girl to whom the narrator was clearly not indifferent.
“...She was mysterious, incomprehensible to me, and our relationship with her was strange...” the author writes about the one to whom given time everyone's attention was focused.
The character of the main character
The girl accepted advances with obvious indifference, covered by a fleeting “thank you.” young man.
“It looked like she didn’t need anything: no flowers, no books, no lunches, no theaters, no dinners out of town...” From these lines, it gradually emerges interesting image the main character of the story “Clean Monday”, who both loved and at the same time did not love social life.
But why is it called that? We will get an answer to this question by analyzing the work to the end.
She was rich and very beautiful, with a dark-amber face, magnificent black hair, softly shining like black sable fur, eyebrows, eyes black like velvet coal; captivating velvety crimson lips…” – the description of the beautiful appearance could be continued further, but the author does not focus on this.
What character traits were inherent in this mysterious woman? Firstly, isolation and thoughtfulness.
Ivan Bunin tries to focus the reader’s attention on the fact that “she was silent.” Secondly, I didn’t believe in true love and therefore reacted negatively to the proposal of a young man in love to marry. “I’m not fit to be a wife,” the girl said categorically. Thirdly, there was always some kind of mystery about her. In addition, the girl is well educated, she exhibits such qualities as an extraordinary mind and sophistication.
Changes in fate
A sharp transition from secular life to a completely different one occurred suddenly for the hero’s beloved, completely unexpectedly for him.
Everything was somehow unusual that day. The girl, dressed all in black, suggested going to Novodevichy Convent. She unexpectedly expressed a thought from which it is clear that she understands how much her young man loves her. Then they walked for a long time, looking for Griboyedov’s house, but, not finding it, they decided to eat at Egorov’s. Okhotny Ryad.
During the meal, the hero of the story was alarmed by the phrase that escaped from the lips of his beloved: “Oh, I’ll go somewhere to a monastery...”
The next day, the girl suggested going to an event: the “cabbage show” of the Art Theater, and the narrator resignedly agreed, although he was surprised, because such a pastime had previously been alien to her.
Unexpected invitation
Finally, she invited her beloved to visit. The first time - and as it turned out - last time. After a night spent together, the girl suddenly said: “I’m leaving for Tver.” This meeting was the last in their lives. The girl was in for big changes, and the hero was in for experiences, tears and uncertainty.
She became a nun
“I won’t return to Moscow, I’ll go to obedience for now, then maybe I’ll decide to take monastic vows...” - these were the lines from her last letter, received by the hero two weeks after separation from his beloved. And she did what she decided to do.
Fleeting meeting in church
Once on Ordynka, the narrator, out of inner impulse, stopped a cab at the gates of the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery. He definitely wanted to go there. The girls' choir sang. What was the hero’s embarrassment when, among the line of singers, he saw the familiar gaze of black eyes looking straight at him. He turned and quietly walked out of the church gates.
Meaning of the name
“Clean Monday” is celebrated at the very beginning of Lent, when Forgiveness Sunday takes place. During this period, according to the author, a big turning point was made in the heroine’s life - a transition from secular entertainment to a life associated with the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery.
