"Clean Monday" is a small work of I. A. Bunin was written in 1944 and was included in the collection "Dark Alleys". The theme in the story, as in all short stories, is devoted to love. Love and tragedy go hand in hand, from start to finish of this work... The idea of ​​Clean Monday is for the reader to be able to think not only about the problem of love between a man and a woman, about their false relationships that do not bring happiness and moral satisfaction, but also about true values, as well as think about the questions: “What is the meaning of life? "," Where to find peace? "

The main characters are man and woman.

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They are in love with each other, and at the beginning of the narrative of the story, we understand that their relationship has been going on for quite some time. Bunin describes the main character as "unlike" all the other girls. She studies in different courses, but does not know why she needs it. To this the heroine herself answers: “Why is everything done in the world? Do we understand anything in our actions? " The main character loves her, but is faced with the understanding that their love is very strange. Both characters are in a spiritual search, although at first glance they have everything: wealth, youth. They live like many of those around them. However, gradually the main character realizes that it all oppresses her. She finds the strength to come to the conclusion that love for God can be her salvation and finding peace.

It is also interesting that the events of the story take the reader to the Old Russian Orthodox Moscow, then to the secular Moscow of the twentieth century. Bunin draws out every detail of one Moscow, then another, using the opposition: “Every evening my coachman rushed me at this hour on a stretching trotter - from the Red Gate to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior: she lived opposite him, every evening I took her to“ Prague ” , to the Hermitage, to the Metropol, after dinner to theaters, to concerts, and then to Yar, to Strelna. In the house opposite the Cathedral of the Savior, she rented a corner apartment on the fifth floor for the sake of a view of Moscow ... ”Thus, the plot takes the reader further and further into the world of symbolism.

The story is called "Clean Monday" because it was on the eve of that day that a conversation about religion between lovers took place. Before the main character did not think that his beloved believer. It seemed to him that she was happy with the high life. However, the heroine decides to become a nun, which testifies to her deep mental anguish. The girl seems aloof, not like all other socialites, which makes her unique.

Bunin himself was not a deeply religious person, most likely he considered religion one of the forms of culture. If you interpret it this way, then the author with this work wanted to show the appearance of a dying culture, introducing characters that are far from spiritual. The author describes: sitting on the second floor of the inn, the heroine of the story exclaims: “Good! Downstairs there are wild men, and here are pancakes with champagne and the Mother of God Three-handed. Three hands! This is India! " Everything in her words mixes and intertwines, even the room itself is not intended for such conversations. It is worth noting that the word "pure" has not only the meaning of "holy" but also "empty". Perhaps the heroine, having gone to obedience, filled her spiritual emptiness and finally found happiness.

Updated: 2017-07-08

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Analysis of the work of I. Bunin "Clean Monday" in the genre aspect

"Clean Monday" is one of the most wonderful and mysterious works of Bunin. "Clean Monday" was written on May 12, 1944, and was included in the cycle of stories and short stories "Dark Alleys". At this time, Bunin was in exile in France. It was there, already in old age, in France occupied by Nazi troops, experiencing hunger, suffering, a break with his beloved, he created the cycle "Dark Alleys". Here is how he himself says about it: “I live, of course, very, very bad - loneliness, hunger, cold and terrible poverty. The only thing that saves is work. "

The collection "Dark Alleys" is a collection of stories and short stories, united by one common theme, the theme of love, the most diverse, quiet, timid or passionate, secret or overt, but still love. The author himself considered the works of the collection, written in 1937-1944, to be his highest achievement. The author wrote about the book "Dark Alleys" in April 1947: "She talks about the tragic and about many tender and beautiful, - I think that this is the best and most beautiful thing that I have written in my life." The book was published in 1946 in Paris.

The most the best piece of this collection, the author recognized the story "Clean Monday."A well-known assessment of the novel, made by the author himself: “I thank God that he gave me the opportunity to write“ Clean Monday ”.

Like the other 37 short stories in this book, the story is dedicated tothe theme of love. Love is a flash, a brief moment, which cannot be prepared in advance, which cannot be held back; love is beyond any laws, it seems to say:"Where I stand, it cannot be dirty!" - this is Bunin's concept of love. That is how - suddenly and dazzlingly - love flared up in the heart of the hero of "Clean Monday".

The genre of this work is a short story. The turning point of the plot, forcing to rethink the content, is the unexpected departure of the heroine to the monastery.

The narration is conducted in the first person, so the feelings and experiences of the narrator are deeply revealed. The narrator is a man who recalls, perhaps, the best segment of his biography, his young years and the time of passionate love. Memories are stronger than him - otherwise, in fact, there would not have been this story.

The image of the heroine is perceived through two different consciousnesses: the hero as a direct participant in the described events and the distant consciousness of the narrator, who looks at what is happening through the prism of his memory. Above these foreshortenings, author's position, manifested in artistic integrity, selection of material.

The worldview of the hero after the love story undergoes changes - depicting himself in 1912, the narrator resorts to irony, revealing his limitations in the perception of his beloved, a lack of understanding of the meaning of the experience, which he can only evaluate in retrospect. The overall tone in which the story is written speaks of the inner maturity and depth of the narrator.

The "Clean Monday" novella has a complex spatio-temporal organization: historical time (horizontal chronotope) and universal, cosmic (vertical chronotope).

The picture of the life of Russia in the 1910s in the short story is opposed to ancient, age-old, real Russia, which reminds of itself in churches, ancient rituals, literary monuments, as if peeping through the superficial vanity:"And only in some northern monasteries this Russia now remains."

“The gray Moscow winter day was darkening, the gas in the lanterns was coldly lit, the shop windows were warmly illuminated - and the evening Moscow life, freeing from day-to-day affairs, flared up: the cabby sleigh rushed thicker and more vigorously, the overcrowded, diving trams thundered more heavily, in the twilight it was clear how from green stars were hissing from the wires, - the dull black passers-by hurried along the snowy sidewalks more briskly… ”- this is how the story begins. Bunin verbally depicts a picture of a Moscow evening, and the description contains not only the author's vision, but also the sense of smell, touch, and hearing. Through this cityscape, the narrator introduces the reader to the atmosphere of an exhilarating love story. The mood of inexplicable melancholy, mystery and loneliness accompanies us throughout the entire work.

The events of the story "Clean Monday" take place in Moscow in 1913. As already noted, Bunin draws two images of Moscow that define the toponymic level of the text: “Moscow is the ancient capital of Holy Russia” (where the theme “Moscow - Rome III” found its embodiment) and Moscow - early XX, depicted in specific historical and cultural realities: Red Gate, restaurants "Prague", "Hermitage", "Metropol", "Yar", "Strelna", Egorov's tavern, Okhotny Ryad, Art Theater.

These proper names immerse us in the world of celebration and abundance, unrestrained fun and subdued light. This is Moscow at night, secular, which is a kind of antithesis to another Moscow, Orthodox Moscow, represented in the story by the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Iverskaya chapel, St. Basil's Cathedral, Novodevichy, Zachatievsky, Chudov monasteries, Rogozhsky cemetery, Martha-Mariinsky monastery. These two circles of toponyms in the text make up the form of peculiar rings communicating with each other through the image of a gate. The movement of heroes in the space of Moscow is carried out from the Red Gate along the trajectory "Prague", "Hermitage", "Metropol", "Yar", "Strelna", the Art Theater.Through the gates of the Rogozhsky cemetery, they enter another toponymic circle: Ordynka, Griboedovsky lane, Okhotny Ryad, Martha-Mariinsky monastery, Yegorov's tavern, Zachatyevsky and Chudov monasteries. These two Moscow are two different perceptions of the world that fit in one given space.

The beginning of the story seems ordinary: before us everyday life evening Moscow, but as soon as significant places appear in the narrativeMoscow, the text takes on a different meaning. The life of the heroes begins to be determined by cultural signs, it fits into the context of the history and culture of Russia. “Every evening my coachman rushed me at this hour on a stretching trotter - from the Red Gate to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior,” the author continues his beginning of the story, and the plot acquires some sacred meaning.

Buninskaya Moscow stretches from the Red Gate to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, from the Red Gate to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior every evening the hero makes this path, in his desire to see his beloved. The Red Gate and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior are the most important symbols of Moscow, and beyond it, of the whole of Russia. One marks the triumph of the imperial power, the other is a tribute to the feat of the Russian people. The first is a confirmation of the luxury and splendor of secular Moscow, the second is gratitude to God who stood up for Russia in the war of 1812. It should be noted that the Moscow style in urban planning at the turn of the century is characterized by a strange combination and interweaving of all kinds of styles and trends. Therefore, Moscow in Bunin's text is Moscow of the Art Nouveau era. Architectural style in the text of the story corresponds to a similar process in literature: modernist sentiments permeate the entire culture.

The heroes of the story visit the Art Theater and Chaliapin's concerts. Bunin, naming in "Clean Monday" the names of cult symbolist writers: Hoffmannsthal, Schnitzler, Tetmayer, Przybyshevsky and Bely, does not name Bryusov, he introduces only the name of his novel into the text, thereby turning the reader to this particular work, and not to the whole creativity of the writer ("- Have you finished reading" The Fiery Angel "? - Looked at it. So pompous that it is ashamed to read.")

In all their splendor and characteristic Moscow eclecticism, Prague, Hermitage and Metropol are renowned restaurants where Bunin's heroes spend their evenings. With the mention in the text of the story about the Rogozhskoye cemetery and Yegorov's tavern, where the heroes visited on Forgiveness Sunday, the story is filled with Old Russian motives. The Rogozhskoye cemetery is the center of the Moscow community of Old Believers, a symbol of the eternal Russian “split” of the soul. The newly emerging gate symbol accompanies the incoming.Bunin was not a deeply religious person. He perceived religion, in particular Orthodoxy, in the context of other world religions, as one of the forms of culture. Perhaps it is from this culturological point of view that the religious motives in the text should be interpreted as an allusion to the dying spirituality of Russian culture, to the destruction of ties with its history, the loss of which leads to universal delusion and chaos. Through the Krasnye Vorota, the author introduces the reader to Moscow life, immerses him in the atmosphere of idle Moscow, which has lost its historical vigilance in the stormy gaiety. Through other gates - "the gates of the Martha-Mariinsky monastery" - the narrator leads us into the space of Moscow of Holy Russia: "On Ordynka I stopped a cabman at the gate of the Martha-Mariinsky monastery ... For some reason I wanted to go there by all means." And here is another important toponym of this Holy Russia - Bunin's description of the cemetery of the New Devichy Monastery:"Creaking in silence on the snow, we entered the gate, walked along the snowy paths through the cemetery, it was light, marvelously painted on the golden enamel of the sunset with gray coral hoarfrost, and mysteriously glowed around us with calm, sad lights, unquenchable lamps, scattered over the graves." The state of the external natural world surrounding the heroes contributes to the concentrated-in-depth perception and awareness of the heroine of her feelings and actions, and decision-making. It seems that when she left the cemetery, she had already made a choice. The most important toponym in the Moscow text of the story is also Yegorov's tavern, with which the author introduces significant folklore-Christian realities. Here before the reader appears "Egorovsky pancakes", "thick, ruddy, with different fillings." Pancakes, as you know, are a symbol of the sun - festive and memorial food. Forgiveness Sunday coincides with the pagan holiday of Maslenitsa, also a day of remembrance of the dead. It is noteworthy that the heroes go to the pancakes in Yegorov's tavern after visiting the graves of people beloved by Bunin - Ertel and Chekhov at the cemetery of the Novo-Devichy Monastery.

Sitting on the second floor of the tavern, the Bunin heroine exclaims: “Good! Downstairs there are wild men, and here are pancakes with champagne and the Mother of God Three-handed. Three hands! After all, this is India! » Obviously, this is a jumble of symbols and associations with different cultures and different religions in one Orthodox image of the Mother of God gives us the possibility of an ambiguous interpretation of this image. On the one hand, this is the deep-rooted, blind worship of the people to their deity - the Mother of God, rooted in the pagan fundamental principle, on the other - worship, ready to turn into a blind popular revolt, cruel in its naivety, and revolt in any of its manifestations Bunin is a writer condemned.

The plot of the story "Clean Monday" is based on the unhappy love of the protagonist, which determined his whole life. A distinctive feature of many works by I.A. Bunin is the absence of happy love. Even the most prosperous story often ends tragically for this writer.

Initially, one might get the impression that "Clean Monday" - has all the signs of a love story and its culmination is a night spent by the lovers together... But the storynot about this or not only about this ... Already at the very beginning of the story it is directly said that in front of us will unfold« strange Love» between a dazzling handsome man, in whose appearance there is even something« sicilian» (however, he is only originally from Penza), and« Shamahan queen» (as the surrounding people call the heroine), whose portrait is given in great detail: there was something in the beauty of the girl« Indian, Persian» (although her origin is very prosaic: her father is a merchant of a noble family from Tver, her grandmother is from Astrakhan). She has« dark amber face, magnificent and somewhat ominous hair in its thick blackness, softly shining like black sable fur, eyebrows, black as velvet coal, eyes» , captivating« velvety crimson» lips shaded with dark fuzz. Her favorite evening dress is also described in detail: a pomegranate velvet dress, the same shoes with gold buckles. (Somewhat unexpected in the rich palette of Bunin's epithets is the persistent repetition of the epithet velvet, which, obviously, should set off the heroine's amazing softness. But let's not forget about« coal» , which, undoubtedly, is associated with firmness.) Thus, the Bunin heroes are deliberately likened to each other - in the sense of beauty, youth, charm, obvious originality of appearance

However, further Bunin cautiously, but very consistently« prescribes» difference between« Sicilian» and« Shamahan queen» that will turn out to be principled and ultimately lead to a dramatic denouement - eternal separation. Nothing bothers the heroes of "Clean Monday", they live such a wealthy life that the concept of everyday life is not very applicable to their pastime. It is no coincidence that Bunin literally bit by bit recreates a rich picture of the intellectual and cultural life of Russia in 1911-1912. (For this story, in general, the attachment of events to a certain time is very essential. Usually Bunin prefers greater temporal abstraction.) Here, as they say, on one patch, all the events that during the first decade and a half of the XX century are concentrated. excited the minds of the Russian intelligentsia. These are new productions and skits Art theater; lectures by Andrey Bely, delivered by him in such an original manner that everyone was talking about it; most popular stylization historical events XVI century - trials of witches and V. Bryusov's novel "The Fiery Angel"; fashionable writers of the Viennese school« modern» A. Schnitzler and G. Hofmannsthal; works of Polish decadents K. Tetmayer and S. Przybyszewski; the stories of L. Andreev, who attracted everyone's attention, the concerts of F. Chaliapin ... Literary scholars even find historical inconsistencies in the picture of life of pre-war Moscow depicted by Bunin, pointing out that many of the events he cited could not take place at the same time. However, it seems that Bunin deliberately compresses time, achieving its ultimate density, materiality, and tangibility.

So, every day and evening of the heroes is filled with something interesting - visiting theaters, restaurants. They should not burden themselves with work or study (it is true that the heroine is studying in some courses, but why she attends them - she cannot really answer), they are free, young. I'd like to add: and happy. But this word can only be applied to the hero, although he is also aware that, fortunately, being next to her is mixed with flour. And yet for him this is undoubted happiness.« Great happiness» , as Bunin says (and his voice in this story largely merges with the voice of the narrator).

And what about the heroine? Is she happy? Isn't it the greatest happiness for a woman to discover that she is loved more than life (« True, how you love me! - she said with quiet bewilderment, shaking her head» ) that she is desired, that they want to see her as a wife? But this is clearly not enough for the heroine! It is she who utters a significant phrase about happiness, which contains a whole philosophy of life:« Our happiness, my friend, is like water in delirium: if you pull it out, it puffs up, but if you pull it out, there’s nothing» ... At the same time, it turns out that she was not invented by her, but said by Platon Karataev, the wisdom of which her interlocutor, moreover, immediately announced« eastern» .

It is probably worth immediately paying attention to the fact that Bunin, clearly accentuating the gesture, emphasized how the young man, in response to the words of Karataev quoted by the heroine« waved his hand» ... So it becomes obvious that the views, perception of certain phenomena by the hero and the heroine do not coincide. He exists in the real dimension, in the present time, therefore calmly, as an integral part of him, he perceives everything that happens in him. Boxes of chocolates are as much a sign of attention to him as a book; he doesn't really care where to go - in« Metropol» whether to dine, or to wander around Ordynka in search of Griboyedov's house, whether to sit at dinner in a tavern, or listen to the gypsies. He does not feel the surrounding vulgarity, which is remarkably captured by Bunin and performed by« Pole Tranblan» when the partner shouts out« goat» meaningless set of phrases, and in the cheeky performance of songs by an old gypsy« with a gray muzzle of a drowned man» and a gypsy« with a low forehead under the tar bangs» ... He is not very jarred by drunk people around him, annoyingly obliging genitals, emphasized theatricality in the behavior of people of art. And as the height of the mismatch with the heroine, his consent to her invitation, pronounced in English, sounds:« All Wright!»

All this does not mean, of course, that high feelings are not available to him, that he is unable to appreciate the unusualness, the uniqueness of the girl he meets. On the contrary, enthusiastic love clearly saves him from the surrounding vulgarity, and the fact with what rapture and pleasure he listens to her words, how he knows how to highlight in them a special intonation, how he is noticeable even to trifles (he sees« quiet light» in her eyes, he pleases her« kind talkativeness» ), speaks in his favor. It is not for nothing that at the mention of the fact that a beloved can go to a monastery, he,« forgotten with excitement» , lights a cigarette and almost admits out loud that out of despair he is capable of stabbing someone or also becoming a monk. And when something really happens that only arose in the heroine's imagination, and she decides first to obey, and then, apparently, to tonsure (in the epilogue, the hero meets her in the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy), he first sinks down and drinks himself to such degree that it already seems that it is impossible to be reborn, and then, although little by little,« is recovering» , comes back to life, but somehow« indifferent, hopeless» , although he sobs, passing through the places where they once were together. He has a sensitive heart: after all, right after a night of intimacy, when nothing still portends trouble, he feels himself and what has happened so strongly and bitterly that an old woman near the Iverskaya chapel addresses him with the words:« Oh, don't kill yourself, don't kill yourself like that!»
Consequently, the height of his feelings, the ability to experience are beyond doubt. The heroine herself admits this when, in her farewell letter, she asks God to give him strength.« do not answer» her, realizing that their correspondence will only« it is useless to prolong and increase our torment» ... And yet the tension of it mental life cannot be compared with her spiritual experiences and insights. Moreover, Bunin deliberately creates the impression that he, as it were,« echoes» the heroine, agreeing to go where she calls, admiring what delights her, entertaining her with what, as it seems to him, can occupy her in the first place. This does not mean that he does not have his own« I am» , your own personality. Reflections and observations are not alien to him, he is attentive to the changes in the mood of his beloved, he is the first to notice that their relationship is developing in such« strange» a city like Moscow.

But still it is she who leads« party» , it is her voice that is discernible especially clearly. Actually, the strength of the heroine's spirit and the choice she eventually makes become the semantic core of Bunin's work. It is her deep concentration on something that is not immediately amenable to definition, for the time being hidden from prying eyes, and constitutes the alarming nerve of the story, the ending of which defies any logical, life-like explanation. And if the hero is talkative and restless, if he can postpone the painful decision for later, assuming that everything will be resolved somehow by itself, or at least not think about the future at all, then the heroine all the time thinks about something of her own, which is only indirectly breaks through in her remarks and conversations. She loves to quote Russian chronicle legends, she especially admires the Old Russian« The story of the faithful spouses Peter and Fevronia of Murom» (Bunin erroneously indicated the name of the prince - Paul).

However, one should pay attention to the fact that the text of the life is drawn by the author of "Clean Monday" in a substantially revised form. The heroine, who knows this text, according to her, thoroughly ("until then I re-read what I especially like, until I learn by heart"), mixes two completely different plot lines of "The Tale of Peter and Fevronia": an episode of the temptation of the wife of Prince Paul, to which the devil-serpent appears in the guise of her husband, then killed by Paul's brother, Peter, and the story of the life and death of Peter himself and his wife Fevronia. As a result, the impression is created that the “blissful death” of the characters of the life is in a causal connection with the theme of temptation (cf. the explanation of the heroine: “This is how God tested”). Absolutely inconsistent with the actual state of affairs in life, this idea is quite logical in the context of Bunin's story: the heroine's own image of a woman who did not succumb to temptation, who even in marriage managed to prefer eternal spiritual kinship to bodily closeness, is psychologically close to her.

Even more interesting is what shades such an interpretation of the Old Russian story brings to the image of the Bunin hero. First, he is directly compared with "a serpent in human nature, extremely beautiful." Comparison of the hero with the devil, temporarily taking on a human form, is being prepared already from the beginning of the story: “I<. >was handsome at that time<. >was even "indecently handsome", as one famous actor once told me<. >“The devil knows who you are, some Sicilian,” he said. In the same spirit, the association with yet another work of the hagiographic genre can be interpreted in "Clean Monday" - this time introduced by the replica of a hero who quotes the words of Yuri Dolgoruky from a letter to Svyatoslav Seversky with an invitation to a "Moscow dinner". At the same time, the plot of the Miracle of St. George is updated and, accordingly, the motive of snake fighting: firstly, the ancient Russian form of the prince's name is given - "Gyurgi", and secondly, the heroine herself clearly personifies Moscow (the hero defines the inconsistency of her actions as "Moscow quirks" ). It is not surprising, by the way, that the hero in this case turns out to be more erudite than the heroine who loves antiquity: as a sybarite, he knows better everything that concerns "dinners" (including historical ones), and as a "snake" - everything that concerns "snake fighters" ...

However, precisely due to the fact that the heroine of "Pure Monday" handles the Old Russian text quite freely, the hero of the story in the subtext turns out to be not only a "snake" himself, but also a "snake fighter": in the work he is not only "this snake" for the heroine, but also "this prince" (as she herself is a "princess"). It should be borne in mind that in the real "The Tale of Peter and Fevronia" Peter kills the snake in the guise of his own brother - Paul; the motive of "fratricide" in Bunin's story takes on meaning, for it emphasizes the idea of ​​"two-part man, coexistence and struggle in him" divine "and" devilish ". Of course, the hero-narrator himself “does not see” and does not oppose these extremes in his own being; all the more, it is impossible to reproach him with any malicious intent: he plays the role of tempter only involuntarily. It is interesting, for example, that although the heroine claims that the way of life that they lead is imposed by the hero (“I, for example, often go in the mornings or evenings, when you don’t drag me to restaurants, to Kremlin cathedrals”), the impression is that the initiative belongs to her. As a result, the "serpent" is put to shame, the temptation is overcome - however, the idyll does not come: joint "blissful dormition" for the heroes is impossible. Within the framework of the “Paradise Lost” scheme, the hero embodies “Adam” and “The Serpent” in one person.

Through these reminiscences, the author, to some extent, explains the strangeness of the behavior of the "Clean Monday" heroine. She leads, at first glance, a life characteristic of a representative of the bohemian-aristocratic circle, quirks and obligatory "consumption" of various intellectual "food", in particular - the works of the above-mentioned symbolist writers. And at the same time, the heroine visits temples, a schismatic cemetery, while not considering herself too religious. “This is not religiosity. I don’t know what, ”she says. “But I, for example, often go in the mornings or evenings, when you don’t take me to restaurants, to Kremlin cathedrals, and you don’t even suspect it…”

She can be heard with church chants. The very pronunciation of the words of the Old Russian language will not leave her indifferent, and she, as if spellbound, will repeat them ... And her conversations are no less "strange" than her actions. She then beckons her lover to the Novodevichy Convent, then she leads him around Ordynka in search of the house where Griboyedov lived (more precisely, she visited, because in one of the Horde lanes was the house of A.S. Griboyedov's uncle), then she talks about her visiting the old schismatic cemetery, he confesses his love for Chudov, Zachatyevsky and other monasteries, where he constantly goes. And, of course, the most “strange”, incomprehensible from the point of view of everyday logic, is her decision to retire to a monastery, to sever all ties with the world.

Ho Bunin as a writer does his best to "explain" this oddity. The reason for this "strangeness» - in the contradictions of the Russian national character, which themselves are a consequence of the finding of Russia at the crossroads of East and West. This is where the constantly accentuated clash of eastern and western principles comes from in the story. The eye of the author, the eye of the narrator stops at cathedrals built in Moscow by Italian architects, ancient Russian architecture that adopted oriental traditions (something Kyrgyz in the towers of the Kremlin wall), the Persian beauty of the heroine - the daughter of a Tver merchant, discovers a combination of incongruous in her favorite clothes (that Astrakhan grandmother, then European fashion dress), in the setting and affection - " Moonlight Sonata”And a Turkish sofa on which she is reclining. In the striking of the Moscow Kremlin clock, she hears the sounds of a Florentine clock. The heroine's eyes also capture the "extravagant" habits of the Moscow merchants - pancakes with caviar, washed down with frozen champagne. But she herself is not alien to the same tastes: she orders a foreign sherry for the Russian navazhka.

No less important is the inner contradiction of the heroine, who is depicted by the writer at a spiritual crossroads. She often says one thing, but does another: she is surprised at the gourmands of other people, but she herself has lunch and dinner with an excellent appetite, then attends all the newfangled meetings, then does not leave the house at all, gets annoyed by the surrounding vulgarity, but goes to dance the Tranblan pole, causing general admiration and applause, delays minutes of intimacy with a loved one, and then suddenly agrees to her ...

But in the end she still makes a decision, the only correct decision, which, according to Bunin, was predetermined by Russia as well - by her entire fate, her entire history. The path of repentance, humility and forgiveness.

Refusal of temptations (not without reason, agreeing to intimacy with her beloved, the heroine says, characterizing his beauty: “The serpent is in human nature, very beautiful ...» , - i.e. refers to him words from the legend about Peter and Fevronia - about the intrigues of the devil, who sent the pious princess "a flying serpent for fornication» ), which appeared at the beginning of the XX century. before Russia in the form of uprisings and riots and served, according to the writer, the beginning of her "cursed days» - that was what was supposed to ensure a decent future for his homeland. Forgiveness addressed to all the guilty is what, according to Bunin, would help Russia to withstand the whirlwind of historical cataclysms of the 20th century. The path of Russia is the path of fasting and renunciation. But this did not happen. Russia has chosen a different path. And the writer did not get tired in emigration to mourn her fate.

Probably, strict adherents of Christian piety will not find convincing the writer's arguments in favor of the heroine's decision. In their opinion, she clearly accepted him not under the influence of the grace that descended on her, but for other reasons. They will justly think that there is too little revelation and too much poetry in her adherence to church rites. She herself says that her love for church rituals can hardly be considered real religiosity. Indeed, she perceives the funeral too aesthetically (forged gold brocade, a white veil embroidered with black letters (air) on the face of the deceased, snow blinding in the frost and the shine of spruce branches inside the grave), she too admiringly listens to the music of the words of Russian legends (“I reread that, which I especially liked, until I memorize it "), is too immersed in the atmosphere accompanying the service in the church (" stichera are wonderfully singing there "," there are puddles everywhere, the air is already soft, the soul is somehow tender, sad ... "," all the doors in the cathedral are open, common people come in and out all day» ...). And in this, the heroine in her own way turns out to be close to Bunin himself, who, too, in the Novodevichy Convent will see “jackdaws, similar to nuns» , "Gray coral twigs in hoarfrost", marvelously looming "on the golden enamel of the sunset» , blood-red walls and mysteriously glowing lamps.

Thus, in choosing the ending of the story, it is not so much the religious attitude and position of Bunin the Christian that is important, as the position of Bunin the writer, for whose world outlook a sense of history is unusually essential. “The feeling of the motherland, its antiquity,” as the heroine of “Clean Monday” says about it. And also because she abandoned the future, which could have developed happily, because she decided to leave everything worldly, because the disappearance of beauty, which she feels everywhere, is unbearable for her. "Desperate Cancans" and Frisky Tranblanc Poles, performed by talented people Russia - Moskvin, Stanislavsky and Sulerzhitsky, replaced singing on "hooks" (what is that!) scenes - Kachalov and "daring" Chaliapin.

Therefore, the phrase: "But this Russia has now remained in some northern monasteries" - quite naturally arises in the lips of the heroine. She has in mind the irrevocably leaving feelings of dignity, beauty, goodness, for which she yearns immensely and which she hopes to find already in monastic life.

The main character is very hard going through the tragic ending of his relationship with the heroine. This is confirmed by the following passage: "I spent a long time drinking in the dirtiest taverns, sinking more and more in every possible way. ... Then I began to recover - indifferently, hopelessly." Judging by these two quotes, the hero is a very sensitive and emotional person, capable of deep feeling. Bunin avoids direct assessments, but allows one to judge this by the state of the hero's soul, by skillfully selected external details, and light hints.

We look at the heroine of the story through the eyes of a storyteller in love with her. Already at the very beginning of the work, her portrait appears before us: “She had some kind of Indian, Persian beauty: a dark-amber face, magnificent and somewhat sinister hair, softly shiny like black sable fur, black like velvet coal , eyes". Through the lips of the main character, a description of the restless soul of the heroine, her search for the meaning of life, excitement and doubt is conveyed. As a result, the image of a “spiritual wanderer” is revealed in all its fullness.

The culmination of the story is the decision of the hero's beloved to go to a monastery. This unexpected twist in the plot allows us to understand the undecided soul of the heroine. Almost all descriptions of the heroine's appearance and the world around her are given against the background of subdued light, in the gloom; and only at the cemetery on Forgiveness Sunday and exactly two years after that Clean Monday does the process of enlightenment take place, the spiritual transformation of the heroes' lives, the artistic modification of the worldview is also symbolic, the images of the light and shine of the sun change. V artistic world harmony and tranquility dominate: “The evening was peaceful, sunny, with frost on the trees; on the brick-bloody walls of the monastery, jackdaws, similar to nuns, chatted in the silence, chimes now and then played subtly and sadly on the bell tower». The artistic development of time in the story is associated with symbolic metamorphoses of the image of light. The whole story takes place, as if in twilight, in a dream, illuminated only by the mystery and glitter of the eyes, silk hair, gold fasteners on red weekend shoes the main character... Evening, dusk, mystery - this is the first thing that catches your eye in the perception of the image of this unusual woman.

It is symbolically inseparable both for us and for the narrator with the most magical and mysterious time of day. However, it should be noted that the contradictory state of the world is most often defined by the epithets calm, peaceful, quiet. The heroine, despite her intuitive sense of space and time of chaos, like Sophia, carries and bestows harmony on the world. According to S. Bulgakov, the category of time as a driving image of eternity to Sophia “does not seem to be applicable, since temporality is inextricably linked with being-non-being» and if in Sophia everything is absent, then temporality is also absent: It conceives everything, has everything in itself in a single act, in the image of eternity, it is timeless, although it carries in itself all eternity;

Contradictions, oppositions begin from the first sentence, from the first paragraph:

the gas was coldly lit - the windows were warmly lit,

the day was getting dark - the passers-by were in a hurry,

every evening he rushed to her - did not know how it should all end,

didn't know - and try not to think

met every evening - once and for all put away conversations about the future ...

for some reason studied at the courses - rarely attended them,

it looked like she didn't need anything - but she always read books, ate chocolate,

I didn’t understand how people wouldn’t get tired of having lunch every day - she herself dined with a Moscow understanding of the matter,

weakness was good clothes, velvet, silk - a modest student attended courses,

went to restaurants every evening - visited cathedrals and monasteries when she was not "dragged" to restaurants,

meets, allows himself to kiss - with quiet bewilderment is surprised: "How you love me" ...

The story is replete with numerous hints and half-hints, with which Bunin emphasizes the duality of the contradictory way of life in Russian life, a combination of the incompatible. There is a "wide Turkish sofa" in the heroine's apartment.The too familiar and beloved image of the "Oblomov" sofa appears eight times in the text.

Next to the sofa - "an expensive piano", and above the sofa, the writer emphasizes, "for some reason there was a portrait of a barefoot Tolstoy"apparently the well-known work of I.E. Repin's "Leo Tolstoy barefoot", and a few pages later the heroine quotes Tolstoy's Platon Karataev's remark about happiness. With the influence of the ideas of the late Tolstoy, the researchers reasonably correlate the mention of the hero of the story that the heroine "had breakfast for thirty kopecks in a vegetarian canteen on the Arbat."

Let us once again recall that verbal portrait of her: "... When leaving, she most often wore a pomegranate velvet dress and the same shoes with gold fasteners (and went to the courses as a modest student, had breakfast for thirty kopecks in a vegetarian cafeteria on the Arbat)." These daily metamorphoses - from morning asceticism to evening luxury - super-compressed and mirror-image the evolution of Tolstoy, as he himself saw it - from luxury in the beginning life path to asceticism in old age. Moreover, the outward signs of this evolution, as in Tolstoy, are the preferences of the Bunin heroine in clothes and food: a modest student in the evening transforms into a lady in a pomegranate velvet dress and shoes with gold fasteners; the heroine has breakfast for thirty kopecks in a vegetarian canteen, but she “had lunch and dinner” “with a Moscow understanding of the matter.” Let us compare it with the peasant dress and vegetarianism of the late Tolstoy, effectively and effectively opposed to the exquisite noble clothing and gastronomy (to which the writer brought a generous tribute in his youth).

And already quite in Tolstoyan, except perhaps with the inevitable gender corrections, the final departure-flight of the heroine looks from and from this world full of aesthetically and sensually attractive temptations. She even arranges her departure similarly to Tolstoy, sending the hero a letter - "an affectionate but firm request not to wait for her anymore, not to try to look for her, to see." Let us compare with the telegram sent by Tolstoy to his family on October 31, 1910: “We are leaving. Don't look. Writing".

A Turkish sofa and an expensive piano are East and West, barefoot Tolstoy is Russia, Russia in its unusual, "clumsy" and eccentric, out of bounds appearance.

The idea that Russia is a strange, but obvious combination of two strata, two cultural structures - "Western" and "Eastern", European and Asian, which in its appearance, as well as in its history, is located somewhere at the intersection these two lines of world historical development - this thought runs like a red thread through all fourteen pages of Bunin's story, which, contrary to the initial impression, is based on a complete historical system that affects the most important moments of Russian history and the character of the Russian people for Bunin and the people of his era.

So, finding itself between two fires - West and East, at the point of intersection of opposing historical trends and cultural structures, Russia at the same time preserved in the depths of its history the specific features of national life, the indescribable charm of which for Bunin is concentrated in the annals on the one hand, and in the religious rituals - on the other. Spontaneous passion, chaos (East) and classical clarity, harmony (West) are combined in the patriarchal depth of national-Russian self-awareness, according to Bunin, into a complex complex in which the main role is assigned to restraint, meaning - not explicit, but hidden, hidden, although according to -to his own deeply and thoroughly.One of the most important components of the text is its title "Clean Monday." On the one hand, it is very specific: Clean Monday is a non-church name for the first day of Easter Lent.

In this, the heroine announces her decision to leave worldly life. On this day, the relationship between the two lovers ended and the hero's life ended. On the other hand, the title of the story is symbolic. It is believed that on Clean Monday there is a cleansing of the soul from all vain and sinful. Moreover, in the story, it is not only the heroine who has chosen monastic hermitism that changes. Her act prompts the hero to introspection, makes him change, purify himself.

Why did Bunin name his story that way, although the action is only small, albeit an important part of it falls on clean Monday? Probably because this very day marked a sharp turn from Shrovetide fun to the harsh stoicism of fasting. The situation of an abrupt change is not just repeated many times in "Clean Monday", but organizes a lot in this story.

In addition, the word “pure”, in addition to the meaning of “holy”, paradoxically emphasizes the meaning of “empty”, “empty”, “absent”. And it is quite natural that in the finale of the story in the hero's memories of the events of almost two years ago, it is not Clean Monday that appears here: previous evening - evening of Forgiveness Sunday. "

Thirty eight times "About the same thing" I.Bunin wrote in the cycle of stories "Dark Alleys". Simple plots, ordinary, at first glance, everyday stories. But for everyone, these are also unforgettable, unique stories. Painful and poignant stories. Life stories. Stories that pierce and torment the heart. Never forgotten. Endless stories like life and memory ...

In 1937, Ivan Bunin began work on his the best book... For the first time the collection "Dark Alleys" was published after the end of the Second World War. This book is a collection of short tragic love stories. One of Bunin's most famous stories is Clean Monday. Analysis and summary works are presented in today's article.

"Dark alleys"

Analysis of "Clean Monday" Bunin should begin with brief history creation of a work. This is one of recent stories, included in the collection "Dark Alleys". Bunin completed work on the work "Clean Monday" on May 12, 1944. The story was first published in New York.

The writer was probably pleased with this composition. Indeed, in his diary, Bunin wrote: "I thank God for the opportunity to create" Clean Monday "."

Bunin in each of his works included in the collection "Dark Alleys" reveals to the reader the tragedy and catastrophic nature of love. This feeling is beyond the control of man. It suddenly comes into his life, gives fleeting happiness, and then certainly causes unbearable pain.

The narration in the story "Clean Monday" by Bunin is in the first person. The author does not name his heroes. Love breaks out between two young people. They are both beautiful, wealthy, healthy and seemingly full of energy. But something is missing in their relationship.

They visit restaurants, concerts, theaters. Discussing books, performances. True, the girl often shows indifference, even hostility. “You don’t like everything,” the main character once says, but he himself does not attach importance to his words. A passionate romance is followed by a sudden separation - sudden for young man, not for her. The ending is typical of the Bunin style. What caused the gap between the lovers?

On the eve of an Orthodox holiday

The story describes their first meeting, but the story begins with events that take place some time after they met. The girl attends courses, reads a lot, otherwise she leads an idle lifestyle. And she seems to be quite happy with everything. But this is only at first glance. He is so absorbed in his feelings, his love for her, that he does not even suspect about the other side of her soul.

It is worth paying attention to the title of the story - "Clean Monday". The meaning of Bunin's story is quite deep. On the eve of the holy day, for the first time, a conversation about religiosity occurs between lovers. Before that, the main character did not suspect that the girl was attracted by everything connected with the church. In his absence, she visits Moscow monasteries, moreover, she thinks about monasticism.

Maundy Monday is the beginning of Lent. On this day, cleansing rituals are held, the transition from fast food to Lenten restrictions.

Parting

One day they go to the Novodevichy Convent. By the way, this is a rather unusual route for him. Previously, they spent time exclusively in entertainment establishments. A visit to the monastery is, of course, the idea of ​​the beloved of the protagonist.

The next day, for the first time, intimacy occurs between them. And then the girl leaves for Tver, from there she sends her lover a letter. In this message, she asks not to wait for her. She became a novice of one of the Tver monasteries, and may decide to tonsure. He would never see her again.

After he received the last letter from his beloved, the hero began to drink, sink, then still came to his senses. Once, after a long time, I saw a nun in a Moscow church, in whom I recognized my former beloved. Perhaps the image of his beloved was too firmly entrenched in his mind, and it was not her at all? He said nothing to her. He turned and walked out of the gate of the temple. This is the summary of Bunin's Clean Monday.

Love and tragedy

Bunin's heroes do not find happiness. In "Pure Monday", as in other works of the Russian classics, we are talking about love, which brings only bitterness and disappointment. What is the tragedy of the heroes of this story?

Probably because, being close, they did not know each other at all. Each person is the whole Universe. AND inner world sometimes even close ones cannot solve it. Bunin told about loneliness among people, about love, which is impossible without complete mutual understanding, in "Clean Monday". Analysis artwork cannot be done without the characteristics of the main characters. What do we know about the girl who, living in abundance and being loved, went to a monastery?

main character

Analyzing Bunin's Clean Monday, it is worth paying attention to the portrait of a nameless girl, which the author creates at the beginning of the work. She led an idle life. I read a lot, studied music, loved going to restaurants. But she did all this somehow indifferently, without much interest.

She is educated, well-read, with pleasure she immerses herself in the world of luxurious social life. She loves good food, but she wonders, "how is it that people are not bored with lunch and dinner every day"? She calls the acting skits vulgar, while the relationship with her lover ends with a visit to the theater. The heroine Bunin cannot understand what is his purpose in this life. She is not one of those who just need to live in luxury, to talk about literature and art.

The inner world of the main character is very rich. She constantly reflects, is in a spiritual search. The girl is attracted by the surrounding reality, but at the same time she is frightened. Love becomes for her not salvation, but a problem that monstrously burdens her, compels her to take the only right sudden decision.

The main character refuses worldly joys, and this shows her strong nature. "Clean Monday" is not the only story from the collection "Dark Alleys" in which the author paid a lot of attention to the female image.

Bunin brought to the fore the feelings of the hero. At the same time, he showed a rather contradictory female character... The heroine is satisfied with the way of life that she leads, but all sorts of details, trifles, depress her. Finally, she decides to go to a monastery, thereby destroying the life of the person who loves her. True, by this she inflicts suffering on herself. Indeed, the letter that the girl sends to her beloved contains the words: "May God give me the strength not to answer you."

The main character

Little is known about how the future fate of the young man developed. He was very upset about separation from his beloved. He disappeared in the dirtiest taverns, drank and went down. But nevertheless he came to his senses, returned to his former way of life. It can be assumed that the pain that this strange, extraordinary and somewhat exalted girl inflicted on him will never subside.

In order to find out who the writer was during his lifetime, you just need to read his books. But is the biography of Ivan Bunin so tragic? Was there true love in his life?

Ivan Bunin

The writer's first wife, Anna Tsakni, was the daughter of an Odessa Greek editor of a magazine popular at that time. They got married in 1898. Soon a son was born, who did not live even five years. The child died of meningitis. The death of his son Bunin was very difficult. The relationship between the spouses went wrong, but his wife did not give him a divorce for a long time. Even after he linked his life with Vera Muromtseva.

The second wife of the writer became his "patient shadow". Muromtseva replaced his secretary, mother, friend. She did not leave him even when he struck up an affair with Galina Kuznetsova. Yet it was Galina Muromtseva who was next to the writer in the last days of his life. The creator of "Dark Alley" was not deprived of love.

In the creative heritage of Ivan Bunin there are both prose and poems. He himself rightly considered himself primarily a poet and was offended when he was called a prose writer. He wrote his best prose works like a true poet.

In the story "Clean Monday" feelings come to the fore, which brings it closer to poetry. If you work a little on the rhymes, then the beginning of the story can be easily converted into a lyric poem:

The Moscow winter day was getting dark,
Carriage cabs rushed ...

This "overflow" of prose into poetry makes Bunin's story unusually musical.

The syntax of the writer also has its own peculiarities. In "Clean Monday" there are large, half a sheet, paragraphs, which consist of two or three huge sentences. They do not create a feeling of ponderousness, because there is some kind of peculiar rhythm in them, to which the pictorial and expressive means of the artistic style of speech are subordinated.

It is impossible to retell the plot, because without the magic of Bunin's words, the most ordinary story... It's just He and She. He tells the story of his love. Just six pages of text, enough to go down in literary history.

The story is called "Clean Monday", of course, not by chance. For a demanding artist, there are no accidents. But the meaning of the name does not open immediately. Maundy Monday is the first day of Lent after Shrovetide. Orthodox Christians fast to cleanse themselves from filth, to prepare for a better, brighter life. The day before, on Forgiveness Sunday, the heroes go not to a restaurant, but to the Novodevichy Convent, visit the graves of Ertel and Chekhov, and try to find Griboyedov's house.

The next day, Clean Monday, nothing happens. He and She meet only late at night. Evgeny Yablokov writes: “... in the work called“ Clean Monday ”, in fact, there is no Clean Monday itself: its place in the plot is occupied by a pause lasting exactly one day .., and in the word“ Clean ”, in addition to the meaning of“ holy ”, paradoxically, the emphasis is on the meaning of “empty”, “empty”, “absent”.

Why, even after two years of separation, does the hero remember Clean Monday, and the author calls the story that way?

On this day, the girl finally makes the most important decision for herself: to move away from the bustle of the world and become a nun. Purity and holiness that fight the temptations of earthly life win. All unnecessary "imperceptibly, but carefully" she removes from herself, like a train of an evening dress. The decision was painful, because beautiful love was sent to the heroine as a test from above.

The composition is divided into three parts. The first one introduces the heroes, tells about their relationship and the time of passing. The second part is devoted to the events of Forgiveness Sunday and Clean Monday. The shortest, but content-rich third movement completes the composition.

A short story contains comprehensive information about the characters.
This is achieved through careful selection artistic means allowing you to create vivid, memorable characters. Epithets, metaphors, comparisons give the story the necessary figurative expressiveness. On the "stretching trotter" every evening the hero hurries to his beloved, it becomes clear with what impatience he is waiting for the meeting.

The tone of the narrative changes from the second part. Built on dialogue, it is less dynamic, but extremely important, since the ideological content of the story begins to clarify in it, we first learn about the heroine's love for antiquity, religious rituals. Here she confesses her desire to go to a monastery. At the same time, her eyes are "gentle and quiet", her clothes are designed in dark colors. Eyes - clothes, landscape - everything is in full accordance with the mood of the heroine.

The feeling of serenity is created by the "peaceful sunny" evening, the silence of the monastery, broken by the bell ringing, the "golden enamel" of the sunset. Not without reason, two years later, the narrator remembers the smallest details that take on the meaning of symbols. One of these details - symbols - is a star trail in the snow from the boots of your beloved girl. She walks as if scattering stars, and this light will be repeated in the glow of candles in the hands of the nuns, in one of whom the hero recognizes his beloved.

The night after Monday in the composition of the story is the climax. Love reaches its climax, but separation is inevitable: she firmly decided to become a novice in the monastery.

The third part is narrated as if by a different person. It is not surprising: for two years the hero "... disappeared in the dirtiest taverns, drank himself intoxicated, going down in every possible way, more and more."

Then he gradually recovered and began to live "indifferently, hopelessly." But the guardian angel did not forget about him. As if anticipating his appearance, the same sunny evening is repeated, and the candles flicker in the same way, and singing is heard church choir... Before us is no longer a frivolous young man, but a person who has suffered a lot, able to cry from memories, striving for the temple. He saw his beloved among the nuns, and, I want to believe, the look of her dark eyes will give him the strength to live on enough ...

The story "Clean Monday" is included in the collection " Dark alleys», Written in France in 1937 - 1944. Ivan Bunin emphasized that the content of the works is tragic, dedicated to the gloomy, painful and sad "alleys of love".

Bunin considered "Clean Monday" his best story and once wrote: "I thank God that he gave me the opportunity to write" Clean Monday. " To get to know the piece better, let's do brief analysis of the story "Clean Monday". We also recommend that you familiarize yourself with the biography of Ivan Bunin and read the summary "Clean Monday".

The essence of the story "Clean Monday" briefly

Maundy Monday is the name of the first day of Lent, which follows immediately after Shrove Tuesday and Forgiveness Sunday. This day is the beginning of spiritual and physical cleansing, preparation for the sacraments of the coming Easter days.

The main event that changed the lives of both heroes takes place on Clean Monday. The girl makes a decision, to which she has been going for a long time: she leaves for the Martha-Mariinsky monastery and chooses the path of a novice. Maundy Monday for her is the border between life in the capital, going to luxurious restaurants, entertainment, love for a man and a new destiny associated with spiritual service.

According to many researchers, and the analysis of the story "Clean Monday" confirms this, the heroine of the story personifies Russia, a complex combination of Orthodox traditions, ancient rituals, and modern culture... Then Clean Monday is also a symbol of the cleansing border between the festive, riotous pre-war life in the capital and deep, ancient, Orthodox Russia, a symbol of the choice of path on the eve of future events.

Images of the hero and heroine in the analysis of the story "Clean Monday"

The story of Ivan Bunin is a poignant and sad love story of two people, whose names have not even been named. He and she, it would seem, are the perfect couple. Both are young, beautiful, in love, but for some reason happiness did not take place. From the very beginning, Bunin makes us understand that with all the external similarities, the heroes are very different, their inner world is filled with different interests and dreams.

The young man hails from the Penza province, "indecently handsome", rich, with a light and lively character, always ready "for a happy smile, for a good joke." The girl is beautiful with some kind of Indian, Persian beauty, silent, thoughtful. The beloved often uses the words "mystery", "mysteriousness" in relation to her. Let's continue the analysis of the story "Clean Monday".

When analyzing the characters' images, it is important to consider which books and writers they like. The narrator recalls that he brought his beloved books of fashion contemporary writers decadent orientation: Huysmans, Hoffmannsthal, Schnitzler, Andrey Bely. The girl looked through them, and about "The Fiery Angel" Bryusova said that such a pompous book was "ashamed to read." She herself loved the ancient Russian chronicles and remembered many by heart, admired the story of Peter and Fevronia of Murom, and over the sofa hung a portrait of the barefoot Tolstoy. After reading the summary "Clean Monday", you can pay attention to some more important details.

What else does Bunin reveal to us in the form of the heroes of the story?

The heroes attended Andrei Bely's lectures together, listened to Chaliapin's speeches in fashionable restaurants, drove to taverns and watched the swaggering singing of gypsies. But the girl attracted her lover to other places: to look for Griboyedov's house on Ordynka, to visit the cemetery at the grave of Chekhov and Ertel. The hero is surprised to learn that she is at the schismatic cemetery, in the mornings she goes to the Kremlin cathedrals, where she listens to how “they sing, calling out one chorus, then another, and all in unison, and not according to notes, but according to“ hooks ". But telling the story, the heroine feels how far from this her beloved: "No, you do not understand this!"

Analysis of the story "Clean Monday" shows how complex the girl's nature is: she combines an unusual beauty, externally simple life, full of entertainment, and a deep mind, interest in the spiritual foundations of real, ancient, pre-Petrine Russia. For Bunin, who lives in exile, this heroine personified Russia itself, the spiritual traditions of Orthodoxy were perceived as the basis of national identity.

For a moment, illuminating the life of the hero, giving him love, the girl forever leaves for the Martha-Mariinsky monastery. In the finale of the story, a young man, two years after parting, enters the Martha-Mariinsky monastery and in the semi-darkness one of the nuns, as if sensing his presence, directs the gaze of dark eyes into the darkness ", as if he sees his beloved.

After reading the analysis of the story "Clean Monday", you better understand what Ivan Bunin's intention is - what exactly the author wanted to say to the readers. Go to the section of our website - Blog, where you will find many articles on similar topics. Take some time to also read the summary of the "Clean Monday" story. Read