Analysis of I. Bunin's work "Clean Monday". Analysis of the story “Clean Monday” The main theme of the story is “Clean Monday”
In 1937, Ivan Bunin began work on his best book. The collection “Dark Alleys” was first published after the end of World War II. This book is a collection of short tragic love stories. One of Bunin's most famous stories is “Clean Monday”. An analysis and summary of the work is presented in today's article.
"Dark alleys"
The analysis of Bunin’s “Clean Monday” should begin with a brief history of the creation of the work. This is one of the last 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 essay. After all, 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 catastrophism of love. This feeling is beyond human control. 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 told in the first person. The author does not name his heroes. Love breaks out between two young people. They are both beautiful, rich, healthy and seemingly full of energy. But something is missing in their relationship.
They visit restaurants, concerts, theaters. They discuss books and plays. True, the girl often shows indifference, even hostility. “You don’t like everything,” the main character once says, but he doesn’t attach any importance to his words. A passionate romance is followed by a sudden separation - sudden for the young man, not for her. The ending is typical of Bunin's style. What caused the break between the lovers?
On the eve of the Orthodox holiday
The story describes their first meeting, but the narrative begins with events that occur some time after they met. The girl attends courses, reads a lot, and otherwise leads an idle lifestyle. And she seems quite happy with everything. But this is only at first glance. He is so absorbed in his feeling, his love for her, that he is not even aware of 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, the lovers have their first conversation about religiosity. Before this, the main character had no idea that the girl was attracted to everything connected with the church. In his absence, she visits Moscow monasteries, moreover, she is thinking about becoming a monk.
Clean Monday is the beginning of Lent. On this day, cleansing rituals are carried out, 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 venues. The visit to the monastery is, of course, the idea of the protagonist's beloved.
The next day, intimacy occurs between them for the first time. And then the girl leaves for Tver, from there she sends a letter to her lover. In this message she asks not to wait for her. She became a novice in one of the Tver monasteries, and perhaps she will decide to take monastic vows. He will never see her again.
After receiving the last letter from his beloved, the hero began to drink, go downhill, and then finally came to his senses. One day, 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 didn't tell her anything. He turned and walked out of the temple gates. This is the summary of Bunin’s “Clean Monday”.
Love and tragedy
Bunin's heroes do not find happiness. In "Clean Monday", as in other works of the Russian classic, we are talking about love, which brings only bitterness and disappointment. What is the tragedy of the heroes of this story?
Probably the fact that, being close, they did not know each other at all. Each person is a whole Universe. And sometimes even loved ones cannot unravel his inner world. Bunin spoke about loneliness among people, about love, which is impossible without complete mutual understanding. An analysis of a work of art cannot be done without characterizing the main characters. What do we know about the girl who, living in prosperity and being loved, went to a monastery?
main character
When analyzing Bunin’s “Clean Monday”, it is worth paying attention to the portrait of a nameless girl that the author creates at the beginning of the work. She led an idle life. She read a lot, studied music, and loved visiting restaurants. But she did all this somehow indifferently, without much interest.
She is educated, well-read, and enjoys immersing herself in the world of luxurious social life. She likes good cuisine, but she wonders “how people don’t get bored having lunch and dinner every day”? She calls acting skits vulgar, while she ends the relationship with her lover by visiting the theater. Bunin's heroine cannot understand what his purpose in this life is. She is not one of those who is content to live in luxury and talk about literature and art.
The inner world of the main character is very rich. She constantly thinks and is in a spiritual search. The girl is attracted by the surrounding reality, but at the same time she is frightened. Love becomes not a salvation for her, but a problem that terribly burdens her, forcing her to make the only correct 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 hero's experiences. At the same time, he showed a rather controversial female character. The heroine is satisfied with the lifestyle she leads, but all sorts of details, little things, depress her. Finally, she decides to go to a monastery, thereby destroying the life of the man who loves her. True, by doing this she causes suffering to herself. After all, in the letter that the girl sends to her lover there are the words: “May God give me the strength not to answer you.”
Main character
Little is known about the future fate of the young man. He had a hard time being separated from his beloved. He disappeared into the dirtiest taverns, drank and became miserable. But still he came to his senses and returned to his previous 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 really 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 popular magazine 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. Bunin took the death of his son very hard. The relationship between the spouses went wrong, but his wife did not give him a divorce for a long time. Even after he connected his life with Vera Muromtseva.
The writer's second wife became his "patient shadow." Muromtseva replaced his secretary, mother, and friend. She did not leave him even when he began 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 Alleys” was not deprived of love.
The story of the great Russian writer Ivan Alekseevich Bunin “Clean Monday” is included in his outstanding book of love stories “Dark Alleys”. Like all the works in this collection, this is a story about love, unhappy and tragic. We offer a literary analysis of Bunin's work. The material can be used to prepare for the Unified State Exam in literature in 11th grade.
Brief Analysis
Year of writing– 1944
History of creation– Researchers of Bunin’s work believe that the reason for writing “Clean Monday” for the author was his first love.
Topic – In “Clean Monday” the main idea of the story is clearly visible– this is the theme of the lack of meaning in life, loneliness in society.
Composition– The composition is divided into three parts, in the first of which the characters are introduced, the second part is dedicated to the events of Orthodox holidays, and the shortest third is the denouement of the plot.
Genre– “Clean Monday” belongs to the short story genre.
Direction– Neorealism.
History of creation
The writer emigrated to France, this distracted him from the unpleasant moments in life, and he is working fruitfully on his collection “Dark Alleys.” According to researchers, in the story Bunin describes his first love, where the prototype of the main character is the author himself, and the prototype of the heroine is V. Pashchenko.
Ivan Alekseevich himself considered the story “Clean Monday” one of his best creations, and in his diary he praised God for helping him create this magnificent work.
This is a brief history of the creation of the story, the year of writing is 1944, the first publication of the short story was in the New Journal in New York City.
Subject
In the story “Clean Monday”, analysis of the work reveals a large love theme problems and ideas for the novella. The work is dedicated to the theme of true love, real and all-consuming, but in which there is a problem of misunderstanding by the characters of each other.
Two young people fell in love with each other: this is wonderful, since love pushes a person to noble deeds, thanks to this feeling, a person finds the meaning of life. In Bunin's novella, love is tragic, the main characters do not understand each other, and this is their drama. The heroine found a divine revelation for herself, she purified herself spiritually, finding her calling in serving God, and went to a monastery. In her understanding, love for the divine turned out to be stronger than physiological love for her chosen one. She realized in time that by joining her life in marriage with the hero, she would not receive complete happiness. Her spiritual development is much higher than her physiological needs; the heroine has higher moral goals. Having made her choice, she left the bustle of the world, surrendering to the service of God.
The hero loves his chosen one, loves sincerely, but he is unable to understand the tossing of her soul. He cannot find an explanation for her reckless and eccentric actions. In Bunin’s story, the heroine looks like a more alive person; at least somehow, through trial and error, she is looking for her meaning in life. She rushes about, rushes from one extreme to another, but in the end she finds her way.
The main character, throughout all these relationships, simply remains an outside observer. He, in fact, has no aspirations; everything is convenient and comfortable for him when the heroine is nearby. He cannot understand her thoughts; most likely, he does not even try to understand. He simply accepts everything that his chosen one does, and that’s enough for him. From this it follows that every person has the right to choose, whatever it may be. The main thing for a person is to decide what you are, who you are, and where you are going, and you shouldn’t look around, fearing that someone will judge your decision. Self-confidence and self-confidence will help you find the right decision and make the right choice.
Composition
The work of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin includes not only prose, but also poetry. Bunin himself considered himself a poet, which is especially felt in his prose story “Clean Monday.” His expressive artistic means, unusual epithets and comparisons, various metaphors, his special poetic style of narration give this work lightness and sensuality.
The title of the story itself gives great meaning to the work. The concept of “pure” speaks of the cleansing of the soul, and Monday is a new beginning. It is symbolic that the culmination of events occurs on this day.
Compositional structure The story consists of three parts. The first part introduces the characters and their relationships. The masterful use of expressive means gives a deep emotional coloring to the image of the characters and their pastime.
The second part of the composition is more dialogue-based. In this part of the story, the author leads the reader to the very idea of the story. The writer speaks here about the choice of the heroine, about her dreams of the divine. The heroine expresses her secret desire to leave the luxurious social life and retire to the shadow of the monastery walls.
The climax appears the night after Clean Monday, when the heroine is determined to become a novice, and the inevitable separation of the heroes occurs.
The third part comes to the denouement of the plot. The heroine has found her purpose in life; she serves in a monastery. The hero, after separation from his beloved, led a dissolute life for two years, mired in drunkenness and debauchery. Over time, he comes to his senses and leads a quiet, calm life, in complete indifference and indifference to everything. One day fate gives him a chance; he sees his beloved among the novices of God's temple. Having met her gaze, he turns around and leaves. Who knows, maybe he realized the meaninglessness of his existence and set off for a new life.
Main characters
Genre
Bunin's work was written in short story genre, which is characterized by a sharp turn of events. This is what happens in this story: the main character changes her worldview and abruptly breaks with her past life, changing it in the most radical way.
The novella was written in the direction of realism, but only the great Russian poet and prose writer Ivan Alekseevich Bunin could write about love in such words.
Work test
Rating analysis
Average rating: 4.3. Total ratings received: 484.
Ivan Bunin is known to many readers as a brilliant writer and poet. During his creative career, the writer created a huge number of poems, stories, novellas and novels. All of them are imbued with 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 couple, full of strength and energy, but they are too different.
A man is fixated on his feelings, and this prevents him from better knowing the spiritual world of his 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 the girl’s emotional experiences. 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 for nothing that Bunin chose Clean Monday as a 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 dedicated to the strong personality of a girl who was not afraid to do something different from everyone else, to dramatically change her life and find the meaning of her existence.
The story “Clean Monday” is amazingly beautiful and tragic at the same time. The meeting of two people leads to the emergence of a wonderful feeling - love. But love is not only joy, it is a huge torment, against the background of which many problems and troubles seem invisible. The story described exactly how the man and woman met. But the story begins from the moment at which their relationship had already continued for quite a long time. Bunin pays attention to the smallest details, to how “the Moscow gray winter day darkened,” or to where the lovers went for dinner - “to Prague, to the Hermitage, to the Metropol.”
The tragedy of separation is anticipated at the very beginning of the story. The main character does not know where their relationship will lead. He simply prefers not to think about this: “I didn’t know how it was going to end, and I tried not to think, not to speculate: it was useless - just like talking to her about it: she once and for all turned away conversations about our future.” Why does the heroine reject conversations about the future?
Is she not interested in continuing the relationship with her loved one? Or does she already have some idea about her future? judging by the way Bunin describes the main character, she appears as a completely special woman, unlike many around. She takes courses, not realizing, however, why she needs to study. When asked why she was studying, the girl answered: “Why is everything done in the world? Do we understand anything in our actions?”
The girl loves to surround herself with beautiful things, she is educated, sophisticated, smart. But at the same time, she seems somehow surprisingly detached from everything that surrounded her: “It looked like she didn’t need anything: no flowers, no books, no dinners, no theaters, no dinners out of town.” At the same time, she knows how to enjoy life, enjoys reading, delicious food, and interesting experiences. It would seem that the lovers have everything they need for happiness: “We were both rich, healthy, young and so good-looking that in restaurants and at concerts people looked at us.” At first it may seem that the story describes a real love idyll. But in reality everything was completely different.
It is no coincidence that the main character comes up with the idea of the strangeness of their love. The girl denies in every possible way the possibility of marriage, she explains that she is not fit to be a wife. The girl cannot find herself, she is in thought. She is attracted to a luxurious, fun life. But at the same time she resists it, wants to find something different for herself. Conflicting feelings arise in the girl’s soul, which are incomprehensible to many young people who are accustomed to a simple and carefree existence.
The girl visits churches and Kremlin cathedrals. She is drawn to religion, to holiness, herself, perhaps, not realizing why she is attracted to this. Quite suddenly, without explaining anything to anyone, she decides to leave not only her lover, but also her usual way of life. After leaving, the heroine informs in a letter of her intention to decide to take monastic vows. She doesn't want to explain anything to anyone. Parting with his beloved turned out to be a difficult test for the main character. Only after a long time was he able to see her among the line of nuns.
The story is called “Clean Monday” because it was on the eve of this holy day that the first conversation about religiosity took place between the lovers. Before this, the main character had not thought or suspected about the other side of the girl’s nature. She seemed quite happy with her usual life, in which there was a place for theaters, restaurants, and fun. The renunciation of secular joys for the sake of a monastic monastery testifies to the deep internal torment that took place in the soul of the young woman. Perhaps this is precisely what explains the indifference with which she treated her usual life. She could not find a place for herself among everything that surrounded her. And even love could not help her in finding spiritual harmony.
Love and tragedy go hand in hand in this story, as, indeed, in many other works of Bunin. Love in itself does not seem to be happiness, but rather a difficult test that must be endured with honor. Love is sent to people who cannot, do not know how to understand and appreciate it in time.
What is the tragedy of the main characters in the story “Clean Monday”? The fact is that a man and a woman were never able to understand and appreciate each other properly. Each person is a whole world, a whole Universe. The inner world of the girl, the heroine of the story, is very rich. She is in thought, in a spiritual search. She is attracted and at the same time frightened by the surrounding reality; she does not find anything to become attached to. And love appears not as salvation, but as another problem that weighs on her. That is why the heroine decides to give up love.
Refusal of worldly joys and entertainment reveals a strong nature in a girl. This is how she answers her own questions about the meaning of existence. In the monastery she does not have to ask herself any questions; now the meaning of life for her becomes love for God and service to him. Everything vain, vulgar, petty and insignificant will never touch her again. Now she can be in her solitude without worrying that it will be disturbed.
The story may seem sad and even tragic. To some extent this is true. But at the same time, the story “Clean Monday” is sublimely beautiful. It makes you think about true values, about the fact that each of us sooner or later has to face a situation of moral choice. And not everyone has the courage to admit that the choice was made incorrectly.
At first, the girl lives the way many of those around her live. But gradually she realizes that she is not satisfied not only with the way of life itself, but also with all the little things and details that surround her. She finds the strength to look for another option and comes to the conclusion that love for God can be her salvation. Love for God simultaneously elevates her, but at the same time makes all her actions completely incomprehensible. The main character, a man in love with her, practically ruins his life. He remains alone. But the point is not that she leaves him completely unexpectedly. She treats him cruelly, making him suffer and suffer. True, he suffers with him. He suffers and suffers of his own free will. This is evidenced by the heroine’s letter: “May God give me the strength not to answer me - it is useless to prolong and increase our torment...”.
Lovers are separated not because unfavorable circumstances arise. In fact, the reason is completely different. The reason is a sublime and at the same time deeply unhappy girl who cannot find the meaning of existence for herself. She cannot but deserve respect - this amazing girl who was not afraid to change her destiny so dramatically. But at the same time, she seems to be an incomprehensible and incomprehensible person, so unlike everyone who surrounded her.
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” to be his best story and once wrote: “I thank God that he gave me the opportunity to write “Clean Monday.” To get to know the work better, let's do a brief analysis of the story “Clean Monday”. We also recommend that you familiarize yourself with the biography of Ivan Bunin and read the summary of “Clean Monday”.
The essence of the story “Clean Monday” in brief
Clean Monday is the name of the first day of Lent, which follows immediately after Shrovetide 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 that she has been coming to for a long time: she goes to the Martha and Mary Convent and chooses the path of a novice. Clean Monday for her is the border between metropolitan life, going to luxurious restaurants, entertainment, love for a man and a new destiny associated with spiritual service.
According to many researchers, and analysis of the story “Clean Monday” confirms this, the heroine of the story personifies Russia, its 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 capital life and deep, ancient, Orthodox Russia, a symbol of choosing a path on the eve of future events.
Images of the hero and heroine in the analysis of the story “Clean Monday”
Ivan Bunin's story is a poignant and sad love story between two people whose names are not even mentioned. He and she seem to be the perfect couple. Both are young, beautiful, in love, but for some reason happiness did not materialize. From the very beginning, Bunin makes us understand that despite all the external similarities, the heroes are very different, their inner world is filled with different interests and dreams.
A young man originally 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 more than once uses the words “mystery” and “mystery” in relation to her. Let us continue the analysis of the story “Clean Monday”.
When analyzing the images of heroes, it is important to take into account what books and writers they like. The narrator recalls that he brought his beloved books by fashionable modern writers of a decadent orientation: Huysmans, Hofmannsthal, Schnitzler, Andrei 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 ancient Russian chronicles and remembered many by heart, admired the story of Peter and Fevronia of Murom, and above her sofa hung a portrait of a barefoot Tolstoy. After reading the summary of “Clean Monday”, you can pay attention to some more important details.
What else does Bunin reveal to us in the image of the heroes of the story?
The heroes attended Andrei Bely’s lectures together, listened to Chaliapin’s speeches in fashionable restaurants, traveled to taverns and watched the rollicking singing of the gypsies. But the girl attracted her lover to other places: to look for Griboyedov’s house on Ordynka, to stop by the cemetery at the grave of Chekhov and Ertel. The hero is surprised to learn that she visits the schismatic cemetery, in the mornings she goes to the Kremlin cathedrals, where she listens to how “they sing, calling to each other, first one choir, then another, and all in unison, and not according to the notes, but according to “ hooks." But while telling the story, the heroine feels how far her lover is from this: “No, you don’t understand this!”
An analysis of the story “Clean Monday” shows how complex the girl’s nature is: she combines unusual beauty, an outwardly simple life full of entertainment, and a deep intelligence, interest in the spiritual foundations of real, ancient, pre-Petrine Rus'. For Bunin, who lived in exile, this heroine personified Russia itself; the spiritual traditions of Orthodoxy were perceived as the basis of national identity.
Having momentarily illuminated the hero’s life, giving him love, the girl leaves forever for the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent. At the end of the story, a young man, two years after separation, enters the Martha and Mary Convent and in the semi-darkness one of the nuns, as if sensing his presence, turns her dark eyes into the darkness, as if seeing her lover.
After reading the analysis of the story “Clean Monday”, you better understand what Ivan Bunin’s plan is - what exactly the author wanted to tell the readers. Go to the Blog section of our website, there you will find many articles on similar topics. Take the time to also read the summary of the story “Clean Monday”. Read
