In many of his works, Bunin addresses eternal themes: love and tragedy, life and death. These themes become the main ones in the story " Easy breath”, striking precisely with the light breath of Bunin’s prose, its special aroma.
The meaning of the story's title is primarily related to the main character. The first detail in the description of Olya Meshcherskaya’s appearance is noteworthy, revealing her personal individuality - “live, joyful eyes.” Liveliness, simplicity, naturalness, spontaneity, beauty, naivety, femininity, lightness make up Olya’s endless charm, her attractiveness, seductiveness, “seductiveness”. The “light breath” of her femininity joyfully and all-conqueringly triumphs in the smallest details of appearance and behavior. All this was given to her by nature, it came to her without the slightest effort - “easily.” The motif of lightness is the main one in the description of Olya’s appearance, behavior and life itself. Only death is hard - the “oak cross” on Olya’s grave, “strong, heavy, smooth.” The principle of antithesis will remain throughout the entire story, reflected both in the system of images and in the composition.
Bunin's heroine walked freely and joyfully through life, without thinking about its dark, muddy currents; the meaning of life for her was in life itself. On the path of her easy flight were the love of elementary school students, dancing at balls, fun, ice skating, the love of the high school student Shenshin, but there was also the fifty-six-year-old “ladiesman” Malyutin, there was a Cossack officer, “ugly and plebeian in appearance.” Olya, again, easily took a step towards moral decline, because in her attitude towards Malyutin there was not even a shadow of love, she easily admitted this to the school governor, and easily played with the feelings of the Cossack officer. It is no coincidence that Malyutin mentions Faust and Margarita: in the story of Margarita’s temptation in Faust, the carnal triumphs over the spiritual; Malyutin does not hide the “Mephistophelian” beginning in his carnal desire to possess Olya’s young charm, and Olya is not aware of the necessary moral boundaries of her life’s flight - only lightness, only freedom, only a fun game.
The death of Olya at the station is spoken of dryly and abruptly, as in the chronicle of a criminal case. Flight through life - without awareness and responsibility - draws Bunin's heroine into the dangerous sphere of "plebeian" feelings, unilinear and cruel decisions: the Cossack officer saw in Meshcherskaya one mockery of himself, of his, so to speak, principles, of his "morality", he punished Olya as a frivolous, immoral seductress - and believed himself to be right. Olya’s life was easy, and death also easily took away this fragile, “moth” life.
However, the author's task has nothing to do with a melodramatic and moralizing description of the life and death of a charming but confused schoolgirl. The work has an unusual composition: it begins and ends with a description of the cemetery, the chronology of events has been changed by the writer, the plot does not coincide with the plot. Episodes appear that seem to have no connection with Olya’s story - her story to her friend about “easy breathing” and a cool lady coming to the grave.
The image of the main character is included in a system of antitheses, one of which is Olya Meshcherskaya and the cool lady. A cool lady lives in fiction, which replaces her real life. Olya's life was full of energy, fast-paced and festive - the life of a classy lady is lonely, sparse in events, devoid of love and happiness. This “middle-aged girl” is smart, but she does not have that “easy breathing” that Olya was endowed with, life passes by the cool lady, giving her only fragile illusions, hence her attraction even to the memory of “easy breathing”.
“Light breathing” is the energy of femininity, eternally living in the world, capable of driving you crazy, giving either the highest happiness or tragedy. This energy is not connected (or least of all connected) with beauty as the harmony of external features - it is no coincidence that Olya, speaking to her friend about beauty, rejected everything externally decorative: “black eyes boiling with resin”, “knees the color of a shell”, “gently playing blush ” and so on - and chose only “light breathing”. This is a great mystery that can be marveled at, but which cannot be completely solved.
“Easy breathing” is also the energy of creativity, inspiration, which is also inexplicable and cannot be decomposed into formulas and definitions. It is the “light breath” of creativity that is felt in the chain of events of Bunin’s story. The art critic and psychologist of the last century, L.S. Vygotsky, said this most accurately: “The life of the high school student Olya Meshcherskaya is dark, muddy, confused, but the events are connected and linked in such a way that they lose their everyday burden and opaque turbidity; They melodically interlocked with each other, and in their build-ups, resolutions and transitions they seem to unravel the threads that bind them, they renounce reality. Thus, the everyday story of a dissolute schoolgirl is transformed here into the light breath of Bunin’s story.”
Analysis of I. Bunin's story "Easy Breathing"
Man is the reason for the explosion.
(Why do volcanoes explode?).
Sometimes volcanoes explode with treasure.
Letting it explode is more than getting it.
M. Tsvetaeva.
Starting to write this essay, I set myself the goal of understanding why extraordinary, unusual people, people “exploding with treasures,” remain unrecognized and rejected by society. Olya Meshcherskaya is one of these people. Radiating undying light, good spirits, cheerfulness, lightness, she aroused envy in some, hostility in others. Although all these people, it seems to me, deep down in their souls admired her carelessness, courage, admired her fate, behavior, her unbridled happiness. Undoubtedly, the personality of Olya Meshcherskaya, her character and way of life are ambiguous. On the one hand, this strong personality lives without fear of being misunderstood. But on the other hand, Olya is unable to resist society, she cannot withstand this cruel struggle with prejudices, “moral principles” that are created by the crowd, a gray and faceless mass of people who have no individuality, no life of their own, who condemn even attempts to live like that , as you like.
“She was not afraid of anything - not an ink stain on her fingers, not a flushed face, not disheveled hair, not a knee that got exposed when she fell while running” - that’s something worth admiring! This is something worth envying! Rarely will a person be able to behave so fearlessly, without thinking about the consequences, doing everything sincerely and easily. All her words, actions (that is, deeds) - all this came from a pure heart. She lived for today, without fear of the future, truly enjoying life. To be honest, I'm jealous! I probably wouldn’t be able to live like that, behave so carelessly, and few people could. This is the uniqueness of Olya, her individuality, such fate as a gift, one should be proud of her.
The idea of the story is in the contradiction of two worlds: a gray, boring, faceless society and the bright, bright inner world of Olya Meshcherskaya. Here there is an interpersonal conflict: “... rumors began to spread that she (Olya) is flighty, cannot live without fans...” Society did not accept Olya’s behavior because it went beyond its boundaries, Olya, in turn, perhaps even too much She dealt with the increased attention of others with ease. Every time underestimating the enemy, a person is doomed to defeat in the fight.
Here, in “Easy Breathing,” the conflict of two worlds is reflected in the landscape: on the one hand, “...April, gray days; the cold wind rings like a wreath at the foot of the cross,” and on the other, a medallion in which “a photographic portrait of a schoolgirl with joyful, amazingly lively eyes." And this lightness, joy, liveliness is everywhere. Reading the story, you become infected with that boiling, seething energy of Olya, you seem to be pierced by the biocurrents sent by the high school student Meshcherskaya: “grace, elegance, dexterity, clear sparkle of eyes,” “Olya Meshcherskaya seemed the most carefree, the happiest,” “shining eyes, she ran upstairs.” , “... looking at her clearly and vividly,” “... as easily and gracefully as only she could,” “... Meshcherskaya answered simply, almost cheerfully.”
Olya's carelessness and desire to know everything led her to a dead end. This is the main contradiction: living by her destiny, Olya discovered a new world for herself, but at the same time, wanting everything at once, without thinking about the meaning of her life, she hopelessly lost her childhood, adolescence, youth. Too early she learned the vulgar side of love, without ever unraveling the secret of romantic feelings. Only later, realizing this, or rather, feeling fear, disappointment and shame, perhaps for the first time in her life, Olya got scared: “I don’t understand how this could happen, I’m crazy, I never thought I was like this.” ! Now I have only one way out... I feel such disgust for him that I can’t get over it!..”
Only now it becomes clear how weak Olya is. She is unable to fight. Having descended from heaven to earth, she was afraid. And the only possible way out of this situation for her is death. Olya understood this well. I believe death was the natural result of her reckless behavior.
Many questions arise when you re-read the text again and again. Malyutin and this Cossack officer who killed Olya - are they the same person or not? And the woman we see at Meshcherskaya’s grave at the end of the story, and the boss? It is difficult to answer unequivocally. One thing is clear: in principle, it doesn’t matter, because these people represent a crowd, and it is not at all necessary to know who they are, because they are all, in essence, the same. The only bright image in the story is Olya Meshcherskaya, and Bunin draws her to us in every detail, because there are only a few people like her. “Now Olya Meshcherskaya is the subject of her persistent thoughts and feelings,” we are talking about the worship of the classy lady Olya as an ideal. Thanks to such people, the world exists: they give those around them that energy, that lightness that the world of mere mortals lacks. Although these people are weak and unable to resist both their passions and the contempt of others, people like Olya live the time allotted to them with dignity and pleasure. And even one such human destiny, I believe, is capable of turning the whole world upside down, which a faceless crowd can never do. High school student Olya, a young girl who was just beginning to live, left a deep imprint on the soul of everyone who knew her story. In a short period of her life, she was able to do what many fail to do in their entire lives: she stood out from the crowd.
“...But the main thing, you know what? Easy breathing! But I have it,” listen to how I sigh, “I really have it?” Of course, she had this lightness that she gave to everyone. “Is it possible that under it (under the porcelain wreath) is the one whose eyes shine so immortally from this convex porcelain medallion on the cross..?” Of course not, only her body is buried in the ground, but Olya’s life, her smile, pure look, lightness will forever remain in the hearts of people: “Now this light breath has again dissipated in the world, in this cloudy sky, in this cold spring wind.” Such people are immortal, because they give life to others, a full, real, genuine life.
So why was Olya rejected by society? There is only one answer: envy. All these faceless creatures envied her with “black envy.” Realizing that they would never become LIKE Meshcherskaya, people made her an outcast. The stubborn crowd did not want to accept anything that did not fit into its framework.
But this is not the main problem for people like Olya. They simply, living their lives, completely forget about the cruel reality, which costs nothing to break all their dreams, joys, their whole life. But nevertheless, I admire Olya Meshcherskaya, her talent to live beautifully, wrongly, but interestingly, little, but brightly and easily!!!
…It’s a pity that light breathing is rare.
The first impression of the story “Easy Breathing” put me in a state of some incomprehensible feeling, bewilderment, a feeling of incompleteness of events, as if some secret of the author had escaped me. I wanted to re-read it again, go deeper, understand the secret meaning of the work and track the techniques that I. Bunin uses to achieve the effect of mystery. To do this, you need to analyze the story.
Let's start with the history of creation. I. Bunin's story was written on the eve of the First World War. During this period, the situation in the country is quite tense. And the questions of “life”, “death” and “meaning of life” were widely discussed in journalism. Old theories are being replaced by new ones. The most popular was the theory of “living life”, which was preached by the famous realist writer V. Veresaev. In his opinion, living a “living life” means following nature, imbued with a sense of the inexhaustible intrinsic value of life. Its meaning is in itself; it in itself is of the greatest value, regardless of its content. These theories and disputes were reflected in some of Bunin’s stories, including the story “Easy Breathing”.
Bunin writes about the plan: “One winter I wandered into a small cemetery in Capri and came across a grave cross with a photographic portrait on a convex porcelain medallion of some little girl with unusually lively and joyful eyes. I immediately made this girl mentally Russian, Olya Meshcherskaya, and, dipping my pen into the inkwell, I began to invent a story with that amazing speed that happened in some of the happiest moments of my writing.”
The plot itself ( story line) - is very trivial. A provincial high school student, the story of her fall from grace, indicated by just one phrase addressed to the headmistress of the school, and small excerpts from the diary, a dissolute, in fact, such a short life, and a nightmare ending - the murder of a girl by a Cossack officer, whose heart Olya broke. It is noteworthy that this entire storyline, despite all the tragedy, is presented in a calm tone, as if by the way. And the feeling of tragedy does not remain at all in the finale.
Bunin called his story "Easy Breathing." The title sets the mood for the perception of something light, bright, joyful. How can breathing be light? After all, this is already something initially easy, familiar. Breathing is given by nature, it is natural for every person and is not difficult work. However, the author wanted to emphasize that light breathing is something elusive and very short-lived.
In the story, “light breathing” from an ordinary detail of the portrait turns into a “leitmotif, a “musical” key, the main lyrical theme, which is reinforced by the use of other words with the root “breath-”: “the field air is blowing freshly,” “the office that breathed so well on frosty days with the warmth of a shiny Dutch woman,” “took only one deep breath.” This motive bursts into the story from the first lines “like a cold wind” and “rings like a porcelain wreath at the foot of the cross,” not at all corresponding to the mood of the opening chord of the story: “light breathing” and a cemetery.
Bunin compares the main character - Olya Meshcherskaya - with “light breathing”, because Olya lived her entire short but bright life in one breath - “light breathing”. The following lines speak about this: “without any worries or effort somehow imperceptibly everything that distinguished her from the entire gymnasium came to her - grace, elegance, dexterity, the clear sparkle of her eyes,” “she began to blossom, develop by leaps and bounds,” “she rushed like a whirlwind around the assembly hall from first-graders chasing her and blissfully squealing,” “and rumors had already spread that she was flighty” - nature gave her what many would like to have.
The author even gives the name of his heroine harmonious and light. Olya Meshcherskaya...Let's remember Paustovsky. Meshchery is dense, untouched. When applied to the main character, this means the “denseness” of consciousness, its underdevelopment and at the same time originality. The phonosemantic assessment of the name shows that the image of the word gives the impression of something good, beautiful, simple, safe, kind, strong, bright. Compared to her, death seems absurd and does not look ominous. It is no coincidence that I. Bunin begins the story with a message about Olya’s death; this deprives this fact of murder of its emotional overtones. So the reader is puzzled not by the result of life, but by the dynamics of life itself, Olya’s story.
The image of the boss is contrasted with the image of Olya Meshcherskaya. Unlike the boss, the girl cares little about how others perceive her. In addition, the contrast lies in the appearance of the heroines and their hairstyles are compared. Olya Meshcherskaya draws attention to the “even parting in milky, neatly crimped hair,” which apparently takes a lot of time to create. And Olya, having learned that her boss is calling her, preens herself in just a few seconds: “She stopped running, took only one deep breath, and straightened her hair with a quick and already familiar feminine movement.” And this is already familiar to her. The boss is annoyed by Olya’s frivolous behavior and her simple and cheerful answers.
The image of a classy lady is presented to the reader at the end of the story. The author pays a lot of attention to the image of a classy lady. She has no name. The reader meets “a little woman in mourning, in black kid gloves, with an ebony umbrella” heading towards the cemetery. The author’s selection of symbolic details said everything about this woman. She goes to Olya’s grave and does not take her eyes off the oak cross, which from the very beginning symbolizes the common cross of life. The little woman does not just look at the cross, she carries the cross of life. She can't be happy. Her mourning is not so much mourning for Olya, but evidence that the life of a classy lady is endless mourning.
We learn about Alexei Mikhailovich Malyutin from the diary of Olya Meshcherskaya: “he is fifty-six years old, but he is still very handsome and always well dressed.” Malyutin, who is old enough to be Olya’s grandfather, enters sexual relations with the child, thereby violating social norms. Malyutin committed a crime, but for the hero this is a conscious overstepping of boundaries, which he motivates with literary allusions and flirtations. I would like to ask the question: what was this man thinking, how could he allow himself to take such a rash, vile step? After all, he was a friend and neighbor of this young girl’s father, which means that he had known Olya for quite a long time and she was almost like family to him. The motivation for his behavior is revealed through the portrait. In her diary, Olya several times emphasizes the youthfulness (pseudo-youth) of the hero, and this youthfulness is portrayed in increasing order: first, Olya notes that Malyutin is “still very handsome,” and then describes “very young” black eyes. Olya also notes “...was he was very animated and behaved like a gentleman with me, joked a lot about how he had been in love with me for a long time.” These actions of Malyutin are completely inconsistent with his old age! The hero’s name and patronymic significantly coincide with the name and patronymic of the sovereign ancestor of that same “young king” whose portrait the girl “really liked”; and his last name - Malyutin - provokes the reader to remember the favorite of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, Malyuta Skuratov.
The image of the high school student Shenshin is mentioned in the story only once “... her high school fame was imperceptibly strengthened, and rumors were already spreading that she was flighty, that she could not live without fans, that the high school student Shenshin was madly in love with her, that she was his loves, but is so changeable in her treatment of him that he attempted suicide...” Shenshin expected constancy from Olya and could not forgive her changeable nature. For I.A. Bunin this image is important. Many details of Shenshin’s image remain unknown to the reader, for example, the author does not give accurate information about the hero’s suicide, but relies on rumors that circulate in the gymnasium.
I.A. Bunin recounts the events in the story “Easy Breathing” through the eyes of several participants at once. On five pages, he covers the life of Olya Meshcherskaya from different points of view.
I. A. Bunin’s short story “Easy Breathing” has long become an example of an unusual, “inverted” composition structure. As you know, he was the first to note this feature and try to explain it back in the 20s. 20th century L.S. Vygotsky in one of the chapters of his book “Psychology of Art”
The composition of the work has a ring structure, i.e. is a story within a story. The "frame" is a description of a cemetery and one of the graves (beginning) and a woman who visits this grave, pondering the fate of the girl buried there (end). The fate of the girl is at the center of the story. The story about her also has a non-standard composition: the plot of the story, the reasons for the internal drama of Olya Meshcherskaya become clear after the tragic death of the girl.
The plot of the story, transferred to the end, illuminates the whole story in a new way, which makes it possible to feel it especially acutely. Only at the end of the story is it revealed that Olya Meshcherskaya is not empty and dissolute, but unhappy and cruel, first of all, towards herself. And death, perhaps, is exactly what she was striving for.
The peculiarity of the composition “Easy Breathing” is its discrepancy with the disposition ( chronological order events). If you highlight the semantic parts of the text, you find that each part breaks off at the moment of highest emotional stress. At the beginning of the work, it is worth noting the interweaving of contrasting motifs of life and death. The description of the city cemetery and the monotonous ringing of a porcelain wreath create a sad mood. Against this background, the portrait of a high school student with joyful, amazingly lively eyes is especially expressive. The next sentence (This is Olya Meshcherskaya) is highlighted in a separate paragraph. In Bunin's story, the name mentioned does not mean anything, but we are already involved in the action. Many questions arise: “Who is this girl? What is the cause of her death?” The author deliberately hesitates to answer, maintaining the tension of perception.
The main compositional technique that Bunin uses is antithesis, that is, opposition. The author uses it from the very first lines: the theme of life and death prevails at the beginning of the story. Bunin begins with a description of the cross: “heavy, strong,” a symbol of death. Clear, sunny April days are contrasted with gray days (gloomy, lifeless). Instead of fresh flowers, there is a porcelain wreath on the grave, personifying lifelessness and death. This whole gloomy description is contradicted by the image of Olya Meshcherskaya: “In the cross itself there is a rather large, convex porcelain medallion, and in the medallion there is a photographic portrait of a schoolgirl with joyful, amazingly lively eyes. This is Olya Meshcherskaya.” Bunin does not directly say that this is the grave of Olya Meshcherskaya, as if he does not want to connect this cheerful and cheerful girl with the cemetery, with death.
When describing the life of a girl in the gymnasium, the author again turns to the antithesis: “as a girl she did not stand out in any way in the crowd of brown school dresses,” but unlike her peers, who were very careful about their appearance and face, she “was not afraid of anything - not even inky spots on the fingers, no flushed face, no disheveled hair, no knee that became bare when falling while running.” Bunin constantly emphasizes that Olya Meshcherskaya was the best in everything: in skating, in dancing, she was looked after like no other schoolgirl. No one else was loved by the junior classes as much as she was! Olya's life - cheerful, without worries, constantly on the move - does not in any way correspond to the image of the cemetery. She flashed through this life like a whirlwind, a bright star. He even contrasts Malyutin and the Cossack officer. Malyutin is a handsome elderly man, and the Cossack officer does not stand out in any way externally.
Bunin constantly emphasizes her eyes: “the clear shine of the eyes,” “shining eyes.” Light is a symbol of life. He introduces a rhetorical question: “is it possible that under him is the one whose eyes shine so immortally from this convex porcelain medallion on the cross, and how to combine with this pure look that terrible thing that is now associated with the name of Olya Meshcherskaya?” Even after death, the eyes shine "immortal".
The author distracts the reader from seemingly significant events and clutters them with words. For example, the word “shot” is suppressed by the author among the description of the officer and the platform, the crowd of people, and the train that has just arrived. Thus, our attention is persistently directed to some secret springs of Olya’s life.
The motive of the woman runs like a red thread through the entire story of I. A. Bunin.
First, let's look at its verbal incarnations. The words woman and female are mentioned 7 times in the story. For the first time this word is heard in a conversation between Olya Meshcherskaya and the gymnasium headmistress. "It's a woman's hairstyle!" - the boss says reproachfully. “...I am a woman,” Olya answers her. Then this word is mentioned in Olya’s diary: “Today I have become a woman!” After Olya’s death, a “little woman” comes to her grave - a cool lady (the word “woman” is mentioned 3 times ).And finally, at the end of the story, Olya’s own words are again quoted about “what beauty a woman should have.” Having traced the use of this motif in the story, we can come to the conclusion that Olya Meshcherskaya’s actions are guided by the desire to become a woman, but the transformation into a woman turns out to be completely different from what the girl imagined him to be. The author reveals to us not only the beauty of the girl, of course, not her experience, but only these undeveloped wonderful possibilities. They, according to the author, cannot disappear, just as the craving for beauty, happiness, and perfection never disappears.
Beauty and death, love and separation - eternal themes, which received such a touching and enlightened embodiment in the work of I. A. Bunin, excite us today:
And it flies to me
The light of your smile.
Not a stove, not a crucifix
Still in front of me -
Institute dress
And a shining gaze.
When it comes to stories about love, the first person remembered is Ivan Alekseevich Bunin. Only he could so tenderly and subtly describe a wonderful feeling, so accurately convey all the shades that exist in love. His story “Easy Breathing,” the analysis of which is presented below, is one of the pearls of his work.
Heroes of the story
The analysis of "Easy Breathing" must begin with brief description characters. The main character is Olya Meshcherskaya, a high school student. A spontaneous, carefree girl. She stood out among other high school students with her beauty and grace; already at a young age she had many fans.
Alexey Mikhailovich Malyutin, a fifty-year-old officer, a friend of Olga's father and brother of the head of the gymnasium. A single, pleasant-looking man. Seduced Olya, thought she liked him. He was proud, therefore, having learned that the girl was disgusted with him, he shot at her.
Head of the gymnasium, sister Malyutin. A gray-haired but still youthful woman. Strict, unemotional. She was irritated by the liveliness and spontaneity of Olenka Meshcherskaya.
Cool lady heroine. An elderly woman whose dreams have replaced reality. She came up with lofty goals and devoted herself to thinking about them with all passion. It was precisely this dream that Olga Meshcherskaya became for her, associated with youth, lightness and happiness.
The analysis of “Easy Breathing” needs to be continued summary story. The narrative begins with a description of the cemetery where high school student Olya Meshcherskaya is buried. A description of the expression in the girl’s eyes is immediately given - joyful, amazingly alive. The reader understands that the story will be about Olya, who was a cheerful and happy schoolgirl.
It goes on to say that until the age of 14, Meshcherskaya was no different from other high school students. She was a pretty, playful girl, like many of her peers. But after she turned 14, Olya blossomed, and at 15 everyone already considered her a real beauty.
The girl was different from her peers in that she was not bothered by appearance, didn’t care that her face turned red from running and her hair became disheveled. No one danced at balls with such ease and grace as Meshcherskaya. No one was looked after as much as she was, and no one was loved by the first-graders as much as she was.
In her last winter, they said that the girl seemed to have gone crazy with fun. She dressed up like a grown woman and was the most carefree and happy at that time. One day the head of the gymnasium called her to her. She began to scold the girl for acting frivolously. Olenka, not at all embarrassed, makes a shocking confession that she has become a woman. And the boss’s brother, her father’s friend, Alexey Mikhailovich Malyutin, is to blame for this.
And a month after this frank conversation, he shot Olya. At the trial, Malyutin justified himself by saying that Meshcherskaya herself was to blame for everything. That she seduced him, promised to marry him, and then said that she was disgusted with him and let him read her diary, where she wrote about it.
Her cool lady comes to Olenka’s grave every holiday. And he spends hours thinking about how unfair life can be. She remembers a conversation she once heard. Olya Meshcherskaya told her beloved friend that she had read in one of her father’s books that the most important thing in a woman’s beauty is light breathing.
Features of the composition
The next point in the analysis of “Easy Breathing” is the features of the composition. This story is distinguished by the complexity of the chosen plot structure. At the very beginning, the writer already shows the reader the end of the sad story.
Then he goes back, quickly running through the girl's childhood and returning to the heyday of her beauty. All actions quickly replace each other. The girl’s description also speaks to this: she becomes more beautiful “by leaps and bounds.” Balls, skating rinks, running around - all this emphasizes the lively and spontaneous nature of the heroine.
There are also sharp transitions in the story - here, Olenka makes a bold confession, and a month later an officer shoots at her. And then April came. Such a quick change in the time of action emphasizes that everything happened quickly in Olya’s life. That she took actions without thinking at all about the consequences. She lived in the present without thinking about the future.
And the conversation between the friends at the end reveals to the reader Olya’s most important secret. This is that she was breathing lightly.
The image of the heroine
In the analysis of the story "Easy Breathing" it is important to talk about the image of Olya Meshcherskaya - a young, lovely girl. She differed from other high school students in her attitude to life and her view of the world. Everything seemed simple and understandable to her, and she greeted every new day with joy.
Perhaps that is why she was always light and graceful - her life was not constrained by any rules. Olya did what she wanted, without thinking about how it would be accepted in society. For her, all people were just as sincere and good, which is why she so easily admitted to Malyutin that she had no sympathy for him.
And what happened between them was curiosity on the part of a girl who wanted to become an adult. But then she realizes that it was wrong and tries to avoid Malyutin. Olya considered him as bright as she herself was. The girl did not think that he could be so cruel and proud that he would shoot at her. It is not easy for people like Olya to live in a society where people hide their feelings, do not enjoy every day and do not strive to find the good in people.
Comparison with others
In the analysis of the story “Easy Breathing” by Bunin, it is no coincidence that the boss and classy lady Olya is mentioned. These heroines are the complete opposites of the girl. They lived their lives without being attached to anyone, putting rules and dreams at the forefront of everything.
They did not live the real bright life that Olenka lived. That is why they have a special relationship with her. The boss is annoyed by the girl’s inner freedom, her courage and willingness to stand up to society. The cool lady admired her carefreeness, happiness and beauty.
What is the meaning of the name
In analyzing the work “Easy Breathing,” you need to consider the meaning of its title. What was meant by easy breathing? What was meant was not the breathing itself, but rather the carefree, spontaneity in expressing feelings that was inherent in Olya Meshcherskaya. Sincerity has always fascinated people.
It was brief analysis“Easy Breathing” by Bunin, a story about easy breathing - about a girl who loved life, learned sensuality and the power of sincere expression of feelings.
Preview:
Integrated lesson based on I.A. Bunin’s story “Easy Breathing”
Lesson based on I.A. Bunin’s story “Easy Breathing” (Teacher R.I. Stebleva).
Topic: A person’s responsibility for how his life develops (based on the story by I.A. Bunin “Easy Breathing”).
With I. A. Bunin’s story “Easy Breathing” we complete the study of the writer’s work. The heroine is the same age as the eleventh graders, so her fate is very interesting to them.
The theme is tragic early death The young girl worried Bunin throughout his entire career. It seems that all his life the writer could not come to terms with such cruelty of fate, when something that embodies life, youth, and joy with its entire being perishes. Bunin was helped to understand his feelings, formulate his life principles, views on the world, people, and the philosophical maxims of the Roman Stoic Marcus Aurelius. The most important idea was the cycle of existence, within which birth and death were equal.
Individual homework.
Group 1 – expressive reading and analysis of Bunin’s poem “Epitaph”. Group 2 – “Portrait”.
The student shares their impressions of the poems they heard.
Individual task. Brief message about the history of the creation of the story.
Work with text.
What feelings arise in you from the first lines of the story?I was struck by the scene - a cemetery. The “new cross, strong, heavy, smooth” leaves a painful impression. We saw that it is no coincidence that the time of action is when “the days are gray.” They noted that the author’s use of contrast (living eyes and an oak cross on the grave) has a strong impact on the senses.
- Formulate and write down the questions you would like to discuss. (This task was given in advance.)
Target: identification of problems that concern students, readiness to enter into dialogue with a literary text.
We see that the questions posed by the eleventh graders were the focus of the author’s attention and discussing them in class is quite natural.
- Write these problematic issues on the board:
1.Why is the story called “Easy Breathing?”
3. How does Bunin relate to the heroine of the story - Olya Meshcherskaya.
4.What is most important about her: the serenity and purity of youth or thoughtlessness and frivolity?
At the first stage of the lesson, we turn to the epigraphs (written on the board):
“Every slightest movement of air is the movement of our own life...” (I. Bunin.)
“Everything from the century is equal to itself, being in a cycle...” (M. Aurelius.)
- Comment on the epigraphs, highlight the key words in each of them.
Let us turn to the phrase “light breathing”. Name association words, sensation words. Goal: immersion into the subconscious, identifying personally meaningful words, which “will become symptoms of meaning.” As a result of collective creative efforts, the entry appears: “Light breathing is purity, freshness, carelessness, non-thinking, carelessness.”
- Poem by A. Fet “Butterfly”will expand the meaning of the phrase “light breathing. »
Questions for the poem.
1.Why is the butterfly cute? What makes it special?
2.What does the butterfly symbolize in A. Fet’s system of aesthetic values? (Symbol of beauty, lightness, carelessness, transience and fleetingness of life.)
At the second stage of the lesson there is an immersion in the verbal fabric of the work
The class is divided into groups.
1 group writes out words and phrases from the text that determine the nature of Olya Meshcherskaya’s behavior, her internal state and answer the question: “What is common between the heroine of the story and A. Fet’s butterfly?” (“Careless with instructions”, “crazy with fun”, “was not afraid of anything”, “the most carefree”, “I never thought of loving him”, “all talk about marriage is just a mockery”, “I don’t understand how it could happen.")
2nd group answers the question: “How does the text solve the philosophical problem of life and death, which is important for the writer?”, identifying episodes in which these motives are heard.
3 group ponders questions about the role of the image of a classy lady and the cold spring wind in the story.
Such a methodological technique as associative contributes to the development of reader perception, linguistic flair, associative thinking, and improvement of students’ analytical abilities.
At the final stage of the lesson, students summarize the work and answer questions.
Olya Meshcherskaya is carefree, flirtatious, elegant, graceful. Like a butterfly, it flies out of the norms of behavior, out of age, out of life. She does not listen to the boss's instructions, prematurely turns from a girl to a girl, from a girl to a woman, and dies prematurely. In all her thoughts, feelings, and actions there is the lightness of a light-winged creature who came into this world for a moment.
What is the logic of the heroine’s behavior?(This is a strange logic. Whirling through life: at balls, at the skating rink, a whirlwind run around the gymnasium, the rapidity of change, unexpected actions. They say about her: “she’s completely crazy.” “I’m completely crazy,” says the heroine.
- What destroys the harmony in the soul of Olya Meshcherskaya?(Appearance at Malyutin’s dacha, before whose harassment she found herself defenseless.)
- What feelings does the heroine have for Malyutin?(The scary thing is that there were none. What she liked about him was insignificant.) Working with text.
- Does the heroine notice her carefree, frivolous behavior, maybe repent?(At first, Olya was shocked by what happened to her: “I don’t understand how this could happen... I never thought I was like this!” The pain of remorse did not last long. The heroine seeks to drown it out with wild fun.
What second mistake resulted from the irreparable first?(Analysis of an episode of communication with a Cossack officer.)
This can no longer be called a prank. This frivolity leads to dangerous unconscious frivolity, when a person becomes a toy in the wrong hands.
- What are the reasons for this tragedy?
Where did Olya Meshcherskaya become acquainted with the “code of female beauty”, the component of which was “light breathing”?(Olya met while reading her father’s books.) They had a negative impact on the fragile soul. (Work with text.)
This tabloid code of female beauty speaks only about appearance, and in an exaggerated, vulgar way. And nothing about spirituality or moral qualities.
- How does Bunin show the absence of such a trait in the heroine as spiritual subtlety?(Everything she said about female beauty emphasized the ugliness of her friend, Subbotina.)
The seventeen-year-old high school student could not help but read individual works by Pushkin, Turgenev, and Tolstoy. These works were included in the gymnasium literature curriculum. Unfortunately, they did not leave a mark on her soul. As the author suggests, in family bookcases there was only room for pulp fiction.
The writer showed the reasons for Meshcherskaya’s failed life.
This is lack of spirituality. Olya never once thought about what worries a girl of her age - about love, about her future.
Each episode is a stage in the heroine’s life, her growing up, moral decline and death..
- What is Bunin’s attitude towards the heroine of the story?? (Bunin is testingdual feeling: ecstatic and sad.)
What is the main compositional principle of the story?(Contrast.) Why? (With its help, the image of the main character is created and the author’s position is expressed.)
The sad lines of the beginning of the story precede and complete the reader's perception and serve as a kind of epitaph to the elusive beauty and untimely end of life.
What concepts could become symbols of the fate of Olya Meshcherskaya?((Death and life, sadness and joy are the symbols of her fate.)
Image easy breathing. This is not just an image, it is an image-symbol in the story. What associations does it evoke in you? (Many associations: a joyful perception of life, the world, unpretentiousness, simplicity, beauty, carelessness.)
- “Easy breathing” in the story of the same name is a symbol of the carefree joy of life in all the fullness of its sensations, a symbol of life for the sake of life - without reflection and any doubts.
- For Bunin the words “light breathing”represent youth, exuberance vitality, but at the same time frivolity and thoughtlessness: “Such naivety and lightness in everything, both in audacity and in death, is “light breathing,” lack of thinking.”
How do you perceive the narrator? (We feel the deep regret of the person who said his word about the girl’s undeveloped potential.)
Student statements.
Dreams, plans, aspirations were cut short. Life was interrupted, all that remained was “the ringing of the wind in the Porcelain Wreath.” Olya really had a light, natural breath - a thirst for life, some special, unique destiny. This cherished dream of hers is mentioned only at the end. The author reveals to us not only the beauty of the girl (of course, not her experience), but only the wonderful possibilities that have not developed.
- What is the role of the cool lady image in the story? (With images of classladies and the cold spring windconnected with the return of Olya Meshcherskaya’s light breathing to the world and people. According to the author, the desire for beauty, for happiness, for perfection, cannot disappear.)
What did this story mean to you?
If it weren’t for the heroine’s mindless fluttering through life, not for her primitive idea of happiness, her life could have turned out completely differently.
The story sounds like a warning. After all, the most dangerous thing is frivolity. Olya stumbled once, but the price of this mistake was life.
Lesson summary.
Life and death, separation and love, beauty are eternal themes in literature.
But there is another one in the storydeep meaning.The adult world can be alien and hostile to beauty, and it can also break destinies and destroy fragile souls.A person is responsible for how his life turns out. He is in many ways the creator of his own destiny.
Filling out the Feedback Sheet.
Psychological training (teacher-psychologist)
“The unknown life is not worth living (Socrates)”
(based on the story “Easy Breathing” by I.A. Bunin)
Lesson objectives:
- Consider the motives that drive the actions of the heroes: the cool lady and Olenka.
- Compare the inner world of heroes with external manifestations.
Tasks: - Give the concept of personality defense mechanisms.
Progress of the lesson
Introductory part
As already mentioned, light breathing is a symbol of carefree joy, life without reflection and doubt.
- What is reflection?
Reflection (from the Latin gayeho - “turning back”) is self-knowledge of internal mental acts, feelings, sensations, as well as analysis of one’s actions.
- Do we need doubts and analysis of our actions and feelings in life?
- What gives a person life without doubt?(Discussion.)
- This is a lack of responsibility for one's actions.
- This is childishness, naivety, children live just as carelessly. They are spontaneous. Any of them
the feeling takes place only in this very moment. Children are full of life and joy. Every
The day for them is the discovery of something new. - This is an easy attitude to life, you don’t take anything to heart.
- What is ease of life for Bunin?(Live in the present moment, for the sake of feelings and
sensations.) - Where does Olya Meshcherskaya get such an attitude towards life?(Since childhood, carefree, carefree, -
Bunin repeatedly emphasizes this - she was happy, she loved the image she invented, which
I read it in a book...) - How is childhood different from other periods of life?(Discussion about the role of childhood in
personality formation.)
Main part.
“A cool lady is a middle-aged girl who has been living for a long time with some kind of fiction that replaces reality.”
- What role do fantasies play in a person’s life? What kind of fantasies could these be?
do they express themselves? - What makes a person go into a fictitious virtual world? How is this care
affects real life, real relationships with people? - Does a person living in unreality realize that he is not living a real life?
Or is this a defensive reaction of the psyche? Does he need this awareness?(Tale about protective
mechanisms of the psyche: denial, projection, rationalization, compensation, appeal to
students' own experiences.)
People react differently to their internal difficulties. Some suppress their inclinations, denying their existence. Others “forget” about the traumatic event. Still others are looking for a way out in self-justification and condescension to their weaknesses. And still others try to distort reality and engage in self-deception. And all this is so sincere: they sincerely “don’t see” the problem, they sincerely “forget” about the reasons... But no matter what method people resort to, protecting their psyche from painful stress, defense mechanisms help them in this.
What are defense mechanisms?
This term first appeared in 1894 in the work of psychoanalyst Z. Freud “Defensive neuropsychoses” and was used in a number of his subsequent works to describe the struggle ego against painful or intolerable thoughts and affects. The psychological defense mechanism is aimed at depriving significance and thereby neutralizing psychologically traumatic moments. So, for example, the Fox from the famous fable, who could not get the grapes, declared them unripe because she did not want to admit (even to herself) her inability to get them.
Thus, it can be said thatdefense mechanisms- a system of regulatory mechanisms that serve to eliminate or minimize negative, traumatic experiences. These experiences are mainly associated with internal or external conflicts, states of anxiety or discomfort. Situations that give rise to psychological defense are characterized by a real or perceived threat to the integrity of the individual, his identity and self-esteem. This subjective threat can, in turn, be generated by a conflict of contradictory tendencies within the individual or by a discrepancy between information coming from outside the individual’s image of the world and the image of the self.
Defense mechanisms are ultimately aimed at maintaining stability. There are many defense mechanisms. I will tell you just about a few of them:
Negation - this is an attempt not to accept events that are undesirable for oneself as real. What is noteworthy is the ability in such cases to “skip” the unpleasant events experienced in one’s memories, replacing them with fiction. How defense mechanism, negation consists of diverting attention from painful ideas and feelings, but does not make them completely inaccessible to consciousness.
Projection - subconscious attribution of one’s own qualities, feelings and desires to another person. This mechanism corresponds to the saying: “In someone else’s eye you notice a speck, but in your own you don’t notice a log.”
Rationalization - this is the construction of reasonable explanations of the reasons for unacceptable desires, thoughts, actions or situations that trouble a person and which a person cannot cope with. Expanded self-justification. Naturally, these “justifying” explanations for one’s thoughts and actions are more ethical and noble than true motives. Thus, rationalization is aimed at preserving status quo life situation and works to hide true motivation. Classic example- “The Fox and the Grapes.”
Compensation is a mechanism that helps overcome feelings of inferiority. A person under the influence of this defense mechanism tends to identify himself with a concrete or abstract ideal, receiving satisfaction from it. He realizes his inadequacy complex in dreams of fame, power and wealth. He experiences an overcompensatory desire to prove to everyone his importance in a certain type of activity.
- What is this “terrible dream” for a classy lady? What is she doing
afraid?(Unrealization of oneself as a woman.) - What defense mechanism helps her with this? Is it necessary to “expose” the classroom?
lady?
Final part
Staging two scenes(spontaneously, without preparation), relying as much as possible on the text:
- A conversation between a classy lady and Olenka Meshcherskaya.
- A conversation between friends about easy breathing (and a cool lady listens to it by chance).
After each scene, the psychologist asks questions about the characters’ feelings. Students who play answer on behalf of the characters without leaving the role. Then the conversation continues with them about their feelings (whether they have changed in relation to the hero they played) after leaving the role.
Exercise. Divide into 2 groups. 3 minutes of preparation. One group will come up with theses in defense of “easy fluttering through life”, the other- Against this.
The answers are read out. Organizing a discussion. Feedback
