Story " Easy breath", written in 1916, is deservedly considered one of the pearls of Bunin’s prose - the image of the heroine is so succinctly and vividly captured in it, the feeling of beauty is so tenderly conveyed. What is “light breathing”, why has this phrase long ago become a common noun to denote human talent - the talent to live? To understand this, let’s analyze the story “Easy Breathing.”
Bunin builds his narrative on contrasts. Already from the first lines, the reader has some kind of dual feeling: sad,
A deserted cemetery, a gray April day, a cold wind that “rings and rings like a porcelain wreath at the foot of the cross.” Here is the beginning of the story: “In the cemetery, over a fresh clay mound, there is a new cross made of oak, strong, heavy, smooth... 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.” . The whole life of Olechka Meshcherskaya is described according to the principle of contrast: cloudless childhood and adolescence are contrasted with the tragic events of the last year Olya lived. The author everywhere emphasizes the gap between the apparent and the real, external and internal state heroines. The plot of the story is extremely simple. The young, recklessly happy beauty schoolgirl Olya Meshcherskaya becomes first the prey of an elderly sensualist, and then a living target for the Cossack officer deceived by her. The tragic death of Meshcherskaya motivates a lonely little woman - a classy lady - to frantic, withering “service” to her memory. The apparent simplicity of the story's plot is disrupted by the contrast: a heavy cross and joyful, lively eyes, which makes the reader's heart clench anxiously. It will haunt us throughout the entire story about the short life of Olya Meshcherskaya. The simplicity of the plot is deceptive: after all, this is a story not only about the fate of a young girl, but also about the joyless fate of a classy lady, accustomed to living someone else’s life, shining with reflected light - the light of Olya Meshcherskaya’s “living eyes”.
Bunin believed that the birth of a person is not his beginning, which means that death is not the end of the existence of his soul. The soul - its symbol is “light breathing” - does not disappear irrevocably. She is the best, real part of life. The embodiment of this life was the heroine of the story, Olya Meshcherskaya. The girl is so natural that even the external manifestations of her existence cause rejection among some and admiration among others: “And she was not afraid of anything - not ink stains on her fingers, not a flushed face, not disheveled hair, not a knee that became bare when falling while running. Without any of her worries or efforts, and somehow imperceptibly, everything that distinguished her from the entire gymnasium in the last two years came to her - grace, elegance, dexterity, the clear sparkle of her eyes...” At first glance, before us is an ordinary high school student - a beautiful, prosperous and slightly flighty girl, the daughter of wealthy parents, who is expecting a brilliant match.
But our attention is constantly and persistently directed to some hidden springs of Olya’s life. To do this, the author delays the explanation of the reasons for the death of the heroine, as if generated by the very logic of the girl’s behavior. Maybe she herself is to blame for everything? After all, she flirts with the high school student Shenshin, flirts, albeit unconsciously, with Alexei Mikhailovich Malyutin, who seduces her, for some reason promises the Cossack officer to marry him. For what? Why does she need all this? And gradually we understand that Olya Meshcherskaya is beautiful, just as the elements are beautiful. And just as immoral as she is. She wants to reach the limit in everything, to the depth, to the innermost essence, regardless of the opinions of others. In Olya’s actions there is no meaningful vice, no sense of revenge, no pain of repentance, no firmness of decision. It turns out that a wonderful feeling of fullness of life can be destructive. Even the unconscious longing for her (like a classy lady) is tragic. Therefore, every detail, every step of Olya’s life threatens disaster: curiosity and pranks can lead to violence, frivolous play with other people’s feelings can lead to murder. Olya Meshcherskaya lives, and does not play the role of a living being. This is her essence. This is her fault. To be extremely alive without following the rules of the game means to be extremely doomed. After all, the environment in which Meshcherskaya was destined to appear was completely devoid of an organic, holistic sense of beauty. Here life is subject to strict rules, the violation of which has to be paid. Olya, who was accustomed not only to teasing fate, but simply to courageously go towards new sensations and impressions in their entirety, did not have the chance to meet a person who would appreciate not only her physical beauty, but also her spiritual generosity and brightness. After all, Olya really had “light breathing” - a thirst for some special, unique destiny, worthy only of the chosen few. The teacher, who was unable to save her student, recalls her words, accidentally overheard during recess. Among the detailed description of female beauty and the half-childish “trying on” of this description to one’s own appearance, the phrase about “easy breathing” sounds so unexpectedly, taken literally by the girl: “...But the main thing, you know what? - easy breath! But I have it - listen to how I sigh...” The author leaves to the world not the beauty of the girl, not her experience, but only this never-revealed opportunity. She, according to Bunin, cannot completely disappear, just as the craving for beauty, happiness, for perfection cannot disappear: “Now this light breath has again dissipated in the world, in this cloudy sky, in this cold spring wind.”
“Easy breathing” in Bunin’s view is the ability to enjoy life and accept it as a bright gift. Olya Meshcherskaya captivated those around her with her generous and fierce love of life, but in the meager world of the small town, unfortunately for her, there was no person who could protect her “light breath” from the “cold spring wind.”
Story by I.A. Bunin's "Easy Breathing" belongs to the circle of works that require particularly careful reading. The conciseness of the text determines the semantic deepening of artistic detail.
The complex composition, the abundance of ellipses, and the figure of silence make you stop and think at moments of unexpected “bends” in the plot. The content of the story is so multifaceted that it could well become the basis of an entire novel. Indeed, each of us, reflecting on the next ellipsis, as if complements, “adds on” the text in accordance with our perception. Perhaps this is precisely where the mystery of Bunin’s story lies: the writer seems to call us to co-creation, and the reader unwittingly becomes a co-author.
It is customary to begin the analysis of this work by talking about the composition. What is unusual about the structure of the story? As a rule, students immediately note the features of the composition: a violation of the chronology of events. If you highlight the semantic parts of the text, you will find that each part breaks off at the moment of highest emotional stress. What idea is embodied in such a complex art form? To answer this question, we carefully read the content of each paragraph.
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 author himself emphasizes this contrast with the phrase amazingly alive).
Why is the next sentence (This is Olya Meshcherskaya) highlighted in a separate paragraph? Perhaps in a larger work this sentence would precede detailed description the heroine, her portrait, character, habits. In Bunin's story, the name mentioned does not mean anything, but we are already involved in the action, intrigued. Many questions arise: “Who is this girl? What is the reason for it early death?..” The reader is already ready for the unfolding of the melodramatic plot, but the author deliberately hesitates to answer, maintaining the tension of perception.
What is unusual about the heroine’s portrait characteristics? There is something missing in the description of the schoolgirl Meshcherskaya: there is no detailed portrait, the image is barely outlined in individual strokes. Is this a coincidence? Definitely not. After all, everyone has their own idea of attractiveness, youth, beauty... Comparison with friends highlights the ideological basis of the image - simplicity and naturalness: How carefully some of her friends combed their hair, how clean they were, how they watched her restrained movements! And she wasn't afraid of anything<...>Without any worries or effort, and somehow imperceptibly, everything that distinguished her from the entire gymnasium in the last two years came to her - grace, elegance, dexterity, the clear sparkle of her eyes... Creating the complete appearance of the heroine is a matter of our imagination.
The mention that Olya is very careless, flighty, and almost drove high school student Shenshin to suicide sounds alarming... However, the ellipsis, a device of silence, cuts off storyline, which would be enough for a separate story.
In the next paragraph, the words “last winter” again remind us of the tragic ending. There is something painful in Meshcherskaya’s irrepressible joyful excitement (she went completely crazy with joy). In addition, the author tells us that she only seemed to be the most carefree and happy (our detente - A.N., I.N.). So far this is a barely outlined internal dissonance, but soon the heroine, without losing her simplicity and calmness, will tell her irritated boss about her relationship with 56-year-old Malyutin: Sorry, madame, you are mistaken: I am a woman. And you know who is to blame for this? Dad's friend and neighbor, and your brother Alexey Mikhailovich Malyutin. This happened last summer in the village... We are perplexed: what is this - early depravity? cynicism?
There is hardly any contrast between appearance and state of mind the heroine comes to the surface, the author again interrupts the narrative, leaving the reader in thought, forcing him to go back in search of an answer to the question: “What kind of person is Olya Meshcherskaya? A carefree anemone or a deep, contradictory personality? The answer must be hidden somewhere in this paragraph. We re-read it and stop at the meaningful “seemed”, behind which, perhaps, lies the answer: maybe this carelessness and lightness is just an attempt to hide a whole nature heartache, personal tragedy?.
What follows is a detached, “protocol” story about Olya’s death, avoiding false pathos. The Cossack officer who shot Meshcherskaya is depicted in a distinctly unattractive manner: ugly, plebeian in appearance, having absolutely nothing in common with the circle to which Olya Meshcherskaya belonged... Why did the heroine meet with this man? Who was he to her? Let's try to find the answer in the girl's diary.
Diary entries are an important point in revealing character. For the first time, Olya and I are left alone, we become witnesses to a real confession: 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... After these words, the tragic scene of Meshcherskaya’s death is filled with new meaning. The heroine of the story, who seemed attractive to us, but too frivolous, turns out to be a mentally broken person who has experienced deep disappointment. By mentioning Faust and Margarita, Bunin draws an analogy between the unfortunate fate of Gretchen and the trampled life of Olya.
So, it’s all due to a deep mental wound. Maybe Olya herself provoked the murder by laughing angrily at the officer and committing suicide with someone else’s hands?..
The closed composition takes us back to the beginning of the story. The intense emotional tone of the confession is replaced by a picture of the city, cemetery peace. Now our attention is focused on the image of a classy lady, to which, at first glance, the author pays unreasonably much attention. This woman is the cool lady Olya Meshcherskaya, a middle-aged girl who has long lived in some kind of fiction that replaces her real life. At first, her brother, a poor and unremarkable ensign, was such an invention - she united her whole soul with him, with his future, which for some reason seemed brilliant to her. When he was killed near Mukden, she convinced herself that she was an ideological worker... The character is certainly unattractive. What is his role? Maybe he should highlight all the best in the appearance of the main character?
Comparing the images of Meshcherskaya and her classy lady, we come to the conclusion that these are two “semantic poles” of the story. Comparison shows not only differences, but also certain similarities. Olya, a young woman, plunged headlong into life, flashed and went out like a bright flash; a cool lady, a middle-aged girl, hiding from life, smoldering like a burning torch. The main thing is that none of the heroines could find themselves, both - each in their own way - squandered all the best that was given to them initially, with which they came into this world.
The ending of the work returns us to the title. It is no coincidence that the story is called not “Olya Meshcherskaya”, but “Easy Breathing”. What is this - light breathing? The image is complex, multifaceted and undoubtedly symbolic. The heroine herself gives a literal interpretation of it: Easy breathing! But I have it - listen to how I sigh... But each of us understands this image in our own way. Probably, it combines naturalness, purity of soul, faith in the bright beginning of existence, thirst for life, without which Man is unthinkable. All this was in Olya Meshcherskaya, and now this light breath has again dissipated in the world, in this cloudy sky, in this cold spring wind (our detente - A.N., I.N.). The highlighted word emphasizes the cyclical nature of what is happening: “light breathing” again and again takes on earthly forms. Maybe it is now embodied in one of us? As we see, in the finale the narrative acquires worldwide, pan-human significance.
Re-reading the story, we again and again admire the skill of Bunin, who imperceptibly guides the reader’s perception, directs thought to the underlying reasons for what is happening, deliberately not allowing him to get carried away by the entertaining intrigue. By recreating the appearance of the heroes, restoring the omitted links of the plot, each of us becomes a creator, as if writing his own story about the meaning of human life, about love and disappointment, about the eternal questions of human existence.
Narushevich A.G., Narushevich I.S.
Interpretation of the story by I.A. Bunin "Easy Breathing //" Russian Literature. - 2002. - No. 4. - P. 25-27.
One of the most widely famous works I.A. Bunin is undoubtedly the story “Easy Breathing”. It can be assumed that the impetus for its writing was the writer’s trip to Capri, where during a walk the writer saw a tombstone with a medallion in a small cemetery. It depicted a very young and unusually beautiful girl with a happy expression on his face. The tragedy of this terrible contradiction, apparently, struck the writer so much that he decided to “revive” the heroine on the pages of his prose.
The image of “light breathing” that organizes the entire story is taken from an old book, which the main character Olya Meshcherskaya reads, retelling to her friend an episode that particularly struck her. It says that a woman should be able to be beautiful and the most important thing about her is “easy breathing.” The heroine joyfully concludes that she has it and that only happiness awaits her in life. However, fate decrees otherwise.
The central character of this story is high school student Olya Meshcherskaya. She is famous for her beauty, sweet spontaneity, charming naturalness. “She was not afraid of anything - not ink stains on her fingers, not a flushed face, not disheveled hair, not a knee that became bare when falling while running,” the author of the story lovingly writes about her. There is even something from Natasha Rostova in Olya - the same love of life, the same openness to the whole world. No one danced better than Olya, no one skated better, no one was looked after like that. This young creature with sparkling, lively eyes seemed created only for happiness.
But one Cossack officer, who sought intimacy with her and was refused, ends this young wonderful life with one shot.
This ending is too tragic, and sometimes I want to reproach the writer for such a painful ending. But let's think about it: did the shot really kill the heroine? Maybe the officer just pulled the trigger, and the tragedy happened much earlier?
Indeed, reading the story, you wonder why, besides Olya, in this provincial town there is not a single person worthy of being depicted with the same admiration. The rest of the characters simply leave us indifferent, like, for example, Meshcherskaya’s friend, or they cause disgust. This is Olya’s father’s friend, fifty-six-year-old Malyutin. The whole city seems to be saturated with a suffocating atmosphere of vulgarity, inertia and depravity. Indeed, how can you explain Olya’s behavior? Yes, she is charming, sweet, natural, but reading the scene where Meshcherskaya admits to the head of the gymnasium that she is already a woman, you can’t help but be embarrassed by such a terrible dual personality: on the one hand, Olya is perfection itself, on the other, she is just a girl , who knew the joy of carnal pleasures too early. These contradictory images of the same heroine do not make it possible to understand her character unambiguously, and sometimes an almost hooligan thought comes to mind: isn’t Olya Lola, introduced by Bunin into literature long before the author of “Lolita”?
In my opinion, the motives for the heroine’s actions “ Easy breathing" is very difficult to evaluate from a logical point of view. They are irrational, “uterine”. Revealing the image of such an ambiguous heroine as Meshcherskaya, one should not be afraid to consider different and even opposing points of view. We said above that Olya’s fate and character are a product of the inert provincial environment where she grew up. Now, faced with the amazing inconsistency of the heroine, we can assume something completely different.
Bunin, as you know, although he is considered the last classic of critical realism, still does not fully follow his principles of depicting reality. To say that Meshcherskaya is just a product of an environment that corrupts and kills young innocence means, in my opinion, to consider the story too straightforwardly, thereby impoverishing the original author’s intention. Correct society, and there will be no vices - this is what they said in the 19th century, but in the 20th they increasingly do not look for reasons, saying that the world is unknowable. Meshcherskaya is like that, and nothing more. As another argument, we can recall Bunin’s stories about love, in particular, where the actions of the heroes are also very difficult to motivate. It’s as if they are controlled by some blind, unreasoning force, spontaneously giving people happiness and sorrow in half. In general, Bunin is characterized by just such a worldview. Let us recall the story “The Gentleman from San Francisco,” in which fate takes the hero’s life in the most unexpected way, without giving any explanation. In the light of these considerations, we can make a judgment about Olya that is opposite and to some extent counterbalances our first conclusions: the writer, in the image of a high school student unlike others, wanted to show the true nature of a woman who is completely at the mercy of blind, “uterine” instincts. The conviction that life disposes of us solely at its own discretion is best illustrated by the example of a young girl who knew life too early and therefore died untimely.
Probably, it is impossible to give an unambiguous answer to the question of who Olya really is, what problems she raises in this story, and it is hardly necessary. You can delve deeper into the image of the main character, better understand the specifics and problems of the story and try to reconcile the two opposing points of view outlined above by thinking about the title. “Light breathing,” which “dissipated forever in this cold wind,” is, in my opinion, a figurative expression of what is spiritual, truly human, in a person. A charming and at the same time depraved schoolgirl, a stupid and evil officer who killed her, a provincial town with all its ugliness - all this will remain on the sinful earth, and this spirit that lived in Ola Meshcherskaya will fly up to be embodied in something again and remind us that, besides our vain and petty thoughts and deeds, there is something else in the world that is beyond our control. This, in my opinion, is the enduring significance of the outstanding story of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin.
Analysis of the story “Easy Breathing”
The theme of love occupies one of the leading places in the writer’s work. In mature prose, there are noticeable tendencies to comprehend the eternal categories of existence - death, love, happiness, nature. He often describes “moments of love” that have a fatal nature and a tragic overtones. He pays great attention to female characters, mysterious and incomprehensible.
The beginning of the novel “Easy Breathing” creates a feeling of sadness and sadness. The author prepares the reader in advance for the fact that the tragedy of human life will unfold in the following pages.
The main character of the novel, Olga Meshcherskaya, a high school student, stands out very much among her classmates with her cheerful disposition and obvious love of life, she is not at all afraid of other people's opinions, and openly challenges society.
IN last winter There have been many changes in the girl’s life. At this time, Olga Meshcherskaya was in the full bloom of her beauty. There were rumors about her that she could not live without fans, but at the same time she treated them very cruelly. In her last winter, Olya completely surrendered to the joys of life, she attended balls and went to the skating rink every evening.
Olya always strived to look good, she wore expensive shoes, expensive combs, perhaps she would have dressed in the latest fashion if all the high school students did not wear uniforms. The headmistress of the gymnasium made a remark to Olga about appearance that such jewelry and shoes should be worn by an adult woman, and not by a simple student. To which Meshcherskaya openly stated that she has the right to dress like a woman, because she is one, and none other than the brother of the headmistress herself, Alexei Mikhailovich Malyutin, is to blame for this. Olga's answer can be fully regarded as a challenge to the society of that time. A young girl, without a shadow of modesty, puts on things that are inappropriate for her age, behaves like a mature woman and at the same time openly argues for her behavior with rather intimate things.
Olga's transformation into a woman took place in the summer at the dacha. When my parents were not at home, Alexey Mikhailovich Malyutin, a friend of their family, came to visit them at their dacha. Despite the fact that he did not find Olya’s father, Malyutin still stayed as a guest, explaining that he wanted it to dry out properly after the rain. In relation to Olya, Alexey Mikhailovich behaved like a gentleman, although the difference in their ages was huge, he was 56, she was 15. Malyutin confessed his love to Olya and said all kinds of compliments. During the tea party, Olga felt bad and lay down on the ottoman, Alexey Mikhailovich began to kiss her hands, talk about how he was in love, and then kissed her on the lips. Well, then what happened happened. We can say that on Olga’s part it was nothing more than an interest in the secret, a desire to become an adult.
After this there was a tragedy. Malyutin shot Olga at the station and explained this by saying that he was in a state of passion, because she showed him her diary, which described everything that happened, and then Olgino’s attitude to the situation. She wrote that she was disgusted with her boyfriend.
Malyutin acted so cruelly because his pride was hurt. He was no longer a young officer, and also single; he naturally was pleased to console himself with the fact that the young girl expressed her sympathy for him. But when he found out that she felt nothing but disgust for him, it was like a bolt from the blue. He himself usually pushed women away, but here they pushed him away. Society was on Malyutin’s side; he justified himself by saying that Olga allegedly seduced him, promised to become his wife, and then left him. Since Olya had a reputation as a heartbreaker, no one doubted his words.
The story ends with the fact that Olga Meshcherskaya’s classy lady, a dreamy lady living in her imaginary ideal world, comes to Olya’s grave every holiday and silently watches her for several hours. For lady Olya, the ideal of femininity and beauty.
Here “light breathing” means an easy attitude to life, sensuality and impulsiveness, which were inherent in Olya Meshcherskaya.
After studying the analysis of the story “Easy Breathing,” you will undoubtedly be interested in other works related to Ivan Alekseevich Bunin:
- “Sunstroke”, analysis of Bunin’s story
- “Cuckoo”, a summary of Bunin’s work
One of the most widely known works of I.A. Bunin is undoubtedly the story “Easy Breathing”. It can be assumed that the impetus for its writing was the writer’s trip to Capri, where during a walk the writer saw a tombstone with a medallion in a small cemetery. It depicted a very young and unusually beautiful girl with a happy expression on her face. The tragedy of this terrible contradiction, apparently, struck the writer so much that he decided to “revive” the heroine on the pages of his prose.
The image of “light breathing” that organizes the entire story is taken from an old book, which the main character Olya Meshcherskaya reads, retelling to her friend an episode that particularly struck her. It says that a woman should be able to be beautiful and the most important thing about her is “easy breathing.” The heroine joyfully concludes that she has it and that only happiness awaits her in life. However, fate decrees otherwise.
The central character of this story is high school student Olya Meshcherskaya. She is famous for her beauty, sweet spontaneity, charming naturalness. “She was not afraid of anything - not ink stains on her fingers, not a flushed face, not disheveled hair, not a knee that became bare when falling while running,” the author of the story lovingly writes about her. There is even something from Natasha Rostova in Olya - the same love of life, the same openness to the whole world. No one danced better than Olya, no one skated better, no one was looked after like that. This young creature with sparkling, lively eyes seemed created only for happiness.
But one Cossack officer, who sought intimacy with her and was refused, ends this young wonderful life with one shot.
This ending is too tragic, and sometimes I want to reproach the writer for such a painful ending. But let’s think about it: did the shot really kill the heroine? Maybe the officer only pulled the trigger, and the tragedy happened much earlier?
Indeed, reading the story, you wonder why, besides Olya, in this provincial town there is not a single person worthy of being depicted with the same admiration. The rest of the characters simply leave us indifferent, like, for example, Meshcherskaya’s friend, or they cause disgust. This is Olya’s father’s friend, fifty-six-year-old Malyutin. The whole city seems to be saturated with a suffocating atmosphere of vulgarity, inertia and depravity. Indeed, how can you explain Olya’s behavior? Yes, she is charming, sweet, natural, but reading the scene where Meshcherskaya admits to the head of the gymnasium that she is already a woman, you can’t help but be embarrassed by such a terrible split personality: on the one hand, Olya is perfection itself, on the other, she is just a girl , who knew the joy of carnal pleasures too early. These contradictory images of the same heroine do not make it possible to understand her character unambiguously, and sometimes an almost hooligan thought comes to mind: isn’t Olya Nabokov’s Lola, introduced by Bunin into literature long before the author of “Lolita”?
In my opinion, the motives for the actions of the heroine of “Easy Breathing” are very difficult to evaluate from a logical point of view. They are irrational, “uterine”. Revealing the image of such an ambiguous heroine as Meshcherskaya, one should not be afraid to consider different and even opposing points of view. We said above that Olya’s fate and character are a product of the inert provincial environment where she grew up. Now, faced with the amazing inconsistency of the heroine, we can assume something completely different.
Bunin, as you know, although he is considered the last classic of critical realism, still does not fully follow his principles of depicting reality. To say that Meshcherskaya is just a product of an environment that corrupts and kills young innocence means, in my opinion, to consider the story too straightforwardly, thereby impoverishing the original author’s intention. Correct society, and there will be no vices - this is what they said in the 19th century, but in the 20th they increasingly do not look for reasons, saying that the world is unknowable. Meshcherskaya is like that, and nothing more. As another argument, we can recall the stories of Bunin
about love, especially “Dark Alleys”, where the actions of the heroes are also very difficult to motivate. It’s as if they are controlled by some blind, unreasoning force, spontaneously giving people happiness and sorrow in half. In general, Bunin is characterized by just such a worldview. Let us recall the story “The Gentleman from San Francisco,” in which fate takes the hero’s life in the most unexpected way, without giving any explanation. In the light of these considerations, we can make a judgment about Olya that is opposite and to some extent counterbalances our first conclusions: the writer, in the image of a high school student unlike others, wanted to show the true nature of a woman who is completely at the mercy of blind, “uterine” instincts. The conviction that life disposes of us solely at its own discretion is best illustrated by the example of a young girl who knew life too early and therefore died untimely.
Probably, it is impossible to give an unambiguous answer to the question of who Olya really is, what problems Bunin raises in this story, and it is hardly necessary. You can delve deeper into the image of the main character, better understand the specifics and problems of the story and try to reconcile the two opposing points of view outlined above by thinking about the title. “Light breath”, which “dissipated forever in this cold wind”, is, in my opinion, a figurative expression of what is spiritual, truly human in a person. A charming and at the same time depraved schoolgirl, a stupid and evil officer who left her, a provincial town with all its ugliness - all this will remain on the sinful earth, and this spirit that lived in Ola Meshcherskaya will fly up to be embodied in something again and remind us that, besides our vain and petty thoughts and deeds, there is something else in the world that is beyond our control. This, in my opinion, is the enduring significance of the outstanding story of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin.
