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. Main character doesn't 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 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 find 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. Every person is the whole world, the whole Universe. Inner world 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 from worldly joys and entertainment reveals in a girl strong nature. 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, 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 brief analysis 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, having fun, loving a man and new destiny related to spiritual service.
According to many researchers, and analysis of the story “Clean Monday” confirms this, the heroine of the story personifies Russia, a complex combination in it Orthodox traditions, ancient rituals, and modern culture. Then Clean Monday is also a symbol of the cleansing border between the festive, riotous pre-war metropolitan life and the 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 poignant and sad story the love of 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 remembers that he brought his beloved fashion books modern writers 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!”
Analysis of the story “Clean Monday” shows how complex the girl’s nature is: she combines unusual beauty, external simple life, full of entertainment, and a deep mind, 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
Bunin's tragic love story forms the basis of the story "Clean Monday". Two people suddenly meet, and beauty and beauty flare up between them. pure feeling. Love brings not only joy, lovers experience enormous torment that torments their souls. The work by Ivan Bunin describes a meeting between a man and a woman, which made them forget about all their problems.
The author begins his story not from the very beginning of the novel, but immediately from its development, when the love of two people reaches its climax. I. Bunin perfectly describes all the details of this day: the Moscow day was not only winter, but, according to the author’s description, dark and gray. The lovers dined in different places: today it could be “Prague”, and tomorrow they ate at the “Hermitage”, then it could be “Metropol”, or some other establishment.
From the very beginning of Bunin’s work, there is a premonition of some kind of misfortune, great tragedy. Main character tries not to think about what will happen tomorrow, about what this relationship might lead to. He understood that he shouldn’t talk about the future with someone who was so close to him. After all, she simply did not like these conversations and she did not answer any of his questions.
But why didn’t the main character want to, like many girls, dream about the future and make plans? Maybe this is a momentary attraction that should end soon? Or does she already know everything that is about to happen to her in the future? Ivan Bunin describes his heroine as if she were a perfect woman who cannot be compared with other beautiful female images.
The main character is studying in courses, not understanding how she manages to do this later in life. The Bunin girl is well educated, she has a sense of sophistication and intelligence. Everything in her house should be beautiful. But the world around her is not at all interested in her, she distances herself from it. From her behavior it seemed that she was indifferent to theaters, and to flowers, and to books, and to dinners. And this indifference does not prevent her from completely immersing herself in life and enjoying it, reading books and getting impressions.
The beautiful couple seemed ideal to the people around them; they were even watched as they went. And there was something to envy! Young, beautiful, rich - all these characteristics suited this couple. This happy idyll turns out to be strange, since the girl does not want to become the wife of the main character. This makes you think about the sincerity of the lover’s and the man’s feelings. For all his questions, the girl finds only one explanation: she does not know how to be a wife.
It is clear that the girl does not understand what her purpose in life is. Her soul is tossing: a luxurious life attracts her, but she wants something else. That is why she constantly arrives in thoughts and reflections. The feelings that the girl experiences are incomprehensible to her, and the main character cannot understand them either.
She is attracted to religion, the girl goes to church with pleasure, and admires holiness. The heroine herself cannot understand why this attracts her so much. One day she decides to take an important step - to cut her hair as a nun. Without telling her lover anything, the girl leaves. After a while, the main character receives a letter from her, where the young woman reports her action, but she doesn’t even try to explain.
The main character finds it difficult to cope with the actions of his beloved woman. One day he was able to see her by chance among the nuns. It is no coincidence that Bunin gives his work the title “Clean Monday.” The day before this day, the lovers had a serious conversation about religion. The main character was surprised for the first time by the thoughts of his bride, they were so new and interesting to him.
External contentment with life hid the depth of this nature, her subtlety and religiosity, her constant torment, which brought the girl to the monastery of a nun. Deep internal searches help explain the young woman’s indifference that she showed towards social life. She did not see herself among everything that surrounded her. Happy and mutual love does not help her find harmony in her soul. In this Bunin's story love and tragedy are inseparable. Love is given to the heroes as a kind of test that they have to pass.
The love tragedy of the main characters lies in the fact that they could not fully understand each other and could not correctly evaluate the individuals who had found their soul mate. Bunin, with his story “Clean Monday,” affirms the idea that every person is a huge and richest world. The inner world of a young woman is rich spiritually, but her thoughts and reflections do not find support in this world. Love for the main character is no longer a salvation for her, but the girl sees this as a problem.
The heroine’s strong will helps her to leave love, to abandon it, to abandon it forever. In the monastery, her spiritual search ceases, and the young woman develops new affection and love. The heroine finds the meaning of life in love for God. Everything petty and vulgar now does not concern her; now no one disturbs her loneliness and peace.
Bunin's story is both tragic and sad. Moral choice stands before every person and must be done correctly. The heroine chooses her life path, and the main character, continuing to love her, cannot find himself in this life. His fate is sad and tragic. The young woman’s act towards him is cruel. They both suffer: the hero because of the act of his beloved, and she of her own free will.
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Among all the stories of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, “Clean Monday” is distinguished by its small volume, which managed to contain a much greater meaning. This story is part of the series " Dark alleys", in which, according to the writer himself, he managed to write 37 times about the same thing - about love. Ivan Alekseevich thanked God for giving him the strength and opportunity to write this story, which he considered the best of his works.
As you know, Clean Monday is the first day of Lent, which comes after Maslenitsa and Forgiveness Sunday. This is the day when the soul must repent of its sins and cleanse itself. The title of the story fully justifies its content: the young lover of the protagonist, a girl who is looking for herself in this life, refuses his love and goes to a monastery.
History of the story
I. A. Bunin wrote his story “Clean Monday” while in French immigration. He began working on the story in 1937. “Clean Monday” was published in 1945 in New Journal in New York. In 1944, while working on a story, Bunin made the following entry:
“It’s one o’clock in the morning. I got up from the table - I just had to finish writing a few pages of “Clean Monday”. I turned off the light, opened the window to ventilate the room - not the slightest movement of air; full moon, the whole valley is in the thinnest fog. Far on the horizon is the gentle pink shine of the sea, silence, the soft freshness of young tree greenery, here and there the clicking of the first nightingales... Lord, extend my strength for my lonely, poor life in this beauty and work!
We invite you to familiarize yourself with summary works by Ivan Bunin where the author recalls his past
In a letter to P.L. Vyacheslavov, Bunin’s wife V.N. Muromtseva-Bunina said that Ivan Alekseevich considers “Clean Monday” the best of all that he once wrote. Didn't hide this fact and the writer himself.
Plot
The story is very short, it covers only a small part of the heroes' lives. The main character is courting an unusual girl. Her name is not mentioned, but the author gives an exhaustive description of both her appearance and her mental organization. Image young man conveyed through the prism of their relationship. He wants love, he desires his beloved physically, he is attracted by her beauty. However, he does not at all understand her soul, which rushes between sin and purification.
Their relationship is doomed to collapse: his beloved immediately warns him that she is not fit to be a wife. Despite this, he does not lose hope and continues to look after her.
The story ends with the fact that after the final physical rapprochement between them, the girl renounces the love of the young man in favor of spiritual purification and goes to the monastery.
For main character through purification becomes service to God, while the hero also grows into spiritually, having experienced all the bitterness of unexpected separation from his beloved.
“Clean Monday” contains a powerful game of contrasts: bright colors– strict colors; restaurants, taverns, theaters - cemetery, monastery, church; physical intimacy - tonsure. Even the girl’s beauty exudes some kind of devilish power: she has black hair, dark skin, dark eyes and a mysterious soul.
Hero prototypes
Researchers are confident that the prototype of the main character was Ivan Alekseevich Bunin himself. As for his beloved, most likely, her image was copied from Varvara Vladimirovna Pashchenko, the woman who became Bunin’s first love.
Varvara Vladimirovna was a very beautiful and educated woman; she completed a full seven-year course at the gymnasium in Yelets with a gold medal. They met Bunin in 1889, when Varvara worked as a proofreader at the Orlovsky Vestnik.
It was Varvara who first confessed her love to Bunin. However, she was unable to fully understand her feelings and constantly reproached Ivan Alekseevich for not loving her fully.
In the end, in November 1894, Varvara Vladimirovna left Bunin, leaving him only a short note goodbye. Soon she married his best friend, actor Arseny Bibikov. Varvara Vladimirovna’s life was short and not too happy: she and her husband lost their 13-year-old daughter, who died of tuberculosis. In 1918, Bunin’s first lover herself died from this dangerous disease. Varvara Vladimirovna became the prototype female images many of Bunin’s works, such as “Mitya’s Love” and “The Life of Arsenyev”.
In the writer's diaries there are often entries about his work on stories. On the night of May 8-9, 1944, while working on the short story “Clean Monday,” which I. A. Bunin himself loved very much, he wrote in his diary: “It’s one o’clock in the morning. I got up from the table and had a few pages left to finish on Clean Monday. He turned off the light, opened the window to ventilate the room, not the slightest movement of air; the full moon, the entire valley in the thinnest fog, far on the horizon the gentle pink shine of the sea, silence, the soft freshness of young tree greenery, here and there the clicking of the first nightingales... Lord, extend my strength for my lonely, poor life in this beauty and work! »
Features of the genre. The composition “Clean Monday” is a short story. A short story is a small prose genre comparable in volume to a short story, but it is distinguished by a sharp centripetal plot and compositional rigor. The novella is characterized by the presence of a so-called pointe turning point. In "Clean Monday" such a novelistic pointe is the unexpected departure of the heroine to a monastery.
I. A. Bunin is masterfully diverse in constructing the plot. Clean Monday has a fluid plot that's matched by a consistent aesthetic. external descriptions. Speaking of non-hierarchy art world I. A. Bunin, it can be noted that “Clean Monday,” a short story about love, contains a description of food: pies with burbot fish soup, pink hazel grouse in deep-fried sour cream and chocolate, stacks of pancakes, filled to excess with butter and sour cream, etc.
Themes, motifs, symbols of “Dark Alleys” can be called an encyclopedia of love. The most varied moments and shades of feelings that arise between a man and a woman occupy the writer; he peers, listens, guesses, tries to imagine the whole “gamut” of complex relationships between the hero and heroine.
According to I. A. Bunin, in life everything is merged and intertwined. Love, lofty and strange, existing next to everyday life and everyday life, adjacent to the funny and crazy, it was in the past, it is almost the present, it can always be. Love is the main form of manifestation of cosmic life. It is the only one that gives unprecedented, but short-lived happiness of harmonious existence, communion with the innermost depths of life, and it also conceals within itself an inexorable catastrophe, inevitably brings tragedy. It is without personality, does not come from a person, but “falls” on him from the outside and forever knocks him out of the rut of everyday existence, but also beyond the boundaries of his modest personality.
I. A. Bunin also acts as a poet in prose: he does not need such an intermediate authority as a hero in order to instill in the reader a certain state of mind. The state is inspired directly, and already under its impression the reader perceives and understands the hero, his soul and his actions. The reader does not need a detailed depiction of the hero's soul to understand what is happening to him. The author introduces him into a similar state of mind. He not only easily understands the mysteries of the hero’s behavior, but, as happens with understanding his own mental situation, he often does not see any mystery here. Therefore, there is no desire to delve into the motives of the actions of the heroine of “Clean Monday”.
