I have before me the topic of the essay “Reason or Feelings?”, which interested me because these concepts are constantly opposed to each other. After all, intelligence is the ability to think logically and creatively. And feelings are the ability to realize and experience something based on sensations. But how to do it right choice: follow the dictates of the heart or accept the hint of the mind? Probably the answer lies in the fact that a person himself must decide what matters most to him. Fiction convinces me of the correctness of this point of view.
Let's remember the works in which this topic is revealed. Reflecting on the difficult choices in people’s lives, I cannot help but turn to the work “Clean Monday” by I.A. Bunin. Depicting the luxurious life of the young Moscow intelligentsia, the writer describes with particular passion a couple of young people.
These are the most ordinary residents of the capital, whose life boils and rages at an unbridled rhythm, but their main difference is that they are rich, healthy and very good-looking. Conversations about their future never continue, so main character is in constant tension. The girl plays with his feelings, pushes him away from her, but never lets him go completely. At the end of the work, events change and the heroine decides to disappear from the young man’s life, leaving him a letter asking him not to look for her. This story fully shows readers that making a choice between feelings and reason is an unbearable burden for most people.
Updated: 2017-07-13
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Brief analysis of I. Bunin's story "Clean Monday"
Man, like no other earthly creature, is lucky to have reason and the ability to choose. A person chooses his whole life. Having taken a step, he is faced with a choice: to the right or to the left - where to go next. He takes another step and chooses again, and so he walks until the end of the path. Some walk faster, others slower, and the result is different: you take a step and either fall into a bottomless abyss, or end up with your foot on an escalator in the sky. A person is free to choose his job, passions, hobbies, thoughts, worldviews, love. Love can be for money, for power, for art, maybe ordinary, earthly love, or it may happen that above all, above all feelings, a person places love for his homeland or for God.
In Bunin's story "Clean Monday" the heroine is nameless. The name is not important, the name is for the earth, and God knows everyone even without a name. Bunin calls the heroine - she. From the very beginning, she was strange, silent, unusual, as if a stranger to the whole world around her, looking through it, “she kept thinking about something, it was as if she was mentally delving into something; lying on the sofa with a book in her hands, she often lowered it and looked in front of her questioningly." She seemed to be from a completely different world, and just so that she would not be recognized in this world, she read, went to the theater, had lunch, dinner, went for walks, and attended courses. But she was always drawn to something lighter, intangible, to faith, to God, and just as the Church of the Savior was close to the windows of her apartment, so God was close to her heart. She often went to churches, visited monasteries and old cemeteries.
And finally she made up her mind. IN last days She drank the cup of worldly life to the bottom, forgave everyone on Forgiveness Sunday and cleansed herself of the ashes of this life on “Clean Monday”: she went to a monastery. “No, I’m not fit to be a wife.” She knew from the very beginning that she could not be a wife. She is destined to be an eternal bride, the bride of Christ. She found her love, she chose her path. You might think that she left home, but in fact she went home. And even her earthly lover forgave her for this. I forgave, although I did not understand. He could not understand that now “she can see in the dark,” and “left the gates” of a strange monastery.
References
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Many famous and outstanding writers, in their stories and novels, novels and trilogies, raised the topic of feelings and reason, which is close and understandable to the reader. The master of words, Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, dwelled thoroughly on this topic. He emphasized that feelings can never be simple, they are complex and multifaceted. And if feelings are dominant, then reason no longer rules over a person, it becomes something secondary. Ivan Bunin's stories show stories that are mostly subordinated to passion, which does not make his heroes worse or more incomprehensible.Does reason or feelings rule the world?
Reply to this difficult question Russian literature was of interest to many writers who tried to find the answer in their works. Both reason and feeling are two sides of life that must be united for the correct perception of this world. In society, a person cannot adhere to only one opinion, as this inevitably leads to death. A clear confirmation of this is Ivan Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco,” where the author decides not to give a name to the main character of the story. After reading this work, it becomes clear why the author uses this technique. Bunin shows that there are many people like his hero in any society.
The whole life of a character from Bunin's story boils down to the fact that he was able to earn a lot of money, which in the end of the story does not bring him any happiness. Little is known about the hero himself: he has a family where there is no love, he is calculating, ugly-looking, and does not think about anything but money. Talking about his hero, about his journey, the author does not say a single word about what feelings his character experiences. The reader simply does not see the soul of the rich gentleman, does not see any of his emotions. In the foreground of a rich millionaire there is only calculation and common sense, that is, reason.
But is the hero happy? Rich and wealthy, the main character of Bunin's story, even when dying, does not experience the most important thing in his life. The gentleman from San Francisco could not be happy, he does not know the joy of the feelings that overwhelm his chest and does not know at all what happiness is. He is not even free, since he becomes a slave to enrichment and is always under the power of money. He has no real meaning in life; accordingly, he does not live, but exists. But are there people in this story who live in an emotional world and for whom feelings are the meaning of life? Yes, these are mountaineers who see nature and enjoy communicating with it. They are free, and this state causes them numerous emotions. Independent and free, they can simply be themselves, and this is the real meaning of life for these people.
According to the narrator, only the person who does not depend on material goods, is not a hypocrite and for whom feelings come first. Famous writer E. Remarque argued that reason is given to a person to understand that:
“You cannot live by reason alone. People live by feelings."
So what rules our world? A person needs to live in such a way that, guided by reason, he can experience the full range of feelings. And only then will a person, having achieved harmony, be happy, and his life will have deep meaning.
Difficult choice between head and heart
The most difficult choice can be considered a person’s choice between reason and feelings. Life often creates situations for us when we need to make a certain choice and it can only be made independently. This decision for each specific person at that time will be the most correct. For this, it is enough to recall Ivan Bunin’s story “The Caucasus”. In it, the author shows that, sometimes, the feelings of one person can greatly affect the life of another person and even destroy them. Main character runs away with the man she loves. But her happiness leads to the death of her husband. The young woman does not even think that her husband also has feelings that he loves her. She, obeying her passion, destroys their life together, which leads to the death of a man who simply cannot live without her.
The fleeting infatuation of his wife, the betrayal of his beloved, knocks a man out of the ordinary course of life. Bunin gives detailed description his thoughts, which lead to him deciding to kill himself. Detailed description The last hours of the hero’s life evoke a storm of emotions in the reader’s soul. Having made a terrible decision, he swam in the sea, shaved, changed into clean underwear, a jacket, had breakfast, and he did not deny himself pleasures: a bottle of champagne and coffee, a cigar. And only then did he return to his room, where on the sofa he shot himself in the head with two revolvers, without giving himself the slightest chance.
The author shows that the main character had no other way, since it is difficult to survive betrayal loved one, and it is impossible to live a life that now has no meaning, it has simply become empty and lonely. Having received his happiness and lost it, according to the author, he no longer has anything to live for. The pain for Bunin's hero is so strong that only death can relieve him of it. But, according to the narrator, only someone with a strong will and persistent determination can commit suicide. The reader feels compassion for the death of an officer due to his wife’s infidelity. But in a complex and difficult choice between reason and heartfelt feelings, the main character chooses feelings. There is no point in life without them for this person.
The world of feelings in the works of Bunin
The main character of the story " Dark alleys" - a landowner who one day seduces Nadezhda, a young peasant woman. But since the woman was no equal to him, he forgets about her with a light heart. And when many years have already passed, this landowner, who became a military man, comes to these places. He recognizes Nadya as the owner of one of the huts. Ivan Bunin shows all the subtleties inner experiences heroes. Even their conversation does not contain so much information as there are feelings invested in their experiences. Each of them remembers those moments of youth when they were happy.
It turned out that Nadya lived alone all her life, remembering the love she had for the landowner. But she also cannot forgive him. And now this feeling of resentment prevents her from being happy. But the main character of the story is also unhappy, since his wife, whom Nikolai Alekseevich madly loved, cheated on him and left him. And this story of two lonely hearts does not end with a happy marriage. The author deprives his characters of happiness, since there is no longer passion. The theme of love in this work is the main one. The narrator showed that experiences, that is, feelings, are stronger than the mind.
Another example is Bunin’s story “Sunstroke”. In it, the author shows how strong love is in the life of any person. A touching and fleeting romance between a married woman and a lieutenant who met by chance on a ship. The passion and love they experienced is similar sunstroke. One night spent together, and the rest of their lives, where they will never meet again - this is the basis of the plot. For some time the hero worries that his life, which has been blinded true love, again lost its meaning. But he tries to come to terms with this loss and continue to live, remembering the miracle that happened to him. But he doesn’t have to experience such emotions, such intensity of feelings again.
Reason in the works of Bunin
A person does not live only in the emotional and sensory world, he has the right to choose between the heartfelt senses and the mind. And such a choice faces a person all his life. So what should you choose: reason or feelings? Everyone makes their own choice and then bears responsibility for it. And the consequences can be very different.
In Bunin's work "Clean Monday" the main character does not have a name. In the text, the author always uses the pronoun “she” when talking about the character. And the same interesting characteristic he gives his heroine without a name:
Strange.
Silent.
Unusual.
Alien to the entire surrounding world.
Not seeing and not perceiving this world around him, but looking, as it were, through it.
I was thinking about something all the time.
She looked as if she was trying to understand something in her thoughts.
She was often thoughtful.
She loved to visit old cemeteries, monasteries, and loved to go to church.
Her favorite pastimes were going to the theater and restaurants, and she also loved reading books.
She loves secular society.
Such a contradictory characterization was given by the author in the story. She often thinks about how much her closeness to the spiritual world will help her find peace of mind. The main character of Bunin's story could not find harmony in her soul, which was somehow disturbed. This affected her mind, which felt like it was torn apart. Trying to find something whole that can help her find harmony, she turns to God, hoping that serving him will help her.
The world around seems unreal and untenable to the young woman. Even love for young man can't keep her in this life. For the main character, love is not the meaning of life, but only some kind of addition to it. IN clean monday a girl without a name goes to a monastery. She knew that this world was not suitable for her life, and being the wife or bride of an earthly person was also not destined for her by fate. Therefore, she chooses to become the “eternal” bride of God. And she has her own path, where reason dominates over the world of feelings.
So, anyone living is faced with a choice. And this one difficult choice you need to do it yourself.
For I. A. Bunin, the feeling of love is always a secret, great, unknowable and miracle beyond the control of human reason. In his stories, no matter what kind of love it is: strong, real, mutual, it never reaches marriage. He stops her highest point pleasures and perpetuates in prose.
From 1937 to 1945 Ivan Bunin writes an intriguing work, which will later be included in the collection “Dark Alleys”. While writing the book, the author emigrated to France. Thanks to the work on the story, the writer was to some extent distracted from the dark streak that was going on in his life.
Bunin said that “Clean Monday” is best job which was written by him:
I thank God for giving me the opportunity to write “Clean Monday.”
Genre, direction
“Clean Monday” was written in the direction of realism. But before Bunin they didn’t write about love like that. The writer finds those only words that do not trivialize feelings, but each time rediscover emotions familiar to everyone.
The work “Clean Monday” is a short story, a small everyday work, somewhat similar to a short story. The difference can only be found in the plot and compositional construction. The short story genre, unlike the short story, is characterized by the presence of a certain turn of events. In this book, such a turn is a change in the heroine’s outlook on life and a sharp change in her lifestyle.
Meaning of the name
Ivan Bunin clearly draws a parallel with the title of the work, making the main character a girl who rushes between opposites and does not yet know what she needs in life. She changes for the better on Monday, and not just the first day of the new week, but a religious celebration, that turning point, which is marked by the church itself, where the heroine goes to cleanse herself of the luxury, idleness and bustle of her former life.
Clean Monday is the first holiday of Lent in the calendar, leading to Forgiveness Sunday. The author extends the thread life-changing heroines: from various amusements and unnecessary fun, to accepting religion, and entering a monastery.
The essence
The story is told in the first person. The main events are as follows: every evening the narrator visits a girl who lives opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, for whom he has feelings strong feelings. He is extremely talkative, she is very silent. There was no intimacy between them, and this keeps him in bewilderment and some kind of expectation.
For some time they continue to go to theaters and spend evenings together. Forgiveness Sunday is approaching, and they go to the Novodevichy Convent. Along the way, the heroine talks about how yesterday she was at the schismatic cemetery, and with admiration describes the burial ceremony of the archbishop. The narrator had not previously noticed any religiosity in her, and therefore listened attentively, with glowing, loving eyes. The heroine notices this and is amazed at how much he loves her.
In the evening they go to a skit party, after which the narrator accompanies her home. The girl asks to let the coachmen go, which she hasn’t done before, and come up to her. It was just their evening.
In the morning, the heroine says that she is leaving for Tver, to the monastery - there is no need to wait or look for her.
The main characters and their characteristics
The image of the main character can be viewed from several angles of the narrator: a young man in love evaluates his chosen one as a participant in the events, and he also sees her in the role of a person who only remembers the past. His views on life after falling in love, after passion, change. By the end of the story, the reader now sees his maturity and depth of thoughts, but at the beginning the hero was blinded by his passion and did not see the character of his beloved behind it, did not feel her soul. This is the reason for his loss and the despair into which he plunged after the disappearance of the lady of his heart.
The girl's name cannot be found in the work. For the storyteller, this is simply the same one - unique. The heroine is an ambiguous nature. She has education, sophistication, intelligence, but at the same time she is withdrawn from the world. She is attracted by an unattainable ideal, to which she can only strive within the walls of the monastery. But at the same time, she fell in love with a man and cannot just leave him. Contrast of feelings leads to internal conflict, which we can glimpse in her tense silence, in her desire for quiet and secluded corners, for reflection and solitude. The girl still cannot understand what she needs. She is seduced by a luxurious life, but at the same time, she resists it and tries to find something else that will illuminate her path with meaning. And in this honest choice, in this loyalty to oneself lies great power, there is great happiness, which Bunin described with such pleasure.
Topics and issues
- The main theme is love. It is she who gives a person meaning in life. For the girl, the guiding star was divine revelation, she found herself, but her chosen one, having lost the woman of his dreams, lost his way.
- The problem of misunderstanding. The whole essence of the tragedy of heroes lies in misunderstanding each other. The girl, feeling love for the narrator, does not see anything good in this - for her this is a problem, and not a way out of a confusing situation. She is looking for herself not in the family, but in service and spiritual calling. He sincerely does not see this and tries to impose on her his vision of the future - the creation of marriage bonds.
- Theme of choice also appears in the novella. Every person has a choice, and everyone decides for themselves what to do right. The main character chose her own path - entering a monastery. The hero continued to love her, and could not come to terms with her choice, because of this he could not find inner harmony, find himself.
- Also I. A. Bunin can be traced theme of human purpose in life. The main character does not know what she wants, but she feels her calling. It is very difficult for her to understand herself, and because of this, the narrator also cannot fully understand her. However, she follows the call of her soul, vaguely guessing her destiny - the destiny of higher powers. And this is very good for both of them. If a woman made a mistake and got married, she would remain unhappy forever and blame the one who led her astray. And the man would suffer from unrequited happiness.
- The problem of happiness. The hero sees him in love with the lady, but the lady moves along a different coordinate system. She will find harmony only alone with God.
Main idea
The writer writes about true love, which ultimately ends in breakup. The heroes make such decisions themselves; they have complete freedom of choice. And the meaning of their actions is the idea of the entire book. Each of us must choose exactly that love that we can worship without complaint throughout our lives. A person must be true to himself and the passion that lives in his heart. The heroine found the strength to go to the end and, despite all doubts and temptations, to reach her cherished goal.
The main idea of the novel is an ardent call for honest self-determination. There is no need to be afraid that someone will not understand or judge your decision if you are sure that this is your calling. In addition, a person must be able to resist those obstacles and temptations that prevent him from hearing his own voice. Fate depends on whether we are able to hear him, both our own fate and the position of those to whom we are dear.
Interesting? Save it on your wall!Final essay is an exam format that allows you to assess several aspects of a student’s knowledge at once. Among them: vocabulary, knowledge of literature, the ability to express one’s point of view in writing. In short, this format makes it possible to assess the student’s overall proficiency in both language and subject knowledge.
1. 3 hours 55 minutes are allotted for the final essay, the recommended length is 350 words.
2. Date of the final essay 2016-2017. In the 2015-2016 academic year it was held on December 2, 2015, February 3, 2016, and May 4, 2016. In 2016-2017 - December 7, February 1, May 17.
3. The final essay (presentation) is held on the first Wednesday of December, the first Wednesday of February and the first working Wednesday of May.
The purpose of the essay is a reasoning, a competently and clearly constructed point of view of the student using examples from the literature within the framework of a given topic. It is important to note that the topics do not indicate a specific work for analysis; it is of a supra-subject nature.
Topics for the final essay on literature 2016-2017
Topics are formed from two lists: open and closed. The first one is known in advance and reflects approximate general topics, they are formulated as concepts that contradict each other.
A closed list of topics is announced 15 minutes before the start of the essay - these are more specific topics.
Open list of topics for the final essay 2016-2017:
1. “Reason and Feeling”,
2. “Honor and dishonor”,
3. “Victory and defeat”,
4. “Experience and mistakes”,
5. “Friendship and enmity”.
The topics are presented in a problematic manner, the names of the topics are antonyms.
An approximate list of references for all those who will write the final essay (2016-2017):
1. A.M. Gorky "Old Woman Izergil"
2. A.P. Chekhov "Ionych"
3. A.S. Pushkin " Captain's daughter", "Eugene Onegin", "Station Warden"
4. B.L. Vasiliev “Not on the lists”
5. V.A. Kaverin "Two Captains"
6. V.V. Bykov "Sotnikov"
7. V.P. Astafiev "Tsar Fish"
8. Henry Marsh “Do No Harm”
9. Daniel Defoe “Robinson Crusoe”,
10. Jack London “White Fang”,
11. Jack London "Martin Eden",
12. I.A. Bunin "Clean Monday"
13. I.S. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons"
14. L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace"
15. M.A. Sholokhov "Quiet Don"
16. M.Yu. Lermontov "Hero of Our Time"
17. F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment", "Idiot"
18. E. Hemingway “The Old Man and the Sea”,
19. E.M. Remarque “On western front no change"
20. E.M. Remarque "Three Comrades".
Argumenyou are on the topic "Reason and Feeling"
The point of view must be reasoned; in order to formulate it correctly, one should involve literary material, corresponding to the topic. The argument is the main component of the essay and is one of the evaluation criteria. The following requirements apply to it:
1. Match the theme
2. Include literary material
3. Be included in the text logically, in accordance with the overall composition
4. Be presented through quality writing.
5. Be properly designed.
For the topic “Reason and Feeling,” you can take arguments from the works of I.S. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons", A.S. Griboyedov "Woe from Wit", N.M. Karamzin " Poor Lisa", Jane Austen "Sense and Sensibility".
Examples of final essays
There are a number of final essay templates. They are assessed according to five criteria, here is an example of an essay that received the highest score:
An example of an essay on the topic: “Should reason prevail over feelings?”
What to listen to, reason or feelings - this is the question every person asks. It is especially acute when the mind dictates one thing, but feelings contradict it. What is the voice of reason, when one should listen more to its advice, a person decides for himself, and the same with feelings. Without a doubt, the choice of one or the other depends on the specific situation. For example, even a child knows that in a stressful situation one should not give in to panic, it is better to listen to reason. It is important not only to listen to both reason and feelings, but also to truly learn to distinguish between situations when it is necessary to listen to the first or the second to a greater extent.
Since the question has always been relevant, it has found wide circulation both in Russian and in foreign literature. Jane Austen, in her novel Sense and Sensibility, reflected this eternal contradiction through the example of two sisters. Elinor, the eldest of the sisters, is distinguished by her prudence, but is not devoid of feelings, she simply knows how to manage them. Mariana is in no way inferior to her older sister, but prudence is not inherent in her in any way. The author showed how their characters were affected in the test of love. In the case of her older sister, her prudence almost played tricks on her cruel joke, thanks to her reserved nature, she did not immediately let her lover know how she felt. Mariana became a victim of feelings, so she was deceived by a young man who took advantage of her gullibility and married a wealthy lady. As a result, the older sister was ready to come to terms with loneliness, but the man of her heart, Edward Ferras, makes a choice in her favor, refusing not only the inheritance, but also his word: an engagement to an unloved woman. Marianne, after a serious illness and suffering deception, grows up and agrees to be engaged to a 37-year-old captain, for whom she does not have romantic feelings, but deeply respects her.
The heroes in A.P.’s story make a similar choice. Chekhov "About Love". However, Alyohin and Anna Luganovich, succumbing to the call of reason, give up their happiness, which makes their action correct in the eyes of society, but deep down in their souls, both heroes are unhappy.
So what is reason: logic, common sense, or just boring reason? Can feelings interfere with a person’s life or, conversely, provide an invaluable service? There is no clear answer to this debate: who to listen to: reason or feeling. Both are equally important for a person, so you just need to learn how to use them correctly.
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