The works of Andrei Platonov have that magical quality that makes us think about many things around us. Some situations that are described in his stories cause us some bewilderment and provoke us to protest. .

This is the one strong point his creativity, which does not leave the reader indifferent. The writer masterfully reveals to us the essence of the beauty and sincerity of ordinary people, who, thanks to their deep inner filling, change the world for the better.

The story "Yushka" - the tragedy of a hero

The main character of the story “Yushka” is a man who has an unsurpassed sense of understanding and love of nature. He treats her like a living being. The kindness and warmth of his soul has no boundaries. Having a terrible illness, he does not complain about life, but perceives it as a real precious gift. Yushka has real spiritual nobility: he believes that all people are equal and deserve happiness.

The tragedy of the story lies in the fact that the people around him do not perceive poor Yushka as a person; they make fun of his foolishness and insult him in every possible way at the first opportunity. Children, following the examples of adults, throw stones at him and offend him with contemptuous words.

However, our hero perceives this as self-love, because in his worldview there are no concepts of hatred, ridicule and contempt. The only person who treated him with gratitude and love was the orphan he raised.

The girl became a doctor and returned to her native village to cure her adopted father, but it was too late for Yushka to finish his difficult life path. But still, she decides to stay in the village to help people. Thus, she continues Yushka’s mission with only one difference: he treated their souls, and she treated their bodies.

Only after his death were people around him able to truly appreciate the kind of person he was. An epiphany dawned on them: Yushka was better than all of them put together, because no one could love and admire the world around him as sincerely as he did. The advice that the unfortunate holy fool gave during his life, which previously seemed stupid, acquired in their eyes real philosophy and wisdom of life.

Morality as the basis of the characters of Platonov’s heroes

In his work, Platonov shows us the need to be more open to the surrounding perception. In pursuit of illusory goals, we lose real priorities, which are love and understanding.

And instead of listening to people who are trying to show by their own example all the morality and spirituality of a person, we mercilessly push them away from ourselves.

The language of the era in the story: the relevance of the topic

The situation described in the work is very typical for the beginning of the 20th century, in which society forgot absolutely all the values ​​that were previously inherent to its people. However, the work will remain relevant in any era, because even in modern world society predominantly pursues material values, completely forgetting about spirituality.

Platonov is a writer who very often in his works described the ordinary everyday relationships of people, trying through these relationships to get to know a person and his soul more deeply. His heroes simple people, a simple person There was also Yushka, the hero of Platonov’s work “Yushka”.

Platonov's story Yushka

Working on the work “Yushka” by Platonov and its analysis, it is worth noting the genre of this work and this is a story. A story that tells us the story of one person: kind, sympathetic, who knew how to love sincerely, no matter what. In addition, this is a story that shows us the cruelty of humanity, which could not understand what it is to love and how to love just like that. Here we see inhumanity, cruelty, people’s mistakes, and the author also showed us that among all this there are kind people who know how to enjoy the beauty of nature, who can take care of their neighbors.

Heroes of the story Yushka

The author introduces us to the main character of the story “Yushka” at the very beginning and this is Efim Dmitrievich. True, no one called him that, for everyone he was Yushka. He was a forty-year-old man who had been prematurely aged by illness. He suffered from consumption. He worked for a blacksmith, doing menial work for which he received pennies. He was very poor, because he couldn’t even afford new clothes, he drank water instead of tea, and lived in the kitchen of a blacksmith’s apartment.

Everything would have been fine, but out of the kindness of his heart, having a real gift of love, Yushka attracted attention to himself and everyone wanted to offend him, provoke him into conflict, hit him. He was constantly offended by both adults and children, taking out their anger on him, but Yushka himself believed that this was how they showed their love for him, it’s just that no one taught them to love in any other way. This is exactly what this kindest man thought, so he did not insult in return. To the children, he just said: “What are you doing, my dears, what are you doing, little ones! You must love me? Why do you all need me?"

In Platonov's story "Yushka" and summary we see that not only does he treat people with kindness and love, he also treats nature with a feeling of tenderness, and we see this when he bends down to inhale the aroma of flowers, without breathing, so as not to spoil their beauty with his breath. We see how he picks up dead bugs and insects, feeling orphaned without them, how he enjoys the singing of birds and grasshoppers.

Despite the cruelty of those around him, he did not lose his humanity, and meanwhile, for twenty-five years everyone mocked him, and one day, a meeting with another passer-by who beat Yushka ended in tears for Efim Dmitrievich. He died. He was buried, and the whole city came to the funeral. Maybe because people felt a great loss, because with his death they lost love. They have lost something bright, they have lost what each of them lacks.

Another heroine is an orphan, a girl whom we learn about at the end of the work. She came to visit Yushka, and not just to visit, but to cure him. From her story we learn that Yushka took the girl under his wing. He, denying himself everything, managed to teach the girl, bringing her money for her studies, and now, having graduated from the university and trained to be a doctor, she came to help him. But I didn’t have time, because I didn’t find him alive. This was probably the only person who truly loved Yushka with all his heart, with all his soul. During his life, Yushka managed to teach the girl to love people and do good for them, so she stayed in the city and treated people who suffered from consumption for free.

Yushka's essay plan

1. Acquaintance with Efim Dmitrievich - Yushka. Description of his work and living conditions
2. Children’s cruelty towards Yushka
3. Parents scare their children with Yushka for bad behavior
4. Adult cruelty
5. Conversation with Dasha, the blacksmith’s daughter
6. Yushka’s annual hike. Enjoying nature and relaxing Yushka from the city and its inhabitants
7. More work and more bullying
8. The disease progresses
9. A passerby caused Yushka’s death
10. Yushka’s funeral
11. Orphan – named daughter of Yushka
12. A girl doctor who treated tuberculosis patients free of charge

Sections: Literature

Lesson objectives.

Educational: restore and deepen information about the writer’s biography;
develop the ability to characterize literary characters, the main character;
continue to develop the skill of working with a textbook; Help the children to better understand the content of the story.

Developmental: development of mental operations: analysis, generalization; speech development; developing the ability to formulate your thoughts.

Educational: cultivate a compassionate attitude towards others and active civil position to what is happening around.

Equipment: portrait of A.P. Platonov, exhibition of Platonov’s books, presentation.

During the classes

One person's love can
bring to life talent in another
person or at least
awaken him to action.
I know this miracle...
A. Platonov

I. introduction teachers.

Guys! Today in class we will continue our acquaintance with the great Russian writer Andrei Platonovich Platonov. Let’s try to comprehend the content of the story “Yushka”, which you read for today’s lesson. Let's think about the nature of love for one's neighbor, about good and evil, and identify those philosophical problems, which the author puts in his work.

And we will begin our conversation with reflection: why is a person born? How do you think? (Students’ answers.) Listen to the opinion of the modern poet Dmitry Golubkov, as he reflects on the purpose of man on Earth:

Man, like a star, is born
Among the vague, alarming milkiness
At infinity it begins
And it ends at infinity.
Created by generations
Century after century, the earth is imperishable.
Man, like a star, is born
So that the universe becomes brighter.

– In what lines did the poet express his opinion about the purpose of man? (Students' answers.)

This is how many years ago a man was born who was destined to become a writer. This is Andrei Platonovich Platonov (Klimentov). His name is a little familiar to us from the stories “Nikita”, “In a Beautiful and Furious World...”, “Cow”, “Flower on the Earth”. Reworked by Platonov folk tales, for example, “Magic Ring”, “Finist - Clear Falcon”, etc.

We learned that many things are important to Platonov: animals, plants, and nature. But the most important thing is a person who has a fatherly attitude towards everything that is nearby.

The life of A. Platonov (Klimentov A.P.) was short and difficult.

2. Student’s message about Platonov.
Andrei Platonovich Platonov was born on September 1, 1899. The surname Platonov is a pseudonym formed in 1920 on behalf of his father. His real name is Klimentov.
Platonov was born in Voronezh, in the family of a mechanic at railway workshops. From an early age I knew poverty and misery. Platonov’s father worked for about half a century as a locomotive driver, mechanic at railway. The mother was doing housework. The family was large, up to ten people, everyone lived on their father’s small salary. Andrey is the eldest child in the family. At the age of less than 14, he begins working, becomes the breadwinner, taking care of the family. “Besides the field, the village, his mother and the ringing of bells,” he also loved “steam locomotives, a car, a whining whistle and sweaty work.” Platonov worked “in many places, with many employers.” He was a laborer, a mechanic's assistant, a locomotive driver's assistant, a foundry worker, and an electrician. These “universities” shaped Platonov’s indifference to human needs. Hating suffering, in his youth he takes an oath to live in such a way as to leave no place for suffering on earth.
During the years of civil and Great Patriotic War he was at the front as a war correspondent. In November 1944, Platonov arrived from the front with a severe form of pulmonary tuberculosis. On January 5, 1951, he died from this disease. Buried in Moscow.

The works of A. Platonov were incomprehensible to many, so troubles befell him: criticism, misunderstanding, prohibitions, searches. And only after death came recognition. Wrote on different topics, but the main thing in Platonov’s works is the fate of man, the search for the meaning of life: “I am a man, I live on a beautiful living land... I just want to be a man. A person for me is a rarity and a holiday,” wrote A. Platonov.

Reading Platonov's works is not easy, since they require work of thought and heart. But we will try to live with his heroes for a very short time. It is to live in order to try to understand them, the author, and maybe even ourselves.

II. Work with text.

- And now we turn to Platonov's story “Yushka”, which you read at home.
Guys, tell me, who is the main character of the story? Let's try to look at Yushka through the eyes of those who live next to him.
– How do people see Yushka? What do they know about him? What do they think?

Before us is an old-looking man, weak, sick. “He was short and thin; on his wrinkled face, instead of a mustache and beard, sparse gray hairs grew separately; the eyes were white, like a blind man, and there was always moisture in them, like tears that never cooled down.” He long years wears the same clothes, reminiscent of rags, without changing. And his table is modest: he did not drink tea and did not buy sugar. He is a handy assistant to the main blacksmith, performing work invisible to the prying eye, although necessary.
He is the first to go to the forge in the morning and the last to leave, so old men and women check the beginning and end of the day by him.
But in the eyes of adults, fathers and mothers, Yushka is a flawed person, unable to live, abnormal, which is why they remember him when scolding children: they say, you will be like Yushka.
In addition, every year Yushka goes somewhere for a month and then returns.

– What does no one know about him? How do they never see Yushka?

Having gone far from people, Yushka is transformed. It is open to the world: the fragrance of herbs, the voice of rivers, the singing of birds, the joy of dragonflies, beetles, grasshoppers - it lives in one breath, one living joy with this world. We see Yushka cheerful and happy (it seems that the illness has receded).

Express. reading descriptions of nature.

– How does this passage help you understand the image of Yushka?

(Yushka feels much better in nature than among people. He has no need to hide his “love for living beings” here.)

– Where does Yushka go every summer?

The secret is unknown to the inhabitants of the city, just as its true name is unknown. For them, he is just Yushka.

- Why do people make fun of Yushka? How does he answer the offenders? Who is right?

The class is divided into groups; Each of them is asked to focus on a specific episode and think about the questions asked. (For group work issues, seePresentations.)

1. Yushka’s meeting with the children (students provide quotes and comments).

– How do the children feel about him? What attracts children to Yushka?
- Why isn’t Yushka offended by them? Why do children, who are just beginning to live and, therefore, should not yet learn evil and hatred, torment Yushka? What do they expect from him?

(To torment, torment, mock, torment, torment, tyrannize.)

To torment – ​​1. To tear into pieces. 2. Torture morally.

(1. The children do not give Yushka a pass, pestering him with shouts, blows, throwing stones and rubbish at him. But it is not anger, not hatred of Yushka that drives the children. They are waiting for a natural, normal reaction - evil in response to evil. For them, evil - this is a manifestation of the norm. Moreover, evil for children is a source of joy and fun. Yushka joyfully responds to the joy of children, he is happy from the consciousness of his need. He understands that children are not to blame for the fact that there is no good in their lives.)

– How does Yushka himself explain the behavior of children? Do you agree with Yushka? What feelings does the episode of Yushka’s torture by children make you feel?

2. Yushka’s meeting with adults.
– How do adults, wiser people than children, treat Yushka? Why do adults sometimes offend him? Why do their hearts fill with fierce rage at the sight of Yushka? How does Yushka answer them?

(Adults also take out on Yushka “evil grief and resentment,” the fierce rage of their hearts. They cannot forgive Yushka for his dissimilarity, his silent meekness. “Be like everyone else,” that’s what they demand from Yushka.)

The children repeat the actions of their elders, whom Yushka annoys because he is different from them. They transferred their evil grief or insult with fierce rage to a defenseless person. Yushka's silence turned into his guilt, and his meekness led to even greater bitterness. And even Dasha, who felt sorry for Yushka, told him: “It would be better if you died!”

3. Yushka and girl Dasha.

– Is Yushka right when he tells Dasha that his people love him?
– How do you feel about Dasha’s words: “Their hearts are blind, but their eyes are sighted!” They love you after your heart, but they hit you according to their calculations”?
- Yushka responded to Dasha’s objections: “He loves me without a clue. People's hearts are blind" How do you understand this expression? (Opinions of the guys.)

A “blind heart” occurs in a person who is unable to understand another, sacrifice himself, do good, or even notice him, who loves only himself, and does not feel pity or compassion for others.

- How do you understand the word compassion?

“Compassion is pity, sympathy aroused by the misfortune of another person”

Synonyms: sympathy, mercy, regret, participation, pity...

4. Yushka and the cheerful passerby.

- How did Yushka disturb the cheerful passerby?

(The meeting with a cheerful passer-by, who reproached Yushka for walking on earth and wished him death, ends tragically. Unlike anyone, Yushka seems unnecessary to him, superfluous in this world. And for the first time, the meek, silent, humble Yushka is silent, objects to the offender.)

“We had already become so accustomed to Yushka, we began to understand him better, when suddenly something happened to him that everyone had been waiting for so long,” Yushka got angry. Is this word a coincidence? Platonov could have used any word close in meaning - angry, angry, angry, indignant. Why exactly did he get angry? (The word better matches his image.)

- What happened to Yushka? Why did he become angry, perhaps for the first time in his life?

Yushka realizes her value in this world (“I was assigned to live by my parents, I was born by law, the whole world needs me too...”) Platonov speaks about the primordial value of any human life, the uniqueness of every person...

– Did the cheerful passer-by want Yushka’s death?

III. Working with illustrations.

The artist’s illustration for the story helps to feel the gravity of what is happening even more. What episode is depicted on it?

Conclusion: One person cannot put himself above others, no one has the right to judge other people for their dissimilarity, much less mock and kill.

- All the people came to say goodbye to Yushka. Perhaps someone's blind heart has seen the light, even if only for a short time. “ However, life became worse without Yushka" Why?

– What memory did Yushka leave about himself after his death?

Unfortunately, good does not always win in life. But goodness and love, according to Platonov, do not dry up, do not leave the world with the death of a person. Years have passed since Yushka's death. The city has long forgotten him. But Yushka raised with his small means, denying himself everything, an orphan who, having studied, became a doctor and helped people. The doctor's wife is called the daughter of the good Yushka.

- Yes, it is thanks to the girl doctor that the city will recognize the name of the man whom everyone habitually called Yushka - Efim Dmitrievich.
Guys, do you know what the names Efim and Dmitry mean? (Message from a prepared student.)

Yushka – it is blood, the life-giving fluid. A significant loss of which threatens the body with death.

Efim - pious, benevolent, sacred.
Name Dmitry goes back to the name of Demeter, the ancient Greek goddess of agriculture and fertility. Good grains grown in the unfertile soil of parental love bear generous fruits of goodness.

And Andrei Platonov’s fruit turned out to be an orphan girl, who later became a doctor.

- Thus, which one the most important topic raises in his story A.P. Platonov? ( The theme of mercy, compassion for people.)
– How do you understand the meaning of words? mercy, sympathy, compassion, evil, good.
– did you feel author's attitude to this hero? Does he blame anyone for Yushka's death? Does he judge people for their cruelty?

(Platonov, undoubtedly, loves his hero, pities him, but leaves us, the readers, the right to draw our own conclusions. With his own will, the writer could change a lot in the plot of the story. But even with this tragic ending, Platonov retains faith in the victory of humanity over inhumanity.)

– How does the story make you feel?

However, the story evokes not only a feeling of pity, but also indignation at the cruel reality, people (children and adults) who are inaccessible to such elementary and necessary feelings as compassion and kindness.

– What does A. Platonov teach us?

A. Platonov teaches us pity and compassion, teaches us to love and respect a person, to empathize with his grief and help him, to see everyone as an equal, to understand him.

IV. Working with statements famous people.

– Read the proposed statements of famous people and try to choose the one that most suits our topic. Prove it.

Respect the human personality in yourself and others.
DI. Pisarev

The smarter and kinder a person is, the more he notices goodness in people.
B. Pascal

Great souls endure suffering in silence.
F. Schiller

Do not be indifferent, for indifference is deadly to the human soul.
M Gorky

“The old wisdom says: do not cry for the dead - cry for the one who has lost his soul and conscience.”
V. Rasputin

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Bible

To summarize our conversation, I want you to understand that goodness sprouts and bears fruit. “So every good thing bears good fruit,” says the Gospel. Don’t be blind, have a seeing heart, don’t forget that there are people next to you who need your help, your participation, compassion and empathy...

V. Homework

Write a mini-essay on one of the topics:

1. Is it easy to be a merciful person?
2. What did the story “Yushka” make me think about?

The story “Yushka” was written by Platonov in the first half of the 30s, and published only after the writer’s death, in 1966, in “Izbranny”.

Literary direction and genre

“Yushka” is a story that reveals in a few pages the way of thinking of the population of an entire town and the mentality of a person as such.

The work has an unexpected ending associated with the arrival of an orphan trained to be a doctor in the city. This ending makes the story look like a novella. There are similarities in the work with a parable, if you perceive the ending as a morality showing true mercy.

Topic, main idea and issues

The theme of the story is the nature of good and evil, mercy and cruelty, beauty human soul. The main idea can be expressed by several biblical truths at once: one must do good unselfishly; human hearts are deceitful and extremely wicked, so people do not know what they are doing; you must love your neighbor as yourself. The problems of the story are also related to morality. Platonov raises the problem of belated gratitude, contempt and cruelty towards those who are different from everyone else. One of the most important problems is the moral deadness of the heroes, contrasted with the moral liveliness of Yushka, although it is precisely his liveliness that the children doubt.

Plot and composition

The story takes place “in ancient times.” Such a reference to the past makes the story almost a fairy tale, beginning with the words “once upon a time there lived in a certain kingdom.” That is, the hero of the story is immediately presented as a universal, timeless hero, who embodies moral guidelines humanity.

The blacksmith's assistant Yushka, whom all the inhabitants of the city laugh at as a meek and unrequited creature, leaves for a month every summer. According to him, either to his niece, or to another relative in the village or in Moscow. That year, when Yushka did not go anywhere, feeling very bad, he died, knocked down by another mocker.

In the fall, an orphan appeared in the city, whom Yushka fed and taught all her life. The girl came to cure her benefactor of tuberculosis. She remained in the city and devoted her whole life to selflessly helping the sick.

Heroes

The story is named after the main character. Yushka is not a nickname, as many readers think, but a diminutive name, which in the Voronezh province was formed from the southern Russian version of the name Efim - Yukhim. But the word Yushka in the same southern Russian dialect it means liquid food like soup, liquid in general, and even blood. Thus, the name of the hero seems to be telling. It hints at the hero’s ability to adapt to the harsh, evil world, just as water adapts to the shape of a vessel. And also the name is a hint at the death of the hero, who died from bleeding, obviously provoked by a blow to the chest.

Yushka is a blacksmith's assistant. Nowadays, a person who does such work “that needed to be done” would be called a laborer. His age is defined as "old-looking". Only in the middle of the story does the reader learn that Yushka was 40 years old, and he looked weak and old due to illness.

The story turned out to be prophetic for Platonov himself, who died of tuberculosis, having become infected from his son, who went to prison at the age of 15 and was released 2.5 years later, already seriously ill.

The portrait of Yushka emphasizes his thinness and short stature. The eyes are especially highlighted, white, like a blind man’s, with tears constantly standing in them. This image is not accidental: Yushka sees the world not as it really is. He does not notice evil, considering it a manifestation of love, and seems to always cry for the needs of others.

Yushka looks like the blessed one that the Russian people imagined them to be. The only difference is that it was not customary to offend the blessed. But Yushka is humiliated and beaten, calling him not blessed, but blessed, unlike, animal, God's scarecrow, worthless fool. And they demand that Yushka be like them, live like everyone else.

Yushka considers all people equal “by necessity.” He is accidentally killed by a fellow villager precisely because he dared to compare himself to him.

We even compare the hero with Christ, who suffered for the people, enduring torment. When the Roman soldiers mocked Christ, he remained silent, without explaining anything to them. But the hero of Bulgakov’s novel, written a little later than Yushka, in 1937, is even more similar to Yushka. Yeshua, unlike the biblical Jesus, actively justifies the offenders, calling them kind people. So Yushka calls the children who offend him relatives, little ones.

Yushka believes that both children and adults need it. He would seem to wrongly conclude that children and adults need him because they love him. But over the years, it becomes clear that they really loved him, just unable to express either love or need for him. And that’s exactly what Yushka, who was offended, thought.

Like many blessed people, Yushka gets by with little. Yushka does not spend his tiny income (seven rubles and sixty kopecks a month) on tea and sugar, being content with the simple free food of the blacksmith - bread, cabbage soup and porridge. Yushka’s clothes are just as simple, which over all the years do not seem to wear out, remaining uniformly shabby and full of holes, but fulfilling its purpose.

The people offended Yushka, because in the hearts of people "fierce rage", "evil grief and resentment". Yushka's meekness is contrasted with people's aggression, provoked by their grief, of which everyone considers Yushka to be the culprit.

Dasha, the blacksmith’s daughter, is kind to Yushka. She tries to explain to Yushka that no one loves him, that his life is in vain. But Yushka knows why he lives: by the will of his parents and for a purpose that he does not tell anyone about, as well as about his love for all living things.

Yushka does not need people the way they need him, but when he went to deserted places, Yushka experienced unity with nature. He felt orphaned even by the death of a beetle or insect. It was living nature that healed the hero, giving him strength.

After his death, Yushka shares the fate of many holy fools and saints. The carpenter who found his corpse immediately asks for forgiveness: “People rejected you”. All the people came to say goodbye to him. But then Yushka was forgotten, just as ordinary people, holy fools, and saints are forgotten. Lonely Yushka turned out to be a benefactor, giving the people someone who began to take care of them - an orphan raised and educated with his money, who became a doctor. They call her the daughter of the good Yushka, without remembering him.

Style Features

The story contains motifs traditional for Platonov. One of them is the motive of death. The children doubt that Yushka is alive because he does not respond with evil to their evil.

The landscape in the story reveals the source of the hero’s spiritual strength. Unlike people who draw energy from the pleasure of offending the weak, Yushka supported the weak and perceived himself as part of nature. A strange Platonic expression "beetle faces", found in other works, shows that Yushka perceived nature as equal to himself, humanizing it.

Platonov creates a convincing image of happiness that happens to people despite their evil deeds. The writer's life was in many ways similar to the life of his hero: hard, thankless work into which he poured his soul, and premature death from illness.

Retelling plan

1. Who is Yushka. His portrait.
2. Children’s attitude towards Yushka.
3. The anger of adults at the sight of Yushka.
4. Conversation between Yushka and the daughter of the owner of the forge, Dasha.
5. Yushka’s annual vacation.
6. The death of this person.
7. A girl comes to the town and asks for Efim Dmitrievich.
8. She stays in the city and treats people with tuberculosis all her life.

Retelling and a brief description of works

Heroes of the story: Efim (nicknamed Yushka), a blacksmith, his daughter Dasha, an orphan girl (Yushka’s pupil). The author, in a lengthy exposition, describes Yushka’s appearance, usual activities and character. The climax is the moment when Yushka speaks out in his own defense for the first time and dies from a brutal blow to the chest. The denouement is the arrival of Yushka’s pupil, who talks about herself.

Yushka is the blacksmith's assistant, he does all the work at hand. He looks like an old man: small in stature, thin, has poor vision, he has weak arms, he is only forty years old, but the “chest disease” consumption (tuberculosis) has undermined his strength since childhood. His name is Efim, but all the people, young and old, call him Yushka. He lives in the blacksmith's house. The owner feeds him for his work with bread, cabbage soup and porridge. He must buy sugar, tea and clothes for himself. However, the hero of the story does not spend his meager salary (7 rubles 60 kopecks per month) on anything.

He works from dawn to dusk. His appearance on the streets of the town in the morning and evening serves as a sign to people that either it’s time for everyone to get up and get to work, or it’s time to go to bed.

The children are happy when they see Yushka, but their joy quickly gives way to anger. Why doesn't he behave like other people? The children would have fun if they either attacked the angry Yushka or ran away from him. Adults, like children, throw out “their evil grief and resentment” on this person who is unlike them. And the unrequited Yushka, beaten, suffering from people’s malice, says that people love him very much, they just don’t know how to express this love. He says that “people’s hearts can be blind,” preventing them from understanding who a person really loves, so that they can do only good to the one they love.

Yushka goes somewhere for a month every year. Platonov shows his hero away from people, on the way to another city. Where no one torments or torments him, he almost does not feel his terrible illness. “Yushka no longer hid his love for living beings. He bent down to the ground and kissed the flowers... he stroked the bark of the trees and picked up butterflies and beetles from the path.”

No one knows exactly where and to whom he carries his earned money in a bag in his bosom. Only after Yushka’s death do we learn that all his savings were intended for an orphan girl who was not even his relative. The people around him believed that this man’s life was devoid of any meaning, because he didn’t tell anyone anything. This man, so worthless and pathetic in the eyes of other people, modestly and quietly did his good deed. Only once did he rebel, saying in his defense: “I was ordered to live by my parents, I was born by law, the whole world needs me too... It means it’s impossible without me.”

After Yushka’s death, life for people in the town becomes worse. Now no one unrequitedly takes on their anger, and it is spent between people. The girl, Yushka’s pupil, “heals and comforts sick people, without tiring of quenching suffering and delaying death from the weakened.” So Yushka’s selfless love for people continued to do its good work even after his death.

A. Platonov said about the great power of love: “The love of one person can bring to life a talent in another person, or at least awaken him to action. I know this miracle..."