One of the main themes of I. Bunin’s work is the theme of love. The cycle of stories “Dark Alleys” is devoted to this topic. Bunin considered this book the most perfect in artistic skill. “All the stories in this book are only about love, about its “dark”
and most often in very dark and cruel alleys,” wrote Bunin. The collection “Dark Alleys” is one of the last masterpieces of the great master.
The story “Natalie” is entirely devoted to the theme of love. But love in the story appears to us not from the psychological side, but from the irrational side. That incomprehensible essence of hers, which will overtake her like an obsession, swoops in from nowhere and
carries heroes towards fate. This is exactly what happens with Vitaly, Sonya and the beautiful Natalie. It is characteristic of Bunin that he always shows the most irrational events in the most realistic tones. For Ivan Bunin, the world, given and unchangeable, rules over man. Therefore, the heroes are not philosophical or religious. “Having arrived home for the holidays, I decided that the time had come for me to be like everyone else, to violate my purity, to look for love without romance...” Arriving at his uncle’s estate and meeting Sonya there, Vitaly already knew for sure that he wanted to change his life, to become “like everyone else.” Bunin seems to show us two completely different personalities - the same person and another, changed one: “... he blushed at the free conversations of his gymnasium comrades” - and - “... that summer! I wouldn’t blush anymore.” It is important to note that the conversation between Vitaly and Sonya at their first meeting is very relaxed, no embarrassment is felt on either his or her part. Most main theme their conversation is love, from everyone
young topics (about dad, about dinner...) they switch to this one. Sonya tells him about Natalie, her friend from high school, immediately setting him up: “You will go crazy with love for her, and you will kiss me. You will cry on my chest from her cruelty, and I will console you.” She does this so as not to interfere with their future “romance”.
In the story you can notice the extraordinary dynamism of the action. I. Bunin immediately, at the beginning of the story, lays out all the facts.
Events develop very quickly, sequentially, “flowing” from one to another. The hero is haunted by thoughts of love. Even during a conversation with his uncle, he thinks about Natalie and Sonya, he waits for what will happen next. He feels like he already loves them both. But Vitaly hasn’t seen Natalie yet, he doesn’t depend on her yet.
The narration is told from the world of the protagonist, and he himself says about himself: “Imagination has always been alive in me...”, therefore the story “Natalie” is full of colorful descriptions of everything that happens and everything surrounding the characters. The description of the appearance of Sonya and Natalie, Vitaly’s attitude towards them is completely different, different as much as they are different from each other. Two completely opposite people. He calls Sonya a “woman” and Natalie a “teenager.” “... and why did you punish me like that?
God, for which he gave two loves at once; so different and so passionate, such painful beauty of Natalie’s adoration and such bodily rapture of Sonya?” - Vitaly already honestly talks about his love for both girls. But still real love given to a person only once in his life. And this love of Vitaly is for Natalie. Let us remember that after breaking up, so to speak, with her, he will never remember his passion and physical affection for Sonya, but will always love Natalie. Even during a conversation with Natalie in a birch alley, when he confessed his feelings to her, he completely renounced Sonya in words, and the next morning with all his soul: “... I’m not connected to Sonya forever...”. But at the same time, Natalie moved away from him, I think she was afraid of him, afraid of her feelings, because she also loved: “Yes, yes, I love you...”. It turns out that Sonya destroyed this foreshadowed happiness of two lovers, but, on the other hand, thanks to Sonya, he met Natalie, thanks to her, Vitaly received plenty of “love without romance”, was ready to admire Natalie and devote himself to her.
Love in I. Bunin’s portrayal is tragic. Big love incompatible with ordinary, normal life. But love, despite all the tragedy, is the greatest happiness human life. “...Is there such a thing as unhappy love? ...Isn't it the most sorrowful
doesn’t music give happiness in the world?”

The theme of love always worried Bunin, and he dedicated his most famous works to it: the novel “The Life of Arsenyev”, the stories “Easy Breathing”, “Mitya’s Love”, “Sunstroke” and others. But at the end of his life, he turns to it again, creating a cycle of stories “Dark Alleys”, rethinking love, passion, life and death. In these stories, love is most often divided (Bunin does not show tragedy unrequited love), but this feeling always ends with separation, death, murder or suicide. According to Bunin, love, the most powerful and deepest experience of a person, is always just a short bright flash that leaves its mark for the rest of one’s life, it always makes one suffer, it is the drama of human life.

In the story “Dark Alleys,” which opens the collection, the same idea can be traced: love cannot be happy, it can transform a person’s entire life, but it always leads to separation. The plot of the story is very simple: an old military man passing through stops at an inn, the owner of which turns out to be a former serf with whom he once had a close relationship. It turns out that she still loves him, has not forgotten anything, and has not even gotten married. The hero of the story, Nikolai Alekseevich, remembers the past, his love, the happiness that this woman gave him. But he cannot imagine her as his wife; he leaves, full of previous experiences, memories and sadness. At first glance, everything is very simple, but in fact this plot allows you to describe the entire life of the characters, explain their characters, behavior, and outlook on life.

Very often, Bunin’s stories begin with a landscape, and this one was no exception: “In cold autumn weather, on one of the big Tula roads, flooded with rain and cut by many black ruts, a tarantass rolled up covered in mud.”

This landscape immediately evokes a gloomy mood and sadness on the reader. The main character of the story has the same mood, but it changes when the owner of the inn comes - “a dark-haired, also black-browed and also beautiful woman beyond her age, looking like an elderly gypsy.” If she had not called him by his first name and patronymic, he would not have recognized her. He is surprised that she, with her beauty, did not get married. Her words make him blush: “Everyone’s youth passes, but love is another matter... It’s too late to reproach me now, because, really, they would have abandoned me very heartlessly - how many times have I wanted to lay hands on myself out of resentment from one, no longer talking about everything else. After all, there was a time, Nikolai Alekseevich, when I called you Nikolenka, and you remember me? And they deigned to read all the poems to me about all sorts of “dark alleys.” The heroine kept her love and carried this feeling throughout her life. She cannot forgive him: “Just as I didn’t have anything more valuable than you at that time, I didn’t have anything later. That’s why you can’t forgive me.” The hero of the story was also not happy: his wife left him, his son grew up to be a scoundrel. He understands that he has lost the most precious thing he had, that he spent the best moments of his life with Nadezhda. However, the hero quickly calms down, thinking: “What if I hadn’t left her? What nonsense! This same Nadezhda is not the innkeeper, but my wife, the mistress of my St. Petersburg house, the mother of my children?”

Leaving the inn, he recalls the lines from Ogarev’s poem: “The scarlet rose hips were blooming all around, there were dark linden alleys...” These lines add poetry and a slight sadness to the story of past love. This love remained with Nadezhda for the rest of her life, these were “truly magical” moments in the hero’s life, and although love did not take place, it will remain in their lives forever, it left a deep mark in the human soul.

Love as depicted by Bunin is very tragic, but always beautiful; love is a great gift that is not given to everyone. We find confirmation of this in the story “Dark Alleys”.

At the beginning of 1920, I. A. Bunin left his homeland. While in exile, he wrote many literary masterpieces, including the cycle of stories “Dark Alleys.”

All the stories in this collection are united by one theme - the theme of love. The writer illuminates this feeling from different sides, showing all its subtlest shades. However, revealing the theme of love, Bunin unwittingly exposes many moral issues. They sound especially poignant in the story “Beauty”.

This is one of the shortest stories in the cycle, but in terms of depth and the severity of the issues raised in it, it perhaps surpasses many others. In a few lines, the writer was able to succinctly speak about the main human values: about good and evil, about love for one’s neighbor.

At the center of the story is a fairly typical life story. An elderly widower with a seven-year-old son remarried. His new wife took everything. She is young, unusually beautiful, and economical. But the child, the son of a widower from his first marriage, was not to her taste. She “quietly hated him.” The author does not give any reasons for this, because they simply did not exist. I hated everything.

The further narration about the fate of the little hero evokes a bitter feeling of compassion for him. First, the “beauty” transfers him to sleep “from his father’s bedroom to the sofa in the living room,” and then completely sends him to sleep in the corridor, where the maid spreads an old mattress for him on the floor.

The child finds himself in “complete loneliness in the whole world”, he is abandoned by everyone, betrayed by his own father, who, out of lack of will and cowardice, pretends that he does not notice anything at all. “Beauty” pretends to be guided by practical considerations: the boy, supposedly, can wear out all the velvet on the sofa. In fact, she simply cannot, and does not try, to overcome within herself the evil that makes an innocent little person unhappy.

From now on, the child’s life is gray and monotonous. He either sits in the corner on the floor in the living room, or draws on a slate board, or reads (in a whisper!), or looks out the windows. He makes his own bed and diligently puts it away in his mother’s chest.

The author's compassion is heard in every word. It is no coincidence that Bunin uses so many words with diminutive suffixes (“ugo-lok”, “houses”, “little book”, “bed”, “dob-rishko”). The writer does not give direct assessments of what is happening, but he masterfully makes one feel the horror of the situation in which the child finds himself.

The story has a short title: “Beauty.” And this name makes you think about a lot. What beauty is for Bunin and how much is external beauty worth when moral ugliness is hidden behind it - the author addresses his reader to these questions.

Bunin's short story cycle Dark alleys” is the best thing written by the author in his entire creative career. Despite the simplicity and accessibility of Bunin's style, analysis of the work requires special knowledge. The work is studied in 9th grade during literature lessons; its detailed analysis will be useful in preparing for the Unified State Exam, writing creative works, test assignments, and drawing up a story plan. We invite you to familiarize yourself with our version of the analysis of “Dark Alleys” according to plan.

Brief Analysis

Year of writing– 1938.

History of creation- the story was written in exile. Homesickness, bright memories, escape from reality, war and hunger - served as the impetus for writing the story.

Subject– love lost, forgotten in the past; broken destinies, the theme of choice and its consequences.

Composition- traditional for a short story or short story. It consists of three parts: the arrival of the general, the meeting with his former lover and the hasty departure.

Genre- story (short story).

Direction– realism.

History of creation

In “Dark Alleys,” the analysis will be incomplete without the history of the creation of the work and knowledge of some details of the writer’s biography. In N. Ogarev’s poem “An Ordinary Tale,” Ivan Bunin borrowed the image of dark alleys. This metaphor impressed the writer so much that he endowed it with his own special meaning and made it the title of a series of stories. All of them are united by one theme - bright, fateful, life-long love.

The work, included in the cycle of stories of the same name (1937-1945), was written in 1938, when the author was in exile. During the Second World War, hunger and poverty plagued all residents of Europe, and the French city of Grasse was no exception. That's where everything is written best works Ivan Bunin. A return to memories of the wonderful times of youth, inspiration and creative work gave the author strength to survive separation from his homeland and the horrors of war. These eight years away from home were the most productive and important in creative career Bunina. Mature age, wonderfully beautiful landscapes, rethinking historical events and life values ​​- became the impetus for the creation of the most important work of the master of words.

In the most terrible times, the best, subtle, piercing stories about love were written - the “Dark Alleys” series. In the soul of every person there are places where he looks infrequently, but with special trepidation: the brightest memories, the most “dear” experiences are stored there. It was precisely these “dark alleys” that the author had in mind when giving the title to his book and the story of the same name. The story was first published in New York in 1943 in the publication “New Land”.

Subject

Leading topic- the theme of love. Not only the story “Dark Alleys,” but all the works in the cycle are based on this great feeling. Bunin, summing up his life, was firmly convinced that love is the best thing that can be given to a person in life. It is the essence, the beginning and the meaning of everything: a tragic or happy story - there is no difference. If this feeling flashed through a person’s life, it means he didn’t live it in vain.

Human destinies, the irrevocability of events, choices that one had to regret are the leading motives in Bunin’s story. The one who loves always wins, he lives and breathes his love, it gives him the strength to move on.

Nikolai Alekseevich, who made his choice in favor of common sense, only at the age of sixty understands that his love for Nadezhda was the best event in his life. The theme of choice and its consequences is clearly revealed in the plot of the story: a man lives his life with the wrong people, remains unhappy, fate returns the betrayal and deception that he committed in his youth towards a young girl.

The conclusion is obvious: happiness lies in living in harmony with your feelings, and not contrary to them. The problem of choice and responsibility for one's own and others' fate is also touched upon in the work. The issues are quite broad, despite the small volume of the story. It is interesting to note the fact that in Bunin’s stories, love and marriage are practically incompatible: emotions are swift and bright, they arise and disappear as quickly as everything in nature. Social status has no meaning where love reigns. It equalizes people, makes ranks and classes meaningless - love has its own priorities and laws.

Composition

Compositionally, the story can be divided into three parts.

First part: the hero’s arrival at the inn (descriptions of nature and the surrounding area predominate here). The meeting with the former lover - the second semantic part - mainly consists of dialogue. In the last part, the general leaves the inn - he runs from his own memories and his past.

Main events– the dialogue between Nadezhda and Nikolai Alekseevich is built on two completely opposite views on life. She lives by love, finding consolation and joy in it, and preserves the memories of her youth. In the mouth of this wise woman, the author puts the idea of ​​the story - what the work teaches us: “everything passes, but not everything is forgotten.” In this sense, the heroes are opposite in their views; the old general mentions several times that “everything passes.” This is exactly how his life passed, meaningless, joyless, in vain. Critics received the cycle of stories enthusiastically, despite its courage and frankness.

Main characters

Genre

Dark Alleys belongs to the short story genre; some researchers of Bunin's work tend to consider them short stories.

The theme of love, unexpected abrupt endings, tragedy and dramatic plots - all this is typical for Bunin’s works. It should be noted that the lion's share of lyricism in the story is emotions, the past, experiences and spiritual quests. The general lyrical orientation is a distinctive feature of Bunin’s stories. The author has a unique ability to fit a huge period of time into a small epic genre, reveal the character’s soul and make the reader think about the most important things.

The artistic means that the author uses are always varied: precise epithets, vivid metaphors, comparisons and personifications. The technique of parallelism is also close to the author; quite often nature emphasizes state of mind characters.

Work test

Rating analysis

Average rating: 4.6. Total ratings received: 525.

Immediately after the 1917 revolution, Bunin created a number of journalistic articles in which he spoke out against the Bolsheviks. In 1918, he moved from Moscow to Odessa, and at the beginning of 1920 he left Russia forever.

The Bunins settled in Paris, where life began “on other shores” - in a state of mental decline, with the bitterness of breaking with their homeland. The writer’s works were published in the newspapers “Vozrozhdenie” and “Rus”. Bunin headed the Union of Russian Writers and Journalists.

In exile, the writer creates stories mainly about Russian life, filled with deep psychology and subtle lyricism, and develops the genre of philosophical and psychological short stories (“Dark Alleys”). He combined his stories into the collections “Mitya’s Love” (1925), “Sunstroke” (1927), and “Shadow of a Bird” (1931).

Bunin's prose continues the traditions of I.S. Turgeneva, I.A. Goncharova and L.N. Tolstoy. Economical and effective use of artistic means, visual imagery and psychological penetration - these are the features of Bunin's style. Some of his stories, due to the perfection of their form, belong to the best works of world short fiction. K.G. Paustovsky wrote that in Bunin’s language one can hear everything: “... from copper-ringing solemnity to the transparency of flowing spring water, from measured precision to intonations of amazing softness, from a light melody to slow rolls of thunder.”

Bunin expressed his understanding of the world and his place in it in a characteristic note dating back to that time: “And days after days go by - and the secret pain of their steady loss does not leave - steady and meaningless, for they go on in inaction, all only in anticipation of action and what - and then again... And days and nights go by, and this pain, and all the vague feelings and thoughts and the vague consciousness of myself and everything around me is my life, which I do not understand.” And further: “We live what we live only to the extent that we comprehend the price of what we live. Usually this price is very small: it rises only in moments of delight - the delight of happiness or misfortune, the vivid consciousness of gain or loss; also - in moments of poetic transformation of the past in memory.” This “poetic transformation of the past in memory” is the work of Bunin of the emigrant period, in which the writer seeks salvation from the boundless feeling of loneliness.

Painfully experiencing what happened to Russia and his isolation from it, he tries to find an explanation and reassurance in turning to events in world history that could be correlated with Russian ones: the death of powerful ancient civilizations and kingdoms (“City of the King of Kings”). And now, far from Russia, painfully thinking about it, “fiercely,” as he said, tormented, Bunin turns to memory, especially highlighting it among spiritual values: “We live with everything we live, only to the extent that We comprehend the price of what we live. Usually this price is very small: it rises only in moments of delight, happiness or misfortune, a vivid consciousness of gain or loss; still - in moments of poetic transformation of the past in memory.”

In his memory the image of Russia arose in its bygone times, the recent past and the present.. This combination of different plans was saving for him. It allowed Bunin, without still accepting Russian modernity, to find that dear, bright, eternal thing that gave him hope: the birch forest in the Oryol region, the songs that the mowers sing (“Mowers”, 1921), Chekhov (“Penguins”, 1929 ). Memory allowed him to connect modern Russia, where “the end has come, the limit of God’s forgiveness,” with timeless, eternal values. In addition to eternal nature, love remained such an eternal value for Bunin, which he sang in the story “Sunstroke” (1925), the story “Mitya’s Love” (1925), the book of stories “Dark Alleys” (1943), love is always tragic, “beautiful "and doomed. All these themes - life, death, nature, love - by the end of the 20s. formed the basis of his stories about Russia, as he remembered it and what was dear to him.

In 1927, Bunin began writing the novel “The Life of Arsenyev”, which became another artistic autobiography from the life of the Russian nobility along with such classic works as “Family Chronicle” and “Childhood of Bagrov the Grandson” by S. Aksakov, “Childhood”, “Adolescence”, “Youth” by L. Tolstoy. The events of childhood, adolescence, life in the village, studying at the gymnasium (80-90s of the 19th century) are seen in it with double vision: through the eyes of the high school student Alexei Arsenyev and through the eyes of Bunin, who created the novel in the 20-30s. XX century Speaking about Russia, “which perished before our eyes in such a magically short time,” Bunin, with the entire artistic structure of his novel, overcomes the thought of the end and death. Such overcoming is in Bunin’s landscapes, in that love for Russia and its culture, which is felt in every episode and situation of the novel: Bunin even called the hero’s father Alexander Sergeevich. The horror of the end and death is overcome by the author's lyrical confession, from which it becomes clear how the formation of one of the most important writers of the 20th century took place. And, of course, the victory over the “end” was the fifth and final chapter of “The Life of Arsenyev,” which is called “Lika” and in which Bunin recalls how back in 1889, when he worked at the Orlovsky Vestnik, he was “struck by to great misfortune, long love.” And this love was not destroyed by time...

The power of love, overcoming the darkness and chaos of life, became the main content of the book “Dark Alleys,” written during the Second World War.

All the 38 short stories that make it up are about love, most often unrequited and tragic. Bunin’s understanding of love is reflected here: “All love is great happiness, even if it is not shared.” The book “Dark Alleys” also includes the story “Clean Monday,” which Bunin considered the best of all that he had written. “I thank God,” he said, “for giving me the opportunity to write “Clean Monday.” Behind the simple plot of the story one senses the presence of some hidden significance. It turned out to be an allegorically, symbolically expressed thought about the historical path of Russia. That is why the heroine of the story is so mysterious, embodying not the idea of ​​love-passion, but longing for moral ideal

, the combination of eastern and western principles is so significant in it as a reflection of this combination in the life of Russia. Her unexpected, at first glance, departure to the monastery symbolizes the “third path” that Bunin chose for Russia. He gives preference to the path of humility, curbing the elements and sees in this an opportunity to go beyond the limits of Western and Eastern doom, the path of great suffering in which Russia will atone for its sin and go on its own path. A series of stories called “Dark Alleys” is dedicated to the eternal theme of any type of art - love.

“Dark Alleys” is spoken of as a kind of encyclopedia of love, which contains the most diverse and incredible stories about this great and often contradictory feeling.

And the stories that are included in Bunin’s collection are stunning with their varied plots and extraordinary style; they are the main assistants of Bunin, who wants to portray love at the peak of feelings, tragic love, but therefore perfect.

Feature of the series “Dark Alleys”

The very phrase that served as the title for the collection was taken by the writer from the poem “An Ordinary Tale” by N. Ogarev, which is dedicated to first love, which never had the expected continuation.

A special feature of the series of stories “Dark Alleys” can be called moments when the love of two heroes for some reason cannot continue. Often the executioner of the passionate feelings of Bunin’s heroes is death, sometimes unforeseen circumstances or misfortunes, but most importantly, love is never allowed to come true.

This is the key concept of Bunin's idea of ​​earthly love between two. He wants to show love at the peak of its blossoming, he wants to emphasize its true richness and highest value, the fact that it does not need to turn into life circumstances, like a wedding, marriage, life together...

Female images of “Dark Alleys”

Particular attention should be paid to the unusual female portraits that “Dark Alleys” are so rich in. Ivan Alekseevich paints images of women with such grace and originality that the female portrait of each story becomes unforgettable and truly intriguing.

Bunin's skill lies in several precise expressions and metaphors that instantly paint in the reader's mind the picture described by the author with many colors, shades and nuances.

Stories “Rusya”, “Antigone”, “Galya Ganskaya” are an exemplary example of different, but bright images Russian woman. The girls, whose stories were created by the talented Bunin, partly resemble the love stories that they experience.

We can say that the writer’s key attention is directed precisely to these two elements of the cycle of stories: women and love. And the love stories are just as intense, unique, sometimes fatal and willful, sometimes so original and incredible that it’s hard to believe in them.

Male images in “Dark Alleys”“weak-willed and insincere, and this also determines the fatal course of all love stories.

The peculiarity of love in “Dark Alleys”

The stories of “Dark Alleys” reveal not only the theme of love, they reveal the depths of the human personality and soul, and the very concept of “love” appears as the basis of this difficult and not always happy life.

And love does not have to be mutual in order to bring unforgettable impressions; love does not have to turn into something eternal and tirelessly ongoing in order to please and make a person happy.

Bunin insightfully and subtly shows only the “moments” of love, for the sake of which everything else is worth experiencing, for which it is worth living.

The story "Clean Monday"

The story “Clean Monday” is a mysterious and not fully understood love story. Bunin describes a pair of young lovers who, it would seem, are ideally suited to each other, but the catch is that their inner worlds have nothing in common.

The image of the young man is simple and logical, and the image of his beloved is unattainable and complex, striking her chosen one with its inconsistency. One day she says that she would like to go to a monastery, and this causes complete bewilderment and misunderstanding in the hero.

And the end of this love is as complex and incomprehensible as the heroine herself. After intimacy with the young man, she silently leaves him, then asks him not to ask anything, and soon he finds out that she has gone to a monastery.

She made the decision in Clean Monday, when intimacy occurred between lovers, and the symbol of this holiday is a symbol of her purity and torment, which she wants to get rid of.

The story "Dark Alleys" gave the name to the entire collection of the same name by I. A. Bunin. It was written in 1938. All the short stories in the cycle are connected by one theme - love. The author reveals the tragic and even catastrophic nature of love. Love is a gift. It is beyond the control of man. It would seem a banal story about a meeting of elderly people in their youth who passionately loved each other. The simple plot of the story is that a rich young handsome landowner seduces and then abandons his maid. But it is Bunin who manages to tell about simple things in an exciting and impressive way with the help of this simple artistic move. A short work is an instant flash of memory of bygone youth and love.

There are only three compositional parts of the story:

Parking at the inn of a gray-haired military man,

A sudden meeting with a former lover,

Reflections of a military man on the road a few minutes after the meeting.

Pictures of dull everyday life and everyday life appear at the beginning of the story. But in the owner of the inn, Nikolai Alekseevich recognizes the beautiful maid Nadezhda, whom he betrayed thirty years ago: “he quickly straightened up, opened his eyes and blushed.” A whole life has passed since then, and everyone has their own. And it turns out that both main characters are lonely. Nikolai Alekseevich has social weight and structure, but is unhappy: his wife “cheated on me, abandoned me even more insultingly than I abandoned you,” and his son grew up as a scoundrel “without a heart, without honor, without a conscience.” Nadezhda from a former serf turned into the owner of a “private room” at the Uma Palata postal station. And everyone, they say, is getting rich, cool...”, but she never got married.

And yet, if the hero is tired of life, then his former lover is still beautiful and light, full of vitality. He once gave up love and spent the rest of his life without it, and therefore without happiness. Nadezhda has loved him all her life, to whom she gave “her beauty, her fever,” whom she once called “Nikolenka.” Love still lives in her heart, but she does not forgive Nikolai Alekseevich. Although he does not stoop to accusations and tears.

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.

During the last winter, many changes occurred 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 her 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.