A piece of easy breathing to read. Ivan Bunin - easy breathing

Ivan Bunin

Easy breath

In the cemetery, over a fresh earthen embankment, there is a new cross made of oak, strong, heavy, smooth.

April, the days are gray; the monuments of the cemetery, spacious, county, are still far away visible through the bare trees, and the cold wind tinkles and tinkles the china wreath at the foot of the cross.

A fairly large, convex porcelain medallion is embedded in the cross itself, and in the medallion is a photographic portrait of a schoolgirl with joyful, amazingly lively eyes.

This is Olya Meshcherskaya.

As a girl, she did not stand out in the crowd of brown gymnasium dresses: what could be said about her, except that she was one of the pretty, rich and happy girls, that she was capable, but playful and very careless about the instructions that a classy lady gives her ? Then it began to flourish, to develop by leaps and bounds. At fourteen, she had thin waist and slender legs, breasts and all those forms, the charm of which has never yet been expressed by a human word, were already well outlined; at fifteen she was already a beauty. How carefully some of her friends combed their hair, how clean they were, how they watched their restrained movements! And she was not afraid of anything - neither ink stains on her fingers, nor a flushed face, nor disheveled hair, nor a knee that became naked when she fell on the run. Without any of her worries and efforts, and somehow imperceptibly, everything that distinguished her so much in the last two years from the whole gymnasium came to her - grace, elegance, dexterity, a clear sparkle in her eyes ... No one danced at balls like Olya Meshcherskaya , no one skated like she did, no one was looked after at balls as much as she was, and for some reason no one was loved so much junior classes like her. She imperceptibly became a girl, and her gymnasium fame imperceptibly strengthened, and there were already rumors that she was windy, could not live without admirers, that the schoolboy Shenshin was madly in love with her, that she seemed to love him too, but was so changeable in her treatment of him. that he attempted suicide.

During her last winter, Olya Meshcherskaya went completely crazy with fun, as they said in the gymnasium. The winter was snowy, sunny, frosty, the sun set early behind the high spruce forest of the snowy gymnasium garden, invariably fine, radiant, promising frost and sun tomorrow, a walk on Cathedral Street, a skating rink in the city garden, pink evening, music and this in all directions the crowd sliding on the skating rink, in which Olya Meshcherskaya seemed the most carefree, the happiest. And then one day, at a big break, when she was running like a whirlwind around the assembly hall from the first-graders chasing after her and squealing blissfully, she was unexpectedly called to the headmistress. She stopped in a hurry, took only one deep breath, straightened her hair with a quick and already familiar female movement, pulled the corners of her apron to her shoulders and, beaming her eyes, ran upstairs. The headmistress, youthful but gray-haired, sat calmly with knitting in her hands at the desk, under the royal portrait.

Hello, mademoiselle Meshcherskaya,” she said in French, without looking up from her knitting. “Unfortunately, this is not the first time I have been forced to call you here to speak with you about your behavior.

I’m listening, madam,” Meshcherskaya answered, going up to the table, looking at her clearly and vividly, but without any expression on her face, and sat down as lightly and gracefully as she alone could.

You will listen to me badly, I, unfortunately, was convinced of this, ”said the boss, and, pulling the thread and wrapping a ball on the lacquered floor, which Meshcherskaya looked at with curiosity, she raised her eyes. "I won't repeat myself, I won't speak at length," she said.

Meshcherskaya really liked this unusually clean and large office, which breathed so well in frosty days the warmth of a brilliant dutch and the freshness of lilies of the valley on the desk. She looked at the young king, painted to his full height in the midst of some brilliant hall, at the even parting in the milky, neatly frilled hair of the boss, and was expectantly silent.

You are no longer a girl, - the boss said meaningfully, secretly starting to get annoyed.

Yes, madame, - Meshcherskaya answered simply, almost cheerfully.

But not a woman either, - the boss said even more significantly, and her matte face turned slightly red. - First of all, - what kind of hairstyle is this? It's a woman's hair!

It’s not my fault, madame, that I have good hair, ”Meshcherskaya answered, and slightly touched her beautifully trimmed head with both hands.

Oh, that's how, you're not to blame! - said the boss. - You are not to blame for your hair, you are not to blame for these expensive combs, you are not to blame for ruining your parents for shoes worth twenty rubles! But, I repeat to you, you completely lose sight of the fact that you are still only a schoolgirl...

And then Meshcherskaya, without losing her simplicity and calmness, suddenly politely interrupted her:

Excuse me, madam, you are mistaken: I am a woman. And to blame for this - you know who? Friend and neighbor of the pope, and your brother Alexei Mikhailovich Malyutin. It happened last summer in the village...

And a month after this conversation, a Cossack officer, ugly and plebeian in appearance, who had absolutely nothing to do with the circle to which Olya Meshcherskaya belonged, shot her on the station platform, among a large crowd of people who had just arrived with the train. And the incredible confession of Olya Meshcherskaya, which stunned the boss, was completely confirmed: the officer told the judicial investigator that Meshcherskaya had lured him, was close to him, swore to be his wife, and at the station, on the day of the murder, seeing him off to Novocherkassk, she suddenly told him that she and never thought to love him, that all this talk about marriage was just her mockery of him, and gave him to read that page of the diary that spoke about Malyutin.

Easy breath
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin

Easy breath
“A summer evening, a coachman's troika, an endless desert highway ...” You can’t confuse Bunin’s music of prose writing with any other, colors, sounds, smells live in it ... Bunin did not write novels. But he brought the purely Russian genre of the story or short story, which received worldwide recognition, to perfection.

This book includes the most famous novels and stories of the writer: Antonov apples”, “Village”, “Dry Valley”, “Easy breathing”.

Ivan Bunin

Easy breath

In the cemetery, over a fresh earthen mound, there is a new cross made of oak, strong, heavy, smooth.

April, the days are gray; the monuments of the cemetery, spacious, county, are still far away visible through the bare trees, and the cold wind tinkles and tinkles the china wreath at the foot of the cross.

A rather large, convex porcelain medallion is embedded in the cross itself, and in the medallion is a photographic portrait of a schoolgirl with joyful, amazingly lively eyes.

This is Olya Meshcherskaya.

As a girl, she did not stand out in the crowd of brown gymnasium dresses: what could be said about her, except that she was one of the pretty, rich and happy girls, that she was capable, but playful and very careless about the instructions that a classy lady gives her ? Then it began to flourish, to develop by leaps and bounds. At fourteen, with a thin waist and slender legs, her breasts and all those forms were already well outlined, the charm of which the human word had never yet expressed; at fifteen she was already a beauty. How carefully some of her friends combed their hair, how clean they were, how they watched their restrained movements! And she was not afraid of anything - not ink spots on her fingers, not a flushed face, not disheveled hair, not a knee that became naked when she fell on the run. Without any of her worries and efforts, and somehow imperceptibly, everything that so distinguished her in the last two years from the whole gymnasium came to her - grace, elegance, dexterity, a clear sparkle in her eyes ... Nobody danced at balls like Olya Meshcherskaya , no one ran on skates like she did, no one was looked after at balls as much as she was, and for some reason no one was loved as much by the lower classes as she was. She imperceptibly became a girl, and her gymnasium fame imperceptibly strengthened, and there were already rumors that she was windy, could not live without admirers, that the schoolboy Shenshin was madly in love with her, that she seemed to love him too, but was so changeable in her treatment of him. that he attempted suicide...

During her last winter, Olya Meshcherskaya went completely crazy with fun, as they said in the gymnasium. The winter was snowy, sunny, frosty, the sun set early behind the high spruce forest of the snowy gymnasium garden, invariably fine, radiant, promising frost and sun tomorrow, a walk on Cathedral Street, a skating rink in the city garden, pink evening, music and this in all directions the crowd sliding on the skating rink, in which Olya Meshcherskaya seemed the most carefree, the happiest. And then one day, at a big break, when she was running like a whirlwind around the assembly hall from the first-graders chasing after her and squealing blissfully, she was unexpectedly called to the headmistress. She stopped in a hurry, took only one deep breath, straightened her hair with a quick and already familiar female movement, pulled the corners of her apron to her shoulders, and, shining in her eyes, ran upstairs. The headmistress, youthful but gray-haired, sat calmly with knitting in her hands at the desk, under the royal portrait.

“Hello, mademoiselle Meshcherskaya,” she said in French, without looking up from her knitting. “Unfortunately, this is not the first time I have been forced to call you here to speak with you about your behavior.

“I’m listening, madam,” Meshcherskaya replied, going up to the table, looking at her clearly and vividly, but without any expression on her face, and sat down as easily and gracefully as she alone could.

“It will be bad for you to listen to me, I, unfortunately, was convinced of this,” said the headmistress, and, pulling the thread and twisting a ball on the lacquered floor, at which Meshcherskaya looked with curiosity, she raised her eyes. “I won't repeat myself, I won't talk at length,” she said.

Meshcherskaya really liked this unusually clean and large office, which on frosty days breathed so well with the warmth of a brilliant Dutch woman and the freshness of lilies of the valley on the desk. She looked at the young king, painted to his full height in the midst of some brilliant hall, at the even parting in the milky, neatly frilled hair of the boss, and was expectantly silent.

“You are no longer a girl,” the headmistress said meaningfully, secretly starting to get annoyed.

“Yes, madam,” Meshcherskaya answered simply, almost cheerfully.

“But not a woman either,” the headmistress said even more significantly, and her matte face flushed slightly. First of all, what is this hairstyle? It's a woman's hairstyle!

“It’s not my fault, madame, that I have good hair,” Meshcherskaya answered, and slightly touched her beautifully trimmed head with both hands.

“Ah, that’s how it is, it’s not your fault! - said the headmistress. “You are not to blame for your hair, you are not to blame for these expensive combs, you are not to blame for ruining your parents for shoes worth twenty rubles!” But, I repeat to you, you completely lose sight of the fact that you are still only a schoolgirl...

And then Meshcherskaya, without losing her simplicity and calmness, suddenly politely interrupted her:

“Excuse me, madame, you are mistaken: I am a woman. And to blame for this - you know who? Friend and neighbor of the pope, and your brother Alexei Mikhailovich Malyutin. It happened last summer in the village...

And a month after this conversation, a Cossack officer, ugly and plebeian in appearance, who had absolutely nothing to do with the circle to which Olya Meshcherskaya belonged, shot her on the station platform, among a large crowd of people who had just arrived with the train. And the incredible confession of Olya Meshcherskaya, which stunned the boss, was completely confirmed: the officer told the judicial investigator that Meshcherskaya had lured him, was close to him, swore to be his wife, and at the station, on the day of the murder, seeing him off to Novocherkassk, she suddenly told him that she and never thought to love him, that all this talk about marriage was just her mockery of him, and gave him to read that page of the diary that spoke about Malyutin.

“I ran through these lines and right there, on the platform where she was walking, waiting for me to finish reading, I shot at her,” said the officer. - This diary is here, look what was written in it on the tenth of July last year.

The following was written in the diary:

“It is now the second hour of the night. I fell asleep soundly, but immediately woke up ... Today I have become a woman! Dad, mom and Tolya, they all left for the city, I was left alone. I was so happy to be alone! In the morning I walked in the garden, in the field, was in the forest, it seemed to me that I was alone in the whole world, and I thought as well as never before in my life. I dined alone, then whole hour I played, to the music I had the feeling that I would live without end and be as happy as anyone. Then I fell asleep in my father's office, and at four o'clock Katya woke me up and said that Alexei Mikhailovich had arrived. I was very happy with him, it was so pleasant for me to receive him and occupy him. He arrived on a pair of his vyatki, very beautiful, and they stood at the porch all the time, he stayed because it was raining, and he wanted it to dry out by evening. He regretted that he did not find dad, was very animated and behaved like a gentleman with me, he joked a lot that he had been in love with me for a long time. When we were walking in the garden before tea, the weather was lovely again, the sun shone through the whole wet garden, although it became quite cold, and he led me by the arm and said that he was Faust with Marguerite. He is fifty-six years old, but he is still very handsome and always well dressed - the only thing I did not like was that he arrived in a lionfish - he smells of English cologne, and his eyes are very young, black, and his beard is elegantly divided into two long parts and completely silver. We were sitting at tea on the glass veranda, I felt as if I was unwell and lay down on the couch, and he smoked, then moved to me, began again to say some courtesies, then to examine and kiss my hand. I covered my face with a silk handkerchief, and he kissed me several times on the lips through the handkerchief ... I don’t understand how this could happen, I went crazy, I never thought that I was like that! Now there is only one way out for me ... I feel such disgust for him that I can’t survive this! .. ”

During these April days, the city became clean, dry, its stones turned white, and it is easy and pleasant to walk on them. Every Sunday after mass, a little woman in mourning, wearing black kid gloves, and carrying an ebony umbrella, walks down Cathedral Street, which leads out of the city. She crosses along the highway a dirty square, where there are many smoky forges and fresh field air blows; further, between monastery and a prison, the cloudy slope of the sky turns white and the spring field turns gray, and then, when you make your way among the puddles under the wall of the monastery and turn to the left, you will see, as it were, a large low garden, surrounded by a white fence, above the gates of which the Assumption of the Mother of God is written. The little woman makes a small cross and habitually walks along the main avenue. Having reached the bench opposite the oak cross, she sits in the wind and in the spring cold for an hour or two, until her feet in light boots and her hand in a narrow husky are completely cold. listening spring birds singing sweetly even in the cold, listening to the sound of the wind in a porcelain wreath, she sometimes thinks that she would give half her life if only this dead wreath was not in front of her eyes. This wreath, this mound, this oak cross! Is it possible that under him is the one whose eyes shine so immortally from this convex porcelain medallion on the cross, and how to combine with this pure look that terrible thing that is now connected with the name of Olya Meshcherskaya? But in the depths of her soul, the little woman is happy, like all people devoted to some passionate dream.

This woman is a cool lady Olya Meshcherskaya, a middle-aged girl who has long been living in some kind of fiction that replaces her real life. At first, her brother, a poor and unremarkable ensign, was such an invention - she united her whole soul with him, with his future, which for some reason seemed brilliant to her. When he was killed near Mukden, she convinced herself that she was an ideological worker. The death of Olya Meshcherskaya captivated her with a new dream. Now Olya Meshcherskaya is the subject of her relentless thoughts and feelings. She goes to her grave every holiday, keeps her eyes on the oak cross for hours, remembers the pale face of Olya Meshcherskaya in the coffin, among the flowers - and what she once overheard: once at a big break, walking in the gymnasium garden, Olya Meshcherskaya quickly, quickly she said to her beloved friend, plump, tall Subbotina:

- I'm in one of my dad's books - he has a lot of old ones, funny books- I read what beauty a woman should have ... There, you understand, so much is said that you can’t remember everything: well, of course, black eyes boiling with tar - by golly, it’s written: boiling with tar! - black as night, eyelashes, gently playing a blush, a thin figure, longer than an ordinary arm, - you know, longer than usual! - a small leg, in moderation big breasts, correctly rounded calf, shell-colored knees, sloping shoulders - I almost learned a lot by heart, so all this is true! But the main thing, you know what? Easy breath! But I have it, - you listen to how I sigh, - is it true, is it?

Now that light breath has dissipated again in the world, in that cloudy sky, in that cold spring wind.

The story "Light Breath" Bunin wrote in 1916. In the work, the author touches upon the themes of love and death, characteristic of the literature of this period. Despite the fact that the story is not written in chapters, the narrative is fragmentary and consists of several parts arranged in non-chronological order.

Main characters

Olya Meshcherskaya- a young schoolgirl, was killed by a Cossack officer, because she said that she did not love him.

Head of the gymnasium

Other characters

Cossack officer- shot Olya because of unhappy love, "ugly and plebeian appearance."

cool lady Olya Meshcherskaya

“In the cemetery, over a fresh earthen mound, there is a new cross made of oak.” A convex porcelain medallion with a photographic portrait of the schoolgirl Olya Meshcherskaya "with joyful, amazingly lively eyes" is embedded in the cross.

As a girl, Olya did not stand out among other schoolgirls, she was "capable, but playful and very careless to the instructions" of the class lady. But then the girl began to develop, "bloom". At the age of 14, “with her thin waist and slender legs, her breasts and forms were already well outlined. "At fifteen, she was already known as a beauty." Unlike her stiff girlfriends, Olya "was not afraid - no ink stains on her fingers, no flushed face, no disheveled hair." Without any effort, "grace, elegance, dexterity, a clear gleam of eyes" came to her.

Olya was the best dancer at balls, she ran on skates, she was looked after the most at balls, and she was most loved by the younger classes. “Imperceptibly she became a girl,” and there was even talk about her windiness.

“Olya Meshcherskaya went completely crazy with fun during her last winter, as they said in the gymnasium.” Once, at a big break, the boss called the girl to her and reprimanded her. The woman noted that Olya is no longer a girl, but not yet a woman, so she should not wear a “female hairstyle”, expensive combs and shoes. “Without losing simplicity and calmness,” Meshcherskaya replied that madame was mistaken: she was already a woman, and the father’s friend and neighbor, brother of the boss, Alexei Mikhailovich Malyutin, was to blame for this - “it happened last summer in the village.”

"And a month after this conversation," a Cossack officer shot Olya "on the platform of the station, among a large crowd of people." And Olya's confession, which stunned the boss, was confirmed. “The officer told the judicial investigator that Meshcherskaya lured him, was close to him, swore to be his wife,” and at the station she said that she did not love him and “gave him to read that page of the diary that spoke about Malyutin.”

“On the tenth of July last year,” Olya wrote in her diary: “Everyone left for the city, I was left alone.<…>Alexey Mikhailovich arrived.<…>He stayed because it was raining.<…>He regretted that he did not find dad, was very animated and behaved like a gentleman with me, he joked a lot that he had been in love with me for a long time.<…>He is fifty-six years old, but he is still very handsome and always well dressed.<…>We sat at tea on the glass veranda, he smoked, then moved over to me, again began to say some courtesies, then looked at and kissed my hand. I covered my face with a silk handkerchief, and he kissed me several times on the lips through the handkerchief ... I don’t understand how this could happen, I went crazy, I never thought that I was like that! Now there is only one way out for me ... I feel such disgust for him that I can’t survive this! .. ”

Every Sunday, after mass, a little woman in mourning comes to the grave of Olya Meshcherskaya - the cool lady of the girl. Olya became the subject of "her relentless thoughts and feelings". Sitting at the grave, the woman recalls the pale face of the girl in the coffin and the conversation she accidentally overheard: Meshcherskaya told her friend about what she had read in her father's book, that supposedly the main thing in a woman is “light breathing” and that she, Olya, has it.

“Now that light breath has been scattered again in the world, in this cloudy sky, in this cold spring wind.”

Conclusion

In the story, Bunin contrasts the main character Olya Meshcherskaya with the head of the gymnasium - as the personification of rules, social norms, and the cool lady - as the personification of dreams that replace reality. Olya Meshcherskaya is a completely different female image- a girl who has tried on the role of an adult lady, a seductress, who has neither fear of the rules nor excessive daydreaming.

Story test

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Retelling rating

Average rating: 4 . Total ratings received: 458.

And again about love ... And if it’s about love, then it’s definitely about Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, because so far he has no equal in literature in the ability to so deeply, accurately,

and at the same time, it is easy and easy to convey an endless palette of colors and shades of life, love and human destinies, and what is most surprising - all this is on two or three sheets. In his stories, time is inversely proportional to the emerging fullness of feelings and emotions. Here you are reading his story “Light Breathing” (an analysis of the work follows), and it takes five to ten minutes at the most, but at the same time you manage to immerse yourself in the life, and even the soul of the main characters, and live with them for several decades, and sometimes for the rest of your life. Isn't it a miracle?

The story of I.A. Bunin "Easy breathing": analysis and summary

From the first lines, the author introduces the reader to the main character of the story - Olya Meshcherskaya. But what is this acquaintance? An analysis of the story "Easy Breathing" draws attention to the scene - a cemetery, a fresh clay mound on the grave and a heavy, smooth oak cross. Time is cold gray days April, still bare trees, icy wind. A medallion is inserted into the very cross, and in the medallion there is a portrait of a young girl, a schoolgirl, with happy, "amazingly lively eyes." As you can see, the narrative is built on contrasts, hence the dual sensations: life and death are spring, the month of April, but still bare trees; a strong tomb cross with a portrait of a young girl, in the prime of her awakening femininity. You involuntarily think about what this earthly life is, and you are amazed at how close the atoms of life and death adjoin each other, and along with them beauty and ugliness, simplicity and cunning, stunning success and tragedy ...

main character

The principle of contrast is used both in the image of Olga Meshcherskaya herself, and in the description of her short, but brilliant life. As a girl, she paid no attention to herself. The only thing that could be said was that she was one of the many sweet, rich and absolutely happy girls who, due to their age, are playful and careless. However, she soon began to develop rapidly and become prettier, and at her incomplete fifteen she was known as a real beauty. She was not afraid of anything and was not embarrassed, and at the same time, her fingers or disheveled hair looked much more natural, neat and elegant than the deliberate neatness or thoroughness of her friends' styled hair. No one danced so gracefully at balls as she did. No one skated as skillfully as she did. No one had as many fans as Olya Meshcherskaya ... The analysis of the story "Light Breath" does not end there.

Last winter

As they said in the gymnasium, “Olya Meshcherskaya went completely crazy with fun during her last winter.” She flaunts herself everywhere: she combs her hair defiantly, wears expensive combs, ruins her parents for shoes “twenty rubles”. She openly and simply declares to the headmistress that she has long been no longer a girl, but a woman ... She flirts with high school student Shenshin, promises him to be faithful and loving, and at the same time is so fickle and capricious in dealing with him, bringing him once to attempted suicide. She, in fact, lures and seduces Alexei Mikhailovich Malyutin, an adult of fifty-six years old, and then, realizing her disadvantageous position, as an excuse for her dissolute behavior, arouses in herself a feeling of disgust for him. Further - more ... Olya enters into a relationship with a Cossack officer, ugly, plebeian-looking, who had nothing to do with the society in which she moved, and promises him to marry him. And at the station, seeing him off to Novocherkassk, he says that there can be no love between them, and all these conversations are just a mockery and mockery of him. As proof of her words, she gives him to read that page of the diary, which spoke of her first connection with Malyutin. Without taking the insult, the officer shoots at her right there, on the platform ... The question arises: why, why does she need all this? What corners human soul trying to open to us the work "Light Breath" (Bunin)? Sequence Analysis main character will allow the reader to answer these and other questions.

fluttering moth

And here the image of a fluttering moth involuntarily suggests itself, frivolous, reckless, but possessing an incredible thirst for life, a desire to find some kind of its own, special, fascinating and good fortune worthy only of the elite. But life is subject to other laws and rules, the violation of which must be paid. Therefore, Olya Meshcherskaya, like a moth, bravely, without fear, and at the same time easily and naturally, regardless of the feelings of others, flies towards the fire, towards the light of life, towards new sensations in order to burn to ashes: smooth the lined notebook, not knowing about the fate of your line, where wisdom, heresy are mixed ... ”(Brodsky)

contradictions

Indeed, everything was mixed up in Ole Meshcherskaya. “Easy breathing”, the analysis of the story, allows us to distinguish in the work such as antithesis - a sharp opposition of concepts, images, states. She is beautiful and at the same time immoral. She was not stupid, she was capable, but at the same time superficial and thoughtless. There was no cruelty in her, "for some reason, no one was loved as much by the lower classes as she was." Her merciless attitude towards other people's feelings was not meaningful. She, like a raging element, demolished everything in her path, but not because she sought to destroy and suppress, but only because she could not do otherwise: “... how to combine with this pure look that terrible thing that is now connected with the name of Olya Meshcherskaya?” Both beauty and were her essence, and she was not afraid to show both of them to the fullest. Therefore, she was so loved, admired, drawn to her, and therefore her life was so bright, but fleeting. It could not be otherwise, which is proved to us by the story “Light Breath” (Bunin). Analysis of the work gives a deeper understanding of the life of the main character.

cool lady

The antithetical composition (antithesis) is observed both in the description of the very image of the classy lady Olechka Meshcherskaya, and in an indirect, but so guessable comparison of her with the schoolgirl under her charge. For the first time, I. Bunin ("Light Breath") introduces the reader to a new character - the head of the gymnasium, in the scene of a conversation between her and Mademoiselle Meshcherskaya regarding the defiant behavior of the latter. And what do we see? Two absolute opposites - a youthful, but gray-haired madame with an even parting in neatly frilled hair and a light, graceful Olya with a beautifully tidied up, albeit beyond her years, hairstyle with an expensive comb. One behaves simply, clearly and lively, fearing nothing and boldly responding to reproaches, despite such a young age and unequal position. The other one does not take her eyes off the endless knitting and secretly begins to get annoyed.

After the tragedy

We remind you that we are talking about the story "Light Breath". An analysis of the work follows. Second and last time the reader is confronted with the image of a classy lady after Olya's death, in the cemetery. And again we have before us the sharp but vivid clarity of the antithesis. A "middle-aged girl" in black kid gloves and in mourning goes to Olya's grave every Sunday, keeping her eyes on the oak cross for hours. She devoted her life to some kind of "incorporeal" feat. At first, she cared about the fate of her brother, Alexei Mikhailovich Malyutin, that very remarkable ensign who had seduced a beautiful schoolgirl. After his death, she devoted herself to work, merging entirely with the image of an "ideological worker." Now Olya Meshcherskaya - main topic all her thoughts and feelings, one might say, a new dream, new meaning life. However, can her life be called life? Yes and no. On the one hand, everything that exists in the world is necessary and has the right to exist, despite the seeming worthlessness and uselessness to us. On the other hand, in comparison with the splendor, brilliance and audacity of colors short life Oli, it's more like a "slow death". But, as they say, the truth is somewhere in the middle, because a colorful picture life path a young girl is also an illusion, behind which lies emptiness.

Talk

The story "Light Breath" does not end there. A classy lady sits near her grave for a long time and endlessly recalls the same conversation of two girls overheard once ... Olya was chatting with her friend at a big break and mentioned one book from her father's library. It talked about what a woman should be. First of all, with large black eyes boiling with resin, with thick eyelashes, a delicate blush, longer than usual arms, a thin figure ... But the main thing is that a woman should be with easy breathing. Olya understood literally - she sighed and listened to her breathing, the expression "easy breathing" still reflects the essence of her soul, thirsting for life, striving for its fullness and alluring infinity. However, "easy breathing" (analysis story of the same name comes to an end) cannot be eternal. Like everything worldly, like the life of any person and like the life of Olya Meshcherskaya, sooner or later it disappears, dissipates, perhaps becoming part of this world, the cold spring wind or the leaden sky.

What can be said in conclusion about the story "Light Breathing", the analysis of which was carried out above? Written in 1916, long before the collection " Dark alleys”, the short story “Easy Breathing” can be called without exaggeration one of the pearls of I. Bunin's work.