Goodness and love, mutual understanding and sympathy are devoted to the works created by Anatoly Aleksin. “Mad Evdokia,” a summary of which is set forth in this article, is one of the most soulful works of this author.
Parental love
The creator of a huge number of stories and stories for children and adolescents is Alexin. “Mad Evdokia”, the summary of which is presented below, is a story about how immense love turned a teenage girl into a selfish person. Her name was Olya, and she had insanely loving parents. She was so attentive and affectionate towards her that at times they forgot about each other. Her actions entailed not at all childish consequences. The story begins with the memories of her father.
Olya’s father is a storyteller. This man’s life revolved around his beloved daughter. The same can be said about Olya’s mother - the woman, whom the narrator recalls at the beginning of the work. In his story, Alexin provided the ideal image of parents. “Mad Evdokia”, the brief content of which says that this work is very tragic, gives the impression that in order to raise a good and decent person from your child, it is not enough to love him immensely.
Lights of the past
The main character indulges in memories. The reader does not yet know what happened to his family. But already from the first lines it is clear that something irreparable happened.
He met his wife Nadia in the design office, where they once worked. She was sweet and direct. And it was impossible not to fall in love with her. However, there was one problem that Nadezhda, not melting, said after the first date. She, as she herself put it, had a dowry: heart failure and the inability to have children. That's what Anatoly Aleksin writes about. Mad Evdokia - a summary of this story - can tell about love and self-sacrifice. About the feelings that perhaps only a mother is capable of.
Some time passed and they got married. They had a daughter, who was named Olga. Nadia safely forgot about the ban of doctors, as, indeed, her husband. Parental happiness was too great to be distracted by such trifles. All this was recalled by Nadia's husband, returning home. Where he came from will tell only in the last chapter, Aleksin. “Mad Evdokia” is a story with a sad and unexpected end.
Is Olya at home?
Years passed. Olya has grown. The story comes at a time when she is already fifteen. She is a very capable student and has an extraordinary artistic talent. And she knows how to make fun of people. For example, she gave her class teacher a nickname - the mad Evdokia. The summary of the story should be continued with a description of the event, which was the culmination here.
Once a teacher, whose activity was extremely annoying Olya, organized a trip with the whole class. The girl failed to miss this event, despite all the efforts. Parents were waiting for her return the next day. And suddenly the doorbell rang. On the threshold stood her two classmates and Evdokia Savelvna. And the question was raised: "Is Olya at home?" She was not at home or at school for more than a day.
Evdokia Savelyevna
In this story Alexin created very vivid images. Mad Evdokia is a class teacher. This lady always loved to be together. Together to the theater, together on a tour. She also loved immediacy. But Olya was different. Her work flaunted at exhibitions. Teachers at an art school prophesied its great future. And Evdokia Savelyevna didn’t like it terribly. This idea of ​​a teacher had parents. It was created, however, for the most part from the words of their daughter.
Lucy
The daughter adored by the parents had a girlfriend. Her name was Lucy. But Olya more liked to call her in the French manner. Lucy was an unusually devoted friend. She dragged her numerous folders with drawings for the talented Olya, admired her gift and adored her herself. Lucy herself had a difficult fate. Her mother was seriously ill, and her father, although he had loved another woman for a long time, remained in the family solely because of a sense of duty. Nobody knew about this: neither the mother, nor the acquaintances, nor the neighbors, nor the crazy Evdokia. The summary of the story should be continued with the recollections of the father, who knew the bitter secret of the Lucy family from the words of his daughter. Only one girl trusted her.
Quarrel
But suddenly everything changed. A meeting with the famous painter took place at the art school. Lucy wanted to get on her. But she stood at the window all evening, because Olya could not lead her into the hall. This event became a discord in girlish friendship. And then, during the classroom hour, Olya, wanting to intercede for her friend, albeit for her ex, revealed to everyone Lucy's family secret ... She believed that this would protect her from the attacks of the class teacher caused by poor performance.
Unrequited love
The work, which was written by Anatoly Aleksin, “Mad Evdokia”, is a story about how loving people are able to not see, not notice the flaws. Mad Evdokia once quoted a Russian poet on this subject: “Face to face - you will not see faces”, alluding to the fact that parents do not know their daughter well. Father disagreed. After all, Yesenin had in mind exclusively temporary distances. But then, on that ill-fated day, he realized the truthfulness of the teacher’s words.
At that moment, three stood in the doorway: the mad Evdokia, Lucy and Borya. The latter also belonged to those who madly loved Olya. But she did not notice this because she could not see anything at all except herself and her talent.
Mitya Kalyagin
The class teacher loved to give children the best students as an example. The most unusual of them was Mitya Kalyagin. He did not make a career, was not a great artist or musician. He was just a man who accomplished a feat during the war. Mitya brought the doctor the tools that were needed to save the Russian soldiers.
The purpose of the event, from which Olya did not return, is to find the very route along which Mitya made his way to the doctor’s house during the war and saved the life of the Red Army. It should have been the shortest way.
Multifaceted and complex images depicted Alexin. “Mad Evdokia”, the analysis of which involves comparing such human qualities as humanity and talent, is a story about how much an opinion about a person can be deceiving and how much parental love blinds one's eyes.
Denouement
Olya is not lost. She just wanted to overcome the path faster than anyone. The girl is used to being the best in everything. But she did not have the ability to think about others, even about her parents. Evdokia Savelyevna phoned all hospitals and contacted the police. At that moment, when Olga was returning from a successful trip, the telephone rang. Nadia picked up the phone and heard the words: "Come, you need to identify."
Olya's mother had a heart defect, but it survived. The soul could not stand it. After a terrible call, I had to call a psychiatrist.
The narrator recalls all this when all participants in these events return from a psychiatric hospital, from which, possibly, Nadia will not return. And yet, in a conversation with the crazy Evdokia, who turned out to be not so crazy, he learns a lot that allows him to look at his daughter with different eyes. About how Olga betrayed her friend, that she did not see anything and no one around her. And that her teacher was never against talent. She only wanted humanity to be attached to him.
Evdokia Savelvna reproached herself for everything that happened, and promised that she would support Olya, since the guilt could be unbearable for her. Father did not blame anyone. He tried to remember when and at what point in the education of his daughter he and Nadia were mistaken.
“Mad Evdokia” is a story for children and parents. In it, both an adult and a child can find something close to themselves, or perhaps with the help of this work it will be possible to avoid a mistake that can be made even out of great love.