Bunin Ivan Alekseevich is one of the best writers of our country. The first collection of his poems appeared in 1881. Then he wrote the stories "To the End of the World", "Tank", "News from the Homeland" and some others. In 1901, a new collection, Listopad, was published, for which the author received the Pushkin Prize.
The writer comes in popularity and recognition. He meets M. Gorky, A.P. Chekhov, L.N. Tolstoy.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Ivan Alekseevich created the stories "Zakhar Vorobyov", "Pines", "Antonovskie apples" and others, in which Russian nature is captured , the tragedy of destitute, impoverished people, as well as the ruin of estates of noblemen.
October revolution and emigration
Bunin perceived the October Revolution negatively as a social drama. He emigrated in France in 1920. Here, he wrote, among other works, a series of short stories entitled "Dark Alleys" (we will analyze the story with the same name from this collection just below). The main theme of the cycle is love. Ivan Alekseevich reveals to us not only its bright sides, but also the dark ones, as the name itself indicates.
The fate of Bunin was both tragic and happy. In his art, he reached unrivaled heights, the first of domestic writers to receive the prestigious Nobel Prize. But he had to live thirty years in a foreign land, with longing for his homeland and spiritual closeness with her.
Collection "Dark Alleys"
These experiences served as the impetus for the creation of the cycle "Dark Alleys", the analysis of which we will conduct. This truncated collection first appeared in New York in 1943. In 1946, the next edition was published in Paris, which included 38 stories. The collection was very different in content from how the theme of love was habitually covered in Soviet literature.
Bunin's look at love
Bunin had a different view of this feeling from others. His finale was one - death or separation, no matter how much the heroes loved each other. Ivan Alekseevich believed that this feeling was like a flash, but that was exactly what was fine. Love over time is replaced by affection, which gradually turns into everyday life. Heroes of Bunin are deprived of this. They only survive the flash and part, enjoying it.
Consider the work "Dark Alleys." An analysis of the story that opens the cycle of the same name, we begin with a brief description of the plot.
The plot of the story "Dark Alleys"
The plot is simple. General Nikolai Alekseevich, already an old man, arrives at the postal station and meets his lover here, whom he had not seen for about 35 years. He does not recognize hope immediately. Now she is the mistress of the inn, in which once their first meeting took place. The hero finds out that all this time she loved only him.
The story "Dark Alleys" continues. Nikolai Alekseevich is trying to make excuses for the woman for not having visited her for so many years. “Everything passes,” he says. But very insincere, awkward these explanations. Nadezhda wisely answers the general, saying that everyone passes youth, but love does not. A woman rebukes her lover that he abandoned her heartlessly, so she wanted to lay hands on herself many times, but she realizes that now it’s too late to rebuke.
Let us dwell on the story "Dark Alleys". An analysis of the work shows that Nikolai Alekseevich does not seem to feel remorse, but Nadezhda is right in saying that not everything is forgotten. The general also could not forget this woman, his first love. In vain he asks her: "Leave, please." And he says that only God would forgive him, and Hope, apparently, has already forgiven. But it turns out that no. The woman admits that she could not do this. Therefore, the general is forced to make excuses, apologize to his former lover, saying that he was never happy, but loved his wife without a memory, and she left Nikolai Alekseevich, cheated on him. He adored his son, had high hopes, and he turned out to be insolent, mot, without honor, heart, and conscience.
Is old love preserved?
Let us analyze the work “Dark Alleys”. An analysis of the story shows that the feelings of the main characters have not died out. It becomes clear to us that the old love has been preserved, the heroes of this work love each other as before. When leaving, the general admits to himself that this woman gave him the best moments of life. Fate takes revenge on the hero for the betrayal of his first love. He does not find happiness in the life of his family Nikolai Alekseevich (Dark Alleys). An analysis of his experiences proves this. He realizes that he missed a chance once granted by fate. When the coachman tells the general that this landlady gives money at a percentage and is very “cool”, although fair: he didn’t return it on time - so blame yourself, Nikolay Alekseevich projects these words on his life, reflects on what would happen if he had not abandoned this woman.
What prevented the happiness of the main characters?
At one time, class prejudices prevented the future general from connecting fate with a commoner. But love from the heart of the protagonist did not go away and prevented becoming happy with another woman, raising a worthy son, as our analysis shows. Dark Alleys (Bunin) is a work that has a tragic connotation.
Hope also carried love through life, and in the end, too, was alone. For the suffering caused, she could not forgive the hero, since he remained in her life the most precious person. Nikolai Alekseevich was unable to violate the rules established in society, did not dare to act against them. After all, marrying a general to Hope, he would have met contempt and misunderstanding of those around him. And the poor girl had no choice but to submit to fate. In those days, light paths of love between a peasant woman and a gentleman were impossible. This problem is already public, not personal.
The dramatic fate of the main characters
Bunin in his work wanted to show the dramatic fate of the protagonists who were forced to leave, being in love with each other. In this world, love was doomed and especially fragile. But she lit their whole life, forever remained in her memory the best moments. This story is romantically beautiful, although dramatic.
In Bunin's work “Dark Alleys” (we are now analyzing the story of this), the theme of love is a cross-cutting motive. It permeates all creativity, thereby linking the émigré and Russian periods. It is she who allows the writer to correlate spiritual experiences with the phenomena of external life, and also to approach the mystery of the human soul, based on the influence of objective reality on him.
This concludes the analysis of Bunin's story "Dark Alleys". Everyone understands love in their own way. This amazing feeling has not yet been solved. The theme of love will always be relevant, since it is the driving force of many human actions, the meaning of our life. This conclusion is led, in particular, by our analysis. Bunin's “Dark Alleys” is a story that even in its name reflects the idea that this feeling cannot be understood to the end, it is “dark”, but at the same time beautiful.