The story of Vasily Ivanovich Belov, "A familiar thing" refers to the main works of his work. The plot takes the reader to the time when the crisis in the village began. This story can be safely attributed to "village prose."
Analysis of the work
The work "Habitual work", a summary of which is in this article, was written in 1966. The writer focuses on peasant life. For people who live like this, she is a familiar thing. Already in the title itself, the author uses such an expressive tool as a metaphor. And there is a certain context in this, moreover of a tragic character.
What can be commonplace for peasants? Analysis of the work showed that it is the ability of these people to worship and love their small peasant hut. And the meaning of existence for these people consists only in creating a family, doing everything for its good and for it to constantly grow, because it is children who are the continuation of the family. For peasants, working all day long is also commonplace; they donât think about rest at all. These people are accustomed to having nothing in this life, but to vegetate in poverty.
Belovâs work âA Habitual Affairâ, a brief summary of which is given in this article, shows the life of peasants: they work constantly, sleep only two hours a day, and at night they are forced to mow grass for their cow, which is the nurse for the whole family. If suddenly something happens to the animal, then the whole family may die of starvation. And this is the hay, which was cut and harvested with such labor and effort, then they are also confiscated. And then the men have to go to work, otherwise everyone will die.
And now, as the author V.I. Belov shows, a sick and dying wife goes to mow and dies right on the mowing. And the family brings up nine children who, after the death of their mother, remain orphans. And then some distant relative, as, for example, in the story - the second cousin of the owner of the family, takes these children to him to take care of them.
Belovâs âhabitual affairâ: a summary of the first chapter
In the first chapter, the author placed four parts: âForwardâ, âMatchmakersâ, âUnion of land and waterâ and âHot loveâ. The main character - Ivan Afrikantovich Drynov - tried to bring goods that needed to be delivered to the general store. Having loaded the goods, he drank a little, so at first on the way he talked for a long time with his gelding. He knew Parmenko as a foal, so he always felt sorry for him.
When the hero no longer wanted to speak, he became silent and indifferently watched the road. But already halfway he met Bear. After drinking another bottle, they drove into Sosnovka to the second cousin of the hero to grab Bear. But Nyushka cleverly and quickly pushed them out. And the next morning everything in the village already knew about the unsuccessful matchmaking of Mishka Petrova. But no one saw Ivan Drynov himself, and he already fled to the neighboring village, where his wife Katerina gave birth to the ninth child.
Together with his wife, they asked the doctor to let the woman and her newborn son go home, since Ivan could not live without her.
Summary of the second part
Belov divided the second chapter of his story âA Habitual Affairâ (the summary will be interesting to fans of the authorâs literary work) into four parts: âChildrenâ, âBabkin Talesâ, âMorning of Ivan Afrikanovichâ and âWife of Katerinaâ. First, the author little by little talks about each child in the family of Ivan and Katerina. He also introduces the mother-in-law who goes after these kids. She keeps track of the household. And the last chapter is dedicated to Katerina, who gets up at three in the morning to do housework, helping her mother, and then runs to the farm. But only yesterday she gave birth, and she needs to lie down. So there was an attack.
The main content of the third chapter
The third chapter of the story âHabitual Businessâ consists of one part - âOn Logsâ. After a heart attack that happened with Katerina on the farm, she stayed in the hospital for two weeks. And Ivan during this time was completely exhausted, as this house seemed cold to him.
But when Katerina returned, Ivan again sat on the logs, where the whole life of the village passed, with Kurov and Mishka Petrov, discussing the allies and telling what stories had happened to him in the war.
Key Events of the Fourth Chapter
Belov V.I. In the fourth chapter of his work he included the following parts: âAnd the haymaking cameâ, âFiguresâ, âWhat happened nextâ, âMitka actsâ and âTo the full extentâ. The cow was the most valuable in the Drynov family. But the collective farm allocated little hay; Ivan had to mow at night in order to stock up three huts for the winter. Once he took Grishka with him to a mow, and the boy fell asleep. But while Ivan was at work, and the chairman came to their house for business, he himself laid out everything about the hay.
Then Grishka showed the road, so that the authorized people could take this hay. For a long time they scolded Ivan for hay, made a warning that if this were to happen again, they would put him in prison. Ivan then agreed with the neighboring chairman to mow. For four nights he and his wife went to the mowing so that its chairman would not see. And when brother-in-law Mitka arrived, he and Mishka transported this hay in one night. Soon, Mitka and Mishka were taken to the police for hay and given them fifteen days of work.
The main actions of the fifth chapter
The fifth chapter of Belov's work, which relates to rural prose, includes several parts: âFree Cossackâ, âThe Last Swathâ and âThree Hours to the Deadlineâ. Persuaded Mitka to leave Ivan in Murmansk to earn. He did not agree for a long time, but the cunning guy gave too many arguments. And so Ivan began to think about life himself and about what future he could give to his children. I went to the chairman, made all the documents and went with Mitka, although Katerina was against such a decision.
As soon as he left, the villagers were allowed not to go mowing on the day off, but to go about their business. Katerina went with Katyushka and Grishka. The boy watched the fire, climbed the villages. And the girl, along with her mother, learned to mow. And then Katerina became ill, fell to the ground. Grishka noticed her, began to cry, and this attracted the attention of people. When Katerina was brought home, a doctor was called, it turned out that again she had an attack. But it was impossible to take her to the hospital already.
And soon Ivan returned, who managed to get into the police because of Mitka, and even take part in the accident. But he was drawn home.
Belov's "habitual affair": a summary of the sixth chapter
In the sixth chapter, the author placed only one part - âRogulin's lifeâ. A cow for the family in the village was the main value. The life of Rogulina, the nurse of the family, is described by Belov in this chapter. He talks about her birth, about how she grew up, how she first met the bull, and what bitterness she felt when she was taken away by her calf, whom she gave birth and licked at night while everyone was sleeping. The fight with the bear and the weasel of the mistress is described in this chapter.
But terrible last scenes, since Ivan himself could not score Rogulin. He even went into the house so as not to see this. And the cow wondered what had been done to her. And even after she got hit first. She did not know that the mistress had died and there was no one else to follow her.
The plot of the seventh chapter
In the seventh chapter, the reader can become acquainted with three parts: âWindy. So windy â,â Habitual business âandâ Sorochiny â. Katerinaâs mother and Stepanovna decided that Ivan should meet with Nyushka. But how to tell him about it, has not yet been invented. And Ivan, deciding to build a new boat, went to the Black River and got lost. He spent two days in the forest, and when he was completely exhausted, hungry, he heard Mishka Petrovâs tractor, crawled onto the road and he nearly crushed him.
For forty days he went to his wifeâs cemetery, where he had never once gone. He told about the children, about the cow, and asked for forgiveness from his wife that he did not protect her. And he cried, trying to pour out all his pain from the loss.