“Snowdrop” is a short story by Ivan Bunin. What is this work about? What is its summary? Bunin's “Snowdrop” is an insignificant story in the life of a ten-year-old boy. The plot of the work is straightforward. But, like other works of the "last Russian classic", this story attracts depth, lyricism.
Summary
Bunin's “Snowdrop” begins with a laconic description of the small county town and the boy Sasha, the main character. He lives with strangers. It’s not easy for him. And although the woman raising him treats him with fondness, calling him a “snowdrop” for an open look and kindness, Sasha yearns for her father. He looks forward to the holidays when a big, curly, graying person arrives at the Yelets Compound. This is Sasha’s father. During the holidays, the boy moves to the Yelets Compound and lives with him for several days.
Pancake week. Father comes from a remote estate. He spends several days with his son. And leaves him again. "Goodbye, Sasha, Christ is with you!" - the last words of the father. And with these words ends the story of Bunin's “Snowdrop”. The summary, of course, cannot convey the feelings of the protagonist, expertly described by the author. Therefore, it is worth considering in more detail the characters of the work.
Snowdrop amid dullness and gloom
Why is this what Ivan Bunin called his work? “Snowdrop”, the summary of which is described above, is a story about the son of a typical Russian tradesman. Sasha's father is a man of far from subtle mental organization. He has petty-bourgeois ideas about life; he does not reflect on anything sublime. There is a scene in the work that is difficult to convey in summary.
Bunin's “Snowdrop” begins with a description of Sasha and the long-awaited appearance of his father. The next day, a man and his son are recovering in a tavern. This is a dirty, stuffy room. Father orders some simple dishes and a carafe of vodka. Red men in sheepskin coats sit down to him, blackish bourgeois in chuikas. Long, incomprehensible conversations begin. And here the reader sees two worlds. One is gray, unspiritual, gloomy. The other is bright, spiritualized. Like a snowdrop that barely makes its way out of the ground, despite stinking reality.
In the tavern
What is the summary of? Bunin's “Snowdrop”, like other works by this Russian writer, should be read in the original. This is the only way to understand the meaning that lies between the lines. Bunin does not characterize his heroes. The fact that Sasha’s father is a limited person can be understood from a description of the boy’s feelings and impressions. He rarely sees his son, but those short hours that he spends with him flow in a dirty tavern, among drunken men, merchants and young ladies. Sasha is uncomfortable in this environment. In the tavern, it was trodden, spit, sexes scurrying back and forth with pans in their hands. Sasha cannot be happy here. However, this is the most wonderful day of his life.
Love
Despite the fact that Sasha is in this gloomy institution, he is happy. Because father is nearby. Sasha loves him, and the fact that he can be with him overshadows everything: the drunken conversations of rude men, and the cries of cabbies, and abusive sex. In this work, Bunin again addresses the theme of love, in which, among Russian twentieth-century writers, perhaps, he has no equal. Children's love, which does not require anything in return, can overshadow all the ugliness of the world. After all, this is a genuine feeling.
Difficult time
The story was written in 1927. The writer, like all of Russia, was going through difficult times. It was then that the genre of prose miniatures became especially close to him. Characteristic features of the Bunin style were lyricism and conciseness.
The prose of this author makes you think. She is simple, realistic. But at the same time it is filled with symbols, ideas. At first glance, Bunin's story “Snowdrop” is just a description of several hours in the life of an ordinary boy. In brief, after reading this work, it is impossible to penetrate the ideas of the author. In the twenties, the writer was absorbed in sadness about the fate of Russia. And, perhaps, it was through the image of the blue-eyed “snowdrop” that he wanted to convey his hopes, aspirations, faith in the emergence of a new man who could supplant everything dead and stagnant that surrounded Bunin’s contemporaries and, unfortunately, still exists today.