The most stable, organic, new in the works of Bunin in the first years after the revolution of 1905-1907. aspiration for the study of social reality has become. The writings of these years draw us into deep thoughts about the history of Russia, its people, the fate of the Russian revolution. The interpenetration of national, historical, contemplative philosophical thought is observed.
General characteristics of the "Village"
Such a complex content in the outwardly traditional everyday appearance has the novel "The Village", created in 1910. This is one of the first major works of Ivan Alekseevich, written in prose. The writer worked on its creation for 10 years, starting work in 1900.
V.V. Voronovsky characterized this work, which opens the village cycle in Bunin's work, as a study of the causes of "memorable failures" (that is, the reasons for the defeat of the revolution). However, the semantic content of the story is not limited to this. The story about the doom of the Russian outback, given in the "Village", is one of the most talented descriptions of the fate of the patriarchal system in modern history. There is a generalized image: the village is a kingdom of death and hunger.
The task set by the author is to depict the Russian people without idealization. Therefore, Ivan Alekseevich conducts a merciless psychological analysis ("Village"). Bunin had rich material for him, which was given to the writer by his well-known life, everyday life and the psychology of the Russian outback. A miserable, impoverished life, to which the appearance of the people — inertness, passivity, cruel mores — fit - all this was observed by the writer, drawing conclusions, as well as conducting a thorough analysis.
"Village" (Bunin): the ideological basis of the work
The ideological basis of the story is a reflection on the complexity and problematics of the question "Who is to blame?" Kuzma Krasov, one of the main characters, painfully struggling to resolve this issue. He believes that there is nothing to recover from the poor people, and his brother, Tikhon Krasov, that the peasants themselves are to blame for this situation.
The two characters mentioned above are the main characters of this work. Tikhon Krasov personifies the image of the new village owner, and Kuzma - the national intellectual. Bunin believes that the people themselves are to blame for the misfortunes, but does not give a clear answer to the question of what should be done.
The story "Village" (Bunin): composition
The story takes place in the village of Durnovka, which is a collective image of a long-suffering village. This title refers to the idiocy of his life.
The composition is divided into three parts. In the first in the center is Tikhon, in the second part - Kuzma, in the third the life of both brothers is summed up. Based on their fate, the problems of the Russian village are shown. The images of Kuzma and Tikhon are in many ways the opposite.
Tikhon, being a descendant of serfs, who managed to get rich and become the owner of the estate, I am sure that money is the most reliable thing in the world. This hardworking, savvy and strong-willed man devotes his whole life to the pursuit of wealth. Kuzma Krasov, a true lover and a national poet, reflects on the fate of Russia, experiencing the poverty of the people and the backwardness of the peasantry.
Images of Kuzma and Tikhon
On the example of Kuzma, Bunin shows the nascent features of the new folk psychology, Kuzma thinks about the savagery and laziness of the people, that the reasons for this are not only the difficult circumstances that the peasants were in, but also in themselves. In contrast to the character of this hero, Ivan Bunin ("Village") portrays Tikhon as calculating and selfish. He is gradually increasing capital, and on the path to power and well-being does not stop at any means. However, despite the chosen direction, he feels despair and emptiness, which are directly related to looking into the future of the country, revealing pictures of an even more cruel and destructive revolution.
Through disputes, thoughts, conclusions of the brothers about himself and about the homeland, the writer shows the light and dark sides of the life of peasants, revealing the depth of the decline of the peasant world, conducting its analysis. "Village" (Bunin) is the author’s deep thought about the deplorable situation created in the peasantry.
The third part of the work is devoted to the image of the brothers at the time of the crisis - summing up the life path of the main characters of the work "Village" (Bunin). These heroes are dissatisfied with life: longing and hopeless loneliness are eating Kuzma, Tikhon is concerned about personal tragedy (absence of children), as well as the destruction of the foundations of the village’s everyday life. The brothers are aware of the hopelessness of the situation in which they find themselves. Despite the difference in their characters and aspirations, the fate of these two heroes is largely similar: despite enlightenment and prosperity, the social situation makes both of them unnecessary and unnecessary.
Author's assessment of the revolution
The story "The Village" (Bunin) is a clear, sincere and truthful assessment of Russia during the writer's life. He shows that those who are “rebels” are empty and stupid people who grew up in rudeness and lack of culture, and their protest is just a doomed to defeat attempt to change something. However, they are not able to make a revolution in their own consciousness, which remains hopeless and bony, as the author's analysis shows. The village of Bunina is a sad sight.
The image of the peasantry
Guys appear before the reader in all the ugliness: beating children and wives, wild drunkenness, torturing animals. Many Durnovsk people simply do not understand what is happening around. So, the worker Koshel once visited the Caucasus, but cannot tell anything about him, except that there is a "mountain on a mountain". His mind is “poor”, he pushes away everything incomprehensible, new, but he believes that he recently saw a real witch.
A soldier works as a teacher in Durnovka, the most ordinary-looking man, who, however, carried such nonsense that it was only possible to "raise one's hands". Training seemed to him like accustoming to strict army discipline.
The work "The Village" (Bunin) gives us yet another vivid image - the peasant Gray. He was the poorest in the village, while having a lot of land. Once Gray built a new hut, but it had to be heated in the winter, so he first burned the roof, and then sold the hut. This hero refuses to work, sits idle in an unheated dwelling, and the children are afraid of a splinter, because they are used to living in the dark.
The village is the whole of Russia, so the fate of the whole country was reflected in the work. Bunin believed that the peasants were only capable of spontaneous and meaningless rebellion. The story describes how they once rebelled throughout the county. The upshot was that the men burned several estates, shouted "Yes, and shut up."
Conclusion
Ivan Alekseevich was accused of hating the people, he did not know the village. But the author would never have created such a piercing story if he had not wholeheartedly supported the homeland and the peasants, as is seen in the work “The Village”. The content of his story, Bunin wanted to show everything wild, dark, which prevents people and the country from developing.