Young, rich, educated boy and girl have much in common. They are in love with each other, but on the way to family happiness is complex, multifaceted and contradictory. inner world the main character.
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Very briefly

At a lecture by Andrey Bely, a young man meets a charming girl, and begins to court her. Every evening, at the same hour, the hero visits his beloved. He gives her flowers, sweets, books, takes her to restaurants and theaters. However, the girl responds to all signs of attention with indifference.

Being in constant search for herself, the heroine goes to history courses, learns the "Moonlight Sonata". However, this does not bring her satisfaction. All her behavior and character are a mystery to the hero, who leaves no hope of winning the beauty's heart.

On Forgiveness Sunday, the girl asks her lover to take her to the Novodevichy Convent. She enthusiastically talks about old Russian chronicles, cathedrals, church hymns. The hero listens to her absent-mindedly, and cannot understand what kind of craving for religion has descended on her. The next day, the girl dances merrily on the theatrical skit, drinks champagne and laughs.

That night, the lovers become close. The next morning, the girl reports that she intends to return to Tver. Soon she announces her decision to become a novice. In desperation, the hero becomes an inveterate drunkard. Two years later, he accidentally sees her among the singing nuns in the Martha and Mary Convent.

The main characters met by chance, in December. Listening to Andrei Bely's lecture, the young man laughed and twirled around so that the girl who happened to be next to him, who at first looked at him with some bewilderment, eventually also laughed. After that, every evening he went to the heroine's apartment, which she rented only because of the beautiful view that opens on the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

In the evening, the lovers went to dine in expensive restaurants, went to various concerts, attended theaters ... He did not know how this relationship would end, and even tried not to allow such thoughts in himself, since she forever stopped talking about the future. This is how Bunin begins Clean Monday. A summary of the story, published in 1944, is presented to your attention.

Heroine

The heroine was incomprehensible and mysterious. The relationship of the lovers was uncertain and strange, so the young man was constantly in agonizing expectation, unresolved tension. However, every hour shared with the heroine was happiness for him.

The girl was alone in Moscow (her father, an enlightened man from a noble merchant family, was a widower and lived in Tver already at rest), studied at courses (simply because she liked history) and constantly learned the beginning of one melody - " moonlight sonata", just the beginning. He gave her flowers, fashionable books and chocolate, in response he received only an absent-minded and indifferent "Thank you ..." It seemed that she was not interested in anything, she did not need it, but she still chose certain flowers, I read all the donated books, ate chocolate, dined with appetite.

Only expensive fur and clothes were her only obvious weakness, as Bunin notes ("Clean Monday"). The summary would be incomplete without a description of the characters of the boy and girl.

Two opposites

Both heroes were healthy, rich, young and very pretty, so much so that at concerts and in restaurants they were seen off with enthusiastic looks. He was from somewhere in the Penza province, handsome with "Italian" southern beauty. The character of the hero was appropriate: cheerful, lively, always ready to smile. The beauty of the girl was somehow Persian, Indian, and how he was restless and talkative, she was so thoughtful and silent.

Hero's Doubt

Describing the summary of "Clean Monday", it is necessary to note the doubts that sometimes owned the hero. Even when he suddenly kissed her impulsively and passionately, she did not resist it, but was always silent. And when she felt that the hero was unable to cope with herself, she pulled away silently, went to her bedroom and dressed for the trip. The girl said she wasn't fit to be a wife. The young man thought: "We'll see!" - and never after that did not talk about marriage.

Sometimes, however, such a situation was unbearably painful for the gentleman. He began to think that this was not love. Having said this to the girl, the hero heard in response that no one really knows what love is. After that, all evening they again talked only about strangers, and the young man was again glad that he was simply there, hearing her voice, looking at the lips that he kissed an hour ago.

Forgiveness Sunday

We continue to describe the main events of the story that Bunin created ("Clean Monday"). Their summary is as follows. Two months of winter passed, January and February, and then Maslenitsa. The heroine dressed in all black on Forgiveness Sunday, saying that tomorrow was clean Monday, and gave her gentleman the idea to go to loneliness ... Then they walked for a long time around the Novodevichy cemetery, visited the graves of Chekhov and Ertel, searched for a long time and unsuccessfully for the house where Griboedov lived, after which they went to Okhotny Ryad, to a tavern.

It was warm here and there were many cabbies. The heroine said that this Rus' was now preserved only somewhere in the northern monasteries, and that someday she would go to the most remote of them. Again he looked at her with concern and surprise: what is the matter with her today, again quirks? The hero asks himself this question, and Bunin with him.

Clean Monday

A summary of what happened next is as follows. The next day, the girl asked to be taken to the theater, to a skit, although she said that there was nothing more vulgar than him. Here she smoked incessantly and carefully looked at the actors, who grimace under the friendly laughter of the public. One of them looked at her with mock greed, and then, crouching to his hand, asked about her gentleman: "What kind of handsome man is this? I hate it." Leaving the skit at three o'clock in the morning, she half-jokingly, half-seriously said that the actor was, of course, right, "of course, handsome." Contrary to her custom, she let the carriage go that evening.

In the apartment, the heroine immediately went to the bedroom, took off her dress and, wearing only her shoes, combing her black hair with a comb, standing in front of the dressing table, said: “He said that I don’t think much about him. No, I thought.”

Parting

In the morning, the hero woke up, feeling her gaze on him. The girl said that she was leaving for Tver in the evening, and did not know for how long, she promised to write as soon as she arrived at the place.

Here further developments stories, their summary. Bunin I. A. continues as follows. The letter received two weeks later was laconic - a firm, albeit affectionate, request not to wait, not to make attempts to see and find the heroine. The girl said that she would remain a novice for a while, and then, perhaps, she would decide to become a nun. He disappeared for a long time in taverns, sinking more and more. Then he began to recover little by little - hopelessly, indifferently ...

Two years later

Almost 2 years have passed since that day. On such a quiet evening, the hero took a cab and headed for the Kremlin. Here he stood for a long time without praying in the Archangel Cathedral, after which he traveled a lot, like two years ago, through the dark streets and cried.

He looked at them, and suddenly one of the girls raised her head and looked at him in the darkness, as if seeing. What could she discern, how did she sense the youth's presence? He turned and silently walked out of the gate.

This is how Bunin I.A. ends his story. ("Clean Monday"). The summary of the chapters is interesting and intriguing.

Every evening in the winter of 1912, the narrator visits the same apartment opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. There lives a woman whom he loves madly. The narrator takes her to chic restaurants, gives her books, chocolates and fresh flowers, but does not know how it will all end. She doesn't want to talk about the future. There has not yet been a real, last intimacy between them, and this keeps the narrator "in insoluble tension, in painful expectation." Despite this, he is happy next to her.

She studies at historical courses and lives alone - her father, a widowed enlightened merchant, settled "at rest in Tver." She accepts all the gifts of the narrator carelessly and absent-mindedly.

It seemed that she wanted nothing: no flowers, no books, no dinners, no theaters, no dinners outside the city.

She has her favorite flowers, she reads books, she eats chocolate and dine with great pleasure, but her only real weakness is "good clothes, velvet, silks, expensive furs."

Both the narrator and his beloved are young and very beautiful. The narrator looks like an Italian, bright and agile. She was swarthy and black-eyed like a Persian. He is "prone to talkativeness and simple-hearted gaiety", she is always reserved and silent.

The narrator often recalls how they met at Andrei Bely's lecture. The writer did not give a lecture, but sang it, running around the stage. The narrator "twisted and laughed so much" that he attracted the attention of a girl sitting in a nearby chair, and she laughed with him.

Sometimes she silently, but without resisting, allows the narrator to kiss "her hands, her feet, her body, amazing in its smoothness." Feeling that he can no longer control himself, she pulls away and leaves. She says she is not fit for marriage, and the narrator doesn't talk to her about it again.

Our incomplete intimacy sometimes seemed unbearable, but even here - what was left for me but hope for time?

The fact that he looks at her, accompanies her to restaurants and theaters, is torment and happiness for the narrator.

So the narrator spends January and February. Carnival arrives. On Forgiveness Sunday, she orders to pick her up earlier than usual. They go to the Novodevichy Convent. On the way, she tells that yesterday morning she was at the schismatic cemetery, where their archbishop was buried, and recalls the whole ceremony with delight. The narrator is surprised - until now he did not notice that she is so religious.

They arrive at the cemetery of the Novodevichy Convent and walk between the graves for a long time. The narrator looks at her with adoration. She notices this and is sincerely surprised: he really loves her so much! In the evening they eat pancakes in the tavern of Okhotny Ryad, she again tells him with admiration about the monasteries that she managed to see, and threatens to leave for the most remote of them. The narrator does not take her words seriously.

The next evening, she asks the narrator to take her to a theatrical skit, although she considers such gatherings to be extremely vulgar. All evening she drinks champagne, looks at the antics of the actors, and then famously dances the polka with one of them.

Late at night, the narrator brings her home. To his surprise, she asks to let the coachman go and go up to her apartment - she did not allow this before. They are finally getting closer. In the morning, she tells the narrator that she is leaving for Tver, promises to write and asks to leave her now.

The narrator receives the letter in two weeks. She says goodbye to him and asks not to wait and not to look for her.

I won’t return to Moscow, I’ll go to obedience for now, then, maybe, I’ll decide to be tonsured ... May God give me the strength not to answer me - it’s useless to prolong and increase our torment ...

The narrator grants her request. He begins to disappear through the dirtiest taverns, gradually losing his human appearance, then long, indifferently and hopelessly comes to his senses.

Two years pass. Under New Year the narrator, with tears in his eyes, repeats the path that he once traveled with his beloved on Forgiveness Sunday. Then he stops at the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent and wants to enter. The janitor does not let the narrator in: inside there is a service for the Grand Duchess and the Grand Duke. The narrator still comes in, slipping a ruble to the janitor.

In the courtyard of the monastery, the narrator sees a religious procession. It is headed by the Grand Duchess, followed by a string of singing nuns or sisters with candles near their pale faces. One of the sisters suddenly raises her black eyes and looks directly at the narrator, as if sensing his presence in the darkness. The Narrator turns and quietly exits the gate.

Summary of "Clean Monday" Option 2

1. About the work
2. Main characters
3. Summary
4. Conclusion

Every winter evening, the author came to the apartment opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, where his beloved lived. He took her to dinner, then to theaters, to concerts ... He did not know what awaited them in the future - she was mysterious and incomprehensible to him; their relationship kept him in suspense, but at the same time made him happy.

She studied at the history courses, although she rarely attended them. Every day, on his orders, fresh flowers were brought to her, he gave her books and chocolates. It seemed that she did not care about all this, but she had favorite and unloved flowers, and she always read books. At lunch and dinner, she ate no less than the storyteller, with a Moscow understanding of the matter, she loved expensive clothes, silks and velvet.

Both of them were young and gorgeous. Going out into the light, the couple caught admiring glances. He, being a native of the Penza province, was unexpectedly handsome with a kind of southern, hot beauty, his character was lively and disposed to a smile, a good joke. Her beauty was oriental: the swarthy face, thick black hair, black eyes, like velvet coal, made her face beautiful. He was as talkative as she was silent.

She often thought about something. When visiting her, the author often found her reading. At such moments, she could not leave the house for three or four days. Then she made him sit in a chair next to him and silently read. She reproached him for being too talkative and restless, to which he reminded her of their acquaintance. One day in December, at a lecture by Andrei Bely, he laughed out loud, which first aroused her bewilderment, and then made her laugh.

He swore his love to her, and she replied that for her there were no people closer than her father and him. "Odd love!" thought the narrator. His thoughts were echoed by the landscape of the “strange city”, in which such dissimilar buildings as Okhotny Ryad, St. Basil the Blessed, Spas-on-Bora adjoined ...

Arriving at dusk, he sometimes found her in one arkhaluk, kissed her hands, feet, body, hot lips. She didn't resist, but she remained silent. Then she pushed him away and went into another room, letting him cool down and come to his senses. A quarter of an hour later, the woman came out dressed and ready to go.

One winter evening, sitting in silence, he clutched his head and asked her why she tormented them both so much. To her silence, he added that this was not love. "Who knows what love is?" she called out of the darkness. "I know!" he exclaimed, promising to wait for her to discover feelings of love and happiness. The woman quoted the words from the dialogue between Platon Karataev and Pierre about the essence of happiness, and he asked not to bother him with all this Eastern wisdom.

And again the whole evening the conversation was only about strangers. Again, the author had enough of her presence nearby, her voice, the pattern of her lips and the spicy smell of her hair.

Sometimes, tipsy, she would take him to the office and call the gypsies. The woman listened to their songs with a kind of languid smile, and then asked to be taken home. Standing at her house and kissing the fur of her collar, he understood that tomorrow would be the same, and this was both great torment and great happiness.

So January and February passed, and Maslenitsa came. On forgiveness Sunday, she met him in black. She responded to his remark with a reminder that the next day was Clean Monday, and offered to go to the Novodevichy Convent. She told him about how she was at the Rogozhsky cemetery and that in the mornings she often goes to cathedrals. The woman told him about the archbishop's burial, the white "air" that covered his face, about the deacons with ripids and trikiriyas. He was surprised at her deep knowledge and admitted that he had no idea about the religiosity of his beloved. She replied that it was not religiosity, although she herself found it difficult to give it any definition. He followed her, admiring the small footprints in the snow. Turning around and shaking her head, she remarked with quiet bewilderment:

It's true how you love me!

After standing for a short time at the graves of Chekhov and Ertel, they moved on. She remembered that somewhere on Ordynka there is Griboyedov's house. Having traveled for a long time through unknown lanes and, of course, not finding the writer's house, they arrived at Yegorov's tavern in Okhotny Ryad. The ground floor was full of shaggy cabbies eating piles of pancakes generously covered with butter and sour cream. Old Testament merchants sat in the upper rooms. They went into the second room. In the corner in front of the icon of the Three-Handed Mother of God a lamp was burning. She admired the spirit of Rus', which remained only in the northern monasteries and in church hymns. Inadvertently, a woman notices that she would like to go to a remote monastery, but the author did not take her words seriously.

She was talkative all evening. When his beloved began to read Russian legends from memory, he at first tried to joke, but, noticing her concentration, he became agitated, not understanding what was happening to her.

Returning home, she asked him to take her the next evening to the "skit" of the Art Theater. He was discouraged, remembering her recent contempt for them. At the meeting, she smoked and drank champagne all the time, watching the antics of the actors. A drunken Kachalov approached her and proclaimed a toast in her honor. Clinking glasses with him, she slowly smiled. Then the music thundered and Sulerzhitsky, always hurrying somewhere, flew up to them and invited her. She went to dance the polka, accompanied by applause.

Returning, she asked the narrator to let the coachman go. The author was surprised, because before that the woman did not allow him to stay overnight. The next morning she admitted that she was leaving for Tver. She wasn't sure if she would come back and asked him to leave. He timidly kissed her hair and left. Having reached the Iberian chapel, he stopped in a crowd of old women and beggars and fell to his knees, pulling off his hat. An old woman touched his shoulder, grimacing with tears of pity, and urged him not to kill himself like that - “sin!”.

Two weeks later he received a letter in which she asked him not to write to her and not to wait.

He fulfilled her request and began to disappear into taverns. Almost two years later, on New Year's Eve, it was almost as quiet an evening as the unforgettable one. He took a cab and went to the Kremlin. After standing in the Archangel Cathedral, he drove along Griboedovsky Lane. And he kept crying, crying ... At the gates of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent, he stopped when he heard the singing of the girls' choir. Having slipped a ruble to the janitor who did not want to let him in, he was about to go inside, as a procession led by the Grand Duchess and the Grand Duke came out of the door. Behind them stretched a line of singing girls. One of the sisters lifted her eyes and peered into the darkness. How could she feel that he was standing there? He turned and walked out of the gate.

Picture or drawing Clean Monday

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12.06.2018

In this article, you will get acquainted with the summary of Bunin's story "Clean Monday". Written in the first person, the narrator, a.k.a. main character, a handsome young man from the Penza province, without specific occupations, but well-to-do financially. The heroine is also a rich, young and spectacular girl, sometimes she attended some courses, but the author does not specify which ones. In the story, you will get acquainted with another story of unhappy love - a woman preferred a spiritual life to a real relationship.

So, a summary of Bunin's story

Acquaintance

December. In the evenings, the narrator visits an apartment near the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The hostess lives there only because of the beautiful view of the temple. The protagonist met a woman at a lecture by Andrei Bely. Soon the main characters fall in love with each other. He brings her flowers, chocolate, books, takes her to dinners and receptions in pretentious places. She does not accept his gifts very willingly, but she always thanks, reads books to the end and eats chocolate. Her real passion is "good clothes". Both try not to think about the future. The characters are opposite: the narrator is active and talkative, while she is silent and thoughtful.

Forgiveness Sunday

So two months pass, Forgiveness Sunday comes. The heroine, dressed in black, invites the narrator to visit the Novodevichy Convent. The woman spoke about the beauty of the funeral of a schismatic archbishop, about the singing of the church choir. The couple visited the graves of Chekhov, Ertel, heading further to the tavern. The heroine tells the narrator that the real Rus' is probably preserved only in the monasteries in the north, and maybe she will go to one of them. The protagonist does not take her words seriously, suggesting that these are "quirks again."

Clean Monday

In the morning, the woman asks the protagonist to take her to the theater, to a skit, considering, however, such "gatherings" as vulgar. Here the heroine constantly smokes, drinks champagne, watches the performance of the actors, dances with one of them. At three o'clock in the morning the young man takes the woman home. She releases the coachman and invites him to her place. The characters are physically close. In the morning she tells her lover that she is leaving for Tver and does not know how long she will stay there.

ending

Two weeks later, a letter arrives from her lover with a request not to write and not to attempt to find her. She reports that at first she will be a novice, and then, perhaps, she will take tonsure and become a nun. After that, the main character disappears in taverns, indulging in all serious and sinking lower and lower. Then he recovers for a long time, being completely indifferent to everything. We understand that he is depressed.

Two years pass, on New Year's Eve the main character, with tears in his eyes, walks along the path that he once walked with her. The man stops at the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent and wishes to visit it. The janitor allows you to enter only after paying. In the monastery there is a service for the prince and princess. In the courtyard, a man watches the procession. One of the novices singing in the choir suddenly looks at the protagonist, as if seeing him in the dark. He realizes that this is his lost beloved, turns around and silently leaves.

conclusions

The love tragedy of the heroes is that they could not understand each other. The heroine renounces carnal love, sees the end of her spiritual quest in the church. Her new love- love for God. Now nothing vulgar will touch her subtle soul. She finds a new meaning of life and peace. The heroine finds her own way, and the narrator has not been able to find a place in this life.

The author tells readers that material and physical well-being do not guarantee happiness. Happiness is in understanding each other and yourself. The main characters of the story were completely different, and therefore were not happy. After all, the main character did not fully understand his beloved, he saw in her only some oddities and "quirks". I did not see the whole depth of her soul and the originality of the spiritual world. He could offer her only the external - wealth, entertainment, carnal pleasures, a bourgeois family. And she wanted more. Bunin told us a sad story about an unhappy love that could not end in a happy ending.