Illustration by O. G. Vereisky

The exposition of the story is a description of the grave of the main character. What follows is a summary of her story. Olya Meshcherskaya is a prosperous, capable and playful schoolgirl, indifferent to the instructions of the class lady. At the age of fifteen she was a recognized beauty, had the most admirers, danced the best at balls and skated. There were rumors that one of the high school students in love with her attempted suicide because of her frivolity.

In the last winter of her life, Olya Meshcherskaya “went completely crazy with fun.” Her behavior prompts the boss to make another remark, reproaching her, among other things, for dressing and acting not like a girl, but like a woman. At this point, Meshcherskaya interrupts her with a calm message that she is a woman and her father’s friend and neighbor, the boss’s brother Alexei Mikhailovich Malyutin, is to blame for this.

A month after this conversation, an ugly Cossack officer shot Meshcherskaya on the station platform among a large crowd of people. He announced to the bailiff that Meshcherskaya was close to him and vowed to be his wife. That day, accompanying him to the station, she said that she had never loved him and offered to read a page from her diary, which described how Malyutin seduced her.

From the diary it followed that this happened when Malyutin came to visit the Meshcherskys and found Olya alone at home. Her attempts to occupy the guest and their walk in the garden are described; Malyutin's comparison of them with Faust and Margarita. After tea, she pretended to be unwell and lay down on the ottoman, and Malyutin moved over to her, first kissed her hand, then kissed her on the lips. Further, Meshcherskaya wrote that after what happened next, she felt such disgust for Malyutin that she was unable to survive it.

The action ends at the cemetery, where every Sunday her classy lady, who lives in an illusory world that replaces reality for her, comes to the grave of Olya Meshcherskaya. The subject of her previous fantasies was her brother, a poor and unremarkable ensign, whose future seemed brilliant to her. After the death of her brother, Olya Meshcherskaya takes his place in her mind. She goes to her grave every holiday, does not take her eyes off the oak cross for hours, remembers the pale face in the coffin among the flowers and once overheard the words that Olya spoke to her beloved friend. She read in one book what kind of beauty a woman should have - black eyes, black eyelashes, longer than usual arms, but the main thing is light breathing, and she (Oli) has it: “...listen to how I I sigh, “is it true?”

Female characters often became the focus of Ivan Bunin's creative quests. Apparently, he was interested in exploring their mystery and incomprehensibility. In the story about easy breathing, written in 1916, Bunin explores such character qualities of a girl-child as insecurity, lightness and naivety.

A brief summary can tell the story of her tragedy. “Easy Breathing” is a story about Olya Meshcherskaya, who has not yet experienced love, but is already faced with the cruelty and cynicism of the adult world. According to the composition, the story can be divided into four parts.

“Easy Breathing”, summary (introduction)

The action takes place in April in a large county cemetery. Fresh clay mound under large new oak cross. A perky schoolgirl looks joyfully from a convex porcelain medallion with a strikingly animated gaze.

The inscription says that this is Olya Meshcherskaya.

“Easy Breathing”, summary (part 1)

Small, she did not stand out from other schoolgirls. All one could say was that she was pretty, from rich girls. One could also add that she is a capable student, but is inattentive to the comments of the class lady.

Gradually it developed and blossomed. By the age of fourteen she already had a charming feminine figure and a thin waist. At fifteen she was known as a beauty, despite the fact that she did nothing about it. She didn’t take care of her hair like other girls, she wasn’t particularly clean, she ran quickly, flushed, sometimes knocking her knees.

Imperceptibly, without any effort or care on her part, those qualities came to her that began to distinguish her from others during the last two years of her gymnasium life. She was distinguished by grace, elegance, dexterity and a clear sparkle in her eyes. She was the best at dancing and skating at the ball. The school students fell in love with her and looked after her. Olya was loved most of all by the junior classes at the gymnasium. True, there was a rumor about her frivolity...

In her last winter, Olya was completely crazy with fun, as they noticed in the gymnasium. In the crowd at the skating rink, she seemed the happiest and most carefree. One day, during a big break, her boss called her to her. Gray-haired, although youthful, she began her conversation by telling Olya that she was no longer a girl, but not yet a woman to wear adult hairstyles, expensive combs and shoes. Olya calmly and simply interrupted the boss, saying that she had become a woman thanks to the efforts of the boss’s brother, Alexei Mikhailovich Malyutin.

“Easy Breathing”, summary (part 2)

The girl died a month later at the hands of a Cossack officer, judging by his ugly and plebeian appearance, who had nothing in common with the schoolgirl’s social circle. He shot her right on a crowded station platform. The confession made by Olya Meshcherskaya, which shocked the boss, was completely confirmed. The officer said that they had been deceived by a high school student who was close to him and promised to become his wife, but, seeing him off at the station, she renounced her words and said that she was simply mocking him. As proof, she gave me a page from her diary to read, where she wrote about Milyutin. He read it and immediately shot her.

This is what the girl wrote in her diary. The entry is dated July last year. “I’m writing at two o’clock in the morning. Today I lost my virginity! The family left for the city, and I was left alone at the dacha. I felt so good! I walked, dined and played music alone, thinking that there would be no end to my happiness. I didn’t think that the visit of my father’s friend Alexei Mikhailovich would last long. I liked to receive him, he looked after me like a gentleman, he regretted that he did not find my dad, he joked and confessed his love. And when I lay down to rest on the ottoman, he began to kiss me. I still don’t understand how this happened. I didn’t expect this from myself! I feel a terrible disgust for him and I can’t live now!...”

“Easy Breathing”, summary (conclusion)

Every week, on Sunday, the grave is visited by a small woman in black.

She turned out to be a cool lady, Olya Meshcherskaya, a middle-aged girl living in her own imaginary world, which replaces reality for her. She is very sorry that the girl died. One day, a cool lady became an involuntary witness to Olya’s conversation with her friend. The girl said that in one of her father’s old books she read about female beauty. It said that in addition to external characteristics: eyes boiling with resin, small legs and a thin figure, the main thing is that the woman has easy breathing! She convinced her that she had just that! She invited me to listen to how she breathed...

This light breathing of hers now disappeared again into the world. It floats freely in the cold spring wind and in the gloomy cloudy sky.

Ivan Bunin wrote “Easy Breathing,” a summary of which is outlined above, even before emigrating. The story differs from lyrical works in prose in that it has a clear, rather than blurry, plot and a strict looped composition. It begins and ends with a description of the cemetery. This is apparently caused by the idea of the story, the nagging feeling of losing a young, promising life.

This article offers an analysis of the work “Easy Breathing”. Its brief content is necessary in order to remember the previously read text of the story or to get acquainted with the plot of the story before the first reading. Reading online almost all works of Russian literature is very convenient and does not take much time.

Interesting! The idea of creating a story came to the writer when he was in Italy. While walking through an Italian cemetery, the writer saw the grave of a young girl.

On the cross there was a medallion, and in it was a photograph of a young schoolgirl. The author was greatly struck by the contrast - the gloomy cemetery and such lively eyes of a beautiful girl. Why did such an angelic being leave this world so early? He could not answer this question, but in his mind he made the girl Russian and painted her life in his own way, making her the main character of his short story.

Medallion on the cross

Heroes of the story:

Liza Meshcherskaya is a high school student with a wayward character.
A classy lady is a highly moral woman who makes sure that the norms and rules of decency are observed in the gymnasium.
Alexey Mikhailovich Milyutin is the brother of the head of the gymnasium.
The Cossack officer is a fan of Olga Meshcherskaya.

In front of you brief retelling according to the chapters of the main storyline of the work. Today it is possible to read a summary of the short story “Easy Breathing” in text format, as well as listen to the audio version of the work on the audiobook website.

So, briefly, the main events of the story “Easy Breathing”. The narrative begins with a description of the main character's grave: in the cemetery there is an oak cross, into which a beautiful porcelain medallion is inserted.

The medallion contains a photograph depicting high school student Olga Meshcherskaya with cheerful, sparkling eyes full of life. Following the description of the grave there is a story about life path main character.

As a child, it was difficult to single her out in a crowd of schoolgirls, except for the fact that the girl often neglected the instructions of the class lady and had a mischievous, carefree disposition. By the age of 14, the girl had already formed a beautiful figure: an impeccable waist, slender legs.

Despite the fact that other schoolgirls carefully monitored their appearance: they did their hair, followed the elegance of their movements and were clean, Olya Meshcherskaya did not make any effort to look perfect. She was not afraid of disheveled hair and soiled clothes. Despite this, she had elegance, charm, and lively, sparkling eyes.

At the balls she had the most fans; the younger classes adored her. There were rumors that one high school student was so in love with her and so tired of her changeable behavior that he almost committed suicide.

Over time, Olya's behavior only became worse. While she was rushing around during the big break with the first-graders squealing with happiness, a classy lady called her to her for a serious conversation. Olya Meshcherskaya, taking a deep breath, straightening her hair and the corners of her apron, ran upstairs.

Gray hair was already visible in the classy lady's hair, but despite this, her face looked just like that of a young girl. She was doing knitting, sitting under a portrait depicting the Tsar.

Olya really liked this office because it was large and spacious, and in the cold winter it remained warm and breathed lilies of the valley. Starting a conversation with the schoolgirl, the boss didn’t even take her eyes off her knitting. During the conversation, the classy lady reproaches her ward for the fact that her clothing style and behavior are not suitable for such a young girl, but are more suitable for a woman. In response, the schoolgirl answers in a calm tone that she is really already a woman, not a girl, and the brother of a cool lady named Alexey is to blame for this.

About a month after the conversation with the mentor, the girl was killed at the station, in front of a crowd of people. The killer of the schoolgirl was a nondescript Cossack officer.

Cossack officer

When the young man was about to leave the city, Olya came with him to the station. During the farewell, the girl admitted that she had never experienced strong feelings for a man in her life and refused to be his wife. She gave him her diary to read, on the page where she described in detail the story of Milyutin’s seduction.

The diary described in detail the scene of how the man came to visit her father. The girl was at home alone. At first she tried to entertain the guest with a walk in the garden. After drinking tea, she felt unwell and lay down, then Alexey Mikhailovich began to kiss her hands first, and then her lips. The girl goes on to describe her disgust for the classy lady’s brother, “which she cannot bear.”

The story ends at the grave of the schoolgirl. The headmistress of the gymnasium comes to see her at the cemetery every week on Sunday. A cool lady lives in a fictional, illusory world that replaces her real one. She used to actively fantasize about her late brother; his career prospects seemed brilliant to her. Now the main place in her consciousness is occupied by Olga Meshcherskaya.

Sitting next to the girl’s grave, the classy lady does not take her eyes off the oak cross. She remembers the last time she saw Olga: in the coffin. The mentor sees her pale face among the flowers in front of her, and words ring in her head that she accidentally heard - Olya told them to her best friend. A high school student read in one publication what an ideal woman should be like: the most important thing for a beauty is to have easy breathing, which she (Oli) has.

Useful video: I. Bunin “Easy Breathing” - excerpt

Analysis of the work

The story “Easy Breathing” is imbued with the search for the meaning of life. As in many other works of the early 20th century, the main goal of human existence was not to achieve any success, but to live itself.

The plot of the story is simple: loving life and precocious Olya Meshcherskaya in her at a young age already enjoying attention from men. With her defiant behavior, she irritates the classy lady, and she invites her to a serious conversation. During the conversation, Olya accidentally informs her mentor that she is no longer a girl, but a woman, and the cool lady’s brother Alexey Malyutin is to blame.

It turned out that this is no longer the only love story the main character - she soon began an affair with a Cossack officer. He dreamed of marrying a beauty, but when she went to see him off at the station, Olya admitted that she had never loved him in her life. The man, in desperation, shoots her in front of the entire crowd. At the end of the story, the grave of a young girl is again described, which is visited every Sunday by a classy lady.

This is interesting! The writer himself said what he wanted to depict in the story highest degree sensuality in a woman. Her simplicity and lightness manifested itself in everything: both in life and in death.

Throughout her life, the main character did not limit herself to any moral principles. Olya's charm lay in her simplicity, which bordered on depravity and depravity. She accepted the advances of men, while playing with other people's feelings and not taking them seriously.

The main motto of her life was: “Why hold back your feelings if life is so beautiful?” She was confident in her attractiveness, so she had fun, forgetting about neatness and decency.

The cool lady is the opposite of Olga Meshcherskaya. Bunin describes her every day as meaningless and gray; a gray-haired girl with a youthful face is a real antipode to her student. A cool lady doesn’t know what it means to enjoy life, the only meaning of her existence is fiction and illusions.. At first she was captivated by the fate of her brother, “uniting her soul with him,” then the main idea that occupied all her thoughts was the fate of Olya Meshcherskaya.

Olya Meshcherskaya grew up alone - the girl knew how to enjoy her loneliness. The parents did not raise their daughter; no one showed her by example how to control her feelings.

The social aspect of the story is also important - the atmosphere of a gloomy, provincial and depressive city drives its inhabitants into the gray routine of existence. The main character is trying to add new colors to her life with the help of passion. But those who want to break out of this stagnant state are condemned by other people. There is a difference in origin between Olya Meshcherskaya and her last lover, which is also the cause of class prejudices.

Useful video: free retelling of A.I. Bunin’s work “Easy Breathing”

Conclusion

The author tries to reveal the boundary between passions and decency. Ivan Bunin clearly sympathizes more with the cheerful and carefree Olya, although he punishes her for her frivolity with death. The writer emphasizes the main problem of freedom and enjoyment of life in Russian society - a large number of conventions in the intimate sphere. Due to the lack of permissiveness, most must hide or suppress their secret desires. For happiness and harmony there must be a balance between society and man, but for now the interests of only the first of them are respected.

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Ivan Alekseevich Bunin

"Easy breath"

Olga Meshcherskaya was a noisy and cheerful high school student from a wealthy family. Very playful and carefree. By the age of 15 she began to look prettier. Gorgeous hair, slender legs, thin waist and the figure of a mature woman made her a beauty. Everything was easy and playful for her. Olenka danced best at balls, was a favorite among little first-year girls, was an excellent ice skater and was a real headache for the classy lady and boss.

One frosty winter morning, she was called back to the headmistress of the gymnasium, and she began to scold her for her pranks. Because she wears a grown-up woman’s hairstyle and very expensive shoes, although she herself is still a girl. Olga Meshcherskaya objects to her, saying that she is no longer a girl and blames her father’s friend, 56-year-old Malyutin Alexei Mikhailovich, for this.

In the summer, when Olga’s parents and brother left and left her alone, a Cossack officer Malyutin came to visit her father. He was very annoyed that he did not find his friend, but Olga received him and entertained him. He joked with her a lot and said that he had been in love with her for a long time. After tea, when a little tired Olga lay down on the ottoman, he sat down next to her and began showering her with compliments and kissing her hand. Olga covered her face with a scarf, and Malyutin kissed her on the lips through this scarf. Olga did not understand how it could happen what happened, that she could be like this and that she now feels disgusted with him.

A month after Olga confessed to her head of the gymnasium, the brave Cossack officer Aleksey Mikhailovich Malyutin shoots Olga on the station platform. During the trial, Malyutin stated that Meshcherskaya lured him, that she had an intimate relationship with him and promised to marry him, and at the station she stated that she never loved him and all the talk about marriage was simply a mockery of him.

In the cemetery, on a clay embankment, there is a cross with a convex medallion pressed into it with a photograph of Olga Meshcherskaya. Olga's cool lady comes every Sunday and on holidays. She also remembers Olya’s conversation with her friend, which she once overheard. Olga shares her impressions of the book she read, taken from her father. It describes what it should be beautiful woman. Besides the description external qualities it was written there that a beauty should have easy breathing, and she had it.

At the beginning of the story, the grave of the main character, Olya Meshcherskaya, is described.

This girl was from rich family and considered herself a happy person.

Olya was a real beauty and the owner of slender legs and a wasp waist. She made no effort, unlike her friends, everything was easy for her. Olya was the best at dancing. Many fans were hanging around her. It was rumored that a guy from the Shenshin gymnasium was madly in love with her. They said that Olya loved him too. But because the girl was too flighty, the guy even wanted to commit suicide.

In her last winter, Olya’s behavior was too cheerful and carefree. The head of the gymnasium called her to her and reproached her for her expensive clothes and beautiful hairstyles. She believed that Olya was not yet a woman, but just a high school student and should behave decently and look more modest. To her words, the girl politely replied that she was a woman. And that my father’s friend and brother of the boss, Malyutin, is guilty of this.

A month passed and the girl was shot by an officer. The officer told the investigator that Olya swore to be his wife. And on the day he killed her, she stated that she was simply mocking him and gave him a diary to read, in which it was written about Malyutin.

The diary described in detail the day on which Olya became close to Malyutin.

This middle-aged man came to their house, Olya was alone. They walked through the garden, then went into the house. The girl lay down, pretending that she was not well, Malyutin approached her and began to kiss her. Olya wrote that she felt disgusted with this man after what happened and it would be hard for her to get over it.

At the end of the story, Olya Meshcherskaya’s classy lady sits near her grave and recalls moments from Olya’s life. She recalled how Olya told her friend that the beauty of a woman lies in easy breathing. Olya was sure that her breathing was easy.

From the story we can conclude that you should not be too frivolous, you should take into account the feelings of the people around you.

Read a detailed summary of the story Light Breath of Bunin

The first lines of the work are a description of the grave of a young girl. It is clear that she appeared at the cemetery quite recently. Each subsequent word confirms this.

The girl who now rests in this coffin was called Olya. She was not only from a prosperous family. Meshcherskaya (Oli’s last name) was the most talked about special gymnasium where she studied. She had all the qualities of a sweet and ideal girl - beautiful appearance, neat hair, she was graceful and had movements that were characteristic only of her. She was always dominated by elegance, combined with the bright sparkle of her eyes.

All these qualities distinguished Olya Meshcherskaya from her peers; she looked many times older and seemed stately even when she did not make an effort for it. At the same time, over time, the girl became frivolous; she began to allow herself things that were not worth it. Olya did not listen to the classy lady, wore expensive combs and shoes, and gained more and more fans. Over time, such unacceptable behavior led to the fact that Meshcherskaya often visited the office of the head of the gymnasium. Once, in response to another remark from the headmistress that Olya behaves not like a girl, but like a woman, she replied that she really was a woman, and the director’s brother was to blame.

This conversation took place during Olya’s last winter. At that time, many noted that she had changed and became many times more cheerful than she was before. She felt the happiest, the most carefree at the moment when the gentle winter sun illuminated the street, and she was skating on the skating rink. Olya was invited to the director while she was having fun with the first-graders during a big break.

Meshcherskaya died a month after the conversation. She was killed by the same brother of the headmistress, Alexei Mikhailovich, unable to bear her actions. The girl, seeing him off, made the mistake of voluntarily allowing him to read her diary. From the first lines, without even reading to the end, anger took over Alexei’s mind and he allowed himself to shoot at Olya. The girl died.

Alexey did not cease to assure: Meshcherskaya promised to become his wife, to love and live with him. But what she gave him to read completely changed the image of her in his eyes. The schoolgirl’s diary entry shocked and disappointed the man. In addition, that day at the station Olya directly stated that there were no feelings of love for the ugly Cossack officer. And the page contained a full description of Meshcherskaya’s hateful attitude towards Alexei Mikhailovich.

The diary entry is a day in Olya’s life when she was left alone at home. That day the girl felt alive: she walked through the field, was in the forest, and fell asleep in her father’s office. There was no limit to the freedom that filled her heart. That day, her father’s friend, Alexey Mikhailovich, arrived. Not finding the head of the family at home, he swore his love to the young girl for a long time. The recording ends with words about how Alexey kissed her several times and is interrupted by words of regret and words of hatred.

Returning to the grave, the main actor a young-looking woman with gray hair is becoming. She, elegantly dressed, comes to Olya’s grave and sits for a long time, looking at the cross. She looks at the photograph of the dead girl and it seems to her that so much desire to live is splashing inside them. So, in motionless thoughts, a woman sits until her feet are cold.

This is a cool lady Meshcherskaya. A woman who was often inspired by just one idea. Now a moment was spinning in her head, which she managed to overhear from Olya’s conversation with her friend. In that conversation, Olya describes the important qualities of a woman and names her ideal - easy breathing. Olya clearly says: “Isn’t it true that I have a light breath?”

When her feet get cold or it begins to get dark, the lady, sighing, leaves the cemetery.

Light breathing description. AND