Description of a village in ancient times. Characteristics of the current state of the village
For rural sociology, important methodological provisions are, firstly, that agricultural production is a sphere that ensures the integrity of the national economic organism and without which the functioning of other sectors is impossible; secondly, the involvement of a huge number of people in work, in life in the countryside - the number of rural residents in Russia in 1989 was 39 million people, or 26% of the total population.
Before the revolution, when the village consisted of small producers, it was a fairly strong, stably conservative unit with a tendency towards even greater isolation and fragmentation. In the first stages of the existence of collective forms of management, the village and its main social institutions - the collective farm, the state farm - basically coincided with each other. Subsequently, starting from the 50-60s, when the focus towards concentration, specialization and consolidation of agricultural production intensified, the village, as a unity of production and territorial aspects of people’s lives, disintegrated again, but now on a different basis, which, as life has shown , turned into major economic and social miscalculations. This gap is especially clearly visible in the ratio of the number of collective and state farms and rural settlements: already in 1980, there were an average of 10 settlements per agricultural enterprise.
By the mid-80s, the situation in agriculture showed in its entirety the crisis that agricultural policy had led to. The face of the village was determined not by the small number of advanced collective and state farms, but by the bulk of them, which increasingly lagged behind the real needs of the time, and marked the dead end to which the collectivization process in the country had led, which resulted in the ruin of the village, mass migration, and a decline in the prestige of work on the ground. And the apotheosis of all this is the import of bread into our country since the early 60s.
The economic crisis in rural areas was accompanied by far-reaching changes in social life. A very difficult socio-demographic situation has developed in the village, which was primarily manifested in the intensification of migration processes. The decrease in the rural population mainly occurred due to the center of the European part, the North and Siberia (T.I. Zaslavskaya).
Technical progress and attempts to improve organizational forms of management have not led to efficiency and a new quality of labor, which has put on the agenda such urgent issues as changing the forms of land tenure, the qualitative structure of employment, and training workers who can radically increase labor productivity.
It is important to look at rural life from one more side. Despite repeated attempts to improve the material well-being of rural residents (for example, from 1970 to 1989, the salary of a state farm worker increased from 98.5 to 196 rubles), the level of real income of collective farmers and state farm workers was seriously inferior to this indicator in cities. And not so much in terms of differences in wages, but in the fact that rural workers do not enjoy the same range of benefits in housing, utilities, and the transport network that workers living in cities have.
There are still many problems associated with meeting the spiritual needs of the population. Although some quantitative characteristics of social and cultural development at first glance were improving (the size of the housing stock, the number of club institutions and cinema installations), one cannot help but notice the poverty of that book stock, the absence of clubs and houses of culture not only in many villages and cities, but even in regional centers (in 1986, about 400 regional centers did not have cultural centers). In general, cultural services in rural areas do not meet the needs of the time and the demands of rural workers.
But the main thing is that the consciousness and behavior of the peasantry has radically and strategically changed, which has developed in them a special form of lifestyle and a specific reaction to the processes taking place in society. At the beginning of collectivization, in the 30s, the relationship between the collective farm and the family yard was such that the collective farm acted as a kind of branch of the peasant family farm. This was manifested in the fact that the peasant worked just as hard, selflessly and persistently on the collective farm as he had previously been accustomed to working on his individual farm, regardless of any costs or time. However, in the 50-60s, a process of “quiet collectivization” took place, which, in the words of V.G. Vinogradsky, in form meant the consolidation of collective farms, the closure of unpromising villages, and in essence, carried out a radical restructuring of peasant life: now the yard has become to a branch of the collective farm. The yard was placed at the center of the villager’s concerns; it fed, developed, existed thanks to the collective farm, and began to quickly, systematically and consciously connect to the financial and resource potential of collective and state farms, fully embodying the well-known saying: “Everything around is collective farm, everything around my".
It is precisely this situation, when the yard and the collective farm (state farm) - mutual branches, mutual “filters” and mutual “lands” - explains the fierce resistance to the hasty agrarian policy of the neoliberal sense, which in the early 90s was intended to “bless” the peasants without their knowledge and desires.
And if we take into account that at the same time there was a collapse of the intellectual environment of the village, then all this allows us to draw the conclusion: the position of the peasant is seriously destabilized, the process of de-peasantization continues, the villagers have lost in many ways the necessary spiritual community with the land. There was an alienation of the village people from work and its results, which, in turn, could not but affect the economic and social efficiency of agriculture as a whole (P.I. Simush).
The social consciousness of the peasantry, like no other group, presents a very contradictory picture. And most importantly, even those sprouts of a revival of the owner’s attitude towards the land that appeared among some of both former and present peasants were actually ruined by the unreasonable agrarian policy of the new political figures in Russia.
Bunin wrote the work “In the Village” in 1897. This is one of the writer’s most poetic stories; it is filled with an extraordinary love for the rural landscape.
Bunin dedicated several stories and novellas to the village. It is worth saying that this topic was quite relevant for many writers at the turn of the century. The question of the fate of the Russian peasantry at that time was very acute. If in the nineteenth century many works of art contained unnecessary pastoralism, then at the beginning of the twentieth century prose writers began to depict rural life without embellishment.
Features of Bunin's work
“In the Village” is a story that still contains optimistic notes. The author mentions the poverty of the peasantry only in passing. The narration is told in the first person - from the point of view of a little boy. The author recalls his childhood. It is not easy to present a summary of Bunin’s “In the Village.” This is an extremely poetic work in which very few events are shown.
Plan
If you retell Bunin’s “In the Village” chapter by chapter, you need to adhere to the following plan:
- Waiting for the holiday.
- Way home.
- Return to the city.
As we can see from the plan presented above, there is no plot as such in the story. Most of the work is dedicated to the road. First, the boy and his father go to their native village, then return to the city. Nothing is said about how the Christmas holidays are going.
The main focus of Bunin's work is the village. It was to her that the writer dedicated this short story. And the story about a boy who missed home and rejoiced at the arrival of his father is probably just an excuse to glorify the rural landscape - gray and unsightly for a person who cannot appreciate its beauty, and beautiful for the author and his heroes.
Waiting for the holiday
The boy studies at the city gymnasium and lives away from his family. He is only at home during the holidays. The work “In the Village” by Ivan Bunin tells about the events that take place on the eve of the Christmas holidays. The boy's father comes to pick him up and takes him to the village, where he will spend two weeks.
As a child, it seemed to the narrator that spring would come after the Christmas holidays. He was looking forward to Christmas, and on the way to the gymnasium he looked into the shop windows, where many elegant Christmas tree decorations were already on display. The boy was sure that the real, harsh and gray winter was behind him. After all, father will arrive soon. He saw him infrequently, only on holidays.
Finally, this day has come. A bell rang in the apartment where the boy lived. It was the father. The schoolboy did not leave his side all evening, and before going to bed he dreamed about how he would spend time in his native village. The next morning they set off.
Way home
Everything made him happy these pre-Christmas days. And a long way home along a snow-covered road. And the coachman, who threateningly, cracking his whip, shouted at the horse. And huge snowdrifts under the porch of my home.
The word "spring" appears frequently in the story. What does this time of year have to do with the January holidays? But isn’t it a spring mood that visits a child who is finally home? Perhaps spring is also mentioned because the hero associates it with home.
In the village
The next day the boy woke up early, studied the bizarre drawings on the glass for a long time, and then asked his father to go on a ride on the slide. The severe frosts did not frighten him. And he still believed that spring was very close. He didn’t want to leave the yard at all. Everything made me happy. He wandered into a yard where cows were dozing, sheep were scurrying about, and horses, who had lost weight over the winter, wandered. Here he smelled a mixture of hay and snow. And these were the happiest moments in his short life.
A happy person does not notice time. Griboyedov once said something similar. The boy, drowning in happy dreams, did not notice how the holidays flew by. It's time to return to the city. His father equipped him for the trip and gave him instructions. And to lighten the mood a little, he promised to buy a stallion by spring. Over the next few months, the boy will dream about riding horses and going hunting with his father. He is very sad to leave his home. But he agrees with his father: spring will come very soon.
Return to the city
The work is imbued with a love of rural landscapes. On the way, the father talks about the village, about why people think that living here is boring. From just a few phrases of the hero, the reader understands that this man is very wise. The man says that the village is not boring at all, but there really is a lot of poverty here. In order for it not to exist, you need to work hard. And then there will be a good life in the village. After all, only here can you understand what real spring is. In the city, people do not fully notice the beauty of the thaw. There he pays more attention to bright signs. You can love nature only in the countryside - this is, perhaps, the main idea of Bunin’s story.
On the way to the city, the boy admires the scenery again. He thinks that soon these huge snowdrifts will melt, and even the poor black huts will change their appearance - they will become cheerful and clean. He likes village houses, especially brick ones, those that belong to wealthy peasants. In such huts there is always the smell of freshly baked bread, there is wet straw on the floor, there are a lot of people, and everyone is at work.
They leave the village. There are endless fields around. Black peasant huts are behind...
From the history of writing
At the beginning of the 20th century, Bunin began work on a series of works dedicated to rural life. But the main work in this collection was not the story, a summary of which is presented above, but a completely different work. It is simply called “Village”.
When writing this work, the author set himself the following task: to show a simple Russian peasant without embellishment, while emphasizing the hopelessness of his existence. At the beginning of the century, quite tragic events took place in Russia, from which rural residents suffered primarily. But in the story "The Village" Bunin showed poverty not so much material as spiritual. At the same time, he depicted the picture of rural poverty quite realistically.
The writer sympathized with the peasants with all his heart. Exhausted by hard work, they were subjected to humiliation and hopeless poverty throughout their lives. But it is worth saying that despite the rather sad background, Bunin’s heroes have spontaneity, childlike naivety and an amazing love of life.
These two works dedicated to the village are completely different. The first, the content of which is conveyed in this article, is about a wise villager. The protagonist's father does not suffer from poverty. One of the peasants calls high school student - main the hero - a “barchuk”, but affectionately, without malice or envy. The boy's father is used to working hard, loves his native land and instills this love in his little son. This hero is perhaps an example of a proper villager in Bunin’s understanding.
The story "The Village" shows the wretchedness of the spiritual world of the descendants of the former serf. The characters in this work live in a village called Durnovo, which speaks for itself.
Landscape in Bunin's story
The prose of this writer is extremely poetic. He achieved real mastery, of course, in creating works dedicated to love. Bunin is known primarily as the author of short romantic stories, for example, the stories included in the collection Dark Alleys. But the famous stories about love were written much later, already in emigration. In Russia, for the writer, apparently, the theme of the village was much more important - poor, gray, sometimes gloomy, but very beloved by the last Russian classic.
In order to understand how important the role of landscape is in a literary work, you should read one of Ivan Bunin’s stories. And first of all, the one we are talking about in today’s article. When immersed in the world of Bunin’s images, it’s as if you find yourself in another time. You feel that amazing mixture of smells of hay and snow that made the hero of the story “In the Country” so happy. You see endless snow-white fields, and in the distance - black peasant huts. The summary does not convey the richness of the Bunin language. In order to appreciate it, the work must be read in the original.
My village is called Martyn. She is beautiful and has a lot of pets. These are chickens, sheep, cows, goats. It’s spring now, but in the summer all livestock except goats and chickens will be taken to the field.
I help my granny bring the cattle home. In my village there are four goats, three female goats, ten sheep, twenty chickens and two cows. We take the sheep and two cows out into the field to graze, and in the evening we bring them home. I also help my grandmother milk goats and cows. Once I even sent sheep. It is very difficult. Watch all day so that not a single sheep runs away. I was very tired, but still, I didn’t lose a single sheep. All the sheep came home.
I also have a dog Mukhtar in my village. He is very kind and good. When Mukha was still little, my mother and I took him into the forest with us. He ran around there and played with us. But we didn’t play there, we picked mushrooms and berries. After I picked up a full basket of mushrooms and a can of berries, I began to play with Mukha and make sure he didn’t run away. When we got home, I put my dog to bed.
I also have a cat Katya and Ksyushechka, I remember her as a little ball of fluff. When she was just born, I immediately gave her the name Ksyushka. Katya used to live in our city, but now she lives in the village because she was very disobedient. Now two good cats live together. We have two new chickens, their names are Squirrel and Feather. The squirrel sat on the eggs and already had ten chicks, they are so small, fluffy and even yellow. The feather has not yet sat on the eggs, but will soon. As you can see, there are a lot of animals in our village. I love my village very much.
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The work in its genre direction refers to a tragedy, called by the author small and created in accordance with the unity of place, time and action in the style of classicism.
Nature fascinates with its fantastic landscapes, delights the human eye, and brings a lot of positive emotions. The beauty of nature is unique at any time of the year.
The first years after the revolution of 1905-1907. became a desire to study social reality. The works of these years involve us in deep reflections on the history of Russia, its people, and the fate of the Russian revolution. There is an interpenetration of national, historical, contemplative and philosophical thought.
General characteristics of the "Village"
The story “The Village,” created in 1910, has such complex content in an outwardly traditional everyday guise. 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 back in 1900.
V.V. Voronovsky described 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 the history of modern times. There is a generalized image: the village is a kingdom of death and hunger.
The task that the author set for himself was to portray the Russian people without idealization. Therefore, Ivan Alekseevich conducts a merciless psychological analysis (“Village”). Bunin had a wealth of material for him, which was given to the writer by the well-known life, everyday life and psychology of the Russian outback. A miserable, impoverished life, matched by the appearance of people - inertia, passivity, cruel morals - the writer observed all this, 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 problematic nature of the question “Who is to blame?” Kuzma Krasov, one of the main characters, is painfully struggling to resolve this issue. He believes that there is nothing to exact from the unfortunate people, and his brother, Tikhon Krasov, believes that the peasants themselves are to blame for this situation.
The two aforementioned characters are the main characters of this work. Tikhon Krasov personifies the appearance of the new village owner, and Kuzma - the people's 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 of the work
The action of the story takes place in the village of Durnovka, which is a collective image of a long-suffering village. This title indicates the idiocy of his life.
The composition is divided into three parts. In the first, Tikhon is in the center, in the second part - Kuzma, in the third, the lives of both brothers are summed up. Based on their destinies, the problems of the Russian village are shown. The images of Kuzma and Tikhon are in many ways opposite.
Tikhon, being a descendant of serfs who managed to get rich and become the owner of an estate, is sure that money is the most reliable thing in the world. This hardworking, savvy and strong-willed man devotes his entire life to the pursuit of wealth. Kuzma Krasov, a lover of truth 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
Using the example of Kuzma, Bunin shows the emerging features of a new folk psychology; Kuzma reflects on the savagery and laziness of the people, and that the reasons for this are not only the difficult circumstances in which the peasants found themselves, but also in them themselves. In contrast to the character of this hero, Ivan Bunin (“The Village”) portrays Tikhon as calculating and selfish. He gradually increases his capital, and on the path to power and prosperity does not stop at any means. However, despite the chosen direction, he feels despair and emptiness, which are directly related to the look into the future of the country, which opens up pictures of an even more brutal and destructive revolution.
Through disputes, thoughts, and conclusions of the brothers about themselves and their homeland, the writer shows the bright and dark sides of the life of the peasants, revealing the depth of the decline of the peasant world, analyzing it. “The Village” (Bunin) is the author’s deep reflection on the deplorable situation that has created among the peasants.
The third part of the work is devoted to the depiction of the brothers at the moment of crisis - summing up the life path of the main characters in the work “The Village” (Bunin). These heroes experience dissatisfaction with life: Kuzma is consumed by melancholy and hopeless loneliness, Tikhon is preoccupied with personal tragedy (lack of children), as well as the destruction of the foundations of the everyday structure of the village. The brothers realize the hopelessness of the situation in which they find themselves. Despite all the differences in their characters and aspirations, the fate of these two heroes is in many ways similar: despite their enlightenment and prosperity, their social status makes both of them superfluous, 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 attempt to change something. However, they are unable to make a revolution in their own consciousness, which remains hopeless and skeletal, as the author’s analysis shows. The village of Bunin is a sad sight.
Portrayal of the peasantry
The men appear before the reader in all their ugliness: beating children and wives, wild drunkenness, torturing animals. Many Durnovites simply do not understand what is happening around them. So, the worker Koshel once visited the Caucasus, but cannot tell anything about it, except that there is “a mountain on a mountain” there. His mind is “poor”; he repels everything incomprehensible and new, but he believes that he recently saw a real witch.
A soldier works as a teacher in Durnovka, the most ordinary-looking guy, who, however, spoke such nonsense that one could only “throw up one’s hands.” Training was presented to him as accustoming him to strict army discipline.
The work "Village" (Bunin) gives us another vivid image - the peasant Gray. He was the poorest in the village, although he had a lot of land. Once upon a time, Gray built a new hut, but it needed to be heated in winter, so he first burned the roof and then sold the hut. This hero refuses to work, sits idle in an unheated home, and the children are afraid of splinters because they are used to living in the dark.
The village is all of Russia, so the fate of the whole country is reflected in the work. Bunin believed that peasants were only capable of a spontaneous and senseless rebellion. The story describes how one day they rebelled throughout the district. It ended with the men burning several estates, shouting “and then fell silent.”
Conclusion
Ivan Alekseevich was accused of hating the people and not knowing the village. But the author would never have created such a poignant story if he had not wholeheartedly rooted for his homeland and peasants, as can be seen in the work “Village.” Bunin, with the content of his story, wanted to show everything wild and dark that prevents people and the country from developing.
I really like spending time in the village with my grandmother. She has a wonderful little house where I am always greeted with warmth. Even in the winter season, I feel great in this place! Why? The answer is simple! This is an amazing quiet place. When entering the village, only the barking of dogs disturbs the tranquility of silent nature. I approach a nice courtyard. The old house looks at me welcomingly. The wooden windows are covered with frost, which gives this place a special fairy-tale allure. Already from the threshold I can smell the pies. Grandmother joyfully greets
He escorts me to the living room. It's so cozy here! I am surrounded by a pleasant atmosphere, supported by the warmth of the fire in the stove, grandmother's stories and fairy tales. To the right of the entrance to the room there is a huge old wardrobe. He has seen a lot, as have the unusual objects inside him. These antique vases, a small snuff box with a porcelain lid, various figurines. But the most important thing is the books. In this closet, it seems, the entire long-term history of our planet has been collected. There are children's books, instructive, philosophical, and lyrical works from different years. There are also encyclopedias that are ready to tell a lot to those who want it. Directly opposite this rare giant there is a large window from which the entire street is perfectly visible. The snow is falling thickly behind the glass, and I am watching the beauty of nature, sitting in a cozy chair with a cup of tea. In the middle there is a table laden with food, but ready at any time to be freed from this burden and provide a place for reading or other equally important matters. Grandma's house in this quiet village is simply a magical place where the bygone past comes to life. I would visit it much more often, but, alas, I can only escape the bustling city into this mysterious silence on weekends. Good luck!
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