"Dry Bread" by A. Platonov: a summary, the main ideas of the work, the plot and the beauty of the language

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Platonov's language is called "clumsy", "primitive", "self-made". This writer had an original manner of writing. His works are replete with grammatical and lexical errors, but this is what makes the dialogues alive, real. The article will discuss the story "Dry Bread", which reflects the life of rural residents.

Platonov's heroes are ordinary people, usually uneducated. They cannot imagine their lives without hard physical labor.

The key motif in the work of Andrei Platonov is the theme of death and its overcoming. The writer expressed a deep philosophical thought in the story "Dry Bread". However, here the theme of death is revealed through the prism of children's perception.

Rogachevka

The writer often visited this village in the Voronezh region. It is here that the events of the story "Dry Bread" by Platonov take place, a summary of which is presented below.

Rogachevka is located 30 km fromVoronezh. In 1924, a power station was built in the village, in which Andrei Platonov, who at that time held the position of a provincial reclamator, was directly involved.

Heroes of the story

The main character of the book "Dry Bread" is Mitya Klimov. The author does not name his age, but at the end of the work he says: "Mother promised to send him to school in the fall." So the boy is seven years old. The action of the story "Dry Bread" by Platonov takes place in the summer.

The boy lives in the village with his mother. His father died during the war. Grandfather Mitya does not remember at all. However, he remembers a deaf sad voice and the warmth that emanated from this person. In the work "Dry Bread" Platonov miraculously managed to convey the inner world of the child.

Other heroes of the work - Mitina's mother, teacher Elena Petrovna. There are only three characters in Platonov's story.

Death theme

The boy is just beginning to explore this world. And every subject arouses interest in him. And he often thinks about death. What she is, Mitya does not know, because he has never seen her.

He asks his mother: "Does Grandpa sleep in the ground?" She answers in the affirmative. The boy now thinks that grandfather is sleeping because he is tired. He tries in every possible way to help his mother in order to save her strength. After all, if she gets tired, she will also fall asleep, disappear …

Drought

In the story "Dry Bread" Platonov depicted village life. Mitina's mother works in the field. Platonov, in his characteristic bright, lively style, paints a picture of village life:"A hot wind blows from morning to evening, it blows the fire from the sun and carries it across the earth."

"Dry bread" is a work that is written in a very poetic language, however, like other stories and novels by Andrei Platonov. In addition, there are optimistic notes in Dry Bread. The boy sees how hard his mother is and tries to help her. She explains to him in a simple, rustic language why drought is dangerous. If there is no rain, there will be no bread.

The creation of the work "Dry Bread" by Platonov was inspired by the tragic events of the post-war years.

In 1946, famine began in the country. Its occurrence was influenced by several factors, including drought. The harvest has declined drastically. The newspapers later wrote that the lack of rain was to blame. Modern researchers argue that the cause of the famine was not so much in the drought as in the policy of the authorities. But of course, nothing is said about this in the work "Dry Bread". Events are shown through the eyes of a child. Yes, and there is no talk of hunger in the story - only about the scorching hot sun and hard peasant labor, which in such conditions becomes completely unbearable.

Mother

The heroine of the story "Dry bread" is a classic image of a Russian village woman. She works hard, not sparing herself. Labor is the basis of her life. The main task of this woman is to raise her son.

Mite mother seems big and strong. However, he often asks: "Aren't youwill you die?" (that is, you will get tired and die). And she replies: "No, I'm he althy, not old, I still have to raise you."

Get big

Mitya wants to work, but his mother won't let him. He says that he is still small and cannot work on a par with her. Then the boy decides to become big at all costs. How to do it? You need to eat a lot of bread. So Mitya thinks and begins to absorb the bread pulp, washing it down with water. He eats almost the whole carpet, and the next day he suffers from his stomach.

The boy goes to the arable land to his mother, and on the way he looks back. But none of the passers-by notice the change in him. He remained a little boy who is still too early to work. "Come and your time to plow!" his mother tells him.

The boy got angry - he doesn't want to be small. He got angry at everyone who is bigger and stronger than him. Even to the mother. But she smiled, and everything around suddenly became kind: the gray earth, and the hot wind, and the blade of grass.

Old barn

Experiences of a little boy, the hero of the work "Dry Bread", Platonov conveys by describing various objects and Mitya's attitude towards them.

He has no one but his mother. Mitya doesn't go to school yet. His social circle is very narrow. He hardly remembers his dead relatives. But in their yard there is an old barn, and there are many interesting items in it. These items serve as a kind of connection for Mitya with her father and grandfather.

In the barn, which the author calls "the barn-an old man, "is an ax that belonged to Mitino's grandfather. There is a wooden tackle, a wheel from a spinning wheel. In the barn there are also old tools that were used by his father. One day the boy finds an oak chopper and realizes that with the help of this item he will finally be able to help his mother.

Field

Why did Platonov call his work "Dry Bread"? Every day the boy comes to the field where his mother works. Here he sees a picture that brings melancholy to any villager. The author describes the dry grain field so colorfully that the reader, who has never been to the village, is also imbued with the feelings of the hero of the story.

"The rye dies, little blades of grass occasionally stand alive" - this is the picture that Mitya sees every day. The mother explains to the boy that the bread is alive and he cannot live without moisture. Mitya understands that without rain the field will fall asleep. Just like his father and grandfather fell asleep. He takes a wooden chopper and begins to loosen the earth. Mitya believes that if he does this every day, then the dew that collects in the morning will penetrate deep into the earth.

Teacher

Mitya works for a long time, selflessly. He sees nothing but dormant blades of grass. And suddenly he hears a voice. This is a teacher who knows every village boy. She was in the war, where she lost her arm.

Elena Petrovna never felt sorry for herself. She smiled kindly at everyone, despite the fact that she was a cripple. Approaching the boy, the teacher asked what he was doing. Mitya answered: "I help bread, so thathe survived."

Elena Petrovna was touched by this hard-working, serious boy beyond his years. The next day she was to go on a field trip with her students. Mitya was also invited. But the boy refused. "Bread is dying, we have no time" - that was his answer.

Elena Petrovna began to help Mitya, although she had only one arm, and it was very hard for her to work. The next day she came to the field with her students. They didn't go on the tour. They took narrow choppers from the collective farm, and Elena Petrovna showed them how to work in order to grow dry bread. That day it seemed to Mitya that the blades of grass were coming to life.

This is the content of Platonov's story "Dry Bread". The main idea of the work is as follows: only love, understanding, caring for each other can save from trouble. The protagonist of the story, despite his young age, shows responsibility, which not every adult is capable of. His serious views on life amaze the teacher. And he himself serves as an example for other children.

It is worth saying that the drought in 1946 was so severe that no collective work could save the country from starvation. In addition, a lot of grain was exported that year. The work of A. P. Platonov is not devoid of romanticism and faith in communist ideals.

The writer's worldview was formed in his youth, but later he lost faith in the Soviet ideology. His fate was tragic. It is worth citing some facts from the biography of this remarkable writer.

About the author of the story "Dry Bread"

A. P. Platonovwas born into a simple working-class family. His father was a locomotive engineer. The family had ten children. The future writer, as a senior, actively helped his parents. From an early age he was accustomed to work. He worked as a day laborer, assistant driver, foundry worker.

During the Civil War, Platonov served as a front-line correspondent, and at the same time was engaged in literary work. He wrote his most significant works in the late twenties.

In 1931, Platonov published the work "For the future", which caused an angry reaction from critics. From that moment on, serious problems began in the life of the writer, which subsided for a while only during the Great Patriotic War. Andrei Platonov wrote truthful works that could not arouse the approval of Soviet censors.