Shukshin, "Freak": analysis of the story, summary

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

Literature is not just the art of words, but also a powerful way to influence readers. Writers and poets in their works almost always strive to convey some idea of their own, to put some thought into us, to cultivate certain qualities in our soul. Literature is designed not only to entertain and serve as a means of spending leisure time, but also to develop us - to teach something, to inspire something … Therefore, you can’t just read books, removing only the top layer of the plot and characters from them, you must always look deeper, it is necessary analyze the work, learn to see in it that deep, which the author wanted to say, look for the main idea, idea, concept. And so it is necessary to do with each work, whether it be a poem or a play, an epic novel or an essay.

Where to start?

Of course, it is better to start a deep study of literary masterpieces with small, most understandable and simple works. For example, with stories. One of these uncomplicated, at first glance, butnevertheless worthy of careful analysis, - the story of V. M. Shukshin "Freak". We will try to analyze it in this article.

About the author

Before starting to analyze Shukshin's story "Freak", let's say a few words about the author. In general, if you are studying any work, do not forget to ask about the fate of the writer, it often predetermines the point of view from which you need to look at his brainchild.

Vasily Markovich Shukshin was born in 1929 into a peasant family in the village of Srostki, which is located in the Altai Territory. From his earliest youth, the writer was forced to do hard work - he worked on a collective farm, in factories, then served in the navy (by the way, it was during the service that Shukshin's pen test took place - he then read his stories to other sailors). After he returned to his small homeland and became a teacher of Russian language and literature, however, he did not stay long in the village. In 1954, Shukshin went to conquer Moscow, entered VGIK, the director's department. It was in his student years, at the insistence of his supervisor, Vasily Markovich began to send his works to various magazines. The first publication took place in 1958 in the magazine "Smena" (the story "Two on a Cart").

Shukshin took place not only in the career of a writer, he also showed himself as a talented actor, director, screenwriter. His literary legacy consists of two novels, several stories, he even wrote three plays, while the main part of Shukshin's work is stories. One of these iswork "Crank".

The author was awarded many popular awards in the field of cinema and literature, some of them were awarded to the writer posthumously. Shukshin died in 1974 at the age of 46, the cause of death was a heart attack.

What is the story about?

In order to analyze the work, you need to read it very carefully. Small in volume can be even twice. Before analyzing Shukshin's Freak, let's briefly recall what, in fact, this story is about.

The hero of the work is Vasily Yegorych Knyazev, he is a little strange, has unusual habits, for which his wife calls him nothing more than Crank, works as a projectionist, lives in the village. And now he is going to visit his brother, with whom they have not met for a long twelve years and who lives in a city in the Urals. During the journey, some kind of trouble constantly occurs with the hero: either he will lose money, then, having helped, he will receive a scolding, or he will feel the dislike of his daughter-in-law. After Knyazev realizes that he is not welcome in his brother's house, he flies back. He feels happy again in his home village.

Idea

It seems to be a simple sketch from the life of a strange, unfortunate person, but when analyzing Shukshin's "Freak" it becomes clear that the author does not just describe all the troubles that happen to his hero. So, Shukshin raises his favorite problem, which is found in many of his works, the opposition of the city and the village. In the townVasily Yegorych feels unaccepted, a stranger, he constantly performs those actions that cause ridicule, bewilderment, even the anger of those around him. He acts simply, as his naive heart tells him - they don’t do that in the city, and therefore the hero seems wonderful, funny and strange. He wants to help, to do a good deed, but it only gets worse. In the end, Chudik realizes that there is no place for people like him in the city, and leaves for his village. Here the hero finds peace again, he is at home again, happy again. So Shukshin shows that a person with simple moral values, a natural naive view of the world, is alien to the conditional space of the city, filled with artificial rules and norms of behavior.

Main characters

When analyzing Shukshin's work "Freak" one cannot ignore its heroes. In total, there are three characters in the story (side characters do not count) - Chudik himself, Vasily Yegorych Knyazev (it is noteworthy that his name is revealed to the reader only at the end of the story), his brother Dmitry Yegorovich and daughter-in-law Sofya Ivanovna. They all come from the village, but their worldview is very different from each other. If at one extreme stands the character of the Chudik - naive, simple, strange, then the image of Sofia Ivanovna is opposite to him - she, despite her origin, treats the villagers contemptuously and arrogantly, in everything she strives to comply with the norms of urban life, the measure of success for her is having a leadership position. Dmitry is somewhere in betweenwife and brother. He now lives in the city, but, having adapted to this new life, he has not forgotten his roots - he is still close to his brother, he can still have a sincere conversation with him, he still appreciates simplicity and naturalness.

Sub-characters

Also, when analyzing Shukshin's Freak, you can't bypass other heroes who take part in the plot. And the cashier, at whom Vasily Yegorovich dropped fifty rubles, and the passenger of the plane, who lost his false teeth, and the telegraph operator, who forced Chudik to change the text of the message to his wife - they are all carriers of urban morality, stand in opposition to the village simplicity of the protagonist and thereby reveal his character.

Composition

The next step in the analysis of "Freak" by V. M. Shukshin is the analysis of the composition of the story. The entire work can be roughly divided into three parts. The first is the introduction. Here we see how the hero has an idea to go to visit his brother. In the second, main part, we observe the misadventures of the Crank in the city, this part ends with the culmination of the whole story - Vasily's attempt to please his daughter-in-law by painting her stroller, and her swearing in response to this. The last, third, part is the denouement of the plot, where the hero returns to his village, where, like a child, he runs barefoot on the soft grass and rejoices that he is home again, that his soul is back in place.

Characteristics

Also, the analysis of Shukshin's "Freak" would be incomplete if we did not mention thatworks on this topic are characteristic of the writer. Very often in his work there is this type of hero - a simple, positive eccentric who is incomprehensible to the "evil" city dweller with an already ossified soul.