Astafiev is a little girl. Analysis: Astafiev, "Lyudochka"
An analysis of Astafiev's "Lyudochka" is given in this article. It will help to understand and better understand this story, written in 1987.
An analysis of Astafiev's "Lyudochka" will be useful to those who have to deal with this work as part of a university course, as well as to all thoughtful and inquisitive readers.
The story begins with the author's confession that he himself heard this story many years ago, but cannot forget it. The main character was born in the village of Vychugan. Her parents were collective farmers. The father eventually fell asleep. Lyudochka grew sluggish, often sick. When their father disappeared from their lives, they began to live freer and more vigorously. Soon the mother had a boyfriend who stayed with them to live.
Moving to the city
After school, her mother sent Lyudochka to the city to arrange her life. She spent her first night at the station. The next morning I went to the hairdresser - I got a perm, a manicure and persuaded the hairdresser to take her as a student.
Gavrilovna not only helped to draw up the documents, but also took me to live with her. Establishing strict rules in your home. Lyudochka lived obediently, but she did not go to school. When the allotted time passed, she could not pass the exam for the master. At the hairdresser, she worked as a cleaner, remained in this position, from time to time she cut the recruits and schoolchildren under the typewriter.
All household chores in Gavrilovna's house fell on her. The woman often had pain in her legs.
Road to work
Every time Lyudochka went to work by tram, and then she walked through the fading park of Vepeverze (carriage and locomotive depot). The park was dirty, most of the trees were dead, the park looked depressing.
But still, there were benches here, schoolchildren were running around, local punks were found. The punks were led by Artemka, nicknamed Soap. From time to time he came to Lyudochka to get a haircut, but she could not manage to cope with his whirlwinds. Artemka was impudent, as soon as the girl took up the scissors, he began to paw her. Once she even hit him on the head with a typewriter. I had to fill it with iodine, but the boyfriend became more careful. In addition, he ordered no one to touch her. Now she could walk through the park without fear.
Once Lyudochka went with him to the central park to dance. All around behaved defiantly and aggressively. The main character hid in a corner, trying to look out for her Artyom. Some kind of bastard began to stick to her. She had to fight back and run home.
At home, the girl helped Gavrilovna in everything. She made soap, ironed and washed, kept the house clean.
strekach
Another character of this story returns from the colony - the criminal Strekach. More like a narrow-eyed beetle. He began to engage in robbery while still at school. I have carried a knife with me since the seventh grade. Soon he cut someone and got registered with the police.
After an attempted rape, he received his first term. But even after that he did not calm down, he stole in the dachas. Since then, most of his life spent in the colonies. Local punks considered him an authority and their teacher.
One evening he languished without work until he accidentally noticed Lyudochka. Artyom tried to put in a good word for her, but Strekach did not listen to him. Courage came upon him. He grabbed the girl and began to sit on his knees. As a result, he threw me on a bench and raped me. All the punks were watching closely.
So that he would not be the only culprit, he forced the others to outrage Lyudochka. Seeing the torn body of the girl, Artyom at first wanted to cover her with a cloak, but she ran away from him, as if distraught. On the porch of Gavrilovna's house she fell, losing consciousness. She came to herself already on the old sofa, where she was dragged by a compassionate hostess. She did her best to comfort her little one.
Homecoming
Humiliated and trampled, Lyudochka decided to return home. By that time, only two houses remained in the whole village. In one of them lives her mother and stepfather. All other houses are boarded up.
Soon their only neighbor, grandmother Vychuganikha, died. She was the last of the village founders.
When Ludochka returned to the village, her mother immediately realized that grief had happened to her. But she took it calmly, they say, everyone needs to go through this. At the same time, she shared her joy - she is expecting a baby, already in her fourth month. Together with their boyfriend, they plan to sell the house and move to the village. It is clear that no one is going to live here, they want to sell the house for building materials.
Her stepfather turned out to be stern and gloomy, but a kind man. She learned that he spent his childhood in camps and exile, so now he sincerely rejoiced at various little things. She spontaneously wanted to see him, and then quickly packed up and returned to the city.
Death of Lyudochka
Gavrilovna warned her that Artyom was at the police station, and Strekach told her to tell the little girl to keep quiet. Otherwise, she will die, and the old woman will have a burnt hut. Therefore, the main character decides to move to a hostel. But there were no places there, and she temporarily stayed with her mistress. She began to teach her not to return in the dark through the park, but she did not listen. One day the guys caught her again, they scared her with the Strakach, pushing her to the same bench.
Realizing what they wanted, she took a razor out of her pocket, intending to cut off Strekacha's dignity. She learned about such a terrible revenge from a woman in a hairdresser. She behaved cheekily, regretting that among them there is no such an enviable gentleman as Strekach. The girl asked to go home to change, they let her go, warning her not to think of joking.
In her room, she put on an old dress. She returned to the park, in which she had noticed an old poplar for a long time. She threw a rope over a branch, tied a loop. After that, she put it on her neck, in her soul said goodbye to her family and friends, asked for forgiveness from God. Like all reclusive people, she was actually quite determined.
The guys who stayed in the park soon discovered her body.
Farewell to the main character
Lyudochka was buried in the city cemetery. Mother and Gavrilovna sobbed. Stepfather, after drinking a glass of vodka, went to the park, where he met the whole company.
He tore the cross off Strekach's neck and threw it into the bushes. Strekach took out a knife, but his stepfather only grinned and abruptly grabbed his hand. Dragged into the bushes and thrown into a ditch. The remaining punks fled, greatly frightened of his strength and courage.
Returning to Gavrilovna, he again drank vodka and went to the timber industry. Then they boarded the train and drove off. Lyudochka's mother asked to keep her unborn child, realizing that she had not saved her first daughter. In the end, she laid her head on the man’s shoulder, approached him so that he would hug her and warm her. In him, she felt the true male power.
Final piece
Meanwhile, in the local police, no one was able to get Artemka-Soap to confess to a terrible crime, or to testify against those who committed it. After issuing a stern warning, they let him go. Frightened by what he saw in the pre-trial detention center, he decided to give up his former life. First of all, he entered the communication school. He began to master the profession of an electrician, climb high-voltage poles and pull wires. Then he even got married, and four months later he was already cradling a child.
A small note appeared in the local newspaper on the state of morality in the city. She left at the end of the block, on the fourth page. But the story of Lyudochka and Strekach did not get into it. The fact is that the head of the local department of internal affairs was only two years away from retirement. Therefore, he did not want to spoil the statistics with an unpleasant incident in order to maintain a positive percentage of detection and prevention of crimes.
Both Lyudochka and Strekach, who did not leave any notes, witnesses or valuables after their death, were included in the register among other suicides who killed themselves for no known reason. So the authorities managed to hush up this story.
The main idea of the work
Literary analysis based on the story of V. Astafiev must begin with the main idea that the author laid down. In the center of the story are simple and defenseless people. This is a story about hopelessness and injustice, about indifference so shocking to many. The analysis of "Lyudochka" by Astafiev is based on the fact that the key idea is the existence of the so-called "bad truth".
The heroine is trying to escape from her provincial routine, to find happiness in the big city. But she still does not know that the metropolis is capable of destroying a person. The essence of the analysis of Astafiev's story "Lyudochka" lies in the fact that her idealized world is faced with a cruel reality. This led to tragic consequences.
The author pays great attention to the indifference of the surrounding people. In the analysis of "Lyudochka" by Viktor Astafiev, this should be given special attention. When everyone in the village is familiar and someone's grief concerns the majority, then in the city someone's misfortune simply goes unnoticed.
Theme of the story
In the analysis of "Lyudochka" by V.P. Astafiev, it should be noted that the author sees the main trouble in the very structure of life in a big city. He clearly demonstrates her squalor and selfishness. Urban, in the view of Astafiev, cynical and evil. A striking example is the hostess who rents an apartment to the main character.
Critics in reviews of V.P. Astafyev's story "Lyudochka" noted that the main theme is the pernicious influence of the city on a person, leading to the decomposition of his soul, when material needs come first.
The topic of rural poverty is also sharply raised, which forces local residents to seek a better life. Analysis of the work "Lyudochka" by Astafiev is impossible without an assessment of the economic situation surrounding the heroes. Collective farms are almost completely ruined, men drink, women grow rude every day. The authorities deliberately turn a blind eye to these problems. At the same time, against the backdrop of poverty, cheerful slogans are everywhere, promising a happy and well-fed life.
Problems of the story
When analyzing the problems of "Lyudochka" Astafiev, the modern reader will have many questions. First of all, the critical criminal situation in the city, where even the police bypass the ill-fated park. The youth is left to chance, the place of teachers of life is taken by yesterday's prisoners. The central problem of the story "Lyudochka" by Astafiev, the analysis of the work confirms this, is the criminalization and marginalization of young people.
This leads to another problem. Often people are forced to remain alone with crime. As a result, the society starts to become embittered. Therefore, the stepfather of the main character is forced to punish the rapist on his own, not hoping for fair justice.
In the analysis of Astafiev's "Lyudochka" it can also be noted that the author's country's withering is accompanied by an ecological crisis. The issues of saving the environment are becoming key. Human souls rot in a rundown park. Astafiev is sure that in a city with such an ecology, a person cannot be healthy either physically or morally.
One of the main troubles of the heroine is indifference. In the analysis of "Lyudochka" Astafiev, this is always noted. She does not receive support from loved ones, no one understands her grief. An acquaintance is not spared by either relatives or acquaintances. In addition, the work raises not only social, but also philosophical issues. Most of all, the writer is outraged not by the fact of rape, but by the reaction of those around him.
"Lyudochka" (1987). The main character is a young girl who came to the city from the countryside to find work and housing. And housing, and work, in general, she finds; and settles down in the city, but her life ends very soon with suicide.
You fell like a stone.
I died under it.
Vl. Sokolov
Fifteen years ago, the author heard this story, and he does not know why, it lives in him and burns his heart. “Maybe it’s all about her depressing routine, her disarming simplicity?” It seems to the author that the heroine's name was Lyudochka. She was born in the small endangered village of Vychugan. Parents are collective farmers. The father drank himself from oppressive work, was fussy and dull. The mother was afraid for the unborn child, so she tried to conceive in a rare break from her husband's booze. But the girl, "bruised by the unhealthy flesh of her father, was born weak, sickly and whiny." She grew sluggish, like roadside grass, rarely laughed and sang, at school she did not go out of threes, although she was silently diligent. The father disappeared from the life of the family long ago and imperceptibly. Mother and daughter lived freer, better, more cheerful without him. From time to time, peasants appeared in their house, “one tractor driver from the neighboring timber industry, having plowed the garden, had a strong dinner, lingered all spring, grew into the economy, began to debug, strengthen and multiply it. He went to work on a motorcycle for seven miles, took a gun with him and often brought either a dead bird or a hare. “The guest did not treat Liu-daughter in any way: neither good nor bad.” He didn't seem to notice her. And she was afraid of him.
When Lyudochka finished school, her mother sent her to the city to improve her life, while she herself was going to move to the timber industry. “At first, the mother promised to help Ludochka with money, potatoes and whatever God would send - in old age, you see, she will help them.”
Lyudochka arrived in the city by train and spent the first night at the station. In the morning I came to the railway station hairdresser to get a perm, a manicure, I also wanted to dye my hair, but the old hairdresser advised against it: the girl already has weak hair. Quiet, but rustic dexterous, Lyudochka offered to sweep the hairdresser, diluted soap for someone, gave someone a napkin and by the evening found out all the local rules, ambushed an elderly hairdresser who advised her not to put on makeup, and asked to be her student.
Gavrilovna carefully examined Lyudochka and her documents, went with her to the city communal economy, where she registered the girl for a job as a hairdresser's apprentice, and took her to live with simple conditions: help around the house, do not go out for more than eleven, do not take guys into the house, do not drink wine, do not smoke tobacco, obey the mistress in everything and honor her as her own mother. Instead of renting an apartment, let them bring a car of firewood from the timber industry. “As a student you will be - live, but when you become a master, go to the hostel, God willing, and you will arrange life ... If you get knocked up, I will drive you out of your place. I didn’t have children, I don’t like squeakers ... ”She warned the tenant that she was tossing her feet in the rain and“ howling ”at night. In general, Gavrilovna made an exception for Lyudochka: for some time now she had not taken lodgers, and even less so girls. Once, back in Khrushchev’s times, two students of a financial college lived with her: painted, in trousers ... they didn’t grind the floor, they didn’t wash the dishes, they didn’t distinguish between their own and others - they ate the master’s pies, sugar that grew in the garden. At the remark of Gavrilovna, the girls called her "selfish", and she, not understanding the unknown word, cursed them after their mother and kicked them out. And from that time on, she only let guys into the house, quickly accustomed them to the household. She even taught two, especially intelligent ones, how to cook and how to operate a Russian oven.
Gavrilovna let Liudochka go because she recognized in her her village relatives, not yet spoiled by the city, and she began to be weary of loneliness in her old age. “If you fall down, there is no one to give water to.”
Lyudochka was an obedient girl, but her teaching was slow, the barber business, which seemed so simple, was given with difficulty, and when the appointed period of training had passed, she could not pass it to the master. In the hairdressing salon, Lyudochka also worked as a cleaner and remained on the staff, continuing her practice - she cut conscripts, schoolchildren under the typewriter, while she learned to do shaped haircuts “at home”, cutting the terrible fashionistas from the village of Vepeverze, where Gavrilovna’s house stood, to look like schismatics. She did hair on the heads of fidgety disco girls, like foreign hit stars, without taking any payment for it.
Gavrilovna sold all household chores, all household chores to Lyudochka. The old woman's legs were hurting more and more, and Lyudochka's eyes stung as she rubbed the ointment into the mangled legs of the hostess, who was finishing the last year until retirement. The smell from the ointment was so fierce, Gavrilovna's cries were so heartbreaking that the cockroaches fled to the neighbors, the flies died to the last. Gavrilovna complained about her work, which made her an invalid, and then consoled Lyudochka that she would not be left without a piece of bread, having learned to be a master.
For help with housework and care in old age, Gavrilovna promised Lyudochka to make a permanent residence permit, register a house for her, if the girl would continue to behave modestly, look after the hut, yard, bend her back in the garden and look after her, the old woman, when she was completely debilitated.
From work, Lyudochka rode a tram, and then walked through the dying Vepeverze park, humanly - a car-locomotive depot park, planted in the 30s and ruined in the 50s. Someone decided to lay a pipe through the park. They dug a ditch, laid a pipe, but forgot to bury it. A black pipe with bends lay in the steamed clay, hissing, soaring, seething with a hot burdock. Over time, the pipe became clogged, and a hot river flowed overhead, circling rainbow-colored rings of fuel oil and various debris. The trees dried up, the foliage flew around. Only poplars, gnarled, with broken bark, with horned branches at the top, leaned their paws of roots on the earth's firmament, grew, littered the fluff and in autumn dropped leaves showered with tree scabies around.
A footbridge with a railing was thrown over the ditch, which was broken every year and renewed again in the spring. When steam locomotives were replaced by diesel locomotives, the pipe was completely clogged, and a hot mess of mud and fuel oil still flowed through the ditch. The shores were overgrown with all kinds of bad forests, in some places there were stunted birches, mountain ash and lindens. Fir trees also made their way, but they did not go beyond infancy - they were cut down for the New Year by the quick-witted inhabitants of the village, and the pines were plucked by goats and all lascivious cattle. The park looked like “after the bombing or the invasion of the fearless enemy cavalry”. There was a constant stench all around, puppies, kittens, dead piglets and everything that burdened the inhabitants of the village were thrown into the ditch.
But people cannot exist without nature, so there were reinforced concrete benches in the park - the wooden ones were instantly broken. Children ran in the park, there were punks who had fun playing cards, drinking, fighting, “sometimes to death”. “They also had girls here ...” Artyomka-soap, with a foamy white head, led the riffraff. No matter how much Lyudochka tried to subdue the rags on Artyomka's violent head, nothing worked out for her. His “curls, from a distance resembling soap suds, turned out to be sticky horns from the station cafeteria - they boiled them, threw them in a lump into an empty plate, so they stuck together, unbearably and lay. Yes, and not for the sake of a hairstyle, a guy came to Lyudochka. As soon as her hands became busy with scissors and a comb, Artemka began to grab her in different places. Lyudochka at first dodged Artyomka's grasping hands, and when it didn't help, she hit him on the head with a typewriter and hit him until he bled, so they had to pour iodine on the head of the “gentleman”. Artyomka hooted and whistled for air. Since then, “he stopped his hooligan harassment”, moreover, he ordered the punks not to touch Lyudochka.
Now Lyudochka was not afraid of anyone or anything, she walked from the tram to her house through the park at any hour and at any time of the year, responding to the greeting of the punks with her “own smile”. Once the ataman-soap “moored” Lyudochka to the central city park to dance in a paddock that looked like an animal.
“In the menagerie, people behaved like animals... The herd raged, raged, creating bodily shame and delirium out of dances... Music, helping the herd in demoniac and savagery, beat in convulsions, crackled, hummed, rumbled with drums, moaned, howled.”
Lyudochka was frightened by what was happening, huddled in a corner, looking for Artyomka with her eyes to intercede, but “the soap was lathered in this bubbling gray foam.” Lyudochka was snatched into a circle by a dude, began to be impudent, she barely fought off her gentleman and ran home. Gavrilovna admonished the “stayer” that if Lyudochka “hands over to the master, decides on a profession, she will find a suitable working guy for her without any dancing - more than one punk lives in the world ...”. Gavrilovna assured me that dancing was nothing but disgrace. Lyudochka agreed with her in everything, she believed that she was very lucky with a mentor who had rich life experience.
The girl cooked, washed, scrubbed, whitewashed, dyed, washed, ironed, and it was not a burden for her to keep the house completely clean. But if she gets married, she can do everything, she can be an independent mistress in everything, and her husband will love and appreciate her for this. Lyudochka often lacked sleep, felt weak, but that's okay, it can be overcome.
That sometimes a famous person called Strekach returned from places not at all remote to everyone in the district. In appearance, he also resembled a black narrow-eyed beetle, however, under his nose, instead of tentacles-whiskers, Strekach had some kind of dirty blotch, with a smile resembling a grin, spoiled teeth were exposed, as if made from cement crumbs. Vicious since childhood, he was still at school engaged in robbery - he took away “silver pieces, gingerbread”, chewing gum from the kids, he especially liked it in a “shiny wrapper”. In the seventh grade, Strekach was already carrying a knife, but he didn’t have to take anything from anyone - “the small population of the village brought him tribute, like a khan, everything he ordered and wanted.” Soon, Strekach cut someone with a knife, he was registered with the police, and after an attempt to rape the postwoman, he received the first term - three years with a suspended sentence. But Strekach did not calm down. He smashed the neighboring dachas, threatened the owners with a fire, so the owners of the dachas began to leave drinks, snacks with a wish: “Dear guest! Drink, eat, rest - just, for God's sake, don't set fire to anything!" Strekach lived almost the whole winter, but then they took him, he sat down for three years. Since then, he found himself “in labor camps, from time to time arriving in his native village, as if on a well-deserved vacation. The local punks then followed Strekach like a tug, gaining mind-reason”, considering him a thief in law, but he did not disdain, in a small way he pinched his team, playing either cards or a thimble. “Anxious life then, and without that, always in anxiety for the residing population of the village of Veperveze. That summer evening, Strekach was sitting on a bench, drinking expensive cognac and toiling about. The punks promised: "Don't freak out. Here the masses will fall down from the dance, we will hire chicks for you. As much as you want ..."
Suddenly he saw Lyudochka. Artyomka-soap tried to put in a good word for her, but Strekach did not listen, he found courage. He caught the girl by the belt of her cloak, tried to seat her on her knees. She tried to get rid of him, but he threw her over the bench and raped her. The spade was nearby. Strekach forced the punks to “get dirty” too, so that he was not the only culprit. Seeing Lyudochka torn to pieces, Artyomka-soap became timid and tried to pull her cloak over her, and she, distraught, ran, shouting: “Soap! Soap!" Having reached Gavrilovna's house, Lyudochka fell on the steps and lost consciousness. She woke up on an old sofa, where the compassionate Gavrilovna dragged her, sitting next to her and comforting the tenant. Coming to her senses, Lyudochka decided to go to her mother.
In the village of Vychugan, “there are DVDs of whole houses left. In one, the old woman Vychuganikha stubbornly lived out her life, in the other - Lyudochka's mother and stepfather. The whole village, suffocated in wild growth, with a barely trodden path, was in boarded up windows, staggering birdhouses, wildly growing among the huts poplars, bird cherry, aspens. That summer, when Lyudochka finished school, the old apple tree gave an unprecedented harvest of red bulk apples. Vychuganiha frightened: “Guys, do not eat these apples. This is not good!” “And one night, a living branch of an apple tree, unable to withstand the weight of the fruit, broke off. A bare, flat trunk was left behind the parted houses, like a cross with a broken crossbar on a churchyard. Monument to a dying Russian village. One more. “So here,” Vychuganikha prophesied, “they will drive a stake into the middle of Russia, and there will be no one to remember her, plagued by evil spirits ...” It was terrifying for the women to listen to Vychuganikha, they clumsily prayed, considering themselves unworthy of God's mercy.
Lyudochka's mother also began to pray, and only hope remained in God. Lyudochka giggled at her mother and got a slap.
Vychuganikha soon died. Lyudochka's stepfather called the peasants from the timber industry, they brought the old woman to the graveyard on a tractor sleigh, and there was nothing to remember with anything. Lyudochka's mother gathered something on the table. They remembered that Vychuganikha was the last of the Vychugan family, the founders of the village.
The mother was washing in the kitchen, when she saw her daughter, she began to wipe her hands on her apron, put them on her big belly, said that the cat had been “washing guests” since morning, she was still surprised: “Where can we get them from? And then there’s an ewon!” Looking around Lyudochka, the mother immediately realized that something had happened to her daughter. “It doesn’t take a big mind to realize what a misfortune happened to her. But through this... inevitability, all the women must go through... How many more of them, troubles, ahead...” She found out that her daughter came for the weekend. She was glad that she had saved up sour cream for her arrival, her stepfather pumped up honey. The mother said that she would soon move with her husband to the timber industry, only “as soon as I give birth ...”. Embarrassed that at the end of the fourth decade she decided to give birth, she explained: “He wants a child. He is building a house in the village... but we will sell this one. But he doesn’t mind if we rewrite it for you ... ”Lyudochka refused:“ Why do I need it. Mother was delighted, maybe five hundred will give for slate, for glass.
The mother wept, looking out the window: “Who benefits from this ruin?” Then she went to do the laundry, and her daughter sent her to milk the cow and bring firewood. “Sam” must come home from work late, by the time he arrives, the stew will have been cooked. Then they will drink with their stepfather, but the daughter replied: “I haven’t learned yet, mom, neither to drink nor to cut hair.” Mother reassured me that she would learn to cut hair “someday”. Not the gods burn the pots.
Lyudochka thought about her stepfather. How difficult, but recklessly, he grew into the economy. It was easy to handle cars, motors, a gun, but in the garden for a long time he could not distinguish one vegetable from another, he perceived haymaking as pampering and a holiday. When they finished throwing haystacks, the mother ran off to cook food, and Lyudochka went to the river. Returning home, she heard “animal rumble” behind the ob-toe. Ludochka was very surprised to see how her stepfather - “a man with a shaved head, graying on all sides, with deep furrows on his face, all in tattoos, stocky, long-armed, slapping his stomach, suddenly ran skipping along the shallows, and a hoarse roar of joy erupted from the burnt or over-corroded inside of a person little known to her,” Lyudochka began to guess that he had no childhood. At home, she laughingly told her mother how her stepfather frolicked in the water. “But where was he to learn how to bathe? From infancy in exile and in camps, under escort and guards in a government bath. He has a life, oh-ho-ho ... - Recollecting herself, the mother became stricter and, as if proving to someone, she continued: - But he is a decent person, maybe a kind one.
Since that time, Lyudochka has ceased to be afraid of her stepfather, but she has not become closer. The stepfather did not allow anyone close to him.
Now I suddenly thought: I would run to the timber industry, seven miles away, find my stepfather, lean against him and cry on his rough chest. Maybe he will pat her on the head, take pity on her ... Unexpectedly, she decided to leave with the morning train. The mother was not surprised: “Well... if necessary, yes...” Gavrilovna did not expect a quick return of the tenant. Lyudochka explained that her parents were moving, not up to her. She saw two ropes attached to the bag instead of straps, and began to cry. Mother said that she tied these ropes to the cradle, stuck her foot into the noose and wobbled with her foot ... Gavrilovna was afraid that Lyudochka was crying? "Mom sorry." The old woman became sad, and there was no one to feel sorry for her, then she warned: Artyomka-soap was taken away, Lyudochka scratched his face all over ... a sign. He was ordered to keep quiet, more death. They warned the old woman from Strekach that if the tenant uttered something superfluous, they would nail her to a post, and the old woman's hut would be burned down. Gavrilovna complained that she had all the blessings - a corner in her old age, she did not lie down to lose it. Lyudochka promised to move to a hostel. Gavrilovna reassured me: this gangster won’t work up for a long time, he will soon sit down again, “and I’ll call you back.” Lyudochka remembered how, while living at the state farm, she caught a cold, pneumonia opened up, she was admitted to the district hospital. In an endless, long night, she saw a dying guy, learned from the nurse his simple story. Recruited from some distant places, a lonely boy caught a cold in a cutting area, a boil popped up on his temple. An inexperienced paramedic scolded him that he was turning over all sorts of trifles, and a day later she accompanied the guy, who had fallen into unconsciousness, to the district hospital. In the hospital, the skull was opened, but they could not do anything - the pus began to do its destructive work. The guy was dying, so they carried him out into the corridor. Lyudochka sat for a long time and looked at the tormented man, then put her hand to his face. The guy gradually calmed down, with an effort he opened his eyes, tried to say something, but only “usu-usu... mustache...” could be heard. She guessed the female instinct, he is trying to thank her. Lyudochka sincerely took pity on the guy, so young, lonely, probably, who didn’t have time to fall in love with anyone, brought a stool, sat down next to him and took the guy’s hand. He looked at her hopefully, whispering something. Lyudochka thought that he was whispering a prayer, and began to help him, then she got tired and dozed off. She woke up, saw that the guy was crying, shook his hand, but he did not respond to her shake. He comprehended the price of compassion - "another habitual betrayal was committed in relation to the dying." Betrayed, “betray him alive! And not his pain, not his life, their suffering is dear to them, and they want his torment to end soon, in order not to suffer themselves. The guy took his hand away from Lyudochka and turned away - “he was not expecting weak consolation from her, he was waiting for a sacrifice from her, consent to be with him to the end, maybe die with him. Then a miracle would happen: together they would become stronger than death, they would rise to life, a mighty impulse would appear in it, the way to resurrection would be opened. But there was no person nearby who could sacrifice himself for the sake of the dying, and alone he did not overcome death. Lyudochka sideways, as if caught in a bad deed, stealthily went to her bed. Since then, the feeling of deep guilt in front of the late lumberjack guy has not ceased in her. Now she herself is in grief and abandonment, she especially acutely, quite tangibly felt all the rejection of a dying person. She had to drink to the end the cup of loneliness, crafty human sympathy - the space around her narrowed, as near that bed behind the peeling hospital stove, where the dying guy was lying. Lyudochka was ashamed: “Why did she pretend then, why? After all, if there really was in her a readiness to remain with the dying to the end, to accept flour for him, as in the old days, perhaps unknown forces would indeed have come to light in him. Well, even if a miracle had not happened, the dying man had not risen, all the same, the consciousness that she was able ... to give him all of herself, to her last breath, would make her strong, self-confident, ready to repel evil forces. Now she understood the psychological state of the solitary prisoners. Lyudochka again remembered her stepfather: is he probably one of those, one of the strong? Yes, how, from what place to approach him? Lyudochka thought that in trouble, in loneliness, everyone is the same, and there is nothing to shame and despise anyone.
There were no places in the hostel yet, and the girl continued to live with Gavrilovna. The hostess taught the tenant to “return in the dark” not through the park, so that the “saranopaly” would not know that she lives in the village. But Lyudochka continued to walk through the park, where the guys once caught her, frightened her with the Strekach, imperceptibly pushing her to the bench. Lyudochka understood what they wanted. She carried a razor in her pocket, wanting to cut off Strekacha's dignity to the very root. She didn’t think of this terrible revenge herself, but once heard about a similar act of a woman in a hairdresser’s. Lyudochka told the guys, it's a pity that there is no Strekacha, "such a prominent gentleman." She said cheekily: back off, boys, I'll go and change into shabby clothes, not a rich woman. The guys let her go so that she would return as soon as possible, warned her not to dare to “joke”. At home, Lyudochka changed into an old dress, girded herself with the same rope from her cradle, took off her shoes, took a piece of paper, but did not find a pen or pencil and ran out into the street. On the way to the park, I read an advertisement about the recruitment of young men and women for the timber industry. A saving thought flashed by: “Maybe I should leave?” “Yes, right there, another thought interrupted the first: there, in the forest, there is a streak on a strekach and everyone with a mustache.” In the park, she found a long-noted poplar with a clumsy bough over the path, swept a rope over it, dexterously tied the loop, albeit quiet, but she knew how to do a lot in a rustic way. Lyudochka climbed onto the poplar tree and put the noose around her neck. She mentally said goodbye to family and friends, asked for forgiveness from God. Like all closed people, she was quite decisive. “And here, with a noose around her neck, she, too, as in childhood, squeezed her face with her palms and, pushing off with her feet, as if from a high bank she threw herself into a whirlpool. Boundless and bottomless."
She managed to feel how her heart swells in her chest, it seems that it will break her ribs and break out of her chest. The heart quickly got tired, weakened, and immediately all pain and torment left Lyudochka ...
The guys waiting for her in the park have already begun to scold the girl who deceived them. One was sent for reconnaissance. He shouted to his friends: "We tear our claws! Ko-claws! She ..." - The scout rushed in jumps from the poplars, from the light. Later, sitting in the railway station restaurant, he told with a nervous laugh that he saw Lyudochka's trembling and twitching body. The guys decided to warn Strekach and leave somewhere before they were “banged”.
Lyudochka was buried not in her native abandoned village, but in the city cemetery. Mother sometimes forgot herself and wailed. At home, Gavrilovna burst into tears: she considered Lyudochka to be her daughter, but what had she done to herself? My stepfather drank a glass of vodka and went out on the porch to smoke. He went to the park and found the whole company on the spot, headed by Strekach. The bandit asked the approaching man what he needed. “He came to look at you,” answered the stepfather. He tore the cross from Strekach's neck and threw it into the bushes. “At least not trash, sucker! At least don’t paw God, leave people!” The strekach tried to threaten the peasant with a knife. The stepfather grinned and, with an imperceptible lightning-fast movement, grabbed Strekach's hand and tore it out of his pocket along with a piece of cloth. Without letting the bandit come to his senses, he grabbed the collar of his shirt together with his tailcoat, dragged Strekach by the scruff of the neck through the bushes, threw him into a ditch, and a heart-rending scream rang out in response. Wiping his hands on his pants, his stepfather went out onto the path, the punks blocked his way. He glared at them. “The real, uninvented godfather was felt by the guys. This one didn’t get dirt on his pants, for a long time he didn’t kneel before anyone, even before the dirtiest convoy. ” The punks fled: someone from the park, someone dragging the half-cooked Strekach from the ditch, someone behind the ambulance and inform the half-drunk mother of Strekach about the fate that befell her son, whose stormy journey from the children's corrective labor colony to the strict regime camp ended. Having reached the outskirts of the park, Lyudochka's stepfather stumbled and suddenly saw a piece of rope on a twig. “Some former force, which he himself did not fully know, threw him high, he caught a bough, it creaked and fell off.” Holding the branch in his hands, for some reason sniffing it, the stepfather quietly said: “Why didn’t you break off when you need to?” He crumbled it into pieces, scattering it to the sides, hurried to Gavrilovna's house. Arriving home and drinking vodka, he was going to the timber industry. At a respectful distance, his wife hurried after him and did not keep up. He took Ludochka's belongings from her, helped her climb the high steps into the train car, and found an empty seat. Lyudochka's mother at first whispered, and then in a voice asked God to help give birth and keep at least this child full-fledged. She asked for Lyudochka, whom she did not save. Then “she timidly laid her head on his shoulder, leaned weakly against him, and it seemed to her, or in fact it was so, that he lowered his shoulder, so that it was more agile and calmer for her, and even seemed to press her to the side with his elbow, warmed her up.”
The local police department did not have the strength and ability to split Artemka-soap. With a stern warning, he was sent home. Out of fright, Artyomka entered the communications school, a branch where they are taught to climb poles, screw in cups and stretch wires; out of fear, no other way, Artyomka-soap soon got married, and in Stakhanov's way, faster than anyone in the village, four months after the wedding, a curly-haired child was born, smiling and cheerful. Grandfather laughed that “this fellow with a flat head, because they took him out into the light of God with tongs, he won’t be able to even think with his father about which end to climb the pole from - he won’t figure it out.”
On the fourth page of the local newspaper at the end of the quarter there was an article about the state of morality in the city, but “Lyudochka and Strekach did not fit into this report. The head of the Department of Internal Affairs was two years away from retirement, and he did not want to spoil the positive percentage with dubious data. Lyudochka and Strekach, who did not leave behind any notes, property, valuables and witnesses, went through the registration log of the Internal Affairs Directorate along the line of suicides ... foolishly laying hands on themselves.
In the magazine "New World", in the September issue of 1989, Astafyev published his story ("Lyudochka"). The analysis of this work is the topic of this article. The photo of the author is presented below.
Problems of the story
This story is about youth, but there is no youth in the heroes created by Astafiev. They are all lonely people, suffering somewhere deep in themselves and wandering around the world. These worn shadows cast their gloomy sensations on the souls of readers. In particular, Astafiev's heroes are struck by loneliness, which in the work is unchanging and creepy. The main character of the story "Lyudochka" (Astafiev) strives to break out of this circle. The problematic of the work lies in the clash between the inner and outer world. It can be seen that even the first lines of the story, in which the heroine of the work is compared with sluggish roadside grass, suggest that she, like this grass, is not capable of life.
The attitude of parents towards Lyudochka
The attitude of parents towards Lyudochka is an important point to dwell on when conducting an analysis. Astafiev ("Lyudochka") draws the relationship between the main character and her parents is far from ideal. Lyudochka leaves the house where she spent her childhood. In it, too, lonely, strangers remain. The girl's mother has long been accustomed to the arrangement of her own life. And the stepfather treated the main character indifferently. Astafiev notes that they just lived in the same house, and that's all. The girl felt like a stranger among people.
The problem of mental loneliness
Our society is sick, it is clear to everyone today. But in order to choose the right treatment, you need to make the right diagnosis. The best minds in the country are struggling with this, trying to conduct their own analysis. Astafiev ("Lyudochka") made a very accurate diagnosis for a terrible disease that struck the country. The writer saw the main character of the story in mental loneliness. Her image reflected the pain of many of our compatriots. The story "Lyudochka" (Astafiev) is very relevant today. Its problems are close and familiar to many people living today.
The story created by Astafiev easily fits into the modern one. One of the main features of the author's talent is the ability to cover problems that concern many writers: the collapse of the village, the decline in morality, mismanagement, and the growth of crime. Viktor Petrovich shows us a gray, everyday, ordinary life. In the circle "home-work-home" live Gavrilovna, a woman who lost her health in a hairdressing salon, and her companions, who take all the blows of fate for granted. And the main character should be in this circle, as our analysis shows. Astafiev ("Lyudochka") portrays her by no means as an exceptional heroine capable of changing this world. She is forced to exist in difficult conditions and understand that there is no way out.
The tangled fate of Lyudochka
When the main character of the work graduated from the 9th grade and became a girl, her mother told her that Lyudochka should go to the city to settle down, since she had nothing to do in the village. The main idea of the story is to depict the confused fate of a girl who is squeezed by the economic framework (in order to somehow survive in the city, one had to agree to any job), as well as the cruel customs of the city unacceptable for the village. The writer skillfully revealed the character of Lyudochka, as well as the moral problems of his contemporary generation, and analyzed them. Astafyev ("Lyudochka") was able to tell about many serious things in an accessible way, to arouse compassion and sympathy for the unfair fate of the main character.
Why did Lyudochka commit suicide?
Lyudochka, having arrived home, did not even find proper support from her mother, because she was preoccupied with her own problems. The main character was capable of a desperate act, resolute in herself, like everyone else. She was always the first to throw herself into the river in her childhood. And now, with a noose around her neck, Lyudochka, as in childhood, pushed off with her feet and covered her ears with her palms, as if she had thrown herself into a bottomless and boundless pool from a highly washed-out shore. On the one hand, the girl decided in this way to solve all her problems without interfering with anyone, but on the other hand, her determination can be envied. The characterization of Lyudochka Astafiev is very remarkable. The determination of the main character is not characteristic of many young people of our time.
Interconnection of fates
The writer strives to give such an image in the story so that the reader has the opportunity not only to see, but also to feel the living current of life in the picture that rises before him. Analyzing Astafiev's story "Lyudochka", one more important point should be noted. The plot is not just and not only a visible event connection, but also something more - a hidden subtext, which holds the whole work together with the movement of the author's thought. In our case, these are thoughts about the interconnectedness of destinies living in a split, disconnected, but still in the same world, on the same earth. Lyudochka took upon herself the sins of so many: her mother, Strekocha, Gavrilovna, the school, the youth of the town, the Soviet police. This is something that Dostoevsky could not agree with yet - the atonement of someone's sins by the ignorant and innocent. A short life, monotonous, hopeless, indifferent, gray, without love and affection is the tragedy of a girl. Her death is her rise. Only after her death did Lyudochka suddenly become necessary to her mother, Gavrilovna. She was finally noticed. Astafiev's story is very touching, because the reader can feel how kind-hearted and caring the author is towards this girl.
Tragedy of the "little man"
The tragedy of the "little man" is revealed in this work. Astafiev continues in it one of the most beloved topics in Russian literature of the 19th century. The work describes the fate of one unfortunate village girl who came to the city in search of happiness, but stumbled upon the cruelty and indifference of people. They abused Lyudochka, but the worst thing is not that: the people she loved did not want to understand her. Therefore, the girl committed suicide, not finding moral support in any of them.
The image of Ludochka Astafiev created the following: this is an ordinary Russian girl, of which there are many. The main character did not differ from childhood either in intelligence or beauty, but she retained in her soul respect for people, mercy, decency and kindness. This girl was weak. That is why Gavrilovna, who sheltered her in the city, dumped all the housework on Lyudochka. The girl did it with pleasure and did not take offense at her.
Language features in the story
We are conducting an ideological and artistic analysis of Astafiev's story "Lyudochka". We have described the ideological basis of the work, now we turn to the artistic features of this story.
The writer put into Gavrilovna's mouth a large number of steady phrases, aphorisms ("killer whale", "swallow", "grey-winged dove", "my little gold"). With the help of these expressions, the author characterizes the hostess, her individual qualities receive an emotional assessment. The spirit and style of their time are inherited by Astafiev's heroes. Their speech is not just talk. She is the spokesman for all moral and mental powers. One can only applaud the writer for his excellent knowledge of jargon ("comrades", "tear claws", "godfather", "fuck off"). Russian sayings, proverbs and other phrases occupy a significant place among the figurative means used by the writer. And this is no coincidence - they have huge expressive possibilities: expressiveness, emotionality, a high degree of generalization. The author conveys his worldview to the reader in a plastic, capacious, artistically expressive language. Reading the work "Lyudochka" by Astafiev, one can notice that the accuracy inherent in folk speech, liveliness give the speech of the heroes steady turns ("worked like a horse", "bent back", "got into the head"). Colourful, rich, unique in the melodic sound of the author's language. In addition to simple personifications (for example, "the village suffocated in wild growth"), he uses many complex ones, filled with metaphors and epithets, creating a separate picture. Therefore, the story turned out so bright, rich and unforgettable.
Contrast reception
Victor Astafiev ("Lyudochka") does not focus his attention exclusively on the shady aspects of life. An analysis of the work shows that there is also a bright beginning in it, brightening up many adversities. It comes from the hearts of numerous workers who are not translated in Rus'. I recall the scene of haymaking, the episode when the main character, together with her mother, threw a haystack, and then Lyudochka washed off the dust and hay dust from herself in her native river with joy known only to people who worked to their heart's content. The method of contrast, which Astafiev successfully applied here, emphasizes the spiritual closeness with human nature, which is impossible to feel in a city mired in poverty, the darkness of ignorance and complete backwardness.
Why is Astafiev's story "Lyudochka" attractive?
This story is attractive because the author, in such a small work, was able to pose a number of important problems for the reader. The writer depicted in a vivid art form pictures of the real life of many people. However, Astafiev's main task was probably to show all of us into what abyss we are moving. And if you do not stop in time, humanity is threatened with complete degeneration. It is on this idea that the story "Lyudochka" suggests. Astafiev encourages us to think about the world around us and about our own soul, try to change ourselves, learn to sympathize with our neighbor and love people, see the beauty of this world and try to preserve it. After all, beauty, as you know, will save the world.
Victor Astafiev
You fell like a stone.
I died under it.
Vl. Sokolov
A story told in passing, heard in passing, fifteen years ago.
I never saw her, that girl. And I don't see it anymore. I don't even know her name, but for some reason it popped into my head - her name was Lyudochka. "What's in a name? It will die like a sad noise…” And why do I remember this? So many events have happened in fifteen years, so many people were born and so many people died a natural death, so many died at the hands of villains, drank alcohol, got poisoned, burned down, got lost, drowned ...
Why does this story, quietly and apart from everything else, live in me and burn my heart? Maybe the whole point is in its depressing routine, in its disarming simplicity?
Lyudochka was born in a small, dying village called Vychugan. Her mother was a collective farmer, her father was a collective farmer. Father, from early oppressive work and long-standing, inveterate drunkenness, was frail, frail, fussy and dull. The mother was afraid that her child would not be born a fool, tried to conceive him in a rare break from her husband's drunkenness, but still the girl was bruised by her father's unhealthy flesh and was born weak, sickly and whiny.
She grew up like sluggish, roadside grass, played little, seldom sang and smiled, at school she did not go out of threes, but she was silently diligent and did not sink to continuous twos.
Lyudochka's father disappeared from life long ago and imperceptibly. Mother and daughter lived freer, better and more cheerful without him. Muzhiks used to visit my mother, sometimes they drank, sang at the table, stayed overnight, and one tractor driver from the neighboring timber industry, having plowed the garden, had a strong dinner, lingered all spring, grew into the economy, began to debug, strengthen and multiply it. He traveled seven miles to work on a motorcycle, at first he carried a gun with him and often threw crumpled, feather-dropping birds out of his backpack on the floor, sometimes he took out a hare by its yellow paws and, having stretched it on nails, deftly skinned it. For a long time afterwards, a skin with a white rim and red, star-shaped spots scattered on it hung over the stove, so long that it began to break, and then the wool was sheared from the skins, spun together with linen thread, knitted shaggy shalyushki.
The guest did not treat Lyudochka in any way, neither good nor bad, did not scold her, did not offend her, did not reproach her piece, but she was still afraid of him. He lived, she lived in the same house - and nothing more. When Lyudochka finished ten grades at school and became a girl, her mother told her to go to the city - to get settled, since she had nothing to do in the village, she and herself - her mother stubbornly did not call the guest the owner and father - were getting ready to move to the timber industry. At first, the mother promised to help Ludochka with money, potatoes and whatever God would send - in old age, you see, she will help them.
Lyudochka arrived in the city by train and spent the first night at the station. In the morning she went to the railway station hairdresser and, after sitting in line for a long time, brought herself into an urban look for even longer: she did a perm and a manicure. She also wanted to dye her hair, but the old hairdresser, herself dyed like a copper samovar, advised against: they say, your hair is “me-a-ah-kankia, fluffy, little head, like a dandelion - from chemistry, the hair will break, it will begin to crumble.” Lyudochka agreed with relief - she didn't want to put on make-up as much as she wanted to be in a hairdresser's, in this warm, cologne-scented room.
Quiet, seemingly rustic, but agile in a peasant way, she offered to sweep the hair on the floor, diluted soap for someone, handed a napkin to someone, and in the evening found out all the local rules, guarded at the exit to the hairdresser's aunt called Gavrilovna, who advised her to paint, and asked to be her student.
The old woman looked attentively at Lyudochka, then studied her unburdening documents, asked a little, then went with her to the city communal economy, where she registered Lyudochka for a job as a hairdresser's apprentice.
Gavrilovna took the student to live with her, setting simple conditions: help around the house, do not walk for more than eleven, do not take guys into the house, do not drink wine, do not smoke tobacco, obey the mistress in everything and honor her as your own mother. Instead of renting an apartment, let them bring a car of firewood from the timber industry.
As long as you become a student - live, but when you become a master, go to the hostel. God will give, and you will arrange life. - And, after a heavy pause, Gavrilovna added: - If you get knocked up, I'll drive you out of your place. I didn’t have children, I don’t like squeakers, besides, like all old masters, I toil with my feet. In the weather, I howl at night.
It should be noted that Gavrilovna made an exception to the rule. For some time now, she has been reluctant to let lodgers in general, and refused girls altogether.
Lived with her, long ago, under Khrushchev, two students from a financial college. In trousers, painted, smoking. As for smoking and everything else, Gavrilovna gave strict instructions without being blunt. The girls twisted their lips, but resigned themselves to the demands of everyday life: they smoked on the street, they came home on time, they didn’t play their music loudly, but they didn’t grind or wash the floor, they didn’t clean the dishes after themselves, they didn’t clean the restroom. It would be nothing. But they constantly brought up Gavrilovna, they referred to the examples of outstanding people, they said that she did not live correctly.
And that would be nothing. But the girls did not really distinguish between their own and someone else's, then they would eat pies from a plate, then they would scoop out sugar from a sugar bowl, then they would wash out soap, they were in no hurry to pay the rent until you reminded ten times. And it could be tolerated. But they began to manage in the garden, not in the sense of weeding and watering, - they began to pluck what was ripe, without asking to use the gifts of nature. Once they ate the first three cucumbers from a steep dunghill with salt. Those cucumbers, the first, Gavrilovna, as always, grazed, groomed, kneeling in front of the ridge, on which she dragged manure in a backpack from the horse yard in winter, putting a check for him to the old robber, the lame Slyusarenko, talking to them, with cucumbers: “Well, grow, grow, gain courage, kids! Then we’ll take you in an okro-o-o-oshka-y, in an ok-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o way - and for them some water, lukewarm, under the sun in a barrel heated.
Why did you eat cucumbers? - Gavrilovna started to the girls.
What's wrong with that? Ate and ate. It's a pity, isn't it? We will buy you something at the market!
I don't need to-oh-oh what! This is what you need in-oh-oh what! .. For comfort. And I took care of cucumbers ...
For myself? You are selfish!
Who-who?
Selfish!
Well, would you...! - offended by an unfamiliar word, Gavrilovna made her last conclusion and swept the girls from the apartment.
Since then, she allowed only boys, most often students, to live in the house, and quickly brought them into God's appearance, taught them how to manage the house, wash floors, cook, and wash. She even taught two of the smartest guys from the Polytechnic Institute how to cook and how to operate a Russian stove. Gavrilovna let Lyudochka in because she guessed in her village relatives, not yet spoiled by the city, and she became weary of loneliness, she would fall down - there was no one to give water, and that she gave a strict warning without leaving the cash register, how could it be otherwise? Just dismiss them, today's youth, give them a weak spot, they will immediately seize them and ride you wherever they want.
Lyudochka was an obedient girl, but her studies were slow, the barber business, which seemed so simple, was given to her with difficulty, and when the appointed period of training had passed, she could not pass on the master. At the hairdresser's, she earned extra money as a cleaner and remained in the state, continued her practice - she cut the heads of pre-conscripts with a machine, cut schoolchildren with electric scissors, leaving a ponytail over her forehead on her bare head. She learned to do shaped haircuts “at home”, she cut the scary fashionistas from the village of Vepeverze, where Gavrilovna’s house stood, to look like schismatics. She did hair on the heads of fidgety disco girls, like foreign hit stars, without taking any payment for it.
Gavrilovna, sensing a weakness in the character of the lodger, sold all household chores, all household chores to the girl. The old woman's legs hurt more and more, the veins on the calves protruded, lumpy, black. Lyudochka's eyes stung as she rubbed the ointment into the mangled legs of the hostess, who was working the last year until retirement. Mazi te Gavrilovna called "bonbeng", also "mamzin". The smell from them was so fierce, the cries of Gavrilovna were so heartbreaking that the cockroaches fled to the neighbors, the flies died to the last.
In fact, she, our worker, and, in fact, she, a beauty of a human, how rich! - having calmed down, Gavrilovna expressed herself in the darkness. - Look, rejoice, although you are stupid, but you will become some kind of master ... What drove you out of the village?
Lyudochka endured everything: the ridicule of her girlfriends, who had already become masters, and the homelessness of the city, and her loneliness, and Gavrilovna's good manners, who, however, did not hold evil, did not drive her out of the apartment, although her stepfather did not bring the promised firewood machine. Moreover, for patience, diligence, for help around the house, for use in sickness, Gavrilovna promised to give Ludochka a permanent residence permit, register a house for her, if she continues to behave in the same modest way, look after the hut, yard, bend her back in the garden and keep an eye on her, the old woman, when she becomes completely paralyzed.
You fell like a stone.
I died under it.
Vl. Sokolov
Fifteen years ago, the author heard this story, and he does not know why, it lives in him and burns his heart. “Maybe it’s all about her depressing routine, her disarming simplicity?” It seems to the author that the heroine's name was Lyudochka. She was born in the small endangered village of Vychugan. Parents are collective farmers. The father drank himself from oppressive work, was fussy and dull. The mother was afraid for the unborn child, so she tried to conceive in a rare break from her husband's booze. But the girl, "bruised by the unhealthy flesh of her father, was born weak, sickly and whiny." She grew sluggish, like roadside grass, rarely laughed and sang, at school she did not go out of threes, although she was silently diligent. The father disappeared from the life of the family long ago and imperceptibly. Mother and daughter lived freer, better, more cheerful without him. From time to time, peasants appeared in their house, “one tractor driver from the neighboring timber industry, having plowed the garden, had a strong dinner, lingered all spring, grew into the economy, began to debug, strengthen and multiply it. He went to work on a motorcycle for seven miles, took a gun with him and often brought either a dead bird or a hare. “The guest did not treat Liu-daughter in any way: neither good nor bad.” He didn't seem to notice her. And she was afraid of him.
When Lyudochka finished school, her mother sent her to the city to improve her life, while she herself was going to move to the timber industry. “At first, the mother promised to help Ludochka with money, potatoes and whatever God would send - in old age, you see, she will help them.”
Lyudochka arrived in the city by train and spent the first night at the station. In the morning I came to the railway station hairdresser to get a perm, a manicure, I also wanted to dye my hair, but the old hairdresser advised against it: the girl already has weak hair. Quiet, but rustic dexterous, Lyudochka offered to sweep the hairdresser, diluted soap for someone, gave someone a napkin and by the evening found out all the local rules, ambushed an elderly hairdresser who advised her not to put on makeup, and asked to be her student.
Gavrilovna carefully examined Lyudochka and her documents, went with her to the city communal economy, where she registered the girl for a job as a hairdresser's apprentice, and took her to live with simple conditions: help around the house, do not go out for more than eleven, do not take guys into the house, do not drink wine, do not smoke tobacco, obey the mistress in everything and honor her as her own mother. Instead of renting an apartment, let them bring a car of firewood from the timber industry. “As a student you will be - live, but when you become a master, go to the hostel, God willing, and you will arrange life ... If you get knocked up, I will drive you out of your place. I didn’t have children, I don’t like squeakers ... ”She warned the tenant that she was tossing her feet in the rain and“ howling ”at night. In general, Gavrilovna made an exception for Lyudochka: for some time now she had not taken lodgers, and even less so girls. Once, back in Khrushchev’s times, two students of a financial college lived with her: painted, in trousers ... they didn’t grind the floor, they didn’t wash the dishes, they didn’t distinguish between their own and others - they ate the master’s pies, sugar that grew in the garden. At the remark of Gavrilovna, the girls called her "selfish", and she, not understanding the unknown word, cursed them after their mother and kicked them out. And from that time on, she only let guys into the house, quickly accustomed them to the household. She even taught two, especially intelligent ones, how to cook and how to operate a Russian oven.
Gavrilovna let Liudochka go because she recognized in her her village relatives, not yet spoiled by the city, and she began to be weary of loneliness in her old age. “If you fall down, there is no one to give water to.”
Lyudochka was an obedient girl, but her teaching was slow, the barber business, which seemed so simple, was given with difficulty, and when the appointed period of training had passed, she could not pass it to the master. In the hairdressing salon, Lyudochka also worked as a cleaner and remained on the staff, continuing her practice - she cut conscripts, schoolchildren under the typewriter, while she learned to do shaped haircuts “at home”, cutting the terrible fashionistas from the village of Vepeverze, where Gavrilovna’s house stood, to look like schismatics. She did hair on the heads of fidgety disco girls, like foreign hit stars, without taking any payment for it.
Gavrilovna sold all household chores, all household chores to Lyudochka. The old woman's legs were hurting more and more, and Lyudochka's eyes stung as she rubbed the ointment into the mangled legs of the hostess, who was finishing the last year until retirement. The smell from the ointment was so fierce, Gavrilovna's cries were so heartbreaking that the cockroaches fled to the neighbors, the flies died to the last. Gavrilovna complained about her work, which made her an invalid, and then consoled Lyudochka that she would not be left without a piece of bread, having learned to be a master.
For help with housework and care in old age, Gavrilovna promised Lyudochka to make a permanent residence permit, register a house for her, if the girl would continue to behave modestly, look after the hut, yard, bend her back in the garden and look after her, the old woman, when she was completely debilitated.
From work, Lyudochka rode a tram, and then walked through the dying Vepeverze park, humanly - a car-locomotive depot park, planted in the 30s and ruined in the 50s. Someone decided to lay a pipe through the park. They dug a ditch, laid a pipe, but forgot to bury it. A black pipe with bends lay in the steamed clay, hissing, soaring, seething with a hot burdock. Over time, the pipe became clogged, and a hot river flowed overhead, circling rainbow-colored rings of fuel oil and various debris. The trees dried up, the foliage flew around. Only poplars, gnarled, with broken bark, with horned branches at the top, leaned their paws of roots on the earth's firmament, grew, littered the fluff and in autumn dropped leaves showered with tree scabies around.
A footbridge with a railing was thrown over the ditch, which was broken every year and renewed again in the spring. When steam locomotives were replaced by diesel locomotives, the pipe was completely clogged, and a hot mess of mud and fuel oil still flowed through the ditch. The shores were overgrown with all kinds of bad forests, in some places there were stunted birches, mountain ash and lindens. Fir trees also made their way, but they did not go beyond infancy - they were cut down for the New Year by the quick-witted inhabitants of the village, and the pines were plucked by goats and all lascivious cattle. The park looked like “after the bombing or the invasion of the fearless enemy cavalry”. There was a constant stench all around, puppies, kittens, dead piglets and everything that burdened the inhabitants of the village were thrown into the ditch.
But people cannot exist without nature, so there were reinforced concrete benches in the park - the wooden ones were instantly broken. Children ran in the park, there were punks who had fun playing cards, drinking, fighting, “sometimes to death”. “They also had girls here ...” Artyomka-soap, with a foamy white head, led the riffraff. No matter how much Lyudochka tried to subdue the rags on Artyomka's violent head, nothing worked out for her. His “curls, from a distance resembling soap suds, turned out to be sticky horns from the station cafeteria - they boiled them, threw them in a lump into an empty plate, so they stuck together, unbearably and lay. Yes, and not for the sake of a hairstyle, a guy came to Lyudochka. As soon as her hands became busy with scissors and a comb, Artemka began to grab her in different places. Lyudochka at first dodged Artyomka's grasping hands, and when it didn't help, she hit him on the head with a typewriter and hit him until he bled, so they had to pour iodine on the head of the “gentleman”. Artyomka hooted and whistled for air. Since then, “he stopped his hooligan harassment”, moreover, he ordered the punks not to touch Lyudochka.
Now Lyudochka was not afraid of anyone or anything, she walked from the tram to her house through the park at any hour and at any time of the year, responding to the greeting of the punks with her “own smile”. Once the ataman-soap “moored” Lyudochka to the central city park to dance in a paddock that looked like an animal.
“In the menagerie, people behaved like animals... The herd raged, raged, creating bodily shame and delirium out of dances... Music, helping the herd in demoniac and savagery, beat in convulsions, crackled, hummed, rumbled with drums, moaned, howled.”
Lyudochka was frightened by what was happening, huddled in a corner, looking for Artyomka with her eyes to intercede, but “the soap was lathered in this bubbling gray foam.” Lyudochka was snatched into a circle by a dude, began to be impudent, she barely fought off her gentleman and ran home. Gavrilovna admonished the “stayer” that if Lyudochka “hands over to the master, decides on a profession, she will find a suitable working guy for her without any dancing - more than one punk lives in the world ...”. Gavrilovna assured me that dancing was nothing but disgrace. Lyudochka agreed with her in everything, she believed that she was very lucky with a mentor who had rich life experience.
The girl cooked, washed, scrubbed, whitewashed, dyed, washed, ironed, and it was not a burden for her to keep the house completely clean. But if she gets married, she can do everything, she can be an independent mistress in everything, and her husband will love and appreciate her for this. Lyudochka often lacked sleep, felt weak, but that's okay, it can be overcome.
That sometimes a famous person called Strekach returned from places not at all remote to everyone in the district. In appearance, he also resembled a black narrow-eyed beetle, however, under his nose, instead of tentacles-whiskers, Strekach had some kind of dirty blotch, with a smile resembling a grin, spoiled teeth were exposed, as if made from cement crumbs. Vicious since childhood, he was still at school engaged in robbery - he took away “silver pieces, gingerbread”, chewing gum from the kids, he especially liked it in a “shiny wrapper”. In the seventh grade, Strekach was already carrying a knife, but he didn’t have to take anything from anyone - “the small population of the village brought him tribute, like a khan, everything he ordered and wanted.” Soon, Strekach cut someone with a knife, he was registered with the police, and after an attempt to rape the postwoman, he received the first term - three years with a suspended sentence. But Strekach did not calm down. He smashed the neighboring dachas, threatened the owners with a fire, so the owners of the dachas began to leave drinks, snacks with a wish: “Dear guest! Drink, eat, rest - just, for God's sake, don't set fire to anything!" Strekach lived almost the whole winter, but then they took him, he sat down for three years. Since then, he found himself “in labor camps, from time to time arriving in his native village, as if on a well-deserved vacation. The local punks then followed Strekach like a tug, gaining mind-reason”, considering him a thief in law, but he did not disdain, in a small way he pinched his team, playing either cards or a thimble. “Anxious life then, and without that, always in anxiety for the residing population of the village of Veperveze. That summer evening, Strekach was sitting on a bench, drinking expensive cognac and toiling about. The punks promised: "Don't freak out. Here the masses will fall down from the dance, we will hire chicks for you. As much as you want ..."
