Topic: Analysis of A. Platonov's story "Return

Sections: Literature

By itself, the plot of the return can be realized in at least three ways. First, as a mythological return, similar to the return of Odysseus to his native Ithaca after decades of wandering. Here the return is the completion of the cycle and demonstrates the closedness of the cosmos and the inviolability of its foundations. It is this understanding that is revealed in the etymological analysis of the word "return". Secondly, the return can be external, physical, like a return to a place once abandoned. Thirdly, the return is, so to speak, internal, as a return to some desired state of peace, harmony, carelessness, etc. And it is precisely here that the possibility of conflict lies: the return can take place as an external one, but not as an internal one, as happens in the case of Captain Ivanov, the hero of Plato's story.

Plato's story is very difficult for the perception of schoolchildren. To work with the text successfully, students are advised to read the story at home beforehand. For class analysis, we offer an episode of the meeting between Alexei Ivanov and his family, which is the beginning of the conflict.

Let us summarize the questions that determine the logic of the analysis of this episode, and the expected answers of the students.

1. What did you learn about Captain Ivanov?

Alexei Ivanov, captain of the guard, served in the army throughout the war. Colleagues treated him with respect. The army became a family for Ivanov: "Ivanov and Masha now felt orphaned without an army." In the rear, he left a family: his wife Lyuba and two children, Petrushka and Nastya.

2. What did you learn about his family?

Alexei Ivanov has a wife, Lyuba, and two children, Petrushka and Nastya. Lyuba works at a brick factory. The work takes her a lot of time: “It’s good to work, only the children are alone and alone ...”. During the war, Lyuba “learned how to mend shoes for herself and for him [Petrushka. - N.V.] with Nastya, so as not to pay dearly to the shoemaker, and fixed electric stoves for neighbors for potatoes.

Petrushka is 11 years old, but he looks older than his age and his father does not immediately recognize him. During the war, Petrushka took on the role of the head of the family, got used to everyone in the house and to dispose of everything. This irritates Captain Ivanov, who does not understand why such a change has occurred to his son.

Ivanov's daughter Nastya was very young when her father went to war, so she does not remember Alexei and at first cries out of fear. She got used to another person, Semyon Evseevich, who treated Nastya and Petrushka "like a father, and even more attentive than any other father."

Captain Ivanov is saddened by what he learned about the life of his relatives. This was not the picture he expected to see. “... Something prevented Ivanov from feeling the joy of his return with all his heart - probably he was too unaccustomed to home life and could not immediately understand even those closest to him. native people."

3. How did Alexey Ivanov expect to see his relatives?

Probably the way he remembered them before the war.

4. Who or what is the cause of the changes that have taken place in the Ivanov family?

The reason for the change is the war.

5. What is war in the view of Captain Ivanov?

Obviously, these are military operations in which the captain took part. “I fought the whole war, I saw death closer than you ...” - this is what he says to his wife. Moreover, Alexey thinks that only he knows what war is, for which his wife rightly reproaches him: “What do you understand in our life?” . It is noteworthy that it is Captain Ivanov who owns the refrain of the words repeated in the episode: “the war is over”, “there is no war”, that is, the actual military operations. The task of the teacher is to lead the students during the conversation to the conclusion that for the author of the story "Return" war is a broader and therefore much more tragic concept.

6. What is war in the mind of his wife Luba?

This is hard work, need, the need to take care of children and longing for a husband. “... I kept waiting for you, for many terrible years, I didn’t want to wake up in the morning,” she admits to Alexei. And further: “I worked day and night ... I became thin, terrible, a stranger to everyone, a beggar will not ask me for alms. It was difficult for me too, and the children were alone at home.

7. What is war in the mind of his son Petrushka?

This is the need to help the mother, to replace the father who went to the front in the role of the owner of the house, that is, premature growing up. Upon careful reading of the episode of Ivanov's meeting with his family, it becomes obvious that Petrushka is a very sensitive and attentive boy: he feels his mother's mood well and sincerely empathizes with her.

For the author, war is a complex and multidimensional concept, it is made up of the ideas about the war of all the heroes of the Platonic story. War is also battles, but it is also a hard life full of hardships for those. who stayed behind. War is a violation of the natural, habitual order of things, fathers and mothers cannot be near children, and children are forced to grow up prematurely. The war as a series of hostilities has ended, but it continues to live in the soul of each of its participants: Captain Ivanov, who does not understand the new way of life of his family; Petrushka, who manages the house like an adult; Luba, who yearned for her husband; Nastya, who does not remember her father. War, understood as a special internal state of a person, is very insidious and difficult to eradicate. In this sense, the reader cannot be sure that the war is over for Captain Ivanov: the story "Return" has an open ending.

At the end of the analysis of Plato's story, students are asked to answer a few seemingly simple questions. One of them: "Who's coming back?" This, of course, is Captain Alexei Ivanov, who will come to his hometown after a long absence. However, the hero does not immediately return home. Ivanov's departure from the unit is delayed for a completely objective reason: the train is late. Colleagues escort the captain to the station twice. Further, it turns out that Ivanov, feeling "orphaned without an army," consciously "put off the joyful and anxious hour of meeting with his family." Thus, the former captain will have to experience not only an external, physical return to his hometown, but also an internal, psychological return to the role of father and husband.

The need for an internal return becomes obvious when Ivanov meets his son Petrushka, who "seemed older than his age" and "looked like a small, poor, but serviceable peasant." A child who has matured before his time and is forced to take on cares beyond his age is a sign of trouble in the artistic world of A. Platonov. In the hard times of war, Petrushka was forced to play the role of the head of the family and got used to it so much that he gives instructions not only to his mother, sister and father, but also to the fire in the furnace - how best to burn. Petrushka will also have to return and, like his father, the inner one - to childhood.

And Ivanov's wife, Lyuba, will also have to return to the role of wife and mother.

The second question that needs to be answered is “To what / to whom do Platonic heroes return?”

In general, we can say that each of the heroes of the Platonic story will have their own return from war to peace. The former captain believes that a new, post-war life will begin when he crosses the threshold of his home. However, in the life of his family, much is not clear and alien to him. He turns out to be unable to take the place of his father allotted to him, thereby restoring the world order destroyed by the war. This is clearly demonstrated by the scene of a quarrel between the former captain and his wife, in which Ivanov plays the role of an offended child (“... in a plaintive voice, like small, exclaimed the father "), and Petrushka - a sensible adult. Frightened and angry, Alex decides to leave his family. Only after seeing his children running after the train, he finally decides to return and steps off the train onto the railway embankment. Here begins the true return of Ivanov.

It is worth drawing students' attention to the fact that the story was originally called "The Ivanov Family" and it was under this name that it was first published. Then A. Platonov changed the title of the story. "Return" is a more capacious name and more fully reflects the essence of the author's thoughts about post-war reality.

Finally, the third, most important question that must be answered when analyzing Plato's story: "Did the return take place?" It is impossible to answer this question unambiguously. It was the open ending of the story that caused sharp criticism of A. Platonov. The author of The Return poses a problem, inviting readers to participate with him on an equal footing in reflections about time and about themselves.

Literature

1. Platonov A.P. Chevengur // Selected: Chevengur; Happy Moscow: Novels; Pit: A Tale; Stories. - M., 1999. - S. 559-577.

Moral problems of A. Platonov's story "Return"

"There is a time in life when it is impossible to avoid one's happiness. This happiness comes not from kindness and not from other people, but from the strength of a growing heart, warming with its warmth and meaning."

War stories always leave an indelible mark on our souls. Many well-known writers addressed the topic of war. Surely you have read V. Astafiev's story "The Shepherd and the Shepherdess", the story "The Horse with a Pink Mane" and "The Photograph Where I'm Not", remember B. Vasiliev's work "The Dawns Here Are Quiet", heard about M. Sholokhov's novel "They fought for their country." Today we will talk about a short story by our fellow countryman - writer A. Platonov "Return". Is the title of the story symbolic? What do you associate the word "RETURN" with? (Home, family, love, motherland). It's always nice to come back, isn't it? Andrei Platonov wrote the story in 1946, but it was published under the title "The Ivanov Family". Critics have spoken out against the story. Yermilov wrote: “Platonov always loved mental slovenliness, had a dirty imagination, he had a craving for everything ugly and dirty, in the spirit of bad Dostoevism, he turned even an 11-year-old hero into a preacher of cynicism” The critic said that the hero is shown as just the most ordinary , a mass person, it is not for nothing that he was given such a multimillion-dollar surname Ivanov. This surname carries a demonstrative meaning in the story: they say that many families are like that. By changing the title, Platonov strengthened those aspects of the story for which he was scolded. He showed what war does to a person, how it kills the soul, forcing them to break away from the family, from the most important values ​​of mankind.

- There is no open description of the war in the work, but it is present here. Through what details, perhaps, the landscape? (In the surrounding autumn nature, everything was sad and depressing at that hour ...)

- Is the main character in a hurry to go home or is he slow? Why?

- Why does Ivanov go after Masha?

- How is Masha's condition described? Does she want to go home? Where are her family members? (And now Masha was somehow unusual, strange and even afraid to go home to her relatives, from whom she had already lost the habit).

- Can we say that Masha and Alexey are people who understand each other? They found solace in their fellowship.

- How is Ivanov received at home? How many days are his wife and children waiting for him?

- The son meets the father. Find his portrait. Read. What does the boy's appearance tell us? ( He was met by his son Peter ...)

- The return of the hero takes place in the house. He feels “a quiet joy in his heart and a calm contentment. The war is over." How does the father look at the objects in the house? Why? (He gets acquainted with objects, remembers smells. This helps him feel like a family among his own, warms his soul).

- Who is in charge of the house? (Petka). How does he run the business?(Episode about the stove, about potatoes). “I’m not angry, I’m on business ... You need to feed your father, he came from the war ...”. The boy understands how hard it was for his father, in the house he became the owner out of need, and not at will.

- What is Lyubov Vasilyevna's job? She does everything for the sake of her children, for the sake of her family. Why is she crying over the pie?(I thought about if my husband was killed)

- Alexei does not understand why Peter behaves like an old grandfather, why the children matured early, and the face of his daughter Nastya is “focused” not at all childish. Why do you think Alexey does not see the troubles of his family, perceives the house as it was before the war?

- Alexei cannot understand Semyon Evseevich, who came to play with Nastya and Petya. What is the personal tragedy of Semyon Evseevich himself?(The jealousy of the hero is unfounded, because the war united people, united their common misfortunes, destroyed families. A person wants to feel needed by other people.)

- Does the reader empathize with the Ivanov family? Pay attention to details such as clothes, children's shoes, their food? What is their life? Do they have a farm?

Father and mother sort things out, not understanding who is right and who is wrong. After all, there are no right and wrong ones. There is a human life that must be lived with dignity. Petya tells about this - about the relationship between Khariton and Anna. In difficult times, the heart of a person needs comfort. But the father does not understand the son. In what works have we already come across images of father and son? (Quiet Don, Food Commissioner, Mole).

- At the end of the story, the railroad appears before us again. This is the path symbol. But which one: new or old? The father of the family wants to leave the house. What is Ivanov thinking about?(about Masha).

The theme of the railway in Platonov is found in many works, because the writer's life was connected with trains. And now the rails carry Ivanov away from his native hearth, his heart hardened. Read the final episode(Two children…)

- Why is Petka, always so neat, wearing different shoes?(Hurries to return the father).

- Did Ivanov manage to transgress through his own vanity? How did the war make him? (AND estkm, incredulous, rude). Can we say that Alexei, after getting off the train, returns to his real self? Souls crippled by war can only be cured by love and understanding.

- What is the meaning of the story's title?

- What do you think, what would be the further fate of the Ivanov family?

- What meaning can the reader, who has become acquainted with the work of A. Platonov, endure for himself?

What did the war teach people?

War is an evil that destroys destinies, breaks lives, families. But a person, despite the circumstances, must remember his destiny, must be able to open his heart to meet warmth and love. Returning to his present self, the hero destroys thereby the hatred, evil and doubt that tormented his heart.

"To feel the joy of returning with all my heart..."

Lesson studybased on the story by A. Platonov "Return", Grade 11

Epigraph to the lesson:

“War is a special naked love for good and a special hatred for evil...” Y. Bondarev

Targets and goals:

in the course of the analysis and study of the text, determine the ideological content,
the problems of the story as one of the best works about the Great Patriotic War;

to bring students to an understanding of the features of artistic skill and artistic manner of A. Platonov;

to prepare students for writing an essay-review about the story, to evoke in the children a sense of empathy and ownership of what is depicted.

Homework for the lesson:

1. Read the story of A.P. Platonov "Return".
2. Write in a notebook the most characteristic details in the description of the characters
   (clothing, facial features, smell, behavior, actions, etc.),
   trace their "movement" in the story.
3. Explain the meaning of the title.

Introductory speech of the teacher.

The twenty-first century... Our time is the time of great accomplishments, the time of confession and repentance. Many, including myself, are terrified of the moral impasses into which many, many have been driven by the force of social circumstances.

At such a time, the role of literature remains invaluable.

What do you guys think, what problems were considered and remain
the most important in the best works of Russian literature?
The problem of moral choice
memory problem.

Moral choice, human memory - two facets of humanity, a quality that was most clearly tested during the war years.

A person cannot live only in the present, only for one moment. He aspires to the future and carefully keeps memories of the past. Each person is a part of his people, and therefore we have a common national memory. Our lesson takes place on the eve of May 9, the day that became the Holy Victory Day.

More than sixty years have passed since then.

“Wars happen where and when people forget about the war”… Today, on the eve of the Day of Remembrance, let's think about the cost of winning the Victory, reread the heartfelt lines about the war, touch the saint.

The story of A.P. Platonov "The Return", written in 1946, is deservedly considered one of the masterpieces of the small genre about the war, about the life of the home front, about serious troubles and not conspicuous exploits of women and children, the favorite heroes of the amazing writer.

Advance task.The word of a pre-prepared student

About the writer.

A.P. Platonov is a writer and a person of the same age as the 20th century (born in 1899, died in 1951). All the most uncomfortable, terrible and at the same time fearless years of Russia passed before his eyes, he lived and survived them. Everything that this amazing writer wrote is the real fate of the country, our people, Platonov himself. One of the heroes of his story "The Old Mechanic" says a phrase that will then determine the essence of Platonov's work, and the problems of his works, and his place in literature, in the history of our culture: "The people are there, but I'm not there ... And without I’m an incomplete people ”A.P. Platonov went through a whole school of professions - he was a worker and an reclamation engineer, he drove a steam locomotive with his father, and during the war years he was a war correspondent. But his main nature always showed through in him - the nature of the writer.

A craftsman by nature, he became one of the outstanding masters of our prose.

Teacher. Our lesson is the lesson of contact and participation in the mastery of the great writer of the 20th century, in his vision and understanding of the essence of the most terrible war of the past century.

A conversation to identify the perception and definition of the topic and the hero of the story.

Teacher. First, how do you feel about the story? What did you experience while reading it?

1. The war exhausted people: “Ivanov ... served the whole war ...”, “tired
   a soldier's heart" thousands of miles away his legs over the years, wrinkles
   fatigue lay on his face, and his eyes were cut with pain under closed eyelids -
   they now wanted to rest in the twilight or in the darkness ... "
2. During the war years, children grow up early: “The father did not immediately recognize his
   child in a serious teenager who seemed older than his age ... "
   Lyuba about children: “... children are alone and alone ... You see how they have grown. All by yourself
   know how to do as adults have become ... ".
3. The little “how” is embarrassing, because Petrusha is only 12 years old!

After reading the story, we first thought about the fact that - the war is not only the front, but also the rear, the war with all its weight fell on the shoulders of women and children.

Teacher. How does Platonov's story show the heavy impact of the war on family life, on the fate of children?

A feature of the artistic world of Platonov is the image of orphans. Petrusha and Nastya are not orphans in the full sense of the word, but during the years of destruction and disasters they grow up early and are forced to live according to the laws of adult life, not childish. Petrusha is the main character in the story and the main one in the Ivanov family: he replaced his front-line father, he is the head, he took care of the family, he considers himself entitled to manage everyone and everything in the house:

Mothers: “Give me, mother, bread cards ...”, “Turn around, mother, turn around faster!”

Sister: “Nastenka, empty the mug, I need dishes!”

Father: “You don’t understand yourself. We have a business, we have to live, and you swear like stupid ones.

Even to the fire in the oven, burning unevenly, Petrusha says: “Why are you burning like a shaggy one, you are fidgeting in all directions! Burn straight. Gay for the very food, for nothing, that eh, the trees grew in the forest.

The plot of the story

Teacher. When reading the story at home, you should have thought about the peculiarities of the plot of The Return.

The plot of the story is simple, and if you follow the external logic of the development of events, then it seems that the work is about several days of travel, the return of a soldier home and his meeting with his wife and children.

In fact, the deep outline of the story is much more complicated, because in the story
the years of the war can be traced both in the life of a soldier and in the life of his wife,
forced to work for days at a brick factory, and it’s too early in life
wise children.

So what is the story about? What did Platonov mean when he called one of his best works not "The Ivanov Family" (the original version), but "The Return"? Having answered these questions, we will unravel the riddle of Platonov's artistic manner, get acquainted with the features of his style.

Notable Platonic motifs in the story

Teacher. The system of images and the plot of the story are organized by well-known Platonic motifs. The thorny path of the heroes' suffering - Platonov's favorite motif - is present and dominates in the story "The Return". Let's get a grasp of the text and outline the paths that the heroes of A. Platonov follow.

1. Ivanov went through the war - he drank the cup of suffering of the war years allotted to him. Lyuba, his wife, is forced to work in the press, at a brick factory, where the peasants did not always stand up, the children of 12 and 5 years old run the household themselves.
2. The life of Platonov's favorite heroes is not just a path of suffering, but also
   often the road in the literal sense of the word.
3. Ivanov's return home - literally the road - takes
   long 6 days. Four years of war ("a soldier's heart is tired") and 6 days of travel.
   The narrative begins at the station, from the railroad, and ends there: Ivanov "got off the train onto that sandy path along which his children ran after him." The railway, station, train, wagon is present in almost every work of the writer.
4. In the story "Return", which revealed the consequences of the war in the life of the family, this can be seen especially clearly. From the part ... "the comrades went with Ivanov to the railway station and ... left him alone", "the train, however, was late for many hours", "the station was destroyed." “Ivanov was left bored on the deserted asphalt of the platform”, “the train that was supposed to take Masha and Ivanov home from here was somewhere in the gray space.” Lyubov Vasilievna, Ivanov's wife, went out for three days in a row to all the trains that arrived from the west, on the fourth day she sent the children, Peter and Nastya, to the station to meet their father ... "," This is a train, Petya walked quietly, "etc. .

So the key words that run through the whole story, reinforced by the antithesis:

House-train in gray space - help the reader to understand and feel the author's position: war separates families, separates people, separating them from each other by roads, train stations, "gray space", people wean from each other, forget family warmth, warmth of each other ... Such dissociation, according to Platonov, is especially detrimental for children.

Another favorite Platonic motif runs through the whole story - the motif of the search for truth, which should restore the natural order of life.

The war has mixed everything in the Ivanov family: the head of the family has been absent for a long time, he is in the war against his will, but he cannot return. Then he returns home for a long time - upon returning, he discovers that life goes on, but everything is not going the way he would like - and as a result of all this - the soldier struggles with his burned heart, painfully deciding how to live on.

"The originality of each person ..." Mastery of detail

Teacher. Everyone who read Platonov could not help but note how attentive the writer is to his every word, how, without justifying anyone, without defending or taking sides, he, unlike other writers, portrays each of his characters as a special mystery and a special miracle. life.

Platonov possesses such virtuosity of the word thanks to the mastery of the detail. What is a detail?

An expressive detail that carries a significant semantic and ideological and emotional load.

N.V. Gogol said remarkably about the detail in the article “On Little Russian Songs”: “Often, instead of the whole external one, there is only one sharp feature, one part of it. Nowhere in them can one find such a phrase: it was evening; but instead they say what happens in the evening ... "

We learn the ability to find expressive details in elementary grades. In high school, they should be aware of the multifunctional role of a detail, it is important to keep in mind such a feature of it: it always expresses the author's position to one degree or another, even for writers who strive not to be "present" in Plato's work - unlike other writers - no one does not justify, does not defend and does not accept a draw

sides.

“He covers the entire contradictory world he recreates, first of all, with his understanding, and in this all-pervading understanding lies the universal and wise humanity of the artist”

The beginning of the story.

Many works of great writers are distinguished by a significant beginning in understanding the idea (“Eugene Onegin” by Pushkin, “Anna Karenina” by Tolstoy, “Oblomov” by Goncharov). Let us turn to the beginning of Platonov's story "The Return":

“Aleksey Alekseevich Ivanov, captain of the guard, was leaving the army for demobilization,” let’s pay attention: he didn’t leave, but went down. Before us is a detail that has a deep metaphorical meaning. With this verb, used in the official sense, which has an interpretation in Ozhegov's dictionary, he dropped out of the composition, ”begins and then builds up a whole chain of verbs, which, starting with an imperfective verb, marks the soldier’s long journey home, a long one not only in terms of space, but also in the sense of regaining a home, a peaceful way of life.

Using impersonations

AT the description of Ivanov’s house does not contain the most detailed elements, there are no sketches of the situation familiar to many writers, the image of household items, it is only said that all “items of the house are in order - a wall clock, a cupboard, a thermometer on the wall, chairs, flowers on the windowsills, a Russian kitchen stove ... lived without him for a long time and missed him.”

Platonov's very common technique - to endow objects with the qualities of the living world - personification - makes the reader think again and again about the uselessness of such phenomena in life, like war (things "lived" without it "in anguish and poverty", "bored").

But it is not this “recognition” of things by Ivanov that makes the reader shudder, but ... the smell, the smell of his home.

“He breathed in the well-established native smell of the house - the smoldering of wood, the warmth from the body of his children. This smell was the same as before and didn't change without it. Ivanov did not smell this smell anywhere, although during the war he visited different countries, in hundreds of dwellings; there smelled of a different spirit, in which there was no property of a native home.

Surprisingly small, it would seem, a detail, but what an important role it plays in comprehending the writer's idea.

Two women go through the story, both have difficult fates, each of them drank the cup of suffering of military hard times to the bottom, but how different ... by smell!

Masha, daughter of a spacer:

“Masha’s hair “smelled of nature”, “forest foliage, an unfamiliar overgrown road, not a house, but again an anxious life.”

Wife Lyuba: "forgotten and familiar warmth of a loved one" How few words Platonov used and how much he said! Thus, we see what a huge semantic load Platonov's detail carries. Let us trace through the text how the words related to the return of the protagonist, actual and spiritual, are interconnected and continue each other, and we will pay special attention to the verbs associated with the return in various meanings of this word.

Return: the metaphorical role of verbs

1. "Alexey Ivanov... u-b-s-in-a-l from the army..."
2. "Masha ... v-o-s-v-r-a-sh-a-l-a-s home"
3. "He had to go home, where his o-g-i-d-a-l-and wife and two
   children he hasn't seen in 4 years"
4. “But his wife Lyuba lives in another city with children Nastya and
   Petenka, and they o-g-i-d-a-l-and him "
5. "Hello! Why did it take so long! M-s w-d-a-l-i - w-d-a-l-i ... "
6. “For a long time they lived here without him with-to-u-ch-a-l-and after him”
7. But something prevented Ivanov from feeling the joy of his
   v-o-z-v-r-a-shch-e-n-and-I with all my heart - probably he was too unaccustomed to home life and could not understand his native people "
8. “I know, I know everything! Petrushka said. mother for you crying,
   I was waiting for you, and you arrived, she was crying too.
9. “From the street ... some two guys were running in the distance ... Big
   raised ... his hand ... and waved his hand towards himself, as if calling someone to return.

The chain is built:

Departed - returned - expected - awaited - waited - waited - the joy of returning - waited - returned

The first predicate that opens the action of the story is an imperfect verb, one might say, a term denoting the departure of a serviceman from the active army, slowly, step by step, following the author's idea, leads us to the predicate at the end of the story - a perfect verb - returned.

Reading the finale of the story, conversation(Read by teacher or prepared student)

Read the final lines of the story and answer the questions:

When, finally, did Ivanov touch life with his naked heart?

How did you feel about the end of the story?

Did you believe in him?

Prove that the truth of the military and post-war life of the people was reflected in the Ivanov family.

Let's draw conclusions.

So, the story, which had the original title "The Ivanov Family", came out under the title "Return". Summing up our conversation about the ideological and artistic originality of the story, let's answer the question, what did the "Return" become for each of you?

The return is:

The way of a soldier home, to himself, to a non-military life; --- spiritual cleansing of a person;

Finding the reliability of existence (children, wife); --------- new conclusions and discoveries, life discoveries;

The results of events, thoughts, experiences.

Homework.

Write an essay - a review of the story.

Here is an example of one of the student's works.

... The story of A.P. Platonov "The Return" (1946), which is deservedly considered one of the masterpieces of the small genre of Russian prose about a warrior, made an indelible impression on me. The plot of "The Return" is simple, and if you follow the external logic of the development of events, it seems that the central image of the story is the image of a soldier who returned from the war.

Indeed, Ivanov spent 4 long years in the war - "a soldier's heart is tired." But the word that the story is called (the original name is “The Ivanov Family”) acquires a deep, metaphorical meaning in the course of the narrative.

For me, "Return" is not only the way a soldier goes home, it is also the spiritual cleansing of a person from war as something terrible, unnatural and inhuman, it is also the acquisition of the reliability of life by Ivanov's children and wife, these are the results of events, thoughts, experiences for all participants in the events described by Platonov.

The theme of the story is wide and multifaceted. And Platonov, the great humanist, created a work full of cordiality and kindness, mercy and humanity. The heroes of Platonov are ordinary people, and each of them clearly and conscientiously does his job: Ivanov defends his homeland; his wife, Lyuba, in order to survive and feed her children, works at a brick (!) Factory, works at the press, where not every man can stand it, and even fulfills the norm; children run the household...

A characteristic feature of the artistic world of Platonov is the image of orphans. Petrusha and Nastya are not orphans in the full sense of the word, but in the years of destruction and disasters they grow up early and are forced to live according to the laws of not childish, but adult life.

In my opinion, the “main” person in the Ivanov family and the main character in the system of images of the story is Petrushka, whose “little brown eyes” looked at “the white light gloomily and displeasedly, as if they saw only disorder everywhere and condemned humanity.”

Platonov, as an artist, is characterized by the need to empathize with his heroes, to mourn over their fates. He chooses for his hero the thorny path of suffering in search of the truth, which should restore the disturbed order of life and spirit.

With his inherent virtuosity of unexpected use of incongruous, seemingly word-forming deep metaphors (“all things in the house were waiting for a soldier”, “a train in a gray space”), mastery of detail (a chain of verbs organizing the plot and idea with the meaning of return: “decreased - returned - returned"), Platonov presents us with a tragedy and a soldier who at first fights for a long time, and then returns for a long time and fights with his
with a burned heart, deciding how to proceed; and the tragedy of a child
growing up beyond his years, who managed to reason even with his father, who doubted
in fidelity to his wife.

Following Platonov, we understand: Father Ivanov is looking for the truth where there is no need to forgive, it was only necessary to understand ...

Compassion, the ability to empathize, honor and conscience - I consider these qualities to be important virtues of the human soul. "The law that lives in us is called conscience" - this saying of the ancient philosopher Kant can be applied to Ivanov's worldview.

It was this law, it was honor and dignity that helped Ivanov "to touch life with a bare heart." Seeing the children running after the train, his own children, for whom he fought and whom he could leave as orphans with a living father, Ivanov returns from the war in the full sense of the word.

Platonov's story shakes to the core. In a small work, an epic picture of great significance unfolds, reflecting, in my opinion, the entire depth of the tragic influence of the warrior on the fate of the family.

"Return" was published in the journal Novy Mir "in No. 10 - 11 for 1946 under the name "The Ivanov Family". The story was criticized for the slander that the writer allegedly erected on the Soviet people, on the soldiers returning from the war, on the Soviet family. After the death of Platonov, the charges were dropped. The story, significantly altered by Platonov himself, was published in a collection of short stories in 1962 after the author's death.

Literary direction and genre

The story "Return" refers to the literary direction of realism. The victorious warrior, who has become unaccustomed to his family, returns home and finds out that his wife also had a hard time, so she did not even wait for him correctly, as K. Simonov's song says. Critics took up arms against Platonov because the behavior of his heroes did not fit into the framework of "socialist realism".

A psychological story about one family, about the connections of the father and mother on the side, about their weaning from each other, about the father from the children. The plot takes only a few days, but the dialogues reveal events that occurred during the war.

Theme, main idea, problem

A story about a post-war meeting of a family, each member of which is trying to enter the mainstream of peaceful life. The main idea is that war not only kills physically, it destroys families, making loved ones strangers and distorting every single life. To return to the roots, to family love, a sacrifice is needed.

The problematic of the story is traditional for Platonov. The problem of the influence of war on the fate and personality of people is raised, the transformation of men into frivolous teenagers, and children into little old men; the problem of alienation of relatives by time and distance; the problem of fidelity and betrayal, responsibility and forgiveness; the problem of love, which the characters see as a response to grief and loneliness.

Plot and composition

The demobilized Alexei Ivanov returns home by train and is in no hurry, because he has lost the habit of being at home, just like his random fellow traveler Masha, the daughter of a spaceman. Alexei spent two days with her, leaving at the station in her hometown and not saying that his family was waiting for him at home.

The wife and children were waiting for Ivanov, going out to the trains every day. On the sixth day, Alexei was met by 11-year-old son Peter, and both were dissatisfied with each other: Petya was upset by the impracticality of his father, and Alexei - by the pragmatism of his son. Ivanov's home is strange and incomprehensible: his wife is ashamed of him, like a bride, the 5-year-old youngest daughter Nastya, who did not remember her father, is accustomed to hard domestic work, Petrushka performs the duties of a grumpy owner, and does not study and play, as children should.

Nastya inadvertently reveals to her father that Semyon Evseich goes to them and sits with the children, because his whole family was killed and he is lonely. In a night conversation with his wife Lyuba, Aleksey finds out that she cheated on him with the instructor of the district committee of the trade union, who was gentle with her.

The next morning, Alexey decided to go to Masha, leaving his family, but the children ran out to the crossing to return their father. Ivanov, who at that moment experienced forgiveness and love for his family, got off the train onto the path along which his children were running.

The story contains a tiny inserted short story - Petrushka's story about Uncle Khariton, who. returning from the war and learning that his wife Anyuta was cheating on him with an armless invalid, he first quarreled with her, and then told her that he had also cheated on many women. And they began to live, satisfied with each other. Yes, only Khariton came up with treason, forgiving his wife. Alexei is not capable of such an act and does not tell his wife about his betrayal (perhaps not the only one).

Heroes

Alexey Ivanov is almost the most common combination of first and middle names. For Platonov, the hero is just a man, of which there are many, a man of ordinary fate. He considers himself right in the conflict, and others are guilty, and lives only for himself, without regard to his loved ones. His fleeting connection with Masha is justified by boredom, cold, the desire to "entertain your heart." He does not think that Masha will be left alone, he does not think about her heart at all.

According to the wife of Alexei Lyuba, she was looking for consolation in the only connection with a man in the entire war, her soul reached out to him, because she was dying. Alexei is hurt: "I am also a person, not a toy." Resentment fills his mind. He believes that he experienced a lot more in the war than his wife: "I fought the whole war, I saw death closer than you." He acts like a child, about to complain to his teenage son about his wife's infidelity.

Peter is older than both his father and mother, he pacifies his parents: “We have a business, we need to live, and you swear, how stupid they are.” Alexey calls him a serviceable peasant, grandfather. Petya is really very petty. He is concerned with the only problem - to survive. From this, she scolds Nastya, who peels off the thick peel from potatoes, her father, who crushed the glass of a kerosene lamp in excitement. Petya not only takes care of a warm coat for his mother and is going to work as a stoker in a bathhouse to buy it, but also teaches Nastya housework, reading. Even about Semyon Evseich, he worldly remarks to his father that Evseich is older (that is, he is not a rival to his father) and brings benefits.

Little Petya does not have a single childish desire. The stress caused by the departure of his father revives in him a child who needs a father and calls him. The inner turmoil of the boy is conveyed by a bright detail: in a hurry, he puts on a felt boot on one leg, and a galosh on the other. Here, from Peter, he turns into Petrushka, whose image makes his father get off the train.

At the same time, the rebirth of the protagonist takes place: it became hot in his chest, “as if the heart ... made its way to freedom.” Now the protagonist touched life with a bare heart, in which the barrier of "vanity and self-interest" collapsed.

The images of the rest of the men set off the character of the protagonist, their features contrast with his personality. Semyon Evseich, unlike Alexei, experienced real grief, having lost his wife and children, who were killed in Mogilev. His attachment to other people's children and wife is also an attempt to survive. This is the desire to benefit others (after all, the children sat all day long alone in the dark), and the need to attach their tormented soul to something. Before his rebirth, Alexei cannot understand and feel sorry for his imaginary rival. But he sees even greater evil in the nameless evacuee, with whom his wife only once wanted to feel like a woman, but could not, loving Alexei.

The female characters in the story are poignant. In wartime, in the patriarchal way of families, everything changes places. The boy turns into an old man, the warrior man into a capricious child living, according to Petya, on ready-made grubs, and the woman into the head of the family, the man. Lyuba learned to do men's work at the factory, repair electric stoves for neighbors for potatoes, and repair shoes for herself and her children. One thing she could not do was take responsibility: "I don't know anything."
It would seem that the position of Masha, the daughter of the spacer, is more advantageous. It is open to the whole world, free from obligations, not promised to anyone. But her spacious heart does not know how to forget people who accidentally become close to her. At the beginning of the story, Ivanov does not realize that his wife, like Masha, can love and pity many. At the end of the story, Ivanov realizes that even a physical connection may not be a betrayal, that it's all about the soul.

Stylistic features

Platonov's work has no analogues in literature. His language is strange and unusual, but piercing, as if the words come from the heart. The writer understands and pities each of his characters, justifying his actions.

Of particular importance are the details that usually speak of the internal state of the characters, like the already mentioned felt boots and galoshes on Petrushka's feet, or Lyuba's tears mixed with the dough of her pie, or Semyon Evseich's glasses that Nastya puts on to darn her mother's mittens, or crushed glass kerosene lamp.
Smells are of great importance for Platonov. Alexei recognizes the house as his at the moment when he feels that its smell has not changed in four years. Masha's hair smells like fallen leaves (a common motif in Platonov's work). This smell is opposed to the smell of the house, symbolizes "anxious life again."

The speech of the characters is full of worldly imagery, especially Petina. He persuades the fire in the oven not to burn in a shaggy way, but evenly, Nastya does not order to plan meat from potatoes so that "the food does not disappear." Inclusions in children's speech of clericalism show the tragedy of the country where the children become old.

Another characteristic feature of Andrei Platonov's style is the description not so much of the thoughts of the heroes, who are worldly wise, as a reasoning about Alexei's love, but of the feelings, movements of the "naked heart".

The Great Patriotic War left a mark in the soul of every Russian person. A lot has been written about her in different ways, but in the first post-war years, everything basically boiled down to exalting the image of a hero-soldier returning to his relatives after a long separation. In principle, no one argued with this, but there was another side to this joyful event. A. Platonov devoted his story to this. The "Return", a brief summary of which is given here, has become a work that made us take a fresh look at how hard it was for yesterday's soldiers to get used to peaceful life.

Scandalous publication

The authorities have long been wary of creativity. The situation worsened after the Novy Mir magazine published his new work, The Ivanov Family, in 1946 (later the name changed and became more capacious). "The most vile slander of the Soviet people," - such a description was given a few months later in an article by V. Yermilov to the story "Return". Platonov (a brief summary of the text will show this) portrayed Alexei, who returned from the front, not at all in a heroic halo. Moreover, some of his actions cause condemnation from the reader, which is contrary to the established tradition. Let's see what's so special about the story.

Long awaited mobilization

It was September 1945. The captain of the guard with the common surname Ivanov (this fact is not accidental) got the opportunity to go home. For four years he did not see his little daughter either. sent a telegram in advance and began to prepare for a meeting with his family. So begins the story "The Return" of Platonov.

The unexpected meeting of the hero with Masha is an important moment. Alexei's train was delayed for the second day when he saw a friend at the station. The girl served in the dining room, and now she was also heading home. They quickly got along, as both were afraid of meeting with a past life, which they had lost the habit of during the war years.

On the way home: a summary

Platonov's "Return" continues with a story about a short relationship that arose between Alexei and his friend. When the train entered the city where Masha lived, Ivanov suddenly left with her. The twenty-year-old girl was very grateful to her companion, as she was afraid of the future. Her parents were driven away by the Germans, and she felt lonely. Aleksey also experienced incomprehensible confusion. He should have gone home, but he kept putting off meeting his family.

Family meeting

At home, Alexei Alekseevich had been waiting for the sixth day. The wife took time off from the brick factory and went out to the train three times. On the day of arrival, twelve-year-old Petrusha (or Peter, as Platonov called him in the story "The Return" in the story "The Return") was waiting for his father at the station. The summary of the dialogue that emerged and the description of their meeting is as follows. The father saw in his son a little peasant, accustomed to everyday problems. Yes, he acted like an adult. He asked in detail about why he had been driving for so long and how many orders he had received, then he took a duffel bag and headed towards the house.

Lyubov Vasilievna was waiting on the porch. She had already cleaned the house, and only one thought bothered her - Semyon Evseevich, who had lost his family and now became attached to her children.

Alexei hugged his wife and felt the "familiar warmth". Little Nastya, who did not remember her father at all, grabbed him by the leg and tried to pull him away from his mother.

We entered the house. While his wife and children busied themselves with preparing dinner, Ivanov looked around the room and seemed to get to know her anew. The smell of his own home and the observation of the bustle that was taking place evoked in him pleasant and at the same time disturbing thoughts - the author gives a brief summary of them.

Platonov's "return" is more of a description of Alexei's "getting used" to a new life. He seemed to see his family in front of him, but for some reason he did not feel joy from the meeting. Lyubov Vasilievna, who had become unaccustomed to him, was shy and behaved as in her youth. The daughter did simple housework. Petrushka gave commands in his usual tone and somehow resembled a grumbling old man.

Alexei looked at them and tried to understand how they lived without him. And he felt ashamed that he did not have a strong fatherly feeling for his son.

First family dinner

Finally, everyone gathered at the table. Parsley ate a piece of the pie and collected all the crumbs. On the offer to take, he seriously replied that he was full. His words: "I want you to get more" - made the parents shudder. Pushed her piece and Nastya. She said it was for Semyon Evseevich. Alexei tensed - this moment was the beginning of a difficult conversation between the spouses. Lyubov Vasilievna tried to get away from the topic, briefly answering that the man had lost his family and now he comes to them to tinker with the children. She is calmer because of this: she works late, and the guys are supervised. However, Ivanov did not like the answer.

Petrushka, sensing something was wrong, turned the conversation to the weather, then gave orders about the next day. They also concerned the father, who urgently needed to register and receive cards. Aleksey suddenly felt shy in front of his early grown-up son.

They ate cabbage soup in silence, as if trying to enjoy quiet family happiness - this is how A. Platonov concludes the story about dinner.

"Return": the content of the night conversation

Lyubov Vasilievna was looking forward to the evening so that she could be alone with her husband. But the conversation didn't work. Awakened Petrushka heard the loud voices of his parents. Aleksey accused his wife of being in touch with Semyon Evseevich, and she tried to explain that there was nothing between them. Lyubov Vasilievna spoke about the difficult life with two small children - Petrushka did not immediately become a housekeeper. The fact that she always thought only of her husband. And only once did she succumb to feelings, when it was already unbearable to endure both the hardships of life and the endless loneliness. But she immediately noticed that the meeting with the instructor of the district committee made her understand how much she lived after that with the hope of his return. Platonov (a summary of the conversation cannot convey all the feelings of the heroine) draws attention to a woman who did not feel guilty, but was also unable to convince her husband of this. The sound of cracked glass on the lamp - Alexei crushed it - made his son intervene in the conversation. He stood up for his mother and told a story about a local peasant Khariton. While he fought, his wife lived with others. When he returned, he was angry at first, and then came up with a story that he also had women. Now they are doing well. Ivanov was embarrassed: "I thought he would say about my Masha ...".

Unexpected insight

What happened in the morning can be called "the real return." Platonov - the summary and the full text of the finale of the story prove this - meant by this word not just the arrival of the hero home.

Waking up, Petrushka saw Nastya. She said that her father took the bag and left. The boy understood everything, grabbed his sister by the hand and ran to the station.

Alexei at this time entered the vestibule of a moving train: he was thinking about Masha. Suddenly Ivanov saw children running after the train. They fell, but rose and again moved forward, now to the crossing. Suddenly, Alexey realized that it was Petrushka and Nastya. It became hot in his chest, and his whole being was filled with "warmth and shudder." An unusual sensation seized the hero. “Before, he felt another life through the barrier of pride and self-interest, and now he suddenly touched her with a bare heart.”

He dropped the bag on the ground and got off the train...

An analysis of Platonov's "Return" makes it possible to understand how difficult was the process of getting used to the peaceful life of yesterday's soldier, who for a long time saw only death and destruction.