“Yushka” - a summary of the story by Andrei Platonov

Genre and plot of the work

“Yushka” is a work by the brilliant author Andrei Platonov, the essence of which was to present everyday life with all its manifestations of life, and the title eloquently indicates that the central position in the story is occupied by a person with such a nickname. The genre of “Yushka” is a story. The plot centers on an old man nicknamed Yushka (in slang this means weak or unlucky), a blacksmith who provides work for the central character, and Dasha, an orphan girl whom the main character helped and who became a doctor.

It is quite difficult to fit all the suffering of Efim Dmitrievich (that is the name of the central character) and the main idea of ​​Platonov’s story “Yushka” in a summary for a reader’s diary. But schoolchildren taking this work must be able to correctly compose an abbreviated description. To do this, you need to highlight the main storyline.

The main character, nicknamed Yushka, is an assistant to a local blacksmith with a difficult fate . As a premise, the author decided to tell the character’s life story, talk about his work, and relatives. The climax of the story is very unexpected, because Efim’s life is cut short due to a simple argument with an embittered passerby who is intoxicated. As a denouement, the author tells readers about Yushka’s adopted daughter, who was an orphan.

In his stories, Andrei Platonov does not resort to discussions about extreme situations or extraordinary actions.

The heroes of his works demonstrate simple everyday relationships that allow one to look inside the human soul through the prism of typical situations.

The main problems considered by the writer:

1. people should not take out their anger on other members of society just because they are different;
2. any pain, failures in life, accumulated anger cannot be projected onto a person who is different in appearance and unable to fight back;
3. The wealth of any person is manifested not in beautiful clothes or a fashionable hairstyle, but in his attitude towards people who require compassion.

Then only you can become rich by filling yourself with high moral qualities. And a striking example of this was Yushka, rich in soul, deserving the attention and respect of others. It is these people who need to be valued, protected, and not destroyed.

Essay 5

Yushka appears before the reader in the image of a man who, due to a serious illness, consumption, has aged early.

Outwardly, Yushka was short, thin built, with a sad look and always “wet” eyes. He always wore the same clothes, both in summer and winter. Over time, it has become very worn and almost completely deteriorated. The man was about forty years old, he worked as an assistant in a forge.

Yushka is a modest and kind-hearted person. The small income he received while working at the forge was practically not spent, he took care of it and never spoiled himself. At the forge, Yushka helped carry water, sand and coal, and helped hold iron. The real name of the hero is Efim Dmitrievich. His fellow villagers nicknamed him Yushka.

In the summer, Yushka walked barefoot; instead of tea with sugar, he drank plain water. Children and adults often made fun of him. When they met, the children threw stones or garbage at him. Adults tried to hurt me with offensive words, and sometimes they could hit me. Thus, they took out their aggression and irritability on him. In response, he stood silently and endured all the bullying. Yushka, a modest and kind-hearted person, was not characterized by cruelty and hatred. Unlike his fellow villagers, the man sincerely and wholeheartedly loved everyone and forgave them for bullying and insults. He continued to think that deep down, children and adults sincerely loved and respected him. They just express their feelings in this manner. And they, in turn, constantly mocked him for his naivety, considering the man stupid and a “holy fool.”

Only one person treated him humanely and kindly. It was the blacksmith's daughter, a young girl named Dasha. She always helped him and accompanied him home after another skirmish. But, despite her good and sincere attitude towards Yushka, the girl in her heart, like everyone else, wanted him to die. She wondered why Yushka should live if he had to endure bullying to the end? Yushka, on the contrary, continued to believe in people’s love and consider their behavior to be a manifestation of this feeling.

The villagers couldn’t understand why Yushka didn’t fight them back, even the children? Why does he endure insults, reproaches and blows from adults? The answer was simple - in Yushka’s soul there was no place for anger and hatred, there lived love for everything that surrounds him and boundless kindness.

Yushka loved nature very much. Sometimes he finds a secluded corner somewhere and sits there for a long time, enjoying its sounds, admiring living creatures and countryside landscapes. It was at such moments that Yushka was especially calm, since there was no one nearby who could offend him.

The murder of Yushka did not solve the people’s problems; on the contrary, they became even angrier and more heartless. After all, now there was no one to take out his aggression on. But still, the image of Yushka remained in people’s memory, appearing before his villagers as an orphan girl for whom he collected money and helped to train as a doctor.

She, like Yushka, was a kind and bright person who more than once saved people’s lives from the terrible disease of consumption.

Outline of the story

Despite the fact that the story itself is short and not divided into chapters, it is sometimes quite difficult for children in the 7th grade to read such an emotional work in its entirety. To make it easier for yourself to retell the story or create a summary, you should make a plan in advance highlighting the main ideas.

Conventionally, it can be divided into several parts:

• Portrait of the main character Yushka, a story about his work and the blacksmith.
• Financial situation of Efim Dmitrievich.
• The attitude of children and adults towards the main character, moral and physical pressure.
• Trips every summer on vacation, no one knows where Yushka goes every year for the month.
• The hero’s poor health, which is why he does not go on another trip.
• The tragic death of Efim Dmitrievich.
• Changes in the lives of fellow villagers after the death of an apprentice blacksmith.
• The arrival of Yushka's adopted daughter, who was worried about her father's absence.
• A story that made evil people change, about the kindness of the main character.
• Dasha gets a job as a doctor in the same city where her adoptive father used to live.
• Bringing good to people by Yushka's daughter.

By adhering to each point of such a plan, you can easily write a summary or a brief retelling of the story, compile a report for the reader’s diary, and become imbued with the idea.

Yushka's image

The central character of the story is the local blacksmith's apprentice Efim Dmitrievich, who is colloquially called Yushka. The kind-hearted man looked like an old man, although he was only forty years old. Kind-hearted Efim has always been an example of true, holy, pure love. According to those around him, he behaved extremely strangely, as evidenced by the quote: “He bent down to the ground and kissed the flowers.” And he did this for a reason, he was simply afraid of damaging all living things with his breath, he stroked the tree bark, carefully carried the beetles and butterflies that came his way into the grass, peering straight into their eyes, as if conducting a conversation with insects.

Resting his soul in nature, Yushka forgot that he was suffering from consumption, which turned him from a young man into an old man.

Without all living things, he experiences loneliness, because people cannot accept Efim because of his appearance. But this does not moderate his love for people.

Of particular importance in Yushka’s life is an orphan named Dasha, whom he raised as his own daughter.

She lives in Moscow, where she is studying to become a doctor. He loved his adopted daughter so much that he himself did not drink tea or eat sugar, just so that she could afford it all.

Brief description , analysis of Yushka from Platonov’s story of the same name:

• He has no wife, no children, no friends.
• He has a thin build and short stature.
• Yushka does not have a thick mustache or beard, just separately growing hairs.
• As if the eyes were covered, like a blind man’s, with a white veil.
• Simple clothes, he always wore a simple blouse and old work pants.
• A calm, peaceful voice and good nature in every word sounded from his lips.
• Harmless and little talkative.
• Calmness and equanimity, even if someone tried to offend the main character with words or actions.

Because of his good nature, the main character had to endure constant ridicule . He could be offended not only by an adult, but also by a child who was instilled with contempt for a sick fellow villager. Despite this, Efim does not show aggression towards others; he silently endures insults and beatings.

This further angers the offenders, who appear in the story as children. The main character takes such actions as if it were a manifestation of love for him, not suspecting that next to him is not a friend, but an enemy.

Efim works in a forge, where he goes early in the morning, from where he is the last to return. He has been working here tirelessly for 25 years. But in the eyes of those around him, he looks like a flawed person who has achieved nothing in life; they even scare children, saying that they can become like Yushka if they do not obey. The main character feels happy only when he is away from the city, alone with the grass, rivers and their inhabitants.

Analysis of the work

The plot takes place in the 20th century in a small town near Moscow. If we describe the very brief content of “Yushka”, then the story tells the story of a kind and merciful person who found himself in serving people. He was not angry or offended, but only cared about them.

Summary

Yushka worked as a blacksmith's assistant. He looked exhausted, weak and old, but in fact he was only 40 years old. The man had been sick with consumption for a long time, the disease was eating him up from the inside. The blacksmith's assistant always did his job accurately, was punctual, and one could use him to set watches:

Most adults and children treated the man with disrespect, insulted and humiliated him. Yushka was not offended by them, he was not even angry, he believed that this was how they expressed their love for him. He earned good money, but spent practically nothing. He dressed very poorly and drank water instead of tea. Every summer the man went somewhere, no one knew the specific place. Yushka constantly named different directions. People said that he went to see his daughter.

The man was sick, and every year he got worse. One summer he did not go to his secret place, he was at home. One day the blacksmith's assistant was walking home, he met a man who began to mock him. This time Efim did not remain silent, but said that this world needed him for something. The offender did not appreciate the answer, pushed Yushka, and he collapsed to the ground.

Efim died, all the neighbors came to his funeral, even those who offended him all the time. Now the angry people had no one to take out their anger on; they fought among themselves.

After some time, a girl appeared in the town and began looking for Efim Dmitrievich. No one immediately guessed who they were talking about. Only later did they understand that it was about Yushka. The neighbors mistook the girl for his daughter, but it turned out that she was an orphan who was under the care of the deceased . It was to her that he went every summer and gave her all his earnings. The girl knew about her guardian’s illness, so she studied to be a doctor, but did not have time to cure Efim Dmitrievich, who was close to her.

She stayed to live in this city and got a job in a hospital for consumptives. Following the example of her guardian, she began to selflessly take care of people and help them. She lived the rest of her life in this place. Residents, out of habit, called her Yushkina’s daughter.

Characters and main idea

There are several main characters in the story:

The neighbors are also shown - evil people and negative characters. They were unable to appreciate Yushka’s positive qualities.

The main idea of ​​this work is that strength is not in strong and strong muscles or a rude and angry word, but in a good-natured, noble, compassionate, merciful heart.

Summary

Efim, who worked as an assistant in a forge, was popularly nicknamed Yushka. The weak man looked like an old man, although he had recently turned forty years old. He looked so old because of consumption, which was weakening him more and more every day. He has been working at the forge for so long that the locals set their watches by him. When he goes to work, the adults raise the children. When he goes home, it is time for dinner and sleep for others.

The townspeople offend Yushka , constantly condemn him behind his back, beat him, throw stones and earth at him. But he doesn't get offended by people. Children who try to anger the blacksmith's assistant sometimes think that he is not real, while Efim himself considers such behavior to be an expression of blind love.

He carefully collects all the money he earns, and eats only empty water. Every year in the summer he goes somewhere for a whole month, but none of the locals know where or why. Some suspect that he is visiting his daughter, who is as pitiful and weak as her father himself.

Every year, consumption overcomes the sick man more and more. One summer he stays at home. Walking down the street, Yushka meets a drunk passer-by who hits the man to the quick. He cannot stand it and responds to the slander with a compelling argument that since he was born, it means that someone needs him here too.

Such words do not please the passerby; he pushes the poor fellow in the chest, Efim falls, loses a lot of blood and dies. All the neighbors came running to the funeral of the blacksmith's apprentice, whose body the master found on the street. Now the townspeople have no one to take out their anger and malice on; they begin to miss Yushka.

One day a girl comes to the city from Moscow looking for Efim Dmitrievich. Everyone takes her for the same daughter who introduced herself as Dasha. The girl says that the deceased was not her father, he simply looked after an orphan who was like a daughter to him. Dasha was studying to become a doctor, she was grateful to her guardian, she wanted to cure him, because he deserved not to get sick, but he did not come again, so she had to go in search.

Having learned about the death of her adoptive father, the girl remains in his hometown, where she works as a doctor, and everyone calls her Yushkina’s daughter, although they themselves no longer remember who he was.

Essay: Characteristics of Yushka in the story “Yushka” (+ table)

Yushka is the central character of the story of the same name by A.P. Platonov: “He was short and thin; on his wrinkled face, instead of a mustache and beard, sparse gray hairs grew separately; his eyes were white, like a blind man’s, and there was always moisture in them, like never-cooling tears.” Yushka worked in a forge and had health problems due to difficult working conditions.

The author draws special attention of readers to Yushka’s lifestyle: the man worked for food and lodging, and the blacksmith saved his tiny salary, denying himself the purchase of clothes, tea and sugar. Such an existence, as it might at first seem, made no sense, because Yushka was lonely. However, only at the end of the story do we learn what was guiding the blacksmith.

Old Yushka became an easy target for hooligans and scoundrels who mocked him, pushed him, and beat him. His timidity and humility only fueled the interest of local residents, who did not shy away from offensive words and contempt towards the harmless blacksmith.

Yushka was not angry with the children who threw stones at him, “he believed that the children loved him, that they needed him, only they did not know how to love a person and did not know what to do for love, and therefore they tormented him.”

From the man’s reaction, it becomes clear how supportive and patient he was, how deeply and subtly he felt the souls of people, and how kindly he treated his offenders. Despite the fact that parents set Yushka as an example to their children as a loser and a poor man, the blacksmith had a big, kind heart, hard work and determination.

Platonov, characterizing Yushka, mentions that the main reason for adults’ attacks on the blacksmith was his “otherness,” bliss and detachment:

“Because of Yushka’s meekness, an adult became embittered and beat him more than he wanted at first, and in this evil he forgot his grief for a while.”

Every summer, the man left the city, rested in nature, briefly getting rid of the pain caused by consumption. Local residents saw in this tradition only Yushka’s desire to rest and heal, but the truth was revealed only after the death of the blacksmith. It turned out that the main secret and concern in Yushka’s life was an orphan, whom he placed with a family in Moscow, then placed her in a boarding school and visited her every year, providing for her financially. Savings, living from hand to mouth, humility and submission to fate - Efim Dmitrievich endured all this for the sake of a step-child who needed his help. The man’s sacrifice and dedication showed the true reason for his behavior.

Yushka’s death was expected, because every year the disease exhausted him more and more. He became so weak that he could not even go to his orphan. However, it was not consumption that killed the man, but human cruelty. Once again humiliated by a stranger, Yushka could not stand it, got angry and, perhaps for the first time in his life, answered the offender:

“Why am I bothering you, why am I bothering you!.. I was assigned to live by my parents, I was born by law, the whole world needs me too, just like you, without me too, that means it’s impossible...”

The blacksmith paid for these words with his life, but defended his honor and established his importance in this world.

Yushka is a martyr hero who endured torture for the sake of a defenseless orphan. The hero of Platonov's story was given to people to realize their cruelty and causeless anger. It was the death of the blacksmith that left an imprint on the lives of local residents:

“However, without Yushka, people’s lives have become worse. Now all the anger and mockery remained among the people and wasted among them, because there was no Yushka, who unrequitedly endured all other people’s evil, bitterness, ridicule and ill will.”

Only the orphan girl knew about Yushka’s virtue and loved him with all her heart. He gave her not only a path to the future, but also faith in people and goodness. Thus, Yushka was an important part of the life of everyone who knew him. However, not everyone understood its role and significance.

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Reviews

After reading this story, I realized that you should not offend and call your classmates, for example, those who are obsessed with their studies or wear glasses. We are all equal, each is beautiful in its own way. You need to accept others as they are, so as not to feel guilty later. Yushka's story teaches this perfectly.

Angelina

The child was asked to read this story. To be honest, it’s short, but hard to read. My son and I really empathized with the main character. It’s a pity that everything ended tragically for him, and everyone realized that they were wrong too late. A lot can be rethought thanks to Yushka’s story; it’s definitely worth reading.

Svetlana

A brief description sufficiently conveys all the nuances of the story.
It is written in an accessible and understandable way, highlighting the main ideas, making it possible to create an excellent and detailed retelling. I like it. Paul