About the product
Bunin wrote the story “Easy Breathing” in 1916. In the work, the author touches on the themes of love and death characteristic of the literature of this period. Despite the fact that the story is not written in chapters, the narrative is fragmented and consists of several parts, not arranged in chronological order.
On the website you can read a summary of “Easy Breathing” online and take a test on your knowledge of the work.
The material was prepared jointly with a teacher of the highest category, Kuchmina Nadezhda Vladimirovna.
Experience as a teacher of Russian language and literature - 27 years.
Brief summary of the story “Easy Breathing” for a reader’s diary (I. Bunin)
Bunin's stories are imbued with subtle psychologism, so every little detail is important in them. But human memory is not able to retain all the details from what it read if the summer days of intense reading are already far behind. Students can be helped by the brief summary of “Easy Breathing” for the reading diary from “Literaguru”, as well as an analysis of this work , where everything necessary for compiling a high-quality review is written.
(306 words) A new cross appeared at the county cemetery, towering above a clay embankment. There was a medallion embedded in it, inside of which was a photograph of a smiling high school student, Olya Meshcherskaya. Next, the author tells her story.
As a child, Olya did not stand out among her classmates, but with age she began to acquire vibrant and natural beauty. The entire gymnasium loved Meshcherskaya: she was the best dancer at balls, the junior classes doted on her, Olya was charming and lovely.
When she became a girl, rumors began to circulate about her: supposedly she was flighty and accepted courtship from a huge number of men.
Olya's last winter was sunny and snowy. Meshcherskaya spent time at the skating rink. She was gliding gracefully across the ice when her boss called her. In her office, she began to reproach the student that she was still a high school student and could not wear such a hairstyle or such expensive shoes. Olya behaved openly and sincerely; she saw no sin in feeling like a woman. Moreover, the pupil admitted that the boss’s brother, Alexey Malyutin, an officer and friend of the Meshchersky family, was to blame for this.
A month later, Malyutin shot Olya on the station platform. The officer claimed that Meshcherskaya deceived him by promising to become his wife, but on the platform she allegedly admitted that it was all just a mockery. She also showed him a page from her diary, which talked about their meetings. The narrative in the diary ends with a story about Malyutin’s harassment: he was kind, tried to kiss Olya through the scarf with which she covered herself from embarrassment. The heroine admitted in her diary that she could not survive this.
The cool lady who scolded the girl in her office visits her student's grave. Her brother, warrant officer Malyutin, was killed near Mukden. She goes to the cemetery every holiday and thinks with hope about Olya Meshcherskaya. She often recalls an accidentally overheard dialogue between Olya and her friend: Meshcherskaya read in one of her father’s books that a woman should not only have beauty and grace, but also easy breathing. “But I have it,” said Olya.
Author: Semyon Karelin
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Other characters
- Cossack officer - shot Olya because of unhappy love, “ugly and plebeian in appearance.”
- Cool lady Olya Meshcherskaya
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A very brief summary of “Easy Breathing”
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Analysis “Easy Breathing” Bunin
Summary of the story “Easy Breathing” in detail
In the city cemetery, a fresh grave stands out sharply, on which a heavy oak cross is installed. On the cross there is a medallion with a photograph of a lovely girl - Olya Meshcherskaya.
- Summary of Bunin's story “Easy Breathing”
Since childhood, Olya had a carefree disposition and was one of the most playful and rebellious schoolchildren. By the age of fifteen, the girl’s unprecedented beauty became noticeable. Olya was always the center of attention: she danced a lot, skated, and was courted at balls.
In her senior year, Olya became even more active, “going completely crazy with fun.” The head of the gymnasium constantly made comments to her, which the girl completely ignored.
One day, the boss once again called Olya into her office to reprimand her, as usual. The reproaches related to the schoolgirl’s appearance: her “adult” hairstyle, expensive jewelry and clothes.
Suddenly, Olya made a shocking confession: she looks like this because she is already a woman due to the fault of her boss’s brother, officer Alexei Mikhailovich Malyutin.
A month later, a murder occurred at the station: Malyutin shot a girl in front of many people. During the investigation, he stated that Olya herself lured him by promising to get married. Before Alexei Mikhailovich left for Novocherkassk, the schoolgirl showed him a diary in which she did not hide her disgust for her seducer. This is how the officer explained his terrible act.
The diary actually described in detail the day of Olya’s “fall”. She was alone in the house when Malyutin came to visit her father. The portly, handsome man made a great impression on the girl, who quietly yielded to his calculated courtship. In conclusion, Olya admitted that after what happened she felt only deep shame and disgust.
Her cool lady comes to Olya Meshcherskaya’s grave every Sunday. This woman sits for a long time opposite the oak cross and remembers the beautiful schoolgirl who became the object of her dreamy worship. The teacher especially remembered Olya’s naive reasoning about the essence of female beauty and its main distinguishing feature - “easy breathing.”
Summary
“In the cemetery, over a fresh clay mound, there is a new oak cross.” Embedded in the cross is a convex porcelain medallion with a photographic portrait of high school student Olya Meshcherskaya “with joyful, amazingly lively eyes.”
As a girl, Olya did not stand out among other schoolchildren; she was “capable, but playful and very careless about the instructions” of the class lady. But then the girl began to develop and “bloom.” At the age of 14, “with a thin waist and slender legs, her breasts and curves were already well defined.” “At fifteen she was already considered a beauty.” Unlike her prim girlfriends, Olya “wasn’t afraid—no ink stains on her fingers, no flushed face, no disheveled hair.” Without any effort, “grace, elegance, dexterity, and the clear sparkle of her eyes” came to her.
Olya danced the best at balls, skated, was the most looked after at balls, and was loved most by the junior classes. “Unnoticedly she became a girl,” and there were even rumors about her frivolity.
“Olya Meshcherskaya went completely crazy with fun during her last winter, as they said in the gymnasium.” One day, during a big break, the boss called the girl over and reprimanded her. The woman noted that Olya is no longer a girl, but not yet a woman, so she shouldn’t wear a “woman’s hairstyle,” expensive combs and shoes. “Without losing simplicity and calm,” Meshcherskaya replied that the madame was mistaken: she was already a woman, and the father’s friend and neighbor, the boss’s brother Alexei Mikhailovich Malyutin, was to blame for this - “this happened last summer in the village.”
“And a month after this conversation,” a Cossack officer shot Olya “on the station platform, among a large crowd of people.” And Olya’s confession, which stunned the boss, was confirmed. “The officer told the judicial investigator that Meshcherskaya lured him, was close to him, vowed to be his wife,” and at the station she said that she did not love him and “gave him to read that page of the diary that talked about Malyutin.”
“On the tenth of July last year,” Olya wrote in her diary: “Everyone left for the city, I was left alone. <…> Alexey Mikhailovich arrived. <…> He stayed because it was raining. <…> He regretted that he didn’t find dad, he was very animated and behaved like a gentleman with me, he joked a lot that he had been in love with me for a long time. <…> He is fifty-six years old, but he is still very handsome and always well dressed. <…> Over tea we sat on the glass veranda, he smoked, then moved to me, began again to say some pleasantries, then examined and kissed my hand. I covered my face with a silk scarf, and he kissed me on the lips through the scarf several times... I don’t understand how this could happen, I’m crazy, I never thought I was like this! Now I have only one way out... I feel such disgust for him that I can’t get over it!..”
Every Sunday, after mass, a little woman in mourning comes to the grave of Olya Meshcherskaya - a cool lady girl. Olya became the subject of “her persistent thoughts and feelings.” Sitting at the grave, the woman remembers the pale face of the girl in the coffin and a conversation she accidentally overheard: Meshcherskaya told her friend about what she read in her father’s book, that the main thing in a woman is “light breathing” and that she, Olya, has it.
“Now this light breath has dispersed again into the world, into this cloudy sky, into this cold spring wind.”
Summary of the story “Easy Breathing”
Bunin describes a cemetery where an oak cross stands on a recently dug grave. Attached to the cross is a large porcelain medallion depicting a young beautiful girl. Her face is striking, especially her amazing lively eyes. This is a portrait of high school student Olya Meshcherskaya.
Olya was one of the rich high school girls: carefree, active, cheerful. In the first years of her stay at the gymnasium, she did not stand out in any way from the general gray crowd of girls. The moment came when the girl began to blossom. At the age of 15, her figure acquired feminine contours, Olya transformed into a beauty. Her attractive appearance was combined with sophistication and grace, and her bright sparkling eyes stood out. She didn't mind if her hands got dirty with ink or her hair got messed up. The girl danced beautifully, felt confident while skating, and was natural in all her manifestations.
Olya did not have a particularly flattering reputation. Those around her said that she was frivolous and could not imagine her life without admirers. One of the high school students who was not indifferent to her could not stand her whims and inconstancy. Despite the fact that Ole liked him, the young man wanted to commit suicide. That winter, which turned out to be the last in Olya’s life, she became even more active. At the gymnasium they said that Olya was simply going crazy, being in constant fun. Wherever she appeared, she looked the most carefree and cheerful.
One day, when she was playing noisily with girls from elementary school, she was called to the headmistress. Olya’s facial expression didn’t even change. The girl’s eyes were still shining as she headed to her mentor’s office.
The gray-haired boss sat under the royal portrait with knitting in her hands. She expressed her indignation to Olya about her liberated behavior, saying that she was already tired of making comments to her. She said that she did not want to repeat what she had previously explained to Olga.
The schoolgirl silently waited for what the boss would say next. She looked at the familiar office, which she really liked. The boss accused Olya of wearing expensive shoes and combs and a woman’s hairstyle. Olya didn’t see it as her fault that she had good hair. The boss reminded Meshcherskaya that she was still a high school student, and not a woman at all. Olya objected to her, saying that last summer she became a woman. And the culprit of this situation is her father’s friend and the brother of the boss herself.
After this meeting with the boss, a month later, an ugly Cossack officer on the station platform shot Olga Meshcherskaya. At the trial, the officer who killed the girl testified that the schoolgirl seduced him, entered into an intimate relationship with him, and promised to become his wife. At the station, seeing off the officer, she retracted her words and said that she did not have any feelings for him.
The girl gave him an entry from the diary to read. After reading it, he immediately shot her. Olya wrote her impressions of intimacy with the officer. In the fateful lines from Olga's notes, it turned out that at the beginning of the meeting she liked to communicate with him and she found him handsome. Despite this, she does not love the officer at all and will never marry him. The description ended with the words that she felt disgust for him, and so strong that she could not survive this state.
Now Olya Meshcherskaya’s grave is regularly visited by a cool lady. She experiences conflicting feelings looking at the cross, the wreath and Olya’s clear, lively eyes. She would give a lot not to see these wreaths, but deep down the classy lady feels happiness. A woman constantly lives some kind of dream, an invention. At first, her brother was such an invention, to whom she devoted all her strength, her life. Her brother died and now Olya Meshcherskaya is the subject of her constant thoughts.
The cool lady recalls Olya’s words that she once heard. There the girl told her friend that the most important thing for a woman is easy breathing. And Olya believed that she had this light breathing.
