A very brief retelling of the story “Makar Chudra”.
The old gypsy Makar Chudra talks with the narrator and thinks aloud about the meaning of life. The flow of his thoughts smoothly turns into a story that the old man managed to see with his own eyes, about Loiko Zobar and Radd.
Many years ago, the nice gypsy Loiko fell in love with a girl named Radda. There is no such beauty as Radda in the whole world, but such a daring and freedom-loving girl cannot be found either.
Above all, Radda valued her honor and independence and broke many men's hearts.
Once, when her native camp arrived in Bukovina and spent the night there, a young man joined them and kept looking at the beautiful Radda. The daring gypsy fell in love with the beauty and she also began to experience reciprocal feelings.
Zobar proposed to his beloved to marry him, but she prefers freedom to any feelings and plans to test Loiko. The girl set a condition: the man must ask for her hand on his knees in front of the whole camp, and he agreed.
But when the time came to fulfill the agreement, Loiko refused to humiliate himself in front of Radda and stabbed her in the chest - the girl died immediately, only after that Loiko fell to his knees in front of her. Radda's father, the old soldier Danilo, avenged his daughter by killing Zobar with the same dagger.
Young and now absolutely free people - Loiko and Radda die and go to another world together.
Having told this story, old Makar Chudra falls asleep, and the narrator cannot sleep for a long time - he thinks for a long time about a pair of proud gypsies.
Makar Chudra - summary of the story
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A summary of the story “Makar Chudra” by Maxim Gorky will help the reader understand how strong the main characters’ love for freedom and independence was, that they were able to overcome their feelings for each other. As a result, this led to a tragedy that unfolded before the eyes of the entire camp.
Main characters
- Loiko Zobar
is a young gypsy who fell in love with the freedom-loving Radda. - Makar Chudra
is a wise old gypsy, a witness to the bloody story that happened between Radda and Zobar. - Radda
is a proud gypsy, the daughter of soldier Danila.
The old gypsy Makar Chudra sat comfortably near the fire. He sipped his pipe and slowly carried on a dialogue with the narrator. The conversation was peaceful. They talked about the meaning of life, about love, about people with whom the gypsy had become disillusioned. They seemed ridiculous to him, seeing nothing beyond their field and dying fools.
During his 58 years, Makar has visited everywhere, even managed to spend time in prison. He warns the writer about the dangers of love, for the one who loves no longer belongs to himself. And to confirm his words, he tells an amazing love story of a gypsy whom he met in Bukovina.
Once upon a time there lived a young gypsy, Loiko Zobar. He was not interested in anything except horses. Fearless and agile. He could steal any horse from the herd. Didn't like money. Could give it to anyone who needed it. One day, fate brought Loiko to a gypsy camp where Radda, the daughter of a simple soldier Danila, lived.
The girl was of divine beauty. She broke the hearts of many men. No matter what money the suitors offered, it was all to no avail. Radda was incorruptible and proud.
Zobar remains a guest in the camp. Like all men, he could not resist Radda’s charms, but attempts to hit on her ended with a blow to the head. The girl was able to stand up for herself, immediately letting the guy know that he was not a match for her. The gypsies fell in love with Loiko. Everyone liked this open and honest guy, except Radda.
One day he sang his favorite song. Everyone appreciated the singing, only the gypsy was not impressed by its performance. Danila wanted to punish his daughter by teaching her a lesson with a whip, but Zobar stood up for the girl. He asks Danila to give his daughter for him. Danila agrees, but tells him to ask her for consent.
Zobar proposes to Radda, but he is ready to take her as his wife on one condition: that she will never contradict him. Radda, taking advantage of the moment while he turned away, deftly threw a whip over his legs and wrapped them around them so that he collapsed as if knocked down.
Zobar could not bear such shame. He runs into the steppe, Makar follows him, afraid that the guy might do something to himself in this state. He sat motionless in one position for a long time, until Radda herself violated his privacy. Seeing her, he pulls out a dagger from its sheath. The desire to kill her was so strong that he could barely restrain himself, but Radda beat him to it, putting a pistol to the head of the would-be groom.
Radda confesses her love to him, but her love for him is not as strong as her love for freedom. She is ready to become his wife if he deigns to bow at her feet and kiss her hand in front of the whole camp, thereby recognizing her seniority. He accepts her terms. They returned to the camp together, hand in hand.
Having fulfilled his promise, Zobar wants to check whether Radda’s heart is as strong as she said. He plunges a knife into her heart. Radda pulls out a knife, trying to stop the bleeding with her hair, but the wound turns out to be fatal. Danilo picks up the knife thrown away by his daughter and plunges it into the back of Zobar, who is kneeling in front of Radda. Zobar dies.
After hearing the story, the writer could not fall asleep for a long time. He looked at the sea and it seemed to him that he saw the proud Radda and Zobar swimming on her heels.
Main characters and their characteristics:
- Makar Chudra is an old gypsy who saw with his own eyes the bloody story that happened to Loiko and Radda.
This hero has his own philosophy of life: he appreciates the fact that he does not depend on anyone and can calmly wander around the world and look at people. A wise old man understands that people don't care about each other.
It is Makar who tells the hero the story about Loiko and Radda, sharing his belief that you should not follow your heart and throw freedom at the feet of a woman.
- Loiko Zobar is a dashing gypsy who earned the respect of everyone who knew him with his fearlessness and rebellion. Valuing his independence, he could easily part with anything: be it a stolen horse or his heart.
Having joined the camp and seeing Radda, the young gypsy immediately fell in love with her, but not more than freedom. Choosing between Radda and will, he chose the latter. Therefore, having killed the girl, he understood that her father would take revenge, but he still chose death over submission to a woman.
- Radda is the daughter of soldier Danila, a daring beauty who has destroyed many hearts with her sharp tongue and unbridled character. She could not exchange her will for marriage and submission to her husband.
Summary of “Makar Chudra”
Romantic night by the sea, a fire is burning, old gypsy Makar Chudra
tells the writer a story about free gypsies.
Makar
to his young interlocutor : “You have chosen a glorious fate for yourself, falcon... go and see, you’ve seen enough, lie down and die - that’s all!”
Makar advises to beware of love, because having fallen in love, a person loses his will. This is confirmed by the story told by Chudra.
“There was once Zobar, a young gypsy, Loiko Zobar. Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovenia knew him.” He was a clever horse thief, many wanted to kill him. He only loved horses, did not value money, and could give it to anyone who needed it. There was a gypsy camp in Bukovina. Danila the soldier, who fought alongside Kossuth, had a daughter, Radda, who was beyond words a beauty.
Radda broke a lot of hearts. One tycoon threw any money at her feet and asked her to marry him, but Radda replied that the eagle had no place in the crow’s nest.
One day Zobar came to the camp. He was handsome: “The mustache lay on his shoulders and mixed with his curls, his eyes burned like clear stars, and his smile was the whole sun. It’s as if he was forged from the same piece of iron as the horse.”
Loiko began to play the violin, and many began to cry. Radda praised Loiko’s violin, he plays well. And he replied that his violin was made from the breast of a young girl, and the strings were twisted from her heart. Radda turned away, saying that people lie when they talk about Zobar’s intelligence.
Loiko marveled at the girl’s sharp tongue. Zobar stayed with Danila, went to bed, and the next morning he came out with a rag tied on his head and said that the horse had killed him. But everyone realized that it was Radda, they thought, isn’t Loiko worth Radda? "Well, I do not! No matter how good the girl is, her soul is narrow and shallow, and even if you hang a pound of gold around her neck, it’s still better than what she is, not to be her!”
The camp lived well at that time. And Loiko is with them. He was as wise as an old man, and he played the violin in a way that made your heart skip a beat. If Loiko had wanted it, people would have given their lives for him, they loved him so much, but Radda didn’t love him. And he loved her deeply. Those around them only looked and knew, “if two stones are rolling towards each other, you cannot stand between them - they will mutilate you.”
Once Zobar sang a song, everyone liked it, only Radda laughed. Danilo wanted to teach her a lesson with a whip. But Loiko did not allow it, he asked her to be given to him as his wife. Danilo agreed: “Yes, take it if you can!” Loiko approached Radda and said that she had captured his heart, that he was taking her as his wife, but she should not contradict his will. “I am a free person and I will live the way I want.” Everyone thought that Radda had resigned herself. She wrapped the whip around Loiko’s legs, pulled, and Zobar fell as if knocked down. And she walked away and lay down on the grass, smiling.
Zobar fled to the steppe, and Makar followed him, no matter what the guy above him did in the heat of the moment. But Loiko only sat motionless for three hours, and then Radda came to him. Loiko wanted to stab her with a knife, but she put a gun to his forehead and said that she had come to make peace, she loved him. And Radda also said that she loves freedom more than Zobara. She promised Loiko hot caresses if he agreed to bow at her feet in front of the whole camp and kiss her right hand, like the eldest. Zobar shouted throughout the steppe, but agreed to Radda’s conditions.
Loiko returned to the camp and told the old men that he had looked into his heart and did not see his former free life there. “Only Radda lives there.” And he decided to fulfill her will, bow at her feet, and kiss her right hand. And he also said that he would check whether Radda had such a strong heart as she boasted.
Before everyone had time to guess, he stuck a knife into her heart up to the hilt. Radda pulled out the knife, covered the wound with her hair and said that she had expected such a death. Danilo picked up the knife that Radda had thrown aside, examined it and stuck it in Loiko’s back, right against his heart. Radda lies, clutching the wound with her hand, and the dying Loiko lies at her feet.
The writer could not sleep. He looked at the sea, and it seemed that he saw the royal Radda, and Loiko Zobar was swimming at her heels. “They both circled in the darkness of the night smoothly and silently, and the handsome Loiko could not keep up with the proud Radda.”
Minor characters and their characteristics:
- Danilo the soldier is an old gypsy who once fought with Kossuth. Radda's father. Similar to his daughter in character and worldview. When Loiko killed Radda, he avenged her with a retaliatory murder.
- The narrator is a character who appears at the beginning and end of the work. Makar Chudra tells him the story of Loiko and Radda, convincing him that above all he should value his freedom. After the story, he cannot sleep: in the darkness he sees Radda and Zobar, who was following on her heels.
- Nur is an old gray-haired gypsy who wept bitterly over the bodies of the murdered young people.
- Nonka is the daughter of Makar Chudra. An arrogant girl of irresistible beauty. Nonka has a contemptuous look and a demanding timbre of her voice.
- The tycoon is an old but handsome “as hell on holiday” man, and also very rich. He offered Radda a wallet full of money for a kiss, but received a decisive refusal. Then the magnate began to ask Danilo for his daughter’s hand in marriage, but the gypsy refused, considering the tycoon to be a bird of lower flight.
Summary of the story “Makar Chudra” in detail.
Author: Maxim Gorky
A cool sea breeze was blowing, the narrator and the old gypsy Makar Chudra sat down by the fire. Makar smokes a pipe and talks about his life, independence and willpower. Makar has seen a lot in his life and visited many places. I sat in prison in Galicia and almost “choked myself with my belt” from melancholy and the feeling of lost freedom.
In the silence of the night, tender and passionate singing is heard. This is sung by Nonka, the daughter of Makar. The gypsy advises his interlocutor not to trust treacherous women and, if possible, to avoid them. Because once you fall in love, you cease to be free. To confirm his words, he tells a story about young and in love, but very independent Loiko and Rudd.
Once upon a time there lived a young and daring gypsy, Loiko Zobar. They knew about him in all gypsy communities. He was fearless, loved nothing more than freedom and horses, which he managed to skillfully steal. He also didn’t attach any value to money - he could easily part with it if he met someone who needed it more.
A decade ago, when this story was just beginning, Chudra’s camp arrived in Bukovina. With them were Danila, a soldier who fought with Kossuth, and his daughter Radda. Words cannot describe how beautiful she was, but at the same time, an incredibly wayward and proud girl who could easily break a heart.
Summary of the story “Makar Chudra” and review for the reader’s diary (M. Gorky)
“Makar Chudra” is the first story of the writer under the pseudonym “Maxim Gorky”. It was published on September 12, 1892 on the spread of the second and third pages of the Tiflis newspaper “Caucasus”. And the creative inspiration of Alexei Peshkov (Maxim Gorky) was a trip in 1891 across Russia from Nizhny Novgorod to the Crimea and the Caucasus. This is how the creative path of a proletarian writer begins. Maxim Gorky will open a new page in the artistic development of Russian literature.
“Makar Chudra” is a story in which the main events are conveyed by the main character in the form of a legend. This legend is told by Makar, an old gypsy. The work itself is small in volume, but the Many-Wise Litrekon offers you an abbreviated story and will try to clearly convey the plot and the main issues of the text. By the way, if you haven’t found an analysis of the story yet, don’t look... After all, it’s already here.
Brief retelling (697 words): The story begins with a description of the picture that the narrator sees in front of him. He felt how the cold sea wind carried its roar through all the coastal bushes, how gusts threw leaves out of the sea and threw them into the fire. An old gypsy, Makar Chudra, sat in front of the narrator. The gypsy talked incessantly, and the falcon (as Makar called the narrator) supported his conversation. Chudra philosophized about life. About the fact that people consider their main task to learn and teach. But the main thing is that no one can - they don’t know how to make other people happy, so all their teachings are in vain. For a gypsy, people are funny, because they see nothing but their work and their calling. For him, those who consider themselves slaves are stupid. Smart people are those who do not think about life, but enjoy it. Makar also talks about how he was in prison in Galicia, and how there he was overcome by thoughts about a boring life.
The gypsy fell silent, and in the silence they heard a song, and the beautiful Nonka, Makar’s daughter, sang it. The gypsy gave advice to the falcon that one should not listen to women and should stay away from them, because a woman’s kiss can kill freedom in a person’s heart. To confirm this, he told a story about a free gypsy and his beloved.
One young gypsy named Loiko Zobar was traveling. He was known in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovenia and throughout the coastal region. Most of all in his life he loved horses and was not afraid of anything. Chudra’s camp wandered around Bukovina ten years ago. Danilo the soldier and Radda, his daughter, wandered with him.
Radda was an extraordinary girl, and even an old rich tycoon wooed her, but she was free and asked:
“If an eagle entered the raven’s nest of her own free will, what would she become?”
One evening they were sitting in a camp by the fire and heard a wonderful singing, and a gypsy came out to them from the darkness. It was Loiko Zobar. Radda praised the singing and asked where he got such a violin. Loiko said that he made his violin from the chest of a young girl, and made strings from her heart. But Radda only said that people lied about Loiko’s intelligence and dexterity.
Loiko spent the night in the camp and in the morning everyone saw him with a bandaged head. The gypsy said that a sleepy horse hit him at night, but everyone already knew that it was Radda who did it. Loiko began to travel with the camp, everyone revered and loved him, only Radda made fun of him. “You wouldn’t fly so high, Loiko, you’ll fall unequally,” Radda said one day when Loiko, at Danila’s request, sang a song, and everyone liked it. And then Zobar threw his hat on the ground and asked Danil to give Radda to him as a wife. The father was not against it, but waited for his daughter’s agreement.
Loiko was a freedom-loving man and told Radda that she had captivated his soul, and he wanted to take her as his wife, but on the condition that she would not contradict his will and let him live the way he wanted. Loiko did not allow Radda to approach her and knocked him down with a belt whip. Zobar rose silently and went into the steppe. Makar decided to follow him.
Loiko sat for a long time by the stream, and Radda came to him, put her hand on his shoulder, and at that moment the young gypsy jumped up sharply and took out his knife, but the girl pointed the pistol and aimed at his forehead. Radda put the gun away and said that she had come to make peace and confessed her love to Loiko. The girl asked to become her “soul and body,” but set the same condition. Loiko had to bow at her feet in front of the whole camp and kiss her right hand. And the young gypsy agreed.
The next evening, everyone gathered around the fire, and Loiko began to say that all night he had been looking for freedom in his heart, but found only love for Radda. And he said that he would bow at her feet. Unexpectedly for everyone, Loiko came up and plunged his curved knife into the girl’s chest. Radda pulled out a knife, threw it aside, covered the wound with a lock of her black hair, smiled and told Loiko that she knew about his action, said goodbye to him and died. Loiko fell to the feet and lips of the dead girl. Radda's father picked up the discarded knife and thrust it into the gypsy's back. So the gypsy and his beloved lay there, killed.
After hearing what he heard, the narrator did not want to sleep. He imagined the proud and incomparable Radda, and behind her little Loiko, who still could not catch up with the girl.
Review (353 words). My opinion about the story “Makar Chudra” is this: this work must be read by all people, because everyone is looking for happiness, but does not know its true price. The author makes you think that happiness does not lie in thinking about life and continuously doing your work, but in avoiding thoughts and seeing life from its different sides.
I also liked the story “Makar Chudra” because its composition is so extraordinary. A story within a story, or rather, “a legend within a story.” In the format of a legend, it is much easier to understand the meaning of the book and the reasoning that the old gypsy shared with the narrator. The main idea of the text is this: it is not material wealth and not imaginary freedom that is life, life is love.
My attitude towards the hero of the story Makar is definitely positive. He is both a student and a teacher for himself. In his travels, he strengthened his character and developed a unique wisdom. But he does not understand that freedom is a relative thing, and that there is no need to force himself to think that love is a voluntary prison. Love is freedom, and, like life, you need to be able to enjoy it. In my opinion, when he advised the narrator to avoid women, he unwittingly violated his own rule: instead of enjoying life, he suggested fear. Fearing passion and avoiding it, a person is no longer free, because he has surrounded himself with prohibitions.
My impression of the work is the same as Makar’s about life: “This is how you need to live: go, go - and that’s all.” The love of two strong heroes makes us think that they received from fate everything they wanted: freedom, pride, and love. Each of us needs to try to squeeze out of each day what he wants to get, otherwise existence is meaningless.
What does the author teach and what should you take away from the story “Makar Chudra”? Because people, in their blind pursuit of wealth and fame, are stupid and ridiculous, and there are few who really understand life as it was intended - pure, passionate and free. In the work, the author shows it in the clash of two characters, in the battle of two strong elements. Life is impossible without sad consequences if people misunderstand its essence. A person needs to strive for love, it is the ruler of life. Love is too strong a feeling: either you obey it, or it will kill you.
Author: Marina Amelina
Briefly about the history of the creation of the work “Makar Chudra”.
Maxim Gorky largely owes the publication of the story “Makar Chudra” to a participant in the revolutionary movement, Alexander Kalyuzhny, whom Alexei Peshkov then met in Tiflis in the summer of 1892.
The future famous writer told the revolutionary many stories that happened to him during his travels, and he offered to write them down. Without hesitation, Peshkov created the work “Makar Chudra”. Having seen the manuscript, Kalyuzhny contacted his journalist acquaintance Tsvetnitsky, and together, the work was published in the Kavkaz newspaper.
More than thirty years later, in a letter to Alexander Kalyuzhny, Gorky noted that it was thanks to the impetus he gave that he had been serving Russian art for decades.
