4.1
Average rating: 4.1
Total ratings received: 537.
4.1
Average rating: 4.1
Total ratings received: 537.
The construction of a new hydroelectric power station on the Angara began, and many villages standing in its path were supposed to disappear from the face of the earth. This is the government's decision. Valentin Rasputin wrote his work about how the old-timers living in these villages feel about this. How a person behaves in such situations, what moral values prevail in him, will be shown by an analysis of the work. This material can be used in literature lessons in 11th grade.
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 Analysis
Year of writing - 1976
History of creation - Valentin Rasputin, as a writer writing about the village, himself born and raised in a Siberian village, felt great concern for the future of disappearing settlements, for the preservation of ancient traditions. When the construction of a hydroelectric power station began on the Angara and small villages began to be destroyed, the writer could not stay away and wrote “Farewell to Matera.”
Topic : Extinction of the village, connection between generations, conscience, family relationships.
Composition - The story is built in the form of dialogues and memories of residents. There is an acquaintance with the main character Daria and the village residents. The entire village lives in anticipation of the move, they begin to burn houses and transport residents.
Genre – Story.
Direction – Realism.
Valentin Rasputin "Farewell to Matera"
Village prose. For some, this phrase will cause boredom, a feeling of something simple, rude and ordinary. For others, these words will make their heart ache, smell like freshly cut grass, and make them want to call their parents...
Maybe I'm getting old, because for five years, or maybe longer, I began to classify myself in the second category. Or maybe I'm just lucky with books. The very ones that I assign in my memory a place where they are adjacent to my beloved Teachers.
“Farewell to Matera” is not just a story, it is a small life lived in three days for me and in a couple of months for the heroes of this story.
In the distant 60s, a hydroelectric power station was built on the Angara River. This means that the small village on the island of Matera will soon be flooded. A bunch of old people must leave their very small homeland in the shortest possible time. That's it, the whole plot. But there is so much drama, feelings, hopes behind it: justified and not, how many looks back and into tomorrow, how many destinies it contains, both different and so identical.
The story has a very apt title, “Farewell...”. This is truly goodbye. When you part forever with something or someone close, you remember what was good, what was bad, and think about what awaits you soon. Here too, Daria Pinigina, perhaps the main character of the story, has her whole life running before her eyes. No, not in five seconds, like before death, but in a couple of months... “A long goodbye means extra tears” - that’s what people seem to say. There will be a lot of tears. Stealthily, sobbing, dry, in a stream, from love, from anger, from powerlessness... Choose. And it will not be the heroes of the book who will cry, but you and me, the readers. The residents of Matera are stronger than us, they have no choice, but we still have to do it more than once! The book, once you pick it up, will not leave you indifferent. It will sting in the most unprotected places. According to the closest thing that a person has. What could be more valuable to him than his family and home? Well, no matter how unlucky the family is, and no matter how dilapidated the house is, it is yours, it is your soul. And this soul, Valentin Rasputin, turns us inside out.
We got to the Author. To say that a book is written in good language means simply reporting point by point in a review. No, it is written in magnificent, intoxicating and so vivid words that you want to say them out loud. I wanted to give some beautiful quote in this part of the review. But this is impossible, the eye clings to the entire text, it is so concentrated in the author’s and folk wisdom.
The characters are shamelessly ingrained in the memory and seem familiar for a long time. But this is not surprising, because they, every single one, are real, bright, whole.
If you are an amateur in great literature like me, then reading “Farewell to Matera”, you might think that Rasputin was about 120 years old when he wrote this story. But if we look at the Author’s bibliography, we will see that he wrote it at the age of 30 (!)
How?! Tell me how?! A person who has lived in the world for only 30 years can write as if he had lived at least two hundred lives?!
Village prose in Great Literature, “Farewell to Matera.” Don't miss it and read it. Your world will either change, or, I really want this, it will get back on its feet even stronger.
At the end of the review, however, I can’t resist and attach a quote:
“...about people, I saw that they were small. No matter how they are attached, they are small. I feel sorry for them. You don’t feel sorry for yourself, that’s because you’re young. Strength plays in you, you think that you are strong, you can do anything. No, man. I don’t know such a person that I wouldn’t feel sorry for him. Whether he likes seven spans in his forehead. From afar it seems like: well, he’s not afraid of anything, he’ll overcome the devil himself... he has such ambition... But if you look closer: he’s the same as everyone else, no better..."
History of creation
The analysis of the work “Farewell to Matera” begins with the history of its creation.
In the 1960s, construction began on the Bratsk hydroelectric power station. Residents of small villages had to move to other places, and the villages themselves were subject to flooding.
The writer based the plot on a real story when, as a result of construction, residents left their homes, which turned out to be a very difficult ordeal for them. The year the story was written is 1976, a time of decline and destruction of Soviet villages, unpromising for the state.
Small settlements that were recognized by the state as unpromising were simply destroyed, the state thought more globally, no one thought about the broken destinies of people, before whose eyes the connection between generations was destroyed, the traditions of peasant life were destroyed.
Prose writers writing about villages sounded the alarm, one of these writers was Valentin Rasputin.
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The main characters of "Farewell to Matera"
Farewell to Matera: the history of the creation of the work
The work written by Valentin Grigorievich Rasputin takes readers to the middle of the last century. “Farewell to Matera” describes the fate and experiences of the residents of the village of Matera, located on an island in the Angara River. Due to the upcoming global construction of a hydroelectric power station, local authorities decided to flood a small village and transport the people to a nearby town.
Mostly elderly people live in Matera and parting with their small homeland is very difficult for them. The old people believe that by changing their place of residence, they will betray their ancestors buried on this land. The author describes how one of the main characters, Daria Pinigina, whitewashes her hut, knowing full well that the home will be destroyed in a few days.
Other characters - an elderly married couple Yegor and Nastasya - still move to the city. A few days later the man dies, unable to bear the separation from his homeland. His wife moves to Matera again to spend the rest of her days in her native land.
A small number of local youth, on the contrary, support the idea of resettlement. They believe that this will give them new opportunities and help them become popular. Young people do not feel connected to the land and do not understand their grandparents.
From the first lines of the work, one is struck by how realistically the author describes the emotions and experiences of the characters. In addition, it depicts in detail the culture, traditions and life of the villagers. It is not surprising, because the story “Farewell to Matera” is largely autobiographical. The history of its creation is connected with a similar situation experienced by Rasputin in childhood. The writer himself, together with his parents, was forced to leave the village in which he was born and lived. This was also due to the construction of the Bratsk hydroelectric power station on the territory of Atamanovka, the birthplace of Valentin Grigorievich.
The period of creation of the work (1976) coincides with the peak of industrialization of the Soviet Union. It was then that the authorities set out to achieve the technological progress of the state. In this regard, villages and small towns were massively destroyed, residents were relocated to urban conditions, regardless of their desire. Before creating his work, Rasputin visited the region, which was similarly cleared for the Ust-Islim reservoir. Soviet journalist Boris Rotenfeld accompanied him on the trip. Based on the results of the trip, Rothenfeld created a short essay and published it in a local newspaper. He managed to find out how much money was allocated for the creation of the reservoir, as well as what conditions the authorities provided to the residents of the flooded lands. In his work, the journalist comes to the disappointing conclusion that people are unhappy with the new houses, since the houses are built on clayey terrain. In addition, the villagers miss their native land, where they were born and lived for many years.
It was this essay by Boris Rotenfeld that formed the basis of “Farewell to Matera.” Rasputin weeded out information that was unnecessary, in his opinion, focusing on human experiences. It is possible that the main characters of the work had real prototypes, since Rasputin, during a trip with a journalist, actively participated in conversations with local residents, showing genuine interest and sympathy for their experiences.
In addition to internal human torment, the author of the work also mentions the historical events that took place in that area: the civil war, civil strife among the Cossacks. It is likely that these episodes also made a strong impression on Rasputin and pushed him to create the work.
The history of the creation of “Farewell to Matera” is closely connected with the autobiography of the author. Rasputin describes events in which he was also once a participant. He endows the characters with his own experiences and emotions that he experienced at the moment of parting with his small homeland. In addition, he adds characteristics of real people with whom he talked during a trip to flooded areas. Thus, Valentin Grigorievich draws public attention to the troubles of ordinary people who find themselves victims of technological progress and industrialization.
Subject
The theme of Rasputin’s story “Farewell to Matera” is the degeneration of villages, which includes moral issues. The writer describes how people behave in a difficult situation: who remains human and who turns into a “petrusha”.
The author touches on
the problems of intergenerational relationships , human conscience, and the eternal search for the meaning of life.
Matera - a small village - should be flooded. The residents know about this, but while everything is still going on as before, the heroes of the story hope for something: suddenly the situation will change and everything will go as before and they will remain living on their land.
The turning point in the minds of the old-timers begins when they learn that strangers are destroying the village cemetery where relatives and friends are buried. Now it becomes clear to the natives that nothing can be changed or corrected.
There comes a turning point in the morality of every person. Young people are glad to leave the remote village; they want a new, city life. There is nothing sacred in them; young people burn down their homes without regret, just to quickly move to new apartments.
Old men and women have a different attitude towards such a turning point in their lives. For them, everything here is theirs, dear. The remains of people close to them rest in the cemetery. Old people feel like traitors to the deceased. They feel guilty for failing to preserve the final resting place of their parents. The old people consider the desecration of the village churchyard to be blasphemy; they rush to its defense.
The high idea of morality touched upon by the author of the story determines the spiritual purity of these people. An example of this: in order to get money, Petrukha Zotov burns down her house, abandoning her mother to the neighbors, and Daria, the main character, cleans her house before leaving, as if before a big holiday. She whitewashes the ceiling and walls, cleans and washes it. By this she shows her respect and respect for the house, which has been her protection all her life, in which she lived her entire long life.
It’s hard for old people to say goodbye to their past; their roots are rooted in this land. Therefore, old Egor, who moved to the city, lost peace and sleep, lost his connection with the past and could not stand it, dying in the first weeks after the move.
Young people strive for the future, dream of a new, happy life and easily part with their native places, where nothing holds them.
Analysis of the story “Farewell to Matera” by Rasputin V.G.
"Farewell to Matera"
The plot of the story is based on V.G. Rasputin's "Farewell to Matera" is a true story. During the construction of the hydroelectric power station on the Angara, the surrounding villages were flooded. Relocation has become a painful experience for residents of flooded villages.
The work opens with a poetic picture describing the beginning of a stormy ice drift on the Angara. The author emphasizes the cyclical nature of this action: this happened every year. But at the same time, V.G. Rasputin also shows the unusualness of this spring: the village “withered like a felled tree, became rooted, went off its usual course.” There were rumors about the impending flooding of Matera. The master's hand weakened: residents stopped repairing houses and tidying up their huts. Only the old people who remained in it retained the “living spirit” until the end of the village’s existence.
V.G. Rasputin spares no effort to provide a colorful description of the way of village life that has developed over the years. Matera is located on an island. Almost all connections with the mainland, with the rest of the world, lie through water. However, the image of running water in Rasputin’s narrative also has a different meaning. This is a symbol of time: “And just as there seems to be no end to the running water, there is no end to the village.” For three hundred years the village lived this measured, everyday life. Generations have changed. Huts were built, completed and re-erected. Life in Matera was so isolated that even the villages being built somewhere on the right bank of the river seemed to the residents to be the end of the world. And no one believes that one of the old women, Sima, once saw Moscow, although she received the nickname Moskovishna for her stories.
From the general description of village life by V.G. Rasputin moves on to the fate of its inhabitants. All of them, with a certain individualization, are somewhat similar: there is no carefree happiness in them, but only hard work around the house, instability and rare everyday joys dominate (like the visit of his son and daughter-in-law once a week to the old woman Daria).
The only real outlet in life for these people
- a feeling of the grace of one’s native land. Before the forced departure, the air of the homeland becomes even more healing. Moving is compared to death: after all, people move away in all directions, breaking ties not only with their previous household, but also with each other: “I will die there in one week of melancholy. In the middle of strangers! Who replants an old tree?!” - Nastasya complains to Daria. Pouring a fourth glass of tea for her friend, she claims that in the city apartment where Nastasya will live, there is no tea: “Just not dry. No bite. A watering hole, and that’s all.” V.G. Rasputin shows in detail and convincingly how difficult it is for a person who has lived in one place all his life to tear himself away from his roots, from his origins, to leave his home, to leave the graves of loved ones to be flooded.
The scene of the destruction of the cemetery is one of the most tragic pages of the story. The old, weakening Daria, defending the tombstones, transforms and with a stick fearlessly rushes at a hefty, bear-like man in a canvas jacket, promising him all the punishments in the world. Outraged residents wanted to arrange lynching for the grave robbers: throw them into the Angara. However, it turned out that they arrived on instructions from the sanitary and epidemiological station. The implementation of a special resolution on sanitary cleaning of the entire reservoir bed turns out to be more important for the authorities than the mental suffering of the residents.
Saying goodbye to the graves of her relatives, Daria recalls their instructions: “...Live, Daria, live well. For better or worse, live, that’s what you have to live for.”
Sad thoughts about saying goodbye to their homeland alternate in the conversations of village residents with discussions about modern life in general. Old people rich in worldly wisdom notice unnecessary vain haste: “Everyone is running headlong forward. They’re already out of breath, stumbling at every step - no, they’re running.” Moreover, the sharpness of perception of such a concept as conscience goes away. Previously, people's lives passed in plain sight, and those who forgot about their conscience could be pulled back. However, the most difficult and painful experiences in the heart of the main character Daria are associated with the understanding of such a concept as old age: the strength is gone, and the acquired life experience is, in fact, of no use to anyone. “Now they bring fertilizer for the fields from the city, all science is taken from books, songs are memorized on the radio,” she complains. Daria comes to the conclusion that old age brings nothing to a person except inconvenience and torment: “It was worth living a long and toll-laden life to finally admit to herself: she didn’t understand anything about it.” The only thing Daria managed to do in her life was give birth to children. She buried three, and the remaining three lived with their families. So Daria gradually discovers for herself the basic meaning of human life: “God gave you to live, so that you do your job, leave the guys and go to earth...”.
When moving, things that were once indispensable in a peasant household become unnecessary. Nastasya sadly leaves “a very good trough.” The image of an abandoned hut by V.G. Rasputina becomes animated: the walls become blind, as if the hut also suffers from separation from its inhabitants. “It was inconvenient to sit in an empty, ruined hut; it was guilty and bitter to sit in a hut that was left to die,” writes V.G. Rasputin.
Nastasya also leaves a cat that has run away somewhere in Matera, hoping that she will pick it up when she comes to dig potatoes.
The residents of Matera understand the inevitability of losing their home during a fire, when the unique Petrukha hut burns down, which they wanted to preserve and take to the museum as a monument of wooden architecture. Looking at the burning hut, everyone understands that the same destruction awaits his house, since before the flooding of the village all the huts will be burned.
It is symbolic that the inhabitants of Matera, which is being abandoned, are moving to a village that was not built like a human being. The mismanagement with which huge amounts of money are spent hurts the soul of the writer. Fertile lands will be flooded, and in the village built on the northern slope of the hill, on stones and clay, nothing will grow. In this urban village, Daria's son Pavel feels like a lodger. V.G. Rasputin here raises the theme of confrontation between city and countryside, which is characteristic of rural prose in general. There was a time when Pavel wanted to move to Irkutsk, but he realized that those who grew up in the village had nothing to do there. It is noteworthy that Pavel’s son Andrei has a different assessment of the idea of \u200b\u200bflooding Matera. After all, hydroelectric power plants are built for a large number of people. This is an important economic project, for the sake of which we need to rebuild, and not hold on to the old. Andrei agrees to move the graves only out of respect for his grandmother. Such a thought would not have even occurred to him himself.
The symbol of the ever-approaching flooding in the story is the rain, which is increasingly replacing descriptions of sunny weather. However, Daria understands that the sun will shine in the sky even without Matera: “If they stop the Angara, time will not stop, and what seemed like one movement will fall apart. If Matera goes under the water, the sky will still shine and celebrate a clear day and a clear night.”
Daria remains with her native Matera until the very end. She bitterly complains that she could not, did not have time to transport her parents’ graves, she whitewashes and touchingly tidies up the hut, as if dressing up a deceased person, seeing him off on his last journey.
The reader must decide for himself whose position is closer to him: the old woman Daria or her grandson Andrei, a man of the new era. The author’s sympathies are clearly on the side of the indigenous inhabitants of Matera.
The very name of the village of Matera and the image of the old woman Daria actualize the female maternal principle. This is a kind of root of life that a person cuts under himself.
Composition
From the first lines of the story, acquaintance with the village of Matera, located on the island of the same name, begins. There is an acquaintance with the main character, a real keeper of old traditions.
The plot of the story begins . Everyone lives in anticipation of saying goodbye to their native village. The terrible climax is the destruction of the cemetery. It is here that a person’s moral values are clarified. Daria believes that only people who have no conscience are capable of such blasphemous actions. She condemns young people who are ready to easily leave their homes. She sacredly preserves and honors the memory of her ancestors. In her speech, the writer puts the words that the one who has lost his memory, betrayed his past, has no life.
The denouement of the story is also sad , where Pavel, Daria’s son, realizes the wrongness of such a decision. He begins to understand that a person uprooted from his native land against his will, in another place, no matter how good he may be, will only be a lodger.
Genre
The genre of the work “Farewell to Matera” is a story. The story “Farewell to Matera” belongs to such a layer of literature as “village prose”. This story can also be called a parable, filled with philosophical content of a realistic direction. Village prose included a description of the life and everyday life of ordinary villagers. It described people’s pressing problems and their simple requests. At the same time, the writers raised huge problems of preserving old traditions, relating to the memory of the past, the connection of generations.
