“Warm Bread”, analysis of Paustovsky’s fairy tale

History of creation

The fairy tale was written in 1945, but it was not yet timely. It is believed that “The Thaw” as a metaphor for the coming changes in the country after the death of Stalin (in March 1953) was introduced into use by Ilya Ehrenburg, whose story of the same name was published in the May issue of the magazine “Znamya” for 1954. But the children's magazine "Murzilka" greeted this first year without a dictator with the publication of Paustovsky's fairy tale "Warm Bread" (in No. 1), in which this same metaphor, or rather allegory, is clearly and unequivocally developed by the author.

Literary direction and genre

The realistic fairy tale-parable is somewhat reminiscent of experiments of the same kind by the late L.N. Tolstoy. The element of fantasy inherent in an ordinary fairy tale is reduced to a minimum, and even this minimum can be interpreted as imaginary by the characters. So the magpie imagines and boasts (which, however, is fantastic in itself) that it was she who agreed with the warm south wind, while everyone believes that the warmth has returned thanks to Filka’s repentance. However, upon mature reflection, the reader (but, of course, not “Murzilka”) should realize that in a sharp cold snap and then an equally sharp warming there is nothing unusual, much less fantastic for the Russian winter. And Filka’s repentance may have the same price as Filka’s letter. However, the father of this phraseological unit was, again, the bloody dictator - Ivan the Terrible...

Plot and composition

The action takes place in the very year in which the fairy tale was written. The Soviet army, advancing quickly, leaves behind dead and wounded. In our case, “just” a black horse wounded in the leg. The peasants cured the horse. In the post-war devastation, they themselves are starving, but the horse is considered “public, and everyone considered it their duty to feed it. In addition, the horse is wounded, suffered from the enemy.” This is the exposition of the fairy tale .

The horse knocked on the gate, and no one refused him meager food, until he knocked on Filka’s door, who had cruelly offended him. This is the plot : the offended horse “neighed pitifully, protractedly, waved his tail” - and everything drowned in a blizzard, and after the blizzard an unprecedented frost set in.

The development of the action is to establish the cause of universal evil on a village scale and, according to the genre laws of the fairy tale, defeat it. To do this, a number of conditions must be met:

Know history and be willing to learn from other people's historical mistakes.
Don’t let your heart freeze—preserve your heart’s ability to repent.
Having admitted a mistake, immediately begin to act, do everything possible to correct the mistake.
And only after that, sincerely ask the offended for forgiveness.

By observing all these conditions, Filka deserved his catharsis, his tears of reconciliation, forgiveness and happiness - the climax , which happily coincided with the denouement .

Option No. 2

The story by K. G. Paustovsky “Warm Bread” is a wonderful work for both children and adults. It teaches us to be responsive, kind, selfless. The writer clearly shows that not only loved ones, but also people around us, strangers to us, should always be helped.

Paustovsky tells about one incident and the life of villagers. During the war, a cavalry detachment wounded a horse. He, abandoned and hungry, began to go from house to house and ask people for food. One day he approached the house of the harmful, rude boy Filka. Despite the fact that the child had warm, tasty bread in the house, he became greedy and decided to mock the poor horse: he threw a small piece of bread into the snow and hit the animal. And after that, misfortune struck the village - a terrible cold, because of which all the inhabitants began to starve.

The writer clearly depicts that a person must be responsible for his every action. This is how Filka paid: because of him, the entire village almost died from the cold, including his family. Therefore, you should always think about the consequences before offending anyone. But Paustovsky also gives his hero a chance to reform. In the end, Filka begins to realize that he acted very badly and decided to fix everything. He went to Pankrat, the miller, who sheltered the hungry horse. Pankrat advised him to apologize to everyone he had offended and to do some good deed. And Filka did not miss the opportunity: together with his friends, he broke the ice on the river and let water flow through the mill to make it work. And then the most delicious, warm bread appeared in the village, which saved all the people from starvation.

Thus, in his story, Paustovsky proves that every person, sooner or later, must pay for his bad deeds. But at the same time, he is sure: each of us has our own correction. It's never too late for us to apologize to those we have offended, do good deeds and help our neighbors!

Fairy tale heroes

Unlike an ordinary folk tale, there are no negative heroes here, and the battlefield of good and evil is the human soul. Filka, nicknamed Nu You, is “not an evil person,” the miller Pankrat, the bearer of common village wisdom and morality, rightly concludes the tale. The power of evil (frost) and the power of good (warm wind) are elements. But people have the power to both drive away these elements and summon them, just as Filka paradoxically called upon evil with his eternal rejection, his eternal “well, you.” Pankrat does not teach or educate Filka: he gives him an hour and a quarter to independently search for a way out of the current situation, and the boy himself finds this way out.

The “extras” of the story are “children and old people,” which is natural: adults were in the war or died, and the connection between generations needs to be restored through their heads, it is necessary to return old village values to the consciousness of the new generation, without which it will not survive - everything will freeze.

A charming image of a black horse - trusting, but also touchy; the magpie, which somewhat exaggerated its own role in this whole story - all these intelligent animals, familiar to fairy tales, are in fact very unusual and capable of arousing deep interest in both young and adult readers. However, for the latter, these are also allegories, as is clearly indicated by the “double” of the wounded horse - a wounded soldier of the Russian-Turkish war, because of whom the same severe frost occurred the historically last time.

This last time is remembered by Filka’s grandmother, who was not even properly described in the fairy tale, and this is not necessary. The image of the grandmother is purely functional - it is a historical memory, without which people cannot survive. Apparently, there was the time before last, and the time before that, etc. - Grandma no longer remembers this. But since everything repeats itself, the minimum historical memory necessary for survival is the immediate past, those conventional “one hundred years ago” that Filka’s grandmother speaks of.

Author: K. G. Paustovsky
Product: Warm bread
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How often in life we hurt others without thinking. How much can one kind word, one compassionate deed save? Perhaps it was precisely this idea that Paustovsky wanted to convey to the reader with the story “Warm Bread.”

The main character of the story, Filka, nicknamed “You!”, is a boy with a very difficult character. Filka is distrustful, intractable, and rude to everyone, even to his old grandmother. For the time being, he gets away with his rudeness, but only until the boy offended the wounded horse, the favorite of the entire village.

The horse was wounded in the war, worked a lot, and everyone fed him as much as they could. However, Filka treated the horse rudely and unkindly, hitting the poor animal on the lips when the horse reached for Filka’s bread. Magical forces punished the evil boy, and with him the entire village: in the middle of the warm spring that had just begun, a severe frost fell. The river froze, it became impossible to run the mill, and for the village this threatens real famine, because the residents’ supplies of flour have come to an end.

Nature responded to people's anger and callousness! People are perplexed why such punishment befell them, only Filka knows that he is to blame, he offended an innocent animal. How to correct the mistake, how to return heat to the village? The boy understands that he is small and weak to fight against the fierce elements, but he has no choice. Filka decides that he must break the ice and get to the water to start the mill.

Neighborhood kids come to the boy’s aid, and there are both old men and women. Nature took pity on the villagers: the closer they get to the water, the warmer the air becomes. Finally, the mill started working, the flour was ground, and the village smelled so deliciously of warm bread.

Full of remorse, Filka goes to ask the horse for forgiveness. In fact, he crushed ice and waited for warmth only to ask for forgiveness and to treat his horse with bread. The horse, frightened by the boy's past behavior, is afraid at first, but then still accepts the treat, and Filka is happy. Thus, a transformation of the protagonist’s character occurs: Filka wins over her own egoism, greed gives way to generosity and openness.

Surely the main character of the story learned an important lesson from this story. Most likely, he will be kinder to others in the future. Filka now understands that everything in the world is interconnected, and one bad deed can lead to dire consequences for many, just as one good deed can save a lot.

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Artistic originality

The key metaphorical epithet is included in the title. The word “warm” and words with the same root appear in a small text 9 times. For the most part, they are concentrated in describing the work of children and old people and its results, but at the same time, the struggle between the thaw and severe frost is the metaphorical “skeleton” of the entire fairy tale.

At first everything is fine: the enemy has been driven out, the winter is warm and life, although difficult, is possible. But on one of these warm gray days (“the gray zone” is not yet evil, but goodness is already in question), a wounded horse knocked on Filka’s door. Filka’s vile act froze both the wells and the river: there is no water, and there is no power capable of grinding flour into bread. But people have an ardent desire to end the frost; they have been working for this since dawn, “and no one rashly noticed how in the afternoon the sky became covered with low clouds and a warm wind blew.” And now the warm water started the old mill wheel, and from under the millstone hot flour poured into the bags, and there was plenty of warm bread in the houses.

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According to the writer: Paustovsky Konstantin Georgievich

The meaning of the story “Warm Bread” by Paustovsky

The works of Konstantin Georgievich Paustovsky, kind and instructive, are intended for children. With their help, the author wants to show young readers how important it is to take care of our little brothers and show concern for the people around them. “Warm Bread” was no exception.

The fantasy story is about a boy named Filka. He is unsociable, snaps and is rude to his elders all the time (even to his own grandmother). When a horse came into his yard, the boy got angry and hit the beast. After this, terrible frosts attacked the village. The old man Pankrat, who helped the boy draw conclusions from the situation, and the bird, who, seeing Filka’s repentance, went south and returned warmth to those parts, helped save the village from misfortune.

Let's tell you what the author wanted to say in this work.

The need to be kind to others

Both he himself and all the residents of the village paid for the boy’s anger. It was the insult inflicted on an innocent animal that became the cause of troubles and misfortunes. When he sincerely regretted what he had done, life in the village returned to its previous course.

The moral is this: for all bad deeds a person will be punished. A person will be happy only if he does good deeds and helps others. For his kindness, a person receives good luck in all matters, prosperity and good attitude of the people who are nearby.

The importance of good manners

At the beginning of the story, we see Filka as rude and unfriendly. Any attempts by the boys to make friends with him did not lead to results. He was constantly alone and seemed to be unpleasant to himself. Using Filka as an example, the author seems to want to show naughty and angry guys what they look like from the outside.

After Filka decided to change, the villagers’ attitude towards him immediately changed. He quickly made new friends, and adults happily went to his aid to save the village. The reader may come to the conclusion that people are only attracted to those who are polite and friendly towards others.

Animal care

Konstantin Paustovsky is a great lover of our little brothers. Using the example of the heroes of his stories, he shows children the importance of caring for nature. After reading his works, schoolchildren are convinced that animals know how to feel, they are able to distinguish a bad attitude from a good one. Animals respond in kind for the kindness shown.

The horse, offended by the boy, immediately realized after apologizing to himself that the child no longer posed any threat. He gained confidence in Filka and was glad to accept a “gift” from him - delicious warm bread.

The ability to forgive

Paustovsky also says that it is important to forgive a person who has changed for the better. Because of Filka, all the villagers suffered, but children and adults joined forces to fight the misfortune. Grandfather Pankrat was strict but fair: he demanded that Filka act and not cry. But, realizing that the boy regretted what he had done, he quickly changed his anger to mercy. The horse also showed us the ability to forgive, as it did not hold a grudge against Filka.

Conclusion

Telling children fairy tales is very important: by listening to fascinating fantastic stories, the child learns moral standards and understands the value of good deeds. The stories of Konstantin Paustovsky, including “Warm Bread,” are interesting and exciting tales about animals and human kindness. The fairy tale we are considering teaches the reader not to lose his humanity, to be polite to others and to come to the rescue in a difficult situation. Every schoolchild, especially an animal lover, should read this work.