The story "Sukhodol" by Bunin, a summary of which is given in this article, belongs to the genre of so-called "village prose." The work was written in 1912. It is worth noting that the prose writer has repeatedly addressed this topic. Problems of the village are also devoted to his stories "Antonov apples", "Village".
Summary of the story
Summary of "Sukhodol" Bunin allows you to get acquainted with the plot of this work. At the center of the story is the dairy sister of the narrator's father, named Natalia. She has been living on the Lunevo estate for many years. Although a serf was born, everyone treats her like a native.
The narrator was always struck by her affection for her small homeland with Sukhodol estate, where she grew up as an ordinary yard. Having raised children, she returns there.
The narrator and his sister all their childhood grew up on stories about Sukhodol. For them it was a mysterious and legendary place.
The fate of Natalia
Natalia was left an orphan early. The father went into the soldiers, and the mother died of fear, as the author writes. So she was afraid of the anger of her masters when all the poultry was beaten by hail. It turned out that her parents were killed by the narrator’s grandfather and grandmother.
Over time, he learns a lot about the gloomy house in Sukhodol. The Khrushchev nobles who owned the estate, in case of a quarrel, always sat down to dinner with lashes in their hands.
But everyone who lived in Sukhodol did not want to leave from there for anything. Although they often lived in terrible poverty. Everyone was drawn to Sukhodol, but since the storyteller’s childhood, a big quarrel has occurred between the landowners, due to which any relationship was terminated.
Heroes come to Sukhodol
A brief summary of “Sukhodol” by Bunin describes how the youngest of the Khrushchevs nevertheless arrived at this mysterious estate for them. They were met by Aunt Tonya, later the narrator met the widow of his uncle Pyotr Petrovich.
The narrator and his sister, having just arrived, felt the charm with which the estate was permeated. Young Khrushchev wandered around the garden, finding out the places that Natalya told them about when they brought them up. Returning late at night, they often forced her in front of the image of Mercury.
History of Suhodol
The summary of the book "Sukhodol" by Ivan Bunin gives the history of this estate. There is a legend according to which the narrator’s great-grandfather moved there from Kursk. At that time, the estate was surrounded by a dense forest. Gradually, the area around was cut down.
Great-grandfather Pyotr Kirillich went crazy and died at 45. His grandson claimed that the reason for the insanity was a whole rain of apples, which fell upon him while he was sleeping under a tree in the yard. The servants believed that he was offended by the longing after the death of his beloved wife.
The narrator's father recalled that at that time he was a close friend of the courtyard Gevraska. It was believed that he was the illegitimate son of Peter Kirillich. The old nurse tried to look after the house, but gradually he lost his residential appearance. A brief summary of Sukhodol by I. A. Bunin describes how the area was empty.
The second life of the estate
Petr Petrovich breathed new life into the estate when he retired. He brought his friend Voitikovich. Life went in a gentlemanly fashion.
Voitikovich liked Tone, and Natalya fell in love with Pyotr Petrovich. Once she found among his things a silver mirror. She was fascinated by the beauty of this little thing. She secretly stole it and hid it in an abandoned bathhouse. Several times a day, she ran into the bathhouse to admire her forbidden treasure. She dreamed that the master would pay attention to her and fall in love.
But it all ended shamefully. Petr Petrovich revealed her crime. He considered it a banal theft, ordered her to cut her hair and exile to a remote farm.
The estate in the hands of Peter Petrovich
In a brief summary of Bunin's Sukhodol, the emphasis is on the fact that Petr Petrovich was gradually tidying the estate to his hands. His brother Arkady was inferior to him in everything, often not being at home.
Relations with Gevraska, who at every opportunity humiliated grandfather, were not easy. The old man complained about the servant, but constantly forgave him. One night, old Khrushchev went into the living room and began to move heavy furniture. He often did this at night. Gevraska shouted at him, he, having overcome fear, tried to object, but in response received a strong blow to the chest. The old man in the fall hit his temple on the table and died.
Gevraska took off the ring (the golden image) from the corpse and disappeared.
Meanwhile, Natalia returned to Sukhodol. Pyotr Petrovich by that time got married and left for the Crimean War, where he was wounded.
The appearance of Yushka
In a brief summary of Bunin's Sukhodol, chapter by chapter, attention is paid to the fact that holy fools began to appear on the estate, which Tonya generously fed. Once Yushka showed up. He was a lazy man, he enrolled as a monk in Kiev Lavra, but he was expelled from there.
He pretended to be a wanderer, but it turned out to be a disadvantageous business. Then he began to vilify the laurel. He drank a lot and smoked, was extremely lustful. The young lady liked him and became his man in Sukhodol.
Soon Yushka laid eyes on Natalia, but he was disgusted with her. One night, he began to pester her. Everyone in the district knew that he spent nights in the lady’s bedroom.
For many nights, Natalia surrendered to Yushka, losing consciousness from disgust and terror to herself. When he became bored, he simply disappeared from the estate. And a few weeks later, Natalia realized that she was pregnant.
In the fall, the gentlemen returned from the war. And the prophetic dream came true Natalya - the house in Sukhodol caught fire from lightning. That night she lost her child from fear. After that, she got old and faded. She was taken to the relics, but this did not help.
The summary of Sukhodol by Ivan Bunin mentions that the economy was depleted due to the Crimean War. The brothers mortgaged the estate, buying horses from the gypsies. She hoped to feed them over the winter and sell them. But all the horses are dead. Petr Petrovich died shortly afterwards. He rode in winter from a neighboring farm from his mistress, a drunk fell from a sled, a horse running behind him smashed his head with a hoof.
Since then, every time the young owners came to Sukhodol, Natalia told them about her lost life. And the house was dilapidated. The son of Pyotr Petrovich sold land for plowing, was driving from Sukhodol and became a conductor on the railway.
The Khrushchevs of the new generation forgot about the history of their ancient family, they could no longer find the graves of their closest ancestors. All the stories that the narrator and his sister heard from Natalia seemed distant and almost impossible to them.
Analysis of the work
The reviews of Bunin's Sukhodol (a brief summary of the chapters in this article) were positive from both critics and readers. This is not the first time that Bunin has taken up pictures of degeneration and impoverishment of a noble family.
In this case, we are talking about the family estate of the Khrushchevs. Characterizing this story, many researchers compare it with the great American novel "Gone with the Wind", in which the heroes were also unable to truly adapt to the changing conditions of their life. At the same time, they remained wholly owned by the past, and they saw their future very blurry.
With sincere bitterness, Bunin writes about the pathetic and unsuccessful attempts of the Khrushchev brothers to restore the former welfare of the family. But none of them possesses either the necessary knowledge or business acumen. The savvy and practical mind that their ancestors had, they did not have. Their scam with horses fails.
All their attempts to escape look pathetic and doomed. It seems that their future is already predetermined.