Andrei Platonovich Platonov is a Soviet playwright and writer of the first half of the 20th century. His works are distinguished by the fact that they are written in a special, distinctive language. His story “Pit” is a bright grotesque, a tough satire on the socialist system existing in the years of the USSR. The focus is on a group of builders who are tasked with building a common proletarian house that will become the foundation of the city of the future. The case of these creators is not going. Over time, they realize that their task is not feasible. Here is a summary of Platonov's “Pit”.
Acquaintance of the reader with Voshchev
Voshchev is a thirty-year-old worker in a mechanical plant who has just received a dismissal document stating thoughtfulness and slowness during the work process as the reasons for his removal from work . Our hero goes to another city to get a new job. Arriving at the wasteland, he finds a warm hole and falls asleep there. At midnight, a mower suddenly wakes him up, clearing this place. He informs Voshchev that the construction of a huge house for all workers will begin here soon and sends him to fill up the hut. Even Platonov’s short summary “Pit” is capable of conveying all the recklessness of the labor discipline of the Soviet system.
Voshchev in the artel of masters
Our hero wakes up in the guild of builders sent here to erect a building. They feed him, talk about the huge scale of the planned work and give a shovel.
The foundation pit has already been swept up, and the workers are beginning to dig it. Together with them, Voshchev set to work. He decides that he will endure want and hunger, only in time to have time to build a house for the whole proletariat. This is how the writer Platonov described the feelings of the main character in the story. The “Pit”, the analysis of which can be easily done by reading even a short version, ridicules the readiness of the Soviet people for the most impossible tasks assigned to them by the party.
Digger Chiklin takes an orphan Nastya with him
One of the workers in an abandoned building of a former tile factory finds a woman dying of hunger and disease with a little girl in her arms. This is the digger Chiklin. He recalls that in his youth he loved this woman. After her death, the digger takes the girl Nastya to his hut for education. Summary of Platonov's “Pit” evokes the reader pity and compassion for simple hard workers.
Organization of collective farm life
At a general meeting of workers, the question of collectivization in the countryside is being decided. The Council decided that for these purposes they will be sent to the village of Kozlova and Safronova. Soon they are killed, and in their place they are sent to the village of Chiklin and Voshchev. In order to identify all the kulaks in the village, the diggers decide to attract a bear who works as a hammer thief in a forge. The animal remembers well in whose houses his labor was used, and easily determines where the bourgeoisie live. All identified fists are put on a raft and allowed into the open sea. The remaining poor are happy with the advent of a new life, dancing and cheerfully marching along the road to the pit. They are sure that soon a bright future awaits them, where everyone will be happy and equal. By evening, all travelers reach the construction site and see that everything is covered in snow. Platonov’s story “Pit” paints us with images of ordinary people obsessed with one common idea - to build a happy future. These hard workers are sure that together they will overcome all obstacles.
Death of Nastya
But reality is cruel. While the diggers were busy with collectivization in the village, the "construction of the century" froze.
The fire went out in the hut. Little Nastya is sick, she dies of hunger and cold just like her mother. All efforts to save her are futile. At this time, the collective farmers who came in took shovels and began digging the land diligently. Chiklin looks around. It seems to him that all these workers, who so frantically embarked on digging a pit, are trying to disappear in it forever. He digs a grave for Nastya with the thought that this child will never be disturbed by events occurring on the surface of the earth.
You read the summary of Platonov's “Pit”. The work is complex, and it is better to read it in the original.