The problems of A.P. Platonov's story "The Pit"

Andrey Platonov became known to a wide range of readers only in Lately, although the most active period of his work fell on the twenties of our century. Platonov, like many other writers who opposed their point of view to the official position of the Soviet government, was banned for a long time. Among his most significant works are the novel "Chevengur", the novels "For the future" and "Doubting Makar".
I would like to focus my attention on the story "The Foundation Pit". In this work, the author poses several problems. The central problem is formulated in the very title of the story. The image of the foundation pit is the answer that Soviet reality gave to the eternal question about the meaning of life. The workers are digging a hole to lay the foundation of a "common proletarian home" in which the new generation must then live happily. But in the process of work it turns out that the planned house will not be spacious enough. The pit had already squeezed out all the vital juices from the workers: “All the sleepers were as thin as the dead, the cramped place between the skin and bones of each was occupied by veins, and the thickness of the veins showed how much blood they must pass during the stress of labor.” However, the plan called for an expansion of the pit. Here we understand that the needs for this “house of happiness” will be enormous. The pit will be infinitely deep and wide, and the strength, health and labor of many people will go into it. At the same time, the work does not bring any joy to these people: “Voshchev peered into the face of the unrequited sleeper - whether it expresses the unrequited happiness of a satisfied person. But the sleeper lay dead, his eyes were deeply and sadly hidden.
Thus, the author debunks the myth of a “bright future”, showing that these workers do not live for the sake of happiness, but for the sake of the foundation pit. From this it is clear that the genre of "Pit" is a dystopia. Horrible pictures Soviet life opposed to the ideology and goals proclaimed by the communists, and at the same time it is shown that man has turned from a rational being into an appendage of the propaganda machine.
Another important problem of this work is closer to real life those years. Platonov notes that for the sake of the industrialization of the country, thousands of peasants were sacrificed. In the story, this is very clearly seen when the workers stumble upon peasant coffins. The peasants themselves explain that they prepare these coffins in advance, as they anticipate an imminent death. The surplus appropriation took everything from them, leaving no means of subsistence. This scene is very symbolic, as Platonov shows that new life built on the dead bodies of peasants and their children.
The author especially dwells on the role of collectivization. In the description of the “organizational court”, he points out that people were arrested and sent for re-education even because they “fell into doubt” or “wept during socialization”. The “education of the masses” in this yard was carried out by the poor, that is, the most lazy and mediocre peasants who could not manage a normal economy received power. Platonov emphasizes that collectivization hit the backbone of agriculture, which was the rural middle peasants and wealthy peasants. In describing them, the author is not only historically realistic, but also acts as a kind of psychologist. The request of the peasants for a short delay before being accepted into the state farm, in order to comprehend the upcoming changes, shows that in the village they could not even get used to the idea of ​​not having their own allotment of land, livestock, property. The landscape corresponds to a gloomy picture of socialization: “The night covered the entire village scale, the snow made the air impenetrable and cramped, in which the chest suffocated. A peaceful cover covered the whole visible earth for the coming sleep, only around the stables the snow melted and the earth was black, because the warm blood of cows and sheep came out from under the fences.
The image of Voshchev reflects the consciousness of an ordinary person who is trying to understand and comprehend new laws and foundations. He does not even think of opposing himself to the rest. But he began to think, and so he was fired. Such people are dangerous to the existing regime. They are only needed to dig a pit. Here the author points to the totalitarian nature of the state apparatus and the absence of genuine democracy in the USSR.
A special place in the story is occupied by the image of a girl. Platonov's philosophy here is simple: the criterion for the social harmony of society is the fate of the child. And the fate of Nastya is terrible. The girl did not know the name of her mother, but she knew that there was Lenin. The world of this child is disfigured, because in order to save her daughter, the mother inspires her to hide her non-proletarian origin. The propaganda machine has already infiltrated her mind. The reader is horrified to learn that she advises Safronov to kill the peasants for the cause of the revolution. Who will grow into a child whose toys are stored in a coffin? At the end of the story, the girl dies, and along with her, the ray of hope for Voshchev and other workers dies. In a kind of confrontation between the foundation pit and Nastya, the foundation pit wins, and her dead body lies at the base of the future house.
The story "Pit" is prophetic. Her main task was not to show the horrors of collectivization, dispossession and the hardship of life in those years, although the writer did it masterfully. The author correctly identified the direction in which the society will go. The foundation pit has become our ideal and main goal. The merit of Platonov is that he showed us the source of troubles and misfortunes for many years. Our country is still floundering in this pit, and if the principles of life and worldview of people do not change, all forces and means will continue to go into the pit.

In the first half of the twentieth century, anti-Soviet, anti-communist ideas were seriously punished, so writers tried to hide them behind symbolic images. A. Platonov also turned to this technique, creating the story "The Pit". Pupils study it in the 11th grade. If you do not take into account the meaning hidden between the lines, the work is not easy to read. The analysis of the work, which we offer in this publication, will help facilitate the preparation for the lesson on the "Pit".

Brief analysis

History of creation- A. Platonov completed work on the work in 1930. The theme, his ideas were dictated by the historical events of the first half of the twentieth century. For a long time, the story was distributed only in samizdat. It was first published in the USSR in 1987.

Theme - Main topics- construction of a new "ideal" society, collectivization.

Composition- In terms of meaning, the work can be divided into two parts: urban, dedicated to digging a ditch and rural - a story about kulaks, collectivization. The work begins and ends with a description of the foundation pit, so we can talk about a ring composition or a frame.

Genre- The story.

Direction- Dystopia.

History of creation

A. Platonov's story "The Pit" was created in troubled times of transition from the old to the new. Not all methods of "building" a new society were humane, not all changes were justified. The writer tried to expose their essence. This is how the analyzed work appeared.

Censorship did not allow the story to be printed, so for a long time it was distributed in samizdat. However, even possession of such pamphlets was severely punished. In one of the typewritten versions of samizdat, A. Platonov indicated the period of work on the story - December 1929 - April 1930. Most researchers of the life and work of the writer believe that the work was written earlier. The dates mentioned indicate the peak period of collectivization. In criticism, you can find different reviews of the story, it all depends on when they were written.

In the USSR, "The Pit" was printed in 1887.

Subject

The analyzed story is a common occurrence for Russian literature of the first half of the twentieth century, because at that time writers actively raised social problems. The work of A. Platonov stands out from a number of others with an unusual system of images, which helps to hide its true meaning.

Theme of the story- construction of a new "ideal" society, collectivization. In the context of these topics, the author raised the following Problems Keywords: man in conditions of change, forced collectivization, rural and urban way of life in the first half of the twentieth century, old and new, its impact on society, etc. The basis of the problem- social change and eternal moral values.

At the beginning of the work, the author talks about a certain Voshchev. This is a thirty-year-old man who was fired from a mechanical factory. The hero's age is symbolic meaning, he, as it were, hints at the fatal years of the twentieth century for society. Voshchev decides to look for work in another city. On the way there, he stops for the night at a large pit. It turns out that this is a foundation pit for the future building, in which they plan to gather the entire local proletariat.

Voshchev remains with the diggers. The construction of a building for the proletariat symbolizes changes in society. Construction does not move beyond the pit. The workers understand that they cannot build the new on the ruins of the old.

Among other heroes, the homeless girl Nastya attracts attention. Her image symbolizes the future, life in the house that is being built. Details hint at this meaning of the symbol. The builders gave the heroine coffins to use as a bed and a toy box. The workers took the coffins from the peasants. So the author unobtrusively shows the position of the peasants in the new conditions. Nastya died without waiting for the completion of construction. The hope for a new life has also died

The plot helps the work, the symbolic meaning of the images is the key to the meaning of the title story. The foundation pit symbolizes unembodied Bolshevik ideas, hints at the fact that it is impossible to build a new one on the ruins of the old.

In the story, one can single out an internal conflict - the feelings of people who are at the "edge of change" and an external one - a clash of old and new.

Composition

In "The Foundation Pit", the analysis should be continued with a description of the composition. In terms of meaning, the work is divided into two parts: the city, dedicated to digging a ditch, and the village - a story about kulaks, collectivization. This organization is not accidental. It is based on Stalin's speech delivered in the winter of 1929. In it, special attention was paid to the problem of "the opposition between town and country."

The work begins and ends with a description of the foundation pit, so we can talk about a ring composition or a frame.

Genre

The genre of the work is a story, the direction is a dystopia. The fact that this story is evidenced by such features: several storylines, the system of images is sufficiently branched, a sufficiently large volume. Signs of dystopia: the author shows that the ideas. proclaimed by the authorities, it is impossible to implement.

Artwork test

Analysis Rating

Average rating: 4.1. Total ratings received: 290.

A. Platonov's story "The Pit" touches upon the problem of people's spiritual health, that is, the loss of spiritual values. An atmosphere of lack of spirituality, rudeness, lack of culture reigns in the story. Collectivization appears as collective murder and suicide. People turn into animals: Chiklin mechanically kills a peasant who is at hand; peasants who are not included in the collective farm are sent on a raft; men do not see the difference between killing activists and livestock, cutting down trees and destroying their own flesh. A person is impersonal and turned into a concept (“fist”, “bourgeois”, “activist”). The temple is deserted. Baptism is not allowed. The people only light a candle, instead of praying, and hide, raising grass behind them. People have lost the meaning of life: “I was left without God, and God without a man…” For men, a coffin is an integral household, for which they live. Chiklin brings two coffins: one for Nastya's bed, and the other for the red corner. Thus, it can be said that there is no hope for a future life in The Pit. Dreams are the basis of all life.

In the story of A.P. Platonov's "Pit" reveals the problem of the loss of spiritual values. So, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the center of the spiritual life of Russia, was blown up, and it is proposed to build the Palace of Soviets in its place. And the foundation pit of the "new home", in which a person would be "engaged with the earth", becomes for many a grave, an "eternal home" for little Nastya. The destruction of religion and fanatical worship are new to ideas, this is not atheism, but godlessness: "I was a priest, and now I have dissociated myself from my soul and have my hair cut like a foxtrot." In "Kotlovan" there is no hope for a future life: at the heart of the dream house is a coffin with the body of a child. “I don’t believe in anything now!” This is the result of building a new life, a new man and his spiritual health.

The heroes of E. Zamyatin's novel "We" - "numbers", as the author calls them, lived in a mathematically ideal state, their life rhythm was honed to perfection. Each "number", in its essence, is a mathematician. But everything was limited by the mind: the heroes had no soul. They did not feel the need to strive for the high, they were not interested in the beauty of the world, fenced off by city walls, it frightened them. Can such a life be called spiritual?

In the preface to the novel "A Hero of Our Time" M.Yu. Lermontov wrote that his task was to point out the illness of his generation ("we need bitter medicines, caustic truths"). The writer is compared to a doctor (Russian realism in its socio-critical variety will develop along this path), but then Lermontov notes with sad romantic irony that he “had fun drawing modern man as he understands it”, without striving to become a “corrector of human vices”.

Y. Buyda. "Kazan Station".

L. Petrushevskaya. "Kitten of the Lord God."

L. Petrushevskaya. "Golden rag".

L. Petrushevskaya. "Testament of an Old Monk".

In this article, we will consider the work that Andrei Platonov created, we will spend it was conceived by the author in 1929, in the fall, when Stalin's article entitled "The Year of the Great Turn" appeared in print, in which he argued the need for collectivization, after which he announced in December about the beginning of the "offensive on the kulak" and the liquidation of it as a class. In unison, one of the heroes of this work tells him that everyone should be thrown "into the brine of socialism." The planned bloody campaign was successful. The tasks set by Stalin were fulfilled.

The writer also carried out his plans, which is confirmed by the analysis. Platonov's "pit" was conceived as a rethinking of history, the correctness of the path chosen by our country. The result was a deep work with a socio-philosophical content. The writer comprehended the reality, conducted its analysis.

We will begin to describe Platonov's "pit" with a story about the creation of the work.

History of creation

The story, which is noteworthy, was written just during the period of Stalin's active work - from 1929 to April 1930. In those days, Andrei Platonovich Platonov worked in the melioration department in his specialty, in the People's Commissariat of Agriculture, located in the Voronezh region. Therefore, he was, if not a direct participant, then at least a witness to the elimination of kulaks and collectivization. As an artist painting nature, Andrei Platonovich Platonov painted pictures of the fate of people and the events that happened to those who fell into the meat grinder of depersonalization and leveling.

The theme of the works of Andrei Platonovich did not fit into the general ideas of building communism, the doubting and thinking hero of the story was subjected to sharp criticism from the authorities, which was picked up by the press. She carried out her own, far from flattering for the author, analysis.

Such is the short story of the story written by Platonov ("The Foundation Pit"), the history of creation.

Presentation Features

The author's contemporaries favored by the Bolsheviks - writers Kataev, Leonov, Sholokhov - in their works sang the achievements of socialism, depicting collectivization from the positive side. Poetics of Platonov, in contrast to them, the optimistic description of the pictures of selfless labor and construction was alien. This author was not attracted by the scale of tasks and aspirations. He was primarily interested in the man and his role in historical events. Therefore, the work "Pit", as well as other creations of this author, is characterized by a thoughtful, unhurried development of events. There are many abstract generalizations in the narrative, since the author focuses on the thoughts and experiences of his characters. Only external factors help the hero to understand himself, and at the same time in the symbolic events that Platonov tells us about.

"Pit": content in brief

The plot of the story is typical for the works of that time devoted to collectivization, and is not complicated. It consists of dispossession with scenes of an attempt on the life of party activists and peasants defending their good. But Platonov managed to present these events from the point of view of a thinking person who was involuntarily drawn into the events about which the story "The Pit" tells.

A summary of the chapters is not the subject of our article. We will only briefly describe the main events of the work. The hero of the story, Voshchev, after he was fired from the factory due to thoughtfulness, gets to the diggers who are digging a foundation pit for the house of the proletarians. Brigadier Chiklin brings an orphaned girl whose mother has died. Chiklin and his comrades liquidate the kulaks by floating them on a raft into the sea along with their families. After that, they return to the city and continue their work. The story "The Pit" ends with the death of a girl who found her last refuge in the wall of the pit.

Three motives in the work of Platonov

Platonov wrote that three things struck him in life - love, wind and a long journey. All these motives are present in the work chapter by chapter, if you refer to it, it will confirm our idea. But it should be noted that these motives are presented in a peculiar presentation of the author. The plot is tied to the image of the road. However, Voshchev, the hero of Platonov, although he is a wanderer, is by no means in the tradition of domestic literature, because, firstly, he is forced to wander, or rather, to wander, due to the fact that he was fired, and secondly, his goal is to search not for adventure, but for truth, the meaning of existence. Wherever this hero then goes, again and again the author returns him to the pit. As if a person's life closes and goes in a circle.

Many events make up the story "The Foundation Pit", but there are no causal relationships between them. The heroes, as it were, are circling around the pit, dreaming of breaking out of this pit. One wanted to go to study, having increased his experience, the other was expecting a retraining, the third dreamed of moving into the leadership apparatus of the party.

The method of editing episodes of a work

Platonov in the composition of the work uses the method of montage of diverse episodes: there is also a bear-hammer, and an activist who enlightens village women in politics, and fists who say goodbye to each other before being sent to sea on a raft.

Some episodes, about which Platonov's work "The Pit" tells, seem completely random and unmotivated: suddenly in the course of action close-up minor characters pop up, just as suddenly disappearing. As an example, one can cite an unknown man dressed only in trousers, whom Chiklin brought to the office unexpectedly for everyone. The man, swollen with grief, demanded the return of the coffins prepared for the future, which were found in the pit, to his village.

Grotesque

In the dialogue between peasants and workers, it is surprising how casually they talk about death, with what hopelessness and humility they prepare coffins for themselves and their children. The burial box turns into a "children's toy", into a "bed", ceasing to be a symbol of fear. Such a grotesque reality permeates, in fact, the entire story "The Pit".

Allegory

The author of the work, in addition to the grotesque, also uses allegory to convey the madness of events. Thanks to this and the previous methods, the problems of this work are more fully revealed in the story "The Pit". Not finding a character who could, like Judas, point to wealthy peasant families, he chooses a bear for this role. And considering that this is an animal in folklore was never the personification of evil, one can speak here of a double allegory.

The plot of Voshchev's journey is organically intertwined with another - the failed construction of a monumental common proletarian house. But the workers believed to the last that the local proletariat would live in it in a year. This building is associated with the Tower of Babel, because it became a grave for its builders, just as the foundation pit of a house for the proletarians turned into a grave for a girl, for whom, in fact, it was erected.

Although at the beginning of the work Pashkin claims that happiness will “come historically” anyway, it becomes clear by the end of the story that there is no hope for finding the meaning of life in the future, since the present is built on the death of a girl, and adults worked with such persistence on the foundation pit, as as if they were striving to be saved forever in its abyss.

The work "The Pit" after reading leaves a heavy residue on the soul, but at the same time it is felt that Andrei Platonovich is a humanist writer who tells us about the sad events of the story with regret, love and deep compassion for the heroes, who were passed through by the merciless and uncompromising machine of power, striving to turn everyone into an obedient executor of a godless plan.

Description of the characters in the story

Plato does not give a detailed external description of the heroes, their deep internal characteristics. He, like a surrealist artist who works by breaking logical connections at the subconscious level, only slightly touches with his brush portraits of characters living in an immaterial world, devoid of everyday details and interior. For example, there is no data on the appearance of the main character, Voshchev, it is only said that he is thirty years old at the time of the story. In Pashkin's description, an elderly face is indicated, as well as a bent body, not so much from the years lived, but from the "social" load. Safonov had an "actively thinking" face, while Chiklin had a head that was, according to the author's definition, "little stone", while Kozlov had "raw eyes" and a monotonous cloudy face. Such are the heroes in the story "The Pit" (Platonov).

The image of Nastya

To understand the meaning of the work, the image of a girl living with diggers on a construction site is very important. Nastya is a child of the 1917 revolution. Her mother was a bourgeois, that is, a representative of an obsolete class. The rejection of the past, as you know, means the loss of cultural traditions, historical ties and their replacement by ideological parents - Lenin and Marx. According to the author, people who deny their past cannot have a future.

The world of Nastya is mutilated, because the mother, in order to save her daughter, inspires her not to talk about her non-proletarian origin. The propaganda machine has already infiltrated her mind. The reader is horrified when he learns that this heroine advises Safronov to kill the peasants for the cause of the revolution. What will a child turn into when he grows up if he keeps toys in a coffin? The girl dies at the end of the story, and with her the last ray of hope dies for Voshchev and all the other workers. The latter wins in a kind of confrontation between Nastya and the foundation pit. The dead body of a girl lays down in the foundation of a house under construction.

Philosopher Hero

There is a character in the story, who is the so-called homegrown philosopher, who thinks about the meaning of life, strives to live according to his conscience, and seeks the truth. This main character works. He is the spokesman for the position of the author. This character, included in Platonov's novel "The Pit", seriously thought and doubted the correctness of what was happening around. He does not move along with the general line, he seeks to find own road to the truth. But he never finds her.

The meaning of the title of the story "The Pit"

The title of the story is symbolic. Not only a construction site means a foundation pit. This is a huge grave, a hole that the workers dig for themselves. Many people die here. A happy home for the proletarians cannot be built on a slavish attitude to human labor and humiliation of the dignity of the individual.

Pessimism, which did not hide Platonov (the story "The Pit" and other works), into the vigorous pace of the domestic literature of that time from positive images Party members, meetings and overfulfillment of plans, of course, could not fit in. This author was not at all in step with the times: he was ahead of him.

Each piece of art, one way or another, reflects the time at which it was created. The author rethinks some historical phenomenon and on the pages of his creation gives his own vision of what is happening.
In the story "The Foundation Pit" A. Platonov questions the correctness of the path chosen by Soviet Russia. "Pit" with a deep socio-philosophical content in allegorical form tells about the construction of a huge building - happiness. More precisely, so far only a foundation pit is being built for this symbolic structure. The action is concentrated mainly in two places - in the collective farm named after the General Line of the Party and at a construction site.
A lot of people are going to build the pit, led by Chiklin's brigade. And the story begins with an acquaintance with one of its representatives - Voshchev. A man worked and worked, lived and lived, and suddenly “on the day of the thirtieth anniversary of his personal life” he was fired from a mechanical plant due to weakness and “thoughtfulness amid the general pace of work.”
He is trying to know his happiness, so that "from spiritual meaning" labor productivity would increase. Voshchev is not a parasite who avoids work. He just begins to guess for some time that the "secret of life" cannot be limited to his senseless existence in the factory shop. From Voshchev's remark, "Without thought, people act senselessly," a peculiar conflict is set up between the "general pace of work" and "thoughtfulness."
As soon as the builders begin to think, they lose their “labor pace”. Such a tendency characterizes not only Voshchev, but also Chiklin, and Safronov, and Morozov. Voshchev's yearning soul is in a state of search for a reasonable beginning, happiness. For the fact that the worker expresses his thoughts aloud, he is fired from the factory, and he ends up on the construction of a house.
Hard labor is used at the construction of the foundation pit, depriving people of the opportunity to think, to enjoy memories. The diggers live in terrible hut conditions, their daily food is very scarce: empty cabbage soup, potatoes, kvass. At the same time, the bosses live happily ever after. The writer critically depicts the life of Russian society in the 20-30s of the 20th century.
The worst part of the story is the death of the characters. Platonov does not believe in socialism that maims or kills people. The class struggle did not pass by the devoted party. Kozlov and Safronov are killed in the village by irresponsible elements. Zhachev lost faith in a bright future.
To understand the meaning of the story, the image of Nastya is important - a little girl living on a construction site with diggers. Nastya is a child of the October Revolution of 1917. The girl had a mother, but she is a "potbelly stove", an obsolete class. But the rejection of the past means the loss of historical ties, cultural traditions and their replacement by their ideological parents - Marx and Lenin. People who deny the past cannot have a future.
Nastya's world is disfigured, because in order to save her daughter, her mother inspires her to hide her non-proletarian origin. The propaganda machine has already infiltrated her mind. The reader is horrified to learn that she advises Safronov to kill the peasants for the cause of the revolution. Who will grow into a child whose toys are stored in a coffin? At the end of the story, the girl dies, and along with her, the ray of hope for Voshchev and other workers dies. In a kind of confrontation between the foundation pit and Nastya, the foundation pit wins, and her dead body lies at the base of the future house.
The title of the story is symbolic. The foundation pit is not only a construction site. It is a huge hole, a grave that the workers dig for themselves. This is where many people die. It is impossible to build a happy common proletarian home on a slavish attitude to work and the humiliation of human dignity.
Platonov's pessimism could not fit into the cheerful pace of Soviet literature with positive images of communists, party meetings and overfulfillment of plans. The author of "The Foundation Pit" did not keep up with the times - he was ahead of this very time.