- Essays
- On literature
- Bitter
- Analysis of Gorky's story Malva
M. Gorky's story "Malva" talks about a man who went to work as a caretaker of a sea spit in order to earn a living. This man's name is Vasily. The author introduces him to the reader as a healthy and cheerful “village” man who has become lazy because the work of a caretaker of the sea spit does not present any special difficulties and litigation that village people experience.
Vasily became so comfortable on the spit that he took a mistress named Malva. M. Gorky describes this woman as a strong, interesting woman of tall stature with curly hair. Either from the relaxed work, or whether this really is so, but Vasily fell in love with Malva. They had their own day - Sunday. On this day they drank vodka, rested and ate bagels with tea.
But Vasily’s entire “ideal” life on the sea spit goes to hell when his son comes to him. A dispute arises between the son and father about who will get Malva, since Vasily’s son, Yashka, liked her.
Men think about it all: behavior, speech and attitudes. What does a woman do in this situation? Malva decides to set the father against his son. In the end, she succeeds and the men start a fight.
The result of the whole story is as follows: Vasily leaves the spit, Yashka remains on it. But Malva does not stay with Vasily’s son, but chooses Seryozhka, a local drinking man.
After reading this story, a lot of thoughts arise in my head. For example, why did Vasily and Yashka decide to argue about a woman they both liked exactly that way? Why did Malva do this? And, in the end, why didn’t Yashka go after his father?
In my opinion, the author deliberately leaves such questions to the reader. So that he could reason, think about how he himself would act in such a situation. I find the end of the story very interesting and instructive. A great saying applies here: “If you chase two hares, you won’t catch either.” So is Vasily. He wanted his family to be well-fed and far away, and for his mistress to be at his side and obey him. But in life, alas, everything doesn’t happen at once. Very often a person has to make a choice. And this choice does not always bring satisfaction.
This story can teach the reader that every person has to make a choice. Whether it is not particularly significant or the most important, but a choice always has to be made. And it is very difficult to bear responsibility for the decision made, but it is necessary. It is the situation of choice that makes a person responsible and independent as an individual.
Other works: ← Analysis of Gorky's story Mother↑ GorkyAnalysis of Gorky's work At the Depth →
Bitter. Brief summaries of works
- In people
- Barbarians
- Vassa Zheleznova
- Sparrow
- Summer residents
- Grandfather Arkhip and Lyonka
- Artamonov case
- Children of the Sun
- Childhood
- Life of Klim Samgin
- Confession
- Konovalov
- The Legend of Danko
- The Legend of Larra
- Makar Chudra
- Mallow
- Mother
- Bourgeois
- My universities
- My companion
- At the bottom
- Untimely thoughts
- Pepe
- Song of the Petrel
- Song of the Falcon
- About Ivanushka the Fool
- Birth of Man
- Samovar
- Tales of Italy
- The case of Evseyka
- Old Isergil
- Passion-face
- The Orlov couple
- Foma Gordeev
- Chelkash
Essay 2
In the story called “Malva,” which was written by the famous and popular writer Gorky, the main character is a young and very handsome man named Vasily. More than anything, he wants to earn as much money as possible. And for this he travels very far. Of course, he could find a job here and easily earn his living, but he just can’t stop his laziness. He thinks that the job of a caretaker will be easy and there is no need to work at all.
A little later he became acquainted with all the residents and among the girls he found himself a beautiful and young mistress named Malva. Now they met every day and spent a lot of time with each other. After some more time, Vasily realized that he could no longer live without this woman, because he loved her very much. But most of all they could enjoy each other when Sunday came. Then they drank alcoholic drinks and ate sushi.
It turns out that Vasily has an adult son, who, when he found out where he works, decides to visit his father. And then he finds out about his mistress, who he also liked. Now he also claims her heart and is ready to do anything to achieve his goal.
But the woman was very interested in all this, and in order to further warm up the interest, she begins to little by little set the father against the son, and as a result, a fight breaks out between them.
From the story you can understand that after reading this story the reader has a lot of thoughts that he must solve and think out on his own. This is done so that he, at least for a short time, puts himself in the place of the main characters and thinks about how he would solve this situation. The story ends in a very interesting and instructive way. And this is where one famous proverb can come in handy: If you chase two birds with one stone, you won’t catch either of them. Our main character was in the same situation. He wanted his lover to be next to him, and on the other hand, he wanted his family to be next to him and feed them. But in reality this cannot be. And sometimes a person is faced with a choice in order to decide positively in favor of one thing, and forget about the second option forever.
MalvaText
The sea laughed.
Under the light blow of the sultry wind, it shuddered and, covered with small ripples that brilliantly reflected the sun, smiled at the blue sky with thousands of silver smiles. In the deep space between the sea and the sky there was a cheerful splash of waves, running up one after another onto the gentle shore of the sand spit. This sound and the shine of the sun, reflected a thousand times by the ripples of the sea, harmoniously merged into a continuous movement, full of living joy. The sun was happy that it was shining; the sea - by what reflected its jubilant light.
The wind gently stroked the satin chest of the sea; the sun warmed her with its hot rays, and the sea, sighing drowsily under the gentle power of these caresses, saturated the hot air with the salty aroma of vapors. Greenish waves, rushing up onto the yellow sand, threw white foam onto it; it melted with a quiet sound on the hot sand, moistening it.
The narrow, long spit looked like a huge tower that had fallen from the shore into the sea. Sticking a sharp spire into the boundless desert of water sparkling with the sun, it lost its foundation in the distance, where the sultry darkness hid the earth. From there, with the wind, a heavy smell flew in, incomprehensible and offensive here, in the middle of the clear sea, under the blue, clear roof of the sky.
Wooden stakes were stuck into the sand of the spit, strewn with fish scales, and nets hung on them, casting a web of shadows. Several large boats and one small one stood in a row on the sand; the waves, running up the shore, seemed to beckon them to them. Hooks, oars, baskets and barrels were scattered randomly on the spit, among them stood a hut assembled from willow twigs, splints and matting. In front of the entrance, felted boots stuck out on a gnarled stick, with their soles pointing to the sky. And above all this chaos towered a long pole with a red rag at the end, fluttering in the wind.
In the shadow of one of the boats lay Vasily Legostev, a guard on the spit, the forward post of Grebenshchikov's fisheries. He lay on his chest and, supporting his head with the palms of his hands, gazed intently into the distance of the sea, towards a barely visible strip of shore. There, on the water, a small black dot flashed, and Vasily was pleased to see how it was getting bigger, getting closer to him.
Squinting his eyes from the bright play of the sun's rays on the waves, he smiled contentedly: it was Malva coming. She will come, laugh, her breasts will begin to sway seductively, hug him with soft arms, kiss him and loudly, scaring away the seagulls, talk about the news there on the shore. They will cook a good fish soup with her, drink vodka, lie on the sand, talking and lovingly playing around, then, when it gets dark, they will boil a kettle of tea, drink with delicious bagels and go to bed... This happens every Sunday, every holiday of the week. Early in the morning he will take her to the shore along the still sleepy sea, in the fresh twilight before dawn. She will sit in the stern, dozing, and he will row and look at her. She can be funny at that time, funny and sweet, like a well-fed cat. Maybe she will slide off the bench to the bottom of the boat and fall asleep there, curled up in a ball. She often does this...
On this day, even the seagulls are exhausted by the heat. They sit in rows on the sand, with their beaks open and wings down, or they swing lazily on the waves without screams, without the usual predatory animation.
It seemed to Vasily that there was more than one Malva in the boat. Has Seryozhka really become attached to her again? Vasily turned heavily on the sand, sat down and, covering his eyes with his palm, began to look with anxiety in his heart to see who else was going there. Malva sits on the stern and rules. The rower is not Seryozhka, he rows ineptly, with Seryozhka Malva would not rule.
- Hey! – Vasily shouted impatiently.
The seagulls on the sand trembled and became wary.
“Hey, hey...” Malva’s ringing voice came from the boat.
- With whom you are?
There was laughter in response.
- Damn! – Vasily cursed quietly and spat.
He really wanted to know who it was that was riding there; Rolling up a cigarette, he stubbornly looked at the back of the rower's head and back. The sonorous splash of water under the blows of the oars is heard in the air, the sand creaks under the bare feet of the guard.
- Who's with you? – he shouted when he saw an unfamiliar smile on Malva’s beautiful face.
- But wait, you’ll find out! – she responded with a laugh.
The rower turned to face the shore and, also laughing, looked at Vasily.
The guard frowned, remembering who this guy seemed to be familiar to him?
- Hit harder! - Malva commanded.
The boat, with almost half its full swing, crawled onto the sand along with the wave and, swaying to one side, stood still, and the wave rolled back into the sea. The rower jumped ashore and said:
- Hello, father!
- Yakov! – Vasily exclaimed dejectedly, more amazed than delighted.
They hugged and kissed three times on the lips and cheeks; On Vasily’s face surprise was mixed with joy and embarrassment.
- That's what I'm looking at... and something - it - my heart itches... Oh, you - how are you? Come on! And I look - Seryozha? No, I see, not Seryozhka! An - it's you!
Vasily stroked his beard with one hand and waved the other in the air. He wanted to look at Malva, but his son’s smiling eyes were staring into his face, and he felt embarrassed by their shine. The feeling of satisfaction with himself for having such a healthy, handsome son fought in him with a feeling of embarrassment from the presence of his mistress. He shifted from foot to foot, standing in front of Yakov, and threw questions at him one after another, without waiting for an answer to them. Everything was somehow confused in his head, and he felt especially bad when Malva’s mocking words were heard:
- Yes, you’re not crazy... with joy! Take him to the hut and treat him...
He turned to her. A smile, unfamiliar to him, played on her lips, and all of her was round, soft and fresh, as always, but at the same time there was something new, alien. She looked from father to son with her greenish eyes and chewed watermelon seeds with her small white teeth. Yakov also looked at them with a smile, and for several seconds, unpleasant for Vasily, all three were silent.
- I'm coming now! – Vasily suddenly hurried, moving towards the hut. - You get away from the sun, and I’ll go get some water... let’s cook fish soup! Yakov, I will feed you such fish soup! You’re here... settle down, I’ll be there in a minute...
He grabbed a bowler hat from the ground near the hut, quickly went somewhere into the net and disappeared into the gray mass of their folds.
Malva and his son also went to the hut.
“Well, good fellow, I brought you to your father,” Malva said, looking sideways at Yakov’s stocky figure.
He turned his face with his curly dark brown beard towards her and, his eyes flashing, said:
- Yes, we’ve arrived... It’s nice here - what a sea!
- Wide sea. Well, has your father aged a lot?
- There is nothing. I thought he was grayer, but he still has little gray hair... And strong...
- How long do you say you haven’t seen each other?
- About five years, tea... When he left the village - I was seventeen at that time...
They entered the hut, where it was stuffy, and the matting smelled of salted fish, and sat there: Yakov on a thick stump of wood, Malva on a pile of sacks. Between them stood a barrel cut across, its bottom serving as a table. Having sat down, they silently looked at each other intently.
- So you want to work here? – Malva asked.
- Well... I don’t know... If there is something, I will.
- We have it! – Malva confidently promised, feeling him with her green, mysteriously narrowed eyes.
He did not look at her, wiping his sweaty face with the sleeve of his shirt.
Suddenly she laughed.
“Did your mother, tea, send instructions and bows to your father?”
Yakov looked at her, frowned and said briefly:
- It is known... What?
- Nothing!
Yakov didn’t like her laughter; it was as if she was teasing him. The guy turned away from this woman and remembered his mother’s orders.
Having escorted him beyond the outskirts of the village, she leaned on the fence and spoke quickly, blinking her dry eyes frequently:
- Tell him, Yasha... For Christ's sake, tell him... Father, they say!.. Mother is alone, they say, there... five years have passed, and she is still alone! He’s getting old, they say!.. tell him, Yakovushka, for God’s sake. Soon my mother will be an old woman... all alone, all alone! Everything is at work. For Christ's sake, tell him...
And she cried silently, hiding her face in her apron.
Then Yakov didn’t feel sorry for her, but now he felt sorry for her... Looking at Malva, he raised his eyebrows sternly.
- Here I am! - Vasily exclaimed, appearing in the hut with a fish in one hand and a knife in the other.
He had already dealt with his embarrassment, hiding it deeply within himself, and now he looked at them calmly, only his movements showed a fussiness unusual for him.
- Now I’ll light a fire... and come to you... let’s talk! Oh, Yakov, huh?
And he left the hut again.
Malva, without ceasing to gnaw on the seeds, unceremoniously looked at Yakov, and he tried not to look at her, although he really wanted to.
Then, since the silence embarrassed him, he said aloud:
“I left my knapsack in the boat, let’s go get it!”
Slowly rising from his seat, he went out; Vasily appeared in his place in the hut and, leaning towards Malva, spoke hastily and angrily:
- Well, why did you come with him? What will I tell him about you? Who are you to me?
– I’ve arrived, that’s all! – Malva said briefly.
- Eh, you... incongruous woman! What will I do now? How right in his eyes and that... right away?.. I have a wife at home! Fuck him... You should have realized that!
- I really need to think! Am I afraid of him, or what? Ali you? – she asked, narrowing her green eyes disdainfully. - And how you twirled in front of him just now! That was funny to me!
- It's funny to you! How will I do?
– You should have thought about this earlier!
“Did I know that he would suddenly be thrown out of the sea here?”
The sand creaked under Yakov’s feet, and they broke off their conversation. Yakov brought a light knapsack, threw it into the corner and looked sideways at the woman with unkind eyes.
She enthusiastically cracked the seeds, and Vasily sat down on the stump, rubbed his knees with his hands and said with a smile:
“So that’s why you showed up... how did you come up with this?”
- Yes, so... We wrote to you...
- When? I didn't receive any letter!..
- Well? And we wrote...
“Apparently the letter got lost,” Vasily was upset. - Look, damn him... huh? When needed, it was lost...
- So you don’t know our affairs? – Yakov asked, looking at his father incredulously.
- Where from? I didn't receive the letter!
Then Yakov told him that their horse had died and they had eaten all the bread at the beginning of February; there was no income. There was also not enough hay, the cow almost died of hunger. We somehow made our way until April, and then we decided this: after plowing, Yakov would go to his father to earn money for three months. They wrote to him about this, and then they sold three sheep, bought bread and hay, and then Jacob arrived.
- That's it! – Vasily exclaimed. - Soooo... Ah... how about you... I sent you money...
– Is it a lot of money? They were repairing the hut... Marya was married off... I bought a plow... After all, five years... time has passed!
- Yes! It wasn't enough, then? Such a thing... And my ear will run away! “He got up and walked out.
Squatting in front of the fire, over which a boiling pot hung, throwing foam into the fire, Vasily began to think. Everything that his son told him did not particularly touch him, but it gave rise to an unpleasant feeling in him towards his wife and Yakov. How much money he sent them over five years, but they still couldn’t manage the farm. If it weren't for Malva, he would have told Yakov something. He left the village without permission, without his father’s permission - he was smart enough to do it - but he couldn’t cope with the household! The farm, which Vasily, living a pleasant and easy life to this day, remembered very rarely, now suddenly reminded him of itself, like a bottomless pit into which he had been throwing money for five years, as something superfluous in his life, unnecessary to him. He sighed, stirring his ear with a spoon.
In the glare of the sun, the small yellowish firelight was pitiful and pale. Blue, transparent streams of smoke stretched from the fire to the sea, towards the splashes of the waves. Vasily watched them and thought that now it would be worse for him to live, not so freely. Yakov probably already guessed who this Malva is...
And she sat in the hut, embarrassing the guy with her perky, defiant eyes, in which a smile played without disappearing.
- Come on, did you leave your bride in the village? – she suddenly said, looking into Yakov’s face.
“Maybe he left it,” he answered reluctantly.
- Beautiful, or what? – she asked casually.
Yakov remained silent.
- Why are you silent?.. Is it better than me?
He looked into her face without wanting to. Her cheeks were dark and full, her lips were juicy, half-opened with a perky smile, they trembled. The pink chintz jacket somehow fit her particularly cleverly, outlining her round shoulders and high, firm breasts. But he didn’t like her slyly narrowed, green, laughing eyes.
- Why are you saying that? – sighing, he said in a pleading voice, although he wanted to speak sternly to her.
- How should you speak? – she laughed.
– And you laugh too... why?
- I'm laughing at you...
- Well, what am I to you? – he asked offendedly and lowered his eyes again under her gaze.
She didn't answer.
Yakov guessed who she was to his father, and this prevented him from speaking freely with her. The guess did not astonish him: he had heard that people indulge greatly in latrine trades, and he understood that it would be difficult for such a healthy man as his father to live for so long without a woman. But it’s still awkward both in front of her and in front of my father. Then he remembered his mother - a tired, grumpy woman who worked there, in the village, tirelessly...
- The ear is ready! - Vasily announced, appearing in the hut. - Get out the spoons, Malva!
Yakov looked at his father and thought:
“Apparently she visits him often, since she knows where the spoons are!”
Taking the spoons, she said that she needed to go wash them and that she had vodka in the stern of the boat.
Father and son looked after her and, left alone, were silent.
- How did you meet her? – Vasily asked.
“And I asked about you in the office, and she was there... And she said: “Why, she says, walk on the sand, we’ll go in a boat, I’ll go to him too.” Here we are.
- Yes... And I used to think: “What is Yakov like now?”
The son grinned good-naturedly in his father’s face, and this grin gave Vasily courage.
- Oh... nothing sissy?
“Nothing,” Yakov said vaguely, blinking his eyes.
“There’s nothing you can do about it, my brother!” – Vasily exclaimed, waving his hands. - I endured it at first - I can’t! Habit... I'm a married man. Again, she will fix clothes and other stuff... And in general... ehma! You can’t escape a woman like death! – he sincerely finished his explanation.
- Me, what? - Yakov said. - This is your business, I’m not your judge.
And I thought to myself:
“He’ll fix your pants like that...”
“Again, I’m only forty-five years old... It’s not much to spend on her, she’s not my wife...” said Vasily.
“Of course,” Yakov agreed and thought: “That’s all, tea, it’s shaking my pocket!”
Malva arrived with a bottle of vodka and a bunch of pretzels in her hands; sat down to eat fish soup. They ate in silence, sucked the bones loudly and spat them out of their mouths onto the sand towards the door. Jacob ate a lot and greedily; Malva must have liked this: she smiled tenderly, watching his tanned cheeks puff out and his large moist lips move quickly. Vasily ate poorly, but tried to show that he was very busy with food - he needed this in order to think about his attitude towards them without interference, unnoticed by his son and Malva.
The gentle music of the waves was interrupted by the predatory cries of seagulls. The heat became less burning, and sometimes a cool stream of air, saturated with the smell of the sea, flew into the hut.
