home › Transmission (gearbox) › Andrey Platonov. "intimate person" (an experience of analysis)

Andrey Platonov. "intimate person" (an experience of analysis)

Foma Pukhov, and that is the name of the hero of Platonov, is really not prone to sentimentality. And he has a special vision of what is happening. What is going on? Revolution, Civil War. Before presenting a summary of Platonov's The Secret Man, it is worth citing a few facts from the biography of the Soviet writer. He, like many others, suffered from the post-revolutionary events. And he reflected his experiences in books.

Creativity Platonov

“The Secret Man”, a summary of which is given below, the story “Markun”, the collection “Blue Depth”, “Epifan Gateways”, “Ethereal Path”, “Yamskaya Sloboda” - all this was published in the twenties. Platonov was then already widely known. But in the early thirties, he increasingly began to be attacked by critics.

In 1918, Platonov entered the Voronezh Technical School. He then served on the revolutionary railway committee. During the Civil War he worked as a correspondent. In 1922, the collection "Blue Depth" was published. And three years later, Platonov wrote such works as "Ethereal Path", "Epifan Gateways", "City of Gradov".

The most significant novels were created in the late thirties: "Pit", "Chevengur". None of these works were published during the author's lifetime. After all, they tell about the construction of a communist society in a utopian spirit.

Stalin valued Platonov's creativity ("The Secret Man", a summary of which we are considering is no exception), as he valued the books of many writers who were subjected to repression. In 1931, Platonov wrote the story "For the future". This work caused sharp criticism of Fadeev, a prose writer who wrote badly, but "correctly". Then problems began in Platonov's life. His works were no longer published.

In 1934, Pravda published a devastating article, after which publishing houses did not publish Plato's works for a long time. In 1938, the writer's son was arrested. Soon he was released. But in prison, the young man fell ill with tuberculosis, and soon died. Platonov contracted an incurable disease from his son. Passed away in 1951.

In the early works of Platonov, faith in revolutionary ideas is felt. But by the beginning of the thirties, he had more and more doubts, which is easy to see when reading the stories of those years. The Secret Man was first published in 1927. Today it is difficult to understand what Soviet critics might not like in this story. The fact is that the heroes - although representatives of the proletariat, are a dubious personality. And most importantly, doubters. During the years of building communism, such characters were unpopular.

Platonov's "Intimate Man": a summary

The text consists of nine chapters. But it is better to state a summary of Platonov's work "The Secret Man" according to the following plan:

Ticket to work.
Accident.
Liski station.
On the ship.
Homecoming.
Bad plan.
Baku.

Voucher for work

Pukhov buried his wife. Returning from the cemetery, he was a little sad. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. The main character, shouting in their hearts: “They don’t let you grieve!” - The door is still open. On the threshold stood the watchman of the distance office - he brought a ticket to the snow removal work.

Thomas came to the station. Here I signed the order. Platonov supplemented the text with his remarks. So, he says: "At that time, try not to sign." Pukhov, along with other workers, goes to clear the way for the Red Army. The front is very close - sixty kilometers away.

Accident

Is it worth reading Platonov's "The Secret Man" in summary? It will take five minutes to read the abridged version. But, of course, the presentation will not convey the colorful, juicy language of the Soviet classic. Platonov gives a description of his hero as if between the lines. Foma Pukhov at the beginning of the work creates the impression of an indifferent person. An accident occurs. Snow plow stops the Cossack detachment. The machine slows down, as a result, the workers are injured, and the driver dies. "How did he run into the pin, fool?" - says Pukhov, seeing the mutilated body of the deceased. It would seem that the tragic death of a young man does not touch him at all. Perhaps a little surprising.

At Liski station

The workers are liberated by the Reds. At the same time, the Cossacks, stuck in the snow, are shot. Even from the brief content of Platonov's story "The Secret Man" one can understand how difficult and cruel the years of the Civil War were. People did not seem to notice grief, death.

Pukhov immediately forgets about the sad events. At the Liski station, he sees an announcement: "Mechanics are required for the Southern Front." Spring is coming, there is nothing to do on the snowplow. We already know from the summary of The Secret Man: Platonov in this story tells about a lonely man who, after the death of his wife, is ready to wander around the country. Comrade Pukhova remains. He himself is heading south.

On the ship

From the summary of "The Secret Man" by A. Platonov, you can find out what historical events are reflected in this book. Pukhov gets a job as a worker on a steamer, which is heading to the Crimea - to the rear of Wrangel. But because of the assault, it is not possible to reach the Crimean coast.

Meanwhile, news arrives about the capture of Simferopol by the Reds. Foma spends several months in Novorossiysk. Here he works as a senior fitter at a coastal base. He remembers his dead wife, he is sad ...

Homecoming

The protagonist of Platonov's story goes to Baku, where he meets a sailor named Sharikov. This person takes part in the restoration of the Caspian Shipping Company. Sharikov sends Foma on a business trip, where he must engage in attracting the local proletariat.

Pukhov suddenly returns home. Here he again indulges in sadness. Returning and crossing the threshold of his house, he recalls that this dwelling is usually called a hearth. But what is a hearth without a woman and fire?

Failed plan

The Whites are attacking the city. In order to eliminate the enemy, Pukhov proposes the following plan: to launch several platforms with sand on an armored train. However, the idea fails.

The Reds come and save the city. After Pukhov, many are accused of betrayal. After all, the implementation of the plan with platforms led to the death of workers. However, many still understand that Pukhov is just a "silly man." After this incident, Foma writes a letter to Sharikov, who sends it to Baku. The main character leaves for the oil fields.

Baku

Sharikov appoints Pukhov as a machinist for an oil engine. He loves this job. Although he does not have an apartment here, he sleeps on a toolbox in a barn. One day Sharikov invites him to become a communist. Pukhov refuses. He explained his refusal as follows: "I am a natural fool." Increasingly, he is sad, misses his dead wife. This is the summary of Platonov's story "The Secret Man".

Analysis

The heroes of Platonov are tongue-tied, their speech is peculiar, it may seem illiterate. But this is the peculiarity of the Soviet writer's prose. Pukhov tries to understand the revolution. This is expressed in his peculiar thoughts.

In Soviet fiction of the pre-war years, heroes of proletarian origin are more common. Against their background, Foma Pukhov looks a little strange. Unlike the characters of Ostrovsky, Fadeev, Foma does not believe in revolution. He doubts communist ideas. In the soul of the Platonic hero is rooted an irresistible desire to know the world, the desire to convince himself of the truth of revolutionary ideas. He is somewhat reminiscent of Thomas the unbeliever. This biblical character was not with the apostles when the resurrection of Jesus Christ took place. And so he refused to believe in miracles. Until he touched the wounds of Christ. However, according to one version, Thomas was the only apostle who was able to comprehend the innermost, secret meaning of the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Pukhov has something in common with the peasants from the poem "Who Lives Well in Rus'." Nekrasov's heroes are also trying to comprehend the mystery of happiness. Pukhov is interested not so much in everyday life as in being. And his dissimilarity, difference from other people, is already noticeable in the first scene, which was mentioned above.

The protagonist of the story "The Secret Man" is an eternal wanderer. It may seem that Pukhov travels completely aimlessly. Around everyone is busy with some business, they have strict judgments regarding this or that issue. And Pukhov's revolution does not find a response in his soul. He is looking for confirmation of the idea of universal happiness. At the same time, during his wanderings around the country, he sees death more than once. The seen reality gives rise to new doubts in revolutionary ideas.

Explain to me the meaning of Platonov's work The Secret Man in an accessible language ... If you help, I recognize the best ... and got the best answer

Answer from Pawel[guru]
Analysis of the story "The Secret Man" by Platonov A.P.
The hero of the story "The Secret Man" Foma Pukhov, even in his mature years, did not lose his naive perception of the world.
At the beginning of the story, he simply brushes off all the difficult questions. The mechanic Pukhov appreciates only one thing: his work. But on the other hand, he appears as a spontaneous philosopher, in some ways a mischievous person, in some ways a moralizer.
The party cell even concludes "that Pukhov is not a traitor, but just a silly man."
The effort of the "foolish peasant" to understand the revolution is expressed in the special individual language of Plato's prose - sometimes inert, as if illiterate, but always precise and expressive. The speech of the narrator and the characters bears the stamp of special humor, which manifests itself in the most unexpected fragments of the text: “Afanas, you are now not a whole person, but a defective one! - said Pukhov with regret.
“The Secret Man” throughout the story, as it were, gathers into one whole his eternally hungry flesh, practical wisdom, mind and soul: “if you only think, you won’t go far either, you need to have a feeling! »
Foma Pukhov not only loves nature, but also understands it. Unity with nature evokes a whole range of feelings in him: “One day, during the sunshine, Pukhov was walking around the city and thought - how much vicious stupidity in people, how much inattention to such a single occupation as life and the whole natural environment” .
Comprehension of the events of the Civil War in his mind takes on a fantastic character. However, basically, in the main thing, he does not lie, but on the contrary, he seeks the truth.
In a difficult, confused time, when the illiterate poor rose up against the scientific "white guard" and an impossible unimaginable feat - and a thirst for feat! - defeated the enemy, from an “external”, thoughtless, empty Foma Poohov, checking everything on his own experience, turns into an “intimate person”.
link
Milana Tyz, you know, this is somehow more accessible!

Answer from Maria Saitova[active]
,

Answer from 3 answers[guru]

Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: Explain to me the meaning of Platonov's work The Secret Man in an accessible language ... If you help me, I recognize it as the best ...

The protagonist of the work, Foma Pukhov, looks very strange against the background of characters of proletarian origin traditional for Soviet art. Unlike the heroes A.A. Fadeev and N.A. Ostrovsky, who do not know any doubts, Pukhov does not believe in the revolution, he doubts it. He worries about “where and to what end of the world all revolutions and all human anxiety go.” In his soul is rooted a deep passion for a true knowledge of the world, the desire to check everything and make sure of everything for himself. A parallel arises with the Gospel apostle Thomas the Unbeliever. He was not with the other apostles when the resurrected Jesus Christ came to them, and Thomas refuses to believe in the resurrection of the Teacher until he himself touches his wounds. There is an interpretation according to which Thomas was the only apostle who was able to comprehend the secret, hidden meaning of the teachings of Christ.

The hero of Platonov, like Nekrasov's peasants in the poem "Who Lives Well in Rus'", is attracted by the eternal mystery of happiness. He is interested not so much in everyday life as in being. The story opens with a very strange scene: a hungry Foma cuts a sausage on his wife's coffin. In this episode, the eternal and the momentary are expressively correlated with each other, the whole measure of Thomas's dissimilarity to an ordinary person is shown. Thomas is orphaned, but he has to continue to live.

So from the first episode in the story everyday and philosophical dimensions of life are intertwined. All questions that concern Thomas will be both abstract and spiritual, and practical, everyday. Why, after all, does the revolution, Thomas thinks, if it does not bring the highest justice, does not solve the problem of death? For Foma's acquaintances, the goal of the revolution is quite specific - it is material equality, a practical improvement in the lives of workers. Pukhov, on the other hand, is worried that, apart from this material goal, there is nothing in the revolution.

Foma Pukhov is an eternal wanderer. At first glance, he travels aimlessly, while everyone around is busy with very specific things. He does not find a permanent home for himself, because in the revolution there is no place for his soul. Others find their place: Zvorychny, becoming the secretary of the party cell; sailor Sharikov, having settled down as a commissioner for hiring labor in Baku, foreman of the assembly shop Perevoshchikov. From their point of view, the revolution is fulfilling its promise to bring happiness to everyone. Thomas is looking for - alas, to no avail - confirmation of the revolutionary faith. Only the reality of the revolutionary storm is revealed to him—the reality of dying. Leaving home after the death of his wife, he works on a railway snowplow. Before his eyes, an assistant driver dies in a locomotive accident, a white officer kills an engineer, a red armored train shoots a Cossack detachment “cleanly”. And there is no end to this feast of death.

Three deaths are written out in the story especially vividly. The death of the worker Afonin, who fought on the side of the Reds. The death of the white officer Mayevsky who shot himself: "and his despair was so great that he died before his shot." The death of an engineer, head of the distance, whom the bullet of a Cossack officer "saves" from execution by decision of the Revolutionary Tribunal. The reality of the revolution seen by Thomas only strengthens his doubts about its holiness.

Does this mean that Pukhov does not find happiness in the world? Not at all. Joy and spiritual peace gives him a sense of communion with the whole world (and not with a part of it). Platonov carefully writes out Pukhov’s feeling of the fullness of life: “The wind shook Pukhov, like the living hands of a large unknown body, revealing its virginity to the wanderer and not giving it, and Pukhov rustled his blood from such happiness. This conjugal love of the whole, immaculate land aroused in Pukhov the feelings of a master. He looked around all the accessories of nature with a homely tenderness and found everything appropriate and living in essence. This is the happiness of Thomas - the feeling of the need and relevance of everything in life, the organic connection and cooperation of all beings. It is interconnection and cooperation, and not struggle and destruction. Foma is a person who is equally open to all the hardships of the life of the country in the conditions of the civil war, and the "luxury" of "desperate nature", "Good morning!" - says Pukhov to the driver he replaces at the end of the story. And he replies: "Revolutionary completely."

Another work in which the sanctity of the revolutionary cause is "tested" is the novel Chevengur (1929). Chevengur is the name of a small town where a group of Bolsheviks tried to build communism. In the first part of the novel, its characters roam in search of happiness in Russia engulfed in civil war. In the second part, they come to a peculiar city of the Sun - Chevengur, where communism has already been realized. In their revolutionary passion, the Chevengurs exterminated most of the population, "unworthy" of living under communism. Now they have to confront the regular army, sent to pacify the city evading from the government. The finale of the novel is tragic: the road to communism ends in death. For the heroes, this death is in the nature of a collective suicide. Chevengurs die in battle with a feeling of joyful liberation from the futility of the earthly "paradise" they built. "Chevengur" - awareness of the falsity of the goals proclaimed by the revolution of the Bolsheviks. True, in relation to Platonov to his heroes there is no unequivocal condemnation. The author is on their side in a passionate desire to "make a fairy tale come true", to realize an age-old dream. But he leaves them when they begin to divide people into "clean" and "impure". The heroes of Chevengur appear as victims of an incorrectly set goal, an incorrectly understood idea. This is their fault and misfortune.

The writer will return to the problems posed in the novel until the end of his career. Gradually, the circle of these problems narrowed, because in the 1930s. it will become more and more difficult to discuss them in print. However, the main result of the time travel undertaken by Platonov in the 1920s, the result of testing the past and the future, is the recognition of the "false project", the falsity of the plan for the revolutionary remaking of life. In the work of the writer of the late 1920s - 1930s. the place of alluring mirages of utopia will be replaced by a formidable reality.

Platonov's works such as the novel City of Gradov (1927), rich in irony, the "organizational-philosophical" essay "Che-Che-O" (1929), and the story "Doubting Makar" (1929) are devoted to the "test of the present". Literary scholars sometimes refer to these works as the "philosophical-satirical trilogy". Based on modern material, Platonov's plays Fourteen Red Huts (1937-1938, published in 1987) and Barrel Organ (1933, published in 1988) were created. The most significant works of this period are the stories "The Pit" (1930, published in 1986), "The Juvenile Sea" (1934, published in 1987) and "Jan" (1934).

"Secret Man" analysis of the work - theme, idea, genre, plot, composition, characters, problems and other issues are disclosed in this article.

The hero of the story "The Secret Man" Foma Pukhov, even in his mature years, did not lose his naive perception of the world.

At the beginning of the story, he simply brushes off all the difficult questions. The mechanic Pukhov appreciates only one thing: his work. But on the other hand, he appears as a spontaneous philosopher, in some ways a mischievous person, in some ways a moralizer.

The party cell even concludes "that Pukhov is not a traitor, but simply a foolish peasant."

The effort of the "foolish peasant" to understand the revolution is expressed in the special individual language of Plato's prose - sometimes inert, as if illiterate, but always precise and expressive. The speech of the narrator and the characters bears the stamp of special humor, which manifests itself in the most unexpected fragments of the text: “Afanas, you are now not a whole person, but a defective one! - said Pukhov with regret.

Throughout the story, the “intimate man” seems to collect his eternally hungry flesh, practical wisdom, mind and soul into one whole: “if you only think, you won’t go far either, you also need to have a feeling!”

Foma Pukhov not only loves nature, but also understands it. Unity with nature evokes a whole range of feelings in him: “One day, during the sunshine, Pukhov was walking around the city and thought - how much vicious stupidity in people, how much inattention to such a single occupation as life and the whole natural environment.

Comprehension of the events of the Civil War in his mind takes on a fantastic character. However, basically, in the main thing, he does not lie, but on the contrary, he seeks the truth.

In a difficult, confused time, when the illiterate poor rose up against the scientific "white guard" and an impossible unimaginable feat - and a thirst for feat! - defeated the enemy, from a person "external", thoughtless, empty Foma Poohov, checking everything on his own experience, turns into a "secret person".

The hero of the story “The Secret Man” Foma Pukhov did not lose his naive perception of the world even in his mature years.
At the beginning of the story, he simply brushes off all the difficult questions. The mechanic Pukhov appreciates only one thing: his work. But on the other hand, he appears as a spontaneous philosopher, in some ways a mischievous person, in some ways a moralizer.
The party cell even concludes "that Pukhov is not a traitor, but simply a foolish man."
The effort of the "foolish peasant" to understand the revolution is expressed in the special individual language of Plato's prose.

- sometimes inert, as if illiterate, but always accurate and expressive. The speech of the narrator and the characters bears the stamp of special humor, which manifests itself in the most unexpected fragments of the text: “Afanas, you are now not a whole person, but a defective one! - said Pukhov with regret.
Throughout the story, the “hidden man” seems to collect his eternally hungry flesh, practical wisdom, mind and soul into one whole: “if you only think, you won’t go far either, you also need to have a feeling!”
Foma Pukhov not only loves nature, but also understands it. Unity with nature causes him a whole range of feelings: “In one

day, during the sunshine, Pukhov walked around the city and thought - how much vicious stupidity in people, how much inattention to such a single occupation as life and the whole natural environment.
Comprehension of the events of the Civil War in his mind takes on a fantastic character. However, basically, in the main thing, he does not lie, but on the contrary, he seeks the truth.
In a difficult, confused time, when the illiterate poor rose up against the learned "White Guard" and an impossible unimaginable feat - and a thirst for feat! - overcame the enemy, from an “external”, thoughtless, empty Foma Poohov, checking everything on his own experience, turns into an “intimate person”.