The plot of the story “The Deadline” is simple: Mikhail, the son of the old woman Anna, who has not gotten up for a long time, has dried up, only reminding with her breath that she is still alive, calls his relatives by telegram. A large family gathers: sons, daughters, themselves no longer young, who have become parents. They are waiting for their delayed sister Tatyana and, afraid to admit it to themselves, are waiting for their mother to die. And this painful expectation reveals everyone. The children of the old woman Anna - Ilya, Lyusya, Varvara - who arrived some by hitchhiking from a neighboring village, and some by ship and plane hundreds of kilometers away, involuntarily want everything to happen as quickly as possible. They themselves, ashamed of themselves and their expectations, explain that they took time away from their affairs and work, because they came “to the outside world”) and fulfilled their duties. The death of the mother is perceived as a tragedy only by the author; the heroes are deprived of this. The eldest, Varvara, “opened the gate, saw no one in the yard, and immediately, as soon as she turned herself on, began to voice:

“You are my mother-a-a-!”

And then Rasputin will add: “Varvara got up and went to the table to cry - where it was more convenient.” No, she is not soulless, not callous, she “cryed for a long time, banging her head on the table, burst into tears and could not stop.” But the author, in parallel with this picture of crying (rather ritual, ceremonial), gives its perception through the eyes of a child. Five-year-old Ninka, Mikhail’s daughter, still does not understand what is happening, she “bent down to look why Varvara’s tears were not running to the floor.” The child in Russian literature is a special, iconic image. This is that pure, angelic soul that is given the ability to see or feel the truth or carry it to other heroes. There is a feeling that this five-year-old Ninka saw (and with her help we felt it) something not scary, unnatural in Varvara’s lamentations.

Anna herself is not afraid of death, she even gets angry when she is killed. Once again“The injections of the paramedic, whom Ninka was running after, were taken from the other world.” She wailed and begged her granddaughter:

- How many times have I told you: don’t touch me, let me go on my own in peace... Don’t run after her anymore, don’t run... hide behind the bathhouse, wait, then say: she’s not at home.

And the grandmother ingenuously finished her instructions to her granddaughter:

“I’ll give you some candy for this—a sweet one.”

Conveying Anna's unhurried, drawn-out thoughts and memories, Rasputin builds a simple story of her life. And she lived simply, like a river flows: she worked, raised children, the years flew by one after another... and it was the same with her mother, and with her mother’s mother... What is this, a plant life, not spiritualized by the mind, without a single thought, a life of habit ? Or that very natural, harmonious connection of life with the eternal movement of nature, merging with the world, when your place in this eternal cycle does not require awareness? Because it's yours?! Anna herself, reflecting, believes that good life lived, and we understand where she gets this feeling from: she has somewhere to go and someone to leave. Her life is seen as a link in an endless chain of existence, and therefore, having fulfilled what was intended for her (she was a worker, wife and mother) by nature and the universe itself, she will merge with this eternal order and peace. Not scary!

But the children do not know what to do, and this confusion, the author claims, is not from the fear of losing their mother, but because they have been torn out of the eternal circle of habitual worries and troubles, and they do not know what to do in the face of such a phenomenon in the world. And if we feel that the author with undoubted respect depicts the last days of the old woman Anna and her thoughts, then the behavior of the children is perceived as false (the word “vain” is requested). Moreover, we feel more and more acutely that this vanity stands out in those heroes who broke with the village (and with their mother too). This is how the theme of mother and mother nature arises in the story, a break with which is tragic for a person. We see this most acutely in the image of Lucy (and I will remind you once again that for Russian literature it was female heroines who were the bearers of special, very important traits that conveyed their mental makeup and highest values national character, and Rasputin picks up this tradition). The city left its mark on Lucy in every way: in her character, in her behavior, in her way of thinking, in her habits. Everything about her is unnatural, unnatural. So the mother asked for food, for the first time in several days she swallowed the thin porridge, and the daughter could not find any other words except the sadly formal ones:

“You can’t overload your stomach now.”

Let him digest this first...

And her letters from the city?! “Tell your mother that medicines help with any illness at any age... Make sure that your mother dresses better in winter...” It seems like care and attention, but what an air of officialdom emanates from these truisms! Who doesn’t know that medicines cure, but it’s cold in winter? And with her sister Lyusya speaks in the same formal manner: “It has become completely impossible to talk to you, Varvara. Don’t forget, please, we are also quite old and probably understand what we are doing.” Varvara is offended - the city sister has become proud, but Rasputin is convinced that the matter is completely different. Lucy is already different, a stranger to this world, where everything is simple and wise, and she now lives not with her soul, but with some other rules. Rasputin gives Lyusa a chance to return to the world of natural feelings and natural words when she remembers her childhood, berry places, Listvenichnik Island, mushrooms... “Do you remember how mother sent us all to pick wild onions across the Verkhnaya River? We'll all get wet and dirty until we pick. And they also competed to see who can pick the most. “Left in the forest, alone with herself, with her memory, Lucy will suddenly stop, as if trying to return something very important, it will seem that a little more, and she will open her soul to the natural that is about to embrace her, she will understand something... then in the surging feelings, she will sort out the memories... But Lucy’s life is meaningless.

The author is preparing an unexpected plot twist. Children expect grief, listen to their mother’s breathing, Varvara cries and cries, Lyusya holds a mirror to the dying woman’s lips - is there breathing... And the mother opens her eyes, asks for porridge, the one “that she cooked for little Ninka,” and then she gets up and leaves the hut, and Lucy is wearing a black dress, finishing her mourning dress at night, and the brothers have already bought a box of vodka for the funeral, and the writer shows how this vodka helps to find a way out of an awkward situation: they were preparing to drink to the death, now they decided to drink to their health! At first the men hid in the bathhouse, and then they came out into the yard, emboldened, because it was a joy! And these scenes, frankly comical, especially the genuine horror of Mikhail, who learned that his stupid daughter almost took bottles to the store in order to return them and buy candy with the proceeds, these funny events accumulate imperceptibly, as if something unpleasant was gathering, increasing, intensifying anxiety, shame, unworthy of a person - and so ordinary. This is vanity, that petty vanity of life, which clearly carries a hint of vulgarity, some kind of moral deafness. And it’s not even about the sons’ drinking, not about the scandal that will break out at the mother’s bedside, not about the senseless, empty bickering of brothers and sisters... The feignedly cheerful and such false words of children who need to leave, no matter how their mother begs, will sound. For some reason, the words that the children of their mother will say on the threshold of their home will seem scary:

- And don’t be offended by us. That's how it should be.

Yes, it is necessary, but not according to human rules, but according to the same law of vanity that he broke and rebuilt the souls of children for himself. Mother lives differently. To this day, she punishes herself for being guilty in front of her children. During the famine, when little Varvara was dying, her mother secretly milked Zorka, her former cow, but now the collective farm cow. It was with this milk that my daughter gave birth, but she still cannot forgive herself for this sin (she took someone else’s!), she even sincerely believes that Varvara’s failed life - there are problems with her husband, her unlucky daughter - are traces of that long-standing sin, and she is executing herself. Children are different: they know for sure that they live correctly. And only one person in the house, the youngest son Mikhail, a drinker and a good-for-nothing, suddenly feels something very important and says, left alone with his mother:

- Do not be angry at me. I'm a fool, of course... Don't be too angry with me. I was a fool.

And after the departure of the city guests, the granddaughter, five-year-old Ninka, will approach her grandmother, and, as if understanding something, feeling something, she will put her greatest value - candy - into her hand, and the old woman’s lips will move in a smile. The old, the young and the fool stayed together, but the smart, educated, cultured ones left without understanding anything. But we understand how important it is for Rasputin to show that everything that makes a person truly human is still alive, alive in the heart, but only in one that knows how to empathize, sympathize, and perceive someone else’s misfortune as keenly as its own. But this ability, according to Rasputin, is lost by those who break the spiritual connection with the earth, with nature, with natural life. This is how “The Deadline” ends: “The old woman listened without answering and no longer knew whether she could answer or not. She wanted to sleep. Her eyes closed. Until the evening, before darkness, she opened them several more times, but not for long, only to remember where she was.” No epithets, no dialectisms, colloquialisms reproducing Anna’s dialect, no complex syntax, no branched structures. The simplest language means Rasputin uses it to talk about the death of the old woman Anna, realizing that any complication of the phrase, embellishment in such a situation would be a deviation from artistic taste, from the truth, even some kind of blasphemy. The last sentence of the story will be extremely simple: “The old woman died at night.” Just as simply as she lived, in that great naturalness) which alone preserves man and which turned out to be inaccessible to her children, cut off from the earth, from the soil) on which all living things feed. They were torn away from the mother, but at the same time from mother earth, from maternal roots.

Rasputin's work is a reflection of values modern man. Valentin Rasputin is one of the most famous and talented writers of modern Russian literature.

The theme of modern perception of morality is fundamental to most of his works. Most often, his story “The Deadline” is mentioned, which the author calls the most important in his own work.

His works are filled with vivid images and thoughts that help reveal the changes taking place in the psychology of modern man.

Through the eyes of Rasputin we see the loss of many valuable human qualities, the writer shows how kindness, mercy and conscience gradually leave the hearts of people, and how this affects the life of society as a whole, and in particular the life and destiny of each person.

The meaning of the story "The Deadline"

The themes that Rasputin touches on in the story “The Deadline” are deeper and more multifaceted than they might seem at first glance.

Relationships between family members, attitudes towards parents, alcoholism, old age, concepts of conscience and honor - all these motives are woven into a single reflection of the meaning of a person’s life in “The Last Term”; and by touching on these topics, Rasputin only reflects reality.

Main actor The story is about an eighty-year-old old woman, Anna, who lives with her son. Her inner world filled with worries about children who have long since moved away and lead lives separately from each other. Anna only thinks that she would like to see them happy before she dies. And if not happy, then just to see them all one last time.

But her grown-up children are children of modern civilization, busy and businesslike, they already have their own families, and they can think about many things - and they have enough time and energy for everything, except their mother. For some reason, they hardly remember her, not wanting to understand that for her the feeling of life remains only in them, she only lives in thoughts about them.

When Anna feels death approaching, she is ready to wait until the end for a few more days, because she really wants to see her family. Until her last minute, she loves them with all her soul and vitality that still remains in her, but the children find time and attention for her only for the sake of decency.

Rasputin reveals their lives in such a way that it seems that they generally live in this world for the sake of decency. Moreover, the sons are mired in drunkenness, and the daughters are busy with their “important” affairs.

They are ridiculous and insincere in their last wish pay attention to the dying mother. After all, in the last days of the mother’s life, they could have at least corrected something, they could have simply sincerely talked to her and given her the attention worthy of a mother, but they weren’t enough for that either.

Analysis of the plan “Deadline” - the meaning of the name

Valentin Rasputin points modern society and to man at their moral decline, at the callousness, heartlessness and selfishness that took possession of their lives and souls.

What do such people live for? For the sake of anger and hatred, envy and disrespect for other people? If they cannot even say goodbye to their dying mother in a human way, what can we say about their attitude towards the world around them, about their life purpose and roles...

The writer shows how pitiful the life of such people can be, how soulless and gloomy, and the main idea is that they created such a world around themselves with their own hands.

And only one question remains regarding the title of the story and what meaning Rasputin put into it.

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin

"Deadline"

Old woman Anna lies motionless, without opening her eyes; it has almost frozen, but life still glimmers. The daughters understand this by raising a piece of a broken mirror to their lips. It fogs up, which means mom is still alive. However, Varvara, one of Anna’s daughters, believes it is possible to mourn, to “voice her back,” which she selflessly does first at the bedside, then at the table, “wherever it’s more convenient.” At this time, my daughter Lucy is sewing a funeral dress tailored in the city. The sewing machine chirps to the rhythm of Varvara’s sobs.

Anna is the mother of five children, two of her sons died, the first, born one for God, the other for the soar. Varvara came to say goodbye to her mother from the regional center, Lyusya and Ilya from nearby provincial towns.

Anna can't wait for Tanya from distant Kyiv. And next to her in the village was always her son Mikhail, along with his wife and daughter. Gathering around the old woman on the morning of the next day after her arrival, the children, seeing their mother revived, do not know how to react to her strange revival.

“Mikhail and Ilya, having brought vodka, now did not know what to do: everything else seemed trivial to them in comparison, they toiled, as if passing through every minute.” Huddled in the barn, they get drunk with almost no snacks, except for the food that Mikhail’s little daughter Ninka carries for them. This causes legitimate female anger, but the first glasses of vodka give men a feeling of genuine celebration. After all, the mother is alive. Ignoring the girl collecting empty and unfinished bottles, they no longer understand what thought they want to drown out this time, maybe it’s fear. “The fear from the knowledge that the mother is about to die is not like all the previous fears that befall them in life, because this fear is the most terrible, it comes from death... It seemed that death had already noticed them all in the face and would no longer will forget."

Having gotten thoroughly drunk and feeling the next day “as if they had been put through a meat grinder,” Mikhail and Ilya are thoroughly hungover the next day. “How can you not drink? - says Mikhail. - Day, two, even a week - it’s still possible. What if you don’t drink at all until your death? Just think, there is nothing ahead. It's all the same thing. There are so many ropes that hold us both at work and at home that it’s impossible to groan, so much you should have done and didn’t do, you should, should, should, should, and the further you go, the more you should - let it all go to waste. And he drank, as soon as he was released, he did everything that was necessary. And what he didn’t do, he shouldn’t have done, and he did the right thing in what he didn’t do.” This does not mean that Mikhail and Ilya do not know how to work and have never known any other joy than from drunkenness. In the village where they all once lived together, there was a common work - “friendly, inveterate, loud, with a discord of saws and axes, with the desperate hooting of fallen timber, echoing in the soul with enthusiastic anxiety with the obligatory banter with each other. Such work happens once during the firewood harvesting season - in the spring, so that the yellow pine logs with thin silky skin, pleasant to the eye, have time to dry over the summer, are placed in neat woodpiles.” These Sundays are organized for oneself, one family helps another, which is still possible. But the collective farm in the village is falling apart, people are leaving for the city, there is no one to feed and raise livestock.

Remembering her former life, the city dweller Lyusya with great warmth and joy imagines her beloved horse Igrenka, on which “slam a mosquito, and it will fall down,” which in the end happened: the horse died. Igren carried a lot, but couldn’t handle it. Wandering around the village through the fields and arable land, Lucy realizes that she does not choose where to go, that she is being guided by some outsider who lives in these places and professes her power. ...It seemed that life had returned back, because she, Lucy, had forgotten something here, had lost something very valuable and necessary for her, without which she could not...

While the children drink and indulge in memories, the old woman Anna, having eaten the children's semolina porridge specially cooked for her, cheers up even more and goes out onto the porch. She is visited by her long-awaited friend Mironikha. “Ochi-mochi! Are you, old lady, alive? - says Mironikha. “Why doesn’t death take you?.. I’m going to her funeral, I think she was kind enough to console me, but she’s still a tut.”

Anna grieves that among the children gathered at her bedside there is no Tatyana, Tanchora, as she calls her. Tanchora was not like any of the sisters. She stood, as it were, between them with her special character, soft and joyful, human. Without waiting for her daughter, the old woman decides to die. “She had nothing more to do in this world and there was no point in postponing death. While the guys are here, let them bury them, carry them out as is customary among people, so that they don’t have to return to this concern another time. Then, you see, Tanchora will come too... The old woman thought about death many times and knew it as herself. Behind last years they became friends, the old woman often talked to her, and death, sitting somewhere on the side, listened to her reasonable whisper and sighed knowingly. They agreed that the old woman would go away at night, first fall asleep, like all people, so as not to frighten death with her open eyes, then she would quietly snuggle, remove her short worldly sleep and give her eternal peace.” This is how it all turns out.

Grigory Rasputin's story "The Deadline" begins with how all the children of the main character Anna came to her when she became very ill. Anna was the mother of five children, two sons (firstborns) died, and the rest were born for God and for a bet. Gathered at their mother’s bed, the children see her lying motionless, almost frozen, but still alive. The daughters realized this when they brought the glass to the main character. One of Anna’s daughters, Varya, came from the regional center, Lyusya and Ilya came from provincial towns. The heroine is also waiting for her daughter Tanya, who lives in Kyiv, and her son Mikhail lives in the same village with her.

All the children have gathered, except Tanya. The next day they were perplexed when they saw their mother perk up. Ilya and Mikhail settled down in the barn, where they got drunk with vodka, without having a snack at all, without eating at the expense of the food that Mikhail’s daughter Nina brought. With their behavior, the boys make the girls angry, but the first piles give the men joy that their mother is alive. Afterwards, Ilya and Mikhail no longer understand why they are drinking, most likely out of fear that their mother might die. And all this time little Nina is cleaning up the bottles after them. So the guys get completely drunk and go to bed. The next morning, the brothers feel unwell and begin to suffer from a hangover. In fact, Mikhail and Ilya did not fall for the bottle so often, but on the contrary, they loved to work. Since childhood, all Anna's children loved to work together and help each other, as well as their village. Meanwhile, Lyusya begins to remember her childhood and her beloved horse Igrenok, who was weak, which led to his death. The horse worked hard and benefited Lucy's family. Walking around the outskirts of her village, she realized that she was not walking on her own, but some force was pulling her, trying to show her what she had lost here and what she couldn’t do without. All this time Varvara sat and grieved for her mother who had not died.

Deadline

Old woman Anna lies motionless, without opening her eyes; it has almost frozen, but life still glimmers. The daughters understand this by raising a piece of a broken mirror to their lips. It fogs up, which means mom is still alive. However, Varvara, one of Anna’s daughters, believes it is possible to mourn, to “voice her back,” which she selflessly does first at the bedside, then at the table, “wherever it is more convenient.” At this time, my daughter Lucy is sewing a funeral dress tailored in the city. The sewing machine chirps to the rhythm of Varvara’s sobs.

Having gotten thoroughly drunk and feeling the next day as if they had been put through a meat grinder, Mikhail and Ilya are thoroughly hungover the next day. “How can you not drink?” says Mikhail. “Laziness, second, even for a week, it’s still possible. And if you don’t drink at all until your death? Just think, there’s nothing ahead. It’s all the same thing. How many ropes are holding us and at work and at home, you can’t help but groan, you should have done so much and didn’t do it, you should, should, should, should, and the further you go, the more you should - let it all go to waste. He did what he needed to do. And what he didn’t do, he shouldn’t have done, and he did the right thing in what he didn’t do.” This does not mean that Mikhail and Ilya do not know how to work and have never known any other joy than from drunkenness. In the village where they all once lived together, there was a common work - “friendly, inveterate, loud, with a discord of saws and axes, with the desperate hooting of fallen timber, echoing in the soul with enthusiastic anxiety with the obligatory banter with each other. Such work happens. Once during the firewood harvesting season - in the spring, so that they have time to dry over the summer, yellow pine logs with thin silky skin, pleasant to the eye, are placed in neat woodpiles." These Sundays are organized for oneself, one family helps another, which is still possible. But the collective farm in the village is falling apart, people are leaving for the city, there is no one to feed and raise livestock.

Remembering her former life, the city dweller Lyusya with great warmth and joy imagines her beloved horse Igrenka, on which “slam a mosquito, he will fall down,” which in the end happened: the horse died. Igren carried a lot, but couldn’t handle it. Wandering around the village through the fields and arable land, Lucy realizes that she does not choose where to go, that she is being guided by some outsider who lives in these places and professes her power. ...It seemed that life had returned back, because she, Lucy, had forgotten something here, had lost something very valuable and necessary for her, without which she could not...

While the children drink and indulge in memories, the old woman Anna, having eaten the children's semolina porridge specially cooked for her, cheers up even more and goes out onto the porch. She is visited by her long-awaited friend Mironikha. “Oti-moti! Are you, old lady, in any way alive? - says Mironikha. - Why is death not taking you?

Anna grieves that among the children gathered at her bedside there is no Tatyana, Tanchora, as she calls her. Tanchora was not like any of the sisters. She stood, as it were, between them with her special character, soft and joyful, human. Without waiting for her daughter, the old woman decides to die. “She had nothing more to do in this world and there was no point in postponing death. While the guys are here, let them bury them, carry them out, as is customary among people, so that they don’t have to return to this concern another time. Then, you see, Tanchora will come too.. . The old woman thought about death many times and knew her as herself. In recent years they became friends, the old woman often talked to her, and death, sitting somewhere on the side, listened to her reasonable whisper and sighed knowingly. They agreed that the old woman would leave at night, first she will fall asleep, like all people, so as not to frighten death with her open eyes, then she will quietly snuggle, take away her short worldly sleep and give her eternal peace.” This is how it all turns out.

The elderly woman Anna has been lying virtually motionless for some time, and her children are inclined to believe that their mother has already passed away. However, the mirror brought to her lips fogs up, which means Anna is still alive. But the eldest of her daughters, Varvara, believes that it is quite possible to cry loudly for her mother, while her sister Lyusya is diligently sewing a dark mourning dress for herself.

Today, old Anna has five long-grown children, the rest died at a very early age. Varvara lives in the regional center, Lyusya and Ilya live in the cities closest to their home village.

The mother is impatiently waiting for the youngest and most beloved of her children, Tatyana, to arrive from Kyiv, while Mikhail and his family constantly live in the village with their mother. All the children are ready to bury their mother, but Anna comes to her senses, and it becomes clear that the woman is not in a hurry to go to another world.

Ilya and Mikhail, who had already saved a lot of vodka for the funeral, now get drunk in the barn, despite the anger of the sisters and Mikhail’s wife Nadezhda, the next day they continue to do the same.

At the same time, Mikhail justifies his own drunkenness, citing the fact that both at home and at work there are too many responsibilities and there are no joys, and it is simply impossible to live without at least the small relief that alcohol brings.

In fact, the brothers are actually quite hard-working people; earlier, when they were younger, Sundays were often held in the village, during which everyone helped each other with funny jokes and songs. Now the collective farm is noticeably falling apart, young people are rushing to the cities, and Anna’s children sadly understand that soon there will be virtually no one left in the village except helpless old people.

Lucy, who has been living in the city for a long time and has almost forgotten about her childhood and youth spent in the village, now wanders around her native place, sadly remembers her previously beloved horse, and feels that she has forgotten or lost something right here in her homeland .

Meanwhile, Anna, feeling even better, confidently goes out onto the porch, where she meets her friend Mironikha. The woman is sincerely surprised that her friend is alive, because she was already planning to go to her wake. Anna continues to be upset that Tatiana is not around. In her opinion, the youngest daughter is truly different from the rest with her kind, gentle, surprisingly “human” character, but without waiting for her, the old woman decides that she no longer has any need to postpone the moment of death.

Anna believes that it will be easier for her guys to bury her while they are all here, because they need to return home to their families and official duties. The woman has been mentally talking with death for a long time and sees in it almost a good friend. Anna agrees that she will pass away at night, first she will just fall asleep, as it always happens with people, and then death will give her the desired peace forever. This is exactly what happens in the future; in the morning the children discover that their mother died in her sleep.