In his short stories, Ivan Bunin frequently highlights the inability to achieve earthly happiness. This reality often manifests itself in its characters' attempts to return to the past, when the evanescence of joy was still a mystery to the insensitive consciousness of the protagonists. In his story “Sunstroke”, the repeated contrasts between light and darkness manage to parallel the psychological struggle of the protagonist. "Kasimir Stanislavovich", on the other hand, illustrates a man's attempt to rediscover happiness by immersing himself in the habits of his youth, as well as his inevitable destruction upon realizing that he does not have the power to manipulate at all. both the unassailable passage of time and happiness. capricious nature. In the story “The First Monday of Lent”, this theme reverberates again through the juxtaposition of two very different attempts at happiness but nevertheless linked by their common failure. Thus, the message that happiness can only be transitory is illustrated by returning to pasts filled with joy, whether in thought or literal action. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get an original essay In the short story "Insolation", Bunin's impressionistic tendencies, those which lead him to qualify some of his characters with a single occurrence rather than with social or historical contexts, as well as temporal references, introduce the universal impossibility of earthly happiness and present as useless any effort aimed at believing otherwise. The simplicity of the structural framework, which only revolves around three events: the characters' infatuation, their night together and their separation, as well as the anonymity of the lieutenant and the woman he meets, reflects the generality of this concept (Woodward 182). . No information about their separate pasts nor their divergent futures is provided, and no details about their physical appearances are present, even their names are excluded; in turn, this depersonalization clearly and trenchantly describes the ineffable logic that makes happiness ultimately inaccessible (184). The dark symbolism that permeates the piece pivots around the reverberating juxtapositions between darkness and light and the extended metaphor of “sunstroke.” These transitions parallel the lieutenant's gradual realizations of the fleeting and insubstantial nature of happiness, his attempt to forget them by reliving the previous day, and his eventual triumph over the irrational illusions that Bunin condemns. From the beginning, when the couple emerges from the “brightly lit dining room” and “darkness and light” await them, the tension between the rational and the irrational is evident. As the narrative progresses, phrases that refer to the smell of sunburn, "the dimly lit pier" at night, the "infrequent light poles" of the roads, and the protagonists' ascent through the "door enlightened”, culminate in the consummation of desire. in a “room still warm from the day’s sun” and “decorated with two unused candles”. It is only in the midst of such growing darkness that man can allow himself to believe that happiness is an achievable goal, for only when he is blinded by the assailing heat can he deceive himself. and believe in the permanence of such a feeling. Bunin, by introducing light as a symbol of man's awareness of the inevitable decline of joy, simultaneously presents darkness as a denial of such truths, a denial which can even lead to great despair. Although "insolation" itself is, as James Woodward, "a force capable of usurpingthe authority of reason", its juxtaposition with darkness simultaneously develops the irony that it is this exaggeration of light and heat which causes the lieutenant's tragic fall from reason, a state which in all others case is symbolized by the presence of light. With darkness victorious, the protagonist plunges into a state of despondency, in which his discovery of the uncontrollable and inevitable decline of human enjoyment pushes him to seek refuge in the past. However, now that the sun has become a "wild furnace", the river seems to be made of "glittering steel", explicit clues to the light's metamorphosis into a burning, mocking reminder of his disillusionment. “Everything was bathed in the warm, blazing, happy, seemingly aimless sun” as he wandered defeated and considered whether to return to the simple, seemingly rational hours before she left him. Confronted with what to do when plagued by the idea that a day of exquisite and unprecedented happiness has passed, fled forever, the lieutenant reiterates a frequent theme in Bunin's writings: an awakening to reality pushes the protagonist to delve into his memories of ignorant times. In the lieutenant's case however, light, and therefore reason, is victorious, as he undertakes a literal and metaphorical journey as a transformed man, who, "having aged ten years", has gained invaluable knowledge of the 'human being. soul and its own psychological reality. Woodland agrees: “As the lieutenant boards his boat the next night, the symbolic sequence of the opening scenes is reversed. From the darkness of the irrational, he passes into the comforting light of reason. " Once again, the evoked contrast between light and darkness, reason and irrational denial, is presented this time in the image of the "steamboat, illuminated with light", as it approaches through the darkness, thereby dramatizing the poignant moment in the evolution of humanity. consciousness when the futility of enjoyment is internalized and transfigured into wisdom. The short story “Kasimir Stanislavovich” includes elements similar to those of “Sunstroke”: the search for happiness, the failure to obtain it but unlike the previous story, the protagonist is unable to escape from the depths of his misery. The detailed descriptions of Kasimir Stanislavovich's conduct, his lack of communication and his dilapidated appearance, as well as the contrasts drawn between his current surroundings and the life that enveloped him in his youth, establish the impossibility of achieve his goal, because he seeks, above all, to find a link between himself and the past (Dunaev 839). Bunin explicitly lays out Kasimir Stanislavovich's plan to revive his spirit by merging the past with the present, hoping to restore some of that long-lost happiness. For example, he does not take his financial situation into account and revisits restaurants, cafes, even brothels: "From the cinema, he went by car to a restaurant on the boulevard that he also knew when he was student ". And yet, as Woodward asserts, “the pathos of the struggle is consistently less striking than its utter futility.” From the beginning, the examples of the irreconcilable nature of past and present are evident, for from the beginning of the story Kasimir presents Kasimir as someone who lives in the succession of memories of his mind, trapped by the desire to relive again. such moments. He presents himself at the “Versailles” hotel with a youth identity card, including one with a “nobleman’s crown”. Compared to detailed descriptions of his physical appearance, which characterize him as wearing a worn overcoat, "cheap boots...a very old black top hat" and having thehands of “a habitual drunkard and an old basement dweller.” ", the current value of the identity card is refuted. The diction is controlled, minutely expressive, and gives a glimpse of Kasimir Stanislavovitch's imminent failure. In the "gray and dark" compartment of his train, he experiences a "sensation comfort and luxury", and once in Moscow, on the morning of his daughter's wedding, he rejoiced as if "there was joy, youth, happiness again somewhere in the world." Obviously, "he was upset by the idea that he was in Moscow", but it is the underlying and imminent threat of inevitable failure that looms before the delusional old man, which introduces a sense of doom. irony in the story. Moscow is filled with signs of spring, and yet, as the new season approaches, the protagonist embarks on a parallel journey of discovery and rebirth, a quest that undeniably and ironically leads him to despair (Woodward 21). Kasimir Stanislavovich arrives in Moscow a poor drunkard, but leaves shattered by the reality that his attempts to reconcile his current state with a past in which he was young, rich, dynamic, are a colossal failure; his efforts to produce an amalgam from two very different moments in time, to reconstruct past happiness, leave him cold and aware of his folly in believing that such a conglomeration was possible. Woodward supports this assertion in his analysis of Bunin's treatment of the nature of man: "Reducing the concept of individuality to a complex of irrational drives and instincts, he methodically strips from his characters the outer layers of culture, of nationality and professional expertise and reveals the savage lurking behind the facade, always ready to explode our personality and transport the personality to the heights of happiness and the depths of despair... Their illusions are clearly exposed . The protagonist's change in diction illustrates this transition, as the elegance and politeness of his manner when he addresses the taxi driver: "I have known this hotel, my good friend, since my student days" offers a suggestive contrast with his later begging, "For God's sake...I'm in a desperate position." Bunin thus successfully showed a man giving in under the weight of reality. The central theme of inevitable failure and the escape into the past that it engenders is also present in one of Bunin's best-known short stories, "The First Monday of Lent"; in this case, the service is two-part. This dualism generates an equally important connection between the futility of happiness and those aspects of reality that seem irreconcilable between spirituality, history, and failure (Dunaev 837). The unnamed male protagonist believes he is in one of the most exciting times of his life and stubbornly denies the possibility that happiness may not prevail, admitting that "something has kept me in a place all the time." uninterrupted tension, in a painful feeling". a state of apprehension and yet I felt indescribable joy for every hour I spent with her. And yet, amid the monotonous comings and goings, the usual outings of Moscow's upper class, his hope is tarnished; However, even as he seeks, years later, to rekindle a spiritual connection with his lost love by reliving one of their nights together, the conclusion of the story once again causes his failure. He finds her but “turns around and quietly walks through the doors.” On the other hand, according to Woodward, “disenchantment with the present pushes the enigmatic heroine to seek refuge in a convent and to rediscover spiritual contact with Russia's ancient past. " She, too, tries to lighten the burden of realizing that happiness is, 1922.