Important Life Lessons of Ivan Bunin

Important Life Lessons Of Ivan Bunin

Unlike the happy lives characters live in fairy tales, real life is not as optimistic and cheerful as one may think. In Ivan Bunin’s “Rusya,” the writer teaches his audience many cruel but important life lessons. By reading in between the lines, the readers can tell some of Bunin’s hidden messages: trying one’s very best does not necessarily result in success, time can never fully heal an injury, and happiness does not last very long.

Life cannot be controlled even with one’s best efforts. Bunin includes many examples of how the main character in “Rusya” makes a great effort for his beloved Rusya. One would be the representation of the snake as a symbol. The snake — usually characterized by society as something malicious — in this story represents all the “horrid creatures” that she hates (222). Due to the snakes appearing “everywhere” in her life, the readers can tell that in the past, she was not particularly the happiest (222). It is further hinted that there was no one in her life had helped her reach a degree of merriment where she could say she was satisfied with her life when Rusya explained that “[she] hated [him] at first” only because he didn’t notice her (223). Things changed when she met the male character. Miraculously, he was able to “[pick the snake] up” and “[fling] it far away into the pool,” symbolizing how he will be there to support her (222). In addition, when Rusya felt like her skills in painting were utterly “hopeless,” it was he that tried to cheer her up, wanting her to “show [him] something [that she has] done” even though he himself was not experienced in “[judging] paintings” (221). He went through such complicated endeavors, hoping to become her husband and stay with her forever, to provide her with the happy life she deserves. Yet in the end, he was still disappointed, because when given the choice between her mom and him, Rusya still chose “[her] mama” (225). The main character tried his best to convince her to think he was more important than her mother, and even though he achieved so much as to Rusya even admitting her love for him, it still was not enough. The main character was not able to end up together with her.

Time may suppress mental scars, but it will never fully remove them. Bunin incorporates this idea by having the main character’s current wife remind him of “what [Rusya was] like” (219). When she reminded him of Rusya after the train had to stop, the main character instinctively started to “[remember] that summer” once again, even when he tried to suppress the memory in the past (220). This shows that even though he had tried to bury this tragedy deep in his mind, a simple