Among the other working masses lived two members of the state: the normal peasant Makar Ganushkin and the more outstanding Comrade Lev Chumovoy, who was the smartest in the village and, thanks to his intelligence, led the movement of the people forward, in a straight line towards the common good. But the entire population of the village spoke about Lev Chumovoy when he walked somewhere by:
- Our leader walked somewhere, tomorrow wait for some measures to be taken ... Smart head, only empty hands. Lives with a bare mind ...
Makar, like any peasant, loved crafts more than plowing, and cared not about bread, but about shows, because, according to Comrade Chumovoy, he had an empty head.
Without taking permission from comrade Chumovoy, Makar once organized a spectacle - a folk merry-go-round, driven around by the power of the wind. The people gathered around the Makarova merry-go-round in a solid cloud and expected a storm that could move the carousel from its place. But the storm was late, the people stood idle, and meanwhile Chumovoy's foal fled to the meadows and got lost there in wet places. If the people were at rest, they would have immediately caught Chumovoy's foal and would not have allowed Chumovoy to suffer a loss, but Makar distracted the people from peace and thereby helped Chumovoy suffer damage.
Chumovoy himself did not chase after the colt, but went up to Makar, who was silently yearning for the storm, and said:
- You distract people here, but I have no one to chase the colt ...
Makar woke up from a reverie, because he guessed. He could not think, having an empty head over clever hands, but he could guess right away.
“Don’t worry,” Makar said to comrade Chumovoy, “I’ll make you a self-propelled gun.”
- How? Chumovoy asked, because he didn't know how to make a self-propelled vehicle with his own empty hands.
- From hoops and ropes, - Makar answered, not thinking, but feeling the pulling force and rotation in those future ropes and hoops.
- Then do it quickly, - said Chumovoy, - otherwise I will bring you to legal responsibility for illegal performances.
But Makar was not thinking about the fine - he could not think - but recalled where he saw the iron, and did not remember, because the whole village was made of surface materials: clay, straw, wood and hemp.
The storm did not happen, the carousel did not go, and Makar returned to the yard.
At home, Makar drank water out of anguish and felt the astringent taste of that water.
“It must be that’s why there’s no iron either,” guessed Makar, “that we drink it with water.”
At night Makar climbed into a dry, stalled well and lived in it for a day, looking for iron under the wet sand. On the second day, Makar was pulled out by men under the command of Chumovoy, who was afraid that a citizen would die in addition to the front of socialist construction. Makar was unbearable - in his hands were brown lumps of iron ore. The peasants dragged him out and cursed him for the severity, and comrade Chumovoy promised to additionally fine Makar for public disturbance.
However, Makar did not heed him and a week later made iron from ore in the oven, after his woman baked bread there. How he annealed the ore in the stove - no one knows, because Makar acted with his smart hands and a silent head. A day later, Makar made an iron wheel, and then another wheel, but not a single wheel went by itself: they had to be rolled by hand.
I came to Makar Chumova and asked:
- Did you make a self-propelled vehicle instead of a foal?
“No,” says Makar, “I guessed that they would have to roll themselves, but they shouldn't.
- Why did you deceive me, your spontaneous head! - Chumovoy exclaimed in an official manner. - Make a foal then!
- There is no meat, otherwise I would have done, - refused Makar.
- And how did you make iron from clay? - remembered Chumovoy.
“I don’t know,” said Makar, “I have no memory.
Chumovoy was offended here.
- What are you, hiding the discovery of national economic significance, individual devil! You are not a man, you are an individual peasant! I'm going to fine you now so that you know how to think!
Makar obeyed:
“I don’t think so, comrade Chumovoy. I am an empty man.
“Then shorten your hands, do not do what you don’t realize,” comrade Chumovoy reproached Makara.
“If I, comrade Chumovoy, had your head, then I would have thought too,” Makar confessed.
- Exactly, - confirmed Chumovoy. - But such a head is one for the whole village, and you must obey me.
And here Chumovoy fined Makar all around, so Makar had to go fishing in Moscow to pay that fine, leaving the carousel and the farm under the zealous care of Comrade Chumovoy.
Makar traveled on trains ten years ago, in 1919. Then he was taken for free, because Makar immediately looked like a farm laborer, and he was not even asked for documents. "Go further," the proletarian guard used to say to him, "you are nice to us, since you are naked."
Today Makar, as well as nine years ago, got on the train without asking, surprised by the few people and the open doors. But still, Makar sat down not in the middle of the car, but on the couplings to watch how the wheels work on the move. The wheels began to work, and the train went to the middle of the state to Moscow.
The train was going faster than any half-breed. The steppes ran towards the train and never ended.
“They will torment the car,” Makar regretted the wheels. "Indeed, what is there in the world, since it is spacious and empty."
Makar's hands were at rest, their free intelligent power went into his empty capacious head, and he began to think. Makar sat on the couplings and thought he could. However, Makar did not stay long. An unarmed guard approached and asked him for a ticket. Makar did not have a ticket with him, since, according to his assumption, there was a Soviet, solid government, which now carries everyone in need for nothing. The guard-controller told Makar to get off his sin at the first half-station, where there is a buffet, so that Makar would not starve to death on the back track. Makar saw that the authorities were taking care of him, since they were not just driving them away, but offering a buffet, and thanked the head of the trains.
At the stop, Makar still did not cry, although the train stopped to unload envelopes and postcards from the mail car. Makar remembered one technical consideration and stayed on the train to help him go further.
“The heavier the thing,” Makar imagined relatively stone and fluff, “the farther it flies when you throw it; so I also ride on the train with an extra brick so that the train can rush to Moscow. "
Not wanting to offend the train guard, Makar climbed into the depths of the mechanism, under the carriage, and there lay down to rest, listening to the agitated speed of the wheels. From the rest and the spectacle of the traveling sand, Makar fell asleep and saw in a dream that he was lifting off the ground and flying in the cold wind. From this luxurious feeling, he took pity on the people who remained on earth.
- Earring, why are you throwing hot necks!
Makar woke up from these words and took himself by the neck: is his body and all his inner life whole?
- Nothing! - Shouted from a distance Seryozhka. - Moscow is not far away: it will not burn!
The train was parked at the station. The artisans tried the car axles and swore softly.
Makar climbed out from under the carriage and saw in the distance the center of the entire state - the main city of Moscow.
“Now I’ll walk on foot,” Makar realized. - Perhaps the train will run without additional weight! "
And Makar set off in the direction of towers, churches and formidable structures, to the city of wonders of science and technology, in order to obtain life for himself under the golden heads of temples and leaders.
Andrey Platonov's humorous story about the doubted Makar, written in 1929, deals with the construction of socialism. Unlike the works praised by the party and the government, this story caustically ridicules all the stupidity and absurdity of the socialist system. The work opposes two members of the state, Makar Gannushkin, who has skillful hands and cannot think, and Lev Chumovoy, who lives with a bare mind, the smartest leader. It becomes clear that Makar Gannushkin is the personification of a worker for the good of socialism, and Lev Chumovoy, who knows nothing but how to lead, is the incompetent party leadership of the country of soviets.
Makara is perceived as a fool, but this is far from the case. He is quick-witted, wants to understand the mechanisms, seeks to facilitate the work of the worker.
However, all his ideas do not find a response, and Chumovoy finishes him for his individuality. Makar's dream about the most scientific person confirms the fact that the party leadership of a socialist country saw in the distance the mirages of a bright future, and a specific person with his problems was out of sight, not interested in the party elite.
Another character in the work of Peter, not a working person, but a thinking person. Peter understands that in a socialist society honest labor does not make money for a satisfying piece. So he dodges, cunning, looking for more comfortable places, going with Makar to the civil service in the Russian Federation.
When you read the story, one recalls Bakhtin's words about the people's soul, which is not affected by class ideas that cause only ridicule and hidden irony among the people.
A. Platonov's novel about the county town of Chevengur is an illustration of an attempt to build communism in a single country.
The expectation of happiness after the execution of the bourgeoisie and the expulsion of the semi-bourgeois is the essence of socialism. Grief for some is the price of happiness for others. Work for the sake of work, not for the betterment of life, not for the benefit. Ultimately, the death of Dvanov on a horse Proletarian Power is an exact allegory of where the proletariat is leading.
In the story about the construction of a foundation pit and a building for the proletariat, the reader again sees the features of the construction of socialism. And, if in the story about the doubted Makar all this looks comical, then in the story it causes horror: dirty stupid work, hungry orphans, beggars, a radio in the barracks, shouting directives and slogans, dispossession, hopelessness. I. Brodsky later wrote that after reading this story, it is necessary to immediately change the existing system, and Platonov should be recognized as the first surrealist. Brodsky notes that Platonov, writing in the language of utopia, in the language of his era, differs from his contemporaries, writers - stylistic gourmets. The literary handwriting of the writer is so peculiar and original that Platonov is untranslatable. The full depth of his works can only be understood in the original.
Andrey Platonov
Doubtful Makar
Among the other working masses lived two members of the state: the normal peasant Makar Ganushkin and the more outstanding Comrade Lev Chumovoy, who was the smartest in the village and, thanks to his intelligence, led the movement of the people forward, in a straight line towards the common good. But the entire population of the village spoke about Lev Chumovoy when he walked somewhere by:
There our leader walked somewhere, tomorrow wait for some measures to be taken ... Smart head, only empty hands. Lives with a bare mind ...
Makar, like any peasant, loved crafts more than plowing, and cared not about bread, but about shows, because, according to Comrade Chumovoy, he had an empty head.
Without taking permission from comrade Chumovoy, Makar once organized a spectacle - a folk merry-go-round, driven around by the power of the wind. The people gathered around the Makarova merry-go-round in a solid cloud and expected a storm that could move the carousel from its place. But the storm was late, the people stood idle, and meanwhile Chumovoy's foal fled to the meadows and got lost there in wet places. If the people were at rest, they would have immediately caught Chumovoy's foal and would not have allowed Chumovoy to suffer a loss, but Makar distracted the people from peace and thereby helped Chumovoy suffer damage.
Chumovoy himself did not chase after the colt, but went up to Makar, who was silently yearning for the storm, and said:
You distract people here, but I have no one to chase the colt ...
Makar woke up from a reverie, because he guessed. He could not think, having an empty head over clever hands, but he could guess right away.
Do not grieve, - said Makar to comrade Chumovoy, - I will make you a self-propelled gun.
How? Chumovoy asked, because he didn't know how to make a self-propelled vehicle with his own empty hands.
From hoops and ropes, - answered Makar, not thinking, but feeling the pulling force and rotation in those future ropes and hoops.
Then do it quickly, - said Chumovoy, - otherwise I will bring you to legal responsibility for illegal performances.
But Makar was not thinking about the fine - he could not think - but recalled where he saw the iron, and did not remember, because the whole village was made of surface materials: clay, straw, wood and hemp.
The storm did not happen, the carousel did not go, and Makar returned to the yard.
At home, Makar drank water out of anguish and felt the astringent taste of that water.
“That must be why there’s no iron either,” Makar guessed, “that we drink it with water.”
At night, Makar climbed into a dry, stalled well and lived in it for a day, looking for iron under the wet sand. On the second day, Makar was pulled out by men under the command of Chumovoy, who was afraid that a citizen would die in addition to the front of socialist construction. Makar was unbearable - in his hands were brown lumps of iron ore. The peasants dragged him out and cursed him for the severity, and comrade Chumovoy promised to additionally fine Makar for public disturbance.
However, Makar did not heed him and a week later made iron from ore in the oven, after his woman baked bread there. How he annealed the ore in the stove - no one knows, because Makar acted with his clever hands and a silent head. A day later, Makar made an iron wheel, and then another wheel, but not a single wheel went by itself: they had to be rolled by hand.
I came to Makar Chumova and asked:
Made a self-propelled gun instead of a foal?
No, - says Makar, - I guessed that they would have to roll themselves, but they shouldn't.
Why did you deceive me, your spontaneous head! - Chumovoy exclaimed in an official manner. - Make a foal then!
There is no meat, otherwise I would have done, - refused Makar.
And how did you make iron from clay? - remembered Chumovoy.
I don't know, - answered Makar, - I have no memory.
Chumovoy was offended here.
What are you, hiding the discovery of national economic significance, individual devil! You are not a man, you are an individual peasant! I'm going to fine you now so that you know how to think!
Makar obeyed:
I don’t think so, comrade Chumovoy. I am an empty man.
Then shorten your hands, do not do what you don’t realize, ”comrade Chumovoy reproached Makar.
If I, comrade Chumovoy, had your head, then I would have thought too, ”Makar confessed.
That's right, - confirmed Chumovoy. - But such a head is one for the whole village, and you must obey me.
And here Chumovoy fined Makar all around, so Makar had to go fishing in Moscow to pay that fine, leaving the carousel and the farm under the zealous care of Comrade Chumovoy.
* * *
Makar traveled on trains ten years ago, in 1919. Then he was taken for free, because Makar immediately looked like a farm laborer, and he was not even asked for documents. "Go further," the proletarian guards used to say to him, "you are nice to us, since you are naked."
Today Makar, as well as nine years ago, got on the train without asking, surprised by the few people and the open doors. But still, Makar sat down not in the middle of the car, but on the couplings to watch how the wheels work on the move. The wheels began to work, and the train went to the middle of the state to Moscow.
The train was going faster than any half-breed. The steppes ran towards the train and never ended.
“They will torment the car,” Makar regretted the wheels. "Indeed, what is there in the world, since it is spacious and empty."
Makar's hands were at rest, their free intelligent power went into his empty capacious head, and he began to think. Makar sat on the couplings and thought he could. However, Makar did not stay long. An unarmed guard approached and asked him for a ticket. Makar did not have a ticket with him, since, according to his assumption, there was a Soviet, solid government, which now carries everyone in need for nothing. The guard-controller told Makar to get off his sin at the first half-station, where there is a buffet, so that Makar would not starve to death on the back track. Makar saw that the authorities were taking care of him, since they were not just driving them away, but offering a buffet, and thanked the head of the trains.
At the stop, Makar still did not cry, although the train stopped to unload envelopes and postcards from the mail car. Makar remembered one technical consideration and stayed on the train to help him go further.
“The heavier the thing,” Makar imagined relatively stone and fluff, “the farther it flies when you throw it; so I also ride on the train with an extra brick, so that the train can rush to Moscow. "
Not wanting to offend the train guard, Makar climbed into the depths of the mechanism, under the carriage, and there lay down to rest, listening to the agitated speed of the wheels. From the rest and the spectacle of the traveling sand, Makar fell asleep and saw in a dream that he was lifting off the ground and flying in the cold wind. From this luxurious feeling, he took pity on the people who remained on earth.
Earring, why are you throwing hot necks!
Makar woke up from these words and took himself by the neck: is his body and all his inner life whole?
Nothing! - Shouted from a distance Seryozhka. - Moscow is not far away: it will not burn!
The train was parked at the station. The artisans tried the car axles and swore softly.
Makar climbed out from under the carriage and saw in the distance the center of the entire state - the main city of Moscow.
“Now I’ll walk on foot,” Makar realized. - Maybe the train will run without additional weight! "
And Makar set off in the direction of towers, churches and formidable structures, to the city of wonders of science and technology, in order to obtain life for himself under the golden heads of temples and leaders.
* * *
Having unloaded himself from the train, Makar went to visible Moscow, taking an interest in this central city. In order not to get lost, Makar walked along the rails and wondered at the frequent station platforms. Pine and spruce forests grew near the platform, and wooden houses stood in the forests. The trees grew thin, under them were scattered candy papers, wine bottles, sausage skins and other spoiled goods. The grass did not grow here under the oppression of man, and the trees also suffered more and grew little. Makar understood this nature indistinctly:
“It's not that special villains live here that even plants die from them! After all, this is very sad: a person lives and gives birth to a desert near him! Where is science and technology here? "
Stroking his chest with regret, Makar went on. On the station platform, empty milk cans were unloaded from the car, and loaded with milk into the car. Makar stopped at his thought:
Again there is no equipment! - aloud Makar determined this position. - They carry dishes with milk - that's right: children also live in the city and expect milk. But why carry empty cans by car? After all, only equipment is wasted, and the dishes are bulky!
Makar approached the dairy chief, who was in charge of the cans, and advised him to build a milk pipe from here and all the way to Moscow, so as not to drive carriages with empty milk dishes.
The dairy chief Makar listened - he respected people from the masses - but he advised Makar to turn to Moscow: the smartest people are sitting there, and they are in charge of all the repairs.
The story "Doubting Makar" was written in 1929 and published in the magazine "October" No. 9 in the same year. In the 11th issue of "October" was published a devastating article by Averbakh "On the integral scale and private Makars". Averbakh called the story ambiguous and "hostile to us."
Stalin, after reading the story, called Platonov a talented writer, but a bastard, and his work is ideologically harmful. Editor of the magazine "October" Fadeev called the story anarchist and ideologically ambiguous.
Literary direction and genre
The story is a satirical ridicule of socialist society and communist ideas. He has features of a feuilleton, critically comprehending modernity. The grotesque images of the story bring it closer to the satirical works of Gogol and Saltykov-Shchedrin, so that "Doubted Makar" continues the traditions of Russian realistic satire.
Topic and issues
The topic of the story is an analysis of what happened in society in the 1920s. changes, designed as a journey of a person with a national consciousness to the capital. The main idea of the story undermines the foundations of socialism: the bureaucratic apparatus nullifies all lofty ideas, taking care of the body of its citizens and forgetting about the soul. Such a state should be liquidated.
The problem of soul loss in a big city and in the entire state is central to the writer's work. For formal actions on "building socialism" no one notices the needs of the human soul, although the country, it would seem, takes care of his housing and food.
One of the problems that Platonov foresaw, or rather calculated as a professional (reclamation engineer), is environmental. Makar notes that in Moscow "a person lives and gives birth to a desert near him." The air in Moscow smells like "the excited gas of cars and the cast-iron dust of tram brakes."
Relevant for Platonov is the problem of human loneliness in a socialist society, where "they live in families without reproduction, eat without the production of labor"; the problem of the bureaucracy, which Peter aptly formulates: "Lenin - and that could be tortured by the institutions."
Plot and composition
The action takes place in 1929, that is, the work is written on a topical modern theme. The villager Makar Ganushkin was fined by the representative of the local authority Chumov and forced to go to work in Moscow.
On the way to Moscow, Makar meets the milk chief and offers him to build a milk pipe for dirty cans. After a conversation with him, Makar doubted that such a division was necessary: the smartest people sit in Moscow, and performers work in the field.
In Moscow, Makar, in search of the center of the capital, is hired to build "an eternal home made of iron, concrete, steel and light glass." Having invented a construction gut, Makar goes to a scientific and technical office, then ends up in a trade union, and in search of an industrial line and the proletariat - in an overnight shelter.
In all state institutions, Makar receives formal support and a small amount of material assistance. Together with pockmarked Peter, he sets off "to think for everyone."
A visit to an insane asylum, where Makar was left mentally ill and fed with a triple portion, advised Peter and Makar to sit in an institution and "think for the state", fighting for the cause of Lenin and the poor.
In the RKI (Workers 'and Peasants' Inspection), Pyotr and Makar found Chumovoy. Having received power "over the oppressive writing bitch," Makar and Peter did not think long for the poor, seeing the futility of their occupation. But Chumovoy worked in the commission for the liquidation of the state for 44 years, until he died.
The chronotope of a story is also a means of comprehending reality. The world, from Makar's point of view, is spacious and empty. Makar is a peripheral person who never occupies a central or leadership position. Even on the train, he chooses a place not inside the car, but on the coupling. Moscow for Matvey is the middle, the center of the state, "the city of wonders of science and technology." The capital is like another planet. Even the grass and trees in Moscow are stunted, so Matvey decides that special villains live in Moscow, from whom even plants die. Houses in Moscow are "heavy and tall", the air is filled with poisonous vapors.
Heroes and characters
Makar Ganushkin is a "normal man" with an "empty head" and wise hands. Makar cannot think, but can only “guess right away”. He begins to think only when his hands are at rest. Chumovoy calls Makar a spontaneous head.
Science and technology are a panacea for Makar. He manages to independently smelt iron ore found in a well, iron in a stove. That is, he has an intuitive understanding of technology. But even explain how he did it, Makar cannot, because, according to him, he has no memory.
The hero's reasoning is very primitive. For example, he refuses to give Freaky a lost foal because he has no meat. He asks for something on the tram, not realizing that it is a demand stop.
Makar's logic cannot generalize social phenomena. His substantively effective thinking does not allow him to understand that a policeman threatens a cart with rye flour, not because rye flour is not respected in Moscow. It is not for nothing that Makar ends up in an insane asylum, because he answers the doctor just like a madman.
Makar "cares not about bread, but about shows." He is a folk craftsman who intuitively constructs various objects without knowing the theory of their manufacture. Makar made a folk carousel, which was supposed to spin in the wind, a self-propelled vehicle that did not budge. In Moscow, he invents a milk pipe through which empty milk cans must be sent.
At the construction site of the house, Makar came up with a construction gut for concrete.
Makar appreciates and regrets mechanisms (train car wheels, tram car mechanism) on an equal basis with people. The ability to spiritualize objects is one of the childhood traits of Makar. He is naive and does not understand politics and public life in general (for example, he does not know that they pay a fare on the train).
Moscow is described through the eyes of Makar, a villager. It seems to him too crowded. Makar perceives vanity as a rush of people to their place of work, and the work of Muscovites, from Makar's point of view, is making clothes and shoes for villagers. Even the close-minded Makar can see that in Moscow there are "disorder and loss of values."
Lev Chumovoy is more outstanding than Makar, a “member of the state”. He is a formalist and a bureaucrat, for whom it is not personalities that are important, but principles. A person for Leo is nothing if he is not a part of the state machine. Makara Leo calls an individual devil, an individual farmer and demands a fine from him.
Having made Chumovoy with his "organizational mind" die for the papers on the liquidation of the state, Platonov immediately took revenge on all the bureaucrats who were the reason for the banning of his works.
Artistic identity
The names and surnames of the heroes of the story are speaking. Makar seemed to come out of the phraseology "where Makar did not drive calves" (that is, far away, where it is impossible to get). This is where the hero goes. The name of Chumovoy is perceived as a characteristic of his insane and destructive actions.
The language of the story is peculiar and original. But Platonov's contemporaries immediately recognized the language of newspapers and public life in the 1920s. What the reader of the 21st century perceives as tongue-tied, Platonov drew from journalism.
Grammatical errors ("the smartest") in the story are found not in the speech of the characters, but in the speech of the narrator, which suggests that the reader sees the events through the eyes of Makar.
The ironic meaning is achieved by Platonov using his favorite technique of metaphorizing metaphors. For example, “Makar was unstable” means that it was difficult to lift him out of the well because he was holding blocks of iron ore in his hands. Makar describes himself as an empty person. The adjective is ambiguous. Makar implies that he does not think, he has an empty head. And the reader reads "useless", "unnecessary".
Among other techniques, redundancy (“walked by somewhere”), the use of words simultaneously in different meanings (“to get life under the golden heads of temples and leaders”).
Makar's dreams are important in the story, especially the last dream, which symbolizes the death of the state machine. This dream originates in the biblical visions of the prophet Daniel, who saw the destruction of a colossus on feet of clay, usually interpreted as the death of the Roman Empire. In Makar's dream, there is a scientific person on the mountain who does not see Makar, but thinks "about an integral scale, but not about a particular Makar." The eyes of a scientific person are dead. He seemed to have swallowed up many living lives. When touched, a dead body falls on Makar. The dream allegorically describes a state that threatens a person who is in close contact with it.
The protagonist of Platonov's story "Doubtful Makar" is a rural man Makar Ganushkin. He had golden hands, but his head was empty, which is why he sometimes did stupid things. His complete opposite was Lev Chumovoy, the main man in the village. He had a clever head and empty hands.
Once Makar built a carousel that was set in motion by the wind. The villagers crowded around the carousel. But there was no wind, and the carousel did not work.
While the people stood like that, a foal ran away from Chumovoy. Chumovoy began to scold Makar, and he promised to make him a self-propelled vehicle on wheels instead of a foal. Makar found iron ore, smelted iron out of it and made wheels, but the self-propelled gun could not be made. Then Chumovoy fined Makar and in order to pay that fine, Makar went to work in Moscow.
He was traveling by train, and got off at one of the stations, seeing Moscow ahead. At the station, Makar noticed how cans of milk were loaded into the car, and empty cans were pulled out of the car. Makar decided that it was much more efficient to deliver milk to the city through a pipe so that the wagons would not carry empty cans. He turned with his idea to the person who was in charge of loading the cans. But he said that he was just a simple performer and advised to look for smart people in Moscow.
Makar went to Moscow and there he saw how a house was being built from concrete. And here Makar also got the idea that concrete can be pumped through pipes. He began to look in Moscow for a person who would accept his invention. He found a place where he was listened to, but there he was only given a ruble, as an indigent inventor, and sent to the trade union.
The trade union gave him another ruble and sent him further to wander around the authorities. As a result, Makar ended up in an overnight house, where he met a thinking proletarian named Peter. Together they began to walk around Moscow and look for their purpose in life. The two friends went first to the police, then to an insane asylum, and ended up going to the Workers 'and Peasants' Inspection (RKI), where Peter said that he and his friend had accumulated intelligence and demanded to give them power.
The official gave them power, and Makar and Peter began to sit in the RCI, where they communicated with the poor who came to them.
This is the summary of the story.
The main idea of Platonov's story "Doubtful Makar" is that bureaucracy can nullify any sensible undertaking. Makar Ganushkin wanted his inventive ideas to be brought to life, and instead he turned into an employee sitting in his pants in an office.
Platonov's story "Doubting Makar" teaches you to be an enterprising and educated person in order to achieve the full realization of your ideas.
In the story, I liked Makar's initiative, his uneasiness about the current state of affairs. In the context of today, about Makar, we can say that he lacks the ability to practically implement his ideas. A wise person demands everything first of all from himself, and only then from others.
What proverbs fit the story of Platonov "Doubting Makar"?
A man looks into the ground, but sees seven fathoms.
Everyone lives with their own mind.
The source of our wisdom is our experience.