Ivan Alekseevich Bunin was born in the Voronezh province in an impoverished noble family. Being an impressionable boy, with a rich imagination, he kept in memory the pictures of village life and life, vividly depicted them in poems, stories, novels and novels.
In the family, the relationship with the boy was warm, friendly, although there were problems. Such children's states are described by the author in his works “Night Talk”, “Elephant”, “Beauty”.
Personal experiences, impressions, memories are expressed in the verses of Bunin. For example, in the poem "Childhood", the author describes his impressions of the beauty of boron, recalls how easy and sweet it was for him, in "Summer Night" Bunin draws the image of his mother and the image of a star, in "I Remember a Long Winter Evening" the author also remembers happy and serene childhood time.
Some of Bunin's prose begins with childhood memories. These are the stories "Mirror", "At the source of days."
The central theme of some stories was the relationship between fathers and children. Bunin shows that children are always dependent on adults and experience their influence on themselves.
In the concept of "childhood" the author put a special secret meaning. Bunin believed that in childhood, everyone discovers many mysteries and secrets. The brightest and purest image in his books is the image of a child. He also considered this period of life to be the most important and valuable for a person, because it was at this age that the foundations of the personality, the future person, were laid.
The author is sure that children's joy is most important. For her sake, much can be sacrificed, even life. The righteous hero Nefed, to please the dying boy, decides to get red bast shoes, goes into a snowstorm and dies (the story “Lapti”).
A series of stories included in the collection "Dark Alleys", Bunin raises many questions of philosophy and morality. Here, the writer uses the images of children in his work to describe their joyless life, full of humiliation from adults. Some children suffer from the mistakes of their parents (the story “Snowdrop”), while others suffer from violence by adults (the story “Easy breathing”).
In the novel “The Life of Arseniev,” Bunin most clearly showed the worldview of childhood. Description of the childhood memories of the protagonist is imbued with feelings of light sadness, boredom. As a living and agile child, Arseniev is interested in books, nature, religion. Nature especially attracts him and is of great importance in the life of a boy. He expresses love and admiration for her.
For Arsenyev, the world of his childhood was special, clear only to him. It was at that time that he, in his own way, in a childish way, easily perceived the world around him. Memories of this happy time and his impressions, sensations help him, support him in difficult moments of life.
The theme of childhood, children's images occupy a special place in the work of I.A. Bunina. Although he was not a children's writer, but portraying bright, clean images in his work, he recalled his childhood, and the warmth from these memories warmed the writer's soul.
