Gapa Guzhva by Isaac Babel. Short summary

5 seconds

Gapa Guzhva is a strong rural woman. She is a widow. She has a lover, a house, and daughters. Hapa has fun at weddings, loves to sing and dance. At the same time collectivization is going on in Velikaya Krynitsa.

1 minute

In 1930 there were six weddings in Velika Krynitsa. Hapa Guzhva climbed a pole, pulled off a red rag, and moved down. Afterwards, the widow drank vodka, broke the bottle, and danced with her lover Grishka.

Gapa ran to the selrada to invite Ivashka, the commissioner for collectivization, to have fun with them. The man refused: «You bark at dogs, you make me lose seven kilos of weight.

At home, the widow saw a wanderer, Rahivna, who had wandered in. The old woman talked about the judge in Voronkovo, who «made a kolgospora in one day». Gapa paid no attention to these words.

At the mill, the widow learns that Rakivna was «enlisted» for agitation, and the Voronkov judge was put in charge of Ivashko’s position. Gapa went to the selrada. She saw that Osmolovsky, the judge from Voronkov, was reading the book of minutes.

At night Gapa went to see Osmolovsky. The widow asked: «…what will happen to the whores?» The man replied that they would now have another life, a better one. Gapa left.