A.S. Pushkin “The Station Agent”: description, characters, analysis of the work

In the famous Boldino autumn of 1830, A.S. In 11 days, Pushkin wrote an amazing work - “Belkin's Tales” - which included five independent stories told to one person (his name is in the title). The author managed to create a gallery in them provincial images, truthfully and without embellishment show life in contemporary writer Russia.

A special place in the cycle is occupied by the story “ Stationmaster" It was she who laid the foundation for the development of the theme “ little man"in Russian literature of the 19th century.

Meet the heroes

The story of the station superintendent Samson Vyrin was told to Belkin by a certain I.L.P., a titular councilor. His bitter thoughts about the attitude towards people of this rank set the reader up in a not very cheerful mood from the very beginning. Anyone stopping at the station is ready to curse them. Either the horses are bad, or the weather and road are bad, or even the mood is not going well - and the stationmaster is to blame for everything. The main idea of ​​the story is to show the plight of a common man without a high rank or rank.

All the demands of those passing by were calmly endured by Samson Vyrin, a retired soldier, a widower who raised his fourteen-year-old daughter Dunechka. He was a fresh and cheerful man of about fifty, sociable and sensitive. This is how the titular councilor saw him at their first meeting.

The house was clean and cozy, balsams grew on the windows. And Dunya, who learned how to manage a house early on, gave everyone who stopped tea tea from a samovar. She, with her meek appearance and smile, humbled the anger of all those who were dissatisfied. In the company of Vyrin and the “little coquette,” time flew by for the adviser. The guest said goodbye to the hosts as if they were old acquaintances: their company seemed so pleasant to him.

How Vyrin has changed...

The story “The Station Agent” continues with a description of the second meeting of the narrator with the main character. A few years later, fate again threw him to those parts. He drove up to the station with anxious thoughts: anything could happen during this time. The premonition indeed did not deceive: instead of a cheerful and cheerful person A graying, long unshaven, hunched old man appeared before him. It was still the same Vyrin, only now very taciturn and gloomy. However, a glass of punch did its job, and soon the narrator learned Dunya’s story.

About three years ago a young hussar passed by. He liked the girl, and he pretended to be sick for several days. And when he achieved mutual feelings from her, he took her secretly, without blessing, from her father. Thus, the misfortune that befell changed the long-established life of the family. The heroes of “The Station Agent,” father and daughter, will never meet again. The old man's attempt to return Dunya ended in nothing. He reached St. Petersburg and was even able to see her, richly dressed and happy. But the girl, looking at her father, fell unconscious, and he was simply kicked out. Now Samson lived in melancholy and loneliness, and his main companion was the bottle.

The story of the prodigal son

Even when he first arrived, the narrator noticed pictures on the walls with captions German. They depicted the biblical story of the prodigal son who took his share of the inheritance and squandered it. In the last picture, the humble youth returned to his home to the parent who had forgiven him.

This legend is very reminiscent of what happened to Vyrin and Dunya, which is why it is no coincidence that it is included in the story “The Station Agent”. The main idea of ​​the work is connected with the idea of ​​helplessness and defenselessness of ordinary people. Vyrin, well familiar with the foundations of high society, could not believe that his daughter could be happy. The scene seen in St. Petersburg was not convincing either - everything can still change. He waited for Dunya's return until the end of his life, but their meeting and forgiveness never took place. Perhaps Dunya simply did not dare to appear before her father for a long time.

Return of the daughter

On his third visit, the narrator learns of the death of an old acquaintance. And the boy who accompanied him to the cemetery will tell him about the lady who came after the station superintendent died. The content of their conversation makes it clear that everything turned out well for Dunya. She arrived in a carriage with six horses, accompanied by a nurse and three barchats. But Dunya no longer found her father alive, and therefore the repentance of the “lost” daughter became impossible. The lady lay on the grave for a long time - this is how, according to tradition, they asked forgiveness from a deceased person and said goodbye to him forever - and then she left.

Why did the daughter’s happiness bring unbearable mental suffering to her father?

Samson Vyrin always believed that life without blessings and as a mistress is a sin. And the fault of Dunya and Minsky, probably, first of all, is that both their departure (the caretaker himself convinced his daughter to accompany the hussar to the church) and the misunderstanding at the meeting in St. Petersburg only strengthened him in this conviction, which, in the end, will bring the hero to the grave . There is another important point - what happened undermined my father’s faith. He sincerely loved his daughter, who was the meaning of his existence. And suddenly such ingratitude: in all the years Dunya never made herself known. It was as if she had erased her father from her life.

Portraying a poor man of the lowest rank, but with a high and sensitive soul, A.S. Pushkin drew the attention of his contemporaries to the position of people who were at the lowest level of the social ladder. The inability to protest and resignation to fate make them defenseless in the face of life's circumstances. This turns out to be the stationmaster.

The main idea that the author wants to convey to the reader is that it is necessary to be sensitive and attentive towards every person, regardless of his character, and only this will help change the indifference and bitterness reigning in the world of people.

“The Station Agent” is the beginning of a new period in the work of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. If in the novel in verse “Eugene Onegin” he tries to hide his attitude towards everyday issues under some humor and a sarcastic attitude towards surrounding problems. And Belkin himself in other stories tries to disguise his sympathetic attitude towards simple and ordinary routine life, but in this story he describes it as it is, without humor and the desire to embellish the current situation.

The author feels deep pity, he is incredibly sorry for the broken life of the stationmaster, he experienced a real storm and severe pain at the very end of his own existence, so he parted with her on a rather sad note.

For the first time in his work, Pushkin admits notes of serious condemnation towards divine frivolity, which, despite all the contradictions, was quite close and dear to him.

The stationmaster lives a quiet and calm life, the meaning of which is his daughter Dunya. But at one moment everything collapses, she dies, which completely destroys her usual way of life. He cannot get used to the fact that the center of his existence has disappeared, and now he will have to continue living alone. He meets a hussar who did not want to share his grief with him; he does not try to understand the elderly man, who at that moment needed help and support.

Belkin's stories became the first realistic stories that received wide publicity. The author was able to accurately convey the realism of different life situations of that era, a small revolution took place in every person at that time, which the main author observes from the side. A real revolution takes place in the life of the Station Warden, which ends in tragedy.

He was unable to deal with his own contradiction, deal with what happened and break the situation. He lost his loved one and loved one, now he has no one to share his sorrows and happiness with. Alexander Sergeevich accurately conveys all his inner experiences, suffering and loneliness that he experiences. This is precisely why the reader understands that there will be no successful outcome.

Analysis 2

For every creator, the existence of a common man looks rather strange and slightly alienated. Still creative person there are slightly different experiences and concerns, completely different priorities live in his mind.

However, if you look at the works of many Russian writers, they actively touch on the theme of the so-called little man, that is, a simple person who practically does not think about high things and lives by his simple interests.

This theme in many ways begins with the Station Warden Pushkin, where the author almost for the first time begins to sympathize with ordinary people and sincerely sympathize with the difficult fate of such people. After all, if you look at previous works, then the author still focuses on secular people, examines how representatives of the high society of the village and the city differ, and other topics that are not particularly close to the common people.

In The Station Warden, Pushkin shifts the emphasis and we see confirmation of this fact in the description of the hussar Minsky, who is given only in small strokes and does not represent a personality as such. This hero could become the main one if we looked from the other side and played out a story in the work similar to how Pechorin kidnaps Bella. However, here a representative of a higher class, who is far from the needs of the common people, is given as a kind of destructive and disharmonious element.

The main character, in turn, is the embodiment of simple everyday happiness. Samson Vyrin is not a stupid or narrow-minded person, yes, he does not and will not accomplish feats, he is accustomed to comfort, but in a sense, he is the salt of the earth, it is on such people that the world rests. At the same time, Minsky here is almost the complete antipode of happiness, he pursues only personal interests and ultimately creates a tragedy not only for the caretaker, but also for Dunya.

Most likely, she will never forgive herself for such a separation from a man who lived only for her. Minsky feels an obvious competitor in Vyrin and that is why he kicks him out of his house so much, he understands how attached Dunya is to him. In essence, he buys his happiness, although happiness cannot be bought.

As a result, in fact, Minsky only buys unhappiness; he makes two people unhappy who were previously happy. Of course, he can give Duna well-being and some kind of family comfort, but will she be as calm as she was calm at the station, daily observing identical pictures on the walls, a colorful bed curtain and pots of balsam? Will this heroine discover something new for herself besides secular society which is actually deeply unhappy?

In this work, Pushkin, although not openly, quite clearly sympathizes with the main character and is sad about his broken fate. He sees the negative side of the hussar's willfulness and his sensuality. He also sees some beauty and true happiness in the simple and uncomplicated life of a little person.

Essence, meaning and idea

The work belongs to the period of the poet’s work, called the Boldino Autumn, and in terms of its genre orientation it is a story written in the style of sentimentalism and realism, included in the author’s prose collection entitled “Tales of the late Ivan Petrovich Belkin.”

The main theme of the work is reflection on the problems of little people who find themselves in a disadvantaged position. In addition to this topic, the author examines in the story issues of morality and human love, which are relevant in the modern world.

The compositional structure of the story consists of three components, the first of which is lyrical digression author, the second part is presented in the form of conversations between the narrator and the main character, where storyline goes through its development and culmination, and in the third part it is described in the form of an epilogue.

The author presents the key character of the story as a fifty-year-old man, Samson Vyrin, distinguished by his kindness and sociability, and boundless love for his only daughter Dunyasha. A man is characterized by cordiality, responsiveness, a meek and open soul.

The girl is the second main character of the work and is portrayed as a caring daughter, protecting the old man from the claims of the guests, who, however, is carried away by a visiting military officer and leaves her father alone. As a result of the departure of his beloved daughter, Samson sinks, washing his grief down with alcohol, and subsequently dies without waiting for Dunyasha to return.

The semantic load of the work lies in revealing the image of a little man, unable to withstand the life circumstances that have broken his weak, stupid, but kind and meek personality.

In this regard, the author reflects on moral issues in the relationship between parents and children, emphasizing the need to remember the person who made it possible to feel a taste for life, as well as experience the best human feelings in the form of love, motherhood, and personal happiness.

The ending of the story is presented by the author as sad and melancholy, but the narrative content is filled with hope for changes in the human heart that can overcome selfishness and indifference in loved ones. This is demonstrated in the scene of the girl’s awareness of the impossibility of returning to this life a dear and devoted person and deep human repentance.

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin is a famous Russian poet, prose writer, playwright who created many wonderful works. In his bibliography you can find works for all occasions.

Honor is a difficult word to understand, but, nevertheless, everyone imagines something different when they hear it. There is true and imaginary honor, they are both different from each other

Pushkin’s story “The Station Warden” was written in 1830 and was included in the cycle “Tales of the late Ivan Petrovich Belkin.” The leading theme of the work is the theme of the “little man”, represented by the image of the station guard Samson Vyrin. The story refers to literary direction sentimentalism.

A concise presentation of “The Station Agent” will be of interest to 7th grade students, as well as to anyone interested in classical Russian literature. On our website you can read summary"The Station Agent" online.

Main characters

Narrator- an official who “traveled Russia for twenty years in a row”, the story is narrated on his behalf.

Samson Vyrin- a man of about fifty, a station superintendent “from the venerable class of caretakers,” Dunya’s father.

Other heroes

Avdotya Samsonovna (Dunya)– daughter Vyrina, very beautiful girl, at the beginning of the story she is about 14 years old - a “little coquette” with big blue eyes.

Captain Minsky- a young hussar who took Dunya away by deception.

Brewer's son- the boy who showed the narrator where Vyrin’s grave is located.

The story begins with the narrator's thoughts about the fate of the station guards: “What is a station guard? A real martyr of the fourteenth class, protected by his rank only from beatings, and even then not always.” At the same time, according to the narrator’s observations, “the caretakers are generally peaceful people, helpful by nature.”

In May 1816, the narrator was passing through the *** province. The man was caught in the pouring rain and stopped at the station to change clothes and drink tea. The caretaker's daughter, Dunya, set the table, striking the narrator with her beauty.

While the owners were busy, the narrator looked around the room - there were pictures on the walls depicting the story of the prodigal son. The narrator, the caretaker and Dunya drank tea, chatting pleasantly “as if they had known each other for centuries.” When leaving, the narrator kissed Dunya in the entryway with her permission.

A few years later the narrator visited this station again. Entering the house, he was struck by the carelessness and dilapidation of the furnishings. The caretaker himself, Samson Vyrin, has grown very old and gray. At first the old man did not want to answer questions about his daughter, but after two glasses of punch he began to talk.

Vyrin said that three years ago a young hussar came to see them. At first the visitor was very angry that he was not served horses, but when he saw Dunya, he softened. After dinner, the young man allegedly became ill. Having bribed a doctor called the next day, the hussar spent a couple of days at the station. On Sunday, the young man recovered and, leaving, offered to give the girl a ride to church. Vyrin released his daughter with the hussar.

“Not even half an hour had passed” when the caretaker began to worry and went to the church himself. From a sexton acquaintance, Vyrin learned that Dunya was not at mass. In the evening, the coachman carrying the officer arrived and said that Dunya had gone with the hussar to the next station. The old man realized that the hussar’s illness was feigned. From grief, Vyrin “fell ill with a severe fever.”

“Having barely recovered from his illness,” the caretaker took a leave of absence and went on foot to look for his daughter. From Minsky's journey, Samson knew that the hussar was on his way to St. Petersburg. Having found out the address of the captain in St. Petersburg, Vyrin comes to him and in a trembling voice asks to give him his daughter. Minsky replied that he asked Samson for forgiveness, but he would not give Dunya to him - “she will be happy, I give you my word of honor.” Having finished speaking, the hussar sent the caretaker outside, slipping several banknotes into his sleeve.

Seeing the money, Vyrin burst into tears and threw it away. A couple of days later, while walking along Liteinaya, Vyrin noticed Minsky. Having found out from his coachman where Dunya lived, the caretaker hurried to his daughter’s apartment. Entering the rooms, Samson found luxuriously dressed Dunya and Minsky there. Seeing her father, the girl fainted. The angry Minsky “grabbed the old man by the collar with a strong hand and pushed him onto the stairs.” Two days later Virin went back to the station. For the third year now, he knows nothing about her and is afraid that her fate is the same as the fate of other “young fools.”

After some time, the narrator again passed through those places. Where the station used to be, the brewer’s family now lived, and Vyrin, having become an alcoholic, “died about a year ago.” The narrator asked to be escorted to Samson's grave. The boy, the son of a brewer, told him on the way that in the summer a “beautiful lady” came here “with three little bards”, who, having come to the caretaker’s grave, “lay down here and lay there for a long time.”

Conclusion

In the story « Stationmaster" A. S. Pushkin outlined the special nature of the conflict, which differs from the sentimentalism depicted in traditional works - the conflict of choice between Vyrin’s personal happiness (father’s happiness) and the happiness of his daughter. The author emphasized the moral superiority of the caretaker (“little man”) over the other characters, depicting an example of the selfless love of a parent for his child.

A brief retelling of “The Station Agent” is intended to quickly familiarize yourself with the plot of the work, therefore, for a better understanding of the story, we advise you to read it in its entirety.

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This cycle includes several short stories that are interconnected by one narrator - Ivan Petrovich Belkin.

This character is fictional, as Pushkin wrote, he suffered from a fever and died in 1828.

The reader learns about the fate of the narrator when he first begins to get acquainted with the series of stories, which can also be read online. The author in his work acts as a publisher and in the “Preface” he talks about the fate of the narrator Belkin himself. This Pushkin cycle of stories came out of print in 1831. It included the following works:

1. "Undertaker".

The history of the story

Alexander Pushkin worked on the work, n while in 1830 in Boldino. The story was written quickly, in just a few days, and by September 14 it was finished. It is known that some financial issues brought him to the Boldinskoe estate, but the cholera epidemic forced him to linger.

At this time, many beautiful and remarkable works were written, among which the most outstanding is “The Station Agent”, brief retelling which can be read in this article.

Plot and composition of the story

This is a story about ordinary people who experience both moments of happiness and tragedy in their lives. The plot of the story shows that happiness is different for each person and that it is sometimes hidden in the small and ordinary.

The main character's whole life is connected with philosophical thought the entire cycle. In Samson Vyrin's room there are many pictures from the famous parable of the prodigal son, which help not only to understand the content of the entire story, but also its idea. He waited for his Dunya to return to him, but the girl still did not return. The father understood perfectly well that his daughter was not needed by the one who took her away from the family.

The narration in the work comes from the perspective of the titular adviser, who knew both Dunya and her father. There are several main characters in the story:

1. Narrator.
2. Dunya.
3. Samson Vyrin.
4. Minsky.

The narrator drove through these places several times and drank tea in the caretaker’s house, admiring his daughter. According to him, Vyrin himself told him this whole tragic story. The beginning of the whole tragic story occurs at the moment when Dunya secretly runs away from home with the hussar.

The final scene of the work takes place in the cemetery where Samson Vyrin now rests. Dunya, who now deeply repents, also asks for forgiveness from this grave.

The main idea of ​​the story

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin constantly emphasizes in his story: everything parents dream of their children being happy. But Dunya is unhappy, and her sinful love brings her father torment and worries.

The behavior of Dunya and Minsky drives Vyrin to his grave.

Samson Vyrin dies because, while continuing to love his daughter, he lost faith that he would ever see her again.

Dunya seemed to have erased her father from her life, and this ingratitude and loss of the meaning of life, which lay in her daughter, leads to such a sad ending to the story.

Brief retelling of the story

Each person met with the caretakers when setting out on the road. Usually such people only cause anger and rudeness. Few of those on the road revere them, considering them either robbers or monsters. But if you think about what their life is like, delve into it, you will begin to treat them more leniently. They have no peace for whole days, and some irritated passers-by can even beat them up, venting their frustration and anger that they accumulated during the ride.

The home of such a caretaker is poor and wretched. There is never peace in it, as guests spend time there waiting for horses. Only compassion can be evoked by a caretaker who, regardless of the weather, is looking for horses, trying to please everyone passing by. The narrator, who has been traveling for twenty years, often visits such dwellings and he knows very well how difficult and thankless this difficult work is.

The narrator again went on duty in 1816. At that time he was young and hot-tempered and often quarreled with the stationmasters. One rainy day, he stopped at one of the stations to rest from the road and change clothes. The tea was served by a girl who was lovely. At that time Dunya was 14 years old. The visitor's attention was also attracted by the pictures that decorated the walls of the caretaker's poor home. These were illustrations from the parable of the prodigal son.

Samson Vyrin was fresh and cheerful, he was already fifty years old. He loved his daughter and raised her freely and freely. The three of them drank tea for a long time and talked cheerfully.

A few years later, the narrator soon found himself in the same places again and decided to visit the stationmaster and his lovely daughter. But Samson Vyrin was unrecognizable: he had aged, there were deep wrinkles on his unshaven face, and he was hunched over.

In the conversation it turned out that three years ago one of the passers-by, seeing Dunya, pretended to faint and become ill. Dunya looked after him for two days. And on Sunday he got ready to leave , offering to take the girl to church mass. Dunya thought for a moment, but the father himself persuaded her to sit in the wagon with a young and slender hussar.

Soon Samson became worried and went to mass, but it turned out that Dunya never appeared there. The girl did not return in the evening, and the drunken coachman said that she had left with a young hussar. The caretaker immediately fell ill, and when he recovered, he immediately went to St. Petersburg to find Captain Minsky and return his daughter home. Soon he found himself at a reception with the hussar, but he simply decided to pay him off and demanded that he never seek meetings with his daughter again and not bother her.

But Samson made another attempt and made his way into the house where Dunya lived. He saw her among luxury, happy. But as soon as the girl recognized her father, she immediately fainted. Minsky demanded that Vyrin be expelled and never allowed into this house again. After that, returning home, the stationmaster grew old and never bothered Dunya and Minsky again. This story struck the narrator and haunted him for many years.

When, after a while, he found himself in these parts again, he decided to find out how Samson Vyrin was doing. But it turned out that he died a year ago and was buried in the local cemetery. And the brewer’s family settled in his house. The brewer's son accompanied the narrator to the grave. Vanka said that in the summer some lady came with three children and went to his grave. When she found out that Samson Vyrin had died, she immediately began to cry. And then she went to the cemetery and lay for a long time on her father’s grave.

Analysis of the story

This is a work by Alexander Pushkin the most difficult and saddest of the entire cycle. The novella talks about tragic fate stationmaster and happy fate his daughter. Samson Vyrin, having studied the biblical parable of the prodigal son from pictures, constantly thinks that a misfortune could happen to his daughter. He constantly remembers Dunya and thinks that she, too, will be deceived and one day she will be abandoned. And this troubles his heart. These thoughts become disastrous for the stationmaster, who died having lost the meaning of his life.

Pushkin’s work “The Station Warden” is a story within a story, where the author, represented by a minor official, talks about his meeting with the stationmaster, and then tells us about his life.

The heroes of the work are the narrator, station guard Samson Vyrin, his daughter Dunya and the hussar Minsky.

Brief analysis of the work

In the story, the author shows us the life of the caretakers in the person of Vyrin, who performs complex and important work at the station, but no one appreciates this work, but they only constantly reproach him and blame him for everything. The man sees no joy in life and only one joy - his daughter Dunya, who later ran away with the hussar, forgetting about her father for many years. But he always remembered his daughter Vyrin and dreamed of bringing her back. However, the plan could not be realized.

Thinking that his daughter is in trouble, and he cannot help her in any way, the caretaker returns to the station, where he drinks himself and dies. He died, unable to understand that his daughter was truly happy and loved, because in his head he could not form the idea that the poor daughter of a simple caretaker could fall in love with a hussar.

The daughter later remembered her father and came to him with her family, but it was too late, she did not find her father alive.

The work gives rise to mixed thoughts. On the one hand, the humiliated hero and the sad ending of his life, on the other hand, I want to rejoice for Dunya, who has found her happiness. The author in his work depicted not only a low status in society, but also misunderstanding, loss of purpose in life, and resignation to one’s fate.

The author depicted the life of station workers and showed the problem of the attitude of the whole society towards them. He calls for respect for all people and their professions, and then they will not be oppressed, which means that “little people” will not be limited in their thoughts and will also believe that happiness exists and their children can also be happy. This means that the ending of their lives will be completely different.