Folk types of the poem dead souls. Russian people in poem N

Composition

In the poem "Dead Souls" Gogol wanted to show "all of Rus'." In it, the writer recreates various types of Russian landowners living idly in their noble estates, paints with satirical colors the images of officials, bribe-takers and thieves who have concentrated state power in their hands. The author brings out here a new person - an emerging bourgeois, a businessman, an acquirer, and he defines all these heroes as “dead souls.” But behind the “dead souls” appear living souls. These are the Russian people with whom the writer pinned hopes for a better future for Russia. Therefore, Gogol's poem ends symbolically birds-three. It contains the result of many years of Gogol’s thoughts about the fate of Russia, the present and future of its people. After all, it is the people who oppose the world of officials, landowners, businessmen, as living soul dead.

Why does the thought of the Russian people fill the writer’s soul with joy, why does caustic, angry satire give way to high pathos? Probably because the writer saw immense strength and enormous potential in the dark and downtrodden Russian people. This means that the main idea of ​​the poem is Russia’s rapid run forward, in the movement towards a happy future for the Russian people. Despite the dominance of “dead souls” over the living in Gogol’s era, he sees Russia’s unstoppable movement for the better.

Who is driving it? Against the backdrop of the dead-heartedness of the Manilovs, the boxes, the Plyushkins, the lively and lively Russian mind, the people's prowess, and the wide scope of the soul stand out especially clearly. It is these qualities, according to Gogol, that are the basis of the national Russian character. And they found embodiment in the images of heroes Stepan Probka and Abakum Fyrov. Moreover, the failed landowner Chichikov, who acquired him as a “dead soul,” thinks about Stepan and his possible fate. But this Russian hero, “who would be fit for the guard,” appears more alive than living people with dead souls. These peasants who died or were oppressed by serfdom are hardworking and talented. The glory of the wonderful carriage maker Mikheev is alive in people's memory even after his death. Even Sobakevich says with involuntary respect that that glorious master should only work for the sovereign.

In the spare, laconic lines of the poem, we see the crippled destinies of people from among the people. The miracle shoemaker Maxim Telyatnikov, who wanted to get his own house and little shop, is drinking himself to death. But, having paid the master a decent rent, this talented master was deceived by the supplier of rotten leather. The death of Grigory You Can't Get There, who out of sadness turned into a tavern, and then straight into an ice hole, is senseless and absurd. The fate of Plyushkin’s runaway serfs, who are doomed to hide from the police all their lives, is bitter and humiliating. They have little choice: sit in prison or pester other gentlemen and work for them. A competent street servant, Popov, who wanders around without a passport, is constantly subjected to interrogation and humiliation, and he himself bitterly mocks his fate. The image of Abakum Fyrov, who fell in love with a free life, attached to barge haulers, is remembered in the poem. After all, the hardest hard labor of the barge gang sometimes ended with a noisy and cheerful festive celebration with songs and round dances. It is here that the people's prowess and the scope of the Russian soul are fully manifested.

But the writer sees that these wonderful qualities of the people are suppressed and disfigured by serfdom, the power of dead-hearted landowners and officials. Therefore Gogol does not idealize Russian peasantry. About his blatant ignorance, narrowness spiritual world they say, for example, the images of the stupid Uncle Mitya and Uncle Minya, who cannot separate the horses that are entangled in the lines, or the image of the yard girl Pelageya, who “doesn’t know where the right is and where the left is.” At the beginning of the poem, the author humorously describes a thoughtful conversation between two men discussing whether the wheel will reach Moscow or Kazan. The desire for mental activity turns into stupid idle talk, because the life of the peasants is so meager and insignificant that it does not provide them with sufficient material for thought. The “noble impulse to enlightenment” of Chichikov’s serf Petrushka also evokes laughter, because he is attracted not by the content of the books, but by the process of reading itself. Gogol writes that he didn’t care what to read: the adventures of a hero in love, an ABC book, a prayer book, or chemistry. These episodes are a clear indicator of the underdevelopment and squalor of the spiritual world of a significant part of the serf peasantry. The same is evidenced by the image of the coachman Selifan, who drunkenly makes lengthy speeches addressed to the horses.

Ignorance, darkness, drunkenness, downtroddenness these are the traits of the Russian people that were formed in them thanks to centuries of serfdom. This means that the autocratic-serf system of Russia not only hampered the economic development of the country, but also criminally destroyed the soul of the Russian people. The poem hears the protest of the peasantry against their tormentors and oppressors - landowners and officials. For example, it is expressed in the revolt of the peasants of the village of Vshivaya Spes and the village of Borovka, who wiped out the zemstvo police in the person of assessor Drobyazhkin from the face of the earth. The same protest is heard in popular speech, in apt proverbs and sayings. For example, when Chichikov asked a man he met about Plyushkin, he awarded this master the deadly accurate nickname “patched.” Gogol writes: “It is expressed strongly Russian people, and if he rewards someone with a word, then it will go to his family and posterity, he will drag it with him into service, and into retirement, and to St. Petersburg, and to the ends of the world." The writer is convinced that no people have such a sweeping and a lively, apt word. The majestic, endless expanses of Russia and the bitter fate of its people suggest the possibility and necessity of radical changes in the country, since a “daring, full of strength nationality” is incompatible with a beggarly situation, stultifying captivity, and the domination of “dead souls.”

(347 words) The main place in the work of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is given to the theme of the people. During the author’s life, Russia was ruled by landowners and officials, whom the heroes of the work “Dead Souls” resembled. Therefore, the writer depicted bleak scenes of survival of serfs. Noble landowners mercilessly take advantage of their labor, sometimes treating them like slaves: they buy and sell like their property, sometimes separating them from the family.

Watching the scam of the main character of the poem, Chichikov, it immediately becomes clear in what sad state the Russian peasantry is arriving. The estates of the landowners are replaced one after another, but the general picture of the sad state of the serf peasantry is the same: a low standard of living, a horrific percentage of the dying, advanced stages of disease, a constant lack of food and all-consuming poverty. Someone, like Manilov, simply does not care about the condition of people, letting their lives take their course. Someone, like Sobakevich, keeps them in tight rein, amassing capital. Someone, like Korobochka, keeps everything in exemplary order, but does not understand the needs and aspirations of the peasant, using him only as draft animals. Someone like Nozdryov mindlessly carouses and squanders all the results of peasant labor overnight. And someone like Plyushkin drives his faithful servants to starvation with his greed.

However, in the soul of the serf people there is a thirst for freedom. When bondage becomes an unbearable burden, they run away from their “slave owners.” But escape rarely ends in liberation. Nikolai Vasilyevich reveals the typical life of a fugitive: without work, without a passport, in most cases - in prison. Although Popov, who worked as a yard servant for Plyushkin, chose prison instead of working for his master, such a choice can be characterized as throwing between two evils, from which one chooses the lesser.

A country under the rule of rude and ruthless masters gave birth to the uneducated Uncle Minai and the courtyard Pelageya, who did not understand which side was right and which was left. However, the power of the Russian man, infringed, but not torn apart by serfdom, also opens before us. It’s all in people like the brave Stepan Probka, the gifted Mikheev, and simply in the hard-working and energetic Russian people, who do not lose heart in any, even the most difficult situations.

In his depiction of feudal-serf Rus', Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol revealed Russia not only as a landowner-bureaucratic, but also people's country, with its gifted and strong population. He showed his confidence in the bright future of his homeland if its support - the peasantry - rises from its knees.

The topic that the author raises expands from page to page. Buying dead souls becomes a description of the life of the peasantry. The people in the poem “Dead Souls” stand out for their diversity, talent, kindness and insane desire to live.

Feature of the Russian character

The classic lovingly describes characters from the people. Russian people are not afraid of difficult climates or severe frosts. He is not afraid of Kamchatka. A man will sew mittens for himself; if he gets cold, he will pat his hands together. With one ax he will cut down a hut for himself that will last for centuries. The people, from the pen of the author, come up with an amazingly beautiful image:

• Madonna's charming face;
• rounded oval cheeks;
• wide size.

In Rus' everything is wide and spacious: fields, mountains, forests. The writer puts their face, lips and legs on the same line. The broadest part of a people is its soul.

Russian word

Gogol loves Russian speech. He is favorable to French words and expressions, but a man’s weighty, biting word is often brighter than foreign phrases. There is no alien language in the poem, everything is native to the people.

The names of the characters are interesting. Somewhere they look grotesque, someone may laugh at them, but in them is the ability of the people to snatch the most significant and living things from their surroundings.

• Zavalishin - the desire to fall on one side;
• Polezhaev - love of relaxation;
• Sopikov - quiet snoring during sleep;
• Khrapovitsky - a dead sleep with “snoring”, whistling nose.

Gogol points out words that work “miracles on Russian people.” One of these words is forward. Russian calls raise uprisings and sink deep into the soul. The Russian word makes you shiver. In one word, the Russian people can characterize an entire class.

The mighty power of the Russian peasant

Chichikov, through the mouth of Gogol, talks about the people, studying the list of peasants he bought. There are no living people on the list, but the author introduces everyone in such a way that their image appears before the reader. Moreover, it is easier to see the dead than the landowners, blurred from the abundance of food or dried up from greed. Gogol shows the hardships of life of the common people. Serf bondage and humiliation lead to escapes. Freedom is not given to everyone. Most fall into even greater bondage. The surprising thing is that the desire to be free in men does not die. Peasants are fighting for their rights - the murder of Drobyazhkin. Gogol emphasizes one trait - glibness. She is in everything - in movements, in intelligence, in talent.

Labor and people

Beautiful palaces, multi-windowed halls, painted walls hide the work of talented craftsmen from the people. Men-craftsmen create masterpieces from stone blocks. Formless and dead, they come to life under the master's ax. The reader sees how what the people created perishes. Manilov's ponds are overgrown, Nozdryov's kennels are empty, Plyushkin's rooms are covered with dust. Bold nature seems to specifically highlight the wretchedness of the dying estates. Against the backdrop of amazing landscapes, the eyes of men from the list of revision souls sparkle. They are no longer there, but the memory and deeds are alive.

A treasure trove of intelligence and cunning

The people in the poem are not just hardworking, they are wise and cunning. Gogol admires the Russian man, but admits to his vices. What amazing features does the writer emphasize:

• ability to communicate: shades of conversation, incomprehensible to foreigners, will depend on the number of souls of the person being spoken to;
• decisiveness: will not go into reasoning when it is necessary to act;
• reluctance to admit guilt;
• skill of envy necessary acquaintances.

Even negative character traits distinguish Russians from others.

The concept of people in the work becomes so broad that it is difficult to cover. It will not be possible to write the essay “The people in the poem “Dead Souls” if you are based on one social stratum. The people are men, landowners, officials, everyone whom the writer tried to portray.

Work test

Russia in Gogol's time was ruled by landowners and officials similar to the heroes of Dead Souls. It is clear in what position the people, the serf peasantry, had to be.

Following Chichikov on his journey from one landowner's estate to another, we observe a bleak picture of the life of the serf peasantry: their lot is poverty, illness, hunger, and terrible mortality. The landowners treat the peasants as their slaves: they sell them individually, without families; dispose of them like things. “Perhaps I’ll give you a girl,” Korobochka says to Chichikov, “she knows the way, just watch!” Don’t bring it, the merchants have already brought one from me.”

In the seventh chapter, Chichikov reflects on the list of peasants he bought. And before us is revealed a picture of the life and back-breaking work of the people, their patience and courage, violent outbursts of protest. Particularly attractive are the images of Stepan Probka, endowed with heroic strength, a remarkable carpenter-builder, and Uncle Micah, who meekly replaced the murdered Stepan in his dangerous work.

In the soul of the enslaved peasantry there lives a desire for freedom. When the peasants can no longer endure serfdom, they run away from the landowners. True, flight did not always lead to freedom. Gogol tells the ordinary life of a fugitive: life without a passport, without work, almost always arrest, prison. But Plyushkin’s servant Popov still preferred life in prison to returning under the yoke of his master. Abakum Fyrov, escaping serfdom, went into barge hauling.

Gogol also talks about cases of mass indignation. The episode of the murder of assessor Drobyazhkin shows the struggle of the serf peasantry against their oppressors.

The great realist writer, Gogol, figuratively speaks about the downtroddenness of the people: “The police captain, even if you don’t go yourself, but only send one of your caps to your place, then this one cap will drive the peasants to their very place of residence.”

In a country where the peasants were ruled by cruel and ignorant little boxes, Nozdryovs and Sobakevichs, it was not surprising to meet the stupid Uncle Mitya and Uncle Minya, and the courtyard Pelageya, who did not know where the right side was and where the left side was.

But Gogol sees at the same time the mighty power of the people, suppressed, but not killed by serfdom. It is manifested in the talent of Mikheev, Stepan Probka, Milushkin, in the hard work and energy of the Russian person, in his ability not to lose heart under any circumstances. “Russian people are capable of anything and get used to any climate. Send him to Kamchatka, just give him warm mittens, he claps his hands, an ax in his hands, and goes to cut himself a new hut,” say officials, discussing the resettlement of Chichikov’s peasants to the Kherson province. Gogol also speaks about the high qualities of the Russian person in his remarks about the “lively people”, about the “efficient Yaroslavl peasant”, about the remarkable ability of the Russian people to aptly characterize a person in one word.

Thus, depicting feudal-serf Rus', Gogol showed not only landowner-bureaucratic Russia, but also people’s Russia, with its persistent and freedom-loving people. He expressed his faith in the living, creative forces of the working masses. A vivid image of the Russian people is given by the writer in his famous likening of Russia to a “three bird”, personifying the essence of the national Russian character.

The Russian people in N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls.” Almost every writer has a work that is the work of his whole life, a creation into which he invested his quests and innermost thoughts. For Gogol, this is, without a doubt, “Dead Souls,” which remained unfinished after seventeen years of work.

The poem caused heated debate and speculation. V. G. Belinsky had every reason to say that the question of “Dead Souls” is as much literary as it is social, the result of a collision of old principles with new ones. Reading the book for the first time, I paid little attention to the author’s lyrical reflections on Russia and the Russian people. This beautiful place even seemed out of place in a satirical poem. Having recently re-read Dead Souls, I suddenly discovered Gogol as a great patriot, and became convinced of how important the image of Russia, filled with pride, is for the writer’s entire plan.

For recent years The question has grown enormously about the fate of our, today's Russia, about its purpose, future, about the ability of the Russian people to once again make a historical breakthrough. Scientists, writers, politicians and economists argue about this. The whole country was excited by the thoughts of A. I. Solzhenitsyn “How can we develop Russia.” Sometimes I seem to hear the words of N. A. Nekrasov addressed to the Russian people:

Will you wake up full of strength,

Or, fate obeying the law,

You've already done everything you could -

Created a song like a groan

And spiritually rested forever?..

How can one not turn to the singer of the Russian land, Gogol, for advice in such difficult times? From the moment Chichikov's chaise quietly rolled into provincial town NN. and before this “acquirer” hastily leaves the city, a little time passes, but the reader manages not only to get acquainted with the amazing variety of landowners and officials, but also to see the image of the whole country, to understand the “countless wealth of the Russian spirit.”

The writer does not separate landowners and officials from the people, as critics do. Personally, it seems to me that it is wrong to interpret that all landowners and officials, and Chichikov himself, are genuine “dead souls.” Of all the types, this can be called only Plyushkin, whose soul was deadened by greed. But Gogol himself explains that “a similar phenomenon rarely occurs in Rus'.” The big guy Sobakevich, who can eat a whole sturgeon; the reveler, liar, reveler and brawler Nozdryov; the dreamy lazy man Manilov; the tight-fisted “club-headed” Box; the hardened bribe-taker Ivan Antonovich “jug snout”, the police chief who travels around the shopping arcades as his patrimony, and many other heroes cannot be called “dead souls”. These are either master kulaks, or useless people, or scoundrels whom Gogol managed to “hide.”

And these gentlemen, and Petrushka and Selifan, and two men arguing whether the wheel will reach Moscow, are part of the Russian people. But not the best part. The true image of the people is seen, first of all, in the descriptions of dead peasants. They are admired by the author, Chichikov, and landowners. They are no longer there, but in the memory of the people who knew them, they take on an epic appearance.

“Milushkin, brickmaker! could put a stove in any house. Maxim Telyatnikov, shoemaker: whatever pricks with an awl, then the boots, whatever the boots, then thank you, and even if you put a drunken mouth in your mouth! And Eremey Sorokoplekhin! Yes, that guy alone will stand for everyone, he traded in Moscow, brought one rent for five hundred rubles. After all, this is what people are like!” “Caretmaker Mikheev! After all, I never made any other carriages other than spring ones.” This is how Sobakevich boasts about his peasants. Chichikov objects that they have already died and are only a “dream”. “Well, no, not a dream! I’ll tell you what Mikheev was like, you won’t find people like him: such a machine that he wouldn’t fit into this room... And he had such strength in his shoulders that a horse doesn’t have..."

And Pavel Ivanovich himself, looking at the lists of purchased peasants, seems to see them in reality, and each man receives “his own character.” “Cork Stepan, carpenter, exemplary sobriety,” he reads and begins to imagine: “Ah! Here he is... here is the hero who would be fit for the guard!” Further thought tells him that Stepan went all over the province with an ax, ate a penny’s worth of bread, and probably brought back a hundred rubles in his belt.

Over the course of several pages, we become acquainted with the varied destinies of ordinary people. We see the Russian people, first of all, full of strength, talented, alive, and vigorous. The writer speaks with delight about the living, apt Russian word that bursts out from under the very heart.

Russian people are not always submissive to the authorities. Resentment can drive them to revenge. The Tale of Captain Kopeikin tells how the hero Patriotic War 1812, a disabled man, offended by officials, gathers around himself a gang of free people.

Russia stands before us in its greatness. This is not the Russia where officials take bribes, landowners squander their estates, peasants get drunk, where roads and hotels are bad. The writer sees a different Rus', a “bird-three”. “Isn’t it so for you, Rus', that you are rushing along like a brisk, unstoppable troika?” And the image of the three countries merges with the image of the master who equipped the “road projectile”. Gogol sees great Rus', showing the way to others, he imagines how Russia overtakes other peoples and states, which, “looking askance, turn aside and give her the way.”

History, unfortunately, judged differently. Our country failed to overtake others. And now the Nozdryovs, Chichikovs, Manilovs and Plyushkins live in other ranks and guises. But Rus', the “three bird,” is alive. And, despite the troubles, one cannot help but feel “other, hitherto unstruck strings, the untold wealth of the Russian spirit will appear, a husband gifted with divine virtues will pass, or a wonderful Russian maiden, which cannot be found anywhere in the world, with all the wondrous beauty of a woman’s soul , all out of generous aspiration and selflessness.” And we, the residents of Russia, believe that the words of the writer will be prophetic in the future: “Russian movements will rise... and they will see how deeply ingrained into Slavic nature is that which slipped only through the nature of other peoples...”