Who in Rus' can live well, the life of peasants? The essay “Images of peasants in Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”
N. A. Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” was created over more than ten years (1863-1876). The main problem that interested the poet was the situation of the Russian peasant under serfdom and after “liberation.” N. A. Nekrasov speaks about the essence of the tsar’s manifesto in the words of the people: “You are kind, tsar’s charter, but you were not written about us.” Paintings folk life written with epic breadth, and this gives the right to call it an encyclopedia of Russian life of that time.
Drawing numerous images of peasants and different characters, the author divides the heroes into two camps: slaves and fighters. Already in the prologue we meet the truth-seeking peasants. They live in villages with characteristic names: v Zaplatovo, Dyryavino, Razutovo, Znobishino, Gorelovo, Neelovo, Neurozhaika. The purpose of their journey is to find a happy person in Rus'. While traveling, the peasants meet different people. After listening to the priest’s story about his “happiness”, having received advice to find out about the landowner’s happiness, the peasants say:
You're past them, the landowners!
We know them!
Truth-seekers are not satisfied with the “noble” word, they need the “Christian word”:
Give me your Christian word!
Noblesse with abuse,
With a push and a punch,
That is of no use to us.
Truth-seekers are hardworking and always strive to help others. Having heard from a peasant woman that there are not enough workers to harvest the bread on time, the men suggest:
What are we doing, godfather?
Bring on the sickles! All seven
How will we be tomorrow - by evening
We will burn all your rye!
They also willingly help the peasants of the Illiterate Province mow the grass.
Nekrasov most fully reveals the images of peasant fighters who do not grovel before their masters and do not resign themselves to their slave position.
Yakim Nagoy from the village of Bosovo lives in terrible poverty. He works himself to death, saving himself under the harrow from the heat and rain.
The chest is sunken; as if pressed in
Stomach; at the eyes, at the mouth
Bends like cracks
On dry ground...
Reading the description of the peasant’s appearance, we understand that Yakim, having toiled all his life on a gray, barren piece of land, himself became like the earth. Yakim admits that most of his labor is appropriated by “shareholders” who do not work, but live on the labors of peasants like him:
You work alone
And the work is almost over,
Look, there are three shareholders standing:
God, king and lord!
All my long life Yakim worked, experienced many hardships, went hungry, went to prison, and, “like a piece of velvet, he returned to his homeland.” But still he finds the strength to create at least some kind of life, some kind of beauty. Yakim decorates his hut with pictures, loves apt words, his speech is full of proverbs and sayings. Yakim is the image of a new type of peasant, a rural proletarian who has been in the latrine industry. And his voice is the voice of the most advanced peasants: . Every peasant
Soul, like a black cloud -
Angry, menacing - and it should be
Thunder will roar from there,
It's raining bloody...
WITH The poet has great sympathy for his hero Ermil Girin, the village elder, fair, honest, smart, who, according to the peasants,
In seven years the world's penny
I didn’t squeeze it under my nail,
At the age of seven I didn’t touch the right one,
He did not allow the guilty
I didn’t bend my heart...
Only once did Yermil act dishonestly, giving the old woman Vlasyevna’s son to the army instead of his brother. Repenting, he tried to hang himself. According to the peasants, Yermil had everything for happiness: peace of mind, money, honor, but his honor was special, not bought “neither money nor fear: strict truth, intelligence and kindness.”
The people, defending the worldly cause, in difficult times help Yermil preserve the mill, showing exceptional trust in him. This act confirms the ability of the people to act together, in peace. And Yermil, not afraid of the prison, took the side of the peasants when “the estate of the landowner Obrubkov was rebelling.” Ermil Girin is a defender of peasant interests.
Next and most bright image in this row is Savely, the hero of the Holy Russian, a fighter for the people's cause. In his youth, like all peasants, he endured cruel bullying for a long time from the landowner Shalashnikov and his manager. But Savely cannot accept such an order, and he rebels along with other peasants, he buried the German Vogel in the ground alive. Savely received “twenty years of strict hard labor, twenty years of imprisonment” for this. Returning as an old man to his native village, he retained good spirits and hatred of his oppressors. “Branded, but not a slave!” - he says about himself. Until old age Savely retained a clear mind, warmth, and responsiveness. In the poem he is shown as the people's avenger:
...Our axes
They lay there for the time being!
He speaks contemptuously about passive peasants, calling them “perished... lost.”
Nekrasov calls Saveliy a Holy Russian hero, emphasizing his heroic character, and also compares him with folk hero Ivan Susanin. The image of Savely personifies the people's desire for freedom.
This image is given in the same chapter with the image of Matryona Timofeevna not by chance. The poet shows together two heroic Russian characters. Matryona Timofeevna goes through many trials. In her parents' house she lived freely and cheerfully, and after marriage she had to work like a slave, endure the reproaches of her husband's relatives, and her husband's beatings. She found joy only in work and children. She had a hard time with the death of her son Demushka, the year of hunger, and beggary. But in difficult moments she showed firmness and perseverance: she worked for the release of her husband, who was illegally taken as a soldier, and even went to the governor himself. She stood up for Fedotushka when they wanted to punish him with rods. Rebellious, determined, she is always ready to defend her rights, and this brings her closer to Savely. Having told the wanderers about her difficult life, she says that “it’s not a matter of looking for a happy one among women.” In the chapter entitled “The Woman’s Parable,” the Yankee peasant speaks about a woman’s lot:
The keys to women's happiness,
From our free will
Abandonedlost
From God himself.
But Nekrasov is sure that the “keys” must be found. The peasant woman will wait and achieve happiness. The poet talks about this in one of Grisha Dobroskponov’s songs:
You are still a slave in the family,
But the mother of a free son!
Nekrasov with a special feeling created images of truth-seekers, fighters, in which the strength of the people and the will to fight the oppressors were expressed. However, the poet could not help but turn to dark sides life of the peasantry. The poem depicts peasants who have become accustomed to their slave position. In the chapter “Happy,” the truth-seeking peasants meet a courtyard man who considers himself happy because he was the beloved slave of Prince Peremetyev. The courtyard is proud that his daughter, together with the young lady, “studied French and all sorts of languages; she was allowed to sit down in the presence of the princess.” And the servant himself stood behind the chair of His Serene Highness for thirty years, licking the plates after him and finishing off the remnants of overseas wines. He is proud of his “closeness” to the masters and his “honorable” disease - gout. Simple freedom-loving peasants laugh at the slave who looks down on his fellow men, not understanding the baseness of his lackey position. Prince Utyatin’s servant Ipat did not even believe that “freedom” had been declared to the peasants:
And I am the Utyatin princes
Serf - and that's the whole story!
From childhood until old age, the master mocked his slave Ipat in every possible way. The footman took all this for granted: ...ransomed
Me, the latter's slave,
In winter in the ice hole!
How wonderful!
Two ice holes:
He will lower you into one in a net,
In another moment it will pull out -
And he’ll bring you some vodka.
Ipat could not forget the master’s “mercies”: the fact that after swimming in the ice hole the prince would “bring some vodka”, then he would sit “next to the unworthy person with his princely person.”
A submissive slave is also an “exemplary slave—Yakov the faithful.” He served under the cruel Mr. Polivanov, who “in the teeth of an exemplary slave... casually blew his heel.” Despite such treatment, the faithful slave took care of and pleased the master until his old age. The landowner cruelly offended his faithful servant by recruiting his beloved nephew Grisha. Yakov “made a fool”: first he “drank the dead man”, and then he drove the master into a remote forest ravine and hanged himself on a pine tree above his head. The poet condemns such manifestations of protest as well as servile submission.
Nekrasov speaks with indignation about such traitors to the people's cause as the elder Gleb. He, bribed by the heir, destroyed the “freedom” given to the peasants before his death by the old master-admiral, thereby “for tens of years, until recently, the villain secured eight thousand souls.”
To characterize the serf peasants, deprived of a sense of their own dignity, the poet finds contemptuous words: slave, serf, dog, Judas. Nekrasov concludes the characteristics with a typical generalization:
People of servile rank -
Real dogs sometimes:
The heavier the punishment,
That's why gentlemen are dearer to them.
Creating Various types peasants, Ne-krasov asserts: there are no happy ones among them, the peasants, even after the abolition of serfdom, are still destitute and deprived of blood, only the forms of oppression have changed. But among the peasants there are people capable of conscious, active protest. And therefore the poet believes that in the future there will be a good life in Rus':
More to the Russian people
No limits set:
There is a wide path before him.
1. Seven wanderers looking for a happy man.
2. Ermil Girin.
3. “Serf Woman” Matryona Timofeevna.
4. Grigory Dobrosklonov.
The topic of searching for a happy life and “mother truth” occupies significant place V folklore tradition, on which N. A. Nekrasov relied when creating the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” Wandering played a special role in the culture of the people: traveling to holy places, wanderers often became collectors of legends, observed everyday life representatives of various walks of life, and then told instructive stories in the houses where they stayed. Often in common people wanderers were perceived as wise and righteous people, that is, those who had comprehended the truth. A similar motif is found in Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”: the wanderer explains to the peasant woman Matryona that “the keys to women’s happiness” have been lost to God himself. However, the main motive of wandering in the poem is not associated with holy places, but with the search for a happy person. Seven fellow villagers set off on a journey, having argued about which class they belong to. life is better Total. The number seven is one of magic numbers. The motif of the journey of seven brothers in search of the truth can be heard in A. K. Tolstoy’s ballad “Truth”. It should be noted that the poet’s images of the seven wanderers are not drawn, unlike many bright characters appearing in the poem. Seven peasants traveling around Rus' primarily act as bearers of the very idea of searching for truth and happiness.
The ideals of affirming the truth in life and fighting for it were embodied in the characters of other characters, for example, Yermil Girin. It is no coincidence that they call him happy man. With his work, Yermil, a simple peasant, achieved not only the respect of the people, but also material wealth, and took a very significant position in the peasant community. It is characteristic that from his youth Yermil rejected dishonest methods of enrichment - being a clerk in the office of the manager of a noble estate, he never took a penny from the peasants for his help, realizing that ordinary people and it’s so hard. It is thanks to his humanity and selflessness that Yermil wins the sympathy of the peasants, who elect him mayor. And in this position, Yermil tries to help his fellow villagers as best he can. Only once did he act differently than he should have according to the law - instead sibling recruited another person. From the point of view of the overwhelming majority of those around him, there is nothing reprehensible in the mayor’s action - it is quite clear that the reason for this was brotherly love. However, Yermil himself judges himself much more harshly for going against the truth and conscience. He calms down only when justice is restored, but resigns as mayor, considering himself unworthy of the people's trust.
The story of the purchase of the mill also characterizes Yermil as worthy, honest man. If he had been different, the peasants, of course, would not have trusted him with their savings, earned by back-breaking labor: however, as soon as Yermil threw out a cry, the people, without any doubt, brought him their money. Nekrasov Trowel strengthens the motive of truth and honesty, sounding in the lines dedicated to Yermil, by demonstrating feedback this character of the poem with the people. Returning money taken without any receipts, Yermil trusts people. Indeed, no one took too much, there was even one ruble left.
But, despite the noble qualities of Yermil, the love of the people for him, the fate of this man is tragic, as often happens with truth-seekers. Nekrasov does not give all the details: the story is interrupted, but it is known that Yermil is in prison, and this is connected with the rebellion of the peasants.
Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina, a Russian peasant woman, also had to fight for the truth. In her husband’s family, she had to meekly endure the reproaches and whims of those around her, but when her Philippushka was illegally taken into the army, this woman resolutely set out on the road to find protection from the authorities. And Matryona managed to save her husband.
Be patient, multi-branched one!
Be patient, long-suffering one!
We can't find the truth -
This is what Savely, her husband’s grandfather, told Matryona. Savely has been through a lot. The injustice of the German manager brought Savely and his comrades to a crime for which they were sent to Siberia. Savely did not put up with lies. So why does he call Matryona to submission? The fact is that life is more difficult for a woman, if only because she has to think not only about herself, but also about her children. Actually, Matryona has never fought for her own rights: she either defends the rights of her husband or protects her children. A woman endures an unfair flogging just to spare her son from this punishment.
Another truth-seeker in the poem is the son of a rural sexton, Grigory Dobrosklonov. It is interesting that the author, depicting Gregory’s life in his native village, seems to be getting ahead of himself, wanting to emphasize what the true calling of this man is:
Fate had in store for him
The path is glorious, the name is loud
People's Defender,
Consumption and Siberia.
We again see that the fate of the truth-seeker is not easy and tragic. And yet, according to Nekrasov, it is Grisha who is the lucky one whom the seven wanderers are so diligently looking for. After all, the image of Grigory Dobrosklonov embodied the ideal of Nekrasov, who believed that happiness lies in serving the people. Grisha, his father and brother live very poorly, but the former seminarian dreams not of personal wealth, but of
... So that my fellow countrymen
And every peasant
Life was free and fun
All over holy Rus'!
Nekrasov conceived “Who Lives Well in Rus'” shortly after the reform of 1861, as a result of which millions of peasants were actually robbed. The government managed to suppress the popular uprisings, but the peasant masses did not calm down for a long time. In it difficult time, without losing hope for a better future, the poet took up comprehensive artistic research people's life.
At the center of the poem - collective image Russian peasant. The poem reflects peasant joys and sorrows, a peasant thirst for will and happiness. The reform of 1861 did not improve the situation of the people, and it is not without reason that the peasants say about it:
You are good, royal letter,
Yes, you are not writing about us...
The plot of the poem is very close to the folk tale about the search for happiness and truth. The heroes of the poem are looking for “The unworn province, the ungutted volost, the Izbytkov village.” As in folk tales about truth and falsehood, on the “high street” “seven men came together.” And just like in fairy tales, the disputants disagree, quarrel, and then, with the help of a wonderful bird that speaks human language, they make peace and set off to look for the happy one. A description of what the truth-seekers saw during their wanderings in Rus', stories about themselves from people who consider themselves happy, form the content of the poem. Those who seek happiness see the joyless, powerless, hungry life of the people in provinces with names that speak for themselves: Frightened, Shot, Illiterate. A peasant’s “happiness,” the poet exclaims bitterly, “holey with patches, hunchbacked with calluses!” There are no happy peasants. Who is busy searching for happiness in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”?
First of all, these are seven men-truth seekers, whose inquisitive thoughts made them think about the fundamental question of life: “Who lives cheerfully, freely in Rus'?” Peasant types are represented in a variety of ways. These are peasants from different villages. Everyone was going about their own business, but then they met and argued. The villages are named, the provinces are named, and the men are listed by name, but we understand that events cannot be attributed to any specific year or to any specific place. All of Rus' is here with its eternal painful worries. In principle, each of the seven already has their own answer to the question:
Who has fun?
Free in Rus'?
Roman said: to the landowner,
Demyan said: to the official,
Luke said: ass.
To the fat-bellied merchant! -
The Gubin brothers said,
Ivan and Metrodor.
Old man Pakhom looked down
And he said, looking at the ground:
To the noble boyar,
To the sovereign minister.
And Prov said: to the king...
They did not receive the direct answer that the peasants were looking for. The answer arose in a different sense. The priest has his own claims to the new life, the landowner and merchant have theirs. Nobody praises the new time, everyone remembers the old.
The great chain has broken,
It tore and splintered,
One way for the master,
Others don't care.
Isn't our current situation similar to that recreated by Nekrasov? Men are deprived - both in the past and in the present. With bitter irony, Nekrasov describes in the chapter “Happy” how the wanderers prepared a whole bucket of vodka to treat the luckiest man. But the result was only a bitter list of people's misfortunes. The old woman is happy that turnips grew in her garden, the soldier is happy that he was mercilessly beaten with sticks, but remained alive. The stonecutter is happy with his youthful strength, and the weak one is happy that he returned alive from hard work. The men are disgusted by another “happy” one - a footman, who, after forty years of service, is sick not with some peasant hernia, but with a “noble” lordly disease - gout.
Happiness, according to Nekrasov, does not lie at all in the primitive sense in which the seven peasant walkers understood it, but in resistance, struggle, opposition to grief and untruth; it is not simply divided between men and masters. The author's sympathies demonstrate his undoubted spiritual affinity with the democratic, raznochinsky movement. It is not for nothing that he writes with such sympathy about the disturbers of social peace: the former convict Savely, who raised “the whole Korezhina” against the landowner Shalashnikov, who buried the cruel mayor alive; Ermil Girin, who was imprisoned for defending the interests of peasants, the robber Kudeyar. Among the peasants who have risen to the consciousness of their powerless situation is Yakim Nagoy, who realized who gets the fruits of peasant labor. The author creates in the poem the image of another seeker of peasant happiness - “ people's defender» Grisha Dobrosklonova. Hungry childhood, the harsh youth of the son of a farm laborer and a rural sexton brought him closer to the people, accelerated his spiritual maturation and determined his life path:
... about fifteen years old
Gregory already knew for sure
What will live for happiness
Wretched and dark
Native corner.
Grisha Dobrosklonov resembles Dobrolyubov in many traits of his character, in whom Nekrasov saw the “ideal public figure" He is a fighter for people's happiness, who wants to be there “where it’s hard to breathe, where grief is heard.” He sees that a people of many millions is awakening to fight:
The army rises
Countless!
The strength in her will affect
Indestructible!
This thought fills his soul with joy and confidence in victory. To answer the main question of the poem - who lives well in Rus'? - Nekrasov responds with the image of Grisha Dobrosklonov, “the people's intercessor”. That's why the poet says:
If only our wanderers could be under their own roof,
If only they could know what was happening to Grisha.
The path that Grisha Dobrosklonov follows is difficult, but beautiful. But it is precisely here that true happiness awaits a person, since, according to Nekrasov, only those who devote themselves to the struggle for the good and happiness of the people can be happy. The title of Nekrasov's poem has long been catchphrase, which has received a second life today, since society is again faced with questions posed by the great classics XIX century: “Who is to blame?”, “What to do?” and “Who can live well in Rus'?”
The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is based on N.A. Nekrasov is an image of the Russian peasantry after the abolition of serfdom. Throughout the entire work, the characters are looking for the answer to the question: “Who lives happily and freely in Rus'?”, who is considered happy, who is unhappy.
Truth-seekers
At the forefront of the research is the journey of seven men through Russian villages in search of an answer to the question posed. In the guise of the seven “freely obliged” we see only common features peasants, namely: poverty, inquisitiveness, unpretentiousness.
The men ask about the happiness of the peasants and soldiers they meet. They consider the priest, the landowner, the merchant, the nobleman and the tsar to be lucky. But the main place in the poem is given to the peasantry.
Yakim Nagoy
Yakim Nagoy works “to death”, but lives from hand to mouth, like most residents of Bosovo. In the description of the hero, we see how difficult Yakim’s life is: “...He himself looks like Mother Earth.” Yakim realizes that the peasants are the greatest power, he is proud that he belongs to this group of people. he is familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of the peasant character. The main disadvantage is alcohol, which has a detrimental effect on men.
For Yakima, the idea that the poverty of the peasantry is caused by drinking wine is unacceptable. In his opinion, this is due to the obligation to work for “shareholders.” The fate of the hero is typical for the Russian people after the abolition of serfdom: while living in the capital, he enters into an argument with a merchant, ends up in prison, from where he returns to the village and begins to plow the land.
Ermila Girin
Ermila Girina N.A. Nekrasov endowed him with honesty and great intelligence. He lived for the sake of the people, was honest, fair, and did not leave anyone in trouble. The only dishonest act he committed was for the sake of his family - saving his nephew from being recruited. He sent the widow's son instead. From his own deceit and torment of conscience, Girin almost hanged himself. He corrected his mistake and subsequently took the side of the rebellious peasants, for which he was imprisoned.
The episode with the purchase of Ermil's mill is remarkable, when the peasants express absolute trust in Ermil Girin, and he, in return, is completely honest with them.
Savely - hero
Nekrasov expresses the idea that peasants for him are akin to heroes. Here comes the image of Savely, the Holy Russian hero. He sincerely sympathizes with Matryona and has a hard time rethinking the death of Demushka. This hero combines goodness, simplicity, sincerity, help to the oppressed and anger towards the oppressors.
Matrena Timofeevna
Peasant women are represented in the image of Matryona Timofeevna. This strong-hearted woman fights all her life for freedom and woman's happiness. Her life resembles the life of many peasant women of that time, although she is even happier than many. This is taking into account the fact that after marriage she ended up in a family that hated her, she was married only once, her first-born was eaten by pigs, and her whole life is based on hard work in the fields.
Peasant oppressors
The author shows how difficult it is to reflect serfdom on people's lives, how it cripples them, destroying them morally. There are also peasants who chose the side of their masters - Ipat, Klim, Yakov the Faithful, who oppress the common people along with the landowners.
In his poem, Nekrasov showed the life of the peasantry after the reform of 1861, depicted images of Russian peasants, saying that the people have untold power and will soon begin to realize their rights.
The great Russian poet N.A. Nekrasov was born and raised in the rural outback, among endless meadows and fields. As a boy, he loved to run away from home to his village friends. Here he met ordinary working people. Later, having become a poet, he created a number of truthful works about ordinary poor people, their life, speech, as well as Russian nature.
About them social status Even the names of the villages speak: Zaplatovo, Dyryavino, Razutovo, Neelovo, Neurozhaiko and others. About them plight The priest they met also said: “The peasant himself is in need, and would be glad to give, but there is nothing…”.
On the one hand, the weather lets us down: it rains constantly, then the sun mercilessly burns, burning the crops. On the other side, most The harvest must be given in the form of taxes:
Look, there are three shareholders standing:
God, king and lord
Nekrasov’s peasants are great workers:
Not gentle white-handed ones,
And we are great people,
At work and at play!
One of these representatives is Yakim Nagoy:
He works himself to death
He drinks until he's half dead!
And he himself is all like Mother Earth: a brick face, a wooden hand, sandy hair. This is how hard peasant work dried him out.
Another representative of the “great people”, Ermila Girin, is shown as an honest, fair, conscientious man. He is respected among the peasants. The enormous trust of his compatriots in him is evidenced by the fact that when Ermila turned to the people for help, everyone chipped in and helped Girin out. He, in turn, returned every penny. And he gave the remaining unclaimed ruble to the blind man.
While in the service, he tried to help everyone and did not take a penny for it: “It takes a bad conscience to extract a penny from the peasant.”
Having once stumbled and sent another brother as a recruit instead of his brother, Girin suffers mentally to the point that he is ready to take his own life.
IN general image Girina is tragic. The wanderers learn that he is in prison for helping a rebellious village.
The lot of the peasant woman is equally bleak. In the image of Matryona Timofeevna, the author shows the stamina and endurance of a Russian woman.
Matryona's fate includes hard work, like men, family relationships, and the death of her first-born. But she endures all the blows of fate without complaint. And when it comes to her loved ones, she stands up for them. It turns out that there are no happy women among them:
The keys to women's happiness,
From our free will
Abandoned, lost, by God himself!
Only Savely supports Matryona Timofeevna. This is an old man, no time former hero Holy Russian, but who wasted their strength in hard work and hard labor:
Where have you gone, strength?
What were you useful for?
Under rods, under sticks
Left for little things!
Savely has weakened physically, but his faith in a better future is alive. He constantly repeats: “Branded, but not a slave!”
It turns out that Savely was sent to hard labor for burying alive the German Vogel, who was disgusted by the peasants because he mercilessly mocked and oppressed them.
Nekrasov calls Saveliy “the hero of Holy Russia”:
And it bends, but does not break,
Doesn't break, doesn't fall...
At Prince Peremetyev's
I was a beloved slave.
Prince Utyatin's lackey Ipat admires his master.
Nekrasov says about these peasant slaves:
People of servile rank
Real dogs sometimes.
The heavier the punishment,
That's why gentlemen are dearer to them.
In fact, the psychology of slavery was so ingrained in their souls that it completely killed their human dignity.
Thus, Nekrasov’s peasants are heterogeneous, like any society of people. But for the most part they are honest, hardworking, striving for freedom, and therefore happiness, representatives of the peasantry.
It is no coincidence that the poem ends with a song about Rus', in which one can hear hope for the enlightenment of the Russian people:
An innumerable army is rising,
