Analysis of the chapter “Happy. To whom in Russia to live well The landowner who has gone out of his mind

Essay text:

Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was one of the first Russian poets who was deeply concerned about the theme of peasant life. He created his works in difficult years for Russia. It was already clear to everyone that serfdom had outlived itself and could no longer exist. But the reform of 1861 does not alleviate the position of the peasants. As a man of revolutionary democratic views, Nekrasov perfectly understands the remaining enslaving dependence of the peasantry on the landowners.
In 1863, Nekrasov began work on one of his most significant works. This is a poem To whom in Russia it is good to live. The whole life of a peasant can be traced in the poem. We see the birth of a child, and a wedding, and a recruitment, and a funeral, and work in the field. The poem reflects the spiritual world of the peasantry, its joys and sorrows, doubts and hopes. The question runs through the whole work: Who is happy in the Russian land?
There are many characters in the poem. But what are they all different! The poor, tormented by hunger and need, who endure humiliation and lack of rights all their lives, are happy that they remained to live after all the hardships, happy that they will die in their native land. Saveliy and Ermila Girin have a completely different happiness. They are rebels in spirit. They do not put up with adversity, they try in their own way to make life better. But their serfdom kills. Savely spends his whole life in hard labor, and his only joy in old age, Demushka, dies. Yermilo Girin ends up in prison during a peasant revolt, and it is not difficult to guess how his future fate will turn out. But there is no unity in the peasant world: serfdom distorts not only human destinies, but also personalities. We see happy slaves who are happy to be slaves to their masters. This is the lackey Ipat, who with joy and tenderness tells about the cruelty of his master towards him, this is the lackey of Prince Peremetyev, a completely distorted personality in which there is absolutely no human dignity left. But even among such slaves, protest is growing. An example of this is Jacob, who takes revenge on his master with his own death.
Yes, and the noble landowners are also unhappy in their own way. They feel that their time is running out, they feel that protest and discontent is emerging among the peasantry. But they cannot change themselves, they cannot change their way of life.
There are no happy ones among the clergy either. Many priests understand that they are a burden for the SVR peasants, because even without them the life of the people is not easy. So say the priest whom the peasants meet on their way. He sympathizes with the peasants, but at the same time he is sorry that the landlords have disappeared.
Peasant women are also unhappy. The poet draws a beautiful image of the majestic Slav woman Matrena Timofeevna. Did she see happiness in life? She was happy during her childhood, but from an early age she works, helps her parents. There was the happiness of motherhood, but life treats her children cruelly. Whatever the character of the poem, each has its own tragedy. Who is good to live in Russia? The question remains unanswered.
Thus, it turns out that there are no truly happy people in the poem. There are none in life. Serfdom broke destinies and personalities. It destroyed the human traits in many nobles, in the clergy and other people. What kind of happiness can we talk about if the peasantry has no rights and life is full of hardships and disasters, and the feudal lords have inhuman souls.

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AT chapter "Happy" on the way, the men will have a crowd of men and women. Many of the peasants they meet declare themselves "happy", but the peasants do not agree with everyone. The researchers noted an important feature in this list of “happy” - in general, they represent different peasant “professions”, their stories open up “almost all aspects of the life of the working masses: there is a soldier, and a stonemason, and a worker, and a Belarusian peasant, etc. .". In this episode, the wanderers themselves act as judges: they do not need to be convinced who is happy and who is not - they decide this issue on their own. And so they laughed at the "sacked sexton", who assured that happiness - "in complacency", in the acceptance of small joy; they laughed at the old woman, “happy” with the fact that “in the fall / Up to a thousand rap was born / On a small ridge.” They took pity on the old soldier, who considers it lucky that he "did not give in to death", having been in twenty battles. They respected the mighty stonemason, convinced that happiness is in strength, but still did not agree with him: “<...>But wouldn’t it be / It’s hard to carry around with this happiness / Under old age? .. ”It is no coincidence that the story of a heroic peasant who lost both his strength and health in hard work and returned to his homeland to die immediately follows. Strength, youth and health are unreliable grounds for happiness. The Nekrasov peasants did not accept the “happiness” of the bear hunter, rejoicing that he was not killed, but only wounded in a fight with the beast, they do not recognize the happiness of the Belarusian, who received plenty of “bread”. In disgrace they drove away the footman Prince Peremetiev, who saw happiness in his servility. But Yermila Girin's happiness both to them and to many witnesses of these conversations seems very justified.

History of Ermila Girin It is no coincidence that it occupies a central place in the chapter. His story is both instructive and really makes you believe that a man can be happy. What is the happiness of Ermila Girin? Coming from peasants, he earned money with his mind and labor, at first he kept an "orphan's mill", then, when they decided to sell it, he decided to buy it. Deceived by the scoundrels, Yermil did not bring money for the auction, but the peasants who knew Girin's honesty helped out: they collected the "worldly treasury" for a penny. "Mir" proved its strength, its ability to resist untruth. But "the world" helped Girin because everyone knew his life. And other stories from the life of Yermila Ilyich confirm his kindness and decency. Having sinned once, having sent a widow's son instead of his brother, Yermil repented before the people, ready to accept any punishment, any shame:

Yermil Ilyich himself came,
Barefoot, thin, with stocks,
With rope in hand
He came and said: "It was time,
I judged you according to your conscience,
Now I myself am more sinful than you:
Judge me!"
And bowed at our feet
Neither give nor take holy fool<...>

The men's journey could end with a meeting with Yermil Girin. His life corresponds to the popular understanding of happiness and includes: peace, wealth, honor obtained by honesty and kindness:

Yes! there was only one man!
He had everything he needed
For happiness: and peace,
And money and honor
Honor enviable, true,
Not bought by money
Not fear: strict truth,
Mind and kindness!

But it is no coincidence that Nekrasov ends the chapter with a story about the misfortune of the happy Girin. “If Nekrasov,” rightly believes B.Ya. Bukhshtab, - wanted to recognize a happy person like Girin, he could not introduce a prison situation. Of course, Nekrasov wants to show with this episode that happiness in Russia is hindered by the oppression of the people, which in one way or another deprives the happiness of people who sympathize with the people.<...>. The happiness of a merchant who has acquired - albeit legally - a fair amount of capital, albeit a decent, kind person - this is not the happiness that could resolve the dispute of wanderers, because this happiness is not in the understanding that the poet wants to inspire the reader. We can assume another reason for such a finale of the chapter: Nekrasov wanted to show the insufficiency of all these terms for happiness. The happiness of one person, especially an honest one, is impossible against the background of universal misfortune.

Other articles on analysis poems "To whom it is good to live in Russia".

AT chapter "Happy" on the way, the men will have a crowd of men and women. Many of the peasants they meet declare themselves "happy", but the peasants do not agree with everyone. The researchers noted an important feature in this list of “happy” - in general, they represent different peasant “professions”, their stories open up “almost all aspects of the life of the working masses: there is a soldier, and a stonemason, and a worker, and a Belarusian peasant, etc. .". In this episode, the wanderers themselves act as judges: they do not need to be convinced who is happy and who is not - they decide this issue on their own. And so they laughed at the "sacked sexton", who assured that happiness - "in complacency", in the acceptance of small joy; they laughed at the old woman, “happy” with the fact that “in the fall / Up to a thousand rap was born / On a small ridge.” They took pity on the old soldier, who considers it lucky that he "did not give in to death", having been in twenty battles. They respected the mighty stonemason, convinced that happiness is in strength, but still did not agree with him: “<...>But wouldn’t it be / It’s hard to carry around with this happiness / Under old age? .. ”It is no coincidence that the story of a heroic peasant who lost both his strength and health in hard work and returned to his homeland to die immediately follows. Strength, youth and health are unreliable grounds for happiness. The Nekrasov peasants did not accept the “happiness” of the bear hunter, rejoicing that he was not killed, but only wounded in a fight with the beast, they do not recognize the happiness of the Belarusian, who received plenty of “bread”. In disgrace they drove away the footman Prince Peremetiev, who saw happiness in his servility. But Yermila Girin's happiness both to them and to many witnesses of these conversations seems very justified.

History of Ermila Girin It is no coincidence that it occupies a central place in the chapter. His story is both instructive and really makes you believe that a man can be happy. What is the happiness of Ermila Girin? Coming from peasants, he earned money with his mind and labor, at first he kept an "orphan's mill", then, when they decided to sell it, he decided to buy it. Deceived by the scoundrels, Yermil did not bring money for the auction, but the peasants who knew Girin's honesty helped out: they collected the "worldly treasury" for a penny. "Mir" proved its strength, its ability to resist untruth. But "the world" helped Girin because everyone knew his life. And other stories from the life of Yermila Ilyich confirm his kindness and decency. Having sinned once, having sent a widow's son instead of his brother, Yermil repented before the people, ready to accept any punishment, any shame:

Yermil Ilyich himself came,
Barefoot, thin, with stocks,
With rope in hand
He came and said: "It was time,
I judged you according to your conscience,
Now I myself am more sinful than you:
Judge me!"
And bowed at our feet
Neither give nor take holy fool<...>

The men's journey could end with a meeting with Yermil Girin. His life corresponds to the popular understanding of happiness and includes: peace, wealth, honor obtained by honesty and kindness:

Yes! there was only one man!
He had everything he needed
For happiness: and peace,
And money and honor
Honor enviable, true,
Not bought by money
Not fear: strict truth,
Mind and kindness!

But it is no coincidence that Nekrasov ends the chapter with a story about the misfortune of the happy Girin. “If Nekrasov,” rightly believes B.Ya. Bukhshtab, - wanted to recognize a happy person like Girin, he could not introduce a prison situation. Of course, Nekrasov wants to show with this episode that happiness in Russia is hindered by the oppression of the people, which in one way or another deprives the happiness of people who sympathize with the people.<...>. The happiness of a merchant who has acquired - albeit legally - a fair amount of capital, albeit a decent, kind person - this is not the happiness that could resolve the dispute of wanderers, because this happiness is not in the understanding that the poet wants to inspire the reader. We can assume another reason for such a finale of the chapter: Nekrasov wanted to show the insufficiency of all these terms for happiness. The happiness of one person, especially an honest one, is impossible against the background of universal misfortune.

Other articles on analysis poems "To whom it is good to live in Russia".

Ermil Girin (chapter "Happy"). Based on the poem "Who is living well in Russia"

Starting with the chapter "Happy" in the direction of the search for a happy person, a turn is planned. On their own initiative, "lucky ones" from the bottom begin to approach the wanderers. Most of them are tempted to take a sip of free wine. But the very fact of their appearance is significant in the epic. The attention of the seven wanderers is more and more captured by the many-voiced people's Russia. There are stories-confessions of courtyard people, clergymen, soldiers, masons, hunters. The entire peasant kingdom is drawn into a dialogue, into a dispute about happiness. Of course, these "lucky ones" are such that the wanderers, seeing the empty bucket, exclaim with bitter irony:

Hey, happiness man!

Leaky with patches

Humpbacked with calluses

Get off home!

But at the end of the chapter, a story about a happy man is heard, moving the action of the epic forward, marking a higher level of popular ideas about happiness. Yermil - "not a prince, not a noble count, but he is simply a man!" But in his character and influence on peasant life, he is stronger and more authoritative than anyone. Its strength lies in the trust of the people's world and in Yermil Girin's support for this world. The heroism of the people is poeticized when they act together. The story about Yermil begins with a description of the hero's litigation with the merchant Altynnikov over an orphan's mill. When at the end of the bargaining "it came out rubbish" - there was no money with Yermil - he turned to the people for support:

And a miracle happened

All over the marketplace

Every peasant has

Like the wind, half left

It turned over suddenly!

This is the first time in the poem when the world of the people, with one impulse, with one unanimous effort, triumphs over untruth:

Cunning, strong clerks,

And their world is stronger

The merchant Altynnikov is rich,

And he can't resist

Against the worldly treasury...

Like Yakim, Yermil is endowed with a keen sense of Christian conscience and honor. Only once did he stumble: he shielded "the younger brother Mitriy from the recruitment." But this deed cost the righteous man severe torments and ended with nationwide repentance, which further strengthened his authority. Ermil's conscientiousness is not exceptional: it is an expression of the most characteristic features of the peasant world as a whole. Let us recall how Yermil paid off the peasants for their mundane debt collected on the market square:

The ruble is superfluous, whose - God knows!

Stayed with him.

All day with a purse open

Yermil walked, inquired,

Whose ruble? didn't find it.

With his whole life, Yermil refutes the initial ideas of wanderers about the essence of human happiness. It would seem that he has "everything that is necessary for happiness: peace of mind, money, and honor." But at a critical moment in his life, Yermil sacrifices this "happiness" for the sake of the truth of the people and ends up in prison.

Bibliography

For the preparation of this work, materials from the site http://www.bobych.spb.ru/

“Who is living well in Russia?” The poem begins with this question. The heroes who set out to look for "who lives happily, freely in Russia" ask questions to representatives of different classes and receive different answers. Sometimes opposite ideals of happiness appear before us. However, the main goal of the heroes is to find “muzhik happiness”. Who are they happy? How to combine personal happiness with public? These are the questions the author asks himself and his characters.

For the landowner Obolt-Obolduev and Prince Utyatin, happiness is a thing of the past. These heroes regret the times of serfdom: "string" allowed them to be self-willed, spend time in idleness and gluttony, the fun of dog hunting ... "Peace, wealth, honor" - this is the formula of happiness that the pop brings, but in reality it turns out that there is no peace, no wealth, no honor in the life of a clergyman.

The peasant world appears before us in the chapter "Happy". It would seem that now, judging by the title of the chapter, we will get the answer to the main question of the poem. Is it so? The happiness of a soldier lies in the fact that the poor fellow was not killed in battles, not beaten with sticks, punishing for "great and small" offenses. The stonemason is happy that, by working, he drives away the need from the family. A Belarusian peasant, having suffered from hunger in the past, rejoices in satiety in the present ... Thus, happiness for these people consists in the absence of misfortune.

Further in the poem, images of people's intercessors appear. A clear conscience, the trust of people - this is Yermila Girin's happiness. For Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina, endowed with fortitude, self-esteem, the idea of ​​happiness is associated with family and children. For Savely, happiness is freedom. But do they have what they say? ..

Nobody lives well in Russia. Why are there no happy people in Russia? Is serfdom alone, the habit of slavery, to blame? Will the country move towards happiness if the memory of serfdom disappears? This is how Grisha Dobrosklonov is inclined to think. But for Nekrasov, this is only part of the truth. Let us recall the "Elegy" ("Let the changeable fashion speak to us..."): "The people are liberated, but are the people happy? ..".

The problem of happiness is translated by the author into a moral plane. The key theme of the poem is the theme of sin. Numerous peasant sins, uniting with the master's, fall like a heavy cross on Russia. Everyone is sinful, even the best: Yermila Girin shielded his brother from recruitment at the cost of widow's tears; Savely responded to oppression with murder... Is happiness possible at the expense of another? And what are they all the same - the paths leading to people's happiness? True happiness is the struggle for the people's welfare. Living for others is the ideal of Grisha Dobrosklonov. From the author's point of view, the only possible path to happiness is the path of redemption, sacrifice, asceticism. Matryona Korchagina lies down under the whip, Savely exhausts himself with a vow, Ermila Girin goes to prison, Grisha chooses "the glorious path, the loud name of the people's intercessor, consumption and Siberia."

Despite everything, the ending of the poem is optimistic. The author leads us to the conclusion that, firstly, the happiness of the people will be possible only when they become the full owner of their land. Secondly, only one who fulfills his duty to the people can be happy, sees the goal of life in his liberation from the sin of slavery, servility, poverty, drunkenness, savagery, and therefore - in universal happiness. Only in the struggle "for the embodiment of the happiness of the people" does a person "life freely, cheerfully in Russia."