Nekrasov how to live well in Russia. Nekrasov to whom in Russia to live well


From 1863 to 1877, Nekrasov wrote "Who in Russia should live well." The idea, the characters, the plot changed several times in the process of work. Most likely, the idea was not fully revealed: the author died in 1877. Despite this, "To whom it is good to live in Russia" as a folk poem is considered a complete work. It was supposed to be 8 parts, but only 4 were completed.

With the introduction of the characters, the poem "Who Lives Well in Russia" begins. These heroes are seven men from the villages: Dyryavino, Zaplatovo, Gorelovo, Crop failure, Znobishino, Razutovo, Neelovo. They meet and start a conversation about who lives happily and well in Russia. Each man has his own opinion. One believes that the landowner is happy, the other - that the official. A merchant, a priest, a minister, a noble boyar, a tsar, a peasant from the poem "Who Lives Well in Russia" is also called happy. The heroes began to argue, lit a fire. It even came to a fight. However, they fail to come to an agreement.

Self-assembly tablecloth

Suddenly, Pahom quite unexpectedly caught a chick. The little warbler, his mother, asked the peasant to set the chick free. She prompted for this, where you can find a self-assembled tablecloth - a very useful thing that will certainly come in handy on a long journey. Thanks to her, the men during the trip did not lack food.

Pop's story

The following events continue the work "To whom it is good to live in Russia." The heroes decided to find out at any cost who lives happily and cheerfully in Russia. They set off on the road. First on the way they met a pop. The men turned to him with the question of whether he lives happily. Then the priest spoke about his life. He believes (in which the peasants could not disagree with him) that happiness is impossible without peace, honor, wealth. Pop believes that if he had all this, he would be completely happy. However, he is obliged day and night, in any weather, to go where he is told - to the dying, to the sick. Every time the priest has to see human grief and suffering. He even sometimes lacks the strength to take retribution for his service, since people tear the latter away from themselves. Once upon a time, everything was completely different. Pop says that rich landowners generously rewarded him for funerals, baptisms, and weddings. However, now the rich are far away, and the poor have no money. The priest also has no honor: the peasants do not respect him, as many folk songs speak of.

Wanderers go to the fair

Wanderers understand that this person cannot be called happy, which is noted by the author of the work "Who Lives Well in Russia". The heroes set off again and find themselves on the road in the village of Kuzminsky, at a fair. This village is dirty, although rich. There are a lot of establishments in which residents indulge in drunkenness. They drink their last money. For example, the old man did not have money left for shoes for his granddaughter, since he drank everything. All this is observed by wanderers from the work "To whom it is good to live in Russia" (Nekrasov).

Yakim Nagoi

They also notice fairground entertainment and fights and talk about the fact that the peasant is forced to drink: this helps to endure hard work and eternal hardship. An example of this is Yakim Nagoi, a peasant from the village of Bosovo. He works to death, "drinks half to death." Yakim believes that if there were no drunkenness, there would be great sadness.

The wanderers continue on their way. In the work "To whom it is good to live in Russia," Nekrasov says that they want to find happy and cheerful people, they promise to give these lucky people water for free. Therefore, a variety of people are trying to pass themselves off as such - a former courtyard suffering from paralysis, for many years licking plates for a master, exhausted workers, beggars. However, travelers themselves understand that these people cannot be called happy.

Ermil Girin

The men once heard about a man named Yermil Girin. His story is further told by Nekrasov, of course, he does not convey all the details. Ermil Girin is a burgomaster who was highly respected, a fair and honest person. He intended to buy the mill one day. The peasants lent him money without a receipt, they trusted him so much. However, there was a peasant revolt. Now Yermil is in jail.

Obolt-Obolduev's story

Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev, one of the landowners, spoke about the fate of the nobles after They used to own a lot: serfs, villages, forests. Nobles could invite serfs to the house on holidays to pray. But after the master was no longer the full owner of the peasants. The wanderers knew perfectly well how difficult life was in the days of serfdom. But it is also not difficult for them to understand that it became much harder for the nobles after the abolition of serfdom. And the men are no longer easy. The wanderers understood that they would not be able to find a happy man among men. So they decided to go to the women.

Life of Matrena Korchagina

The peasants were told that in one village there lived a peasant woman named Matrena Timofeevna Korchagina, whom everyone called the lucky one. They found her, and Matrena told the peasants about her life. Nekrasov continues with this story "Who lives well in Russia."

A brief summary of the life story of this woman is as follows. Her childhood was cloudless and happy. She had a working, non-drinking family. Mother cherished and cherished her daughter. When Matryona grew up, she became a beauty. A stove-maker from another village, Philip Korchagin, once wooed her. Matrena told how he persuaded her to marry him. This was the only bright memory of this woman in her entire life, who was hopeless and dreary, although her husband treated her well by peasant standards: he almost did not beat her. However, he went to the city to work. Matryona lived in her father-in-law's house. Everyone treated her badly. The only one who was kind to the peasant woman was the very old grandfather Savely. He told her that for the murder of the manager he got to hard labor.

Soon Matryona gave birth to Demushka, a sweet and beautiful child. She could not part with him even for a minute. However, the woman had to work in the field, where her mother-in-law did not allow her to take the child. Grandfather Savely watched the baby. He once missed Demushka, and the child was eaten by pigs. They came from the city to sort it out, in front of the mother's eyes they opened the baby. This was a severe blow for Matryona.

Then five children were born to her, all boys. Matryona was a kind and caring mother. One day Fedot, one of the children, was tending sheep. One of them was carried away by a she-wolf. The shepherd was to blame for this, who should have been punished with whips. Then Matryona begged to be beaten instead of her son.

She also said that they once wanted to take her husband into the soldiers, although this was a violation of the law. Then Matrena went to the city, being pregnant. Here the woman met Elena Alexandrovna, a kind governor who helped her, and Matrena's husband was released.

The peasants considered Matryona a happy woman. However, after listening to her story, the men realized that she could not be called happy. There was too much suffering and trouble in her life. Matrena Timofeevna herself also says that a woman in Russia, especially a peasant woman, cannot be happy. Her lot is very hard.

Out of his mind landowner

The path to the Volga is held by wandering men. Here comes the mowing. People are busy with hard work. Suddenly, an amazing scene: the mowers are humiliated, pleasing the old master. It turned out that the landowner He could not understand what had already been canceled. Therefore, his relatives persuaded the peasants to behave as if it was still valid. They were promised for this. The men agreed, but were deceived once again. When the old master died, the heirs gave them nothing.

The Story of Jacob

Repeatedly on the way, wanderers listen to folk songs - hungry, soldier's and others, as well as various stories. They remembered, for example, the story of Jacob, the faithful serf. He always tried to please and appease the master, who humiliated and beat the serf. However, this led to the fact that Yakov loved him even more. The master's legs gave up in old age. Yakov continued to take care of him, as if he were his own child. But he didn't get any credit for it. Grisha, a young guy, Yakov's nephew, wanted to marry one beauty - a serf girl. Out of jealousy, the old master sent Grisha as a recruit. Jacob from this grief hit drunkenness, but then returned to the master and took revenge. He took him to the forest and hanged himself right in front of the master. Since his legs were paralyzed, he could not go anywhere. The master sat all night under Yakov's corpse.

Grigory Dobrosklonov - people's protector

This and other stories make men think that they will not be able to find happy people. However, they learn about Grigory Dobrosklonov, a seminarian. This is the son of a sexton, who has seen the suffering and hopeless life of the people since childhood. He made a choice in his early youth, decided that he would devote his strength to the struggle for the happiness of his people. Gregory is educated and smart. He understands that Russia is strong and will cope with all troubles. In the future, Gregory will have a glorious path, the big name of the people's intercessor, "consumption and Siberia."

Men hear about this intercessor, but they still do not understand that such people can make others happy. This won't happen soon.

Heroes of the poem

Nekrasov depicted various segments of the population. Ordinary peasants become the main characters of the work. They were emancipated by the reform of 1861. But their life after the abolition of serfdom did not change much. The same hard work, hopeless life. After the reform, moreover, the peasants who had their own land found themselves in an even more difficult situation.

The characterization of the heroes of the work "To whom it is good to live in Russia" can be supplemented by the fact that the author created surprisingly reliable images of peasants. Their characters are very accurate, although contradictory. Not only kindness, strength and integrity of character is in the Russian people. They retained at the genetic level obsequiousness, servility, readiness to submit to a despot and tyrant. The advent of Grigory Dobrosklonov, a new man, is a symbol of the fact that honest, noble, intelligent people appear among the downtrodden peasantry. May their fate be unenviable and difficult. Thanks to them, self-consciousness will arise in the peasant masses, and people will finally be able to fight for happiness. This is what the heroes and the author of the poem dream about. ON THE. Nekrasov ("Who Lives Well in Russia", "Russian Women", "Frost, and other works) is considered a truly folk poet, who was interested in the fate of the peasantry, its suffering, problems. The poet could not remain indifferent to his hard lot. The work of N. A. Nekrasov "Who in Russia is good to live" was written with such sympathy for the people, which makes even today to empathize with their fate at that difficult time.

Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov is known all over the world for his folk, unusual works. His dedications to the common people, peasant life, the period of a short childhood and constant hardships in adulthood arouse not only literary, but also historical interest.

Such works as "To whom it is good to live in Russia" is a real digression into the 60s of the XIX century. The poem literally immerses the reader in the events of the post-serf times. A journey in search of a happy person in the Russian Empire reveals numerous problems of society, paints a picture of reality without embellishment and makes you think about the future of the country that dared to live in a new way.

The history of the creation of the Nekrasov poem

The exact date of the start of work on the poem is unknown. But researchers of Nekrasov's work drew attention to the fact that already in his first part he mentions the Poles who were exiled. This makes it possible to assume that the idea of ​​the poem arose from the poet around 1860-1863, and Nikolai Alekseevich started writing it around 1863. Although the sketches by the poet could have been done earlier.

It is no secret that Nikolai Nekrasov has been collecting material for his new poetic work for a very long time. The date on the manuscript after the first chapter is 1865. But this date means that work on the chapter "Landlord" was completed this year.

It is known that since 1866 the first part of Nekrasov's work tried to see the light. For four years, the author tried to publish his work and constantly fell under discontent and sharp condemnation of censorship. Despite this, work on the poem continued.

The poet had to print it gradually all in the same magazine Sovremennik. So it was printed for four years, and all these years the censorship was unhappy. The poet himself was constantly criticized and persecuted. Therefore, he stopped his work for a while, and was able to start it again only in 1870. In this new period of the rise of his literary creativity, he creates three more parts to this poem, which were written at different times:

✪ "Last Child" -1872.
✪ "Peasant Woman" -1873.
✪ "Feast for the whole world" - 1876.


The poet wanted to write a few more chapters, but he was working on his poem at the time when he began to fall ill, so the illness prevented him from realizing these poetic plans. But still, realizing that he would soon die, Nikolai Alekseevich tried in his last part to finish it so that the whole poem had logical completeness.

The plot of the poem "To whom it is good to live in Russia"


In one of the volosts, on a wide road, there are seven peasants who live in neighboring villages. And they think about one question: who lives well in their native land. And their conversation reached such a point that it soon turns into an argument. The matter went on towards the evening, and they could not resolve this dispute in any way. And suddenly the peasants noticed that they had already traveled a long distance, carried away by the conversation. Therefore, they decided not to return home, but to spend the night in a clearing. But the argument continued and ended in a fight.

From such a noise, a chick falls out, which Pahom saves, and for this, an exemplary mother is ready to fulfill any desire of the men. After receiving a magic tablecloth, the men decide to go on a journey to find the answer to the question that interests them so much. Soon they meet a priest who changes the opinion of the men that he lives well and happily. Heroes also get to the village fair.

They try to find happy people among drunks, and it soon becomes clear that a peasant doesn’t need much to be happy: eat enough to protect himself from troubles. And in order to find out about happiness, I advise the heroes to find Yermila Girin, whom everyone knows. And here the men learn his story, and then the gentleman appears. But he also complains about his life.

At the end of the poem, the heroes try to look for happy people among women. They get acquainted with one peasant woman Matryona. They help Korchagina in the field, and for this she tells them her story, where she says that a woman cannot have happiness. Women only suffer.

And now the peasants are already on the banks of the Volga. Then they heard a story about a prince who could not come to terms with the abolition of serfdom, and then a story about two sinners. The story of the son of the deacon Grishka Dobrosklonov is also interesting.

You are wretched, You are plentiful, You are powerful, You are powerless, Mother Russia! In slavery, the saved Heart is free - Gold, gold The heart of the people! The strength of the people, the mighty strength - the conscience is calm, the truth is tenacious!

Genre and unusual composition of the poem "To whom in Russia it is good to live"


About what is the composition of the Nekrasov poem, there are still disputes between writers and critics. Most researchers of the literary work of Nikolai Nekrasov came to the conclusion that the material should be arranged as follows: the prologue and part one, then the chapter "Peasant Woman" should be placed, the chapter "Last Child" follows the content and in conclusion - "Feast - for the whole world."

Evidence of this arrangement of chapters in the plot of the poem was that, for example, in the first part and in the subsequent chapter, the world is depicted when the peasants were not yet free, that is, this is the world that was a little earlier: old and obsolete. In the next Nekrasov part, it is already shown how this old world is completely destroyed and perishes.

But already in the last Nekrasov chapter, the poet shows all the signs that a new life is beginning. The tone of the narrative changes dramatically and now it is lighter, clearer, more joyful. The reader feels that the poet, like his characters, believes in the future. Especially this striving for a clear and bright future is felt at those moments when the main character, Grishka Dobrosklonov, appears in the poem.

In this part, the poet completes the poem, so it is here that the denouement of the entire plot action takes place. And here is the answer to the question that was posed at the very beginning of the work about who, after all, is well and free, carefree and cheerful in Russia. It turns out that the most carefree, happy and cheerful person is Grishka, who is the protector of his people. In his beautiful and lyrical songs, he predicted happiness for his people.

But if you carefully read how the denouement in the poem comes in its last part, then you can pay attention to the oddities of the story. The reader does not see the peasants returning to their homes, they do not stop traveling, and, in general, they do not even get to know Grisha. Therefore, a continuation was probably planned here.

Poetic composition has its own peculiarities. First of all, it is worth paying attention to the construction, which is based on the classical epic. The poem consists of separate chapters, in which there is an independent plot, but there is no main character in the poem, since it tells about the people, as if it were an epic of the life of the whole people. All parts are connected into one thanks to the motives that run through the entire plot. For example, the motif of a long road along which peasants go to find a happy person.

In the work, the fabulousness of the composition is easily visible. There are many elements in the text that can easily be attributed to folklore. During the whole journey, the author inserts his lyrical digressions and elements that are completely irrelevant to the plot.

Analysis of Nekrasov's poem "Who Lives Well in Russia"


It is known from the history of Russia that in 1861 the most shameful phenomenon, serfdom, was abolished. But such a reform caused unrest in society, and soon new problems arose. First of all, the question arose that even a free peasant, poor and destitute, cannot be happy. This problem interested Nikolai Nekrasov, and he decided to write a poem in which the question of peasant happiness would be considered.

Despite the fact that the work is written in simple language, and has an appeal to folklore, it usually seems difficult for the reader to perceive, since it touches on the most serious philosophical problems and issues. For most of the questions, the author himself has been looking for answers all his life. Perhaps that is why it was so difficult for him to write a poem, and he created it for fourteen years. But, unfortunately, the work was never completed.

The poet was conceived to write his poem of eight chapters, but due to illness he was able to write only four and they do not follow at all, as expected, one after another. Now the poem is presented in the form, in the sequence suggested by K. Chukovsky, who for a long time carefully studied the Nekrasov archives.

Nikolai Nekrasov chose ordinary people as the heroes of the poem, which is why he also used colloquial vocabulary. For a long time there were disputes about who can still be attributed to the main characters of the poem. So, there were suggestions that these were heroes - men who walk around the country, trying to find a happy person. But other researchers still believed that it was Grishka Dobrosklonov. This question remains open to this day. But you can consider this poem as if the protagonist in it is the whole common people.

There are no accurate and detailed descriptions of these men in the plot, their characters are also incomprehensible, the author simply does not reveal or show them. But on the other hand, these men are united by one goal, for the sake of which they travel. It is also interesting that the episodic faces in Nekrasov's poem are drawn by the author more clearly, accurately, in detail and vividly. The poet raises many problems that arose among the peasantry after the abolition of serfdom.

Nikolai Alekseevich shows that for each hero in his poem there is a concept of happiness. For example, a rich person sees happiness in having financial well-being. And the peasant dreams that in his life there would be no grief and troubles that usually lie in wait for the peasant at every turn. There are also heroes who are happy because they believe in the happiness of others. The language of the Nekrasov poem is close to the folk language, so there is a huge amount of vernacular in it.

Despite the fact that the work remained unfinished, it reflects the whole reality of what was happening. This is a real literary gift to all lovers of poetry, history and literature.


Veretennikov Pavlush - a collector of folklore, who met peasants - seekers of happiness - at a rural fair in the village of Kuzminsky. This character is given a very meager external description (“He was a lot of balustrading, / He wore a red shirt, / A woolen undershirt, / Lubricated boots ...”), little is known about his origin (“What kind of title, / The men didn’t know, / However, they were called “master”). Due to such uncertainty, the image of V. acquires a generalizing character. A lively interest in the fate of the peasants distinguishes V. from the environment of indifferent observers of the life of the people (leaders of various statistical committees), eloquently exposed in the monologue of Yakim Nagogo. The very first appearance of V. in the text is accompanied by a disinterested act: he helps out the peasant Vavila by buying shoes for his granddaughter. In addition, he is ready to listen to someone else's opinion. So, although he reproaches the Russian people for drunkenness, he is convinced of the inevitability of this evil: after listening to Yakim, he himself offers him a drink (“Yakim Veretennikov / He brought two scales”). Seeing genuine attention from a reasonable master, and "peasants open up / Milyaga likes it." Folklorists and ethnographers Pavel Yakushkin and Pavel Rybnikov, leaders of the democratic movement of the 1860s, are among the supposed prototypes of V. The character owes his last name, perhaps, to the journalist P.F. Veretennikov, who visited the Nizhny Novgorod Fair for several years in a row and published reports about it in Moskovskie Vedomosti.

Vlas- headman of the village of Big Vakhlaki. “Serving under a strict master, / Carried a burden on his conscience / An involuntary participant / His cruelties.” After the abolition of serfdom, V. refuses the post of pseudo-burmister, but assumes actual responsibility for the fate of the community: “Vlas was a kind soul, / He was sick for the whole vakhlachin” - / Not for one family. free life "without corvee ... without tax ... Without a stick ..." is replaced by a new concern for the peasants (litigation with heirs for rented meadows), V. becomes an intercessor for the peasants, "lives in Moscow ... was in St. Petersburg ... / But there is no sense!". Together with his youth, V. parted with optimism, is afraid of the new, always gloomy. But his daily life is rich in inconspicuous good deeds, for example, in the chapter "A Feast for the Whole World" by his initiative, the peasants collect money for the soldier Ovsyanikov. The image of V. is devoid of external concreteness: for Nekrasov, he is primarily a representative of the peasantry. His difficult fate (“Not so much in Belokamennaya / It was driven along the pavement, / As a peasant’s soul / insults passed ... " ) is the fate of the entire Russian people.

Girin Ermil Ilyich (Yermila) - one of the most likely contenders for the title of lucky man. The real prototype of this character is the peasant A. D. Potanin (1797-1853), who managed by proxy the estate of Countess Orlova, which was called Odoevshchina (after the name of the former owners, the princes Odoevsky), and the peasants were baptized into Adovshchina. Potanin became famous for his extraordinary justice. Nekrasovsky G. became known for his honesty to his fellow villagers back in the five years that he served as a clerk in the office (“You need a bad conscience - / A peasant from a peasant / Extort a penny”). Under the old prince Yurlov, he was dismissed, but then, under the young prince, he was unanimously elected mayor of Hell. During the seven years of his "reign" G. only once grimaced: "... from the recruitment / Little brother Mitrius / He outshone it." But remorse for this offense almost led him to commit suicide. Only thanks to the intervention of a strong master, it was possible to restore justice, and instead of the son of Nenila Vlasyevna, Mitriy went to serve, and "the prince himself takes care of him." G. resigned, rented a mill "and he became more than ever / Loved by all the people." When they decided to sell the mill, G. won the auction, but he did not have money with him to make a deposit. And then “a miracle happened”: G. was rescued by the peasants, to whom he turned for help, in half an hour he managed to collect a thousand rubles on the market square.

G. is driven not by mercenary interest, but by a rebellious spirit: "The mill is not dear to me, / The resentment is great." And although “he had everything that is needed / For happiness: and peace, / And money, and honor”, ​​at the moment when the peasants start talking about him (chapter “Happy”), G., in connection with the peasant uprising, is in prison. The speech of the narrator, a gray-haired priest, from whom it becomes known about the arrest of the hero, is suddenly interrupted by outside interference, and later he himself refuses to continue the story. But behind this omission, one can easily guess both the cause of the rebellion and G.'s refusal to help in pacifying him.

Gleb- peasant, "great sinner". According to the legend told in the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World”, the “ammiral-widower”, a participant in the battle “near Achakov” (possibly, Count A.V. Orlov-Chesmensky), granted by the Empress eight thousand souls, dying, entrusted the elder G. his will (free for these peasants). The hero was tempted by the money promised him and burned the will. The peasants tend to regard this "Judas" sin as the worst ever committed, because of it they will have to "forever toil". Only Grisha Dobrosklonov manages to convince the peasants, "that they are not the defendants / For the accursed Gleb, / To all the fault: grow strong!"

Dobrosklonov Grisha - a character that appears in the chapter "A Feast for the Whole World", the epilogue of the poem is entirely dedicated to him. "Grigory / His face is thin, pale / And his hair is thin, curly / With a hint of red." He is a seminarian, the son of the parish deacon Tryphon from the village of Bolshie Vahlaki. Their family lives in extreme poverty, only the generosity of Vlas the godfather and other men helped put Grisha and his brother Savva on their feet. Their mother Domna, “an unrequited laborer / For everyone who did something / Helped her on a rainy day”, died early, leaving a terrible “Salty” song as a memory of herself. In D.'s mind, her image is inseparable from the image of her homeland: "In the heart of a boy / With love for a poor mother / Love for all Vakhlachin / Merged." Already at the age of fifteen, he was determined to devote his life to the people. “I don’t need any silver, / No gold, but God forbid, / So that my fellow countrymen / And every peasant / Live freely and cheerfully / In all holy Russia!” He is going to Moscow to study, but in the meantime, together with his brother, they help the peasants to the best of their ability: they write letters for them, explain the "Regulations on peasants emerging from serfdom", work and rest "on a par with the peasantry." Observations on the life of the surrounding poor, reflections on the fate of Russia and its people are clothed in poetic form, the songs of D. are known and loved by the peasants. With his appearance in the poem, the lyrical beginning intensifies, the direct author's assessment intrudes into the narrative. D. is marked with the "seal of the gift of God"; a revolutionary propagandist from among the people, he should, according to Nekrasov, serve as an example for the progressive intelligentsia. In his mouth, the author puts his convictions, his own version of the answer to the social and moral questions posed in the poem. The image of the hero gives the poem compositional completeness. The real prototype could be N. A. Dobrolyubov.

Elena Alexandrovna - governor, merciful lady, savior of Matryona. “She was kind, she was smart, / Beautiful, healthy, / But God did not give children.” She sheltered a peasant woman after a premature birth, became the godmother of the child, "all the time with Liodorushka / Worn like with her own." Thanks to her intercession, Philip was rescued from recruitment. Matryona exalts her benefactor to the skies, and criticism (O. F. Miller) rightly notes echoes of the sentimentalism of the Karamzin period in the image of the governor.

Ipat- a grotesque image of a faithful serf, a lord's lackey, who remained faithful to his master even after the abolition of serfdom. I. boasts that the landowner “harnessed him with his own hand / To the cart,” bathed him in an ice hole, saved him from a cold death, to which he himself had doomed him before. All this he perceives as great blessings. I. causes healthy laughter among wanderers.

Korchagina Matrena Timofeevna - a peasant woman, the third part of the poem is entirely devoted to her biography. “Matryona Timofeevna / A portly woman, / Broad and thick, / Thirty-eight years old. / Beautiful; gray hair, / Big, stern eyes, / Richest eyelashes, / Severe and swarthy. / She has a white shirt on, / Yes, a short sundress, / Yes, a sickle over her shoulder. The glory of a lucky woman leads wanderers to her. M. agrees to "lay out her soul" when the peasants promise to help her in the harvest: the suffering is in full swing. The fate of M. was largely prompted by Nekrasov, published in the 1st volume of "Lamentations of the Northern Territory", collected by E. V. Barsov (1872), the autobiography of the Olonets wailer I. A. Fedoseeva. The narrative is based on her laments, as well as other folklore materials, including "Songs collected by P. N. Rybnikov" (1861). The abundance of folklore sources, often with little or no change included in the text of the "Peasant Woman", and the very title of this part of the poem emphasize the typical fate of M.: this is the usual fate of a Russian woman, convincingly indicating that the wanderers "started / Not a deal - between women / / Look for a happy one. In the parental home, in a good, non-drinking family, M. lived happily. But, having married Philip Korchagin, a stove-maker, she ended up “from a girl’s will to hell”: a superstitious mother-in-law, a drunkard father-in-law, an older sister-in-law, for whom the daughter-in-law must work like a slave. True, she was lucky with her husband: only once it came to beatings. But Philip only returns home from work in winter, and in the rest of the time there is no one to intercede for M., except for grandfather Savely, father-in-law. She has to endure the harassment of Sitnikov, the master's manager, which ceased only with his death. Her first-born Demushka becomes a consolation in all troubles for a peasant woman, but due to Savely's oversight, the child dies: he is eaten by pigs. An unrighteous judgment is being carried out over a heartbroken mother. Not guessing in time to give a bribe to the boss, she becomes a witness to the abuse of the body of her child.

For a long time, K. cannot forgive Savely for his irreparable oversight. Over time, the peasant woman has new children, "there is no time / Neither to think nor be sad." The heroine's parents, Savely, are dying. Her eight-year-old son Fedot is threatened with punishment for feeding someone else's sheep to a she-wolf, and his mother lies under the rod instead of him. But the most difficult trials fall on her lot in a lean year. Pregnant, with children, she herself is likened to a hungry she-wolf. Recruitment deprives her of her last intercessor, her husband (he is taken out of turn). In delirium, she draws terrible pictures of the life of a soldier, soldier's children. She leaves the house and runs to the city, where she tries to get to the governor, and when the porter lets her into the house for a bribe, she throws herself at the feet of the governor Elena Alexandrovna. With her husband and newborn Liodorushka, the heroine returns home, this incident cemented her reputation as a lucky woman and the nickname "governor". Her further fate is also full of troubles: one of her sons has already been taken to the soldiers, "We burned twice ... God anthrax ... visited three times." In the "Woman's Parable" her tragic story is summed up: "The keys to a woman's happiness, / From our free will / Abandoned, lost / God Himself!" Part of the criticism (V. G. Avseenko, V. P. Burenin, N. F. Pavlov) met the "Peasant Woman" with hostility, Nekrasov was accused of implausible exaggerations, false, fake common people. However, even ill-wishers noted some successful episodes. There were also reviews about this chapter as the best part of the poem.

Kudeyar-ataman - "the great sinner", the hero of the legend told by God's wanderer Ionushka in the chapter "A feast for the whole world." The fierce robber suddenly repented of his crimes. Neither pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulcher, nor hermitage bring peace to his soul. The saint, who appeared to K., promises him that he will earn forgiveness when he cuts off the age-old oak with “the same knife that robbed”. Years of futile efforts cast doubt in the heart of the old man about the possibility of completing the task. However, “the tree collapsed, the burden of sins rolled down from the monk,” when the hermit, in a fit of furious anger, killed Pan Glukhovsky, who was passing by, boasting of his calm conscience: “Salvation / I don’t have tea for a long time, / In the world I honor only a woman, / Gold, honor and wine... How many serfs I destroy, / I torture, torture and hang, / And I would look at how I sleep! The legend about K. was borrowed by Nekrasov from the folklore tradition, but the image of Pan Glukhovsky is quite realistic. Among the possible prototypes is the landowner Glukhovsky from the Smolensk province, who spotted his serf, according to a note in Herzen's Bell dated October 1, 1859.

Naked Yakim- “In the village of Bosov / Yakim Nagoi lives, / He works to death, / Drinks half to death!” This is how the character defines himself. In the poem, he is entrusted to speak in defense of the people on behalf of the people. The image has deep folklore roots: the hero’s speech is replete with paraphrased proverbs, riddles, in addition, formulas similar to those that characterize his appearance (“Hand is tree bark, / And hair is sand”) are repeatedly found, for example, in folk spiritual verse "About Egor Khorobrom". The popular idea of ​​the inseparability of man and nature is rethought by Nekrasov, emphasizing the unity of the worker with the earth: “He lives - he is busy with the plow, / And death will come to Yakimushka" - / As a clod of earth falls off, / What is dried up on the plow ... at the eyes, at the mouth / Bends like cracks / On dry ground<...>the neck is brown, / Like a layer cut off by a plow, / A brick face.

The biography of the character is not quite typical for a peasant, rich in events: “Yakim, a miserable old man, / Once upon a time he lived in St. Petersburg, / Yes, he ended up in prison: / I thought of competing with a merchant! / Like a peeled velvet, / He returned to his homeland / And took up the plow. During the fire, he lost most of his belongings, because the first thing he rushed to save the pictures he bought for his son (“I myself was no less than a boy / Loved to look at them”). However, even in the new house, the hero takes up the old, buys new pictures. Countless hardships only strengthen his firm position in life. In chapter III of the first part (“Drunk Night”), N. utters a monologue, where his convictions are formulated very clearly: hard labor, the results of which go to three equity holders (God, the king and the lord), and sometimes they are completely destroyed by fire; disasters, poverty - all this justifies the peasant drunkenness, and it is not worth measuring the peasant "by the master's measure." Such a point of view on the problem of popular drunkenness, widely discussed in the journalism of the 1860s, is close to the revolutionary democratic one (according to N. G. Chernyshevsky and N. A. Dobrolyubov, drunkenness is a consequence of poverty). It is no coincidence that later this monologue was used by the populists in their propaganda activities, repeatedly copied and reprinted separately from the rest of the text of the poem.

Obolt-Obolduev Gavrila Afanasyevich - “The gentleman is round, / Mustachioed, pot-bellied, / With a cigar in his mouth ... ruddy, / Possessed, stocky, / Sixty years old ... Valiant gimmicks, / Hungarian with brandenburgers, / Wide trousers.” Among the eminent ancestors of O. is a Tatar, who entertained the empress with wild animals, and an embezzler who plotted to set fire to Moscow. The hero is proud of his family tree. Previously, the master "smoked ... the sky of God, / Wore the royal livery, / Littered the people's treasury / And thought to live like this for a century," but with the abolition of serfdom, "the great chain broke, / Tore - jumped: / At one end along the master, / Others - like a man! With nostalgia, the landowner recalls the lost benefits, explaining along the way that he is sad not about himself, but about his motherland.

A hypocritical, idle, ignorant despot, who sees the purpose of his class in "an ancient name, / Dignity of the nobility / Support with hunting, / Feasts, all luxury / And live by someone else's labor." In addition to everything, O. is also cowardly: he takes unarmed men for robbers, and they do not soon manage to persuade him to hide the gun. The comic effect is enhanced by the fact that the accusations against oneself come from the lips of the landowner himself.

Ovsyanikov- soldier. “... He was fragile on his feet, / Tall and thin to the extreme; / He is wearing a frock coat with medals / Hanging like on a pole. / It is impossible to say that he has a kind / Face, especially / When he drove the old one - / Damn it! The mouth will snarl, / The eyes are like coals! With his orphan niece Ustinyushka, O. traveled around the villages, earning a living by the district committee, but when the instrument deteriorated, he composed new proverbs and performed them, playing along with himself on spoons. O.'s songs are based on folklore sentences and rural rhymes recorded by Nekrasov in 1843-1848. while working on The Life and Adventures of Tikhon Trostnikova. The text of these songs sketchily describes the life path of a soldier: the war near Sevastopol, where he was crippled, a negligent medical examination, where the old man’s wounds were rejected: “Second-rate! / According to them and pension”, subsequent poverty (“Well, with George - around the world, around the world”). In connection with the image of O., the theme of the railway, which is relevant both for Nekrasov and for later Russian literature, arises. Cast iron in the perception of a soldier is an animated monster: “It snorts in the face of a peasant, / Presses, maims, somersaults, / Soon the whole Russian people / Will sweep a cleaner broom!” Klim Lavin explains that the soldier cannot get to the St. Petersburg "Committee for the Wounded" for justice: the tariff on the Moscow-Petersburg road has increased and made it inaccessible to the people. The peasants, the heroes of the chapter "A Feast for the Whole World", are trying to help the soldier and collect only "rubles" together.

Petrov Agap- "rude, intractable", according to Vlas, a man. P. did not want to put up with voluntary slavery, they calmed him down only with the help of wine. Caught by the Last at the scene of the crime (carrying a log from the master's forest), he broke loose and explained to the master his real situation in terms of the most impartial. Klim Lavin staged a cruel reprisal against P., getting him drunk instead of a spanking. But from the endured humiliation and excessive intoxication by the morning of the next day, the hero dies. Such a terrible price is paid by the peasants for their voluntary, albeit temporary, renunciation of freedom.

Polivanov- "... a gentleman of a low family", however, small funds did not in the least interfere with the manifestation of his despotic nature. The whole spectrum of vices of a typical serf-owner is inherent in him: greed, stinginess, cruelty (“with relatives, not only with peasants”), voluptuousness. By old age, the master’s legs were taken away: “The eyes are clear, / The cheeks are red, / Plump hands are white as sugar, / Yes, there are shackles on the legs!” In this trouble, Yakov became his only support, "friend and brother", but for his faithful service, the master repaid him with black ingratitude. The terrible revenge of the serf, the night that P. had to spend in a ravine, “chasing away the birds and wolves with moans,” makes the master repent (“I am a sinner, a sinner! Execute me!”), But the narrator believes that he will not be forgiven: “You will you, sir, are an exemplary serf, / Jacob the faithful, / Remember until the day of judgment!

Pop- according to Luke's assumption, the priest "lives cheerfully, / At ease in Russia." The village priest, who was the very first to meet the wanderers on the way, refutes this assumption: he has neither peace, nor wealth, nor happiness. With what difficulty "gets a letter / Popov's son", Nekrasov himself wrote in the poetic play "Rejected" (1859). In the poem, this theme will appear again in connection with the image of the seminarian Grisha Dobrosklonov. The career of a priest is restless: “He who is ill, dying, / Born into the world / They do not choose time,” no habit will protect the dying and orphans from compassion, “every time he gets wet, / The soul will hurt.” The pop in the peasant environment enjoys dubious honor: popular superstitions are associated with him, he and his family are constant characters in obscene anecdotes and songs. Priestly wealth was previously due to the generosity of parishioners-landlords, who, with the abolition of serfdom, left their estates and dispersed, “like a Jewish tribe ... Through distant foreign land / And through native Russia.” With the transition of the schismatics under the supervision of the civil authorities in 1864, the local clergy lost another serious source of income, and from peasant labor "it's hard to live on a penny."

Savely- Holy Russian hero, "with a huge gray mane, / Tea, not cut for twenty years, / With a huge beard, / Grandfather looked like a bear." Once, in a fight with a bear, he injured his back, and in old age she bent. The native village of S, Korezhina, is located in the wilderness, and therefore the peasants live relatively freely ("Zemstvo police / Did not get to us for a year"), although they endure the atrocities of the landowner. Patience is the heroism of the Russian peasant, but there is a limit to any patience. S. ends up in Siberia for burying the hated German manager alive in the ground. Twenty years of hard labor, an unsuccessful attempt to escape, twenty years of settlement did not shake the rebellious spirit in the hero. Returning home after the amnesty, he lives in the family of his son, father-in-law Matryona. Despite his venerable age (according to the revision tales, his grandfather is a hundred years old), he leads an independent life: “He didn’t like families, / He didn’t let him into his corner.” When they reproach him for his hard labor past, he cheerfully answers: “Branded, but not a slave!” Hardened by harsh crafts and human cruelty, only the great-grandson of Dema could melt the petrified heart of S.. The accident makes the grandfather responsible for Demushkin's death. His grief is inconsolable, he goes to repentance in the Sand Monastery, trying to beg forgiveness of the "angry mother". Having lived for one hundred and seven years, before his death, he pronounces a terrible verdict on the Russian peasantry: “There are three paths for men: / A tavern, prison and hard labor, / And for women in Russia / Three loops ... Get into any one.” Image C, in addition to folklore, has social and polemical roots. O. I. Komissarov, who saved Alexander II from an assassination attempt on April 4, 1866, was a resident of Kostroma, a fellow countryman of I. Susanin. Monarchists saw this parallel as proof of the thesis about the regality of the Russian people. To refute this point of view, Nekrasov settled in the Kostroma province, the original patrimony of the Romanovs, rebel S, and Matrena catches the similarity between him and the monument to Susanin.

Trofim (Tryphon) - "a man with shortness of breath, / Relaxed, thin / (Easy nose, like a dead one, / Skinny arms like a rake, / Long knitting needles, / Not a man - a mosquito)". Former bricklayer, born strongman. Yielding to the contractor's provocation, he "carried one at least / Fourteen pounds" to the second floor and overstrained himself. One of the brightest and most terrible images in the poem. In the chapter "Happy" T. boasts of happiness, which allowed him to get from St. Petersburg alive to his homeland, unlike many other "feverish, feverish workers" who were thrown out of the car when they began to rave.

Utyatin (Last child) - "thin! / Like winter hares, / All white ... The nose with a beak, like that of a hawk, / The mustache is gray, long / And different eyes: / One healthy one glows, / And the left one is cloudy, cloudy, / Like a tin penny! Having “exorbitant wealth, / an important rank, a noble family,” U. does not believe in the abolition of serfdom. As a result of a dispute with the governor, he is paralyzed. “Not self-interest, / But arrogance cut him off.” The sons of the prince are afraid that he will deprive them of their inheritance in favor of side daughters, and persuade the peasants to pretend to be serfs again. The peasant world allowed "to show off / To the dismissed master / In the remaining hours." On the day of the arrival of wanderers - seekers of happiness - in the village of Bolshie Vakhlaki, the Last One finally dies, then the peasants arrange a "feast for the whole world." The image of U. has a grotesque character. The absurd orders of the tyrant master will make the peasants laugh.

Shalashnikov- landowner, former owner of Korezhina, military man. Taking advantage of the remoteness from the provincial town, where the landowner stood with his regiment, the Korezha peasants did not pay dues. Sh. decided to beat the quitrent by force, tore the peasants so that "the brains were already shaking / In the little heads." Savely recalls the landowner as an unsurpassed master: “He knew how to flog! / He dressed my skin so that it has been worn for a hundred years. He died near Varna, his death put an end to the relative prosperity of the peasants.

Jacob- “about an exemplary serf - Jacob the faithful” tells in the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World” a former courtyard. "People of the servile rank - / Real dogs sometimes: / The heavier the punishment, / The dearer the Lord is to them." So was Y. until Mr. Polivanov, having coveted the bride of his nephew, sold him into recruits. An exemplary serf took to drink, but returned two weeks later, taking pity on the helpless master. However, the enemy was already "troubling him." Ya. takes Polivanov to visit his sister, turns halfway into the Devil's ravine, unharnesses the horses and, contrary to the fears of the master, does not kill him, but hangs himself, leaving the owner alone with his conscience for the whole night. Such a way of revenge (“drag a dry misfortune” - to hang yourself in the possessions of the offender in order to make him suffer all his life) was really known, especially among the eastern peoples. Nekrasov, creating the image of Ya., refers to the story that A.F. Koni told him (who, in turn, heard it from the watchman of the volost government), and only slightly modifies it. This tragedy is another illustration of the perniciousness of serfdom. Through the mouth of Grisha Dobrosklonov, Nekrasov sums up: “There is no support - there is no landowner, / A zealous slave who leads to the noose, / There is no support - there is no courtyard, / A revengeful suicide / To his villain.”

Retelling plan

1. The dispute of the peasants about "who lives happily, freely in Russia."
2. Meeting with the priest.
3. A drunken night after the fair.
4. The story of Yakim Nagogo.
5. The search for a happy man among men. The story of Yermila Girin.
6. The men meet the landowner Obolt-Obolduev.
7. The search for a happy man among women. History of Matrena Timofeevna.
8 Meeting with an eccentric landowner.
9. Parable about the exemplary serf - Jacob the faithful.
10. The story of two great sinners - Ataman Kudeyar and Pan Glukhovsky. The story of the "peasant sin".
11. Thoughts of Grisha Dobrosklonov.
12. Grisha Dobrosklonov - "people's defender."

retelling

Part I

Prologue

The poem begins with the fact that seven men met on a pole path and argued about "who lives happily, freely in Russia." “Roman said: to the landowner, Demyan said: to the official, Luka said: to the priest. Fat-bellied merchant! - said the Gubin brothers, Ivan and Mitrodor. The old man Pakhom puckered up and said, looking at the ground: to the noble boyar, the minister of the sovereign. And Prov said: to the king. They argued all day and did not even notice how night fell. The peasants looked around them, realized that they had gone far from home, and decided to rest before the way back. As soon as they had time to settle down under a tree and drink vodka, their dispute began with renewed vigor, it even came to a fight. But then the peasants saw that a small chick crawled up to the fire, having fallen out of the nest. Pahom caught him, but then a warbler appeared and began to ask the peasants to let her chick go, and for this she told them where the self-collected tablecloth was hidden. The men found a tablecloth, had dinner and decided that they would not return home until they found out "who lives happily, freely in Russia."

Chapter I. Pop

The next day the men set off. At first they met only peasants, beggars and soldiers, but the peasants did not ask them, “How is it for them - is it easy, is it difficult to live in Russia.” Finally in the evening they met the priest. The peasants explained to him that they had a concern that “had risen from the houses, unfriended us with work, discouraged us from eating”: “Is the priestly life sweet? How do you live freely, happily, honest father? And the pop begins his story.

It turns out that there is no peace, no wealth, no honor in his life. There is no rest, because in a large county "a sick, dying, born into the world does not choose time: in reaping and haymaking, in the dead of autumn night, in winter, in severe frosts and in spring floods." And always the priest must go to fulfill his duty. But the most difficult thing, the priest admits, is to watch how a person dies and how his relatives cry over him. There is no priest and honor, because among the people he is called "a foal breed"; meeting a priest on the road is considered a bad omen; about the priest they compose “joke tales, and obscene songs, and all kinds of blasphemy,” and they make a lot of jokes about the priest’s family. Yes, and the priest is difficult to acquire wealth. If in former times, before the abolition of serfdom, there were many landlord estates in the county, in which weddings and christenings were constantly celebrated, now only poor peasants remain who cannot generously pay the priest for his work. Pop himself says that his “soul will turn over” to take money from the poor, but then he will have nothing to feed his family with. With these words, the priest leaves the men.

Chapter 2

The men continued their journey and ended up in the village of Kuzminskoye, at the fair, they decided to look for a lucky one here. “Wanderers went to the shops: they admire handkerchiefs, Ivanovo calicoes, harnesses, new shoes, products of the Kimryaks.” At the shoe shop they meet old man Vavila, who admires the goat's shoes, but does not buy them: he promised his little granddaughter to buy shoes, and to other family members - various gifts, but drank all the money. Now he is ashamed to appear in front of his granddaughter. The assembled people listen to him, but cannot help, because no one has extra money. But there was one person, Pavel Veretennikov, who bought Vavila shoes. The old man was so deeply moved that he ran away, forgetting even to thank Veretennikov, "but the other peasants were so comforted, so happy, as if he gave everyone a ruble." The wanderers go to a booth where they watch a comedy with Petrushka.

Chapter 3

Evening comes, and the travelers leave the “vibrant village”. They walk along the road, and everywhere they meet drunk people who return home after the fair. From all sides, drunken conversations, songs, complaints about the hard life, the cries of the fighting can be heard from the wanderers.

Travelers meet Pavel Veretennikov at the road post, around whom the peasants have gathered. Veretennikov writes down in his little book the songs and proverbs that the peasants sing to him. “The Russian peasants are smart,” says Veretennikov, “one thing is not good, that they drink to the point of stupefaction, fall into ditches, fall into ditches - it’s a shame to look!” After these words, a peasant approaches him, who explains that the peasants drink because of the hard life: “There is no measure for Russian hops. Have you measured our grief? Is there a measure for work? Wine brings down a peasant, but grief does not bring down? Work is not falling? And the peasants drink to forget themselves, to drown their grief in a glass of vodka. But then the man adds: “We have a drinking non-drinking family for our family! They don’t drink, but they also toil, it would be better if they drank, stupid, but such is their conscience. When asked by Veretennikov what his name is, the peasant replies: “Yakim Nagoi lives in the village of Bosovo, he works to death, drinks half to death! ..”, and the rest of the peasants began to tell Veretennikov the story of Yakim Nagoi. He once lived in St. Petersburg, but he was put in prison after he decided to compete with the merchant. He was stripped to the bone, and so he returned to his homeland, where he took up the plow. Since then, for thirty years he has been "fried on a strip under the sun." He bought pictures for his son, which he hung around the hut, and he liked to look at them himself. But one day there was a fire. Yakim, instead of saving the money he had accumulated throughout his life, saved the pictures, which he then hung in a new hut.

Chapter 4

People who called themselves happy began to converge under the linden. A sexton came, whose happiness consisted "not in sables, not in gold", but "in complacency." The pock-marked old woman came. She was happy because she had a large turnip born. Then a soldier came, happy because "he was in twenty battles, and not killed." The bricklayer began to tell that his happiness lies in the hammer with which he earns money. But then another bricklayer came up. He advised not to brag about his strength, otherwise grief could come out of it, which happened to him in his youth: the contractor began to praise him for his strength, but once he put so many bricks on a stretcher that the peasant could not bear such a burden and after that he completely fell ill. The yard man, the footman, also came to the travelers. He declared that his happiness lay in the fact that he had a disease that only noble people suffer from. All sorts of people came to brag about their happiness, and as a result, the wanderers passed their sentence on peasant happiness: “Hey, peasant happiness! Leaky, with patches, humpbacked, with corns, get the hell out of here!”

But then a man approached them, who advised them to ask about happiness from Yermila Girin. When the travelers asked who this Yermila was, the man told them. Yermila worked at a mill that belonged to no one, but the court decided to sell it. Bidding was arranged, in which Yermila began to compete with the merchant Altynnikov. As a result, Yermila won, only they immediately demanded money from him for the mill, and Yermila did not have that kind of money with him. He asked for half an hour, ran to the square and asked the people to help him. Yermila was a respected person among the people, so every peasant gave him as much money as he could. Yermila bought the mill, and a week later he came back to the square and gave back all the money he had lent. And each took as much money as he lent him, no one appropriated too much, even one more ruble remained. The audience began to ask why Ermila Girin was in such high esteem. The narrator said that in his youth Yermila was a clerk in the gendarmerie corps and helped every peasant who turned to him with advice and deed and did not take a penny for it. Then, when a new prince arrived in the patrimony and dispersed the gendarme office, the peasants asked him to elect Yermila as the mayor of the volost, as they trusted him in everything.

But then the priest interrupted the narrator and said that he did not tell the whole truth about Yermila, that he also had a sin: instead of his younger brother, Yermila recruited the only son of the old woman, who was her breadwinner and support. Since then, his conscience haunted him, and one day he almost hanged himself, but instead demanded that he be tried as a criminal in front of all the people. The peasants began to ask the prince to take the old woman's son from the recruits, otherwise Yermila would hang herself out of conscience. In the end, the son was returned to the old woman, and Yermila's brother was sent to recruit. But Yermila's conscience still tormented him, so he resigned his position and began working at the mill. During a riot in the patrimony, Yermila ended up in prison ... Then there was a cry from a lackey, who was flogged for theft, and the priest did not have time to tell the story to the end.

Chapter 5

The next morning we met the landowner Obolt-Obolduev and decided to ask if he lives happily. The landowner began to tell that he was "of an eminent family", his ancestors were known three hundred years ago. This landowner lived in the old days "like in Christ's bosom", he had honor, respect, a lot of land, several times a month he arranged holidays that "any Frenchman" could envy, went hunting. The landowner kept the peasants in strictness: “Whomever I want, I will have mercy, whoever I want, I will execute. The law is my desire! The fist is my police! But then he added that he "punished - loving", that the peasants loved him, they celebrated Easter together. But the travelers only laughed at his words: “Kolom knocked them down, or what, you pray in the manor’s house? ..” Then the landowner began to sigh that such a carefree life had passed after the abolition of serfdom. Now the peasants no longer work on the landed estates, and the fields have fallen into disrepair. Instead of a hunting horn, the sound of an ax is heard in the forests. Where lordly houses used to stand, drinking establishments are now being built. After these words, the landowner began to cry. And the travelers thought: "The great chain broke, it broke - it jumped: at one end on the gentleman, on the other at the peasant! .."

peasant woman
Prologue

The travelers decided to look for a happy man among women. In one village they were advised to find Matryona Timofeevna and ask around. The men set out on their journey and soon reached the village of Klin, where “Matryona Timofeevna” lived, a portly woman, broad and thick, about thirty-eight years old. She is beautiful: her hair is gray, her eyes are large, strict, her eyelashes are the richest, she is stern and swarthy. She is wearing a white shirt, and a short sundress, and a sickle over her shoulder. The peasants turned to her: “Tell me in a divine way: what is your happiness?” And Matrena Timofeevna began to tell.

Chapter 1

As a girl, Matrena Timofeevna lived happily in a large family, where everyone loved her. Nobody woke her up early, they allowed her to sleep and gain strength. From the age of five, she was taken out into the field, she went after the cows, brought breakfast to her father, then she learned how to harvest hay, and got used to work. After work, she sat at the spinning wheel with her friends, sang songs, and went dancing on holidays. Matryona was hiding from the guys, she did not want to fall into captivity from a girl's will. But all the same, she found a groom, Philip, from distant lands. He began to marry her. Matrena did not agree at first, but the guy fell in love with her. Matrena Timofeevna admitted: “While we were bargaining, it must be, so I think, then there was happiness. And hardly ever again!” She married Philip.

Chapter 2. Songs

Matrena Timofeevna sings a song about how the groom's relatives pounce on the daughter-in-law when she arrives at a new house. Nobody likes her, everyone makes her work, and if she doesn't like her work, then they can beat her. This is how it happened with the new family of Matrena Timofeevna: “The family was huge, grumpy. I got from the girl's will to hell! Only in her husband could she find support, and it happened that he beat her. Matrena Timofeevna sang about a husband who beats his wife, and his relatives do not want to intercede for her, but only order to beat her even more.

Soon Matryona's son Demushka was born, and now it was easier for her to endure the reproaches of her father-in-law and mother-in-law. But here she was again in trouble. The master's steward began to pester her, but she did not know where to escape from him. Only grandfather Savely helped Matryona cope with all the troubles, only he loved her in a new family.

Chapter 3

“With a huge gray mane, tea, not cut for twenty years, with a huge beard, grandfather looked like a bear”, “grandfather’s back is arched”, “he has already turned, according to fairy tales, a hundred years.” “Grandfather lived in a special room, he did not like families, he did not let him into his corner; and she was angry, barked, his own son honored him with “branded, convict”. When the father-in-law began to get very angry with Matryona, she and her son went to Savely and worked there, and Demushka played with his grandfather.

Once Savely told her the story of his life. He lived with other peasants in impenetrable swampy forests, where neither the landowner nor the police could reach. But one day the landowner ordered them to come to him and sent the police after them. The peasants had to obey. The landowner demanded dues from them, and when the peasants began to say that they had nothing, he ordered them to be whipped. Again the peasants had to obey, and they gave the landowner their money. Now every year the landowner came to collect dues from them. But then the landowner died, and his heir sent a German manager to the estate. At first, the German lived quietly, became friends with the peasants. Then he began to order them to work. The peasants did not even have time to come to their senses, as they cut a road from their village to the city. Now you can safely drive to them. The German brought his wife and children to the village and began to rob the peasants even worse than the former landowner had robbed. The peasants put up with him for eighteen years. During this time, the German managed to build a factory. Then he ordered to dig a well. He did not like the work, and he began to scold the peasants. And Savely and his comrades dug it in a hole dug for a well. For this he was sent to hard labor, where he spent twenty years. Then he returned home and built a house. The men asked Matryona Timofeevna to continue talking about their woman's life.

Chapter 4

Matrena Timofeevna took her son to work. But the mother-in-law said that she should leave him to grandfather Savely, since you can’t earn much with a child. And so she gave Demushka to her grandfather, and she herself went to work. When she returned home in the evening, it turned out that Savely had dozed off in the sun, did not notice the baby, and the pigs trampled him. Matryona “rolled around in a ball”, “coiled like a worm, called, woke up Demushka - but it was too late to call.” The gendarmes arrived and began to interrogate, “didn’t you kill the child by agreement with the peasant Savely?” Then the doctor came to open the corpse of the child. Matryona began to ask him not to do this, sent curses at everyone, and everyone decided that she had lost her mind.

At night, Matryona came to her son's coffin and saw Savely there. At first she shouted at him, blamed Dema for the death, but then the two of them began to pray.

Chapter 5

After Demushka's death, Matrena Timofeevna did not talk to anyone, Savelia could not see, she did not work. And Savely went to repentance in the Sand Monastery. Then Matrena, together with her husband, went to her parents and set to work. Soon she had more children. So four years passed. Matryona's parents died, and she went to cry at her son's grave. He sees that the grave has been tidied up, there is an icon on it, and Savely lies on the ground. They talked, Matrena forgave the old man, told him about her grief. Soon Savely died, and he was buried next to Dema.

Another four years have passed. Matrena resigned herself to her life, worked for the whole family, only she did not give offense to her children. A pilgrimage came to them in the village and began to teach them how to live properly, in a divine way. She forbade breastfeeding on fasting days. But Matryona did not listen to her, she decided that it would be better for God to punish her than for her to leave her children hungry. So grief came to her. When her son Fedot was eight years old, his father-in-law gave him to the shepherdess. Once the boy did not look after the sheep, and one of them was stolen by a she-wolf. For this, the village headman wanted to flog him. But Matryona threw herself at the feet of the landowner, and he decided instead of his son to punish his mother. Matryona was carved. In the evening she came to see how her son was sleeping. And the next morning, she didn’t show herself to her husband’s relatives, but went to the river, where she began to cry and call for the protection of her parents.

Chapter 6

Two new troubles came to the village: first, a lean year came, then recruitment. The mother-in-law began to scold Matryona for calling trouble, because on Christmas she put on a clean shirt. And then they also wanted to send her husband to recruits. Matryona did not know where to go. She herself did not eat, she gave everything to her husband's family, and they also scolded her, looked angrily at her children, since they were extra mouths. So Matryona had to "send children around the world" so that they asked for money from strangers. Finally, her husband was taken away, and the pregnant Matryona was left all alone.

Chapter 7

Her husband was recruited at the wrong time, but no one wanted to help him return home. Matryona, who had been carrying her child for the last few days, went to seek help from the governor. She left home at night without telling anyone. Arrived in the city in the early morning. The porter at the governor's palace told her to try to come in two hours, then the governor might receive her. On the square, Matryona saw a monument to Susanin, and he reminded her of Savely. When the carriage drove up to the palace and the governor's wife got out of it, Matryona threw herself at her feet with pleas for intercession. Here she felt unwell. The long road and fatigue affected her health, and she gave birth to a son. The governor helped her, baptized the baby herself and gave him a name. Then she helped save Matrena's husband from recruitment. Matryona brought her husband home, and his family bowed at her feet and obeyed her.

Chapter 8

Since then, they called Matryona Timofeevna the governor. She began to live as before, worked, raised children. One of her sons has already been recruited. Matryona Timofeevna told the travelers: “It’s not a matter of looking for a happy woman among women”: “The keys to female happiness, from our free will, are abandoned, lost from God himself!”

Last

The travelers went to the banks of the Volga and saw how the peasants were working in the hayfield. “We haven’t worked for a long time, let’s mow!” - the wanderers asked the local women. After work, they sat down to rest on a haystack. Suddenly they see: three boats are floating along the river, in which music is playing, beautiful ladies, two mustachioed gentlemen, children and an old man are sitting. As soon as the peasants saw them, they immediately began to work even harder.

The old landowner went ashore, walked around the entire hayfield. "The peasants bowed low, the steward in front of the landowner, like a demon before matins, wriggled." And the landowner scolded them for their work, ordered them to dry the already harvested hay, which was already dry. The travelers were surprised why the old landowner behaved this way with the peasants, because they are now free people and are not under his rule. Old Vlas began to tell them.

“Our landowner is special, exorbitant wealth, an important rank, a noble family, he has been a weirdo, fooled all his life.” But serfdom was abolished, but he did not believe, he decided that he was being deceived, he even scolded the governor about this, and by the evening he had a stroke. His sons were afraid that he might deprive them of their inheritance, and they agreed with the peasants to live as before, as if the landowner was still their master. Some peasants happily agreed to continue serving the landowner, but many could not agree. For example, Vlas, who was then a steward, did not know how he would have to carry out the "stupid orders" of the old man. Then another peasant asked to be made a steward, and "the old order went." And the peasants gathered together and laughed at the stupid orders of the master. For example, he ordered a seventy-year-old widow to be married to a six-year-old boy so that he would support her and build her a new house. He ordered the cows not to moo when they pass by the manor house, because they wake up the landowner.

But then there was the peasant Agap, who did not want to obey the master and even reproached other peasants for obedience. Once he was walking with a log, and the master met him. The landowner realized that the log was from his forest, and began to scold Agap for stealing. But the peasant could not stand it and began to laugh at the landowner. The old man had a stroke again, they thought that now he would die, but instead he issued a decree to punish Agap for disobedience. All day long, young landowners, their wives, the new steward and Vlas, went to Agap, persuaded Agap to pretend, and gave him wine to drink all night. The next morning they locked him in the stable and ordered him to scream as if he was being beaten, but in fact he was sitting and drinking vodka. The landowner believed, and he even felt sorry for the peasant. Only Agap, after so much vodka, died in the evening.

Wanderers went to look at the old landowner. And he sits surrounded by sons, daughters-in-law, courtyard peasants and has lunch. He began to ask whether the peasants would soon collect the master's hay. The new steward began to assure him that the hay would be removed in two days, then he declared that the peasants would not go anywhere from the master, that he was their father and god. The landowner liked this speech, but suddenly he heard that one of the peasants laughed in the crowd, and ordered that the culprit be found and punished. The steward went, and he himself thinks how he should be. He began to ask the wanderers that one of them would confess: they are strangers, the master could not do anything to them. But the travelers did not agree. Then the steward's godfather, a cunning woman, fell at the master's feet, began to lament, saying that it was her only silly son who laughed, and begged the master not to scold him. Barin took pity. Then he fell asleep and died in his sleep.

Feast - for the whole world

Introduction

The peasants arranged a holiday, to which the whole estate came, they wanted to celebrate their newfound freedom. The peasants sang songs.

I. Bitter time - bitter songs

Cheerful. The song sings that the master took the cow from the peasant, the zemstvo court took away the chickens, the tsar took the sons into recruits, and the master took the daughters to himself. “It is glorious for the people to live in holy Russia!”

Corvee. The poor peasant Kalinushka has wounds all over his back from beatings, he has nothing to wear, nothing to eat. Everything he earns has to be given to the master. The only joy in life is to come to a tavern and get drunk.

After this song, the peasants began to tell each other how hard it was to be in corvée. One recalled how their mistress Gertrud Alexandrovna ordered them to be beaten mercilessly. And the peasant Vikenty told the following parable.

About the exemplary lackey - Jacob the faithful. There lived a landowner in the world, very stingy, even drove his daughter away when she got married. This master had a faithful servant Yakov, who loved him more than his own life, did everything to please the master. Yakov never asked his master for anything, but his nephew grew up and wanted to marry. Only the master also liked the bride, so he did not allow Yakov's nephew to marry, but gave him as a recruit. Yakov decided to take revenge on his master, only his revenge was as servile as life. The master's legs hurt, and he could not walk. Yakov took him to a dense forest and hanged himself in front of his eyes. The master spent the whole night in the ravine, and in the morning the hunters found him. He did not recover from what he saw: “You, sir, will be an exemplary slave, faithful Jacob, to remember until the day of judgment!”

II. Wanderers and pilgrims

There are different pilgrims in the world. Some of them only hide behind the name of God in order to profit at someone else's expense, since it is customary to receive pilgrims in any home and feed them. Therefore, they most often choose rich houses where you can eat well and steal something. But there are also real pilgrims who bring the word of God to a peasant's house. Such people go to the poorest house so that God's mercy descends on it. Ionushka, who led the story "About two great sinners", also belongs to such pilgrims.

About two great sinners. Ataman Kudeyar was a robber and killed and robbed many people in his life. But his conscience tormented him, so much so that he could neither eat nor sleep, but only remembered his victims. He disbanded the whole gang and went to pray at the tomb of the Lord. He wanders, prays, repents, but it does not get easier for him. The sinner returned to his homeland and began to live under a centuries-old oak. Once he hears a voice that tells him to cut down an oak tree with the very knife with which he used to kill people, then all his sins will be forgiven. For several years the old man worked, but could not cut down the oak. Once he met pan Glukhovskoy, about whom they said that he was a cruel and evil person. When the pan asked what the elder was doing, the sinner said that he so wanted to atone for his sins. Pan began to laugh and said that his conscience did not torment him at all, although he had ruined many lives. “A miracle happened to the hermit: he felt furious anger, rushed to Pan Glukhovsky, plunged a knife into his heart! Just now, the bloodied pan fell headlong on the saddle, a huge tree collapsed, the echo shook the whole forest. So Kudeyar prayed for his sins.

III. Both old and new

“Great is the sin of the nobility,” the peasants began to say after Jon’s story. But the peasant Ignatius Prokhorov objected: "Great, but he shouldn't be against the sin of the peasant." And he told the following story.

Peasant sin. For courage and courage, the widower admiral received eight thousand souls from the empress. When the time came for the admiral to die, he called the headman to him and handed him a chest in which lay free for all the peasants. After his death, a distant relative came and, promising the headman golden mountains and freedom, begged him for that casket. So eight thousand peasants remained in the lord's bondage, and the headman committed the most serious sin: he betrayed his comrades. “So here it is, the sin of the peasant! Indeed, a terrible sin! the men decided. Then they sang the song "Hungry" and again started talking about the sin of the landowners and peasants. And now Grisha Dobrosklonov, the son of a deacon, said: “The snake will give birth to snakes, and the support is the sins of the landowner, the sin of Jacob the unfortunate, the sin of Gleb gave birth! There is no support - there is no landowner, bringing a zealous slave to a noose, there is no support - there is no courtyard, who takes revenge on his villain by suicide, there is no support - there will be no new Gleb in Russia! Everyone liked the boy’s speech, began to wish him wealth and a smart wife, but Grisha replied that he didn’t need wealth, but that “every peasant lived freely, cheerfully in all of holy Russia.”

IV. good time - good songs

In the morning the travelers fell asleep. Grisha and his brother took their father home, they sang songs along the way. When the brothers put their father to bed, Grisha went for a walk around the village. Grisha studies at the seminary, where he is poorly fed, so he is thin. But he doesn't think about himself at all. All his thoughts are occupied only by his native village and peasant happiness. "Fate prepared a glorious path for him, a loud name of the people's intercessor, consumption and Siberia." Grisha is happy because he can be an intercessor and take care of ordinary people, of his homeland. Seven men finally found a happy man, but they did not even guess about this happiness.

Nekrasov's poem "To whom it is good to live in Russia", which is included in the compulsory school curriculum, is presented in our summary, which you can read below.

Part 1

Prologue


Seven men from neighboring villages meet on the high road. They start a dispute about who has fun in Russia. Everyone has their own answer. In conversations, they do not notice that they have traveled to God knows where for thirty miles. It's getting dark, they make a fire. The argument gradually turns into a fight. But a clear answer still can not be found.

A man named Pahom catches a warbler chick. In return, the bird promises to tell the peasants where the self-assembled tablecloth is located, which will give them food as much as they like, a bucket of vodka a day, will wash and darn their clothes. The heroes receive a real treasure and decide to find the final answer to the question: who lives well in Russia?

Pop

On the way, the peasants meet a priest. They ask if he is happy. According to the priest, happiness is wealth, honor and peace. But these benefits are not available to the priest: in the cold and rain, he is forced to get out to the funeral service, to look at the tears of his relatives, when it is embarrassing to take payment for the service. In addition, the priest does not see respect among the people, and now and then becomes the subject of ridicule of the peasants.

rural fair

Having found out that the priest has no happiness, the peasants go to the fair in the village of Kuzminskoye. Maybe they'll find a lucky one there. There are a lot of drunks at the fair. Old man Vavila is grieving that he squandered money for shoes for his granddaughter. Everyone wants to help, but they don't have the opportunity. Barin Pavel Veretennikov takes pity on his grandfather and buys a present for his granddaughter.

Closer to the night, everyone around is drunk, the men go away.

drunken night

Pavel Veretennikov, after talking with the common people, regrets that the Russian people drink too much. But the peasants are convinced that the peasants drink out of hopelessness, that it is impossible to live sober in these conditions. If the Russian people stop drinking, great sorrow awaits them.

These thoughts are expressed by Yakim Nagoi, a resident of the village of Bosovo. He tells how, during a fire, the first thing he did was to take out the lubok pictures from the hut - that which he valued most of all.

The men settled down for lunch. Then one of them remained on guard for a bucket of vodka, and the rest again went in search of happiness.

Happy

Wanderers offer those who are happy in Russia to drink a glass of vodka. There are many such lucky people - both an overstrained man, and a paralytic, and even beggars.

Someone points them to Yermila Girin, an honest and respected peasant. When he needed to buy his mill at an auction, the people collected the necessary amount for a ruble and a kopeck. A couple of weeks later, Jirin was distributing the debt in the square. And when the last ruble remained, he continued to look for its owner until sunset. But now Yermila has little happiness either - he was accused of a popular rebellion and thrown into jail.

landowner

The ruddy landowner Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev is another candidate for the “lucky one”. But he complains to the peasants about the misfortune of the nobility - the abolition of serfdom. He was fine before. Everyone cared about him, tried to please. Yes, and he himself was kind with the courtyards. The reform destroyed his habitual way of life. How can he live now, because he knows nothing, is not capable of anything. The landowner began to cry, and after him the peasants became sad. The abolition of serfdom and the peasants is not easy.

Part 2

Last

The men find themselves on the banks of the Volga during haymaking. They see an amazing picture for themselves. Three lordly boats moor to the shore. Mowers, just sitting down to rest, jump up, wanting to curry favor with the master. It turned out that the heirs, having enlisted the support of the peasants, were trying to hide the peasant reform from the distraught landowner Utyatin. The peasants were promised land for this, but when the landowner dies, the heirs forget about the agreement.

Part 3

peasant woman

Seekers of happiness thought about asking about the happiness of women. Everyone they meet calls the name of Matrena Korchagina, whom people see as a lucky woman.

Matrena, on the other hand, claims that there are many troubles in her life, and devotes wanderers to her story.

As a girl, Matryona had a good, non-drinking family. When the stove-maker Korchagin looked after her, she was happy. But after marriage, the usual painful village life began. She was beaten by her husband only once, because he loved her. When he left to work, the stove-maker's family continued to mock her. Only grandfather Saveliy, a former convict who was imprisoned for the murder of a manager, felt sorry for her. Savely looked like a hero, confident that it was impossible to defeat a Russian person.

Matryona was happy when her first son was born. But while she was at work in the field, Savely fell asleep, and the pigs ate the child. In front of the heartbroken mother, the county doctor performed an autopsy on her first child. A woman still cannot forget a child, although after him she gave birth to five.

From the outside, everyone considers Matryona lucky, but no one understands what pain she carries inside, what mortal unavenged insults gnaw at her, how she dies every time she remembers a dead child.

Matrena Timofeevna knows that a Russian woman simply cannot be happy, because she has no life, no will for her.

Part 4

A feast for the whole world

Wanderers near the village of Vahlachin hear folk songs - hungry, salty, soldier's and corvee. Grisha Dobrosklonov sings - a simple Russian guy. There are stories about serfdom. One of them is the story of Yakima the faithful. He was devoted to the master to the extreme. He rejoiced at the cuffs, fulfilled any whims. But when the landowner gave his nephew to the soldier's service, Yakim left, and soon returned. He figured out how to take revenge on the landowner. Decapitated, he brought him to the forest and hanged himself on a tree above the master.

An argument begins about the most terrible sin. Elder Jonah tells the parable “about two sinners”. The sinner Kudeyar prayed to God for forgiveness, and he answered him. If Kudeyar knocks down a huge tree with just a knife, then his sins will subside. The oak fell down only after the sinner washed it with the blood of the cruel Pan Glukhovsky.

The deacon's son Grisha Dobrosklonov thinks about the future of the Russian people. Russia for him is a miserable, plentiful, powerful and powerless mother. In his soul he feels immense forces, he is ready to give his life for the good of the people. In the future, the glory of the people's protector, hard labor, Siberia and consumption await him. But if the wanderers knew what feelings filled Gregory's soul, they would realize that the goal of their search had been achieved.

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