The image of the peasant in Russian literature. Analysis of the poem "Who Lives Well in Russia", Images of Peasants Who Lives Well in Russia Image system

Introduction

Starting work on the poem "Who Lives Well in Russia", Nekrasov dreamed of creating a large-scale work that would reflect all the knowledge about the peasants he had accumulated over his life. From early childhood, before the eyes of the poet, there was a "spectacle of the disasters of the people", and the first childhood impressions prompted him to further study the way of peasant life. Hard work, human grief, and at the same time - the enormous spiritual strength of the people - all this was noticed by Nekrasov's attentive gaze. And it is precisely because of this that in the poem “To whom it is good to live in Russia”, the images of the peasants look so reliable, as if the poet personally knew his heroes. It is logical that the poem, in which the main character is the people, has a large number of peasant images, but it is worth looking at them more closely - and we will be struck by the diversity and liveliness of these characters.

The image of the main characters-wanderers

The first peasants the reader meets are the truth-seekers who argued about who lives well in Russia. For the poem, it is not so much their individual images that are important, but the whole idea that they express - without them, the plot of the work would simply fall apart. And, nevertheless, Nekrasov endows each of them with a name, a native village (the names of the villages are already eloquent in themselves: Gorelovo, Zaplatovo ...) and certain traits of character and appearance: Luka is an inveterate debater, Pahom is an old man. And the views of the peasants, despite the integrity of their image, are different, each does not deviate from his views until the fight. On the whole, the image of these peasants is a group image, and therefore the most basic features, characteristic of almost any peasant, stand out in it. This is extreme poverty, stubbornness and curiosity, the desire to find the truth. Note that describing the peasants dear to his heart, Nekrasov still does not embellish their images. He also shows vices, mainly general drunkenness.

The peasant theme in the poem “Who Lives Well in Russia” is not the only one - during their journey, the peasants will meet both the landowner and the priest, they will hear about the life of different classes - merchants, nobles, clergy. But all other images in one way or another serve to more fully reveal the main theme of the poem: the life of peasants in Russia immediately after the reform.

Several mass scenes are introduced into the poem - a fair, a feast, a road along which many people are walking. Here Nekrasov portrays the peasantry as a single entity that thinks the same way, speaks unanimously and even sighs at the same time. But at the same time, the images of the peasants depicted in the work can be divided into two large groups: honest working people who value their freedom and peasant slaves. In the first group, Yakim Nagoi, Ermil Girin, Trofim and Agap are especially distinguished.

Positive images of peasants

Yakim Nagoi is a typical representative of the poorest peasantry, and he himself looks like “mother earth”, like “a layer cut off by a plow”. All his life he works "to death", but at the same time remains a beggar. His sad story: he once lived in St. Petersburg, but started a lawsuit with a merchant, ended up in prison because of her and returned from there “like a peeled Velcro” - nothing surprises listeners. There were many such destinies in Russia at that time ... Despite hard work, Yakim has enough strength to stand up for his compatriots: yes, there are many drunken men, but there are more sober ones, they are all great people "in work and in revelry." Love for the truth, for honest work, the dream of transforming life (“there should be thunder”) - these are the main components of the image of Yakim.

Trofim and Agap complement Yakim in some way, each of them has one main character trait. In the image of Trofim, Nekrasov shows the infinite strength and patience of the Russian people - Trofim once demolished fourteen pounds, and then returned home barely alive. Agap is a lover of truth. He is the only one who refuses to participate in the performance for Prince Utyatin: “The possession of peasant souls is over!”. When they force him, he dies in the morning: it is easier for a peasant to die than to bend back under the yoke of serfdom.

Ermil Girin is endowed by the author with intelligence and incorruptible honesty, for which he is chosen as burgomaster. He “didn’t twist his soul”, and once having strayed from the right path, he could not live not by the truth, he brought repentance before the whole world. But honesty and love for their compatriots do not bring happiness to the peasants: the image of Yermila is tragic. At the time of the story, he is sitting in prison: this is how his help to the rebellious village turned out.

Images of Matryona and Savely

The life of the peasants in Nekrasov's poem would not have been fully depicted without the image of a Russian woman. To reveal the "women's share", which "woe is not life!" the author chose the image of Matrena Timofeevna. “Beautiful, strict and swarthy,” she tells in detail the story of her life, in which she was happy only then, how she lived with her parents in the “girls hall”. After that, hard work began, along with men, work, nit-picking relatives, and the death of the firstborn mangled the fate. Under this story, Nekrasov singled out a whole part in the poem, nine chapters - much more than the stories of the rest of the peasants occupy. This well conveys his special attitude, love for a Russian woman. Matryona impresses with her strength and stamina. She bears all the blows of fate without a murmur, but at the same time she knows how to stand up for her loved ones: she lies down under the rod instead of her son and saves her husband from the soldiers. The image of Matryona in the poem merges with the image of the people's soul - long-suffering and long-suffering, which is why the woman's speech is so rich in songs. These songs are often the only way to pour out your longing...

Another curious image adjoins the image of Matrena Timofeevna - the image of the Russian hero, Savely. Living out his life in the family of Matrona (“he lived a hundred and seven years”), Savely thinks more than once: “Where are you, strength, gone? What were you good for?" The strength was all gone under rods and sticks, wasted during overwork on the German and wasted away in hard labor. The image of Savely shows the tragic fate of the Russian peasantry, heroes by nature, leading a completely unsuitable life for them. Despite all the hardships of life, Savely did not become embittered, he is wise and affectionate with the disenfranchised (the only one in the family protects Matryona). Shown in his image is the deep religiosity of the Russian people, who were looking for help in faith.

The image of the peasant-serfs

Another type of peasants depicted in the poem are serfs. The years of serfdom have crippled the souls of some people who are accustomed to crawling and can no longer imagine their lives without the power of the landowner over themselves. Nekrasov shows this on the examples of the images of the serfs Ipat and Yakov, as well as the headman Klim. Jacob is the image of a faithful serf. He spent his whole life on fulfilling the whims of his master: “Jakov had only joy: / To groom, protect, appease the master.” However, one cannot live with the master “ladok” - as a reward for the exemplary service of Yakov, the master gives his nephew as a recruit. It was then that Jacob's eyes were opened, and he decided to take revenge on his offender. Klim becomes the boss thanks to the grace of Prince Utyatin. A bad owner and a lazy worker, he, singled out by a master, flourishes from a sense of self-importance: "A proud pig: it itched / O master's porch!" Using the example of the headman, Klima Nekrasov shows how terrible yesterday's serf who got into the bosses is one of the most disgusting human types. But it is difficult to lead an honest peasant heart - and in the village Klim is sincerely despised, not afraid.

So, from the various images of the peasants “Who should live well in Russia”, a whole picture of the people is formed as a huge force, already gradually beginning to rise up and realize its power.

Artwork test

At the heart of the poem "To whom it is good to live in Russia" N.A. Nekrasov is the image of the Russian peasantry after the abolition of serfdom. Throughout the work, the characters are looking for an answer to the question: “Who lives happily, freely in Russia?” Who is considered happy, who is unhappy.

Men-truth seekers

At the forefront of the study is the journey of seven men through Russian villages in search of an answer to the question posed. In the guise of the seven "volunteers" we see only common features of the peasants, namely: poverty, inquisitiveness, unpretentiousness.

The men ask about the happiness of the meeting peasants, soldiers. The priest, the landowner, the merchant, the nobleman and the tsar seem lucky to them. But the main place in the poem is given to the peasantry.

Yakim Nagoi

Yakim Nagoi works "to death", but lives hand to mouth, like most residents of Bosovo. In the description of the hero, we see how hard Yakim's life is: "... He himself looks like mother earth." Yakim realizes that the peasants are the greatest power, he is proud that he belongs to this group of people. he knows the strengths and weaknesses of the peasant character. The main disadvantage is alcohol, which has a detrimental effect on men.

For Yakim, the opinion that the poverty of the peasantry is caused by the use of wine is unacceptable. In his opinion, this is due to the obligation to work for "shareholders". The fate of the hero is typical for the Russian people after the abolition of serfdom: living in the capital, he enters into a dispute with a merchant, ended up in prison, from where he returned to the village and began to plow the land.

Ermila Girin

Ermila Girina N.A. Nekrasov endowed with honesty and great intelligence. He lived for the sake of the people, was honest, fair, left no one in trouble. He committed the only dishonest act for the sake of the family - he saved his nephew from recruitment. He sent the widow's son instead. From his own deceit, from the torment of conscience, Girin nearly hanged himself. He corrected his mistake and subsequently took the side of the rebellious peasants, for which he was imprisoned.

The episode with the purchase of Yermila's mill is remarkable, when the peasants express their absolute confidence in Yermil Girin, who in return is honest with them to the end.

Saveliy - a hero

Nekrasov pronounces the idea that the peasants for him are akin to heroes. Here appears the image of Savely - the hero of the Holy Russian. He sincerely sympathizes with Matryona, it is hard to rethink Demushka's death. This hero combines kindness, simplicity, sincerity, help to the oppressed and malice towards the oppressors.

Matrena Timofeevna

Peasant women are represented in the image of Matryona Timofeevna. This strong-hearted woman has been fighting for freedom and female happiness all her life. Her life resembles the life of many peasant women of that time, although she is even happier than many. This is taking into account the fact that after marriage she ended up in a family that hated her, she was a husband only once, her firstborn was eaten by pigs, and her whole life is based on hard work in the field.

Peasant Oppressors

The author shows how hard serfdom affects people's lives, how it cripples them, morally destroying them. There are also such peasants who have chosen the side of their masters - Ipat, Klim, Yakov the faithful, who oppress the common people along with the landowners.

In his poem, Nekrasov showed the life of the peasantry after the reform of 1861, displayed the images of Russian peasants, saying that the people have innumerable power and soon they will begin to realize their rights.

Definitely bad characters. Nekrasov describes various perverted relations between landowners and serfs. The young lady, who whipped the peasants for swearing, seems kind and affectionate compared to the landowner Polivanov. He bought a village for bribes, in it he “freed himself, drank, drank bitter”, was greedy and stingy. The faithful serf Yakov took care of the master, even when his legs were taken away. But the master shaved his only nephew Yakov into a soldier, seduced by his bride.

Separate chapters are devoted to two landowners.

Gavrila Afanasyevich Obolt-Obolduev.

Portrait

To describe the landowner, Nekrasov uses diminutive suffixes and speaks of him with disdain: a round gentleman, mustachioed and pot-bellied, ruddy. He has a cigar in his mouth, and he carries a C grade. In general, the image of the landowner is sugary and not formidable at all. He is middle-aged (sixty years old), "dignified, stocky", with a long gray mustache and valiant gimmicks. The contrast of tall men and a squat gentleman should make the reader smile.

Character

The landowner was frightened by the seven peasants and drew a pistol as plump as himself. The fact that the landowner is afraid of the peasants is typical of the time of writing this chapter of the poem (1865), because the peasants who received the release were happy to take revenge on the landowners if possible.

The landowner boasts of his "noble" origin, described with sarcasm. He says that Obolt Obolduev is a Tatar who entertained the queen with a bear two and a half centuries ago. Another of his maternal ancestor, three hundred years ago, tried to set fire to Moscow and rob the treasury, for which he was executed.

Lifestyle

Obolt-Obolduev cannot imagine his life without comfort. Even talking with the peasants, he asks the servant for a glass of sherry, a pillow and a carpet.

The landowner recalls with nostalgia the old days (before the abolition of serfdom), when all nature, peasants, fields and forests worshiped the master and belonged to him. Noble houses argued in beauty with churches. The life of the landowner was a continuous holiday. The landowner kept many servants. In the autumn he was engaged in dog hunting - primordially Russian fun. During the hunt, the landowner's chest breathed freely and easily, "the spirit was transferred to the old Russian orders."

Obolt-Obolduev describes the order of the landowner's life as the absolute power of the landowner over the serfs: "There is no contradiction in anyone, whom I want - I will have mercy, whom I want - I will execute." The landowner can indiscriminately beat the serfs (the word hit repeats three times, there are three metaphorical epithets to it: sparkling, furious, cheekbones). At the same time, the landowner claims that he punished lovingly, that he took care of the peasants, set tables for them in the landowner's house on a holiday.

The landowner considers the abolition of serfdom to be similar to breaking the great chain that binds the lords and the peasants: “Now we don’t beat the peasant, but we don’t have paternal mercy on him either.” The estates of the landowners have been dismantled brick by brick, the forests have been cut down, the peasants are robbing. The economy also fell into decay: "The fields are unfinished, the crops are not sown, there is no trace of order!" The landowner does not want to work on the land, and what his purpose is, he no longer understands: “I smoked the sky of God, wore the royal livery, littered the treasury of the people and thought to live like this for a century ...”

The Last

So the peasants called their last landowner, Prince Utyatin, under whom serfdom was abolished. This landowner did not believe in the abolition of serfdom and became so angry that he had a stroke.

Fearing that the old man would deprive him of his inheritance, his relatives told him that they had ordered the peasants to be returned to the landowners, and they themselves asked the peasants to play this role.

Portrait

The latter is an old old man, thin as hares in winter, white, with a beak like a hawk's nose, long gray mustaches. Seriously ill, he combines the helplessness of a weak hare and the ambition of a hawk.

Character traits

The last petty tyrant, "fools in the old way", because of his whims, both his family and the peasants suffer. For example, I had to spread a ready stack of dry hay just because the old man thought it was wet.

The landowner Prince Utyatin is arrogant, he believes that the nobles have betrayed their age-old rights. His white cap is a sign of the landowner's power.

Utyatin never valued the lives of his serfs: he bathed them in an ice-hole, forced them to play the violin on horseback.

In his old age, the landowner began to demand even greater nonsense: he ordered to marry a six-year-old to a seventy-year-old, to appease the cows so that they would not moo, instead of a dog, appoint a deaf-mute fool as a watchman.

Unlike Obolduev, Utyatin does not find out about his changed status and dies, "as he lived, as a landowner."

• The image of Saveliy in Nekrasov's poem "Who should live well in Russia"
• The image of Grisha Dobrosklonov in Nekrasov's poem "Who should live well in Russia"
• The image of Matryona in the poem "To whom in Russia it is good to live"

The most extensive in conception and execution of the work of N. A. Nekrasov, a synthesis of the main motifs of his poetry, truly an encyclopedia of an entire era in the life of the Russian people, is the poem “Who Lives Well in Russia”. Presumably, work on it began in 1863. In the first issue of Sovremennik in 1866, the Prologue of the poem was published. In 1869-1870. a new Nekrasov magazine - "Notes of the Fatherland" - places the chapters of the first part. Two parts - "Last Child" and "Peasant Woman" were written almost simultaneously and published in 1873-1874. (the sequence of these parts within the poem has been and remains controversial). Finally, the part that was destined to be the last, “A Feast for the Whole World”, belongs to 1876.

Thus, the poem remained unfinished. Within the framework of the work, there is no meeting of the peasants with an official, a merchant, "a noble boyar, a minister of the sovereign", the tsar, while Nekrasov wanted to satisfy the curiosity of all seven peasants. “One thing that I deeply regret is that I did not finish my poem “Who in Russia should live well,” the poet said before his death. It is easy to see that at first he worked with greater intensity. After the end of the first part, work progressed with difficulty, with interruptions, life did not give an unambiguous answer to the questions posed in the poem, and when Nekrasov was “exasperated” in a conversation, “whoever lives happily, freely in Russia,” he answered half-jokingly and evasively: “Hmel ".

The guiding thread in understanding the intent and content of the poem is Nekrasov's interest in the historical fate of the Russian peasantry, although peasant happiness is only spoken of in an ironic sense - this is the holey and humpbacked happiness of the peasants of the Tightened Province. But until the question of the contentment and happiness of the Russian peasant, representing the overwhelming majority of the people - his name is legion - is not resolved, no one can be happy in Russia. What are the Nekrasov wanderers looking for? They themselves speak of this in the chapter "Last Child":

We are looking for, Uncle Vlas,

unworn province,

Not gutted volost,

Izbytkova village.

They search and do not find. The question of the fate of the peasantry is the question of why there is no happiness for the peasant and where are the "keys to this happiness."

The poem was begun by Nekrasov immediately after the reform, and therefore in it, as in other works of the poet of this period, reflections are natural about whether the life of the people has changed for the better. The poem "To whom it is good to live in Russia" contains an attempt, if not to give an answer, then at least to raise this question in all its depth and complexity. “Peasant orders are endless,” says the heroine of the head of “Peasant Woman” Matrena Timofeevna Korchagina. Dependence remained the same after the reform, only changing its forms:

... You work alone

And a little work is over,

Look, there are three equity holders:

God, king, and lord.

And although the peasants have no reason, like Obolt-Obolduev, to yearn for recent times, they are forced to admit that in the bitter lamentations of the landowner (“On all of you, Mother Russia, - Like brands on a criminal, - Like a brand on a horse, - Two the words are scrawled - "Take away and drink") has its own truth. The feudal order was based on arbitrariness, non-economic coercion (“whom I want - I will have mercy, whom I want - I will execute”), but it was still a certain “order”. Now, says Obolt-Obolduev, “the fields are not worked out, the crops are not sown, there is no trace of order!” And Nekrasov's "temporarily liable" perceive a new, only emerging way of life, not without fear.

In the part of the poem called “A Feast for the Whole World”, the festive Vakhlachina, who was reminded of the great peasant sin, suddenly sees herself not as the tipsy and courageous peasants imagined, but as she really is:

The proud people are gone

With a confident walk

Wahlaki remained,

Not eating enough

Unsalted slurped,

Which instead of the master

The fight will be volost.

Under these conditions, a type of behavior of the Russian peasant is formed, in which patience and anger, cunning and naivety, industriousness and apathy, benevolence and irascibility are bizarrely intertwined.

Where is the exit? The answer to this question is neither simple nor unambiguous. It is given by the entire system of images of the work. This answer contains not only confidence, but also bitter thoughts and doubts. Russia, great and miserable, mighty and powerless, in all its diverse manifestations appears in the poem.

What is the greatness of peasant Russia? First of all, in hard work, truly heroic, but poorly rewarded and, most often, forced labor. The greatness of peasant Russia lies in the fact that, crushed by slavery, it retained faith in a better life, trust and cordiality. A random passerby, a wanderer, a stranger in a Russian village will be given food and lodging for the night, they will be happy to talk with him.

The poverty of peasant Russia is in its darkness, ignorance, backwardness (including moral backwardness), reaching the point of savagery. Wanderers are surprised to see how Vakhlaks beat a person for no reason at all.

In the poet's field of vision are such common phenomena of Russian folk life as drunkenness and foul language. “Without swearing, as usual, - A word will not be said, - Crazy, indecent, - She is the most audible of all!” (from the chapter “Drunken Night”). This feature of popular communication receives an aphoristic expression: "... a peasant does not bark - it is one thing to be silent." The scale of people's drunkenness in the image of Nekrasov is truly monstrous. Not without reason, in the conditionally fabulous Prologue, the magic bird-chiffchaff warns the peasants:

And you can ask for vodka

In day exactly on a bucket.

If you ask more

And one and two - it will be fulfilled

At your request,

And in the third be trouble!

The cherished "bucket" greatly facilitates the search for a happy wanderer, opens souls and unties tongues. The old plowman Yakim Nagoi says about himself:

He works to death.

Drinks half to death.

The squalor of peasant Russia lies in its age-old patience. I recall the contemptuous remarks of the old rebel Savely: “The dead ... the lost ...”, “Oh, you, Aniki warriors! - With old men, with women - you only have to fight! God, the king and master are not only the masters of the peasant, they are often idols that he is accustomed to worship. Of course, Saveliy, the Holy Russian hero, is a type of Russian peasant, but an exemplary serf, Jacob the faithful, is also a type of Russian peasant. Slave dependence gives rise to "real dogs" who are proud of their slavish lot - up to such as the courtyard prince Peremetyev, who is proud that he licked plates "with the best French truffle", drank foreign drinks from glasses and was ill with a noble disease, "whatever from the first persons in the empire, ”or the courtier of Prince Utyatin Ipat, who, to old age, proudly tells how a master who was on a spree redeemed him in the winter in an ice hole.

Nekrasov cherishes the idea of ​​unity, solidarity of the peasants, the peasant "peace". The scene is expressive when, in the lawsuit of the conscientious, honest and beloved by the peasants, Yermila Ilyich Girin, with the merchant Altynnikov, the support of the peasants helps him win:

The merchant Altynnikov is rich,

And all can not resist him

Against the worldly treasury...

But the "world" is poorly aware of its own interests, unduly trusting in its masters; in The Last, for example, the peasant community allows the landowner to mock the peasants - in the hope of the word of honor of his heirs - to give them meadows after the death of Prince Utyatin. But the Last One dies, and the Vahlaks are still litigating for the meadows with the young Ducks.

The writer is especially interested in the best manifestations of the Russian peasant character, the emergence of self-consciousness among the people. The rudiments of this self-consciousness are already there in those crushed by need and overwork. Yakima Nagogo. This man has been roasting under the sun behind a plow for thirty years. And now this miserable wretched plowman delivers a passionate, dignified monologue in defense of the peasant. Yakim is characterized by the rudiments of an aesthetic sense, and an understanding of people and their relationships, and he lives "not by bread alone."

With special lyricism and penetration, confession is presented in the poem Matrena Timofeevna Korchagina. Self-esteem was given to her at a high price. Matryona Timofeevna had to experience both mockery of her maternal feeling, and arrogant harassment by the master's manager Sitnikov, and a whip. And the affectionate intercession of the governor's wife, who saved Matrena Timofeevna's husband, Philip, from St. Petersburg, from recruitment, is not able to erase from the heart of the bitter insults and insults she suffered.

"Angry Heart" Matrena Timofeevna is no exception. Even the incorrigible serf Yakov the Faithful is sickened by continuous abuse, and his suicide is also a kind of ray of light in the dark kingdom. The accumulation of combustible material in the people's environment is obvious, and therefore this environment must put forward its leaders, "protectors". Types of people's intercessors also appear in Nekrasov's poem.

A vivid embodiment of peasant strength and rebellion is Savely, "Holy Russian hero". Indeed, there is something in him from an epic hero who lifted a terrible thrust and went into the ground "with an effort." It is no coincidence that when she saw a monument to Ivan Susanin in the provincial town, Matryona Timofeevna recalls her grandfather Saveliy:

It is made of forged copper,

Exactly Savely grandfather,

The man in the square.

Savely - from the breed of those peasants who, under the leadership of Razin and Pugachev, hung and threw nobles from the bell towers, shook Moscow and all landlord Russia. Former convict, who, under the Russian word "Naddai!" together with other peasants, he buried the German steward in the ground and, in his own words, “was more ferocious than the beast”, Savely, however, until the end of his life proudly bears his human dignity: “Branded, but not a slave! ..”. Savely still keeps the memory of those ancient times, when the peasant community, using dense forests and marshy swamps, really defended freedom, when Korezina staunchly stood up for her rights even under the rods. But these times are in the past, and the heroic spirit of grandfather Savely is far from real life. He passes away unconquered, but in the conviction that the fate of the Russian peasant cannot be changed and "the truth cannot be found."

And yet the memory of liberty is alive in the Russian peasant, just as the legend of the robber Kudeyar, who atoned for his sins by killing the landowner Pan Glukhovsky, "rich, noble, the first in that direction," is alive. Nekrasov, therefore, allows violence as one of the possible ways in the just reorganization of social relations. But not only through violence is it possible to change the relationship between people for the better. Another path is indicated by the poet in the image of Yermila Girin.

Ermil Girin- a literate peasant, which in itself was a rarity. Even more rare were his conscientiousness and unselfishness, which manifested themselves even at the time when the twenty-year-old Yermil was a clerk in the office. And this is in a country where a bribe was as common as drunkenness and foul language! The peasants appreciated Girin and elected him headman. Once Yermil stumbled: he saved his brother from recruitment by putting another young guy out of line, and he experienced this wrong step as a real tragedy, achieving justice and resigning from the post of headman. And in his new position, becoming the owner of the mill, which he bargained with Altynnikov, Girin remained true to himself:

... And he became thicker than before

All the people love:

I took it for a prayer in good conscience,

Didn't stop the people

<…>

The order was strict!

If people of different classes were like Yermil - the peasants would not have to look for a happy man for a long time, it would not be necessary to restore justice with the help of violence. But people who look like Yermil are an exceptional phenomenon in Russia, and the story about Yermil ends with the fact that he is in prison. On the path of law and justice, it is impossible to achieve justice ...

The image of Grigory Dobrosklonov. Grigory is the son of a semi-poor village deacon who survived a difficult childhood, the early death of his mother and survived thanks to compassionate fellow villagers. Grigory Dobrosklonov is a child of Vakhlachina, he is well acquainted with the peasant share and peasant labor, but his path is different. He is a seminarian, dreams of a university, but from childhood he knows for sure who his mind and knowledge will belong to. The poet's cherished thought about the return of the debt to the people by the intelligentsia is expressed here in the simplest version, but there is no doubt that Nekrasov thereby explores the problem of the formation of a democratic intelligentsia as a whole, the genesis of its firm devotion to the interests of the peasantry, "humiliated" and "offended", and at the same time the same time - her tragic loneliness, indicated in the fate of Grigory Dobrosklonov. In the songs of Grigory Dobrosklonov one can see the poet's historical optimism, a premonition of fundamental changes in Russian life.

However, it is impossible not to see that the image of the “people's protector” is extremely romanticized, and only at the level of romanticized consciousness can Gregory feel happy (“If only our wanderers were under their native roof, If only they could know what was happening with Grisha”) . Against the backdrop of the people's backwardness, so convincingly shown in the life of his native Vakhlachina, the extreme rarity among the people among people like Yermil Girin, the extreme scarcity and in the most intelligent environment of people for whom the "share of the people, their happiness, light and freedom" is really the most precious thing. ”, the ending of the poem remains open, and it should be remembered that, according to Nekrasov’s plan, “A Feast for the Whole World” does not complete his work. Is there enough strength in the people's milieu for moral renewal? Is the Russian people able to arrange their lives happily, will they learn to “be a citizen” or will they, with their “golden” heart, be destined to end up in the backyards of civilization? Will the "people's intercessors" remain faithful to the precepts of the "angel of mercy"? There is no answer to these questions in the poem, just as the poem itself is not completed; this answer is lost in the fog of historical perspective...

Despite the incompleteness, “To Whom It Is Good to Live in Russia” is not only Nekrasov's largest work, but also one of the largest in Russian poetry. In terms of the scale and depth of the depiction of folk life, the diversity of the poetic narrative, the comprehension of the folk character both in its mass manifestations and in individual destinies, “Who in Russia should live well” is indeed a folk epic. Starting from the "Prologue", the folk poetic element organically enters the fabric of a literary work: fairy tale and song motifs, lamentations (especially in the chapter "Peasant Woman"), small genres - sayings, proverbs, riddles. But it must be borne in mind that Nekrasov approached folklore not as an imitator, a timid epigone, but as a self-confident and exacting master, a mature poet who had a certain attitude towards the people and their word. And he never treated folklore blindly, but disposed of it completely freely, subordinated it to his ideological tasks and his own, Nekrasov style.

Source (abbreviated): Russian literary classics of the 19th century: Textbook / Ed. A.A. Slinko and V.A. Svitelsky. - Voronezh: Native speech, 2003

The great Russian poet N. A. Nekrasov was born and raised in the countryside, among endless meadows and fields. As a boy, he liked to run away from home to his village friends. Here he met with ordinary working people. Later, becoming a poet, he created a number of truthful works about ordinary poor people, their way of life, speech, and Russian nature.

Even the names of the villages speak of their social status: Zaplatovo, Dyryavino, Razutovo, Neelovo, Neurozhayko and others. The priest who met him also spoke about their plight: “The peasant himself needs, and he would be glad to give, but there is nothing ...”.

On the one hand, the weather fails: either it rains constantly, or the sun scorches mercilessly, burning the crop. On the other hand, most of the harvest has to be paid in the form of taxes:

Look, there are three equity holders:

God, king and lord

The peasants at Nekrasov are great workers:

Not white women are tender,

And we are great people

In work and in the spree!

One of these representatives is Yakim Nagoi:

He works to death

Drink half to death!

Another representative of the "great people" - Ermila Girin is shown as an honest, fair, conscientious man. He is respected among the peasants. The fact that when Yermila turned to the people for help, everyone chipped in and helped out Girin speaks of the great confidence in him of his compatriots. He, in turn, returned everything to the penny. And he gave the remaining unclaimed ruble to the blind man.

While in the service, he tried to help everyone and did not take a penny for it: "It is necessary to have a bad conscience - to soak a penny from a peasant."

Once having stumbled and sent another recruit instead of his brother, Jirin suffers mentally to the point that he is ready to take his own life.

In general, the image of Girin is tragic. Wanderers learn that he is in prison for helping a rebellious village.

Equally bleak is the fate of the peasant woman. In the image of Matrena Timofeevna, the author shows the stamina and endurance of a Russian woman.

The fate of Matrena includes hard work, on a par with men, and family relationships, and the death of her first child. But she bears all the blows of fate without a murmur. And when it comes to her loved ones, she stands up for them. It turns out that among women there are no happy ones:

Keys to female happiness

From our free will

Abandoned, lost, with God himself!

Supports Matryona Timofeevna only Savely. This is an old man who was once a holy Russian hero, but who spent his strength on hard work and hard labor:

Where are you, power, gone?

What were you good for?

Under rods, under sticks

Gone little by little!

Savely has weakened physically, but his faith in a better future is alive. He constantly repeats: “Branded, but not a slave!”

It turns out that Savely was sent to hard labor for burying the German Vogel alive, who was disgusted with the peasants by mercilessly mocking them and oppressing them.

Nekrasov calls Savely "a hero of the Holy Russian":

And it bends, but does not break,

Doesn't break, doesn't fall...

At Prince Peremetyev's

I was a favorite slave.

Prince Utyatin's footman Ipat admires his master.

About these peasant slaves, Nekrasov says this:

People of the servile rank

Real dogs sometimes.

The more severe the punishment

So dear to them, gentlemen.

In fact, the psychology of slavery has so ingrained itself into their souls that it has completely killed their human dignity.

Thus, the peasants of Nekrasov are heterogeneous, like any society of people. But for the most part they are honest, hardworking, striving for freedom, and therefore, fortunately, representatives of the peasantry.

It is no coincidence that the poem ends with a song about Russia, in which one can hear the hope for the enlightenment of the Russian people:

The army rises innumerable,

The strength in it will be invincible!

Updated: 2017-12-28

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