The problem of the little man is in crime and punishment. Composition: The theme of the little man in the novel "Crime and Punishment

We all pity and love the clean, washed dead, but you love the living, the dirty ones.
V. M. Shukshin

F.M. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment" describes an unusual crime committed by a poor student to test his terrible theory, in the novel it is called "blood according to conscience." Raskolnikov divides all people into ordinary and extraordinary. The former must live in obedience, the latter “have the right, that is, not an official right, but they themselves have the right to allow their conscience to step over ... over other obstacles only if the execution of their idea requires it” (3, V). Raskolnikov, having seen enough on the mountain, on the broken fates of ordinary ("small") people - the inhabitants of the St. Petersburg slums, decides to act, since he is no longer able to humbly observe the ugly surrounding life. Decisiveness, a deep and original mind, the desire to correct an imperfect world, and not to obey its unjust laws - these are the features that do not allow us to attribute the image of Raskolnikov himself to the type of "little people".

To believe in himself, the hero needs to make sure whether he is “a trembling creature” (that is, an ordinary person) or “has the right” (that is, an outstanding personality), he can afford “blood in conscience”, like successful historical heroes, or not will be able. If the test shows that he belongs to the elect, then one should boldly take up the correction of an unjust world; for Raskolnikov, this means making life easier for "little people." Thus, in Raskolnikov's theory, the happiness of "little people" seems to be the main and ultimate goal. This conclusion is not contradicted even by the confession that the hero made to Sonya: he killed not in order to help his mother and sister Duna, but “for himself” (5, IV).

From the above reasoning, it follows that the theme of the "little man" is one of the main ones in the novel, as it is associated with both social and philosophical content. In Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" this theme sounded even stronger and more tragic than in Pushkin's "The Stationmaster" and in Gogol's "The Overcoat". Dostoevsky chose the poorest and dirtiest part of St. Petersburg, the area of ​​Sennaya Square and the Kuznechny Market, as the setting for his novel. One by one, the writer unfolds pictures of the hopeless need of “little people”, insulted and humiliated by the shameless “masters of life”. The novel describes in more or less detail several characters who can certainly be attributed to the traditional type of "little people": the sister of the old pawnbroker Lizaveta, who in Dostoevsky becomes the symbol of the "little man", Raskolnikov's mother Pulcheria Alexandrovna, wife Marmeladova Katerina Ivanovna. However, the most striking image in this series is, of course, Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov himself, who tells his story to Raskolnikov in a tavern.

In this hero, Dostoevsky combined the Pushkin and Gogol traditions in the depiction of "little people". Marmeladov, like Bashmachkin, is pathetic and insignificant, powerless to change his life (to end his drinking), but he retains, as in Samson Vyrin, a living feeling - love for Sonya and Katerina Ivanovna. He is unhappy and, realizing his hopeless situation, exclaims: “Do you know what it means when there is nowhere to go?” (1,II). Just like Vyrin, Marmeladov begins to drink from grief, from misfortune (he lost his job), fear of life and powerlessness to do anything for his family. Like Vyrin, Semyon Zakharovich worries about the bitter fate of his daughter Sonya, who is forced to "step over" and go to the panel in order to feed the starving children of Katerina Ivanovna. The difference, however, is that the stationmaster's daughter was happy (with her love for Minsky), while Sonya was unhappy.

Dostoevsky built the storyline of the Marmeladov family in the novel in such a way as to emphasize the tragic character of the image of Semyon Zakharovich. Drunk Marmeladov falls under the wheels of a dandy carriage through his own fault and dies, leaving his large family without a livelihood. He understands this well, so his last words are addressed to Sonya - the only support for Katerina Ivanovna and the children: "Sonya! Daughter! Forgive me!" he shouted, and was about to stretch out his hand to her, but, having lost his support, he tore off and fell off the sofa...” (2, VII).

Katerina Ivanovna outwardly does not look like a traditional "little man" who resignedly accepts suffering. According to Marmeladov, she is “a hot, proud and adamant lady” (1, II), she fusses before the general for her husband, arranges “educational” scandals for her drunken husband, reproaches Sonya to the point that the girl goes to the panel to earn money for bread for the family. But in fact, Katerina Ivanovna, like all "little people", is broken by life's failures. She cannot resist the blows of fate. Her helpless despair is manifested in her last insane act: she runs out into the street with small children to beg and dies, refusing her last confession. When she is offered to invite a priest, she replies: “What? Priest?.. No need... Where do you have an extra ruble?., I have no sins!... God must forgive even without that... He knows how I suffered!.. must!..” (5, V). This scene testifies that Dostoevsky's "little man" even reaches the point of rebellion against God.

Sonya Marmeladova, the main character of the novel, outwardly looks very much like a traditional “little man”, who humbly submits to circumstances, resignedly goes to death. In order to save people like Sonya, Raskolnikov came up with his own theory, but it turns out that Sonya is only at first glance a weak person, but in fact she is a strong personality: when she saw that her family had reached extreme poverty, she made a difficult decision and saved at least for a while their relatives from starvation. Despite her shameful profession, Sonya maintains her spiritual purity. She with dignity endures the bullying of others about her position in society. Moreover, thanks to her mental stamina, it was she who was able to support the murderer Raskolnikov, it was she who helps him find the right way out of the moral impasse, from Dostoevsky’s point of view: through sincere repentance and suffering, return to normal human life. She herself atones for her involuntary sins, and supports Raskolnikov in hard labor. This is how the theme of the “little man” suddenly turns in the novel Crime and Punishment.

Raskolnikov's friend Razumikhin is completely different from the traditional "little man" - a very attractive, integral hero. Courage, common sense, and love of life help Razumikhin endure all hardships: “He was also remarkable because no failures ever embarrassed him and no bad circumstances seemed to be able to crush him” (1, IV). Thus, Razumikhin cannot be classified as "little people" because he constantly resists misfortunes and does not bend under the blows of fate. A faithful comrade, Razumikhin takes care of the sick Raskolnikov, invites Dr. Zosimov to him; knowing about Porfiry Petrovich's suspicions about Raskolnikov, he tries to shield the protagonist, explaining his friend's strange actions with illness. Himself a poor student, he takes care of Raskolnikov's mother and sister, sincerely falls in love with the dowry Dunya. True, she unexpectedly and very opportunely receives an inheritance-dowry from Marfa Petrovna Svidrigailova.

So, in the literary type "little man" one can distinguish common features: a small rank, poverty, and most importantly, the inability to withstand life's failures and rich offenders.

After Gogol's "The Overcoat" (1842), Russian writers often began to refer to the image of the "little man" in their works. N.A. Nekrasov, acting as an editor, published in 1845 a two-volume collection “Physiology of St. Petersburg”, which included essays about people from the city slums and nooks and crannies of the capital: V.I. feuilletonist, D.V. Grigorovich - an organ grinder, E.P. Grebenok - residents of the provincial Petersburg outskirts. These essays were mostly everyday writing, that is, they contained portrait, psychological and speech characteristics of "little people". Dostoevsky in his stories and novels offered a deep understanding of the social status and character of the "little man", which fundamentally distinguished his works from the stories and essays of the above authors.

If Pushkin and Gogol's main feelings towards the "little man" were pity and compassion, then Dostoevsky expressed a different approach to such heroes: he evaluates them more critically. “Little people” before Dostoevsky were predominantly deeply and innocently suffering, and Dostoevsky portrayed them as people who are largely to blame for their plight. For example, Marmeladov, with his drunkenness, pushes his beloved family to death, blaming all the worries about young children on Sonya and the half-crazy Katerina Ivanovna. In other words, Dostoevsky's image of the "little man" becomes more complex, deepened, enriched with new ideas. This is expressed in the fact that Dostoevsky's heroes (Marmeladov, Katerina Ivanovna, Sonya and others) not only suffer, but they themselves declare their suffering, they themselves explain their lives. Neither Samson Vyrin nor Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin formulated the causes of their misfortunes, but only meekly endured them, dutifully submitting to the blows of fate.

In the formula "little man" Dostoevsky focuses not on the small, as his literary predecessors, but on the man. For the humiliated and offended heroes of Crime and Punishment, the most terrible thing is to lose self-respect, human dignity. Marmeladov talks about this in confession, Katerina Ivanovna screams before her death. That is, the “little people” themselves in Dostoevsky refute the theory of Raskolnikov, who considered them only “trembling creatures”, material for the experiments of “extraordinary” people.

(378 words) A small man is a type of literary hero that arose in Russian literature during the period of realism, that is, in the 20-30s of the 19th century. It is not difficult to guess that this type characterizes a person of the lower class. The low social status and origin, initially suggests that these people are not gifted with a strong character and will, on the contrary, they do no harm to anyone, they are kind and naive, like children. In the work of F.M. Dostoevsky's "little man" also found its place. A whole gallery of heroes, humiliated and insulted, misunderstood by life, they play the role of martyrs in the novel "Crime and Punishment": the Marmeladov family, Lizaveta, Pulcheria Alexandrovna and Avdotya Romanovna. Let's take a closer look at the examples.

So, the Marmeladov family. Starting from the head of the family, Semyon Marmeladov, and ending with his unfortunate children, one can give an excellent example of weak-willed and kind people. The elder Marmeladov is weak because he let alcohol take over him. He ruined the life of his wife, Ekaterina Ivanovna, who has to live in inhuman conditions with small children, and his daughter Sonechka. “My daughter lives on a yellow ticket, sir…” he said. The retired official causes misunderstanding and pity among readers. After all, although he regrets what he did, he does not intend to change his life.

Why does the author introduce this type of literary hero? To show the best character traits of Rodion Raskolnikov. It was the Marmeladov family that awakened in him both bewilderment and regret. Thinking about the murder and later committing it, Rodion Romanovich justifies his act with a sacrifice for the good.

But, in addition to the Marmeladov family, mired in problems, there are also heroes who are “little people”. For example, Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin, who differs from the Marmeladovs not only in prosperity, but also in a vile character. Luzhin is only interested in his own benefit, which he sees everywhere. Luzhin also decides to marry Raskolnikov's sister not out of love, but out of his own calculation. Luzhin dreams of a poor, but beautiful and educated bride who would become a slave for him: “He thought with rapture, in the deepest secret, of a well-behaved and poor girl (certainly poor) ... who would consider him her salvation all her life, revere him , obeyed, marveled at him, and only him alone…”. Thus, the author of Crime and Punishment introduces such a character as Luzhin to show that a person with selfish thoughts will never be happy.

Thus, the "little people" in the novel "Crime and Punishment" differ from similar characters of other writers. But each of them is present in the novel in order to reveal the image more deeply as the image of the protagonist, and to better show the storylines.

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"We all came out of Gogol's "Overcoat"" F. Dostoevsky ... The department did not show him any respect. The watchmen not only did not get up when he passed, but did not even look at him, as if a simple fly had flown through the waiting room. The young officials laughed at him and made fun of him, to the extent that clerical wit was enough, they told him right there in front of him various stories compiled about him; about his mistress, a seventy-year-old woman, they said that she beat him, asked when their wedding would be, they poured pieces of paper on his head, calling it snow. But Akaky Akakievich did not answer a single word to this ... Only if the joke was too unbearable, he said: “Leave me, why are you offending me?”

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Lesson topic: Depiction of human suffering in F.M. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment"

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Work plan 1. Quiz "Are you an attentive reader"? (1 part of the novel) 2. Your impressions of what you read. 3. Analysis of the content of chapter 1. Work on the table. 4. Analysis of the content of Chapter 2. Notes in notebooks. 5. Independent work (written answer to the question) 6. Conclusions. Notes in notebooks.

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Are you an attentive reader? 1. The action of the novel "Crime and Punishment" begins in late autumn. 2. Raskolnikov went to test his enterprise. 3. Leaving Alena Ivanovna, Raskolnikov enters the tavern and meets Marmeladov, the titular adviser. 4. Returning home, Raskolnikov reads a letter written to him by his sister Avdotya Romanovna. 5. Raskolnikov learns from a letter that his sister Dunya is going to marry Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin for love. 6. Having met a drunk girl on the street, the hero decided to help her get home. 7. Raskolnikov went to Razumikhin, one of his former university comrades, but changed his mind. 7. Before the crime, Raskolnikov has two dreams. 8. About a year ago, Rodion involuntarily overheard a conversation between a student and an officer in a tavern about an old pawnbroker and Lizaveta. 9. Raskolnikov conceived and committed the murder of an old pawnbroker and her sister Lizaveta.

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The plan of the first part of the novel 1. Acquaintance with Raskolnikov (chapter 1). 2 Confession of Marmeladov (chapter 2). 3. Letter to mother (3-4 chapters). 4. Meeting with a drunk girl on the boulevard (4 chapter). 5. Raskolnikov's dreams before the murder (5-6 chapters). 6. A conversation between a student and an officer in a tavern, overheard by Raskolnikov (chapter 6). 7. Murder of the pawnbroker and her sister Lizaveta (Chapter 7).

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Acquaintance with the hero “At the beginning of July, in an extremely hot time, in the evening, one young man came out of his closet, which he hired from tenants in S-m Lane ...” Sennaya Square

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Rodion Raskolnikov ... For some time he was in an irritable and tense state, similar to hypochondria. He was so deep in himself and retired from everyone that he was afraid of even any meeting, not only a meeting with the hostess. He was crushed by poverty; but even his cramped situation had ceased to weigh him down lately. He completely stopped his vital affairs and did not want to deal with ... ... By the way, he was remarkably good-looking, with beautiful dark eyes, dark Russian, taller than average, thin and slender.

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Rodion Raskolnikov What causes sympathy? What causes dislike for him? remarkably good-looking gloomy engaged diligently unsociable responsiveness to someone else's grief secretive loves mother and sister arrogant thirst for goodness and justice treats people with contempt

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There are other meetings ... He was a man already in his fifties, of medium height and dense build, with gray hair and a large bald head, with a yellow, even greenish face swollen from constant drunkenness and with swollen eyelids, because of which tiny, like slits, shone but animated reddish eyes. But there was something very strange about him...

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After all, it is necessary that every person at least somewhere could go. But poverty, sir, poverty is a vice. In poverty, you still retain your nobility of innate feelings; in poverty, no one ever does. For poverty, they are not even kicked out with a stick, but swept out of human company with a broom, so that it would be all the more insulting ... And hence the drinking! Even if I am a scoundrel, she is full of high hearts and feelings ennobled by upbringing. And meanwhile... oh, if only she had pity on me! Gracious sir, merciful sir, after all, it is necessary that every person should have at least one such place where he would be pitied! But... such is already my trait, and I am born cattle! For this I drink, that in this drink I seek compassion and feelings. I'm not looking for fun, but I'm looking for a single sorrow ... I drink, because I want to suffer purely! Well, who would be sorry for someone like me?

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The reasons for the death of Marmeladov are social (poverty, poverty) moral and psychological (no support in the family) philosophical (“I am born cattle”)

In his socio-psychological novel Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky reveals one of the main themes of his work - the theme of the "little man". It seems to me that Dostoevsky wants to show that the injustice of Petersburg society leads to the division of people into those who have power and into people of low classes, "little people." Thus, Semyon Marmeladov, Katerina Ivanovna, Sonechka, even Rodion himself are humiliated and insulted people.

Let's start with Marmeladov. He, once a titular adviser, "always respected education, combined with cordial feelings." But what did fate do to him? Marmeladov was overtaken by poverty. Marmeladov was a weak man, he could not provide for his family with anything. He lost his job due to staff cuts, he could not find a new one, and drinking was easier than doing anything. So he drank himself and was a regular visitor to the pubs of St. Petersburg. He did not appear at home, so as not to listen to his wife's reproaches, which, as he himself understood, were fair. I believe he hated himself, and he would like to change his life, but he did not have enough willpower to cope with the blows of fate.

As for Katerina Ivanovna, then, personally, I do not consider her a fallen woman. In my opinion, she became a hostage to circumstances: her husband drinks, there is no money, children need to be brought up and fed. All this affected her physical and psychological health. But, despite this, and being a special educated and staff officer's daughter, she was pleased with the city, did not tolerate the insults of Lebezyatnikov and Amalia Lippevechsel. She loved cleanliness, was hardworking, and even washed the things of her husband and children at night so that they would walk in clean clothes the next day. I believe that her life was full of injustices and suffering that she did not deserve.

And Sonya, that poor dear girl, how much she has endured in her 18 years of life! Sonya could not stand the reproaches of her stepmother and she had the only way out. She went on a yellow ticket to save her family. But how much did it cost her. Not only did she “serve” people, she also often listened to insults from her superiors. The only salvation for Sonya and other "little people" in this novel is faith - faith in God, faith in better times.

Dunechka and Pulcheria Alexandrovna are also humiliated and insulted, as they had to endure Marfa Petrovna's slander, and then Luzhin's insults. And they couldn't do anything about it. The main feature of all the "little people" in Dostoevsky's work is helplessness. They are all oppressed by more powerful individuals, but there is nothing they can do about it.

And finally, Rodion Raskolnikov, a poor former student, entangled in himself. In his mind, he was Napoleon, a great man, but in fact he belongs to the category of "little people." Although he is smart and educated, he lacks what is inherent in worthy people - goals. Rodion did not have a main goal in life, he swam with the flow of fate, he did not want to study, he did not want to work either, he was not looking for love. He wanted to make money in an easy way, but he himself did not understand what to do next. With thoughts of killing the old woman, he forgot what he lives for.

In conclusion, I would like to mention that Dostoevsky himself was not from the circle of these “little” people, but he was able to understand their fate and spiritual experiences in such a way that you involuntarily begin to understand that Dostoevsky is a master in revealing the secrets of the human soul.

F. M. Dostoevsky in his work showed the immensity of the suffering of humiliated and insulted people and expressed great pain for this suffering. The writer himself was humiliated and offended by the terrible reality that broke the fate of his heroes. Each of his works looks like a personal bitter confession. This is how the novel "Crime and Punishment" is perceived. It reflects a desperate protest against the cruel reality that crushed millions of people, just as the unfortunate Marmeladov was crushed to death.
The story of the moral struggle of the protagonist of the novel, Rodion Raskolnikov, unfolds against the backdrop of the daily life of the city. The description of Petersburg in the novel makes a depressing impression. Dirty, stinky, stuffy everywhere. Drunken cries are heard from the taverns, poorly dressed people are crowding on the boulevards and squares: attracted no one's arrogant attention to themselves, and it was possible to walk around in any form you like without scandalizing anyone. Raskolnikov is one of this crowd: “He was so poorly dressed that another, even a familiar person, would be ashamed to go out into the street in such rags during the day.”
The life of the other heroes of the novel is also terrible - the drunken official Marmeladov, his wife Katerina Ivanovna, who is dying of consumption, Raskolnikov's mother and sister, who are being bullied by landowners and rich people.
Dostoevsky depicts various shades of psychological experiences of a poor man who has nothing to pay for an apartment to his master. The writer shows the torment of children growing up in a dirty corner next to a drunken father and dying mother, amidst constant strife and quarrels; the tragedy of a young and pure girl, who, due to the hopeless situation of her family, is forced to start selling herself and doom herself to constant humiliation.
However, Dostoevsky is not limited to describing everyday phenomena and facts of horrific reality. He seems to connect them with the image of the complex characters of the heroes of the novel. The writer seeks to show that the everyday everyday life of the city gives rise not only to material poverty and lack of rights, but also cripples the psychology of people. Driven to despair, “little people” begin to have various fantastic “ideas”, no less nightmarish than the reality surrounding them.
Such is Raskolnikov's "idea" about Napoleons and "trembling creatures", "ordinary" and "extraordinary" people. Dostoevsky shows how this philosophy is born from life itself, under the influence of the terrifying existence of “little people”.
But not only the fate of Raskolnikov is made up of tragic trials and painful searches for a way out of this situation. The life of other heroes of the novel - Marmeladov, Sonya, and Dunya - is also deeply tragic.
The heroes of the novel are painfully aware of the hopelessness of their situation and all the cruelty of reality. “After all, it is necessary that every person at least somewhere could go. For there is a time when it is absolutely necessary to go at least somewhere!., after all, it is necessary that every person should have at least one such place where he would be pitied!.. Do you understand, do you understand ... what does it mean, when there is nowhere else to go?..” - from these words of Marmeladov, sounding like a cry for salvation, the heart of every reader shrinks. In fact, they express the main idea of ​​the novel. This is the cry of the soul of a man, exhausted, crushed by his inevitable fate.
The protagonist of the novel feels a close connection with all the humiliated and suffering people, feels a moral responsibility to them. The fates of Sonya Marmeladova and Dunya are connected in his mind into one knot of social and moral problems. After the crime, Raskolnikov is overcome by despair and anxiety. He experiences fear, hatred for his persecutors, horror before a perfect and irreparable deed. And then he begins to look at other people more carefully than before, to compare his fate with theirs.
Raskolnikov brings the fate of Sonya closer to his own, in her behavior and attitude to life, he begins to look for a solution to the questions that torment him.
Sonya Marmeladova appears in the novel as the bearer of the moral ideals of millions of "humiliated and offended". Like Raskolnikov, Sonya is a victim of the existing unfair order of things. The drunkenness of her father, the suffering of her stepmother, brother and sisters, doomed to hunger and poverty, forced her, like Raskolnikov, to cross the line of morality. She begins to sell her body, gives herself up to the vile and depraved world. But, unlike Raskolnikov, she is firmly convinced that no hardships of life can justify violence and crime. Sonya calls on Raskolnikov to abandon the morality of the “superman” in order to steadfastly connect his fate with the fate of suffering and oppressed humanity and thereby atone for his guilt before him.
"Little people" in Dostoevsky's novel, despite the gravity of their position, prefer to be victims rather than executioners. Better to be crushed than to crush others! The main character gradually comes to this conclusion. At the end of the novel, we see him on the threshold of a "new life", "a gradual transition from one world to another, acquaintance with a new, hitherto completely unknown reality."