"The Stationmaster", an analysis of Pushkin's story. Analysis of the work "station guard" by Pushkin

Tale " Stationmaster"is included in Pushkin's cycle of stories" Belkin's Tale ", published as a collection in 1831.

Work on the stories was carried out in the famous "Boldino autumn" - the time when Pushkin came to the Boldino family estate to quickly resolve financial issues, and stayed for the whole autumn because of the cholera epidemic that broke out in the vicinity. It seemed to the writer that there would be no more boring time, but inspiration suddenly appeared, and the stories began to come out from under his pen one after another. So, on September 9, 1830, the story “The Undertaker” ended, on September 14, “The Stationmaster” was ready, and on September 20, he finished “The Young Lady-Peasant Woman”. Then a short creative break followed, and in the new year the stories were published. The stories were republished in 1834 under the original authorship.

Analysis of the work

Genre, theme, composition

The researchers note that The Stationmaster is written in the genre of sentimentalism, but there are many moments in the story that demonstrate the skill of Pushkin as a romantic and realist. The writer deliberately chose a sentimental manner of narration (more precisely, he put sentimental notes into the voice of his hero-narrator, Ivan Belkin), in accordance with the content of the story.

Thematically, The Stationmaster is very multifaceted, despite the small content:

• topic romantic love(with an escape from his father's house and following his beloved against his parents' will),
• the theme of the search for happiness,
• the theme of fathers and children,
• topic " little man» - greatest theme for the followers of Pushkin, Russian realists.

The thematic multilevel nature of the work allows us to call it a miniature novel. The story is much more complex and expressive in terms of meaning than a typical sentimental work. There are many issues raised here, in addition to the general theme of love.

Compositionally, the story is built in accordance with the rest of the stories - a fictional narrator talks about the fate of the stationmasters, people downtrodden and in the lowest positions, then tells a story that happened about 10 years ago, and its continuation. The way it starts

"The Stationmaster" (reasoning-beginning, in the style sentimental journey), indicates that the work belongs to the sentimental genre, but later at the end of the work there is a severity of realism.

Belkin reports that station employees are people of a difficult lot who are treated impolitely, perceived as servants, complained and rude to them. One of the caretakers, Samson Vyrin, was sympathetic to Belkin. It was peaceful and kind person, with a sad fate - own daughter, tired of living at the station, ran away with the hussar Minsky. The hussar, according to his father, could only make her a kept woman, and now, 3 years after the escape, he does not know what to think, because the fate of seduced young fools is terrible. Vyrin went to St. Petersburg, tried to find his daughter and return her, but could not - Minsky sent him out. The fact that the daughter does not live with Minsky, but separately, clearly indicates her status as a kept woman.

The author, who personally knew Dunya as a 14-year-old girl, empathizes with her father. Soon he learns that Vyrin has died. Even later, having visited the station where the late Vyrin once worked, he learns that his daughter came home with three children. She cried for a long time at her father's grave and left, rewarding a local boy who showed her the way to the old man's grave.

Heroes of the work

There are two main characters in the story: a father and a daughter.

Samson Vyrin is a diligent worker and a father who tenderly loves his daughter, raising her alone.

Samson is a typical "little man" who has no illusions both about himself (he is perfectly aware of his place in this world) and about his daughter (neither a brilliant party nor sudden smiles of fate shine like her). Life position Samson - humility. His life and the life of his daughter are and should be on a modest corner of the earth, a station cut off from the rest of the world. Beautiful princes do not meet here, and if they are shown on the horizon, they promise girls only a fall and danger.

When Dunya disappears, Samson cannot believe it. Although matters of honor are important to him, love for his daughter is more important, so he goes to look for her, pick her up and return her. He draws scary pictures misfortunes, it seems to him that now his Dunya is sweeping the streets somewhere, and it is better to die than to drag out such a miserable existence.

Dunya

In contrast to his father, Dunya is a more determined and steadfast being. The sudden feeling for the hussar is rather a heightened attempt to break out of the wilderness in which she vegetated. Dunya decides to leave her father, even if this step is not easy for her (she allegedly delays the trip to church, leaves, according to witnesses, in tears). It is not entirely clear how Dunya's life turned out, and in the end she became the wife of Minsky or someone else. Old man Vyrin saw that Minsky rented a separate apartment for Dunya, and this clearly indicated her status as a kept woman, and even when she met her father, Dunya looked at Minsky “significantly” and sadly, then fainted. Minsky pushed Vyrin out, preventing him from communicating with Dunya - apparently, he was afraid that Dunya would return with his father, and apparently she was ready for this. One way or another, Dunya achieved happiness - she is rich, she has six horses, servants and, most importantly, three “barchats”, so for her justified risk, one can only rejoice. The only thing she will never forgive herself is the death of her father, who brought his death closer with a strong longing for his daughter. At the grave of the father, come belated repentance to the woman.

Characteristics of the work

The story is riddled with symbolism. The very name "station master" in Pushkin's time had the same shade of irony and slight contempt that we put today in the words "conductor" or "watchman". This means a small person, capable of looking like servants in the eyes of others, working for a penny, not seeing the world.

Thus, the stationmaster is a symbol of a “humiliated and insulted” person, a bug for the mercantile and powerful.

The symbolism of the story manifested itself in the painting that adorns the wall of the house - this is “The Return prodigal son". The stationmaster longed for only one thing - the embodiment of the scenario of the biblical story, as in this picture: Dunya could return to him in any status and in any form. Her father would have forgiven her, would have humbled himself, as he had humbled himself all his life under the circumstances of a fate that was merciless to "little people."

"The Stationmaster" predetermined the development of domestic realism in the direction of works that defend the honor of the "humiliated and insulted." The image of Vyrin's father is deeply realistic, strikingly capacious. This is a small man with a huge range of feelings and with every right to respect for his honor and dignity.

Themes, storylines, direction

In the cycle, the story "The Stationmaster" is the compositional center, the peak. It is based on character traits literary Russian realism and sentimentalism. The expressiveness of the work, the plot, the capacious, complex theme give the right to call it a novel in miniature. This, it would seem, simple story about ordinary people, however, everyday circumstances that interfered in the fate of the characters make the semantic load of the story more difficult. Alexander Sergeevich, in addition to the romantic thematic line, reveals the theme of happiness in the broadest sense of the word. Fate gives a person happiness sometimes not when you expect it, following the generally accepted morality, worldly foundations. This requires both a fortunate combination of circumstances and the subsequent struggle for happiness, even if it seems impossible.

Description of the life of Samson Vyrin is inextricably linked with philosophical thought the entire cycle of stories. His perception of the world and life is reflected in the pictures with German poems hung on the walls of his dwelling. The narrator describes the content of these pictures, which depicts biblical legend about the prodigal son. Vyrin also perceives and experiences what happened to his daughter through the prism of the images surrounding him. He hopes that Dunya will return to him, but she did not return. Life experience Vyrina tells him that his child will be deceived and abandoned. The stationmaster is a “little man” who has become a toy in the hands of the greedy, mercenary sowers of the world, for whom the emptiness of the soul is more terrible than material poverty, for whom honor is above all.

The narration comes from the lips of a titular adviser, whose name is hidden behind the initials A. G. N. In turn, this story was “transferred” to the narrator by Vyrin himself and a “red-haired and crooked” boy. The plot of the drama is the secret departure of Dunya with a little-known hussar to Petersburg. Dunya's father tries to turn back time in order to save his daughter from what he sees as "death". The story of the titular adviser takes us to St. Petersburg, where Vyrin is trying to find his daughter, and the mournful ending shows us the grave of the caretaker outside the outskirts. The destiny of the "little man" is humility. The irreparability of the current situation, hopelessness, despair, indifference finish off the caretaker. Dunya asks for forgiveness from her father at his grave, her repentance is belated.

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The story "The Stationmaster", written by A. S. Pushkin, belongs to the cycle. it small work showing a lifetime common man- the stationmaster and his daughter, was written in September 1830, and the beginning of her story dates back to 1816. realistic in content. Pushkin laid the foundations of creative realism with some of his works.

The essence of the conflict lies in the fact that people who are on a higher social level, or who have money, break the fate of those who are not protected by their superiors.

Narratives:

• Ivan Belkin acting as narrator
• Samson Vyrin, caretaker,
• Dunya, his daughter.

Heroes of the second plan:

• Hussar Minsky,
• The doctor who treated Minsky at the station
• A red-haired boy who told about the arrival of the lady at the grave of Samson Vyrin.

The main character of this work remains a small man - the stationmaster. It is no coincidence that the epigraph is dedicated specifically to a person of this profession - "College registrar, dictator of the Postal Station." AT Tsarist Russia there were ranks not only on military service, but also on the civil. There were 14 civil ranks in total. The collegiate registrar is the latest.

The author of the story, Ivan Belkin, arrived at the postal station, where he must change horses and move on. He has to travel a lot around Russia, he talked with various representatives this profession, and he had his own idea of ​​​​their service. The narrator sympathizes with the caretakers.

When he arrived at the station, it was pouring rain, which managed to soak the author to the skin. He decided to stay here to change and warm up. He was struck by the extraordinary beauty of the caretaker's daughter. The girl boiled the samovar, prepared tea, over which Ivan Belkin talked with the caretaker. The old man was proud of his daughter, who watched over the premises of the station and helped her father deal with the passers-by.

The next time Ivan Belkin came to this station 3-4 years later. He no longer found Dunya. It struck him how much Samson Vyrin had aged. The old man did not want to talk about his daughter, but the punch offered by the author of the story loosened the tongue of the caretaker and he told Belkin his sad story.

Once a hussar was passing through the station. Seeing the girl, he fell in love with her at first sight, pretended to be sick and spent three days in bed at the station. Dunya looked after him. When he was about to leave, the hussar suggested that Dunya drive to the church, and he himself took the girl to St. Petersburg. Once the caretaker got ready and went to St. Petersburg on foot. He found his daughter, but the hussar did not allow the old man to meet Dunya. The caretaker returned to the station, but his spirits dropped and he began to drink. The once cozy and neat station has acquired a casual look.

A few years later, this station was closed. Having visited these places, Belkin decided to visit the old caretaker, learned about his death, and that Dunya, the “beautiful lady”, visited her father’s grave and cried for a long time on it. She gave money to the priest for the commemoration of the soul and donated a silver nickel to the boy who accompanied her to the cemetery.

Looking around the station on his first visit, Belkin draws attention to a series of pictures "The Return of the Prodigal Son" hanging on the wall. This biblical theme only partly consonant with subsequent events. The prodigal daughter returns, being a beautiful lady, the mother of charming sons, but she does not find her father alive.

It can be assumed that Duna had enough intelligence and a little female cunning to force the hussar Minsky to marry her, but she did not immediately become his wife. By the time Samson Vyrin came to St. Petersburg, she was still a kept hussar, and did not live in his house. Minsky rented an apartment for the girl. Father's anxiety was not groundless, it was based on life experience. Not every poor girl, especially one taken away in this way, manages to become a wife and society lady. Perhaps if Samson Vyrin could have assumed that his daughter was happy, he himself would not have allowed himself to lose heart.

"Station Master" analysis of the work - theme, idea, genre, plot, composition, heroes, problems and other issues are disclosed in this article.

History of creation

On September 14, 1830, Alexander Sergeevich finished one of the stories in the cycle "Tales of the late Ivan Petrovich Belkin" under the title « » . The period in which Pushkin completed the story is called the Boldin autumn. In those months, Alexander Sergeevich was in Boldino, where he was “led” by the need to resolve financial issues. Caught by the cholera epidemic, forced to stay in Boldino much longer than planned, Pushkin created a whole galaxy of works, which were later recognized as the pearls of the poet's work. Boldin autumn has become truly golden in the artist's work.

Belkin's Tales was Pushkin's first completed work. They were published under the name fictional character Ivan Petrovich Belkin, who fell ill with a fever that developed into a fever, and died in 1828. Pushkin, as a "publisher", talks about him in the preface to the stories. The cycle saw the light in the middle of autumn 1831. With an indication of the true authorship, the stories were published in 1834. The Stationmaster played a big role in the development of Russian literature, occupying significant place, telling almost for the first time about the hardships of the fate of that very “little man”, about the humiliations and hardships that fall to his lot. It was the "Station Master" who became reference point for a string of Russians literary works addressed to the theme of "humiliated and offended".

Subject, storylines, direction

In the cycle, the story "The Stationmaster" is the compositional center, the peak. It is based on the characteristic features of Russian literary realism and sentimentalism. The expressiveness of the work, the plot, the capacious, complex theme give the right to call it a novel in miniature. This, it would seem, is a simple story about ordinary people, however, everyday circumstances that intervened in the fate of the characters make the semantic load of the story more difficult. Alexander Sergeevich, in addition to the romantic thematic line, reveals the theme of happiness in the broadest sense of the word. Fate gives a person happiness sometimes not when you expect it, following the generally accepted morality, worldly foundations. This requires both a fortunate combination of circumstances and the subsequent struggle for happiness, even if it seems impossible.

The description of the life of Samson Vyrin is inextricably linked with the philosophical thought of the entire cycle of stories. His perception of the world and life is reflected in the pictures with German poems hung on the walls of his dwelling. The narrator describes the content of these pictures, which depict the biblical legend of the prodigal son. Vyrin also perceives and experiences what happened to his daughter through the prism of the images surrounding him. He hopes that Dunya will return to him, but she did not return. Vyrin's life experience tells him that his child will be deceived and abandoned. The stationmaster is a “little man” who has become a toy in the hands of the greedy, mercenary sowers of the world, for whom the emptiness of the soul is more terrible than material poverty, for whom honor is above all.

The narration comes from the lips of a titular adviser, whose name is hidden behind the initials A. G. N. In turn, this story was “transferred” to the narrator by Vyrin himself and a “red-haired and crooked” boy. The plot of the drama is the secret departure of Dunya with a little-known hussar to Petersburg. Dunya's father tries to turn back time in order to save his daughter from what he sees as "death". The story of the titular adviser takes us to St. Petersburg, where Vyrin is trying to find his daughter, and the mournful ending shows us the grave of the caretaker outside the outskirts. The destiny of the "little man" is humility. The irreparability of the current situation, hopelessness, despair, indifference finish off the caretaker. Dunya asks for forgiveness from her father at his grave, her repentance is belated.

The plot of the story "The Stationmaster" is based on a case from ordinary life. For the reader, the situation is simple and recognizable: a postal station located in the middle of nowhere, a monotonous, tiresome bustle, endless people passing by. Pushkin chooses as an epigraph a playful poetic statement of his friend, the poet Prince P.A. Vyazemsky:

collegiate registrar,

Post station dictator.

However, this epigraph emphasizes the serious tone of the story, expressing deep sympathy for the fate of the stationmaster, an official of the lowest - fourteenth - class Samson Vyrin. Plot intrigue The story is that a passing hussar takes away with him the only daughter of Vyrin, the light and meaning of his whole bleak life - Dunya. This incident was very ordinary, not distinguished by anything from among the same innumerable misfortunes that await a person. However, the purpose of the story is different: not to capture one of them, but to show the fate of the father and daughter in a changing time.

Pushkin called his story "The Stationmaster", wanting to emphasize that its main character is Samson Vyrin and that the idea of ​​the story is connected primarily with him. The image of Samson Vyrin opens in Russian classical literature the theme of the "little man", developed later by Pushkin himself in the poem " Bronze Horseman"(1833) and continued by N.V. Gogol, first of all, in the story "The Overcoat" (1842). The theme of the "little man" received in Russian literature further development in the prose of I.S. Turgenev and F.M. Dostoevsky, gradually replacing the literature of the nobility and creating the basis for works about the hero - a representative of the general population, "the man of the majority". Therefore, the author, describing on the first pages of the story low social status hero, calls to pay close attention to him as a person. This caused an ironic argument about “what would happen to us if, instead of the generally convenient rule, honor the rank of rank, another was introduced, for example: honor the mind of the mind? What controversy would arise!

The name of the hero - Samson Vyrin - was compiled by the author in order to express his attitude to the personality and character of this person. The combination of the heroic biblical name Samson, who accomplished outstanding feats, and the ordinary, inexpressive surname Vyrin expresses the author's idea that, despite the low origin of the hero, he is characterized by high, noble feelings. He selflessly loves his daughter, while caring only about her well-being. It also preserves pride and dignity. Let us recall what his natural reaction was when the hussar shoved money into the cuff of his sleeve, as if paying off the old man.

The events of the story "The Stationmaster" by Pushkin do not take place in front of the reader, he learns them from the narrator, who acts both as a narrator and as a hero of the work. The exposition, or prologue, of the work includes two parts: the narrator's reasoning about the fate of the stationmasters, allowing the writer to use it both to characterize the time, the state of the roads, morals, and to represent a specific place of action. Three times the hero-narrator arrives at the station, which was located on the "road, now destroyed", as well as the memory of the people who once lived there. Thus, the story of the main events itself consists of three parts, like a triptych - a three-part picturesque picture. The first part is an acquaintance with the inhabitants of the postal station, a picture of a peaceful, unclouded life; the second is the sad story of the old man about the misfortune that befell him, and about the fate that fell to Dunya; the third part conveys the picture rural cemetery, acting as an epilogue. Such a composition gives the story a philosophical character.

An important role in the story "The Stationmaster" is played by the seasons. This is how the story of the events begins: “In the year 1816, in the month of May, I happened to pass through the *** province ...” This is how the narrative is introduced, as if the beginning of life is depicted. The description of the weather also corresponds to this, everything around is full of strength and energy: “It was a hot day. Three miles from the station, *** began to drip, and a minute later the pouring rain soaked me to the last thread. And here is the last arrival of the hero-narrator, the end of the story: “It happened in the fall. Greyish clouds covered the sky; cold wind blew from the reaped fields, blowing red and yellow leaves from oncoming trees. This landscape sketch symbolizes past life, dying. So the epilogue becomes a philosophical commentary on the story.

The content of the story "The Stationmaster" correlates with the parable of the prodigal son. The narrator sees pictures depicting this plot on the walls of Vyrin's room. The story of the prodigal son from the Bible tells us about the eternal situation in the life of a person who, without blessing, leaves parental home, makes mistakes, pays for them and returns to his father's house. Pushkin describes this story with light humor, but humor serves not to express a mocking attitude, but to focus on the right moments. For example, "... a venerable old man in a cap and dressing gown releases a restless young man, who hastily accepts his blessing and a bag of money." In this scene, Pushkin draws the reader's attention to two circumstances: the young man "hurriedly" accepts everything from his father, because he is in a hurry to start an independent and happy life, and the young man with the same haste accepts "a blessing and a bag of money", as if they are equivalent to a person. Thus, the whole story is built on a wise and eternal history about human life, the irreversible flow of time and the inevitability of change.