A little person or a creative person. The history of the image of the “little man” in world literature and its writers
MBOU secondary school No. 44
RESEARCH LESSON (2 hours)
Research topic:
(based on the works of A.S. Pushkin, N.V. Gogol and F.M. Dostoevsky).
Literature lessons in 10th grade
The lesson was developed by a teacher of Russian language and literature
SARKISOVA GULNAZ YAMILEVNA
RESEARCH LESSON (2 hours)
SLIDE 1. Research topic:“Little Man”: type or personality?
(literature lessons in 10th grade
based on the works of A.S. Pushkin, N.V. Gogol and F.M. Dostoevsky)
SLIDE 2
My essay is much more important and
more significant than one might expect
its beginning... I can die of hunger, but not
I will betray the reckless, rash
creations...
N.V.Gogol
SLIDE 3Man is a mystery. It must be solved, and if
it will take you a lifetime to solve, then don’t say that
lost time; I'm dealing with this mystery because
I want to be a human...
F. M. Dostoevsky.
SLIDE 9
Lesson objectives:
improve the literary skills of high school students;
develop skills in analyzing literary texts;
develop the research culture of tenth graders;
to cultivate respect for the human person;
instill reader interest in the works of writers.
Lesson objectives:
organize activities to compile thematic features of a literary type;
highlight common and different features in the depiction of the “little man” in the works of Pushkin, Gogol and Dostoevsky;
improve the vision of the relationship between the image system and the genre features of the work;
ensure the implementation of group partial search tasks based on the comparison of different literary texts.
PROGRESS OF THE 1ST LESSON.
Org. moment.
Teacher's opening speech.
The theme of the “little man” was developed through suffering in Russian literature of the first half of the 19th century.
century. Prove or dispute this thesis.
SLIDES 4, 5, 6, 7
3. Work on receiving PCS (I know, I want to know, I found out)
(It turns out that students know what they want to know about the topic, then work with the text for 3 minutes and the table is filled in in the “Learned” column. After the discussion, the “I want to know - 2” column is filled in
“We know - we want to know - we found out” (Appendix 2)
Found out( new sources of information)
TEXT FOR WORK on receiving “ZHU” (Appendix 3)
The theme of depicting a “little man” is not new in Russian literature of that time. Pushkin can be considered the predecessor of these three writers in the depiction of “little people”. His Samson Vyrin in the story “The Station Warden” precisely represents the petty bureaucracy of that time. Then this theme was brilliantly continued by N.V. Gogol in “The Overcoat,” where the now classic type of “little man” Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin is shown. A direct continuation of this character is Makar Devushkin in “Poor People” by F.M. Dostoevsky
Pushkin is the greatest writer of the nineteenth century, who, if not the founder, then significantly developed such a trend in Russian literature as realism. It is generally interesting to trace Pushkin’s influence on other writers.
1. Pushkin and Gogol.
Pushkin was one of the first to give a positive assessment of N.V. Gogol’s book “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka.” He wrote in a letter to Voeikov: “I just read “Evenings near Dikanka.” They amazed me. This is real gaiety, sincere, relaxed, without affectation, without stiffness. And in places what poetry, what sensitivity! All this is so unusual in our literature that I still haven’t come to my senses. ... I congratulate the public on a truly fun book, and I sincerely wish the author further success.”
In May 1831, Gogol met Pushkin at an evening with Pletnev. According to Gogol himself, it was Pushkin who first identified the uniqueness of his talent: “They talked a lot about me, analyzing some of my aspects, but they did not define my main essence. Only Pushkin heard it. He told me that not a single writer has yet had this gift of exposing the vulgarity of life so clearly, of being able to outline the vulgarity of a vulgar person with such force, so that all the little things that escaped the eye would flash large in everyone’s eyes.”
It was Pushkin who told Gogol a story that happened to him in one of the district towns, which later formed the basis of the comedy “The Inspector General.”
2. Pushkin and Dostoevsky.
From an early age, Dostoevsky fell in love with Pushkin’s work and knew almost everything by heart, thanks to the fact that the Dostoevsky family held family readings in the evenings and Dostoevsky’s mother was very fond of Pushkin’s work.
3. Dostoevsky and Gogol.
F. M. Dostoevsky repeatedly said that he continues the traditions of Gogol (“We all came from Gogol’s “Overcoat”).” N. A. Nekrasov, having become acquainted with the first work of F. M. Dostoevsky, handed over the manuscripts to V. Belinsky with the words: “The new Gogol has appeared!” F.M. Dostoevsky continued
F. M. Dostoevsky not only continues traditions, but passionately protests against indifference and indifference to the fate of “poor people.” He argues that every person has the right to empathy and compassion. V. G. Belinsky saw a deep understanding and highly artistic reproduction of the tragic sides of life in “Poor People”: “Honor and glory to the young poet, whose muse loves people in attics and basements and speaks about them to the inhabitants of gilded chambers: “After all, these are also people, your brothers!
Slide 8: “Honor and glory to the young poet, whose muse loves people in attics and basements and speaks about them to the inhabitants of the gilded chambers: “After all, these are also people, your brothers!”
V. G. Belinsky.
Filling out the “Little Man” cluster (Appendix 4)
(One representative from each group comes out and fills the cluster with the name of the hero, author and title of the work)
"Little people"
A.S. Pushkin, story The Station Warden”, Samson Vyrin
F. M. Dostoevsky, novel “Poor People”, Makar Devushkin
N.V. Gogol, story “The Overcoat”, Akakiy Akakievich Bashmachkin
5. Updating the research topic:
depiction of the “little man” in the works of three writers.
So, we are faced with the task: to determine the common features and find the differences in the depiction of the “little man” in the works of three different writers.
Teacher's word:
* What social conditions are the main characters of the works under consideration?
* Their education.
* Financial situation.
* Position held, rank.
(It is possible to use the “Cluster” technique)
Thus, in the works of all three writers, the “little people” are in the same social conditions, have approximately the same education and financial situation. Almost all of them are minor officials, namely, titular councilors (the lowest rank of the 14-step career ladder). Thus, we can assume that they will have almost the same psychology and desires. Is this true? In order to answer this question, we must consider how each writer imagines the character and psychology of the “little man” individually.
For comparison, we use such heroes as Samson Vyrin (“The Station Warden” by A.S. Pushkin), Akakiy Akakievich (“The Overcoat” by Gogol), Makar Devushkin (“Poor People” by Dostoevsky). We must consider how each writer imagines the character and psychology of the “little man” individually.
6. Goal setting.
1) What is the meaning of the titles of the works in question?
2) What new did each writer bring to the topic?
3) What features of tradition and innovation are present in the images of the main characters?
4) How do the features of the genre convey ideological content?
You have correctly defined our path of working on the problem. These are our tasks.
To work effectively, we will split into groups. You are given 25 minutes to complete the task and discuss the results of your observations in the next lesson.
(The class is divided into groups to solve problems collectively.)
6. Independent work in groups according to plan:
Group 1: the meaning of the titles of the works;
Group 2: plot of the works under consideration. The main characters of the works, the conditions of their existence, the time of year of the events taking place.
Group 3: narrative form, genre features and ideological content;
Group 4 – analytical:
- What new did Pushkin’s followers bring to the topic?
What traits are characteristic of a “little man”?
LESSON 2
Collective dialogue
1. The meaning of the titles of the works.
Think about the meaning of the titles of the works and compare them.
(work of the 1st group)
(- The title “Station Warden” indicates the social position of the protagonist. “Overcoat” is the object of Bashmachkin’s worship, finding the meaning of existence, a way of self-affirmation.)
- Why is the title of Dostoevsky’s novel formulated in the plural?
- What word in the title does the logical stress fall on?
(- Dostoevsky emphasizes the word “people”, showing not only the poverty of the characters, but also their dreams, plans for changing their lives, caring for their neighbors, and a sense of dignity.)
2. The plot of the works under consideration. The main characters of the works, the conditions of their existence.
(work of 1 group)
1) Samson Vyrin from A.S. Pushkin’s story “The Station Warden.”
No one considers it necessary to take him into account, Vyrin is “a real martyr of the fourteenth class, protected by his rank only from beatings, and even then not always...” Dunya is the only thing that saves him from numerous conflicts (“it happened, master, no matter how angry wasn’t, he calms down in front of her and talks graciously to me,” says Vyrin), but she leaves her father at the first opportunity, because her own happiness is more valuable, when he appears in St. Petersburg, in Minsky’s house, she faints, which, however, it is easily explained by her fear, but she comes to her father, at the station, only many years later. The scene of Dunya crying at Vyrin’s grave is a symbolic unity of her with her father, a return to him. Until then, Vyrin remains a “small”, superfluous person.
A) Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin from the story “The Overcoat” by N.V. Gogol.
The poor official makes an important decision and orders an overcoat. While she is being sewn, she turns into his dream. The very first evening he puts it on, his overcoat is taken off by robbers on a dark street. The official dies of grief, and his ghost haunts the city.
In Gogol, the “little man” is entirely limited by his social status, and spiritually limited by it. These are the spiritual aspirations of Akaki Akakievich - life is calm, no changes. His family are his favorite letters, his “favorite” is his overcoat. He does not care about his appearance, which is also a reflection of a person’s self-esteem. Dostoevsky's Makar Devushkin only thinks about how the people around him might suspect him of not respecting himself, and this is also manifested externally: the famous tea with sugar is a way of self-affirmation for him. Whereas Akaki Akakievich denies himself not only sugar, but also boots.
Akaki Akakievich, of course, has feelings, but they are small and boil down to the joy of owning an overcoat. Only one feeling is huge in him - fear. According to Gogol, the system of social structure is to blame for this, and his “little man” dies not from humiliation and insult (although he is also humiliated), but from fear. Fear from the scoldings of a “significant person”. For Gogol, this “face” carries the evil of the system, especially since his scolding itself was a gesture of self-affirmation in front of his friends.
B) Petersburg in the story “The Overcoat”.
Find lines from the text that characterize the city.
What is said about the climate of St. Petersburg? How are the themes of cold in nature and in human relationships interconnected?
(The death of the hero in the midst of darkness and endless winter correlates with the darkness of madness that surrounded him all his life.)
A) Makar Devushkin from F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Poor People.”
The hero of the novel, Makar Devushkin, is a pathetic clerk-scribe who lives in a “supernumerary room,” or simply in a room separated by a partition from the kitchen. Devushkin is pathetic, no one wants to take him into account, therefore “after almost every word Devushkin looks back at his absent interlocutor, is afraid that they will think that he is complaining, tries in advance to destroy the impression that his message that he lives in kitchen. Devushkin feels his baseness and from time to time pronounces justifying monologues: “I’m not a burden to anyone! I have my own piece of bread, it’s true, a simple piece of bread, sometimes even stale, but it is there, obtained through labor, used legally and impeccably. Well, what to do! I myself know that I do a little by rewriting; Yes, I’m still proud of it: I work, I shed sweat. Well, what is there, really, that I’m rewriting! What, it’s a sin to rewrite, or what?”
Undoubtedly, Devushkin is a “little man.”
B) Description of the next home of Makar Alekseevich Devushkin:
“Well, what a slum I ended up in, Varvara Alekseevna. Well, it's an apartment! ...Imagine, roughly, a long corridor, completely dark and unclean. On his right hand there will be a blank wall, and on his left there will be doors and doors, like numbers, all stretching out like that. Well, they rent these rooms, and they have one room in each: they live in one and in twos and threes. Don't ask for order - Noah's Ark"
The St. Petersburg slum is transformed by Dostoevsky into a miniature and a symbol of the general Petersburg and, more broadly, universal human community. Indeed, in the slum-ark, almost all and every “category”, nationality and specialty of the capital’s population are represented - windows to Europe: “There is only one official (he is somewhere in the literary department), a well-read person: both about Homer and about Brambeus , and he talks about their various works, he talks about everything - an intelligent man! Two officers live and everyone plays cards. The midshipman lives; The English teacher lives. ... Our landlady is a very small and unclean old woman - all day long she wears shoes and a dressing gown and shouts at Teresa all day long.”
GENERALIZATION on question 2. Analytical work.
-Finish the sentence:
Landscape in the works of writers is used for …
( creating color; acts as a background against which events unfold; serves as an additional means for a more expressive depiction of characters. With the help of landscape, the authors more vividly and reliably reflect the state of hopelessness and loneliness of the “little man” in a big soulless city.)
3. Form of narration, features of the genre and ideological content of the works.
(work of the 3rd group)
Analyze the narrative form in “The Station Agent,” “The Overcoat,” and “Poor People.” Do we hear the speech of “little people” in these works?
In “The Overcoat” the narration is entrusted to the author, in “The Station Agent” the narrator speaks about the events. In “The Overcoat” we not only do not hear the hero’s monologues - the author openly states: “You need to know that Akaki Akakievich expressed himself mostly in prepositions, adverbs, and, finally, by such particles that absolutely have no meaning. If the matter was very difficult, then he even had the habit of not finishing the sentences at all...” In “The Station Agent,” the hero is entrusted with telling about his misadventures, but the reader learns this story from the narrator. From Vyrin’s lips come memories of Duna.
Dostoevsky shows the “little man” as a deeper personality than Samson Vyrin and Akaki Akakievich. The depth of the image is achieved, firstly, by other artistic means. "Poor People" is a novel in letters, in contrast to Gogol's and Pushkin's narratives. It is not by chance that Dostoevsky chooses this genre, because... The main goal of the writer is to convey and show all the internal movements and experiences of his hero. Dostoevsky invites us to feel, experience everything together with the hero and leads us to the idea that “little people” are not only individuals in the full sense of the word, but their sense of personality, their ambition is much greater even than that of people with a position in society. “Little people” are the most vulnerable, and
What’s scary for them is that everyone else won’t see a spiritually rich nature in them. Their own self-awareness also plays a huge role. The way they feel about themselves (do they feel like individuals) forces them to constantly assert themselves, even in their own eyes.
- Remember the name of the narrative form used by F.M. Dostoevsky in the novel “Poor People”?(Epistolary)
II . Teacher's word.
The ideological dispute between Gogol and Dostoevsky in the depiction of the “little man”.
So, if Dostoevsky’s “little man” lives by the thought and idea of realizing and affirming his own personality, then with Gogol, Dostoevsky’s predecessor, everything is different. Having realized Dostoevsky's concept, we can identify his main dispute with Gogol. Dostoevsky believed that Gogol’s genius lay in the fact that he purposefully defended the right to depict the “little man” as an object of literary research.Gogol depicts the “little man” in the same range of social problems as Dostoevsky, but Gogol’s stories were written earlier, naturally the conclusions were different, which prompted Dostoevsky to polemicize with him. Akakiy Akakievich gives the impression of a downtrodden, pitiful, narrow-minded person. Dostoevsky’s personality is that of a “little man”; his ambitions are much greater than his outwardly limiting social and financial situation. Dostoevsky emphasized that his hero’s self-esteem is much greater than that of people with position.
Dostoevsky himself brings a fundamentally new meaning to the concept of “poor people,” placing emphasis not on the word “poor,” but on the word “people.” The reader of the novel should not only be imbued with compassion for the heroes, he should see them as equals to himself. Being human "no worse than others"- both in their own eyes and in the eyes of those around them - this is what Devushkin himself, Varenka Dobroselova and other characters close to them in the novel most desire.
What does it mean for Devushkin to be equal to other people? What, in other words, is most dear to Dostoevsky’s little man, what is he vigilantly and painfully concerned about, what is he most afraid of losing?
The loss of personal feeling and self-respect is literally death for Dostoevsky’s hero. Their revival is a resurrection from the dead. This metamorphosis going back to the Gospel is experienced by Makar Devushkin in a terrible scene for him with “His Excellency,” about the culmination of which he tells Varenka:“At this point I feel like my last strength is leaving me, that everything, everything is lost! The whole reputation is lost, the whole person is gone.”
So, what, according to Dostoevsky, is the equality of his “little man” to all and every representative of society and humanity? He is equal to them not because of his poverty, which he shares with thousands of petty officials like him, and not because his nature, as adherents of the anthropological principle believed, is homogeneous with the nature of other people, but because he, like millions of people, is a creation of God Therefore, the phenomenon is initially valuable and unique. And in this sense, Personality. The author of “Poor People” examined and convincingly demonstrated this pathos of personality, overlooked by the moral writers of the natural school, in an environment and way of life, the beggarly and monotonous nature of which was supposed to completely neutralize the person living in them. This merit of the young writer cannot be explained only by his artistic insight. The creative discovery of the little man accomplished in “Poor People” could have taken place because Dostoevsky the artist was inseparable from Dostoevsky the Christian.
If you wish, you can draw the following analogy: Makar Devushkin refuses external benefits for himself only for the sake of his beloved, and Akaki Akakievich denies himself everything for the sake of buying an overcoat (as if for his beloved). But this comparison is somewhat vague, and this problem is certainly not the main one. Another detail is most important: both Dostoevsky and Gogol depict the life and death of their heroes. How do they die and from what do they both die? Of course, Dostoevsky’s Makar does not die, but he experiences spiritual death in the general’s office, sometimes he sees himself in the mirror and realizes his insignificance. This is the end for him. But when the general shakes his hand, he, the “drunkard,” as he calls himself, is reborn. They saw and recognized in him what he dreamed of. And it’s not the hundred rubles given by the general that makes him happy, but the handshake; With this gesture, the general “raises” him to his level, recognizes him as a man. So, for Makar Devushkin, death is the loss of human dignity. Gogol seems to be saying that you cannot lose what is not there, touch what is not there. Akaki Akakievich, of course, has feelings, but they are small and boil down to the joy of owning an overcoat. Only one feeling is huge in him - fear. According to Gogol, the system of social structure is to blame for this, and his “little man” dies not from humiliation and insult (although he is also humiliated), but from fear. Fear from the scoldings of a “significant person.” For Gogol, this “face” carries the evil of the system, especially since his scolding itself was a gesture of self-affirmation in front of his friends.
III . Work of group 4 – analytical:
- What new did Pushkin’s followers bring to the topic?
- What features are characteristic of a “little man”?
1) Gogol’s peculiarity is in the depiction of the “little man”.
Gogol says that you cannot lose what is not there, touch what is not there. Akaki Akakievich, of course, has feelings, but they are small and boil down to the joy of owning an overcoat. Only one feeling is huge in him - fear. According to Gogol, the system of social structure is to blame for this, and his “little man” dies not from humiliation and insult (although he is also humiliated), but from fear. Fear from the scoldings of a “significant person.” For Gogol, this “face” carries the evil of the system, especially since his scolding itself was a gesture of self-affirmation in front of his friends.
SLIDE 13
2) Dostoevsky’s innovation in the depiction of the “little man”.
- F.M. Dostoevsky continued researching the soul of the “little man”, delved into his inner world. The writer believed that the “little man” did not deserve such treatment as shown in many works. “Poor People” was the first novel in Russian literature where the “little man” spoke himself. In the novel “Poor People,” Dostoevsky sought to show that man by nature is a self-valued and free being and that no dependence on the environment can completely destroy in a person the consciousness of his own value.
SLIDE 15
3) Traits of a “little man” (make notes for the whole class in notebooks):
1. Low, disastrous, subordinate social position.
2. Suffering from the consciousness of one’s weaknesses and mistakes.
3. Underdevelopment of personality.
4. The severity of life experiences.
5. Awareness of oneself as a “little person” and the desire to assert one’s right to life.
SLIDE 14
IV . Demonstration of slides 11, 12 with quotes from Bakhtin, Vinogradov, Dostoevsky about the innovation of the style of “Poor People”:
Dostoevsky’s “immature” manner is an innovative technique, an attempt to speak the “tongue-tied language” of the “little man” and affirm his virtues.
M. M. Bakhtin. Problems of Dostoevsky's poetics.
“This is the first time in Dostoevsky that a petty official speaks so much and with such tonal vibrations.”
V. V. Vinogradov.
IV. Summing up the lesson.
1) Teacher's word:
For a poor person, the basis of life is honor and respect, but the heroes of the novel “Poor People” know that it is almost impossible for a “small” person in social terms to achieve this: “And everyone knows, Varenka, that a poor person is worse than a rag and gets no help from anyone.” He can’t get respect, no matter what you write.” His protest against injustice is hopeless. Makar Alekseevich is very ambitious, and much of what he does, he does not for himself, but so that others can see it (drinks good tea). He tries to hide his shame about himself. Unfortunately, the opinion of others is more valuable to him than his own.
Makar Devushkin and Varenka Dobroselova are people of great spiritual purity and kindness. Each of them is ready to give up their last for the other. Makar is a person who knows how to feel, empathize, think and reason, and these are the best qualities of the “little man” according to Dostoevsky.
Makar Alekseevich reads Pushkin’s “The Station Agent” and Gogol’s “The Overcoat”. They shock him, and he sees himself there: “... I’ll tell you, little mother, it will happen that you live, but you don’t know that there’s a book next to you, where your whole life is laid out as if on your fingers.” . Random meetings and conversations with people (an organ grinder, a little beggar boy, a money lender, a watchman) prompt him to think about social life, constant injustice, human relationships that are based on social inequality and money. The “little man” in Dostoevsky’s works has both a heart and a mind. The end of the novel is tragic: Varenka is taken away to certain death by the cruel landowner Bykov, and Makar Devushkin is left alone with his grief.
Devushkin reads “The Overcoat” and sees himself in Akaki Akakievich. Not accepted by his colleagues, rejected, an extra person, petty official Akaki Akakievich creates an imaginary world where letters come to life, among which, as among officials, their own strict hierarchy is built; This is an idea, the bearer of which is Akaki Akakievich, an idea that essentially runs through the entire story. Like Devushkin, Gogol’s hero is a copyist; this coincidence alone already speaks of the great influence of “The Overcoat” on “Poor People.” The commonality between Vyrin, Akakiy Akakievich and Devushkin seems obvious - all minor officials, inconspicuous, but with their own ideas. Pushkin's influence in "Poor People" turns out to be secondary - Gogol writes with an eye on Pushkin, and Dostoevsky - with an eye primarily on Gogol.
All three writers have different attitudes towards their heroes; they have different authorial positions, techniques and methods of expression, which we tried to analyze above.
Pushkin does not have any specific line in depicting the psychology of “little people”; his idea is simple - we are obliged to pity and understand them. Gogol also calls for love and pity on the “little man” as he is. Dostoevsky - see the personality in him. They are essentially just pages of one big theme in literature - the image of the “little man”. Pushkin, Gogol and Dostoevsky were excellent masters of this image.
2) Summing up the lesson.
A) So, “little man”: type or personality? Can you give a definite answer now?
(Students' answers)
B) Reception "Chamomile"
(Chamomile petals are torn off, on the back of which students read the beginning of the sentences and immediately give the answer:
I know that…
know how…
I know why...)
3) SINQWINE.
Students are asked to write a syncwine on pieces of paper based on the three works reviewed.
(Appendix 5)
V . Homework. SLIDE 16
Analyze other works of the considered authors and expand the “Little Man” cluster in literature X IX century.
- Write a miniature essay on the topic “The relevance of the theme of the “little man” in the modern world.”
References:
Pushkin A. S. Dramatic works. Prose. /Enter. article by G. Volkov. - M., Artist. lit., 1982, p. 217 - 226.
Gogol N.V. Petersburg stories. Afterword S. Bocharova - M., “Sov. Russia”, 1978, p. 133 - 170.
B.M. Gasparov, “Pushkin’s poetic language as a fact of the history of the Russian literary language”, St. Petersburg, “Academic Project”, 1999.
Lermontov M. Yu. Works in 2 volumes, volume 1. - M., Pravda, 1990, p. 456 - 488
Dostoevsky F. M. Poor people. White Nights. Humiliated and insulted / Approx. N. Budanova, E. Semenov, G. Friendler. - M., Pravda, 1987, p. 3 - 114.
Bakhtin N. M. Problems of Dostoevsky’s poetics. - M. 1979
Russian writers. Bibliographical words [at 2 o'clock]. Part 1 A-L/ ed. count : B.F. Egorov and others, ed. P. A. Nikolaeva. - M.: Education, 1990, p. 268 - 270
Anikin A. A. The theme of the “little man” in Russian classics // in the book. : Petrenko L.P., Anikin A.A, Galkin A.B. Topics of Russian classics. Textbook - M.: Prometheus, 2000, p. 96 - 120
Yakushin N. Great Russian writer. // in the book. : F. N. Dostoevsky. Izb. essays / ed. count : G. Belenky, P. Nikolaev; M., Artist. lit. , 1990, p. 3 - 23
Literature: Reference. school /Scient. development and comp. N. G. Bykova - M., Philologist - society “Word”, 1995, p. 38 - 42
Y.M. Lotman, "Pushkin", St. Petersburg, "Art-Spb", 1995
D.S. Merezhkovsky, “Prophet of the Russian Revolution,” in the book. "Demons": An Anthology of Russian Criticism", M., "Consent", 1996.
Kutuzov A. G., Kiselev A. K., Romanicheva E. S. How to enter the world of literature. 9th grade : Method. Allowance/Under. ed. A. G. Kutuzova. - 2nd ed. , stereotype. - M.: Bustard, 2001, p. 90 - 91.
ANNEX 1
“INSERT” technique or reading with markings.
In the process of reading a text, it is very important not to miss essential details that allow you to fully reveal its meaning, as well as form your own point of view on the information it contains. By reading carefully, you can use the following marking system.
I - interactive self-activating "V"- already knew
N - noting system markup « + » - new
S - system for efficient « - » - thought differently
E - effective reading and reflection « ? » - I don’t understand, there is
R - reading and questions
When working with text, try to follow the following rules:
1. Make notes using either two icons “+” and “v” or four – “+”, “v”, “-”, “?”.
2. Place icons as you read the text.
3. After reading once, return to your original assumptions, remember what you knew or assumed about this topic before.
4. Be sure to read the text again as the number of icons may increase.
After reading the text and making notes in its fields, you can fill out the INSERT table. It is better to write down keywords or phrases in it.
Table 1
After filling out the table, the information presented in it can become the subject of discussion in class, and the table itself can be replenished with new facts that were not included in it initially.
APPENDIX 2
Reception of PCS
This technique was developed by Donna Ogle and can be used both during lectures and during independent work by the student. Most often it is used when the teacher focuses on doing independent work. This work is presented in table form.
“We know - we want to know - we found out”
Information sources(sources from which we intend to obtain information)
To use this technique effectively, you need to remember some of the author’s recommendations:
Remember what you know about the issue being studied, write this information in the first column of the table.
Try to systematize the available information before working with the main information, highlight categories of information.
Ask questions about the topic you are studying before studying it.
Read the text (film, listen to the teacher's story).
Answer the questions that you yourself posed, write down your answers in the third column of the table.
See if you can expand the list of “categories of information” to include new categories (after working with new information), write it down.
The text of the work is posted without images and formulas.
The full version of the work is available in the "Work Files" tab in PDF format
Introduction
In this study, we must find out what defines the expression “Little Man” and find examples in works familiar to everyone.
Target research - to find out the true meaning of this statement, and also try to find this type of people in literature, and then in your environment.
The material used can be used in literature and Russian language lessons.
Research methods: search, selective, semantic, informational, method of analysis and synthesis.
1. The concept of “Little Man”.
So who is this small man? This is not at all someone whose height is less than average. A small person is a type of person who is not distinguished by willpower or self-confidence. Usually, this is a squeezed, closed person who does not like conflicts and causing harm to others. In works of literature, such people are usually in the lower classes of the population and do not represent any value. This is the psychological characteristics of this hero in literary works. However, their writers did not show them for the same reason that everyone was convinced of their insignificance, but in order to tell everyone that this “little man” inside himself has a big world that is understandable to every reader. His life resonates in our soul. He deserves to have the world around him turn his face to him.
2. Examples in works
Let’s consider how the image of the “little man” appeared and developed in Russian literature, let’s make sure that it has its own history and its own future.
N.M. Karamzin “Poor Liza”
In this work, the main character, a peasant woman, can be an excellent representative of a little person. Lisa, which is obliged to provide for its own life. She is kind, naive, chaste, which is why she is quickly consumed by her love for Erast. Having turned her head, he soon realizes that he was not in love with Lisa, and all his feelings were only a temporary effect. With these thoughts, he marries a rich widow, without burdening Lisa with explanations of his loss. Finally, she, having learned that her beloved had betrayed her, is unable to contain such intense torment - she is thrown into the river. Lisa shows herself as a small person not only because of her status, but also because of her lack of strength to withstand rejection and learn to live with the resulting pain in her heart.
N.V. Gogol "The Overcoat"
This character, like no other, can show the nature of a little person in every detail. The main character of this story is soft, simple-minded, living a completely mediocre life. He was small in stature, in abilities, and in social status. He suffered from humiliation and mockery of his personality, but preferred to remain silent. Akaki Akakievich Before acquiring the overcoat, he remained an inconspicuous commoner. And after purchasing the desired item, he dies of grief, not having time to enjoy the work done due to the loss of his overcoat. It was precisely because of his closeness from the world, from people and his reluctance to change anything in his life that this character became famous as a little person.
A.S. Pushkin "Station Warden"
A hero can become a shining example of a little person Samson Vyrin, who showed himself to be a benevolent, good-natured character, trusting and simple-minded. But in the future, the loss of his daughter did not come easily to him, because of longing for Duna and all-consuming loneliness, Samson eventually died without seeing her due to the indifference of those around him.
F. M. Dostoevsky “Crime and Punishment”
Marmeladov in this work showed himself as an extraordinary person suffering due to inaction. Thanks to his addiction to alcohol, he constantly lost his job, because of which he could not feed his family, which is one of the confirmations of his small nature. Mr. Marmeladov himself considers himself a “pig”, “beast”, “cattle” and “scoundrel” who should not be pitied. This shows that he is well aware of his situation, but is not going to change absolutely anything.
Maxim Maksimovich is a nobleman. However, he belongs to an impoverished family and does not have influential connections. The hero presented his weakness and his vices as a drama on a universal scale. In the end, his weakness and spinelessness ruined him - having failed to get rid of alcohol addiction, while spoiling his health (they said about him: “with a yellow, even greenish face swollen from constant drunkenness and with swollen eyelids”), he ends up in in an intoxicated state under the horses and dies almost on the spot from his injuries. This hero perfectly shows a little man who has independently driven himself into a hopeless situation.
"Little Man" in the literature of the 20th century.
V.G. Belinsky said that all our literature came from Gogol’s “The Overcoat.” This fact can be confirmed by taking almost any work written later. In “The Overcoat,” Gogol showed us that sometimes it is important to convey not the situation itself, but how the situation affects a person, his inner world and feelings that are overwhelming to the very head. What is important is what happens inside, not just outside.
Thus, we want to give examples of a little man living between the lines in more modern works of the 20th century (mostly Soviet) works, showing that in the subsequent development of literature, the theme of internal experiences did not lose its importance, still settling in the plot of any story.
L.N. Andreev " Petka in the country"
An example of this would be the work “Petka at the Dacha,” where this time the main character is a simple errand boy. He dreams of a simple life, where one day would not be like the next. But no one listens to Petya, doesn’t even take a single word seriously, just continues to shout “Boy, water!” One day, luck smiles on him, and he goes to the dacha, where he realizes that this is exactly the place where he would like to run away without looking back. However, fate plays a cruel joke on him again, and Petya is sent back to the dullness of everyday life. Having returned, he still warms himself with memories of the dacha, where the peak of his happy days froze.
This work shows us that even a child can be a small person, whose opinion, in the opinion of adults, is not at all necessary to be taken into account. Indifference and misunderstanding on the part of others simply squeezes the boy, forcing him to bend under unwanted circumstances.
V.P. Astafiev "Horse with a pink mane"
This story may bolster earlier arguments. The story “The Horse with the Pink Mane” also tells the story of a boy who dreamed of a horse gingerbread coated with pink icing. Grandma promised to buy him this gingerbread if he picked a bunch of berries. Having collected them, the main character was forced to eat them through ridicule and taking them “weakly”, which is why, in the end, there were only a small handful of berries. After his trick, Vitya Before she has time to tell her grandmother about the lie, she leaves. All the time that she was away from home, the boy reproached himself for his deed and mentally understood that he did not deserve the promised gingerbread.
Again, we can say that being bullied by others, making fun of someone's weaknesses, ultimately leads to disappointment, self-hatred and regret.
Conclusion
Based on the research obtained, we can finally draw a conclusion about who, after all, this “little man” is and what he is.
First, it must be said that the theme of the “little man”, from the moment of its introduction by the first works (such as “The Station Agent”; “The Overcoat”) has become one of the most important and relevant even to this day. There is not a single book where the theme of the feelings and experiences of the heroes is not touched upon, where the whole importance the internal storm of emotions that rages daily in an ordinary person living in his time. So who, after all, is the “little man”?
It could be a person who has been driven into the abyss of loneliness and melancholy external circumstances or surroundings. And it could also be someone who didn’t bother to save himself from the misfortune that befell him. A small person is usually not something important. He does not have high social status, great wealth or a huge network of connections. His destiny can be obtained in many ways.
But in the end, every little person represents a whole personality. With your problems, with your experiences. Don't forget how easy it is to lose everything and become just as depressed by life. This is the same person who also deserves salvation or at least simple understanding. Regardless of privileges.
Bibliography
1) A.S. Pushkin - “Station Warden”. // www.ilibreri.ru
2) N.V. Gogol - “The Overcoat”. // N.V. Gogol "Tales". - M, 1986, p. 277 - 305.
3) F. M. Dostoevsky - “Crime and Punishment.” - vol. 5, - M., 1989
4) N. M. Karamzin - “Poor Liza.” - M., 2018
5) L.N. Andreev - “Petka at the dacha” //www. ilibreri.ru
6) V. P. Astafiev - “Horse with a pink mane” // litmir.mi
8) “http://fb.ru/article/251685/tema -malenkogo -cheloveka -v -russkoy -literature ---veka -naibolee -yarkie -personaji"
Application
List of characters analyzed:
Lisa - N.M. Karamzin “Poor Liza”
Akaki Akakievich (Bashmachkin) - N.V. Gogol "The Overcoat"
Samson Vyrin - A.S. Pushkin "Station Warden"
Maxim Maksimovich (Marmeladov) - F. M. Dostoevsky “Crime and Punishment”
Petka - L.N. Andreev “Petka at the dacha”
Vitya - V. P. Astafiev “Horse with a pink mane”
Introduction
little man ostrovsky literature
The concept of “little man” was introduced by Belinsky (1840 article “Woe from Wit”).
"Little Man" - who is this? This concept refers to the literary hero of the era of realism, who usually occupies a fairly low place in the social hierarchy. A "little man" could be anyone from a minor official to a tradesman or even a poor nobleman. The more democratic literature became, the more relevant the “little man” became.
Appealing to the image of the “little man” was very important even at that time. More than that, this image was relevant because its task is to show the life of a simple person with all his problems, experiences, failures, troubles and even small joys. It is very hard work to explain, to show the life of ordinary people. To convey to the reader all the subtleties of his life, all the depths of his soul. This is difficult, because the “little man” is a representative of the entire people.
This topic is still relevant today, because even in our time there are people who have such a shallow soul behind which you cannot hide either deception or a mask. It is these people who can be called “little people.” And there are simply people who are small only in their status, but are great, showing us their pure soul, unspoiled by wealth and prosperity, who know how to rejoice, love, suffer, worry, dream, simply live and be happy. These are small birds in the endless sky, but they are big-hearted people.
The history of the image of the “little man” in world literature and its writers
Many writers raise the theme of the “little man.” And each of them does it in his own way. Some present him accurately and clearly, while others hide his inner world so that readers can think about his worldview and somewhere in depth, compare with your own. Ask yourself a question: Who am I? Am I a small person?
The first image of a little man was Samson Vyrin from the story “The Station Warden” by A.S. Pushkin. Pushkin, in the early stages of his work, as one of the first classics to describe the image of the “little man,” tried to show the high spirituality of the characters. Pushkin also considers the eternal relationship between the “little man” and unlimited power - “Arap of Peter the Great”, “Poltava”.
Pushkin was characterized by a deep penetration into the character of each hero - the “little man”.
The evolution of the little man in Pushkin himself is explained by constant social changes and the variability of life itself. Each era has its own “little man”.
But, since the beginning of the 20th century, the image of the “little man” in Russian literature has disappeared, giving way to other heroes.
Gogol continues the traditions of Pushkin in the story “The Overcoat”. A “little man” is a person of low social status and origin, without any abilities, not distinguished by strength of character, but at the same time kind, harmless and does no harm to the people around him. Both Pushkin and Gogol, creating the image of a little man, wanted to remind readers that the most ordinary person is also a person worthy of sympathy, attention and support.
The hero of “The Overcoat” Akaki Akakievich is an official of the lowest class - a person who is constantly made fun of and mocked. He was so accustomed to his humiliated position that even his speech became defective - he could not fully finish his sentences. And this made him humiliated in front of everyone else, even his equals in class. Akaki Akakievich cannot even defend himself in front of people equal to him, despite opposing the state (as Evgeniy tried to do).
It was in this way that Gogol showed the circumstances that make people “small”!
Another writer who touched on the theme of the “little man” was F.M. Dostoevsky. He shows the “little man” as a personality more deeply than Pushkin and Gogol, but it is Dostoevsky who writes: we all came out of Gogol’s “The Overcoat”.
His main goal was to convey all the internal movements of his hero. He feels to experience everything with him, and concludes that “little people” are individuals, and their personal sense is valued much more than that of people with a position in society. Dostoevsky’s “little man” is vulnerable; one of the values of his life is that others can see in him a spiritually rich personality. And your own self-awareness plays a huge role.
In the work “Poor People” by F.M. Dostoevsky's main character, copyist Makar Devushkin, is also a minor official. He was also bullied at work, but he is a completely different person by nature. The ego is concerned with problems of human dignity, he reflects on his position in society. Makar, having read “The Overcoat,” was outraged that Gogol portrayed the official as an insignificant person, because he recognized himself in Akaki Akakievich. He differed from Akaki Akakievich in that he was capable of deeply loving and feeling, which means he was not insignificant. He is a person, although low in his position.
Dostoevsky strove for his character to realize that he was a person, a personality.
Makar is a person who knows how to empathize, feel, think and reason, and according to Dostoevsky, these are the best qualities of a “little man.”
F.M. Dostoevsky becomes the author of one of the leading themes - the theme of “humiliated and insulted”, “poor people”. Dostoevsky emphasizes that every person, no matter who he is, no matter how low he stands, always has the right to compassion and sympathy.
For a poor person, the basis in life is honor and respect, but for the heroes of the novel “Poor People” this is almost impossible to achieve: “And everyone knows, Varenka, that a poor person is worse than a rag and cannot receive any respect from anyone, so what?” do not write".
According to Dostoevsky, the “little man” himself is aware of himself as “small”: “I’m used to it, because I get used to everything, because I’m a humble person, because I’m a small person; but, however, what is this all for?...” “Little Man” is a so-called microworld, and in this world there are many protests, attempts to escape from a difficult situation. This world is rich in positive qualities and bright feelings, but it is subject to humiliation and oppression. The “little man” is thrown out onto the street by life itself. “Little people” according to Dostoevsky are small only in social status, and their inner world is rich and kind.
The main feature of Dostoevsky is his love of humanity, paying attention to the nature of a person, his soul, and not to the person’s position on the social ladder. It is the soul that is the main quality by which a person must be judged.
F.M. Dostoevsky wanted a better life for the poor, defenseless, “humiliated and insulted,” “little man.” But at the same time, pure, noble, kind, selfless, sincere, honest, thinking, sensitive, spiritually exalted and trying to protest against injustice.
FEDERAL AGENCY FOR EDUCATION
STATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION
HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION
"TOMSK STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY"
Faculty of Philology
Department of Literature
COURSE WORK
THE THEME OF THE LITTLE MAN IN THE WORK OF N.V. GOGOL
Performed:
Student of the 71st RY group
3rd year FF Guseva T.V.
Job evaluation:
____________________
"___" __________ 20__
Supervisor:
Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor
Tatarkina S.V.
___________________
Introduction 3
Chapter 1 The theme of the “little man” in Russian literature of the 19th century 5
Chapter 2“Little Man” in Gogol’s story “The Overcoat” 15
2.1 History of the creation of “Overcoat” 15
2.2 “Little Man” as a social and moral-psychological concept in Gogol’s “The Overcoat” 16
2.3 Critics and contemporaries of Gogol about the story “The Overcoat” 21
Conclusion 22
Bibliography 23
INTRODUCTION
Russian literature, with its humanistic orientation, could not ignore the problems and destinies of the common man. Conventionally, in literary criticism it began to be called the theme of the “little man.” At its origins were Karamzin, Pushkin, Gogol and Dostoevsky, who in their works (“Poor Liza,” “The Station Agent,” “The Overcoat” and “Poor People”) revealed to readers the inner world of the common man, his feelings and experiences.
F.M. Dostoevsky singles out Gogol as the first to reveal to readers the world of the “little man.” Probably because in his story “The Overcoat” Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin is the main character, while the rest of the characters create the background. Dostoevsky writes: “We all came out of Gogol’s “The Overcoat.”
The story “The Overcoat” is one of the best in the work of N.V. Gogol. In it, the writer appears before us as a master of detail, a satirist and a humanist. Narrating the life of a minor official, Gogol was able to create an unforgettable, vivid image of a “little man” with his joys and troubles, difficulties and worries. Hopeless need surrounds Akaki Akakievich, but he does not see the tragedy of his situation, since he is busy with business. Bashmachkin is not burdened by his poverty, because he does not know any other life. And when he has a dream - a new overcoat, he is ready to endure any hardships, just to bring the realization of his plans closer. The author is quite serious when he describes his hero’s delight at realizing his dream: the overcoat is sewn! Bashmachkin is completely happy. But for how long?
The “little man” is not destined to be happy in this unjust world. And only after death is justice done. Bashmachkin’s “soul” finds peace when he regains his lost item.
Gogol in his “Overcoat” showed not only the life of the “little man”, but also his protest against the injustice of life. Even if this “rebellion” is timid, almost fantastic, the hero still stands for his rights, against the foundations of the existing order.
The purpose of this work- explore the theme of the “little man” in Gogol’s work based on Gogol’s story “The Overcoat”.
In accordance with the purpose, the main goals:
1. Consider the theme of the “little man” in the works of Russian classics (Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Chekhov);
2. Analyze Gogol’s work “The Overcoat”, considering the main character Akakiy Akakievich Bashmachkin as a “little man”, unable to resist brute force;
3. Using the material from the story “The Overcoat” by Gogol, explore the image of the “little man” as a school for Russian writers.
The methodological basis of the course work is the research of: Yu.G. Manna, M.B. Khrapchenko, A.I. Revyakin, Anikin, S. Mashinsky, which highlight the theme of the “little man”
CHAPTER 1. THE THEME OF THE LITTLE MAN IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE OF THE 19TH CENTURY
The work of many Russian writers is imbued with love for the ordinary person and pain for him. The theme of the “little man” in literature arose even before N.V. Gogol.
One of the first to put forward the democratic theme of the “little man” in literature was A.S. Pushkin. In “Belkin’s Tales,” completed in 1830, the writer paints not only pictures of the life of the nobility (“The Young Lady-Peasant”), but also draws the readers’ attention to the fate of the “little man.” This theme was first heard in “The Bronze Horseman” and “The Station Agent” by Pushkin. It is he who makes the first attempt to objectively and truthfully portray the “little man.”
In general, the image of a “little man”: this is not a noble, but a poor man, insulted by people of higher rank, a man driven to despair. This does not mean just a person without ranks and titles, but rather a socio-psychological type, that is, a person who feels powerless in front of life. Sometimes he is capable of protest, the outcome of which is often madness and death.
The hero of the story “The Station Agent” is alien to sentimental suffering; he has his own sorrows associated with the unsettled life. There is a small postal station somewhere, not at the crossroads of passing roads, where the official Samson Vyrin and his daughter Dunya live - the only joy that brightens up the difficult life of the caretaker, full of shouts and curses from passers-by. And suddenly she is taken away secretly from her father to St. Petersburg. The worst thing is that Dunya left with the hussar of her own free will. Having crossed the threshold of a new, rich life, she abandoned her father. Samson Vyrin, having failed to “return the lost sheep,” dies alone, and no one notices his death. About people like him, Pushkin writes at the beginning of the story: “We will, however, be fair, we will try to enter into their position and, perhaps, we will begin to judge them much more leniently.”
The truth of life, sympathy for the “little man”, insulted at every step by bosses higher in rank and position - this is what we feel when reading the story. Pushkin cares about this “little man” who lives in grief and need. The story, which so realistically depicts the “little man,” is imbued with democracy and humanity.
But Pushkin would not have been great if he had not shown life in all its diversity and development. Life is much richer and more inventive than literature, and the writer showed us this. Samson Vyrin's fears were not justified. His daughter did not become unhappy; the fate that awaited her was not the worst. The writer does not look for those to blame. It simply shows an episode from the life of a powerless and poor stationmaster.
The story marked the beginning of the creation in Russian literature of a kind of gallery of images of “little people”.
In 1833, Pushkin’s “The Bronze Horseman” appeared, in which a “little man” with a tragic fate expresses a timid protest against the inhuman autocracy.
In this work, the poet tried to solve the problem of the relationship between the individual and the state. Pushkin saw the possibility of achieving agreement, harmony between the individual and the state, he knew that a person could simultaneously recognize himself as part of a great state and a bright individuality, free from oppression. By what principle should the relationship between the individual and the state be built, so that the private and public merge into one whole? Pushkin's poem "The Bronze Horseman" was a unique attempt to answer this question.
The plot of Pushkin's poem is quite traditional. In the exhibition, the author introduces us to Evgeniy, a modest official, a “little man.” Eugene is one of the impoverished nobles, which Pushkin mentions in passing, saying that the hero’s ancestors were listed in the “History of Karamzin”. Evgeny’s life today is very modest: he serves “somewhere,” loves Parasha and dreams of marrying the girl he loves.
In The Bronze Horseman, private life and public life are presented as two closed worlds, each of which has its own laws. Eugene’s world – dreams of the quiet joys of family life. The world of the private individual and the world of the state are not just separated from each other, they are hostile, each of them brings evil and destruction to the other. Thus, Peter lays down his city “in spite of his arrogant neighbor” and destroys what is good and holy for the poor fisherman. Peter, who is trying to subdue and tame the elements, evokes its evil revenge, that is, he becomes the culprit for the collapse of all Eugene’s personal hopes. Evgeny wants to take revenge, his threat (“Too bad for you!”) is ridiculous, but full of desire for rebellion against the “idol.” In response, he receives Peter's evil revenge and madness. Those who rebelled against the state were terribly punished.
According to Pushkin, the relationship between the private and the public should be based on love, and therefore the life of the state and the individual should enrich and complement each other. Pushkin resolves the conflict between the individual and the state, overcoming the one-sidedness of both Evgeniy’s worldview and the view of life on the opposite side to the hero. The culmination of this clash is the rebellion of the “little” man. Pushkin, raising the poor madman to the level of Peter, begins to use sublime vocabulary. At the moment of anger, Eugene is truly terrible, because he dared to threaten the Bronze Horseman himself! However, the rebellion of Eugene, who has gone crazy, is a senseless and punishable rebellion. Those who bow to idols become their victims. It is possible that Eugene’s “rebellion” contains a hidden parallel with the fate of the Decembrists. This is confirmed by the ending of The Bronze Horseman.
Analyzing Pushkin's poem, we come to the conclusion that the poet showed himself in it as a true philosopher. “Little” people will rebel against a higher power as long as the state exists. This is the tragedy and contradiction of the eternal struggle between the weak and the strong. Who is to blame: the great state, which has lost interest in the individual, or the “little man”, who has ceased to be interested in the greatness of history and has fallen out of it? The reader's perception of the poem turns out to be extremely contradictory: according to Belinsky, Pushkin substantiated the tragic right of the empire with all its state power to dispose of the life of a private person; in the 20th century, some critics suggested that Pushkin was on Eugene's side; there is also an opinion that the conflict depicted by Pushkin is tragically insoluble. But it is obvious that for the poet himself in “The Bronze Horseman,” according to the formula of the literary critic Yu. Lotman, “the right path is not to move from one camp to another, but to “rise above the cruel age,” preserving humanity, human dignity and respect for the lives of other people."
Pushkin's traditions were continued and developed by Dostoevsky and Chekhov.
At F.M. Dostoevsky's theme of the “little man” is cross-cutting throughout his work. Thus, already the first novel of the outstanding master, “Poor People,” touched on this topic, and it became the main one in his work. In almost every novel by Dostoevsky we are faced with “little people”, “humiliated and insulted”, who are forced to live in a cold and cruel world.
By the way, Dostoevsky’s novel “Poor People” is imbued with the spirit of Gogol’s overcoat. This is a story about the fate of the same “little man”, crushed by grief, despair and social lack of rights. The correspondence of the poor official Makar Devushkin with Varenka, who has lost her parents and is being pursued by a pimp, reveals the deep drama of the lives of these people. Makar and Varenka are ready to endure any hardship for each other. Makar, living in extreme need, helps Varya. And Varya, having learned about Makar’s situation, comes to his aid. But the heroes of the novel are defenseless. Their rebellion is a “revolt on their knees.” Nobody can help them. Varya is taken away to certain death, and Makar is left alone with his grief. The lives of two beautiful people are broken, crippled, shattered by cruel reality.
It is interesting to note that Makar Devushkin reads “The Station Agent” by Pushkin and “The Overcoat” by Gogol. He is sympathetic to Samson Vyrin and hostile to Bashmachkin. Probably because he sees his future in him.
In the novel “Crime and Punishment” the theme of the “little man” is explored with special passion, with special love for these people.
I would like to note that Dostoevsky had a fundamentally new approach to depicting “little people.” These are no longer dumb and downtrodden people, as they were in Gogol. Their soul is complex and contradictory, they are endowed with the consciousness of their “I”. In Dostoevsky, the “little man” himself begins to speak, talk about his life, fate, troubles, he talks about the injustice of the world in which he lives and the same “humiliated and insulted” as he.
In the novel “Crime and Punishment”, the fate of many “little people”, forced to live according to the cruel laws of cold, hostile St. Petersburg, passes before the reader’s eyes. Together with the main character Rodion Raskolnikov, the reader meets the “humiliated and insulted” on the pages of the novel, and experiences their spiritual tragedies with him. Among them is a dishonored girl, who is being hunted by a fat front, and an unfortunate woman who threw herself from a bridge, and Marmeladov, and his wife Ekaterina Ivanovna, and daughter Sonechka. And Raskolnikov himself also belongs to the “little people,” although he tries to elevate himself above the people around him.
Dostoevsky not only depicts the misfortunes of the “little man”, not only evokes pity for the “humiliated and insulted,” but also shows the contradictions of their souls, the combination of good and evil in them. From this point of view, the image of Marmeladov is especially characteristic. The reader, of course, feels sympathy for the poor, exhausted man who has lost everything in life, so he has sunk to the very bottom. But Dostoevsky is not limited to sympathy alone. He shows that Marmeladov's drunkenness not only harmed himself (he is kicked out of work), but also brought a lot of misfortune to his family. Because of him, small children are starving, and the eldest daughter is forced to go out into the streets in order to somehow help the impoverished family. Along with sympathy, Marmeladov also arouses contempt for himself; you involuntarily blame him for the troubles that befell the family.
The figure of his wife Ekaterina Ivanovna is also contradictory. On the one hand, she is trying in every possible way to prevent a final fall, remembering her happy childhood and carefree youth when she danced at the ball. But in fact, she simply takes comfort in her memories, allows her adopted daughter to engage in prostitution and even accepts money from her.
As a result of all the misfortunes, Marmeladov, who has “nowhere to go” in life, becomes an alcoholic and commits suicide. His wife dies of consumption, completely exhausted by poverty. They could not bear the pressure of society, soulless St. Petersburg, and did not find the strength to resist the oppression of the surrounding reality.
Sonechka Marmeladova appears completely different to the reader. She is also a “little person”; moreover, nothing could be worse than her fate. But despite this, she finds a way out of the absolute dead end. She was used to living according to the laws of her heart, according to Christian commandments. It is from them that she draws strength. She reminds her that the lives of her brothers and sisters depend on her, so she completely forgets about herself and devotes herself to others. Sonechka becomes a symbol of eternal sacrifice; she has great sympathy for man, compassion for all living things. It is the image of Sonya Marmeladova that is the most obvious exposure of the idea of blood according to Raskolnikov’s conscience. It is no coincidence that, together with the old pawnbroker, Rodion also kills her innocent sister Lizaveta, who is so similar to Sonechka.
Troubles and misfortunes haunt the Raskolnikov family. His sister Dunya is ready to marry a man who is disgusting to her in order to financially help her brother. Raskolnikov himself lives in poverty, he cannot even feed himself, so he is even forced to pawn the ring, a gift from his sister.
The novel contains many descriptions of the destinies of “little people.” Dostoevsky described with deep psychological accuracy the contradictions reigning in their souls, was able to show not only the downtroddenness and humiliation of such people, but also proved that it was among them that there were deeply suffering, strong and contradictory personalities.
Further, in the development of the image of the “little man,” a tendency toward “bifurcation” is emerging. On the one hand, common democrats emerge from among the “little people,” and their children become revolutionaries. On the other hand, the “little man” sinks, turning into a limited bourgeois. We observe this process most clearly in the stories of A.P. Chekhov's "Ionych", "Gooseberry", "Man in a Case".
A.P. Chekhov is a writer of a new era. His stories are realistic and convey to us the author’s disappointment in the social order and satirical laughter at the vulgarity, philistinism, servility, and servility that take place in society. Already in his first stories, he raises the issue of human spiritual degradation. In his works, images of so-called “case” people appear - those who are so limited in their aspirations, in the manifestations of their own “I”, so afraid to cross the boundaries established either by limited people or by themselves, that even a minor change in their usual life leads to sometimes to tragedy.
The character of the story “The Death of an Official” Chervyakov is one of the images of “case” people created by Chekhov. Chervyakov in the theater, captivated by the play, “feels at the height of bliss.” Suddenly he sneezed and - something terrible happens - Chervyakov sprayed the old general’s bald head. Several times the hero apologizes to the general, but he still cannot calm down; it constantly seems to him that the “offended” general is still angry with him. Having brought the poor fellow to an outburst of rage and having listened to an angry rebuke, Chervyakov allegedly gets what he has been striving for so long and persistently. “Coming home automatically, without taking off his uniform, he lay down on the sofa and...died.” Because of fear. “The Case” did not allow Chervyakov to rise above his own fears and overcome the slave psychology. Chekhov tells us that a person like Chervyakov simply could not live further with the consciousness of such a “terrible crime”, which he sees as an accidental act in the theater.
Over time, the “little man,” deprived of his own dignity, “humiliated and insulted,” arouses not only compassion but also condemnation among progressive writers. “You live a boring life, gentlemen,” Chekhov said through his work to the “little man” who had come to terms with his situation. With subtle humor, the writer ridicules the death of Ivan Chervyakov, from whose lips the lackey “Yourness” has never left his lips.
Another Chekhov hero, the Greek teacher Belikov (the story “The Man in a Case”) becomes an obstacle to the social movement; he is frightened by any movement forward: learning to read and write, opening a reading room, helping the poor. He sees “an element of doubt” in everything. He hates his own work, students make him nervous and frighten him. Belikov's life is boring, but it is unlikely that he himself is aware of this fact. This person is afraid of his superiors, but everything new scares him even more. In conditions when the formula was in effect: “If the circular does not allow, then it is not allowed,” he becomes a terrible figure in the city. Chekhov says about Belikov: “Reality irritated, frightened him, kept him in constant anxiety, and, perhaps, in order to justify this timidity of his, his aversion to the present, he always praised the past... For him, only circulars and newspapers were always clear.” articles that prohibited something.” But with all this, Belikov kept the entire city in obedience. His fear “that something might not work out” was transmitted to others. Belikov isolated himself from life; he stubbornly strived to ensure that everything remained as it was. “This man,” said Burkin, “had a constant and irresistible desire to surround himself with a shell, to create a case for himself that would seclude him and protect him from external influences.” Chekhov brings to the reader's attention the moral emptiness of his hero, the absurdity of his behavior and the entire surrounding reality. Chekhov’s work is filled with images of “case” people, whom the author both pities and laughs at at the same time, thereby exposing the vices of the existing world order. There are more important moral questions behind the author's humor. Chekhov makes you think about why a person humiliates himself, turning himself into a “small” person, unnecessary to anyone, becoming spiritually poor, but in every person “everything should be beautiful: face, clothes, soul, and thoughts.”
The theme of “little people” is the most important in Gogol’s St. Petersburg stories. If in “Taras Bulba” the writer embodied images of folk heroes taken from the historical past, then in the stories “Arabesque”, in “The Overcoat”, turning to modern times, he painted the disadvantaged and humiliated, those who belong to the lower social classes. With great artistic truth, Gogol reflected the thoughts, experiences, sorrows and suffering of the “little man”, his unequal position in society. The tragedy of the deprivation of “little” people, the tragedy of their doom to a life filled with worries and disasters, constant humiliations of human dignity comes out especially clearly in the St. Petersburg stories. All this finds its impressive expression in the life story of Poprishchin and Bashmachkin.
If in “Nevsky Prospect” the fate of the “little man” is depicted in comparison with the fate of another, “successful” hero, then in “Notes of a Madman” the internal conflict is revealed in terms of the hero’s attitude towards the aristocratic environment and at the same time in terms of the collision of the cruel truth of life with illusions and false ideas about reality.
Gogol’s “The Overcoat” occupies a special place in the author’s “Petersburg Tales” cycle. The story of an unhappy official overwhelmed by poverty, popular in the 1930s, was embodied by Gogol in a work of art that Herzen called “colossal.” Gogol’s “The Overcoat” became a kind of school for Russian writers. Having shown the humiliation of Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin, his inability to resist brute force, Gogol at the same time, by the behavior of his hero, expressed a protest against injustice and inhumanity. This is a riot on your knees.
CHAPTER 2. THE LITTLE MAN IN N.V.’S STORY GOGOL "OVERCOAT"
2.1 History of the creation of “Overcoat”
The story about the poor official was created by Gogol while working on Dead Souls. Her creative idea did not immediately receive its artistic embodiment.
The original concept of “The Overcoat” dates back to the mid-30s, i.e. by the time of the creation of other St. Petersburg stories, later combined into one cycle. P.V. Annenkov, who visited Gogol before his departure from St. Petersburg, reports: “Once, in Gogol’s presence, a clerical anecdote was told about some poor official, a passionate bird hunter, who, through extraordinary savings and tireless, intense work above his position, accumulated a sum sufficient to purchase a good Lepage gun worth 200 rubles. The first time he set off on his small boat across the Gulf of Finland for loot, putting his precious gun in front of him on the bow, he was, according to his own assurance, in some kind of self-forgetfulness and only came to his senses then, looking at his nose, he did not see his new thing. The gun was pulled into the water by thick reeds through which he was passing somewhere, and all efforts to find it were in vain. The official returned home, went to bed and never got up: he had a fever... Everyone laughed at the anecdote, which was based on a true incident, except Gogol, who listened to him thoughtfully and lowered his head. The anecdote was the first thought of his wonderful story “The Overcoat”.
The experiences of the poor official were familiar to Gogol from the first years of his life in St. Petersburg. On April 2, 1830, he wrote to his mother that, despite his frugality, “still ... was not able to make a new, not only a tailcoat, but even a warm raincoat necessary for the winter,” “and spent the whole winter wearing a summer overcoat "
The beginning of the first edition of the story (1839) was entitled “The Tale of an Official Stealing an Overcoat.” In this edition the hero did not yet have a name. Later he received the name “Akaky,” which means “kindly” in Greek, hinting at his position as a downtrodden official, and the surname Tishkevich (later replaced by Gogol with “Bashmakevich” and then with “Bashmachkin”).
The deepening of the plan and its implementation occurred gradually; Interrupted by other creative interests, work on completing “The Overcoat” continued until 1842.
While working on the story and preparing it for publication, Gogol foresaw censorship difficulties. This forced him to soften, in comparison with the draft edition, certain phrases of Akaki Akakievich’s dying delirium (in particular, the hero’s threat to a significant person was thrown out: “I will not see that you are a general!”). however, these corrections made by the author did not satisfy the censor, who demanded that from the final part of the story the words about the misfortune that befalls not only ordinary people, but also “the kings and rulers of the world”, and about the theft by a ghost of the overcoats of “even the most secret ones” be deleted advisors."
Written at the time of the highest flowering of Gogol’s creative genius, “The Overcoat,” in its intensity of life and in the strength of its craftsmanship, is one of the most perfect and remarkable works of the great artist. Adjacent in its problems to the St. Petersburg stories, “The Overcoat” develops the theme of a humiliated person. This theme sounded acute both in the depiction of the image of Piskarev and in the mournful complaints about the injustice of the fate of the hero of “Notes of a Madman.” But it was in “The Overcoat” that it received its most complete expression.
2.2 “Little Man” as a social and moral-psychological concept in Gogol’s “The Overcoat”
The story “The Overcoat” first appeared in 1842 in the 3rd volume of Gogol’s works. Its theme is the position of the “little man”, and the idea is spiritual suppression, crushing, depersonalization, robbery of the human personality in an antagonistic society, as noted by A.I. Revyakin.
The story “The Overcoat” continues the theme of the “little man” outlined in “The Bronze Horseman” and “The Station Warden” by Pushkin. But in comparison with Pushkin, Gogol strengthens and expands the social resonance of this theme. The motif of isolation and defenselessness of man, which had long worried Gogol, in “The Overcoat” sounds on some kind of highest, poignant note.
For some reason, none of those around him see Bashmachkin as a person, but they only saw the “eternal titular adviser.” “A short official with a bald spot on his forehead,” somewhat reminiscent of a meek child, utters significant words: “Leave me alone, why are you offending me?”
Akaki Akakievich’s mother did not just choose a name for her son - she chose his fate. Although there was nothing to choose: out of nine difficult-to-pronounce names, she doesn’t find a single one suitable, so she has to name her son by her husband Akaki, a name that means “humble” in the Russian calendar - he is “the most humble” because he is Akaki “squared” .
The story of Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin, the “eternal titular adviser”, is the story of the distortion and death of a person under the power of social circumstances. Official - bureaucratic Petersburg brings the hero to complete stupor. The whole point of his existence is to rewrite ridiculous government papers. He was given nothing else. His life is not enlightened or warmed by anything. As a result, Bashmachkin turns into a writing machine and is deprived of all independence and initiative. For him, changing verbs “from the first person to the third” turns out to be an insoluble task. Spiritual poverty, humility and timidity are expressed in his stuttering, tongue-tied speech. At the same time, even at the bottom of this distorted, trampled soul, Gogol looks for human content. Akaki Akakievich is trying to find aesthetic meaning in the only miserable occupation that was given to him: “There, in this rewriting, he saw his own diverse and pleasant world. Pleasure was expressed on his face; He had some favorite letters, which if he got to, he was not himself.” Gogol's hero experiences a kind of "illumination" in the story of the overcoat. The overcoat became an “ideal goal”, warmed him, filled his existence. Starving in order to save money to sew it, he “but nourished himself spiritually, carrying in his thoughts the eternal idea of a future overcoat.” The author’s words sound with sad humor that his hero “somehow became more lively, even stronger in character... Fire sometimes appeared in his eyes, the most daring and courageous thoughts even flashed in his head: shouldn’t he put a marten on his collar?” . The extreme “grounding” of Akaki Akakievich’s dreams expresses the deepest degree of his social disadvantage. But the very ability to experience the ideal remains in him. Humanity is indestructible even in the most severe social humiliation - this is, first of all, the greatest humanism of “The Overcoat”.
As already noted, Gogol strengthens and expands the social resonance of the “little man” theme. Bashmachkin, a copyist, a zealous worker who knew how to be satisfied with his pitiful lot, suffers insults and humiliations from coldly despotic “significant persons” personifying bureaucratic statehood, from young officials mocking him, from street thugs who took off his new overcoat. And Gogol boldly rushed to defend his violated rights and insulted human dignity. Recreating the tragedy of the “little man,” the writer arouses feelings of pity and compassion for him, calls for social humanism, humanity, and reminds Bashmachkin’s colleagues that he is their brother. But the ideological meaning of the story is not limited to this. In it, the author convinces that the wild injustice that reigns in life can cause discontent and protest even from the quietest, humblest unfortunate.
Intimidated, downtrodden, Bashmachkin showed his dissatisfaction with significant persons who rudely belittled and insulted him, only in a state of unconsciousness, in delirium. But Gogol, being on Bashmachkin’s side, defending him, carries out this protest in a fantastic continuation of the story. Justice, trampled in reality, triumphs in the writer’s dreams.
Thus, the theme of man as a victim of the social system was brought by Gogol to its logical conclusion. “A creature disappeared and disappeared, not protected by anyone, not dear to anyone, not interesting to anyone.” However, in his dying delirium, the hero experiences another “insight”, utters “the most terrible words” never heard from him before, following the words “Your Excellency.” The deceased Bashmachkin turns into an avenger and tears off the overcoat from the most “significant person.” Gogol resorts to fantasy, but it is emphatically conventional, it is designed to reveal the protesting, rebellious beginning hidden in the timid and intimidated hero, a representative of the “lower class” of society. The “rebellion” of the ending of “The Overcoat” is somewhat softened by the depiction of the moral correction of a “significant person” after a collision with a dead man.
Gogol's solution to the social conflict in The Overcoat is given with that critical ruthlessness that constitutes the essence of the ideological and emotional pathos of Russian classical realism.
2.3 Critics and contemporaries of Gogol about the story “The Overcoat”
The theme of the “small”, powerless person, the ideas of social humanism and protest, which sounded so loudly in the story “The Overcoat”, made it a landmark work of Russian literature. It became a banner, a program, a kind of manifesto of the natural school, opening a string of works about the humiliated and insulted, unfortunate victims of the autocratic-bureaucratic regime calling for help, and paving the way for consistently democratic literature. This great merit of Gogol was noted by both Belinsky and Chernyshevsky.
The opinions of critics and the author's contemporaries about Gogol's hero differed. Dostoevsky saw in “The Overcoat” “a merciless mockery of man.” Belinsky saw in the figure of Bashmachkin a motive of social denunciation, sympathy for the socially oppressed “little man.” But here is the point of view of Apollon Grigoriev: “In the image of Akaki Akakievich, the poet outlined the edge of the shallowness of God’s creation to the extent that a thing, and the most insignificant thing, becomes for a person a source of boundless joy and destroying grief.”
And Chernyshevsky called Bashmachkin “a complete idiot.” Just as in “Notes of a Madman” the boundaries of reason and madness are violated, so in “The Overcoat” the line between life and death is erased.
Herzen in his work “The Past and Thoughts” recalls how Count S.G. Stroganov, trustee of the Moscow educational district, addressing journalist E.F. Korshu, said: “What a terrible story by Gogolev, “The Overcoat,” because this ghost on the bridge simply drags the overcoat off each of our shoulders.”
Gogol sympathizes with each of the heroes of the story as God’s “shallow” creation. He makes the reader see behind the funny and ordinary behavior of the characters their dehumanization, the oblivion of what so pierced one young man: “I am your brother!” “Significant words” pierced only one young man, who, of course, heard in these words the commanded word about love for one’s neighbor, “many times later in his life he shuddered, seeing how much inhumanity there is in a person, even in that person whose light recognizes as noble and honest...”
The fantastic ending of the story “The Overcoat” is a silent scene. It is not confusion and frustration that Gogol instills in the soul of readers with the end of the story, but, according to literary scholars, he accomplishes it through the art of words “instilling harmony and order in the soul.”
CONCLUSION
The story “The Overcoat” concentrated all the best that is in Gogol’s St. Petersburg cycle. This is a truly great work, rightly perceived as a kind of symbol of the new realistic, Gogolian school in Russian literature. In a certain sense, this is a symbol of all Russian classics of the 19th century. Don’t we immediately think of Bashmachkin from “The Overcoat” when we think about the little man, one of the main characters of this literature?
In “The Overcoat,” we ultimately see not just a “little man,” but a person in general. A lonely, insecure person, without reliable support, in need of sympathy. Therefore, we can neither mercilessly judge the “little man” nor justify him: he evokes both compassion and ridicule at the same time.
In conclusion, I would like to say that a person should not be small. The same Chekhov, showing “case” people, exclaimed in one of his letters to his sister: “My God, how rich Russia is in good people!” The keen eye of the artist, noticing vulgarity, hypocrisy, stupidity, saw something else - the beauty of a good person, like, for example, Doctor Dymov from the story “The Jumper”: a modest doctor with a kind heart and a beautiful soul who lives for the happiness of others. Dymov dies saving a child from illness. So it turns out that this “little man” is not so small.
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