Savely the hero of the Holy Russian hero. The image of Savely in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”

Nekrasov wrote his poem for more than 13 years, but spent even more time “word by word,” as he himself put it, to collect all the information about the Russian people. The poet showed not only all sides peasant life with its exhausting labor, insults and oppression from the authorities, but also contrasted them with the class of serf owners. The poem has a single semantic center. This is the idea of ​​happiness. The poet puts several meanings into the concept of “happiness”. Moral meaning Nekrasov shows happiness using the example of the daily life of a peasant peasant, as well as through images of women. Another aspect, political, is that the poet shows the path through which happiness can be achieved. This path lies through gaining freedom. Happiness for Nekrasov is a very real category, which lies in human justice, freedom and equality of all people.

The plot of the poem is based on the fact that seven peasants from the “Pulled province, Terpigoreva district, Pustoporozhnaya volost, from adjacent villages - Zaplatov, Dyryavina, Razutov, Znobishina, Gorely, Neely, Neurozhaika, etc.” decide to go in search of happiness. On the road, the men meet peasants from the same unfortunate villages: Bosov, Dymoglotov, Stolbnyakov, the provinces of Frightened and Illiterate. But peasant happiness is the same everywhere - “holey with patches, hunchbacked with calluses.” The peasants they meet on their way are all poor, hungry, ragged, exhausted from backbreaking work:

From the bast shoe to the collar, the skin is completely torn,

The belly swells with chaff.

Twisted, twisted,

Flogged, tormented,

Kalina barely walks.

To forget themselves, men go to a tavern to drown their melancholy in wine. The author condemns this habit of the peasants and at the same time sympathizes with them.

But among the peasants there are already people capable of rebellion, even if only in words. Unable to withstand the bullying of Prince Utyatin, Agap Petrov expresses to him everything that is boiling in his soul:

Nishkni!. ...

Today you are in charge

And tomorrow we

One last kick and the ball is over!

Yakov Verny also rebelled in his own way. Trying to somehow take revenge for his nephew, he hanged himself. These peasants are just beginning to understand the need for struggle, but they are groping for the right path to happiness. Among the peasants who rose to the realization of their lack of rights is Yakim Nagoy. He talks about the reason for the impoverishment of the peasants:

You work alone

And the work is almost over,

Look, there are three shareholders standing:

God, king and lord!

In the chapter “Happy” Nekrasov talks about Yermil Girin, who stood up to defend the peasants. This is an intelligent person endowed with a sense of justice. Having become a peasant defender, Girin ends up in prison. The “hero of the Holy Russian” Savely had the same fate. Human sharp mind, a powerful force, he fights against slavish obedience and oppression. He understands the need for struggle and rushes at the oppressors with an ax in his hands. He suffers the same fate of a convict, but his spirit is not broken: “branded, but not a slave.”

Everyone sees and understands happiness in their own way. If Agap, Yakim, Saveliy and others see him in protest and in struggle, then people like Klim, Ipat, Gleb are content with little - the title of serf.

Klim sees happiness not only in serving the prince, but also in drunkenness, theft and vagrancy. Klim calls Prince Utyatin nothing less than a prince, and himself his unworthy slave. The servant of Prince Peremetyev licks the master's plates, finishes the remaining wine in the glasses and proudly speaks about himself:

At Prince Peremetyev's

I was a beloved slave.

The wife is a beloved slave.

Egorka Shutov served in the police and was ready to sell his peasant brother for money. Every time he suffered beatings for his vile deeds. It’s not for nothing that the peasants say: “If you don’t beat him, let’s beat someone else.” Elder Gleb is also involved in treachery, having agreed to destroy the free will given by his master to the peasants. Nekrasov condemns these people:

People serf rank -

Real dogs sometimes:

The heavier the punishment,

That's why gentlemen are dearer to them.

The landowner Obolt-Obolduev also has his own understanding of happiness. He tries with all his might to preserve his dear life under serfdom. The priest, whose income grows as the peasants are oppressed, completely agrees with him.

The life of Matryona Timofeevna, like that of every peasant woman, is a hard lot and backbreaking work. “...It’s not a matter of looking for a happy woman among women,” Matryona answers the wanderers’ question about happiness.

At the end of the poem, Nekrasov draws the image of Grisha Dobrosklonov. This is a man of a new type, who embodies everything that was latently dormant in the souls of the peasants. Dobrosklonov belongs to the future, he looks forward, believes in the strength and power of “mysterious Rus'”:

You're miserable too

You are also abundant

You're downtrodden

You are omnipotent

Mother Rus'!..

In the image of Grisha Dobrosklonov, Nekrasov embodied his concept of happiness: it lies in the liberation of the people from oppression and in universal equality.

In 1866, the prologue of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” was published. The great Russian poet Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was one of the first to understand that the long-awaited abolition of serfdom did not improve the life of the peasants at all. The fact is that the peasants had to pay off the landowner, but they did not have the money for this. Therefore, Nikolai Alekseevich decides in his work not only to highlight the difficult, humiliated situation common people, but also show ways to solve the problem as he sees them.

One of the heroes of the poem is Savely, the Holy Russian hero.

He looks like an old man with a large untrimmed beard, looking like a bear. He was about a hundred years old. His fellow countrymen called him “branded, convict.” And he responded: “Branded, but not a slave!” The fact is that in their youth, as Savely recalls, they had a free life:

We did not rule the corvee,

We didn't pay rent

And so, when it comes to reason,

We'll send you once every three years.

But everything changed a few years later, when a German manager sent by the landowner Shalashnikov changed the order by cunning. As a result, the peasants fell into bondage, enduring backbreaking labor, corvée, quitrent, and even physical punishment. Savely says about this:

The German has a death grip:

Until he lets you go around the world,

Without leaving he sucks!

But it’s not for nothing that the Russian peasant in the person of grandfather Savely is called a hero:

That's why we endured

Yes, our axes

They lay there for the time being!

As a result, when an opportunity arose, the men, led by Savely, buried the German Vogel alive in a construction pit.

For this, my grandfather was exiled to Siberia for hard labor. But he did not resign himself. Once he even ran away, but was caught and mercilessly beaten. Although Savely is already used to spanking. The main thing for him was not to break down morally, but to remain true to his convictions. Saveliy’s convictions consisted in the desire for a free life. It is no coincidence that his favorite word is “addai,” which was also loved by the seven wandering men, as well as the saying: “Unbearable is an abyss, endured is an abyss.”

With the image of Savelya, Nekrasov wants to show that the powerful force hidden in the Russian people is sleeping for the time being. One has only to awaken her, direct her to the true path, and then the people themselves will win happiness for themselves.

Updated: 2018-01-18

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N. Nekrasov created many wonderful peasant images in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” Among them stands out a hundred-year-old man, who has endured many hardships in his lifetime. But, despite his age, he still retained strength and fortitude. “The hero of the Holy Russian” - this is the definition given to grandfather Savely in the work.

“Who lives well in Rus'”: a summary of chapters 3,4 of part 3

The wandering men, who decided to definitely find the answer to the question posed in the title of the poem, learned about this hero from a young woman, Matryona Timofeevna. “He was also a lucky man,” she notes while talking about her life.

Matryona met grandfather Savely when he was about a hundred years old. He lived separately from his son’s family, in his own room, and was the only one who treated his grandson’s young wife kindly and caringly. The hero always loved the forest, where even in his old age he loved to pick mushrooms and berries, and set snares for birds. This is the first characteristic of Savely.

“Who Lives Well in Rus'” is a poem about the life of peasants before and after the landmark year of 1861. The old man’s life story, which he told his daughter-in-law, introduces us to the times when men were considered more resilient and decisive, and bondage was not felt so strongly: “Once every three years we give something to the landowner and that’s enough,” said the hero. And although many difficulties befell him: serf life, long hard labor, and settlement - however, the main test lay ahead of Savely. In his old age, he neglected to look after his great-grandson, who was killed by pigs. After this he left home, and soon settled in a monastery, where he last days in this world I prayed for sins: my own and others.

What is so attractive about the image of Savely in the work “Who Lives Well in Rus'”?

Hero's appearance

According to Matryona, the old man looked tall and strong even at a hundred years old, so that he looked more like a huge bear. With a large gray mane that had not been cut for a long time. Bent over, but still striking with his greatness - in his youth, according to his stories, he single-handedly opposed a bear and raised her on a spear. Now, of course, the power was not the same: the hero often asked the question: “Where did the former strength go?” Nevertheless, it seemed to Matryona that if grandfather straightened up to his full height, he would certainly punch a hole in the light with his head. This description complements Savely’s characterization.

“Who Lives Well in Rus'” tells the story of the hero’s early years, including the story of how he ended up in hard labor.

Free life

During his grandfather’s youth, his native Korezh places were remote and impassable. The forests and swamps that spread around were well known to the local peasants, but they struck fear into strangers, including the master. Nekrasov introduces the combination “Korezhsky” region into the poem for a reason - this is essentially where Savely’s characterization begins - “Who lives well in Rus'.” It in itself already symbolizes incredible physical strength and endurance.

So, the landowner Shalashnikov did not visit the peasants at all, and the police came once a year to collect tribute. The serfs equated themselves with the free: they paid little and lived in abundance, like merchants. At first they also gave rent of honey, fish, animal skins. Over time, as the hour for payment approached, they dressed up as beggars. And although Shalashnikov flogged them so much that the “skin” was hardened for a century, the peasants who stood for the estate turned out to be adamant. “No matter how you try, you can’t shake out your whole soul,” Savely thought so too. “Who Lives Well in Rus'” shows that the character of the hero was tempered and strengthened in conditions when he and his comrades felt their freedom. And therefore, until the end of my life, it was impossible to change either this conviction or my proud disposition. At the age of one hundred, Savely also advocated the right to be independent, including from relatives.

In his story, the grandfather drew attention to one more point - the Russian man did not always tolerate bullying. He remembered the time when the people wanted and could stand up for themselves.

Protest against arbitrariness

After the death of Shalashnikov, the peasants hoped that freedom would now come. But the heirs sent a German manager. At first he pretended to be quiet and calm, and did not demand quitrent. And he himself, by cunning, forced the peasants to dry up the swamp and cut a clearing. When they came to their senses, it was too late: out of stupidity they paved the way to themselves. This is where their life as a merchant ended, Savely notes in his story.

“Who Lives Well in Rus'” is a work in which the best are presented. In the case of the German, the author shows the unity of the people that he has always dreamed of. It turned out that it was not easy to break the men who were accustomed to a free life. For eighteen years they somehow endured the authority of the manager, but their patience had reached its limit. One day Christian Khristyanich forced them to dig a hole, and by the end of the day he was indignant that nothing had been done. In tired people - they worked tirelessly - the anger that had accumulated over the years boiled up, and suddenly a decision came. Savely lightly pushed the German towards the pit with his shoulder. Nine of his comrades standing nearby immediately understood everything - and a few minutes later the hated Vogel was buried alive in that very pit. Of course, such an act was punished, but in everyone’s soul there remained satisfaction from the fact that they did not submit. It is no coincidence that the old man, to the word “convict” addressed to him by his son, answered every time: “Marked, but not a slave.” And this is one of the main qualities of the hero, which he was always proud of.

Hard labor

Twenty years of hard labor and the same number of settlements - such was the sentence for the rebels. But he could not change the attitude towards life of the people to whom Savely belonged. The image of the hero from the work “Who Lives Well in Rus'” was tempered even more in new trials. Flogging in prison, and then in Siberia after unsuccessful escapes, in comparison with Shalashnikov’s punishments, seemed to him just a worthless daub. Hard work was also nothing new. Savely even managed to save money, with which, upon returning to his native place, he built a house. The desire for independence and freedom remained the same. This is probably why the old man singled out only his grandson’s wife, Matryona, from the entire family. She was just like him: rebellious, purposeful, ready to fight for her own happiness.

Relationships with household members

This is another important component of the story about the hero - in the end it is from small parts folds into small chapter characteristics of Savely.

“Who Lives Well in Rus'” is a poem about the “lucky ones.” But can we include a person who felt lonely in his family among them? Matryona noted that grandfather did not like to communicate with his relatives and therefore settled in the upper room. The reasons were simple: Savely, pure in soul and kind by nature, could not accept the anger and envy that reigned in the family. The old man's son did not possess any of the qualities characteristic of his father. There was no kindness, no sincerity, no desire for work in him. But there was indifference to everything, a tendency towards idleness and drinking. His wife and daughter, who remained an old wench, differed little from him. In order to somehow teach his relatives a lesson, Savely sometimes began to joke. For example, he tossed a tin “coin” made from a button to his son. As a result, the latter returned from the tavern beaten. And the hero just chuckled.

Later, Savely’s loneliness will be brightened up by Matryona and Demushka. After the death of the child, the old man admits that next to his grandson his hardened heart and soul thawed, and he again felt full of energy and hopes.

The story with Demushka

The death of the boy became a real tragedy for the old man, although the origins of what happened must be sought in the very way of Russian life of that time. The mother-in-law forbade Matryona to take her son with her into the field, who allegedly interfered with her work, and hundred-year-old Savely began to look after the child.

“Who Lives Well in Rus'” - the characterization of its heroes does not always turn out to be cheerful - this is a poem about difficult trials that not everyone can cope with. Here in in this case The hero, who had seen a lot in his life, suddenly truly felt like a criminal. He was never able to forgive himself for falling asleep and not looking after the children. Savely did not leave his closet for a week, and then went into the forest, where he always felt freer and more confident. In the fall, he settled in a monastery to repent and pray. He asked God that the heart of the suffering mother would take pity and that she would forgive him, the foolish one. And the old man’s soul also ached for the entire Russian peasantry, suffering, with a difficult fate - he will tell about this when he meets Matryona several years after the tragedy.

Thoughts about the people

The characterization of Savely from the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” will be incomplete without mentioning the hero’s attitude towards the Russian peasantry. He calls the people suffering and at the same time courageous, capable of enduring any trial in this life. The arms and legs are forever chained, as if they have passed down the back, and in the chest - “Elijah the prophet... thunders... in a chariot of fire.” This is how the hero describes the man. Then he adds: a true hero. And he concludes his speech with the words that even after death human suffering does not end - in this, unfortunately, one can hear the motives of the humility of the elder novice. For in the next world the same “hellish torment” awaits the unfortunate, says Saveliy.

“Who lives well in Rus'”: characteristics of the “hero of Svyatogorsk” (conclusions)

To summarize, it can be noted that the appearance of the hero embodies best qualities Russian person. The story itself reminds of him folk tale or an epic. Strong, proud, independent, he rises above the other heroes of the poem and, in fact, becomes the first rebel to defend the interests of the people. However, the comparison of the hero with Svyatogor is not accidental. It was this hero who was considered in Rus' to be both the strongest and the most inactive. In my thoughts about future fate Saveliy comes to a less than satisfying conclusion: “God knows.” Consequently, this image from the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is very contradictory and does not answer the question of the wanderers. And therefore the story about the search for happiness does not end until the men meet the young and active Grisha.

The chapter “Peasant Woman” was created by Nekrasov on the eve of the second democratic upsurge, when true knowledge of the people’s environment, the essence folk character became especially necessary. What conclusions did the long-term study lead to? folk life Nekrasova?

Never before in any of the chapters of the epic “To Whom in Rus'...” has the author so inspiredly affirmed the idea that inexhaustible sources of moral beauty, perseverance, heroic power and love of freedom lurk in the people’s environment. The latter is revealed with particular force in the central episode of the chapter “Peasant Woman,” the story about Savely, the Holy Russian hero. It is completely natural that it is in the chapter characterizing the life of the peasantry, narrated by a peasant woman and closely connected with folk art, a semi-fictional (and so concretely real!) image of the “homespun hero” appears, Savelya is one of the best and most dramatic creatures Nekrasov genius.

From Matryona’s very first words about Savely, a feeling of his heroic power is born. The huge, “With a huge gray mane, / With a huge beard,” the hundred-year-old man not only “looked like a bear,” but his strength seemed “more terrible than an elk.” The epic, broadly generalizing meaning of the image of Savely is emphasized in the title of the chapter - “Savely, the Holy Russian hero.” What are the origins of the birth of this image and what place does it occupy in the development ideological plan poems?

Impulses that stimulated work creative imagination Nekrasova, very diverse. It is possible that the idea of ​​​​introducing the image of a peasant hero into the chapter “Peasant Woman” was prompted by Fedosov’s laments. Thus, in the lament “About the Killed by Thunder and Lightning,” the image of Elijah the Prophet is depicted, who asks God for permission to shoot a fiery arrow into the white chest of a mighty peasant. Words of the poem:

What about the breasts? Elijah the prophet

It rattles and rolls around

On a chariot of fire...

The hero endures everything! —

an undoubted echo of Fedosov's cry.

But Nekrasov came not so much from the book as from life. As found in one of most interesting research, the idea of ​​the chapter about Savely is acutely journalistic. The events described in the chapter “Savely, the hero of the Holy Russian” unfold in the northwestern part of the Kostroma region, as evidenced by the names: Korezhina, Bui, Sand Monastery, Kostroma. It turns out that the choice of the location, so to speak, “Kostroma topography,” is not accidental in the poem. Arriving in the city (“Governor’s Lady”), Matryona stops in surprise in front of the monument to Susanin:

It is forged from copper,

Exactly like Savely’s grandfather,

A man on the square.

- Whose monument? - “Susanina.”

The fact that Savely is compared with Susanin has been noted many times in the literature, but scientific research has shown that the internal connection between the image of Savely and Susanin is much deeper and more complex than it seemed. It is in it that the secret of the birth of the image is hidden.

Kostroma “signs” of the chapter are based on special meaning. The fact is that Ivan Susanin was born in the same place, in the village of Derevenki, Buysky district. He died, according to legend, about forty kilometers from Bui, in the swamps near the village of Yusupov.

As is known, Susanin’s patriotic feat was interpreted in a monarchical spirit; love for the Tsar and willingness to give his life for him were declared to be traits expressing the very essence of the Russian peasantry. In 1851, a monument to Susanin was erected in Kostroma (sculptor V.I. Demut-Malinovsky). At the foot of a six-meter column, topped with a bust of Mikhail Romanov, is the kneeling figure of Ivan Susanin. When visiting Kostroma, Nekrasov saw this monument more than once.

With the plot of the chapter “Savely, the hero of the Holy Russians,” the action of which is concentrated in a remote bearish corner, deep in the Kostroma forests and swamps, the poet declares that even in the most remote side a man wakes up. This is also evidenced by the image of Savely - an epically generalized image of the Russian peasantry rising to fight.

Nekrasov gives in the poem an unusually deep analysis of the characteristics of the peasant movement of his era, peasant Rus' in its strength and weakness. The author of the epic draws attention to the heroic power of the “homespun hero” (Russian peasant), the seemingly difficult patience with it and the spontaneous nature of his rebellion. The Russian man is patient. Korezhin silently tolerates Shalashnikov’s teasing. ABOUT inner strength, pride (“These were proud people!”) is evidenced by this ability to restrain growing anger, to rise above beatings and torture:

Whatever you do, son of a dog,

But you can’t knock out your whole soul...

In this patience there is not obedience and slavish blood, but common sense and fortitude.

A kind of competition in strength and stamina takes place between the Korezhinites and Shalashnikov, and Shalashnikov’s brute strength is not able to defeat the inner tenacity of the men, the strength of their spirit: “You are a fool, Shalashnikov!” - the Korezhin residents mockingly declare, making fun of the master. However

Peasant patience

Enduringly, and with time

There is an end to it too

peasant "axes lie for the time being." Ordinary natures submit to evil, but the people's environment constantly puts forward people who stand up to fight it. These people begin to understand that excessive patience often develops into a habit and gives birth to the psychology of a slave. “To endure the abyss...” Savely, who has taken the path of protest, formulates this thought.

The Russian peasant is patient, but once he has made his decision, he is no longer afraid of obstacles. Pushed to the limit by the bullying of the “German manager,” the patient Korezhin residents, silently agreeing to settle accounts with the hated Vogel, show amazing determination and unanimity in actions. The initiative belongs to Savely. It was he who was the first to lightly push Khristyan Khristianych towards the pit with his shoulder. And this slight push, a spark, is enough for the flames of the people’s anger to flare up and start working in unison to the remark “Pump it up!” nine shovels...

Affirming the moral right of the people to fight, to deal with their oppressors, admiring the strength and determination of the Korezhinites, Nekrasov, however, also shows the doom of such outbursts of peasant anger. Savely and his comrades

To the land of the German Vogel

Khristyan Khristianych

Buried him alive.

Tavern... a prison in Bui-gorod,

...Twenty years of strict hard labor,

The settlement has been around for twenty years.”

By killing Vogel, the Korezhinites aroused against themselves the action of the force behind Vogel, terrible power autocratic-landlord state, which even heroes cannot cope with if they are alone. Old man Savely reflects:

Where have you gone, strength?

What were you useful for?

- Under rods, under sticks

Left for little things!

That’s why the Holy Russian hero likes to repeat: “To not endure is an abyss...” Yes, spontaneous and scattered peasant revolts will not lead to Izbytkovo village. Nekrasov knows this and yet speaks with enormous poetic inspiration about power and love of freedom, about the enormous potential strength the anger of the Russian peasant.

Savely’s story contains the words:

Then... I escaped from hard labor...

The image of a peasant - a rebel, a people's avenger for centuries-old grievances - was originally conceived even more sharply. The manuscripts contain an episode that tells how Saveliy, having escaped from hard labor for the third time, “had a fair walk in freedom.” Wandering in the taiga in winter, he comes across a hut in which some hated officials were staying, and, carrying out his revenge, Savely burns his enemies.

It is generally accepted that the reason to refuse to introduce this episode into Nekrasov’s poem was due to concerns about censorship. But I would like to note something else. There is something eerie in the painted picture, casting an ominous glare, an ominous shadow on the appearance of Savely, contrary to Nekrasov’s concept of folk character. The Russian peasant is more complacent than cruel; thoughtful and deliberate cruelty is not characteristic of him. Yes, driven to the limit, in a rush righteous anger Korezhin residents bury Vogel in the ground. But psychological drawing here is different. The shovels of the Korezhin residents work under the influence of a spontaneous impulse, they carry out the will of the collective, although each of the participants in the massacre is internally embarrassed by the cruelty of this just (after all, they endured it for “eighteen” years!) will:

We didn't look at each other

In the eyes...

They came to their senses and “looked at each other” only when the deed was done. It seems that it was not a look at censorship, but an artistic flair that forced the poet to refuse to introduce into the final text of the poem the fragment “And the doors are covered with stones...”, which contradicts the humane foundations of the hero’s nature.

There is no force capable of breaking Savely. “Twenty years of strict hard labor, / Twenty years of settlement” only strengthened his natural love of freedom, expressed in the words: “Branded, but not a slave!” Having become a hundred-year-old man, all his thoughts are chained to the past, he reflects on the fate of the peasantry, “about the bitter lot of the plowman,” about the ways of struggle, and even in the monastery where he went, blaming himself for the death of Demushka, he prays “for all the suffering Russian peasantry.” True, at the end of his life Savely sometimes comes to bitter and bleak conclusions.

Be patient, long-suffering one!

We can't find the truth,

He says to Matryona, and mentally addresses the peasants with the words:

No matter how you fight, you fools,

What is written in the family

This cannot be avoided!

But fatalism and religiosity, so characteristic of the ideology of the patriarchal Russian peasantry, live in Savelia next to the unabated long life anger and contempt for those who are not capable of fighting:

Oh you Aniki warriors!

With old people, with women

All you have to do is fight!

The image of Savely is correlated in the poem not only with Ivan Susanin, but also with the images of the Russian epic epic. He is a Holy Russian hero. This poetic parallel affirms the heroism of the people and faith in their inescapable powers. It has long been established that in Saveliy’s characterization of the peasant (Do you think, Matryonushka, the peasant is not a hero?...) one can hear the echo of the epic about Svyatogor and earthly cravings. Svyatogor the hero feels immense strength within himself.

If only I could find the traction

That would lift the whole earth! —

he says. But, having tried to lift the saddle bag with earthly traction,

And Svyatogor sunk into the ground up to his knees,

And not tears, but blood flows down the white face...

In the poem:

For now there is a terrible craving

He raised it,

Yes, he went into the ground up to his chest

With effort! By his face

Not tears - blood flows.

The image of Svyatogor helps to express the idea of ​​the strength and weakness of the Russian peasantry, of its powerful but still dormant forces and the unawakened, unformed state of its social consciousness. To the observation The comparison of the Russian peasant with Svyatogor is present in the poem as Savely’s reasoning. Saveliy, whose consciousness is characterized not by drowsiness, but by intense, many years of painful work of thought, the result of which was contempt for Anika warriors who were not capable of fighting, the consciousness that a convict brand was better than spiritual slavery. Therefore, the figurative parallel of Svyatogor - the Russian peasant cannot in any way be extended to Savely himself, also a Svyatorussky hero, but of a different, not dormant, but active force.

Matryona Timofeevna told the walkers about the fate of Savelia. He was her husband's grandfather. She often sought help from him and asked for advice. He was already a hundred years old, he lived separately in his upper room, because he did not like his family. In solitude he prayed and read the calendar. Huge, like a bear, hunched over, with a huge gray mane. At first Matryona was afraid of him. And his relatives teased him about being branded and a convict. But he was kind to his son’s daughter-in-law and became a nanny for her first-born. Matryona ironically called him lucky.

Savely was a serf of the landowner Shalashnikov in the village of Korega, which was lost among impenetrable forests. That is why the life of the peasants there was relatively free. The master excellently tore down the peasants who were withholding the rent from him, since due to the lack of roads it was difficult to reach them. But after his death it got even worse. The heir sent manager Vogel, who turned the life of the peasants into real hard labor. The crafty German convinced the men to work off their debts. And in their innocence they drained the swamps and paved the road. And so the master's hand reached out to them.

For eighteen years they endured the German, who with his death grip let almost everyone around the world. One day, while digging a well, Savely carefully pushed Vogel towards the hole, and the others helped. And they responded to the German’s cries with “nine shovels,” burying him alive. For this he received twenty years of hard labor and the same amount of imprisonment. Even there he worked a lot and managed to save money to build an upper room. But his relatives loved him while they had money, then they began to spit in his eyes.

Why does Nekrasov call this cold-blooded killer Holy Russian hero? Saveliy, possessing truly heroic physical strength and fortitude, is for him the intercessor of the people. Savely himself says that the Russian peasant is a hero in his patience. But the thought lingers in his mind that “the men have axes for their adversaries, but they are silent for the time being.” And he chuckles to himself in his beard: “Branded, but not a slave.” For him, both not to endure and to endure are all the same thing, that is an abyss. He speaks with condemnation of the obedience of today's men, who died in his day, the lost Aniki warriors, who are only capable of fighting with old men and women. All their strength in small things was lost under rods and sticks. But its wise folk philosophy led to a riot.

Even after hard labor, Savely retained his unbroken spirit. Only the death of Demushka, who died through his fault, broke the man who had endured hard labor. He will spend his last days in the monastery and in wanderings. This is how the theme of people's long-suffering was expressed in the fate of Savely.

Essay Savely in the poem Who Lives Well in Rus'

Nekrasov set himself a huge task - to show how exactly the abolition of serfdom affected life ordinary people. To do this, he creates seven peasants who walk all over Rus' and ask people if they are living well. Grandfather Savely becomes one of the respondents.

Outwardly, Savely looks like a huge bear, he has a large gray “mane”, broad shoulders and a big increase, he is a Russian hero. From Savely’s story, the reader understands that he is not only a hero outwardly, he is also a hero internally, in character. It is very persistent, hardy and full life wisdom Human. A man who experienced many sorrows and many joys.

In his youth, Savely lived far in the forest, where no hand had yet reached evil landowners. But one day a German manager was appointed to the settlement. Initially, the manager did not even demand money from the peasants, the tribute required by law, but forced them to cut down the forest for it. The narrow-minded peasants did not immediately understand what was happening, but when they cut down all the trees, a road was built into their wilderness. It was then that the German manager came with his entire family to live in the wilderness. Only now the peasants could not boast of a simple life: the Germans were fleecing them. A Russian hero is capable of enduring a lot for a long time, Savely argues during this period of his life, but something needs to be changed. And he decides to rebel against the manager, whom all the peasants are burying in the ground. Here the enormous will of our hero is manifested, which is even stronger than his boundless Russian patience.

For such insolence he is sent to hard labor for 20 years, and after that for another 20 years he works in the settlements, saving money. Not every person is capable of plowing for 40 years for one goal - to return home and help his family with money. It is worthy of respect.

Upon returning home, the worker is greeted very cordially, he builds a hut for his family and everyone loves him. But as soon as the money runs out, they start laughing at him, which greatly offends Savely; he does not understand what he did to deserve such treatment.

The end of the grandfather’s life ends in the monastery, where he atones for the sins he committed: it was his fault that his grandson died. Savely is the image of a true Russian hero, capable of enduring a lot, but ready to rush into the fight for the freedom of his neighbors. The author calls him “lucky” with irony, and this is true: he is unhappy for the rest of his life.

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