Who defines Belikov as a man in a case? The image of Belikov in Chekhov’s work “The Man in a Case”: who are the case people and how are they characterized

In the work “The Man in a Case,” the characters were masterfully chosen by the author; the list of characters includes absolutely opposite, incompatible people who are forced to get along while working in a gymnasium and living in small town. In Chekhov's works, questions of morality, conscience, and personal choice often arise. The main characters of “The Man in a Case” make the reader think about our own “case”, about whether we have real freedom while living in society.

Characteristics of the characters “Man in a Case”

Main characters

Ivan Ivanovich

Veterinarian wears a long mustache. Tall, thin old man. He has a strange double surname– Chimsha-Himalayan, which, according to others, does not suit him. For this reason, Ivan Ivanovich is called by his first name and patronymic. Together with the second narrator, he came to hunt, to breathe fresh air to the village of Mironositskoye.

Burkina

Works in a gymnasium, a short, plump, bald man with long beard. Burkin is a good storyteller, an experienced, observant person, a kind of philosopher. He lived in the same house as main character story, in the apartment opposite. According to Burkin, burying people like Belikov is akin to pleasure.

Belikov

Teacher Greek language, about whom Burkin tells his hunting companion. This man went out into the street in any weather with an umbrella, wearing galoshes, and raising his collar high. He was frightened by any changes; he perceived prohibitions as the norm. Fearing everything new and unusual, he condemned any deviation in behavior, even the most harmless. Living in a case is his most comfortable state. Outside his shell, he is constantly afraid that “something will happen.” To his characterization we can add the fact that when he died, everyone experienced great relief.

Mikhail Kovalenko

Teacher, colleague of Belikov and Burkina. A tall, strong man speaking in a loud bass voice. From the first day we met, he hated Belikov; he sincerely doesn’t understand why everyone is afraid of him, why he goes to visit people if he just sits silently and looks at the owners. This man played decisive role in the fate of the Greek language teacher - he told him the whole truth, refused the silent patience characteristic of those around him. Kicking the hated guest out of his house, he lowers Belikov from the stairs and calls him “fiscal.”

Varenka Kovalenko

Mikhail's sister, Belikov's beloved, she is 30 years old. Varvara Savvishna beautiful woman, cheerful laugh. She sings beautifully, which charmed her colleagues and Belikov. Varenka's portrait appears on the main character's table. Sister and brother often argue and quarrel because they live together. For this reason, colleagues purposefully woo Varvara Belikova, deciding that she is not against such a groom.

Minor characters

Conclusion

The central image of Belikov is something unimaginably strange, empty, limited; for such people, life itself is unnatural and scary. Belikov's entire existence is a hyperbole with a negative sign. The most important idea of ​​the story is not to get bogged down in your “case” of doubts, fears, prejudices, not to set restrictions on yourself and those around you, to live fully, with thirst, with joy.

Work test

The main character of Chekhov's story "The Man in a Case" is the Greek teacher Belikov. Colleague Burkin talks about him throughout the entire story.

Belikov appears in the story as a complex person, full of incomprehensible prejudices. In any weather, he goes out in galoshes, a coat and an umbrella. All his items were in a case: a pencil sharpening knife, an umbrella and even a watch. This citizen walked with his collar constantly raised, and this made it seem as if he was also hiding his face in a cover. When he got into a cab, he always asked to raise the top. Belikov constantly had a desire to close himself off, to place himself in a certain case and thereby protect himself from any external influences. The present reality instilled in him fear and horror of everything new. As if justifying his lack of understanding of the present, he always talked about the past. In combination with all his behavior, the teaching of ancient languages ​​indicated a certain detachment from reality.

The main life slogan for Belikov is “no matter what happens.” Any slightest deviation from long-established rules can throw him off balance. But despite his complexes, according to Burkin, Belikov managed to keep the entire city in suspense.

Soon a new history teacher, Mikhail Kovalenko, and his sister Varya move to the city. Belikov's colleagues are trying in every possible way to bring him together with her. However, he cannot decide to take such a responsible step and is afraid of everything. And when he happened to see Kovalenko and his sister riding bicycles, Belikov generally fell into bewilderment. He couldn't imagine the teacher riding a bicycle.

What then is left for the children to do?

Just stand on their heads, he reasoned, trying to reason with Kovalenko.

That day, Belikov’s conversation with Kovalenko led to a quarrel and Belikov ended up being thrown down the stairs, where Varya saw him when she entered the entrance. The hero could not survive such a shame. He closes himself off from the world in his room and dies sick.

Concluding the story, Burkin says that Belikov looked very cheerful in the coffin. Apparently, he was glad that he was finally in a case in which no one would disturb him.

Option 2

In his stories, Chekhov sometimes draws strange images of people who are even difficult to imagine. Nevertheless, such people really exist, although Belikov is in many ways a grotesque figure. We see some strange metamorphosis of the human personality, which turns into something strange and even scary.

Belikov has been working as a Greek language teacher in a gymnasium for about 15 years and is influential in this gymnasium. Throughout a significant part of the story, no one can contradict Belikov; they obey him. Therefore, if this hero does not like something, then he can, for example, kick out a high school student, although such decisions are clearly determined by his inertia and excessive conservatism.

Belikov - imprisoned in a case. Through this image of the case, Chekhov represents his entire personality, he even describes the thoughts of the hero in the case, he has every object in the case, and besides this, he is figuratively entirely enclosed in the case. This is how his closedness from the world and ossification are manifested; perhaps, in some ways, this is how ignorance is manifested, which resists everything new and some kind of change.

This hero is clearly afraid of some kind of update, he is always afraid of any incidents, and such fears are manifested in all the details of his everyday life, from ordering cab drivers to raise their tops to wearing a thick coat even in warm weather. Belikov is a completely ridiculous character, but his beginning is also described as something negative and negative, he is not just ridiculous, but to a certain extent he is an opponent of this world, humanity, the positive and progressive. Therefore, Belikov’s death becomes possible only after he is ridiculed; ridicule seems to destroy the established world of this hero, subjecting him to a kind of censure that devalues ​​the absurdity to which this hero has always clung with complete seriousness.

Also, in fact, we see how Belikova is destroyed by love. Of course, we can consider the hero’s illness and sadness as an outcome after rudeness from Varenka’s brother, but in fact, his behavior is only part of his relationship with Varenka. Belikov, in fact, can’t even imagine how he loved this girl, can’t imagine his marriage, in fact, this case man is unsuitable for love, which is something more than his limited nature, so love, as it were, cleanses the world of Belikov himself.

Essay by Belikov (Man in a Case)

More than ten years separates the story of A.P. Chekhov, “The Man in a Case” from the initial humor, but one of the author’s most famous creations is prose; it has many contacts with the work of his youth as a writer. Firstly, it is a combination of one particular social satire, that particular historical era With philosophical motive, with everything constantly known problems and solutions. And the title of the story and the pseudonym of its main character were simultaneously perceived as a broad abstraction.

Belikov, as a fashionable critic of those times told us, was one of the majority of people who, like Oblomov or Chichikov, expressed with all their essence a huge social environment, or the direction of that time. “Case people”, “Belikovs” - these social indicators that flashed in the title, on the pages of scandalous articles, passed into the way of life, becoming formulas understandable to everyone. Six years earlier, Leskov said that, having analyzed another work of Chekhov: “Everywhere - ward No. 6. This is Russia...” The feelings left in the soul between these stories were similar in many ways: “All of Russia seemed to me in a case,” - A reader who followed his work once wrote to Chekhov.

Belikov’s image goes from the biological, characteristically psychological, to the social stratum, to a demonstration of the natural beginning of people in society. And this is not at all surprising: Chekhov is a physician by profession, who has a natural scientific view of everything that happens, convinced that a clear understanding of medicine and poetry have never conflicted against each other.

A.P. Chekhov, as an artist-musician, often uses techniques from music to express his thoughts, such as repetition, carries out motives through many voices of various instruments, telling us about the inexplicable fear of limitations, everyday vulgarity.

The problem that Chekhov touches on in this narrative will always remain pressing for most people. Without noticing to himself, any person can withdraw into himself or close himself in the “case” of his own delusions, ceasing to reflect, seek out and hesitate in his decisions. And this is the worst thing that leads to the regression of a person as a person, as an entity. A person notices absolutely nothing except his prejudices and fears; he cannot adequately think, invent, and finalize his plans. Some painful fear for own existence constantly raged in Belikov’s soul - outstanding character Chekhov's story, “The Man in a Case,” which was published in 1898.

Belikov is the same “man in a case”, a senseless, pitiful creature who thought of one day bringing fear to the whole city. Even the teachers were wary of him. Why, the teachers, absolutely the entire city, from small to large, shied away from him.

A man in a case... It seemed like such a strange expression, but how accurately it personifies the human soul. The idea of ​​this work lies in showing society the essence of fear: “Under the influence of people like Belikov, over the last 10 - 15 years in our city people have become afraid of everything. They were afraid to speak out loudly, send letters, make new acquaintances, read books, they were afraid to help the poor, teach people to read and write.” Yes, and everything that we have set up for ourselves, come up with, what we have fenced ourselves off from the world, all of this needs to be destroyed, we need to step over all of this, discover something new, interesting for ourselves, look at everything with an adequate view and not complicate our lives with what some imaginary accidents.

This presentation combines a combination of very interesting compositions, which, no matter what, do not prevent our writer A.P. Chekhov from sending us an inseparable assessment of the perception of human existence, an affirmation of his perfections and worldview.

Helps us expose Belikov's appearance compositional technique, which Chekhov often uses in his works, is a story within a story. In our case, these are hunters who decided to spend the night in the shed of the elder Prokofy, they told each other various incidents, stories, fables. One of the storytellers was Burkin, who decided to keep up with everyone, to tell the story of one living in his city, a teacher of foreign Greek, Belikov, and his friend, a famous veterinarian, Ivan Ivanovich. What was this teacher famous for? But the fact that, despite the wonderful sunny, warm weather, he always came out of the house in galoshes, with an umbrella in his hands and always in a warm wadded coat. But he had an umbrella in a case, a watch in a case made of gray suede fabric, and even when necessary, taking out a penknife in order to sharpen a pencil, to everyone’s surprise, he kept his knife in the same case. The expression of his appearance to anyone he met, at first glance, seemed that it, too, was dressed in a cover, a face that was constantly hidden behind the raised collar of a warm cotton coat. According to the narrator Burkin, Belikov walked around all the time in black glasses, a sweatshirt, plugged his ears with cotton wool, and when he sat down on the cab, he ordered the top to be raised, as if he was afraid of something. Whether it was a whim or some invented way of life for our hero, our narrator does not explain to us. But he notes that of this hero there was an endless greedy desire to “surround himself with a shell, to create for himself, so to speak, a case,” in order to hide himself and protect himself from words, actions and all the dirt of the world around him.

The features that Chekhov constructs become symbolic in Belikov’s appearance. The surprising thing is that for such an unattractive and narrow-minded person, with such a boring lifestyle, a person who does not sleep at night, he intimidated not only himself with all his thoughts, but he also managed to intimidate with his entire appearance all those people who surrounded him, and the entire city. At first, Chekhov found it funny and quite harmless to describe the place where Belikov lived, because it was similar to some kind of den. Compare the hero of the story with a hermit crab or a snail, which will not harm anyone and, moreover, is always afraid of everything.

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Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is the author of many innovative works, where the reader sees not only subtle satire, but also a detailed description human soul. When you get acquainted with his work, it begins to seem that he is not only a prose writer, but also a very gifted psychologist.

"The Man in the Case" is one of three stories in the "Little Trilogy" series, which the author worked on for about two months in 1898. It also includes the stories “Gooseberry” and “About Love”, which Anton Pavlovich wrote in Melikhovka, where he lived with his family. He barely managed to finish working on them, because he was already suffering from tuberculosis and wrote less and less.

You can’t be sure that Chekhov wrote about any specific person, most likely central image“Man in a Case” is collective. The writer's contemporaries put forward several candidates who could serve as prototypes for Belikov, but all of them had only a slight resemblance to the hero.

Genre, conflict and composition

It is quite easy for the reader to get acquainted with the work, because it is written in simple language, which, nevertheless, is capable of causing a huge number of impressions. Style is expressed in compositions: the text is divided into small semantic fragments, focusing attention on the most important thing.

In the story we see conflict between two heroes. The author contrasts Kovalenko (life-affirming, active position, positive thinking) and Belikov (passive and lifeless vegetation, internal slavery), which helps him to reveal the problem posed even better. The case becomes artistic detail, which describes the whole essence and meaning of the work, shows inner world hero.

Literary genre- a story that is part of a “small trilogy” of three separate stories, but combined with one idea. “The Man in the Case” is written with an obvious satirical overtones; with this technique the writer ridicules the very essence of “ little man", who is simply afraid to live.

Meaning of the name

In his story, Chekhov warns us that absolutely any person, without wanting to, can imprison himself in a “case,” which is where the name came from. A case is understood as a fixation on an unwritten set of rules and restrictions with which people constrain themselves. Dependence on conventions turns into a disease for them and prevents them from getting closer to society.

The secluded world of prohibitions and barriers seems much better to the inhabitants of the cases; they surround themselves with a kind of shell so that the influence of the outside world does not touch them in any way. However, living locked up with your own routines and attitudes is cramped; another person will not fit there. It turns out that a resident of a stuffy, clogged corner is doomed to loneliness, so the title of the story is fundamentally given in the singular.

Main characters

  1. The main character of the story is Belikov- Greek language teacher at the gymnasium. He sets certain rules in his life, and most of all he is afraid that something will not go as planned. Belikov, even in the clearest and warmest weather, is dressed in galoshes and a warm coat with a raised collar; he hides his face behind dark glasses and a hat in order to protect himself as best as possible from influence environment: not only natural, but also social. It scares him modern reality and is irritated by everything that happens around, which is why the teacher puts on a certain case both externally and internally.
  2. Mikhail Kovalenko is a new history and geography teacher who comes to work at the gymnasium with his sister. Mikhail is a young, sociable and cheerful man tall, a big fan of laughing and even laughing heartily.
  3. His sister Varenka- a 30-year-old woman, very cheerful and happy, loves to have fun, sing and dance. The heroine shows interest in Belikov, who, in turn, devotes time to her and agrees to go for walks in order to discuss the fact that marriage is too much serious thing. The woman still does not lose hope of stirring up her gentleman, which reveals in her such qualities as perseverance and determination.

Themes

  1. The main theme of Chekhov's story is closed and isolated human life who is shy of the surrounding world and shuns any manifestation of feeling. He hides his eyes from the people around him, constantly carries all his things in a case, be it a small knife designed for sharpening a pencil, or an ordinary umbrella, which is so convenient to hide his face. Many spiritual values ​​were strange to the main character, and emotions were incomprehensible. This expresses his limitations, which poison his existence.
  2. Love theme in the story it is revealed in Varenka’s attitude towards Belikov. The girl is trying to interest the hero and return him to a full life. She believes to the last that he can still change for the better. But he also closes himself off from her, because the prospect of marriage and his colleagues’ obsessive conversations about their marriage begin to frighten him.
  3. Chekhov explains to the reader that the worst thing that can happen to a person is indifference to life. Belikov became so withdrawn into himself that he stopped distinguishing the colors of the world, enjoying communication, and striving for something. He no longer cares what happens outside his case, as long as numerous decencies are observed.
  4. Man in a case - collective image timid people who are afraid of their own feelings and emotions. They abstract themselves from the world around them and withdraw into themselves. That's why theme of loneliness is also important in the story of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov.
  5. Main problems

    1. Conservative. The author realizes with horror and pity that some of his contemporaries create a shell for themselves in which they perish morally and spiritually. They exist in the world, but do not live. People go with the flow, moreover, they cannot even allow fate to intervene and change something in their life. better side. This fear of new events and changes makes people passive, inconspicuous and unhappy. Due to the abundance of such conservatives in society, stagnation forms, through which it is difficult for young shoots capable of developing and developing the country to break through.
    2. The problem of the meaninglessness of life. Why did Belikov live on earth? He never made anyone happy, not even himself. The hero trembles over his every action and constantly echoes: “No matter what happens.” Bypassing fictitious sorrows and suffering, he misses happiness itself, thus, its price of psychological comfort is too high, since it destroys the very essence of people’s existence.
    3. It appears before the reader the problem of happiness, more precisely, the problem of its achievement, essence and price. The hero replaces him with peace, but, on the other hand, he himself has the right to determine what is the highest value for him.
    4. The problem of fear of love. The people who surround him are just as unhappy, they find themselves on the other side of a fictional case, Belikov simply cannot open up and let someone closer. The hero was never able to develop his feelings for the girl he liked, he was simply afraid of them and was left with nothing.
    5. The Problem of Sociopathy. The teacher is afraid of society, despises it, isolates himself, not allowing any of the people around him to help himself. They would be happy, but he himself does not allow this.

    the main idea

    Chekhov was not only a doctor by training, but also a healer of souls by vocation. He realized that spiritual illness is sometimes more dangerous than physical illness. The idea of ​​the story “The Man in a Case” is a protest against lonely, closed vegetation under a shell. The author puts into the work the idea that the case must be mercilessly burned in order to feel freedom and approach life with ease.
    Otherwise, the fate of a closed person may be disastrous. So, in the finale, the main character dies alone, leaving no grateful descendants, no followers, no achievements. The writer shows us how it can end in vain earthly path"case" person. Colleagues and acquaintances who attend his funeral are mentally happy that they have finally said goodbye to Belikov and his importunity.

    Anton Pavlovich puts socio-political implications into his work, emphasizing the importance of social activity and civil initiative. He advocates a rich and fulfilling life, endows the main character with repulsive character traits in order to prove to people how pathetic and pathetic the inhabitant of the “case” looks, wasting himself.

    Thus, Chekhov describes the lot of many clerks who lived sadly in a stuffy city, sorting out pieces of paper that no one needed. He ironically plays on the “little man” type, violating literary tradition depict it in idyllic colors. His author's position- not contemplative or sentimental, but active, not tolerating compromises. The inhabitants of the case should not savor their insignificance and wait for pity, they need to change and squeeze out a slave.

    What does the author teach?

    Anton Pavlovich Chekhov makes us think about our own life and wonder interesting question: “Aren’t we building ourselves the same case that the main character Belikov had?” Author in literally teaches us to live, showing by example how a personality that grovels before conventions and stereotypes can fade and disappear. Chekhov was really able to instill in people a disgust for a gray, worthless life, to show that inaction and indifference are the worst things that can happen to us.

    The fear of discoveries and accomplishments destroys a person’s personality; he becomes pitiful and helpless, unable to express even the most simple feelings. The writer believes that human nature much richer and more capable than what fear and laziness turn her into. Happiness, according to Chekhov, lies in a fulfilling life, where there is a place for strong emotions, interesting communication and individuality.

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A.P. Chekhov is one of the Russian writers who understood that money, rank, authority, power are all just external ways of enslaving the human personality. The real instrument, the all-pervading instrument, is fear. Some kind of manic fear of life completely dominated the soul of Belikov, the central figure of Chekhov’s story “The Man in a Case,” published in 1898. Belikov is a “man in a case,” an absurd, insignificant creature who, however, managed to intimidate the whole city: “We, teachers, were afraid of him. And even the director was afraid. Come on, our teachers are all-thinking people, deeply decent, brought up on Turgenev and Shchedrin, but this man... held the entire gymnasium in his hands for fifteen years. What a gymnasium! The whole city!" Among Chekhov's characters there are many influential people: generals, governors, secret councilors, millionaires. But there is only one hero who holds the whole city in his hands - “the man in the case.” The power of fear comes into contact with the dominion of nothingness. The purpose of this story by A.P. Chekhov, it seems to me, is to convey to people the essence of fear: “Under the influence of people like Belikov, over the last ten to fifteen years in our city people have become afraid of everything. They are afraid to speak loudly, send letters, make new acquaintances, read books, they are afraid to help the poor, teach them to read and write.” The revelation of Belikov's image is facilitated by a compositional technique that Chekhov often resorted to in his work - a story within a story. The hunters who settled down for the night in the barn of the elder Prokofy told different stories. One of them, by the name of Burkin, told about a resident of his city, a Greek language teacher, Belikov. What was remarkable about this man? Only by the fact that “even in very good weather he went out in galoshes and with an umbrella and certainly in a warm coat with cotton wool.” In addition, “his umbrella was in a case, and his watch was in a gray suede case, and when he took out a penknife to sharpen a pencil, he also had a knife in a case.” His face also seemed to be in a cover, since he kept hiding it in his raised collar. Belikov, according to the narrator, wore dark glasses, a sweatshirt, stuffed his ears with cotton wool, and when he got on the cab, he ordered the top to be raised. Whether this is a quirk or Belikov’s way of life, Burkin does not explain. However, he notes that this man had a constant desire to “surround himself with a shell, to create for himself, so to speak, a case,” which supposedly protected him from the outside world and secluded him. Belikov lived in constant anxiety, fearing the irritants of reality. Belikov praised the past, expressing disgust for the present, and the ancient languages ​​that he taught were the same umbrella and galoshes where he hid from real life. And this one a strange man brought fear to everyone. Those around him seemed to feel that Belikov was hiding his thoughts in a case: “Only circulars and newspaper articles in which something was prohibited were clear to him.” If, for example, the circular forbade students from going out after nine o'clock, for him this was clear and definite. Belikov always doubted the resolution of anything and was afraid “that something might not work out.” The furnishings of his home added to his appearance and way of thinking. Belikov's bedroom was small, like a box, the bed had a curtain. When going to bed, the hero covered his head. But this could not protect Belikov from the fears that haunted him; he was always afraid of everything. One day, the director of the gymnasium came up with the idea of ​​marrying Belikov and the sister of the new geography and history teacher Kovalenko, who, however, hated Belikov at first sight. Kovalenko could not understand how people tolerate this fiscal, “this vile face.” And this “vile face” also condemned young man: he wears an embroidered shirt, is always on the street with some books, and then he also got a bicycle. Belikov's threats to report this entire conversation to the director brought Mikhail Savvich out of balance. Kovalenko grabbed him “by the collar from behind and shoved him.” And when Belikov fell down the stairs, he saw that just at that moment Varenka (the same sister) entered with two ladies. He became a laughing stock - it was better to “break his neck, both legs.” Varenka, recognizing Belikov, could not contain her laughter: “... with this rolling, pouring “ha-ha-ha” it all ended.” Belikov became very ill and died a month later. As if his whole life, the weather on the day of the funeral was cloudy. And the hero, as in life, was in a case, which now became his coffin. The people who buried Belikov hid their pleasure that they were freed from the vigilant supervision of this man. Concluding his narrative, Burkin expresses deeply philosophical thought: “Isn’t the fact that we live in a city in a stuffy, cramped environment, writing unnecessary papers, playing vint – isn’t that a case?” Case life is just existence. And Chekhov in his work always advocated a full life. With the story “The Man in a Case,” the author wanted to say that fear of reality can imprison a person in a case he himself created. Moreover, the “case” has a clearly socio-political overtones: here Chekhov gives a brief, precise, satirical, and sometimes grotesque, characterization of the life of the entire Russian intelligentsia and Russia in general during the just-ended reign of Alexander III.

Topic “ case man” can rightfully be considered cross-cutting in Chekhov’s work. The writer takes the first step in revealing this topic in his early work“Literature Teacher,” but in 1898 three stories appeared, the so-called “Little Trilogy,” which can be combined into a cycle based on their common themes.
The author gives the most grotesque picture of “case” life in the first story of the trilogy, where the theme is already stated in the title. Chekhov draws a clearly exaggerated image, which is an artistic generalization social phenomenon that time. So, Belikov appears before us - a man with a very interesting and even “remarkable” character and habits: “in very good weather” he “went out in galoshes and with an umbrella and certainly in a warm coat with cotton wool. And he had an umbrella in a case, and a watch in a gray suede case, and when he took out a penknife to sharpen a pencil, his knife was also in a case; and his face, it seemed, was also in a case, since he kept hiding it in the raised collar.” It is no coincidence that the author devotes Special attention portrait of a hero. He strives, with the help of characteristics of Belikov’s everyday life and costume, to reveal his soul, inner world, to show his true face.
So, already from the portrait description we see that the Greek teacher has completely fenced himself off from living life, tightly locked himself in his “case” little world, which seems to him better than the real thing. The case “envelops” the brain, controls the hero’s thoughts, suppressing positive principles. Thus, he is deprived of everything human, living, and turns into a mechanical machine of rules and circulars.
But the worst thing is that he imposes these rules and prejudices on the entire world around him, in which all goals are set and achieved only out of necessity. Oppressing everyone with his caution, Belikov puts pressure on people, makes them afraid: “Our teachers are all-thinking people, deeply decent, brought up on Turgenev and Shchedrin, but this little man, who always walked in galoshes and with an umbrella, held the entire gymnasium in his hands for fifteen years. years! What about high school? The whole city!" Developing Chekhov's thought, we understand that the “case” is a generalized image of all of Russia with its state regime. The image of Mavra brings a new twist to the understanding of the problem. The darkness and ignorance of people among the people is also a “case” that covers all major aspects of life.
But the trends of a new time are penetrating the city. Independent, free individuals appear (Kovalenko, his sister), revealing with merciless force the “suffocating atmosphere” of such a life. They find the key to solving the problem, which is contained in main phrase works: “No, it’s impossible to live like this anymore!” Indeed, with the arrival of such people, Belikov’s dominance ends. He is dying. But one gets the impression that this is exactly what the hero lived for; he finally achieved his ideal: “Now, when he was lying in the coffin, his expression was meek, pleasant, even cheerful, as if he was glad that he was finally put in a case , from which he will never come out.” Yes, Belikov died, but “how many more such people are left in the case, how many more will there be!” During the funeral, the weather was rainy and all the teachers at the gymnasium “were wearing galoshes and umbrellas,” as if continuing the traditions of the deceased.
What awaits people who lead a “case” lifestyle? Of course, inevitable loneliness, worse than which there is nothing in the world.
But what helped the author create such an original grotesque image that the reader remembers for a long time? Of course, these are various artistic means of expression.
Taking an interest in the hero's everyday life and costume, the writer gives a complete, detailed description of his nature, and draws an accurate portrait of his soul. For such a description, Chekhov uses complex syntactic constructions with a large number of homogeneous members, expanding the panorama of reality.
The phonetic composition of the work is striking in its diversity. But we note that the sound “o” (assonance) is often found, which also conveys the isolation of the hero’s life, going in a circle, his distance from the world.
Many Belikov household items are symbolic in nature. Thus, a case, glasses, galoshes and an umbrella are indispensable attributes of a “case” human existence. It is no coincidence that the story begins and ends with their mention.
The lexical composition of the story also surprises us with its richness. It contains both commonly used and outdated words(“cabman”, “sweatshirt”, “batman”, etc.), which convey the atmosphere of the era.
I would like to note that, most importantly, key phrase The work contains an inversion: “It’s impossible to live like this anymore.” It seems to attract the reader’s attention to these words, making them think about their deep meaning.
Chekhov's language is particularly lively, emotional and at the same time simple, which makes his stories accessible and understandable.
The subtleties of the author's craftsmanship amaze us even at the first reading of the story; the true intention of his works is revealed to us.
It seems to me that the problem that Chekhov touches on in the story “The Man in a Case” will always remain relevant. The writer warns about the dangers of philistinism and everyday vulgarity. Unbeknownst to yourself, everyone can fall into the “case” of their own prejudices, ceasing to think and reflect, search and doubt. And this is really scary, as it leads to spiritual devastation and personality degradation.

Tasks and tests on the topic "The symbolic meaning of the image of Belyakov in A. P. Chekhov's story "The Man in a Case""

  • Morphological norm - Important Topics to repeat the Unified State Exam in Russian

    Lessons: 1 Tasks: 8

  • SPP with adverbial adverbs (adverbial comparisons, manner of action, measure and degree) - Complex sentence 9th grade