Oblomov and Stolz comparative characteristics of the heroes. Oblomov and Stolz: comparative characteristics
I.A. Goncharov in his novel touches on a very relevant topic: the confrontation between work and laziness, which for centuries has remained the most discussed and debatable. Nowadays, this topic is very problematic, since in our modern society technology is progressing and people stop working, laziness develops into the meaning of life.
The heroes of the novel, Oblomov and Stolz, have been friends since early childhood. Their acquaintance occurs while studying in the house of Stolz’s father, who taught the basics of the most important sciences.
Ilya Oblomov comes from a noble family; from early childhood, little Ilya is pampered and cherished. Parents and nannies forbid him to show any independent activity. Ilyusha, seeing this attitude toward himself, immediately realized that he could do nothing, since other people would do it all for him. His education took place in Stolz's house; he did not particularly want to study and his parents indulged him in this. This is how Oblomov’s entire youth passed. Adult life was no different from childhood and adolescence; Oblomov continues to lead a calm and lazy lifestyle. His passivity and idleness affect his daily life. He woke up at lunchtime, slowly climbed out of bed, lazily ate his food and was not interested in any business. Laziness, ingrained from childhood, did not give Oblomov the slightest chance to strive for science, to understand the world around him. Despite all this, his imagination was very well developed, since due to idleness Oblomov’s imaginary world was very rich. Oblomov was also a very trusting person, and the main person Ilya trusted was Andrei Stolts. Shtolz is the complete antipode of Oblomov. From early childhood, Andrei was accustomed to order and to work. His parents raised him strictly but fairly. His father, a German by nationality, instilled in Andrei precision, hard work and punctuality. From a young age, Andrei carried out various assignments from his father, strengthening his character. He studied with Ilya; from his father, unlike Oblomov, Andrei was good at science, and he studied them with curiosity. Stolz made the transition from childhood to adulthood very early, so Andrei was a very active person. He strived for constant replenishment of knowledge, because “learning is light, and ignorance is darkness. He had a sober and practical view of events, he never did anything hastily without thinking about the issue that he needed to solve. The prudence and punctuality inherent in childhood found a place in Stolz’s adult life. Mobility and energy contributed to him in any endeavors. Considering the life positions of Oblomov and Stolz in relation to Olga Ilyinskaya, the following conclusions can be drawn: Oblomov, living in his own world - “Oblomovshchina,” was a romantic who took a long time to decide on concrete steps in real life. Their acquaintance with Olga Ilyinskaya occurs thanks to Stolz. Their relationship was not strong from the very beginning. Olga, knowing a lot about Oblomov from Stolz’s stories, tries to bring Oblomov back to life through the means of her love, but she fails to do this and “Oblomovism” wins. The relationship between Olga and Andrey develops naturally throughout life, “she laughs at his jokes, and he listens to her singing with pleasure.” They had a lot in common, but the most important thing was that they strived for life, this contributed to their rapprochement and the formation of a family.
Be that as it may, the fates of both heroes turn out relatively well. Stolz finds his happiness with Olga, and Oblomov finds his Oblomovka in a house on the Vyborg side and lives out his life there with the woman he always dreamed of. This denouement shows that the author’s position towards both of his heroes is positive.
After reading the novel by I.A. Goncharov “Oblomov”, I am inclined to think that the events described in this work can be applied to our time, since in modern society there are many people like Stolz and Oblomov. And their confrontation will be eternal.
In the novel “Oblomov,” Alexander Goncharov touches on the theme of friendship between people who are completely different in character and views.
A comparative description of the image of Oblomov and Stolz will help the reader figure out whether it is capable of changing a person for the better.
Childhood and education
Ilya Ilyich Oblomov grew up as a spoiled child. The parents were too protective of their son and did not give him the opportunity to prove himself. Didn't like to study. He believed that science was sent to people as punishment for their sins. As a thirteen-year-old boy, he was enrolled in a boarding school. He often asked his mother for permission to stay at home and not go to school. I did not receive sufficient knowledge at the university due to my own laziness.
Andrey Ivanovich Stolts was a smart boy. He absorbed knowledge like a sponge. His father raised him strictly. Mother did not encourage “labor education.” When the father sent his son to university, he did not take him to the city. I said goodbye at the gate without unnecessary emotions, put on his cap, and pushed him so hard that he knocked him off his feet.”
Appearance
Ilya is overweight. His “plump arms and soft shoulders” gave his appearance a certain delicacy. “His complexion was not ruddy or dark, he seemed positively pale.” There were always certain thoughts in the gray eyes that quickly disappeared before they had time to settle in their heads.
Andrey he is thin, has no cheeks at all, and has dark skin. “He was made of bones, nerves and muscles, like an English horse.” His face had expressive green eyes. It exudes masculinity and health.
Aspirations and wealth
Ilya Oblomov at thirty-two years old, he had acquired absolutely nothing on his own. He left the service because of a stupid mistake he made, sending important documents to the wrong address. He couldn't complete a simple assignment. Lives in rented apartments. The property inherited from parents suffers losses and does not bring adequate prosperity. Ilya Ilyich knows nothing about financial matters.
Doesn't try to keep up with anything and create something in life. He lies on the sofa, constantly in a sleepy state.
Stolz“I served, after resigning, I went into business on my own and made a house and money. He's involved in some company that ships goods overseas." Does not make mistakes in work. He achieved respect in society and material wealth through his own efforts. “He is constantly on the move: if society needs to send an agent to England or Belgium, they send him. If you need to create a new project or explore a new idea, they choose Stolz.”
Love for a woman
Andrey treats the opposite sex with respect. In his relationship with Olga Ilyinskaya, he proves himself to be a true gentleman, capable of solving all the concerns of his beloved and making her happy. He achieved his goal - he married the one he loves.
Ilya always tactful in dealing with women. He loved Olga Ilyinskaya, but could not overcome his laziness and reluctance to change. I was afraid of the ordinariness of marriage. He caused his beloved a lot of trouble; she often cried because of his caustic speeches. He married the widow Pshenitsyna, from whom he rented a room. She demanded absolutely nothing from him. Such relationships suited Oblomov.
Attitude to life
Andrey Stolts, full of health, wishes to live many more years. Although he is a realist, phrases are often heard from his lips that he wants to “live two hundred, three hundred years.” Adheres to the goal that everything should be accomplished based on clearly defined tasks. The dream had no place in his soul.
Ilya Oblomov calls himself an “old caftan.” Sometimes he voices thoughts that he would lie down and fall asleep forever. Likes to dream. His imagination often paints imaginary pictures. The images of the future wife and children are especially clearly highlighted.
The novel "Oblomov" is one of the iconic works of the 19th century, covering many social and philosophical themes. An important role in revealing the ideological meaning of the work is played by the analysis of the relationship in the book of the two main male characters. In the novel “Oblomov,” the characterization of Oblomov and Stolz reflects their completely different natures, contrasted by the author.
According to the plot of the work, the characters are best friends from an early age, helping each other whenever possible even in adulthood: Stolz - to Oblomov - with a solution to many of his pressing problems, and Ilya Ilyich - to Andrei Ivanovich - with pleasant conversations, allowing Stolz to return his peace of mind.
Portrait characteristics of heroes
The comparative description of Oblomov and Stolz in Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov” is given by the author himself and is most noteworthy when comparing their portrait characteristics, as well as characters. Ilya Ilyich is a soft, quiet, kind, dreamy, reflective fellow who makes any decision at the behest of his heart, even if his mind leads the hero to the opposite conclusion. The appearance of the introverted Oblomov fully corresponds to his character - his movements are soft, lazy, rounded, and his image is characterized by excessive effeminacy, not typical for a man.
Stolz, both internally and externally, is completely different from Oblomov. The main thing in Andrei Ivanovich’s life is the rational grain; in all matters he relies only on reason, while the dictates of the heart, intuition and the sphere of feelings for the hero not only represent something secondary, but are also inaccessible and incomprehensible to his rational thoughts. Unlike Oblomov, “flabby beyond his years,” Stolz seems to consist of “bones, muscles and nerves.” His life is a rapid race forward, the important attributes of which are constant personal development and continuous work. The images of Oblomov and Stolz seem to be a mirror image of each other: the active, extroverted, successful in society and in his career, Stolz is contrasted with the lazy, apathetic Oblomov, who does not want to communicate with anyone, much less go to work again.
Differences in the upbringing of heroes
When comparing Ilya Oblomov and Andrei Stolts, as well as for a better understanding of the images of the heroes, it is important to briefly describe the atmosphere in which each of the characters grew up. Despite the “dragging” environment that seemed to cover Oblomovka with a veil of half-asleep and laziness, little Ilya was a cheerful, active and curious child, which at first was very similar to Stolz. He wanted to learn as much as possible about the world around him, but the excessive care of his parents, his “greenhouse” upbringing, the instillation of outdated, obsolete and aimed at the ideals of the past, made the child a worthy successor of the traditions of “Oblomovism”, a bearer of the “Oblomovism” worldview - lazy, introverted, living in his own illusory world.
However, Stolz also did not grow up the way he could have grown up. At first glance, the combination in his upbringing of the strict approach of his German father and the tenderness of his mother, a noblewoman of Russian origin, would have allowed Andrei to become a harmonious, comprehensively developed personality. Nevertheless, as the author points out, Stolz grew up “like a cactus accustomed to drought.” The young man lacked love, warmth and gentleness, since he was mainly raised by his father, who did not believe that sensitivity should be instilled in a man. However, until the end of his life, Stolz’s Russian roots sought this spiritual warmth, finding it in Oblomov, and then in the idea of Oblomovka, which he denied.
Education and career of heroes
The contradictory characters of Stolz and Oblomov manifest themselves already in their youth, when Andrei Ivanovich, trying to learn as much as possible about the world around him, tried to instill in Ilya Ilyich a love of books, to light a flame in him that would make him strive forward. And Stoltz succeeded, but for a very short time - as soon as Oblomov was left alone, the book became less important for him than, for example, a dream. Somehow, rather for his parents, Ilya Ilyich graduated from school and then university, where he was absolutely not interested, since the hero did not understand how mathematics and other sciences could be useful to him in life. Even a single failure in the service became the end of his career for him - it was too difficult for the sensitive, soft Oblomov to adapt to the strict rules of the capital's world, far from the norms of life in Oblomovka.
For Stolz, with his rational, active view of the world, it is much easier to move up the career ladder, because any failure was more like another incentive for him than a defeat. Andrei Ivanovich’s continuous activity, high efficiency, and ability to please others made him a useful person in any workplace and a pleasant guest in any society, and all thanks to the determination laid down by his father and the continuous thirst for knowledge, which his parents developed in Stolz in childhood.
Characteristics of Oblomov and Stolz as carriers of two opposite principles
In critical literature, when comparing Oblomov and Stolz, there is a widespread opinion that the characters represent two opposites, two types of “extra” heroes who cannot be found in “pure” form in real life, even though “Oblomov” is a realistic novel , and, consequently, the images described must be typical images. However, when analyzing the upbringing and development of each of the characters, the reasons for Oblomov’s apathy, laziness and daydreaming become clear, as well as excessive dryness, rationality, and even similarities with a certain Stolz mechanism.
A comparison of Stolz and Oblomov makes it possible to understand that both heroes are not only typical personalities for their time, but are also images that are tendentious for any time. Oblomov is a typical son of rich parents, raised in an atmosphere of love and intense care, protected by his family from the need to work, decide something and actively act, because there will always be “Zakhar” who will do everything for him. Stolz, on the other hand, is a person who, from an early age, is taught the need to work and labor, while being deprived of love and care, which leads to a certain internal callousness of such a person, to a misunderstanding of the nature of feelings and emotional deprivation.
Work test
The great Russian writer, Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov, published his second novel “Oblomov” in 1859. It was a very difficult time for Russia. Society was divided into two parts: the first, and the minority - those who understood the need to abolish serfdom, those who were not satisfied with the life of ordinary people in Russia; the second, the majority, are landowners, “lords”, wealthy people whose life consisted of spending idle time, that is, those who lived at the expense of the peasants who belonged to them. In the novel, the author tells us about the life of the landowner Oblomov, about his friends.
So, the main character of the novel is Ilya Ilyich Oblomov. But the author also pays a lot of attention to Oblomov’s best friend, Stolz. Both heroes live at the same time, and it would seem that they should be similar, but is this so?
Oblomov appears before us as a man “... about thirty-two or three years old, of average height, pleasant appearance, with dark gray eyes, but with the absence of any definite idea, ... an even light of carelessness glowed throughout his whole face.” Stolz is the same age as Oblomov, “thin , he has almost no cheeks at all,... his complexion is even, darkish and no blush; the eyes, although a little greenish, are expressive.” Oblomov's parents were Russian nobles who owned several hundred serf souls. Stolz on his father's side was half German, his mother was a Russian noblewoman. Andrei Ivanovich professed the Orthodox faith and spoke Russian.
Oblomov and Stolz have known each other since childhood; they studied in a small boarding school located five miles from Oblomovka, in the village of Verkhleve. Stolz's father was the manager there. “Maybe Ilyusha would have had time to learn something well from him if Oblomovka had been about five hundred miles from Verkhlevo... The charm of Oblomov’s atmosphere, way of life and habits extended to Verkhlevo;...there, except for Stolz’s house, everything breathed the same primitive laziness, simplicity of morals, silence and stillness.” But Ivan Bogdanovich raised his son strictly: “From the age of eight, he sat with his father at the geographical map, sorted through the warehouses of Herder, Wieland, biblical verses and summed up the illiterate accounts of peasants, townspeople and factory workers, and with his mother he read sacred history, taught Krylov’s fables and sorted it out from Telemacus’ warehouses.” As for physical education, Oblomov was not even allowed out into the street, and Stolz “took up from the pointer and ran to destroy birds’ nests with the boys,” sometimes disappearing from home for a day. From childhood, Oblomov was surrounded by the tender care of his parents and nanny, and Stolz was brought up in an atmosphere of constant mental and physical labor.
But both Oblomov and Stoltz are already over thirty, what are they like now? Ilya Ilyich turned into a lazy gentleman, whose life is spent lying on the sofa: “Ilya Ilyich’s lying down was neither a necessity, like that of a sick person or like a person who wants to sleep, nor an accident, like that of someone who is tired, nor a pleasure, like for a lazy person: this was his normal state.” Stolz cannot imagine life without movement: “He is constantly on the move: if society needs to send an agent to Belgium or England, they send him; you need to write some project or adapt a new idea to business - they choose it. Meanwhile, he goes out into the world and reads: when he has time, God knows.”
Comparing Oblomov and Stolz, we see that they are very different, but what unites them? Yes, undoubtedly, friendship, but what else? It seems to me that they are united by an eternal and endless dream. Oblomov sleeps on his sofa, and Stolz sleeps in his stormy and eventful life. “Life: life is good!” says Oblomov, “What to look for there? interests of the mind, heart? Look where the center is around which all this revolves: it is not there, there is nothing deep that touches the living. All these are dead people, sleeping people, worse than me, these members of the world and society!... Don’t they sleep sitting all their lives? Why am I more guilty than them, lying at home and not infecting my head with threes and jacks? I completely agree with Oblomov and believe that people who live without a specific, lofty goal simply sleep in pursuit of satisfying their desires.
But who is more needed by Russia, Oblomov or Stolz? Of course, such progressive people as Stolz are simply necessary, especially at the beginning of the third millennium. But the Oblomovs will never die, there is a piece of Oblomov in each of us, we are all a little Oblomov in our souls. It seems to me that the problem of the “sleeping man”, raised in the nineteenth century by Goncharov, is still relevant today. Lenin’s words are well known that even after three revolutions “old Oblomov remained and he had to be washed, cleaned, scuffed and torn for a long time in order for any sense to come out.”
Comparative characteristics of Oblomov and Stolz
Lazy people are always going to do something.
Luc de Clapier Vauvenargues.
The novel “Oblomov” was written by I.A. Goncharov in 1859. When the work was published, it captured all the attention of society. Critics and writers called the novel “a sign of the times” (N.A. Dobrolyubov), “the most important thing that has not existed for a long time” (L.N. Tolstoy), a new word appeared in everyday life: “Oblomovism.” I.S. Turgenev once remarked: “As long as there is at least one Russian left, “Oblomov” will be remembered.”
When I started reading this book, to be honest, I was a little annoyed. From the first chapters, the image of Oblomov was incomprehensible to me, and even... I had a certain dislike for this character. Not to the work itself, but specifically to it. I can explain - I was greatly outraged by my namesake for his laziness and apathy. It was unbearable. And how glad I was to learn in the process of reading this novel that Oblomov has, as Dobrolyubov puts it, an “antidote” - his friend, Andrei Stolts. It’s strange, but for some reason I was very happy. I noticed that Goncharov used this antithesis for a reason - he shows two opposites, originally conceived as a opposition between the West and Russia. But I learned about this a little later, in literature class...
What about the comparison between these characters? Take, for example, the image of Oblomov in the novel. He is depicted not with satirical, but rather with soft, sad humor, although his laziness and inertia often appear grotesque, for example, in the first part of the novel Oblomov’s day is described, during which the hero for a long time and painfully cannot muster the strength to get up from the sofa . This is how the main character appears before us. Why be surprised? Everything comes from childhood! Let's remember Oblomovka, the village where Ilya lived as a child... Oblomovka is a village of peace, blessings, sleep, laziness, illiteracy, stupidity. Everyone lived in it for their own pleasure, without experiencing any mental, moral or spiritual needs. The Oblomovites had no goals, no troubles; no one thought about why man and the world were created. And it was in this atmosphere that Ilya Ilyich Oblomov grew up and, I’m not afraid of this word... “was brought up”... Further, in the process of reading, we learn about his studies at the boarding school, where he “... listened to what the teachers said, because there was nothing else to do it was impossible, and with difficulty, with sweat, with sighs, he learned the lessons given to him...” Later, he treated the service in approximately the same way. True, at the very beginning he dreamed of serving Russia “as long as he could.” But laziness and indifference to life were so deep that all his noble dreams remained unfulfilled. He turns into a sloth and a couch potato. People around me are used to this. But don’t think that Oblomov is completely hopeless. All his strengths and all his positive qualities are revealed in his romance with Olga Ilyinskaya, which, however, is torn apart due to Oblomov’s inability to radically change his lifestyle and take serious practical steps.
What about Stolz? Stolz is the complete opposite of Oblomov. Half German by nationality, he grew up in an atmosphere of mental and physical labor. Stolz has been accustomed to order since childhood and firmly knows that everything in life can only be achieved through hard work. He repeated this thought to Oblomov tirelessly. This is natural, because Ilya Ilyich was cultivated like “an exotic flower in a greenhouse.” Stolz grew up “like a cactus accustomed to drought.” And all this was also the basis for the further lifestyle of Ilya Ilyich’s friend. Andrey is energetic, not without charm, and creates the impression of a reliable person. As for me, I see in Stolz a strong and straightforward personality, I don’t understand why Chekhov said differently about him. Stolz is super-energetic, muscular, active, standing firmly on his feet, having amassed a lot of capital for himself, a scientist, and a lot of travellers. He has friends everywhere and is respected as a strong personality. He is one of the main representatives of the trading company. He is cheerful, cheerful, hardworking... This is the difference from Oblomov, which is obvious.
Behind the antithesis of Stolz and Oblomov, one can see the opposition between the West and Russia. Stolz is portrayed by Goncharov as a harmonious, comprehensively developed personality, combining German pragmatism and Russian spirituality. He is clearly idealized by the author, who sees Stolz and others like him as the future of Russia, the possibility of its progressive development; this is emphasized in the plot by the fact that Olga Ilyinskaya gives her hand to Stolz. This, in my opinion, is the main comparison between Andrei Stolts and Ilya Oblomov.
