Plan: What is Oblomov really like? Oblomov through the eyes of three people. Analysis of the work “Oblomov” (I

Based on Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov”

Oblomov through the eyes of Stolz, Olga and Zakhar

Plan:

What is Oblomov really like? Oblomov through the eyes of three people

Stolz's opinion about Oblomov Olga's opinion Zakhar's opinion

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Often referred to as a mystery writer, Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov, extravagant and unattainable for many of his contemporaries, went to his zenith for almost twelve years. “Oblomov” was published in parts, crumpled, added to and changed “slowly and heavily,” as the author wrote, whose creative hand, however, approached the creation of the novel responsibly and scrupulously. The novel was published in 1859 in the St. Petersburg magazine “Otechestvennye zapiski” and was met with obvious interest from both literary circles and the philistine.

The history of writing the novel pranced in parallel with the carriage of events of that time, namely with the Gloomy Seven Years of 1848-1855, when not only Russian literature, but also the entire Russian society was silent. This was an era of increased censorship, which became the reaction of the authorities to the activity of the liberal-minded intelligentsia. A wave of democratic upheavals took place throughout Europe, so politicians in Russia decided to protect the regime by taking repressive measures against the press. There was no news, and the writers were faced with a caustic and helpless problem - there was nothing to write about. What one might have wanted was ruthlessly torn out by the censors. It is this situation that is a consequence of the hypnosis and lethargy with which the entire work is shrouded, as if in Oblomov’s favorite dressing gown. The best people of the country in such a suffocating atmosphere felt unnecessary, and the values ​​​​encouraged from above - petty and unworthy of a nobleman.

“I wrote my life and what grew into it,” Goncharov briefly commented on the history of the novel after putting the finishing touches on his creation. These words are an honest recognition and confirmation of the autobiographical nature of the greatest collection of eternal questions and answers to them.

Composition

The composition of the novel is circular. Four parts, four seasons, four states of Oblomov, four stages of life for each of us. The action in the book is a cycle: sleep turns into awakening, awakening into sleep.

• Exposition. In the first part of the novel there is almost no action, except perhaps in Oblomov’s head. Ilya Ilyich is lying down, he is receiving visitors, he is shouting at Zakhar, and Zakhar is shouting at him. Here characters of different colors appear, but at the core they are all the same... Like Volkov, for example, with whom the hero sympathizes and is happy for himself that he does not fragment and does not crumble into ten places in one day, does not hang around, but maintains his human dignity in his chambers . The next one “out of the cold,” Sudbinsky, Ilya Ilyich also sincerely regrets and concludes that his unfortunate friend was bogged down in the service, and that now much in him will not move forever... There was the journalist Penkin, and the colorless Alekseev, and the thick-browed Tarantiev, and all he pitied equally, sympathized with everyone, retorted with everyone, recited ideas and thought... An important part is the chapter “Oblomov’s Dream”, in which the root of “Oblomovism” is exposed. The composition is equal to the idea: Goncharov describes and shows the reasons due to which laziness, apathy, infantility, and, in the end, a dead soul were formed. It is the first part that is the exposition of the novel, since here the reader is presented with all the conditions in which the hero’s personality was formed.
• The beginning. The first part is also the starting point for the subsequent degradation of Ilya Ilyich’s personality, for even the surges of passion for Olga and devoted love for Stolz in the second part of the novel do not make the hero better as a person, but only gradually squeeze Oblomov out of Oblomov. Here the hero meets Ilyinskaya, which in the third part develops into a climax.
• Climax. The third part, first of all, is fateful and significant for the main character himself, since here all his dreams suddenly become real: he accomplishes feats, he proposes marriage to Olga, he decides to love without fear, he decides to take risks, to fight with yourself... Only people like Oblomov don’t wear holsters, don’t fence, don’t sweat during battle, they doze and only imagine how heroically beautiful it is. Oblomov cannot do everything - he cannot fulfill Olga’s request and go to his village, since this village is a fiction. The hero breaks up with the woman of his dreams, choosing to preserve his own way of life rather than striving for better and eternal struggle with himself. At the same time, his financial affairs are hopelessly deteriorating, and he is forced to leave his comfortable apartment and prefer a budget option.
• Denouement. The fourth final part, the “Vyborg Oblomovism,” consists of a marriage with Agafya Pshenitsyna and the subsequent death of the main character. It is also possible that it was marriage that contributed to Oblomov’s dullness and imminent death, because, as he himself put it: “There are such donkeys that get married!”

We can summarize that the plot itself is extremely simple, despite the fact that it is stretched over six hundred pages. A lazy, kind middle-aged man (Oblomov) is deceived by his vulture friends (by the way, they are vultures - each in their own area), but a kind, loving friend (Stolz) comes to the rescue, who saves him, but takes away the object of his love (Olga), and consequently and the main nourishment of his rich spiritual life.

The peculiarities of the composition lie in parallel storylines at different levels of perception.

• There is only one main storyline here and it is love, romantic... The relationship between Olga Ilyinskaya and her main gentleman is shown in a new, bold, passionate, psychologically detailed way. That is why the novel claims to be a love novel, being a kind of example and manual for building relationships between a man and a woman.
• The secondary storyline is based on the principle of contrasting two destinies: Oblomov and Stolz, and the intersection of these same destinies at the point of love for one passion. But in this case, Olga is not a turning point character, no, the gaze falls only on strong male friendship, on pats on the back, on wide smiles and on mutual envy (I want to live the way the other lives).

What is the novel about?

This novel is, first of all, about the vice of social significance. Often the reader can notice Oblomov’s resemblance not only to his creator, but also to most people who live and have ever lived. Which of the readers, as they became closer to Oblomov, did not recognize themselves lying on the sofa and reflecting on the meaning of life, on the futility of existence, on the power of love, on happiness? Which reader has not crushed his heart with the question: “To be or not to be?”?

The quality of the writer, ultimately, is such that, while trying to expose yet another human flaw, he falls in love with it in the process and serves the reader with such an appetizing aroma that the reader impatiently wants to feast on it. After all, Oblomov is lazy, unkempt, childish, but the public loves him only because the hero has a soul and he is not ashamed to reveal this soul to us. “Do you think that thoughts don’t require a heart? No, it is fertilized by love” - this is one of the most important postulates of the work that lays the essence of the novel “Oblomov”.

The sofa itself and Oblomov lying on it keep the world in balance. His philosophy, illegibility, confusion, throwing govern the lever of movement and the axis of the globe. In the novel, in this case, there is not only a justification for inaction, but also a desecration of action. The vanity of vanities of Tarantyev or Sudbinsky does not bring any sense, Stolz is successfully making a career, but what kind of career is unknown... Goncharov dares to slightly ridicule work, that is, work in the service, which he hated, which, therefore, was not surprising to notice in the character of the protagonist . “But how upset he was when he saw that there would have to be at least an earthquake in order for a healthy official not to come to work, and as luck would have it, earthquakes don’t happen in St. Petersburg; A flood, of course, could also serve as a barrier, but even that rarely happens.” - the writer conveys all the meaninglessness of state activity, which Oblomov thought about and finally gave up, referring to Hypertrophia cordis cum dilatatione ejus ventriculi sinistri. So what is “Oblomov” about? This is a novel about the fact that if you are lying on the couch, you are perhaps more right than those who walk somewhere or sit somewhere every day. Oblomovism is a diagnosis of humanity, where any activity can lead either to the loss of one’s own soul or to a senseless waste of time.

The main characters and their characteristics

It should be noted that the novel is characterized by speaking surnames. For example, all minor characters wear them. Tarantiev comes from the word “tarantula”, journalist Penkin - from the word “foam”, which hints at the superficiality and cheapness of his occupation. With their help, the author supplements the description of the characters: Stolz’s surname is translated from German as “proud”, Olga is Ilyinskaya because she belongs to Ilya, and Pshenitsyna is a hint at the greediness of her bourgeois lifestyle. However, all this, in fact, does not fully characterize the heroes; Goncharov himself does this, describing the actions and thoughts of each of them, revealing their potential or lack thereof.

1. Oblomov– the main character, which is not surprising, but the hero is not the only one. It is through the prism of Ilya Ilyich’s life that a different life is visible, only what’s interesting is that Oblomovskaya seems more entertaining and original to readers, despite the fact that he does not have the characteristics of a leader and is even unlikable. Oblomov, a lazy and overweight middle-aged man, can confidently become the face of the propaganda of melancholy, depression and melancholy, but this man is so unhypocritical and pure in soul that his gloomy and stale flair is almost invisible. He is kind, subtle in matters of love, and sincere with people. He asks the question: “When to live?” - and does not live, but only dreams and waits for the right moment for the utopian life that comes in his dreams and slumbers. He also asks the great Hamlet question: “To be or not to be,” when he decides to get up from the sofa or confess his feelings to Olga. He, just like Cervantes' Don Quixote, wants to accomplish a feat, but does not accomplish it, and therefore blames his Sancho Panza - Zakhara - for this. Oblomov is as naive as a child, and is so sweet to the reader that an irresistible feeling arises to protect Ilya Ilyich and quickly send him to an ideal village, where he can, holding his wife by the waist, walk with her and look at the cook while cooking. We discussed this topic in detail in an essay.
2. The opposite of Oblomov - Stolz. The person from whom the story and story about “Oblomovism” is told. He is German on his father and Russian on his mother, therefore, a person who has inherited virtues from both cultures. Since childhood, Andrei Ivanovich read both Herder and Krylov, and was well versed in “the hard work of getting money, vulgar order and the boring correctness of life.” For Stolz, Oblomov’s philosophical nature is equal to antiquity and the past fashion of thought. He travels, works, builds, reads avidly and envies his friend’s free soul, because he himself does not dare to claim a free soul, or maybe he is simply afraid. We discussed this topic in detail in an essay.
3. The turning point in Oblomov’s life can be called by one name - Olga Ilyinskaya. She is interesting, she is special, she is smart, she is well-mannered, she sings amazingly and she falls in love with Oblomov. Unfortunately, her love is like a list of specific tasks, and her lover himself is nothing more than a project for her. Having learned from Stolz the peculiarities of the thinking of her future betrothed, the girl is fired up with the desire to make Oblomov a “man” and considers his boundless and reverent love for her to be her leash. In part, Olga is cruel, proud and dependent on public opinion, but to say that her love is not real means to spit on all the ups and downs in gender relations, no, rather, her love is special, but genuine. also became the topic for our essay.
4. Agafya Pshenitsyna is a 30-year-old woman, the owner of the house where Oblomov moved. The heroine is a thrifty, simple and kind person who found the love of her life in Ilya Ilyich, but did not seek to change him. She is characterized by silence, calmness, and a certain limited horizons. Agafya does not think about anything lofty that goes beyond everyday life, but she is caring, hardworking and capable of self-sacrifice for the sake of her lover. Discussed in more detail in the essay.

Subject

As Dmitry Bykov says:

Goncharov’s heroes do not duel, like Onegin, Pechorin or Bazarov, do not participate, like Prince Bolkonsky, in historical battles and the writing of Russian laws, and do not commit crimes and transgress the commandment “Thou shalt not kill,” as in Dostoevsky’s novels. Everything they do fits into the framework of everyday life, but this is only one facet

Indeed, one facet of Russian life cannot cover the whole novel: the novel is divided into social relations, and into friendly relations, and into love ones... It is the latter theme that is the main one and is highly appreciated by critics.

1. Love theme embodied in Oblomov’s relationship with two women: Olga and Agafya. This is how Goncharov depicts several varieties of the same feeling. Ilyinskaya’s emotions are saturated with narcissism: in them she sees herself, and only then her chosen one, although she loves him with all her heart. However, she values ​​her brainchild, her project, that is, the non-existent Oblomov. Ilya’s relationship with Agafya is different: the woman fully supported his desire for peace and laziness, idolized him and lived by caring for him and their son Andryusha. The tenant gave her a new life, a family, long-awaited happiness. Her love is adoration to the point of blindness, because indulging her husband’s whims led him to an early death. The main theme of the work is described in more detail in the essay “”.
2. Friendship theme. Stolz and Oblomov, although they fell in love with the same woman, did not start a conflict and did not betray their friendship. They always complemented each other, talked about the most important and intimate things in both of their lives. This relationship has been ingrained in their hearts since childhood. The boys were different, but got along well with each other. Andrei found peace and kindness while visiting a friend, and Ilya happily accepted his help in everyday affairs. You can read more about this in the essay “Friendship of Oblomov and Stolz.”
3. Finding the meaning of life. All heroes are looking for their own path, looking for the answer to the eternal question about the purpose of man. Ilya found it in thinking and finding spiritual harmony, in dreams and the very process of existence. Stolz found himself in an eternal movement forward. Disclosed in detail in the essay.

Problems

The main problem with Oblomov is the lack of motivation to move. The entire society of that time really wants, but cannot, wake up and get out of that terrible depressing state. Many people have become and are still becoming Oblomov’s victims. It’s pure hell to live life as a dead person and not see any purpose. It was this human pain that Goncharov wanted to show, resorting to the concept of conflict: here there is a conflict between a person and society, and between a man and a woman, and between friendship and love, and between loneliness and an idle life in society, and between work and hedonism , and between walking and lying and so on and so forth.

• The problem of love. This feeling can change a person for the better; this transformation is not an end in itself. For Goncharov’s heroine this was not obvious, and she put all the power of her love into the re-education of Ilya Ilyich, not seeing how painful it was for him. While remaking her lover, Olga did not notice that she was squeezing out of him not only bad character traits, but also good ones. In fear of losing himself, Oblomov could not save his beloved girl. He was faced with the problem of a moral choice: either remain himself, but alone, or play the whole life of another person, but for the benefit of his wife. He chose his individuality, and in this decision one can see selfishness or honesty - to each his own.
• The problem of friendship. Stolz and Oblomov passed the test of one love for two, but were unable to snatch a single minute from family life to preserve their partnership. Time (and not a quarrel) separated them; the routine of days broke the bonds of friendship that were strong. They both lost from separation: Ilya Ilyich completely neglected himself, and his friend was mired in petty worries and troubles.
• The problem of education. Ilya Ilyich became a victim of the sleepy atmosphere in Oblomovka, where the servants did everything for him. The boy's liveliness was dulled by endless feasts and naps, and the dull numbness of the wilderness left its mark on his addictions. becomes clearer in the episode “Oblomov’s Dream,” which we analyzed in a separate article.

Idea

Goncharov’s task is to show and tell what “Oblomovism” is, opening its doors and pointing out both its positive and negative sides and giving the reader the opportunity to choose and decide what is paramount for him - Oblomovism or real life with with all its injustice, materiality and activity. The main idea in the novel “Oblomov” is a description of a global phenomenon of modern life that has become part of the Russian mentality. Now the surname of Ilya Ilyich has become a household name and denotes not so much quality as a whole portrait of the person in question.

Since no one forced the nobles to work, and the serfs did everything for them, phenomenal laziness blossomed in Rus', engulfing the upper class. The support of the country was rotting from idleness, not contributing to its development in any way. This phenomenon could not but cause concern among the creative intelligentsia, therefore in the image of Ilya Ilyich we see not only a rich inner world, but also inaction that is destructive for Russia. However, the meaning of the kingdom of laziness in the novel “Oblomov” has political overtones. It is not for nothing that we mentioned that the book was written during a period of tightening censorship. There is a hidden, but nevertheless basic idea in it that the authoritarian regime of government is to blame for this widespread idleness. In it, the personality does not find any use for itself, bumping only into restrictions and fear of punishment. There is an absurdity of servility all around, people do not serve, but are served, so a self-respecting hero ignores the vicious system and, as a sign of silent protest, does not play the role of an official, who still does not decide anything and cannot change anything. The country under the gendarmerie's boot is doomed to regression, both at the level of the state machine and at the level of spirituality and morality.

How did the novel end?

The hero's life was cut short from heart obesity. He lost Olga, he lost himself, he even lost his talent - the ability to think. Living with Pshenitsyna did not do him any good: he was mired in a kulebyak, in a pie with tripe, which swallowed up and sucked in poor Ilya Ilyich. His soul was eaten by fat. His soul was eaten by Pshenitsyna’s repaired robe, the sofa, from which he quickly slid into the abyss of entrails, into the abyss of entrails. This is the ending of the novel “Oblomov” - a gloomy, uncompromising verdict on Oblomovism.

What does it teach?

The novel is arrogant. Oblomov holds the reader’s attention and places this same attention on an entire part of the novel in a dusty room, where the main character does not get out of bed and keeps shouting: “Zakhar, Zakhar!” Well, isn't it nonsense?! But the reader doesn’t leave... and can even lie down next to him, and even wrap himself in an “oriental robe, without the slightest hint of Europe,” and not even decide anything about the “two misfortunes,” but think about them all... Goncharov’s psychedelic novel loves to lull to sleep the reader and pushes him to fend off the fine line between reality and dream.

Oblomov is not just a character, it is a lifestyle, it is a culture, it is any contemporary, it is every third resident of Russia, every third resident of the whole world.

Goncharov wrote a novel about the general worldly laziness of living in order to overcome it himself and help people cope with this disease, but it turned out that he justified this laziness only because he lovingly described every step, every weighty idea of ​​the bearer of this laziness. It is not surprising, because Oblomov’s “crystal soul” still lives in the memories of his friend Stolz, his beloved Olga, his wife Pshenitsyna and, finally, in the tear-stained eyes of Zakhar, who continues to go to his master’s grave. Thus, Goncharov's conclusion– to find the golden mean between the “crystal world” and the real world, finding one’s calling in creativity, love, and development.

Criticism

Readers of the 21st century rarely read a novel, and if they do, they don’t read it to the end. It is easy for some lovers of Russian classics to agree that the novel is partly boring, but it is boring in a deliberate, suspenseful way. However, this does not frighten reviewers, and many critics have enjoyed and are still dismantling the novel down to its psychological bones.

One popular example is the work of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Dobrolyubov. In his article “What is Oblomovism?” the critic gave an excellent description of each of the heroes. The reviewer sees the reasons for Oblomov’s laziness and inability to organize his life in his upbringing and in the initial conditions where the personality was formed, or, rather, was not.

He writes that Oblomov is “not a stupid, apathetic nature, without aspirations and feelings, but a person who is also looking for something in his life, thinking about something. But the vile habit of receiving satisfaction of his desires not from his own efforts, but from others, developed in him an apathetic immobility and plunged him into a pitiful state of moral slavery.”

Vissarion Grigorievich Belinsky saw the origins of apathy in the influence of an entire society, since he believed that a person is initially a blank canvas created by nature, therefore some development or degradation of a particular person is on the scales that belong directly to society.

Dmitry Ivanovich Pisarev, for example, looked at the word “Oblomovism” as an eternal and necessary organ for the body of literature. According to him, “Oblomovism” is a vice of Russian life.

The sleepy, routine atmosphere of rural, provincial life complemented what the efforts of parents and nannies did not manage to accomplish. The hothouse plant, which in childhood had not become familiar not only with the excitement of real life, but even with childhood sorrows and joys, smelled of a stream of fresh, living air. Ilya Ilyich began to study and developed so much that he understood what life consists of, what a person’s responsibilities are. He understood this intellectually, but could not sympathize with the perceived ideas about duty, work and activity. The fatal question: why live and work? “The question, which usually arises after numerous disappointments and disappointed hopes, directly, by itself, without any preparation, presented itself in all its clarity to the mind of Ilya Ilyich,” the critic wrote in his famous article.

Alexander Vasilyevich Druzhinin examined the “Oblomovism” and its main representative in more detail. The critic identified 2 main aspects of the novel - external and internal. One lies in the life and practice of daily routine, while the other occupies the area of ​​​​the heart and head of any person, which never ceases to collect crowds of destructive thoughts and feelings about the rationality of existing reality. If you believe the critic, then Oblomov became dead because he chose to become dead rather than live in eternal incomprehensible vanity, betrayal, self-interest, financial imprisonment and absolute indifference to beauty. However, Druzhinin did not consider “Oblomovism” an indicator of attenuation or decay, he saw sincerity and conscience in it, and believed that this positive assessment of “Oblomovism” was the merit of Goncharov himself.

Ivan Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov” is very instructive.

Oblomov's lifestyle is a continuous routine, and the main character does not even try to break out of it on his own. With the help of this character, the author will prove that laziness and indifference ruin people's destinies.

First meeting

Ivan Goncharov introduces the reader to Ilya Ilyich Oblomov from the very first pages of the novel. A man lies in his own bed with a distant look. He tries to force himself to get up, but his attempts are unsuccessful. Promises to get up after an hour lead to the fact that the day smoothly turns into evening, and it is no longer necessary to leave bed.

Life in a horizontal position

Ilya thinks about the misfortunes that have befallen him. This is how the man describes the troubles associated with the affairs of the estate inherited from his parents and the search for a new apartment.

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He gives orders to the old lackey Zakhar in bed. The master receives guests who often visit him lying down, in an old darned robe.

Oblomov’s former colleagues also come. And he does not at all strive to show his best side, meeting them cheerful and in excellent health. He always complains to young, handsome men about their health.

Clutter in the apartment and in the shower

Rarely leaves the house. He rejects invitations from acquaintances to attend social events. He justifies the refusal with poor health, barley, drafts and dampness, which is contraindicated for him.

“When I was at home, I almost always lay down, and everyone was in the same room.”

His best friend Andrei Ivanovich Stolts compares Oblomov to an animal that is constantly in a dark lair.

“Have you really prepared yourself for such a life, so that you can sleep like a mole in a hole?”

Zakhar reports to Andrei that he has polished his owner’s shoes a long time ago, and the boots stand untouched.

He wakes up late. He eats and drinks tea in bed. A footman helps him put on his socks. House shoes are placed near the bed so that when you put your feet down it is easy to slip into them. Oblomov is very lazy. Never cleans up after himself. In his room there are mountains of dirty dishes, which are difficult for a man to take to the kitchen. Since childhood, it was customary in his family to sleep during the day. Ilya still adheres to a similar routine.

“After lunch, nothing could disturb Oblomov’s sleep. He usually lay down on the sofa on his back.”

Positive changes

After meeting Olga Ilyinskaya, Oblomov changes for the better. He is inspired by new feelings. Love gives him strength and inspires him.

“He read several books, wrote letters to the village, and replaced the headman on his own estate. He hasn’t had dinner, and for two weeks now he doesn’t know what it means to lie down during the day. Gets up at seven o'clock. There is no sleep, no fatigue, no boredom on his face. He’s cheerful and humming.”

This state of affairs did not last long. Ilya again begins to be captivated by his past life. He understands that he will not be able to give Olga the confidence and strength that the girl expects from him.

Life with the widow Pshenitsyna

Soon he marries the widow Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna, from whom he rents a room in a house on Vyborgskaya Street. This type of woman suits him much more than Ilyinskaya. Agafya is ready to fulfill all his whims, without demanding anything in return.

“Oblomov, noticing the hostess’s participation in his affairs, offered, as a joke, to take care of his food upon himself and save him from the hassle.”

Ilya Ilyich dies at the age of forty. He often compared himself to an old caftan, no longer suitable for good. His sedentary lifestyle led to his health failing so early. The man was given a chance to change his own destiny, but laziness turned out to be stronger.

Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov” is a landmark work of literature of the 19th century, touching on both acute social and many philosophical problems, remaining relevant and interesting to the modern reader. The ideological meaning of the novel “Oblomov” is based on the opposition of an active, new social and personal principle with an outdated, passive and degrading one. In the work, the author reveals these principles on several existential levels, therefore, to fully understand the meaning of the work, a detailed consideration of each of them is required.

Social meaning of the novel

In the novel “Oblomov,” Goncharov first introduced the concept of “Oblomovism” as a generalized name for outdated patriarchal-landlord foundations, personal degradation, and the vital stagnation of an entire social layer of Russian philistinism, unwilling to accept new social trends and norms. The author examined this phenomenon using the example of the main character of the novel, Oblomov, whose childhood was spent in distant Oblomovka, where everyone lived quietly, lazily, having little interest in anything and caring almost nothing. The hero's native village becomes the embodiment of the ideals of Russian old-time society - a kind of hedonistic idyll, a “preserved paradise” where there is no need to study, work or develop.

Portraying Oblomov as a “superfluous man,” Goncharov, unlike Griboyedov and Pushkin, whose characters of this type were ahead of society, introduces into the narrative a hero who lags behind society, living in the distant past. The active, active, educated environment oppresses Oblomov - the ideals of Stolz with his work for the sake of work are alien to him, even his beloved Olga is ahead of Ilya Ilyich, approaching everything from a practical side. Stolts, Olga, Tarantyev, Mukhoyarov, and other acquaintances of Oblomov are representatives of a new, “urban” personality type. They are more practitioners than theorists, they do not dream, but do, create new things - some by working honestly, others by deception.

Goncharov condemns “Oblomovism” with its gravitation towards the past, laziness, apathy and complete spiritual withering away of the individual, when a person essentially becomes a “plant” lying on the sofa around the clock. However, Goncharov also portrays the images of modern, new people as ambiguous - they do not have the peace of mind and inner poetry that Oblomov had (remember that Stolz only found this peace while relaxing with a friend, and the already married Olga is sad about something distant and is afraid to dream , making excuses to her husband).

At the end of the work, Goncharov does not make a definite conclusion about who is right - the practitioner Stolz or the dreamer Oblomov. However, the reader understands that it was precisely because of “Oblomovism,” as a phenomenon that is sharply negative and has long since become obsolete, that Ilya Ilyich “disappeared.” That is why the social meaning of Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov” is the need for constant development and movement - both in the continuous construction and creation of the surrounding world, and in working on the development of one’s own personality.

The meaning of the title of the work

The meaning of the title of the novel “Oblomov” is closely related to the main theme of the work - it was named after the surname of the main character Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, and is also associated with the social phenomenon “Oblomovism” described in the novel. The etymology of the name is interpreted differently by researchers. Thus, the most common version is that the word “Oblomov” comes from the words “Oblomok”, “break off”, “break”, denoting the state of mental and social breakdown of the landowner nobility, when it found itself in a borderline state between the desire to preserve old traditions and foundations and the need to change according to the requirements of the era, from a creative person to a practical person.

In addition, there is a version about the connection of the title with the Old Slavonic root “oblo” - “round”, which corresponds to the description of the hero - his “rounded” appearance and his quiet, calm character “without sharp corners”. However, regardless of the interpretation of the title of the work, it points to the central storyline of the novel - the life of Ilya Ilyich Oblomov.

The meaning of Oblomovka in the novel

From the plot of the novel “Oblomov,” the reader from the very beginning learns many facts about Oblomovka, about what a wonderful place it is, how easy and good it was for the hero and how important it is for Oblomov to return there. However, throughout the entire narrative, events never take us to the village, which makes it a truly mythical, fairy-tale place. Picturesque nature, gentle hills, a calm river, a hut on the edge of a ravine, which the visitor needs to ask to stand “with his back to the forest, and his front to it” in order to enter - even in the newspapers there was never a mention of Oblomovka. The inhabitants of Oblomovka did not care about any passions - they were completely cut off from the world, they spent their lives in boredom and tranquility, based on constant rituals.

Oblomov's childhood was spent in love, his parents constantly spoiled Ilya, indulging all his desires. However, Oblomov was particularly impressed by the stories of his nanny, who read to him about mythical heroes and fairy-tale heroes, closely linking his native village with folklore in the hero’s memory. For Ilya Ilyich, Oblomovka is a distant dream, an ideal comparable, perhaps, to the beautiful ladies of medieval knights who glorified wives who were sometimes never seen. In addition, the village is also a way to escape from reality, a kind of half-imagined place where the hero can forget about reality and be himself - lazy, apathetic, completely calm and renounced from the world around him.

The meaning of Oblomov's life in the novel

Oblomov’s whole life is connected only with that distant, quiet and harmonious Oblomovka, however, the mythical estate exists only in the memories and dreams of the hero - pictures from the past never come to him in a cheerful state, his native village appears before him as some kind of distant vision, in its own way unattainable , like any mythical city. Ilya Ilyich is in every possible way opposed to the real perception of his native Oblomovka - he still does not plan the future estate, he delays for a long time in responding to the headman’s letter, and in a dream he does not seem to notice the disrepair of the house - a crooked gate, a sagging roof, a shaky porch, a neglected garden. And he really doesn’t want to go there - Oblomov is afraid that when he sees the dilapidated, ruined Oblomovka, which has nothing in common with his dreams and memories, he will lose his last illusions, which he clings to with all his might and for which he lives.

The only thing that brings complete happiness to Oblomov is dreams and illusions. He is afraid of real life, afraid of marriage, which he has dreamed of many times, afraid of breaking himself and becoming someone else. Wrapping himself in an old robe and continuing to lie on the bed, he “preserves” himself in a state of “Oblomovism” - in general, the robe in the work is, as it were, part of that mythical world that returns the hero to a state of laziness and extinction.

The meaning of the hero's life in Oblomov's novel comes down to gradual dying - both moral and mental, and physical, for the sake of maintaining his own illusions. The hero does not want to say goodbye to the past so much that he is ready to sacrifice a full life, the opportunity to feel every moment and recognize every feeling for the sake of mythical ideals and dreams.

Conclusion

In the novel “Oblomov,” Goncharov depicted the tragic story of the decline of a person for whom the illusory past became more important than the multifaceted and beautiful present - friendship, love, social well-being. The meaning of the work indicates that it is important not to stand still, indulging oneself in illusions, but to always strive forward, expanding the boundaries of one’s own “comfort zone.”

Work test

OBLOMOV

(Novel. 1859)

Oblomov Ilya Ilyich - the main character of the novel, a young 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, any concentration in his facial features... softness was the dominant and basic expression, not just the face, but the whole soul; and the soul shone so openly and clearly in the eyes, in the smile, in every movement of the head and hand.” This is how the reader finds the hero at the beginning of the novel, in St. Petersburg, on Gorokhovaya Street, where he lives with his servant Zakhar.

The main idea of ​​the novel is connected with the image of O., about which N. A. Dobrolyubov wrote: “...God knows what an important story. But it reflected Russian life, in it a living, modern Russian type appears before us, minted with merciless severity and correctness, it expressed the new word of our social development, pronounced clearly and firmly, without despair and without childish hopes, but with full consciousness truth. This word is Oblomovism; we see something more than just the successful creation of a strong talent; we find in it... a sign of the times.”

N.A. Dobrolyubov was the first to classify O. among the “superfluous people,” tracing his genealogy from Onegin, Pechorin, and Beltov. Each of the named heroes in their own way fully and vividly characterized a certain decade of Russian life. O. is a symbol of the 1850s, “post-Belt” times in Russian life and Russian literature. In O.'s personality, in his tendency to passively observe the vices of the era inherited by him, we clearly distinguish a fundamentally new type, introduced by Goncharov into literary and social use. This type personifies philosophical idleness, conscious alienation from the environment, which is rejected by the soul and mind of a young provincial who finds himself from sleepy Oblomovka in the capital.

“Life: life is good! What to look for there? interests of the mind, heart? - O. explains his worldview to his childhood friend Andrei Stolts. - Look where the center is, around which all this revolves: it’s not there, there’s nothing deep that touches the living. All these are dead people, sleeping people, worse than me, these members of the council and society! What drives them in life? After all, they don’t lie down, but scurry about every day like flies, back and forth, but what’s the point?.. Underneath this comprehensiveness lies emptiness, a lack of sympathy for everything!.. No, this is not life, but a distortion of the norm, the ideal of life, which Nature has indicated a goal to man.”

Nature, according to O., indicated a single goal: life, as it had flowed for centuries in Oblomovka, where they were afraid of news, traditions were strictly observed, books and newspapers were not recognized at all. From “Oblomov’s Dream,” called an “overture” by the author and published much earlier than the novel, as well as from individual strokes scattered throughout the text, the reader learns quite fully about the hero’s childhood and youth, spent among people who understood life “no other than an ideal.” peace and inaction, disturbed from time to time by various unpleasant accidents... they endured labor as a punishment imposed on our forefathers, but they could not love, and where there was an opportunity, they always got rid of it, finding it possible and proper.”

Goncharov depicted the tragedy of the Russian character, devoid of romantic traits and not colored by demonic gloom, but nevertheless finding himself on the sidelines of life - through his own fault and through the fault of society, in which there was no place for the Lomovs. Having no predecessors, this type remained unique.

O.'s image also contains autobiographical features. In the travel diary “Frigate “Pallada””, Goncharov admits that during the trip he most willingly lay in the cabin, not to mention the difficulty with which he decided to sail around the world. In the friendly circle of the Maykovs, who dearly loved the writer, Goncharov had a meaningful nickname - “Prince de Lazy.”

O.'s path is a typical path of provincial Russian nobles of the 1840s, who came to the capital and found themselves out of work. Service in the department with the inevitable expectation of promotion, from year to year the monotony of complaints, requests, establishing relationships with the clerks - this turned out to be beyond the strength of O., who preferred lying on the sofa to moving up the ladder of “career” and “fortune”, with no hopes and dreams not painted.

The dreaminess that was rushing out in Alexander Aduev, the hero of Goncharov’s “An Ordinary History,” lies dormant in O. At heart O. is also a lyricist, a human being; able to feel deeply - his perception of music, immersion in the captivating sounds of the aria “Casta diva” indicate that not only “dove meekness”, but also passions are accessible to him.

Each meeting with his childhood friend Andrei Stoltz, the complete opposite of O., is capable of shaking him up, but not for long: the determination to do something, to somehow arrange his life takes possession of him for a short time, while Stoltz is next to him. And Stolz lacks either the time or the perseverance to “lead” O. from action to action - there are others who, for selfish purposes, are ready not to leave Ilya Ilyich. They ultimately determine the channel along which his life flows.

A meeting with Olga Ilyinskaya temporarily changed O. beyond recognition: under the influence of a strong feeling, incredible transformations occur to him - a greasy robe is abandoned, O. gets out of bed as soon as he wakes up, reads books, looks through newspapers, is energetic and active, and having moved to the dacha near Olga, goes to meetings with her several times a day. “...A fever of life, strength, activity appeared in him, and the shadow disappeared... and sympathy again surged in a strong and clear key. But all these worries have not yet left the magic circle of love; His activity was negative: he does not sleep, reads, sometimes thinks about writing a plan (for the improvement of the estate. - Ed.), walks a lot, travels a lot. The further direction, the very thought of life, the deed, remains in intentions.”

Love, which carries within itself the need for action and self-improvement, is doomed in O.’s case. He needs a different feeling that would connect today's reality with old childhood impressions of life in his native Oblomovka, where they are fenced off from an existence filled with anxieties and worries by any means, where the meaning of life fits into thoughts about food, sleep, receiving guests and experiencing fairy tales as actual events. Any other feeling seems like violence against nature.

Without fully realizing this, O. understands what he cannot strive for precisely because of a certain nature of his nature. In a letter to Olga, written almost on the threshold of the decision to marry, he talks about the fear of future pain, writes bitterly and piercingly: “And what will happen when I become attached... when seeing each other will become not a luxury of life, but a necessity, when love cries out in heart? How to break away then? Will you survive this pain? It will be bad for me."

Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna, the owner of the apartment that his fellow countryman, the rogue Tarantiev, found for O., is the ideal of Oblomovism in the broadest sense of this concept. She is as “natural” as O. One can say about Pshenitsyna in the same words that Stolz says to Olga about O. Stolz: “...Honest, true heart! This is his natural gold; he carried it through life unscathed. He fell from the tremors, cooled down, fell asleep, finally, killed, disappointed, having lost the strength to live, but did not lose honesty and loyalty. His heart did not emit a single false note, no dirt stuck to it... This is a crystal, transparent soul; such people are few and far between; these are pearls in the crowd!

The traits that brought O. closer to Pshenitsyna are indicated here precisely. Ilya Ilyich needs most of all a feeling of care, warmth, not demanding anything in return, and that is why he became attached to his mistress, as to a fulfilled dream of returning to the blessed times of a happy, well-fed and serene childhood. With Agafya Matveevna, as with Olga, there are no thoughts about the need to do anything, to somehow change the life around and in oneself. O. explains his ideal to Stoltz simply, comparing Ilyinskaya with Agafya Matveevna: “...she will sing “Casta diva”, but she doesn’t know how to make vodka like that! And he won’t make a pie like this with chickens and mushrooms!” And therefore, realizing firmly and clearly that he has nowhere else to strive, he asks Stolz: “What do you want to do with me? With the world to which you are drawing me, I have fallen apart forever; you will not save, you will not make up two torn halves. I have grown to this hole with a sore spot: if you try to tear it off, you will die.”

In Pshenitsyna’s house, the reader sees O. more and more perceiving “his real life as a continuation of the same Oblomov existence, only with a different flavor of the area and partly of time. And here, as in Oblomovka, he managed to get rid of life cheaply, bargain with her and insure himself undisturbed peace.”

Five years after this meeting with Stolz, who again pronounced his cruel sentence: “Oblomovism!” - and leaving O. alone, Ilya Ilyich “died, apparently, without pain, without suffering, as if a watch had stopped and had forgotten to wind.” Son O., born by Agafya Matveevna and named after his friend Andrei, is taken to be raised by the Stoltsy.