Rakhmetov is a “special person” of his time. A special person Rakhmetov

Chapter Three
MARRIAGE AND SECOND LOVE

About three hours after Kirsanov left, Vera Pavlovna came to her senses, and one of her first thoughts was: it’s impossible to leave the workshop like that. Yes, although Vera Pavlovna loved to prove that the workshop was running on its own, in essence, she knew that she was only deluding herself with this thought, but in fact the workshop needed a leader, otherwise everything would fall apart. However, now the matter was very much established, and there was little trouble in managing it. Mertsalova had two children; it takes an hour and a half a day, and even then she can devote it not every day. She probably won’t refuse, because she still studies a lot in the workshop. Vera Pavlovna began to sort out her things for sale, and she herself sent Masha first to Mertsalova to ask her to come, then to a seller of old clothes and all sorts of things to match Rachel, one of the most resourceful Jews, but a good friend of Vera Pavlovna, with whom Rachel was absolutely honest , like almost all Jewish small traders and traders with all decent people. Rachel and Masha must go to the city apartment, collect the remaining dresses and things there, on the way stop by the furrier, to whom Vera Pavlovna’s fur coats were given for the summer, then come to the dacha with all this heap, so that Rachel can properly evaluate and buy everything in bulk.

When Masha came out of the gate, she was met by Rakhmetov, who had been wandering around the dacha for half an hour.

Are you leaving, Masha? For how long?

Yes, I must be tossing and turning late in the evening. Lots to do.

Is Vera Pavlovna left alone?

So I’ll come in and sit in your place, maybe some need will arise.

Please; otherwise I was afraid for her. And I forgot, Mr. Rakhmetov: call one of the neighbors, there is a cook and a nanny there, my friends, to serve dinner, because she hasn’t had dinner yet.

Nothing; and I didn’t have lunch, we’ll have lunch alone. Did you have lunch?

Yes, Vera Pavlovna didn’t let her go like that.

At least that's good. I thought they would forget this because of themselves.

Except for Masha and those who equaled or surpassed her in simplicity of soul and dress, everyone was a little afraid of Rakhmetov: Lopukhov, and Kirsanov, and everyone who was not afraid of anyone or anything, felt at times a certain cowardice in front of him. He was very distant from Vera Pavlovna: she found him very boring, he never joined her company. But he was Masha’s favorite, although he was less friendly and talkative with her than all the other guests.

“I came without being called, Vera Pavlovna,” he began, “but I saw Alexander Matveich and I know everything.” Therefore, I decided that perhaps I could be useful to you for some services and would spend the evening with you.

His services could be useful, perhaps, right now: to help Vera Pavlovna in dismantling things. Anyone else in Rakhmetov’s place would have been invited at the same second and would have volunteered to do this. But he neither volunteered nor was invited; Vera Pavlovna just shook his hand and said with sincere feeling that she was very grateful to him for his attentiveness.

“I will sit in the office,” he answered: if you need anything, you will call; and if anyone comes, I will open the door, you don’t worry yourself.

With these words, he calmly went into the office, took out of his pocket a large piece of ham, a slice of black bread - in total it amounted to four pounds, sat down, ate everything, trying to chew it well, drank half a carafe of water, then went up to the shelves with books and began to look through , what to choose for reading: “known...”, “unoriginal...”, “unoriginal...”, “unoriginal...”, “unoriginal...” this “unoriginal” referred to books such as Macaulay, Guizot, Thiers, Ranke, Gervinus. “Oh, it’s good that I came across this,” he said, having read several hefty volumes of “Newton’s Complete Works” on the spine; “he hastily began to sort through the topics, finally found what he was looking for, and said with a loving smile: - “here it is, here it is” - “Observations on the Prophethies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John", that is, "Notes on the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John." "Yes, this aspect of knowledge still remained with me without a fundamental foundation. Newton wrote this commentary in his old age, when he was half sane and half mad. A classic source on the question of mixing madness with intelligence. After all, the question is world-historical: this is confusion in all events without exception, in almost all books, in almost all heads. But here it must be in exemplary form: firstly, the most brilliant and normal mind of all the minds known to us; secondly, the madness mixed in with it is recognized, indisputable madness. So, the book is thorough in its part. The subtlest features of the general phenomenon must be shown here more tangibly than anywhere else, and no one can doubt that these are precisely the features of the phenomenon to which the features of mixing madness with intelligence belong. A book worthy of study." He began to read with diligent pleasure a book that in the last hundred years hardly anyone had read except its proofreaders: reading it for anyone other than Rakhmetov was the same as eating sand or sawdust. But it was delicious for him.

There are few people like Rakhmetov: so far I have met only eight examples of this breed (including two women); they had no resemblance in anything except one feature. Between them there were soft people and stern people, gloomy people and cheerful people, busy people and phlegmatic people, tearful people (one with a stern face, mocking to the point of impudence; the other with a wooden face, silent and indifferent to everything; both of them cried a little in front of me times, like hysterical women, and not from their own affairs, but among conversations about various things; in private, I’m sure, they cried often), and people who never ceased to be calm because of nothing. There was no similarity in anything except one trait, but this alone already united them into one breed and separated them from all other people. I laughed at those of them with whom I was close when I was alone with them; They were angry or not angry, but they also laughed at themselves. And indeed, there was a lot of fun in them, everything that was important about them was funny, everything was why they were people of a special breed. I love to laugh at people like this.

One of them, whom I met in the circle of Lopukhov and Kirsanov and which I will talk about here, serves as living proof that a reservation is needed to the reasoning of Lopukhov and Alexei Petrovich about the properties of the soil in Vera Pavlovna’s second dream [see. 2nd dream of Vera Pavlovna], the caveat that is needed is that no matter what the soil is, there may still be at least tiny patches in it on which healthy ears of corn can grow. The genealogy of the main persons of my story: Vera Pavlovna Kirsanov and Lopukhov, in truth, does not go back further than grandparents, and is it really a stretch to put another great-grandmother on top (the great-grandfather is already inevitably covered in the darkness of oblivion, it is only known that he was great-grandmother's husband and that his name was Kiril, because his grandfather was Gerasim Kirilych). Rakhmetov was from a family known since the 13th century, that is, one of the oldest not only here, but in the whole of Europe. Among the Tatar temniks, corps commanders, who were massacred in Tver along with their army, according to the chronicles, allegedly for the intention to convert the people to Mohammedanism (an intention that they probably did not have), but in fact, simply for oppression, Rakhmet was there. The little son of this Rakhmet from his Russian wife, the niece of the Tver courtier, that is, the Chief Marshal and Field Marshal, who was forcibly taken by Rakhmet, was spared for his mother and rebaptized from Latyf to Mikhail. From this Latyf-Mikhail Rakhmetovich came the Rakhmetovs. They were boyars in Tver, in Moscow they became only okolnichy, in St. Petersburg in the last century they were general-in-chief - of course, not all of them: the family branched out to be very numerous, so that there would not be enough general-in-chief ranks for everyone. Our Rakhmetov’s great-great-grandfather was a friend of Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov, who restored him from the disgrace that befell him for his friendship with Minich. Great-grandfather was a colleague of Rumyantsev, rose to the rank of general-in-chief and was killed at Novi. Grandfather accompanied Alexander to Tilsit and would have gone further than anyone, but he lost his career early for his friendship with Speransky. My father served without luck and without falls; at the age of 40 he retired as a lieutenant general and settled in one of his estates scattered along the upper reaches of the Bear. The estates were, however, not very large, in total there were two and a half thousand souls, and many children appeared in the village leisure time, about 8 people; our Rakhmetov was the second to last, one sister was younger than him; therefore, our Rakhmetov was no longer a man with a rich inheritance: he received about 400 souls and 7,000 acres of land. How he disposed of the souls and 5,500 dessiatines of land was not known to anyone; it was not known that he left 1,500 dessiatines behind him, and in general it was not known that he was a landowner and that he was leasing the share of land left behind, he still has up to 3,000 rubles. income, no one knew this while he lived among us. We found out this later, and then we believed, of course, that he had the same surname as those Rakhmetovs, among whom there are many rich landowners, who, all namesakes together, have up to 75,000 souls along the upper reaches of the Medveditsa, Khopr, Sura and Tsna, which are constantly district leaders of those places, and one or the other constantly serves as provincial leaders in one or the other of the three provinces along which their fortress-like upper rivers flow. And we knew that our friend Rakhmetov lived on 400 rubles a year; for a student this was then a lot, but for a landowner from the Rakhmetovs it was already too little; therefore, each of us, who cared little about such certificates, assumed to ourselves without any certificates that our Rakhmetov was from some decayed and dislocated branch of the Rakhmetovs, the son of some adviser to the treasury chamber, who left his children a small capital. In fact, it was not for us to be interested in these things.

He was now 22 years old, and had been a student since he was 16; but he left the university for almost three years. He left the 2nd year, went to the estate, gave orders, defeating the resistance of his guardian, earning an anathema from his brothers and reaching the point that his husbands forbade his sisters to pronounce his name; then he wandered around Russia in different manners: by land, and by water, both in the ordinary and in the extraordinary, - for example, on foot, and on barks, and on inert boats, he had many adventures, which he all arranged for himself; By the way, he took two people to Kazan University, five to Moscow University - these were his scholarship recipients, but to St. Petersburg, where he himself wanted to live, he did not bring anyone, and therefore none of us knew that he had not 400, but 3 000 rub. income. This became known only later, and then we saw that he had disappeared for a long time, and two years before that time, as he was sitting in Kirsanov’s office reading Newton’s “Apocalypse,” he returned to St. Petersburg and entered the philological faculty - before I was on natural, and nothing more.

But if none of Rakhmetov’s St. Petersburg acquaintances knew his relatives and monetary relations, but everyone who knew him knew him by two nicknames; one of them has already come across in this story - “rigorist”; He accepted it with his usual light smile of gloomy pleasure. But when they called him Nikitushka or Lomov, or by his full nickname Nikitushka Lomov, he smiled broadly and sweetly and had a fair reason for this, because he did not receive from nature, but acquired through firmness of will the right to bear this name, famous among millions of people. But it resounds with glory only on a strip 100 miles wide, running through eight provinces; the readers of the rest of Russia need to explain what kind of name this is, Nikitushka Lomov, a barge hauler who walked along the Volga 20-15 years ago, was a giant of Herculean strength; He was 15 inches tall, he was so broad in the chest and shoulders that he weighed 15 pounds, although he was only a stout man, not a fat one. How strong he was, one thing is enough to say about this: he received payment for 4 people. When the ship docked at the city and he went to the market, in Volga style to the bazaar, the shouts of the guys were heard along the distant alleys; "Nikitushka Lomov is coming, Nikitushka Lomov is coming!" and everyone ran to the street leading from the pier to the bazaar, and a crowd of people poured after their hero.

Rakhmetov, at the age of 16, when he arrived in St. Petersburg, was quite an ordinary young man in this regard. tall, quite strong, but far from remarkable in strength: out of ten peers he met, probably two would have gotten along with him. But halfway through the 17th year, he decided that he needed to acquire physical wealth, and began to work on himself. He began to practice gymnastics very diligently; this is good, but gymnastics only improves the material, it is necessary to stock up on material, and so for a time twice as long as gymnastics, for several hours a day, he becomes a laborer for work that requires strength: he carried water, carried firewood, chopped wood, sawed wood , cut stones, dug earth, forged iron; He worked a lot and changed them often, because from each new job, with each change, some muscles receive new development. He adopted the boxer's diet: he began to feed himself - namely, feed himself - exclusively on things that have a reputation for strengthening physical strength, most of all steak, almost raw, and from then on he always lived like that. A year after the start of these studies, he went on his wanderings and here he had even more convenience to develop physical strength: he was a plowman, a carpenter, a carrier and a worker in all sorts of healthy trades; Once he even walked the entire Volga as a barge hauler, from Dubovka to Rybinsk. To say that he wants to be a barge hauler would seem to the owner of the ship and the barge haulers to be the height of absurdity, and he would not be accepted; but he sat down as just a passenger, made friends with the artel, began to help pull the strap, and a week later he harnessed it like a real worker; They soon noticed how he was pulling, they began to try his strength - he pulled three, even four of the healthiest of his comrades; Then he was 20 years old, and his comrades in the strap dubbed him Nikitushka Lomov, from the memory of the hero, who had already left the stage at that time. The next summer he was traveling on a steamboat; one of the common people crowding on the deck turned out to be his colleague from last year, and in this way his student companions learned that he should be called Nikitushka Lomov. Indeed, he acquired and, sparing no time, maintained in himself exorbitant strength. “It’s necessary,” he said: “it gives respect and love from ordinary people. It’s useful, it can come in handy.”

This stuck in his head from the middle of '17, because from that time his peculiarity began to develop in general. At the age of 16 he came to St. Petersburg as an ordinary, good, high school student, an ordinary kind and honest young man, and spent three or four months as usual, as beginning students spend. But he began to hear that there was especially smart heads who think differently from others, and learned the names of such people off the top of my head - then there were still few of them. They interested him, he began to look for an acquaintance with one of them; he happened to meet Kirsanov, and his rebirth into a special person began, into the future Nikitushka Lomov and a rigorist. He listened greedily to Kirsanov on the first evening, cried, interrupted his words with exclamations of curses for what should perish, blessings for what should live. - “Which books should I start reading?”

All this is very similar to Rakhmetov, even these “needs” that have sunk into the narrator’s memory. In age, voice, facial features, as far as the narrator remembered them, the traveler also approached Rakhmetov; but the narrator didn’t pay attention then special attention with his companion, who, moreover, had not been his companion for long, only two hours: he got into the carriage in some town, got off in some village; therefore, the narrator could describe his appearance only in too general terms, and there is no complete reliability here: in all likelihood, it was Rakhmetov, but who knows? Maybe not him.

There was also a rumor that a young Russian former landowner, appeared to the greatest of the European thinkers of the 19th century, the father of new philosophy, a German, and told him this: “I have 30,000 thalers; I only need 5,000; I ask you to take the rest from me” (the philosopher lives very poorly). - "Why?" - “For the publication of your works.” - The philosopher, naturally, didn’t take it; but the Russian allegedly deposited money with the banker in his name and wrote to him like this: “Dispose of the money as you want, even throw it into the water, but you can’t return it to me, you won’t find me,” and as if The banker still has this money. If this rumor is true, then there is no doubt that it was Rakhmetov who came to the philosopher.

So this is what the gentleman who was now sitting in Kirsanov’s office was like.

Yes, this gentleman was a special person, a specimen of a very rare breed. And this is not why one specimen of this rare breed is described in such detail in order to teach you, discerning reader, decent (unknown to you) treatment of people of this breed: you will not see a single such person; your eyes, discerning reader, are not designed to see such people; they are invisible to you; only honest and courageous eyes see them; and for this purpose, a description of such a person serves you, so that you know at least from hearsay what kind of people there are in the world. What it serves for female readers and ordinary readers, they themselves know.

Yes, these are funny people, like Rakhmetov, very funny. It’s for them that I say that they are funny, I say it because I feel sorry for them; I say this for those noble people who are fascinated by them: do not follow them, noble people, I say, because the path to which they call you is poor in personal joys: but noble people do not listen to me and say: no, it is not poor, it is very rich, and even if it were poor in another place, it is not long, We will have the strength to go through this place, to reach endless places rich in joy. So you see, insightful reader, I am not saying this for you, but for another part of the public, that people like Rakhmetov are ridiculous. And to you, astute reader, I will tell you that these are not bad people; otherwise you probably won’t understand it yourself; yes, not bad people. There are few of them, but with them the life of all flourishes; without them it would have stalled, gone sour; There are few of them, but they allow all people to breathe, without them people would suffocate. There are a great number of honest and kind people, but such people are few; but they are in it - theine in tea, the bouquet in noble wine; from them its strength and aroma; this is the color the best people, these are the engines of the engines, these are the salt of the earth.

Here genuine person, which Russia especially needs now, take his example and, whoever is able and able, follow his path, for this is the only path for you that can lead to the desired goal.

N.G. Chernyshevsky.

How actor Rakhmetov appears in the chapter " Special person". In other chapters, his name is only mentioned. But one feels that the image is placed in the center of the reader’s attention, that Rakhmetov main character novel "What to do?" The chapter “A Special Person” forms, as it were, a small independent story in a novel, the idea of which would not be complete and understandable without it.

When talking about Rakhmetov, Chernyshevsky deliberately shifts the temporal order of facts, and does not give a definitely consistent description and biography. He uses hints and innuendo, interweaving what was “known” about him with what was “found out” later. Therefore, every stroke of the biography is of fundamental importance. For example, origin. Indeed, why does the commoner Chernyshevsky make the main character of a socio-political novel a nobleman whose pedigree goes back centuries? Perhaps, according to the writer, the image of a revolutionary nobleman made the idea of revolution more convincing and attractive. Since the best representatives of the nobility renounce their privileges to live at the expense of the people, it means that a crisis is ripe.

Rakhmetov's degeneration began in early youth. His family was obviously a serf family. This is indicated by the terse phrase: “Yes, and he saw that it was in the village.” Observing the cruelty of serfdom, the young man began to think about justice.

“Thoughts began to wander in him, and Kirsanov was for him what Lopukhov was for Vera Pavlovna.” On the very first evening, he “listened greedily” to Kirsanov, “interrupted his words with exclamations and curses on what should perish, blessings on what should live.”

Rakhmetov differs from Lopukhov and Kirsanov not only in his aristocratic pedigree, but also in his exceptional strength of character, which is manifested in the constant hardening of body and spirit, but especially in his absorption in the matter of preparing for the revolutionary struggle. This is a man of ideas in the highest sense of the word.

For Rakhmetov, the dream of revolution is a guide to action, a guideline for his entire personal life.

Rakhmetov’s desire for rapprochement with ordinary people. This is evident from his travels around Russia, physical labor, and severe self-restraint in his personal life. The people nicknamed Rakhmetov Nikitushka Lomov, thereby expressing their love for him. Unlike the commoner Bazarov, who spoke condescendingly to the “thick-bearded” men, the nobleman Rakhmetov does not look at the people as a mass to be studied. For him, people are worthy of respect. He is trying to experience at least part of the weight that hangs on the peasant's shoulders.

Chernyshevsky shows Rakhmetov as a person of a “very rare”, “special breed”, but at the same time as a typical person, belonging to a new public group, although not numerous. The writer endowed the “special person” with severe demands on himself and others and even a gloomy appearance.

Vera Pavlovna at first finds him “very boring.” “Lopukhov and Kirsanov, and everyone who was not afraid of anyone or anything, felt at times a certain cowardice in front of him... except for Masha and those who were equal to her or superior to her in the simplicity of their soul and dress.”

But Vera Pavlovna, having gotten to know Rakhmetov better, says about him: “... how gentle and a kind person".

Rakhmetovrigorist, that is, a person who never deviates from the accepted rules of behavior in anything. He prepares himself for the revolutionary struggle both morally and physically. Having slept the night on nails, he explains his action, smiling broadly and joyfully: “A test. It’s necessary. Implausible, of course: however, it’s necessary just in case. I see, I can.” This is probably how Chernyshevsky saw the leader of the revolutionaries. To the question: “What to do?” Nikolai Gavrilovich answers with the image of Rakhmetov and the words placed in the epigraph. The figure of this rigorist had a huge influence on subsequent generations of Russian and foreign revolutionaries. This is evidenced by the confessions of these people that “Rakhmetov, in particular, was their favorite.”

I like Rakhmetov. He has the qualities that Bazarov lacks. I admire his tenacity, will, endurance, ability to subordinate his life to his chosen ideal, courage, strength. I want to be at least a little like Rakhmetov.

Bibliography

To prepare this work, materials were used from the site http://sochinenia1.narod.ru/

He didn’t need any rest for entertainment.” His activities are varied, and changing them is a rest for Rakhmetov. Chernyshevsky, for obvious reasons, could not speak openly about Rakhmetov’s secret revolutionary work. He only dully mentions that Rakhmetov “had an abyss of things to do, and all the things that didn’t concern him personally; he had no personal affairs, everyone knew that... He didn’t go around much...

Rakhmetova. Probably, wanting to more convincingly prove to his readers that Lopukhov, Kirsanov and Vera Pavlovna are really ordinary people, Chernyshevsky brings to the stage the titanic hero Rakhmetov, whom he himself recognizes as extraordinary and calls him a special person. Rakhmetov does not participate in the action of the novel. There are very few people like him: neither science nor family happiness; They...

Political Literature, M., 1972. PROTECTIVE WORD Dear chairman and members of the state commission, the work presented to your attention is devoted to the topic “Philosophy and ethics of positivism in the novel by N.G. Chernyshevsky "What to do". This topic acquires greater relevance if we pay attention to the fact that the above-named author, his social activity, ...

was of a despotic character, intelligent, educated and ultra-conservative. Mother suffered from difficult character father. At the age of sixteen, Rakhmetov became a student at the Faculty of Science, left the university for almost three years, took care of his estate, wandered around Russia, had many adventures that he arranged for himself, took several people to Kazan and Moscow universities, making them his own...

Chernyshevsky created his novel “What is to be done?” in the era of rise revolutionary movement in Russia. The hero of the novel Rakhmetov, like no one else, was suitable for revolutionary activities. Rakhmetov is distinguished by toughness, asceticism, iron will, and hatred of the people's oppressors. No wonder the Bolshevik leader V.I. Lenin directed this literary hero as an example to his comrades, saying that only with such people is a revolutionary coup in Russia possible.
Who is this special person who still attracts the attention of those who crave social upheaval for the common good today? Rakhmetov is a nobleman by origin. His father was a very rich man. But the free life did not keep Rakhmetov on his father’s estate. He left the province and entered the Faculty of Science in St. Petersburg.
Without difficulty, Rakhmetov became close in the capital with progressive thinking people. Chance brought him together with Kirsanov, from whom he learned a lot of new and advanced politically. He began to read books voraciously. It seems that he measured out a time period for himself and stuck to it exactly. After just six months, Rakhmetov put the books aside and said: “Now reading has become a secondary matter for me; in this regard, I am ready for life.” In these words of the hero one can discern something beyond the scope of a normally developing person.
Rakhmetov began to accustom his physical essence to obey the spiritual, that is, he began to order himself and carry out these orders accurately and on time. Next, he began to harden the body. He took on the hardest work. He was even a barge hauler.
He did all this in preparation for great revolutionary deeds. He brilliantly managed to create himself as a physically powerful and spiritually strong person. Rakhmetov fanatically followed the path he had chosen once and for all. He ate only what ordinary people ate, although he had the opportunity to eat better. He explained it simply: “It’s necessary - it gives respect and love from ordinary people. It’s useful, it can come in handy.” Apparently, in order to emphasize his extreme revolutionary spirit, Chernyshevsky forced his hero to abandon personal human happiness for the sake of the ideals of the revolutionary struggle. Rakhmetov refused to marry a rich young widow. He explained it this way: “I must suppress love in myself; love for you would tie my hands, they won’t be untied for me any time soon - they are already tied.”
A democratic writer, Chernyshevsky in the image of Rakhmetov portrayed a revolutionary leader, a special person. The author wrote about such people: “This is the color of the best people, these are the engines of engines, this is the salt of the earth.”
But time has shown the inconsistency of Bolshevik ideas. And now it’s clear to me why the leaders of the October Revolution chose Rakhmetov as their ideal. They developed those Rakhmetov-like qualities with which it was convenient for them to carry out cruel deeds: they did not spare themselves, much less others, they carried out orders with the chilling, thoughtless clarity of an iron engine, they treated dissenters as supermen treat subhumans. As a result, Russia was drenched in blood, and the world was shocked by the brutality of revolutionary actions.
Our society is again on the path to a civilized future. And personally, I dream that in this future of ours there will be fewer “special” people, and more ordinary people: kind, smiling, living their own lives. I want this future to become reality.

New!
Chernyshevsky's novel "What to do?" and our modernity. Chernyshevsky was a real revolutionary, a fighter for the happiness of the people. He believed in a revolutionary coup, after which only, in his opinion, could life change...

Russian literature has always considered one of its most important tasks a reflection of the changes and problems that were observed in society. The development of literature has always gone in parallel with the development social thought. Moreover, the largest Russian writers themselves...

The novel by N. G. Chernyshevsky “What to do?” was created within the walls Peter and Paul Fortress. It became the writer’s political testament, addressed to modern times. The unusual structure of the book, its two-dimensionality, was due to the need for encryption. For the first...

Very important character novel, the chapter “A Special Person” is dedicated to him. He himself comes from a noble rich family, but leads an ascetic lifestyle. By the time of the action indicated in the novel, R. is 22 years old. He became a student at the age of 16, studied natural...

Rakhmetov appears as a character in the chapter “A Special Person.” In other chapters his name is only mentioned. But one feels that this image is central, that Rakhmetov is the main character of the novel “What is to be done?”

The chapter “A Special Person” forms, as it were, a small independent story in a novel, the idea of which would not be complete and understandable without it. When talking about Rakhmetov, Chernyshevsky deliberately shifts the time frame and does not give a consistent description and biography. He uses hints and innuendo, intertwining what was “known” about him with what was “found out” later. Therefore, every stroke of the biography is of fundamental importance. For example, origin. Indeed, why does the commoner Chernyshevsky make the main character of a socio-political novel a nobleman whose pedigree goes back centuries? Perhaps, according to the writer, the image of a revolutionary nobleman made the idea of revolution more convincing and attractive. Since the best representatives of the nobility are giving up their privileges, it means that a crisis is ripe.

Rakhmetov's rebirth began in his early youth. His family was obviously a serf family. This is indicated by the terse phrase: “Yes, and he saw that in the village.” Observing the cruelty of serfdom, the young man began to think about justice. “Thoughts began to wander through him, and Kirsanov was to him what Lopukhov was to Vera Pavlovna.” On the first evening, he “listened greedily” to Kirsanov, “interrupted his words with exclamations and curses on what should perish, blessings on what should live.” Rakhmetov differs from Lopukhov and Kirsanov not only in his aristocratic pedigree, but also in his exceptional strength of character, which is manifested in the constant hardening of body and spirit, but especially in his absorption in the matter of preparing for the revolutionary struggle. This is a man of ideas in the highest sense of the word. The dream of revolution for Rakhmetov is a guide to

action, a guideline for your entire personal life.

Rakhmetov’s desire for rapprochement with ordinary people is clearly manifested. This is evident from his travels around Russia, physical labor, and severe self-restraint in his personal life. The people nicknamed Rakhmetov Nikitushka Lomov, thereby expressing their love for him. Unlike the commoner Bazarov, who spoke condescendingly to the “thick-bearded” men, the nobleman Rakhmetov does not look at the people as a mass to be studied. He believes that the people are worthy of respect and is trying to experience at least part of the weight that hangs on the peasants’ shoulders.

Chernyshevsky shows Rakhmetov as a person of a “very rare”, “special breed”, but at the same time as a typical person, belonging to a new social group, albeit a small one. The writer endowed the “special person” with severe demands on himself and others and even a gloomy appearance. Vera Pavlovna at first finds him “very boring.” “Lopukhov and Kirsanov, and everyone who was not afraid of anyone or anything, felt at times a certain cowardice in front of him... except for Masha and those who were equal to her or superior to her in the simplicity of their soul and dress.” But Vera Pavlovna, having gotten to know Rakhmetov better, says about him: “...What a gentle and kind person he is!”

Rakhmetov is a rigorist, that is, a person who never deviates from the accepted rules of behavior in anything. He prepares himself for the revolutionary struggle both morally and physically. Having slept the night on nails, he explains his action, smiling broadly and joyfully: “Test. Need to. It’s implausible, of course: but it’s necessary, just in case. I see I can." This is probably how Chernyshevsky saw the leader of the revolutionaries. To the question “What should I do?” Nikolai Gavrilovich responds with the image of Rakhmetov and the words placed in the epigraph.

The figure of this rigorist had a huge influence on subsequent generations of Russian and foreign revolutionaries. This is evidenced by the confessions of these people that “Rakhmetov in particular was their favorite.”

It’s no secret that at one time Chernyshevsky’s novel “What is to be done?” caused a real stir in public circles. A novel about “new people” - this is usually what this work is called, which had a colossal influence on the minds Russian youth 60s of the XIX century. But who are these “new people”?

One of them is Rakhmetov, the character who plays special role in this novel. “A special person” is what the author calls him. Rakhmetov is collectively people of the highest “breed” of that time. What is he like?

Rakhmetov is a revolutionary democrat, a nobleman by birth. As a young man, he entered the university, where he became close to Kirsanov. He greatly influenced Rakhmetov’s views, after which the young man began to study revolutionary literature. However, he did not read everything: he declared that he read only “original” things. Rakhmetov believed that every science has its own textbook sources, and only they are truly worthy of attention. Accordingly, he studied only the most original works, primary sources, because they freed him from the need to study hundreds of similar books.

Some characters call Rakhmetov a rigorist - a man who unswervingly followed his principles and internal guidelines. And indeed it is. Being an aristocrat by birth, Rakhmetov did not allow himself to live in grand style: he ate, apart from beef, only the cheapest foods, and slept on felt. “I have no right to spend money on a whim that I can do without,” he declared. Moreover, Rakhmetov for a long time worked hard in order to experience first-hand all the hardships, difficulties and deprivations that befall poor people. This is the essence of his asceticism: he believed that he could not live differently from the way the common people lived.

Rakhmetov devoted himself entirely to the cause for the good of the people: he never wasted time, studied relevant literature, and even spent no more time communicating with people than was necessary. This reflects one of the main traits of his character - rationality. Sometimes his rationality went to the extreme: he once fell in love with a woman, but Serious relationships didn’t start with her - according to him, it could have “tied his hands.” He meant that love would be an obstacle to his revolutionary activities. Therefore, he left his beloved; For several months after the breakup, I tried to suppress the feeling of love in myself; I walked around depressed and gloomy. And this is just one of the cases of his self-restraint and self-sacrifice.

It is obvious that Rakhmetov is a character to look up to. Unwavering will, firm adherence to principles, rationality, honesty - these are the qualities that each of us should strive to acquire.

Option 2

Rakhmetov appears before us in the chapter “A Special Person,” but it is felt that he was the most important in the work.

We see that the hero began to be reborn as a young man. His household were serfs, and therefore, noticing and experiencing the morals of serfdom, our character began to think about the truth. Rakhmetov differed from Lopukhov and Kirsanov, first of all, strong will and strong character, manifested in the process of preparatory actions in the revolutionary struggle. When he dreamed of revolution, he had everything more thoughts about how to act. He actively sought rapprochement with ordinary people. This is noticeable from his trips around his native expanses, physical labor, and restrictions in his personal life.

People called Rakhmetov Nikitushka Lomov, thereby showing sympathy for him. He believes that peasants and workers need to be respected and tries to understand the difficulties that they bear on their shoulders. The author awarded the main character with severity towards himself and an inconspicuous appearance. Vera Pavlovna at first considers him a gloomy person, but after getting to know him better, she began to claim that he exudes kindness and tenderness.

Rakhmetov never leaves accepted standards behavior. His preparation of himself for the revolutionary struggle is felt both from the moral and physical side. After spending the whole night on nails, he decided to test himself whether he could do this or not. Coming from a noble family, the hero sells his inheritance because he does not want to accept the interests of aristocratic society. Possessing great courage, he refuses happiness and love. It was precisely such a person that Chernyshevsky saw as the leader of the revolutionaries. His image influenced subsequent generations of people with new and progressive views in Russia and the West.

The image of Rakhmetov is close and interesting to me, because he has those qualities that Bazarov did not have. Special admiration What excites me is his independence, stability and, of course, the fact that he knew how to subordinate his life to his chosen ideal.

Rakhmetov's essay in the novel What to do?

The image of Rakhmetov is in some sense truly unique and amazing. It was the highest pure nature, which embodied the features of the era. Chernyshevsky admires the character of his character, he is deeply sympathetic to him. Rakhmetov is endowed with incredible character traits.

This man was an aristocrat by origin, his ideas and thoughts were of a democratic nature. Chernyshevsky himself says about his hero that there are very few such people left.

It is worth noting that Chernyshevsky’s character was not immediately endowed with all of the above traits. When he first arrived in St. Petersburg, he was an ordinary young man without any special bright ideas, plans for the future, dreams, but then Rakhmetov meets Kirsanov. It was he who introduced our character to the teachings of the utopian socialists. This teaching literally turned Rakhmetov’s entire worldview upside down, and it made him a special person. Not last role The teachings of Feuerbach also played a role, who also impressed him with his ideas.

Rakhmetov incredibly quickly masters and remembers what he is told, he amazes Kirsanov with his abilities. He has an inquisitive mind, he is observant, Rakhmetov works in a wide variety of fields, he does not shy away from any work. The barge haulers even nicknamed Rakhmetov after the Volga hero, he was so close to the people.

He limits himself in many things, deliberately forcing himself to endure physical suffering. In secret, Rakhmetov was preparing for the revolution; he even had several people who were interested in revolutionary activities. For the sake of the revolution, he was even able to abandon the woman he loved. He believed that his direct responsibility was work and activity, and he could not afford to associate himself with a woman. His most important task was to fight for the well-being and happiness of the people. And, it’s worth noting, he did it very well. Many people drew strength from Rakhmetov, admired him, and he served as an example for them. He himself was incredibly interested in exploring their lives, observing, studying their lives.

Perhaps in certain period In our country there have always been people who were distinguished by their intelligence, ability to foresee certain circumstances, and perspicacity. Unfortunately, we cannot say that there are many such people, but you need to listen to them, think about every word, and be extremely attentive.

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