The world of the living and the world of the dead souls. Dead and living souls in the poem H

A short essay-reasoning on literature on the topic: Peasant Rus' in the poem "Dead Souls" for grade 9. The image of the people in the poem

When we hear the mention of Gogol's "Dead Souls", we involuntarily pop up before our eyes the "acquirer" Chichikov and the galaxy of vicious landowners trailing behind him. And this is the right association, because the most frequent topics for reflection were precisely these images, it is not without reason that the poem is called “Dead Souls”. But how many people tried to find on what pages Gogol hid living souls, bright images in which the author's hope for the future of Russia is felt? Are they there at all? Maybe the writer saved these characters for two other volumes that he never finished? And, in the end, do these “living souls” exist at all, or is there only evil in us, inherited from those same landlords?

I want to dispel doubts right away: for an inquisitive reader, Gogol has living souls in store! You just have to look closely at the text. The writer only mentions them in passing, either not wanting to show these images ahead of time, or strictly observing the concept of the work, in accordance with which there should have been only dead souls. We see these images on the pages of the "revision tales" that Sobakevich wrote about his dead peasants in the hope of selling them at a higher price. Stepan Cork was listed with him as “a hero who would have been suitable for the guard”, Maxim Telyatnikov - “a miracle, not a shoemaker”, Yeremey Sorokoplekhin - the one that “brought five hundred rubles a quitrent”. Also, some runaway peasants of Plyushkin were awarded a mini-biography. For example, Abakum Fyrov, a free barge hauler, pulling his strap "under one endless, like Rus', song." All these people flash only once, few even stop at their names at the first reading, but it is with the help of their stories that Gogol creates an even greater contrast between the “dead and the living” in the poem. It turns out a double oxymoron: on the one hand, living people are presented in the poem as “dead”, hopeless, vulgar, and people who have gone to another world seem to us more “alive” and brighter. Isn't this a hint that Gogol sees only decline in a country where worthy people, the foundation on which the power stands, "go to the ground", and the "dead" landowners continue to grow rich and profit from honest workers?

The writer expresses his idea that all the greatness of the country rests not on vile landowners who do not bring any benefit to the Fatherland, but on the contrary, only breed its poverty, raging with fat, ruining their serfs. All the hope of the author rests on the Russian people, ordinary people who are oppressed and offended in every possible way, but who do not give up, truly loving their country and paving the right path for the “troika bird” with their own efforts.

It is difficult to understand who is really a “dead soul” and who is not, because in Gogol it is not so unambiguous and is understood after repeated reading. " real book you can’t read it at all - you can only re-read it, ”Nabokov said, and this is definitely about Dead Souls. There are many unresolved questions in this poem, but there are just as many answers given by the author to the fact that there is our country and the people in it, who is a great evil on Russia's path to prosperity, and who, not knowing the greatness of their everyday small deeds, is all leads her to well-being and success.

Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" is one of the best works world literature. The writer worked on the creation of this poem for 17 years, but never completed his plan. "Dead Souls" is the result of many years of Gogol's observations and reflections on human destinies, the fate of Russia.
The title of the work - "Dead Souls" - contains its main meaning. This poem describes both the dead revisionist souls of serfs and the dead souls of landlords, buried under the insignificant interests of life. But it is interesting that the first, formally dead, souls turn out to be more alive than the breathing and talking landlords.
Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, carrying out his brilliant scam, visits the estates of the provincial nobility. This gives us the opportunity "in all its glory" to see the "living dead".
The first person Chichikov pays a visit to is the landowner Manilov. Behind the outward pleasantness, even the sweetness of this gentleman, is hidden senseless daydreaming, inactivity, idle talk, false love for the family and peasants. Manilov considers himself educated, noble, educated. But what do we see when we look into his office? A dusty book that has been open on the same page for two years.
Something is always missing in Manilov's house. So, in the study, only part of the furniture is covered with silk, and two chairs are covered with matting. The economy is managed by a "dexterous" clerk who ruins both Manilov and his peasants. This landowner is distinguished by idle daydreaming, inactivity, limited mental abilities and vital interests. And this is despite the fact that Manilov seems to be an intelligent and cultured person.
The second estate that Chichikov visited was the estate of the landowner Korobochka. It is also "dead soul". The soullessness of this woman lies in the amazingly petty interests of life. Apart from the price of hemp and honey, Korobochka cares little. Even on sale dead souls the landowner is only afraid to sell cheap. Everything that goes beyond her meager interests simply does not exist. She tells Chichikov that she does not know any Sobakevich, and, consequently, he does not exist in the world.
In search of the landowner Sobakevich, Chichikov runs into Nozdryov. Gogol writes about this "merry fellow" that he was gifted with all possible "enthusiasm". At first glance, Nozdryov seems to be a lively and active person, but in fact he turns out to be completely empty. His amazing energy is directed only to revelry and senseless extravagance. Added to this is the passion for lies. But the lowest and most disgusting thing in this hero is "the passion to spoil one's neighbor." This is the type of people "who will start with a satin stitch and finish with a reptile." But Nozdryov, one of the few landowners, even evokes sympathy and pity. The only pity is that he directs his indomitable energy and love for life into an "empty" channel.
The next landowner on Chichikov's path is, finally, Sobakevich. He seemed to Pavel Ivanovich "very similar to a medium-sized bear." Sobakevich is a kind of "fist", which nature "simply chopped from the whole shoulder." Everything in the guise of the hero and his house is thorough, detailed and large-scale. The furniture in the landlord's house is as heavy as the owner. Each of Sobakevich's objects seems to say: "And I, too, Sobakevich!"
Sobakevich is a zealous owner, he is prudent, prosperous. But he does everything only for himself, only in the name of his interests. For their sake, Sobakevich will go to any fraud and other crime. All his talent went only into the material, completely forgetting about the soul.
The gallery of landowners' "dead souls" is completed by Plyushkin, whose soullessness has taken on completely inhuman forms. Gogol tells us the background of this hero. Once Plyushkin was an enterprising and hardworking owner. Neighbors came to him to learn "stingy wisdom." But after the death of his wife, the suspicion and stinginess of the hero intensified to the highest degree.
This landowner has accumulated huge stocks of "good". Such reserves would be enough for several lives. But he, not content with this, walks every day in his village and collects all the rubbish that he puts in his room. Senseless hoarding has led Plyushkin to feed himself on leftovers, while his peasants "die like flies" or run away.
The gallery of "dead souls" in the poem is continued by the images of the officials of the city of N. Gogol draws them as a single faceless mass, mired in bribes and corruption. Sobakevich gives the officials an angry, but very accurate description: "A scammer sits on a scammer and drives a scammer." Officials mess around, cheat, steal, offend the weak and tremble before the strong.
At the news of the appointment of a new governor-general, the inspector of the medical board feverishly thinks of the patients who died in significant numbers from a fever, against which proper measures were not taken. The chairman of the chamber turns pale at the thought that he has made a bill of sale for dead peasant souls. And the prosecutor generally came home and suddenly died. What sins were behind his soul that he was so frightened?
Gogol shows us that the life of officials is empty and meaningless. They are just smokers of air, who have wasted their precious lives on slander and fraud.
Next to the "dead souls" in the poem, there are bright images of ordinary people who are the embodiment of the ideals of spirituality, courage, love of freedom, talent. These are the images of the dead and fugitive peasants, primarily the men of Sobakevich: the miracle worker Mikheev, the shoemaker Maxim Telyatnikov, the hero Stepan Cork, the stove-maker Milushkin. Also, this is the fugitive Abakum Fyrov, the peasants of the rebellious villages Vshivaya-arrogance, Borovka and Zadiraylova.
It was the people, according to Gogol, who retained in themselves a “living soul”, national and human identity. Therefore, it is with the people that he connects the future of Russia. The writer planned to write about this in the continuation of his work. but he couldn't, he couldn't. We can only guess about his thoughts.

In N.V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" the most topical topics of contemporary society are revealed. One of them is the theme of living and dead soul in Russian reality. And the main character of the work becomes a “businessman” of a new type, Chichikov, who can hardly be called just a business person because there is too much unpleasantness in his appearance. Negative character traits predominate, so Chichikov is more of a “dealer” than an entrepreneur, and the “deeds” themselves do not inspire his respect, since they are designed in advance to manipulate the law.

The author shows the main character first in his activities, when he actively acquires dead souls, and much later Gogol tells how this character was formed. Already at the beginning of the work, the hero is depicted as an enterprising, inventive person who calculates and thinks through all his actions in advance. On the first day of arrival provincial city Chichikov asked the servants in the tavern about all the "significant officials" and "significant landowners." He was also interested in diseases and epidemics in the region for last years, and the visitor clarified everything very thoroughly, which spoke of certain goals and the efficiency of the gentleman, who did not waste time in vain.

The collegiate adviser Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov was a respectable man, but he behaved in accordance with the circumstances: with Manilov he is sweet and helpful, plays along with the owner’s sentimental phrase-mongering, and with Korobochka he is persistent and cunning, as he seeks to outplay the prudent and greedy landowner. Chichikov appears completely different to readers when we see him in communication with city officials: the hero “very skillfully knew how to flatter everyone”, he did it on purpose, trying to enlist support in the future, because he needs help with paperwork for bought souls.

Chichikov did not care at all about the delicacy of the question, the ambiguity of his entrepreneurship; he made his purchases openly, without hiding from the landowners, as if he were doing the most ordinary thing. Chichikov studied well the customs of people with considerable property, and he knew that the thirst for profit prevails over all other feelings and qualities in them. For the slightest profit, they will sell even the air, even the dead peasants. Even suspecting a swindler in Chichikov, they willingly draw up a deal with him, since they are calm about breaking the law: in Russia, according to the same landowners and officials, "a swindler sits on a swindler and drives a scammer." Everyone sees the surrounding rogues, but at the same time retain friendly relations. And Chichikov, at the governor's ball, joins the group of "fat" officials, because, in his opinion, "fat people know how to do their business better in this world."

Chichikov is greedy and stingy, like all those with whom he deals (except Manilov), but if necessary, he gives bribes and pays for non-existent peasants, since the benefits are ahead. Everyone willingly takes money, which allows us to speak about the low level of spirituality of the landlord-bureaucratic tribe, which values ​​wealth above all else.

The situation with transactions around the acquisition of the souls of dead peasants allowed Gogol to raise the topic of a living and dead soul. It turned out that the peasants have a good disposition, their work and deeds have great life-affirming power, and in this they differ from their masters, surpassing the landowners in many qualities. So, the men who once belonged to Sobakevich were all with positive characteristics: “a good carpenter”, “he understands business and does not take drunkenness”, “good disposition and not a thief”. The carpenter Cork Stepan, of a heroic physique, greatly struck the imagination of Chichikov, who became the "owner" of the deceased peasant, and he imagined how this hardworking worker "came with an ax" all the surrounding estates, earning money for his family necessary funds. And the carriage maker Mikheev was famous for his skillful work, his carriages were of special quality. These people in the poem are not involved in the action, since they have died, but they are remembered and spoken of as living. Means, good deeds they left a good memory of themselves.

Chichikov himself also does not look like those with whom he enters into transactions. In comparison with the dead souls of landowners and officials, his spiritual qualities have a difference: this hero has special energy and vitality, because even after exposure, when the true price of his “wealth” becomes known, he does not lose, does not consider himself a loser, but continues his ascent upwards, towards the dream of his own estate. Why is he like this? And in the eleventh chapter, the author tells how such a nature was formed.

Chichikov's inclinations of a business nature were laid down from childhood, when his father gave his son orders to “save and save a penny”, create conditions for yourself to move towards well-being: “... please teachers and bosses most of all ..., hang out with those who are richer. .., do not treat or regale anyone. And Pavlusha, while still at school, began to “make money” by selling food to hungry children. Speculation in childhood, then quickness, helpfulness, resourcefulness and even special zeal in the service began to bear fruit. The author reports on some of the properties of this personality: “Chichikov was the most decent person that ever existed in the world. Although at first he had to wipe himself in a dirty society, he always kept clean in his soul, he liked to have lacquered wood tables in the offices, and everything would be noble. Gogol sarcastically emphasized the “preservation of the purity of the soul” of the hero, saying that what is really meant is love for some comfort.

Chichikov's subsequent plans went much further than what he had. Having served in the office as an ordinary official, he managed to achieve something. At the same time, he dreamed of moving "to the customs service", where there are more opportunities for enrichment. And when he moved, he pulled off several frauds there. Then there were plans to acquire dead souls, in order to later buy (or rent) land plots, to become a landowner. Chichikov's dream is not far from reality, because, as far as he knew, the lands are "given away" on condition that serf souls are owned. Who would check whether they are alive or dead? Audit lists were not always kept in an exemplary manner, and Chichikov managed to make friends among officials.

To which group should the main character be attributed, to the living or dead souls of the poem? The author does not give an answer, but there are wonderful reflections in the work about the people, about the “wonderful beauty” of the Russian soul, about the “untold wealth of the Russian spirit”: “And they will seem dead ... all virtuous people of other tribes (apparently, the landowner and bureaucrat tribe), as the book is dead before the living word.

Further, N.V. Gogol notes that he did not have a goal to show a virtuous person, but he wanted to “hide up the scoundrel”, whose origin is “dark and modest”. The result was such a multifaceted image of an entrepreneur, merchant, official, future landowner Chichikov. And the satirist writer left the conclusions about the soul of the protagonist to the readers.

N.V. Gogol, taking the opportunity to travel with his hero around Rus', draws interesting conclusions. At the end of the first volume, he expresses hope for the prosperity of the Russian state and communicates his dream of a prosperous life for the people, whose special spirituality aroused sincere admiration from the writer, since it was the soul of the Russian peasant who, according to Gogol, was truly alive.

Reviews

Wonderfully written... And the movie "Dead Souls" is great...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0ZiEXe5IsE&t=2701s

But still, in the novel "Dead Souls" - it is strange that literary critics call it a poem - how boring, how monotonous, how ponderously gray almost all acting characters, as in so many works by other authors of the 19th century, and by no means only Russian ones, and only one single actor makes a pleasant impression - meaning the barefoot girl Pelageya, a serf at the landowner Korobochka, who showed Chichikov the way. Even though Pelageya, at Gogol's whim, does not know "where is right and where is left"...

Nikolai Vasilyevich himself called it a poem, and we respect his opinion and cannot call it anything else. The fact is that Gogol in this work has a lot of digressions and they are wonderful. These reflections and statements of the writer are poetic, emotional, as if the song is pouring from the soul of the author. Especially those descriptions that relate to Rus' and its future (troika bird). And all this is in contrast to the prose, which deals with the degrading landowners, their way of life and customs.
However, I do not agree with you that these faces are "heavy-gray"... No, each portrait there is a special and striking type, although it does not cause a pleasant impression. But we understand how they disfigure a person social relations, where there is injustice, greed, exploitation and the desire for profit at the expense of the labor of forced people.
Thanks for reading and responding! I liked your thoughts, although they somewhat contradict my understanding.
All the best!
Sincerely

Who are the "dead souls" in the poem?

“Dead Souls” - this title carries something terrifying ... Not revisionists - dead souls, but all these Nozdrevs, Manilovs and others - these are dead souls and we meet them at every step, ”wrote Herzen.

In this meaning, the expression "dead souls" is no longer addressed to the peasants - living and dead - but to the masters of life, landowners and officials. And its meaning is metaphorical, figurative. After all, physically, financially, “all these Nozdrevs, Manilovs and others” exist and for the most part flourish. What can be more certain than the bear-like Sobakevich? Or Nozdryov, about whom it is said: “He was like blood with milk; health seemed to spurt from his face. But physical being is not yet human life. Vegetative existence is far from true spiritual movements. "Dead souls" denote in this case deadness, soullessness. And this lack of spirituality manifests itself in at least two ways. First of all, it is the absence of any interests, passions. Remember what is said about Manilov? “You won’t expect any lively or even arrogant words from him, which you can hear from almost anyone if you touch the subject that bullies him. Everyone has his own, but Manilov had nothing. Most hobbies or passions cannot be called high or noble. But Manilov did not have such passion either. He didn't have anything at all. And the main impression that Manilov made on his interlocutor was a feeling of uncertainty and "mortal boredom."

Other characters - landowners and officials - are far from being so impassive. For example, Nozdrev and Plyushkin have their own passions. Chichikov also has his own "enthusiasm" - the enthusiasm of "acquisition". And many other characters have their own "bullying object", setting in motion a wide variety of passions: greed, ambition, curiosity, and so on.

So, in this respect, "dead souls" are dead in different ways, to different degrees and, so to speak, in different doses. But in another respect they are dead in the same way, without distinction or exception.

Dead soul! This phenomenon seems contradictory in itself, composed of mutually exclusive concepts. Can there be a dead soul, a dead person, that is, something that is by its nature animate and spiritual? Can't live, shouldn't exist. But it exists.

A certain form remains from life, from a person - a shell, which, however, regularly sends vital functions. And here we have another meaning Gogol's image"dead souls": revisionist dead souls, that is, a conventional designation for dead peasants. Revision dead souls are concrete, reviving faces of peasants who are treated as if they were not people. And the dead in spirit - all these Manilovs, Nozdrevs, landowners and officials, a dead form, a soulless system of human relationships ...

All these are facets of one Gogol concept - "dead souls", artistically realized in his poem. And the facets are not isolated, but make up a single, infinitely deep image.

Following his hero, Chichikov, moving from one place to another, the writer leaves no hope of finding such people who would carry the beginning of a new life and rebirth. The goals that Gogol and his hero set for themselves are diametrically opposed in this respect. Chichikov is interested in dead souls in direct and figuratively of this word - revisionist dead souls and people dead in spirit. And Gogol is looking for a living soul in which a spark of humanity and justice burns.

Who are the "living souls" in the poem?

The "dead souls" of the poem are opposed to the "living" people - talented, hardworking, long-suffering people. With a deep sense of patriotism and faith in the great future of his people, Gogol writes about him. He saw the lack of rights of the peasantry, its humiliated position and the stupidity and savagery that were the result of serfdom. Such are Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minyay, the serf girl Pelageya, who did not distinguish between right and left, Plyushkin's Proshka and Mavra, beaten to the extreme. But even in this social depression, Gogol saw the living soul of the “brisk people” and the quickness of the Yaroslavl peasant. He speaks with admiration and love of the ability of the people, courage and prowess, endurance and thirst for freedom. Fortress hero, carpenter Cork "would fit into the guard." He walked with an ax in his belt and boots on his shoulders all over the provinces. The carriage maker Mikhey created carriages of extraordinary strength and beauty. The stove maker Milushkin could put a stove in any house. Talented shoemaker Maxim Telyatnikov - "what pricks with an awl, then boots, that boots, then thanks." And Yeremey Sorokoplekhin “brought five hundred rubles a quitrent!” Here is Plyushkin's fugitive serf Abakum Fyrov. His soul could not stand the yoke of bondage, he was drawn to the wide expanse of the Volga, he "walks noisily and cheerfully on the grain pier, having contracted with merchants." But it is not easy for him to walk with barge haulers, "dragling a strap under one endless song, like Rus'." In the songs of barge haulers, Gogol heard an expression of longing and the desire of the people for a different life, for a wonderful future. Behind the bark of lack of spirituality, callousness, dead things, living forces are fighting folk life- and here and there they make their way to the surface in the living Russian word, in the fun of barge haulers, in the movement of Rus'-troika - the key to the future revival of the motherland.

An ardent faith in the hidden until the time, but the immense strength of the whole people, love for the motherland, allowed Gogol to brilliantly foresee its great future.

In 1842, the poem "Dead Souls" was published. Gogol had many problems with censorship: from the title to the content of the work. The censors did not like that in the title, firstly, it was updated social problem fraud with documents, and secondly, concepts that are opposite from the point of view of religion are combined. Gogol flatly refused to change the name. The writer's idea is truly amazing: Gogol wanted, like Dante, to describe the whole world that Russia was, to show both positive and negative traits, to depict the indescribable beauty of nature and the mystery of the Russian soul. All this is conveyed through a variety of artistic means, and the language of the story itself is light and figurative. No wonder Nabokov said that only one letter separates Gogol from the comic to the cosmic. The concepts of "dead living souls" in the text of the story are mixed, as if in the Oblonskys' house. It becomes a paradox that the living soul in "Dead Souls" is only among the dead peasants!

landowners

In the story, Gogol draws portraits of contemporary people, creates certain types. After all, if you look closely at each character, study his home and family, habits and inclinations, then they will practically have nothing in common. For example, Manilov loved lengthy reflections, he liked to splurge a little (as evidenced by the episode with the children, when Manilov asked his sons various questions from the school curriculum under Chichikov).

Behind his external attractiveness and courtesy there was nothing but senseless daydreaming, stupidity and imitation. He was not at all interested in household trifles, and he gave away the dead peasants for free.

Nastasya Filippovna Korobochka knew literally everyone and everything that happened on her small estate. She remembered by heart not only the names of the peasants, but also the reasons for their death, and she had complete order in the household. The enterprising hostess tried to give, in addition to the souls she bought, flour, honey, lard - in a word, everything that was produced in the village under her strict guidance.

Sobakevich, on the other hand, filled the price of every dead soul, but he escorted Chichikov to the state chamber. He seems to be the most businesslike and responsible landowner among all the characters. His complete opposite is Nozdryov, whose meaning of life comes down to gambling and drinking. Even children cannot keep the master at home: his soul constantly requires more and more new entertainment.

The last landowner from whom Chichikov bought souls was Plyushkin. In the past, this man was a good owner and family man, but due to unfortunate circumstances, he turned into something sexless, formless and inhuman being. After the death of his beloved wife, his stinginess and suspicion gained unlimited power over Plyushkin, turning him into a slave to these base qualities.

Lack of real life

What do all these landowners have in common? What unites them with the mayor, who received the order for nothing, with the postmaster, police chief and other officials who use their official position, and whose purpose in life is only their own enrichment? The answer is very simple: lack of desire to live. None of the characters feel any positive emotions, does not really think about the sublime. All these dead souls are driven by animal instincts and consumerism. There is no internal originality in the landowners and officials, they are all just empty shells, just copies of copies, they do not stand out in any way from the general background, they are not exceptional personalities. Everything lofty in this world is vulgarized and reduced: no one admires the beauty of nature, which the author describes so vividly, no one falls in love, does not perform feats, does not overthrow the king. In the new corrupt world, there is no longer a place for an exceptional romantic personality. Love as such is missing here: parents don't like children, men don't like women - people just take advantage of each other. So Manilov needs children as a source of pride, with the help of which he can increase weight in his own eyes and in the eyes of others, Plyushkin does not even want to know his daughter, who ran away from home in her youth, and Nozdryov does not care if he has children or not.

The worst thing is not even this, but the fact that idleness reigns in this world. At the same time, you can be a very active and active person, but at the same time sit back. Any actions and words of the characters are devoid of an inner spiritual filling, devoid of a higher goal. The soul is dead here, because it no longer asks for spiritual food.

The question may arise: why does Chichikov buy only dead souls? The answer to it, of course, is simple: he does not need extra peasants, and he will sell documents for the dead. But will such an answer be complete? Here the author subtly shows that the worlds of the living and dead souls do not intersect and can no longer intersect. That's just the "living" souls are now in the world of the dead, and the "dead" - came to the world of the living. At the same time, the souls of the dead and the living in Gogol's poem are inextricably linked.

Are there living souls in the poem "Dead Souls"? Of course there is. Their role is played by the dead peasants, who are credited with various qualities and characteristics. One drank, the other beat his wife, but this one was hard-working, and this one had strange nicknames. These characters come to life both in the imagination of Chichikov and in the imagination of the reader. And now we, together with the main character, represent the leisure of these people.

hope for the best

The world depicted by Gogol in the poem is completely depressing, and the work would be too gloomy if it were not for the finely written landscapes and beauties of Rus'. That's where the lyrics, that's where the life! It seems that in a space devoid of living beings (that is, people), life has been preserved. And here again the opposition according to the principle of living and dead is actualized, turning into a paradox. In the final chapter of the poem, Rus' is compared to a dashing trio, which rushes along the road into the distance. "Dead Souls", despite the general satirical nature, ends with inspiring lines in which enthusiastic faith in the people sounds.

Characteristics of the protagonist and landowners, a description of their general qualities will be useful to students in grade 9 in preparing for an essay on the topic "Dead Living Souls" based on Gogol's poem.

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