Road in the poem dead souls. The image of the road in Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" The image of the road in the poem Dead Souls table

When the great Russian writer was overcome by life's hardships and painful experiences, he wanted only one thing - to leave, hide, change the situation. What he did every time when another collapse of creative plans was planned. Road adventures and impressions that Nikolai Gogol received during his trips helped him to dissipate, find inner harmony and get rid of the blues. Perhaps it was these moods that reflected the image of the road in the poem Dead Souls.

How good you are, long road!

This enthusiastic exclamation includes a well-known philosophical and lyrical digression in the novel about the adventures of an adventurer, a buyer of dead souls. The author refers to the road as to a living being: “How many times have I, the perishing one, clutched at you, and each time you generously saved me!”

The writer used to think about his future creations on the road. It was on the way, to the sound of hooves and the ringing of bells, that his characters took shape. During the ride, he suddenly began to hear their speeches, to peer into the expressions on their faces. He witnessed the actions of his heroes and comprehended their inner world. Depicting the image of the road in the poem "Dead Souls", the author pays tribute to his inspirer, saying the following words: "How many wonderful ideas and poetic dreams were born in you!"

A chapter written on the road

But so that the road pictures and the corresponding moods do not leave him and disappear from his memory, the writer could interrupt his journey and sit down to write a whole fragment of the work. Thus was born the first chapter of the poem "Dead Souls". In correspondence with one of his friends, the writer told how one day, traveling through Italian cities, he accidentally wandered into a noisy tavern. And such an irresistible desire to write seized him that he sat down at the table and wrote a whole chapter of the novel. It is no coincidence that the image of the road in the poem "Dead Souls" is the key.

Compositional technique

It so happened that the road became a favorite in the work of Gogol. The heroes of his works certainly go somewhere, and something happens to them on the way. The image of the road in the poem "Dead Souls" is a compositional technique characteristic of the entire work of the Russian writer.

In the novel, travel and travel became the main motives. They are the core of the composition. The image of the road in "Dead Souls" declared itself in full force. It is multifaceted and carries an important semantic load. The road is both the main character and a difficult path in the history of Russia. This image serves as a symbol of development and of all mankind. And the image of the road in the work we are considering is the fate of the Russian people. What awaits Russia? What path is for her? Gogol's contemporaries asked similar questions. The author of "Dead Souls" tried to give answers to them with the help of his rich figurative language.

Chichikov road

Looking in the dictionary, you will find that the word "road" is almost an absolute synonym for the word "way". The difference lies only in subtle, barely perceptible shades. The path has a general abstract meaning. The road is more specific. In the description of Chichikov's Travels, the author uses the objective meaning. The road in "Dead Souls" is a polysemantic word. But in relation to the active character, it has a specific meaning, used to indicate the distance that he overcomes and thereby approaches more and more towards his goal. It should be said that Chichikov experienced pleasant moments before each trip. Such sensations are familiar to those whose usual activities are not related to roads and crossings. The author emphasizes that the upcoming trip inspires the hero-adventurer. He sees that the road is hard and bumpy, but he is ready to overcome it, like other obstacles on his life path.

life roads

The work contains a lot of lyrical and philosophical reasoning. This is the peculiarity of Gogol's artistic method. The theme of the road in "Dead Souls" is used by the author to convey his thoughts about a person as a separate person and about humanity as a whole. Speaking on philosophical topics, he uses various adjectives: narrow, deaf, twisted, impassable, drifting far to the side. All this is about the road that humanity once chose in search of eternal truth.

Roads of Russia

The roads in the poem "Dead Souls" are associated with the image of a trinity bird. The chaise is a substantive detail that complements it. It also performs plot functions. There are many episodes in the poem in which the action is motivated precisely by a chaise rushing along Russian roads. Thanks to her, for example, Chichikov manages to escape from Nozdryov. The chaise also creates the ring structure of the first volume. At the beginning, the men argue about the strength of her wheel, at the end this part breaks down, as a result of which the hero has to linger.

The roads along which Chichikov travels are chaotic in nature. They can suddenly lead to a backwater, to a hole where people live, devoid of any moral principles. But still, these are the roads of Rus', which in itself is a great path that absorbs a person, leading him to no one knows where.

The road in the plot composition of the poem is the core, the main canvas. And characters, things, and events play a role in creating her image. Life goes on as long as the road goes on. And the author will tell his story along the way.

RE-READING THE CLASSICS.

E.N. Proskurin

HOUSE AND ROAD IN GOGOL'S POEM "DEAD SOULS"

The road and the space adjacent to it in its Russian diversity (fields, forests, villages, provincial town) - such is the topography of "Dead Souls". In this article, we will be interested in the relationship between the road and the house.

According to the point of view established in Gogol studies, the road has a leading place in the poem. It sets the genre features of the work, connecting it with a travel novel, as well as with an adventure novel, it is the starting point of the author's lyrical thought, in the narrative plan, the road is a link between the settlements in which, according to the writer's intention, the protagonist needs to be Chichikov, etc. However, the house in the poem belongs to no less place, at least in terms of the frequency of Gogol's appeal to the image of various kinds of landlord dwellings. It is also fundamentally important that Chichikov's main goal is to provide a home, a family, and offspring. The "fantastic" "negotiation" undertaken by him is nothing more than a means to achieve this goal. At the same time, the way to realize the adventure with "dead souls" is possible for the hero only through his personal contacts with the landowners - the owners of serfs. That is, Chichikov's idea, which is essentially “road-based”, must enter into relations with the local, and therefore, predominantly, closed type of life, infiltrate it and, having aroused confidence, subjugate it.

However, despite the fact that the house in "Dead Souls" is located in the space around the road1, that is, it would seem that it should be susceptible to the trends of the road, after getting acquainted with Chichikov's "road" idea, he shows resistance to it, moreover, each in kind.

So, Manilov's house is located a few versts from the main road, "to the south ...,

1 The topographic point furthest from the high road along which Chichikov moves is Korobochka's house. Located about an hour's drive from Chichikov's britzka on "bad" rain-swept ground, it is perceived by the hero as a "wilderness". The time we assumed can be established by indirect indications available in Gogol's text: after a stormy night, Chichikov woke up in Korobochka's house at ten o'clock. A difficult conversation with the "club-headed" hostess, a hearty meal with pancakes, an egg pie, and the time to lay the britzka must have taken at least an hour. And at noon, Chichikov's carriage was already on the main road.

Elena Nikolaevna Proskurina - Candidate of Philological Sciences, Senior Researcher of the Sector of Literary Studies of the Institute of Philology of the SB RAS.

open to all winds." This "openness", symbolizing, at first glance, the owner's susceptibility to everything new, in fact, is manifested in nothing more than arranging the estate in the English manner and in the exotic names of his sons: Themistoclus and Alkid. Things move with difficulty beyond this "mixture" of English and Greek: Chichikov's proposal to "transfer, cede" the "dead peasants" to him does not fit in Manilov's head. Hearing “such strange and unusual things as never before heard by human ears” (19S), he “immediately took out the chubuk with the pipe on the floor and, as he opened his mouth, he remained with his mouth open for several minutes” (196); “Finally... he picked up the pipe with the chibouk and looked down into his [Chichikov's] face, trying to see if there was any kind of smile on his lips, if he was joking” (196); “Then I thought if the guest had somehow accidentally lost his mind” (196). In the course of the further conversation, Manilov "becomes embarrassed", "gets in the way", "completely lost" and calms down only after Chichikov's assurance that the duty for him is "a sacred matter" and he "goes dumb before the law" (197). At the same time, however, “he still didn’t get into the sense of the matter itself” (197), but he was “spiritually” glad that he “gave his guest a little pleasure” (199). The "pleasure" consisted in the fact that Manilov did not accept money from Chichikov for his "fantastic desire" and even took upon himself the execution of the bill of sale. That is, the idea of ​​personal benefit from the Chichikov enterprise also turned out to be inaccessible to Manilov. And after Chichikov's departure, he again indulged in his usual reflections:

“He thought about the well-being of a friendly life, about how nice it would be to live with a friend on the banks of some river, then a bridge began to be built across this river, then a huge house with such a high belvedere that you can even see Moscow and there to drink tea in the evening in the open air and talk about some pleasant subjects ... Chichikov's strange request suddenly interrupted all his dreams. The thought of her somehow didn’t particularly boil in his head: no matter how he turned it over, he couldn’t explain it to himself, and all the time he sat and smoked his pipe, which lasted until dinner itself ”(199-200).

From the examples given, one can see, firstly, that Chichikov's idea, which Ma-

2 Gogol N. Dead Souls // Gogol N. Selected works: in 2 vols. T. 2. M., 1984. P. 186. Further quotations from the text are given according to this edition with page numbers in brackets. Italics in quotations are mine - E.P.

Nilov defined for himself as “unheard of” and “fantastic”, and did not penetrate his mind, and secondly, it did not in any way affect his established type of life, it only gave a new reason for long fruitless reflections.

The arrival at Nozdrev3 was not accompanied by any road problems for Chichikov. Perhaps because he was traveling with Nozdryov himself, which means that it was possible not to think about the road and not cope; and it is also possible that the Nozdrevskaya village with the manor house was located right next to the main road. In any case, the hero gets there “meanwhile”, as if succumbing to the author’s road thoughts about Nozdrev’s “type”, that is, without difficulty, as if by the way, and from there, frightened by Nozdrev’s technique, he immediately jumps “in full swing”, “in all lost."

It should be noted that Nozdryov’s dwelling itself bears little resemblance to a private space and is more suitable for the concept of a “house by the road”4, where the owner is ready to bring anyone, even an almost unfamiliar person, if only there is an opportunity to realize his own “brilliance and glibness of character”. In this regard, Nozdrev belongs to the “road” type of people even more than Chichikov, because his adventurism is, one might say, a state of mind, while Chichikov’s adventurism is more a tribute to vital necessity. The latter sees the hearth as the result of his enterprise, while Nozdryov lacks at least some idea of ​​\u200b\u200ba personal future. Therefore, it was not at all accidental (and by no means unreasonable, as we know) that Chichikov sensed a danger to his “cause” in Nozdrev’s destructiveness.

As for Nozdrev's reaction to Chichikov's negotiation, it fully corresponds to the character's type of character. Nozdryov understands the essence of the Chichikov enterprise no more than Manilov (“What do you need?”, “But why do you need them?” - his questions about dead souls do not go beyond these limits), but he feels some considerable interest behind him (“Well I’m sure he’s started something. Admit that "(231)) and due to personal adventurism, and also because of a card loss, he is trying to squeeze his own benefit out of his guest’s idea: he sells Chichikov everything that can be sold (horses, puppies, hurdy-gurdy ...), starts to beat him in cards, in checkers. That is, he wants to cheat Chichikov in the same way that he cheated many simpletons before him, but at the same time, which is fundamentally important,

3 In this work, in connection with our own research tasks, we violate the sequence of Chichikov's visits to the landowners' estates.

4 On the features of the “house by the road” model, see: Proskurina E.N. The motif of the house by the road in Russian literature of the 19th-20th centuries // Plots and motives of Russian literature. Materials for the dictionary of plots and motives of Russian literature. Issue. 5. Collection of scientific papers. Novosibirsk, 2002, pp. 148-171.

in the ways that are included in the category of traditional "lordly" entertainment. When his idea fails, Nozdryov also uses his usual trick: he tries to beat his guest with the forces of the courtyard people. And only the unexpected arrival of the gendarmes prevents his venture from being realized. It should be noted that the type of behavior of Nozdryov in the scene with Chichikov (inability to dwell on the subject of conversation, jumping from one to another, etc.), with all the outward decisiveness of his actions, indicates that he has more fun here, so to speak, amuses " glibness of character”, than carries out a commercial transaction.

Thus, like Manilov, Nozdrev, after becoming acquainted with the Chichikov idea, remains true to himself. Despite the seeming interest, the thought of personal gain does not really seem to capture him. And, I think, for the same reason as Manilova: too unusual, "fabulous", that is, alien, even to him, for all his "briskness", the idea of ​​​​buying and selling "dead souls", and, not understanding how to treat her, he doesn't take her seriously. Although it can’t do without the fact that Nozdryov’s own unbridled nature, as they say, begins to overwhelm Nozdryov, and in his temper he misses the real opportunity for himself to extract, albeit a small, amount of money, which he needs in earnest.

In the village of Plyushkin, which is presented in the poem as "a vast village with many huts and streets" (258), Chichikov finds himself in an imperceptible way. It can be assumed that it is located in the immediate vicinity of the main road, otherwise country inconveniences would have made themselves felt, like that “pretty push” on the log village pavement, which brought our hero out of the road thoughts. Plyushkin's house turned out to be a few turns from the road, "where the chain of huts was interrupted and instead of them there was a wasteland garden or skit, surrounded by a low, in some places broken town" (259). With such a general roadside position, however, both the village itself and the landowner's house leave the greatest impression of mustiness, abandonment, destruction in the whole work. Road trends associated with dynamism, change, and novelty are completely unnoticeable here. The location of Plyushkin's house: in a wasteland, "where the chain of huts was interrupted", that is, at the point farthest from the road - in this respect is undoubtedly symbolic.

Plyushkin's first reaction to Chichikov's proposal practically coincides with Manilov's: "He stared for a long time" (267) at his guest, without comprehending the essence of his idea. But he completely calmed down after

Chichikov's rhetoric that he is "ready and at a loss" solely for the "pleasure" of the "venerable, kind old man." Such an almost childish naivety, revealed by Plyushkin, who suspects everyone and everything, once again speaks of the exclusivity, nothing-like-nothing-likeness of the Chichikov enterprise. However, after the unintentional guest takes “even the costs of the bill of sale” “at his own expense”, Plyushkin immediately concludes that he “must be completely stupid ... For all that, he, however, could not hide his joy .. After that, he began ... to look suspiciously at Chichikov. The features of such extraordinary generosity began to seem incredible to him. (268-269). All this complex palette of feelings of Plyushkin testifies to one thing: the absolute incomprehensibility for him of the meaning of acquiring dead souls.

Sobakevich was the least surprised by Chichikov's proposal. His reaction is extremely laconic and businesslike: “Do you need dead souls? ... Excuse me, I'm ready to sell ... "(250). At the same time, he breaks such a fabulously high price for them that Chichikov’s reaction to it is akin to that shown by Manilov or Plyushkin in relation to the very subject of bargaining:

“- According to the hundred! Chichikov exclaimed, opening his mouth and looking him [Sobakevich] right in the eyes, not knowing whether he himself had misheard, or whether Sobakevich's tongue, due to its heavy nature, turned in a wrong way, blurted out another word instead of one ”(250).

At the same time, however, Sobakevich no more than others understands the essence of Chichikov's undertaking. He only “smarts” that “the bidder, it is true, must have some benefit here” (250), and in the process of bargaining for Chichikov’s remark about his “object”: “What is he worth? Who needs",

Indefinitely philosophically he answers: “Yes, you are buying, therefore, you need it” (252). And by virtue of personal "efficiency" he tries to knock out the maximum benefit for himself. However, this benefit, so to speak, is of a one-time nature. Chichikov in the house-fortress of Sobakevich is a stray bird. As he arrived, he left, leaving the owner in the same hermetic space in which he had spent all his life. The idea of ​​making the trade in dead peasants his permanent "trade" does not even arise in Sobakevich's head.

You should pay attention to the location of the house of this landowner. Firstly, Chichikov saw his village itself from the road. Likewise, the house, located "in the middle" of the village, was immediately noticed by him. When Chichikov leaves the estate of Sobakevich, he turns "toward the peasant huts. So that it would be impossible to see the carriage from the side of the master's yard" (256). That is, the high road is clearly visible from the porch of Sobakevich's house, which in this case is not at all desirable for Chichikov,

who wants to pay a visit to Plyushkin. So he has to take a detour.

Thus, in all the cases we have cited, the landlord's house is located either relatively or in close proximity to the road. At the same time, however, the road has not yet taken root, and throughout the plot it never takes root in the way of life of the landowners. Such different types of life arrangement, which are presented in Gogol's poem, are possible only in the case of isolation, extreme privacy of housekeeping. That is the road for the Gogol landowners

Nothing more than a means of communication with the provincial city, and at the same time a connection that by no means opens the hermetic space of their life. All other functions of the road in the poem either belong to the author's plan or are connected with the main character.

Here, however, one should specifically dwell on such a character as Korobochka, for it is she who will, so to speak, lead Chichikov's "negotiation" out of the way. A hint of this function of the character is contained in the very story of the appearance of the hero at the gates of Korobochka's house, where, having lost his way during a thunderstorm, he is brought in by a tipsy Selifan. The full name itself: Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka - has a semantic meaning in terms of the plot characteristics of the heroine: it contains a double marking of the utmost closeness of her consciousness and way of life. So, if Mikhailo Semenych, Mikhailo Ivanovich, Mikhailo Potapych are usually called a bear in Russian fairy tales, then Nastasya Petrovna in them is the name of a bear. The "bearish", that is, heavy, lair-like life arrangement of Mikhail Semenovich Sobakevich is more than once directly spoken of in Gogol's work. A hint of the same type of housekeeping, only with an even greater degree of closeness (remember that Korobochka's house occupies the farthest position from the road. See note 1 to this article), contains both the name of the heroine and her unusual surname.

However, none other than Korobochka, who lives in the "wilderness", with her clumsy mind, will have to destroy Chichikov's plans. It is she who is the only one of all the heroes of the poem (however, like them, not understanding anything in the sense of the deal itself) is seriously afraid of miscalculating in her, for which reason she gets out of her “village” and goes to the city to find out “how much they go dead souls, and perhaps she missed, God forbid, by selling them, perhaps at a bargain price” (311).

Thus, Korobochkin's "cudgel-agility" turns out to be akin to Chichikov's ingenuity (a hint of the relationship of these characters is contained in the episode of their morning conversation:

“Let me know your last name. I'm so confused. arrived at night.

Korobochka, collegiate secretary.

Thank you very much. What about first and last name?

Nastasya Petrovna.

Nastasya Petrovna? Good name Nastasya Petrovna. I have an aunt, my mother's sister, Nastasya Petrovna" (208)).

She, to a greater extent than other "sellers", realizes her interest here, carries out her own "negotiation". Moreover, Korobochka suspects in Chichikov's idea some kind of reusable project that can become one of the items of her permanent income (“Really, ... my such an inexperienced widow's business! In this case, Chichikov's benefit does not interest her, and she is beyond the power of her mind, as evidenced by the scene of their bargaining. First of all, it is important for her not to miscalculate herself. It is the idea of ​​personal long-term benefit, stated in the conversation about government contracts, that makes her move from her own "backwoods" to the city "for a long time." We can say that here the road "manages" to open the living space of the character, and even one that seems to be less capable of change than all the others.

The new "road" intrigue created by Korobochka in such an unexpected way comes into conflict with Chichikov's enterprise and, as a result, destroys his plans. Thus, the heroine passes from one group of characters - the characters of the house - to another: the characters of the road, which is now represented by three persons: Chichikov, Nozdrev and Korobochka. It is no coincidence that this trinity is assigned the main role at the end of the first volume of the poem. The complication of the "road" intrigue, which arises due to the final events, creates the possibility of a new for the literature of the Gogol period, a bourgeois conflict in its essence. And here in the text, or rather, in the subtext of the work, new semantic intentions arise related to the motive of the road: in its sound, sounds that were previously “not abusive” appear, revealing the possibilities of the road chronotope as a dangerous space, fraught not only with positive changes, but also with destruction. destruction of the traditional way of life. Having arisen in the literature of the 19th century, they will declare themselves in full force in the literature of the 20th century, which we have already had to write about. In this semantic context, Gogol's house appears in a different incarnation for itself: as a space that opposes the destructive road and thus acts as a stronghold and defender of primordial traditions.

As for the provincial town, after Nozdryov's revelations and the appearance of Korobochka, he found himself in complete bewilderment. The meaning of the Chichikov idea is just as beyond the power of his townsfolk as the landowners:

5 See: Proskurina E.N. Decree. op.

“What kind of parable, really, what kind of parable are these dead souls? There is no logic in dead souls; how to buy dead souls? where will such a fool come from? and with what blind money will he buy them? and to what end, to what business can these dead souls be stuck?” (321) -

such was the reaction of "the inhabitants and officials of the city." As a result, Chichikov's "road" enterprise brought them out of their usual sleepy state: all of them suddenly - in full accordance with the intrigue that had opened - were on the road:

“All the shacks and bastards crawled out of their holes, which had been stale in their bathrobes for several years at home ... All those who had stopped all acquaintances for a long time ... in a word, it turned out that the city was both crowded, and large, and populated as it should . ... Covered droshkys, unknown rulers, rattles, wheel whistles appeared on the streets ... ”(322).

The completion of this "road" situation was the funeral of the prosecutor, to which the whole city came out, lining up on foot, in carriages and on droshkys in an endless funeral procession, as if foreshadowing the end of the established circle of life and the beginning of the next one, coming with the arrival of the new governor-general and so far only intriguing with its obscurity.

However, such a "road" position was unusual for the inhabitants of the city of N, because their life has so far flowed in an atmosphere of "family" and resembled the life of a large family house:

“... they were all kind people, they lived in harmony with each other, they were treated in a completely friendly way, and their conversations bore the stamp of some special simplicity and brevity: “Dear friend Ilya Ilyich!”, “Listen, brother, Antipator Zakharyevich!” , “You lied, mommy, Ivan Grigorievich” ... in a word, everything was very family-like” (294).

The townsfolk readily accepted Chichikov into their city “family”, even deciding to marry him to a bride from his circle in order to force him to settle in the city:

“No, Pavel Ivanovich! As you wish for yourself, it comes out of the hut only to cool it down: on the threshold and back! No, you spend time with us! Here we are marrying you: isn't it true, Ivan Grigoryevich, we are marrying him?

We're getting married, we're getting married! - picked up the chairman. - No matter how you rest your arms and legs, we will marry you! No, father, you got here, so don't complain...” (290-291).

The very word “father”, with which the chairman refers to Chichikov, already indicates that he was introduced into the circle of the city “family”, where everyone is called “brother”, “friend”, “mother”, “father” in a related way. After Chichikov agreed to marry (“why push with your arms and legs,” Chichikov said, grinning, “there would be a bride” (291)) the chairman joyfully rushes to him “in an outpouring of the heart” with the same kindred appeals: “You are my soul! My mother!” (291).

In such a “family” atmosphere, the idea of ​​a house truly captures the heart of Chichikov, who “imagined himself already a real Kherson landowner, talked about various improvements: about a three-field economy, about the happiness and bliss of two souls” and even “began to read a message to Sobakevich in Werther’s verse to Charlotte" (291), unexpectedly resonating with the "domestic" romanticism of the townspeople, where "the chairman of the chamber knew Zhukovsky's Lyudmila by heart ... and skillfully read many passages, especially: "Bor fell asleep, the valley sleeps" ... into philosophy and read very diligently, even at night, Jung's "Nights" and "Key to the mysteries of nature" by Eckartshausen, from which he made very long extracts. (294-295).

As you can see, Chichikov's unhindered and easy inclusion in the circle of urban inhabitants is due not only to his ability to please, the ability to mimicry and rumors about his millionth fortune, but also to Chichikov's inner readiness to become "one of his own" for them.

At the same time, the provincial city, where the road led the hero, lives the life that dozens of the same Russian provincial cities live: all the shortcomings of its inhabitants (theft, bribery, dishonesty of officials, etc.) are typical of Russian life. Therefore, taking Chichikov as "their own", the inhabitants of the city see in him a typical "master of the middle hand", that is, an understandable, familiar, native in spirit and interests of a person. The rumor about Chichikov's millions only adds to his weight in society. Alienation of the hero from the circle of the urban "family" occurs not because of his dishonesty, but when society fails to internally adapt the idea of ​​acquiring dead souls.

As we remember, unable to fit into consciousness, “what could these dead souls mean” (317), the female half of urban society agreed that “this is simply invented only to cover up, but the point is this: he wants take away the governor's daughter" (318). In this purely feminine way of illogically explaining the incomprehensible - by transferring it into the realm of the familiar - the thought of the unnaturalness of Chichikov's idea itself is once again highlighted. But since at the same time the danger of taking away the governor's daughter is quite real, given Chichikov's bachelor status and his willingness to marry, then the female part of society, including the governor, who was captured by this imaginary intrigue, felt insulted "as the mother of the family, as the first lady in the city" (323), immediately takes our hero out of the category of people of his circle. As a result, the porter of the governor's house "was given

the strictest order not to accept Chichikov at any time and under any guise" (323).

A similar reception was given to the hero and the male part of the provincial city:

“everyone either did not accept him, or they accepted him so strangely, they carried on such a forced and incomprehensible conversation, they were so confused and such stupidity came out of everything that he doubted the health of their brain” (340).

However, Chichikov's idea was no clearer for the "men's party" than for the women's:

“Everything they had was somehow callous, uncouth, wrong, worthless, discordant, not good, there was confusion, turmoil, inconsistency in their heads ...” (324).

But at the same time, it was the men who felt that “the main thing to pay attention to is dead souls, which, however, the devil knows what they mean ...” (324). Having connected them with the appointment of a new governor and fearing the consequences of their own official dishonesty, dragging Napoleon and the story of Captain Kopeikin into this, the “male party”, however, could not get closer to the true essence of Chichikov’s “negotion”. That is, like women, the men of the provincial city are trying to comprehend the idea of ​​buying dead souls by introducing it into the circle of understandable life phenomena. But it turns out to be more incredible than even the most paradoxical assumptions, which include Napoleon's escape and his secret appearance in the city of N and the story of Captain Kopeikin.

Thus, “his own”, “accustomed”, accepted by the city society as a native Chichikov, in fact, turns out to be an incomprehensible, foreign stranger. His removal by the inhabitants of the city N from the category of “his own” leaves him no choice but to leave the city-home with an indefinite feeling and set off further to carry out his road enterprise.

Judging by the published chapters of the second volume of "Dead Souls", Chichikov manages to quite successfully carry out his "negotiation" in the future. However, this road does not become his way to the house. Crossing with the motive of the path in the first volume at the level of the author's plan, later, in the second and third volumes of the poem, the motive of the road, according to Gogol's plan, should increasingly come closer to the idea of ​​the hero's life path, moreover, in his spiritual, reviving understanding. . Thus, at the level of the hero's plan, the motive of the road must change its vector direction: from horizontal to vertical. As a result, united in the motif of the path-road, these two initially different motifs also set a new idea of ​​the house in accordance with the spiritual task that Gogol considered the main one for all his artistic work.

The theme of Russia and its future has always worried writers and poets. Many of them tried to predict the fate of Russia and explain the situation in the country. So N.V. Gogol reflected in his works the most important features of the era contemporary to the writer - the era of the crisis of serfdom.
N. V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" is a work not only about the present and future of Russia, contemporary to the writer, but about the fate of Russia in general, about its place in the world. The author tries to analyze the life of our country in the thirties of the nineteenth century and concludes that the people who are responsible for the fate of Russia are dead souls. This is one of the meanings that the author put into the title of the poem.
Initially, the author's idea was to "show at least one side of all Rus'", but later the idea changed and Gogol wrote: "All Rus' will be reflected in it (in the work)." An important role in understanding the concept of the poem is played by the image of the road, which is associated, first of all, with the composition of Dead Souls. The poem begins with the image of the road: the main character Chichikov arrives in the city of NN - and ends with him: Pavel Ivanovich is forced to leave the provincial town. While in the city, Chichikov makes two circles: first he goes around the officials to testify to them his respect, and then the landowners, in order to directly carry out the scam that he conceived - to buy up dead souls. Thus, the road helps Gogol to show the whole panorama of Rus', both bureaucratic, and landlord, and peasant, and draw the attention of readers to the state of affairs in the country.
Gogol creates the image of a provincial town, displaying in the text of the work a whole string of officials. Chichikov considers it his duty to visit all the "powerful ones". Thus, he makes a small circle around the city, the author once again emphasizes the importance of the image of the road for understanding the meaning of the work. The writer wants to say that Pavel Ivanovich feels like a fish in water among officials. It is no coincidence that those in power take him for their own and immediately invite them to visit. So Chichikov gets to the governor's ball.
Describing officials, Gogol draws the attention of readers that none of them fulfills their direct purpose, that is, they do not care about the fate of Russia. For example, the governor, the main person in the city, arranges balls, takes care of his social position, because he is proud that he has Anna around his neck, and even embroiders tulle. However, nowhere is it said that he is doing something for the well-being of his city. The same can be said about the rest of the authorities. The effect is enhanced by the fact that there are a great many officials in the city.
Of all the types of landowners created by Gogol, there is not a single one for whom one could see the future. The characters presented in the poem are not similar to each other, and at the same time, each of them has individual typical features of the Russian landowner: stinginess, idleness and spiritual emptiness. The most prominent representatives are Sobakevich and Plyushkin. The landowner Sobakevich symbolizes the gloomy serf way of life, he is a cynical and rude person. Everything around him looks like himself: a rich village, an interior, and even a thrush sitting in a cage. Sobakevich is hostile to everything new, he hates the very idea of ​​"enlightenment". The author compares him to a "medium-sized bear", and Chichikov calls Sobakevich a "fist".

Another landowner, Plyushkin, is not so much a comic figure as a tragic one. In the description of his village, the key word is "neglect".

The poem "Dead Souls" is a brilliant satire on feudal Rus'. But fate has no mercy on the One whose noble genius Became the accuser of the crowd, Its passions and delusions. The work of N.V. Gogol is multifaceted and varied. The writer is talented...

Chichikov is the main character of the poem, he is found in all chapters. It was he who came up with the idea of ​​the scam with dead souls, it was he who travels around Russia, meeting with a variety of characters and getting into a variety of situations. Characteristics of Chichikov ...

Every era has its heroes. They determine its face, character, principles, ethical guidelines. With the advent of Dead Souls, a new hero entered Russian literature, unlike his predecessors. The elusive, slippery is felt in the description of his appearance....

The poem "Dead Souls" cannot be imagined without "lyric digressions". They so organically entered the structure of the work that we can no longer imagine it without these magnificent author's monologues. Thanks to "lyrical digressions" we constantly feel ...

The image of the road in the poem "" is quite diverse and ambiguous. This is a symbolic image that denotes the journey of the protagonist from one landowner to another, this is the movement of life that develops in the expanses of Russian land.

Very often in the text of the poem we are faced with a confusing image of the road, it leads the traveler into the wilderness and only circles him and circles. What does this description of this image say? I think this emphasizes the unrighteous goals and desires of Chichikov, who wanted to cash in on buying dead souls.

While the protagonist travels around the neighborhood, the author of the work does it together with him. We read and think about Gogol's remarks and expressions, we notice that he is very familiar with these places.

The image of the road is revealed in different ways in the perception of the heroes of the poem. The main character - Chichikov loves to drive on roads, loves fast driving, soft dirt road. The pictures of nature surrounding him are not pleasing to the eye and do not cause admiration. Everything around is scattered, poor and uncomfortable. But, with all this, it is the road that gives rise in the author's head to thoughts about the homeland, about something secretive and alluring. It is for the protagonist that the road can be compared with his life path. Traveling along the paths and back streets of the city of NN indicate a false and incorrectly chosen life path. At the same time, the author traveling nearby sees in the image of the road a difficult and thorny path to fame, the path of a writer.

If we analyze the real road, which is described in the text of the poem "Dead Souls", then it appears before us all in bumps and potholes, with mud, shaky bridges and barriers. It was with such roads that the entire territory of Russia at that time was lined.

The theme of the road, movement is one of the most important in the poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls". The plot of the work itself is based on the adventures of the protagonist, the fraudster Chichikov: he travels from landowner to landowner, moves around the provincial town in order to buy "dead souls".
In the last part of the poem, Chichikov's biography is given - also a kind of movement in time, accompanied by his internal development.
"Dead Souls" begins and ends with the theme of the road. At the beginning of the poem, Chichikov enters the provincial town, he is full of hopes and plans, and at the end the hero flees from it, fearing the final exposure.
For Gogol, the whole life of a person is an endless movement, no matter how imperceptible it may seem. That is why, while depicting non-smoking landowners, he, nevertheless, considers their revival possible. For a writer, mental halt and peace are not the end of a movement, not deadness. Internal development can begin again and both lead to the "high road", and make you wander off the road.
Let us recall that, when leaving Korobochka, Chichikov asks her to tell her “how to get to the main road”: “How can this be done? - said the hostess. - It’s tricky to tell, there are a lot of turns ... "
This answer contains a symbolic meaning, it is connected both with the theme of the road, the way, movement, and with another important image - the image of Russia. "How to get to the main road"? - this is the author's question addressed to the readers. Together with the writer, he must think about how to go on the "high road" of life. It is difficult to talk about how to “get to the big road”: after all, there are “many turns”, you always run the risk of turning in the wrong direction. Therefore, you can not do without an escort. This role in the poem is played by the author himself: “And for a long time it has been determined for me by a wonderful power ... to survey the whole enormously rushing life, to survey it through laughter visible to the world and invisible, unknown to it tears!”
In the eleventh chapter, which concludes the first volume of Dead Souls, a kind of hymn to the road sounds. This is a hymn to the movement - the source of "wonderful ideas, poetic dreams", "wonderful impressions": "What a strange, and alluring, and bearing, and wonderful in the word: the road! .."
The two most important themes of the author’s reflections - the theme of Russia and the theme of the road - merge in this lyrical digression, “Rus-troika”, “all inspired by God”, appears in it as a vision of the author who seeks to understand the meaning of her movement: “Rus, where are you rushing to You? Give an answer. Doesn't give an answer."
The image of Russia created in this digression, and the author's rhetorical question addressed to her, echo Pushkin's image of Russia - the "proud horse" created in The Bronze Horseman, and with the rhetorical question: "What fire is in this horse! Where are you galloping, proud horse, / And where will you lower your hooves?
Gogol passionately desired to understand the meaning and purpose of the historical movement in Russia. The artistic result of the author’s reflections was the image of an irresistibly rushing country, striving for the future, defiant of its “riders”: miserable “non-smokers”, whose immobility sharply contrasts with the country’s “terrifying movement”.
Reflecting on Russia, the author recalls what is hidden behind the “mud of trifles that have entangled our lives” depicted by him, behind the “cold, fragmented, everyday characters that our earthly, sometimes bitter and boring road is teeming with.” He speaks of a "wonderful, beautiful far away" from which he looks at Russia. This is an epic distance that attracts him with its “secret power”: the distance of the “mighty space” of Russia (“what a sparkling, wonderful, unfamiliar distance to the earth! Russia! ..”) and the distance of historical time (“What does this immense expanse prophesy? Here Is it not possible for an infinite thought to be born in you when you yourself are without end?
The heroes depicted in the story of Chichikov's "adventures" are devoid of positive qualities: they are not heroes, but ordinary people with their weaknesses and vices. In the majestic image of Russia created by the author, there is no place for them: they seem to diminish, disappear, just as “like dots, icons, inconspicuously stick out among the plains of low ... cities.” Only the author himself, endowed with knowledge of Russia, with the “terrible power” and “unnatural power” he received from the Russian land, becomes the only positive hero of Dead Souls, a prophecy about those heroic forces that, according to Gogol, should appear in Rus'.