Dead souls Gogol's definition of the genre of dead souls. Genre of Gogol's poem Dead Souls teaching material on literature (Grade 9) on the topic

​ N.V. Gogol, Dead Souls

But Chichikov simply said that such an undertaking, or negotiation, would in no way be inconsistent with civil decrees and further types of Russia, and a minute later he added that the treasury would even receive benefits, for it would receive legal duties.

So you think?..

I believe it will be good.

But if it’s good, that’s another matter: I’m against it, ”said Manilov and completely calmed down.

Now we just have to agree on a price.

How about the price? said Manilov again and stopped. “Do you really think that I would take money for souls that, in some way, ended their existence?” If you have received such, so to speak, a fantastic desire, then for my part I pass them on to you without interest and take over the bill of sale.

A great reproach would be given to the historian of the proposed events if he neglected to say that pleasure overcame the guest after such words uttered by Manilov. No matter how sedate and reasonable he was, he almost even made a leap after the model of a goat, which, as you know, is done only in the strongest outbursts of joy. He twisted so violently in his chair that the woolen material that covered the pillow snapped; Manilov himself looked at him in some bewilderment. Prompted by gratitude, he immediately uttered so many thanks that he became confused, blushed all over, made a negative gesture with his head, and finally expressed himself that this being was nothing, that he, exactly, would like to prove in some way the heart's attraction, the magnetism of the soul, and the dead souls are, in a way, complete rubbish.

Don't be very rubbish,' said Chichikov, shaking his hand. A very deep sigh was let out here. He seemed to be in the mood for outpourings of the heart; not without feeling and expression, he finally uttered the following words: - If you only knew what service you rendered to this, apparently, rubbish, to a man without tribe and family! And indeed, what did I not tolerate? like some kind of barge among the ferocious waves ... What kind of persecution, what persecution did not experience, what grief did not taste, but for what? for keeping the truth, for being pure in his conscience, for giving a hand to both the helpless widow and the miserable orphan!

Manilov was completely moved. Both friends shook hands for a long time and looked silently into each other's eyes for a long time, in which tears were visible. Manilov did not want to let go of our hero's hand and continued to press it so fervently that he no longer knew how to rescue it. Finally, pulling it out slowly, he said that it would not be a bad thing to make the bill of sale as soon as possible and it would be good if he himself visited the city. Then he took his hat and began to take his leave.

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The presence of a huge number of lyrical digressions that depict the positive ideal of the author, the presence of the author himself, expressing his attitude to what is happening, discussing philosophical topics, touching on the topics of writing, the poetic language of these digressions - this characterizes the work as a poem. Thus, before the reader is an original work of an unusual genre - the poem "Dead Souls".

poem

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Dead Souls is a poem for the ages. The plasticity of the depicted reality, the comical nature of situations and the artistic skill of N.V. Gogol paint the image of Russia not only of the past, but also of the future. Grotesque satirical reality in harmony with patriotic notes create an unforgettable melody of life that resounds through the centuries.

Collegiate adviser Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov goes to distant provinces to buy serfs. However, he is not interested in people, but only the names of the dead. This is necessary to submit the list to the Board of Trustees, which "promises" a lot of money. A nobleman with so many peasants had all the doors open. To implement his plan, he pays visits to the landowners and officials of the city of NN. All of them reveal their selfish disposition, so the hero manages to get what he wants. He also plans a profitable marriage. However, the result is deplorable: the hero is forced to flee, as his plans become well known thanks to the landowner Korobochka.

History of creation

N.V. Gogol considered A.S. Pushkin by his teacher, who “given” a story about the adventures of Chichikov to a grateful student. The poet was sure that only Nikolai Vasilievich, who had a unique talent from God, was able to realize this “idea”.

The writer loved Italy, Rome. In the land of the great Dante, he began work on a book involving a three-part composition in 1835. The poem was supposed to be similar to Dante's Divine Comedy, depicting the hero's immersion in hell, his wanderings in purgatory and the resurrection of his soul in paradise.

The creative process continued for six years. The idea of ​​a grandiose picture, depicting not only "all of Rus'" present, but also the future, revealed "the incalculable riches of the Russian spirit." In February 1837, Pushkin dies, whose “sacred testament” for Gogol is “Dead Souls”: “Not a single line was written without me imagining him before me.” The first volume was completed in the summer of 1841, but did not immediately find its reader. The censors were outraged by The Tale of Captain Kopeikin, and the title was perplexing. I had to make concessions, starting the headline with the intriguing phrase "The Adventures of Chichikov." Therefore, the book was published only in 1842.

Some time later, Gogol writes the second volume, but, dissatisfied with the result, burns it.

The meaning of the name

The title of the work causes conflicting interpretations. The used oxymoron technique gives rise to numerous questions that you want to get answers as soon as possible. The title is symbolic and ambiguous, so the “secret” is not revealed to everyone.

In the literal sense, "dead souls" are representatives of the common people who have gone to another world, but are still listed as their masters. Gradually, the concept is being rethought. The "form" seems to "come to life": real serfs, with their habits and shortcomings, appear before the reader's gaze.

Characteristics of the main characters

1. Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov - "gentleman of the middle hand." Somewhat cloying manners in dealing with people are not without sophistication. Educated, neat and delicate. “Not handsome, but not bad-looking, not ... fat, nor .... thin…”. Prudent and careful. He collects unnecessary knickknacks in his chest: maybe it will come in handy! Seeking profit in everything. The creation of the worst sides of an enterprising and energetic person of a new type, opposed to landowners and officials. We wrote about it in more detail in the essay "".
2. Manilov - "knight of the void." Blond "sweet" talker "with blue eyes". The poverty of thought, the avoidance of real difficulties, he covers up with a beautiful-hearted phrase. It lacks living aspirations and any interests. His faithful companions are fruitless fantasy and thoughtless chatter.
3. The box is "club-headed". Vulgar, stupid, stingy and stingy nature. She fenced herself off from everything around, shutting herself in her estate - the “box”. Turned into a stupid and greedy woman. Limited, stubborn and unspiritual.
4. Nozdrev is a "historical man". He can easily lie what he pleases and deceive anyone. Empty, absurd. Thinks of himself as a broad kind. However, the actions expose the careless, chaotically weak-willed and at the same time arrogant, shameless "tyrant". Record holder for getting into tricky and ridiculous situations.
5. Sobakevich is a "patriot of the Russian stomach." Outwardly, it resembles a bear: clumsy and indefatigable. Totally incapable of understanding the most elementary things. A special type of "drive" that can quickly adapt to the new requirements of our time. Interested in nothing but housekeeping. we described in the essay of the same name.
6. Plyushkin - "a hole in humanity." A creature of unknown gender. A vivid example of a moral fall that has completely lost its natural appearance. The only character (except Chichikov) who has a biography that "reflects" the gradual process of personality degradation. Complete nothingness. Plyushkin's maniacal hoarding "results" into "cosmic" proportions. And the more this passion seizes him, the less of a person remains in him. We analyzed his image in detail in the essay. .

Genre and composition

Initially, the work was born as an adventurous - picaresque novel. But the breadth of the events described and the historical truthfulness, as if "compressed" among themselves, gave rise to "talk about" the realistic method. Making accurate remarks, inserting philosophical reasoning, referring to different generations, Gogol saturated "his offspring" with lyrical digressions. One cannot but agree with the opinion that the creation of Nikolai Vasilyevich is a comedy, since it actively uses the techniques of irony, humor and satire, which most fully reflect the absurdity and arbitrariness of the "squadron of flies that dominate Rus'."

The composition is circular: the britzka, which entered the city of NN at the beginning of the story, leaves it after all the vicissitudes that happened to the hero. Episodes are woven into this “ring”, without which the integrity of the poem is violated. The first chapter describes the provincial city NN and local officials. From the second to the sixth chapters, the author introduces readers to the estates of Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdrev, Sobakevich and Plyushkin. The seventh - tenth chapters - a satirical image of officials, the execution of completed transactions. The string of these events ends with a ball, where Nozdrev "narrates" about Chichikov's scam. The reaction of society to his statement is unambiguous - gossip, which, like a snowball, is overgrown with fables that have found refraction, including in the short story ("The Tale of Captain Kopeikin") and the parable (about Kif Mokievich and Mokiya Kifovich). The introduction of these episodes makes it possible to emphasize that the fate of the motherland directly depends on the people living in it. It is impossible to look indifferently at the outrages that are happening around. Certain forms of protest are brewing in the country. The eleventh chapter is a biography of the hero forming the plot, explaining what he was guided by when performing this or that act.

The connecting thread of the composition is the image of the road (you can learn more about this by reading the essay “ » ), symbolizing the path that the state “under the modest name of Rus” passes in its development.

Why does Chichikov need dead souls?

Chichikov is not only cunning, but also pragmatic. His sophisticated mind is ready to “make candy” out of nothing. Not having sufficient capital, he, being a good psychologist, having gone through a good life school, mastering the art of “flattering everyone” and fulfilling his father’s precept “save a penny”, starts a great speculation. It consists in a simple deception of "those in power" in order to "warm their hands", in other words, to help out a huge amount of money, thereby providing for themselves and their future family, which Pavel Ivanovich dreamed of.

The names of the dead peasants bought for a pittance were recorded in a document that Chichikov could take to the Treasury Chamber under the guise of a pledge in order to obtain a loan. He would pawn the serfs like a brooch in a pawnshop, and could re-pawn them all his life, since none of the officials checked the physical condition of people. For this money, the businessman would have bought both real workers and an estate, and would have lived on a grand scale, taking advantage of the favor of the nobles, because the wealth of the landowner was measured by the representatives of the nobility in the number of souls (peasants were then called “souls” in noble slang). In addition, Gogol's hero hoped to win trust in society and profitably marry a rich heiress.

main idea

A hymn to the motherland and people, the hallmark of which is diligence, sounds on the pages of the poem. Masters of golden hands became famous for their inventions, their creativity. The Russian peasant is always "rich in invention." But there are those citizens who hinder the development of the country. These are vicious officials, ignorant and inactive landowners and swindlers like Chichikov. For their own good, the good of Russia and the world, they must take the path of correction, realizing the ugliness of their inner world. To do this, Gogol mercilessly ridicules them throughout the entire first volume, however, in the subsequent parts of the work, the author intended to show the resurrection of the spirit of these people using the protagonist as an example. Perhaps he felt the falsity of subsequent chapters, lost faith that his dream was feasible, so he burned it along with the second part of Dead Souls.

Nevertheless, the author showed that the main wealth of the country is the broad soul of the people. It is no coincidence that this word is placed in the title. The writer believed that the revival of Russia would begin with the revival of human souls, pure, unstained by any sins, selfless. Not just believing in the free future of the country, but making a lot of efforts on this swift road to happiness. "Rus, where are you going?" This question runs like a refrain throughout the book and emphasizes the main thing: the country must live in constant movement towards the best, advanced, progressive. Only on this path "other peoples and states give it way." We wrote a separate essay about the path of Russia: ?

Why did Gogol burn the second volume of Dead Souls?

At some point, the thought of the messiah begins to dominate in the mind of the writer, allowing him to "foresee" the revival of Chichikov and even Plyushkin. The progressive "transformation" of a person into a "dead man" Gogol hopes to reverse. But, faced with reality, the author is deeply disappointed: the heroes and their destinies come out from under the pen far-fetched, lifeless. Did not work out. The impending crisis in worldview became the reason for the destruction of the second book.

In the surviving passages from the second volume, it is clearly seen that the writer depicts Chichikov not in the process of repentance, but in flight towards the abyss. He still succeeds in adventures, dresses in a devilish red coat and breaks the law. His exposure does not bode well, because in his reaction the reader will not see a sudden insight or a paint of shame. He does not even believe in the possibility of the existence of such fragments at least ever. Gogol did not want to sacrifice artistic truth even for the sake of realizing his own idea.

Issues

1. Thorns on the way of the development of the Motherland is the main problem in the poem "Dead Souls", which the author was worried about. These include bribery and embezzlement of officials, infantilism and inactivity of the nobility, ignorance and poverty of the peasants. The writer sought to make his contribution to the prosperity of Russia, condemning and ridiculing vices, educating new generations of people. For example, Gogol despised doxology as a cover for the emptiness and idleness of existence. The life of a citizen should be useful for society, and most of the heroes of the poem are frankly harmful.
2. Moral problems. He considers the absence of moral norms among the representatives of the ruling class as the result of their ugly passion for hoarding. The landowners are ready to shake the soul out of the peasant for the sake of profit. Also, the problem of selfishness comes to the fore: the nobles, like officials, think only about their own interests, the homeland for them is an empty weightless word. High society does not care about the common people, they just use them for their own purposes.
3. Crisis of humanism. People are sold like animals, lost at cards like things, pawned like jewelry. Slavery is legal and is not considered something immoral or unnatural. Gogol covered the problem of serfdom in Russia globally, showing both sides of the coin: the mentality of a serf, inherent in a serf, and the tyranny of the owner, confident in his superiority. All these are the consequences of the tyranny that pervades relationships in all walks of life. It corrupts people and destroys the country.
4. The author's humanism is manifested in attention to the "little man", a critical exposure of the vices of the state system. Gogol did not even try to avoid political problems. He described a bureaucracy functioning only on the basis of bribery, nepotism, embezzlement and hypocrisy.
5. Gogol's characters are characterized by the problem of ignorance, moral blindness. Because of it, they do not see their moral squalor and are not able to independently get out of the quagmire of vulgarity that is engulfing them.

What is the originality of the work?

Adventurism, realistic reality, a sense of the presence of the irrational, philosophical discussions about earthly good - all this is closely intertwined, creating an "encyclopedic" picture of the first half of the 19th century.

Gogol achieves this by using various techniques of satire, humor, visual means, numerous details, rich vocabulary, and compositional features.

• Symbolism plays an important role. Falling into the mud "predicts" the future exposure of the main character. The spider weaves its webs to capture the next victim. Like an "unpleasant" insect, Chichikov skillfully conducts his "business", "weaving" the landowners and officials with a noble lie. “sounds” like the pathos of the forward movement of Rus' and affirms human self-improvement.
• We observe the heroes through the prism of "comic" situations, apt author's expressions and characteristics given by other characters, sometimes built on the antithesis: "he was a prominent person" - but only "at a glance".
• The vices of the heroes of "Dead Souls" become a continuation of the positive character traits. For example, Plyushkin's monstrous stinginess is a distortion of former frugality and thriftiness.
• In small lyrical "inserts" - the thoughts of the writer, hard thoughts, anxious "I". In them we feel the highest creative message: to help humanity change for the better.
• The fate of people who create works for the people or not for the sake of "those in power" does not leave Gogol indifferent, because in literature he saw a force capable of "re-educating" society and contributing to its civilized development. The social strata of society, their position in relation to everything national: culture, language, traditions - occupy a serious place in the author's digressions. When it comes to Rus' and its future, through the centuries we hear the confident voice of the “prophet”, predicting the future of the Fatherland, which is not easy, but aspires to a bright dream.
• Philosophical reflections on the frailty of being, on the bygone youth and impending old age, evoke sadness. That is why the gentle “fatherly” appeal to the youth is so natural, on whose energy, diligence and education depends on what “path” the development of Russia will take.
• The language is truly folk. The forms of colloquial, bookish and written-business speech are harmoniously woven into the fabric of the poem. Rhetorical questions and exclamations, the rhythmic construction of individual phrases, the use of Slavicisms, archaisms, sonorous epithets create a certain structure of speech that sounds solemn, excited and sincere, without a shadow of irony. When describing landowners' estates and their owners, vocabulary is used that is characteristic of everyday speech. The image of the bureaucratic world is saturated with the vocabulary of the depicted environment. we described in the essay of the same name.
• The solemnity of comparisons, high style, combined with original speech, create a sublimely ironic manner of narration that serves to debunk the base, vulgar world of the owners.

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Gogol himself defined the genre of Dead Souls (1842) as a poem. . There is a direct reference to the Pushkin tradition here, because and the plot itself was suggested by Pushkin shortly before his death.

Therefore, a contrast arises: if Eugene Onegin is a novel in verse, then Dead Souls is, accordingly, a poem in prose. Dead Souls are built according to a similar scheme, the text contains lyrical digressions, although the work itself is epic.

Genre dead souls gogol

Thus, it can be said that Gogol correctly defined the genre: at the fusion of lyrics and epic, a poem is obtained. If there were no lyrical digressions, a novel would have come out based on strong Pushkin traditions.

Dead souls also have features of sentimentalism. This is a travel novel. Although Chichikov's trip does not have any sentimental motives, the fact itself is important. The poem ends symbolically: like Chatsky in Woe from Wit, Chichikov leaves the city on the road, he strives to meet a new life.

Also, the poem can be called, following the European tradition, a picaresque novel: the main character here is a swindler who deceives everyone he meets. His scam is to buy more peasants and thus get free land from the state.

But he is not going to become a full-fledged landowner, so he does not need peasants as laborers. Because of this, he buys the so-called from other landlords. dead souls (according to the poll tax law, each soul was taxed until death was reported. Landowners often did not report the death of their peasants), thus helping themselves and the sellers.

Dead souls: characterization of heroes

As for the heroes of the poem, Gogol set himself the task of portraying the three main Russian classes: landowners, peasants and officials. Particular attention is paid to the landowners from whom Chichikov buys dead souls: Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdryov, Plyushkin and Sobakevich.

The officials in this poem are quite similar to the landowners. A very expressive character is the provincial prosecutor, who dies of shock after learning about Chichikov's scam. So it turns out that he, too, knew how to feel. But in general, according to Gogol, officials are only able to take bribes.

The peasants are episodic characters, there are very few of them in the poem: the serfs of the landowners, random strangers ... The peasants are a mystery. Chichikov thinks for a long time about the Russian people, fantasizes, looking at a long list of dead souls.

And, finally, the main character, Chichikov, does not fully belong to any of the estates. In his image, Gogol creates a fundamentally new type of hero - this is the owner-acquirer, whose main goal is to accumulate more funds.

Creativity N.V. Gogol is shrouded in many secrets and mysteries. In itself, the personality of the writer was unique and mysterious. From childhood, he was a special person: because of his illness, he did not communicate much with his peers, he very sensitively perceived insults and failures. The sensitivity of nature came to him from his mother. However, along with the emotionality of the family, the deepest love for the Fatherland and enduring

The idea was presented to Gogol A.S. Pushkin. The most unusual thing about the work, perhaps, is the genre. "Dead Souls" are designated by Gogol as a poem. Literary sources give a fairly clear definition of the poem - a lyrical epic work that tells about any events that has a poetic form. It should be noted that initially the poems were exclusively heroic, vaguely reminiscent of Russian epics. They must certainly have a plot narrative with heroes, events, but at the same time there must also be a lyrical beginning.

Why N.V. Gogol chose this particular genre? "Dead Souls" is a story that describes the adventures of a certain Chichikov. From the point of view of the plot, the work is closer to a picaresque novel. However, the author's goal is quite different. He seeks not just to tell about the adventures of Chichikov, but to show the absurdity and absurdity of serfdom. The name itself is an oxymoron (a combination of incongruous things). The genre of "Dead Souls" by Gogol partially reveals the author's idea. It contains a setting for the scale, inclusiveness of the image of events. Gogol strives to show the whole of Rus'. The work should also have a lyrical beginning - this is indicated by the genre. "Dead Souls" is a work full of lyrical digressions by the author, discussions about Rus', about the road, about nature. Extensive deviations from the main line of the narrative introduce a philosophical beginning into the poem. They tell us about what the work was written for. Gogol writes about how Russia is dying because of the injustice, slavery, meanness and meanness of the landowners and officials in it. Chichikov travels from one landowner to another, and each of them personifies one or another vice. Yes, and Chichikov himself is more of an anti-hero with clearly visible demonic features.

Gogol skillfully transforms the genre. "Dead Souls" is not a poem about a hero, not a novel, not a story. This is a synthetic work that combines several elements. Particularly stands out in its structure is the inserted element - "The Tale of Captain Kopeikin". It has nothing to do with Chichikov, this is a digression in which Gogol expresses his attitude to the current socio-political situation in Russia. Gogol cannot be called a revolutionary; he did not advocate a coup. But he wanted Russia to never forget about the basic moral laws. To show the disastrous path of Rus', Gogol creates his "Dead Souls". The genre created by Gogol and called "poem" helps the writer in this. He burned the third volume of the book, and left the second unfinished. According to the author's idea, a more optimistic view of the future of Rus' was supposed to "shine through" in the last parts of the poem.

Gogol makes the first sketches of the future grandiose creation in the summer of 1835, at the same time the general idea of ​​​​the poem is taking shape. Gogol planned to write three volumes. The first volume was supposed to be something like a "facade" of a huge building (Gogol studied architecture and often used comparisons with this art form). The writer intended to depict in the first volume the sad reality, the oppressive life, "fragmented and cold characters." The second volume was planned differently: in it, the author wanted to portray changing Rus', different people, but better compared to the gallery of types of the first volume. In the heroes of the chapters of the second volume that have come down to us, we see the same Chichikov, whom the author stubbornly pushes to correct, the landlords, whose images are symmetrical to the landowners of the first volume, but they are much more complex and promising. The third volume, according to Gogol's plan, was supposed to "paint" Russia changed, which found its way to a full and happy life. The idea of ​​the poem and its structure, that is, the increasing optimistic tone in the image of the world, caused the comparison of "Dead Souls" with the "Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri, also consisting of three parts: "Hell", "Purgatory", "Paradise".

The further fate of Gogol's plan is as follows: while still working on the first volume, Gogol began to make sketches of the second (1840), but he could neither complete it nor write any coherent most of it. Of the second volume, only four chapters have been preserved in different editions. It is known that several people close to Gogol read individual finished chapters of the second volume, but ten days before his death, Gogol burned his manuscript. Gogol did not start writing the third volume.

Gogol made the first mention of his work on Dead Souls in a letter to Pushkin dated October 7, 1835: “I started writing Dead Souls. The plot stretched out into a long novel and, it seems, will be very funny.<...>I want to show in this novel, at least from one side, all of Rus'. The message about "Dead Souls" appears in the same letter as the request for a plot for a new comedy, therefore, both works arose in Gogol's creative mind at the same time. The desire to show "all of Rus'" testifies to the scale of the idea, the expression "although from one side" indicates that Gogol chooses a certain angle in the image of Rus', that is, while ridiculing bureaucracy in "The Inspector General", he obviously intends to focus in "Dead souls" on the image of landowner-peasant Russia. However, then Gogol was temporarily distracted by work on The Inspector General and other literary activities and resumed active work on Dead Souls only in 1836 after leaving abroad.

Please note that in a letter to Pushkin, Gogol calls his work "a long novel." Nevertheless, returning to his plan a year later, Gogol is more clearly aware of the grandiose scale of his plan and reports in a letter to Zhukovsky: “... what a huge, what an original plot! What a varied bunch! All Rus' will appear in it!” Gogol no longer stipulates that he will show Rus' "even from one side", and does not call the work a novel. Consequently, along with the expansion of the idea, the writer is more acutely confronted with the question of the nature of "Dead Souls" and their genre, since the author cannot designate the genre of the work arbitrarily.

Gogol wrote the first volume of Dead Souls for six years, creating most of the work in Rome. During this time, the writer called his creation in different ways: either a novel, or a story, or just a thing, and only by the beginning of the 1840s did he finally have a genre definition - a poem. In the autumn of 1841, Gogol returned to Russia, for some time sought permission from the censors to print "Dead Souls", and, finally, on May 21, 1842, the poem was published in the printing house of Moscow University under the title "The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls."

The main significance for defining the genre of "Dead Souls" - a poem - is the fact that the work was written at the junction of two literary genres: epic and lyrical. The story of Chichikov's scam, that is, his trip around the province, stay in the city, meetings, forms the epic part of the poem, of which Chichikov is the main character. The lyrical purity of the poem is mainly made up of lyrical digressions that convey experiences, reflections, emotional excitement of the author; these lyrical digressions express the positive ideal of the author. The hero of the whole poem, in the fusion of epic and lyrical principles, is Rus'. Such is the genre-generic originality of Dead Souls.

"Dead Souls" is often compared with the epic poems of Homer, Virgil and Dante. However, Gogol's poem was created already during the existence of mature national literatures, it depicts national life and therefore is a national poem.

At the same time, "Dead Souls" also have a genre basis of the novel, since they describe the adventures of a rogue, a swindler - a common plot of a picaresque novel genre popular in European literature. The love plot outlined in the poem between Chichikov and the governor's daughter was not developed. As in The Inspector General, where Gogol also decided not to include a love conflict in the play, in Dead Souls this decision has an ideological explanation, because Chichikov, whose activities are based on deceit and "not worth a damn," does not deserve love. The poem also contains signs of a moralistic story, in which, thanks to the plot based on the hero's journey, a gallery of faces and characters passes before us.