This chapter will examine various definitions of the concept “little man”, the evolution of the image in Russian and American literature, and also identify features characteristic of this type. The chapter devoted to the works of John Updike will outline short biography writer, reviewed stylistic features the author and presents the views of foreign and Russian critics on his work.
The term "little man". History and nature of the concept
The concept of “little man” is by no means new. " Literary encyclopedia terms and concepts" speaks of the international dissemination of the topic " little man", it was first discovered in the Neo-Attic comedy. Until recently, the concept of “little man” was not defined terminologically. Obviously, this explains the classification of some literary characters, do not belong to it at all. The designation “little man” should be understood as a group of “rather heterogeneous heroes,” united by the fact that they “occupy one of the lowest places in the social hierarchy and that this circumstance determines their psychology and social behavior.”
Other definitions of the term “little man” belong mainly to Russian scientists. V.M. Markovich, in his study “Gogol’s Petersburg Stories,” said that “little people” are typical representatives of the general mass, people “who can be considered average in any respect,<.>heroic officials, mired in routine, but worthy of a better fate” [Markovich 1989: 10].
As researcher A.A. notes Anikin in his work “The Theme of the Little Man in Russian Classics”, the definition of “little man” is a true long-liver of Russian literary tradition. It is not surprising that a certain semantic and emotional stereotype has developed that accompanies this term. Even the literary heroes themselves openly recommend themselves this way: “I, sir, am a little man” (Kuligin from A.N. Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm”). However, if you look at it with an open mind, the picture may appear in a different light. The same Kuligin is filled with such pretentious pathos that the definition of “little man” is more a mask than authenticity. Robert Rozhdestvensky plays with this concept already in the 20th century: “On Earth there lived a mercilessly small man, and there was a small man...”, however, he concludes much more sublimely: “... there wasn’t enough marble on the whole Earth to knock out a guy in full height!” [Rozhdestvensky 2004: 72].
According to A.G. Tseitlin, already by the 20-30s of the 19th century there was a whole tradition of choosing poor officials as heroes of their works, depicting their life and psychology. So, the researcher believes, many writers “ natural school"They pick up and develop the image of the poor secretary Molchalin from the comedy A.S. Griboyedov "Woe from Wit". F.V. occupies a prominent place in everyday life writings dedicated to poor officials. Bulgarin. From the humorous genre of his narratives, Tseitlin notes, Gogol’s “The Overcoat” would subsequently come out [Tseitlin 1968: 104].
Not a single study by Soviet literary scholars dedicated to “The Station Agent” and “The Bronze Horseman” by A.S. Pushkin, “Petersburg tales” by N.V. Gogol, early works F.M. Dostoevsky and the work of the writers of the “natural school” of the 40s of the 19th century could not do without mentioning the “poor official” suffering from the injustice of the reality around him.
In the late 20s - early 30s of the 20th century, V.V. studied this topic. Vinogradov.
In subsequent decades, the image of the “little man” in the works of A.S. Pushkina, N.V. Gogol, the writers of the “natural school” were studied by a number of major literary scholars: P.T. Sahakyan, A.G. Tseitlin, V.F. Rudenko.
A.A.’s point of view is interesting. Anikin, who proposes to consider the Bible, especially the Gospel, as a primary source for the theme of the “little man” in Russian literature. He notes that the person depicted in the Gospel is precisely “small”, lesser before God, and not before earthly power, or strength, or wealth. Moreover, a person’s earthly significance and his appearance before God do not coincide. Christ is primarily addressed to the “humiliated and insulted”: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Let us give a few more succinct Gospel verses that define the semantic core of our topic: “What you did to one of my least brothers, you did to me” (Matthew, 25, 40 - 45); “Whoever is least among you will be great” (Luke 9:48); “Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant; whoever wants to be first must be your slave” (Matt. 20:26); “See that you do not despise one of these little ones” (Matt. 18:10). So, the evangelical man is small in spirit, humiliated, vicious and weak, but is directed towards God, awaits the highest judgment, is transformed, despite earthly humiliation (“the last will become first”) [Anikin: Electronic resource].
A.A. Anikin in his work “The Theme of the Little Man in Russian Classics” notes: “In the 18th century, Literature in the tradition of Radishchev seemed to have exhausted faith in the earthly well-being of the “little man”, returning to the tragic pathos of the Gospel with a feeling of never-overcome earthly suffering, which gave impetus to comparatively rapid development of the theme from Samson Vyrin to Platon Karataev, and the tragic pathos also determines the philosophical deepening of the hero. The insufficiency, or even inappropriateness, of sympathy for earthly suffering, the understanding of the impossibility of fully establishing the Kingdom of God on Earth (and the impossibility for the “little man” to fully understand the Word of God) only strengthened the artistic appeal of the topic. On the contrary, the revolutionary pathos of saving the “little man,” bright and attractive in itself, turned out to be unfruitful for the depth artistic image personality" [Anikin: Electronic resource].
This image, as already noted, has become very characteristic of Russian classics. You can recall the textbook, “school” works: “ Stationmaster» A.S. Pushkin, “The Overcoat” by N.V. Gogol, “Hero of Our Time” by M.Yu. Lermontov, “Crime and Punishment” by F.M. Dostoevsky, “War and Peace” by L.N. Tolstoy (the image of Platon Karataev). In addition, there are a number of “borderline” images that allow one to appreciate the nuances of the theme, contrasting deviations from it, which already transfer the heroes to another category (for example, Evgeny from “The Bronze Horseman”, Chichikov, Karandyshev, the heroes of “The Thunderstorm” by A.N. Ostrovsky, finally - a number of Chekhov’s characters, at which the actual theme of the little man is interrupted: Chekhov “destroys” the little man, striving not so much for confirmation as for the rebirth of such a hero). In general, the theme of the “little man” in its pure form, without developing into a completely different topic (for example, the participation of a little man in a great cause, as in M. Gorky’s article “About little people and their great work,” or a revaluation of the spirituality of a little man: small in society, but big in the soul, etc.), will turn out to be one of the specific themes of the classics of the 19th century, where, despite the presence of common thematic features, nevertheless, the philosophy of the “little man” will develop conceptually, but precisely around the Gospel parable.
The little man was and remains a literary hero. L.N. Dmitrievskaya notes: “When we say “little man,” we somehow remove him from ourselves, pity him condescendingly, from above. But if we have a PERSON in front of us, then the approach to him is different. And in this case, the image of the hero makes us no longer think about whether we should feel sorry for him or not - he demands that we think about ourselves, about our human essence” [Dmitrievskaya 2009: 3].
The study of the problem of the “little man” in the light of the Christian tradition led to the fact that the concept being studied, previously defined as a “petty official”, a “poor man” suffering from his own ambition, constant humiliation and insults due to his low origin or social status, changes its usual meaning when faced with the author’s view of the problem of the hero’s poverty.
Moreover, this literary image sometimes called the most important and fundamental in Russian literature. Mikhail Epstein, in his work “Little Man in a Case: Bashmachkin-Belikov Syndrome,” argues: “The opinion has spread widely that all Russian literature came out of Gogol’s “The Overcoat.” There is reason to say that many characters in Russian literature came from Gogol’s Bashmachkin. Usually the little man is interpreted as a separate type - humiliated, humble, resigned, and Bashmachkin is placed on a par with Pushkin's Semyon Vyrin and F. Dostoevsky's Makar Devushkin. But one can place Akaki Bashmachkin in a completely different, widely diverging series of his unrecognized descendants and heirs in Russian literature” [Epstein 2005: 18]. Such a noticeable literary trend could not but affect foreign literature. Correctly identified P.L. Weil in his work “Map of the Motherland”: “The little man from the great Russian literature is so small that it cannot be further reduced. Changes could only go upward. This is what the Western followers of our classical tradition did. From our Little Man came the heroes of Kafka, Beckett, Camus […] who grew to global proportions […]. Soviet culture threw off Bashmachkin’s overcoat - onto the shoulders of the living Little Man, who, of course, did not disappear anywhere, simply disappeared from the ideological surface, died in literature” [Weil 2007: 32].
The concept of a “little man” as such is inextricably linked with the concepts of humanism and morality. It is love for man as a thinking and free being that allows the reader not only to sympathize, but also to understand and sympathize with the “little people.” From the Christian-based ideas of Erasmus of Rotterdam, the Renaissance philosopher, to the atheistic humanists of the twentieth century, the value of the individual human person is cultivated. Erasmus proceeded from the humanistic idea of man as a noble living being, for whose sake alone this delightful mechanism of the world was built by God. He, recognizing, agrees with Christian teaching that the source and outcome of eternal salvation depend on God, believed, however, that the course of affairs in earthly human existence depends on the person and his free choice under given conditions, which is prerequisite moral responsibility. “Little man”, driven into the harsh confines of poverty, social class, or even his own weak character, deserves to be called a person based on the values of humanism.
The twentieth century brings new ideas, A New Look per person. However, the ideas of humanism and personal values are also relevant. Atheist Jean-Paul Sartre presents his work “Existentialism is Humanism.”
Sartre proceeds from the premise that “existence precedes essence.” From his point of view, it is difficult to immediately determine a person, because at first he does not represent anything. A person becomes a person only later, when he makes himself. In this Sartre sees the most important, even the first principle of existentialism, which he associates with subjectivity. It is obvious that these ideas of Sartre have something in common with humanism. For him, “a person is, first of all, a project that is experienced subjectively. Nothing exists before this project, there is nothing in the intelligible heaven, and man will become what his project of being is. Not as he wishes” [Sartre 2010: 284].
Such a person’s responsibility for himself is determined, from Sartre’s point of view, by the fact that “man is condemned to be free. Condemned because he did not create himself, and yet free because, once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does...” [Sartre 2010: 288]. According to Sartre, a person is responsible not only for his rational actions, but also for his passions. A person exists only to the extent that he realizes himself. He is, therefore, nothing more than the totality of his actions, nothing more than his own life.
In this regard, he considers two different meanings of the word “humanism”.
In the first of the meanings he identified, a person is understood as a goal and as the highest value. With this approach, according to Sartre, a cult of humanity is formed, which “can be worshiped in the manner of Auguste Comte.” From Sartre's point of view, such humanism is absurd, so it must be abandoned.
Sartre suggests understanding humanism in a different sense. His project of humanism includes the idea of the active character of man for whom “there is no other legislator but himself.” According to Sartre, a person himself, “in a situation of abandonment,” decides his fate by turning to the search for goals that are outside of himself. According to Sartre's existentialism, human liberation occurs through his concrete self-realization, oriented toward activity and freedom, toward responsibility for himself in an organization with others.
It is obvious that, despite Sartre's expansion of the meaning of Humanism, the idea of human value remains immutable. However, freedom becomes the main idea of humanism during the period of existentialism. The internal rebellion described by Camus in “The Myth of Sisyphus” determines the value of Homo sapiens. However, this is not yet the formation of personality. The idea of a small person overwhelmed by internal contradictions was created and developed by the existentialists as the idea of freedom in general. Another characteristic feature humanism in existentialism is the absence of God. Thus, the significant difference between the ideas of Camus and Sartre from the ideas of the Renaissance was what determines the value of an individual person - moral responsibility or freedom of consciousness.
American literature did not ignore this image. In conditions eternal search The American Dream inevitably has winners and losers. Mark Twain in “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” explored the problem not only of slavery; in the book the author examines many topics that remain relevant to this day. Ernest Hemingway noted that “All American literature came from one book by Mark Twain, from his Huckleberry Finn... Best book we do not have". Huck - this poor, homeless boy, fleeing from his always drunken father, from the insipid charity that disgusts him - is not sailing across the Mississippi alone. He is the same “scoundrel and scoundrel” who, despite the danger, dares to “hide” a runaway slave on a raft. And not only to shelter, but also to share with him your meager supplies of food, to help him hide. He pities and loves old Jim and considers him his friend. For Huck, Jim is better, more honest, more caring than his own father, who did not hesitate to rob his son completely, kept him from hand to mouth, and even “beat him with anything” every day.
Mark Twain does not think that his hero is such a brave fighter against injustice, he is not touched by Huck, but simply says that the friendship of these two good, brave people is as common a thing as the friendship of Huck with Tom Sawyer or Tom with his girlfriend Becky Thatcher. Jim for the writer and for him little hero- not “also a person”, but the most real man, like everyone else. It was Mark Twain who laid down in American literature a humanistic approach to man, to the individual, regardless of his position in society.
This image was not spared by the other American writer- Theodore Dreiser. In his work “Tragic America,” he argues: “Let the speed of cars, the power of cars, the height of skyscrapers built in record time be as great as possible, let the running of trains through subway tunnels be as dizzying as possible! More cities, more business, more affairs and worries - as if it is we, of all nations, who are called upon not only to mechanize, but also to populate the whole world! But why is all this being done? For some specific purpose? For the sake of creating some higher spiritual values? It seems to me that, on the contrary, in such an environment a person inevitably runs out of steam both physically and mentally; and to millions of people this has either already happened or is about to happen in the near future. They live and die without ever experiencing anything worth living for. The life of the average person has turned into continuous torment: it is so insignificant and meaningless, to such an extent he himself is confused and doomed to defeat in advance! [Dreiser 1952: 10]. The crisis of lack of spirituality in a purely commercial environment overtakes both Clyde Griffith in “An American Tragedy” and Sister Carrie. Like Updike, in all his novels Dreiser gives a broad picture of the morals and life of the environment he depicts. Dreiser is a moralist, in his novels the desire for enrichment at the expense of spirituality is punished, but this does not mean that the author does not sympathize with his heroes. Just like Jack London, who is filled with sympathy for his Martin Eden precisely when his hero is a poor uneducated sailor, a little man. But Martin himself realizes what he has lost: “He aimed for the stars, but fell into a fetid quagmire” [London 2009: 552].
Herman Melville dedicates a short essay to the image philosophical story- Scribe Bartleby. Bartleby is a typical little man, very similar to similar types of Russian literature. The hero of the story is a petty clerk, a copyist of court papers in a private law office in New York, an American colleague of Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin. For reasons that remain unclear (“an irreparable loss to literature,” Melville states, either mockingly or perplexedly), the scribe Bartleby, a gloomy, homeless young man, declares something like a boycott of the society in which he lives. He refuses to work, refuses to leave the office where he works, refuses to be fired for dereliction of duty, and refuses to give an explanation for his actions. However, at the end of the story the narrator - former boss Bartleby comes up with a truly humanistic thought: “For the first time in my life, I was overcome by a feeling of painful, aching sadness... The sadness of a brother! After all, Bartleby and I were both sons of Adam" [Melville 1988: 110].
Another typical American little man was introduced in 1949 by Arthur Miller. The play "Death of a Salesman" again raises the problem of loneliness and lack of spirituality in the world of commerce. The central problem in the play is the problem of " American dream”, that is, the problem of a small man who dreams of becoming a big man. Willy Loman, an aging traveling salesman, never breaks out of his type. He often thinks about his dream, but he cannot be called ambitious: “All I need is a little board and peace of mind” [Miller 2011: 298].
The second half of the twentieth century brings many technological discoveries, but poses no less questions. As noted by E.A. Stetsenko: “Man has found himself in a twilight, crisis era, in which he is forced to wait for a new light, a new day and a new self-awareness.” But the individual and his value in society still have literary value. E.A. Stetsenko refers to K. Popper: “The specific history of humanity, if there was such a thing, must be the history of all people. It should be the story of all human hopes, efforts and sufferings. Because there is not a single person who would be more important than another person” [Stetsenko 2009: 150].
Later literary movements also interested in the role of man in big world. K. Kesey in the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest presents a whole series of types who prefer seclusion in a mental hospital real world. For the rebel McMurphy, it is a shock that people have abandoned society and self-realization of their own free will. In addition to patients with obvious deviations, there are real little people in the clinic, frightened by reality. However, as the main character notes: “Loneliness only increases the feeling of uselessness” [Kesey 2009: 237].
John Updike continues the tradition American literature and makes it possible to trace the evolution of the image at the end of the twentieth century. In the wake of increased interest in postmodernism, avant-garde and experimental literature, Updike remains faithful to the quest of the middle class, values ordinary people, who can easily be imagined living next door. In his work, the humanistic principle is akin to Dreiser’s; his heroes rush about in their little worlds, but do not stop thinking about eternal questions being. Updike's little man is a product of his environment, and although Updike can hardly be called a moralist, he still shows the results of the crisis of lack of spirituality.
"Little Man" - type literary hero, usually a minor official who becomes a victim of the arbitrariness of the authorities or cruel life circumstances. Tsarist injustice and cruel times forced the “little people” to withdraw into themselves, become isolated, becoming the subject of ridicule by their more successful colleagues; they lived unnoticed and died unnoticed, and sometimes went crazy. But it was precisely such heroes, having experienced a strong shock, who began to cry out for justice and even fight against powerful of the world this.
The first were the heroes of A. S. Pushkin: Evgeny from the poem “The Bronze Horseman” and Samson Vyrin from the story. But it is the heroes of Gogol’s works, especially his “Petersburg Tales”, who are rightfully considered the embodiment of this type. F. M. Dostoevsky will later say: “We all came out of Gogol’s “The Overcoat,” meaning that Russian writers, including Dostoevsky himself, will constantly address this topic, and Gogol’s heroes will become role models.
Gogol himself, finding himself in St. Petersburg, was shocked by the grandeur of the city that met young man unkindly. He faced a world of social catastrophe. I saw the splendor and poverty of the capital, behind the front façade of which vulgarity triumphs and talents perish. Pushkin's heroes went crazy after their collision with St. Petersburg.
IN " Petersburg stories“Gogol’s desire for the “little man” to gain dignity leads to rebellion and the release of ghostly forces, which makes this cycle fantastic. Critics admit that the entire cycle of stories is an expression of indignation against the tragic disorder of life and against those who vulgarized it, made it inhuman and unbearable.
In “Notes of a Madman,” the narration is told from the perspective of the petty official Poprishchin. Sitting in the department director's office, he sharpens pens and takes notes, dreaming of marrying his daughter and making a career. Having overheard a conversation between two dogs Fidel and Medzhi (there is fantasy in all the stories in this series), he learns about their correspondence and, having taken possession of the papers, learns all the ins and outs of his boss and his daughter. He is shocked: why is the world so unfair? Why is he, Aksentiy Poprishchin, at 42 years old just a titular adviser?
In his inflamed mind, the thought arises that he could be someone else, but along with the madness, his human dignity also grows. He begins to look at the world differently, as he refuses slavish groveling before the so-called “masters of life.” He suddenly begins to consider himself the king of Spain, which gives him the right not to stand before his superiors and even sign himself as Ferdinand VIII. Poprishchin clearly imagines how “all the office bastard,” including the director, will bow humiliatingly before him. This demarche ends in a psychiatric hospital, where his notes finally lose all meaning, but the story reveals the severity of the social conflict.
The story “The Overcoat” describes not just an incident in the life of the “little man” Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin. The whole life of the hero appears before the reader: he is present at his birth, at the naming of his name, finds out where he served, why his overcoat is so necessary for him and why he died. The hero lives in his own little world where nothing happens. If it hadn't happened in his life incredible story with an overcoat, there would be nothing to tell about him.
Akaki Akakievich does not strive for luxury: sewing a new overcoat is a vital necessity. The thought of a new thing fills the hero’s life with new meaning, which is why his appearance even changes: “He somehow became livelier, even stronger in character.” When he has reached the limit of his dreams, having caused a sensation among his colleagues who constantly mocked him, his overcoat is stolen. But this is not the reason for the death of poor Bashmachkin: the “significant person” to whom the official turns for help “scolds” him for disrespect for his superiors and drives him away.
Thus, “a creature of no interest to anyone” disappears from the face of the earth, because no one even noticed his death. The ending is fantastic, but brings justice to justice. The ghost of a former official tears off the greatcoats from rich and noble people, and Bashmachkin climbs to the unprecedented height, overcoming poor ideas about rank.
- “Portrait”, analysis of Gogol’s story, essay
- “Dead Souls”, analysis of Gogol’s work
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………...3
Chapter 2. Comparison of the theme of the little man in the works of Pushkin and the works of other authors……………………………………………………………...9
2.1. “Little Man” in the works of A.S. Griboedova…………………9
2.2. Development of the image of the “little man” by N.V. Gogol………………..10
2.3. The theme of the “little man” in the works of M.Yu. Lermontov…………..10
2.4. F.M. Dostoevsky, as a continuator of the “little man” theme….11
2.5. Vision of the image of the “little man” by L.N. Tolstoy…………………..13
2.6. The theme of the “little man” in the works of N.S. Leskova……………16
2.7. A.P. Chekhov and the “little man” in his stories………………………17
2.8. Creation of the image of the “little man” by Maxim Gorky…………..20
2.9. "Little Man" in " Garnet bracelet» A.I. Kuprina…………21
2.10. The theme of “Little Man” by A.N. Ostrovsky……………………...21
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….23
List of references……………………………………………………………...25
Definition "small man" applied to the category of literary heroes of the era realism, usually occupying a rather low place in the social hierarchy: a minor official, a tradesman or even a poor nobleman. The image of the “little man” turned out to be all the more relevant the more democratic literature became. The very concept of “little man” is most likely in use introduced by Belinsky(article 1840 “Woe from Wit”). The theme of the “little man” is raised by many writers. It has always been relevant because its task is reflect life common man with all her experiences, problems, troubles and little joys. The writer takes on the hard work of showing and explaining the lives of ordinary people. “The little man is a representative of the entire people. And each writer represents him in his own way.
In world literature one can distinguish a parable novel Franz Kafka“A castle that reveals the tragic powerlessness of a little man and his unwillingness to reconcile himself with fate.
IN German literature gravitated towards the image of the “little man” Gerhart Hauptmann in his dramas Before Sunrise and Alone. The wealth of images of the “little man” in Hauptmann’s works gives rise to many various options(from a poorly educated driver to a subtle intellectual). Continued the tradition of Hauptmann Hans Fallada .
In Russian XIX literature century, the image of a small man has become especially popular. They were working on it Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Gribodoev, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Leo Tolstoy and many other writers.
The idea of the “little man” changed throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. Each writer also had his own personal views on of this hero. But already from the second third of the 20th century this image disappears from the pages literary works, since the method of socialist realism does not presuppose such a hero.
Chapter 1. The image of the “little man” in the works of A.S.
Pushkin
The greatest poet of the 19th century, A.S. Pushkin, also did not leave the theme of the “little man” unnoticed, only he turned his gaze not to the image of the kneeling man, but to the fate of the unfortunate man, showing us his pure soul, unspoiled by wealth and prosperity, who knows how to rejoice and love , suffer. This is a story "Stationmaster" part of a cycle "Tales of Belkin". Pushkin sympathizes with his hero.
Initially, his life is not easy.
“Who hasn’t cursed the stationmasters, who hasn’t scolded them? Who, in a moment of anger, hasn’t demanded from them a fatal book in order to write into it their useless complaint about oppression, rudeness and malfunction? Who doesn’t consider them monsters of the human race, equal to the deceased clerks, or at least the Murom robbers? Let us, however, be fair, try to enter into their position and, perhaps, begin to judge them much more leniently. What is a stationmaster? A real martyr of the fourteenth class, protected by his rank only from beatings. not always... There is peace, neither day nor night. him as an enemy; it would be good if he could get rid of him soon. uninvited guest; but what if the horses don't happen? God! what curses, what threats will rain down on his head! In the rain and slush, he is forced to run around the yards; in a storm, in the Epiphany frost, he goes into the hallway, just to rest for a minute from the screams and pushes of an irritated guest... Let’s look into all this carefully, and instead of indignation, our hearts will be filled with sincere compassion.”
But, the hero of the story Samson Vyrin, remains happy and calm person. He is accustomed to his service and has a good assistant, his daughter.
He dreams of simple happiness, grandchildren, a big family, but fate has other plans. Hussar Minsky, while passing through their place, takes his daughter Dunya with him. After unsuccessful attempt return daughter when hussar" strong hand“, grabbing the old man by the collar, he pushed him onto the stairs,” Vyrin was no longer able to fight. And the unfortunate old man dies of melancholy, grieving over her possible pitiful fate.
Eugene, the hero of The Bronze Horseman, looks like Samson Vyrin.
Our hero lives in Kolomna, serves somewhere, and shuns the nobles. He does not make great plans for the future; he is satisfied with a quiet, inconspicuous life.
He also hopes for his personal, albeit small, but much-needed family happiness.
But all his dreams are in vain, because evil rock bursts into his life: the elements destroy his beloved. Evgeniy cannot resist fate; he quietly experiences his loss. And only in a state of madness does he threaten the Bronze Horseman, considering the man who built the city on this ruined place to be the culprit of his misfortune. Pushkin looks at his heroes from the outside. They do not stand out for their intelligence or their position in society, but they are kind and decent people, and therefore worthy of respect and sympathy. In the novel "Captain's daughter" The category of "little people" includes Petr Andreevich Grinev And Captain Mironov. They are distinguished by the same qualities: kindness, justice, decency, the ability to love and respect people. But they have one more thing good quality- stay true to your word. Pushkin included the saying in the epigraph: “Take care of your honor from a young age.” They saved their honor. And they are just as dear to A.S. Pushkin, as are the heroes of his previously mentioned works.
Pushkin puts forward a democratic theme in them
a little man (the story "The Station Agent"), which precedes Gogol's "The Overcoat".
This is what he writes in his critical article"Pushkin's fiction" literary critic S.M. Petrov:
"Belkin's Tales" appeared in print the first realistic work Russian prose. Along with traditional themes from the life of the nobility and estate (“The Young Lady-Peasant”), Pushkin puts forward in them democratic theme of the little man(the story "The Station Agent"), which precedes Gogol's "The Overcoat".
"Belkin's Tales" were Pushkin's polemical response to the main trends of contemporary Russian prose. The truthfulness of the image, deep insight into a person's character, the absence of any didacticism "The Station Agent" by Pushkin put an end to it influence
sentimental and didactic story about a little man like " Poor Lisa" Karamzin. Idealized images, plot situations deliberately created for didactic purposes in a sentimental story are replaced by real types and everyday paintings, depicting the true joys and sorrows of life.
Deep humanism Pushkin's story is opposed to the abstract sensitivity of a sentimental story. The mannered language of a sentimental story, falling into moralizing rhetoric, gives way to a simple and ingenuous narrative, like the old caretaker’s story about his Duna. Realism is replacing sentimentalism in Russian prose."
D. Blagoy considers the crown of Pushkin's realism, its consistent completion, the image of the “little man,” the unassuming “college registrar,” even going so far as to directly identify life ideals Evgenia („ Bronze Horseman“), the most typical of a series of similar heroes, - with the aspirations of the poet himself.
“In reality, Pushkin of the 30s, who more than once sympathetically depicted the life and way of life of “little people,” endowing them with warm human feelings, could not at the same time fail to see the limitations, the poverty of the spiritual needs of a petty official, a tradesman, a seedy nobleman. While pitying the “little man,” Pushkin at the same time shows the petty-bourgeois narrowness of his requests.
How typical is the type of French teacher in “Dubrovsky”:
“I have an old mother, I will send half of my salary to her for food, from the rest of the money I can save up a small capital in five years - sufficient for my future independence, and then bonsoir, I go to Paris and embark on commercial activities.” – A. Grushkin emphasizes in article “Image folk hero in the works of Pushkin of the 30s."
Sometimes image of a little man at Alexander Sergeevich turn into a description of a folk hero. Let us turn to a fragment of the same article by Grushkin:
"In "Songs Western Slavs“He found this hero. The latter, it would seem, is endowed with all the features of a “little man.” At first glance, this is an undemanding, simple man, lifestyle which is primitive to the extreme. What, for example, would the hero of “Funeral Song” want to tell his old father, who is already “beyond the grave?”
“The Little Man” is a type of literary hero that emerged in the era of realism in the first half of the 19th century. Usually he is a minor official, a citizen with a quiet, inconspicuous life. He occupies a low level in society and has a meager spiritual world, not endowed with important life goals. The theme of the “little man” is one of the most important themes in Russian literature, to which writers of the 19th century constantly turned.
So, N.V. Gogol in the story “The Overcoat” describes the life of a poor, insignificant and inconspicuous official, whose role is to rewrite documents. Having spent his life subordinate to his superiors and doing simple “automatic” work, Bashmachkin did not have the opportunity to think much about work. And when he is offered a task that requires little mental effort, he decides: “No, better let me rewrite something.”
His life has meager aspirations: accumulating money for a new overcoat through hardship and suffering becomes the meaning of life, and its theft takes on the dimensions of a catastrophe. There are quite a few such “little people” in society, and Gogol calls for treating them with pity and understanding.
In addition, in Chekhov’s story “The Death of an Official” the life of another “little” person is presented - a minor official. His surname Chervyakov hints at the size of his world commensurate with the size of this animal. All minor events take on large proportions in his eyes. So, the fact that he sprayed the general in the theater, for whom it was a trifle, was of great importance for our hero. As a result of repeated apologies, Chervyakov died.
This catastrophe in his life is a consequence of limitation and emptiness. And such people, fixated on their own small world and there are a huge number of people who worry about little things.
The theme of little people is also revealed by Dostoevsky in the novel Crime and Punishment. The scene is a poor area of St. Petersburg. A picture of the life of the Marmeladovs, crushed by reality, opens before us. The official Marmeladov is drinking himself to death from his aimless life and grief. His wife Ekaterina Ivanovna also dies in poverty. And Sonya is forced to sell her body in order to escape starvation. Dunya, Raskolnikov's sister, wanting to help her brother, is ready to marry Luzhin, whom she is disgusted with. Raskolnikov himself commits a crime, the reason for which lies in the stratification of society. Dostoevsky's heroes protest against injustice in the world. He proves that the souls of poor “little” people can be beautiful and full of kindness, but broken by difficult living conditions.
Thus, the problem of the “little” person, which arose writers of the XIX century, is no less relevant today, when there are a huge number of such people with an empty life, routine work and a meager spiritual world, and, basically, this is the result of the influence of society on them.
Updated: 2018-03-05
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Composition
“Pain about a person” - that’s probably main topic Russian literature of the 19th century. Compassion for tragic fate“little man” formed the basis of the work of all Russian writers. And the first in this row was, of course, A.S. Pushkin.
In 1830, Pushkin wrote five stories, united by a common title and a common narrator - “Belkin's Tales”. Of these, the most touching and at the same time the saddest is, it seems to me, the story “The Station Agent.” In it, the poet first brought to the pages of Russian literature the “little man” - Samson Vyrin. Pushkin described him very accurately social status- “a real martyr of the fourteenth grade.”
The caretaker of the small postal station endured a lot in his miserable life, endured a lot. Almost every one of those passing by, wittingly or unwittingly, offended him, taking out their frustration on him, the unresponsive official, for the bad roads and the delay of the horses. He had one joy - his daughter Dunya, whom he loved more than life itself. But he lost her too: Dunya was taken with him to St. Petersburg by a passing officer, Minsky. Vyrin tried to achieve the truth, but everywhere he was driven away. And the poor official could not bear the insult - he became an alcoholic and soon died. Pushkin clearly showed Samson Vyrin with sympathy, a deeply unhappy man, with his small, but no less sad drama.
“The Little Man” is dedicated to N. V. Gogol’s story “The Overcoat,” which V. G. Belinsky called “ deepest creation" writer. Main character story - Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin, “eternal titular adviser.” All his life he “zealously and lovingly” copied papers in the department. This rewriting was not only his work, but also his calling, even, one might say, his life's purpose. Bashmachkin worked without straightening his back all day at work and took papers home, and copied some of the most interesting ones for himself - as a keepsake. His life was eventful and interesting in its own way. But one thing upset Akaki Akakievich: the old overcoat, which had served him faithfully for decades, finally fell into such “decay” that the most skilled tailor could no longer repair it. Bashmachkin’s existence acquired a new content: he began to save money to sew a new overcoat, and dreams about it warmed his soul for many years. winter evenings. This overcoat, which became the subject of Bashmachkin’s constant thoughts and conversations, acquired almost mystical significance for him. And when it was finally ready, Bashmachkin, rejuvenated and spiritualized, appeared in it for service. It was the day of his celebration, his triumph, but it ended unexpectedly and tragically: at night, robbers took away his new overcoat. For the poor official it was a disaster, the ruin of his whole life. He turned to a certain significant person"for help, begging to find and punish the robbers, but his request seemed too insignificant to the important general to pay attention to it. And the loss became fatal for Bashmachkin: he soon fell ill and died. Gogol urged the reader to love the “little man” because he is “our brother”, because he is also a person.
The theme of the “little man” was continued by F. M. Dostoevsky, who very accurately said about himself and his contemporaries: “We all came out of Gogol’s “The Overcoat.” Indeed, the main characters of almost all of his works were “little people”, “humiliated and insulted.” But, unlike Gogol’s hero, Dostoevsky’s heroes are capable of openly protesting. They do not accept the terrible reality; they are able to tell the bitter truth about themselves and about the society around them.
Their spiritual world is not as limited and wretched as Bashmachkin’s. They feel the injustice and cruelty of the world of profit and money more acutely than he does. Thus, the poor official Marmeladov, thrown to the very bottom of life, retained his soul and did not become a scoundrel and a scoundrel. He is much more humane than the “masters of life” - Luzhin and Svidrigailov. Marmeladov’s monologue in the tavern is not only a regret about his ruined life, but also a bitter reproach to the whole society.
Sonya Marmeladova was forced to sell herself in order to prevent the little children of her stepmother, Katerina Ivanovna, from starving to death. She suffers for the pain of all people, all the orphaned and wretched. Sonya helps not only her family, she strives to help complete strangers. It was Sonya who became the moral and spiritual support for Raskolnikov: Sonya bore his “cross” with him - she followed him to hard labor. This is her strength and her greatness - the greatness of self-sacrifice in the name of people, of which only an extraordinary person was capable.
The works of Russian writers make us painfully think about the meaning human life, about the purpose of man. Together with their heroes we learn to respect human personality, to sympathize with her pain and empathize with her spiritual quest.
