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Pushkin painted the image of Grinev the son with greater versatility and breadth. If in the person of Grinev the father, from the very beginning, a man with an already fully developed and finally established character appears before us, then the character of the young, sixteen-year-old youth, Pyotr Andreevich Grinev, is wonderfully shown by Pushkin in his movement and development.
At first, Petrusha is a carefree and frivolous landowner's son, a slacker urchin, almost a match for Fonvizin's Mitrofan, dreaming of an easy life full of all sorts of pleasures as a metropolitan guards officer. All these traits of his character clearly appear in the episode of the meeting in Simbirsk with the hussar officer Zurin and in his treatment, in connection with this, with Savelich, who was devoted to him not out of fear, but out of conscience. Imitating adults, he rudely and unfairly places Savelich in the “appropriate” place, as it seems to him, of a serf servant, a slave. “I am your master, and you are my servant... I advise you not to be smart and do what you are ordered,” he tells Savelich. But this same episode also reveals the good sides of the young Grinev’s nature. He shouts at Savelich and at the same time realizes that he is wrong all around and he deeply “feels sorry for the poor old man.” After some time, he asks him for forgiveness.
In Petrusha Grinev, the kind, loving heart of his mother seemed to be combined with great inner honesty, directness, courage - qualities that we have already seen in his father and which the latter further strengthened in him with his firm farewell words: “Serve faithfully to whom you swear allegiance; obey your superiors; Don’t chase their affection; don’t ask for service; do not dissuade yourself from serving; and remember the proverb: take care of your dress again, but take care of your honor from a young age.” Petrusha’s inherent kindness was manifested both in the generous gift of a hare’s sheepskin coat to the counselor - an incident that unexpectedly played such a decisive role in his entire future fate - and in acute pity for the unfortunate Bashkir, brutally mutilated by the tsarist “justice”. His kindness showed itself in many other ways; for example, in how he rushed to the rescue of the captured Savelich. The depth of Petrusha Grinev’s nature was reflected in the great and pure feeling that arose in him throughout his life for Masha Mironova - a feeling for which he was ready to face any danger, any sacrifice.
With all his behavior in the Belogorsk fortress and later, Pyotr Andreevich Grinev proved his loyalty to the behests of his father, did not betray what he considered his duty and his honor, no matter how the very concept of honor and duty was defined and limited by his class, noble prejudices. The good traits and inclinations inherent in the nature of Peter-1NI Grinev were strengthened, tempered and finally triumphed under the influence of that harsh life school, which his father gave, sending instead of Petersburg and the guard to the remote steppe outskirts. Here, under the influence of major historical events, a grandiose peasant uprising, a “strong and good shock” was communicated to his soul. These same events, of which he became a participant, did not allow him, in his own words, after experiencing great personal grief - his father’s refusal to give permission to marry Masha Mironova - to lose heart and despair.
As a result of his noble concepts, Pyotr Grinev not only could not go over to the side of the peasant uprising, but also reacted sharply negatively to it and even, considering it his military duty and the fulfillment of his father’s behests, actively fought against it. But all the more remarkable is Grinev’s undoubted and great sympathy for the leader of the uprising, Pugachev, sympathy that was caused not only by gratitude for everything that Pugachev did for him, but also by direct, immediate sympathy for this strong, brave, extraordinary man from the people.
Captain's daughter
The novel is based on the memoirs of the fifty-year-old nobleman Pyotr Andreevich Grinev, written by him during the reign of Emperor Alexander and dedicated to the “Pugachevism,” in which the seventeen-year-old officer Pyotr Grinev, due to a “strange combination of circumstances,” unwittingly took part.
Pyotr Andreevich recalls his childhood, the childhood of a noble undergrowth, with slight irony. His father Andrei Petrovich Grinev in his youth “served under Count Minich and retired as prime minister in 17.... Since then he lived in his Simbirsk village, where he married the girl Avdotya Vasilievna Yu., the daughter of a poor nobleman there.” There were nine children in the Grinev family, but all of Petrusha’s brothers and sisters “died in infancy.” “Mother was still pregnant with me,” recalls Grinev, “as I was already enrolled in the Semyonovsky regiment as a sergeant.”
From the age of five, Petrusha is looked after by the stirrup Savelich, who was granted him the title of uncle “for his sober behavior.” “Under his supervision, in my twelfth year, I learned Russian literacy and could very sensibly judge the properties of a greyhound dog.” Then a teacher appeared - the Frenchman Beaupré, who did not understand “the meaning of this word,” since in his homeland he was a hairdresser, and in Prussia he was a soldier. Young Grinev and the Frenchman Beaupre quickly got along, and although Beaupre was contractually obligated to teach Petrusha “French, German and all sciences,” he soon preferred to learn from his student “to chat in Russian.” Grinev's education ends with the expulsion of Beaupre, who was convicted of dissipation, drunkenness and neglect of the duties of a teacher.
Until the age of sixteen, Grinev lives “as a minor, chasing pigeons and playing leapfrog with the yard boys.” In his seventeenth year, the father decides to send his son to serve, but not to St. Petersburg, but to the army to “sniff gunpowder” and “pull the strap.” He sends him to Orenburg, instructing him to serve faithfully “to whom you swear allegiance,” and to remember the proverb: “Take care of your dress again, but take care of your honor from a young age.” All the “brilliant hopes” of the young Grinev for a cheerful life in St. Petersburg were destroyed, and “boredom in the deaf and distant side” awaited ahead.
Approaching Orenburg, Grinev and Savelich fell into a snowstorm. A random person met on the road leads the wagon, lost in the snowstorm, to the sweeper. While the wagon was “quietly moving” towards housing, Pyotr Andreevich had a terrible dream, in which fifty-year-old Grinev sees something prophetic, connecting it with the “strange circumstances” of his future life. A man with a black beard lies in Father Grinev’s bed, and his mother, calling him Andrei Petrovich and “the imprisoned father,” wants Petrusha to “kiss his hand” and ask for a blessing. A man swings an ax, the room fills with dead bodies; Grinev stumbles over them, slips in bloody puddles, but his “scary man” “kindly calls out,” saying: “Don’t be afraid, come under my blessing.”
In gratitude for the rescue, Grinev gives the “counselor,” dressed too lightly, his sheepskin coat and brings him a glass of wine, for which he thanks him with a low bow: “Thank you, your honor! May the Lord reward you for your virtue.” The appearance of the “counselor” seemed “remarkable” to Grinev: “He was about forty years old, average height, thin and broad-shouldered. His black beard showed some gray; the lively big eyes kept darting around. His face had a rather pleasant, but roguish expression.”
The Belogorsk fortress, where Grinev was sent from Orenburg to serve, greets the young man not with formidable bastions, towers and ramparts, but turns out to be a village surrounded by a wooden fence. Instead of a brave garrison there are disabled people who do not know where the left and where the right side is, instead of deadly artillery there is an old cannon filled with garbage.
The commandant of the fortress, Ivan Kuzmich Mironov, is an officer “from soldiers’ children”, an uneducated man, but honest and kind. His wife, Vasilisa Egorovna, completely manages it and looks at the affairs of the service as her own. Soon Grinev becomes “native” for the Mironovs, and he himself “invisibly<…>I became attached to a good family.” In the Mironovs’ daughter Masha, Grinev “found a prudent and sensitive girl.”
Service does not burden Grinev; he is interested in reading books, practicing translations and writing poetry. At first, he becomes close to Lieutenant Shvabrin, the only person in the fortress close to Grinev in education, age and occupation. But soon they quarrel - Shvabrin mockingly criticized the love “song” written by Grinev, and also allowed himself dirty hints regarding the “character and customs” of Masha Mironova, to whom this song was dedicated. Later, in a conversation with Masha, Grinev will find out the reasons for the persistent slander with which Shvabrin pursued her: the lieutenant wooed her, but was refused. “I don’t like Alexei Ivanovich. He’s very disgusting to me,” Masha admits to Grinev. The quarrel is resolved by a duel and the wounding of Grinev.
Masha takes care of the wounded Grinev. The young people confess to each other “the inclination of their hearts,” and Grinev writes a letter to the priest, “asking for parental blessing.” But Masha is homeless. The Mironovs have “only one soul, the girl Palashka,” while the Grinevs have three hundred souls of peasants. The father forbids Grinev to marry and promises to transfer him from the Belogorsk fortress “somewhere far away” so that the “nonsense” will go away.
After this letter, life became unbearable for Grinev, he falls into gloomy reverie and seeks solitude. “I was afraid of either going crazy or falling into debauchery.” And only “unexpected incidents,” writes Grinev, “which had an important influence on my whole life, suddenly gave my soul a strong and beneficial shock.”
At the beginning of October 1773, the commandant of the fortress received a secret message about the Don Cossack Emelyan Pugachev, who, posing as “the late Emperor Peter III,” “gathered a villainous gang, caused outrage in the Yaik villages and had already taken and destroyed several fortresses.” The commandant was asked to “take appropriate measures to repel the aforementioned villain and impostor.”
Soon everyone was talking about Pugachev. A Bashkir with “outrageous sheets” was captured in the fortress. But it was not possible to interrogate him - the Bashkir’s tongue was torn out. Any day now, residents of the Belogorsk fortress are expecting an attack by Pugachev,
The rebels appear unexpectedly - the Mironovs did not even have time to send Masha to Orenburg. At the first attack the fortress was taken. Residents greet the Pugachevites with bread and salt. The prisoners, among whom was Grinev, are led to the square to swear allegiance to Pugachev. The first to die on the gallows is the commandant, who refused to swear allegiance to the “thief and impostor.” Vasilisa Egorovna falls dead under the blow of a saber. Grinev also faces death on the gallows, but Pugachev has mercy on him. A little later, Grinev learns from Savelich the “reason for mercy” - the chieftain of the robbers turned out to be the tramp who received a hare sheepskin coat from him, Grinev.
In the evening, Grinev is invited to the “great sovereign.” “I had mercy on you for your virtue,” says Pugachev to Grinev, “<…>Do you promise to serve me with diligence? But Grinev is a “natural nobleman” and “sworn allegiance to the Empress.” He cannot even promise Pugachev not to serve against him. “My head is in your power,” he says to Pugachev, “if you let me go, thank you, if you execute me, God will be your judge.”
Grinev’s sincerity amazes Pugachev, and he releases the officer “on all four sides.” Grinev decides to go to Orenburg for help - after all, Masha, whom the priest passed off as her niece, remained in the fortress in a severe fever. He is especially concerned that Shvabrin, who swore allegiance to Pugachev, was appointed commandant of the fortress.
But in Orenburg, Grinev was denied help, and a few days later rebel troops surrounded the city. Long days of siege dragged on. Soon, by chance, a letter from Masha falls into the hands of Grinev, from which he learns that Shvabrin is forcing her to marry him, threatening otherwise to hand her over to the Pugachevites. Once again Grinev turns to the military commandant for help, and again receives a refusal.
Grinev and Savelich go to the Belogorsk fortress, but near the Berdskaya settlement they are captured by the rebels. And again, providence brings Grinev and Pugachev together, giving the officer the opportunity to fulfill his intention: having learned from Grinev the essence of the matter for which he is going to the Belogorsk fortress, Pugachev himself decides to free the orphan and punish the offender.
On the way to the fortress, a confidential conversation takes place between Pugachev and Grinev. Pugachev is clearly aware of his doom, expecting betrayal primarily from his comrades; he knows that he cannot expect “the mercy of the empress.” For Pugachev, like an eagle from a Kalmyk fairy tale, which he tells Grinev with “wild inspiration,” “than to feed on carrion for three hundred years, it is better to drink living blood once; and then what God will give!” Grinev draws a different moral conclusion from the fairy tale, which surprises Pugachev: “To live by murder and robbery means for me to peck at carrion.”
In the Belogorsk fortress, Grinev, with the help of Pugachev, frees Masha. And although the enraged Shvabrin reveals the deception to Pugachev, he is full of generosity: “Execute, so execute, favor, so favor: this is my custom.” Grinev and Pugachev part on a friendly basis.
Grinev sends Masha to his parents as a bride, while he himself, out of “duty of honor,” remains in the army. The war “with bandits and savages” is “boring and petty.” Grinev’s observations are filled with bitterness: “God forbid that we see a Russian rebellion, senseless and merciless.”
The end of the military campaign coincides with the arrest of Grinev. Appearing before the court, he is calm in his confidence that he can justify himself, but Shvabrin slanderes him, exposing Grinev as a spy dispatched from Pugachev to Orenburg. Grinev is convicted, disgrace awaits him, exile to Siberia for eternal settlement.
Grinev is saved from shame and exile by Masha, who goes to the queen to “beg for mercy.” Walking through the garden of Tsarskoye Selo, Masha met a middle-aged lady. Everything about this lady “involuntarily attracted the heart and inspired confidence.” Having found out who Masha was, she offered her help, and Masha sincerely told the lady the whole story. The lady turned out to be an empress who pardoned Grinev in the same way as Pugachev had pardoned both Masha and Grinev.
- Tell us about the life of a noble youth.
- Create brief portraits and characteristics of Petrusha’s parents. How does the author relate to his characters?
- What reasons caused the change in Petrusha’s fate? What role did the Court Calendar play in his father’s decisions?
- Explain how the meaning of the chapter is revealed by the proverb used as an epigraph to the entire story.
- Describe the beginning of a young officer's journey to his place of duty.
The whole life of Petrusha Grinev before his military service is described in the chapter “Sergeant of the Guard.” It also tells what happened even before his birth: the unborn child was enrolled in the Semenovsky Guards Regiment as a sergeant (which is why the chapter received such a name).
Petrusha was brought up “not in the modern way”: from the age of five he was taught by the stirrup Savelich (“uncle”), with whom Petrusha mastered reading and writing. In the twelfth year, my father hired a Frenchman, Monsieur Beaupré, a former hairdresser and soldier. Having learned spoken Russian, Bop-re lived with his student “soul in soul.” One of the scenes of such life is described in the story: the father came to a geography lesson when Petrusha was making a kite from the geographical map he had just received. Monsieur was driven away, and until the age of sixteen Petrusha's activities became pigeons, leapfrog and other home entertainments.
When Grinev was sixteen years old, his father said: “It’s time for him to go into service.” This is how the life of Petrusha Grinev changed.
Petrusha Grinev's parents, simple and kind people who lived according to the customs of their time, were similar to many Russian poor nobles. After retiring as prime minister, Andrei Petrovich Grinev married the daughter of one of his neighbors, a poor Simbirsk nobleman, and began living on his estate. Of the nine children in their family, only one remained, Petrusha. Mother was busy with housework, father looked after the estate and even sometimes read the Court Calendar.
Young noblemen usually began to perform military service when approaching adulthood; the exact date was not established. Much depended on their development, their health, and the wishes of the family. We see confirmation of this when reading about the fate of Petrusha Grinev. Once, while leafing through the Court Calendar, Grinev Sr. learned about the promotions of his fellow soldiers and was clearly annoyed by their successes. This circumstance made him think about the fate of his own son, for whom it was time to begin military service. It was then that the father remembered that his son was listed as a guard sergeant! Material from the site
The story opens with the proverb: “Take care of your honor from a young age.” Already in the first chapter, it becomes clear to us that in families like the Grinevs, everything obeys certain laws. And among them, one of the main ones is contained in this proverb. Despite all the patriarchal nature of life and its apparent simplicity, the basis of the lives of these people is service to the fatherland.
Petrusha Grinev really hoped that he would be sent to serve in St. Petersburg. But, to his great regret, Orenburg turned out to be his destination. Seeing his son off, the father remembered the proverb: “Take care of your honor from a young age.” However, already at the beginning of the journey, in Simbirsk, the young sergeant plays with captain Zurin and loses to him a large sum. The debt had to be repaid. And Petrusha did this. “With an uneasy conscience and silent repentance, I left Simbirsk.”
- a work based on historical events, namely, the peasant war led by. But in the story, facts from history are reworked, and the main role is played by a completely different person. Petrusha Grinev is a nobleman, and it is on his behalf that the story is told.
Life of a noble youth
We meet the undergrowth immediately in the first chapter, here we learn about its formation, which we will briefly write about in ours.
The hero's life is no different from other children from noble families. From birth, the boy was assigned to military service in the Semenovsky regiment. Until this time, he is brought up in his parents' home and receives knowledge at home. Basically, he was under the supervision of the eager Savelich, a devoted servant. Apparently, this is why the boy learned to read and write only at the age of twelve, and he knew more about the habits of greyhounds.
Later, Petrusha is hired as a teacher, a Frenchman who was a hairdresser in his homeland, which is why he could not teach Petrusha either French or German. He is not bothered with his studies. Simply put, Petrusha received a poor education and called himself a teenager who chased pigeons and played with the yard boys.
Brief portraits of Petrusha's parents
Grinev’s parents are wonderful people, landowners.
Father Andrey was honest. He is a retired officer, a strict, stern man with a strong character. Grinev Sr. is determined and stubborn, very restrained in his feelings, but at the same time cruel in his expressions. Andrey, although he has money, does not spoil the child, his goal is to raise a good person. He wants his son to be taught life, so instead of St. Petersburg, where his son can only learn to be a hangman and spendthrift, he sends the guy to Orienburg.
Grinev's mother, Avdotya, is a poor noblewoman. In her marriage she proved herself to be a thrifty woman, a tender mother and a loving wife. Her hobby was needlework, and she also loved to cook Russian cuisine and make jam.
Patriarchal orders were established in the Grinev family, so the father always had the last word.
The reasons for the changes in the fate of Petrusha
Initially, the hero was supposed to serve in the Semenovsky regiment, and perhaps his fate would have turned out completely differently. If the hero had ended up in St. Petersburg, then, most likely, he would have become a reveler, a ladies' man, a joker, having drank from the capital's life. He would have been some kind of officer, like that Zurin. But my father’s changeable decision changed everything. The guy managed to become a worthy person.
Take care of honor from a young age
Sending his child to Orienburg, the father gave parting words where he emphasized the importance and necessity of maintaining honor. He urged to serve faithfully, never to chase the affection of your superiors and not to dissuade orders. And the main thing that his parent said was to always remember the wisdom of the people and take care of honor from a young age. By the way, the proverb is also an epigraph to the poet’s work. And the hero followed this wisdom. This does not allow our hero to stray from the right path, which we observe later.
Pushkin constructs the story as a memoir, and the story is told on behalf of Pyotr Andreevich Grinev. The memoirs were written by Grinev in his old age, many years after the events described; these notes “survived to his grandchildren.”
Remember the last lines of the story: “We decided, with the permission of our relatives, to publish it separately, finding a decent epigraph for each chapter and allowing ourselves to change some of our own names.” And the signature: “Publisher.” Pushkin here assigns himself only the place of a publisher, as if entrusting the narration of events to the storyteller Pyotr Andreevich Grinev.
Pyotr Andreevich Grinev grew up in a noble estate with a pronounced serfdom that had developed over centuries, which is depicted in Chapter I, although its description is terse. The house is filled with servants: this is, first of all, the uncle, Savelich, who was previously a groom, invariably accompanying the person of little Grinev (which means that Petrusha’s father was on the hunt, it’s not for nothing that the gentleman learned early from the uncle to “recognize the properties of a greyhound dog”), there is also an indispensable French tutor , who was a hairdresser in his homeland, is a despised creature in the Grinev house.
We also feel the stagnant silence of the patriarchal estate in the scene of the traditional cooking of honey jam by the lady herself in the living room. Here is the gentleman, sitting by the window and reading the same book - “The Court Calendar”. This is a tough-tempered landowner, whose “disposition of spirit” affects everyone at home. He is cruel to the serfs, even to the faithful Savelich, for whom he has no other address than “old dog” (remember the master’s letter to Savelich).
Collecting these seemingly imperceptible details, we see how Pushkin creates the flavor of the noble estate of the Grinevs, in which the narrator spent his childhood and youth.
One should pay attention to the ironic tone in which Grinev talks about his upbringing and education: “Under his [Savelich’s] supervision, in my twelfth year, I learned Russian literacy and could very sensibly judge the properties of a greyhound dog”; “My father hired a Frenchman for me, Monsieur Beaupre, who was sent from Moscow along with a year’s supply of wine and Provençal oil... But as wine was served with us only at dinner, and then only a glass at a time, and the teachers usually carried it around - then my Beaupre very soon he got used to the Russian tincture, and even began to prefer it to the wines of his fatherland, as it was much healthier for the stomach"; “Beaupre slept on the bed in the sleep of innocence. I was busy with work. You need to know that a geographical map was written out for me from Moscow. It hung on the wall without any use and had long tempted me with the width and goodness of the paper. I decided to make snakes out of it and, Taking advantage of Beaupre's sleep, he set to work. Father came in at the same time as I was adjusting my tail to the Cape of Good Hope. Seeing my exercises in geography, father pulled me by the ear..."
Where does this irony come from in Grinev’s story? Pushkin maintains here the style of a narrator, an elderly man, wise by experience, as if reconsidering his life, truthful, and in no way wanting to embellish himself.
However, the ironic description of Petrusha Grinev’s childhood seems to belong to “two authors” - Grinev and Pushkin. Who owns the brilliance of wit, the unconditional ridicule of the ignorance and stagnation of the noble estate? Of course, to Pushkin himself. Pushkin had sneered at the noble upbringing before. Here is an example from “Eugene Onegin” (Chapter I):
Eugene's fate kept:
At first Madame followed him,
Then Monsieur replaced her.
The child was harsh, but sweet.
Monsieur l'Abbe, poor Frenchman,
So that the child does not get tired,
I taught him everything jokingly,
I didn’t bother you with strict morals,
Lightly scolded for pranks
And he took me for a walk in the Summer Garden.
..................................................
When will the rebellious youth
The time has come for Evgeniy
It's time for hope and tender sadness,
Monsieur was driven out of the yard.
We see that Monsieur l'Abbe is very reminiscent of Monsieur Beaupré. Monsieur l'Abbe is a tutor in a St. Petersburg noble family; he is more decent than the provincial Beaupre. But the end of the stay in the noble houses of both tutors is the same. We see a textual coincidence: “Monsieur was driven out of the yard” when he was no longer needed; after his offense, “Monsieur” was treated even more unceremoniously: “The priest lifted him out of bed by the collar, pushed him out of the door and on the same day drove him out of the yard ".
Grinev does not hide the fact that he, like many other noble sons, did not receive a real education, his outlook was poor: “I lived as an undergrowth, chasing pigeons and playing leapfrog with the yard boys.”
But at the moment of spiritual formation, a person experiences numerous influences, sometimes invisible to him. Whose influence had the greatest impact on the formation of the moral character of Pyotr Grinev? Undoubtedly, the influence of the father. Let us remember the family scene when it was decided to send Petrusha to military service. This strict and straightforward man refuses to ask Prince B. for a son and does not want the nobleman’s favors. He wants his son to experience the life of a soldier. It is from his lips that we hear the proverb “Take care of your dress again, but take care of your honor from a young age,” the main part of which is, as it were, picked up by Pushkin and placed as an epigraph to the entire story. This means that this idea expressed by old Grinev is dear to Pushkin and is important for understanding the entire story.
Andrei Petrovich Grinev "served under Count Minich and retired as Prime Major." This explains a lot about the fate of Grinev’s father. Count Minich was known as an opponent of the accession of Catherine II. Andrei Petrovich was among Minich’s supporters and, undoubtedly, was forced to retire in a low rank. This makes clear a significant detail - old Grinev’s reading of the “Court Calendar”, which reported on ranks and awards. Among the people treated kindly by the queen were many nobles who began their service with Andrei Petrovich. The “excitement of bile” that took possession of him while reading the “Court Calendar” speaks of old Grinev’s rejection of the people awarded by Catherine II. Pushkin mentions in the story about some of Grinev’s ancestors. “It is not execution that is terrible: my ancestor died on the execution site, defending what he considered sacred in his conscience; my father suffered along with Volynsky and Khrushchev” (Chapter XIV), Andrei Petrovich says excitedly in the most difficult moment for him (when he receives a message that his son was put on trial for relations with Pugachev).
Pyotr Andreevich Grinev lived with his father for 16 years, and the influence of his father and his principles on him is undeniable. We will see this further.