Content
Introduction Chapter I. Theoretical material about the symbolism of the word “road”
1.1 Etymology of the word “road” pp. 4-5
1.2 Synonyms of the word pp. 5-6
1.3 Vehicles of the heroes of the poem. p.6
2.1 Road as a route of communication p.7
2.2 Metaphorical image of a road as a person’s life path p.7
2.3 Specific time value p.7-8
2.4 The road as age-related human development p.8
2.5 The road as a path for human development p.8
2.6 The artist’s creative path p.8
2.7 The road of life on which the writer meets his heroes p.8
2. 8 High symbolic significance of the path of the Motherland p8.
2.9 Unstoppable movement forward, the greatness of Russia p.8
2.10 The road as a writer’s compositional device p.9-10
Chapter III
Conclusion pp.13-14
Bibliography p.14
Appendix No. 1
Appendix No. 2
Introduction.
Roads. Country roads. Winter roads in a blinding snowy haze. Blurred in autumn, dusty in summer. Spring - like rivers, the sound of rain, wind, the creaking of a cart, the ringing of bells, the clatter of hooves. Hear - this is the music of the rain. Roads of eternal wanderers, roads of eternal travelers. On the road! On the road! There are moments in every person’s life when you want to go out into the open and go to the beautiful far away, when suddenly the road to unknown distances beckons you.
How strange, and alluring, and carrying, and wonderful is the word: road! And how wonderful it is, this road: a clear day, autumn leaves, cold air... And the night! Heavenly powers! What a night is taking place in the heights! And the air, and the sky, distant, high, there, in its inaccessible depths, so vastly, sonorously and clearly spread out!...God! How beautiful you are sometimes, long, long way! How many times, like someone dying and drowning, have I grabbed onto you, and each time you generously carried me out and saved me! And the plans, the poetic dreams, how many wondrous impressions were felt!
Very heartfelt lines! It was Gogol himself who deeply loved the road and so selflessly grabbed onto it in the difficult days of his life. The image of the road permeates the entire poem, revealing various facets. Different facets of Gogol's road.
The theme of the road occupies a special place in the work “Dead Souls”. The main character travels from city to city in search of “sellers” of dead souls. It is through the movement of the protagonist along the roads that a broad picture of life in Rus' is formed.
The poem begins with “dear” and ends with it. However, if at first Chichikov enters the city with hopes of quickly getting rich, then in the end he runs away from it in order to save his reputation. The theme of the road is extremely important in the work. For the author, the road is the personification of life, movement and internal development. The road along which the main character travels smoothly turns into the road of life.
But it’s true how fascinating the path is and what a wonderful state it brings the soul of the traveler. But in the poem by N.V. Gogol, the motif of the road is manifested not only in the real image of Chichikov’s path with its potholes, hummocks, and mud. In this work, this image is multi-valued and symbolic.
Subject of the presented work “The image of the road expressed in words” (based on N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”)
Relevance This work is determined by the need to trace which path the main character P.I. Chichikov prefers when he travels across the expanses of the Motherland in search of his path.
That is whypurpose The conducted research is the desire to find out in what meanings the word “road” is used in the poem “Dead Souls”
To achieve this goal it was necessary to solve the followingtasks :
1. Study the semantics, etymology, phraseological, stylistic, communicative and other properties of a given word.
2. Find out how many meanings the word “road” has in the poem
3. Find out how many meanings of this word are familiar to 9th grade students
4. Create a booklet of the meaning of this word in the poem.
Scientific novelty work is that the literature does not provide a complete study of this word in all meanings used by the author.
Hypothesis: if we consider the meanings in which the word “road” is used, we can see that readers do not always understand the symbolic meaning of this word and its influence on the development of events, then it is possible to change the attitude towards words and improve the culture of reading the work.
This research work contains the following stages of research: choosing a topic, setting goals and objectives, collecting material, summarizing the data obtained, identifying patterns, summing up the work, creating applications.
Talking aboutpractical The significance of the work, it should be noted that it is quite large, since the conclusions can help not only to a better understanding of the poem “Dead Souls”, but to the understanding of other works that will be studied by us in the future.
In my work I will focus on the study of the polysemy of the word, which will undoubtedly help to better understand the work and comprehend the skill and talent of the writer.
This material can be used in the educational process in literature lessons, to expand your knowledge about Gogol’s era, and when preparing reports and abstracts.
Methods : theoretical and scientific research, work with critical literature, analytical reading, observation of language
Object of study : poem by N.V. Gogol “Dead Souls and facts obtained as a result of analysis of the work.
Chapter I . Theoretical material about the word “road”
1.1 The word “road” is a key word in 19th century literature .
Numerous examples of works can be given in which the depiction of a person’s life is interpreted as the passage of a certain path of the road. The most vividly metaphorical meaning of this concept is revealed in the poems of E. Baratynsky “The Road of Life” and A. Pushkin “The Cart of Life”, in which movement along the road of life is accompanied by irrevocable losses and disappointments; Gaining life experience, a person gives up the dreams and seductions of youth, pays for it with his best hopes (“...and with us we pay for the journeys of life”). Gogol in the poem “Dead Souls” continues the development of the universal meaning of “road”, but at the same time enriches the semantic interpretation, features of embodiment, ambiguity, and capacity.
1.2 Etymology of the word "road"
Road. A common Slavic word, unexpectedly related to words such as tree or turf, since it is formed from the same stem asdor - “cleared place”, and goes back to the verbkick - “tear” (see. ).
Comes from Indo-European. *dorgh- (related to pull and means “a space torn through the forest”); from here, along with Russian.road : Russian-church-slav. podrag "edge", Ukrainianroad , Bulgarian daroga, Serbian-church-slav. dredge "valley", Serbohorvian. draga, Slovenian drága “ravine, hollow”, Old Czech. dráha "road ", Polish droga "road ", v.-luzh. dróha "trace,road , street", n.-luzh. droga "street".
Lexical meaning of the word ROAD
1. A strip of land intended for movement, a route of communication.Asphalt, highway, dirt, country roads. (dirt road between large or remote settlements; obsolete). Side of the road. On the road.
2. A place through which one must pass or drive, a route to follow.On the way to the house. To lose one's way (also figurative: the same as to lose one's way) To give way to someone.( let pass, pass; also figurative: to give someone the opportunity to grow, develop).Open the way for someone somewhere (figurative: to give the opportunity to grow, advance in some way)some area). To stand on someone's road or stand across someone's road (figurative: to interfere, to hinder someone in something).
3. Travel, being on the road. There were a lot of interesting things along the way. Tired from the road.
4. transfer Course of action, direction of activity. Work is the road to success. To be on the good (bad, right) road.
Looking in the dictionary, you will find that the word “road” is almost an absolute synonym for the word “path”. The difference lies only in subtle, barely perceptible shades. The path has a general abstract meaning. The road is more specific. In describing Chichikov’s travels, the author uses the objective meaning of “road” in “Dead Souls” - a polysemantic word. -
1.3 Synonyms of the word
Synonyms for ROAD
path(1) – road, route
journey(road, trip, way)
access(approach, approach, passage, move)
path, tract (obsolete), motorway, highway
Synonyms:
path(s), pavement, path, trail, path, highway, route, track, line; street, sidewalk, crossroads, crossroads, crossroads, clearing, alley, canvas, lane, outskirts; for what; way; path-path, steel track, steel highway, steel track, highway, stog, access, tram, tract, airlift, motorway, single-track, expedition, horse-drawn horse, cast iron, highway, washboard, move, cruise, attack, trip, approach, journey, black trail, highway, tour, approaches, concrete road, highway, letnik, passage, voyage, travel, highway, airlift, approach, artery, swimming, hike, highway, grader, narrow gauge, wide gauge, tarmakadam, highway, path-road , winter road, bed road, country road, rockade, travel, run, serpentine
Antonyms for ROAD
Off-road.
1. Absence or insufficient number of well-maintained, comfortable roads. Due to the off-road conditions, it is impossible to pass or drive.
Rasputitsa.
1. The period of early spring or late autumn, when dirt roads become impassable due to melting snow, rain, etc. I set out on the road in the middle of a muddy road.
2. The condition of the road at that time; off-road. Arrive on a muddy road.
Wilds.
1. Places overgrown with dense impenetrable forest. Wilderness, inaccessible area; wilderness. Forest wilds.
1. 3 Vehicles of the heroes of the poem.
In order to expand our understanding of the heroes’ means of transportation, let’s pay attention to what they travel on
The main character's chaise is very important. Chichikov is the hero of the journey, and the britzka is his home. This substantive detail, being one of the means of Chichikov’s image, plays a large plot role: there are many episodes and plot twists in the poem that are motivated precisely by the britzka. Not only does Chichikov travel in it, that is, thanks to it, the plot of the journey becomes possible; the britzka also motivates the appearance of the characters of Selifan and the three horses; thanks to her, she manages to escape from Nozdryov (that is, the chaise helps out Chichikov); the chaise collides with the carriage of the governor's daughter and thus a lyrical motif is introduced, and at the end of the poem Chichikov even appears as the kidnapper of the governor's daughter. The britzka is a living character: it is endowed with its own will and sometimes does not obey Chichikov and Selifan, it goes its own way and in the end dumps the rider into impassable mud - so the hero, against his own will, ends up with Korobochka, who greets him with affectionate words: “Eh, father my, you’re like a hog, your whole back and side are covered in mud! Where did you deign to get so dirty? In addition, the chaise, as it were, determines the ring composition of the first volume: the poem opens with a conversation between two men about how strong the wheel of the chaise is, and ends with the breakdown of that very wheel, which is why Chichikov has to stay in the city.
It is no coincidence that the governor's daughter is riding in a carriage. A carriage is a large covered four-wheeled carriage on springs.
A road accident - a collision between crews, the first meeting with the governor's daughter:
“Everyone, not excluding the coachman himself, came to their senses and woke up only when theyjumped up a carriage with six horses and almost over their heads there was a cry from the ladies sitting in the carriage, abuse and threats from someone else’s coachman... ...and again it remainedroad, chaise, troika horses familiar to the reader, Selifan, Chichikov, the smooth surface and emptiness of the surrounding fields.”
Chichikov travels around the city in the prosecutor's droshky - from the governor's ball to the hotel: “Chichikov himself realized that he was starting to get too loose, asked for a carriage and took advantage of the prosecutor's droshky... Thus, already on the prosecutor's droshky he arrived at his hotel. .."
The box comes to town:
“... in the remote streets and nooks and crannies of the city a very strange carriage rattled, causing confusion about its name... the horses kept falling on their front knees because they were not shod, and, moreover, apparently, the calm city pavement was not enough for them familiar. The car, having made several turns from street to street, finally turned into a dark alley past the small parish church of St. Nicholas on Nedotychki and stopped in front of the gates of Protopopsha’s house.” What a magnificent characterization of the landowner Korobochka!
A pleasant lady goes with news to a lady pleasant in all respects.
The footman immediately slammed the door on the lady, threw him up the steps and, grabbing the straps behind the carriage, shouted to the coachman: “Go!”... Every minute she looked out of the window and saw, to unspeakable chagrin, that there was still half the way left.” The image of the chaise creates a frame for the entire first volume.
- The chaise appears on the first page:
A rather beautiful small spring britzka, the kind that bachelors travel in, drove into the gates of the hotel in the provincial town of NN... - At the end of Volume I, the image is transformed into a metaphorical “three bird”:
The horses stirred up and carried the light britzka like feathers... The troika now flew up the hill, then rushed in spirit from the hill..."
Chapter II. The image of the road expressed in words
2.1 Road as a means of communication
One of the meanings of the word “road” is a route of communication: Chichikov rides along the main country roads in his chaise: “To the right,” said the man. - This will be your road to Manilovka; and there is no Zamanilovka. It’s called that, that is, its nickname is Manilovka, but Zamanilovka is not here at all. There, right on the mountain, you will see a house, stone, two floors, a master's house, in which, that is, the master himself lives. This is Manilovka for you, but Zamanilovka is not here at all and never was.
Let's go find Manilovka. Having driven two miles, we came across a turn onto a country road, but two, three, and four miles had already gone, it seems, and the two-story stone house was still not visible. Then Chichikov remembered that if a friend invites you to his village fifteen miles away, it means that there are thirty faithful to her.
« But Selifan could not remember whether he drove through two or three turns. Having figured out and somewhat remembered the road, he guessed that there were many turns that he had missed all of them”; a narrow strip of land intended for movement: “And Chichikov sat in a contented mood in his chaise, which had been rolling along the main road for a long time”; the view of the area that opened up to the gaze of the traveler: “...he took up only one road, looked only to the right and left...”
2.2 Metaphorical image of the road as a person’s life path
The road in “Dead Souls” is a polysemantic word. But in relation to an active character, it has a specific meaning, used to indicate the distance that he overcomes and thereby approaches more and more to his goal. Chichikov experienced pleasant moments before each trip. Such sensations are familiar to those whose usual activities are not related to roads and crossings. The author emphasizes that the hero-adventurer is inspired by the upcoming trip. He sees that the road is difficult and bumpy, but he is ready to overcome it, like other obstacles on his life's path. - The image of the road, tangled, running in the wilderness, leading nowhere, only circling the traveler, is a symbol of the deceptive path, the unrighteous goals of the protagonist. Chichikov’s road, which passed through different corners and crannies of the N province, seems to emphasize his vain and false life path.
2.3 The meaning of a specific time.
The image of the road takes on a metaphorical meaning. It is equivalent to a person's life path. After all, after living life, a person becomes different. He pays for life experience with his best hopes. The author warns the young: “Everything seems to be true, anything can happen to a person:Take with you on the journey, emerging from the soft youthful years into stern, embittering courage, take with you all human movements, do not leave them on the road: you will not pick them up later! The old age coming ahead is terrible, terrible, and nothing gives back and back! The grave is more merciful than her; on the grave it will be written: a man is buried here! but you can’t read anything in the cold, insensitive featuresinhuman old age. All the best things in life are connected precisely with youth and one should not forget about it, as the heroes did. They lost their humanity and couldn’t find it later
2.4 The road as a theme of the Russian heroic people
The image of the people is connected with the image of the road.
What does this vast expanse prophesy? Is it here, in you, that a boundless thought will not be born, when you yourself are without end? Shouldn't a hero be here when there is room for him to turn around and walk?
“Oh, three! bird three, who invented you? to know, you could only have been born among a lively people in that land that does not like to joke, but has been scattered smoothly across half the world, and go count the miles until it hits you in the face... quickly alive, with only an ax and a chisel, The efficient man from Yaroslavl equipped and assembled you. The driver is not wearing German boots: he has a beard and mittens, and sits on God knows what; but he stood up, swung, and began to sing - the horses were like a whirlwind, the spokes in the wheels mixed into one smooth circle, only the road trembled, and the stopped pedestrian screamed in fright! and there she rushed, rushed, rushed!..”
2.5 The road as a path for the development of humanity.
« Deviation from the truth”, from the straight path - this is another twist on the topic. The “straight” and “crooked” roads in Gogol’s artistic consciousness are an antithesis that defines those moral coordinates with the help of which he will correlate the actual and ideal path of both one person and all of humanity: “How crooked, deaf, narrow, impassable, leading into humanity chose the side of the road, striving to achieve eternal truth, while a straight path was open to it... And how many times, already induced by the meaning descending from heaven, they knew how to recoil and stray to the side, they knew how to get to the abyss, so that later with horror ask each other: where is the way out? Where is the road?
2.6 The artist’s creative path Author’s thoughts about different types of writers
But the road is not only “a person’s life”, but also a creative process, a call to tireless writing
Gogol prefaces his lyrical discussion about two types of writers with a comparison related to the image of the road.Gogol compares two paths chosen by writers. One chooses the beaten path, on which glory, honors, and applause await him. “They call him the great world poet, soaring high above all the geniuses of the world...” But “fate has no mercy” for those writers who chose a completely different path: they dared to call out everything “that is every minute before the eyes and that the indifferent do not see.” eyes, - all the terrible, stunning mud of little things that entangle our lives, all the depth of the cold, fragmented, everyday characters with which our earthly, sometimes bitter and boring path is teeming...” The field of such a writer is harsh, since the indifferent crowd does not understand him, he is doomed to loneliness. Gogol believes that the work of just such a writer is noble, honest, and lofty. And he himself is ready to go hand in hand with such writers, “to look around at the whole enormous rushing life, look at it through the laughter visible to the world and the invisible tears unknown to him.”
2.7 The road of life on which the writer meets the heroes of his works
The image of the road helps reveal the characters of the landowners.
Each of his meetings with the landowner is preceded by a description of the road and estate. For example, this is how Gogol describes the way to Manilovka: “Having traveled two miles, we came across a turn onto a country road, but already two, three, and four miles, it seems, were done, and the two-story stone house was still not visible. Then Chichikov remembered that if a friend invites you to his village fifteen miles away, it means that it is thirty miles away.” The road in the village of Plyushkina directly characterizes the landowner: “He (Chichikov) did not notice how he drove into the middle of a vast village with many huts and streets. Soon, however, he was made aware of this by a considerable jolt produced by the log pavement, in front of which the city stone pavement was nothing. These logs, like piano keys, rose up and down, and the careless traveler acquired either a bump on the back of his head, or a blue spot on his forehead... He noticed some special dilapidation on all the village buildings...”
2. 8 High symbolic significance of the path of the motherland
The theme of the road in this work is inextricably linked with the fate of Russia. It is no coincidence that at the end of the first volume, instead of Chichikov’s speeding chaise, the symbolic image of a “three bird” suddenly appears, which personifies the path of development of Rus' on a global scale. Her swift flight is contrasted with the monotonous whirling of Chichikov’s chaise from landowner to landowner. The author calls the “bird three” brisk, “unbeatable,” rushing forward, because this is how he sees the formation of Rus' at the international level. The image of a trio of birds rushing forward expresses the writer’s love for the Motherland and faith in its inexhaustible strength.
2.9 Unstoppable forward movement, the greatness of Russia
In the last chapter of the first volume, the author talks about the fate of his homeland. He compares Rus' to a lively troika that cannot be overtaken. Underneath it the road smokes and the bridges rattle, and, looking sideways, other peoples step aside and let it pass...
“Rus'-TROIKA Eh, troika! bird three, who invented you? know, you could only have been born among a lively people, in that land that does not like to joke, but has spread out smoothly across half the world, and go count the miles until it shines in your eyes. Isn’t it you too, Rus', that lively, unstoppable Are you rushing three? The road beneath you smokes, the bridges rattle, everything falls behind and is left behind. Oh, horses, horses, what kind of horses! Are there whirlwinds in your manes? Is there a sensitive ear burning in every vein of yours? They heard a familiar song from above, together and at once tensed their copper chests and, almost without touching the ground with their hooves, turned into just elongated lines flying through the air, and all inspired by God rushes!.. Rus', where are you rushing? Give an answer. Doesn't give an answer. The bell rings with a wonderful ringing; The air, torn into pieces, thunders and becomes the wind; everything that is on earth flies past, and, looking askance, other peoples and states step aside and give way to it.”
2.10 The road as a compositional device that links together the chapters of the work.
The road is one of the spatial forms connecting the text. All heroes are divided into those belonging to the road, aspiring, having a goal, moving and aimless. A person is alive only when he moves forward. Secondly, the image of the road performs the function of characterizing the images of landowners, whom Chichikov visits one after another. Each of his meetings with the landowner is preceded by a description of the road and estate. For example, this is how Gogol describes the way to Manilovka: “Having traveled two miles, we came across a turn onto a country road, but already two, three, and four miles, it seems, were done, and the two-story stone house was still not visible. The road in the village of Plyushkina directly characterizes the landowner: “He (Chichikov) did not notice how he drove into the middle of a vast village with many huts and streets. Soon, however, he was made aware of this by a considerable jolt produced by the log pavement, in front of which the city stone pavement was nothing. These logs, like piano keys, rose up and down, and the careless traveler acquired either a bump on the back of his head, or a blue spot on his forehead... He noticed some special dilapidation on all the village buildings... "
The road in the plot composition of the poem is the core, the main outline. And characters, things, and events play a role in creating her image. Life goes on as long as the road goes on. And the author will tell his story along the way.
2. 11 Basic linguistic means of expression characteristic of poetic language when describing a road.
Let's introduce some of them:
1. Poetic syntax;
a) rhetorical questions:
“And what Russian doesn’t like driving fast?”
“But what incomprehensible, secret force attracts you?”
b)rhetorical exclamations :
“Oh, horses, horses, what kind of horses!”
c) appeals:
“Rus, where are you going?”
d) anaphors:
“The miles are flying, the merchants are flying towards them on the beams of their wagons, the forest is flying on both sides with dark formations of spruce and pine trees, with a clumsy knock and the cry of a crow, the whole road is flying who knows where into the disappearing distance...”
e) repetitions :
“Is it possible for his soul, striving to spin, to go on a spree, to sometimes say: “damn it all!” - Is it his soul not to love her? Don’t you love her when you hear something enthusiastically wonderful in her?” It seems like an unknown force has taken you on its wing, and you yourself are flying, and everything is flying: miles are flying, merchants are flying towards you on the beams of their wagons, flying on both sides a forest with dark formations of spruces and pines, with a clumsy knock and a crow's cry, the whole road flies...
f) series of homogeneous members:
“And again, on both sides of the main track, they began to write miles, station keepers, wells, carts, gray villages with samovars, women and a lively bearded owner...”
g) gradation :
“How strange, and alluring, and carrying, and wonderful in the word: road! How wonderful is this road itself: a clear day, autumn leaves, cold air..."
They heard a familiar song from above, together and at once tensed their copper chests and, almost without touching the ground with their hooves, turned into just elongated lines flying through the air, and rushing, all inspired by God!
h) inversion :
"Rus! Rus! I see you from my wonderful, beautiful distance, I see you..."
G) Parcellation: Eh, three! bird three, who invented you? to know, you could only have been born among a lively people, in that land that does not like to joke, but has spread out smoothly across half the world, and go ahead and count the miles until it hits your eyes. Oh, horses, horses, what kind of horses! Are there whirlwinds in your manes? Is there a sensitive ear burning in every vein of yours? The contemplator, amazed by God's miracle, stopped: was this lightning thrown from the sky? What does this terrifying movement mean? and what kind of unknown power is contained in these horses, unknown to the light?
2. Trails:
Personification The author addresses the road as if it were a living creature: “How many times have I, a perishing person, grabbed onto you, and every time you generously saved me!”a soul striving to spin, to take a walk, to say sometimes; the whole road is flying;
Epithets metaphorical epithets: unknown force; inspired by God; air torn into pieces; they tensed their copper breasts; clumsy knock and crow cry,
Reinforcing epithets , which indicate the sign contained in the word being defined: “Isn’t it so, too, Rus', that you are rushing along like a brisk, unstoppable troika?” (M.D.) - the epithet glib is also strengthened by the epithet irresistible
Metaphors : How seductively drowsiness creeps in... What a night unfolds in the heights... nothing deceives the eye...
Hyperboles:
“Shouldn’t a hero be here when there is a place for him to turn around and walk?”
Comparison : the roads spread out like caught crayfish
3. Lexical means:
Common speech : To know, you could only have been born among a lively people...; not a cunning, it seems, road projectile; swept away smoothly
Synonyms: spin around, take a walk; lively and unstoppable; falls behind and is left behind; ringing - song;
Antonyms : sitting - rushed; stopped - rushes; contemplator - coachman.
rushes, rushes, flies, flashes.
Antithesis "Straight" and "crooked" road
Phraseologism: bird three
Chapter III
Research results
“Rus, where are you going?” - this is the question that bothered the writer, because in his soul lived boundless love for Russia. He believed in Russia, in its bright future.
Each meaning of the road in Gogol serves a specific plan of the great master. It is diverse and multifunctional, which allows you to achieve the desired effect. Gogol the artist did the impossible in his poem. He forced time and man to move forward; the road has yi meanings in the poem. Few writers have achieved this. It is no coincidence that he used this word 237 times in the poem.
The road is something sublime, permeated with Gogol’s patriotism, admiration for the salt of Rus' - the people. Roads are also a question about the future. The path is reality, this is what Chichikov went through, and what he will have to go through. This is how much the image of the road meant to the author of Dead Souls. It not only permeates the entire poem, revealing its various facets, but also moves from a work of art into real life, in order to then return from reality to the world of fiction.
The road is an artistic image and part of Gogol’s biography.
The road is a source of change, life and help in difficult times.
The road is both the ability to create, and the ability to understand the true (“straight”) path of man and all humanity, and the hope that such a path can be discovered by contemporaries. A hope that Gogol passionately sought to hold on to until the end of his life.
This is such a comprehensive word - “road”
Conclusion
Based on our research, we have compiled a diagram
among 9th grade students to identify the symbolic meaning of the word “road” in the poem and came to the conclusion that is presented in the diagram.
The purpose of the study was to present the meaning of the use of the word “road” in the poem “Dead Souls”. The goal can be considered achieved, since the assigned tasks have been completed:
2) the text was analyzed from the point of view of the polysemy of the word
1. The semantics, etymology, and other properties of this word have been studied.
2. A guide to the meaning of this word in the poem has been created and presented in a booklet appendix.
The means of expression are analyzed to convey different facets of the polysemy of the word “road”.
Thus, the study of the author’s meaning of the word “road”, which permeates the entire literary text of the poem “Dead Souls”, showed various aspects of the topic and suggests in the future other, new, perhaps deeper and more subtle interpretations. The practical significance is seen in the fact that the results can be used in school classes on Russian language and literature.
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Nikolaev P.A. Gogol's artistic discoveries // N.V. Gogol. Selected works in 2 volumes. T.1. - M.: Fiction, 1978.
Rozanov V.V. About Gogol. (Appendix of two sketches). –www. nefedor. com. cgi- bin/ hph
Petelin V.V. M. Bulgakov. – M.: Moscow worker, 1989.
Shvedova S.O. Satirical and symbolic in “Dead Souls” by Gogol. // Russian literatureXIXcentury From Krylov to Chekhov. – M.: Education, 2000.
« How strange, and alluring, and carrying, and wonderful there is in the word: road.”
Just think how much
Meanings of the word road
The topic of Russia and its future has always worried writers and poets. Many of them tried to predict the fate of Russia and explain the situation in the country. Likewise, N.V. Gogol reflected in his works the most important features of the era contemporary to the writer - the era of the crisis of serfdom.
N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” is a work not only about the present and future of Russia, contemporary to the writer, but about the fate of Russia in general, about its place in the world. The author tries to analyze the life of our country in the thirties of the nineteenth century and concludes that the people who are responsible for the fate of Russia are dead souls. This is one of the meanings that the author put into the title of the poem.
Initially, the author’s idea was to “show all of Rus' at least from one side,” but later the idea changed and Gogol wrote: “All of Rus' will be reflected in it (in the work).” An important role for understanding the concept of the poem is played by the image of the road, with which the composition of “Dead Souls” is primarily associated. The poem begins with the image of the road: the main character Chichikov arrives in the city of NN - and ends with it: Pavel Ivanovich is forced to leave the provincial town. While in the city, Chichikov makes two circles: first he goes around officials to pay them his respects, and then to landowners in order to directly carry out the scam that he has planned - to buy up dead souls. Thus, the road helps Gogol show the entire panorama of Rus', both bureaucratic, landowner, and peasant, and draw the attention of readers to the state of affairs in the country.
Gogol creates the image of a provincial city, displaying a whole string of officials in the text of the work. Chichikov considers it his duty to visit all the “powers of this world.” Thus, he makes a small circle around the city, the author once again emphasizes the importance of the image of the road for understanding the meaning of the work. The writer wants to say that Pavel Ivanovich feels like a fish in water among officials. It is no coincidence that those in power accept him as one of their own and immediately invite him to visit. So Chichikov gets to the governor’s ball.
Describing officials, Gogol draws the attention of readers to the fact that none of them fulfills their direct purpose, that is, does not care about the fate of Russia. For example, the governor, the main person in the city, organizes balls, cares about his social position, because he is proud to have Anna around his neck, and even embroiders on tulle. However, nowhere is it said that he does anything for the well-being of his city. The same can be said about other government officials. The effect is enhanced by the fact that there are a great many officials in the city.
Of all the types of landowners created by Gogol, there is not a single one for whom one could see the future. The characters presented in the poem are not alike, and at the same time, each of them displays certain typical traits of a Russian landowner: stinginess, idleness and spiritual emptiness. The most prominent representatives are Sobakevich and Plyushkin. The landowner Sobakevich symbolizes the gloomy feudal way of life; he is a cynical and rude person. Everything around him looks like himself: the rich village, the interior, and even the thrush sitting in the cage. Sobakevich is hostile to everything new; he hates the very idea of “enlightenment.” The author compares him to a “medium-sized bear,” and Chichikov calls Sobakevich a “fist.”
Another landowner, Plyushkin, is not so much a comic figure as a tragic one. In describing his village, the key word is “neglect.” His estate is a symbol of the entire neglected Russia. Plyushkin is called “a hole in humanity.” We can conclude that all the landowners presented in the poem are dead souls, this is evidenced by the description of their estates, houses, appearance, family, dinner, conversation about buying dead souls.
According to the author, the condition of the roads characterizes the situation in the state. Describing the provincial town, Gogol writes that “the pavement everywhere was rather bad,” and this phrase completes the joyless appearance of the city of NN. When Chichikov talks to the governor, he deliberately lies in order to gain confidence that “the roads are velvet everywhere.” So he hints that the head of the city cares about his well-being. The road becomes a character in the poem and takes on a special meaning.
It is also necessary to pay attention to the genre uniqueness of the work. Gogol calls his creation a poem, which, firstly, helps to take a broader look at Russia at that time. Secondly, the poem involves a combination of epic and lyrical principles within the framework of one work. The epic side is an objective picture depicting the life of landowners, officials, the capital's nobility, peasants, and the lyrical side is the voice of the author, his position and attitude to what is happening. First of all, the author's voice is manifested in lyrical digressions.
The writer's hopes are connected precisely with the image of the road. It is no coincidence that in the eleventh chapter, which describes how Chichikov leaves the city, and also introduces the hero’s biography, Gogol places two lyrical digressions dedicated to the road. In the first, the road is presented as a miracle and is perceived as salvation, salvation not only for the person who is trying to forget himself, but for all of humanity. The author emphasizes the important role of the road, saying that he grabbed onto it many times, “like someone dying and drowning,” and it saved him. It’s interesting that this lyrical digression begins suddenly, and you don’t immediately understand whose thoughts about the miracle road in front of you: Chichikov or Gogol himself.
The second lyrical digression about the road completes the poem. The author reflects on the future of Russia and sees it in movement and development. Despite the fact that the country is ruled by “dead souls”, and the “living” (peasants) cannot take responsibility for the fate of Rus', it still has inner strength that will help preserve the moral principle. Gogol compares Rus' with a troika bird. The author does not answer where it is heading, but the last phrase of the poem contains the hope that the inexhaustible forces of Russia will contribute to its revival, and it is not for nothing that other peoples and states will give way to it. Gogol looks to the future and although he does not see it, he, like a true patriot, believes that soon there will be no Manilovs, Korobochki, Sobakevichs, Nozdrevs and Plyushkins, that Russia will rise to greatness and glory.
REREADING THE CLASSICS.
E.N. Proskurina
HOUSE AND ROAD IN GOGOL'S POEM “DEAD SOULS”
The road and the surrounding space in its Russian diversity (fields, forests, villages, provincial town) - this is the topography of “Dead Souls”. In this article we will be interested in the relationship between the road and the house.
According to the point of view established in Gogol studies, the road has a leading place in the poem. It sets the genre features of the work, connecting it with a travel novel, as well as with an adventure novel, it is the starting point of the author’s lyrical thought; in the narrative plan, the road is a connecting link between settlements in which, according to the writer’s plan, the main character needs to find himself Chichikov, etc. However, the house in the poem has no less place, at least in terms of the frequency of Gogol’s appeal to the depiction of various kinds of landowner’s dwellings. It is also fundamentally important that Chichikov’s main goal is to acquire a home, family, and offspring. The “fantastic” “negotiation” he undertakes is nothing more than a means to achieve this goal. At the same time, the way to implement the adventure with “dead souls” is possible for the hero only through his personal contacts with the landowners - the owners of the serfs. That is, Chichikov’s “road” idea at its core needs to enter into a relationship with the local, and therefore predominantly closed, type of life, penetrate into it and, having aroused trust, subjugate it.
However, despite the fact that the house in “Dead Souls” is located in the space near the road,1 that is, it would seem that it should be susceptible to the trends of the road, after becoming acquainted with Chichikov’s “road” idea, it shows stability in relation to it, and, everyone in of its own kind.
Thus, Manilov’s house is located several miles from the main road, “on the south...,
1 The farthest topographic point from the main road along which Chichikov moves is Korobochka’s house. Located about an hour's drive from Chichikov's chaise over "bad" rain-swept land, it is perceived by the hero as a "wilderness". The time we have assumed can be established by indirect indications available in Gogol’s text: after a stormy night, Chichikov woke up in Korobochka’s house at ten o’clock. A difficult conversation with the “club-headed” hostess, a hearty meal with pancakes, egg pie, and the time to lay the chaise probably took at least an hour. And at noon Chichikov’s carriage was already on the main road.
Elena Nikolaevna Proskurina - Candidate of Philological Sciences, senior researcher in the Literary Studies Sector of the Institute of Philology SB RAS.
open to all winds"2. This “openness,” which at first glance symbolizes the owner’s receptivity to everything new, is in fact manifested in nothing more than his arrangement of the estate in the English style and in the exotic names of his sons: Themistoclus and Alcides. Things move beyond this “mixture” of English and Greek with difficulty: Chichikov’s proposal to “hand over, cede” to him “dead peasants” does not fit into Manilov’s head. Having heard “such strange and extraordinary things that human ears have never heard before” (19S), he “immediately took out his pipe and pipe onto the floor and, as he opened his mouth, remained with his mouth open for several minutes” (196); “Finally... he picked up the pipe with his pipe and looked from below into his [Chichikov’s] face, trying to see if there was any smile visible on his lips, if he was joking” (196); “then I thought if the guest had somehow accidentally gone crazy” (196). As the conversation continues, Manilov becomes “embarrassed,” “gets in the way,” “completely lost,” and calms down only after Chichikov assures him that duty for him is “a sacred matter” and he is “numb before the law” (197). At the same time, however, “he still did not understand the meaning of the matter itself” (197), but was “mentally” glad that he “gave his guest a little pleasure” (199). The “pleasure” was that Manilov did not accept money from Chichikov for his “fantastic desire” and even took upon himself the preparation of the bill of sale. That is, the thought of personal gain from Chichikov’s enterprise also turned out to be inaccessible to Manilov. And after Chichikov’s departure, he again indulged in his usual thoughts:
“He thought about the well-being of a friendly life, about how nice it would be to live with a friend on the banks of some river, then a bridge began to be built across this river, then a huge house with such a high belvedere that you could even see Moscow and there to drink tea in the evening in the open air and talk about some pleasant subjects... Chichikov's strange request suddenly interrupted all his dreams. The thought of it somehow didn’t particularly simmer in his head: no matter how much he turned it over, he could not explain it to himself, and all the time he sat and smoked his pipe, which lasted until dinner” (199-200).
From the above examples one can see, firstly, that Chichikov’s idea, which Ma-
2 Gogol N. Dead souls // Gogol N. Selected works: in 2 volumes. T. 2. M., 1984. P. 186. Further quotations from the text are given according to this edition with pages indicated in brackets. Italics in quotes are mine - E.P.
Nilov defined it for himself as “unheard of” and “fantastic”, and did not penetrate his consciousness; secondly, it did not in any way affect his established type of life, it only gave a new reason for long, fruitless thoughts.
The arrival to Nozdrev3 was not accompanied by any traffic problems for Chichikov. Perhaps because he was traveling with Nozdryov himself, which means he didn’t have to think about the road or deal with it; and it is also possible that the Nozdrevskaya village with a manor house was located right next to the main road. In any case, the hero gets there “in the meantime,” as if succumbing to the author’s travel thoughts about Nozdryov’s “type,” that is, without difficulty, as if by the way, and from there, frightened by Nozdryov’s technique, he immediately gallops “at full speed,” “at I’ll lose everything.”
It should be noted that Nozdrev’s home itself bears little resemblance to a private space and fits more into the concept of a “house by the road”4, where the owner is ready to bring anyone, even an almost stranger, if only there is an opportunity to realize his own “nimbleness and liveliness of character.” In this respect, Nozd-rev belongs to the “road” type of people even more than Chichikov, for his adventurism is, one might say, a state of mind, while Chichikov’s adventurism is more a tribute to vital necessity. The latter sees the result of his enterprise as a home, while Nozdryov lacks at least some idea of his personal future. Therefore, it was not at all accidental (and by no means unreasonable, as we know) that Chichikov felt in Nozdryov’s destructiveness a danger to his “cause.”
As for Nozdryov’s reaction to Chichikov’s “negotiation,” it fully corresponds to the character’s character type. Nozdryov understands the essence of Chichikov’s enterprise no more than Manilov (“What do you need?”, “Why do you need them?” - his questions about dead souls do not go beyond these limits), but he feels some considerable interest behind him (“Well he’s probably started something. Admit it” (231)) and due to personal adventurism, as well as due to a card loss, he tries to squeeze his own benefit out of his guest’s idea: he sells Chichikov everything that can be sold (horses, puppies, organ...), starts to beat him at cards and checkers. That is, he wants to deceive Chichikov just as he deceived many simpletons before him, but at the same time, which is fundamentally important,
3 In this work, in connection with our own research tasks, we disrupt the sequence of Chichikov’s visits to the landowners’ estates.
4 On the features of the “road house” model, see: Proskurina E.N. Motif of a house by the road in Russian literature of the 19th-20th centuries // Plots and motives of Russian literature. Materials for the dictionary of plots and motifs of Russian literature. Vol. 5. Collection of scientific works. Novosibirsk, 2002. pp. 148-171.
in ways that fall into the category of traditional “lordly” entertainment. When his idea fails, Nozdryov also uses his usual technique: he tries to beat his guest with the help of the courtyard people. And only the unexpected arrival of the gendarmes prevents his idea from coming true. It should be noted that the type of Nozdryov’s behavior in the scene with Chichikov (inability to dwell on the subject of conversation, jumping from one thing to another, etc.), despite all the external decisiveness of his actions, indicates that he is having more fun here, so to speak, amusing “ glibness of character”, which carries out a commercial transaction.
Thus, like Manilov, Nozdryov, after becoming acquainted with Chichikov’s idea, remains true to himself. Despite his apparent interest, the thought of personal gain does not really seem to captivate him. And, it seems, for the same reason as Manilov: too unusual, “false,” that is, alien, the idea of buying and selling “dead souls” seems even to him, with all his “nimbleness,” and, not understanding how to treat her, he doesn't take her seriously. Although it cannot be avoided here that Nozdryov’s own unbridled nature, as they say, begins to overwhelm him, and in his temper he misses the real opportunity for himself to extract, albeit a small, sum of money, which he seriously needs.
Chichikov ends up in the village of Plyushkin, which in the poem is presented as “a vast village with many huts and streets” (258), unnoticed by him. It can be assumed that it is located in close proximity to the main road, otherwise the countryside inconveniences would have made themselves felt, like that “quite a jolt” on the log village pavement, which brought our hero out of his thoughts on the road. Plyushkin’s house turned out to be a few turns from the road, “where the chain of huts was broken and in their place there remained a vacant lot like a vegetable garden or cabbage garden, surrounded by a low, sometimes broken town” (259). With such a general roadside situation, however, both the village itself and the landowner’s house leave the greatest impression of mustiness, abandonment, and destruction in the entire work. Road trends associated with dynamism, change, and novelty are completely unnoticeable here. The location of Plyushkin’s house: on a vacant lot, “where the chain of huts was broken,” that is, at the point farthest from the road - in this regard, it is undoubtedly symbolic in nature.
Plyushkin’s first reaction to Chichikov’s proposal practically coincides with Manilov’s reaction: “He, with his eyes wide, looked for a long time” (267) at his guest, without comprehending the essence of his idea. But he calmed down completely after increasing
Chichikov’s opinion that he is “ready to take a loss” solely for the “pleasure” of the “respectable, kind old man.” Such almost childish naivety, revealed by Plyushkin, who suspects everyone and everything, once again speaks of the exclusivity and unlikeness of Chichikov’s enterprise. However, after the unexpected guest takes “even the costs of the bill of sale” “at his own expense,” Plyushkin immediately concludes that he “must be completely stupid... For all that, he, however, could not hide his joy... After that, he began... to look at Chichikov suspiciously. The traits of such extraordinary generosity began to seem incredible to him.” (268-269). This whole complex palette of Plyushkin’s feelings testifies to one thing: the absolute incomprehensibility for him of the meaning of acquiring dead souls.
Sobakevich is the least surprised by Chichikov’s proposal. His reaction is extremely laconic and businesslike: “Do you need dead souls? ... If you please, I’m ready to sell...” (250). At the same time, he asks such a fabulously high price for them that Chichikov’s reaction to it is akin to that expressed by Manilov or Plyushkin in relation to the very subject of the bargain:
“- One hundred! - Chichikov cried, opening his mouth and looking him [Sobakevich] right in the eye, not knowing whether he himself had misheard, or whether Sobakevich’s tongue, due to its heavy nature, turned the wrong way, blurted out another word instead of one” (250).
At the same time, however, Sobakevich understands the essence of Chichikov’s idea no more than others. He only “realizes” that “the buyer must probably have some kind of benefit here” (250), and in the process of bargaining, in response to Chichikov’s remark about his “object”: “What is it worth? Who needs",
He vaguely and philosophically answers: “Well, you’re buying, so it’s needed” (252). And due to his personal “businesslike” nature, he tries to extract the maximum benefit for himself. However, this benefit is, so to speak, of a one-time nature. Chichikov in the house-fortress of Sobakevich is a vagrant bird. As soon as he arrived, he left, leaving the owner in the same hermetic space in which he had lived all his life. The thought of making the trade in dead peasants his permanent “trade” does not even arise in Sobakevich’s head.
You should also pay attention to the location of this landowner’s house. Firstly, Chichikov saw his village itself from the road. Likewise, the house, located “in the middle” of the village, was immediately noticed by him. When Chichikov leaves Sobakevich’s estate, he turns “towards the peasant huts so that the carriage cannot be seen from the side of the master’s yard” (256). That is, the pillar road is clearly visible from the porch of Sobakevich’s house, which in this case is not at all desirable for Chichikov, who intends to
who is planning to pay a visit to Plyushkin. Therefore, he is forced to take a detour.
Thus, in all the cases we have cited, the landowner’s house is located either in relative or close proximity to the road. At the same time, however, the road has not yet been introduced and throughout the course of the plot it is not introduced into the way of life of the landowners. Such different types of living arrangements, which are presented in Gogol’s poem, are possible only in the case of isolation, extreme privacy of household management. That is, the road for Gogol’s landowners
Nothing more than a means of communication with the provincial city, and a connection that does not at all open the hermetic space of their life. All other functions of the road in the poem either relate to the author’s plan or are associated with the main character.
Here, however, we should specifically focus on such a character as Korobochka, because it is she who will, so to speak, lead Chichikov’s “negotiation” off the road. A hint of this function of the character is contained in the very story of the hero’s appearance at the gates of Korobochka’s house, where, having lost his way during a thunderstorm, the tipsy Selifan takes him. The full name itself: Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka has a meaning-forming meaning in terms of the plot characteristics of the heroine: it contains a double marking of the extreme closedness of her consciousness and way of life. So, if Mikhailo Semenych, Mikhailo Ivanovich, Mikhailo Potapych is usually the name of a bear in Russian fairy tales, then Nastasya Petrovna in them is the name of a bear. The “bearish”, that is, ponderous, den-like lifestyle of Mikhail Semenovich Sobakevich is directly mentioned more than once in Gogol’s work. A hint of the same type of housekeeping, only with an even greater degree of closedness (remember that Korobochka’s house occupies the farthest position from the road. See note 1 to this article), contains both the heroine’s name and her unusual surname.
However, none other than Korobochka, who lives in the “wilderness,” with her clumsy mind, will have to destroy Chichikov’s plans. It is she, the only one of all the heroes of the poem (however, like them, not understanding anything about the meaning of the transaction itself), who is seriously afraid of making a mistake in it, for which reason she gets out of her “village” and goes to the city to find out “how much they cost dead souls and, God forbid, she didn’t miss the mark by selling them, perhaps, at a fraction of the price” (311).
Thus, Korobochkin’s “cudgel-like dexterity” turns out to be akin to Chichikov’s ingenuity (a hint of the kinship of these characters is contained in an episode of their morning conversation:
“Let me know your last name. I'm so confused. arrived at night.
Korobochka, college secretary.
Thank you most humbly. What about your first and patronymic?
Nastasya Petrovna.
Nastasya Petrovna? Good name Nastasya Petrovna. I have a dear aunt, my mother’s sister, Nastasya Petrovna” (208)).
To a greater extent than other “sellers”, she realizes her interest here and carries out her own “negotiation”. Moreover, Korobochka suspects in Chichikov’s idea some kind of reusable project that could become one of the articles of her permanent income (“Really, my such an inexperienced widow’s business! It’s better for me to wait a little, maybe the merchants will come, but I’ll apply it to the prices (211)”). In this case, Chichikov’s benefit does not interest her, and it is beyond the power of her mind, as evidenced by the scene of their bargaining. It is important for her, first of all, not to make a mistake herself. It is the idea of personal long-term gain, stated back in the conversation about government contracts, that makes her move from her own “wilderness” to the city “for the long haul.” We can say that here the road “manages” to open up the living space of the character, especially one who seems to be less capable of change than others.
The new “road” intrigue created by Korobochka in such an unexpected way comes into conflict with Chichikov’s enterprise and, as a result, destroys his plans. Thus, the heroine transitions from one group of characters - the characters of the house - to another: the characters of the road, which is now represented by three persons: Chichikov, Nozdrev and Korobochka. It is no coincidence that this trinity is assigned the main role at the end of the first volume of the poem. The complication of the “road” intrigue that arises due to the final events creates the possibility of a conflict that is bourgeois in essence, new for the literature of the Gogol period. And here in the text, or more precisely, in the subtext of the work, new semantic intentions arise, associated with the motif of the road: in its sound, previously “non-swearing” sounds appear, revealing the possibilities of the road chronotope as a dangerous space, fraught not only with positive changes, but also with destruction , destruction of the traditional way of life. Having emerged in the literature of the 19th century, they will manifest themselves in full force in the literature of the 20th century, which we have already written about. In this semantic context, Gogol’s house appears in a different form: as a space that resists the destructive road and thereby acts as a stronghold and defender of primordial traditions.
As for the provincial city, after Nozdryov’s revelations and the appearance of Korobochka, he found himself in complete bewilderment. The meaning of Chichikov's idea is just as beyond the power of his inhabitants as it is for the landowners:
5 See: Proskurina E.N. Decree. op.
“What kind of parable, really, what kind of parable are these dead souls? There is no logic in dead souls; how to buy dead souls? where would such a fool come from? and with what blind money will he buy them? and to what end, to what cause can these dead souls be pinned?” (321) -
This was the reaction of “the inhabitants and officials of the city.” As a result, Chichikov’s “road” enterprise brought them out of their usual sleepy state: all of them suddenly - in full accordance with the revealed intrigue - found themselves on the road:
“All the tyuryuks and baibaks, who had been lying in their dressing gowns for several years at home, crawled out of their holes... All those who had long since stopped making any acquaintances... in a word, it turned out that the city was crowded, and large, and properly populated . ... Covered droshky, unknown rulers, rattlers, wheel whistles appeared on the streets...” (322).
The end of this “travel” situation was the funeral of the prosecutor, to which the entire city came out, lining up on foot, in carriages and on droshky in an endless funeral procession, as if foreshadowing the completion of the established circle of life and the beginning of the next one, which comes with the arrival of the new governor-general and is still only intriguing with its obscurity.
However, such a “road” situation was an unusual thing for the inhabitants of the city N, for their life had so far flowed in an atmosphere of “nepotism” and resembled the life of a large family home:
“...they were all kind people, they lived in harmony with each other, they treated each other in a completely friendly manner, and their conversations bore the stamp of some special simplicity and brevity: “Dear friend Ilya Ilyich!”, “Listen, brother, Antipator Zakharyevich!” , “You lied, mommy, Ivan Grigorievich” ... in a word, everything was very family-like” (294).
The townsfolk readily accepted Chichikov into their city “family”, even deciding to marry him to a bride from their circle in order to force him to settle in the city:
“- No, Pavel Ivanovich! As you wish, it comes out of the hut only to cool it down: on the threshold and back! No, you spend time with us! Here we are marrying you: aren’t we, Ivan Grigorievich, marrying him?
Let's get married, get married! - the chairman picked up. - No matter how you resist with your hands and feet, we will marry you! No, father, you got here, so don’t complain...” (290-291).
The very word “father” with which the chairman addresses Chichikov already indicates that he has been introduced into the circle of the city “family”, where everyone is called “brother”, “friend”, “mommy”, “father” in a related way. After Chichikov agrees to get married (“Why resist with your hands and feet,” Chichikov said, grinning, “if only there was a bride” (291)), the chairman joyfully rushes to him “in an outpouring of heart” with the same related appeals: “You are my soul! My mother! ”(291).
In such a “family” atmosphere, the idea of a home truly captured the heart of Chichikov, who “imagined himself to be a real Kherson landowner, talked about various improvements: about a three-field economy, about the happiness and bliss of two souls” and even “began reading a message to Sobakevich in Werther’s verses to Charlotte” (291), unexpectedly resonating with the “homely” romanticism of the townspeople, where “the chairman of the chamber knew Zhukovsky’s “Lyudmila” by heart... and masterfully read many passages, especially: “The boron has fallen asleep, the valley is sleeping”... The postmaster went into more detail into philosophy and read very diligently, even at night, Jung’s “Nights” and “The Key to the Mysteries of Nature” by Eckartshausen, from which he made very long extracts.” (294-295).
As we see, Chichikov’s unhindered and easy inclusion in the circle of urban inhabitants is due not only to his ability to please, his ability to mimicry and rumors about his million-dollar fortune, but also to the internal readiness of Chichikov himself to become “one of their own” for them.
At the same time, the provincial town where the road led the hero lives the life that dozens of similar Russian provincial towns live: all the shortcomings of its inhabitants (theft, bribery, dishonesty of officials, etc.) are typical of Russian life. Therefore, having accepted Chichikov as “one of their own,” the inhabitants of the city see in him a typical “middle-class gentleman,” that is, an understandable, familiar person, close in spirit and interests. The rumor about Chichikov’s millions only adds to his weight in society. The alienation of the hero from the circle of the city “family” occurs not due to the revelation of his dishonesty, but when society fails to internally adapt the idea of acquiring dead souls.
As we remember, unable to comprehend in their consciousness “what these dead souls could mean” (317), the female half of urban society agreed on the idea that “this was simply invented only to cover it up, but the point is this: he wants take away the governor’s daughter” (318). In this purely feminine way of illogically explaining the incomprehensible - through translating it into the realm of the familiar - the idea of the unnaturalness of Chichikov’s idea itself is once again highlighted. But since the danger of the governor’s daughter being taken away is quite real, given Chichikov’s bachelor status and his readiness to marry, the female part of society, captured by this imaginary intrigue, including the governor’s wife, felt insulted “as the mother of the family, as the first lady in the city” (323), immediately removes our hero from the category of people in his circle. As a result, the doorman of the governor’s house “was given
the strictest order not to accept Chichikov at any time and under any guise” (323).
A similar reception was given to the hero and the male part of the provincial city:
“everyone either did not accept him, or accepted him so strangely, they had such a forced and incomprehensible conversation, they were so confused and such confusion came out of everything that he doubted the health of their brains” (340).
However, Chichikov’s idea was no clearer to the “male party” than to the female one:
“Everything about them was somehow callous, uncouth, wrong, worthless, discordant, bad, there was confusion, turmoil, confusion in their heads...” (324).
But at the same time, it was the men who felt that “the main thing that needs to be paid attention to are dead souls, which, however, God knows what they mean...” (324). Having connected them with the appointment of a new governor and being afraid of the consequences of their own official dishonesty, dragging in Napoleon and the story of Captain Kopeikin, the “male party”, however, was never able to get closer to the true essence of Chichikov’s “negotiation”. That is, like women, the men of the provincial town are trying to comprehend the idea of buying dead souls by introducing it into the circle of understandable life phenomena. But it turns out to be more incredible than even the most paradoxical assumptions, which include Napoleon’s escape and his secret appearance in the city of N and the story of Captain Kopeikin.
Thus, “our own”, “usual”, accepted by city society as native Chichikov, in fact turns out to be an incomprehensible, foreign stranger. His removal by the inhabitants of the city N from the category of “their own” leaves him no choice but to leave his home city with an uncertain feeling and set off further to carry out his road enterprise.
Judging by the published chapters of the second volume of Dead Souls, Chichikov manages to carry out his “negotiation” quite successfully in the future. However, this road is not his path to home. Crossing with the motif of the road in the first volume at the level of the author's plan, later, in the second and third volumes of the poem, the motif of the road, according to Gogol's plan, should increasingly become closer to the idea of the hero's life path, and, moreover, in its spiritual, regenerating understanding . Thus, at the level of the hero’s plan, the road motif must change its vector direction: from horizontal to vertical. Having united as a result into the motive of the path-road, these two initially different motives set a new idea of the house in accordance with the spiritual task that Gogol considered the main one for all his artistic creativity.
“Dead Souls” is a brilliant work by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. It was on him that Gogol placed his main hopes.
The plot of the poem was suggested to Gogol by Pushkin. Alexander Sergeevich witnessed fraudulent transactions with “dead souls” during his exile in Chisinau. It was about how a clever rogue found a dizzyingly bold way of enriching himself in Russian conditions.
Gogol began work on the poem in the fall of 1835, at that time he had not yet started writing “The Inspector General.” Gogol, in a letter to Pushkin, wrote: “The plot has stretched out into a very long novel and, it seems, will be funny... In this novel I want to show at least from one side all of Rus'.” When writing “Dead Souls,” Gogol pursued the goal of showing only the dark sides of life, collecting them “in one pile.” Later, Nikolai Vasilyevich brings the characters of the landowners to the fore. These characters were created with epic completeness and absorbed phenomena of all-Russian significance. For example, “Manilovschina”, “Chichikovschina” and “Nozdrevschina”. Gogol also tried in his work to show not only bad, but also good qualities, making it clear that there is a path to spiritual rebirth.
As he writes “Dead Souls,” Nikolai Vasilyevich calls his creation not a novel, but a poem. He had an idea. Gogol wanted to create a poem similar to the Divine Comedy written by Dante. The first volume of Dead Souls is thought of as “hell”, the second volume is “purgatory”, and the third is “paradise”.
Censorship changed the title of the poem to “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls” and on May 21, 1842, the first volume of the poem was published.
The most natural way of storytelling is to show Russia through the eyes of one character, which is where the theme of the road emerges, which became the core and connecting theme in “Dead Souls.” The poem “Dead Souls” begins with a description of a road carriage; The main action of the main character is travel.
The image of the road serves as a characterization of the images of the landowners whom Chichikov visits one after another. Each of his meetings with the landowner is preceded by a description of the road and estate. For example, this is how Gogol describes the way to Manilovka: “Having traveled two miles, we came across a turn onto a country road, but already two, three, and four miles, it seems, were done, and the two-story stone house was still not visible. Then Chichikov remembered that if a friend invites you to his village fifteen miles away, it means that it is thirty miles away.” The road in the village of Plyushkina directly characterizes the landowner: “He (Chichikov) did not notice how he drove into the middle of a vast village with many huts and streets. Soon, however, he was made aware of this by a considerable jolt produced by the log pavement, in front of which the city stone pavement was nothing. These logs, like piano keys, rose up and down, and the careless traveler acquired either a bump on the back of his head, or a blue spot on his forehead... He noticed some special dilapidation on all the village buildings...”
“The city was in no way inferior to other provincial cities: the yellow paint on the stone houses was very striking and the gray paint on the wooden ones was modestly dark... There were signs almost washed away by the rain with pretzels and boots, where there was a store with caps and the inscription: “Foreigner Vasily Fedorov”, where there was billiards... with the inscription: “And here is the establishment.” Most often the inscription came across: “Drinking house”
The main attraction of the city of NN is the officials, and the main attraction of its surroundings is the landowners. Both of them live off the labor of other people. These are drones. The faces of their estates are their faces, and their villages are an exact reflection of the economic aspirations of the owners.
Gogol also uses interiors to describe comprehensively. Manilov is “empty daydreaming”, inaction. It would seem that his estate was arranged quite well, even “two or three flower beds with lilac and yellow acacia bushes were scattered in English, “a gazebo with a flat green dome, wooden blue columns and the inscription: “Temple of Solitary Reflection” was visible...”. But there was still something “always missing in the house: in the living room there was beautiful furniture, covered in smart silk fabric... but there wasn’t enough for two armchairs, and the armchairs were simply upholstered in matting...”, “in another room there was no there was furniture,” “in the evening a very dandy candlestick made of dark bronze with three antique graces, with a dandy mother-of-pearl shield, was served on the table, and next to it was placed some simple copper invalid, lame, curled to one side and covered in fat...” . Instead of taking up and completing the improvement of the house, Manilov indulges in unrealistic and useless dreams about “how nice it would be if suddenly an underground passage was built from the house or a stone bridge was built across the pond, on which there would be shops on both sides, and for merchants to sit in them and sell various small goods needed by the peasants.”
The box represents “unnecessary” hoarding. In addition to the “talking” surname, this heroine is also clearly characterized by the interior decoration of the room: “...behind every mirror there was either a letter, or an old deck of cards, or a stocking...”.
There is no order in the house of the slob Nozdryov: “In the middle of the dining room there were wooden trestles, and two men, standing on them, whitewashed the walls... the floor was all splashed with whitewash.”
And Sobakevich? Everything in his house complements the “bearish” image of Mikhail Semenovich: “...Everything was solid, clumsy to the highest degree and had some strange resemblance to the owner of the house himself; in the corner of the living room stood a pot-bellied walnut bureau on the most absurd four legs, a perfect bear. The table, armchairs, chairs - everything was of the heaviest and most restless quality - in a word, every object, every chair seemed to say: “And I, too, Sobakevich!” or: “And I also look very much like Sobakevich!” "
The extreme degree of poverty and hoarding of the owner is revealed by the description of the “situation” in the house of Plyushkin, whom the men called “patched.” The author devotes a whole page to this in order to show that Plyushkin has turned into a “hole in humanity”: “On one table there was even a broken chair and next to it a clock with a stopped pendulum, to which the spider had already attached a web... On the bureau. .. there was a lot of all sorts of things: a bunch of finely written pieces of paper, covered with a green marble press... a lemon, all dried up, no bigger than a hazelnut, a broken arm of a chair, a glass with some kind of liquid and three flies... a piece somewhere a raised rag, two feathers, stained with ink, dried up, as if in consumption...”, etc. - this is what was more valuable in the owner’s understanding. “In the corner of the room there was a heap of things piled up on the floor that were rougher and unworthy to lie on the tables... A broken piece of a wooden shovel and an old boot sole were sticking out.” Plyushkin's thriftiness and thriftiness turned into greed and unnecessary hoarding, bordering on theft and beggaring.
The interior can tell a lot about the owner, his habits and character.
Trying to show “all of Rus' from one side,” Gogol covers many areas of activity, the inner world, interiors, and the surrounding world of the inhabitants of the province. He also touches on the topic of nutrition. It is shown quite voluminously and deeply in chapter 4 of the poem.
“It’s clear that the cook was guided more by some kind of inspiration and put in the first thing that came to hand: if there was pepper standing next to him, he threw in pepper; It would be hot, but some kind of taste would probably come out.” This one phrase contains both a description of, so to speak, a “talking” menu, but also the author’s personal attitude to this. The decadence of landowners and officials is so ingrained in their minds and habits that it is visible in everything. The tavern was no different from the hut, with only the slight advantage of space. The dishes were in less than satisfactory condition: “she brought a plate, a napkin so starched that it stood on end like dried bark, then a knife with a yellowed bone block, thin as a penknife, a two-pronged fork and a salt shaker, which could not possibly be placed directly on the table "
From all of the above, we understand that Gogol very subtly notices the process of death of the living - a person becomes like a thing, a “dead soul.”
“Dead Souls” is rich in lyrical digressions. In one of them, located in Chapter 6, Chichikov compares his worldview with the objects around him while traveling.
“Before, long ago, in the years of my youth, in the years of my irrevocably flashed childhood, it was fun for me to drive up for the first time to an unfamiliar place: it didn’t matter whether it was a village, a poor provincial town, a village, a settlement - I discovered a lot of curious things in silent childish curious look. Every building, everything that bore the imprint of some noticeable feature, everything stopped me and amazed me... If a district official walked past, I was already wondering where he was going... Approaching the village of some landowner, I looked curiously at a tall narrow wooden bell tower or a wide dark wooden old church...
Now I indifferently drive up to any unfamiliar village and indifferently look at its vulgar appearance; It’s unpleasant to my chilled gaze, it’s not funny to me, and what would have awakened in previous years a lively movement in the face, laughter and silent speech, now slides past, and my motionless lips keep an indifferent silence. O my youth! oh my freshness!
All this suggests that he has lost interest in life, he is of little interest, his goal is profit. The surrounding nature and objects no longer arouse his special interest or curiosity. And at that time it was not just Chichikov who was like this, but many representatives of that time. This was the dominant example of the bulk of the population, with the exception of serfs.
Chichikov is an exponent of new trends in the development of Russian society; he is an entrepreneur. All the landowners described in the poem “Dead Souls” became worthy business partners of the acquirer, Pavel Ivanovich. These are Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdryov, Sobakevich, and Plyushkin. It was in this sequence that Chichikov visited them. This is not accidental, because by doing so Gogol showed representatives of this class with an increase in vices, with a great fall, degradation of the soul. However, it is necessary to build a number of worthy partners the other way around. After all, the more base, fallen, and “dead” the landowners were, the more calmly they agreed to this scam. For them it was not immoral. Therefore, Chichikov’s worthy partners look like this: Plyushkin, Sobakevich, Nozdrev, Korobochka, Manilov.
Traveling with Chichikov around Russia is a wonderful way to understand the life of Nikolaev Russia. This hero's journey helped the writer make the poem "Dead Souls", a poem - a monitor of the life of Russia for centuries and broadly depict the life of all social strata in accordance with his plan. A journey presupposes a road, which is what we observe throughout the entire duration of the work. The road is the theme. With its help, readers understand much more voluminously, more colorfully, and more deeply the entire situation at this stage of history. It is with her help that Gogol manages to grasp everything that is required in order to “describe all of Rus'.” Reading the poem, we imagine ourselves either as an invisible participant in this plot, or as Chichikov himself, we are immersed in this world, the social foundations of that time. Through captivity, we become aware of all the holes in society and people. A huge mistake of that time catches our eye; instead of the gradation of society and politics, we see a different picture: the degradation of the free population, the death of souls, greed, selfishness and many other shortcomings that people can have. Thus, traveling with Chichikov, we get to know not only that time with its merits, but also observe the huge flaws of the social system, which so badly crippled many human souls.
THE IMAGE OF THE ROAD IN N.V. GOGOL’S POEM “DEAD SOULS”
The roads are difficult, but it’s worse without roads...
The motif of the road in the poem is very multifaceted.
The image of the road is embodied in a direct, non-figurative meaning - this is either a smooth road along which Chichikov’s spring chaise rides softly (“The horses stirred up and carried the light chaise like feathers”), or bumpy country roads, or even impassable mud in which Chichikov falls out , getting to Korobochka (“The dust lying on the road was quickly mixed into mud, and every minute it became harder for the horses to pull the chaise”). The road promises the traveler a variety of surprises: heading towards Sobakevich, Chichikov finds himself at Korobochka, and in front of the coachman Selifan “the roads spread out in all directions, like caught crayfish...”.
This motif receives a completely different meaning in the famous lyrical digression of the eleventh chapter: the road with a rushing chaise turns into the path along which Rus' flies, “and, looking askance, other peoples and states step aside and give it way.”
This motive also contains unknown paths of Russian national development: “Rus, where are you rushing, give me the answer? Doesn’t give an answer,” representing a contrast to the paths of other peoples: “What crooked, deaf, narrow, impassable roads that lead far to the side have been chosen by humanity...” But it cannot be said that these are the very roads on which Chichikov got lost: those roads lead to Russian people, maybe in the outback, maybe in a hole where there are no moral principles, but still these roads make up Rus', Rus' itself - and there is a big road leading a person into a vast space, absorbing a person, eating him all up. Having turned off one road, you find yourself on another, you can’t keep track of all the paths of Rus', just as you can’t put the caught crayfish back into a bag. It is symbolic that from the outback Korobochka Chichikov is shown the way by the illiterate girl Pelageya, who does not know where the right is and where the left is. But, having got out of Korobochka, Chichikov ends up with Nozdryov - the road does not lead Chichikov to where he wants, but he cannot resist it, although he is making some plans of his own about the future path.
The image of the road embodies both the hero’s everyday path (“but for all that his road was difficult...”) and the author’s creative path: “And for a long time it was determined for me by the wonderful power to walk arm in arm with my strange heroes...”
Also, the road is an assistant to Gogol in creating the composition of the poem, which then looks very rational: an exposition of the plot of the journey is given in the first chapter (Chichikov meets officials and some landowners, receives invitations from them), followed by five chapters in which landowners sit, and Chichikov travels from chapter to chapter in his chaise, buying up dead souls.
The main character's chaise is very important. Chichikov is the hero of the journey, and the britzka is his home. This substantive detail, being undoubtedly one of the means of creating the image of Chichikov, plays a large plot role: there are many episodes and plot twists in the poem that are motivated precisely by the britzka. Not only does Chichikov travel in it, that is, thanks to it, the plot of the journey becomes possible; the britzka also motivates the appearance of the characters of Selifan and the three horses; thanks to her, she manages to escape from Nozdryov (that is, the chaise helps out Chichikov); the chaise collides with the carriage of the governor's daughter and thus a lyrical motif is introduced, and at the end of the poem Chichikov even appears as the kidnapper of the governor's daughter. The britzka is a living character: it is endowed with its own will and sometimes does not obey Chichikov and Selifan, goes its own way and in the end dumps the rider into impassable mud - so the hero, against his own will, ends up with Korobochka, who greets him with affectionate words: “Eh, father my, you’re like a hog, your whole back and side are covered in mud! Where did you deign to get so dirty? “In addition, the chaise, as it were, defines the ring composition of the first volume: the poem opens with a conversation between two men about how strong the wheel of the chaise is, and ends with the breakdown of that very wheel, which is why Chichikov has to stay in the city.
In creating the image of a road, not only the road itself plays a role, but also characters, things and events. The road is the main “outline” of the poem. Only all the side plots are already sewn on top of it. As long as the road goes on, life goes on; While life goes on, the story about this life goes on.