home > All about the signs of the Zodiac

What is the meaning of the title of the story The Hidden Man. Andrey Platonov. “hidden man” (experience of analysis). The main character goes to Crimea

26.06.2020

The purpose of the lesson:

comprehend the most important features Plato's hero;
Determine the specifics of the spatio-temporal organization of the text.

Teacher: “Foma Pukhov is not gifted with sensitivity: he cut boiled sausage on his wife’s coffin, being hungry due to the absence of the hostess...”

The first phrase of the story makes you think about the hero and comprehend his actions. Who is he? hidden person"Platonov?

What characteristics does the hero give himself?

Students: “A stupid guy”, “A confused person”, I am a natural fool”, “I am a lightweight person”. (The entry appears on the board)

Teacher: Today we will try to understand the features of Plato’s hero, the features of his worldview and understanding of the world.

The writer loved the word “hidden”, in which one can simultaneously hear shelter, blood, frankness, cover, and treasure.

Today in the lesson we will lift the veils of the secrets in a person.

Teacher: What is the meaning of the word “hidden”?

Student: Kept secret, protected from others, secret; kept in the depths of the soul, cherished. We find this definition in the Russian language dictionary. In the dictionary V.I. Dahl we read the following definition: “Hidden, concealed, concealed, secret, hidden, hidden or hidden from someone.” (The student is prepared in advance. Write on the board)

Teacher: What is behind the concept of the innermost in a person?

Student: The sacred, kept in the depths of the soul, is what determines the essence of a person, the truth.

Student: Through the portrait of the hero, attitude towards other people, actions, attitude towards oneself...

Student: In the story there is no picturesque, fine portrait as a description of appearance. There is only a behavioral portrait. Nevertheless, we can imagine a hero: simple, primitive, a man from the crowd, a working bone...

Teacher: How does the story reveal the essence of Foma Pukhov?

Student: Through the hero’s attitude to work. Foma Pukhov “...feels a strange pleasure from the upcoming difficult anxiety...”

Teacher: B notebook Andrei Platonov wrote: “Work is conscience.” How do you understand this statement? Let us turn to the meaning of the concept of “conscience”.

Student: The essence of the hero is revealed through his attitude to the revolution. In the story we read: “He jealously followed the revolution, ashamed of every stupidity, although he had little to do with it.”

After the death of his wife, “I sensed where and to what end of the world all revolutions were heading.”

“I’m ready to shed blood myself, just so it’s not in vain and I’m not being a fool.”

If Thomas had seen in the revolution highest goal, he may have given his life for her, but he does not find such a goal. The hero doubted the sanctity of the revolution. Foma is not convinced by other people’s attitudes and political literacy courses; he personally needs to be convinced of the sanctity of the revolution.

Teacher: This disbelief brings Plato’s hero closer to the biblical Thomas.

Disciple: (prepared in advance) Thomas is a faithful and practical, down-to-earth disciple of Jesus, who lived by the principle of “seeing is believing,” whose doubts about the Resurrection of Christ were dispelled only in the presence of the risen Lord.

Teacher: But the image of Thomas is most clearly revealed through his attitude towards the machine. How does the author show this inextricable connection?

“If only he had a car, he considered himself at home there...”
“He was always good-natured around the car...”
“Wrote reports about machine illnesses...”
“I rebuilt the engine according to my understanding...”

Teacher: We can hardly call such a person a natural fool. Originality of self-expression is the principle of his behavior.

In relation to the machine, Platonov creates his own philosophy, the philosophy of technology. What is its essence?

Student: She is a living being. “The machine rotates day and night - smart, like a living thing, tireless and faithful, like a heart.”

Teacher: A car is a special substance for Platonov. “There are many people, few cars; people are alive and can stand up for themselves, but a machine is a gentle, defenseless, fragile creature…” the author continues in “Chevengur”. Next to the car, Foma seems to release hidden feelings hidden somewhere in his soul - care, love, kindness. Initially, Foma feels the fullness and joy of life only in communication with the machine, because he sees in a well-functioning mechanism a harmonious combination of parts.

What else seems harmonious to Pukhov? What gives you the feeling of happiness?

Student: The natural world, space, movement.

“Pukhov was always surprised by space...”
“I felt the ground...
“An unexperienced feeling of complete pleasure...”

Teacher: How then can one come to terms with the words “Pukhov is not gifted with sensitivity...”?

Teacher: Andrei Platonov points out another reason for Pukhov’s action: he was hungry. Gesture of an eccentric person. The first phrase of the story reveals the key opposition: life and death, the unity of the eternal and the everyday, the everyday and the existential. The hero is shown not only through his attitude towards nature and people, but also through the movement, the path made by him. The student presents a map of Foma Pukhov’s travels.

Teacher: Pukhov’s movements are very chaotic, not logically motivated: “almost unconsciously he chased life through all the gorges of the earth.” The hero does not have a spatial goal, he is looking not for a place, but for meaning, so Platonov’s road loses its spatial meaning, becoming synonymous with spiritual search.

In many mythopoetic and religious traditions, the mythologem of the path appears metaphorically, as a designation of a line of behavior, especially spiritual. The structure of the path archetype is characterized by testing. A constant and inalienable property of the path is its difficulty. The path is built along a line of ever-increasing difficulties and dangers, so overcoming the path is a feat. The marking of the beginning and end of the path as two extreme points - states - is expressed objectively - by a change in the status of the character who has reached the end.

How do we see the hero at the end of the journey?

Student: Pukhov passed the tests, did not commit meanness, found friends, did not betray, comprehended himself, retained a pure, bright beginning, a pure soul.

Teacher: Thus, Andrei Platonov leads us to a global conclusion, to the thought about the possibilities of the human soul, to the thought that was his torment, his joy, an ever elusive and enticing mystery: “The main thing is to sow souls in people.”

The hero of the story “The Hidden Man” Foma Pukhov and mature years has not lost his naive perception of the world.
At the beginning of the story, he simply brushes everyone off complex issues. The mechanic Pukhov values only one thing: his work. But on the other hand, he appears as a spontaneous philosopher, in some ways a mischief-maker, in some ways a moralizer.
The party cell even concludes “that Pukhov is not a traitor, but just a stupid guy.”
The effort of the “silly man” to understand the revolution is expressed in the special individual language of Plato’s prose

- sometimes inert, as if illiterate, but always precise and expressive. The speech of the narrator and the characters bears the stamp of a special humor, manifested in the most unexpected fragments of the text: “Athanas, you are now not a whole person, but a defective one!” - Pukhov said with regret.
“The Hidden Man,” throughout the story, seems to gather into one whole his ever-hungry flesh, practical intelligence, mind and soul: “If you only think, you won’t go far either, you also have to have a feeling!”
Foma Pukhov not only loves nature, but also understands it. Unity with nature evokes in him a whole range of feelings: “In one

day, during the sunshine, Pukhov walked in the outskirts of the city and thought - how much vicious stupidity there is in people, how much inattention to such a single occupation as life and the entire natural environment.”
Understanding events Civil War in his consciousness takes on a fantastic character. However, basically, in the main thing, he does not lie, but on the contrary, he seeks the truth.
In a difficult, confused time, when the illiterate poor rose up against the learned “white guard” and with an impossible, unimaginable feat - and a thirst for feat! - defeated the enemy, from an “external”, thoughtless, empty person, Foma Pukhov, testing everything from his own experience, turns into a “hidden person”.

Creativity of Platonov

“The Hidden Man”, a brief summary of which is given below, the story “Markun”, the collection “Blue Depth”, “Epiphanian Gateways”, “Ethereal Path”, “Yamskaya Sloboda” - all this was published in the twenties. Platonov was already widely known at that time. But in the early thirties he increasingly began to come under attack from critics.

In 1918, Platonov entered the Voronezh Technical School. He then served in the revolutionary committee railways. During the Civil War he worked as a correspondent. In 1922, the collection “Blue Depth” was published. And three years later, Platonov wrote such works as “Ethereal Route”, “Epiphanian Gateways”, “City of Grads”.

The most significant stories were created in the late thirties: “The Pit”, “Chevengur”. None of these works were published during the author's lifetime. After all, they talk about the construction of a communist society in a utopian spirit.

Stalin valued the creativity of Platonov ("The Hidden Man", a summary of which we are considering is no exception), as he valued the books of many writers who were subjected to repression. In 1931, Platonov wrote the story “For Future Use.” This work caused sharp criticism from Fadeev, a prose writer who wrote poorly, but “correctly.” Then problems began in Platonov’s life. His works were no longer published.

In 1934, Pravda published a devastating article, after which publishing houses did not publish Plato’s works for a long time. In 1938, the writer's son was arrested. He was soon released. But in prison, the young man fell ill with tuberculosis and soon died. Platonov contracted an incurable disease from his son. He passed away in 1951.

IN early works Platonov's faith in revolutionary ideas is felt. But by the beginning of the thirties, he doubted more and more, which is easy to notice when reading the stories of those years. The Hidden Man was first published in 1927. Today it is difficult to understand what Soviet critics might not have liked about this story. The fact is that the heroes, although representatives of the proletariat, are dubious personalities. And most importantly, doubters. During the years of building communism, such characters were unpopular.

“The Hidden Man” by Platonov: summary

The text consists of nine chapters. But it is better to present a brief summary of Platonov’s work “The Hidden Man” according to the following plan:

Work trip.
Accident.
Liski station.
On the ship.
Homecoming.
Bad plan.
Baku.

Work permit

Pukhov buried his wife. Returning from the cemetery, he felt a little sad. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. The main character, shouting in his heart: “They don’t let you grieve!” - the door still opened. The watchman of the distance office stood on the threshold - he brought a ticket for snow removal work.

Foma came to the station. Here I signed the order. Platonov supplemented the text with his own remarks. So, he says: “At that time, try not to sign.” Pukhov, along with other workers, sets off to clear the way for the Red Army soldiers. The front is very close - sixty kilometers away.

Accident

Is it worth reading “The Hidden Man” by Platonov in a summary? It will take about five minutes to read the abbreviated version. But, of course, the presentation will not convey the colorful, rich language of the Soviet classic. Platonov gives characterizations of his hero as if between the lines. At the beginning of the work, Foma Pukhov creates the impression of an indifferent person. An accident occurs. A snowplow is stopped by a Cossack detachment. The machine slows down, causing workers to be injured and the driver to die. “How did he run into the pin, fool?” - says Pukhov, seeing the mutilated body of the deceased. It would seem that it doesn’t bother him at all tragic death young man. Perhaps a little surprising.

At Liski station

The workers are liberated by the "reds". At the same time, Cossacks stuck in the snow are shot. Even from the brief content of Platonov’s story “The Hidden Man” one can understand how difficult and cruel the years of the Civil War were. People seemed not to notice the grief and death.

Pukhov immediately forgets about the sad events. At the Liski station he sees an advertisement: “Mechanics wanted for the Southern Front.” Spring is coming, there is nothing to do with the snow blower. We already know from the summary of “The Hidden Man”: in this story Platonov talks about a lonely man who, after the death of his wife, is ready to wander around the country. Comrade Pukhov remains. He himself is heading south.

On the ship

From the summary of “The Hidden Man” by A. Platonov, you can learn about what historical events reflected in this book. Pukhov gets a job as a worker on a ship that is heading to the Crimea - to the rear of Wrangel. But due to the assault, it is not possible to reach the Crimean shores.

Meanwhile, news arrives that the Reds have captured Simferopol. Foma spends several months in Novorossiysk. Here he works as a senior fitter at a coastal base. Remembers deceased wife, sad...

Homecoming

The main character of Platonov's story goes to Baku, where he meets a sailor named Sharikov. This person is taking part in the restoration of the Caspian Shipping Company. Sharikov sends Foma on a business trip, where he must engage in attracting the local proletariat.

Pukhov suddenly returns home. Here he again indulges in sadness. Returning and crossing the threshold of his house, he remembers that this home is usually called a hearth. But what is a home without a woman and fire?

Failed plan

The city is attacked by "whites". In order to eliminate the enemy, Pukhov proposes the following plan: to launch several platforms with sand onto the armored train. However, the idea turns out to be unsuccessful.

The Reds come and save the city. After Pukhov, many accuse him of treason. After all, the implementation of the platform plan led to the death of workers. However, many still understand that Pukhov is just a “stupid guy.” After this incident, Foma writes a letter to Sharikov, who sends it to Baku. The main character leaves for the oil fields.

Baku

Sharikov appoints Pukhov as a driver for an oil engine. He likes this job. Although he doesn’t have an apartment here, he sleeps on a toolbox in the shed. One day Sharikov invites him to become a communist. Pukhov refuses. He explained his refusal as follows: “I am a natural fool.” More and more often he becomes sad and misses his dead wife. This is the summary of Platonov’s story “The Hidden Man.”

Analysis

Platonov's heroes are tongue-tied, their speech is peculiar, and may seem illiterate. But this is a feature of the prose of the Soviet writer. Pukhov is trying to understand the revolution. This is expressed in his peculiar thoughts.

In the Soviet fiction In the pre-war years, heroes of proletarian origin were more common. Compared to them, Foma Pukhov looks a little strange. Unlike the characters of Ostrovsky and Fadeev, Foma does not believe in revolution. He doubts communist ideas. In the soul of Plato's hero is rooted an uncontrollable desire to understand the world, a desire to convince oneself of the truth of revolutionary ideas. He is somewhat reminiscent of Thomas the Unbeliever. This biblical character was not with the apostles when the resurrection of Jesus Christ took place. That’s why he refused to believe in a miracle. Until he touched the wounds of Christ. However, according to one version, Thomas was the only apostle who was able to comprehend the innermost, secret meaning of the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Pukhov also has something in common with the men from the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” Nekrasov's heroes are also trying to comprehend the riddle of happiness. Pukhov is not so interested in everyday life as in being. And his dissimilarity, his difference from other people, is noticeable already in the first scene, which was mentioned above.

The main character of the story “The Hidden Man” is an eternal wanderer. It may seem that Pukhov is traveling completely aimlessly. Everyone around is busy with some kind of business, they have strict judgments regarding this or that issue. But for Pukhov, the revolution does not find a response in his soul. He is looking for confirmation of the idea of universal happiness. At the same time, during his wanderings around the country, he sees death more than once. The reality seen gives rise to new doubts about revolutionary ideas.

The work of Andrei Platonovich Platonov is characterized by stable, cross-cutting themes. And one of the key images in his works is the image of a wanderer. So Foma Pukhov, the hero of the story “The Hidden Man,” sets off on a journey to search for the meaning of the proletarian revolution and eternal truth. The writer called his favorite hero a “hidden man,” spiritually gifted, “hidden,” that is, outwardly seemingly simple, even indifferent, some kind of Ivan the Fool, but in reality a deep philosopher and truth-seeker. “Without me, the people are incomplete,” he says, making it clear that he is connected with the nation by blood and flesh. He is used to wandering, this Pukhov, and if the people go on a campaign for the Golden Fleece, then he also leaves his home. The geography of the story is extremely vast: from provincial Pokharinsk the hero goes first to Baku, then to Novorossiysk, then to Tsaritsyn, then again to Baku. Most often we see him on the road. The road was the most important leitmotif in the works of Radishchev and Gogol, Leskov and Nekrasov. Like the Russian classics, Platonov’s road is a plot-forming element. The plot of the story does not consist in a clash between Reds and Whites, not in the hero’s confrontation with hostile forces, but in tense life quests Foma Pukhov, therefore plot movement is only possible when the hero is on the road. As soon as he stops, his life loses historical perspective. This is what happens with Zvorychny, Sharikov, Perevoshchikov. Becoming synonymous with spiritual search, Platonov’s road gradually loses its spatial meaning. Pukhov’s movements across the expanses of Russia are very chaotic, not logically motivated: “almost unconsciously he was chased by life through all sorts of gorges of the earth” (chapter 4). Moreover, despite the accuracy geographical names, the cities mentioned in the story do not have specific signs and could well be replaced by others. The fact is that the hero does not have a spatial goal; he is looking not for a place, but for meaning. The wanderings of the soul do not need a real, objective frame.

The artistic world of A.P. Platonov. A.P. Platonov’s faith in the power of goodness, in the light of the human soul, could not help but find its embodiment on the pages of the writer’s works. Platonov's heroes are people-transformers, boldly subjugating nature, striving for a bright future. The search for answers to eternal questions and the construction of something new is often associated with the motive of wandering and orphanhood. These constantly doubting and thirsty people, the beloved heroes of A.P. Platonov, are looking for “the meaning of life in the heart.” The richness of the narrative, the philosophical nature and universality of generalizations distinguish the works of A.P. Platonov; the writer defined his method as follows: “One must write with essence, with a dry stream, in a direct way. This is my new path."

The story “The Hidden Man” (1928). The work is dedicated to events related to the revolution and the Civil War. The main character, driver Foma Pukhov, after the death of his wife goes to the front and participates in the Novorossiysk landing. He does not understand the meaning of his existence, jokes and provokes people to argue, doubts everything, and the very name of the hero evokes an association with Thomas the Unbeliever. He is carried along the earth in the general human flow along the “country roads of the revolution.” At first the hero tries not to pay attention to complex life issues, but the innermost inner world takes precedence over everything external. Widespread in the “new” literature of the 20s, the “transformation” of the hero’s consciousness under the influence of the revolution does not happen with Pukhov. Against the background of the hidden degeneration of good ideas, the “natural fool” Pukhov acutely senses the discrepancy between expectations and reality and experiences disappointment, and therefore some of his jokes provoke the reader’s sadness. A striking episode of the exam that Foma Pukhov takes is indicative: “What is religion? — the examiner continued. — The prejudice of Karl Marx and the people's moonshine. —Why do the bourgeoisie need religion? - So that the people do not mourn. — Do you, Comrade Pukhov, love the proletariat as a whole and are you willing to lay down your life for it? “I love you, Comrade Commissar,” answered Pukhov, in order to pass the exam, “and I agree to shed blood, just so as not in vain and not as a fool!”

Feeling of disappointment in the late 1920s becomes acute and painful for Platonov himself. The element that was supposed to transform society submitted to official rituals. The joy of life born of the revolution and anxiety for its future are reflected in the story.

The entire composition of the story is subordinated to the author's intention, reflected in the title itself: to walk with the hero on his path, on which Pukhov tries to understand everything that is happening around him. The character’s self-development occurs along the way. “An unexpected sympathy for the people who were working alone against the substance of the whole world became clear in Pukhov’s soul, overgrown with life. Revolution is just best destiny for people, you can’t think of anything better. It was difficult, sharp and immediately easy, like being born.” The author does not openly state the reasons why the hero sets off, but the reader understands them on his own. A “hidden person” is a person with an unusual world hidden in the depths of his soul, striving to understand his surroundings and not succumbing to generally accepted ideas about life imposed from the outside.

IN modern civilization, according to the writer, kinship is lost human souls, the connection between man and the natural world. Long haul Foma Pukhov makes the discovery of truth in himself in order to change something around him. He is much more honest than the “builders of the future” around him. A “natural fool” does not seek to take advantage of the opportunity career growth. The hero goes to Novorossiysk, determining his decision by internal necessity: “We will see mountain horizons; and somehow it will become more honest! And then I saw that they were sending trainloads of typhoid patients, and we were sitting and getting rations!.. The revolution will pass, but there will be nothing left for us!” Indicative in this regard is another character in the story, embodying a different truth of the time - the sailor Sharikov. Foma does not tolerate sloganeering or empty chatter, but Sharikov perfectly assimilated the spirit of the times, found himself a “warm” place and, to Pukhov’s advice to personally “strengthen the revolution” with action (“take a hammer and patch up the ships”), he responds with a real master: “Eccentric you, I am the head of the Caspian Sea! Who will then be in charge of the entire red flotilla here?

It is significant that spiritual search does not lead to external changes in the main character: at the beginning of the story we see him as a snowplow driver, and at the end as an oil engine driver. The train (and in the works of A.P. Platonov it is a symbol of revolution; the writer himself noted: “The words about the locomotive-revolution turned the locomotive into a feeling of revolution for me”), which the hero boards, goes in an unknown direction ( this symbol takes on an epic character). The interest that flared up in his own future (“Where is it [the train] going?”) is quickly replaced by Pukhov’s humility (“The train was moving somewhere further. From its progress, Pukhov calmed down and fell asleep, feeling the warmth in his smoothly working heart "). Thomas needs to walk along the roads of the country himself, see everything with his own eyes, feel it with his heart (this is due to his unbelieving nature). Novorossiysk, the liberation of Crimea from Wrangel (a mechanic on the ship “Shanya”), a trip to Baku and a meeting with the sailor Sharikov constitute certain stages in the hero’s life and Pukhov’s acquisition of the meaning of his existence. The road itself, the movement, becomes the plot-forming beginning, and as soon as the hero stops somewhere, his life loses its sharpness, his spiritual search is lost. Zvorychny and Sharikov, for example, do not receive such development in their frozen state.

The hero’s attempt to understand how people’s lives have changed under the influence of the “historical storm” leads the character to the idea that the true goal, true feelings have been lost. The motif of death heard on the pages of the story is closely connected with the motif of universal orphanhood. (Both of them become central in the work of A.P. Platonov.) The theme of death is not introduced into the narrative by chance. The revolution not only failed to resurrect the dead (N. Fedorov’s philosophical idea was accepted by A.P. Platonov himself), but it brought, and the author constantly draws the reader’s attention to this, new deaths.

A certain insensibility of the main character’s heart at the beginning of the journey (cutting sausage on his wife’s coffin) is replaced by a feeling of deep unity with the world, which is understood as the meaning of life. At the end of the story, an epiphany occurs: “Pukhov walked with pleasure, feeling, as he had long ago, the kinship of all bodies to his body. He gradually realized what was most important and painful. He even stopped, lowering his eyes - the unexpected in his soul returned to him. Desperate nature passed into people and into the courage of the revolution.” Material from the site

The originality of the language. The work reflects the author's idea of the indissolubility of the external and internal world, material and immaterial. In the story “The Hidden Man” the depiction of life is carried out in the unity of the comic and tragic principles. The language of Plato’s work reflected the search for a new language, under the sign of which the beginning of the 20th century passed. Symbolic images, which are repeated in a number of the writer’s works, begin to perform a leitmotif function. Platonov uses the “strange” language of the narrator to express inner world a hero who does not have words to convey his experiences and conclusions. The basis of Platonov’s language is bookish speech with an abundance of abstract vocabulary (On the walls of the station there was a manufactory with propaganda words), a displacement of the usual linguistic connections, when the subsequent word is difficult to predict, the folding and unfolding of sentences (Finally the train left, shooting at air - to scare transport-hungry bagmen), deliberate use of tautological repetitions, etc.

A.P. Platonov creates works in which he depicts not things, not objects, but their meaning; the writer is not interested in everyday life, but in being, the essence of things. The image of Foma Pukhov, combining “high tragic and humorous culture,” becomes one of a whole gallery of searching and doubting Platonic heroes.

Didn't find what you were looking for? Use the search

On this page there is material on the following topics:

hidden man review
search for the meaning of separate and common existence in the works of A.P. Platonov
image of Foma Pukhov
hidden man influence of the work
the world of Platonov's heroes