The works of Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov are always distinguished by their social orientation; he created his poems and poems “about the people and for the people,” describing their problems, thoughts and interests, life and customs. “Who Lives Well in Rus'?” is no exception. This well-known work reflected the difficult situation that developed in Russia after the abolition of serfdom.
At the very beginning of the poem, in the prologue, seven men gathered and started an argument, trying to find out “who lives happily and freely in Rus'.” And for this they set out on a journey, meeting along the way and listening to stories about people completely different in their position in society. This is the priest, and the landowner, and the peasant woman Matryona Timofeevna, and Yermil Girin, and the soldier who returned to his homeland and sees his happiness in this, and seminarian Grisha Dobrosklonov, and many others. We can call few heroes truly happy, from the author’s point of view, and not a single one, according to the men. After all, what is happiness for them? A clear definition of this is given by the sexton who appears at the very beginning of their journey, who said:
What do you think is happiness?
Peace, wealth, honor?
Isn't that right, dear friends?
They said: “Yes.”
You can try to apply this “formula” to the destinies of different heroes and understand why the wanderers did not find happy ones among everyone who met them on the way.
The first person with whom the men started a conversation about a subject that interested them was the priest. From his very first words (“Orthodox! It’s a sin to grumble against God…”) we understand that the story will not be joyful, that the clergy do not live freely and cheerfully, that everything that is said about them is the invention of ignorant people. After all, the priest has no wealth, no honor, no peace. And where would they come from if the priest lives only on donations from parishioners and money earned from weddings and funerals, not having the opportunity, unlike peasants, to cultivate his own land. If at any hour, on any day of the week, in any weather, be it frost, thunderstorm, severe heat or flood, he must go to a dying person, confess him, perform the necessary rituals, and then serve the service and deal with his pressing problems. If people “compose jokey tales and obscene songs” about the clergy, call his wife and children names, then what kind of happiness can we talk about? The priest has no peace, no respect, no money.
The situation is no better for landowners. After the abolition of serfdom, they turned out to be completely unadapted to the new conditions; they do not know how to do anything, because their parents and teachers prepared them for a quiet life based on the exploitation of the labor of serfs, because they were not taught the things necessary for the new time. And the image of the “ruddy, handsome, stocky” landowner evokes pity in us, because maybe he would like to start all over again now, but he cannot. “The great chain broke, it broke and sprang apart. One end for the master, the other for the peasant!..”
A little closer to the “ideal” is Ermil Girin. He has two components of happiness: respect from others and wealth. With his honesty, decency, nobility and high morality, he earned the trust of all the people who surrounded him, and was elected headman. But, despite all this, Ermila has no peace, which means she has no complete happiness. Having once stumbled, he cannot forgive himself for this, although from the point of view of those around him, the action is completely justified and does not cause indignation or contempt and anger. And in fact, what is wrong with the fact that instead of his brother, he gave another person as a recruit, and not by vile deception and betrayal, but by paying him and his mother a lot of money for it. Girin's conscience cannot withstand such a test: he wants to hang himself, and when he is literally taken out of the noose, he retires and decides to take care of the mill. Moreover, both when purchasing at an auction and when using it, we can again be convinced of the honesty and decency of this person, of his incorruptibility and nobility. Unfortunately, people like Yermil really cannot find peace, because a truly honest person is honest in everything. And in the end, when Girin refuses to take part in suppressing the rebellion, he is imprisoned.
But these are all male characters, and Nekrasov also addresses a woman in his work - Matryona Timofeevna, whose fate is described in an entire chapter. The lot of women in Rus' is hard, the heroine had a hard time in life. First, she is forced to endure the constant nagging of her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, the harassment of the “lord’s manager”, then she experiences the death of her first-born, Dyomushka, brings shame upon herself by accepting caning instead of her son Fedotushka, and hunger. Then a new misfortune comes: Matryona’s husband is recruited, and here the brave woman is ready to fight for her happiness: she goes to the city and makes her way to the governor’s wife, who helps her restore justice. She has neither wealth, nor honor, much less peace. All her life she must work to feed and provide for her family, endure humiliation and numerous losses, but she also has joy in life - she loves and is loved. And this means a lot, because not many Russian women have been so lucky with their husbands. In conclusion, Matryona Timofeevna says very meaningful words to the wanderers: “And what you started is not a matter of looking for a happy woman among women!”
So, according to the author, among these heroes there is not a single happy person. So who is the person who lives “at ease in Rus'”? This is Grisha Dobrosklonov, who appears in the poem only in the last chapter. He was a sympathetic and loving son, and “in the boy’s heart, with love for his poor mother, love for all the Vakhlachina merged,” he dreamed of going to Moscow and studying at the “novorsity.”
Of the two roads, which the author designates as “the rough road, the slave of passions” and “the narrow road, the honest road,” he chooses the second. And he follows it to the end. What lies ahead for him? “Fate had prepared for him a glorious path, a great name as a people’s intercessor, consumption and Siberia.”
His path in life is not easy, his fate is harsh. He has no money, no peace, no universal respect, but he decided to devote his life to the struggle for the people's happiness, for their liberation from the chains of serfdom.
"...And about fifteen years
Gregory already knew for sure
What will live for happiness
A wretched and dark native corner."
And it is precisely good deeds for the people, it is zeal for the “humiliated, offended”, the desire for general well-being that Nekrasov sometimes considers true human happiness at the cost of his life. You don't need money, you don't need family and honor. The lofty goal of living and possibly dying for one’s Motherland and the Russian people is a person’s destiny, this is the meaning of his whole life.
In the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'?” The concept of happiness is multifaceted and somewhat unusual. It does not include love and friendship, that is, those feelings without which it is difficult for a person to live in the world, but the social orientation is clearly indicated: the people, their liberation from serfdom, which Grisha calls a snake.
N. A. Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” which he wrote for about 20 years, is the result of the poet’s creative path. In it, he reveals themes not only of people's grief and happiness, but also raises questions about universal human values. What is happiness, according to Nekrasov, and how does he answer the question posed in “Elegy”: “The people are liberated, but are the people happy?”?
The author’s use of folklore and fairy-tale elements allows us to connect the people’s search for happiness with the belief in the victory of good over evil, truth over lies, and also makes the poem understandable to the people. The main characters of the poem are seven men, seven temporarily obliged peasants. Their main goal is to find “peasant happiness.” And they decided to walk around Mother Rus' until they found someone “Who lives happily and at ease in Rus'.” In Nekrasov's poem, discussions about happiness are described in the form of an argument. Each of the travelers talks about happiness in his own understanding.
The first to meet on their way is a pop. The priest sees his happiness in peace, honor and wealth. But he also says that the happiness of one person in isolation from everyone else is impossible.
They meet many along the way. For the landowner Gavrila Afanasyevich, happiness lies in unlimited power over the peasant. For the peasants, happiness consists in having a good year, so that everyone is healthy and well-fed, the soldier considers himself happy because he was in twenty battles and survived, the old woman is happy because she had up to a thousand turnips born on a small ridge, For the Belarusian peasant, happiness is in the bread. Peasant Matryona Timofeevna, who carried human dignity, nobility and rebellion through all the horrors of her life. Yermil Girin, beloved by his fellow villagers for his honesty, intelligence and selfless devotion to the interests of the peasants, is the mayor. During his seven years of fair service, Ermila “sinned” once: “... from the recruiting he removed the younger brother Mitri,” and instead of Mitri, he gave the widow’s son as a soldier. Out of remorse, Girin wanted to hang himself. But thanks to the prince, the widow’s son was nevertheless returned, and Mitri was sent to serve. He also took the side of the rebellious peasants, for which he was sent to prison. Happiness for him is in helping people.
The question of who is happy smoothly flowed into the question of what Happiness is.
Nekrasov reveals the problem of people's happiness in the poem with the help of the image of the people's intercessor Grisha Dobrosklonov. Because of his difficult life, he decides from childhood that he will fight for the happiness of the people. He believes in a happy future for his native land, and this is precisely the happiness of Grisha himself. In his image, Nekrasov showed his attitude towards happiness.
Nekrasov wanted to say that happiness does not lie in making only yourself happy, but also the people around you. The people will find it when they begin to fight for it and learn to “be a citizen.” I completely agree with this opinion. This is exactly what the hero of the novel I.A. did. Goncharov “Oblomov” Andrei Ivanovich Stolts, he considered himself happy and tried to make his friend Oblomov so. This is the idea of happiness in the poem. Happiness alone is incomplete happiness.
What is happiness? This concept is purely individual. For some it is wealth, for others it is love and friendship, for others it is health, for others it is peace on Earth. Each person has their own life priorities and values, each sees happiness differently. Some people believe that happiness is elusive. Others try to find it in money, work, friends, helping other people.
In any case, happiness, whatever it may be, varies greatly depending on the individual characteristics of a person: upbringing, worldview, environment.
So, who can live well in Rus'? In order to answer the question asked in the title of the poem, the poet reconsiders all of Rus', all layers of society. Everyone has their own ideas about happiness and comfort.
A whole gallery of different types of people passes before the heroes and readers, and they all claim to be “happy.” We see people who are attractive to the author, but who cannot be called happy. Their simple happiness lies in the fact that the grief turned out to be not as terrible as it could have been.
Nekrasov cannot help but show the low level of life of the people's consciousness. Men understand happiness in a primitive way, relating it to material security, wealth, honor, but meetings with different people change the views of wanderers. The peasants believe that happiness for the priest is “peace, wealth, honor.” But the priest does not consider himself happy: there is no peace because of people who are born and die at any time of the year; there is no money either: the landowners live in the cities, and the peasants are poor, not like them, and the priest himself sometimes gives money so that people do not die of hunger. And there is no honor either: the priest tells how they mock and mock him.
Also noteworthy is Ermila Girin, who became famous throughout the region for his intelligence, fair and selfless actions, devotion to the people and earned their respect. He “has everything he needs for happiness,” but Yermila sacrifices all this for the sake of the people’s truth and ends up in prison.
The fate of the Russian peasant woman Matryona Timofeevna becomes a special topic. “It’s not a matter of looking for a happy woman among women,” says the heroine. After the news that her husband is being drafted into the army, Matryona decides to fight for her happiness to the end. A peasant woman's happiness is to be near her husband.
The last hero of the poem is Grisha Dobrosklonov, a seminarian. He lives among men who love and recognize his talent. Grisha is infinitely happy because he is young, talented with his poems, and fights for the happiness of the people. He realized his destiny at the age of thirteen: “he will live for the happiness of his native place.” The hero is not afraid of trials, he firmly believes in what he is doing, in what he has dedicated his life to.
It is with the image of the national hero, Grisha Dobrosklonov, that N.A. Nekrasov connects his idea of true happiness: a person is happy because he is talented, young, and fights for the happiness of the people.
Updated: 2018-03-26
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In the poem by N.A. Nekrasov “Who lives well in Rus'?” seven wandering peasants are looking for a happy one in Rus'. The poet wrote this poem for several decades, but never completed it. The wanderers did not meet the happy one and the poem was left with an open ending. But can any of the heroes of the work be called happy? What is needed for happiness, from the point of view of the heroes and the poet himself?
The poem shows the crisis state of the Russian world. Firstly, there is poverty and hunger. Let us remember the names of the villages from which the wanderers came: Dyryavino, Zaplatovo, Neurozhaika... Secondly, after the abolition of serfdom, “the great chain broke” and hit “one end on the master, the other on the peasant”: no one knows how to arrange their life what value system to rely on.
This is why many of the heroes of the poem are unhappy - even those who deserve it. For example, Savely, who was a strong, stubborn “hero of Holy Russia”, served hard labor, watched how a pig killed his great-grandson Demushka, and spent a long time atone for his sin, etc. “The keys to women’s happiness” have also been lost in Rus'. Matryona Timofeevna, a peasant woman who was a kind, good wife, a wonderful mother, was deprived of happiness because of all the worries placed on her shoulders around the house, housework, because of her hungry life, and lack of support.
But even those who feel happy often have poor ideas about happiness. Wanderers went all over Rus' in search of a happy person. Nekrasov uses the technique of “poetic polyphony,” as if “giving the floor” to the Russian people themselves. As it turned out, for some, happiness lies in peace, wealth and honor, for others in the opportunity to pour vodka into their “happy” life. In the chapter “Happy” we see how people measure their happiness, if it can be called such, for the opportunity to “sip free wine.” Some have grown up to a thousand, others see happiness in the recognition of their owners: “I’m happy, God knows! The first boyar, Prince Peremetyev, had me as his favorite slave.” The landowner's happiness is an idle life, feasts, hunting, power over people. The author writes: “Hey, peasant happiness! Leaky with patches, hunchbacked with calluses...” This primitive idea of happiness, which every “happy” person talked about, does not bring true happiness to any of them.
The owner of true happiness in the poem is Grisha Dobrosklonov. Despite the life of “poorer than the last shabby peasant” and hard everyday work, he has a desire for spiritual development. He has a craving for beauty, for creativity, for dreams. Grisha is a poet, he composes songs about Russia, about the people, and is preparing to devote himself to the fight for the people’s happiness. This is what distinguishes him from the other heroes of this poem. But the wanderers never met Grisha and did not find the happy one.
“Who can live well in Rus'?” is an epic poem. In it, thanks to the image of the road and the travel plot, a panoramic picture of Russian life appears, a picture of people's grief, discord, etc. There cannot be truly happy people if life as a whole is arranged unreasonably and is in a state of crisis. But on the whole, the poem is not tragic in nature, since, according to the author, healthy and strong principles are still preserved in Russian life; they only need to be given the opportunity to mature and manifest themselves.
Thus, N. Nekrasov believes that happiness lies in constant movement, development, and creativity. This is what gives meaning to a person's life. This is why Grisha Dobrosklonov becomes happy in the poem.
1. The concept of happiness.
2. The main idea of the poem “Who can live well in Rus'?”
3. Types of happiness.
4. The author's understanding of happiness - Grisha Dobrosklonov as a people's defender.
Happiness is a purely individual concept. Each person has his own happiness, different from others. For some, being happy means being in harmony with the world and people around you; for some - to be understood and correctly perceived by loved ones. For some, the concept of “happiness” is complex and multifaceted, including many factors. For some people, all they need to be happy is a pleasant melody and good weather outside.
In any case, happiness, whatever it may be, varies greatly depending on the individual characteristics of a person - upbringing, worldview, way of thinking. Many writers and poets from completely different eras were concerned with the problem of finding human happiness. For different artists it appeared differently: sometimes as a blue bird, like in M. Maeterlinck, sometimes as an alluring, deep sky, like in A. S. Pushkin and M. Yu. Lermontov. In his largely revolutionary poem, N. A. Nekrasov depicted another happiness - the joy that what is happening is not as bad as it could be. Nekrasov’s multi-type and multi-faceted happiness, however, is not such a beautiful and bright feeling as we are used to imagining it.
The work “Who Lives Well in Rus'?” is a complex, multi-year work of authorship. Throughout the entire period of work on Nekrasov’s poem, thoughts about the predestination of man, the purpose for which he comes into this world, and the ways of realizing this goal did not leave.
In order to answer the question asked in the title of the work, the poet reconsiders all of Rus', all social classes. Everyone has their own ideas about happiness and comfort, but not all of them are of interest to the author.
The beginning of the poem - written in 1863, immediately after the abolition of serfdom - presents a sad picture of the life of peasants, townspeople, and churchmen. They don’t even have a vague idea of real human happiness, and the state that they pass off as happiness is frankly pitiful. Only in those parts that date back to the 70s do we see the definition of a high human feeling matured in the author’s thoughts: serving the people is happiness.
“Lucky” Grisha Dobrosklonov becomes the intercessor and defender of humanity. However, the author, describing Grisha’s future - “consumption and Siberia,” puts a clear dividing line between the concepts of personal and universal, national happiness. The first is pathetic and pitiful, the second is truly beautiful and truly capable of elevating a person.
The main plot of the poem is reminiscent of a Russian folk tale - the journey of peasants from different villages in search of a happy person. On the way to their cherished goal, the peasants are helped by magical natural forces that feed and water them. Constant fairy-tale repetitions, many purely folk sayings and sayings make the poem not just an author's invention, but a special work, truly close in spirit to the people.
The goal of the poem coincides with the goal of the main characters: to understand what happiness is and does it have a place on Russian land? What are the ways that will help people find lost happiness and who can help them? All these issues are resolved during the long and difficult journey of the men through cities and villages. Here, a whole gallery of various human types passes before the heroes and readers. And they all claim to be considered happy, but they themselves ultimately refuse this title. Readers see people who are sympathetic to the author, but who are unable to be considered happy. Their simple happiness lies in the fact that the grief turned out to be not as terrible as it could have been. People's heroes who did not resign themselves to a slave position and did not become slaves - Savely, Matryona Timofeevna and Ermil Girin - evoke respect from both the author and readers. Their antipodes - the servants of rich landowners - also seem to have the right to personal happiness, but if the peasant lot evokes sympathy and light sadness among the heroes of the poem, then the lordly quirks and habits of the servile class are disgusting and disgusting to the working people.
Many faces, to varying degrees of unhappy and happy, pass before the reader. But only in one hero of the work, appearing at the very end, does the author see a people's defender and a happy person. This is Grisha Dobrosklonov, who is described in the last part of the poem “A Feast for the Whole World.”
The life path of this hero is very difficult. Grigory Dobrosklonov, a seminarian, the son of a “unrequited farm laborer” and a poor sexton, lived through a hungry childhood and difficult youth:
...And Gregory
Face thin, pale
And the hair is thin, curly,
With a hint of red.
At the seminary where Grisha spent his youth and received his education, the students were “underfed by the economical grabber.” During his vacation, Grisha worked as a farm laborer in the village of Vakhlachino, the place where he was born and raised. He knew firsthand about the difficult life of peasants. Despite the gloomy pictures that he saw in Vakhlachino, Grisha grew up as a sympathetic and kind person:
...in the heart of a boy
With love for the poor mother,
Love for all the wahlacina
Merged...
Grisha decided that he must devote his life to the struggle for the liberation of the people, for their happiness:
...and about fifteen years old
Gregory already knew for sure
What will live for happiness
Wretched and dark
Native corner.
A folk hero is a person who is strong in spirit and free from personal interests. He combines love for the land, for simple and hard peasant labor, and the clear, educated mind of progressive youth. In the struggle for a just cause, he does not follow the simple road trodden by his unsuccessful predecessors, but chooses the hard, difficult path of fighting for the rights of the oppressed peasants. The people see in him their messenger and savior, and bless the young man for the fight:
Go to the downtrodden.
Go to the offended
- Be the first there!
Fate had in store for him
The path is glorious, the name is loud
People's Defender,
Consumption and Siberia.
It is into the mouth of Grisha, a folk poet and singer, that the author puts the pearl of his poem - the song “Rus”:
You're miserable too
You are also abundant
You are mighty
You are also powerless
Mother Rus'!
Strength with untruth
Doesn't get along
Sacrifice by untruth
Not called...
The army is rising -
Countless!
The strength in her will affect
Indestructible!
It is precisely the image of the folk hero Grisha Dobrosklonov, who rose from the bottom and did not forget his roots, that Nekrasov connects his idea of true happiness - first of all for society, and only then for himself. This is the moral and aesthetic ideal of the Russian person - the only one acceptable to the author. And only such a hero “lives well in Rus'.”