The story “Biryuk” by I. S. Turgenev was written in 1847 and was included in the series of works by the writer about the life, traditions and way of life of the Russian people “Notes of a Hunter”. The story refers to literary direction realism. In “Biryuk” the author described his memories of the life of peasants in the Oryol province.
Main characters
Biryuk (Foma Kuzmich)- a forester, a stern-looking man.
Narrator- master, the story is narrated on his behalf.
Other characters
Man- a poor man who was cutting down trees in the forest and was caught by Biryuk.
Julitta- Biryuk’s twelve-year-old daughter.
The narrator was driving alone from hunting in the evening, on treadmills. There were eight miles left to his house, but a strong thunderstorm unexpectedly caught him in the forest. The narrator decides to wait out the bad weather under a wide bush, and soon, with the flash of lightning, he sees a tall figure - as it turned out, it was the local forester. He took the narrator to his house - “a small hut in the middle of a vast yard, surrounded by fences.” The door was opened for them by “a girl of about twelve, in a shirt, belted with a hem” - the daughter of the forester, Ulita.
The forester’s hut “consisted of one room,” a tattered sheepskin coat hung on the wall, a torch was burning on the table, and “in the very middle” of the house there was a cradle hanging.
The forester himself “was tall, broad-shouldered and beautifully built,” with a black curly beard, wide fused eyebrows and brown eyes. His name was Thomas, nicknamed Biryuk. The narrator was surprised to meet the forester, as he had heard from friends that “all the surrounding men were afraid of him like fire.” He regularly guarded the forest goods, not allowing even a bundle of brushwood to be taken out of the forest. It was impossible to bribe Biryuk.
Foma said that his wife ran away with a passing tradesman, leaving the forester alone with two children. Biryuk had nothing to treat the guest with - there was only bread in the house.
When the rain stopped, Biryuk said that he would see the narrator out. Coming out of the house, Foma heard the distant sound of an ax. The forester was afraid that he would miss the thief, so the narrator agreed to walk to the place where the forest was being cut down, although he did not hear anything. At the end of the path, Biryuk asked to wait, and he went on. Through the noise of the wind, the narrator heard Thomas' cry and the sounds of a struggle. The narrator rushed there and saw Biryuk near a fallen tree, who was tying a man with a sash.
The narrator asked to let the thief go, promising to pay for the tree, but Biryuk, without answering, took the man to his hut. It started to rain again, and they had to wait out the bad weather. The narrator decided “to free the poor man at all costs” - by the light of the lantern he could see “his wasted, wrinkled face, drooping yellow eyebrows, restless eyes, thin limbs.”
The man began to ask Biryuk to free him. The forester gloomily objected that in their settlement everything was “a thief upon a thief” and, not paying attention to the thief’s plaintive requests, ordered him to sit quietly. Suddenly the man straightened up, blushed and began to scold Thomas, calling him “an Asian, a bloodsucker, a beast, a murderer.” Biryuk grabbed the man by the shoulder. The narrator already wanted to protect the poor man, but Foma, to his amazement, “with one turn he tore the sash off the man’s elbows, grabbed him by the collar, pulled his cap over his eyes, opened the door and pushed him out,” shouting after him to get the hell out .
The narrator understands that Biryuk is actually a “nice fellow.” Half an hour later they said goodbye at the edge of the forest.
Conclusion
In the story “Biryuk” Turgenev portrayed an ambiguous character - forester Foma Kuzmich, whose personality is fully revealed only towards the end of the work. It is with this hero that the main conflict of the story is connected - the conflict between public duty and humanity, which occurs within Biryuk himself. Despite the outward severity and integrity of Foma Kuzmich, who closely protects the forest entrusted to him, in his soul he is a kind, sympathetic person - a “nice fellow.”
A brief retelling of “Biryuk” will be useful for familiarizing yourself with the plot of the story, for better understanding We recommend that you read it in its entirety.
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Story by I.S. Turgenev "Biryuk" is included in the collection of stories "Notes of a Hunter". It is generally accepted that the approximate time of its creation is 1848-50s, since the writer began working on stories in the 1840s, and published complete collection in 1852.
The collection is united by the presence of one “off-screen” main character-narrator. This is a certain Pyotr Petrovich, a nobleman who in some stories is a mute witness to events, in others a full-fledged participant. “Biryuk” is one of those stories where events take place around Pyotr Petrovich and with his participation.
Story Analysis
Plot, composition
Unlike most writers of that time, who portrayed peasants as a faceless gray mass, the author in each essay notes some special feature of peasant life, therefore all the works combined in the collection gave a bright and multifaceted picture of the peasant world.
A genre work stands on the border between a story and an essay (the title “note” emphasizes the sketchiness of the work). The plot is another episode from the life of Pyotr Petrovich. The events described in Biryuk are presented by Pyotr Petrovich in the form of a monologue. An avid hunter, he once got lost in the forest and got caught in a downpour in the evening twilight. The forester he meets, a figure known in the village for his gloominess and unsociability, invites Pyotr Petrovich home to wait out the bad weather. The rain subsided, and the forester heard the sound of an ax in the silence - someone was stealing the forest he was protecting. Pyotr Petrovich wanted to go with the forester “to detention”, to see how he works. Together they caught the “thief,” who turned out to be a poor little peasant, disheveled and in rags. It was clear that the man began to steal timber not because of a good life, and the narrator began to ask Biryuk to let the thief go. For a long time, Pyotr Petrovich had to persuade the principled forester, getting into a fight between Biryuk and the detainee. Unexpectedly, the forester released the caught man, taking pity on him.
Heroes and problems of the story
The main character of the work is Biryuk, a serf forester who zealously and fundamentally protects the master’s forest. His name is Foma Kuzmich, but people in the village treat him with hostility and give him a nickname for his stern, unsociable character.
It is no coincidence that the forester’s character is drawn from the words of a nobleman witness - Pyotr Petrovich still understands Biryuk better than the villagers, for him his character is quite explainable and understandable. It is clear why the villagers are hostile to Biryuk, and why no one is to blame for this enmity. The forester mercilessly catches the “thieves,” claiming that in the village there is “a thief on a thief,” and they keep climbing into the forest out of despair, out of incredible poverty. The villagers keep ascribing some kind of imaginary “power” to Biryuk and threatening to take it away, completely forgetting that he is just an honest performer of work and “doesn’t eat the master’s bread for nothing.”
Biryuk himself is as poor as the peasants he captures - his home is miserable and sad, filled with desolation and disorder. Instead of a bed - a pile of rags, dim light from a torch, lack of food except bread. There is no mistress - she ran away with a visiting tradesman, leaving her husband and two children (one of them is just a baby and, apparently, sick - he breathes “noisily and quickly” in his cradle, takes care of infant girl about 12 years old).
Biryuk himself is a real Russian hero, with powerful muscles and a cap of dark curls. He is a correct, principled, honest and lonely person - this is repeatedly emphasized by his nickname. Loneliness in life, loneliness in his beliefs, loneliness due to his duty and being forced to live in the forest, loneliness among people - Biryuk evokes sympathy and respect.
The man who is caught as a thief evokes only pity, because, in contrast to Biryuk, he is petty, pathetic, justifying his theft by hunger, the need to feed big family. The men are ready to blame anyone for their poverty - from the master to the same Biryuk. In a fit of evil sincerity, he calls the forester a murderer, a bloodsucker and a beast, and rushes at him.
It would seem that two socially equal people - both poor, both serfs, both with the responsibilities of a family man - to feed children, but the man steals, and the forester does not, and therefore one may not believe in the description given by fellow villagers to the forester. Only those whom he prevented from stealing can call him a “beast”, “murderer”, “bloodsucker”.
The title of the story contains the nickname of the main character, which indicates not at all the character of the forester, but the circumstances in which he lives hopelessly; to his place, which people have assigned to him. Serfs do not live richly, and honest serfs in the service of the master are also forced to be alone, since they are not understood by their own brothers.
Biryuk lets the man go out of compassion - feeling has prevailed over reason and principles. Pyotr Petrovich offers to reimburse the cost of the tree the man felled, since the foresters, who did not keep track of the theft, had to pay for the damage from their own pockets. Despite the fine threatening him, Biryuk commits human act and it is clear that he feels relief.
“Biryuk,” like the rest of the stories in “Notes of a Hunter,” is a collection of images of peasants, each of whom is famous for some aspect of his character, his actions or talents. The appalling plight of these talented and strong people, which does not allow them to open up, to care about at least something other than the search for food and pushes them to commit crimes - this is main issue story voiced by the author.
I. S. Turgenev spent his childhood in the Oryol region. A nobleman by birth, who received an excellent secular upbringing and education, he early witnessed the unfair treatment of to the common people. Throughout his life, the writer was distinguished by his interest in the Russian way of life and sympathy for the peasants.
In 1846, Turgenev spent several summer and autumn months in his native estate Spasskoye-Lutovinovo. He often went hunting, and on long hikes around the surrounding area, fate brought him together with people of different classes and wealth. The result of observations of life local population became the stories that appeared in 1847-1851 in the Sovremennik magazine. A year later, the author combined them into one book, called “Notes of a Hunter.” These included a story written in 1848 with unusual name"Biryuk."
The narration is told on behalf of Pyotr Petrovich, the hunter who unites all the stories in the cycle. At first glance, the plot is quite simple. The narrator, returning from a hunt one day, gets caught in the rain. He meets a forester who offers to wait out the bad weather in his hut. So Pyotr Petrovich becomes a witness to the difficult life of a new acquaintance and his children. Foma Kuzmich leads a secluded life. The peasants living in the area do not like and are even afraid of the formidable forester, and because of his unsociability they gave him the nickname Biryuk.
The summary of the story can be continued with an unexpected incident for the hunter. When the rain subsided a little, the sound of an ax was heard in the forest. Biryuk and the narrator go to the sound, where they find a peasant who has decided to steal, even in such bad weather, clearly not from a good life. He tries to pity the forester with persuasion, talks about hard life and hopelessness, but he remains adamant. Their conversation continues in the hut, where the desperate man suddenly raises his voice and begins to blame the owner for all the peasant’s troubles. In the end, the latter cannot stand it and releases the offender. Gradually, as the scene unfolds, Biryuk reveals himself to the narrator and the reader.
Appearance and behavior of a forester
Biryuk was well built, tall and broad-shouldered. His black-bearded face looked both stern and masculine; brown eyes looked out from under wide eyebrows boldly.
All actions and behavior expressed determination and inaccessibility. His nickname was no coincidence. In the southern regions of Russia, this word is used to describe a lone wolf, which Turgenev knew well. Biryuk in the story is an unsociable, stern person. This is exactly how he was perceived by the peasants, whom he always inspired fear. Biryuk himself explained his steadfastness by a conscientious attitude to work: “you don’t have to eat the master’s bread for nothing.” He was in the same difficult situation as most of the people, but he was not used to complaining and relying on anyone.
The hut and family of Foma Kuzmich
Getting to know his home makes a painful impression. It was one room, low, empty and smoky. There was no sense of a woman's hand in her: the mistress ran away with a tradesman, leaving her husband two children. A tattered sheepskin coat hung on the wall, and a pile of rags lay on the floor. The hut smelled of cooled smoke, making it difficult to breathe. Even the torch burned sadly and then went out, then flared up again. The only thing the owner could offer the guest was bread; he had nothing else. Biryuk, who brought fear to everyone, lived so sadly and in a beggarly manner.
The story continues with a description of his children, which completes the bleak picture. In the middle of the hut hung a cradle with a baby, rocked by a girl of about twelve with timid movements and a sad face - their mother had left them in the care of her father. The narrator’s “heart ached” from what he saw: it’s not easy to enter a peasant’s hut!
Heroes of the story “Biryuk” in the forest theft scene
Foma reveals himself in a new way during a conversation with a desperate man. The latter’s appearance speaks eloquently of the hopelessness and complete poverty in which he lived: dressed in rags, a disheveled beard, a worn-out face, incredible thinness throughout his body. The intruder cut down the tree carefully, apparently hoping that in bad weather the likelihood of being caught was not so great.
Having been caught stealing the master's forest, he first begs the forester to let him go and calls him Foma Kuzmich. However, the more the hope that he will be released fades, the angrier and harsher the words begin to sound. The peasant sees before him a murderer and a beast, deliberately humiliating a peasant.
I. Turgenev introduces a completely unpredictable ending to the story. Biryuk suddenly grabs the offender by the sash and pushes him out the door. One can guess what was going on in his soul during the entire scene: compassion and pity come into conflict with a sense of duty and responsibility for the assigned task. The situation was aggravated by the fact that Thomas own experience I knew how hard a peasant’s life was. To Pyotr Petrovich’s surprise, he just waves his hand.
Description of nature in the story
Turgenev has always been famous as a master landscape sketches. They are also present in the work “Biryuk”.
The story begins with a description of an ever-increasing and growing thunderstorm. And then, completely unexpectedly for Pyotr Petrovich, Foma Kuzmich appears from the forest, dark and wet, and feels at home here. He easily pulls the frightened horse from its place and, remaining calm, leads it to the hut. Turgenev's landscape is a reflection of the essence of the main character: Biryuk leads a life as gloomy and gloomy as this forest in bad weather.
The summary of the work needs to be supplemented with one more point. When the sky begins to clear a little, there is hope that the rain will soon end. Like this scene, the reader suddenly discovers that the unapproachable Biryuk is capable of good deeds and simple human sympathy. However, this “just a little” remains - an unbearable life has made the hero the way the local peasants see him. And this cannot be changed overnight and at the request of a few people. Both the narrator and the readers come to such gloomy thoughts.
The meaning of the story
The series “Notes of a Hunter” includes works that reveal the image of ordinary peasants in different ways. In some stories, the author draws attention to their spiritual breadth and wealth, in others he shows how talented they can be, in others he describes their meager life... Thus, different sides of a man’s character are revealed.
The lack of rights and miserable existence of the Russian people in the era of serfdom is the main theme of the story “Biryuk”. And this is the main merit of Turgenev the writer - to attract public attention to the tragic situation of the main breadwinner of the entire Russian land.
Composition
I. S. Turgenev was one of advanced people of its time. He realized that in order to win the right to be called national writer, talent alone is not enough, you need “sympathy for the people, a kindred disposition towards them” and “the ability to be imbued with the essence of your people, their language and way of life.” The collection of stories “Notes of a Hunter” describes the peasant world in a very vivid and multifaceted way.
In all the stories there is the same hero - the nobleman Pyotr Petrovich. He loves hunting very much, travels a lot and talks about the incidents that happened to him. We also meet Pyotr Petrovich in “Biryuk,” where his acquaintance with the mysterious and gloomy forester nicknamed Biryuk, “whom all the surrounding men were afraid of like fire,” is described. The meeting takes place in the forest during a thunderstorm, and the forester invites the master to his house to shelter from the weather. Pyotr Petrovich accepts the invitation and finds himself in an old hut “from one room, smoky, low and empty.” He notices the little things in the sad existence of the forester's family. His wife “ran away with a passing tradesman.” And Foma Kuzmich was left alone with two small children. Eldest daughter Julitta, still a child herself, is nursing the baby, cradling him in a cradle. Poverty and family grief have already left their mark on the girl. She has a downcast “sad face” and timid movements. The description of the hut makes a depressing impression. Everything here breathes sadness and wretchedness: “a tattered sheepskin coat hung on the wall,” “a torch burned on the table, sadly flaring up and going out,” “a pile of rags lay in the corner,” “the bitter smell of cooled smoke” hovered everywhere and made it difficult to breathe. The heart in Pyotr Petrovich’s chest “ached: it’s not fun to enter a peasant’s hut at night.” When the rain passed, the forester heard the sound of an ax and decided to catch the intruder. The master went with him.
The thief turned out to be “a wet man, in rags, with a long disheveled beard,” who, apparently, did not turn to theft out of a good life. He has “a wasted, wrinkled face, drooping yellow eyebrows, restless eyes, thin limbs.” He begs Biryuk to let him go with the horse, justifying that “out of hunger... the children are squeaking.” The tragedy of the hungry peasant life, the difficult life appears before us in the image of this pitiful, desperate man who exclaims: “Knock it down - one end; Whether it’s from hunger or not, it’s all one.”
Realism of the image household paintings The life of the peasants in the story of I. S. Turgenev is deeply impressive. And at the same time they stand before us social problems of that time: poverty of the peasants, hunger, cold, forcing people to steal.
Other works on this work
Analysis of the essay by I.S. Turgenev "Biryuk" Miniature essay based on I. S. Turgenev’s story “Biryuk” Essay on the topic “Characteristics of Biryuk”The work was completed by a student of class 7 “B” Balashov Alexander
The main character of the story is I.S. Turgenev's "Biryuk" is the forester Foma. Foma is a very interesting and unusual person. With what admiration and pride the author describes his hero: “He was tall, broad-shouldered and beautifully built. His powerful muscles bulged out from under the wet manner of his shirt.” Biryuk had a “manly face” and “small brown eyes” that “looked boldly from under fused wide eyebrows.”
The author is struck by the wretchedness of the forester’s hut, which consisted of “one room, smoky, low and empty, without floors ...”, everything here speaks of a miserable existence - both “a tattered sheepskin coat on the wall” and “a pile of rags in the corner; two large pots that stood near the stove...” Turgenev himself sums up the description: “I looked around - my heart ached: it’s not fun to enter a peasant’s hut at night.”
The forester's wife ran away with a passing tradesman and abandoned two children; Maybe that’s why the forester was so stern and silent. Foma was nicknamed Biryuk, that is, a gloomy and lonely man, by the surrounding men, who feared him like fire. They said that he was “strong and dexterous like a devil…”, “he won’t let you drag fagots of brushwood” out of the forest, “no matter what time it is... he’ll come out of the blue” and don’t expect mercy. Biryuk is a “master of his craft” who cannot be conquered by anything, “neither wine nor money.” However, despite all his sorrows and troubles, Biryuk retained kindness and mercy in his heart. He secretly sympathized with his “wards”, but work is work, and the demand for the stolen goods will first of all be from himself. But this does not prevent him from doing good deeds, releasing the most desperate ones without punishment, but only with a fair amount of intimidation.
Biryuk’s tragedy stemmed from the understanding that it was not the good life that drove peasants to steal forests. Often feelings of pity and compassion prevail over his integrity. So, in the story, Biryuk caught a man chopping down a forest. He was dressed in tattered rags, all wet, with a disheveled beard. The man asked to let him go or at least give him the horse, because there were children at home and there was nothing to feed them. In response to all the persuasion, the forester kept repeating one thing: “Don’t go stealing.” In the end, Foma Kuzmich grabbed the thief by the collar and pushed him out the door, saying: “Get to hell with your horse.” With these rude words, he seems to cover up his generous act. So the forester constantly oscillates between principles and a sense of compassion. The author wants to show that this gloomy, unsociable person actually has a kind, generous heart.
Describing the forced people, dispossessed and oppressed, Turgenev especially emphasizes that even in such conditions he was able to maintain his living soul, the ability to empathize and respond with your whole being to kindness and affection. Even this life does not kill humanity in people - that is what is most important.