We meet Korobochka in the 3rd chapter of Gogol’s novel-poem “ Dead souls" She is the second person Chichikov pays a visit to. In fact, Chichikov stopped by her estate by accident - the coachman got drunk, “played around,” as the author himself characterizes this event, and lost his way. Therefore, instead of Sobakevich main character meets the landowner Korobochka.
Let's look at the image of the Box in detail
She is a woman of respectable years, a widow, and a former “college secretary.” She lives alone on her estate and is completely absorbed in running the household. Most likely, she does not have her own children, since Gogol, in his description of the character, mentions that all her “trash” accumulated during her life will go to some great-niece.
It looks old-fashioned and a little ridiculous, “wearing a cap,” “flannel,” “something tied around the neck.”
Korobochka, unlike Manilov, successfully runs the farm herself. Through the eyes of Chichikov we see that the houses in her village are strong, the serf men are “hefty” (strong), there are many guard dogs, which indicates that this is a “decent village”. The yard is full of poultry, and behind the fence there are vegetable gardens - cabbage, beets, onions, potatoes. There are also fruit trees, carefully covered with nets from voracious magpies and sparrows. Stuffed animals were also installed for the same purpose. Gogol ironically notes that one of the stuffed animals was wearing the cap of the owner herself.
The peasants' houses were maintained and updated - Chichikov saw new planks on the roofs, gates stood straight everywhere, and there were carts in some courtyards. That is, the owner's care is visible everywhere. In total, Korobochka has 80 serfs, 18 died, which the owner greatly laments - they were good workers.
Korobochka does not allow the serfs to be lazy - Chichikov’s feather bed was expertly fluffed, in the morning, when he returns to the living room where he spent the night, everything is already tidied up; the table is full of baked goods.
The fact that the landowner has order all around and everything is under her personal control, we see from the dialogue about buying dead soul - she remembers all the dead peasants by first and last name, she doesn’t even keep any records.
Despite the fact that Korobochka loves to complain about how bad things are, her estate also had surpluses that were sold to merchants and resellers. From the dialogue with Chichikov, we learn that the landowner sells honey, hemp, feathers, meat, flour, cereals, and lard. She knows how to bargain, sells a pound of honey at a very high price, as much as 12 rubles, which Chichikov is very surprised by.
Nastasya Petrovna is thrifty and even a little stingy. Despite the fact that things are going well at the estate, the furnishings in the house are very modest, the wallpaper is old, the clock is creaky. Despite polite treatment and hospitality, Korobochka did not offer the guest dinner, citing the late hour. And in the morning he offers Chichikov only tea, albeit with fruit infusion. Only after feeling the benefit - when Chichikov promised to buy from her " household products“- Korobochka decided to appease him and ordered him to bake a pie and pancakes. She also set the table with various pastries.
Gogol writes that her “dress will not burn and will not fray on its own.” Complaining about poverty and crop failures, she nevertheless puts money in “motley bags”, which she stuffs into dresser drawers. All coins are carefully sorted - “rules, fifty rubles, devils” are laid out separately in bags. The old landowner tries to find benefit in everything - noticing Chichikov’s stamped paper, she asks him to “give him a piece of paper.”
The box is pious and superstitious. During a thunderstorm, he puts a candle in front of the icon and prays; gets scared when Chichikov mentions the devil in conversation.
She is not very smart and a little suspicious, she is very afraid of making a mistake and selling herself short. She doubts the deal with Chichikov and does not want to sell him dead souls, even though she has to pay for them as if they were alive. Naively thinks that other merchants can come and offer more favorable price. This deal completely exhausted Chichikov, and during the negotiations he calls Korobochka mentally and out loud “strong-headed”, “club-headed”, “mongrel in the manger” and “damned old woman”.
The image of Korobochka is interesting because it is a fairly common type in Russia during the time of Gogol. Its main features—stubbornness, stupidity, and narrow-mindedness—were inherent in real personalities– some officials and civil servants. The author writes about such people that you seem to see a venerable and statesman, but in reality it turns out to be a “perfect Box”. Arguments and reasons bounce off them like a rubber ball.
The description of the landowner ends with a reflection on the topic: is it possible to believe that Korobochka stands at the very bottom of the “ladder of human improvement”? Gogol compares her to an aristocratic sister living in a rich and elegant house, who reads books, attends social events, and her thoughts are occupied by “fashionable Catholicism” and political upheavals in France, and not by economic affairs. The author does not give a specific answer to this question; the reader must answer it himself.
Let us summarize the main characteristics of the image of the Box
Economic
Has business acumen
Practical
Lean
Petty
Hypocritical
Suspicious
Limited
Only cares about his own benefit
Obsessed with hoarding
Religious, but without real spirituality
Superstitious
The symbolism of the landowner's surname
Symbolism is important artistic instrument in the hands of the writer. In Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" all the names of the landowners are symbolic. Our heroine is no exception. Korobochka is a diminutive derivative of the word “box”, that is, an inanimate object. Likewise, in the image of Korobochka there are few living features; she is turned to the past, there is no real life, development – personal, spiritual. A real "dead soul".
People store various things in the box - and Korobochka is absorbed in hoarding solely for the sake of money itself, she does not have any global goal on what this money can be spent on. She just puts them in bags.
Well, the walls of the box are solid, just like Korobochka’s mind. She is stupid and limited.
As for the diminutive suffix, the author may have wanted to show the character’s harmlessness and some comedy.
The poem “Dead Souls” by N.V. Gogol invites its readers to plunge into a huge variety of completely different and dissimilar heroes. One of the brightest and important characters The landowner Korobochka appears, her image is revealed in the third chapter of the work.
The first meeting of the main character of the poem, Chichikov, and Korobochka occurs completely by accident, when Pavel Ivanovich loses his way to Sobakevich due to bad weather. Chichikov arrives at Korobochka’s estate, in a village off the main road, and stays with her overnight, which is how they meet.
She was an elderly woman, in shabby clothes, who completely devotes her life to farming, which she runs on her estate. Despite the fact that she has only 80 peasant souls at her disposal, her estate can boast of good condition: strong and well-kept houses, strong and healthy men.
Korobochka lives by selling products produced on her estate, such as honey and hemp. She earns quite a lot from this, she tries to make a profit from everything, she has enough for a comfortable life, nevertheless, the landowner likes to complain about life, become poor and underestimate her income. The box is selfish, greedy, stingy, since it did not feed the guest on the road, distrustful and shows excessive suspicion of people. Nevertheless, Korobochka, in her prosperous household, shows hospitality when she gives Chichikov clean clothes, washes dirty ones, and sends a girl to scratch his heel and fluff his pillow.
The landowner Korobochka collects and stores rubbish, her whole life is one of continuous hoarding, and mustiness reigns in her estate. Also, the interior of her house seems quite old-fashioned to Chichikov, as if he was frozen somewhere in time. Nastasya Petrovna believes in both God and the devil, and sometimes tells fortunes with cards. When Chichikov wakes up, he sees a lot of flies, which once again emphasizes old age. Little is known about Korobochka’s family; she is a widow and has no children. In the process of communicating with the landowner, Chichikov begins to lose his temper; he wants to leave her estate as quickly as possible in order to get rid of her.
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol calls the landowner an oakhead, because after selling dead souls to Pavel Ivanovich, she goes to the city to find out true price to find out if she was deceived.
Overall, representing one of the most bright images, Nastasya Petrovna is an ordinary and simple landowner.
Option 2
The poem is presented in the form of a trip by the main character around Russia, where she is shown with all her hardships and problems. The author showed native land with all its hardships, revealed the reason for the difficult situation of the Russian people and, with the help of satire, exposed the flaws of the existing system. We see how Chichikov, traveling through the southern provinces, wants to inexpensively buy up dead serfs in order to fraudulently get rich and not have to work.
He visits various landowners, among whom Korobochka especially stands out, who is a wealthy landowner, ready to trade with everything her heart desires, including deceased peasants.
Clueless Nastasya Petrovna thinks that she will need to dig up the dead from their graves, and this does not stop her. She intends to do everything just to get a reward. Chichikov, from the first minute, understanding the woman’s character, immediately began to talk with her more freely than with Manilov. He even shouted at her when Korobochka listened to him distractedly. After all, one thing was spinning in her thoughts, just not to give away the dead cheaply, and the rest did not bother her at all.
Korobochka is a powerful lady, she lives subsistence farming, and at the same time understands how money is obtained. The intelligence of her development wants to leave the best. She can tell you how to protect trees with ripe fruits from birds, but she cannot explain why this had to be done. All of her appearance to say that she is not only clueless, but also sloppy. Moreover, it is full of superstitions. The box believes in fortune telling and all sorts of evil spirits that may appear in the house after midnight. Yes, and in her speech they slip different words, inherent in man religious.
Her whole house looks like a box containing many antiques. When you look at her, you are surprised at how greedy Nastasya Petrovna is. She does not have her own children, and there are no relatives to whom all affairs and property can be transferred, and who needed to be introduced to society. And still, she wants more and more capital.
Korobochka's useless hoarding is almost sinister. She saves money for its own sake, and is not even afraid to let dead people go on sale - just so as not to make a mistake. All her coins are put into different colorful bags, which she takes out and counts every day. Her range of interests is also small. Basically, she communicates only with those people with whom she consults on trading issues.
Little by little, Gogol will lead us to how the desire to get rich, the creation of capital by any means, the endless exploitation of the peasants kills the soul of the landowners. They lose their human appearance. In the image of Korobochka he showed new features of capitalist society.
Essay about landowner Korobochka
Gogol's poem can be read at the most different levels, the author put many different layers of meaning into his creation. If we look at Korobochka superficially, then we have a satire on stupidity and the patriarchal way of life, a parody of the limitations of the individual and excessive practicality, a heroine who surprises with her simplicity.
Gogol emphasizes the simplicity of Korobochka in her speech, which is full of simple and even primitive expressions and, as it were, naively naked. Only children or poorly educated people can speak like this without any embarrassment. The landowner is not distinguished by an exalted mind, but she has quite valuable practical knowledge, these details are also noted, for example, the nets that preserve fruit trees.
Thus, Gogol describes the figure of the down-to-earth people, common people without romanticization. These people, in reality, can be absurd and rude, sit and argue where the wheel will roll, know how to buy and sell more profitably. These people have no idea of anything other than their own little world and are not going to get out of there, mired in the swamp of a banal and primitive existence.
If you look at Korobochka in the context of the symbolic series that the author offers, then this heroine appears as a kind of mystical figure who personifies such mystical heroes as Baba Yaga. For Chichikov, the trip to Korobochka is associated with images of death and afterlife experience. Before arriving, he falls into the ground (an image of a burial), when he wakes up, there are flies sitting on his face (like on a corpse), and if you follow the text, Gogol gives similar hints in almost every phrase.
Korobochka, like the magical old woman from Russian fairy tales, lives in the outskirts and is connected with otherworldly forces. In this reading, lamentations, signs in which she believes (making fortunes on cards, for example) and interior details (for example, fortune telling cards) receive a completely new reading and become unique attributes of the sorceress.
Korobochka is also the only female landowner and her figure stands out from the general outline of landowners, thanks to which her image becomes more interesting and unique.
Korobochka is “one of those mothers, small landowners who cry over crop failures and losses” (as Gogol characterizes her), and this is perfectly reflected in her speech. Yes, the trouble is, times are bad, that's it last year There was such a bad harvest that God forbid. What a pity, really, that I sold honey to merchants so cheaply. More examples: “The people are dead, but pay as if they were alive.” Now I have nothing to ride: there is no one to shoe the horses. The harvest is bad, the flour is already so unattractive. Korobochka’s speech reflects her stupidity and ignorance, fear of the new, unusual, fear of Chichikov’s proposal to sell dead souls: Really, I don’t know, because I never sold the dead. Really, I’m afraid at first, lest I somehow incur a loss. My such an inexperienced widow's business! I’d better wait a little. Sometimes the speech of the “club-headed” Korobochka reveals the extreme primitiveness of her thoughts, reaching the point of some kind of childish naivety. Do you really want to dig them out of the ground?- she asks Chichikov about the dead. Or elsewhere: Or maybe the farm will somehow need it just in case. Korobochka’s speech contains many colloquial words and expressions: hog, greasy, underwear, small fry, something, a little, perhaps, how they rested; what will you sip your tea with? assessor; I don’t understand; apply to prices; I can’t clean everything up, what should I do?. Korobochka, an Old Testament landowner-serf, living in the “decent wilderness,” preserves the elementary principles of landowner hospitality and displays in the scene with Chichikov the traits of cordiality necessary for her environment. Hence her address to Chichikov: “my father,” “father.” She kindly turns to Chichikov with suggestions: Would you like to have some tea, father? Sit here, father, on this sofa. Isn't it necessary to rub your back with something?. At night she wishes the guest “good night”, and in the morning she kindly greets: Hello, father. How did you rest? Korobochka's religiosity is emphasized by her speech. She says every now and then: at what time did God bring you; God grant that it passes; there was such a bad harvest that God forbid; God saved me from such trouble; saints, what passions; the power of the cross is with us; by golly. .
Korobochka speaks in a primitive, poor language, expresses her thoughts most often simple sentences. True, from such a road you really need to rest. Sit here, father, on this sofa. Hey, Fetinya, bring a feather bed, pillows and a sheet. For some time God sent: such thunder - I had a candle burning in front of the image all night. Eh, my father, you’re like a hog, your whole back and side are covered in mud! where did you deign to get so dirty?. The above passage is typical of Korobochka’s speech. Here is a kind address to the guest, and sympathy for him, and a hospitable offer, and an order to his maid, and an expression of religiosity. At the same time, she often uses colloquial words; she also has elements of official speech. .
Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov ends up with the landowner Korobochka at an inopportune hour, having lost his way, and even rolled out in the mud after falling from a chaise. The horses, driven by the not entirely sober coachman Selifan, literally crash into the fence of her house.
The image of Korobochka is very interesting. Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka gives shelter to belated travelers, since Chichikov introduces himself as a nobleman, which makes a favorable impression on the widow-landowner. Let's briefly look at Chichikov's visit to Korobochka and brief description Boxes.
Characteristics of the landowner Korobochka
Korobochka's strong and neat farm is located in a secluded place, far from public roads, so life on the estate looks frozen. Significant details that emphasize the frozen world of the heroine and the very image of Korobochka are huge amount flies and hissing like snakes, wall clock.
The landowner living in the wilderness is cordial, hospitable and caring. She, despite two o'clock in the morning, offers Chichikov food, rubbing his back after a fall, and even scratching his heels before bed, as was previously done to the late master.
But Chichikov, whose eyes are already sticking together from the desire to sleep, as if they had been doused with honey, gratefully refuses everything.
Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka’s caring nature is manifested in the fact that she gives the servants the task of cleaning and drying all the guest’s dirty clothes. After this, Chichikov literally falls into a huge, lush feather bed, and in the morning he wakes up from an invasion of flies, one of which even manages to get into his nose.
Chichikov amazes the landowner with his offer to sell dead peasants shower. Nastasya Petrovna is lost and does not understand all the benefits of the offer made to her, because before this she had to trade only with honey, flour, hemp, bird feathers, but not with dead serfs.
Chichikov mentally calls her “strong-headed” and “club-headed” in his hearts.
Some more details of the image of landowner Korobochka
The image of Korobochka is also revealed in the fact that, after haggling a fair amount, the widow of the college secretary finally agrees to the deal and treats Chichikov to all kinds of dishes: mushrooms, pies, pancakes. The pancakes are so delicious that Pavel Ivanovich eats three of them at once.
After such a warm welcome, Chichikov gets into his chaise and leaves with the thought that Korobochka is a born entrepreneur, trying with all his might to sell his products to anyone and everyone profitably and earn as much money as possible. more money. Then you can carefully put them in bags and hide them in the chest of drawers. This is the image of Korobochka.
Chichikov also visited other landowners of city No., among them were the following characters " Dead souls", like Nozdrev, Sobakevich and Manilov. Check out their characteristics to compose full impression O
Let's move on to the features of Korobochka's speech. Korobochka is “one of those mothers, small landowners who cry over crop failures and losses” (this is how she is characterized), and this is perfectly reflected in her speech. “Yes, the trouble is, times are bad, and last year there was such a bad harvest, God forbid.” “What a pity, really, that I sold honey to merchants so cheaply.” Or further: “Yes, I don’t have enough hemp and hemp now - half a pound in total.”
More examples: “The people are dead, but pay as if they were alive.” “Now I have nothing to ride: there is no one to shoe the horses.” “The harvest is bad, the flour is already so unattractive.”
Korobochka’s speech reflects her stupidity and ignorance, fear of the new, unusual, fear of the offer to sell dead souls: “Really, I don’t know, because I’ve never sold the dead;.” “It has never happened before that they sold me dead people”; “Really, I’m afraid, at first, lest I somehow incur a loss.” “My widow’s business is so inexperienced! I’d better wait a little.”
Sometimes the speech of the “club-headed” Korobochka reveals the extreme primitiveness of her thoughts, reaching the point of some kind of childish naivety. “Do you really want to dig them out of the ground?” - she asks Chichikov about the dead. Or in another place: “Or maybe they’ll be needed on the farm just in case.”
In Korobochka’s speech there are many colloquial words and expressions: hog, greasy, theirs, underwear, vit, small fry, something, manenko, maybe, how they slept; what will you sip your tea with? after all, you, I, tea, assessor; I don’t understand; apply to prices; I can’t clean everything up, what should I do? you put down your fights; about Christmas time and lard will be, etc.
It is known what a magical effect the word “nobleman” had on Korobochka, which forced her to open the gate even at a late hour and let Chichikov, who had lost his way, come to her place for the night.
Korobochka, an Old Testament landowner-serf, living in the “decent wilderness,” preserves the elementary principles of landowner hospitality and displays in the scene with Chichikov the traits of cordiality necessary for her environment. Hence her address to Chichikov: “my father,” “father.” She kindly turns to Chichikov with suggestions: “Would you like, father, to have some tea?” “Sit here, father, on this sofa.” “Do you need anything to rub your back with?” “Isn’t there anything else you need? Maybe you’re used to having someone scratch your heels at night, my father?”
At night she wishes the guest “good night”, and in the morning she kindly greets: “Hello, father. How did you rest?” Korobochka's religiosity is emphasized by her speech. She keeps saying: “at what time did God bring you”; “God grant that it passes”; “there was such a bad harvest that God forbid”; “God saved me from such trouble”; “oh, don’t remember him (the devil), God bless him”; “apparently, God sent him as punishment”; “holy saints, what passions”; “the power of the cross is with us”; "By God." Korobochka speaks in a primitive, poor language, expressing her thoughts most often in simple sentences.
“It’s true that from such a road you really need to rest. Sit here, father, on this sofa. Hey, Fetinya, bring a feather bed, pillows and a sheet. For some time God sent: such thunder - I had a candle burning in front of the image all night. Eh, my father, you’re like a hog, your whole back and side are covered in mud! where did you deign to get so dirty?”
The above passage is typical of Korobochka’s speech. Here is a kind address to the guest, and sympathy for him, and a hospitable offer, and an order to his maid, and an expression of religiosity. At the same time, she often uses colloquial words (like a hog, get greasy); It also has elements of official speech (as it pleases).