The question of happiness is central to the poem. It is this question that drives seven wanderers around Russia and forces them, one after another, to sort out the “candidates” for the happy ones. In the ancient Russian book tradition, the genre of travel, pilgrimage to the Holy Land was well known, which in addition to visiting “holy places” had symbolic meaning and meant the pilgrim’s internal ascent to spiritual perfection. Behind the visible movement was hidden a secret, invisible - towards God.
I was guided by this tradition in the poem “ Dead Souls“Gogol, her presence is also felt in Nekrasov’s poem. The men never find happiness, but they get another, unexpected spiritual result.
“Peace, wealth, honor” is the formula of happiness proposed to the wanderers by their first interlocutor, the priest. The priest easily convinces the men that there is neither one nor the other, nor the third in his life, but at the same time he offers them nothing in return, without even mentioning other forms of happiness. It turns out that happiness is exhausted by peace, wealth and honor in his own ideas.
The turning point in the men’s journey is a visit to a rural fair. Here the wanderers suddenly understand that true happiness cannot consist either in a wonderful turnip harvest, or in heroic physical strength, or in the bread that one of the “happy” eats to the full, or even in a saved life - the soldier boasts that he came out alive from many battles, and a man going to bear - that he outlived many of his fellow craftsmen. But none of the “happy” people can convince them that they are truly happy. The seven wanderers gradually realize that happiness is not a material category, not related to earthly well-being or even earthly existence. The story of the next “lucky” one, Ermila Girin, finally convinces them of this.
Wanderers are told the story of his life in detail. Whatever position Ermil Girin finds himself in - clerk, mayor, miller - he invariably lives in the interests of the people, remains honest and fair to the common people. According to those who remembered him, this, apparently, was what his happiness should have consisted of - in selfless service to the peasants. But at the end of the story about Girin, it turns out that he is unlikely to be happy, because he is now sitting in prison, where he ended up (apparently) because he did not want to take part in pacifying the popular revolt. Girin turns out to be the harbinger of Grisha Dobrosklonov, who will also one day end up in Siberia for his love for the people, but it is this love that constitutes the main joy of his life.
After the fair, the wanderers meet Obolt-Obolduev. The landowner, like the priest, also speaks of peace, wealth, and honor (“honor”). Only one more important component is added by Obolt-Obolduev to the priest’s formula - for him, happiness also lies in power over his serfs.
“Whom I want, I will have mercy, / Whom I want, I will execute,” Obolt-Obolduev dreamily recalls about past times. The men were late, he was happy, but in his former, irretrievably gone life.
Then the wanderers forget about their own list of happy ones: landowner - official - priest - noble boyar - minister of the sovereign - tsar. Only two of this long list are inextricably linked with folk life- landowner and priest, but they have already been interviewed; an official, a boyar, especially a tsar, would hardly add anything significant to a poem about the Russian people, a Russian plowman, and therefore neither the author nor the wanderers ever turn to them. A peasant woman is a completely different matter.
Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina opens to readers another page of the story about the Russian peasantry dripping with tears and blood; she tells the men about the suffering she suffered, about the “spiritual storm” that invisibly “passed” through her. All her life, Matryona Timofeevna felt squeezed in the clutches of other people's, unkind wills and desires - she was forced to obey her mother-in-law, father-in-law, daughters-in-law, her own master, and unfair orders, according to which her husband was almost taken to be a soldier. Her definition of happiness, which she once heard from a wanderer in a “woman’s parable,” is also connected with this.
The keys to women's happiness,
From our free will,
Abandoned, lost
From God himself!
Happiness is equated here with “free will”, that’s what it turns out to be - in “free will”, that is, in freedom.
In the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World,” the wanderers echo Matryona Timofeevna: when asked what they are looking for, the men no longer remember the interest that pushed them on the road. They say:
We are looking, Uncle Vlas,
Unflogged province,
Ungutted parish,
Izbytkova sat down.
“Not flogged”, “not gutted”, that is, free. Excess or contentment material well-being placed here on last place. The men have already come to the understanding that excess is just the result of “free will.” Let us not forget that external freedom by the time the poem was created had already entered peasant life, the bonds of serfdom had disintegrated, and provinces that had never been “flogged” were about to appear. But the habits of slavery are too ingrained in the Russian peasantry - and not only in the courtyard people, whose ineradicable servility has already been discussed. Look how easily the former serfs of the Last One agree to play a comedy and again pretend to be slaves - the role is too familiar, habitual and... convenient. They have yet to learn the role of free, independent people.
The peasants mock the Last One, not noticing that they have fallen into a new dependence - on the whims of his heirs. This slavery is already voluntary - all the more terrible it is. And Nekrasov gives the reader a clear indication that the game is not as harmless as it seems - Agap Petrov, who is forced to scream allegedly under the rods, suddenly dies. The men who portrayed the “punishment” did not even touch it with a finger, but invisible reasons turn out to be more significant and destructive than visible ones. Proud Agap, the only one of the men who objected to the new “collar,” cannot stand his own shame.
Perhaps the wanderers do not find among common people happy also because the people are not yet ready to be happy (that is, according to Nekrasov’s system, completely free). The happy one in the poem is not the peasant, but the sexton’s son, seminarian Grisha Dobrosklonov. A hero who understands well the spiritual aspect of happiness.
Grisha experiences happiness by composing a song about Rus', finding the right words about his homeland and people. And this is not only creative delight, it is the joy of insight into one’s own future. In Grisha’s new song, not cited by Nekrasov, the “embodiment of people’s happiness” is glorified. And Grisha understands that it will be he who will help the people “embody” this happiness.
Fate had in store for him
The path is glorious, the name is loud
People's Defender,
Consumption and Siberia.
Grisha is followed by several prototypes at once, his surname is a clear allusion to the surname of Dobrolyubov, his fate includes the main milestones of the path of Belinsky, Dobrolyubov (both died of consumption), Chernyshevsky (Siberia). Like Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov, Grisha also comes from a spiritual environment. In Grisha one can also discern the autobiographical traits of Nekrasov himself. He is a poet, and Nekrasov easily conveys his lyre to the hero; Through Grisha’s youthful tenor, Nikolai Alekseevich’s dull voice clearly sounds: the style of Grisha’s songs exactly reproduces the style of Nekrasov’s poems. Grisha is just not Nekrasov-like cheerful.
He is happy, but wanderers are not destined to know about this; the feelings overwhelming Grisha are simply inaccessible to them, which means their path will continue. If we, following the author’s notes, move the chapter “Peasant Woman” to the end of the poem, the ending will not be so optimistic, but deeper.
In “Elegy,” one of his most “soulful,” by his own definition, poems, Nekrasov wrote: “The people are liberated, but are the people happy?” The author’s doubts also appear in “The Peasant Woman.” Matryona Timofeevna does not even mention the reform in her story - is it because her life changed little even after her liberation, that there was no more “free will” in her?
The poem remained unfinished, and the question of happiness open. Nevertheless, we caught the “dynamics” of the men’s journey. From earthly ideas about happiness, they move to the understanding that happiness is a spiritual category and to achieve it, changes are necessary not only in the social, but also in the spiritual structure of every peasant.
The problem of happiness is indeed stated in the poem. But there they also expand it, asking about fun and freedom. Yes, these are important parts of happiness.
All the characters have a hard time in the poem. It is especially difficult with will. For example, a priest (he is wealthy and respected), but someone dies in a distant village - you need to go there off-road. What is the will here?
And for a woman, even if she is happy for all her children, then there is always one thing and another. One child needs food, another needs new sandals. In general, there is no rest for a woman.
It is clear that the poet suggests that happiness is not in the usual peace and will, but in peace, that you are doing the right and good thing, for which you are even ready to give up your freedom. Don’t be selfish... Work for the good of the people, the very same people's happiness.
Just what is this? Before the abolition of serfdom, everyone said that this was the problem. They called for the abolition of slavery. And this is what happened after the cancellation! Everyone is unhappy: both men and gentlemen.
Perhaps misfortune comes from being forced. Now, if only men served their masters only because they love and respect them and want to help, and not because they don’t have a passport. And masters must take care of their subordinates sincerely and with love. Then there will be harmony! But this, probably, teachers and priests could only explain to everyone.
And the “happy” hero is a revolutionary, what will he achieve in the end? We went through history. And about the revolution, and about civil war... How many misfortunes there were! Where is the people's happiness? Again, not that.
And in my opinion, the walkers themselves are also happy in the poem. They obviously don't think so. In general, they associate happiness with prosperity. And they themselves are fire victims and tramps from villages with “telling” names. And then they had a goal! And a magical tablecloth from a bird appeared. No everyday life - no cooking, no washing... And they get acquainted with different people, see different landscapes. And they became friends with each other, although at first they were ready to fight! This is also happiness, although they have not understood it yet. But when they return to their poor villages, they will tell everyone, they will remember this great adventure... And they will understand how happy they were!
I would also be interested in walking around Russia with friends and conducting such a “opinion survey.” And do not worry about everyday life, but seek the truth for the benefit of everyone. Class!
By the way, happiness is such a complex concept. So we wrote an essay on it. And everyone still has their own happiness. And here we are talking about the whole people's happiness. It's very difficult to put everything together. There, for the peasant there is one happiness (the harvest), and for the priest it is another (the parish). What if the happiness of one and the other contradicts? The peasant gets more freedom, and the master gets more servants. And how to connect it all?
The search for happiness, I believe, is also happiness. How preparing for a holiday is sometimes more enjoyable than the holiday.
The problem of national happiness in Nekrasov’s poem Who Lives Well in Rus' Essay 10th Grade
Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov, one of the most talented writers of the nineteenth century, began the poem in 1863 and composed it until the end of his life, until 1877. The writer devoted his life to poems about the tyranny of the Russian people. Even in deep childhood, he was not indifferent to the topic of his father’s cruel treatment of the peasants. The poem was a continuation of the poem “Elegy”, where the question was posed:
"The people are liberated,
But are the people happy?
The poem was the result of Nekrasov’s reflection on the theme of poverty, tyranny of peasants by landowners, drunkenness in Rus', and the inability of peasants to stand up for themselves. After the abolition of serfdom, much in the life of the peasants had to change, because, it would seem, this is freedom, but the peasants are so accustomed to their life that they do not even know the meaning of the word “freedom.” And for them, little has changed in life: “Now, instead of the master, the volost will do the fighting,” writes the author.
The composition of the poem consists of separate chapters connected by the motives of the main characters' roads. It also contains fairy-tale elements and songs. Seven wanderers with names that already speak to us from the villages of Zaplatovo, Dyryaevo, Razutovo, Znobishino, Gorelovo, Neelovo and Neurozhaiko - become truth-seekers of the world of a happy person. One claims that the happiest is the priest, another says that the boyar, the third that the king.
To dispel their dispute, the wanderers decide to conduct a survey of residents. They offer vodka for free in exchange for a story about their happiness. There were a lot of people willing. By this, the author also shows the problem of drunkenness in Rus'. And this is not surprising, because from such difficult life It's hard not to sleep. However, they claim to be happy. The sexton put it this way: for him, happiness is drunkenness, for which he is simply kicked out. The next soldier comes up, he says that he is happy as he served, but did not die. Then the grandmother is pleased with the harvest. The line continues to grow, but the travelers realize that they wasted their time.
Soon, researchers of human happiness go to Kochergina Matryona, she says that for her happiness is her children. With this, the writer paints the image of a Russian woman, describing her difficult fate. “It’s not a matter of looking for a happy woman among women,” declares Matryona.
Grisha can be considered a truly happy person. From his song you can understand that he is truly the most happy man. Grisha is the main character in the poem. He is honest, he loves the people and understands them. Grisha connects his happiness with the fate of the people; he is happy when others are happy. In the image of Dobrosklonov, the author sees hope for the future of Russia. And yet there are happy people in Rus', it’s a pity that the wanderers never knew this.
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Nekrasov conceived the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” as “ folk book" He began writing it in 1863 and ended up terminally ill in 1877. The poet dreamed that his book would be close to the peasantry.
At the center of the poem - collective image Russian peasantry, the image of a guardian native land. The poem reflects a man's joys and sorrows, doubts and hopes, thirst for freedom and happiness. All major events The lives of a peasant fit into this work. The plot of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is close to the folk tale about the search for happiness and truth. But the peasants who set out on the journey are not pilgrim pilgrims. They are a symbol of awakening Russia.
Among the peasants depicted by Nekrasov, we see many persistent seekers of truth. These are, first of all, seven men. Their main goal is to find “peasant happiness.” And until they find him, the men decided
Don't toss and turn in the houses,
Don't see any wives
Not with the little guys...
But besides them, in the poem there are seekers of national happiness. One of them is shown by Nekrasov in the chapter “ drunken night" This is Yakim Nagoy. In his appearance and speech one can feel his inner dignity, unbroken by either hard work or a powerless situation. Yakim argues with the “smart master” Pavlusha Veretennikov. He defends men from the reproach that they “drink until they stupefy.” Yakim is smart, he understands perfectly why life is so difficult for peasants. His rebellious spirit does not resign himself to such a life. A formidable warning sounds in the mouth of Yakim Nagoy:
Every peasant
Soul, like a black cloud,
Angry, menacing - and it should be
Thunder will roar from there...
The chapter “Happy” tells about another man - Ermil Girin. He became famous throughout the area for his intelligence and selfless devotion to the interests of the peasants. The story about Ermil Girin begins with a description of the hero's litigation with the merchant Altynnikov over the orphan mill. Ermila turns to the people for help.
And a miracle happened
Throughout the market square
Every peasant has
Like the wind, half left
Suddenly it turned upside down!
Yermil is endowed with a sense of justice. Only once did he stumble when he excluded “his younger brother Mitri from recruiting.” But this act cost him severe torment; in a fit of repentance, he almost committed suicide. At a critical moment, Ermila Girin sacrifices her happiness for the sake of the truth and ends up in prison.
We see that the heroes of the poem understand happiness differently. differently. From the point of view of the priest, this is “peace, wealth, honor.” According to the landowner, happiness is idle, well-fed, happy life, unlimited power over the peasants. In search of wealth and power, “a huge, greedy crowd is heading towards temptation,” writes Nekrasov.
In the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” Nekrasov also touches on the problem of women’s happiness. It is revealed through the image of Matryona Timofeevna. This is a typical peasant woman of the Central Russian strip, endowed with restrained beauty, filled with self-esteem. On her shoulders fell not only the entire burden of peasant labor, but also responsibility for the fate of the family, for raising children. The image of Matryona Timofeevna is collective. She experienced everything that can befall a Russian woman. Hard fate Matryona Timofeevna gives her the right to say to wanderers on behalf of all Russian women:
The keys to women's happiness,
From our free will,
Abandoned, lost
From God himself!
Nekrasov reveals the problem of national happiness in the poem also with the help of the image people's defender Grisha Dobrosklonova. He is the son of a sexton who lived “poorer than the last shabby peasant” and “an unrequited farmhand.” A hard life gives rise to protest in this person. From childhood he decides that he will devote his life to the search for national happiness.
About fifteen years old
Gregory already knew for sure
What will live for happiness
Wretched and dark
Native corner
Grisha Dobrosklonov does not need wealth and personal well-being. His happiness lies in the triumph of the cause to which he devoted his entire life. Nekrasov writes what fate had in store for him
The path is glorious, the name is loud
People's Defender,
Consumption and Siberia.
But he does not back down from the challenges ahead. Grisha Dobrosklonov sees that many millions of people are already awakening:
An innumerable host rises,
The strength in her will be indestructible!
And this fills his soul with joy. He believes in a happy future for his native land and this is precisely the happiness of Gregory himself. To the question of the poem, Nekrasov himself answers that fighters for people’s happiness live well in Rus':
If only our wanderers could be under their own roof,
If only they could know what was happening to Grisha.
He heard the immense strength in his chest,
The sounds of grace delighted his ears,
The radiant sounds of the noble hymn -
He sang the embodiment of people's happiness.
The question of happiness is the main problem of N. A. Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” and determines its plot and composition.
Nekrasov began working on the poem shortly after the peasant reform, so it reflected the consequences of the abolition of serfdom, the general crisis, during which “the great chain broke.” Thus, the central issue in the poem is the question of “post-reform” happiness, which is closely connected with the socio-political issues of the work.
The very title of the poem speaks about the stated problem, setting up a search for someone who “lives cheerfully and freely in Rus'.” The seekers of the happy are the peasants - the “seven temporarily obliged”, whose collective image runs through the entire poem. It is significant that the men converge “on the high road”: their path, the “disputed matter” becomes the compositional core of the poem.
Starting work on his work, Nekrasov wrote: “This will be an epic of modern peasant life.” The epic breadth of the plan explains the diversity of types, characters, as well as different ideas about happiness reflected in the poem.
A priest met by men who, in their opinion, “lives happily”:
Nobles bells -
The priests live like princes, -
dissuades the peasants, telling in detail “what the butt is like... peace, wealth, honor.”
The landowner Obolt-Obolduev, with whom the “seekers of the happy” are talking, complains:
I smoked heavens,
Wore the royal livery,
Wasted the people's treasury
And I thought about living like this forever...
And suddenly...
On the contrary, in the chapter “The Happy,” those among whom the wanderers would never have thought to look for the happy come to tell the peasants about their happiness. The soldier with medals is happy because he was mercilessly beaten with sticks, “even if you feel it, he’s alive,” the overstrained Tryphon, who “carried away at least fourteen pounds,” and “made it home.” In contrast to their “peasant happiness” is depicted the “lackey” happiness - to be a “beloved slave”, to stand behind the chair “at His Serene Highness // At Prince Peremetyev’s.”
Thus, the poem raises the theme of a false, “servile” and true idea of happiness, associated with Nekrasov’s reverent attitude towards the people: recognizing the people’s conscientiousness and desire for truth, the author did not tolerate passivity, the people’s “habit of slavery.” The author's contempt for the slave Prince Peremetyev is also manifested in the plot twist: the lackey, drunk, “gets caught stealing.”
The chapter “The Last One” also seems to present the “false happiness” of the peasants who voluntarily pretend to be the serfs of Prince Utyatin. Not all men immediately agree to such a “performance”; mayor Vlas says:
And so I will forever,
Standing at the lintel
I suffered before the master
Enough!
However, the peasants have a goal - to get “hired meadows”, so the “performance” becomes the path to achieving happiness. The principle of contrast in the depiction of the people is preserved in “The Last One”: the two mayors differ from each other (Vlas is “sullen”, and Klim has “a clay conscience, Minin’s beard”). An even more striking contrast is between Ipat, “the princes of the Utyatins’ slave,” and Agap Petrovich, who could not stand the pretense and died because “his head is unbowed.”
In addition to the question of “false” and “true” ideas of happiness, the poem raises the question of women's happiness. The wanderers decide:
Not everything is between men
Find the happy one
Let's feel the women!
image Matryona Timofeevna A separate chapter is devoted to Korchagina, whom men are advised to ask, “a poem within a poem” - “Peasant Woman”. This chapter shows almost the entire life of Matryona Timofeevna, the development of her character. Element of folklore, folk songs, rituals (“And the little girl rolled // From the girl’s head”) allows us to talk about the image of the “peasant woman” as a symbol of the entire Russian nation: the question of women’s happiness turns out to be closely connected with the question of the happiness of Russia in general.
Matryona Timofeevna finds happiness in motherhood:
With all my strength God given,
I put it to work
All the love for the kids!
At the same time, this happiness turns into a huge disaster: Dyomushka dies, and for Fedot she herself “lies under the rod.” The help of the governor’s wife, because of which Matryona Timofeevna was “glorified as a lucky woman,” was perhaps the only miracle in her life.
Thus, this peasant woman does not call herself happy and believes that:
Keys to female happiness
Abandoned, lost
From God himself!
In the chapter “Peasant Woman,” in addition to the image of Matryona Timofeevna, another important image appears - the image of Savely, the “hero of Holy Russia.” Savely embodies the idea of the strength of the Russian people, is a rebel peasant (the murder of Vogel expresses his spontaneous protest). “Branded, but not a slave!” - he says about himself.
According to contemporaries, at first Nekrasov decided to answer the question: “who lives happily and freely in Rus'”: “drunk.” While working on the poem, the theme of happiness gradually changed and faded into the background (for example, in the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World” the issue of happiness is touched upon indirectly). The image of Grisha Dobroeklonov can be considered one of the options for solving the problem of happiness: happiness for everyone, not for oneself, love for “mysterious Rus'”. Still, the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” does not answer this question, and the global philosophical problem about national happiness remains unresolved.
Poem by N.A. Nekrasov’s “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is the final work of the poet’s work. The poet reflects the themes of national happiness and grief, talks about human values.
Happiness for the heroes of the poem
The main characters of the work are seven men who go in search of happiness in Mother Russia. The heroes talk about happiness in disputes.
The first to meet on the way of wanderers is a priest. For him, happiness is peace, honor and wealth. But he has neither one nor the other, nor the third. He also convinces the heroes that happiness separately from the rest of society is completely impossible.
The landowner sees happiness in having power over the peasants. Peasants care about the harvest, health and satiety. Soldiers dream of being able to survive in difficult battles. The old woman finds happiness in a good turnip harvest. For Matryona Timofeevna, happiness is in human dignity, nobility and rebellion.
Ermil Girin
Ermil Girin sees his happiness in helping the people. Ermil Girin was respected and appreciated by the men for his honesty and fairness. But once in his life he stumbled and sinned - he fenced his nephew off from recruiting and sent another guy. Having committed such an act, Yermil almost hanged himself from torment of conscience. But the mistake was corrected, and Yermil took the side of the rebellious peasants, and for this he was sent to prison.
Understanding Happiness. Grisha Dobrosklonov
Gradually, the search for a lucky person in Rus' develops into an awareness of the concept of Happiness. People's happiness is represented by the image of Grisha Dobrosklonov, the people's protector. While still a child, he set himself the goal of fighting for the happiness of the simple peasant, for the good of the people. It is in achieving this goal that happiness for young man. For the author himself, this understanding of the problem of happiness in Rus' is close.
Happiness as perceived by the author
The main thing for Nekrasov is to contribute to the happiness of the people around him. A person cannot be happy on his own. Happiness will become available to the people only when the peasantry acquires its own civic position, when it learns to fight for its future.