To whom in Russia to live well peasants description. The image of the landowners in the poem “Who is living well in Russia” by Nekrasov is an essay. The image of the main characters-wanderers

Animals

The great Russian poet N. A. Nekrasov was born and raised in the countryside, among endless meadows and fields. As a boy, he liked to run away from home to his village friends. Here he met with ordinary working people. Later, becoming a poet, he created a number of truthful works about ordinary poor people, their way of life, speech, and Russian nature.

About them social status even the names of the villages speak: Zaplatovo, Dyryavino, Razutovo, Neyolovo, Neurozhayko and others. The priest who met him also spoke about their plight: “The peasant himself needs, and he would be glad to give, but there is nothing ...”.

On the one hand, the weather fails: either it rains constantly, or the sun scorches mercilessly, burning the crop. On the other hand, most of the harvest has to be paid in the form of taxes:

Look, there are three equity holders:

God, king and lord

The peasants at Nekrasov are great workers:

Not white women are tender,

And we are great people

At work and in the party!

One of these representatives is Yakim Nagoi:

He works to death

Drink half to death!

Another representative of the "great people" - Ermila Girin is shown as an honest, fair, conscientious man. He is respected among the peasants. The fact that when Yermila turned to the people for help, everyone chipped in and rescued Girin speaks of the great confidence in him of his compatriots. He, in turn, returned everything to the penny. And he gave the remaining unclaimed ruble to the blind man.

While in the service, he tried to help everyone and did not take a penny for it: "You need a bad conscience - soak a penny from a peasant."

Once having stumbled and sent another recruit instead of his brother, Jirin suffers mentally to the point that he is ready to take his own life.

In general, the image of Girin is tragic. Wanderers learn that he is in prison for helping a rebellious village.

Equally bleak is the fate of the peasant woman. In the image of Matrena Timofeevna, the author shows the stamina and endurance of a Russian woman.

The fate of Matrena includes hard work, on a par with men, and family relationships, and the death of her first child. But she bears all the blows of fate without a murmur. And when it comes to her loved ones, she stands up for them. It turns out that among women there are no happy ones:

Keys to female happiness

From our free will

Abandoned, lost, with God himself!

Supports Matryona Timofeevna only Savely. This is an old man who was once a holy Russian hero, but who spent his strength on hard work and hard labor:

Where are you, power, gone?

What were you good for?

Under rods, under sticks

Gone little by little!

Savely has weakened physically, but his faith in a better future is alive. He constantly repeats: “Branded, but not a slave!”

It turns out that Savely was sent to hard labor for burying the German Vogel alive, who was disgusted with the peasants by mercilessly mocking them and oppressing them.

Nekrasov calls Savely "a hero of the Holy Russian":

And it bends, but does not break,

Doesn't break, doesn't fall...

At Prince Peremetyev's

I was a favorite slave.

Prince Utyatin's footman Ipat admires his master.

About these peasant slaves, Nekrasov says this:

People of the servile rank

Real dogs sometimes.

The more severe the punishment

So dear to them, gentlemen.

In fact, the psychology of slavery has so ingrained itself into their souls that it has completely killed their human dignity.

Thus, the peasants of Nekrasov are heterogeneous, like any society of people. But for the most part they are honest, hardworking, striving for freedom, and therefore, fortunately, representatives of the peasantry.

It is no coincidence that the poem ends with a song about Russia, in which one can hear the hope for the enlightenment of the Russian people:

The army rises innumerable,

The strength in it will be invincible!

Updated: 2017-12-28

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Drawing numerous images of peasants, Nekrasov divides the heroes, as it were, into two camps: slaves and fighters. Already in the prologue we get acquainted with the peasants-truth-seekers. They are united by poverty, unpretentiousness, the desire to find a happy person in Russia. Traveling, they meet with different people, give them an assessment, determine their attitude to the priest, to the landowner, to the peasant reform, to the peasants. Truth seekers are hardworking, always striving to help others.
However, Nekrasov more fully reveals the images of peasant fighters who do not grovel before the masters, do not reconcile themselves to their slavish position. Yakim Nagoi from the village of Bosovo lives in dire poverty. He works to death, escaping under a harrow from heat and rain. He admits that most of his labor is appropriated by "shareholders" who live off peasants like him. But still, Yakim finds the strength in himself to create at least some kind of life, some kind of beauty. He decorates his hut with pictures, loves and always uses a well-aimed word to the point, his speech is full of proverbs and sayings. Yakim is the image of a new type of peasant, a rural proletarian who has been in the seasonal industry. And his voice is the voice of the most resolute peasants.
With great sympathy, the writer treats his hero Yermil Girin, the village headman, fair, honest, intelligent. Only once did Yermil act out of conscience, giving the son of the old woman Vlasyevna instead of his brother to the army. Repentant, he tried to hang himself. In a difficult moment, the people help Yermil to save the mill, showing exceptional trust in him. This act confirms the ability of the peasants to act together, with the whole world.
Another hero is Saveliy, a Holy Russian hero, a fighter for the cause of the people. Savely's life was hard. In his youth, he, like all peasants, for a long time endured cruel abuse from the landowner Shalashnikov, his manager. But Savely cannot accept such an order, and he rebels along with other peasants who have buried the German Vogel alive in the ground. “Twenty years of strict hard labor, twenty years of settlement” Savely received for this. Returning to his native village as an old man, Savely retained good spirits and hatred for the oppressors: “Branded, but not a slave!”
The image of Savely embodies the desire of the people for freedom. The image of Savely is given in one chapter with the image of Matryona Timofeevna. And this is no coincidence. The poet shows together two strong Russian characters. Most of the poem is dedicated to the Russian woman. Matrena Timofeevna goes through all the trials that a Russian woman could ever go through. After marriage, I had to work like a slave, endure the reproaches of the new relatives, the beatings of my husband. Only in work and in children did she find joy, and in difficult times she always showed firmness and perseverance: she fussed about the release of her husband, who was illegally taken as a soldier, she even went to the governor himself. Recalcitrant, resolute, she was always ready to defend her rights, and this brings her closer to Savely.
With great love, Nekrasov painted images of truth-seekers, fighters, but did not close his eyes to dark sides the life of the peasantry. The poem depicts peasants corrupted by their masters and accustomed to their slavish position. In the chapter "Happy" the truth-seeking peasants meet with a "broken-down courtyard man" who considers himself lucky because he was his master's favorite slave. Yard is proud that his daughter studied with the young lady French, and for thirty years he himself stood at the chair of the most illustrious prince, licked the plates after him and drank the remnants of overseas wines. He is proud of his "closeness" to the masters and his "honorable" disease - gout. Freedom-loving peasants laugh at a slave who looks down on his fellow peasants, who does not understand all the baseness of his lackey position.
To match this courtyard - the courtyard of Prince Utyatin Ipat, as well as "an exemplary lackey - Jacob is faithful." Yakov served with the cruel Mr. Polivanov, who "in the teeth of an exemplary serf ... seemed to blow with his heel." Despite such treatment, the faithful slave pleased the master until his old age. The landowner severely offended his faithful servant by recruiting his beloved nephew Grisha. Yakov “fooled”: first he “drank the dead”, and then he brought the master into a deaf forest ravine and hung himself on a pine tree above his head. The poet condemns such manifestations of protest in the same way as servile obedience.
With deep indignation, Nekrasov speaks of such traitors to the people's cause as the headman Gleb. He, bribed by the heir, destroyed the "free" given to the peasants before his death by the old master-admiral, than "for decades, until recently, eight thousand souls were secured by the villain." For images of courtyard peasants who became slaves of their masters and abandoned true peasant interests, the poet finds words of angry contempt: a slave, a serf, a dog, Judas. Nekrasov concludes their characteristics with a typical generalization: “People of the servile rank - / Real dogs sometimes: / The harder the punishment, / The dearer the Lord is to them.”
Creating various types of peasants, Nekrasov argues that there are no happy ones among them, that even after the abolition of serfdom, the peasants still remained destitute, only the forms of their oppression changed. But among the peasants there are people capable of conscious, active protest, and the author believes that with the help of such people in the future in Russia everyone will live well and, first of all, a bright life will come for the simple Russian people: “The Russian people have not yet been set / Limits :/ There is a wide path before him.”

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“Images of peasants in the poem by N.A. Nekrasov "Who should live well in Russia"

Poem by N.A. Nekrasov "Who should live well in Russia" was created in the last period of the poet's life (1863-1876). ideological concept The poem is already indicated in its title, and then it is repeated in the text: who is living well in Russia? In the poem “To whom it is good to live in Russia” N.A. Nekrasov shows the life of the Russian peasantry in post-reform Russia, their plight. The main problem of this work is the search for an answer to the question, “who lives happily, freely in Russia”, who is worthy and not worthy of happiness? The poet speaks about the essence of the royal manifesto in the words of the people: "You are good, royal letter, but you are not written about us." The poet touched upon the topical problems of his time, condemned slavery and oppression, glorified the freedom-loving, talented, strong-willed Russian people. The author introduces into the poem the image of seven wandering peasants traveling around the country in search of the lucky ones. They live in the villages: Zaplatovo, Dyryavino, Razutovo, Znobishino, Gorelovo, Neelovo, Neurozhayka. They are united by poverty, unpretentiousness, the desire to find a happy person in Russia. Traveling, the peasants meet different people, give them an assessment, determine their attitude to the priest, to the landowner, to the peasant reform, to the peasants. The peasants do not seek happiness among the working people: peasants, soldiers. Their idea of ​​happiness is associated with the images of the clergy, merchants, nobility, and the king. Peasants-truth-seekers have a sense of their own dignity. They are deeply convinced that the working people are better, higher, smarter than the landowner. The author shows the hatred of the peasants for those who live at their expense. Nekrasov also emphasizes the love of the people for work, their desire to help other people. Having learned that Matrena Timofeevna's crop is dying, the men offer her help without hesitation. The peasants of the Illiterate province are just as willing to help mow the grass. “Like teeth from hunger” everyone has a nimble hand.

Traveling in Russia, men meet various people. The disclosure of the images of the heroes met by the truth-seekers allows the author to characterize not only the position of the peasantry, but also the life of the merchants, clergy, and nobility.

After listening to the story of the priest about his "happiness", having received advice to find out about the happiness of the landowner, the peasants cut him off: you are past them, the landowners! We know them! Truth-seekers are not satisfied with the word of the nobility, they need a "Christian word." “Give me a Christian word! Nobility with a scolding, With a push and with a denture, That is unsuitable for us! They have self-respect. In the chapter "Happy" they angrily see off a sexton, a yard clerk, who boasted of his servile position: "Get out!" They sympathize with the terrible story of the soldier and say to him: “Here, drink, servant! There is nothing to argue with you. You are happy - there is no word.

The author pays the main attention to the peasants. The images of Yakim Nagogoy, Ermila Girin, Savely, Matrena Timofeevna combine both general, typical features peasantry, as, for example, hatred of all the "shareholders" who are draining their vitality, as well as individual traits.

More fully, Nekrasov reveals the images of peasant fighters who do not grovel before the masters, do not reconcile themselves to their slavish position. Yakim Nagoi from the village of Bosovo lives in dire poverty. He works to death, escaping under a harrow from heat and rain. His portrait testifies to constant hard work:

And myself to mother earth

He looks like: a brown neck,

Like a layer cut off with a plow,

brick face...

The chest is sunken, like a depressed belly. There are bends near the eyes, near the mouth, like cracks in the dry earth ... Reading the description of the peasant's face, we understand that Yakim, all his life toiling on a gray, barren piece, himself became like the earth. Yakim admits that most of his labor is appropriated by "shareholders" who do not work, but live on the labors of peasants like him. “You work alone, and as soon as the work is over, look, there are three equity holders: God, the king and the master!” All my long life Yakim worked, experienced many hardships, went hungry, went to prison, and, "like a peeled velvet, he returned to his homeland." But still he finds in himself the strength to create at least some kind of life, some kind of beauty. Yakim decorates his hut with pictures, loves and uses a well-aimed word, his speech is full of proverbs and sayings. Yakim is the image of a new type of peasant, a rural proletarian who has been in the seasonal industry. And his voice is the voice of the most resolute peasants. Yakim understands that the peasantry is a great force. He is proud to belong to him. He knows the strength and weakness of the "peasant soul":

Soul that black cloud -

Angry, formidable - and it would be necessary

Thunders rumble from there ...

And everything ends with wine ...

Yakim refutes the opinion that the peasant is poor because he drinks. He reveals the true reason for this situation - the need to work for "shareholders". The fate of Yakim is typical for the peasants of post-reform Russia: he “once lived in St. Petersburg”, but, having lost a lawsuit with a merchant, he ended up in prison, from where he returned, “stripped like a velcro” and “took a plow”.

The writer treats his hero Yermil Girin with great sympathy, a village headman, fair, honest, intelligent, who, according to the peasants: twisted ... ”Yermil acted not in good conscience only once, giving the son of the old woman Vlasyevna instead of his brother to the army. Repentant, he tried to hang himself. According to the peasants, Yermil had everything for happiness: peace of mind, money, honor, but his honor is special, not bought "neither money nor fear: strict truth, intelligence and kindness." The people, defending the worldly cause, in difficult times help Yermil to save the mill, showing exceptional trust in him. This act confirms the ability of the people to act together, in peace. And Ermil, not afraid of the jail, took the side of the peasants when: “the patrimony of the landowner Obrubkov rebelled ...” Ermil Girin is the defender of peasant interests. If the protest of Yakim Nagogoi is spontaneous, then Yermil Girin rises to a conscious protest.

Another hero of the work is Savely. Saveliy, the Holy Russian hero - a fighter for the cause of the people. Savely acts as a folk philosopher. He reflects on whether the people should continue to endure their lack of rights, their oppressed state. Saveliy comes to the conclusion: it is better to “not tolerate” than to “endure”, and he calls for a protest. In his youth, he, like all peasants, for a long time endured cruel abuse from the landowner Shalashnikov, his manager. But Savely cannot accept such an order, and he rebels along with other peasants, he buried the living German Vogel in the ground. "Twenty years of strict penal servitude, twenty years of settlement" Savely received for this. Returning to his native village as an old man, Savely retained good spirits and hatred for the oppressors. "Branded, but not a slave!" he said about himself. Savely to old age retained a clear mind, cordiality, responsiveness. In the poem, he is shown as a people's avenger: "our axes lay - for the time being!" He speaks contemptuously of the passive peasants, calling them "the dead ... the lost." Nekrasov calls Saveliy a Holy Russian hero, raising him very high, emphasizing his heroic character, and also compares him with the folk hero Ivan Susanin. The image of Savely embodies the desire of the people for freedom. The image of Savely is given in one chapter with the image of Matryona Timofeevna not by chance. The poet shows together two heroic Russian characters.

nekrasov poem peasantry rus

In the last chapter, entitled "A Woman's Parable", a peasant woman speaks of the common female share: "The keys to women's happiness, to our free will are abandoned, lost from God himself." But Nekrasov is sure that the "keys" must be found. The peasant woman will wait and achieve happiness. The poet speaks about this in one of Grisha Dobrosklonov's songs: “You are still a slave in the family, but the mother is already a free son!”

With great love, Nekrasov painted images of truth-seekers, fighters, who expressed the strength of the people, the will to fight against the oppressors. However, the writer did not close his eyes to the dark sides of the life of the peasantry. The poem depicts peasants who are corrupted by the masters and have become accustomed to their slavish position. In the chapter "Happy" the truth-seeking peasants meet with a "broken-down courtyard man" who considers himself lucky because he was Prince Peremetyev's favorite slave. The courtyard is proud that his "daughter - together with the young lady studied both French and all kinds of languages, she was allowed to sit down in the presence of the princess." And the courtyard himself stood for thirty years at the chair of the Most Serene Prince, licked the plates after him and drank the rest of the overseas wines. He is proud of his "closeness" to the masters and his "honorable" disease - gout. Simple freedom-loving peasants laugh at a slave who looks down on his fellow peasants, not understanding all the meanness of his lackey position. The court yard of Prince Utyatin Ipat did not even believe that the "freedom" was announced to the peasants: "And I am the princes Utyatin Kholop - and that's the whole story!"

From childhood to old age, the master, as best he could, mocked his slave Ipat. All this the footman took for granted: “He ransomed me, the last slave, in the winter in the hole! Yes, how wonderful! Two ice-holes: he will lower it in a seine into one, he will instantly pull it out into the other and bring vodka. ” Ipat could not forget the master's "favors" that, after swimming in the hole, the prince would "bring vodka", then he would plant "nearby, unworthy, with his princely person."

The obedient slave is also shown in the image of "an exemplary serf - Jacob the faithful." Yakov served with the cruel Mr. Polivanov, who "in the teeth of an exemplary serf ... casually blew with his heel." Despite such treatment, the faithful slave protected and gratified the master until his old age. The landowner severely offended his faithful servant by recruiting his beloved nephew Grisha. Jacob "stupid". First, he "drank it dead", and then he brought the master into a deaf forest ravine and hung himself on a pine tree above his head. The poet condemns such manifestations of protest in the same way as servile obedience.

With deep indignation, Nekrasov speaks of such traitors to the people's cause as the headman Gleb. He, bribed by the heir, destroyed the "free" given to the peasants before his death by the old master-admiral, than "for decades, until recently, eight thousand souls were secured by the villain." For images of courtyard peasants who became slaves of their masters and abandoned true peasant interests, the poet finds words of angry contempt: a slave, a serf, a dog, Judas.

The poem also notes such a feature of the Russian peasantry as religiosity. It's a way to get away from reality. God is the supreme judge, from whom the peasants seek protection and justice. Faith in God is the hope for a better life.

Nekrasov concludes the characteristics with a typical generalization: “people of the servile rank are real dogs sometimes: the harder the punishment, the dearer they are to the Lord.” Creating various types of peasants, Nekrasov claims that there are no happy ones among them, that even after the abolition of serfdom, the peasants are still destitute and bloodless. But among the peasants there are people capable of conscious, active protest, and he believes that with the help of such people in the future in Russia everyone will live well, and in the first place good life for the Russian people. “The limits of the Russian people have not yet been set: there is a wide path ahead of them” N.A. Nekrasov in the poem “Who Lives Well in Russia” recreated the life of the peasantry in post-reform Russia, revealed the typical character traits of Russian peasants, showing that this is a force to be reckoned with, which is gradually beginning to realize its rights.

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At the heart of the poem "To whom it is good to live in Russia" N.A. Nekrasov is the image of the Russian peasantry after the abolition of serfdom. Throughout the work, the characters are looking for an answer to the question: “Who lives happily, freely in Russia?” Who is considered happy, who is unhappy.

Men-truth seekers

At the forefront of the study is the journey of seven men through Russian villages in search of an answer to the question posed. In the guise of the seven "volunteers" we see only common features of the peasants, namely: poverty, inquisitiveness, unpretentiousness.

The men ask about the happiness of the meeting peasants, soldiers. The priest, the landowner, the merchant, the nobleman and the tsar seem lucky to them. But the main place in the poem is given to the peasantry.

Yakim Nagoi


Yakim Nagoi works "to death", but lives hand to mouth, like most residents of Bosovo. In the description of the hero, we see how hard Yakim's life is: "... He himself looks like mother earth." Yakim realizes that the peasants are the greatest power, he is proud that he belongs to this group of people. he knows the strengths and weaknesses of the peasant character. The main disadvantage is alcohol, which has a detrimental effect on men.

For Yakim, the opinion that the poverty of the peasantry is caused by the use of wine is unacceptable. In his opinion, this is due to the obligation to work for "shareholders". The fate of the hero is typical for the Russian people after the abolition of serfdom: living in the capital, he enters into a dispute with a merchant, ended up in prison, from where he returned to the village and began to plow the land.

Ermila Girin

Ermila Girina N.A. Nekrasov endowed with honesty and great intelligence. He lived for the sake of the people, was honest, fair, left no one in trouble. He committed the only dishonest act for the sake of the family - he saved his nephew from recruitment. He sent the widow's son instead. From his own deceit, from the torment of conscience, Girin nearly hanged himself. He corrected his mistake and subsequently took the side of the rebellious peasants, for which he was imprisoned.

The episode with the purchase of Yermila's mill is remarkable, when the peasants express their absolute confidence in Yermil Girin, who in return is honest with them to the end.

Saveliy - a hero

Nekrasov pronounces the idea that the peasants for him are akin to heroes. Here appears the image of Savely - the hero of the Holy Russian. He sincerely sympathizes with Matryona, it is hard to rethink Demushka's death. This hero combines kindness, simplicity, sincerity, help to the oppressed and malice towards the oppressors.

Matrena Timofeevna

Peasant women are represented in the image of Matryona Timofeevna. This strong-hearted woman has been fighting for freedom and female happiness all her life. Her life resembles the life of many peasant women of that time, although she is even happier than many. This is taking into account the fact that after marriage she ended up in a family that hated her, she was a husband only once, her firstborn was eaten by pigs, and her whole life is based on hard work in the field.

Peasant Oppressors

The author shows how hard serfdom affects people's lives, how it cripples them, morally destroying them. There are also such peasants who have chosen the side of their masters - Ipat, Klim, Yakov the faithful, who oppress the common people along with the landowners.

In his poem, Nekrasov showed the life of the peasantry after the reform of 1861, displayed the images of Russian peasants, saying that the people have innumerable power and soon they will begin to realize their rights.

Introduction

Starting work on the poem "Who Lives Well in Russia", Nekrasov dreamed of creating a large-scale work that would reflect all the knowledge about the peasants he had accumulated over his life. From early childhood, before the eyes of the poet, there was a "spectacle of the disasters of the people", and the first childhood impressions prompted him to further study the way of peasant life. Hard work, human grief, and at the same time - the enormous spiritual strength of the people - all this was noticed by Nekrasov's attentive gaze. And it is precisely because of this that in the poem “To whom it is good to live in Russia”, the images of the peasants look so reliable, as if the poet personally knew his heroes. It is logical that the poem, in which the people are the main character, has a large number of peasant images, but it is worth looking at them more closely - and we will be struck by the diversity and liveliness of these characters.

The image of the main characters-wanderers

The first peasants the reader meets are the truth-seekers who argued about who lives well in Russia. For the poem, it is not so much their individual images that are important, but the whole idea that they express - without them, the plot of the work would simply fall apart. And, nevertheless, Nekrasov endows each of them with a name, a native village (the names of the villages are already eloquent in themselves: Gorelovo, Zaplatovo ...) and certain traits of character and appearance: Luka is an inveterate debater, Pahom is an old man. And the views of the peasants, despite the integrity of their image, are different, each does not deviate from his views until the fight. On the whole, the image of these peasants is a group image, and therefore the most basic features, characteristic of almost any peasant, stand out in it. This is extreme poverty, stubbornness and curiosity, the desire to find the truth. Note that describing the peasants dear to his heart, Nekrasov still does not embellish their images. He also shows vices, mainly general drunkenness.

The peasant theme in the poem “Who Lives Well in Russia” is not the only one - during their journey, the peasants will meet both the landowner and the priest, they will hear about the life of different classes - merchants, nobles, clergy. But all other images in one way or another serve to more fully reveal the main theme of the poem: the life of peasants in Russia immediately after the reform.

Several mass scenes are introduced into the poem - a fair, a feast, a road along which many people are walking. Here Nekrasov portrays the peasantry as a single entity that thinks the same way, speaks unanimously and even sighs at the same time. But at the same time, the images of the peasants depicted in the work can be divided into two large groups: honest working people who value their freedom and peasant slaves. In the first group, Yakim Nagoi, Ermil Girin, Trofim and Agap are especially distinguished.

Positive images of peasants

Yakim Nagoi is a typical representative of the poorest peasantry, and he himself looks like “mother earth”, like “a layer cut off by a plow”. All his life he works "to death", but at the same time remains a beggar. His sad story: he once lived in St. Petersburg, but started a lawsuit with a merchant, ended up in prison because of her and returned from there “like a peeled Velcro” - nothing surprises listeners. There were many such destinies in Russia at that time ... Despite hard work, Yakim has the strength to stand up for his compatriots: yes, there are many drunken men, but there are more sober ones, they are all great people "in work and in revelry." Love for the truth, for honest work, the dream of transforming life (“there should be thunder”) - these are the main components of the image of Yakim.

Trofim and Agap complement Yakim in some way, each of them has one main character trait. In the image of Trofim, Nekrasov shows the infinite strength and patience of the Russian people - Trofim once demolished fourteen pounds, and then returned home barely alive. Agap is a lover of truth. He is the only one who refuses to participate in the performance for Prince Utyatin: “The possession of peasant souls is over!”. When they force him, he dies in the morning: it is easier for a peasant to die than to bend back under the yoke of serfdom.

Ermil Girin is endowed by the author with intelligence and incorruptible honesty, for which he is chosen as burgomaster. He “didn’t twist his soul”, and once having strayed from the right path, he could not live not by the truth, he brought repentance before the whole world. But honesty and love for their compatriots do not bring happiness to the peasants: the image of Yermila is tragic. At the time of the story, he is sitting in prison: this is how his help to the rebellious village turned out.

Images of Matryona and Savely

The life of the peasants in Nekrasov's poem would not have been fully depicted without the image of a Russian woman. To reveal the "women's share", which "woe is not life!" the author chose the image of Matrena Timofeevna. “Beautiful, strict and swarthy,” she tells in detail the story of her life, in which she was happy only then, how she lived with her parents in the “girls hall”. After that, hard work began, along with men, work, nit-picking relatives, and the death of the firstborn mangled the fate. Under this story, Nekrasov singled out a whole part in the poem, nine chapters - much more than the stories of the rest of the peasants occupy. It conveys it well special treatment, love for a Russian woman. Matryona impresses with her strength and stamina. She bears all the blows of fate without a murmur, but at the same time she knows how to stand up for her loved ones: she lies down under the rod instead of her son and saves her husband from the soldiers. The image of Matryona in the poem merges with the image of the people's soul - long-suffering and long-suffering, which is why the woman's speech is so rich in songs. These songs are often the only way to pour out your longing...

Another curious image adjoins the image of Matrena Timofeevna - the image of the Russian hero, Savely. Living out his life in the family of Matrona (“he lived a hundred and seven years”), Savely thinks more than once: “Where are you, strength, gone? What were you good for?" The strength was all gone under rods and sticks, wasted during overwork on the German and wasted away in hard labor. In the image of Saveliy is shown tragic fate Russian peasantry, heroes by nature, leading a life completely unsuitable for them. Despite all the hardships of life, Savely did not become embittered, he is wise and affectionate with the disenfranchised (the only one in the family protects Matryona). Shown in his image is the deep religiosity of the Russian people, who were looking for help in faith.

The image of the peasant-serfs

Another type of peasants depicted in the poem are serfs. The years of serfdom have crippled the souls of some people who are accustomed to crawling and can no longer imagine their lives without the power of the landowner over themselves. Nekrasov shows this on the examples of the images of the serfs Ipat and Yakov, as well as the headman Klim. Jacob is the image of a faithful serf. He spent his whole life on fulfilling the whims of his master: “Jakov had only joy: / To groom, protect, appease the master.” However, one cannot live with the master “ladok” - as a reward for the exemplary service of Yakov, the master gives his nephew as a recruit. It was then that Jacob's eyes were opened, and he decided to take revenge on his offender. Klim becomes the boss thanks to the grace of Prince Utyatin. A bad owner and a lazy worker, he, singled out by a master, flourishes from a sense of self-importance: "A proud pig: it itched / O master's porch!" Using the example of the headman, Klima Nekrasov shows how terrible yesterday's serf who got into the bosses is one of the most disgusting human types. But it is difficult to lead an honest peasant heart - and in the village Klim is sincerely despised, not afraid.

So, from the various images of the peasants “Who should live well in Russia”, a whole picture of the people is formed as a huge force, already gradually beginning to rise up and realize its power.

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