The relevance of the work dead souls. Helping a student. Some interesting essays

The poem "Dead Souls" is one of the most remarkable works of Russian literature. The great realist writer Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol showed the whole of modern Russia, satirically depicting the local nobility and provincial bureaucracy. But if you look closely, the disgusting and pitiful features of Gogol's characters have not been outlived to this day and are clearly manifested even today, at the turn of the new century.

Gogol's laughter also included a feeling of acute grief, born of pictures of spiritual extinction, the "death" of a person, his humiliation and suppression, the phenomena of social stagnation. No wonder the writer said that he had to look at life "through laughter visible to the world and invisible, unknown to him tears." And at the same time, Gogol's laughter does not cause disappointment, it awakens the energy of resistance and protest, the energy of action.

The title of Gogol's poem has at least two meanings. By "dead souls" we mean the dead peasants, who are bought by the landowner Chichikov, and the absolutely living heroes of the work - the landowners and officials of the city of NN.

The merit of the great writer, first of all, is that he skillfully portrayed in his work a multitude of the most diverse characters. The central place in the poem is occupied by chapters that tell about different types of landowners-serfs in Russia of that time. Pictures of the decline of the economy, complete spiritual impoverishment, degradation of the individual lead the reader to the idea that these "masters of life" are "dead souls".

Gogol gives a description of the landowners in a certain order, and step by step outlines the degree of moral decline of the entire landowner class. The images of the landlords pass before us one after another, and with each new character, the loss of everything human by these people is more and more visible. That. what is only guessed in Manilov, in Plyushkin is already getting its real embodiment. "Dead Souls" is a poem about typical phenomena of Russian reality, contemporary to Gogol, and in the images of feudal lords, the author satirically showed the destructive power of serfdom.

The gallery of landowners in the poem opens with the image of Manilov. At first glance, this owner does not at all seem like a "monster", a "dead soul". On the contrary: “in his eyes he was a prominent person; his facial features were not devoid of pleasantness ... ”A slightly sugary,“ sugary ”, very kind and extremely pleasant man, especially against the background of the rest of the heroes of the poem. However, Gogol reveals all the emptiness and uselessness of Manilov. His household is ruined, the estate is desolated, "the whole household sleeps in an merciless way and hangs all the rest of the time." In the house itself, Manilov is struck by a certain feeling of the absence of the owner. Poor armchairs are next to the beautiful furniture, a book has been lying on the table for two years, bookmarked on the 14th page. And Manilov builds meaningless projects, does not take care of the estate. He can only smile pleasantly and lavish pleasantries. The only result of his “work” is “heaps of ash knocked out of a pipe, arranged, not without diligence, in very beautiful rows.” Out of a desire to show courtesy to Chichikov, who was barely known to him, Manilov not only gives him his dead peasants, but also bears the cost of formalizing the bill of sale. At first, Chichikov's strange request confuses the landowner, but Manilov is not able to think about the proposal and easily allows himself to be convinced. Thus, a kindly, amiable person appears before us as a "dead soul", which, however, has not lost any other human traits.

Korobochka is also a parody of a person, which the author calls "club-headed". Against the backdrop of a strong economy, a dull, ignorant lady is shown. She is so stupid that she cannot even understand all the wildness of Chichikov's proposal. For her, the sale of the dead is as natural as the trade in products. The box is only afraid of "cheapening" when selling a new product. This is what the human passion for gain leads to.

Another image of the "living dead" personifies Nozdryov. His life is reckless fun, constant revelry. He is the weight of friends with whom he drinks and plays cards, losing and drinking away the fruits of the labor of his peasants in a few days. Nozdrev is rude and unceremonious. “Oh, Chichikov, why should you come. You're right, you're a pig for this. Such a cattle breeder…” Gogol ironically calls Nozdryov a “historical man”, emphasizing his typicality. In excellent condition, he only has a kennel. The image of Nozdryov clearly shows the corrupting nature of serfdom.

And here we have Sobakevich, the owner of a good estate. “It seemed that there was no soul in this body at all ...,” writes Gogol. Sobakevich is only interested in food and further enrichment. He calmly accepts Chichikov's offer and begins to bargain with him. Human feelings in him have long since died, and it is not for nothing that Gogol compares Sobakevich to a medium-sized bear. This misanthrope is a complete reactionary, a persecutor of science and enlightenment. The following description of the hero's living room is interesting: “Table, armchairs, chairs - everything was of the most difficult and restless nature, - in a word, each chair seemed to say:“ And I, too, Sobakevich! ”The frank comparison of Sobakevich with inanimate objects already speaks of his immobility, heartlessness. But it is the soul that is the driving force in a person; it was not without reason that ancient people depicted it in the form of bird wings. It is the soul that inspires a person to move, develop, and create.

But these are not the characters of the poem “The crown” of this pyramid is Plyushkin, “a hole in humanity”, “a dead soul”. The spiritual death of a person is shown in it with great accusatory power. The image of Plyushkin is prepared by a description of a poor village, hungry peasants. The master's house seems to be a "decrepit invalid", the reader does not leave the feeling that he wandered into a cemetery. Against this background, a strange figure appears: either a man or a woman, in "an indefinite dress that looks like a woman's hood." However, it was not a beggar who stood before Chichikov, but the richest landowner in the district, in whom greed killed even an understanding of the value of things. Everything rots in Plyushkin's pantries, he spends all day collecting all sorts of rubbish in the village, stealing from his own peasants. Things are dearer to him than people who "die like flies" or hit the run. “And a person could descend to such insignificance, pettiness, vileness!” exclaims Gogol. But earlier Plyushkin was only a prudent, thrifty owner. Serfdom killed a man in him, turned him into a “living corpse”, causing nothing but disgust.

There is also a completely new hero in the poem, who has not yet met in Russian literature. This is a representative of the emerging class of "acquirers". In the image of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, Gogol brought to public view the features of the "knight of the penny."

At first glance, Chichikov gives the impression of a slippery, many-sided person. This is emphasized by his appearance: “The gentleman was sitting in the britzka, not handsome, but not bad-looking, neither too fat nor too thin, one cannot say that he was old, however, and not so that he was too young.”

Like a chameleon, Chichikov is constantly changing. He is able to give his face the right expression to seem like a pleasant conversationalist. Speaking with officials, the hero of the poem "very skillfully knew how to flatter everyone." Therefore, he quickly gains the necessary reputation in the city. Chichikov also finds a common language with the landowners, from whom he buys dead peasants. With Manilov, he looks like a particularly amiable and courteous person, which charms the owner. At Korobochka, Nozdrev, Sobakevich and Plyushkin, Chichikov behaves in accordance with the situation and knows how to find an approach to everyone. Only he did not catch Nozdryov in his nets. But this was Chichikov's only failure.

To achieve a result, our hero uses all his ability to charm a person. And he has one goal - enrichment, and for this Pavel Ivanovich is ready to be hypocritical, practicing for hours at the mirror. The main thing for him is money. The hero of the poem needs them not by themselves, but as a means of further accumulation. As a child, Chichikov learned well his father's order to please the bosses, to be friends "with those who are richer" and to save the "penny". Father's words sunk into the boy's soul: "You will do everything and break everything in the world with a penny."

Possessing a great "practical" mind, Chichikov began to save money at school, cashing in on his comrades and being particularly stingy. Already in those years, the soul of this “acquirer” manifested itself. By deceit, sycophancy, Chichikov made his way without stopping at anything. He is cunning, robs the state, “cheats” his colleagues. Bribery becomes his element.

Gradually, Chichikov's scams gained more and more scope. From a humble clerk to a customs official, Gogol traces the path of his hero. By any means he seeks to increase the state. He seized on the idea of buying "dead souls" quickly. Chichikov's entrepreneurial talent is not consistent with moral standards. For him, there are no moral principles. Chichikov happily concludes: “But now the time is convenient, there was an epidemic recently, people died out, thank God, a lot.” On human grief, on other people's deaths, he builds his well-being.

Chichikov is the same product of time as Onegin or Pechorin. Belinsky wrote about this, noting that “Chichikov, as an acquirer, no less, if not more than Pechorin, is a hero of our time.” We can say without exaggeration that Chichikov embodied the features of many modern entrepreneurs, for whom profit is above all. And sadly, but this is a “hero” of our time too.

The work of the great writer surprisingly closely touches the problems of our day. Gogol's images make it possible to more clearly understand the activity of today's shameless businessmen, money-grubbers; also the inner image of people who replace the real public cause with empty schemes; and those who, with "inspiration" and at the same time, waste their own and other people's energy on useless pursuits.

Inertia, stagnation, conservatism evoke protest in the writer, because they give rise to fear of any changes in the world. Today we are seeing bursts of aggressive, militant conservatism in the countries of America and Western Europe. Of course, in the era of the rapid development of science and technology, the face and practice of conservatism has changed significantly. But what the works of the great satirist remind us of has survived - the desire to crush the reasonable, the new for the sake of preserving the old, obsolete. Modern reactionaries are also characterized by the idea that life is completely subject only to them, that power and money decide everything.

In Gogol's poem, hoarding often takes on the appearance of the phenomenon that today is called materialism. Modern “thingsmen”, of course, do not collect rubbish that no one needs, but acquire expensive prestigious things. However, the essence is the same; like Plyushkin, they find themselves under the indefatigable, unshakable power of things they have collected with great diligence. Not things serve their owners, but a person becomes their servant, forgetting much of what distinguishes real human life.

Gogol reflected in the poem such a social evil as lack of spirituality. With great artistic power, he depicted people deprived of high aspirations, closed only on themselves, indifferent to everything that does not directly affect them. Lack of spirituality is a constant companion of all sorts of acquirers, accumulators, those who are absorbed in the pursuit of ranks, strive to achieve their goals by any means.

The loss of moral criteria also characterizes the self-satisfied everyday life depicted by Gogol, narcissistic vulgarity, which ironically relates to spiritual interests and “high matters”.

The links between Gogol's work and modernity are broad and many-sided. The very awareness of these connections enriches our understanding of the achievements of Russian classical literature. The inexhaustible power of Gogol's figurative generalizations reveal the enduring significance of his artistic heritage.

"The Tale of Igor's Campaign" is a chronicle that can take us back several centuries. This is not just a story that describes the princely strife, battles and campaigns of ancient peoples, it is a story about the life of the people set out in literary form.

"The Tale of Igor's Campaign" is a vivid example of ancient Russian literature. Despite the fact that the work was written many centuries ago, it does not lose its relevance in our time. The work remains relevant because it touches on such topics as civil strife, wars, and the unity of the people. The author encourages readers to understand that Rus' is united.

Reading the work, you pay attention to the fact that Rus' is covered in blood. Cities were built on the bones, and crops sprouted. Centuries have passed, and wars do not stop until now. Reading this work, you understand that it is relevant at the moment. After all, there is still a division of power and a desire for control.

The author tells us in his work about a great defeat, but by this he shows the courage of the people. In Rus', at all times they defended their territory, did not spare their lives for the sake of their homeland. Such feats take place in our time, and when reading a work, you involuntarily compare its heroes with the heroes of our time.

Each hero of the work is endowed with his own talents. Igor is a prince who is not afraid of failure and desperately fights for his homeland, despite the eclipse. Svyatoslav - the prince calling with his "golden word" to unite to avenge Igor's insults. Yaroslavna - princess, crying, which is recognized as the most poetic motive of the work.

In modern life, every hero of the work has the right to exist. Reading the work, you can find answers to many questions that are relevant in our time, drawing on the experience accumulated by the ancient peoples of the great and immense Rus'.

Option 2

After reading the poem "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", the reader can mentally travel back several centuries, when all these events took place. Not only civil strife takes place here, but also various battles. It also tells the life of the people.

In addition, this work is a vivid example of ancient Russian literature. Everyone knows that the poem was written a very long time ago, but there are still relevant topics. And these topics are about civil strife, and war, as well as a close-knit people who will fight and solve all problems together. More than anything, the author wants to tell everyone that Rus' is still the same for everyone.

When reading the work, you understand that a lot of blood has been shed on the ground. And in some places, cities are built right on the bones. A lot of time has passed since then, but the war still does not stop and blood is still shed. Power cannot be divided among themselves, and against this background, battles take place and each of them tries to seize it.

The work tells about the biggest battle, but the heroes failed to win. But at the same time, the people remained united and helped each other in everything and rescued from any even the most difficult situation. In Rus', they tried to protect and strengthen their territory and in no case allow the enemies to capture it. The soldiers were not afraid to give their lives for the defense of their homeland. Also, after reading the work, they begin to compare that people and today's youth.

Each person has his own talent. Igor is a prince who is afraid of nothing and no one. It does not always work out for him to perform this or that action, but he does not get upset and tries in various ways to protect his homeland, where he was born and lived all his life. But Svyatoslav constantly keeps the defense in order to protect himself from Igor's misfortunes in time. After another defeat, he is captured, and his wife was left to wait for him at home, who is very worried, so the occasion and her crying is heard throughout the settlement.

Today, each person has his own life, and he must live it in his own way. In addition, reading the work, you can find answers to many questions that torment them.

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One of my favorite works of Russian literature is the poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls". In it, the author talks about Chichikov, who travels to rich people and buys dead souls from them.

In this poem, Gogol speaks of dead souls in a double sense. At first, the dead souls are just peasants working for the nobles. But throughout the poem, we notice that the dead souls are the landowners themselves.

Because they no longer see the meaning of life. They simply exist. Unfortunately, in our time, most officials are exactly the same. For them, only their money and wealth became the main thing, and everything else has long gone into the background. The author in this work makes fun of such people.

Also very important is the story of Captain Kopeikin. After all, it is in it that the author shows the whole essence of officials who are chasing fame and fortune. But in fact, they are a nonentity who appropriated the glory of other people, people who guarded our Motherland.

I am very sorry that this has always happened and is happening in our country. And if now the rich and influential people do not come to their senses, it will only get worse in the future.

Updated: 2017-06-19

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The gallery of landowners in the poem opens with the image of Manilov. At first glance, this owner does not seem like a "monster", a "dead soul" at all. On the contrary: "in his eyes he was a prominent person; his features were not devoid of pleasantness ..." A little sugary, "sugar", a very kind and extremely pleasant man, especially against the background of the rest of the heroes of the poem. However, Gogol reveals all the emptiness and uselessness of Manilov. His household is ruined, the estate is desolated, "the whole household sleeps in an merciless way and hangs all the rest of the time." In the house itself, Manilov is struck by a certain feeling of the absence of the owner. Poor armchairs are next to the beautiful furniture, a book has been lying on the table for two years, bookmarked on the 14th page. And Manilov builds meaningless projects, does not take care of the estate. He can only smile pleasantly and lavish pleasantries. The only result of his "work" is "heaps of ash knocked out of a pipe, placed, not without diligence, in very beautiful rows." Out of a desire to show courtesy to Chichikov, who was barely known to him, Manilov not only gives him his dead peasants, but also bears the cost of formalizing the bill of sale. At first, Chichikov's strange request confuses the landowner, but Manilov is not able to think about the proposal and easily allows himself to be convinced. Thus, a kindly, amiable person appears before us as a "dead soul", which, however, has not lost any other human traits.

Korobochka, which the author calls "clubhead", is also a parody of a person. Against the backdrop of a strong economy, a dull, ignorant lady is shown. She is so stupid that she cannot even understand all the wildness of Chichikov's proposal. For her, the sale of the dead is as natural as the trade in products. The box is only afraid of "cheapening" when selling a new product. This is what the human passion for gain leads to.

Another image of the "living dead" personifies Nozdryov. His life is reckless fun, constant revelry. He is the weight of friends with whom he drinks and plays cards, losing and drinking away the fruits of the labor of his peasants in a few days. Nozdrev is rude and unceremonious. "Oh, Chichikov, why should you come. Really, you're a pig for this. Such a cattle breeder ..." Gogol ironically calls Nozdryov a "historical man", emphasizing his typicality. "Nozdryov's face is already familiar to the reader." In excellent condition, he only has a kennel. The image of Nozdryov clearly shows the corrupting nature of serfdom.

And here we have Sobakevich, the owner of a good estate. “It seemed that there was no soul in this body at all ...”, writes Gogol. Sobakevich is only interested in food and further enrichment. He calmly accepts Chichikov's offer and begins to bargain with him. Human feelings in him have long since died, and it is not for nothing that Gogol compares Sobakevich to a medium-sized bear. This misanthrope is a complete reactionary, a persecutor of science and enlightenment. The following description of the hero's living room is interesting: "Table, armchairs, chairs - everything was of the most heavy and restless nature, - in a word, each chair seemed to say:" And I, too, Sobakevich! "Frank comparison of Sobakevich with inanimate objects already speaks of his immobility, But it is the soul that is the driving principle in man, it was not for nothing that the ancient people depicted it in the form of the wings of a bird.It is the soul that inspires a person to move, develop, and create.

But the characters of the poem are not like that. The "crown" of this pyramid is Plyushkin, "a hole in humanity", a "dead soul". The spiritual death of a person is shown in it with great accusatory power. The image of Plyushkin is prepared by a description of a poor village, hungry peasants. The master's house seems to be a "decrepit invalid", the reader does not leave the feeling that he wandered into a cemetery. Against this background, a strange figure appears: either a man or a woman, in "an indefinite dress that looks like a woman's hood." However, it was not a beggar who stood before Chichikov, but the richest landowner in the district, in whom greed killed even an understanding of the value of things. Everything rots in Plyushkin's pantries, he spends all day collecting all sorts of rubbish in the village, stealing from his own peasants. Things are dearer to him than people who "die like flies" or hit the run. "And a person could descend to such insignificance, pettiness, vileness!" exclaims Gogol. But earlier Plyushkin was only a prudent, thrifty owner. Serfdom killed a man in him, turned him into a "living corpse", causing nothing but disgust.

There is also a completely new hero in the poem, who has not yet met in Russian literature. This is a representative of the emerging class of "purchasers". In the image of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, Gogol brought to public view the features of the "knight of the penny."

At first glance, Chichikov gives the impression of a slippery, many-sided person. This is emphasized by his appearance: "The gentleman was sitting in the britzka, not handsome, but not bad-looking, neither too fat nor too thin, one cannot say that he was old, however, and not so that he was too young"

To achieve a result, our hero uses all his ability to charm a person. And he has one goal - enrichment, and for this Pavel Ivanovich is ready to be hypocritical, practicing for hours at the mirror. The main thing for him is money. The hero of the poem needs them not by themselves, but as a means of further accumulation. Even as a child, Chichikov well learned his father's order to please the bosses, to be friends "with those who are richer" and to save "penny". Father's words sunk into the boy's soul: "You will do everything and break everything in the world with a penny."

Possessing a great mind "from the practical side", Chichikov began to save money at school, cashing in on his comrades and being especially stingy. Already in those years, the soul of this "acquirer" manifested itself. By deceit, sycophancy, Chichikov made his way, stopping at nothing. He is cunning, robs the state, "cheats" his colleagues. Bribery becomes his element.

Gradually, Chichikov's scams gained more and more scope. From a humble clerk to a customs official, Gogol traces the path of his hero. By any means he seeks to increase the state. For the idea of buying "dead souls" he seized quickly. Chichikov's entrepreneurial talent is not consistent with moral standards. For him, there are no moral principles. Chichikov happily concludes: "But now the time is convenient, there was an epidemic recently, the people died out, thank God, a lot." On human grief, on other people's deaths, he builds his well-being.

Chichikov is the same product of time as Onegin or Pechorin. Belinsky wrote about this, noting that "Chichikov, as an acquirer, no less, if not more than Pechorin, is a hero of our time." We can say without exaggeration that Chichikov embodied the features of many modern entrepreneurs, for whom profit is above all. And sadly, but this is a "hero" of our time too.

In Gogol's poem, hoarding often takes on the appearance of the phenomenon that today is called materialism. Modern "things", of course, do not collect rubbish that no one needs, but acquire expensive prestigious things. However, the essence is the same; like Plyushkin, they find themselves under the indefatigable, unshakable power of things they have collected with great diligence. Not things serve their owners, but a person becomes their servant, forgetting much of what distinguishes real human life.

The loss of moral criteria also characterizes the self-satisfied everyday life depicted by Gogol, narcissistic vulgarity, which ironically relates to spiritual interests and "high matters".