What is unusual about the heroes of Makar Chudra. The main characters of Gorky's story "Makar Chudra"

The main characters of Gorky's story "Makar Chudra", characteristics with quotes


Maxim Gorky played a significant role in the development of Russian literature at the beginning of the 20th century. The story “Makar Chudra” was written in the early period of the writer’s work. In it, the author reveals to us the romantic world of legends, fairy tales, and inspired allegories.

The heroes of the stories are desperate and beautiful people. They are proud and extremely freedom-loving.

The main character of the story is Makar Chudra, a wise old gypsy. For him, the main thing in life is personal freedom, which he would never trade for anything: “...This is how you need to live: go, go - and that’s all. Don't stand in one place for a long time - what's in it? Just as they run day and night, chasing each other, around the earth, so you run away from thoughts about life, so as not to stop loving it. And if you think about it, you’ll stop loving life, this always happens.”

Makar talks about human life and freedom:

"Life? Other people? ... – Hey! What do you care about that? Are you not life yourself? Other people live without you and will live without you. Do you think that someone needs you? You are not bread, not a stick, and no one needs you.”

He believes that a person without personal freedom becomes a slave: “was he born then, perhaps, to dig up the earth, and die, without even having time to dig out his own graves? Does he know his will? Is the expanse of the steppe clear? Talk sea ​​wave does his heart rejoice? He is a slave - as soon as he was born, he is a slave all his life, and that’s it! What can he do with himself?

The old gypsy thinks that love and freedom are incompatible. Love weakens a person, makes him submit to his beloved. He tells the legend of the love of Loiko and Radda. Makar admires the courage, resilience and love of freedom of his heroes. He believes that their action was the only right one.

Also in the story there is an image of the listener. He has no lines and virtually no description of him. However, through his image it is easily conveyed author's position.

Nature is an almost full-fledged participant in the story. By describing her beauty, the author betrays the feelings and thoughts of the characters.

The heroes of the legend are Loiko Zobar and the beautiful Radda. Loiko is a young, daring and proud gypsy. He was brave and strong, he was not afraid of anyone or anything: “Yes, if Satan had come to him with all his retinue, if he had not thrown a knife at him, he would probably have had a strong fight, and what the devil would have given a kick in the snout - that’s just it!”

Loiko valued his freedom most of all. I didn’t stay anywhere for long. “He loved only horses and nothing else, and even then only for a short time - he would ride and sell, and whoever wants the money, take it. He didn’t have what he cherished - you need his heart, he himself would tear it out of his chest and give it to you, if only it would make you feel good. That’s what he was, a falcon!” But after meeting Radda, Loiko “lost his head.”

Radda is a young gypsy of such beauty that no one could resist her. She was so proud that even her love for Loiko could not break her. “I’ve never loved anyone, Loiko, but I love you. And I also love freedom! Will, Loiko, I love more than you.”

Both Radda and Loiko look at their love as a chain that binds them. They give up love and choose death for the sake of absolute freedom.

A romantic night by the sea, a fire is burning, the old gypsy Makar Chudra tells the writer a story about free gypsies. Makar advises to beware of love, because having fallen in love, a person loses his will. This is confirmed by the story told by Chudra.

There was once Loiko Zobar, a young gypsy. Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovenia knew him. He was a clever horse thief, many wanted to kill him. He only loved horses, did not value money, and could give it to anyone who needed it.

There was a gypsy camp in Bukovina. Danila the soldier had a daughter, Radda, who was beautiful beyond words. Radda broke a lot of hearts. One tycoon threw any money at her feet and asked her to marry him, but Radda replied that the eagle had no place in the crow’s nest.

One day Zobar came to the camp. He was handsome: “The mustache lay on his shoulders and mixed with his curls, his eyes burned like clear stars, and his smile was the whole sun. It’s as if he was forged from the same piece of iron as the horse.” He played the violin, and many began to cry. Radda praised Zobar's violin; he plays well. And he replied that his violin was made from the breast of a young girl, and the strings were twisted from her heart. Radda turned away, saying that people lie when they talk about Zobar’s intelligence. He marveled at the girl’s sharp tongue.

Zobar stayed with Danila, went to bed, and the next morning he came out with a rag tied on his head and said that the horse had killed him. But everyone realized that it was Radda, they thought, isn’t Loiko worth Radda? "Well, I do not! No matter how good the girl is, her soul is narrow and shallow, and even if you hang a pound of gold around her neck, it doesn’t matter better than that, what she is, don’t be her!”

The camp lived well at that time. And Loiko is with them. He was as wise as an old man, and he played the violin in a way that made your heart skip a beat. If Loiko had wanted it, people would have given their lives for him, they loved him so much, but Radda didn’t love him. And he loved her deeply. Those around them only looked, they knew, “if two stones are rolling towards each other, you cannot stand between them - they will mutilate you.”

Once Zobar sang a song, everyone liked it, only Radda laughed. Danilo wanted to teach her a lesson with a whip. But Loiko did not allow it, he asked her to be given to him as his wife. Danilo agreed: “Yes, take it if you can!” Loiko approached Radda and said that she had captured his heart, that he was taking her as his wife, but she should not contradict his will. “I am a free person and I will live the way I want.” Everyone thought that Radda had resigned herself. She wrapped the whip around Loiko’s legs, pulled, and Zobar fell as if knocked down. And she walked away and lay down on the grass, smiling.

Zobar fled to the steppe, and Makar followed him, no matter what the guy above him did in the heat of the moment. But Loiko only sat motionless for three hours, and then Radda came to him. Loiko wanted to stab her with a knife, but she put a gun to his forehead and said that she had come to make peace, she loved him. And Radda also said that she loves freedom more than Zobara. She promised Loiko hot caresses if he agreed to bow at her feet and kiss her in front of the whole camp. right hand like the older one. Zobar shouted throughout the steppe, but agreed to Radda’s conditions.

Loiko returned to the camp and told the old men that he had looked into his heart and did not see his former free life there. “Only Radda lives there.” And he decided to fulfill her will, bow at her feet, and kiss her right hand. And he also said that he would check whether Radda had such a strong heart as she boasted.

Before everyone had time to guess, he stuck a knife into her heart up to the hilt. Radda pulled out the knife, covered the wound with her hair and said that she had expected such a death. Danilo picked up the knife that Radda had thrown to the side, examined it and stuck it in Loiko’s back, right against his heart. Radda lies, clutching the wound with her hand, and the dying Loiko lies at her feet.

The writer could not sleep. He looked at the sea, and it seemed that he saw the royal Radda, and Loiko Zobar was swimming at her heels. “They both circled in the darkness of the night smoothly and silently, and the handsome Loiko could not keep up with the proud Radda.”

The problem of freedom has always worried word artists. Exactly Liberty was attractive to romantic heroes. For her sake they were ready to die. After all, romanticism is like literary movement formed a very specific canon: exceptional personality, making exceptional demands on the world. Therefore, the hero is an order of magnitude higher than the people around him, therefore society as such is rejected by him. This also determines the typical loneliness of the hero: for him this is a natural state, and the hero finds an outlet only in communication with nature, and more often with the elements.

Maxim Gorky in his early works refers to traditions of romanticism, but in the context of the twentieth century his work is defined neo-romantic.

In 1892 the first romantic story "Makar Chudra", in which an old gypsy appears before the reader surrounded by romantic landscape: envelops him "the darkness of an autumn night", opening on the left a boundless steppe and on the right an endless sea. The writer gives him the opportunity to talk about himself, about his views, and the story of Loiko Zobar and Radda, told by the old shepherd, becomes the main means of revealing image of the main character, because the story is named after him.

Talking about Radda and Loiko, Chudra speaks more about himself. The basis of his character is the only principle that he considers the most valuable - the maximum desire for freedom. For heroes, will is also more valuable than anything in the world. In Radda, the manifestation of pride is so strong that even love for Loiko Zobar cannot break it: “I’ve never loved anyone, Loiko, but I love you. And I also love freedom! Will, Loiko, I love you more than you.”.

Such an insoluble contradiction between love and pride in romantic character is perceived by Makar Chudra as absolutely natural, and it can only be resolved by death: the romantic hero cannot sacrifice any of his boundless love, nor absolute pride. But love presupposes humility, self-sacrifice and the ability to submit to a loved one. And this is precisely what the heroes of the legend told by Chudra cannot do.

What assessment does Makar Chudra give to this position? He believes that this is the only way he should understand life real man, which is worthy of imitation, and only with such a position can personal freedom be preserved.

But does the author agree with his hero? What is the author's position and what are the means of expression? To answer this question, it is important to note compositional feature Gorky's early works - availability narrator's image. At first glance, this is an inconspicuous image, because it does not manifest itself in any actions. But it is the position of this man, a wanderer who meets different people on his way, that is especially important for the writer himself.

In almost all the early romantic works of Maxim Gorky, negative consciousness will also be embodied, distorting real picture being, and the positive, filling life with higher meaning and content. And the gaze of the autobiographical hero seems to snatch out the brightest characters - such as Makar Chudra.

And even though he listens rather skeptically to the objections of the hero-narrator, it is the ending that dots all the i’s in the author’s position. When the narrator, looking into the darkness of the endless steppe, sees the gypsies Loiko Zobar and Radda “were spinning in the darkness of the night smoothly and silently”, and no way “The handsome Loiko could not compare with the proud Radda”, he reveals his position. Yes, these words contain admiration, but the thinking reader realizes the futility of such a bloody outcome: even after death, Loiko cannot become equal to the beautiful Radda.

In accordance with the best traditions Romanticism Maxim Gorky used many means of expression in his story. Describing the main characters, he uses hyperbole: Radda’s beauty can only be played on the violin, and Loiko’s mustache fell on his shoulders and mixed with his curls. To convey the peculiarities of speech, especially of the old Chudra, he introduces appeals, interjections, and rhetorical exclamations.

A significant role is played by the landscape, but not simple, but animated, where Makar controls the waves, and the sea sings a gloomy, but at the same time solemn hymn to a pair of proud, handsome gypsies.

The story “Chelkash” belongs to the early romantic works of M. Gorky. It is part of the series of so-called stories about tramps. The writer has always been interested in this “class” of people that formed in Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Gorky considered tramps to be interesting “human material” who seemed to be outside society. In them he saw a peculiar embodiment of his human ideals: “I saw that although they live worse” ordinary people“But they feel and recognize themselves better than them, and this is because they are not greedy, do not strangle each other, and do not hoard money.”
At the center of the narrative of the story (1895) are two heroes opposed to each other. One is Grishka Chelkash, “an old poisoned wolf, well known to the Havana people, an inveterate drunkard and a clever, brave thief.” This is already a mature person, a bright and extraordinary nature. Even in a crowd of tramps like him, Chelkash stood out for his predatory strength and integrity. It is not for nothing that Gorky compares him to a hawk: “he immediately attracted attention with his resemblance to a steppe hawk, his predatory thinness and this aiming gait, smooth and calm in appearance, but internally excited and vigilant, as old as the bird of prey that he resembled.” .
As the plot develops, we learn that Chelkash lives by robbing ships and then selling his loot. Such activities and lifestyle suit this hero quite well. They satisfy his need for a sense of freedom, risk, unity with nature, a feeling own strength and unlimited own possibilities.
Chelkash is a hero from a village. He is the same peasant as the other hero of the story - Gavrila. But how different these people are! Gavrila is young, physically strong, but weak in spirit and pitiful. We see how Chelkash struggles with contempt for this “young heifer”, who dreams of a prosperous and well-fed life in the village, and even advises Gregory how he can “better fit in” in life.
It becomes clear that these are completely different people will never be found common language. Although they have the same roots, their nature, their nature, is completely different. Against the background of the cowardly and weak Gavrila, the figure of Chelkash emerges with all his might. This contrast is especially clearly expressed at the moment when the heroes “went to work” - Grigory took Gavrila with him, giving him the opportunity to earn money.
Chelkash loved the sea and was not afraid of it: “At the sea, a wide, warm feeling always rose in him - embracing his entire soul, it slightly cleansed it of everyday filth. He appreciated this and loved to see himself as the best here, among the water and air, where thoughts about life and life itself always lose - the former - their sharpness, the latter - their value.
This hero was delighted by the sight of the majestic element, “endless and powerful.” The sea and clouds intertwined into one whole, inspiring Chelkash with their beauty, “arousing” high desires in him.
The sea evokes completely different feelings for Gavrila. He sees it as a black heavy mass, hostile, carrying mortal danger. The only feeling that the sea evokes in Gavrila is fear: “It’s just scary in it.”
The behavior of these heroes at sea is also different. In the boat, Chelkash sat upright, calmly and confidently looked at the surface of the water, forward, communicating with this element on an equal footing: “Sitting at the stern, he cut the water with the wheel and looked forward calmly, full of desire to ride long and far along this velvet surface.” Gavrila is crushed sea ​​elements, she bends him, makes him feel like an insignificance, a slave: “... grabbed Gavrila’s chest with a tight hug, squeezed him into a timid ball and chained him to the bench of the boat...”
Having overcome many dangers, the heroes return safely to the shore. Chelkash sold the loot and received the money. It is at this moment that the true natures of the heroes appear. It turns out that Chelkash wanted to give Gavrila more than he promised: this guy touched him with his story, stories about the village.
It should be noted that Chelkash’s attitude towards Gavrila was not unambiguous. The “young heifer” irritated Grigory; he felt Gavrila’s “foreignness” and did not accept his philosophy of life, his values. But, nevertheless, grumbling and swearing at this man, Chelkash did not allow himself meanness or baseness towards him.
Gavrila, this gentle, kind and naive person, turned out to be completely different. He admits to Gregory that he wanted to kill him during their trip in order to get all the loot for himself. Later, not deciding on this, Gavrila begs Chelkash to give him all the money - with such wealth he will live happily in the village. For this reason, the hero lies at Chelkash’s feet, humiliates himself, forgetting about his human dignity. For Gregory, such behavior only causes disgust and disgust. And in the end, when the situation changes several times (Chelkash, having learned new details, either gives or does not give Gavrila the money, a serious fight breaks out between the heroes, and so on), Gavrila receives the money. He asks Chelkash for forgiveness, but does not receive it: Gregory’s contempt for this pitiful creature is too great.
Not by chance positive hero the story becomes a thief and a tramp. Thus, Gorky emphasizes that Russian society prevents rich human potential from being revealed. He is satisfied only with the Gavrils with their slavish psychology and average capabilities. There is no place for extraordinary people who strive for freedom, flight of thought, spirit and soul in such a society. Therefore, they are forced to become tramps, outcasts. The author emphasizes that this is not only a personal tragedy of tramps, but also a tragedy of society, deprived of its rich potential and its best strengths.

The work “The Old Woman Izergil” was written by Maxim Gorky in 1895. The story refers to early works written by Gorky. “Old Woman Izergil” is one of Gorky’s works, filled with the spirit of romanticism. After all, Gorky is rightfully considered the first to introduce romanticism into Russian literature. Romantic works occupy a huge place in the writer’s work. The composition of the story “Old Woman Izergil” is unusual. Gorky himself said that “Old Woman Izergil” is one of the works that was built at the highest level; he considered it one of his best works. The composition is such that Gorky writes a story within a story, or rather, three stories within a story. The work consists of three parts: the legend of Larra, the life of the “old woman Izergil” and the legend of Danko. All three stories are different, but they have something in common, and this commonality is that Gorky, through these “three stories,” is looking for an answer to the question “about the meaning of life.”
The first part is the legend of Larra. The main character is a young man, the son of an eagle and an ordinary woman. He is proud, freedom-loving, daring, selfish, and he paid for these qualities. Considering himself the best, regardless of the opinions of other people, he could not get along calmly in society and therefore commits such daring act like the murder of the daughter of one of the elders. For this he received his punishment, the worst for any person, this is expulsion from society and immortality in solitude. People call him Larra, which means outcast. At first, Larra likes this outcome of events, since he was a freedom-loving person, but after some time passes main character understands the meaning of life, but it is too late he suffers a well-deserved punishment. He remained immortal and alone, time dried him up and turned him into a shadow that reminded people of his existence.
The second part is autobiographical. Old woman Izergil talks about her life. From her story we learn that she had many men, and she loved them all, as it seemed to her truly. Her life was full of travel, she visited many parts of the country and even beyond its borders. She played on people's feelings, but at the same time she had pride, which came first. If she loved, then she loved with all her heart and no obstacles on her path to happiness could stop her (the murder of a sentry at his post), and if she abandoned her, she abandoned her completely, irrevocably and irrevocably. Just as in the legend of Larra, Gorky is trying to show us the commonality that connects these stories. This is the meaning of life. The old woman reflects on fate, saying: “What is fate here? Everyone is their own destiny!” She realizes the meaning of life, it is not wandering around the world in search of her love, but a calm quiet life in some village with her husband and children.
And finally, the third part is the legend of Danko. The main character of the legend is the romantic hero Danko. He was handsome, courageous, strong, a real leader, able to lead the people, freedom-loving and selfless. Danko is one of those people who are always brave, he decides to help his people, he leads them in order to bring people out of deep forest. The road was not easy, and when all the people rebelled against Danko, he tore his heart out of his chest in order to illuminate the path for people and give people kindness and warmth emanating from a heart burning with love. But as soon as people achieved their desired goal, no one even remembered the dying Danko, who loved the people so much and did everything to make the people feel good. The sparks burning in the night of the expanse of the steppe reminded people of the glorious, selfless hero Danko, who saw his meaning in life in helping people.
Romanticism occupies a central position in Gorky's works. The work “Old Woman Izergil” is one of the assets of this movement in literature of the late 19th century. Gorky fully reveals his idea about the meaning of life. He shows three points of view, thereby giving the reader a question to think about, “what is the meaning of life?”


Mashenka

In 1926 the first prose work Nabokov's novel "Mashenka". On this occasion, Niva magazine wrote: “Nabokov, having fun, tirelessly embroiders himself and his destiny in different variations along the canvas of his works. But not only his own, although hardly anyone interested Nabokov more than himself. This is also the fate of the whole human type- Russian intellectual emigrant." Indeed, for Nabokov, life in a foreign land was still quite difficult. The past, in which there were bright feelings, love, a completely different world, became a consolation. Therefore, the novel is based on memories. There is no plot as such, the content unfolds as a stream of consciousness: dialogues of the characters, internal monologues of the main character, descriptions of the scene of action are interspersed.

The main character of the novel, Lev Glebovich Ganin, having found himself in exile, lost some of the most important personality traits. He lives in a boarding house, which he does not need and is not interested in, its inhabitants seem pitiful to Ganin, and he himself, like other emigrants, is of no use to anyone. Ganin is sad, sometimes he cannot decide what to do: “should I change my body position, should I get up to go and wash my hands, should I open the window...”. “Twilight obsession” is the definition that the author gives to the state of his hero. Although the novel refers to early period Nabokov's creativity is, perhaps, the most “classical” of all the works he created, but the game with the reader characteristic of the writer is also present here. It is unclear what serves as the root cause: either emotional experiences deform external world, or, on the contrary, ugly reality deadens the soul. There is a feeling that the writer has placed two crooked mirrors in front of each other, the images in which are ugly refracted, doubling and tripling.
The novel “Mashenka” is structured as the hero’s recollection of his former life in Russia, cut short by the revolution and Civil War; The narration is told in third person. In Ganin’s life before emigration there was one thing: an important event- his love for Mashenka, who remained in her homeland and was lost with her. But quite unexpectedly, Ganin recognizes his Mashenka in the woman depicted in the photograph, the wife of his neighbor in the Berlin boarding house Alferov. (It is not yet clear whether this is his Mashenka at all). She must come to Berlin, and this expected arrival revives the hero. Ganin’s heavy melancholy passes, his soul is filled with memories of the past: a room in a St. Petersburg house, country estate, three poplars, a barn with a painted window, even the flickering spokes of a bicycle wheel. Ganin again seems to be immersed in the world of Russia, preserving the poetry of “noble nests” and the warmth of family relationships. Many events took place, and the author selects the most significant of them. Ganin perceives the image of Mashenka as “a sign, a call, a question thrown into the sky,” and to this question he suddenly receives a “gemstone, delightful answer.” The meeting with Mashenka should be a miracle, a return to the world in which Ganin could only be happy. Having done everything to prevent his neighbor from meeting his wife, Ganin finds himself at the station. At the moment the train on which she arrived stops, he feels that this meeting is impossible. And he leaves for another station to leave the city.

It would seem that the novel assumes a love triangle situation, and the development of the plot pushes towards this. But Nabokov rejects the traditional ending. Ganin’s deep experiences are much more important to him than the nuances of the characters’ relationships. Ganin’s refusal to meet his beloved has not a psychological, but rather a philosophical motivation. He understands that the meeting is unnecessary, even impossible, not because it entails inevitable psychological problems, but because you can’t turn back time. This could lead to submission to the past and, therefore, renunciation of oneself, which is generally impossible for Nabokov’s heroes.

In the novel “Mashenka” Nabokov first addresses themes that will then appear repeatedly in his work. This is the theme of lost Russia, acting as an image paradise lost and the happiness of youth, the theme of memory, which simultaneously resists the all-destroying time and fails in this futile struggle.

The image of the main character, Ganin, is very typical of the work of V. Nabokov. Unsettled, “lost” emigrants constantly appear in his works. The dusty boarding house is unpleasant to Ganin, because it will never replace his homeland. Those living in the boarding house - Ganin, mathematics teacher Alferov, the old Russian poet Podtyagin, Klara, funny dancers - are united by uselessness, some kind of exclusion from life. The question arises: why do they live? Ganin acts in films, selling his shadow. Is it worth living to “get up and go to the printing house every morning,” as Clara does? Or “look for an engagement”, as dancers look for it? Humiliate yourself, beg for a visa, using bad language German How is Podtyagin forced to do this? None of them have a goal that would justify this miserable existence. All of them do not think about the future, do not strive to get settled, improve their lives, living in the daytime. Both the past and the expected future remained in Russia. But admitting this to yourself means telling yourself the truth about yourself. After this, you need to draw some conclusions, but then how to live, how to fill boring days? And life is filled with petty passions, romances, and vanity. “Podtyagin went into the room of the hostess of the boarding house, stroking the affectionate black dachshund, pinching her ears, a wart on her gray muzzle and talking about his old man’s painful illness and that he had been trying for a long time for a visa to Paris, where pins and red wine are very cheap "

Ganin’s connection with Lyudmila does not leave for a second the feeling that we are talking about love. But this is not love: “And yearning and ashamed, he felt how senseless tenderness - the sad warmth remaining where love had once slipped very fleetingly - makes him press without passion to the purple rubber of her yielding lips...” Did Ganin have real love? When he met Mashenka as a boy, he fell in love not with her, but with his dream, the ideal woman he had invented. Mashenka turned out to be unworthy of him. He loved silence, solitude, beauty, and sought harmony. She was frivolous and pulled him into the crowd. And “he felt that these meetings were making him smaller true love" In Nabokov's world happy love impossible. It is either associated with betrayal, or the characters do not even know what love is. Individualistic pathos, fear of subordination to another person, fear of the possibility of his judgment make Nabokov’s heroes forget about her. Often at the heart of the plot of the writer’s works love triangle. But it is impossible to find the intensity of passions, the nobility of feelings in his works; the story looks vulgar and boring.

The novel “Mashenka” is characterized by features that appeared in Nabokov’s subsequent work. It's a game literary quotes and the construction of the text on elusive and reappearing leitmotifs and images. Here sounds become independent and significant (from nightingale singing, meaning the natural beginning and the past, to the noise of a train and tram, personifying the world of technology and the present), smells, repeating images - trains, trams, light, shadows, comparisons of heroes with birds. Nabokov, speaking about the meetings and partings of the characters, undoubtedly hinted to the reader about the plot of “Eugene Onegin.” Also attentive reader can find in the novel images characteristic of A.A.’s lyrics. Feta (nightingale and rose), A.A. Blok (dates in a snowstorm, heroine in the snow). At the same time, the heroine, whose name is in the title of the novel, never appeared on its pages, and the reality of her existence sometimes seems doubtful. The game with illusions and reminiscences is ongoing.

Composition

Gorky is the author of completely contradictory statements about man. He said to Chekhov: “You have to be a monster of virtue in order to love, feel sorry for, and help live the trashy midges with guts that we are.” To Repin, he argued the opposite: “I don’t know anything better, more complicated, more interesting than a person. He is everything; he even created God.” This suggests that Gorky thought a lot about human nature and studied it. Wanderings around Russia, life “among people” provided the basis for such reflections. Research about man was expressed in stories such as “Makar Chudra”, “Old Woman Izergil”, “Chelkash”, etc. and embodied in the image of a romantic hero.
Hero of the early romantic stories Gorky is multifaceted and complex, but the main thing for them is freedom and independence. Their character, their life philosophy not always given directly. Their image is created by the legends they tell, confrontations with other heroes, landscape and portrait.
One of these images is the image of Makar Chudra. The ideal of Makar Chudra is free proud man, which is above the everyday sphere. Such a person “knows the will”, “the expanse of the steppe is clear to him”, “the sound of the sea wave gladdens his heart.” And he calls a person who is not free a slave, harshly asserting that he was born to dig up the earth, and even die without even having time to dig his own grave. The freedom-loving nature of Makar Chudra is emphasized both by the landscape (the sea, the wind is associated with the rebellious spirit of the hero) and the portrait (everything in it is unshakable, significant: “strong pose”, “huge pipe”, “thick clouds of smoke”, “darkness of the walls”, he does not make a single movement and protects from sharp blows of the wind, because Makara Chudru is a native “wind of freedom.”
Makar Chudra tells the legend of “Loiko Zobar and Radda.” They loved each other, but could not be together; they are proud and independent individuals. “I am a free person and I will live as I want.” “Volya, Loiko, I love you more than you.” The heroes of the legend reflect the views of Makar himself. For the sake of freedom they sacrificed life and love. This speaks of the insolubility of the contradictions between pride and love, but this contradiction can only be resolved by death. For Makar Chudra, their deaths are not surprising; for him they are natural. He has his own philosophy and does not accept another.
Old Woman Izergil is the same independent, free person. Her image is given in the light ideal person, his endless love for people (Danko) and anti-ideal, cruel individualism (Larra).
The legend of Lara condemns the extreme contempt for people and the individualism of the son of an eagle and a woman. Larra valued freedom most of all. He was proud to such an extent that he committed murder. Immortality was given to the mind by punishment. Larra's name means rejected and "thrown out." Eternal loneliness turns into eternal suffering. His individualism is strange, it distorts his life. Izergil tells this legend as an edification to generations.
The legend of Danko glorifies human selflessness and the ability to make sacrifices. Legend - anthem effective love to people. Danko, in order to lead people out of the forest, tore the heart out of his chest, and its fire illuminated their path. In the image of Danko, Gorky’s dream of a man with “the sun in his blood” was embodied. However, with this legend, the author says that there are also anti-heroes in the world who are capable of forgetting noble deeds and are not receptive to goodness. “One cautious man, fearing something, stepped on the proud Heart with his foot. And so it, scattered into sparks, faded away.”
These two legends seem to frame Old Woman Izergil’s story about herself, about the love she gave, about the people who were dear to her. There is a contradiction in her image and speeches: a young girl should talk about sensual love, not an old woman, whom “time has bent in half, her once black eyes were dull and watery. Her dry voice sounded strange, it crunched, as if an old woman was speaking with bones.” Old woman Izergil contrasts her life and Lara’s life; she believes that individualism is absolutely not characteristic of her and that she and Lara have different paths. But, firstly, the autobiographical hero uses their similarities. Larra “he has no life, and death does not smile on him. He has become like a shadow and will remain so forever.” And Izergil “sits alive, but dried up by time, without a body, without blood, with a heart without desires, with eyes without fire - also almost a shadow.” Secondly, it is amazing how they treat the people they loved. They say: “We have never met again those whom we once loved. These are not good meetings, it’s like meeting dead people.” But, despite the convergence of the images of Izergil and Larra, she strives for Danko’s pole, which embodies the highest ideal of love and self-sacrifice. She strives to convey to people the importance of love in life.
The image of Chelkash, an old freedom-loving thief, is revealed in an unusual way. Gorky no longer explains the image of the hero with romantic legends. The image of Chelkash is already in contrast with Gavrila, a young peasant. Only one thing unites them - love and freedom, and in other respects the heroes are antipodes. They have different things social status(Chelkash is a tramp and a thief, and Gavrila is a peasant), types of activity (Chelkash wanders and steals, engages in propaganda, Gavrila is devoted to the farm, the land), portraits (Chelkash “attracted attention by his resemblance to a steppe hawk,” “he was barefoot , in old trousers, in a dirty cotton robe”, Gavrila “broad-shouldered, stocky, fair-haired, with a weather-beaten face and large blue eyes that looked trustingly and good-naturedly”). The attitude of the heroes towards each other is also different - Makar Chudre Gavrila resembled himself, and he treated Gavrila with pity and understanding. But Gavrila did not understand Chelkash and allowed himself to insult him. Their life positions are opposed in the story. Gavrila was swallowed up by everything earthly and base, he forgot about the love of freedom for the sake of making money, while Chelkash, being an asocial thief, strove for freedom and an ideal.
Gorky says: “The natural state of man is diversity.” And he portrayed romantic heroes in all their complexity and versatility.

The main characters of “Makar Chudra” are gypsies whom the narrator met, on whose behalf Gorky’s work is narrated. Makar Chudra hero, which tells the story of tragic love two gypsies who died as a result of their pride. This legend tells how two young people, ardent, proud and wayward, met. Both loved freedom, freedom and independence. They fell in love with each other just as passionately. But neither of them wanted to give in to the other, and they chose death, forever remaining a symbol of pride and independence in the memory of the Roma people.

Characteristics of the heroes of “Makar Chudra”

Main characters

Makar Chudra

A free and independent gypsy, wandering with his camp all over the earth. This is a healthy, powerful man, as if made of iron. He is not afraid of any bad weather, he does not hide from gusts of wind. The most precious thing in his life is freedom, the free gypsy life. He doesn’t like to stay in one place for a long time, he has seen a lot in his lifetime, and experienced a lot. Likes to think about life and philosophize. He tells a legend about the gypsies with pride.

Loiko Zobar

A young, handsome gypsy, famous in almost everyone European countries. His life's passion is horses, and he has the reputation of being the most famous horse thief. Many horse owners dream of getting rid of Loiko, but he is elusive. No less than horses, Zobar values ​​freedom and freedom; elusive, he rushes across the endless steppes like the wind. Loiko knows how to play the violin perfectly, amazing everyone with her talent. He fell in love with the young gypsy woman with all his heart and died.

Radda

A young, proud gypsy. She captivated many with her beauty, but did not give preference to anyone. Willful and rebellious, the proud beauty does not want to bow her head to anyone, she believes that she deserves more. She mocks all contenders for her hand, mocks them, and always remains a free bird. Zobar did not escape this fate. And although the young girl fell in love with the daring gypsy, she also wanted to bend him to her feet. Loiko did not obey and stabbed Radda with a knife.

Minor characters

Danilo - soldier

An old gypsy, Radda's father. He loves his daughter and is proud of her. He is not afraid of anything or anyone, respects his daughter for her choice, appreciates her love of freedom. Doesn't stop Radda from doing anything, allowing her to do whatever she wants. When Zobar stabbed Radda, Danilo stabbed him with the same knife; for the old soldier this is an irreparable grief.

Narrator

The narrator is not actor in this story, he is an attentive listener, assessing the events taking place from the outside. The narrator analyzes surrounding reality, expressing the author's point of view. In parallel with this he describes surrounding nature, which seems to complement the story of the old gypsy. In the story, the intrigue heats up, and nature, quiet and calm, develops into wind and storm, the rain intensifies, and the sea roars.

This list provides descriptions of the characters a brief description of heroes of the story.

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