E-book What to do? N. G. Chernyshevsky “What to do?”: description, characters, analysis of the novel

The novel by N. G. Chernyshevsky “What to do?” created by him in a chamber of the Peter and Paul Fortress in the period from 12/14/1862 to 04/04/1863. in three and a half months. From January to April 1863, the manuscript was transferred in parts to the commission on the writer’s case for censorship. The censor did not find anything reprehensible and allowed publication. The oversight was soon discovered and censor Beketov was removed from office, but the novel was already published in the magazine Sovremennik (1863, No. 3-5). The bans on the magazine's issues led to nothing and the book was distributed throughout the country in samizdat.

In 1905, under Emperor Nicholas II, the ban on publication was lifted, and in 1906 the book was published in a separate edition. The reaction of readers to the novel is interesting; they are divided into two camps. Some supported the author, others considered the novel devoid of artistry.

Analysis of the work

1. Social and political renewal of society through revolution. In the book, due to censorship, the author could not expand on this topic in more detail. It is given in half-hints in the description of Rakhmetov’s life and in the 6th chapter of the novel.

2. Moral and psychological. That a person, with the power of his mind, is able to create in himself new given moral qualities. The author describes the whole process from small (the fight against despotism in the family) to large-scale, that is, revolution.

3. Women's emancipation, family morality. This topic is revealed in the history of Vera's family, in relations of three young people before Lopukhov’s imaginary suicide, in Vera’s first 3 dreams.

4. Future socialist society. This is a dream of a beautiful and bright life, which the author unfolds in Vera Pavlovna’s 4th dream. Here is a vision of easier labor with the help of technical means, i.e., technogenic development of production.

(Chernyshevsky writes a novel in a cell at the Peter and Paul Fortress)

The pathos of the novel is the propaganda of the idea of ​​​​transforming the world through revolution, preparing minds and waiting for it. Moreover, the desire to actively participate in it. the main objective works - development and implementation new technique revolutionary education, creating a textbook on the formation of a new worldview for every thinking person.

Story line

In the novel, it actually covers up the main idea of ​​the work. It’s not for nothing that at first even the censors considered the novel to be nothing more than a love story. The beginning of the work, deliberately entertaining, in the spirit of French novels, aimed to confuse the censorship and, at the same time, attract the attention of the majority of the reading public. The plot is simple love story, behind which the social, philosophical and economic problems of the time are hidden. The Aesopian language of the narrative is thoroughly permeated with the ideas of the coming revolution.

The plot is like this. There is an ordinary girl Vera Pavlovna Rozalskaya, whom her selfish mother is trying in every possible way to pass off as a rich man. Trying to avoid this fate, the girl resorts to the help of her friend Dmitry Lopukhov and enters into a fictitious marriage with him. Thus, she gains freedom and leaves her parents' house. In search of income, Vera opens a sewing workshop. This is not an ordinary workshop. There is no hired labor here; female workers have their share of the profits, so they are interested in the prosperity of the enterprise.

Vera and Alexander Kirsanov are mutually in love. To free his imaginary wife from remorse, Lopukhov stages suicide (it is with a description of it that the whole action begins) and leaves for America. There he acquires a new name, Charles Beaumont, becomes an agent of an English company and, fulfilling its assignment, comes to Russia to purchase a stearine plant from the industrialist Polozov. Lopukhov meets Polozov’s daughter Katya at Polozov’s house. They fall in love with each other, the matter ends with a wedding. Now Dmitry appears in front of the Kirsanov family. Friendship between families begins, they settle in the same house. A circle of “new people” forms around them, wanting to arrange their own social life in a new way. Lopukhov-Beaumont's wife Ekaterina Vasilievna also joins the business and sets up a new sewing workshop. This is such a happy ending.

Main characters

The central character of the novel is Vera Rozalskaya. She is especially sociable and belongs to the type of “honest girls” who are not ready to compromise for the sake of a profitable marriage without love. The girl is romantic, but despite this, she is quite modern, with good administrative skills, as they would say today. Therefore, she was able to interest the girls and organize clothing industry and more than one.

Another character in the novel is Dmitry Sergeevich Lopukhov, a student at the Medical Academy. Somewhat withdrawn, prefers solitude. He is honest, decent and noble. It was these qualities that prompted him to help Vera in her difficult situation. For her sake, he quits his studies in his last year and begins private practice. Considering official husband Vera Pavlovna, he behaves towards her in highest degree decent and noble. The apogee of his nobility is his decision to fake his own death in order to give loving friend friend Kirsanov and Vera to unite their destinies. Just like Vera, it relates to the formation of new people. Smart, enterprising. This can be judged at least because the English company entrusted him with a very serious matter.

Kirsanov Alexander, husband of Vera Pavlovna, best friend Lopukhova. I am very impressed by his attitude towards his wife. He not only loves her tenderly, but also looks for an activity for her in which she could realize herself. The author feels deep sympathy for him and speaks of him as a brave man who knows how to carry through to the end the work he has taken on. At the same time, he is an honest, deeply decent and noble person. Not knowing about the true relationship between Vera and Lopukhov, having fallen in love with Vera Pavlovna, he disappears from their house for a long time so as not to disturb the peace of the people he loves. Only Lopukhov’s illness forces him to appear to treat his friend. The fictitious husband, understanding the state of the lovers, imitates his death and makes room for Kirsanov next to Vera. Thus, lovers find happiness in family life.

(In the photo, the artist Karnovich-Valois in the role of Rakhmetov, the play "New People")

A close friend of Dmitry and Alexander, revolutionary Rakhmetov - the most significant hero novel, although he is given little space in the novel. In the ideological outline of the story, he got special role and is devoted to a separate digression in chapter 29. An extraordinary man in every way. At the age of 16, he left university for three years and wandered around Russia in search of adventure and character development. This is a person with already formed principles in all spheres of life, material, physical and spiritual. At the same time, he has an ebullient nature. He sees his later life in serving people and prepares for this, tempering his spirit and body. He even refused the woman he loved, because love could limit his actions. He would like to live like most people, but he cannot afford it.

In Russian literature, Rakhmetov became the first practical revolutionary. Opinions about him were completely opposite, from indignation to admiration. This - perfect image revolutionary hero. But today, from the position of knowledge of history, such a person could only evoke sympathy, since we know how accurately history has proven the truth of the words of the Emperor of France Napoleon Bonaparte: “Revolutions are conceived by heroes, carried out by fools, and scoundrels enjoy their fruits.” Perhaps the voiced opinion does not quite fit into the framework of the image and characteristics of Rakhmetov formed over decades, but this is indeed the case. The above does not in any way detract from Rakhmetov’s quality, because he is a hero of his time.

According to Chernyshevsky, using the example of Vera, Lopukhov and Kirsanov, he wanted to show ordinary people new generation, of which there are thousands. But without the image of Rakhmetov, the reader might have formed a misleading opinion about the main characters of the novel. According to the writer, all people should be like these three heroes, but the highest ideal that all people should strive for is the image of Rakhmetov. And I completely agree with this.

Year of writing:

1863

Reading time:

Description of the work:

The novel "What to do?" written by Russian philosopher, journalist and literary critic Nikolai Chernyshevsky in 1862-1863.

While writing the novel "What to do?" Chernyshevsky was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, and the novel is believed to have been partly a response to Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons.

We present to your attention summary novel "What to do?"

On July 11, 1856, a note left by a strange guest is found in the room of one of the large St. Petersburg hotels. The note says that its author will soon be heard on the Liteiny Bridge and that no one should be suspicious. The circumstances become clear very quickly: at night a man shoots himself on the Liteiny Bridge. His bullet-ridden cap is fished out of the water.

That same morning, at a dacha on Kamenny Island, a young lady sits and sews, singing a lively and bold French song about working people who will be freed by knowledge. Her name is Vera Pavlovna. The maid brings her a letter, after reading which Vera Pavlovna sobs, covering her face with her hands. The young man who entered tries to calm her down, but Vera Pavlovna is inconsolable. She pushes away young man with the words: “You are covered in blood! His blood is on you! It’s not your fault - I’m alone...” The letter received by Vera Pavlovna says that the person writing it is leaving the stage because he loves “both of you” too much...

Tragic ending preceded by the life story of Vera Pavlovna. She spent her childhood in St. Petersburg, in multi-storey building on Gorokhovaya, between Sadovaya and Semenovsky Bridge. Her father, Pavel Konstantinovich Rozalsky, is the manager of the house, her mother gives money as bail. The only concern of the mother, Marya Alekseevna, in relation to Verochka: to quickly marry her to a rich man. A narrow-minded and evil woman does everything possible for this: she invites a music teacher to her daughter, dresses her up and even takes her to the theater. Soon the beautiful dark girl is noticed by the owner’s son, officer Storeshnikov, and immediately decides to seduce her. Hoping to force Storeshnikov to marry, Marya Alekseevna demands that her daughter be favorable to him, but Verochka refuses this in every possible way, understanding the true intentions of the womanizer. She manages to somehow deceive her mother, pretending that she is luring a suitor, but this cannot last long. Verochka's position in the house becomes completely unbearable. It is resolved in an unexpected way.

A teacher and final year medical student, Dmitry Sergeevich Lopukhov, has been invited to visit Verochka’s brother Fedya. At first, young people are wary of each other, but then they begin to talk about books, about music, about a fair way of thinking and soon feel affection for each other. Having learned about the girl’s plight, Lopukhov tries to help her. He is looking for her to become a governess, which would give Verochka the opportunity to live separately from her parents. But the search turns out to be unsuccessful: no one wants to take responsibility for the girl’s fate if she runs away from home. Then the student in love finds another way out: shortly before the end of the course, in order to have enough money, he leaves his studies and, taking private lessons and translating a geography textbook, proposes to Verochka. At this time, Verochka has her first dream: she sees herself released from a damp and dark basement and talking with amazing beauty, which calls itself love for people. Verochka promises the beauty that she will always release other girls from the basements, locked in the same way she was locked.

The young people rent an apartment, and their life is going well. True, their relationship seems strange to the landlady: “darling” and “darling” sleep in different rooms, enter each other only after knocking, do not show themselves to each other undressed, etc. Verochka has difficulty explaining to the landlady that this is how they should be be a relationship between spouses if they do not want to bore each other.

Vera Pavlovna reads books, gives private lessons, and runs the household. Soon she starts her own enterprise - a sewing workshop. The girls do not work in the workshop for hire, but are its co-owners and receive their share of the income, like Vera Pavlovna. They not only work together, but spend time together free time: go on picnics, talk. In her second dream, Vera Pavlovna sees a field in which ears of corn grow. She sees dirt on this field - or rather, two dirt: fantastic and real. Real dirt is caring for the most necessary things (the kind with which Vera Pavlovna’s mother was always burdened), and ears of corn can grow from it. Fantastic dirt - caring for the superfluous and unnecessary; nothing worthwhile comes out of it.

The Lopukhov couple often has Dmitry Sergeevich's best friend, his former classmate and spiritually close person to him, Alexander Matveevich Kirsanov. Both of them “made their way through their breasts, without connections, without acquaintances.” Kirsanov is a strong-willed, courageous person, capable of both decisive action and subtle feeling. He brightens up Vera Pavlovna's loneliness with conversations when Lopukhov is busy, takes her to the Opera, which they both love. However, soon, without explaining the reasons, Kirsanov stops visiting his friend, which greatly offends both him and Vera Pavlovna. They do not know the real reason his “cooling”: Kirsanov is in love with a friend’s wife. He reappears in the house only when Lopukhov falls ill: Kirsanov is a doctor, he treats Lopukhov and helps Vera Pavlovna take care of him. Vera Pavlovna is in complete confusion: she feels that she is in love with her husband’s friend. She has a third dream. In this dream, Vera Pavlovna, with the help of some unknown woman, reads the pages of her own diary, which says that she feels gratitude to her husband, and not that quiet, tender feeling, the need for which is so great in her.

The situation in which three smart and decent “new people” find themselves seems insoluble. Finally Lopukhov finds a way out - a shot on the Liteiny Bridge. On the day this news was received, an old acquaintance of Kirsanov and Lopukhov, Rakhmetov, came to Vera Pavlovna, “ special person" The “higher nature” was awakened in him at one time by Kirsanov, who introduced the student Rakhmetov to books “that need to be read.” 11based on rich family, Rakhmetov sold the estate, distributed the money to his fellows and now leads a harsh lifestyle: partly because he considers it impossible for himself to have something that an ordinary person does not have, partly out of a desire to cultivate his character. So, one day he decides to sleep on nails to test his physical capabilities. He doesn't drink wine, doesn't touch women. Rakhmetov is often called Nikitushka Lomov - because he walked along the Volga with barge haulers in order to get closer to the people and gain love and respect ordinary people. Rakhmetov's life is shrouded in a veil of mystery of a clearly revolutionary nature. He has a lot to do, but none of it is his personal business. He is traveling around Europe, planning to return to Russia in three years, when he “needs” to be there. This “example of a very rare breed” is different from simply “honest and good people” by being “the engine of engines, the salt of the earth.”

Rakhmetov brings Vera Pavlovna a note from Lopukhov, after reading which she becomes calm and even cheerful. In addition, Rakhmetov explains to Vera Pavlovna that the dissimilarity between her character and Lopukhov’s character was too great, which is why she was drawn to Kirsanov. Having calmed down after a conversation with Rakhmetov, Vera Pavlovna leaves for Novgorod, where a few weeks later she gets married to Kirsanov.

The dissimilarity between the characters of Lopukhov and Vera Pavlovna is also spoken of in a letter that she soon receives from Berlin. A certain medical student, supposedly a good friend of Lopukhov, conveys to Vera Pavlovna his exact words that he began to feel better after parting with her, because had a penchant for solitude, which was in no way possible during his life with the sociable Vera Pavlovna. In this way, love affairs are arranged to everyone's satisfaction. The Kirsanov family has approximately the same lifestyle as the Lopukhov family before. Alexander Matveevich works a lot, Vera Pavlovna eats cream, takes baths and is engaged in sewing workshops: she now has two of them. In the same way, there are neutral and non-neutral rooms in the house, and spouses can enter non-neutral rooms only after knocking. But Vera Pavlovna notices that Kirsanov not only allows her to lead the lifestyle that she likes, and is not just ready to lend her a shoulder in difficult times, but is also keenly interested in her life. He understands her desire to do something “that cannot be put off.” With the help of Kirsanov, Vera Pavlovna begins to study medicine.

Soon she has a fourth dream. Nature in this dream “pours aroma and song, love and bliss into the chest.” The poet, whose brow and thought are illuminated by inspiration, sings a song about the meaning of history. Vera Pavlovna sees pictures of the lives of women in different millennia. First, the female slave obeys her master among the tents of the nomads, then the Athenians worship the woman, still not recognizing her as their equal. Then an image appears beautiful lady, for which the knight fights in the tournament. But he loves her only until she becomes his wife, that is, a slave. Then Vera Pavlovna sees her own face instead of the goddess’s face. His features are far from perfect, but he is illuminated by the radiance of love. great woman, familiar to her from her first dream, explains to Vera Pavlovna what the meaning of women's equality and freedom is. This woman also shows Vera Pavlovna pictures of the future: citizens New Russia live in beautiful home made of cast iron, crystal and aluminum. They work in the morning, have fun in the evening, and “whoever has not worked enough has not prepared the nerve to feel the fullness of the fun.” The guide explains to Vera Pavlovna that this future should be loved, one should work for it and transfer from it to the present everything that can be transferred.

The Kirsanovs have a lot of young people, like-minded people: “This type has recently appeared and is quickly spreading.” All these people are decent, hardworking, with unshakable life principles and possessing “cold-blooded practicality.” The Beaumont family soon appears among them. Ekaterina Vasilievna Beaumont, née Polozova, was one of the richest brides in St. Petersburg. Kirsanov once helped her smart advice: with his help, Polozova figured out that the person she was in love with was unworthy of her. Then Ekaterina Vasilievna marries a man who calls himself an agent of an English company, Charles Beaumont. He speaks excellent Russian - because he supposedly lived in Russia until he was twenty. His romance with Polozova develops calmly: both of them are people who “don’t get mad for no reason.” When Beaumont meets Kirsanov, it becomes clear that this man is Lopukhov. The Kirsanov and Beaumont families feel such spiritual closeness that they soon settle in the same house and receive guests together. Ekaterina Vasilievna also sets up a sewing workshop, and the circle of “new people” thus becomes wider.

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The young man checks into a hotel and stays overnight. In the morning he doesn’t leave his room. The policeman knocks down the door and finds only a note, from which it becomes clear that the young man committed suicide. Indeed, at night an unknown person shot himself on the bridge and disappeared. They were never able to find the body; they only found a cap that belonged to a hotel guest. At the same time, a letter is brought to the young woman Vera Pavlovna, where the author says that he loves them both and leaves them. Vera blames herself, says that she and the young man who is in the room need to separate, and asks him to leave, but then she can’t stand it and throws herself on his neck.

Vera Pavlovna was born into the family of the manager of a rich house in St. Petersburg on Gorokhovaya. Her father, Pavel Konstantinovich Rozalsky, obeyed his wife in everything. Her mother, Marya Alekseevna, was a risky, greedy and even evil woman. She made her capital through dubious fraud, lending small sums of money as collateral. For a long time she neglected Vera and yelled at her, but at 16, Vera blossomed and turned into a sweet girl. She decided to find the daughter of a rich groom. He was found in the same house - the owner's son, officer Storeshnikov. Vera didn’t like him, because he wanted to make her his mistress first. Under the influence of her mother and out of pity for the officer’s love, which she discovered he was experiencing, Vera did not immediately reject his marriage proposal.

Several months have passed. Vera's brother was invited to a teacher, medical student Dmitry Sergeevich Lopukhov. He is an honest, serious young man who does not like to take liberties. At first, Vera and Dmitry did not like each other, but then, after talking, they began to spend more and more time in each other’s company. Lopukhov wanted to help Vera escape from home and get a job as a governess. Vera has her first dream about liberation from a damp basement. But this project failed. As a result, he decides to quit his studies, marry Vera and take her away. They decide to rent a 3-room apartment: with one neutral room where they will meet, and rooms for each spouse. They got married secretly and quickly.

The Lopukhovs' married life passed quietly and calmly. Dmitry gives lessons. Vera also found lessons and opened her own sewing workshop. She has a dream about a field and mud. Lopukhov’s friends visit them: Mertsalov, Kirsanov, Rakhmetov, who is often called Nikitushka Lomov, “a special person.”

Her husband’s close friend, Alexander Matveevich Kirsanov, spends a lot of time with Vera; they go to the opera together. When Lopukhov fell ill, Alexander helps treat his friend. Vera falls in love with him. She has a third dream about her diary. Lopukhov, under the influence of feelings, decides to stage suicide and disappears. Rakhmetov brings a note from Lopukhov, in which he explains everything. Vera and Kirsanov get married. As time passes, she opens a second workshop. Vera also begins to study medicine. She has a dream about history and the place of women in it.

Then they meet the Beaumont couple: an Englishman who speaks excellent Russian and his wife. The Englishman turns out to be Lopukhov. Both families begin to become friends and later live in the same house.

Read a detailed summary of the novel What to do? Chernyshevsky

The plot of the novel takes place in July 1856, in one of the inns in St. Petersburg. A note is found in the room, which says that its author will soon become known. His name will be associated with the incident on the Liteiny Bridge. There is no one to blame in this case. In the coming days, it turns out that a person committed suicide on this bridge. A headdress with a hole from a firearm was found at the scene.

In the morning, at a summer cottage on Kamenny Island, a young girl Vera is enthusiastically engaged in sewing, while singing a cheerful song. The maid presents the girl with a letter. After reading the message, Vera Pavlovna begins to cry, the young man calms her down, but she breaks out of his hands and blames him for everything.

Then the reader returns with the characters to the starting point and the novel tells the story of the life of Vera Pavlovna. The girl spent her childhood in St. Petersburg. She was from a wealthy family. Her father was a hotel manager, and her mother worked money matters. Vera's mother desperately wanted to marry her off successfully. Soon Vera has a boyfriend. This is the son of the hotel owner Storeshnikov. Marya Alekseevna gives her daughter instructions to be affectionate with the young man. But Vera is a smart girl and therefore immediately saw through Storeshnikov’s true intentions. Dmitry Sergeevich Lopukhov, a medical university student, will help the girl resolve this situation. He often visited Vera’s house, as he was her brother Fedya’s tutor. At first they looked at each other with suspicion, but then became friends and often talked about various topics. Vera shares her experiences with a friend. Dmitry wants to help the girl with her work, but his efforts are in vain. He quits his studies and starts tutoring and translating textbooks. Lopukhov and Vera enter into a fictitious marriage.

Vera often has dreams. In the first dream, Vera sees herself being let out of a nasty, dirty basement, and then the girl talks with a mysterious stranger who seems to love people. Vera makes an oath to the beauty that she will do the same as her, freeing the girls from damp basements.

The newlyweds rent housing. The owner of the apartment is surprised that Vera and Lopukhov sleep in separate rooms, knock on each other’s doors before entering, and do not undress in the shared room. Vera convinces the hostess that it is modern approach V family relationships, in order to feel passion for each other for a long time.

Vera does more than just housework and tutoring. She dreams of her great business. The girl decides to combine her hobby and work. She opens a sewing workshop, employs craftswomen who earn the same money as Vera Pavlovna. Girls become real friends, they work for the common good and have fun in their free time. Time passes, and Vera again has a dream - a huge field with spikelets. There is real and fantastic dirt on this field. Real dirt is caring for what people need, and fantastic dirt is caring for an unimportant, useless matter.

The young family is often visited by a friend of Dmitry Lopukhov, his fellow student and simply good man- Kirsanov. Each of them, having no influential acquaintances, opened his way to great life. Alexander Matveevich is a brave, determined, talented young man. He entertains Vera when her husband is busy, and together they while away the time. Soon Kirsanov stops visiting his comrade, without explaining the true reason for this behavior. He comes to the Lopukhovs' house after his friend Dima begins to get sick. Kirsanov is treating a friend. Vera Pavlovna feels sympathy for her husband's friend. The girl sees another dream in which an unknown lady helps Vera read her diary. The girl’s personal book says that she is grateful to her husband for his kindness, but does not feel sympathy for him.

A kind of closed triangle was formed: Lopukhov, Kirsanov and Vera Pavlovna. Decisive Dmitry finds a way out of this situation - a staged suicide on the Liteiny Bridge. At the moment when Vera learned about this event, an old friend of Dmitry and Alexander, Rakhmetov, comes to the girl. Kirsanov influenced the formation of his love of reading books. Rakhmetov came from a wealthy family, but he sold his property and distributed the money from the sale to students. IN this moment leads a modest life, he wants to change his character. He does not drink alcohol, does not drive intimate life with women. Rakhmetov deprives himself of all earthly goods. He is constantly busy with something, helping others. Rakhmetov comes with a message to Verochka from Dmitry Lopukhov. After reading the contents of the note, Vera calms down and cheers up before our eyes. Rakhmenov himself emphasizes the great dissimilarity between Vera and Lopukhov. After a conversation with Rakhmenov, the girl calms down and soon marries Alexander. A few weeks later, Vera receives a letter from Berlin, which says that Vera and Dmitry are completely different people, Lopukhov loves solitude and silence, and Vera is a sociable young lady and she always interfered with her husband’s privacy.

Lifestyle new family the same as the Lopukhovs had. Vera's husband most spends days at work, and the girl herself eats a lot of sweets and is busy with her enterprise. Now she has two sewing workshops. The house is also divided into personal and common rooms. Before entering your spouse's room, be sure to knock. Kirsanov treats Vera’s affairs with understanding and respect. Her husband helps Vera learn the basics of medicine.

After some time, the girl sees another dream. Before Vera’s eyes, like mirages, pictures of the way of life of women in different eras. The first illustration shows a woman who worships her husband; she has no right to control her life and destiny. Then in Athens they honor the woman, but still do not consider her their equal. In the Middle Ages, knights fight each other for the heart of a lady. But this love lasts exactly until the wedding, and then the woman becomes a servant. In the next picture, Vera sees her face. Her facial features are not perfect, but it shines with love and care. From her first dream, the girl explains to Vera the whole essence of female independence and equality with men. Vera also sees a picture of the future of her country. The Kirsanovs make many friends with the same worldview. These people lead a correct lifestyle, have certain life principles, are disciplined and hardworking. The Kirsanovs are in close contact with the Beaumont family. One of the enviable brides of St. Petersburg was Ekaterina Beaumont, maiden name which Polozova. She became the wife of the Englishman Charles Beaumont, who was fluent in Russian, having lived in Russia for about twenty years. Kirsanov recognizes his friend Lopukhov in Charles Beaumont. In the near future, two wonderful families will begin to live under one roof, receive guests, and spend time together. Ekaterina also acquires a sewing workshop and thus the number of new acquaintances increases. Summary Sholokhov Mole

Nikolka Koshevoy is an eighteen-year-old guy. He is ashamed of his age because he is smart and brave beyond his years. At eighteen, he is a squadron commander. He managed to safely eliminate two very dangerous gangs.

On July 11, 1856, a note left by a strange guest is found in the room of one of the large St. Petersburg hotels. The note says that they will soon hear about its author on the Liteiny Bridge and that no one should be suspicious. The circumstances become clear very quickly: at night a man shoots himself on the Liteiny Bridge. His bullet-ridden cap is fished out of the water.

That same morning, at a dacha on Kamenny Island, a young lady sits and sews, singing a lively and bold French song about working people who will be freed by knowledge. Her name is Vera Pavlovna. The maid brings her a letter, after reading which Vera Pavlovna sobs, covering her face with her hands. The young man who entered tries to calm her down, but Vera Pavlovna is inconsolable. She pushes the young man away with the words: “You are covered in blood! His blood is on you! It’s not your fault - I’m alone...” The letter received by Vera Pavlovna says that the person writing it is leaving the stage because he loves “both of you” too much...

The tragic outcome is preceded by the life story of Vera Pavlovna. She spent her childhood in St. Petersburg, in a multi-story building on Gorokhovaya, between Sadovaya and Semenovsky Bridge. Her father, Pavel Konstantinovich Rozalsky, is the manager of the house, her mother gives money as bail. The only concern of the mother, Marya Alekseevna, in relation to Verochka: to quickly marry her to a rich man. A narrow-minded and evil woman does everything possible for this: she invites a music teacher to her daughter, dresses her up and even takes her to the theater. Soon the beautiful dark girl is noticed by the owner’s son, officer Storeshnikov, and immediately decides to seduce her. Hoping to force Storeshnikov to marry, Marya Alekseevna demands that her daughter be favorable to him, but Verochka refuses this in every possible way, understanding the true intentions of the womanizer. She somehow manages to deceive her mother, pretending that she is luring a suitor, but this cannot last long. Verochka's position in the house becomes completely unbearable. It is resolved in an unexpected way.

A teacher and final year medical student, Dmitry Sergeevich Lopukhov, has been invited to Verochka’s brother Fedya. At first, young people are wary of each other, but then they begin to talk about books, about music, about a fair way of thinking and soon feel affection for each other. Having learned about the girl’s plight, Lopukhov tries to help her. He is looking for her to become a governess, which would give Verochka the opportunity to live separately from her parents. But the search turns out to be unsuccessful: no one wants to take responsibility for the girl’s fate if she runs away from home. Then the student in love finds another way out: shortly before the end of the course, in order to have enough money, he leaves his studies and, taking private lessons and translating a geography textbook, proposes to Verochka. At this time, Verochka has her first dream: she sees herself released from a damp and dark basement and talking with an amazing beauty who calls herself love for people. Verochka promises the beauty that she will always let other girls out of the basements, locked in the same way she was locked.

The young people rent an apartment, and their life is going well. True, their relationship seems strange to the landlady: “darling” and “darling” sleep in different rooms, enter each other only after knocking, do not show themselves to each other undressed, etc. Verochka has difficulty explaining to the landlady that this is how they should be be a relationship between spouses if they do not want to bore each other.

Vera Pavlovna reads books, gives private lessons, and runs the household. Soon she starts her own enterprise - a sewing workshop. The girls do not work in the workshop for hire, but are its co-owners and receive their share of the income, just like Vera Pavlovna. They not only work together, but spend their free time together: go on picnics, talk. In her second dream, Vera Pavlovna sees a field in which ears of corn grow. She sees dirt on this field - or rather, two dirt: fantastic and real. Real dirt is caring for the most necessary things (the kind with which Vera Pavlovna’s mother was always burdened), and ears of corn can grow from it. Fantastic dirt - caring for the superfluous and unnecessary; Nothing worthwhile comes out of it.

The Lopukhov couple often has Dmitry Sergeevich's best friend, his former classmate and spiritually close person to him, Alexander Matveevich Kirsanov. Both of them “made their way through their breasts, without connections, without acquaintances.” Kirsanov is a strong-willed, courageous man, capable of both decisive action and subtle feeling. He brightens up Vera Pavlovna's loneliness with conversations when Lopukhov is busy, takes her to the Opera, which they both love. However, soon, without explaining the reasons, Kirsanov stops visiting his friend, which greatly offends both him and Vera Pavlovna. They do not know the true reason for his “cooling”: Kirsanov is in love with a friend’s wife. He reappears in the house only when Lopukhov falls ill: Kirsanov is a doctor, he treats Lopukhov and helps Vera Pavlovna take care of him. Vera Pavlovna is in complete confusion: she feels that she is in love with her husband’s friend. She has a third dream. In this dream, Vera Pavlovna, with the help of some unknown woman, reads the pages of her own diary, which says that she feels gratitude to her husband, and not that quiet, tender feeling, the need for which is so great in her.

The situation in which three smart and decent “new people” find themselves seems insoluble. Finally Lopukhov finds a way out - a shot on the Liteiny Bridge. On the day this news was received, an old acquaintance of Kirsanov and Lopukhov, Rakhmetov, a “special person,” comes to Vera Pavlovna. The “higher nature” was awakened in him at one time by Kirsanov, who introduced the student Rakhmetov to books “that need to be read.” Coming from a wealthy family, Rakhmetov sold his estate, distributed the money to his scholarship recipients and now leads a harsh lifestyle: partly because he considers it impossible for himself to have something that an ordinary person does not have, partly out of a desire to cultivate his character. So, one day he decides to sleep on nails to test his physical capabilities. He doesn't drink wine, doesn't touch women. Rakhmetov is often called Nikitushka Lomov - because he walked along the Volga with barge haulers in order to get closer to the people and gain the love and respect of ordinary people. Rakhmetov's life is shrouded in a veil of mystery of a clearly revolutionary nature. He has a lot to do, but none of it is his personal business. He is traveling around Europe, planning to return to Russia in three years, when he “needs” to be there. This “example of a very rare breed” differs from simply “honest and kind people” in that it is “the engine of engines, the salt of the earth.”

Rakhmetov brings Vera Pavlovna a note from Lopukhov, after reading which she becomes calm and even cheerful. In addition, Rakhmetov explains to Vera Pavlovna that the dissimilarity between her character and Lopukhov’s character was too great, which is why she was drawn to Kirsanov. Having calmed down after a conversation with Rakhmetov, Vera Pavlovna leaves for Novgorod, where a few weeks later she gets married to Kirsanov.

The dissimilarity between the characters of Lopukhov and Vera Pavlovna is also spoken of in a letter that she soon receives from Berlin. A certain medical student, supposedly a good friend of Lopukhov, conveys to Vera Pavlovna his exact words that he began to feel better after parting with her, because had a penchant for solitude, which was in no way possible during his life with the sociable Vera Pavlovna. In this way, love affairs are arranged to everyone's satisfaction. The Kirsanov family has approximately the same lifestyle as the Lopukhov family before. Alexander Matveevich works a lot, Vera Pavlovna eats cream, takes baths and is engaged in sewing workshops: she now has two of them. In the same way, there are neutral and non-neutral rooms in the house, and spouses can enter non-neutral rooms only after knocking. But Vera Pavlovna notices that Kirsanov not only allows her to lead the lifestyle that she likes, and is not just ready to lend her a shoulder in difficult times, but is also keenly interested in her life. He understands her desire to do something “that cannot be put off.” With the help of Kirsanov, Vera Pavlovna begins to study medicine.

Soon she has a fourth dream. Nature in this dream “pours aroma and song, love and bliss into the chest.” The poet, whose brow and thought are illuminated by inspiration, sings a song about the meaning of history. Vera Pavlovna sees pictures of the lives of women in different millennia. First, the female slave obeys her master among the tents of the nomads, then the Athenians worship the woman, still not recognizing her as their equal. Then the image of a beautiful lady appears, for whose sake the knight fights in the tournament. But he loves her only until she becomes his wife, that is, a slave. Then Vera Pavlovna sees her own face instead of the goddess’s face. His features are far from perfect, but he is illuminated by the radiance of love. The great woman, familiar to her from her first dream, explains to Vera Pavlovna what the meaning of women's equality and freedom is. This woman also shows Vera Pavlovna pictures of the future: citizens of New Russia live in a beautiful house made of cast iron, crystal and aluminum. They work in the morning, have fun in the evening, and “whoever has not worked enough has not prepared the nerve to feel the fullness of the fun.” The guidebook explains to Vera Pavlovna that this future should be loved, one should work for it and transfer from it to the present everything that can be transferred.

The Kirsanovs have a lot of young people, like-minded people: “This type has recently appeared and is quickly spreading.” All these people are decent, hardworking, with unshakable life principles and possessing “cold-blooded practicality.” The Beaumont family soon appears among them. Ekaterina Vasilievna Beaumont, née Polozova, was one of the richest brides in St. Petersburg. Kirsanov once helped her with smart advice: with his help, Polozova figured out that the person she was in love with was unworthy of her. Then Ekaterina Vasilievna marries a man who calls himself an agent of an English company, Charles Beaumont. He speaks Russian perfectly - because he allegedly lived in Russia until he was twenty. His romance with Polozova develops calmly: both of them are people who “don’t get mad for no reason.” When Beaumont meets Kirsanov, it becomes clear that this man is Lopukhov. The Kirsanov and Beaumont families feel such spiritual closeness that they soon settle in the same house and receive guests together. Ekaterina Vasilievna also sets up a sewing workshop, and the circle of “new people” thus becomes wider.

Nikolai Chernyshevsky’s novel “What to do?” contemporaries perceived it ambiguously. Some considered him an “abomination,” others considered him a “charm.” This is due to the complex composition, attempts to hide the main idea behind dreams main character And love triangle and, finally, with the peculiarities of linguistic design. However, the novel had a serious influence on Russian society XIX century. Schoolchildren study it in 10th grade. We offer brief analysis the work “What to do?”, which will help you prepare qualitatively for lessons and for the Unified State Exam.

Brief Analysis

History of creation- N. Chernyshevsky created the novel while he was in the Peter and Paul Fortress. The writer was arrested for radical ideas. The work was conceived as a response to Turgenev’s “Fathers and Sons,” so there is a certain similarity between the images of Evgeny Bazarov and Rakhmetov.

Subject– In the work, two main themes can be distinguished - love and life in a new society built on the basis of the laws of labor and equality.

Composition- The structure of the work has its own peculiarities. The through lines of the novel are the life of Vera Pavlovna, the fates of Lopukhov and Kirsanov. Love twists and turns play a major role in these storylines. Vera Pavlovna’s dreams are closely intertwined with reality. With the help of them, the author encrypted socio-political motives.

Genre– A novel in which one can notice the features of several genre varieties - a utopian novel, socio-political, love and philosophical novels.

Direction– Realism.

History of creation

The writer worked on the analyzed work for several months: from December 1862 to April 1863. At that time he was under arrest in the Peter and Paul Fortress. He was imprisoned for his radical views. The novel was conceived as a response to Turgenev’s “Fathers and Sons,” so there is a certain similarity between the images of Yevgeny Bazarov and Rakhmetov.

While working on the novel, N. Chernyshevsky understood that censorship would not allow it to be published if it noticed an acute political subtext. To deceive the regulatory authorities, the writer resorted to artistic techniques: framed social motives with a love context, introduced dreams into the plot. He managed to publish his work in Sovremennik, but soon the authorities prohibited not only distributing the novel, but even imitating it. Permission was granted to publish Chernyshevsky’s work “What is to be done?” only in 1905

Subject

The novel displays motifs characteristic of Russian literature of the 19th century century. The writer implemented them in an extraordinary, intricate plot. He presented situations that should push the reader to independent conclusions.

N. Chernyshevsky revealed several topics, among which the following stand out: love that feeds common interests, mutual respect; dreams of a new life. These topics are closely intertwined and determine Problems“What to do?”: marriage without love, friendship, equality of men and women, the role of work in human life.

A significant part of the novel is devoted to the life of Vera Pavlovna. The heroine's mother wanted to marry her to a rich man. She considered the owner's son to be a profitable match. The mother did not even think that he was a womanizer with whom her daughter would not find happiness. Verochka was saved from an unsuccessful marriage by medical student Dmitry Lopukhov. A tender feeling arose between the young people and they got married. Vera became the owner of a sewing workshop. However, she did not use hired labor. The heroine made the girls who worked for her co-owners, and they shared the income equally. In the story about Vera Pavlovna’s workshop, the author embodied the idea of ​​equal labor.

The marriage with Lopukhov soon broke up: Verochka fell in love with her husband’s friend, Kirsanov. To untie the love knot, Lopukhov decided to shoot himself. It turns out that he left the note discussed at the beginning of the novel. In the message, he stated that no one was to blame for his death, and Vera Pavlovna calmly married Kirsanov.

The married couple lived happily. Vera Pavlovna was passionate about her favorite activity - sewing workshops; she began to study medicine, and her husband helped her in every possible way. In the descriptions of the family life of these people, the idea of ​​​​equality of men and women is manifested. At the end of the novel we learn that Lopukhov is alive. Now he took the surname Beaumont and married Ekaterina Vasilievna Polozova. The Kirsanov and Beaumont families begin to become friends and spread the ideas of a “new” life.

Composition

In “What to do?” the analysis should be supplemented with a characterization of the composition. Features of the formal and semantic organization of the text allow the author to reveal several topics and veil forbidden motives. At first sight, main role love twists and turns play in the novel. In fact, they are a mask that hides socio-political problems. For disclosure latest author used a description of Vera Pavlovna’s dreams.

The components of the plot are placed inconsistently: the author presents the event from the development of actions before the exposition, and only then the plot elements are arranged in a logical chain. Both at the beginning and at the end of the novel the image of Lopukhov appears. This creates a kind of frame.

Main characters

Genre

The genre of the work is a novel, as it contains several storylines, A central problem remains open. The work is characterized by genre syncretism: it intertwines the features of love, philosophical, socio-political novels and utopia. The direction of the work is realism.