“New” and “old” people in the novel What to do? (Chernyshevsky N.). "New people!" in the novel by N. G. Chernyshevsky “What to do
Chernyshevsky wrote his novel “What is to be done?” in quite difficult time. This was 1863, when any wrong word could lead to conviction and a long prison sentence. So, first of all, it is worth noting the skill of the writer. He designed the work in such a way that it was tested, but every reader was able to see the author’s true message.
One of the main features of the novel is critical realism and revolutionary romanticism.
They connected and presented completely a new style. Chernyshevsky showed real picture peace. He predicted a revolution. However, the novel consists of more than one socialist idea, although the latter occupies it central place. In addition to utopian dreams of the future, the novel also contains a rather serious analysis of the present.
The novel is mostly dedicated to “new people”. Because the author cares about them. On the opposite side are the “old people”. Throughout all the pages, the writer pits them against each other, compares their goals, vision, life positions. There are also the author’s conclusions. But the important thing is that we ourselves can draw our own conclusions.
In what main conflict? Young people are always ready to change something, but old people do not want to leave their homes.
It is difficult to overestimate the relevance of the topic here.
In analyzing these two groups of people, we will begin with the question of happiness. The generation of fathers cares only about themselves. They don't tend to worry about others. Other people's defeats do not affect their hearts. The happiness of the new generation lies in something completely different. They understand the essence of society, they understand how important it is to be together and help others. This is their strength. The previous regulations do not allow them to open up normally.
Chernyshevsky completely agrees with the new people.
Chernyshevsky never defended egoism in its literal sense.
The “reasonable egoism” of Chernyshevsky’s heroes has nothing to do with selfishness, self-interest, or individualism. Its goal is the benefit of the entire society. Vivid examples people who move according to this principle can be called Mertsalovs, Kirsanovs, Lopukhovs, etc.
But what I like most is that they do not lose their uniqueness. They bright personalities, despite the fact that they are driven by ideas for the benefit of society. They work to overcome their shortcomings. And the more difficult this work is, the happier they are later. “Reasonable selfishness” is also self-care, but it does not harm anyone, but only helps people become better.
Can't miss women's question. Its essence here is in understanding the role of women in society and family. Chernyshevsky emphasizes the strength of a woman, her intelligence. She can be successful not only in the family, but also at work.
She now has the right to individuality, education, dreams and success. Chernyshevsky reconsiders the place of women both in society and in the family.
"What to do?" - this is an eternal question for many people. Chernyshevsky gave us not just artistic history with meaning. This is a serious philosophical, psychological and social work. It opens inner world of people. I think that not every great psychologist or philosopher could show the realities of our days so clearly and truthfully.
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Updated: 2017-01-16
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What distinguishes “new people” from “vulgar” people like Aleksevna? A new understanding of human “benefit”, natural, unperverted, corresponding to human nature. For her, Aleksevna benefits from what satisfies her narrow, “unreasonable” petty-bourgeois egoism. New people see their “benefit” in something else: in the social significance of their work, in the pleasure of doing good to others, in benefiting others - in “reasonable egoism.” The morality of the new people is revolutionary in its deep, inner essence; it completely denies and destroys the officially recognized morality, on the foundations of which Chernyshevsky’s contemporary society rests - the morality of sacrifice and duty. Lopukhov says that “a sacrifice is soft-boiled boots.” All actions, all deeds of a person are only truly viable when they are performed not under compulsion, but according to internal attraction, when they are consistent with desires and beliefs.
Everything that is done in society under duress, under the pressure of duty, ultimately turns out to be inferior and stillborn. Such, for example, is the noble reform “from above” - a “sacrifice” brought by the upper class to the people.
The morality of new people is liberated creative possibilities human personality, joyfully realizing the true needs of human nature, based, according to Chernyshevsky, on the “instinct of social solidarity.” In accordance with this instinct, Lopukhov enjoys doing science, and Vera Pavlovna enjoys working with people and running sewing workshops on reasonable and fair socialist principles. New people decide in a new way and are fatal to humanity love problems and problems family relations. I am convinced that the main source of intimate dramas is inequality between a man and a woman, a woman’s dependence on a man. Emancipation, Chernyshevsky hopes, will significantly change the very nature of love. A woman’s excessive concentration on love feelings will disappear. Her participation on an equal basis with a man in public affairs will remove the drama in love relationships, and at the same time it will destroy the feeling of jealousy as purely selfish in nature.
New people resolve the most dramatic situations differently, less painfully. human relations conflict love triangle. Pushkin’s “how God grant your beloved one to be different” becomes not an exception for them, but an everyday norm of life. Lopukhov, having learned about Vera Pavlovna’s love for Kirsanov, voluntarily gives way to his friend, leaving the stage. Moreover, on Lopukhov’s part this is not a sacrifice - but “the most profitable benefit.” Ultimately, having made a “calculation of benefits,” he experiences a joyful feeling of satisfaction from an act that brings happiness not only to Kirsanov and Vera Pavlovna, but also to himself.
One cannot help but pay tribute to Chernyshevsky’s faith in limitless possibilities human nature. Like Dostoevsky, he is convinced that man on Earth is an incomplete, transitional being, that he contains enormous, not yet revealed creative potentials that are destined to be realized in the future. But if Dostoevsky sees ways to reveal these possibilities in religion and not without the help of the higher powers of grace standing above humanity, then Chernyshevsky trusts the powers of reason, capable of re-creating human nature. Of course, the spirit of utopia emanates from the pages of the novel. Chernyshevsky has to explain to the reader how Lopukhov’s “reasonable egoism” did not suffer from the decision he made. The writer clearly overestimates the role of the mind in all human actions and actions.
Lopukhov’s reasoning smacks of rationalism and rationality; the introspection he carries out gives the reader a feeling of some contrivedness, the implausibility of a person’s behavior in the situation in which Lopukhov found himself. Finally, one cannot help but notice that Chernyshevsky makes the decision easier by the fact that Lopukhov and Vera Pavlovna do not yet have real family, no child. Many years later in the novel “” will give a refutation to Chernyshevsky tragic fate main character, and in “War and Peace” he will challenge the excessive enthusiasm of revolutionary democrats for the ideas of women's emancipation.
But one way or another, in the theory of “reasonable egoism” of Chernyshevsky’s heroes there is an undeniable appeal and an obvious rational grain, especially important for the Russian people, who for centuries lived under the strong pressure of autocratic statehood, which restrained initiative
New people
The novel “What to do?” was written by N. G. Chernyshevsky in 1862-1863 within the walls of the Peter and Paul Fortress. In it he presented whole line“new” personalities who could replace the usual society and become the social core of that time. The socio-political background of the novel was not immediately noticed by the censors, so his work was easily published. The main plot line was the theme of love. Within a year, the text had spread throughout the country. However, over time, it became clear that the author wanted to introduce readers to the “new people” of his novel. The world of these people was formed in the struggle against the old regime, which had long since outlived its usefulness, but continued to dominate.
So, for example, the mother of the main character, Marya Alekseevna, is interested exclusively in issues of profit and profit. This moneylender dreams of marrying her daughter to a rich gentleman and tells her to be courteous to the owner’s son. Vera Pavlovna is the complete opposite of her mother. This is a reasonable, sensible and mature-spirited girl who understands perfectly what this rich womanizer is trying to achieve. Over time, staying in home For Vera, it becomes completely unbearable and a young student at the medical academy, Dmitry Lopukhov, begins to help her. Although he is the son of a landowner, he always paved his own path. So, gradually, around Vera Pavlovna and Lopukhov, a new circle of people.
These people are young, energetic, interesting, full of strength and new ideas. They often visit the house of the Lopukhovs, who entered into a fictitious marriage to save Vera. This is the intelligent Kirsanov, and the desperate Rakhmetov, and other young students from St. Petersburg and abroad educational institutions. Having decided to open a sewing workshop, Vera Pavlovna invites girls who find themselves in the same situation to work there. predicament, in which she once was. These girls now work not for hire, but on equal terms with Vera Pavlovna. They not only work together, but also relax in free time, organizing picnics, tea parties and small talk. All commoners involved in the novel are united by a heightened sense of duty and dignity.
Chernyshevsky’s “New Lyuli” are full of hopes for a bright future. For them, honesty and integrity come first. They know for sure that other personal happiness cannot be built on misfortune. Not last place The novel is occupied with introspection and the psychology of behavior of each individual individual. The greatest resonance in society was caused by the chapter “A Special Person” about the extraordinary student Rakhmetov, in whom the author saw an ideal revolutionary. Perhaps this is the most active person of all the “new people”. He fights for " new world“not for life, but for death, and for this I am ready to resort to all sorts of means. This young man strengthened his strength of character through physical work and material deprivation. This is exactly how the author saw it “ new person", capable of making fundamental changes in society and developing it.
"...I wanted to paint ordinary people
Decent people new generation".
Chernyshevsky N. G.
After the abolition of serfdom in 1861, people of a previously unprecedented formation began to appear in Russian society. These were the children of officials, priests, minor nobles and industrialists who came to Moscow and St. Petersburg and others big cities from different parts of Russia to get an education. They willingly absorbed not only knowledge, but also culture in university cities, bringing, in turn, the democratic traditions of their small towns. provincial towns and obvious dissatisfaction with the old noble orders,
They were destined to begin a new era in the development of Russian society. This phenomenon was reflected in Russian literature of the 60s. XIX century, it was precisely at this time that Turgenev and Chernyshevsky wrote novels about “new people.” The heroes of these works were raznochintsy revolutionaries, who considered the main task of their lives to be the struggle for happy life all people in the future. In the subtitle of the novel "What to do?" We read by N. G. Chernyshevsky: “From stories about new people.”
Chernyshevsky “knows not only how new people think and reason, but also how they feel, how they love and respect each other, how they arrange their family and daily life and how ardently they strive for that time and for that order of things in which it would be possible to love all people and trustingly extend a hand to everyone.”
The main characters of the novel - Lopukhov, Kirsanov and Vera Pavlovna - are representatives of a new type of people. They, it would seem, do nothing that would exceed ordinary human capabilities. This ordinary people, and the author himself recognizes them as such people; This circumstance is extremely important; it gives the entire novel a particularly profound role.
By nominating Lopukhov, Kirsanov and Vera Pavlovna as the primary heroes, the author thereby shows readers: this is how ordinary people can be, this is how they should be, if, of course, they want their life to be full of happiness and pleasure. Wanting to argue to readers that they are really ordinary people, the author brings onto the stage the titanic figure of Rakhmetov, whom he himself recognizes as extraordinary and calls him “special.” Rakhmetov does not participate in the action of the novel, because people like him are only then and there in their sphere and in their place, when and where they can be historical figures. Neither science nor family happiness satisfy them.
They love all people, suffer from every injustice that occurs, experience in their own souls the great misfortune of millions and give everything they can give to heal this grief. Chernyshevsky’s attempt to present to readers special person can be called completely successful. Before him, Turgenev took on this matter, but, unfortunately, completely unsuccessfully.
The heroes of the novel are people who come from different walks of life, mostly students who study natural sciences and “early they got used to making their way with their chest.”
In Chernyshevsky’s novel, a whole group of like-minded people appears before us. The basis of their activity is propaganda. Kirsanov's student circle is one of the most effective. Young revolutionaries are brought up here, the personality of a “special person”, a professional revolutionary, is formed here. To become a special person, you must, first of all, have enormous willpower in order to give up all pleasures and drown out all the slightest desires for the sake of your business.
Work in the name of the revolution becomes the only, completely absorbing task.
In the formation of Rakhmetov’s convictions, a conversation with Kirsanov played a decisive role, during which “he sends a curse to what must die, etc.” After him, Rakhmetov’s transformation into a “special person” began. The power of influence of this circle on young people is already evidenced by the fact that the “new people” have followers (Rakhmetov scholarship recipients).
Chernyshevsky gave in his novel the image of " new woman". Vera Pavlovna, whom Lopukhov "brought" out of the "basement of bourgeois life" - comprehensively developed person, she strives for perfection: she decides to become a doctor in order to bring even greater benefit to people. Having escaped from her parents' house, Vera Pavlovna frees other women. She creates a workshop where she helps poor girls find their place in life.
The whole work of Lopukhov, Kirsanov, Vera Pavlovna is inspired by faith in the onset of a bright future. They are no longer alone, although their circle of like-minded people is still small. But it was precisely people like Kirsanov, Lopukhov, Vera Pavlovna and others who were needed in Russia at that time. Their images served as an example for shaping the worldview of the revolutionary generation. The author realized that the people described in his novel were his dream. But this dream at the same time turned out to be a prophecy. “Years will pass,” says the author of the novel about the type of new person, “and he will be reborn in a more numerous people".
Chernyshevsky himself wrote best about “new people” and their role in the lives of other people in his novel: “There are few of them, but with them the life of everyone flourishes; without them it would stall, it would turn sour; they are few, but they give all people to breathe , without them people would suffocate. This is the color. the best people, these are the engines of the engines, they are the salt of the earth.”
Without such people, life is impossible, because it must constantly change, transform from year to year. Nowadays, there is also a place for new people who make fundamental changes in life. And in this regard, Chernyshevsky’s novel “What is to be done?” valuable and relevant for modern reader. It helps to begin the rise in a person’s soul, the desire to fight for the public good. The theme of the novel will be constantly modern and necessary for the development of society.
Following the abolition of serfdom in 1861, people of a previously unprecedented formation began to emerge in Russian society. To Moscow, St. Petersburg and other big cities from different corners Russia to get a good education, children of officials, priests, minor nobles and industrialists came. They were the ones who treated such people. It was they who, with pleasure and joy, absorbed not only knowledge, but also culture within the university walls, introducing, in turn, into the life of the democratic customs of their small provincial towns and obvious dissatisfaction with the ancient noble system.
They were destined to give birth new era development of Russian society. This phenomenon was reflected in Russian literature of the 60s of the 19th century; it was at this time that Turgenev and Chernyshevsky wrote novels about “new people.” The heroes of these works were commoner revolutionaries who main goal They considered their lives to be a struggle for the happy life of all people in the future. In the subtitle of the novel "What to do?" We read by N. G. Chernyshevsky: “From stories about new people.”
Chernyshevsky “knows not only how new people think and reason, but also how they feel, how they love and respect each other, how they organize their family and everyday life, and how ardently they strive for that time and for that order of things, with whom one could love all people and trustingly extend a hand to everyone."
The main characters of the novel - Lopukhov, Kirsanov and Vera Pavlovna - are representatives of a new type of people. They do not seem to do anything that would exceed ordinary human capabilities. This normal people, and the author himself recognizes them as such people; This circumstance is extremely important; it gives the entire novel a particularly deep meaning.
By nominating Lopukhov, Kirsanov and Vera Pavlovna as the main characters, the author thereby shows readers: this is how ordinary people can be, this is how they should be, if, of course, they want their life to be full of happiness and pleasure. Wanting to prove to readers that they are truly ordinary people, the author brings onto the stage the titanic figure of Rakhmetov, whom he himself recognizes as extraordinary and calls “special.” Rakhmetov does not participate in the action of the novel, because people like him are only then and there in their sphere and in their place, when and where they can be historical figures. Neither science nor family happiness satisfy them.
They love all people, suffer from every injustice that occurs, experience in their own souls the great grief of millions and give everything they can give to heal this grief. Chernyshevsky’s attempt to introduce a special person to readers can be called quite successful. Before him, Turgenev took on this matter, but, unfortunately, completely unsuccessfully.
The heroes of the novel are people who come from different strata of society, mostly students who study natural sciences and “early got used to making their way with their breasts.”
In Chernyshevsky’s novel, a whole group of like-minded people appears before us. The basis of their activity is propaganda; Kirsanov’s student circle is one of the most effective. Young revolutionaries are educated here, the personality of a “special person”, a professional revolutionary, is formed here. To become a special person, you must, first of all, have enormous willpower in order to give up all pleasures for the sake of your business and drown out all the slightest desires.
Work in the name of the revolution becomes the only, completely absorbing task. In the formation of Rakhmetov’s beliefs, the conversation with Kirsanov was decisive, during which “he sends a curse to what must die, etc.” After him, Rakhmetov’s transformation into a “special person” began. The power of influence of this circle on young people is already evidenced by the fact that the “new people” have followers (Rakhmetov scholarship recipients).
Chernyshevsky also gave the image of a “new woman” in his novel. Vera Pavlovna, whom Lopukhov “brought” out of the “basement of bourgeois life,” is a comprehensively developed person, she strives for perfection: she decides to become a doctor in order to bring even greater benefit to people. Having escaped from her parents' house, Vera Pavlovna frees other women. She creates a workshop where she helps poor girls find their place in life.
All the activities of Lopukhov, Kirsanov, Vera Pavlovna are inspired by faith in the onset of a bright future. They are no longer alone, although their circle of like-minded people is still small. But it was people like Kirsanov, Lopukhov, Vera Pavlovna and others who were needed in Russia at that time. Their images served as an example for shaping the worldview of the revolutionary generation. The author realized that the people described in his novel were his dream. But this dream at the same time turned out to be a prophecy. “Years will pass,” says the author of the novel about the type of new person, “and he will be reborn in more numerous people.”
The writer himself wrote well about the “new people” and their significance in the life of the rest of humanity in his own work: “They are few, but with them the life of everyone flourishes; without them it would stall, it would turn sour; they are few, but they give all people to breathe, without them people would suffocate. This is the color of the best people, these are the engines of engines, they are the salt of the earth.”
Life is unthinkable without such people, because it must always change, being modified over time. Nowadays there is also a field of activity for new people making radical changes in life. Chernyshevsky's novel "What to do?" invaluable and topical in this regard for the current reader, helping to intensify the rise in the human soul, the desire to fight for the social good. The problem of the work will be eternally modern and necessary for the formation of society.
