"New people!" in the novel by N.G. “New People” in the novel by G.N. Chernyshevsky “What to do
"...I wanted to portray ordinary
decent people of the new generation."
Chernyshevsky N. G.
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 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, the democratic customs of their little ones into life. provincial towns and obvious dissatisfaction with the old noble system.
They were destined to give birth new era development of Russian society. This phenomenon was reflected in Russian literature of the 60s. XIX century, just at this time 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 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 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 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 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 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.
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 a 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 all blossoms; 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.”
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.
“NEW PEOPLE” IN CHERNYSHEVSKY’S NOVEL “WHAT TO DO?” Realistic novel Chernyshevsky was consciously oriented towards the tradition of world utopian literature. The author consistently sets out his point of view on the socialist ideal. But “What to do?” is also a deeply didactic novel. The utopia created by the author acts as a model. This is an experience that has already been done, yielding positive results.
Of all the utopian European tradition The novel highlights the fact that Chernyshevsky paints not only a picture of a bright future, but also the ways of approaching it. People who have achieved the ideal are also depicted. The very subtitle of the novel, “From Stories about New People,” indicates their exceptional role.
The author constantly emphasizes the typology of “new people” and talks about the whole group. “These people among others are as if among the Chinese there are several Europeans, whom the Chinese cannot distinguish one from another*. Each hero has common traits for the group - courage, ability to get down to business, honesty.
For Chernyshevsky it is extremely important to show the development of “new people”, their separation from the general mass. The only hero, whose past is examined in careful detail, is Verochka. What allows her to free herself from the environment of “vulgar people”? According to Chernyshevsky, labor and education. “We are poor, but we are working people, we have healthy hands. If we study, knowledge will free us; if we work, labor will enrich us.”
Verochka's education (boarding school and piano teacher) was very high for a woman of that time. She was fluent in French and German languages, which gave her unlimited opportunities for self-education.
Kirsanov, Lopukhov and Mertsalov enter the novel as already established people. It is characteristic that doctors (an allegory: their calling is to treat people and society from diseases) appear in the novel while writing a dissertation - work and education merge into one. In addition, the author makes it clear that if both Lopukhov and Kirsanov come from poor and humble families, then they probably have behind them poverty and labor, without which education is impossible. This early exposure hardly gives the "new person" an advantage over other people.
A characteristic fact is that Vera Pavlovna’s marriage is not an epilogue, but only the beginning of the novel. The main thing is that, in addition to the family, Verochka is able to create a wider association of people. Here the old utopian idea of the commune appears - the phalanstery.
Work gives “new people”, first of all, personal independence, but in addition, it is also active help to other people. The author condemns any deviation from selfless service to work - just remember the moment when Verochka is about to go after Lopukhov, leaving the workshop.
If once labor was necessary for “new people” to receive an education, now the heroes are trying to educate people in the process of labor. Connected with this is another important philosophical idea of the author in depicting the “new people” - their educational activities.
We know Lopukhov as an active promoter of new ideas among young people, public figure. Students call him “one of the best heads in St. Petersburg.” Lopukhov himself considered work in the office at the plant to be very important. “The conversation (with the students) had a practical, useful goal - to promote the development of mental life, nobility and energy in my young friends,” Lopukhov writes to his wife. Naturally, such a person could not limit himself to learning to read and write. The author himself hints at revolutionary work at the factory among the workers: “And you never know what” Lopukhov does, besides teaching literacy.
For readers of that time, the mention of Sunday workers' schools meant a lot. The fact is that by a special government decree in the summer of 1862 they were closed. The government was afraid of the revolutionary work that was carried out in these schools for adults, workers, and revolutionary democrats. The original intention was to direct the work in these schools in a religious spirit. It was prescribed to study in them the Law of God, reading, writing and the beginnings of arithmetic. Each school had to have a priest to monitor the good intentions of the teachers. It was precisely such a priest in Vera Pavlovna’s “lyceum of all kinds of knowledge” that Mertsalov should have been, who, however, was preparing to read forbidden Russian and world history, and not the Law of God. The literacy that Lopukhov and other “new people” were going to teach to the worker listeners was also unique. There are examples when progressively minded students explained in class the meaning of the words “liberal,” “revolution,” and “despotism.”
The educational activities of the “new people” are a real approach to the future.
A few words should probably be said about the relationship between “new” and “vulgar” people. In Marya Alekseevna and Polozov, the author sees not only, in the words of Dobrolyubov, “tyrants,” but also practically gifted, active people, capable under other circumstances of benefiting society. Therefore, you can find features of their similarities with children. Lopukhov very quickly gains confidence in Rozalskaya, she respects him business qualities(primarily the intention to marry a rich bride). However, the complete opposite of the aspirations, interests and views of the “new” and “vulgar” people is clearly visible. And the theory of rational egoism gives the “new people” an undeniable advantage.
The novel often talks about selfishness as an internal motivator of human actions. The author considers the most primitive thing to be the selfishness of Marya Alekseevna, who does no harm to anyone without monetary payment. The selfishness of wealthy people is much more terrible. He grows on “fantastic” soil - on the desire for excess and idleness. An example of such egoism is Soloviev, who plays out his love for Katya Polozova because of her inheritance.
The selfishness of the “new people” is also based on the calculation and benefit of one person. “Everyone thinks most of all about himself,” says Lopukhov to Vera Pavlovna... But this is a fundamentally new moral code. Its essence is that the happiness of one person is inseparable from the happiness of other people. The benefit and happiness of the “reasonable egoist” depends on the state of his loved ones and society as a whole. Lopukhov frees Verochka from a forced marriage, and when he is convinced that she loves Kirsanov, he leaves the stage. Kirsanov helps Katya Polozova, Vera organizes a workshop. For heroes, following the theory of reasonable egoism means taking into account the interests of another person with every action. For the hero, the mind comes first; the person is forced to constantly turn to introspection and give an objective assessment of his feelings and position.
As you can see, the “reasonable egoism” of Chernyshevsky’s heroes has nothing to do with selfishness or self-interest. Why is this still the theory of “egoism”? The Latin root of this word “ego” - “I” indicates that Chernyshevsky puts a person at the center of his theory. In this case, the theory of rational egoism becomes the development of the anthropological principle that Chernyshevsky put at the basis of his philosophical idea.
In one of the conversations with Vera Pavlovna, the author says: “...I feel joy and happiness” - that means “I want all people to be happy” - humanly speaking, Verochka, these two thoughts are one.” Thus, Chernyshevsky states that creating favorable conditions for life individual inseparable from the improvement of the existence of all people. This reflects the undoubted revolutionary nature of Chernyshevsky’s views.
Many moral principles of the “new people” are revealed in their attitude to the problem of love and marriage. For them, a person, his freedom is the main thing life value. Love and humane friendship form the basis of the relationship between Lopukhov and Vera Pavlovna. Even a declaration of love occurs during a discussion of Verochka’s position in her mother’s family and the search for a path to liberation. Thus, the feeling of love only adapts to the situation that has arisen (it should be noted that such a statement entered into controversy with many works of the XIX century).
The “new people” also solve the problem of women’s emancipation in a unique way. Although only church marriage is recognized, a woman must remain financially and spiritually independent of her husband during marriage. Starting a family is only one of the milestones on the way to approaching the ideal.
Associated with the “new people” is the theme of the revival of the fallen woman. The meeting with Kirsanov gives Nastya Kryukova the strength to rise from the bottom. Julie, who lives among “vulgar people,” does not have such an opportunity. In addition, a two-way connection is visible: people who are reborn thanks to the support of “new people” themselves join their ranks.
According to Chernyshevsky, only children make a woman happy and a family a family. It is with the upbringing of children and their future that the author connects Vera Pavlovna’s second marriage. It becomes a real bridge to the future.
The heroes of Chernyshevsky’s novel “What to do?” - commoners, new heroes of literature. Underestimating the role of the working class, Chernyshevsky predicts to revolutionary democrats, commoners, victory and the approach of the future.
In the novel by G.N. Chernyshevsky special place belongs to the so-called “new people”. They are between ordinary people, immersed in their selfish interests (Marya Alekseevna), and a special person of modern times - Rakhmetov.
Chernyshevsky’s “new people” no longer belong to the dark old world, but they have not yet entered another. Vera Pavlovna, Kirsanov, Lopukhov, and Mertsalovs found themselves at this intermediate stage. These heroes already solve the problems of family and social life in a different way. They gradually discard the conventions of the old world and choose their own path of development. In order to decide on such a path of development, which consists of reading, observing life, “no sacrifices are required, no hardships are asked...” “Intermediate” heroes prefer the peaceful path of intellectual development, the awakening of an ordinary person, accessible to the majority. At the height at which Vera Pavlovna, Kirsanov, Lopukhov stand, “all people must stand, can stand.” And this can be achieved without sacrifice or hardship.
However, Chernyshevsky knows that, in addition to development, reading and observation of life, a heroic struggle against tyranny and despotism, social inequality and exploitation is needed. " Historical path, - says G.N. Chernyshevsky - not the sidewalk of Nevsky Prospekt; it goes entirely through fields, sometimes dusty, sometimes dirty, sometimes through swamps, sometimes through wilds. Anyone who is afraid of being covered in dust and getting their boots dirty should not take up public activities.”
According to the author, not everyone is ready for such a struggle. Therefore, Chernyshevsky divides “new people” into “ordinary” (Lopukhov, Kirsanov, Vera Pavlovna, Mertsalovs, Polozova) and “special” (Rakhmetov, “a lady in mourning”, “a man of about thirty”).
Identification of these two types among positive characters The novel has its own philosophical and socio-historical reasons. But the writer does not contrast “special” people with “ordinary” people, leaders revolutionary movement ordinary figures, but outlines the connection between them. So, Lopukhov saves Vera Pavlovna from unequal marriage, creates a family with her based on freedom, mutual understanding, and trust. The heroine herself does not want to go through life like her mother Marya Alekseevna. She does not want to live in constant lies, selfishness, and the struggle for existence by any means. Therefore, in Lopukhov she finds her salvation.
The heroes commit a fictitious marriage. They are organizing their economic activity. Vera Pavlovna starts a sewing workshop and hires dressmakers who live together. Describing in detail the activities of Vera Pavlovna in the workshop, G.N. Chernyshevsky emphasizes new character relations between workers and the mistress. They don't wear as much economic character, how many are based on achieving a common goal, mutual assistance, good attitude towards each other.
The atmosphere in the workshop is reminiscent of a family. The writer emphasizes that Vera Pavlovna thus saved many of her charges from death and poverty (for example, Masha, who later became her maid). Here we see what great importance G.N. Chernyshevsky assigns the role of labor. According to the writer, work ennobles a person, therefore “new people” should strive to direct their work for the benefit of others, thereby protecting them from the harmful influence of destructive passions. In the sphere of activity of “ordinary” people, Chernyshevsky included educational work in Sunday schools ah (Kirsanov and Mertsalov’s teaching in a group of sewing workshop workers), among the advanced part of the student body (Lopukhov could spend hours talking with students), at factory enterprises (Lopukhov’s classes in the factory office).
The name of Kirsanov is associated with the plot of a clash between a common doctor and the “aces” of a St. Petersburg private practice - in the episode of the treatment of Katya Polozova, as well as the theme scientific activity. His experiments on the artificial production of protein are welcomed by Lopukhov as “a complete revolution in the whole question of food, the whole life of mankind.”
These scenes are reflected socialist views writer. Although time has shown that in many ways they turned out to be utopian and naive. The author of the novel himself deeply believed in their progressive role. At that time, the opening of Sunday schools, reading rooms, and hospitals for the poor was widespread among progressive youth.
Thus, G.N. Chernyshevsky accurately noticed and reflected the new positive trends of the era using the example of Vera Pavlovna’s workshop. The “new people” in his novel resolve their personal, intra-family conflicts differently. Although outwardly their family seems prosperous, friendly, and quite successful, in reality everything is different. Vera Pavlovna respected her husband very much, but never felt anything more for him. Unexpectedly for herself, the heroine realized this when she met best friend her husband - Kirsanov. Together they took care of Lopukhov during his illness.
Vera Pavlovna has completely different feelings for Kirsanov. comes to her true love, which plunges her into absolute confusion. But in this episode the key role is not played by love story between Kirsanov and Vera Pavlovna, and Lopukhov’s act. He does not want to interfere with his wife’s happiness; he cannot build a family on a lie. Therefore, he, like a true man of modern times, withdraws himself and stages suicide.
Lopukhov does this brave act, because he doesn’t want to cause his wife unhappiness or be the cause of her moral torment. Vera Pavlovna was inconsolable for a long time. Only Rakhmetov managed to revive her to life. There were no obstacles to the development of love for Kirsanov. As a result, Chernyshevsky’s heroes create a real family, based not only on mutual respect, but also on deep feeling.
The life of a new person, according to G.N. Chernyshevsky, must be harmonious socially and personally. Therefore, Lopukhov is not left alone either. He saves Mertsalova from death and marries her. And in this marriage he finds well-deserved happiness. Moreover, G.N. Chernyshevsky goes further, depicting ideal relationships between people, without mutual hostility, anger, or hatred. At the end of the novel we see two happy families: Kirsanovs and Lopukhovs, who are friends with each other.
Describing the life of “new people,” the writer focuses our attention on the economic and personal side of the heroes’ lives. With their help, he proves that the unjust, inhumane principles of life of the old world are outdated, and in society there is a desire for renewal, new relationships between people.
"What to do?" - “from stories about new people” - this is the definition of this work given by the subtitle of the novel. Chernyshevsky was not an innovator in depicting “new people”; he was a continuator of the tradition, but he draws his own ideal of a harmonious society.
The novel is utopian in its content: the author believed in the victory of the ideal, an optimist by nature, he was convinced that in the end humanity would come to great universal happiness, to have a wonderful life. While the world still reigns in triumph of the foundations of the old world, the belief that “new people” will turn the river of life in the right direction and radically change it fills this work with faith in a bright future.
“New people” are distinguished by non-violent changes in their views in order to build future life All that is required of them is the pursuit of happiness. They are opposed to the old world by the fact that for them “ main element reality" - labor. They arrange their own lives, subordinating their circumstances. Main life principle They are guided by the “benefit calculation theory.”
Chernyshevsky ironically describes the people of the old world, their ignorance, deceit and hypocrisy. Representatives of the old world in the novel are people of the noble class: Storeshnikov, the “actual state councilor” Anna Petrovna, Storeshnikov’s friends Jean and Serge, Julie, Serge’s kept woman. The lifestyle of these heroes shows all the vices of the old world, which has long since become obsolete. In the suffocating atmosphere of this society, they could not be different; everything good that was in a person was initially ruined by the way of the old world.
Serge is “by nature a man who is not stupid and very good,” but his environment ruined everything for him best qualities, forcing you to adapt to yourself. A striking example Such submission to the environment can also be served by Vera Pavlovna’s mother, Marya Alekseevna, who herself admits to her vices: “they began to live well, all because I became dishonest and evil.” She realizes the wrongness of her actions and way of life, but is unable to change anything: “Where can we establish good order with such people! So let’s live according to the old ways.” And here Marya Alekseevna proclaims “ golden rule": "The old order is to rob and deceive."
All representatives of the old world strictly follow this rule, guided in their actions only by the base satisfaction of needs at the expense of others. An example of such behavior is Storeshnikov’s unsuccessful matchmaking with Vera Pavlovna, who was prompted to take such a step not by feelings, but by “irritated pride and voluptuousness.”
Representatives of the “new world”, the builders of the future life, take opposite positions in relation to them. The author depicts the ideal of a socialist society and looks for ways by which people can reach this ideal. He finds a way to resolve the contradiction between the general and the personal, which prevents the beginning of a new life. Chernyshevsky “with his own hands” and faith in happiness sculpts the image of a “new” person.
All people are selfish, but following the principles “do not do to others what you do not wish for yourself” and “love your neighbor as yourself,” you can live, benefiting yourself and doing good to others. “The personal benefit of new people coincides with the general benefit,” this is the solution to the contradiction that arises on the path to a bright future. The “new people” in the novel are guided by the “benefit calculation theory.” Lopukhov and Vera Pavlovna build their family life, following the theory of “reasonable egoism”, the principles of equality and mutual respect, they lay the foundations on which future life will be created.
IN family life with Vera Pavlovna, Lopukhov does not betray these principles and, realizing the failure of his marriage, leaves the stage. He realizes that their marriage cannot exist based on violence and submission; without equality and freedom it becomes meaningless. The hero “wants to live, he wants to love,” and he finds a solution to the family drama for the benefit of himself, Vera Pavlovna and Kirsanov.
“New people” - Vera Pavlovna, Lopukhov, Kirsanov, Katya Polozova - are depicted in the novel as ordinary people who want happiness for themselves. Presented differently " special person“Rakhmetov, sacrificing all his desires and needs to the ideal and leading “the harshest way of life.” Rakhmetov, man noble origin, goes against the moral norms and beliefs of his environment not due to circumstances, but due to convictions. This altruist gives up his personal life and all kinds of benefits, donating his fortune to the needs of others.
Rakhmetov has great potential for “new people”; he has qualities that should be developed by other representatives of the new world. He motivates his way of life with one of his phrases, which characterizes a person striving for general happiness and well-being: “We demand for people complete enjoyment of life, we must testify with our lives that we do not demand this to satisfy our personal passions, not for ourselves.” personally, but for a person in general...”
Also in the novel the idea of women's emancipation is quite widely developed. Chernyshevsky reconsiders the position of women in society: in the new world there must be complete equality. A woman gains freedom in love, marriage, and strengthens her position in life in every possible way. The woman's life is depicted as completely opposite to the position she previously occupied.
Vera Pavlovna organizes a sewing workshop, women begin to work, run a certain social life. New life helps young girls break out of the vicious circle of the old way of life: Vera Pavlovna’s sewing workshop gives shelter to girls from brothels, Nastya Kryukova is bought out of bondage and goes to work. The workshop is not only a way to solve moral problem, but also the problems of the significance of one person in society and the material well-being of everyone.
Ideal social life, which Chernyshevsky tries to reflect in his novel, finds figurative expression in Vera Pavlovna’s fourth dream, where utopian dreams of a society of the future are embodied.
“Work without knowledge is fruitless, our happiness is impossible without the happiness of others. Let us be enlightened and enriched; we will be happy - and we will be brothers and sisters, - this thing will work out, - we will live, we will live...” This “brisk and bold” song calls for all the builders of a universal happy life, captivating the Russian people with something distant and unknown, eternal martyrs who want happiness and hope that someday it will warm their sinful souls with its warmth. But no one knows when that “someday” will come.
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
