Pechorin and honest smugglers. Pechorin in the circle of honest smugglers. Several interesting essays
Details
Analysis of the chapter “Taman” of the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov "Hero of Our Time"
Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin is one of the most mysterious figures in Russian classical literature. Roman M.Yu. Lermontov's "Hero of Our Time" preserves the best features of his romantic works and stands at the origins of Russian psychological realism. Having set his task to depict a hero of the time with a strong will and a powerful soul, but with a tragic fate, to study the negative and positive sides of his generation, the author creates an amazing work. “The history of the human soul is perhaps more curious and useful than the history of an entire people,” writes Lermontov. The composition of the work, built on a violation of chronology, is subordinated to the logic of psychological analysis. We learn about Pechorin from the lips of the simple and naive Maxim Maksimych, we get acquainted with his psychological portrait, which is created by the author-storyteller himself, but the leading way to organize the narrative about the hero of the time is the self-analysis presented in Pechorin’s journal.
Pechorin’s journal opens with the short story “Taman”, with which the hero’s “self-disclosure” begins. The beginning of the novella, at first glance, does not foreshadow the romantic world that will be created later: “Taman is the worst little town of all the coastal cities of Russia. I almost died of hunger there, and on top of that they wanted to drown me.” However, the landscape from the very first pages of the novella is distinguished by its romanticism: “The full moon shone on the reed roof... The shore sloped down to the sea... The moon quietly looked at the restless, but submissive element...” With the help of personification, the author creates a lyrical picture. The poetics of the novella are contrasting: romantic landscapes are replaced by an accurate recreation of everyday life, the depiction of the exotic world of “honest smugglers” is an expression of the author’s position.
Let's go into the hut with the hero. “...two benches and a table and a huge chest near the stove made up all her furniture.” This everyday sketch is interrupted by a completely romantic phrase: “The sea wind rushed through the broken glass window.” In fact, this phrase contains the hero’s hidden desire to plunge into the romance of adventure, and he will be satisfied.
Everything in the lives of the people with whom Pechorin stayed worries him. He has a “prejudice” against cripples, and there is a blind boy living here. In the hut, “not a single image on the wall is a bad sign.” However, Pechorin seems to act contrary. He is already ready to plunge into the mysterious life of smugglers, instead of distancing himself from a world alien to him, and is even glad of the opportunity given to him by fate. And the world of “honest smugglers” turns out to be not at all alien to the hero. It is no coincidence that, while descending the path behind the blind man, Pechorin suddenly comes to mind the phrase of the Gospel: “On that day the dumb will cry out and the blind will see.” The situation in the short story is romantic, and the hero appears in some elation. His soul, rebellious, passionate, is akin to the sea elements, he is ready for danger and thirsts for everyday storms.
In the novella, Pechorin (after all, he is the author of the text, according to Lermontov) creates an amazing image of an undine, a mermaid. In reality, the heroine of the novel is a simple poor girl. But Pechorin, constantly looking for the hidden meaning behind the phenomena of the world, sees in her an image inspired by romantic German poetry. “An extraordinary flexibility of figure,” “long brown hair,” “something wild and suspicious” in her views, “mysterious speeches,” “strange songs” - these are the components of the image of the Pechorin undine. He remembers the mermaid’s song “from word to word,” because it is about free people, people of risk, people of action. Such people are close to our hero!
True, during their duel in the boat, the undine turns into a completely real and dangerous opponent: “she grabbed my clothes like a cat, and suddenly a strong push almost threw me into the sea.” Pechorin even realizes that he is inferior to her in dexterity, but is grateful for the joy of the duel. In this fight, attention is drawn to a detail that seems to discredit the strong Pechorin - he does not know how to swim! But we have already been prepared by the previous narrative for the oddities and contradictions of the hero’s nature.
The symbolic images of the chapter “Taman”: the sea, the sail - continue the romantic theme of the work. These poetic images embody the idea of freedom, freedom, to which the hero strives. The games, pretense, and posturing that reign in secular society are alien to him; he is looking for a sublime ideal. That is why the rebellious Yanko is close to him, to whom, in his own words, “there is a road everywhere, wherever the wind blows and the sea makes noise.” Yanko lives a free life in harmony with the world, and this is what Pechorin lacks. But the freedom-loving Yanko leaves under a white sail with the beautiful undine. The final scene of “Taman” is symbolic: the ideal to which Pechorin’s soul strives so much is elusive and unattainable. Reality again destroys the romantic world. Returning to the hut, Pechorin discovers that the “honest smugglers” have simply robbed him. Perhaps that is why the last phrase of “Tamani” sounds disappointed and ironic: “And what do I care about the joys and misfortunes of people, I, a traveling officer, and even with the travel for official needs.”
The first part of Pechorin’s journal reveals to the reader precisely the romantic side of his nature. Before us appears a rebellious hero, an extraordinary personality, thirsty for storms and anxieties, a man of reckless courage, looking for his ideal. At the same time, we see how reality, the everyday life, destroys the romantic world created by the hero in his imagination. This eternal conflict of romantic poetry!
Artistically, Taman is an example of high art. The laconicism, accuracy and simplicity of the narrative, the richness of the language make the short story an unsurpassed example of romantic prose. V.G. Belinsky compared the story with a lyric poem. A.P. Chekhov admitted that he was in love with these Lermontov pages. And how can one not admire the poetic skill with which Lermontov’s prose work was written! “I wrapped myself in a cloak and sat down on a stone by the fence, looking into the distance; in front of me stretched the disturbed sea like a night storm, and its monotonous noise, like the murmur of a falling asleep city, reminded me of old years, carried my thoughts north, to our cold capital. Excited by memories, I forgot myself...” We too will forget ourselves, reading Lermontov’s charming lines and enjoying the Word...
From the history of work on “A Hero of Our Time” it is known that all the chapters that make up the novel were created as separate works and were not initially connected by a common plan. Researchers define the Taman genre as a short story or short story. Remember the genre features of a short story that distinguish it from a short story or story. Can “Taman” be considered a short story? Give a detailed answer.
The novella is distinguished by a sharp, often paradoxical plot, refined composition, and an unexpected denouement. “Taman” can rightfully be classified as a short story, since the mentioned features are present in it. So, for example, the beginning “Taman is the worst little town of all the coastal cities of Russia. I almost died of hunger there, and on top of that they wanted to drown me” is typical for the short story, since all its content is concentrated in it. The subsequent narration not only does not add anything new to the events outlined here, but one of them is even discarded (“I almost died of hunger”) in order to focus all attention on another (“they wanted to drown me”). Quite unexpectedly, Pechorin, thanks to his curiosity, finds himself witnessing the strange activities of the owners of the house and decides to find a solution. And this curiosity of the hero led to a new, unexpected plot development of the novel. Pechorin's romantic relationship with Undine, which had begun, and the date on the boat acquired a continuation that was completely unexpected for the reader. The girl tried to eliminate Pechorin as a witness to their smuggling activities. And the possibility of developing a love story was completely excluded. The scene of the fight in the boat is particularly poignant and tense, characteristic of the novella.
Pechorin solved the mystery of the smugglers, but this solution made him sad - he ruined the lives of honest smugglers. The ending of the story also seems unexpected to us, but follows from the logic of the hero’s character. Actively and persistently trying to find out what Yanko, the undine, and the blind boy were doing, he suddenly lost interest in their lives and ended his notes with the phrase: “And what do I care about the joys and misfortunes of people, me, a traveling officer, and even on government travel? needs!
The most famous Russian linguist, Academician V.V. Vinogradov, who was deeply involved in the study of the language and style of works of art, considered “Taman” to be a borderline genre of “robber short story” and travel writing.
How do you evaluate the behavior and personal qualities of the hero?
Pechorin is a contradictory person. He is brave, brave, creates a risk situation. He even flaunts his courage and faith in fate. In Taman, he found himself in the grip of an unconscious impulse and acted impulsively. He needed to reveal the secret of the smugglers, and at his own risk he agrees to have a direct conversation with the undine and even threatens to inform the city commandant. At the same time, he is not against starting a banal affair with a girl from the common people and acts trustingly and imprudently. The security measures he has taken turn out to be weak and ineffective. However, Pechorin himself understands that his role in the lives of the people he meets is mostly negative. The life around him in Taman seems boring and uninteresting to him, and he begins to spin a dangerous game in order to make this life brighter and more interesting. However, his intentions and actions - and he himself understands this - in their results turn out to be small and insignificant. This is the essence of the contradictions in the character of the intelligent, ironic, gifted, strong-willed, courageous and risky officer Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin.
Can Pechorin be accused of ruining the lives of “honest smugglers”?
He himself made this conclusion after he heard the scene of Yanko’s farewell to the blind boy. The blind man, left without a livelihood, cried, the fate of the abandoned old woman was sad, he must look for new ways to earn a living Yanko.
The work “A Hero of Our Time” is considered in literary criticism to be a realistic socio-psychological novel. Can this statement be entirely attributed to the short story “Taman”? What socio-psychological problems are raised in it?
“Taman” is largely a short story that combines romantic and realistic principles. One of the leading socio-psychological problems of the entire novel, and “Tamani” in particular, is the problem of a person’s moral responsibility for his actions and choice of life path, for his destiny. Another problem of the short story is the life of a “natural” person and the contradiction between the world of “natural people”, in this case - smugglers, and the people of the civilized world, whom Pechorin represents. The struggle of these two principles in a person is also manifested in Pechorin’s behavior, constituting his internal contradictions.
“Hero of Our Time” is a story about a man who absorbed all the vices of the average person of that era. Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin is a person who has lost interest in life. He craves impressions, in pursuit of which he goes to the south of Russia. Material goods do not satisfy Gregory, they only make him bored. Pechorin is looking for adventure and new acquaintances. He describes these searches in detail in his diary, which will later become the main source for writing the novel.
“Taman” is one of the chapters of “Pechorin’s Journal”. Chronologically, it opens the hero’s diary entries, despite the fact that M.Yu. Lermontov placed it third in order.
By the will of fate, the hero ends up in Taman. He is forced to stop in a not very clean and gloomy apartment with equally gloomy and strange inhabitants. Acquaintance with them begins with a meeting with a blind boy who, according to the author, “is not so blind.” Also here we see the figures of a young guy named Yanko, his girlfriend and a decrepit old woman - in all likelihood, the mistress of the house.
The owners of the mysterious house are engaged in smuggling; this illegal business is their main source of income and perhaps the only way to feed themselves. Pechorin unwittingly witnesses one night incident, namely the transportation of contraband goods by Yanko, a brave bandit who is helped by a blind boy. This fact attracts Gregory’s attention, and he tries to find out from the boy the details of their activities. The reaction to Pechorin’s excessive interest was an attempt by the Taman people to get rid of the unwanted witness. The girl lures him on a boat trip and tries to drown him, but this attempt ends in failure. Gregory turned out to be stronger.
Frightened by possible exposure, Yanko and his beloved hastily leave Taman, leaving the blind boy and the old woman to their fate. Grigory Pechorin sees the bitter tears of a blind child and only then understands that he had no right to interfere with “honest smugglers”, that with his interest, his fleeting hobby he is breaking people’s destinies and crippling souls.
As in other chapters, in “Taman” the actions of Grigory Pechorin lead only to tragic consequences. He leaves the peninsula, leaving crippled destinies behind him, but never satisfying his whim.
Several interesting essays
- Essay by Alexey Meresyev in the Tale of a Real Man
The image of the pilot Alexei Meresyev has many positive personal qualities of the hero. Of course, a strong trait of his character is his persistence in achieving his goals.
- The theme of nature in Yesenin's lyrics essay
This article presents an analysis of nature in the works of Sergei Aleksandrovich Yesenin.
- Characteristics and image of Raskolnikov in the novel Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky essay
Raskolnikov is a handsome young man with aristocratic features. He rented a tiny closet in the attic of a five-story building.
- Essay on the human soul
The unrecognized, invisible, intangible part of a person. For thousands of years, the world's minds have been arguing about what the soul is! Is this God's Gift or a banal awareness of oneself as a person with an emotional background?
These are two extremes, of course. People always try to keep hopes alive in others and in themselves, as they say, a spark. Despair is frowned upon because it is something like depression.
Summary of a literature lesson in grade 9 “Pechorin and the smugglers”
During the classes
1. Introductory part of the lesson.
Teacher's word : We continue to study the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov “A Hero of Our Time”. In previous lessons we analyzed the stories “Bela” and “Maksim Maksimych”. We saw Pechorin in a clash with the “savage” Bela, the highlanders Azamat and Kazbich, and the “kind” Maxim Maksimychev. Lermontov shows that Pechorin is superior to them, is able to subjugate them to his will, or turns out to be morally nobler than them
How does the narrative in “Taman” differ from the narrative in “Bel” and “Maksim Maksimych”?
(In “Bel” the narrow-minded, undiscerning Maxim Maksimych talks about Pechorin, and in the story “Maksim Maksimych” - a wandering officer - objectively, sympathetically), and in “Taman” the tragic confession of the hero begins to sound.
Our task: analyze the story “Taman”, understand the inner world of the hero, who is the narrator here, find an explanation for his actions, the feelings that possess him, and answer the question at the end of the lesson:
Why did Pechorin so passionately want and could not enter the circle of smugglers?
2. Heuristic conversation:
(Yes. Dynamic plot. Looks like a detective story.)
Why did Pechorin end up in Taman?
(He goes to the active detachment for official reasons). He travels not of his own free will, but out of official necessity.
Why does Pechorin write: “Taman is the worst little town of all the coastal towns in Russia”? Is there a detailed description of this town?
(No. There is only passing mention of dirty alleys and ramshackle fences.)
(And the epithet “bad” probably reflects Pechorin’s attitude towards the events that happened in this place.)
What events are these? How will Pechorin write about this in his diary? Read it.
(1. “I almost died of hunger there, and on top of that they wanted to drown me.”
(2. “...a blind boy robbed me, and an 18-year-old girl almost drowned me”)
Thus, ironically about what happened, the hero names the two main participants in the drama that played out: a blind boy and a girl.
Is Taman really a “bad little town”? Read the landscapes expressively. Note the central images of these descriptions. What do they add to the story? What can you say about Pechorin?
(Moon, moon, clouds, restless sea. These are the forces that fill the night with life. Landscapes give the story romance and mystery. Pechorin sees the beauty of nature and loves nature).
How do they treat an “unclean” place in the city?
(With prejudice, with fear, people are afraid: “unkind people” live there)
Why is Pechorin not repelled or frightened by the “unclean” place, but attracted? Why is he attracted to people in this place?
3. Group work. People living on the seashore, Pechorin’s attitude towards them.
Tasks for 1-2 groups. Tell about the old woman and the blind boy.
Orally draw portraits of the heroes at the moment when Pechorin looks at them.
What is Pechorin’s initial attitude towards the blind boy and the old woman?
How does Pechorin's attitude towards these characters change over the course of the story?
Tasks for 3-4 groups. Talk about Yanko and the “undine.”
Orally draw portraits of the heroes at the moment when Pechorin looks at them.
What is Pechorin's initial attitude towards Yanko and the Undine?
Prepare an expressive reading based on the roles of the dialogue between the blind man and the girl when they are waiting for Yanko on the seashore.
Why did this “real” mermaid seem “charming” to Pechorin, although “she was far from beautiful”?
How does her appearance change in the boat when she wants to drown Pechorin? Motivate the choice of comparisons “...she, like a snake, slid between my hands”, “she, like a cat, clung to my clothes”....”
How did Pechorin's attitude towards these characters change over the course of the story?
4. Group performances.
Conclusions:
The blind boy initially aroused Pechorin's prejudice. With his dexterity he made people suspect feigned blindness. At the end of the story, Pechorin calls him “poor blind” and shows him in sincere grief.
Yanko appears strong and fearless on the night when Pechorin, with an “involuntary heartbeat,” watches the “brave swimmer.” At the end of the story, Yanko turned out to be mercilessly cruel to the boy and the old woman. He retreats before the threat of a possible, as the undine thinks, denunciation to the authorities. Yanko's sober remarks about payment for work, about the place where rich goods are hidden, his stinginess in rewarding a blind man dispels the legendary idea of a “violent little head.” Behind the song image was real life, harsh and even prosaic, although not devoid of attractiveness, strength and courage.
Undine. First - a very sincere and passionate feeling for Yanko. The image of a smuggler girl is truly romantic. This girl is characterized by changeable moods, “quick transitions to complete immobility,” “she gazed intently into the distance, then laughed and reasoned with herself, then hummed the song again.” Her speeches are mysterious, and in form are close to folk proverbs and sayings; her songs are reminiscent of folk songs, speaking of her desire for freedom. The undine has a lot of vitality, courage, determination, and the poetry of “wild freedom.” A rich, unique nature, full of mystery, it is as if by nature itself created for the free, risk-filled life that she leads.
Admiring the strength, dexterity, and courage of these people, Lermontov, faithful to the truth of life, reflects their meager spiritual world. Their aspirations and hourly worries are limited to easy money and deception of the authorities. Money defines their relationship. Yanko and the girl become cruel when it comes to dividing up stolen goods. The blind man receives only a copper coin from them. And Yanko orders the now unnecessary old woman to convey, “that, they say, it’s time to die, she’s healed, she needs to know and honor.”
5.Continuation of the heuristic conversation. How does Pechorin’s attitude towards smugglers change? Why does interest in them and admiration give way to bitterness?
What made Pechorin watch the boy at night?
(Pechorin is still naive, trusting, makes mistakes, not seeing who is in front of him. The mystery of the situation, interest in a new circle of people for him, thirst for activity.)
However, all this does not worry and excite him so much that he forgets about what happened in the recent past. Re-read the passage: “I wrapped myself in a cloak...” What was Pechorin thinking? What did he remember?
How did the girl's appearance affect him?
How did the landscape affect him?
(This is a means of characterizing the hero. The landscape reinforces the motive of loneliness)
Why does Pechorin talk about what he saw at night to the blind man and the undine and does not tell his orderly about it?
(Unusual people seem to him to be courageous, spontaneous in nature. He wants to get close to them. The mystery of their behavior promises exciting adventures.)
Why did Pechorin go after the undine at night?
(“get the key to this riddle”)
Did he believe her calls?
(No. Subsequently, he himself will say that for a long time he has been living not with his heart, but with his head. When going on a date with the undine, he does not forget to take a pistol with him and warn the Cossack orderly so that when he hears the shot, he will run to the shore).
Why did rage arise in Pechorin and he threw the girl into the waves?
(The beauty naively thought that, having charmed Pechorin, she would become the mistress of the situation. However, Pechorin is not like that, he knows the value of female coquetry. And yet he is embarrassed, truly worried, he gets dizzy when a girl kisses him. On the one hand, he calls her behavior “a comedy, but on the other hand, he succumbs to her charm. He is capable of deeply feeling, worrying, but does not stop analyzing for a minute. Now in the boat he has to fight for his life, and the girl for hers. Hopes for love turned into hostility. a date - a fight. It is these transformations that cause Pechorin’s rage, and not just the desire to defend his life).
Why did Pechorin, who saw Yanko’s farewell to the blind man, “feel sad”?
(The denouement is not at all romantic. All the heroes are alive. A half-deaf old woman and a blind boy are abandoned to the mercy of fate. Pechorin sympathetically tells how long, long ago the poor blind man cried.)
What does Pechorin blame himself for and why does he call the smugglers “peaceful”?
(Having called the smugglers peaceful, Pechorin already denies them exclusivity and blames himself for the intrusion into their circle, which led to a disruption of their usual life, and he himself turned out to be unnecessary. Pechorin’s irony at himself “And isn’t it funny...” indicates that the hero realizes the futility of his actions. The feeling of the world as a mystery, a passionate interest in life are replaced by an attempt at alienation, indifference: “What happened to the old woman...”).
The hero's desires and real situations are divided, and this turns out to be the cause of bitterness and self-irony.
How did Pechorin show himself in the clash with the smugglers?
(He is an active participant in events, strives to intervene in events, is not content with the role of a passive contemplator of life)
What aspects of Pechorin’s character does the story “Taman” allow us to judge?
(Activity, desire for action, attraction to danger, perseverance, self-control, love of nature, observation).
Why, having such opportunities in character and behavior, does not Pechorin seem happy?
None of Pechorin’s actions, not one of the manifestations of his will has a deep, great purpose. He is active, but neither he nor others need his activity. He seeks action, but finds only a semblance of it and receives neither happiness nor joy. He is smart, resourceful, observant, but all this brings misfortune to the people he encounters. There is no goal in his life, his actions are random, his activity is fruitless, and Pechorin is unhappy)
Homework: Written answer to the question: “Are Pechorin’s actions in Taman aimless?”
Left a reply Guest
In Lermontov's novel “A Hero of Our Time,” the story “Taman” stands apart. Opening Pechorin's Journal, that is, his diary entries, this story at the same time reveals to us the inner world of the hero. “Another person's soul is darkness” - this proverb perfectly characterizes the general dark and mysterious atmosphere of “Taman”.
Chronologically, this story is the very first, but in the novel it is the third. The reader is already familiar with Pechorin, with his incomprehensible actions and cold heart. And here Lermontov places the hero in an extreme, amazing, semi-fantastic situation. The hero falls into a circle of smugglers. How did this happen?
Pechorin arrives in Taman “on a moving cart late at night.” The new place immediately made a depressing impression on Pechorin: “Taman is the worst little town of all the coastal cities of Russia.” In addition, after a long search for a government-owned apartment, it turned out that there were no vacancies. Except for one, but there, as the foreman reported to Pechorin, “it’s unclean.”
Grigory Alexandrovich nevertheless decided to go on this “vatera”, since he had no choice. Finding himself in a strange place, the hero meets equally strange people. First he meets a blind boy. Upon meeting him, he cannot shake the feeling that the boy’s blindness is a deception. “A suspicion was born in my head that this blind man is not as blind as he seems; in vain I tried to convince myself that it was impossible to fake thorns...”
On the very first night, amazing events begin to happen in the “unclean place”: Pechorin unwittingly witnesses the night transportation of goods by smugglers. This is how he sees Yanko for the first time: “The swimmer was brave, who decided on such a night to set off across the strait at a distance of 20 miles...” Yanko is a brave robber, not afraid of a storm.
The next day, the main character meets another participant in the night scene - a girl, Yanko’s friend. She was not a beauty, but “there was a lot of breed in her,” “in her indirect glances,” there was “something wild and suspicious,” “there was something vague in her smile.” Pechorin was enchanted. And most of all, not by the external beauty of the girl, but by some internal secret, which he was unable to comprehend and reveal. Indeed, the girl’s behavior was quite mysterious: “...quick transitions from the greatest anxiety to complete immobility,...mysterious speeches,...jumping, strange songs.”
The girl’s behavior was justified by the fact that our hero was trying to find out from the blind boy details about their smuggling activities. Having persuaded Pechorin to take a boat ride at night, the undine, as he called her, tried to drown Grigory Alexandrovich. But she failed. Ondine and Yanko, frightened of possible exposure, hastily disappeared.
The first thing that catches your eye when reading the story “Taman” is the amazingly beautiful descriptions of nature. Since this story is part of Pechorin’s Journal, we understand that the narrator in it is the main character himself. Such lengthy descriptions of nature reveal to us Pechorin’s soul from a new side. He subtly, almost poetically feels the beauty of the world around him. And he has a certain literary talent in order to find precise definitions to describe nature: “The shore sloped down to the sea... and below, dark blue waves splashed with a continuous murmur. The moon quietly looked at the restless, but submissive element..."; “Meanwhile, the moon began to become cloudy, and fog rose on the sea; the lantern on the stern of the nearest ship barely shone through it; the foam of boulders sparkled near the shore, threatening to drown it every minute.”
