Analysis of the cycle of stories by I.S. Turgenev "Notes of a Hunter"
In the history of literature there are books that express entire eras not only in the development of literature and art, but also of the entire social consciousness. Such books include “Notes of a Hunter” by I.S. Turgenev.
In this collection of stories, the unifying figure is the “hunter”, the storyteller-writer, the nobleman social status. “The Hunter” does not so much reveal the theme of the book as disguise it: he simply talks about what happened to him, what he saw and remembered - and that’s all; he doesn't seem to think at all about what he's talking about we're talking about now, in this essay, is somehow connected with what he told before. But Turgenev does not forget this: by comparing, juxtaposing, systematizing, he develops a theme of such magnitude that only Gogol before him dared to speak out loud. This is precisely the main difference between a hunter-storyteller and an author.
In his Notes, Turgenev often resorts to the technique of comparing times - old and new. The author's assessment of the old is clear - it was the age of noble revelry, extravagance,debauchery and brazen arbitrariness. And the author reflects on the nobility of the new century on the pages of this book.
The picture of noble morals created by Turgenev inevitably poses the question to readers: how can people who have received some kind of education exercise their inhuman rights and live in this poisoned atmosphere of tyranny and slavery? A convinced realist, Turgenev knew well the power of commitment to convenience and comfort, what power the most ordinary habits have over a person, and how closely each person is connected with his environment. But he knew that different people relate to life differently and that a person’s position in life also depends on the properties of his nature.
If you look closely at all these prosperous representatives of the nobility - the Polutykins, Penochkins, Korolevs, Stegunovs, Khvalynskys, Shtoppels, Zverkovs, dignitaries, princes and counts, then you cannot help but notice one common feature: they are all mediocrities, people with pitiful minds and frail feelings. Insignificant people, they are able to value in others only brute force, no matter what it manifests itself - in bureaucratic arbitrariness or in the whims of wealth, in whims, arrogance or in the intricacies of meanness. They pursue everything that went beyond the boundaries of their creeping understanding.
Arkady Pavlovich Penochkin is respected in noble society: “The ladies are crazy about him and especially praise his manners.” And Pyotr Petrovich Karataev, while he was “showing off” and squandering his estate, if he was not considered a respected member of the local nobility, he did not attract his condemning attention. But as soon as he fell in love with the serf girl Matryona, everything immediately changed. “The sleepy and angry boredom of the idle nobility” showed itself! Madame Marya Ilyinichna, having learned that Karataev wanted to buy Matryona from her because he loved her, did not miss the opportunity to amuse her tyrant soul: “I don’t want it; you don’t want to, and that’s all.” A sincere feeling, and even for a servant - she could not forgive this. Society approved of her, but Karataev condemned her and eventually threw her out of its ranks.
But pictures of intra-noble relations, for all their expressiveness, still played a subordinate role in “Notes of a Hunter”: they were needed insofar as they helped to explore the main guilt of the nobility - guilt before the people.
Belinsky explained the success of “Khor and Kalinich” (the first of the published stories) by the fact that in this essay Turgenev “came to the people from the side from which no one had approached them before. Khor, with his practical sense and practical nature, with his rough, but strong and clear mind... is a type of Russian peasant who knew how to create a significant position for himself under very unfavorable circumstances.”
It was worth taking a more or less careful look at Khor for it to immediately become clear how much this illiterate peasant surpasses his master Polutykin precisely in the intellectual sense, and therefore, the talk about noble guardianship over the peasant is so meaningless and false. Khor treats Polutykin with barely hidden contempt because he “saw right through” him, that is, he understood how worthless he was, and not because he wore a European dress and ran a “French” kitchen. Khor did not experience any fear of foreign things.
The result of Turgenev’s observations on Khor’s personality is expressive: “From our conversations I took away one conviction that readers probably do not expect - the conviction that Peter the Great was primarily a Russian man, Russian precisely in his transformations. The Russian man is so confident in his strength and strength that he is not averse to breaking himself: he pays little attention to his past and boldly looks forward. What is good is what he likes, what is reasonable, give him that, but where it comes from is all the same to him.”
The conclusion suggests itself: the only help the smart and practical Khori really needed was liberation from the Polutykins, that is, liberation from serfdom. That is why Belinsky paid special attention to this essay.
Turgenev explored the corrupting influence of landowner power on all aspects of life. He paid special attention to the fact that serfdom literally disfigured the peasant’s attitude towards work.
Life next to the landowner generated in the serfs not only a feeling of dull humility. From generation to generation, the master was accustomed to seeing a man of a special destiny and even breed; his life was considered something like an embodied ideal. This invariably aroused a feeling of admiration for masters. It made itself felt more strongly among the courtyard people; it was in it that lackeys were most often found - not only by position. Such, for example, as the valet Victor from the story “Date”. The very soul of lackey was embodied in him.
How tense the atmosphere in the village is is clearly shown in the story “Biryuk”. Driven to extremes, the peasant chopper switched from plaintive requests to open frantic indignation somehow suddenly; neither the hunter nor Biryuk expected anything like this. And yet the most unexpected thing was that Biryuk let the chopper go and, most importantly, How he let him go. He did this not at all because he was afraid of the man’s threats. Foma Biryuk changed his mind a lot while listening to the complaints and reproaches of the man he caught; didn’t his loyalty to his master, who eats men, seem shameful to him; Didn’t he now think that his wife also ran away with a tradesman, abandoning their children, because she was sick of the “master’s bread” given to him for privet loyalty? Most likely, Biryuk will again begin to diligently track down the choppers; but it may also happen that these guesses of his will not be forgotten, and then it will no longer be possible to vouch not only for the safety of the landowner’s forest lands, but also for his life.
“Notes of a Hunter” convinced the reader of the need to abolish serfdom as the basis of the entire social system of Russia. Turgenev all his life firmly held the conviction that issues of social existence, even the most complex ones, can be resolved only according to the laws of reason, which is the crown of modern civilization.
The inexhaustible treasures of the national spirit were revealed in the poetic talent of the Russian people. And in order to get an idea of this dignity of national character, there was no need to look for particularly outstanding people: to one degree or another it was inherent in the overwhelming majority of peasants - from young to old.
The consciousness of the enslaved peasantry and its morality were full of contradictions and contrasts. Dreams of freedom and admiration for the master's authority, protest and obedience, rebellion and lackeyness, worldly sharpness and complete lack of initiative, spiritual talent and indifference to one's own fate - all these properties existed side by side, often turning into one another. According to Turgenev himself, it was a “great social drama,” and without understanding that this drama There is, it was impossible to understand Russia itself. He didn't just start developing this topic. For many decades to come, he gave a measure of its complexity and identified its constituent contradictions. For this great book one could take as an epigraph the famous lines of Nekrasov:
You're miserable too
You are also abundant
You are mighty
You are also powerless
Mother Rus'! -
if they had not been written a quarter of a century after the publication of “Notes of a Hunter.”
Russian literature has always been a kind of banner, a guiding star for the Russian people. This kind of work, reflecting the social and psychological side of life, allows people to think and reflect on themselves, their behavior, and the people around them. Even more, good book can, in some sense, replace a loved one, an adviser. The book gives us strength for further struggle, instills in us confidence in our abilities, encourages heroism and makes us look at many things that seem to have long ago become familiar with completely different eyes.
In his work Notes of a Hunter, Turgenev shows the reader the real, whole Russia. The author, being a man infinitely in love with his country, invites us to plunge into thoughts about the Russian people, about their place in the world. There are no cruel scenes here, but Turgenev, with all his skill, shows us the everyday life of a serf man, whose fate is deeply unhappy, and the system in which he lives shows us all the inhumanity and inhumanity of those times.
Instead of providing the reader with a dynamic plot and unpredictable moves, the author draws our attention more to the characters themselves, to their habits, manners, and tastes. But you shouldn’t think that there is no plot in the story at all, there is one, but it stands apart. Main character goes on a trip around Russia, more precisely through its small part - the Oryol region. As a result of his voyage, the Narrator meets many people and through this the author paints a picture for us real Russia and the life of its population.
Turgenev attached particular importance to the arrangement of stories in his work. Thus, we see not an ordinary collection of stories of the same type, but we see a single interconnected work.
Turgenev did not strive to idealize the common people. He saw that the country was home to a huge number of talented, truly gifted people who could not realize their abilities. They simply do not have the capabilities for this. In the story “Khor and Kalinich” we see that Khor is an intelligent, to some extent even experienced, person. But, unfortunately, he did not know how to write. And here we see Kalinich who knows how to write, but at the same time is a stupid person and devoid of common sense. And these two people, being complete opposites, do not contradict each other, on the contrary, they complement and thereby cause surprise in the Narrator.
The author, being a mature man who knows the psychology of people, acted as an experienced creator of folk stories. We see that the serfdom system oppresses people, and although they are strong, to some extent powerful in their thoughts, they still cannot get rid of the yoke of servility hated by the author. Serfdom for Turgenev is a shame and humiliation for the Russian people. In the fight against this system, according to the author, both peasants and nobles should take part, because such a system contradicts the very essence of the Russian people.
Analysis 2
In Russian literature there are a huge number of examples of works that encourage a person to fight and take action. One of these is the work “Notes of a Hunter” by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev. In order to perform a complete analysis of this work, you need to consider the life of the writer and understand his motives.
Looking at the bullying of the lordly layer of society against the serfs, the author could not understand: “Why should it be like this and how did it happen?” This question was deeply embedded in the heart of a young guy and was reflected in the story “Notes of a Hunter.”
The title of the work is associated with the writer’s love of hunting. It happened that he disappeared from home for weeks at a time with a gun at the ready. Wandering around his province on foot in search of a worthy trophy, the author could not help but encounter ordinary people - serfs. Who happily shared their problems and hardships, thoughts and desires. This was the impetus for writing the story “Notes of a Hunter.”
In order to understand the main idea of the story, it is worth analyzing at least one of the essays. For example, let’s look at “Khor and Kalinich”. This chapter presents the main features of the psychological behavior of peasants and Russian people in general. The chapter begins with the fact that the writer comes to a familiar gentleman to hunt, where he meets the two main characters - Khorem and Kalinich. Khor is a wealthy peasant, hard-working, inventive and a jack of all trades. He could have redeemed himself from the master long ago, but he is afraid of the unknown, so he remains in serfdom and pays the quitrent, quietly laughing at the master. Kalinich is a wise, talented man with a subtle soul. He has nothing and is always in need, but he can appreciate beauty and understands nature well, for which he is very respected in the area.
The reader is presented with two main characters of the Russian person - sensible and carefree. But the author, like those around these serfs, also finds in them great benefits for society, providing a topic for discussion that serfs are the same people as the lordly class.
Future luminary Russian literature Turgenev was born in the fall of 1818. His family, although they were nobles, did not have much happiness. The father left the family and soon died. The writer was raised by his mother, Varvara Petrovna. Varvara's character was very strict and domineering. She used beatings as punishment for the young dreamer more than once. But, despite this, the woman was very educated and traveled a lot around Europe, instilled in Ivan Sergeevich a love for Russian literature and introduced him to immortal works Pushkin, Lermontov and Gogol.
Several interesting essays
- The Fox and the Crane - analysis of a fairy tale
The Russian folk tale “The Fox and the Crane” is perhaps the only work in Russian folklore where the Fox and the Crane were friends. This is a fairy tale not only about such an unusual friendship, but also about friendliness and hospitality.
Almost all writers and poets, being children of their native land, touched upon the theme of the homeland in their work. Everyone did it in their own way. Someone devoted himself entirely to the problems, sorrows and joys of his country
“Death” was published in Sovremennik No. 2 for 1848. The story was included in the series “Notes of a Hunter” and reflected the stories that happened to Turgenev during his hunting journeys, family legends of the Turgenevs. For example, the Zusha River, mentioned at the beginning, flows not far from Spassky-Lutovinov. The lady who was going to pay the priest for the funeral prayer has a prototype. This is Turgenev’s grandmother Katerina Ivanovna Somova.
Literary direction and genre
Turgenev, as a realist, explores the peculiarities of the Russian character, highlighting a simple and cold attitude towards death as a national trait. The psychological story has the characteristics of a philosophical essay; it is a kind of ode to death and to those who accept it with dignity.
Issues
The story is dedicated to one feature of the Russian people - their attitude towards death as something ordinary and familiar. Turgenev analyzes various cases and comes to a generalization: an unusual attitude towards death is a feature of the Russian mentality. “The Russian man is dying amazingly... Russian people are dying amazingly.” An attentive reader will see behind the descriptions of various deaths the social reasons for this attitude, but contemporary reviewers did not see them.
Plot and composition
The exposition of the story is the narrator's visit to the forest in which he walked as a child with his French tutor. The forest suffered from frost in 1840. The technique of contrast allows us to compare the former living and cool forest with the current dead one.
The narrator calls the oaks and ash trees old friends and describes them as sick or dead people: “Withered, naked, here and there covered with consumptive greenery... lifeless, broken branches... dead branches... fell down and rotted like corpses, on the ground".
The exposition sets the reader up to talk about human death, as quiet as the death of trees. Turgenev chooses different deaths: accidents (hit by a tree, burned), illness (strained himself, died of consumption) and death from old age. The death of people of different classes and professions is described: contractor, peasant, miller, teacher, landowner.
The death of the landowner is the climax, a kind of parable with a moral: “Yes, Russian people die surprisingly.” This refrain is the main idea of the story.
Heroes of the story
The author of the story is interested in the hero's meeting with death. The reason for reflection was the death of the contractor Maxim, who was killed in the forest by a falling ash tree, cut down by peasants. There is nothing ugly in the death of Maxim (as well as other heroes). Despite the fact that the branches of the falling tree broke Maxim’s arms and legs, he hardly moaned, bit his blue lips, and looked around “as if in surprise.” His trembling chin, hair stuck to his forehead, and unevenly rising chest make him look like romantic hero in great excitement. He is really worried about facing death, which he feels is approaching.
But for Turgenev, what is important is not what the hero looks like, but what he thinks and feels at the moment of death. Maxim’s first thought is that he himself is to blame for his death: God punished him for telling the men to work on Sunday. Then Maxim makes arrangements for the property, not forgetting the horse he bought yesterday, for which he gave a deposit, and asks the men for forgiveness. The narrator described the death of the Russian peasant in this way: “He dies as if he were performing a ritual: coldly and simply,” but not stupidly or indifferently, as it might seem from the outside.
Another man courageously awaiting death is a burnt neighbor’s peasant. The narrator is struck not so much by the man’s behavior as by his wife and daughter, who sit in deathly silence in the hut and are also waiting for death, so the narrator “could not stand it and left.” At the same time, other family members treat the approaching death of a relative as something ordinary, and do not even stop their daily activities.
Lybovshinsky miller Vasily Dmitrich, who suffered a hernia, only came to the paramedic for help on the 10th day: “And should I die because of this kind of rubbish?” The miller utters an almost anecdotal phrase about how to die better at home, where in his absence “the Lord knows what will happen.” The miller does not have any panic in the face of death; on the way home he bows to those he meets, and this is 4 days before his death!
The narrator describes the death of his friend Avenir Sorokoumov, who taught the children of the landowner Gur Krupyanikov. Sorokoumov had an infantilely pure soul. He rejoiced at the successes of his comrades and did not know envy or pride. Avenir enjoys the days allotted to him: he reads his favorite poems, remembers Moscow and Pushkin with his guest, talks about literature and theater and feels sorry for his dead friends. Sorokoumov is satisfied with the life he has lived, he does not want to leave and receive treatment, because “it doesn’t matter where you die.” Krupyanikov informed about Sorokoumov’s death in a letter, adding that he died “with the same insensibility, without expressing any signs of regret.” That is, Sorokoumov took death for granted.
The situation of the death of an old landowner who tried to pay the priest for her own waste and was dissatisfied with the fact that the priest shortened the required prayer looks quite anecdotal.
Stylistic features
The story is full of absurdities and paradoxes. The narrator's neighbor's cousin had a great heart, but no hair. In response to a French poem on the occasion of the opening of a Krasnogorsk hospital by a lady in an album, in which someone obsequiously called the hospital a temple, a certain Ivan Kobylyatnikov, thinking that it was about nature, wrote that he also loved it.
The sick are tamed in the hospital by the crazy carver Pavel, a withered woman works as a cook, who is even crazier than Pavel, beats him and forces him to guard the turkeys. The behavior of the dying landowner is absurd at the plot level. But the most absurd thing is the veracity of all the incredible stories.
Story " Raspberry water"was published in the magazine "Sovremennik" No. 2 for 1848. It combines the ideas of two essays, which Turgenev called in plans "Fog" and "Stepushka". The story was written in Paris in the autumn of 1847.
In the first magazine publication, the story was subject to significant censorship edits. In the 1852 edition of “Notes of a Hunter,” the original text was restored.
Literary direction and genre
The story “Raspberry Water” is realistic and has an anti-serfdom orientation. The reader observes a number of typical images of peasants and landowners. In its descriptiveness, the story is similar to an essay; it does not have a pronounced climax. In its richness of characters and events, the story approaches a novella.
Issues
The main problem of the story is related to serfdom, which makes both peasants and landowners unhappy in their own way and deprives them not only of their dignity, but also of their humanity.
Plot and composition
The story “Raspberry Water” is part of the series “Notes of a Hunter”, united by the hero-narrator. The title of the story is dedicated to a source, a spring called “Crimson Water,” gushing from a crevice in the Istra River.
The unprecedented August heat that accompanies the heroes throughout the story leads the hunter to the source. The exposition of the story is a summer landscape and a description of the key, near which the narrator meets two old men - Stepushka and Tuman.
Having talked about Stepushka, the hunter comes closer and recognizes another old man, Fog, with whom he recalls the order under the old count. Thus, through a monologue (the narrator’s reasoning about Stepushka) and dialogue (with Tuman), the reader learns about the life of not only these peasants, but also the master Pyotr Ilyich.
The story seems to end with this dialogue. But it is followed by a landscape in which the feeling of heat and stuffiness is even more intense. He plays the role of a kind of interlude, after which a new character is introduced into the action - the peasant Vlas.
From Fog’s dialogue with the approaching Vlas, who had recently lost his son, the reader learns that life with the count’s son, Valerian Petrovich, is even more difficult.
The sad song at the end on the other side of the river matches the mood of the characters. The ending of the story is open; the fate of none of the characters is determined.
Heroes of the story
Stepushka is the most pitiful creature that could have been generated by serfdom. This is a man without a past, who came from nowhere in the village of Shumikhino and lives with the gardener Mitrofan, whom the landowners settled on the site of a manor house that had once burned down.
Only after talking about Stepushka’s life does the author describe his appearance, emphasizing that Stepushka is small man not only figuratively, but also literally: “His face is small, his eyes are yellow, his hair goes all the way to his eyebrows...” The hero’s childish, primitive appearance is complemented by the hero’s speech. Stepushka spoke hesitantly, “as if he was moving pounds with his tongue.”
Stepushka not only was not a servant, did not receive any salary or benefits, but he could not even be considered a person. Stepushka had no position in society, no connections, no relatives, no one knew about him, he didn’t even have a past. And he was not listed according to the audit, that is, he was a dead soul.
Stepushka lived like an animal in a cage behind the chicken coop, in winter - in the dressing room or in the hayloft. He ate what was served good people. The author compares Stepushka to an ant who bothers only for food. His movements are fussy, he is ready to hide at any moment.
Fog is the nickname of the freedman Mikhail Savelyev, who used to be the butler of Count Pyotr Ilyich. He was a seventy-year-old man with a regular and pleasant face. He spoke a little through his nose, “good-naturedly and majestically,” and did everything slowly, even blowing his nose and sniffing tobacco. With pleasure, Tuman talks about different aspects of the life of landowners: about dogs and hound hunting, about the rich lordly receptions, clothing and even the master’s morality. He is dissatisfied with the loss of his position under the master, because at the same time he lost his importance.
The third peasant the narrator meets is Vlas. This is a man of about fifty. His dusty travel clothes and knapsack reveal him as a man who has traveled a long way. Vlas suffered greatly from serfdom. He lost his son and could no longer pay the rent “ninety-five rubles from taxes.” Therefore, he went to Moscow to see the master Valerian Petrovich, the son of Pyotr Ilyich. But the master refused to transfer him to corvee, ordering him to first pay the arrears. Vlas treats life’s injustice as something natural, as if we are talking about something else.
Landowners occupy a special place in the gallery of realistic types of the Russian village. Count Pyotr Ilyich, “a nobleman of the old century,” lived in the village of Troitsky in a huge wooden house on 2 floors. The Count loved to receive guests, enjoying their servility. He convened the entire province and lived in grand style, but having gone bankrupt, he went to St. Petersburg to look for a place for himself and died in oblivion in a hotel.
The reader learns the details of the count's life from the story of his butler. The fog admires the splendor of the master's banquets. As an example kind soul Count Tuman gives an apparently ordinary story: “It used to be that he would beat you - look, you’ve already forgotten.”
Fog considers as wisdom the tyranny of the master, who kicked out the bandmaster from the Germans, who wanted to eat with the gentlemen at the same table, because the musicians (and there were 40 of them, a whole orchestra) already “understand their job.” According to Tuman, the master was ruined by the matreskis (mistresses) who had power over him.
Storyteller - spokesman author's attitude to serfdom. If the men do not understand the full tragedy of their forced existence and justify the masters, then the narrator sincerely sympathizes with the serfs. This is reflected in the details: he calls the peasant “my poor Vlas” and asks Tuman uncomfortable questions about the severity of the late master.
Turgenev condemns the system, from which a person (Styopushka) falls out and ceases to be a person at all.
Stylistic features
The story is poetic and even musical. Using psychological parallelism, Turgenev describes internal state heroes. The increasing heat corresponds to the heightened emotions of the peasants: the completely indifferent Stepushka, the timidly indignant Fog and the desperate Vlas.
Details in the story are important for the psychological characteristics of the characters. The fog is embarrassed when the narrator forces him to admit that the current order is better than the previous one, because he misses the “good times.” Vlas laughs and is cheerful, but his face betrays grief from the loss of his son, resentment towards the master: there are tears in his eyes, his lips are twitching, his voice is breaking.
Turgenev's peasants are bright individuals. They even speak differently: Styopushka inarticulately, Tuman correctly and reasonably, maintaining the conversation like a lord, Vlas - briefly, holding back his offense.
"Raspberry water" - famous story, included in the collection “Notes of a Hunter”. It is in this work that ideas from the essays “Stepushka” and “Fog” are successfully combined. The story reveals the peculiarities of life of the rural population, whose representatives strive to improve their lives and strengthen the economy of their country, but at the same time are engaged in solving fairly simple everyday issues.The basis of the plot of the story “Raspberry Water”
The main character of the story is Mikhailo Savelyev, known as Fog. Mikhailo Savelyev is a freedman of Count Pyotr Ilyich, who previously worked as a butler. Now the former butler is already 70 years old. The fog honors the late master for whom he worked diligently.
Stepushka is a poor, rootless man who does not even have a home, but he also retains deep respect for the master.
Mikhailo and Stepushka talk about their master with particular eagerness:
The treat was offered from Paris;
He held a musical group and a bandmaster;
I tried to take a special approach to welcoming each guest.
The main characters remember the count’s love of love. The way the mistresses, who came from a low class, lived under him. Particularly memorable is Akulina, a simple and feisty girl. Unfortunately, the end of a happy and measured life came after the master went bankrupt and left for St. Petersburg to look for work. The plans were not destined to come true, and the master died in an ordinary hotel room.
Friends of the writer Ivan Turgenev and his provincial circle noted that the image of the count from the story “Raspberry Water” turned out to be special. Readers found character traits about rich people and tyrants, among whom Vasily Ivanovich Protasov stood out. In fact, there were significant reasons to find Protasov’s traits in the gentleman from “Raspberry Water”. The estates of both were called Troitsky, and the Protasovsky estate was located near the mouth of the Ista River, where the Raspberry Water spring flowed. It is the correspondence of the name that immediately evokes associations. In addition, Turgenev often hunted near the Ista River, so his life experience could subsequently find expression in one of the most famous stories, which was presented under the mysterious title “Raspberry Water”, which has a relationship with the lands familiar to the poet and their geographical names.
There were enough other reasons for the appearance of legends about Pyotr Ilyich, who looks like Vasily Protasov. The fate of the hero of the work is reminiscent of the life of Protasov, who died in 1807 and could not have been familiar to Ivan Turgenev. However, many residents of the province talked about the master’s special antics. Turgenev met numerous relatives of Protasov, so he could form the correct opinion and successfully present it in a vivid story.
Plot of the story
The main theme of the story is the relationship between the peasant population and landowners, revealing the inappropriateness of serfdom.
At the very beginning of the story, the story is told with the participation of Count Pyotr Ilyich, who had a special character:
Arrogance and inability to admit obvious shortcomings;
Passionate homage to hound hunting;
The desire to hold banquets to which even women from the lower strata of society were invited;
Frequent fireworks displays.
Of course, Mikhailo and Stepushka revered their master, who tried to provide gifts and the opportunity to attend musical evenings for his people. However, these handouts did not allow one to count on confidence in the future, they could not give confidence in material well-being, so the revelation of serfdom still occurs from negative sides. Pyotr Ilyich's cultural horizon is limited to prescribing Parisian cologne, which aroused the admiration of Mikhail and Stepushka. At the same time, prescribing cologne from Paris, the capital of France, is a manifestation of low cultural development, but ordinary extravagance.
Pyotr Ilyich showed wastefulness and indifference to tragic destinies peasant population. One could say that he becomes a victim of his own ignorance. His death in an ordinary hotel room is the peak of the manifestation of negativity, created on the basis of the selfishness of the counts and complete indifference to serfdom.
Family qualities in Pyotr Ilyich’s family are inactivity and tyranny. These character traits were passed on to the son of Pyotr Ilyich. The young master displays a cruel attitude towards his serfs. This is shown in the example of the peasant Vlas. A poor man, Vlas asks to reduce his rent, explaining his situation as hopelessness, but is faced with amazing cruelty.
At the same time, a story is being told about the life of freedman Mikhail Savelyev (Tuman). This hero, who was formerly the master's butler, is depicted as a tall man. Stepushka, one more main character, described as thin, scrawny. The development of the story confirmed that Turgenev tried to present the main characters in a special way:
Tall Mikhailo always endures life's difficulties with courage and shows strength of character;
Low Stepushka bends under the tests.
The story confirms that Turgenev especially pities Mikhailo and Stepushka, but at the same time does not understand why they do nothing to improve their lives.
The story "Raspberry Water" highlights how cruel it can be serfdom. The various fates of the heroes, which often turn out to be tragic, are explained by tyranny and the lack of the ability to hear a neighbor.
Features of the collection “Notes of a Hunter” and the story “Raspberry Water”
Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev had a special artistic outlook, which developed on the basis of the school of German classical philosophy. It was this school that was completed while receiving higher education at the University of Berlin.
Ivan Turgenev and his friends in Berlin attended Stankevich's circle. Russian traditions say that young writers talked about the advantages of popular representation in the state. At the same time, it was noted that many Russian people still remain serfs, and they are not able to enjoy state, universal human rights. In this regard, special emphasis was placed on the need to deliver ordinary people from serfdom and further mental development.
In January 1847, the essay “Khor and Kalinich” appeared in the Sovremennik magazine, which managed to win positive responses from readers. It was in this essay that Turgenev presented the main forces of the Russian nation: practicality and the desire for poetry, spiritual development, understanding the value of freedom. Other stories published in Sovremennik magazine turned out to be truly worthy literary works. In addition, in 1852, the collection “Notes of a Hunter” was first published as a separate publication and received a second life for itself.
The story “Raspberry Water” corresponds to other works included in the collection “Notes of a Hunter.” It is intended to be used literary images provincial Russia, and Turgenev reveals the scenes and allows you to understand what it could be like real life many people. Reading the story “Raspberry Water”, one can understand that the serf-like way of life is incongruous and absurd, since it involves the infringement of the rights of many peasants.
The artistic value of the story “Raspberry Water”
The story “Raspberry Water,” as already noted, corresponds to the basic principles of Turgenev’s composition and the collection “Notes of a Hunter.”
The main facets were revealed in the following characteristic features story:
Refined transmission of beautiful moments of life;
Liberation from the personal and selfish;
Compliance with the way of life of a certain era and even ahead of it;
Manifestation of an impartial and unselfish love of life, deep faith in a better future;
A manifestation of the strength of the Russian national character;
The inappropriateness of trust in emotional impulses and violent passions, the need for wise calm and restrained manifestation of physical and spiritual strength.
“Raspberry Water” is another confirmation of what Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev considered the tragic circumstances of life in which ordinary people find themselves. He showed the problem of serfdom from all sides. Not only the reluctance of the masters to hear their serfs, but also the immaturity of the Russian people, a complete lack of understanding of the situation.
And a strong Russia can only be created thanks to honest, strong and enlightened people.