Petersburg stories appeared in the darkest time.
IN AND. Lenin, describing this era, noted:
“Fortified Russia is packed and immobile. An insignificant minority of nobles protests, powerless without the support of the people. But the best of the nobility helped wake up the people.”
Sam N.V. Gogol never called the cycle of these stories "Petersburg Tales", so the name is purely business. This cycle also includes the story "The Overcoat", which, in my opinion, is the most significant of all the others here.
Its importance, significance and meaningfulness in comparison with other works is increased by the theme touched upon in The Overcoat: a small man.
Brute force, the lawlessness of those in power reigned and dominated the fates and lives of little people. Among these people was Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin.
A “little man” like our hero and many others, it seems, should fight for a normal attitude towards them, but they do not have enough strength, either physical, moral, or spiritual.
Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin is a victim who is not only under the yoke of the world around him and his own powerlessness, but who does not understand the tragedy of his life situation. This is a spiritually "erased" person. The author sympathizes with the little man and demands attention to this problem.
Akaky Akakievich is so inconspicuous, insignificant in his position, that none of his colleagues remembers "when and at what time" he entered the service. You can even talk about him vaguely, which, by the way, is what N.V. Gogol: "He served in one department."
Or maybe by this he wanted to emphasize that this incident could happen in any department, workplace. To say that there are a lot of people like Bashmachkin, but no one notices them.
What is the image of the main character? I think that the image has two sides.
The first side is the spiritual and physical failure of the character. He does not even try to achieve more, so at the beginning we do not feel sorry for him, we understand how miserable he is. It is impossible to live without a perspective, while not realizing oneself as a person. It is impossible to see the meaning of life only in rewriting papers, but to consider the purchase of an overcoat as the goal, the meaning. The idea of acquiring it makes his life more meaningful, fills it. In my opinion, this is brought to the fore in order to show the personality of Akaky Akakievich.
The second side is the heartless and unfair attitude of others towards Akaky Akakievich. Look at how others relate to Bashmachkin: they laugh at him, mock him. He thought that by purchasing an overcoat, he would look more noble, but this did not happen. Shortly after the purchase, misfortune "unbearably fell" on the downtrodden official. “Some people with mustaches” took away his barely bought overcoat. Together with her, Akaki Akakievich loses the only joy in life. His life becomes sad and lonely again. For the first time, trying to achieve justice, he goes to a "significant person" to tell him about his grief. But again he is ignored, rejected, exposed to ridicule. No one wanted to help him in difficult times, no one supported him. And he died, died of loss, grief.
N.V. Gogol, within the framework of the image of one "little man", shows the terrible truth of life. The humiliated "little people" died and suffered not only on the pages of numerous works covering this problem, but also in reality. However, the world around them remained deaf to their suffering, humiliation and death, as cold as a winter night, arrogant Petersburg remains indifferent to the death of Bashmachkin.
It is immediately noticeable that artistically it stands very high. The author set himself a difficult task, to surround the reader with sympathy for the insignificant and ridiculous image of Bashmachkin, without falling into caricature and sugary sentimentality. How subtly and touchingly Gogol portrayed the small, “ant-like” soul of his hero is evident, if only from the story of the thoughts and feelings that took possession of him when he finally came to terms with the idea of the need to buy a new overcoat. He lacked forty rubles
“Akaky Akakievich thought and thought and decided that it would be necessary to reduce ordinary expenses, at least for one year at least: to banish the use of tea in the evenings and not to light candles in the evenings, and, if something needs to be done, go to the room to the hostess and work by her candle; walking along the streets, step as lightly and carefully as possible on stones and slabs almost on tiptoe, so as not to quickly wear out the soles; give the laundress as little as possible to wash the linen, and in order not to wear it out, then every time you come home, throw it off and stay in only one decotone dressing gown, very old and spared even by time itself.
It must be true that at first it was somewhat difficult for him to get used to such restrictions, but then he somehow got used to it and went smoothly, even he completely got used to starving in the evenings; but on the other hand, he ate spiritually, carrying in his thoughts the eternal idea of a future overcoat. From that time on, it was as if his very existence had become somehow fuller, as if he had married, as if some other person was present with him, as if he was not alone, but some pleasant friend of life agreed to walk with him life's journey, and this girlfriend was none other than the same overcoat, made of thick wadding, on a strong lining without wear ... He somehow became more alive, even firmer in character, like a man who had already defined and set himself a goal. Doubt, indecision, in a word, all hesitant and indefinite features disappeared from his face and from his actions ... Fire sometimes showed in his eyes, even the most daring and courageous thoughts flashed through his head: “shouldn’t you put a marten on your collar, for sure! »
So, balancing between mockery and regret, laughter and tears, Gogol subtly draws in The Overcoat an image that is satirical and elegiac at the same time.
From the analysis of the above passage, we learn that the small, defenseless Akaky Akakievich was endowed with such willpower, which, perhaps, cannot be found in many people with character. From the same passage of The Overcoat, we learn that the being of a person, even at the lowest stage of mental development, is accessible to striving for the "ideal". This ideal in Bashmachkin's life was a good wadded overcoat. The dream of an overcoat illuminated the life of the hero Gogol, showed him the goal in life to save money to buy it. This dream even ennobled him, raising him in his own eyes...
Akaki Akakievich in a new overcoat. Illustration by B. Kustodiev for Gogol's story
In addition to Bashmachkin, Gogol brought into the "Overcoat" officials who were at various levels of the bureaucratic hierarchy. Frivolous young officials, among whom there are both rich and noble, this is a crowd in which the author embodied that selfishness, that “fierce rudeness”, which, according to him, he saw a lot in the most refined, educated secularism. In the "significant person" of the story, Gogol brought out a good-natured man, but vain and empty; the rank of general turned his head, he considers it necessary to treat his subordinates and people below him in the service “strictly, scold them at every opportunity and inconvenience.” And so, a kind-hearted man, besotted with vanity, he commits acts in which there is also a lot of the most “ferocious rudeness”. "Human", humane attitudes towards people are deleted from the tactics of his actions, he does not want to humiliate his title by an attentive attitude towards people who are lower in their position!
Gogol "Overcoat". audiobook
The literary history of Gogol's "Overcoat" is analyzed and revealed by historians of fiction. The Overcoat is based on a real incident that happened to a small official who saved up money for a long time to buy a gun. Having finally achieved what he wanted, he went hunting, accidentally dropped his gun into the river and could not get it. He almost died of grief, and his comrades saved him, having bought him a new gun in a pool.
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is one of the most significant figures in Russian literature. It is he who is rightfully called the founder of critical realism, the author who vividly described the image of the “little man” and made it central in Russian literature of that time. In the future, many writers used this image in their works. It is no coincidence that F. M. Dostoevsky in one of his conversations uttered the phrase: "We all came out of Gogol's overcoat."
History of creation
Literary critic Annenkov noted that N.V. Gogol often listened to anecdotes and various stories that were told in his environment. Sometimes it happened that these anecdotes and comical stories inspired the writer to create new works. So it happened with the "Overcoat". According to Annenkov, once Gogol heard a joke about a poor official who was very fond of hunting. This official lived in hardship, saving on everything just to buy a gun for his favorite hobby. And now, the long-awaited moment has come - the gun has been purchased. However, the first hunt was not successful: the gun caught on the bushes and drowned. The official was so shocked by the incident that he came down with a fever. This anecdote did not make Gogol laugh at all, but, on the contrary, led to serious reflections. According to many, it was then that the idea of \u200b\u200bwriting the story "The Overcoat" was born in his head.
During Gogol's lifetime, the story did not arouse significant critical discussions and debates. This is due to the fact that at that time writers quite often offered their readers comic works about the life of poor officials. However, the significance of Gogol's work for Russian literature was appreciated over the years. It was Gogol who developed the theme of the “little man” protesting against the laws in force in the system, and pushed other writers to further reveal this topic.
Description of the work
The protagonist of Gogol's work is the junior civil servant Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin, who was constantly unlucky. Even in choosing a name, the official’s parents were not successful, as a result, the child was named after his father.
The life of the protagonist is modest and unremarkable. He lives in a small rented apartment. Occupies a small position with a beggarly salary. By adulthood, the official never acquired a wife, children, or friends.
Bashmachkin wears an old faded uniform and a holey overcoat. One day, a severe frost forces Akaky Akakievich to take his old overcoat to the tailor for repair. However, the tailor refuses to mend the old overcoat and talks about the need to buy a new one.
The price of the overcoat is 80 rubles. This is a lot of money for a small employee. In order to collect the necessary amount, he denies himself even small human joys, which are not many in his life anyway. After some time, the official manages to save up the required amount, and the tailor finally sews an overcoat. The acquisition of an expensive piece of clothing is a grandiose event in the miserable and boring life of an official.
One evening, unknown people caught up with Akaky Akakievich on the street and took away his overcoat. The frustrated official goes with a complaint to the "significant person" in the hope of finding and punishing those responsible for his misfortune. However, the "general" does not support the junior employee, but, on the contrary, reprimands. Bashmachkin, rejected and humiliated, was unable to cope with his grief and died.
At the end of the work, the author adds a little mysticism. After the funeral of the titular councilor, a ghost began to be noticed in the city, which took overcoats from passers-by. A little later, this same ghost took the overcoat from the same "general" who scolded Akaky Akakievich. This served as a lesson for the important official.
Main characters
The central figure of the story is a miserable civil servant who has been doing routine and uninteresting work all his life. There are no opportunities for creativity and self-realization in his work. Uniformity and monotony literally absorb the titular adviser. All he does is rewrite unnecessary papers. The hero has no relatives. He spends his free evenings at home, sometimes copying papers "for himself." The appearance of Akaky Akakievich creates an even stronger effect, the hero becomes truly sorry. There is something insignificant in his image. The impression is reinforced by Gogol's story about the constant troubles that befall the hero (either an unfortunate name, or a baptism). Gogol perfectly created the image of a “little” official who lives in terrible hardships and every day fights the system for his right to exist.
Officials (collective image of bureaucracy)
Gogol, talking about the colleagues of Akaky Akakievich, focuses on such qualities as heartlessness, callousness. Colleagues of the unfortunate official in every possible way mock and make fun of him, not feeling a single gram of sympathy. The whole drama of Bashmachkin's relationship with his colleagues lies in the phrase he said: “Leave me, why are you offending me?”.
"Significant Person" or "General"
Gogol does not name either the name or the surname of this person. Yes, it doesn't matter. Important rank, position on the social ladder. After the loss of his overcoat, Bashmachkin, for the first time in his life, decides to defend his rights and goes with a complaint to the "general". This is where the “small” official faces a tough, soulless bureaucratic machine, the image of which is contained in the character of a “significant person”.
Analysis of the work
In the person of his main character, Gogol seems to unite all the poor and humiliated people. Bashmachkin's life is an eternal struggle for survival, poverty and monotony. Society with its laws does not give the official the right to a normal human existence, degrades his dignity. At the same time, Akaki Akakievich himself agrees with this situation and meekly endures hardships and difficulties.
The loss of the overcoat is a turning point in the work. It forces the “little official” to declare his rights to society for the first time. Akaki Akakievich goes with a complaint to the "significant person", who in Gogol's story personifies all the soullessness and impersonality of the bureaucracy. Having run into a wall of aggression and misunderstanding on the part of a "significant person", the poor official cannot stand it and dies.
Gogol raises the problem of the extreme importance of the rank, which took place in the society of that time. The author shows that such attachment to the rank is fatal for people with very different social status. The prestigious position of a "significant person" made him indifferent and cruel. And the junior rank of Bashmachkin led to the depersonalization of a person, his humiliation.
At the end of the story, it is not by chance that Gogol introduces a fantastic ending in which the ghost of an unfortunate official removes the overcoat from the general. This is some kind of warning to important people that their inhumane actions can have consequences. The fantasy at the end of the work is explained by the fact that in the Russian reality of that time it is almost impossible to imagine a situation of retribution. Since the “little man” at that time had no rights, he could not demand attention and respect from society.
The well-known phrase of the French critic E. Vogüe that a whole galaxy of writers grew out of Gogol's "The Overcoat" is quite true. The image of the "little man", which became popular thanks to Charlie Chaplin, in a sense, is also from there, from her. In the thirties and forties, descriptions of the great feats of outstanding personalities not only became boring to the reader, but they wanted something else, something unusual. At this time, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol wrote "The Overcoat". The analysis of this work was carried out repeatedly, both before the revolution and after it. In it they found either dreams of universal equality and fraternity, or even calls for the overthrow of the autocracy. Today, having re-read the story through the eyes of a contemporary, we can safely say that none of this is there.
Main character, A. A. Bashmachkin
In order to establish the opinion that the story lacks not only revolutionary motives, but also a social idea in general, it is enough to understand who N.V. Gogol wrote about in The Overcoat. Analysis of the main character's personality leads to the search for modern analogies. The notorious "middle managers", contemptuously also called "office plankton", who carry out routine assignments, come to mind. Workers, according to one literary character, are divided into two main categories: the majority are not capable of anything, and only a few can practically everything. Judging by the description of Akaky Akakievich and his relationship with the team, he does not belong to the all-powerful minority. But Gogol would not be himself if he did not see in him certain virtues, which he also writes about with a fair amount of irony. Bashmachkin, a typical "eternal titular" (such in the Soviet Army were called fifteen-year-old captains, according to the term of service in a junior officer rank), loves his work, he is diligent and submissive to the point of humility. To the jokes of his comrades, sometimes angry, he reacts gently and peacefully. He has no friends, besides beautiful calligraphic letters, and he doesn’t need to.
In order to assess the financial situation of Bashmachkin, the modern reader needs to delve into the literature and understand what and how much it cost then. This job requires diligence and patience. The prices for many things were completely different, just as the assortment of a modern supermarket differs from the choice of goods in the shops and stores of that era in which Gogol wrote The Overcoat. Purchasing power analysis can be done approximately.
It is absolutely impossible to compare the prices of the middle of the 19th century with today's prices. Now there are many goods that do not fit into the then consumer basket (mobile phones, computers, etc.). In addition, the choice of clothes has become very wide (from cheap consumer goods sewn by our Chinese friends to offers from super-prestigious boutiques). It is more expedient to make a comparison with salaries in the relatively recent Soviet past.
Calculation of the financial capabilities of the protagonist
The hero's salary is known - 800 rubles a year. By the standards of that time, not so little, you won’t die of hunger. Judging by indirect signs and based on the text of the story, we can conclude that the scale of prices approximately corresponded to the capabilities of an ordinary engineer of the late Soviet era (70s or 80s), who received 120 rubles of salary. It is also known how much the new overcoat cost Akaky Akakievich. The story was written in 1842, there was no shortage of food and there were no queues, but getting to know the right people mattered even then. “According to the pull”, a certain Petrovich, a tailor, is ready to make the right thing for only 80. It was impossible to buy a decent coat in the USSR for that kind of money, and in order to collect for a new thing, an ordinary worker needed to save several months.
So Akaki Akakievich cut his budget in order to sew a new overcoat for himself. His problems were exclusively economic in nature, and, in general, were completely solvable.
What happened?
The plot of Gogol was inspired by a story about the same poor and ordinary official, who saved up for a long time for a gun and lost it on his first hunt. One had to be a genius to see in such an unfunny anecdote the plot of a future work and develop it to a tragicomedy, which is rightfully considered the story "The Overcoat". Its main characters are also officials, and for the most part they receive as much as Bashmachkin, or more, but not much. Seeing a new thing, they jokingly demand to “splash” (today they often use the verbs “wash” or “put down”). Colleagues know that Bashmachkin has no money for excesses, and if he had, then, obviously, he would not be in a hurry to part with them either - for many years they studied his character. Help came from the assistant clerk (judging by the title of the position, he is also not a great rich man), who offers refreshments and invites to visit him. And after the banquet, Akaky Akakievich was robbed and stripped, taking away his new overcoat. The summary of the scene of a friendly drinking clearly shows how spirited the humble official soared, having bought, in general, an ordinary thing. He even shows interest in a certain lady, however, not for long.
And then such a collapse.
The image of the boss
Of course, Nikolai Vasilyevich tells us not just a story about how an unknown official found and lost his overcoat. The story, like all outstanding literary works, is about relationships between people. A person is known by gaining power. Some people just need to get a job...
So the new boss, who recently took up his post, poses in front of a friend, scolding Akaky Akakievich on a far-fetched pretext of mistreatment, and in general, anxiety of the highest authority on such a petty issue as some kind of overcoat. The summary of the angry tirade of the Significant Person (as it is designated by the author) comes down to a reminder of who Bashmachkin is talking to, to whom he is standing, and a rhetorical question about how he dares. At the same time, the general has his own problems, he was recently appointed, and does not know how to behave at all, which is why he spreads fear on everyone. In his heart, he was a kind, decent, good comrade, and even not stupid (in many respects).
Having received such an affront, the poor official came home, fell ill, and died, it is not clear whether it was from a cold or due to severe stress.
What the author wanted to say
The tragic ending is also characteristic of other Russian writers of the 19th and 20th centuries, who “grew up” from the same outerwear mentioned. A.P. Chekhov (“The Death of an Official”) “kills” (only without subsequent mysticism) his main character in the same way as N.V. Gogol (“The Overcoat”). An analysis of these two works, their comparison suggests the spiritual relationship of the masters of the pen and their general rejection of fear of anyone. The declaration of inner freedom became the main leitmotif of both works created on the basis of the antithesis technique. The classics seem to be telling us: “Don’t be Akaky Akakiyevich! Live boldly, do not be afraid! All problems are solved!
How strange that in the intervening decades and centuries so few have taken this call to heart.
Composition
The story was a favorite genre of N.V. Gogol. He created three cycles of stories, and each of them became a fundamentally important phenomenon in the history of Russian literature. "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka", "Mirgorod" and the so-called St. Petersburg stories are familiar and loved by more than one generation of readers.
Gogol's Petersburg is a city striking with social contrasts. The city of poor workers, victims of poverty and arbitrariness. Such a victim is Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin, the hero of the story "The Overcoat".
The idea for the story came to Gogol in 1834 under the impression of a clerical anecdote about a poor official who, at the cost of incredible efforts, fulfilled his old dream of buying a hunting rifle and lost it on the very first hunt. But in Gogol, this story did not cause laughter, but a completely different reaction.
"The Overcoat" occupies a special place in the cycle of St. Petersburg stories. Popular in the 30s. the story of an unfortunate, needy official was embodied by the author in a work of art, which Herzen called "colossal". Gogol Bashmachkin "had what is called an eternal titular adviser, over whom, as you know, various writers mocked and sharpened their nerves, having a commendable habit of leaning on those who cannot bite." The author, of course, does not hide his ironic grin when he describes the spiritual limitations and poverty of his hero. Akaky Akakievich was a timid, wordless creature, meekly enduring the "clerical mockery" of his colleagues and the despotic rudeness of his superiors. The stupefying work of a copyist of papers paralyzed any spiritual interests in him.
Gogol's humor is soft and delicate. The writer does not for a single moment leave his ardent sympathy for his hero, who appears in the story as a tragic victim of the cruel conditions of modern reality. The author creates a satirically generalized type of person - a representative of the bureaucratic power of Russia. The way the authorities behave with Bashmachkin, all "significant persons" behave. The humility and humility of the unfortunate Bashmachkin, in contrast to the rudeness of "significant persons" evoked in the reader
not only a feeling of pain for the humiliation of a person, but also a protest against the unjust ways of life, in which such humiliation is possible.
The accusatory orientation of Gogol's work was revealed with great force in the St. Petersburg stories. Man and the anti-human conditions of his social existence is the main conflict that underlies the entire cycle. And each of the stories was a new phenomenon in Russian literature.
The mournful tale of the stolen overcoat, according to Gogol, "unexpectedly takes on a fantastic ending." The ghost, in which the deceased Akaky Akakievich was recognized, ripped off everyone's overcoat, "without disassembling the rank and title."
Sharply criticizing the ruling system of life, its internal falsity and hypocrisy, Gogol's work suggested the need for a different life, a different social order.
