Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin often drew in his works perfect image a “natural” person, one who is not subject to the corrupting influence of light, whose soul is pure, free, who is close to nature, lives in it, lives with it in one impulse. A striking example revealing the theme of the “natural” person is the story “Olesya”.
The story described in the story did not appear by chance. One day A.I. Kuprin visited the landowner Ivan Timofeevich Poroshin in Polesie, who told the writer mysterious story his relationship with a certain witch. It was this story, enriched with artistic fiction, that formed the basis of Kuprin’s work.
The first publication of the story took place in the magazine “Kievlyanin” in 1898; the work bore the subtitle “From Memories of Volyn,” which emphasized real basis events occurring in the story.
Genre and direction
Alexander Ivanovich worked at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, when a controversy gradually began to flare up between two directions: realism and modernism, which was just beginning to make itself known. Kuprin belongs to the realistic tradition in Russian literature, so the story “Olesya” can easily be classified as a realistic work.
The genre of the work is a story, since it is dominated by chronicle story, reproducing the natural course of life. The reader lives through all the events, day after day, following the main character Ivan Timofeevich.
The essence
The action takes place in the small village of Perebrod, Volyn province, on the outskirts of Polesie. The young gentleman-writer is bored, but one day fate takes him to the swamp to the house of the local witch Manuilikha, where he meets the beautiful Olesya. A feeling of love flares up between Ivan and Olesya, but the young sorceress sees that death awaits her if she connects her fate with an unexpected guest.
But love is stronger than prejudice and fear, Olesya wants to deceive fate. A young witch goes to church for the sake of Ivan Timofeevich, although she is prohibited from entering there due to her occupation and origin. She makes it clear to the hero that she will commit this brave act, which could lead to irreparable consequences, but Ivan does not understand this and does not have time to save Olesya from the angry crowd. The heroine is severely beaten. In revenge, she sends a curse on the village, and that same night a terrible thunderstorm occurs. Knowing the power of human anger, Manuilikha and her pupil hastily leave the house in the swamp. When a young man comes to this home in the morning, he finds only red beads, as a symbol of his short but true love with Olesya.
The main characters and their characteristics
The main characters of the story are the master writer Ivan Timofeevich and the forest witch Olesya. Completely different, they got together, but could not be happy together.
- Characteristics of Ivan Timofeevich. This is a kind person, sensitive. He was able to discern a living, natural principle in Oles, because he himself was not yet completely killed secular society. The mere fact that he left noisy cities for a village speaks volumes. The heroine is not easy for him beautiful girl, she is a mystery to him. This strange healer believes in conspiracies, tells fortunes, communicates with spirits - she is a witch. And all this attracts the hero. He wants to see and learn something new, real, not covered up by falsehood and far-fetched etiquette. But at the same time, Ivan himself is still at the mercy of the world, he is thinking about marrying Olesya, but he is confused by how she, a savage, can appear in the halls of the capital.
- Olesya is the ideal of a “natural” person. She was born and lived in the forest, nature was her educator. Olesya’s world is a world of harmony with the surrounding world. Moreover, she is in agreement with her inner world. We can note the following qualities of the main character: she is wayward, straightforward, sincere, she does not know how to pretend or pretend. The young witch is smart and kind; one only has to remember the reader’s first meeting with her, because she was tenderly carrying chicks in her lap. One of Olesya’s main traits can be called insubordination, which she inherited from Manuilikha. They both seem to be against the whole world: they live aloof in their swamp, they do not profess an official religion. Even knowing that you can’t escape fate, the young sorceress still tries, consoles herself with the hope that everything will work out for her and Ivan. She is original and unshakable, despite the fact that love is still alive, she leaves, leaves everything, without looking back. The image and characteristics of Olesya are available.
Topics
- The main theme of the story— Olesya’s love, her readiness for self-sacrifice — is the center of the work. Ivan Timofeevich was lucky to meet a real feeling.
- Another important semantic branch is the theme of the confrontation between the ordinary world and the world of natural people. Residents of villages, capitals, Ivan Timofeevich himself are representatives of everyday thinking, permeated with prejudices, conventions, and clichés. The worldview of Olesya and Manuilikha is freedom and open feelings. In connection with these two heroes, the theme of nature appears. Environment- the cradle that raised main character, an irreplaceable helper, thanks to whom Manuilikha and Olesya live far from people and civilization without need, nature gives them everything they need for life. This topic is covered most fully in this one.
- The role of landscape in the story is huge. It is a reflection of the feelings of the characters and their relationships. So, at the beginning of a romance we see a sunny spring, and at the end the breakup of relationships is accompanied by a strong thunderstorm. We wrote more about this in this.
Problems
The problems of the story are varied. Firstly, the writer acutely depicts the conflict between society and those who do not fit into it. So, once they brutally drove Manuilikha out of the village and beat Olesya herself, although both sorceresses did not show any aggression towards the villagers. Society is not ready to accept those who differ from them in at least some way, who do not try to pretend, because they want to live by their own rules, and not according to the template of the majority.
The problem of attitude towards Olesya manifests itself most clearly in the scene of her going to church. For the Russian Orthodox people of the village, it was a real insult that the one who serves evil spirits, in their opinion, appeared in the temple of Christ. At the church, where people ask for God's mercy, they themselves administered cruel and merciless judgment. Perhaps the writer wanted, on the basis of this antithesis, to show that society has distorted the idea of righteousness, goodness, and justice.
Meaning
The idea of the story is that people who grew up far from civilization turn out to be much nobler, more delicate, more polite and kinder than “civilized” society itself. The author hints that herd life dulls the individual and erases his individuality. The crowd is submissive and indiscriminate, and is often dominated by its worst members rather than its best. Primitive instincts or acquired stereotypes, such as misinterpreted morality, direct the collective towards degradation. Thus, the inhabitants of the village show themselves to be greater savages than the two witches living in the swamp.
Kuprin's main idea is that people must turn back to nature, must learn to live in harmony with the world and with themselves, so that their cold hearts will melt. Olesya tried to open the world of real feelings to Ivan Timofeevich. He couldn't understand it in time, but the mysterious witch and her red beads will remain in his heart forever.
Conclusion
Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, in his story “Olesya,” tried to create an ideal of man, show the problems of the artificial world, and open people’s eyes to the driven and immoral society that surrounds them.
The life of the wayward, unshakable Olesya was to some extent destroyed by the touch of the secular world in the person of Ivan Timofeevich. The writer wanted to show that we ourselves destroy the beautiful things that fate gives us, simply because we are blind, blind in soul.
Criticism
The story "Olesya" is one of the most famous works A.I. Kuprina. The strength and talent of the story were appreciated by the writer’s contemporaries.
K. Barkhin called the work a “forest symphony,” noting the smoothness and beauty of the work’s language.
Maxim Gorky noted the youth and spontaneity of the story.
Thus, the story “Olesya” occupies an important place, both in the work of A.I. himself. Kuprin, and in the history of Russian classical literature.
Interesting? Save it on your wall!Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is a wonderful master of words. He managed to reflect in his work the most powerful, sublime and subtle human experiences. Love is great feeling, which tests a person like litmus paper. Not many people have the ability to love deeply and sincerely. This is destiny strong natures. It is these people who attract the attention of the writer. Harmonious people, living in harmony with themselves and nature, are the writer’s ideal; this is exactly the heroine he portrays in the story “Olesya”.
A simple Polesie girl lives surrounded by nature. She listens to sounds and rustles, “understands” the voices of animals, and is quite happy with her life and freedom. She is self-sufficient. The social circle she has is enough for her. Olesya knows and understands the forest surrounding her; she reads nature as mysterious and interesting book. “With both hands she carefully supported a striped apron, from which three tiny bird heads with red necks and shiny black eyes looked out. “Look, grandma, the finches are following me again,” she exclaimed, laughing loudly, “look how funny they are... completely hungry.” And as luck would have it, I didn’t have any bread with me.”
But the collision with the world of people brings Olesya, it seems, only hardships and experiences. Local peasants consider Olesya and her grandmother Manuilikha to be witches. They are ready to blame these poor women for all the troubles. Once, human anger had already driven them away from their homes, and now Olesya’s only desire is to be left alone:
It would be better if they left grandma and I alone completely, otherwise...
But the cruel world of people knows no mercy. Olesya is smart and perspicacious in her own way. She knows perfectly well what a meeting with a city dweller, “Panych Ivan” brings to her. Love - a beautiful and sublime feeling - turns into death for this “daughter of nature”. She does not fit into the surrounding world of anger and envy, self-interest and hypocrisy.
The heroine's unusual nature, her beauty and independence inspire hatred, fear, and anger in the people around her. The peasants are ready to take out all their misfortunes and troubles on Oles and Manuilikha. Their unaccountable fear of “witches,” which they consider poor women, is fueled by impunity for reprisals against them. Olesya’s coming to church is not a challenge to the village, but a desire to reconcile with the people around her, to understand those among whom her beloved lives. The crowd's hatred gave birth to a response. Olesya threatens the villagers who beat and insulted her: “Good!.. You’ll remember this from me!” You will all cry your fill!
Now there can be no reconciliation. Right turned out to be on the side of the strong. Olesya is a fragile and beautiful flower who is destined to die in this cruel world.
In the story “Olesya,” Kuprin showed the inevitability of the collision and death of the natural and fragile world of harmony when it comes into contact with cruel reality.
Olesya - “whole, original , a free nature, her mind, at the same time clear and shrouded in unshakable mediocre superstition, childishly innocent, but not without sly coquetry beautiful woman“, and Ivan Timofeevich - “although a kind man, he is only weak.” They belong to different social strata: Ivan Timofeevich - educated person, a writer who came to Polesie “to observe morals,” and Olesya was a “witcher,” an uneducated girl who grew up in the forest. But, despite these differences, they fell in love with each other. However, their love was different: Ivan Timofeevich was attracted by the beauty, tenderness, femininity, naivety of Olesya, and she, on the contrary, was aware of all his shortcomings and knew that their love was doomed, but, despite this, she loved him with all her ardent soul as Only a woman is capable of love. Her love inspires my admiration, because Olesya was ready to do anything, make any sacrifice, for the sake of her loved one. After all, for the sake of Ivan Timofeevich, she went to church, although she knew that it would end tragically for her.
But I don’t consider Poroshin’s love to be as pure and generous. He knew that disaster might happen if Olesya went to church, but did nothing to stop her: “Suddenly, a sudden horror of foreboding gripped me. I uncontrollably wanted to run after Olesya, catch up with her and ask, beg, even demand, if necessary, that she not go to church. But I restrained my unexpected impulse...” Ivan Timofeevich, although he loved Olesya, was at the same time afraid of this love. It was this fear that prevented him from marrying her: “Only one circumstance frightened and stopped me: I did not even dare to imagine what Olesya would be like, dressed in a human dress, talking in the living room with the wives of my colleagues, torn from this charming frame of the old forest.” .
The tragedy of love between Olesya and Ivan Timofeevich is the tragedy of people who “broke out” from their social environment. The fate of Olesya herself is tragic, because she differed sharply from the Perbrod peasants, first of all, with her pure, open soul, and the richness of her inner world. This is what gave rise to the hatred of the callous people towards Olesya, limited people. And, as you know, people always strive to destroy someone they do not understand, someone who is different from them. Therefore, Olesya is forced to part with her beloved and flee from her native forest.
It is also impossible not to say about literary skill A. I. Kuprin. Before us are pictures of nature, portraits, the inner world of heroes, characters, moods - all this deeply impressed me. The story “Olesya” is a hymn to the beautiful, primordial feeling of love and the personification of the most beautiful and precious thing that can happen in the life of any of us.
History of creation
A. Kuprin’s story “Olesya” was first published in 1898 in the newspaper “Kievlyanin” and was accompanied by a subtitle. "From memories of Volyn." It is curious that the writer first sent the manuscript to the magazine " Russian wealth”, since before that this magazine had already published Kuprin’s story “Forest Wilderness”, also dedicated to Polesie. Thus, the author hoped to create a continuation effect. However, “Russian Wealth” for some reason refused to publish “Olesya” (perhaps the publishers were not satisfied with the size of the story, because by that time it was the most a major work author), and the cycle planned by the author did not work out. But later, in 1905, “Olesya” was published in an independent publication, accompanied by an introduction from the author, which told the story of the creation of the work. Later, the full-fledged “Polessia Cycle” was released, the pinnacle and decoration of which was “Olesya”.
The author's introduction is preserved only in the archives. In it, Kuprin said that while visiting a friend of the landowner Poroshin in Polesie, he heard from him many legends and fairy tales related to local beliefs. Among other things, Poroshin said that he himself was in love with a local witch. Kuprin will later tell this story in the story, at the same time including in it all the mysticism of local legends, the mysterious mystical atmosphere and the piercing realism of the situation surrounding him, difficult fates Polesie inhabitants.
Analysis of the work
Plot of the story
Compositionally, “Olesya” is a retrospective story, that is, the author-narrator returns in memories to the events that took place in his life many years ago.
The basis of the plot and the leading theme of the story is the love between the city nobleman (panych) Ivan Timofeevich and the young resident of Polesie, Olesya. Love is bright, but tragic, since its death is inevitable due to a number of circumstances - social inequality, the gaps between the heroes.
According to the plot, the hero of the story, Ivan Timofeevich, spends several months in a remote village, on the edge of Volyn Polesie (the territory called tsarist times Little Russia, today - the west of the Pripyat Lowland, in northern Ukraine). A city dweller, he first tries to instill culture in the local peasants, treats them, teaches them to read, but his studies are unsuccessful, since people are overcome by worries and are not interested in either enlightenment or development. Ivan Timofeevich increasingly goes hunting in the forest, admires the local landscapes, and sometimes listens to the stories of his servant Yarmola, who talks about witches and sorcerers.
Having gotten lost one day while hunting, Ivan ends up in a forest hut - the same witch from Yarmola’s stories lives here - Manuilikha and her granddaughter Olesya.
The second time the hero comes to the inhabitants of the hut is in the spring. Olesya tells fortunes for him, predicting a quick, unhappy love and adversity, even a suicide attempt. The girl also shows mystical abilities - she can influence a person, instilling her will or fear, and stop bleeding. Panych falls in love with Olesya, but she herself remains distinctly cold towards him. She is especially angry that the gentleman stands up for her and her grandmother in front of the local police officer, who threatened to disperse the inhabitants of the forest hut for their alleged sorcery and harm to people.
Ivan falls ill and does not come to the forest hut for a week, but when he comes, it is noticeable that Olesya is happy to see him, and the feelings of both of them flare up. A month passes secret dates and quiet, bright happiness. Despite the obvious and realized inequality of lovers by Ivan, he proposes to Olesya. She refuses, citing the fact that she, a servant of the devil, cannot go into church, and therefore, get married, entering into a marriage union. Nevertheless, the girl decides to go to church to please the gentleman. Local residents, however, did not appreciate Olesya’s impulse and attacked her, beating her severely.
Ivan hurries to the forest house, where the beaten, defeated and morally crushed Olesya tells him that her fears about the impossibility of their union have been confirmed - they cannot be together, so she and her grandmother will leave their home. Now the village is even more hostile towards Olesya and Ivan - any whim of nature will be associated with its sabotage and sooner or later they will kill.
Before leaving for the city, Ivan goes into the forest again, but in the hut he finds only red beads from olesin.
Heroes of the story
The main character of the story is the forest witch Olesya (her real name is Alena - says grandmother Manuilikha, and Olesya is the local version of the name). A beautiful, tall brunette with intelligent dark eyes immediately attracts Ivan's attention. Natural beauty the girl is combined with a natural intelligence - despite the fact that the girl does not even know how to read, she has, perhaps, more tact and depth than the city girl.
(Olesya)
Olesya is sure that she is “not like everyone else” and soberly understands that for this dissimilarity she can suffer from the people. Ivan doesn't really believe in unusual abilities Olesya, believing that there is more than a centuries-old superstition here. However, he cannot deny the mysticism of Olesya’s image.
Olesya is well aware of the impossibility of her happiness with Ivan, even if he accepts volitional decision and marries her, so it is she who boldly and simply manages their relationship: firstly, she exercises self-control, trying not to impose herself on the gentleman, and secondly, she decides to separate, seeing that they are not a couple. Social life would be unacceptable to Olesya, her husband would inevitably become burdened with her after the absence of common interests. Olesya does not want to be a burden, to tie Ivan hand and foot and leaves on her own - this is the heroism and strength of the girl.
Ivan is a poor, educated nobleman. City boredom leads him to Polesie, where at first he tries to do some business, but in the end the only activity left is hunting. He treats legends about witches as fairy tales - a healthy skepticism is justified by his education.
(Ivan and Olesya)
Ivan Timofeevich - sincere and kind person, he is able to feel the beauty of nature, and therefore Olesya at first interests him not as beautiful girl, but how . He wonders how it happened that nature itself raised her, and she came out so gentle and delicate, unlike the rude, uncouth peasants. How did it happen that they, religious, although superstitious, are ruder and tougher than Olesya, although she should be the embodiment of evil. For Ivan, meeting Olesya is not a lordly pastime and a difficult summer love adventure, although he understands that they are not a couple - society in any case will be stronger than their love and will destroy their happiness. The personification of society in in this case it doesn’t matter - be it the blind and stupid peasant force, be it the city dwellers, Ivan’s colleagues. When he thinks of Olesya as a future wife, in a city dress, trying to support small talk with his colleagues - he simply reaches a dead end. The loss of Olesya for Ivan is as much a tragedy as finding her as a wife. This remains outside the scope of the story, but most likely Olesya’s prediction came true in full - after her departure he felt bad, even to the point of thinking about intentionally leaving this life.
The culmination of events in the story occurs on a big holiday - Trinity. This is not a coincidence; it emphasizes and intensifies the tragedy with which light fairy tale Olesya is trampled by people who hate her. There is a sarcastic paradox in this: the servant of the devil, Olesya, the witch, turns out to be more open to love than the crowd of people whose religion fits into the thesis “God is Love.”
The author's conclusions sound tragic - it is impossible for two people to be happy together when the happiness for each of them individually is different. For Ivan, happiness is impossible apart from civilization. For Olesya - in isolation from nature. But at the same time, the author claims, civilization is cruel, society can poison relations between people, destroy them morally and physically, but nature cannot.
Full of sin, without reason and will,
A person is fragile and vain.
Everywhere you look, there are only losses, pains
His flesh and soul have been tormented for a century...
As soon as they leave, others will replace them,
Everything in the world is pure suffering for him:
His friends, enemies, loved ones, relatives. Anna Bradstreet
Russian literature is rich in wonderful images beautiful women : strong character, smart, loving, courageous and selfless.
Russian woman with her amazing inner world has always attracted the attention of writers. Alexander Sergeevich Griboyedov, Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov, Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky understood the depth of the emotional impulses of their heroines.
The works of these writers help us get to know life better and understand the nature of people’s relationships. But life is full of conflicts, sometimes tragic, and only a great talent of a writer can penetrate into their essence, understand their origins.
The story of A. I. Kuprin “Olesya” is a work that marked the beginning of a new literary era. Its main character, Olesya, evokes conflicting feelings. She awakens pity and understanding in me, I felt her freedom-loving and strong character.
We need to go back to Olesya’s past to better understand this heroine.
She grew up in constant persecution, moving from one place to another, and was always haunted by the fame of a witch. She and her grandmother even had to go live in the thicket of the forest, in the swamps, away from the villages.
Unlike the peasants, Olesya never attended church because she believed that magical power it was not given to her from God. This drove her away even more local residents. Their hostile attitude fostered in her amazing spiritual strength.
And so the little girl grew up and became a lovely flower.
Olesya is a tall girl of twenty-five years old, with beautiful long hair the colors of a crow's wing, which give it a special tenderness white face. In the big black eyes you can see a spark of wit and ingenuity. Appearance The girl is very different from how village women look, everything about her speaks of her originality and love of freedom. Her belief in magic and otherworldly forces gives her a special charm.
And then big and strong love appears in Olesya’s life. At her first meetings with Ivan Timofeevich, she does not feel anything, but then she realizes that she has fallen in love with him. Olesya is trying to extinguish love in her heart. But as soon as she was separated from Ivan Timofeevich for two weeks, she realized that she loved him more than before.
When meeting her chosen one, Olesya says: “Separation is for love what the wind is for fire: small love extinguishes, and big love blows up even stronger.” The heroine gives herself entirely to love, she loves sincerely and tenderly. For her sake, the girl was not afraid to go to church, having sacrificed her principles, she was not afraid of the consequences.
She suffered great humiliation when women attacked her and threw stones at her. Olesya sacrifices herself to love.
Before his departure, Ivan Timofeevich proposed his hand in marriage to Olesya, but she refused, saying that she did not want to burden him with her presence so that he would be ashamed of her. In this act, the girl’s foresight is visible; she thinks not only about today, but also about the future of Ivan Timofeevich.
However^ despite its strong love, Olesya unexpectedly, without saying goodbye to her beloved, leaves, leaving only beads in the house as a keepsake.
Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin portrayed in his work a sincere, sensitive, beautiful heroine who grew up far from civilization, in harmony with nature, capable of deep feelings.
The theme of love occupies a special place in the work of A. I. Kuprin. The writer gave us three stories, united by this great topic , - « Garnet bracelet", "Olesya" and "Sulamith".
Different faces Kuprin showed this feeling in each of his works, but one thing remains unchanged: love illuminates the lives of his heroes with extraordinary light, becomes the brightest, unique event of life, a gift of fate. It is in love that they reveal themselves best features his heroes.
Fate threw the hero of the story “Olesya” into a remote village in the Volyn province, on the outskirts of Polesie. Ivan Timofeevich - writer. He is an educated, intelligent, inquisitive person. He is interested in people, with their customs and traditions, and in the legends and songs of the region. He was traveling to Polesie with the intention of replenishing his life experience new observations useful for the writer: “Polesie... wilderness... bosom of nature... simple morals... primitive natures,” he thought, sitting in the carriage.
Life presented Ivan Timofeevich with an unexpected gift: in the Polesie wilderness he met a wonderful girl and his true love.
Olesya and her grandmother Manuilikha live in the forest, away from the people who once expelled them from the village, suspecting them of witchcraft. Ivan Timofeevich is an enlightened person and, unlike the dark Polesie peasants, he understands that Olesya and Manuilikha simply “have access to some instinctive knowledge obtained by chance experience.”
Ivan Timofeevich falls in love with Olesya. But he is a man of his time, of his circle. Reproaching Olesya for superstition, Ivan Timofeevich himself is not to a lesser extent is at the mercy of the prejudices and rules by which people of his circle lived. He did not even dare to imagine what Olesya would look like, dressed in a fashionable dress, talking in the living room with the wives of his colleagues, Olesya, torn from the “charming frame of the old forest.”
Next to Olesya, he looks like a weak, unfree man, “a man with a lazy heart” who will not bring happiness to anyone. “You will not have great joys in life, but there will be a lot of boredom and hardship,” Olesya predicts to him from the cards. Ivan Timofeevich could not save Olesya from harm, who, trying to please her beloved, went to church contrary to her beliefs, despite the fear of the hatred of local inhabitants.
Oles has courage and determination, which our hero lacks; she has the ability to act. She is alien to petty calculations and fears when we're talking about about the feeling: “Let it be what will be, but I won’t give my joy to anyone.”
Pursued and persecuted by superstitious peasants, Olesya leaves, leaving a string of “coral” beads as a souvenir for Ivan Timofeevich. She knows that for him soon “everything will pass, everything will be erased,” and he will remember her love without grief, easily and joyfully.
The story “Olesya” adds new touches to the endless theme of love. Here Kuprin’s love is not only greatest gift, which is a sin to refuse. Reading the story, we understand that this feeling is unthinkable without naturalness and freedom, without bold determination to defend your feeling, without the ability to sacrifice in the name of those you love. Therefore, Kuprin remains the most interesting, intelligent and sensitive interlocutor for readers of all times.
Materials for review
Kuprin Early period creativity
"Duel"
"Olesya"
8 Responses to “A. I. Kuprin”
In general, the problem of “assault” appears very clearly in this story. This is the apotheosis of social inequality. Of course, we must not forget that corporal punishment for soldiers were cancelled. But in in this case we are no longer talking about punishment, but about mockery: “Non-commissioned officers brutally beat their subordinates for an insignificant mistake in literature, for lost leg during marching, they beat me to the blood, knocked out my teeth, broke my eardrums with blows to my ear, and knocked me to the ground with my fists.” Would a person with a normal psyche behave this way? Moral world everyone who enters the army changes radically and, as Romashov notes, is far from better side. So even Captain Stelkovsky, commander of the fifth company, the best company in the regiment, an officer who always “possessed patient, cool and confident persistence,” as it turned out, also beat soldiers (as an example, Romashov cites how Stelkovsky knocks out a soldier’s teeth along with his horn, who gave the wrong signal into this same horn). That is, there is no point in envying the fate of people like Stelkovsky.
In the story “The Duel,” Kuprin touches on the problem of inequality between people and the relationship between the individual and society.
The plot of the work is based on the crossroads of the soul of the Russian officer Romashov, who is forced by the conditions of army barracks life to think about the wrong relationships between people. Romashov is the most ordinary person, who instinctively resists the injustice of the world around him, but his protest is weak, and his dreams and plans are easily destroyed, since they are very naive. But after meeting with the soldier Khlebnikov, a turning point occurs in Romashov’s consciousness; he is shocked by the man’s readiness to commit suicide, in which he sees the only way out from a martyr's life and this strengthens his will to active resistance. Romashov is shocked by the power of Khlebnikov’s suffering, and it is the desire to sympathize that makes the second lieutenant think about fate for the first time common people. But talk about Romashov’s humanity and justice remains largely naive. But this is already a big step towards the moral purification of the hero and his fight against the cruel society around him.
Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. Tale "Duel". Problem moral choice person.
A.I. Kuprin raised the theme of alienation and misunderstanding between officers and soldiers in his story “The Duel.” In connection with the topic, the author puts a series problematic issues. One of which is the problem moral choice. Most strongly moral quest Georgy Romashov, the main character of the story, was subjected. Daydreaming and lack of will are the most important traits of Romashov’s nature, which immediately catch the eye. Then the author introduces us closer to the hero, and we learn that Romashov is characterized by warmth, gentleness, and compassion.
In the hero’s soul there is a constant struggle between a man and an officer. One of the values
The name "duel" is a clash
Romashov with the way of life of an officer and his inner
A duel with yourself. Arriving at the regiment, Romashov dreamed of exploits, of glory. In the evenings, the officers gather, play cards, and drink. Romashov is drawn into this atmosphere and begins to lead the same lifestyle as everyone else. However, he feels much more subtly and thinks more confidently. He is more and more horrified by the savage, unfair treatment of the soldiers.
He tries to isolate himself from them: “he began to retire from the company of officers, had lunch for the most part at home, didn’t go to the congregation dances at all, and stopped drinking.” He “has definitely matured, become older and more serious in recent days.”
Thus, the moral purification of the hero occurs. Suffering, his inner insight. He becomes able to sympathize with his neighbor, to feel other people’s grief as if it were his own. moral sense comes into conflict with the life around him.
The story “The Duel” is one of the links in the chain of works by A. I. Kuprin. The author clearly and accurately showed in “The Duel” social problems Russian army and the problem of misunderstanding and alienation between soldiers and officers. Almost hopeless despair reigns on the pages of the story. The heroes are doomed, as is the army itself. Main character In the story, Second Lieutenant Romashov does not find meaning in the very existence of the army. Teachings, regulations, barracks everyday life seem absolutely meaningless to him and his fellow soldiers. Second Lieutenant Romashov, a young officer who dreams of a career and position in society, is capable of love and compassion, but the writer shows us his negative traits: he allows himself to get drunk almost to the point of unconsciousness, he has an affair with someone else’s wife, which has been going on for six months. Nazansky is a smart, educated officer, but a heavy drunkard. Captain Plum is a degraded officer, sloppy and stern. His company has its own discipline: he is cruel to junior officers and soldiers, although he is attentive to the needs of the latter. Saying that the soldiers were beaten “cruelly, until they bled, until the offender fell off his feet...”, Kuprin once again emphasizes that, despite the rules of military discipline, assault was widely used in the army. In the story, almost all the officers used this means of calling for discipline, and therefore got away with everything junior officers. But not all officers were satisfied with this state of affairs, but many resigned themselves, like Vetkin. The desire of Second Lieutenant Romashov to prove that “you cannot beat a person who not only cannot answer you, but does not even have the right to raise his hand to his face to protect himself from a blow” leads to nothing and even causes condemnation, because most of The officers were satisfied with this state of affairs.
The problem of love in Kuprin's story "Olesya".
Love is revealed by the writer as a strong, passionate, all-consuming feeling that has completely taken possession of a person. It allows the heroes to reveal best qualities souls, illuminates life with the light of kindness and self-sacrifice. But love in Kuprin's works often ends in tragedy. This is the beautiful and poetic story of the pure, spontaneous and wise “daughter of nature” from the story “Olesya”. This amazing character combines intelligence, beauty, responsiveness, selflessness and willpower. The image of the forest witch is shrouded in mystery. Her fate is unusual, life away from people in an abandoned forest hut. The poetic nature of Polesie has a beneficial influence on the girl. Isolation from civilization allows her to preserve the integrity and purity of nature. On the one hand, she is naive because she does not know basic things, inferior in this to the intelligent and educated Ivan Timofeevich. But on the other hand, Olesya has some kind of highest knowledge, which is inaccessible to an ordinary smart person.
In the love of the “savage” and the civilized hero, from the very beginning there is a feeling of doom, which permeates the work with sadness and hopelessness. The ideas and views of lovers turn out to be too different, which lead to separation, despite the strength and sincerity of their feelings. When the urban intellectual Ivan Timofeevich, who got lost in the forest while hunting, saw Olesya for the first time, he was struck not only by the bright and original beauty of the girl. He felt that she was different from ordinary village girls. There is something magical in Olesya’s appearance, her speech, and behavior that cannot be explained logically. This is probably what captivates Ivan Timofeevich in her, in whom admiration imperceptibly grows into love. When Olesya, at the insistent request of the hero, tells fortunes for him, she predicts with amazing insight that his life will be sad, he will not love anyone with his heart, since his heart is cold and lazy, but, on the contrary, will bring a lot of grief and shame to the one who loves his. Olesya's tragic prophecy comes true at the end of the story. No, Ivan Timofeevich does not commit either meanness or betrayal. He sincerely and seriously wants to connect his fate with Olesya. But at the same time, the hero shows insensitivity and tactlessness, which doom the girl to shame and persecution. Ivan Timofeevich instills in her the idea that a woman should be pious, although he knows very well that Olesya in the village is considered a witch, and therefore, visiting church could cost her life. Possessing a rare gift of foresight, the heroine for the sake of her beloved man is walking to a church service, feeling evil glances at myself, hearing mocking remarks and swearing. This selfless act Olesya especially emphasizes her bold, free nature, which contrasts with the darkness and wildness of the villagers. Beaten by local peasant women, Olesya leaves her home not only because she fears their even more cruel revenge, but also because she perfectly understands the unrealizability of her dream, the impossibility of happiness. When Ivan Timofeevich finds the empty hut, his gaze is drawn by a string of beads that rose above the heaps of rubbish and rags, like “the memory of Olesya and her tender, generous love.”
In the story “The Duel,” I.A. Kuprin touches on the problem of human moral inferiority and shows it using the example of the Russian army. This example is the most striking.
The officers cruelly mocked their subordinates, who, having found themselves in a new situation, did not understand what was happening: “The non-commissioned officers brutally beat their subordinates for an insignificant mistake in literature, for a lost leg during marching - they bled, knocked out teeth, smashed them with blows.” hit the eardrums, punched them to the ground.” The soldiers had no right to respond to this cruelty, nor to dodge the blows; they had no choice. Even the most seemingly patient and cold-blooded officer, like Stelkovsky, fell to this level. This situation prevailed throughout the army. Main character, Romashov, understood that changes in the army were necessary, but he reproached himself for being close to everyone else.
Assault in the Russian army was big problem for society, which needed to be solved, but it was simply impossible to do it alone.
In the Tale “Olesya” Kuprin tells us that man is losing contact with nature, which is one of the problems of this work.
In her work, the author contrasts society and the world around her with each other. People living in cities who have lost contact with native nature, became gray, faceless, lost their beauty. And Olesya, who is connected with the nature around her, is pure and bright. The writer admires his main character; for him, this girl is the embodiment ideal person. And only by living in harmony with nature can you become like this. Kuprin tells us that people should not lose contact with nature, because he loses himself, his soul turns black, and his body fades. But if you return to this naturalness, the soul will begin to bloom and the body will become better.
Thus, we must strive to maintain contact with our environment, because it is this that gives us the strength to live and develop.
How does primitive nature influence humans? It is impossible to be insincere around her; she seems to push a person onto the path of a pure, truthful understanding of life. In his story A.I. Kuprin puts main character Olesya is faced with the problem of confrontation between the natural and the social.
Olesya is a strong, strong-willed character, sensitive, inquisitive mind, and at the same time an incredibly beautiful girl. After reading the story, I painted a picture in my head: a tall black-haired girl in a red scarf, and around her there were spreading bright green spruce trees. Against the backdrop of the forest, all the spiritual qualities of the heroine appear especially clearly: the willingness to sacrifice oneself and life wisdom. It harmoniously intertwines the beauty of the soul with the beauty of the body.
Society becomes against Olesya’s connection with nature. Here it appears from its most unsightly side: grayness, dustiness of the streets and even faces, intimidation and ugliness of women. This dullness is against everything new, bright, honest. Olesya with her red scarf becomes a stumbling block, the culprit of all troubles.
For their narrow-mindedness, the villagers will be punished by the elements. And again they will blame Olesya for this...
1) The problem of tolerance / cruelty.
Local peasants consider Olesya and her grandmother Manuilikha to be witches, so the villagers are ready to blame them for all their troubles. One day, human hatred forced them to leave their homes, and now Olesya’s only desire is to be left alone.
2) The problem of loneliness.
Local residents do not accept Olesya and her grandmother Manuilikha into their ranks, considering them witches. Because of this, poor women are forced to live in a hut, which is located in the forest, away from the village and its inhabitants.
3) The problem of tragic love.
Ivan Timofeevich, indecisive and cautious, cannot go against the rules of his environment. He doesn't know how to care for others. One day he puts Olesya before a choice between himself and her grandmother. This leads to the need for the girl and her relatives to leave the village, because they are in danger from the local residents.
4) The problem of the influence of the beauty of nature on humans.
Olesya grew up in harmony with nature. Thanks to this, she developed various talents, for example, healing. She has not only physical but also spiritual beauty. Living in solitude with nature endowed the girl with curiosity. The city and civilization are the embodiment of human vices for Olesya.
5) The problem of education.
The Yarmol forest worker is good at farming, but he is not trained to read and write. According to him, there are no literate people in the village. Yarmola asks Ivan Timofeevich to teach him writing so that he can sign for the entire village if necessary.
Updated: 2018-03-30
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