One of distinctive features novel by M.Yu. Lermontov's "Hero of Our Time" is a violation of the chronological order of the narrative.
Indeed, if you trace the plot and plot order, the difference becomes noticeable: according to the plot, the reader already in the preface learns about the death of Pechorin, while the plot logically and step by step leads to the death of the main character.
This structural approach is due to several reasons. Firstly, according to the author’s plan, the narrative line gradually brings the reader closer to a deeper understanding of Pechorin’s personality. The narrative is thus told by three narrators. At first, Maxim Maksimych watches Pechorin. He records his actions, but does not give reasons for them. This is not surprising: there is no deep understanding between the characters; they come from different strata, separated, moreover, by military chain of command (Pechorin is of higher rank). Thus, Maxim Maksimych, being close to Pechorin only due to life circumstances, can tell the reader very little about him.
A large emotional component is inherent in the second plane of the narrative: here the officer is the narrator. Unlike Maxim Maksimych, he is of the same class as Pechorin, and therefore, on an equal footing, he can look at Pechorin and analyze his type and actions. Here for the first time a description of the hero’s appearance appears, as well as the characteristic: “cold, tall, lonely.” Noticing such a radical difference between Maxim Maksimych and Pechorin, the officer even feels sorry for the first, realizing how difficult it must be to exist side by side with coldness like Pechorin’s.
Finally, Pechorin himself becomes the third narrator; his introspection is the maximum revelation of the hero’s personality. Lermontov uses a form of direct psychologism, reveals the deep and hidden, shows what really stands behind the hero’s coldness, and exposes his pain and inner tragedy. The reader feels more involved in the events described in the chapter “Pechorin’s Journal”, since it is written in the first person.
There is another reason for Lermontov’s violation of the chronological sequence when presenting the events of the novel - this is the intention to “prescribe” Pechorin’s character as mysterious, adventurous, looking for bright turns in his life’s path. Vivid image requires a bright environment; the reticence that arises during chronological shifts increases interest in the hero. Thus, the author resorts to violating chronology for the sake of entertainment, to attract attention to the image of Pechorin.
Finally, a violation of chronology is the surest way to show the evolution of Pechorin as a complex novel hero. Pechorin's inconsistency is not presented axiomatically, as would be possible with a linear narrative. By connecting the pieces of the mosaic of Pechorin’s life, traveling from one pole of his personality (demonstrative strength and cultivation of will) to the other (secret weakness), the reader independently reveals and explores this inconsistency for himself.
Nikitina Valeria, 11th grade, 2013
The novel “A Hero of Our Time” is the first psychological novel in Russian literature, and one of the perfect examples of this genre. Psychological analysis The character of the main character is carried out in the complex compositional structure of the novel, the composition of which is bizarre in violation of the chronological sequence of its main parts. In the novel “A Hero of Our Time,” composition and style are subordinated to one task: to reveal the image of the hero of his time as deeply and comprehensively as possible, to trace the history of his inner life, since “the history of the human soul,” as the author states in the Preface to “Pechorin’s Journal,” - even the smallest soul, perhaps more curious and not more useful than history an entire people, especially... when it... is written without a vain desire to arouse participation or surprise.” Consequently, the composition of this novel is one of its most important artistic features.
According to the true chronology, the stories should have been arranged as follows: “Taman”, “Princess Mary”, “Fatalist”, “Bela”, “Maksim Maksimych”, Preface to “Pechorin’s Journal”. Lermontov breaks the order of events and talks about them not in chronological order: “Bela”, “Maksim Maksimych”, Preface to “Pechorin’s Journal”, “Taman”, “Princess Mary”, “Fatalist”. This arrangement of parts of the novel, violating the chronological order, enhances the plot tension, makes it possible to maximally interest the reader in Pechorin and his fate, gradually revealing his character in all its inconsistency and complexity.
The narration is told on behalf of three narrators: a certain traveling officer, staff captain Maxim Maksimych and, finally, Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin himself. The author resorted to this technique to highlight the events and character of the main character from different points of view, and as fully as possible. For Lermontov, these are not just three narrators, but three types of narrators: an outside observer of what is happening, a secondary character and participant in the events, as well as the main character himself. All three are dominated by the creator of the entire work - the author. We are presented not just three points of view, but three levels of comprehension of character, psychological revelation of the nature of the “hero of the time”, three measures of comprehension of the complex inner world extraordinary individuality. The presence of three types of narrators, their location in the course of the narrative is closely linked to the overall composition of the novel, and determines the chronological rearrangement of events, while at the same time being complexly dependent on such a rearrangement.
In the story “Bela,” Maxim Maksimych begins the story about Pechorin: “He was a nice guy, I dare to assure you; just a little strange. After all, for example, in the rain, in the cold, hunting all day; everyone will be cold and tired, but nothing to him. And another time he sits in his room, smells the wind, assures him that he has a cold; the shutter knocks, he shudders and turns pale; and with me he went to hunt wild boar one on one; It happened that you wouldn’t get a word for hours at a time, but sometimes, as soon as he started talking, his stomach would rip from laughter... Yes, sir, he was very strange.”
Lermontov avoids local, dialect or Caucasian foreign words, deliberately using general literary vocabulary. The simplicity and accuracy of Lermontov's prose language were developed under the direct influence of Pushkin's prose.
Central to the story “Bela” is the story of Maxim Maksimych, included in the notes of a traveling officer. By putting the story of Pechorin and Bela into the mouth of the old Caucasian Maxim Maksimych, Lermontov highlighted the tragic devastation of Pechorin and at the same time contrasted him with the integral character of the Russian man.
In the next story, “Maxim Maksimych,” the staff captain turns into a character. The narration continues on behalf of the author of the novel. Here is the only time in the entire book that the author meets the hero, Pechorin. This is necessary in order to realistically motivate the detailed psychological portrait of Pechorin included in the second story. The introduction of a second narrator into the fabric of the novel adjusts the focus of the image. If Maxim Maksimych views events as if through inverted binoculars, so that everything is in his field of vision, but everything is too general, then the officer-narrator zooms in on the image, translates it from general plan to a more enlarged one. However, as a storyteller, he has a drawback in comparison with the staff captain: he knows too little, being content with only passing observations. The second story therefore basically confirms the impression made after reading the beginning of the novel: Pechorin is too indifferent to people, otherwise with his coldness he would not have offended Maxim Maksimych, who was so devoted to his friendship.
Pechorin is indifferent not only to Maxim Maksimych, but also to himself, giving the Journal to the staff captain. The narrator, observing Pechorin’s appearance, notes: “... I must say a few more words about his eyes. First of all, they didn't laugh when he laughed! Have you ever noticed such strangeness in some people?.. This is a sign of either an evil disposition or deep, constant sadness. Because of the half-lowered eyelashes, they shone with some kind of phosphorescent shine, so to speak. It was not a reflection of the heat of the soul or the playing imagination: it was a shine, like the shine of smooth steel, dazzling, but cold; his gaze, short, but penetrating and heavy, left the unpleasant impression of an immodest question and could have seemed impudent if he had not been so indifferently calm.” In the second story, the author, as it were, prepares the reader for the further “Pechorin’s Journal”, because he finds out how Pechorin’s notes fell into the hands of the author.
The second story is capable of irritating the reader's imagination: what is true about Pechorin - is it an evil disposition or a deep, constant sadness? Only after this, having aroused an inquisitive interest in such an unusual character, forcing the reader, looking for an answer, to be attentive to every detail of the further story, the author changes the narrator, giving the floor to the most central character: as a narrator, he has undoubted advantages over his two predecessors, it’s not so easy knows about himself more than others, but is also able to comprehend his actions, motives, emotions, subtle movements of the soul - as rarely anyone can do this. Introspection is Pechorin’s strength and weakness, hence his superiority over people and this is one of the reasons for his skepticism and disappointment.
In the Preface to Pechorin's Journal, the author reports something that Pechorin himself could not report: Pechorin died while returning from a trip to Persia. This is how the author’s right to publish “Pechorin’s Journal”, consisting of three stories: “Taman”, “Princess Mary” and “Fatalist” is justified.
“Taman” is an action-packed story. In this story everything is explained and resolved in the most ordinary and in a prosaic way, although initially Pechorin is perceived somewhat romantically and truly poetically, which is not surprising: Pechorin finds himself in an unusual and atypical situation for noble hero situation. The poor hut with its inhospitable inhabitants on a high cliff near the Black Sea seems a mystery to him. And Pechorin invades this strange life of smugglers, incomprehensible to him, “like a stone thrown into a smooth spring” and “almost went to the bottom himself.” Pechorin’s sadly ironic exclamation sums up the truthful and bitter conclusion of the whole incident: “And what do I care about human joys and misfortunes, me, a traveling officer, and even on the road for official business!..”.
The second story, included in Pechorin’s Journal, “Princess Mary,” develops the theme of the hero of time surrounded by the “water society,” surrounded by which and in conflict with which Pechorin is shown.
In the story “Princess Mary” Pechorin appears to the reader not only as a memoirist-storyteller, but also as the author of a diary, a journal in which his thoughts and impressions are accurately recorded. This allows Lermontov to reveal the inner world of his hero with great depth. Pechorin's diary opens with an entry made on May 11, the day after his arrival in Pyatigorsk. Detailed descriptions of subsequent events constitute, as it were, the first, “Pyatigorsk” part of the story. The entry dated June 10 opens the second, “Kislovodsk” part of his diary. In the second part, events develop more rapidly, consistently leading to the climax of the story and the entire novel - the duel between Pechorin and Grushnitsky. For a duel with Grushnitsky, Pechorin ends up in the fortress of Maxim Maksimych. This is where the story ends. Thus, all the events of “Princess Mary” fit into a period of a little more than a month and a half. But the narration of these few days makes it possible for Lermontov to reveal with exceptional depth and completeness the contradictory image of Pechorin from the inside.
It is in “Princess Mary” that the hopeless despair and tragic hopelessness of Pechorin, an intelligent and gifted person crippled by his environment and upbringing, are most deeply shown.
Pechorin's past within the framework of "A Hero of Our Time" is of little interest to Lermontov. The author is almost not occupied with the question of the formation of his hero. Lermontov does not even consider it necessary to tell the reader what Pechorin did in St. Petersburg during the five years that passed after his return from the Caucasus and until his reappearance in Vladikavkaz (“Maxim Maksimych”) on his way to Persia. All Lermontov's attention is paid to revealing the inner life of his hero.
Not only in Russian, but also in world literature, Lermontov was one of the first to master the ability to capture and depict “the mental process of the emergence of thoughts,” as Chernyshevsky put it in an article about the early stories of Leo Tolstoy.
Pechorin consistently and convincingly reveals in his diary not only his thoughts and moods, but also spiritual world and the spiritual appearance of those with whom he meets. Neither the intonation of the interlocutor’s voice, nor the movements of his eyes, nor facial expressions escape his observation. Every word spoken, every gesture reveals Pechorin state of mind interlocutor. Pechorin is not only smart, but also observant and sensitive. This explains his ability to understand people well. The portrait characteristics in Pechorin's Journal are striking in their depth and accuracy.
Nature and landscape in “A Hero of Our Time,” especially in “Pechorin’s Journal,” are very often not only a backdrop for human experiences. The landscape directly clarifies the human condition, and sometimes contrastingly emphasizes the discrepancy between the hero’s experiences and the surrounding environment.
Pechorin’s first meeting with Vera is preceded by a thunderous landscape saturated with electricity: “It was getting hot; white shaggy clouds quickly fled from the snowy mountains, promising a thunderstorm; Mashuk's head was smoking like an extinguished torch; Around him, gray wisps of clouds curled and crawled like snakes, detained in their quest and as if caught in his thorny bushes. The air was filled with electricity."
Pechorin’s contradictory state before the duel is characterized by the duality of images and colors of the morning landscape of the outskirts of Kislovodsk: “I don’t remember a bluer and fresher morning! The sun barely appeared from behind the green peaks, and the merging of the first warmth of its rays with the dying coolness of the night brought a kind of sweet languor to all the senses.”
The same technique of contrasting lighting is used in the description of the mountain landscape surrounding the duelists who climbed to the top of the rock: “All around, lost in the golden fog of the morning, the tops of the mountains crowded like a countless herd, and Elbrus in the south stood up as a white mass, closing the chain of icy peaks, between where the stringy clouds that had come from the east were already wandering, but I walked up to the edge of the platform and looked down, my head almost began to spin; there, below, it seemed dark and cold, as if in a coffin: the mossy teeth of rocks, thrown down by thunderstorms and time, were awaiting their prey.”
Pechorin, who knows how to accurately define his every thought, every state of mind, restrainedly and sparingly reports about his return from the duel in which Grushnitsky was killed. A brief, expressive description of nature reveals to the reader Pechorin’s difficult state: “The sun seemed dim to me, its rays did not warm me.”
The last story of “Pechorin’s Journal” is “Fatalist”. The tragic death of Vulich, as it were, prepares the reader of “Fatalist” for the inevitable and near death Pechorin, which the author has already reported in the Preface to Pechorin’s Journal.
In this story, the question of fate and predestination is posed by Lermontov on completely real, even everyday material. In idealistic philosophical literature, in stories, novels and novels of the 20s and especially the 30s, during the period of intensified European reaction, much attention was paid to this issue. The key to the ideological plan of “Fatalist” is Pechorin’s monologue, which combines the first part of the story with its second part, in which we're talking about about the death of Vulich. Pechorin’s reflections in this monologue seem to sum up the entire “Pechorin’s Journal” and even the novel “A Hero of Our Time” as a whole.
It was in “The Fatalist” that Pechorin soberly and courageously discerned the source of many of his troubles, saw the cause of evil, but not the nature of temptation: “In my first youth I was a dreamer; I loved to caress the alternately gloomy and rosy images that my restless and greedy imagination painted for me. But what does this leave me with? only fatigue, as after a night battle with ghosts, and a vague memory filled with regrets. In this vain struggle I exhausted both the heat of my soul and the constancy of will necessary for real life; I entered this life having already experienced it mentally, and I felt bored and disgusted, like someone who reads a bad imitation of a book he has long known.”
Why in the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov's “Hero of Our Time”, are the events depicted not in chronological order?
Work by M.Yu. Lermontov's “Hero of Our Time” (1841) is a socio-psychological novel.
The main character of the work, Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin, on the one hand, is a specific person with bright actions and strong feelings. On the other hand, Pechorin embodies generalized traits younger generation 1830-1840s, the tragedy of which was insufficient social activity and low demand in society.
Pechorin is an officer, an aristocrat, he is one of those who are considered to be the darling of fate. His life is extremely hectic. She is filled with a desperate search for something unusual, special, going beyond the usual impressions. His strong feelings are akin to passions, but the fact of the matter is that his cold rationality and tendency to analyze what is happening around balance the ardor of his nature.
Why are the events not depicted in chronological order in the novel “A Hero of Our Time”?
First of all, because this method creates a feeling of some mystery, understatement in the characterization of the hero himself, which in spirit brings the novel closer to the Byronic movement in literature. In addition, the reader is indifferent to the chronology of the events described. He is interested in Pechorin's life itself, the intrigue and intricacy of the collisions and situations that arise here and there on his life's path.
And from the point of view of the main artistic idea, this is exactly how the novel is structured, with a violation of the chronology of events, for one important reason. The reader traces Pechorin's life sequentially, from simple to complex, recognizing the personality of this man, comprehending the originality of his nature.
In the chapter “Bela,” the reader gets acquainted with the image of Pechorin through Maxim Maksimych’s story about him and becomes convinced of how decisive, daring and unpredictable this young man is in his actions. But these are only indirect ideas about the hero, which are destined to be replenished in the further content of the novel. In the chapter “Maksim Maksimych” the reader sees Pechorin live and forms his own opinion about him. The appearance of the main character testifies to both the romantic inclinations of his character and his strong-willed qualities. But at the same time, the coldness and indifference of the “wandering officer”, shown by him towards the humane and wise Maxim Maksimych, unpleasantly surprises the reader.
In the chapters “Taman” and “Princess Mary” Pechorin is depicted through entries in his own diary very fully, in detail and in many ways. His diary is the hero’s story about himself, a confession in which the motives of his actions are explained and an assessment is given to them.
We learn that at the center of the hero’s life interests is his own personality, his “ego.” The remaining heroes of the novel are “others” who, by chance, find themselves on his path in life.
Pechorin admits to himself that there are two people in him: one commits actions, the other impartially evaluates them. He brings a lot of suffering to other people; through his fault, Bela and Grushnitsky die. However, Pechorin is inclined to think that objectively he is not to blame for the misfortunes of these “others”. But in his subconscious lurks the thought that no - he’s to blame!
For this reason, he “laughed” after Bela’s funeral, and Maxim Maksimych “got a chill running through his body.” Pechorin has enough intelligence and compassion to say sincere words to Maxim Maksimych, who was offended by him, when parting. Realizing how guilty he is, he is ready to throw himself at the feet of Princess Mary, whose heart is broken, and cries on the road to Pyatigorsk near a fallen horse.
The heart of the main character yearns for an unprecedented response to his feelings. He himself unsuccessfully strives to live up to his “high purpose” and to fruitfully spend his “immense forces”, which, he is sure, are given to him by nature. But his goals remain unfulfilled; a great field in which he could take place as outstanding personality, they did not find it. Therefore, the critic Belinsky called him a “suffering egoist.”
And finally, the chapter “Fatalist” completes the characterization of Pechorin, where the issue of inevitable, divinely predetermined turns in a person’s fate is resolved on a serious philosophical level. Thus, deeply thought out by the author from an ideological and artistic perspective, the life story of Pechorin, the “hero” of Russian reality of the 1830-1840s, appears before us.
Of course, one of the most outstanding writers of the nineteenth century is Mikhail Lermontov. which is distinguished by the discrepancy between the plot order of actions and the plot, is considered to be one of his most significant works. And there are reasons for this.
The novel expresses the main thoughts that Lermontov feels towards the generation of his contemporaries. “A Hero of Our Time,” the summary of which is compositionally structured in such a way as to most fully reveal to us the character of the main character, gained integrity and completeness precisely thanks to this arrangement of parts of the work.
In the plot, that is, chronological, order, the stories should be arranged as follows: first “Taman”, then “Princess Mary”, followed by “Fatalist”, then “Bela”, followed by “Maksim Maksimych” and, finally, “ Preface to Pechorin's magazine. But the author chose to change the order of the story in order to make it easier for the reader to understand his thoughts. It was no coincidence that such a distorted order was chosen for of this work, because the genre psychological novel designed to show us the soul of the hero. Lermontov chose a suitable form for this. which has been repeatedly attempted by many critics, even in our century is considered one of the most profound psychological novels.
So, the narrative begins with the chapter “Bela”, in which the narrator, on the way to Tiflis, meets a fellow traveler, Maxim Maksimych, who told him the story of his joint service with Grigory Pechorin in the Chechen guard fortress. The center of his memories is the story of how Pechorin, a young ensign, had his eye on the daughter of a local prince and cunningly abducted her with the help of her younger brother named Azamat. Having “tamed” the beauty and made her fall in love with him, the officer soon becomes tired of his relationship with her. Maxim Maksimych already then foresaw trouble. And in fact, Bela is kidnapped by Kazbich, who was left without a horse by Pechorin during the adventure, after which he kills the girl.
Next comes the chapter "Maxim Maksimych". The narrator witnesses a meeting between Grigory Pechorin and the staff captain, during which he writes young man. Maxim Maksimych, angry with Grigory for his coldness, gives it to the narrator travel notes Pechorin, which make up most of novel.
In the chapter “Taman”, Grigory himself already acts as the narrator, who arrives in the city of the same name and demonstrates his penchant for adventure, tracking down the night routes of a blind boy living “on the Vater”. Because of this, the hero almost dies in a fight with a girl, the smuggler’s assistant.
The chapter "Princess Mary" illustrates Pechorin's passion for experiments and analysis of his actions. Grigory, out of stubbornness, decides to win the heart of an intelligent girl named Mary in order to hurt the pride of his friend Grushnitsky. In the end, a duel took place between them, in which the latter dies. In this chapter we can most clearly observe the hero’s stubbornness and his tendency to think, which Lermontov endowed his character with. “A Hero of Our Time,” a brief summary of which will help us understand the reasons for the character’s actions, gradually reveals to us the world of his soul.
In the last story, “Fatalist,” the author expresses his hope that all is not lost for his generation: Pechorin captures the Cossack killer. This concludes the novel that Lermontov wrote, “A Hero of Our Time.” Summary given psychological work should clarify the thoughts that the author put into it.
1. Chronological sequence of events.
2. Mixing genres.
3. The meaning of the violation of chronology in the novel.
Accept the collection of motley heads,
Half funny, half sad,
She is simple relatives, ideal,
The careless fruit of my amusements,
Insomnia, light inspirations,
Immature and withered years,
Crazy cold observations
And hearts of sorrowful notes.
A. S. Pushkin
M. Yu. Lermontov’s novel “A Hero of Our Time” consists of five chapter stories. These chapters, in turn, are combined into two parts in accordance with the person on whose behalf the story is being told. In the first part, the narration is told from the perspective of the author and Maxim Maksimych. The second part is the diary of Pechorin himself, that is, a first-person story.
The layout of the chapters in the novel does not coincide with chronological sequence events in the hero's life. It is obvious that events developed this way. On the way to his destination in the Caucasus, Pechorin passed through Taman (chapter “Taman”). Some time later, after participating in a military expedition, Pechorin goes to Pyatigorsk and Kislovodsk, where his duel with Grushnitsky takes place (chapter “Princess Mary”). Subsequently, by order of his superiors, Pechorin arrives at the fortress beyond the Terek under the command of Maxim Maksimych (head of Bel). Apparently, Pechorin was sent to the “line” for a duel. The bet with Vulich (chapter “Fatalist”) takes place in the Cossack village, where Pechorin spent two weeks after leaving the fortress. After five years, Pechorin, retired and now idly traveling around the world, travels to Persia and in Vladikavkaz meets Maxim Maksimych (chapter “Maksim Maksimych”). Here the author of the novel had the opportunity to personally see the hero of his work. Returning from Persia to Russia, Pechorin dies (Preface to Pechorin's Journal).
It should also be noted that Lermontov’s novel is a complex fusion of elements from various genres. In “A Hero of Our Time” one can find the features of a novel describing morals, an adventure novel, a confessional novel, as well as features of a travel essay, a bivouac story, a secular story and a Caucasian short story. But let's return to the composition of the novel. Why did the author need such a bizarre game with time, when the events in the story do not follow each other the way they happened in real life? Time and its perception by the characters of the work in most cases are significant categories for understanding the author’s intention, the characters’ characters and their characteristics. life path. Lermontov's novel is no exception. On the one hand, the image of Pechorin embodied a number of typical features of the generation. Many situations described in the novel are also characteristic of a certain time, in particular the war in the Caucasus. But on the other hand, many of Pechorin’s deep experiences do not depend on the time in which this person lives. Boredom and thirst for activity, the desire to be loved, the thirst for power over others, admiration for the beauty of nature or the creation of a talented writer, impartial introspection - all this is timeless. And Lermontov sought not only to talk about the events that happened in Pechorin’s life, but also to show the features of his character, the movements of his soul, often invisible to others: “The history of the human soul, even the smallest soul, is almost more curious and useful than the history of an entire people ...".
First, Lermontov shows his hero from the outside the way we all see the people around us. Maxim Maksimych communicated with Pechorin for quite a long time, knows about many of his oddities, while treating him with friendly affection. But, despite his sincere goodwill towards Pechorin, Maxim Maksimych does not understand him very well. This is not surprising - there is a big difference in age and social status, and most importantly, in worldview. The image of Maxim Maksimych is quite typical for his time and environment. This is an honest, executive officer, warm-hearted, kind person, however, his range of interests is quite limited. In the eyes of Maxim Maksimych, Pechorin, a representative of secular society, adventurous and fickle in his hobbies, is a strange, mysterious person.
The complexity of the novel's composition was already evident in the first chapter of "Bela", which is built on the principle of a story within a story. This chapter-story plays the role of plotting: from it we learn about the main character of the novel. This is where it develops romantic story the love of an officer and the daughter of a Circassian prince, in which Pechorin’s character is clearly manifested: while there were obstacles on his way, his energy and ingenuity knew no rest, but as soon as Bela fell in love with him, he soon lost interest in her.
Maxim Maksimych narrates the external events of Pechorin’s life, which he witnessed; however, the staff captain does not understand the actions of his friend. Numerous questions that creep into the story “Bela” remain unanswered.
The author observed Pechorin for a much shorter time than Maxim Maksimych, and did not even communicate with him personally. However, Lermontov's view of his hero psychologically turns out to be deeper. The author not only knows a number of details of Pechorin’s life. He better than Maxim Maksimych represents secular society, in which the hero of the novel revolved, so it is easier for him to understand the reasons why Pechorin’s character was formed in this way and not otherwise. The story “Maksim Maksimych” not only makes it possible to look at the hero through the eyes of a person who does not know him personally, and therefore free from any likes or dislikes, but also explains how the author of the novel got hold of Pechorin’s diary. In addition, this story clearly demonstrates Pechorin’s indifferent attitude towards the people around him, which he, however, does not deny in his notes.
The chapter “Taman” is a kind of mini-novel inside great work, romantic story about robbers, imbued with the spirit of an ominous and attractive mystery. This chapter covers driving forces Pechorin's character is his thirst for activity, determination and courage, which force him to interfere in the lives of others simply out of curiosity.
The chapter “Princess Mary” is built on the principle diary entries— Pechorin indicated the date to which certain events and reflections related. In this chapter, significant space is given to the hero’s introspection. We not only become witnesses to events, but learn what prompted Pechorin to take certain actions, what he thinks on various issues, and even how he evaluates his own personality, his character, his purpose and the real state of affairs. The motive of Pechorin’s influence on those around him and on their destinies sounds even stronger. Close interaction with him forces people to reveal their true essence, but does not make anyone happier; on the contrary, it often becomes the cause of suffering.
The chapter “Fatalist” raises the problem of fate: is there predestination, can a person choose his own fate? Man’s opposition to fate, the motive of playing with fate and death have been repeatedly heard in literature. The theme of fate is undoubtedly not accidental in Lermontov's novel. Pechorin believes that he had a high purpose, but what is it? He never manages to find the answer to this question. At the end of the chapter "Fatalist" Pechorin returns to the fortress and tries to discuss the problem of predestination with Maxim
Maksimych, however, does not even understand the essence of the question. The narrative closes in a circle. The fortress to which Pechorin returns also appeared in the story “Bela”, with which the novel begins. The ring composition of the novel reflects the vicious circle of Pechorin’s search for the meaning of life.
At the same time, such a composition seems to make the hero immortal - the message about his death was lost somewhere in the middle of the novel, but after the long adventures narrated in Pechorin’s diary, the idea that this man had already died is relegated to the background .
