Zakhar is one of minor characters in the novel by I. A. Goncharov, Oblomov's devoted servant. This is a man advanced years in a gray frock coat with a bald head and brown sideburns. By nature, Zakhar is quite lazy and sloppy. He can serve the owner food in dirty dishes and even pick up food that has fallen on the floor and serve it on the table. He treats everything philosophically, saying that whatever is done pleases God.
However, Zakhar's external laxity is deceptive. In fact, he takes care of his master's things and idolizes his master. Despite Tarantiev’s assertiveness, he does not give him Ilya Ilyich’s things, because he is sure that he may not return them. Zakhar belongs to the servants of the old school. He was always faithful to the Oblomov family and will be until the end. He considers his master the best and special person. Even after marrying the cook Anisya, he does everything for the master himself, trying not to let her near him, as he considers it his sacred duty. At times the author reveals another side of Zakhar. For example, he loves and can pocket the change given at the store. He is not averse to drinking with friends and gossiping about his master's life with other servants.
With the death of Oblomov, Zakhar’s life loses all meaning. He leaves Pshenitsyna’s house and begs. When Stolz offers to serve him, Zakhar refuses, saying that he cannot leave his master’s grave unattended.
Zakhar, Oblomov's servant, is necessary with him as a figure that complements the picture. He was assigned as a nanny to a young master after the latter turned fourteen years old, and since then they have lived together. They got used to each other, got used to it. Zakhara combined some positive traits servants of old times with negative traits. He is peculiarly devoted to his master, like all the old-time servants, but at the same time he constantly lies to him; In contrast to the old servants, who tried their best to preserve the master's property, he does not miss an opportunity not to use the master's money.
He is dirty, loves to scold the master and scold him not only in private, but also in front of strangers - he constantly complains about his hard life from Oblomov, on the latter’s bad temper, on his stinginess, stinginess, etc. He does all this more out of habit than out of malice towards the master. One must think that he even loves Oblomov in his own way - his tears when remembering the latter speak eloquently about this.
N. Dyunkin, A. Novikov
Sources:
- We are writing essays based on the novel “Oblomov” by I. A. Goncharov. - M.: Gramotey, 2005.
Updated: 2012-02-10
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OBLOMOV
(Novel. 1859)
Zakhar- servant of Ilya Ilyich Oblomov. Goncharov dedicated a special essay to this type, entitled “Servants of the Old Century,” in which he recalls well-known representatives of this class, people of the old school, who had difficulty getting used to new living conditions. 3.’s literary pedigree comes from Pushkin’s Savelich (“ Captain's daughter"). Despite all the differences in the characters of the first, corrupted by life in St. Petersburg and the pathological laziness of his master, and the second, the eternal uncle, for whom the pet remains a small, unreasonable child almost for the rest of his life, they are brought together by their obsessive loyalty not only to their master, but to everything about him. family
3. - “an elderly man, in a gray frock coat, with a hole under the arm... in a gray vest, with copper buttons, with a skull as bare as a knee and with immensely wide and thick gray-blond sideburns, of which each would be three beards... The Oblomov house was once rich and famous in its own right, but then, God knows why, it grew poorer, smaller, and finally, imperceptibly lost among the older noble houses. Only the gray-haired servants of the house kept and passed on to each other the faithful memory of the past, cherishing it as if it were a shrine.”
Portrait 3., depicting a funny and absurd appearance, is complemented by a special voice: the hero does not speak, but grumbles like a dog, or wheezes. The voice given by God, according to Z., “he lost while hunting with dogs, when he was riding with an old master and when it seemed like a strong wind blew into his throat.”
Complete indifference to litter, dust, and dirt distinguishes this servant from other servant characters Russian literature. 3. in this regard, I have drawn up my own philosophy, which does not allow me to fight either dirt, cockroaches and bedbugs, since they were invented by the Lord himself. When Oblomov gives his servant the example of the tuner’s family living opposite, Z. gives the following arguments in response, in which extraordinary observation is visible: “Where will the Germans take the rubbish? Look how they live! The whole family has been gnawing on the bone for a week. The coat passes from the father's shoulders to the son, and from the son again to the father. My wife and daughters are wearing short dresses: everyone tucks their legs under them like geese... Where can they get dirty laundry? They don’t have it like we do, so that in their closets there’s a bunch of old, worn-out clothes lying around over the years, or a whole corner of bread crusts accumulated over the winter... They don’t even have a crust lying around in vain: they’ll make some crackers and drink it with beer.”
Despite external looseness, 3., however, is quite collected. The eternal habit of servants of the old century does not allow him to squander the master's goods - when Oblomov's fellow countryman, the swindler Tarantyev, asks Ilya Ilyich to give him a tailcoat for a while, 3. immediately refuses: until the shirt and vest are returned, Tarantyev will not receive anything else. And Oblomov is lost in front of his firmness.
Z.’s loyalty to his master and all the long-forgotten foundations of his native Oblomovka is embodied most clearly in the episode when Oblomov instructs his servant in the usual and most effective way - resorting to “pathetic words” and calling Z. “a poisonous man.” In a moment of irritation, Z. allowed himself to compare Oblomov with others who easily move from apartment to apartment and go abroad. This inspires Ilya Ilyich to make a formidable and proud rebuke about the impossibility of comparing him, Oblomov, with anyone else. And this bothers him more than swearing: he himself feels that he has crossed some forbidden boundary, likening his master to other people.
3. is not without its shortcomings. Goncharov defines his character as “a knight with fear and reproach” who “belonged to two eras, and both left their mark on him. From one he inherited boundless devotion to the Oblomov family, and from the other, later, sophistication and depravity of morals.” 3. loves to drink with friends, gossip in the yard with other servants, sometimes embellishing his master, sometimes presenting him as what Oblomov never was. 3. On occasion, he can pocket some money - not large, copper ones, but he certainly keeps the change from his purchases. Everything that 3. touches breaks, breaks - by the beginning of the story in Oblomov’s house there are already very few intact things, be it a chair or a cup. 3. Serves the food to the master, as a rule, dropping either the bun or the fork...
And another feature characteristic of the mixture of two eras, which Goncharov pointed out: “Zakhar would have died instead of the master, considering it his inevitable and natural duty, and not even considering it anything, but would simply rush to his death, just like a dog, who, when meeting a beast in the forest, rushes at him, without reasoning why she should rush, and not her master. But if it were necessary, for example, to sit all night next to the master’s bed, without closing his eyes, and the master’s health or even the life depended on it, 3. would certainly fall asleep.”
Over the years, the indissoluble connection between Ilya Ilyich and Z. emerges more and more clearly - as the last two representatives of Oblomovka, which is only a wonderful dream, they each in their own way sacredly keep in their souls those “legends of deep antiquity” that shaped their lives, characters and relationships. Even when Z. unexpectedly marries the cook Anisya in the middle of the novel, who is much more dexterous, skillful and clean, he tries, if possible, to prevent her from seeing Ilya Ilyich, doing the usual work himself, without which he cannot imagine life.
His life really ends with the death of Ilya Ilyich, turning into an unnecessary and bitter vegetation. After Oblomov’s death, Z.’s wife Anisya soon died, and housewife Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna, who became the wife of Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, could not keep Z. in the house with her stern “brother.” The only way Pshenitsyna Z. can help is to give him some warm clothes for the winter and occasionally feed him. In the final episode, Oblomov's friend Andrei Stolts meets Z., a beggar, almost blind, an old man begging for alms, near the church on Vyborg side. But the offer to go to the village, where Stolz will take care of him, does not tempt Z.: he does not want to leave Ilya Ilyich’s grave unattended, near which, when he comes to remember his master, he only finds peace.
Roman Goncharov "Oblomov" decorated the Russian classical literature mid-19th century. His name central character- Ilya Ilyich Oblomov - has become a household name.
However, on the pages of the novel, along with the main character, live bright “types of the human sea of Russia” early XIX century. A special role in the plot of the book is played by the peculiar tandem of the servant and the master “Zakhar” - the relationship between these characters seemed so important to Goncharov that he wrote a separate essay. The writer called people like Zakhar “servants of the old century.” This type is characteristic of the noble environment and leads its literary ancestry from Savelyevich from Pushkin's "The Captain's Daughter".
Appearance of the servant Zakhar
What Zakhar looks like in the novel is a gangly, unkempt, bald, elderly, but still strong man with disproportionately large gray sideburns. He, possessing natural common sense, is an “eternal uncle” for his master, whom, despite his age, he perceives as a “little child.” Zakhar's voice is characteristic - hoarse, barking. As he himself explains the reason for what happened while hunting with the old master: “The wind got into his throat.”
From Ilya Ilyich Oblomov he adopted all-conquering laziness. The servant is dressed tastelessly, but not in a rural way: in a gray frock coat, a gray vest with copper buttons.
The servant watches out for the interests of the master
Zakhar has his unwritten rights. Using them, he intervenes in the master’s conversation with the guests when he realizes that another rogue is trying to deceive him, putting the scoundrel (for example, Tarantiev) in his place. He often listens to what Zakhar says; this servant, despite all his obvious shortcomings, can be expressed in one word - “devotion.”
For him, the owner is second only to God. This loyalty of servants of the old school is worth a lot. For him, comparing his master “with others” seems like real sacrilege. One day, out of frustration, such words come out of his mouth, but he himself stops his “forbidden” speech, which, as he understands, violates the principles of service. This happened after Zakhar and Oblomov provocatively said that he was a “poisonous person.”
The characterization of the servant given by Goncharov, at the same time, despite his obvious sympathy, reveals his human shortcomings.
Disadvantages of Zakhara
He is characterized by the traditional shortcomings of the master's servants. Zakhar found an outlet for his soul in drunkenness. He loves, while the master is sleeping after dinner, to go to a tavern and get drunk in the company of his drinking buddies. At the same time, the servant either praises his master, attributing heroic qualities to him, or boasts of his influence on him. Moreover, with all this, he does not consider it shameful to keep his owner’s copper money “for drinks”, although in the grand scheme of things Zakhar, of course, does not steal. It is characteristic that Oblomov himself is not aware of this hobby. The image of Zakhar, a lazy servant to the same extent as his master, was undoubtedly a creative discovery of the author of the novel.
However, let's return to his characteristics. Another disadvantage of this original servant is one amazing quality, which people call figuratively “having two left hands”: everything he puts his hand to breaks, breaks, fails.
Zakhar is the keeper of Oblomovka traditions
Of course, he appreciates how devoted Zakhar and Oblomov are to him. The characteristics of this no longer social person touches the master and his servant. She, having originated in patriarchal Oblomovka, where Ilya Ilyich at first was a nimble, inquisitive boy, and Zakhar was a curly-haired, merry fellow, connected them even after the death of the master. In an instant after Oblomov’s death, his servant’s world collapsed. Unable to imagine his way of life without his master and impoverished Zakhar, earning pennies to live on the porch, does not even think of returning to the more well-fed Oblomovka, where his relatives live. Further, he sees for himself only a single mission - to look after the grave of Ilya Oblomov.
It is also characteristic that during the life of the landowner, having married the cook Anisya, Zakhar continues to serve the master only himself. And this despite his slowness: while serving food, he drops cutlery and bread. In the house, due to his awkwardness, all the plates and cups are chipped, even the chairs are damaged. Anisya, of course, would have set the table more quickly. However, the devoted servant does not let her in, because this is “his master.”
Devotion to the master, taken to the highest limits
The author, with tenderness and irony, tells us what he, Zakhar, is like in the novel “Oblomov”. If, say, he had to give his life for Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, his master, then he would not hesitate for a moment. He would rush at the enemy, like a dog rushes at the beast, protecting the hunter. However, where it was necessary to show patience and perseverance, for example, when caring for a sick master all night, Zakhar would not have been able to heal in this way, but simply fell asleep.
Zakhar's role in the novel "Oblomov" comes down to the fact that he, as it were, brings the atmosphere of Oblomovka into the life of his master, being the bearer of its foundations. It is characterized by the spirit of a lordly estate, imbued with laziness and idleness: complete indifference to the disorder around, an unwillingness to take care of things, save money and repair what is broken. In addition, he does not have a desire for efficient housekeeping. His daily routine includes sleeping until noon. Then - the usual bickering with the master. This is not even an argument, but a kind of daily ritual. Oblomov talks about deeds, but what is said is never implemented. Then Zakhar joins his master’s speeches and makes his verdict. He says that everyone and they are not some kind of Germans to deal with this nonsense.
Zakhar is indifferent to the fact that his master’s sofa has become a bedroom, a kitchen, and a study. After all, it is while lying on it that Oblomov receives guests. Moreover, living in a three-room rented apartment in St. Petersburg, neither the gentleman nor the owner uses two rooms at all. They are indifferent to the mice and cockroaches that breed around them. The main thing for them is to get a good night's sleep, then have a hearty lunch, and then fall back into a drowsy state. This is the essence of their life, transferred from Oblomovka. Zakhar's role in the novel "Oblomov" is to maintain this atmosphere dear to his heart. Therefore, the landowner himself is comfortable and comfortable with his old and devoted servant. However, such ardent devotion of Zakhar has a negative impact on Oblomov himself. A landowner who owns three hundred souls does not consider it necessary to work, relying in everything on the labor of his serfs.
Conclusion
Subject extra person in Russian society is by no means new. It was raised in “Eugene Onegin” by the great Pushkin, and talentedly continued in “Hero of Our Time” by Lermontov.
In the first case, the aristocrat turned out to be superfluous, in the second - the serving nobleman. The fact that the owner-landowner may be superfluous on his own land was first said in the novel “Oblomov” by Goncharov.
Zakhar as an image in this work fulfills an important mission. On the one hand, it can figuratively be called a reflection of its owner (the same laziness and lack of initiative). On the other hand, Zakhar, who accompanied Oblomov throughout his life, with his blind adoration contributed to the deformation of his master’s personality, turning him into a complete lazy person and a slacker.
