Ege old woman Izergil. An essay based on the story by M. Gorky “Old Woman Izergil”

The Legend of Danko

We pronounce this significant word - feat, and after it another word should appear in our consciousness - ascetic, because without one there is no other. What is a feat? What should the person doing it be like? We think about these questions when reading the legend of Danko from M. Gorky’s story “The Old Woman Izergil”

Legends have been known since ancient times. By creating them, people sought to vividly and figuratively tell about heroes and events, convey folk wisdom and dreams. Danko is that ascetic who bravely looked into the eyes of death not for personal gain, he performs a selfless act in the name of people.

The legend of Danko is the final part of M. Gorky’s story. It is preceded by the story of Larra and the story of the life of the old woman Izergil herself.

The writer seems to be preparing us, the readers, for the birth of the legend of Danko with the help of a romantic landscape, which gives the story a special mystery and enigma: “In place of the moon, only a cloudy opal spot remained, sometimes it was completely covered by a bluish patch of cloud. And in the distance of the steppe, now black and terrible, as if hidden, hiding something within itself, small blue lights flashed.”

The beginning of the legend is similar to a fairy tale: “In the old days, only people lived on earth; impassable forests surrounded the camps of these people on three sides, and on the fourth there was the steppe.” Motives of anxiety and fear creep into the narrative.

To show what a difficult situation people found themselves in, M. Gorky creates an ominous image of a dense forest through which fellow tribesmen are forced to make their way, running away from enemies: “... stone trees stood silent and motionless during the day in the gray twilight and moved even more densely around people in the evenings, when the fires were lit..."

The author paints an unusual romantic landscape using epithets, metaphors, and personifications. The wind hits the tops of the trees, the forest hums “dumbly”, the noise of the forest is compared to a “funeral song”. Against the background of a gloomy, terrible picture, a bright image of Danko appears. It is he who will be the savior, it is he who will lead people from the swamps and dead forest. The old woman Izergil, telling the story, characterizes the romantic hero this way: “Danko is one of those people, a handsome young man. Beautiful people are always brave.”

The tribesmen believe Danko and follow him: they “saw that he was the best of all, because a lot of strength and living fire shone in his eyes.” But people cannot follow him for long. Tired and exhausted, they begin to blame Danko for all the troubles and are ready to kill him. But he “loved people and thought that maybe they would die without him.”

A miracle was required to save people, and the hero performed this miracle! Thus comes the climax in the development of the action. Danko tears his heart out of his chest and uses it to illuminate the path for people. The hero's heart is depicted by M. Gorky using various means of expression. Gradation (“It burned as brightly as the sun, and brighter than the sun”) and repetitions (“blazed,” “bright,” “sun,” “illuminated”) add special emotionality. A kind of periphrasis - “the torch of great love for people” - symbolizes sacrificial love for neighbors, the nobility and courage of the hero.

Danko dies. Was his death in vain? No, the hero’s death is not in vain! He saves an entire tribe from death. And although people turned out to be ungrateful, Danko’s desire to sacrifice himself for the happiness of his people is already a feat. Not everyone is capable of a brave, selfless act. But the most important thing is to have such heroes in our lives - brave, kind, loving people.

Danko kept his word, he saved the people, but the tribe forgot about their savior, people “did not notice the death and did not see that the brave heart of the national hero was still burning. Only one cautious person noticed this and, fearing something, stepped on the proud heart with his foot.”

In the story, the author also emphasizes the pride of another hero, Larra, contrasting this image with the image of Danko. Larra, wanting to have everything, did not want to give anything, for which people came up with a terrible punishment for him - unlimited freedom. Larra denies the laws of society, its moral principles. He is strong, but his strength does not bring good to people, his unlimited freedom makes him an outcast, an exile. Danko is brave, free, it is about such people that, following M. Gorky, one can say: “A man – that sounds proud...”. Danko is immortal, his immortality is a reward for his feat in the name of people. Unlike Larra, who looks like a mighty beast who has not met people “face to face,” Danko immensely loves people, those who “were like beasts,” “like wolves.”

Danko’s philanthropy is contrasted with the image of the old woman Izergil herself. The heroine is selfish, indifferent and cruel: she easily forgets her old love for a new one, leaves the people she once loved, lives only for herself and is now doomed to loneliness. Despite this, it is the old woman Izergil who utters the key phrase: “In life, you know, there is always room for exploits.” And M. Gorky himself believes in this, depicting magnificent pictures of nature surrounding the heroes.

Danko’s image is interesting to us, modern people. Heroes who sacrifice themselves to save people certainly deserve respect. Danko’s feat is reminiscent of the feat of the mythical Prometheus, who stole fire for people and himself suffered a terrible punishment for this.

What should a real person be like? Are the people around us always worthy of help and support? Do they need noble, courageous saviors? The legend I read about Danko and the whole story in general makes me think about these and other questions about the essence of Man, about his purpose in this world.

Option No. 18337

When completing tasks with a short answer, enter in the answer field the number that corresponds to the number of the correct answer, or a number, a word, a sequence of letters (words) or numbers. The answer should be written without spaces or any additional characters. The answer to tasks 1-7 is a word, or a phrase, or a sequence of numbers. Write your answers without spaces, commas, or other additional characters. For tasks 8-9, give a coherent answer in 5-10 sentences. When completing task 9, select two works by different authors for comparison (in one of the examples, it is permissible to refer to the work of the author who owns the source text); indicate the titles of the works and the names of the authors; justify your choice and compare the works with the proposed text in a given direction of analysis.

Performing tasks 10-14 is a word, or phrase, or sequence of numbers. When completing task 15-16, rely on the author’s position and, if necessary, express your point of view. Justify your answer based on the text of the work. When completing task 16, select two works by different authors for comparison (in one of the examples, it is permissible to refer to the work of the author who owns the source text); indicate the titles of the works and the names of the authors; justify your choice and compare the works with the proposed text in a given direction of analysis.

For task 17, give a detailed, reasoned answer in the genre of an essay of at least 200 words (an essay of less than 150 words is scored zero points). Analyze a literary work based on the author’s position, using the necessary theoretical and literary concepts. When giving an answer, follow the norms of speech.

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In M. Gorky’s story “Old Woman Izergil”, indifference and responsiveness are contrasted. Indifference to people is expressed in the image of the eagle's son Larra - a proud, self-centered young man who wants to remain completely free from people and responsibilities to them. Responsiveness is expressed in the image of Danko - he is a courageous, strong, responsible hero who decided to lead people out of the forests and swamps and show them the way. Therefore, this work is ideally suited to become literary material for arguments for the final essay.

1. Indifference never leads a person to happiness. For example, Larra, the son of an eagle, despises human laws and is indifferent to human feelings, which he does not experience. He does not respect anyone, kills a girl in front of people from her tribe, without fully realizing that he is acting cruelly: he hears only himself and his desires. But for this he is doomed to eternal suffering from loneliness. He was expelled from the tribe, and God “rewarded” the hero with eternal life so that he would know the abyss of despair for his pride. So, the unfortunate character became a wanderer, in whose eyes there was forever a longing that neither time nor space could satisfy.
2. Unfortunately, people do not always understand and appreciate responsiveness. For example, the noble Danko sacrifices himself to the interests of the tribe, and his people remain indifferent to the feat and do not realize his role in their salvation. Without the brave young man, they would never have gotten out. Even while on the way to the goal, the tribesmen began to condemn and reproach the leader for not knowing where he was leading them. Then, in a fit of philanthropy, he tore the flaming heart out of his chest and, illuminating the way with it, led the crowd to freedom, and he himself died. And someone even trampled on his heart - in this act, Gorky exposed the black ingratitude of society for its responsive attitude towards itself.
3. In the legend of Larra, people are more responsive than in the legend of Danko. They are trying to talk to the killer, understand him, explain to him the rules of life in human society. But the hero is their antagonist, he is callous, indifferent and does not want to delve into the essence of people. He considers them weak and limited: where is their freedom compared to his permissiveness? However, it is precisely this “limitedness” that elevates the tribe above the son of the eagle. The characters do not dare to take the life of a criminal; they did not dare to encroach on this sacred right, even though Larra gave rise to cruel punishment. The community simply sent him into exile, and a wiser solution in this case cannot be imagined. If people are ruled by responsiveness, harmony and wisdom come to them, but indifference promises only destruction and cruelty.
4. An individual's ability to be responsive is not influenced by society. For example, in the image of Larra and Danko two opposite sides of human nature are expressed: indifference and responsiveness. In the first legend, the images of people to a certain extent contain the traits of the responsive Danko, and in the third legend - the traits of the indifferent Larra. The images of the secondary characters contrast with the main characters of both legends. This is how the author shows the reader that every person simultaneously contains the qualities of Larra and Danko, and they will manifest themselves regardless of how the environment treats the individual.
5. Indifference leads a person to loneliness. For example, the old woman Izergil from Gorky’s story of the same name indulged in frivolous hobbies all her life, not sparing the feelings of her gentlemen. She often broke hearts and only amused herself in this process. But her beauty and strength were wasted, because they were not enough for true love. The man whom she saved from captivity, at the risk of death, could only love her out of gratitude, but out of pride she did not accept the handout. As a result, the “fatal beauty” lived out a lonely old age, because youth and success and men had abandoned her. This is what her indifference to other people's feelings led to. Now no one cared about her.
6. True responsiveness is philanthropy. For example, Danko sacrifices himself for the sake of the people, and only an all-consuming love for people could allow him to forgive the reproaches and laughter of a distant tribe. He, despite the ungrateful behavior of his fellow tribesmen and the lack of support, walked towards the goal and led the crowd. Anyone in his place would have given up seeing such treatment. However, the hero had an unshakable support for his responsiveness - love, which once forced Christ to ascend to Golgotha.
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Part 1.

Read the fragment of the work below and complete tasks 1–7; 8, 9.

“Old Woman Izergil” A.M. Bitter

I heard these stories near Akkerman, in Bessarabia, on the seashore.

One evening, having finished the day's grape harvest, the party of Moldovans with whom I worked went to the seashore, and I and the old woman Izergil remained under the thick shadow of the vines and, lying on the ground, were silent, watching how the silhouettes of those people who went to the sea.

They walked, sang and laughed; men - bronze, with lush, black mustaches and thick shoulder-length curls, in short jackets and wide trousers; women and girls are cheerful, flexible, with dark blue eyes, also bronze. Their hair, silky and black, was loose, the wind, warm and light, played with it, clanking the coins woven into it. The wind flowed in a wide, even wave, but sometimes it seemed to jump over something invisible and, giving rise to a strong gust, blew the women’s hair into fantastic manes that billowed around their heads. This made women strange and fabulous. They moved further and further from us, and night and fantasy dressed them more and more beautifully.

Someone was playing the violin... the girl sang in a soft contralto voice, you could hear laughter...

The air was saturated with the pungent smell of the sea and the rich fumes of the earth, which had been heavily moistened by rain shortly before evening. Even now, fragments of clouds wandered across the sky, lush, of strange shapes and colors, here - soft, like puffs of smoke, gray and ash-blue, there - sharp, like fragments of rocks, matte black or brown. Between them, dark blue patches of sky, decorated with golden specks of stars, sparkled tenderly. All this - sounds and smells, clouds and people - was strangely beautiful and sad, it seemed like the beginning of a wonderful fairy tale. And everything seemed to stop growing, dying; the noise of voices died away, receding, and degenerated into sad sighs.

Why didn't you go with them? - Old woman Izergil asked, nodding her head.

Time bent her in half, her once black eyes were dull and watery. Her dry voice sounded strange, it crunched, as if the old woman was speaking with bones.

“I don’t want to,” I answered her.

Uh!., you Russians will be born old. Everyone is gloomy, like demons... Our girls are afraid of you... But you are young and strong...

The moon has risen. Her disk was large, blood-red, she seemed to have emerged from the depths of this steppe, which in its lifetime had absorbed so much human flesh and drank blood, which is probably why it became so fat and generous. Lace shadows from the leaves fell on us, and the old woman and I were covered with them like a net. Over the steppe, to our left, the shadows of clouds, saturated with the blue radiance of the moon, floated, they became more transparent and lighter.

When completing tasks 1-7, the answer must be given in the form of a word or combination of words. Write words without spaces, punctuation marks or quotation marks.

1

Determine the genre of the work.

2

What term is used to describe the description of nature: “The air was saturated with the pungent smell of the sea and the fatty fumes of the earth, which shortly before evening had been heavily moistened by rain. Even now, fragments of clouds were wandering across the sky, lush, of strange shapes and colors, here - soft, like puffs of smoke, gray and ash-blue, there - sharp, like fragments of rocks, matte black or brown?

3

The world of exotic southern nature immerses the reader in an atmosphere of mystery, mystery, and unusualness. What type of artistic thinking is characterized by such aesthetic attitudes?

4

Establish a correspondence between the heroes of the work and the dominant qualities of their personality: for each position in the first column, select the corresponding position from the second column.

For each position in the first column, select the corresponding position from the second column.

Write your answer in numbers without spaces or other symbols

5

Indicate the artistic device with which the author endows natural phenomena with human properties and qualities (“...she seemed to have emerged from the depths of this steppe, which in its lifetime had absorbed so much human flesh and drank blood, which is probably why it became so fat and generous ").

6

What means of artistic representation is used in this fragment: “Everyone is gloomy, like demons...”?

7

One of the means of characterizing the characters is to depict their appearance: “the men are bronze, with a lush, black mustache and thick shoulder-length curls, in short jackets and wide trousers; women and girls are cheerful, flexible, with dark blue eyes, also bronze. Their hair, silky and black, was loose, the wind, warm and light, played with it, rattling the coins woven into it.” What is this description called?

Increased difficulty level

Part 2.

Read the work below and complete tasks 10–14; 15, 16.

“Whisper, timid breathing...” A.A. Fet

Whisper, timid breathing.

The trill of a nightingale,

Silver and sway

Sleepy stream,

Night light, night shadows,

Endless shadows

A series of magical changes

Sweet face

There are purple roses in the smoky clouds,

Amber reflection

And kisses and tears,

And dawn, dawn!..

The answer to tasks 10–14 is a word or phrase, or a sequence of numbers. Enter your answers without spaces, commas or other additional characters.

10

What term is used to designate in literary criticism the most weakened narrative beginning of A. A. Fet’s lyrics, when the predominant nouns in the text name the vivid visual and auditory impressions of the hero and convey his tense and jubilant state?

11

Name the line number in which the pick-up appears - the repetition of a word, sentence, poetic line at the beginning of the corresponding segment of speech that follows it.

12

Indicate the name of the stylistic phenomenon characteristic of the artistic style of A. A. Fet and characterized by a special approach to depicting a feeling, conveying it in color and light expression, and reproducing the “impression” of an object.

13

From the list below, select three names of artistic means and techniques used by the poet in the last four lines of this poem. Write down the numbers under which they are indicated.

2) gradation

3) epiphora

4) metaphor

14

Determine the rhyming method.

When thinking about a question on a given topic, use reference materials and the conceptual apparatus of literary criticism. Imagine the term that you will use to characterize the concept of “landscape”.

Analyze the fragment offered to you from the point of view of its typological features. Show that the landscape is in harmony with the unusual, fantastic tone of the legend. Note that pictures of nature are created on the basis of contrast (the sublime in them prevails over the ordinary, the poetic over the prosaic, etc.). Emphasize that nature - bright, exotic, unusual, full of elemental power - acts as a mysterious, spiritual being. Make sure that the landscape is largely conditional, generalized, and that the miraculous and fantastic are actualized in it. Show that the lines, shapes, and colors in the created picture of nature create an expressive emotional background.

Conclude that this is a romantic landscape. Means of artistic expression (metaphors, comparisons, epithets, animation of natural elements, etc.) serve as a means of creating a landscape with a frankly expressed evaluative attitude of the writer towards it.

When forming a concept of judgment on the proposed topic, show that the literary origins of the image of hydronyms are rooted in ancient Russian literature.

Remember that rivers in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” appear as real-geographical and conditionally mythological spaces. Note that the water element is part of the landscape in “The Bronze Horseman” by A. S. Pushkin. Show that the end of the first love date between Gurov and Anna Sergeevna is a trip to Oreanda, where the heroes contemplate the beautiful seascape (“The Lady with the Dog” by A.P. Chekhov). Remember L.N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” and be convinced of the high functional significance of the water bodies depicted in this work (crossing the Enns, crossing the Neman). Give other examples.

Summarizing your observations, note that the inclusion of water bodies in the landscape allows the writer to show that man is organically integrated into the natural world, he is subject to both the everyday cycle and the eternal world movement. The water landscape becomes a means of symbolizing space and time and reflects the processes taking place in the character’s soul.

When starting the task, clarify the meaning of the term “emotion”. To do this, refer to the reference literature and show that “emotion” is defined using the words “feeling and experience”: “mental experience, excitement”, “strong emotional feeling, experience”. Show that feelings can have a positive and negative emotional tone (joy - sadness), a special group is formed by higher feelings - moral, aesthetic, intellectual. Emphasize that the lyrics of A. A. Fet are, first of all, lyrics of love and nature, therefore the names of emotions are most often used to describe the inner world of man and the natural world, which are closely related to each other.

Note that the emotional background of the poem “Whisper, timid breathing...” is created by a combination of positive emotions, feelings and moods. Analyze the text and make sure that the basic emotion in it is love. Show the complex structure of the emotional background. Remember that in the lyrics of A. A. Fet, the feeling of love has physiological manifestations. Imagine the gradation of emotions, characterize their physiological manifestations (whispers, kisses, tears). Note the emotional significance, all-inclusiveness (“And dawn, dawn!..”).

Complete your observations with a conclusion about the high aesthetic significance of the emotional background created in the poem.

In order to successfully construct a coherent statement on a given topic, use the conceptual apparatus of literary criticism. Remember the current opinion in science that A. A. Fet is one of the first impressionists in Russian poetry.

Describe the originality of the impressionistic vision of the world (a special state of consciousness, an intuitive reaction to the world around us, the priority of sensations, the ability to convey transitional states of nature and shades of mental movements, the ability to record fleeting impressions, etc.).

Next, note that such a vision of the world (exacerbated psychologism, intuitiveness, associativity, metaphor, suggestiveness, musicality, etc.) is characteristic not only of the work of A. A. Fet. A deeply individual impressionistic vision of the world is characteristic of the poets K.D. Balmont, I.F. Annensky, A. A. Blok, A. Bely, V. Ya. Bryusov.

Note that in prose, A. P. Chekhov, I. A. Bunin, B. K. Zaitsev and others gravitated toward impressionism.

Summarizing your observations, draw a conclusion about the commonality of the aesthetic principles of A. A. Fet and the listed writers.

Before you begin to formulate the concept of the essay, remember that the opposition “man and world” is the main one in the lyrics of M. Yu. Lermontov, and loneliness is a constant feature of the lyrical hero.

Analyze the poem “How often, surrounded by a motley crowd...”. Show that the poet’s relationship with the world is revealed in him through the hero’s internal conflict with society. Note that resolution of this conflict is possible either in the form of a saving escape into the area of ​​memories, dreams, “holy sounds,” or through an appeal to poetic creativity, to “iron verse.” Name the main semantic and spatial centers of the work (images of a masquerade and a house). Emphasize the relationship between the satirical and elegiac principles, which correspond to different facets of the lyrical hero’s appearance.

Show the ideological and artistic originality of the poem “Duma”. Make sure that the basis of this work is the image of the image of the time and the hero of the time. Note that the drama of the existence of modern man in the world is manifested in the discrepancy between words and deeds, in the combination of the “burden of knowledge” with inaction.

Observe what content the theme “man - world” receives in the poem “Clouds”. Show that it outlines two possible ways for a person to “stay” in the world: wandering and exile. They assume two models of personal behavior of a person: a conscious break with the world, leaving as an opportunity to gain a higher “I” or organic involvement in the life of the country, nature, and other people from whom a person is forcibly torn away.

Refer to the content of the poem “I go out alone on the road...”, the lyrical hero of which feels restless and homeless in the world. Describe the specifics of another path - “departure” into oblivion, in which the lyrical hero would like to preserve the unique originality of his own personality, his ideals.

In conclusion, note that the disharmony in the relationship between man and the world in the lyrics of M. Yu. Lermontov is due to the peculiarities of the artist’s worldview and the specifics of the era in which the poet happened to live.

When starting to answer the question, remember the author’s assessment given in a letter to O. L. Knipper-Chekhova: “This is the best role...” Show why a character that is episodic in its place in the list of characters acquires extraordinary importance for the author. Identify how the stage significance of this image is emphasized. Please note that each of Charlotte’s few appearances is accompanied by a detailed commentary (appearance, actions, etc.), all her remarks and actions seem unexpected and not motivated by the external logic of a particular situation, etc. Make an intermediate conclusion about the focus of the author's attention on this character.

Next, explain how the effect of semantic and artistic mystery of Charlotte’s image is created. Note that this character is characterized by an absolute “blurring” of individual signs: unknown age (“I don’t have a real passport, I don’t know how old I am, and it still seems to me that I’m young”); unknown nationality (“And when my father and mother died, a German lady took me in and began to teach me”); nothing is known about the origin and family tree (“Who are my parents, maybe they didn’t get married... I don’t know”).

Consider another detail of the artistic concept of the character: Charlotte’s clothes contain masculine and feminine attributes (“in a white dress” - “in an old cap... she took the gun off her shoulders and adjusted her belt buckle”), and her name combines European and Russian components (Charlotte Ivanovna).

Establish that Charlotte’s profession turns out to be random and unnecessary, loneliness among other people reaches the extreme (“I really want to talk, but there’s no one to talk to... I don’t have anyone”). Absolute freedom from the conventions imposed on a person by society subordinates behavior only to one’s own internal impulses.

Summarizing your observations, agree with the opinion of the researcher. By creating the effect of “mystery,” the author concentrates the reader’s and viewer’s attention on the image of Charlotte and initiates the reader’s desire to comprehend the essence of this image, thereby involving both the reader and viewer in the process of “co-creation.”

When thinking over the concept of the essay, remember in which works by V. P. Astafiev beautiful female images were created that embody the maternal principle (“Last Bow”, “Tsar Fish”, “Shepherd and Shepherdess”, “Starfall”, “Ode to the Russian Vegetable Garden” and etc.).

Imagine the “grandmother” type and show its ideological and aesthetic significance. To do this, analyze the image of Katerina Petrovna (“Last Bow”, “Ode to the Russian Garden”). Show its connection with folklore tradition, its inseparability from the natural world and its place in the folk world (in the village they respectfully called her “general”, she is the “matriarch”, “mother” of the village). Grandmother Katerina Petrovna replaced the orphan boy's mother, gave him shelter, food and her love. Explain why the writer most often depicts her spinning or praying (connection with higher pagan and Christian forces in their complex interpenetration).

Note that this type of “grandmother” with its characteristic functions of nurse, healer, and mentor is reflected in other heroines: in Afimya Mozglyachikha, “the sorceress and mother of all the local people, both in age and in disposition,” in the nameless wife of the captain Paramon Paramonovich, from whom Akim adopts the art of healing with herbs (“Tsar Fish”), in grandmother Sekletinya from a remote Old Believer village (“Cursed and Killed”).

Next, show what a significant place the image of the mother occupies in the work of V.P. Astafiev. Note that the image of Lydia Ilyinichna (“Ode to a Russian Vegetable Garden”) is endowed with a special “disembodiment” (the autobiographical hero does not remember his mother, she appears only in dreams, daydreams, memories, and this gives rise to a special, nostalgic and sad tone). Explain that the leading features of this image (hard work, caring for children - one’s own and others’, compassion) formed the basis for a number of other heroines - “peasant workers” (her sisters and daughters-in-law from the Potylitsyn family, grandmother Maria from Sisima, righteous Parunya, sister Akima Kasyanka). Show what else unites these women (a difficult fate, full of losses and deprivations). Describe the female type, which combines maternal wisdom and innocence, the openness of “childhood” (Lida from the story “Starfall”, Lucy from “The Shepherd and the Shepherdess”).

Show the meaning of the image of Akim’s mischievous, naive and cheerful mother, who “was and remains a teenage girl in mind and heart” (“King Fish”). Note that it embodies the very element of motherhood: the heroine lives in harmony with nature, should the call and the eternal law of the continuation of life. Remember that the author likens her, feeding a child, to a tree that gives sap and life to a small sprout.

In conclusion, agree with the researcher’s opinion that the heroines of V.P. Astafiev are the embodiment of sacrifice, compassion, and guardians of life on earth.