Savely quotes. Who can live well in Rus'? Analysis by Saveliy

Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” plunges us into the world of peasant life in Russia. Nekrasov’s work on this work occurred after the peasant reform of one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one. This can be seen from the first lines of the “Prologue”, where the wanderers are called “temporarily obliged” - this is the name given to the peasants who emerged from serfdom after the reform.

In the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” we see diverse images of Russian peasants, learn about their views on life, find out what kind of life they live and what problems exist in the life of the Russian people. Nekrasov's depiction of the peasantry is closely connected with the problem of searching for a happy man - the purpose of the journey of seven men across Rus'. This journey allows us to get acquainted with all the unsightly sides of Russian life.

Savely is rightfully considered one of the main images of the poem, with whom the reader becomes acquainted in the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World.” Saveliy's life story is very difficult, like that of all peasants of the post-reform era. But this hero is distinguished by a special freedom-loving spirit, inflexibility in the face of the hardships of peasant life. He bravely endures all the bullying of the master, who wants to force his subjects to pay him tribute by flogging. But all patience comes to an end.

This is what happened with Savely, who, unable to bear the tricks of the German Vogel, seems to accidentally push him towards a hole dug by the peasants. Savely, of course, is serving his sentence: twenty years of hard labor and twenty years of settlements. But do not break him - the hero of the Holy Russian: “branded, but not a slave”! He returns home to his son's family. The author draws Savely in the traditions of Russian folklore:

With a huge gray mane,
Tea, twenty years without a haircut,
With a huge beard
Grandfather looked like a bear...

The old man lives separately from his relatives, because he sees that he is needed in the family, while he gave money... He only treats Matryona Timofeevna with love. But the hero’s soul opened up and blossomed when his daughter-in-law Matryona brought him his grandson Dyomushka.

Savely began to look at the world completely differently, he thawed at the sight of the boy, and with all his heart he became attached to the child. But even here, evil fate trips him up. Star Saveliy - fell asleep while babysitting Dyoma. The boy was torn to death by hungry pigs... Savely's soul is torn from pain! He takes the blame upon himself and repents of everything to Matryona Timofeevna, telling her about how much he loved the boy.

Savely will spend the rest of his long hundred-seven-year life atonement for his sin in monasteries. Thus, Nekrasov shows in the image of Savely a deep commitment to faith in God, combined with a huge reserve of patience of the Russian people. Matryona forgives his grandfather and understands how Savely’s soul is tormented. And this forgiveness also has a deep meaning, revealing the character of the Russian peasant.

Here is another image of a Russian peasant, about whom the author says: “lucky too.” Savely appears in the poem as a folk philosopher; he reflects on whether the people should endure a powerless and oppressed state. Savely combines kindness, simplicity, sympathy for the oppressed and hatred for the oppressors of the peasants.

ON THE. Nekrasov in the image of Savely showed a people gradually beginning to realize their rights and a force to be reckoned with.

The secret of the nickname of Savely, the Holy Russian hero

The reader learns about Savelia, the grandfather of Matryona’s husband, from her story. The image of Savely combines two heroic types of the Russian people. On the one hand, he is a hero - a man of extraordinary strength, a defender of his land and his people, although not a warrior: “And his life is not a military one, and death in battle is not written for him - but a hero!”

On the other hand, Savely is a hero of Holy Rus', of Christian heritage, a believer, a martyr. He has many signs of holiness: he endured bodily torture, has a mutilation, committed more than one mortal sin (by killing the manager and becoming the involuntary cause of the death of Dyomushka), before his death he prophesies, promising men three roads (tavern, prison and hard labor), and women three nooses (white, red and black silk). Savely is taught to read and write, prays a lot and reads the calendar.

Holy Rus' for the Orthodox is that strong country of the times of Kievan Rus, when the people fought with the enemy “for the Orthodox faith, for the Russian land.” Savely is similar at the same time to both the heroes and the saints of antiquity, born in a free land, living according to Orthodox laws, the true laws of conscience.

Portrait of Savely

Savely is very old. In total, he lived for 107 years, and met Matryona at the age of 100. He is enormously tall, so that Matryona thinks that, straightening up, he will break through the ceiling. Matryona compares him to a bear. His enormous mane, uncut for 20 years, is called gray, and his beard is also enormous (repeated epithets enhance the quality).

Savely's bent back is a symbol of the Russian man who bends, but does not break or fall. In his youth, in the forest, Savely stepped on a sleepy bear, and, being frightened once in his life, he thrust a spear into her, injuring his back in the process.

Explaining his heroic nature to Matryona, Savely gives a generalized portrait of the hero, coinciding with his own: his arms are twisted with chains, his legs are forged with iron, entire scaffolding is broken on his back, Elijah the prophet rides on his chest and rattles his chariot (hyperbole).

The character of Savely and the circumstances that shaped him

At the time of his acquaintance with Matryona, Savely lived in a special upper room and did not allow anyone into it, despite the protests of his family. He built this room after returning from hard labor. Later, he made an exception for his little great-grandson and Matryona, who was fleeing the wrath of her father-in-law.

The family did not favor Savely when he ran out of money accumulated in hard labor. He did not argue with his family, although he could play a trick over his son, who called him a convict and branded. Grandfather's smile is compared to a rainbow.

The old man had the habit of sometimes saying aphorisms related to his past life and hard labor: “To not endure is an abyss, to endure is an abyss.”

He does not repent of his crime, for which Savely was sent to hard labor. From his point of view, it was impossible to tolerate, although patience- this is the property of a Russian hero. But Savely repents that he caused the death of his great-grandson. He crawls to Matryona on his knees, goes into the forests, and then to the monastery to repent. At the same time, Savely is capable support Matryona, sympathize to her.

The history of relations between the Koryozhinsky men and their masters is the history of the enslavement of Holy Rus'. Savely seems to come from those ancient Russian “blessed” times when the peasants were free. His village was in such remote swamps that the master could not get there: “The devil has been looking for our side for three years.” Life in the wilderness was associated with brutal hunting, so Savely “ petrified, he was fiercer than a beast,” and only love for Dyomushka softened him.

The peasants gave the rent to master Shalashnikov only when he tore them. For them it was the same as a military feat: they stood for their patrimony, they defeated Shalashnikov.

Savely is a man simple and direct, to match master Shalashnikov. He could not cope with the cunning of the German Vogel, the managing heir, who quietly enslaved the peasants and ruined them completely. Savely calls this state hard labor.

The men endured for eighteen years: “Our axes lay there for the time being.” And then they buried the German Vogel alive, whom Nekrasov called Khristyan Khristianich (sarcasm). It was Savely who was the first to push the German into the pit, and it was he who said: “Pump it up.” Savely has the qualities rebel.

Savely knew how to use any circumstances to his advantage. In prison he learned to read and write. After 20 years of hard labor and 20 years of settlement, Savely returned to his homeland, having saved money. Starting the story about Savelya, Matryona ironically calls him lucky. Taking the blows of fate, Savely did not lose heart and was not afraid.

• Images of landowners in Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”
• The image of Grisha Dobrosklonov in Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”
• The image of Matryona in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”

Essay on literature. Saveliy - Holy Russian hero

The reader recognizes one of the main characters of Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” - Savely - when he is already an old man who has lived a long and difficult life. The poet paints a colorful portrait of this amazing old man:

With a huge gray mane,

Tea, twenty years uncut,

With a huge beard

Grandfather looked like a bear

Especially, like from the forest,

He bent over and went out.

Savely's life turned out to be very difficult; fate did not spoil him. In his old age, Savely lived with the family of his son, Matryona Timofeevna’s father-in-law. It is noteworthy that grandfather Savely does not like his family. Obviously, all members of the household do not have the best qualities, but the honest and sincere old man feels this very well. In his own family, Savely is called “branded, convict.” And he himself, not at all offended by this, says: “Branded, but not a slave.

It’s interesting to observe how Savely is not averse to making fun of his family members:

And they will annoy him greatly -

He jokes: “Look at this

Matchmakers are coming to us!” Unmarried

Cinderella - to the window:

but instead of matchmakers - beggars!

From a tin button

Grandfather sculpted a two-kopeck coin,

Tossed on the floor -

Father-in-law got caught!

Not drunk from the pub -

The beaten man trudged in!

What does this relationship between the old man and his family indicate? First of all, it is striking that Savely differs both from his son and from all his relatives. His son does not possess any exceptional qualities, does not disdain drunkenness, and is almost completely devoid of kindness and nobility. And Savely, on the contrary, is kind, smart, and outstanding. He shuns his household; apparently, he is disgusted by the pettiness, envy, and malice characteristic of his relatives. Old man Savely is the only one in his husband’s family who was kind to Matryona. The old man does not hide all the hardships that befell him:

“Oh, the share of Holy Russian

Homemade hero!

He's been bullied all his life.

Time will change its mind

About death - hellish torment

In the other world they are waiting.”

Old man Savely is very freedom-loving. It combines qualities such as physical and mental strength. Savely is a real Russian hero who does not recognize any pressure over himself. In his youth, Savely had remarkable strength; no one could compete with him. In addition, life was different before, the peasants were not burdened with the difficult responsibility of paying dues and working off corvée. As Savely himself says:

We did not rule the corvee,

We didn't pay rent

And so, when it comes to reason,

We'll send you once every three years.

In such circumstances, the character of young Savely was strengthened. No one put pressure on her, no one made her feel like a slave. Moreover, nature itself was on the side of the peasants:

There are dense forests all around,

There are swampy swamps all around,

No horse can come to us,

Can't go on foot!

Nature itself protected the peasants from the invasion of the master, the police and other troublemakers. Therefore, the peasants could live and work peacefully, without feeling someone else’s power over them.

When reading these lines, fairy-tale motifs come to mind, because in fairy tales and legends people were absolutely free, they were in charge of their own lives.

The old man talks about how the peasants dealt with bears:

We were only worried

Bears... yes with bears

We managed it easily.

With a knife and a spear

I myself am scarier than the elk,

Along protected paths

I go: “My forest!” - I shout.

Savely, like a real fairy-tale hero, lays claim to the forest surrounding him. It is the forest - with its untrodden paths and mighty trees - that is the real element of the hero Savely. In the forest, the hero is not afraid of anything; he is the real master of the silent kingdom around him. That is why in old age he leaves his family and goes into the forest.

The unity of the hero Saveliy and the nature surrounding him seems undeniable. Nature helps Savely become stronger. Even in old age, when years and adversity have bent the old man’s back, remarkable strength is still felt in him.

Savely tells how in his youth his fellow villagers managed to deceive the master and hide their existing wealth from him. And even though they had to endure a lot for this, no one could blame people for cowardice and lack of will. The peasants were able to convince the landowners of their absolute poverty, so they managed to avoid complete ruin and enslavement.

Savely is a very proud person. This is felt in everything: in his attitude to life, in his steadfastness and courage with which he defends his own. When he talks about his youth, he remembers how only people weak in spirit surrendered to the master. Of course, he himself was not one of those people:

Shalashnikov tore excellently,

And he received not so much great income:

Weak people gave up

And the strong for the patrimony

They stood well.

I also endured

He remained silent and thought:

“Whatever you do, son of a dog,

But you can’t knock out your whole soul,

Leave something behind!”

Old man Savely bitterly says that now there is practically no self-respect left in people. Now cowardice, animal fear for oneself and one’s well-being and lack of desire to fight prevail:

These were proud people!

And now give me a slap -

Police officer, landowner

They're taking their last penny!

Savely's young years were spent in an atmosphere of freedom. But peasant freedom did not last long. The master died, and his heir sent a German, who at first behaved quietly and unnoticed. The German gradually became friends with the entire local population and gradually observed peasant life.

Gradually he gained the trust of the peasants and ordered them to drain the swamp, then cut down the forest. In a word, the peasants came to their senses only when a magnificent road appeared along which their godforsaken place could be easily reached.

And then came hard labor

To the Korezh peasant -

ruined the threads

Free life is over, now the peasants have fully felt all the hardships of a forced existence. Old man Savely speaks about people's long-suffering, explaining it by the courage and spiritual strength of people. Only truly strong and courageous people can be so patient as to endure such bullying, and so generous as not to forgive such an attitude towards themselves.

That's why we endured

That we are heroes.

This is Russian heroism.

Do you think, Matryonushka,

A man is not a hero"?

And his life is not a military one,

And death is not written for him

In battle - what a hero!

Nekrasov finds amazing comparisons when talking about people's patience and courage. He uses folk epic when talking about heroes:

Hands are twisted with chains,

Feet forged with iron,

Back...dense forests

We walked along it - we broke down.

What about the breasts? Elijah the prophet

It rattles and rolls around

On a chariot of fire...

The hero endures everything!

Old man Savely tells how the peasants endured the arbitrariness of the German manager for eighteen years. Their whole life was now at the mercy of this cruel man. People had to work tirelessly. And the manager was always dissatisfied with the results of the work and demanded more. Constant bullying from the Germans causes strong indignation in the souls of the peasants. And one day another round of bullying forced people to commit a crime. They kill the German manager. When reading these lines, the thought of supreme justice comes to mind. The peasants had already felt completely powerless and weak-willed. Everything they held dear was taken from them. But you can’t mock a person with complete impunity. Sooner or later you will have to pay for your actions.

But, of course, the murder of the manager did not go unpunished:

Bui-city, There I learned to read and write,

So far they have decided on us.

The solution has been reached: hard labor

And whip first...

The life of Savely, the Holy Russian hero, after hard labor was very difficult. He spent twenty years in captivity, only to be released closer to old age. Savely's whole life is very tragic, and in his old age he turns out to be the unwitting culprit in the death of his little grandson. This incident once again proves that, despite all his strength, Savely cannot withstand hostile circumstances. He is just a toy in the hands of fate.

Savely, the Holy Russian hero in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”

Presented the material: Finished Essays

Nekrasov found an original way to show the struggle of peasants against serf owners at a new stage. He settles the peasants in a remote village, separated from cities and villages by “dense forests” and impassable swamps. In Korezhin, the oppression of the landowners was not clearly felt. Then he expressed himself only in Shalashnikov’s extortion of rent. When the German Vogel managed to deceive the peasants and, with their help, pave the road, all forms of serfdom appeared immediately and in full measure. Thanks to such a plot discovery, the author manages, using the example of only two generations, to reveal in a concentrated form the attitude of men and their best representatives to the horrors of serfdom. This technique was found by the writer in the process of studying reality. Nekrasov knew the Kostroma region well. The poet's contemporaries noted the hopeless wilderness of this region.

The transfer of the scene of action of the main characters of the third part (and perhaps the entire poem) - Savely and Matryona Timofeevna - to the remote village of Klin, Korezhinsky volost, Kostroma province, had not only psychological, but also enormous political meaning. When Matryona Timofeevna came to the city of Kostroma, she saw: “There is a forged copper standing, exactly like Savely’s grandfather, a man in the square. - Whose monument? - “Susanina.” Comparing Saveliy with Susanin is of particular importance.

As established by researcher A.F. Tarasov, Ivan Susanin was born in the same places... He died, according to legend, about forty kilometers from Bui, in the swamps near the village of Yusupov, where he led the Polish interventionists.

The patriotic act of Ivan Susanin was used... to elevate the “house of Romanov”, to prove the support of this “house” by the people... At the request of official circles, M. Glinka’s wonderful opera “Ivan Susanin” was renamed “A Life for the Tsar”. In 1351, a monument to Susanin was erected in Kostroma, on which he is represented kneeling in front of a bust of Mikhail Romanov, towering on a six-meter column.

Having settled his rebellious hero Savely in the Kostroma “Korezhina”, in the homeland of Susanin... the original patrimony of the Romanovs, identifying... Savely with Susanin, Nekrasov showed who the Kostroma “Korezhina” Rus' will actually give birth to, what the Ivan Susanins are really like, what it’s like in general the Russian peasantry, ready for a decisive battle for liberation.

A.F. Tarasov draws attention to this fact. On the Kostroma monument, Susanin stands in front of the king in an uncomfortable position - kneeling. Nekrasov “straightened out” his hero - “a copper forged... man stands in the square,” but he doesn’t even remember the figure of the king. This is how the writer’s political position was manifested in the creation of the image of Savely.

Saveliy is a Holy Russian hero. Nekrasov reveals the heroism of nature at three stages of character development. At first, the grandfather is among the peasants - the Korezhiites (Vetluzhintsev), whose heroism is expressed in overcoming the difficulties associated with wild nature. Then the grandfather steadfastly withstands the monstrous flogging to which the landowner Shalashnikov subjected the peasants, demanding a quitrent. When talking about spankings, my grandfather was most proud of the endurance of the men. They beat me hard, they beat me for a long time. And although the peasants’ “tongues were confused, their brains were already shaken, their heads were shaking,” they still took home quite a bit of money that was not “knocked out” by the landowner. Heroism lies in perseverance, endurance, and resistance. “Hands are twisted with chains, legs are forged with iron... the hero endures everything.”

Children of nature, hard workers, hardened in battle with harsh nature and freedom-loving natures - this is the source of their heroism. Not blind obedience, but conscious stability, not slavish patience, but persistent defense of one’s interests. It is clear why he indignantly condemns those who “...give a slap to the police officer, the landowner, who are stealing their last penny!”

Savely was the instigator of the murder of the German Vogel by peasants. Deep in the recesses of the old man’s freedom-loving nature lay hatred of the enslaver. He did not psyche himself up, did not inflate his consciousness with theoretical judgments, and did not expect a “push” from anyone. Everything happened by itself, at the behest of the heart.

“Kick it up!” - I dropped the word,

Under the word Russian people

They work more friendly.

“Keep it up! Give it up!”

They pushed me so hard

It was as if there was no hole.

As we see, the men not only “had their axes lying around for the time being!”, but they also had an unquenchable fire of hatred. Coherence of actions is acquired, leaders are identified, words are established with which to “work” more amicably.

The image of the Holy Russian hero has one more charming feature. The noble goal of the struggle and the dream of the bright joy of human happiness removed the rudeness of this “savage” and protected his heart from bitterness. The old man called the boy Dema a hero. This means that he brings childlike spontaneity, tenderness, and sincerity of a smile into the concept of “hero.” The grandfather saw in the child the source of a special love for life. He stopped shooting at squirrels, began to love every flower, and hurried home to laugh and play with Demushka. This is why Matryona Timofeevna not only saw in the image of Savely a patriot, a fighter (Susanin), but also a warm-hearted sage, capable of understanding much better than statesmen can. The grandfather’s clear, deep, truthful thought was clothed in “good” speech. Matryona Timofeevna does not find an example for comparison with the way Savely can speak (“If the Moscow merchants, the sovereign’s nobles happened, the Tsar himself happened: there would be no need to speak better!”).

Living conditions mercilessly tested the old man’s heroic heart. Exhausted from the struggle, exhausted by suffering, the grandfather “overlooked” the boy: the pigs killed his favorite Demushka. The heart wound was aggravated by the cruel accusation of “unjust judges” of the grandfather’s cohabitation with Matryona Timofeevna and of premeditated murder. Grandfather suffered painfully from irreparable grief, then “he lay hopelessly for six days, then he went into the forests, grandfather sang so much, grandfather cried so much that the forest groaned! And in the fall he went to repentance at the Sand Monastery.”

Did the rebel find solace behind the walls of the monastery? No, three years later he came again to the sufferers, to the world. Dying, one hundred and seven years old, the grandfather does not give up the fight. Nekrasov carefully removes from the manuscript words and phrases that are not in harmony with Savely’s rebellious appearance. The Holy Russian hero is not devoid of religious ideas. He prays at Demushka’s grave, he advises Matryona Timofeev: “But there is no point in arguing with God. Become! Pray for Demushka! God knows what he’s doing.” But he prays “...for the poor Dema, for all the suffering Russian peasantry.”

Nekrasov creates an image of enormous general meaning. The scale of thought, the breadth of Savely’s interests - for all the suffering Russian peasantry - make this image majestic and symbolic. This is a representative, an example of a certain social environment. It reflects the heroic, revolutionary essence of the peasant character.

In the draft manuscript, Nekrasov first wrote and then crossed out: “I am praying here, Matryonushka, I am praying for the poor, the loving, for the entire Russian priesthood and for the Tsar.” Of course, tsarist sympathies, faith in the Russian priesthood, characteristic of the patriarchal peasantry, manifested themselves in this man along with hatred for the enslavers, that is, for the same tsar, for his support - the landowners, for his spiritual servants - the priests. It is no coincidence that Savely, in the spirit of a popular proverb, expressed his critical attitude with the words: “High is God, far is the king.” And at the same time, the dying Savely leaves a farewell testament that embodies the contradictory wisdom of the patriarchal peasantry. One part of his will breathes hatred, and he, says Matryona Timofeev, confused us: “Don’t plow, not this peasant! Hunched over the yarn behind the linens, peasant woman, don’t sit!” It is clear that such hatred is the result of the activities of a fighter and avenger, whose entire heroic life gave him the right to say words worthy of being carved on the “marble plaque at the entrance to hell” created by Russian tsarism: “There are three roads for men: a tavern, a prison and hard labor, and women in Rus' have three nooses.”

But on the other hand, this same sage recommended while dying, and recommended not only to his beloved granddaughter Matryona, but also to everyone: his comrades in the struggle: “Don’t be afraid, you fools, what is written in your birth cannot be avoided!” In Savelia, the pathos of struggle and hatred is still stronger, rather than the feeling of humility and reconciliation.

The chapter “Peasant Woman” was created by Nekrasov on the eve of the second democratic upsurge, when true knowledge of the people’s environment, the essence of the people’s character, became especially necessary. What conclusions did the long-term study of Nekrasov’s folk life lead to?

Never before in any of the chapters of the epic “To Whom in Rus'...” has the author so inspiredly affirmed the idea that inexhaustible sources of moral beauty, perseverance, heroic power and love of freedom lurk in the people’s environment. The latter is revealed with particular force in the central episode of the chapter “Peasant Woman,” the story about Savely, the Holy Russian hero. It is completely natural that it is in the chapter characterizing the life of the peasantry, narrated by a peasant woman and closely connected with folk art, that the semi-fictional (and so concretely real!) image of the “homespun hero” appears, Savely - one of the best and most dramatic creations of Nekrasov’s genius .

From Matryona’s very first words about Savely, a feeling of his heroic power is born. The huge, “With a huge gray mane, / With a huge beard,” the hundred-year-old man not only “looked like a bear,” but his strength seemed “more terrible than an elk.” The epic, broadly generalizing meaning of the image of Savely is emphasized in the title of the chapter - “Savely, the Holy Russian hero.” What are the origins of the birth of this image and what place does it occupy in the development of the ideological concept of the poem?

The impulses that stimulated the work of Nekrasov’s creative imagination are very diverse. It is possible that the idea of ​​​​introducing the image of a peasant hero into the chapter “Peasant Woman” was prompted by Fedosov’s laments. Thus, in the lament “About the Killed by Thunder and Lightning,” the image of Elijah the Prophet is depicted, who asks God for permission to shoot a fiery arrow into the white chest of a mighty peasant. Words of the poem:

What about the breasts? Elijah the prophet

It rattles and rolls around

On a chariot of fire...

The hero endures everything! -

an undoubted echo of Fedosov's cry.

But Nekrasov came not so much from the book as from life. As it was found out in one of the most interesting studies, the intention of the chapter about Savely is acutely journalistic. The events described in the chapter “Savely, the hero of the Holy Russian” unfold in the northwestern part of the Kostroma region, as evidenced by the names: Korezhina, Bui, Sand Monastery, Kostroma. It turns out that the choice of the location, so to speak, “Kostroma topography,” is not accidental in the poem. Arriving in the city (“Governor’s Lady”), Matryona stops in surprise in front of the monument to Susanin:

It is forged from copper,

Exactly like Savely’s grandfather,

A man on the square.

- Whose monument? - “Susanina.”

The fact that Savely is compared with Susanin has been noted many times in the literature, but scientific research has shown that the internal connection between the image of Savely and Susanin is much deeper and more complex than it seemed. It is in it that the secret of the birth of the image is hidden.

The Kostroma “signs” of the chapter have a special meaning. The fact is that Ivan Susanin was born in the same place, in the village of Derevenki, Buysky district. He died, according to legend, about forty kilometers from Bui, in the swamps near the village of Yusupov.

As is known, Susanin’s patriotic feat was interpreted in a monarchical spirit; love for the Tsar and willingness to give his life for him were declared to be traits expressing the very essence of the Russian peasantry. In 1851, a monument to Susanin was erected in Kostroma (sculptor V.I. Demut-Malinovsky). At the foot of a six-meter column, topped with a bust of Mikhail Romanov, is the kneeling figure of Ivan Susanin. When visiting Kostroma, Nekrasov saw this monument more than once.

With the plot of the chapter “Savely, the hero of the Holy Russians,” the action of which is concentrated in a remote bearish corner, deep in the Kostroma forests and swamps, the poet declares that even in the most remote side a man wakes up. This is also evidenced by the image of Savely - an epically generalized image of the Russian peasantry rising to fight.

In his poem, Nekrasov gives an unusually deep analysis of the characteristics of the peasant movement of his era, peasant Rus' in its strengths and weaknesses. The author of the epic draws attention to the heroic power of the “homespun hero” (Russian peasant), the seemingly difficult patience with it and the spontaneous nature of his rebellion. The Russian man is patient. Korezhin silently tolerates Shalashnikov’s teasing. This ability to restrain growing anger and rise above beatings and torture testifies to inner strength and pride (“These were proud people!”)

Whatever you do, son of a dog,

But you can’t knock out your whole soul...

In this patience there is not obedience and slavish blood, but common sense and fortitude.

A kind of competition in strength and stamina takes place between the Korezhinites and Shalashnikov, and Shalashnikov’s brute strength is not able to defeat the inner tenacity of the men, the strength of their spirit: “You are a fool, Shalashnikov!” - the Korezhin residents mockingly declare, making fun of the master. However

Peasant patience

Enduringly, and with time

There is an end to it too

peasant "axes lie for the time being." Ordinary natures submit to evil, but the people's environment constantly puts forward people who stand up to fight it. These people begin to understand that excessive patience often develops into a habit and gives birth to the psychology of a slave. “To endure the abyss...” Savely, who has taken the path of protest, formulates this thought.

The Russian peasant is patient, but once he has made his decision, he is no longer afraid of obstacles. Pushed to the limit by the bullying of the “German manager,” the patient Korezhin residents, silently agreeing to settle accounts with the hated Vogel, show amazing determination and unanimity in actions. The initiative belongs to Savely. It was he who was the first to lightly push Khristyan Khristianych towards the pit with his shoulder. And this slight push, a spark, is enough for the flames of the people’s anger to flare up and start working in unison to the remark “Pump it up!” nine shovels...

Affirming the moral right of the people to fight, to deal with their oppressors, admiring the strength and determination of the Korezhinites, Nekrasov, however, also shows the doom of such outbursts of peasant anger. Savely and his comrades

To the land of the German Vogel

Khristyan Khristianych

Buried him alive.

Tavern... a prison in Bui-gorod,

...Twenty years of strict hard labor,

The settlement has been around for twenty years.”

By killing Vogel, the Korezhinites aroused against themselves the action of the force behind Vogel, the terrible force of the autocratic landowner state, which even heroes cannot cope with if they are alone. Old man Savely reflects:

Where have you gone, strength?

What were you useful for?

- Under rods, under sticks

Left for little things!

That’s why the Holy Russian hero loves to repeat: “If you don’t tolerate it, you’ll be lost...” Yes, spontaneous and scattered peasant revolts will not lead to Izbytkovo village. Nekrasov knows this and yet speaks with enormous poetic inspiration about the power and love of freedom, about the enormous potential power of the Russian peasant’s anger.

Savely’s story contains the words:

Then... I escaped from hard labor...

The image of the peasant rebel, the people's avenger for centuries-old grievances was originally conceived even more sharply. The manuscripts contain an episode that tells how Saveliy, having escaped from hard labor for the third time, “had a fair walk in freedom.” Wandering in the taiga in winter, he comes across a hut in which some hated officials were staying, and, carrying out his revenge, Savely burns his enemies.

It is generally accepted that consideration of censorship forced Nekrasov to refuse to introduce this episode into his poem. But I would like to note something else. There is something eerie in the painted picture, casting an ominous glare, an ominous shadow on the appearance of Savely, contrary to Nekrasov’s concept of folk character. The Russian peasant is more complacent than cruel; thoughtful and deliberate cruelty is not characteristic of him. Yes, driven to the limit, in a fit of righteous anger, the Korezhinites bury Vogel in the ground. But the psychological picture here is different. The shovels of the Korezhin residents work under the influence of a spontaneous impulse, they carry out the will of the collective, although each of the participants in the massacre is internally embarrassed by the cruelty of this just (after all, they endured it for “eighteen” years!) will:

We didn't look at each other

In the eyes...

They came to their senses and “looked at each other” only when the deed was done. It seems that it was not a look at censorship, but an artistic flair that forced the poet to refuse to introduce into the final text of the poem the fragment “And the doors are covered with stones...”, which contradicts the humane foundations of the hero’s nature.

There is no force capable of breaking Savely. “Twenty years of strict hard labor, / Twenty years of settlement” only strengthened his natural love of freedom, expressed in the words: “Branded, but not a slave!” Having become a hundred-year-old man, all his thoughts are chained to the past, he reflects on the fate of the peasantry, “about the bitter lot of the plowman,” about the ways of struggle, and even in the monastery where he went, blaming himself for the death of Demushka, he prays “for all the suffering Russian peasantry.” True, at the end of his life Savely sometimes comes to bitter and bleak conclusions.

Be patient, long-suffering one!

We can't find the truth -

He says to Matryona, and mentally addresses the peasants with the words:

No matter how you fight, you fools,

What is written in the family

This cannot be avoided!

But fatalism and religiosity, so characteristic of the ideology of the patriarchal Russian peasantry, live in Savely next to the anger and contempt for those who are not capable of fighting that has not subsided over a long life:

Oh you Aniki warriors!

With old people, with women

All you have to do is fight!

The image of Savely is correlated in the poem not only with Ivan Susanin, but also with the images of the Russian epic epic. He is a Holy Russian hero. This poetic parallel affirms the heroism of the people and faith in their inescapable powers. It has long been established that in Saveliy’s characterization of the peasant (Do you think, Matryonushka, the peasant is not a hero?...) one can hear the echo of the epic about Svyatogor and earthly cravings. Svyatogor the hero feels immense strength within himself.

If only I could find the traction

That would lift the whole earth! -

he says. But, having tried to lift the saddle bag with earthly traction,

And Svyatogor sunk into the ground up to his knees,

And not tears, but blood flows down the white face...

For now there is a terrible craving

He raised it,

Yes, he went into the ground up to his chest

With effort! By his face

Not tears - blood flows.

The image of Svyatogor helps to express the idea of ​​the strength and weakness of the Russian peasantry, of its powerful but still dormant forces and the unawakened, unformed state of its social consciousness. To the observation The comparison of the Russian peasant with Svyatogor is present in the poem as Savely’s reasoning. Saveliy, whose consciousness is characterized not by drowsiness, but by intense, many years of painful work of thought, the result of which was contempt for Anika warriors who were not capable of fighting, the consciousness that a convict brand was better than spiritual slavery. Therefore, the figurative parallel of Svyatogor - the Russian peasant cannot in any way be extended to Savely himself, also a Svyatorussky hero, but of a different, not dormant, but active force.

“He was also lucky”... With such ironic words the image of grandfather Savely is introduced into Nekrasov’s poem. He lived a long, difficult life and is now living out his life in the family of Matryona Timofeevna. The image of Saveliy, the Holy Russian hero in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” by Nekrasov is very important, because he embodies the idea of ​​Russian heroism. The theme of strength, endurance and long-suffering of the people in the poem grows from chapter to chapter (remember the story of the strongman at the fair, which serves as a prerequisite for the story of Savely) and is ultimately resolved in the image of the hero Savely.

Savely comes from remote forest regions, where even “the devil looked for a way for three years.” The very name of this region breathes power: Korega, from “to distort”, i.e. bend, break. A bear can damage something, and Savely himself “looked like a bear.” He is also compared with other animals, for example, with the elk, and it is emphasized that he is much more dangerous than a predator when he walks through the forest “with a knife and a spear.” This strength stems from a deep knowledge of one’s land, complete unity with nature. Savely’s love for his land is visible, his words “My forest!” sound much more convincing than the same statement from the lips of the landowner Obolt-Obolduev.

But the master’s hand will reach into any, even the most impassable region. Savely's free life ends with the arrival of a German manager in Korega. At first, he seemed harmless and did not even demand the due tribute, but set a condition: to work off the money by cutting wood. Simple-minded men built a road out of the forest and then they realized how much they had been deceived: gentlemen came to Korezhina along this road, the German brought his wife and children, and began to suck all the juice out of the village.

“And then came hard labor
To the Korezh peasant -
Ruined me to the bone!”

For a long time, the peasants endured the bullying of the German - he beats them and forces them to work beyond measure. A Russian peasant can endure a lot, that’s why he is a hero, says Savely.
This is what he says to Matryona, to which the woman answers ironically: even a mouse can eat such a hero. In this episode, Nekrasov outlines an important problem of the Russian people: their irresponsibility, unpreparedness for decisive action. It is not for nothing that Saveliy’s characterization coincides with the image of the most motionless of the epic heroes - Svyatogor, who at the end of his life was rooted into the ground.

“To not endure is an abyss, to endure is an abyss.” This is how the hero Savely thinks, and this simple but wise folk philosophy leads him to rebellion. Under the word he invented, “Pump it up!” the hated German manager is buried in the ground. And although Savely ends up in hard labor for this act, the beginning of liberation has already been made. For the rest of his life, the grandfather will be proud that he, although “branded, is not a slave!”

But how does his life develop next? He spent more than twenty years in hard labor, and his settlements were taken away for another twenty. But even there Savely did not give up, he worked, was able to raise money, and, returning to his homeland, built a hut for himself and his family. And yet his life was not allowed to end peacefully: while his grandfather had money, he enjoyed the love of his family, and when they ran out, he was met with dislike and ridicule. The only joy for him, as well as for Matryona, is Demushka. He sits on the old man’s shoulder “like an apple in the top of an old apple tree.”

But something terrible happens: through his, Savely’s, fault, the grandson dies. And it was this event that broke the man who had gone through the whips and hard labor. The grandfather will spend the rest of his life in a monastery and wandering, praying for remission of sins. That is why Nekrasov calls it Holy Russian, showing another feature inherent in all people: deep, sincere religiosity. Grandfather Savely lived for “one hundred and seven years,” but his longevity did not bring him happiness, and his strength, as he himself recalls bitterly, “was gone in small ways.”

In the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” Savely embodies precisely this deeply hidden strength of the Russian peasant and his enormous, although so far unrealized, potential. It is worth waking up the people, convincing them to abandon humility for a while, and then they themselves will win happiness, this is what Nekrasov is talking about with the help of the image of the hero Savely.

Work test

The secret of the nickname of Savely, the Holy Russian hero

The reader learns about Savelia, the grandfather of Matryona’s husband, from her story. The image of Savely combines two heroic types of the Russian people. On the one hand, he is a hero - a man of extraordinary strength, a defender of his land and his people, although not a warrior: “And his life is not a military one, and death in battle is not written for him - but a hero!”

On the other hand, Savely is a hero of Holy Rus', of Christian heritage, a believer, a martyr. He has many signs of holiness: he endured bodily torture, has a mutilation, committed more than one mortal sin (by killing the manager and becoming the involuntary cause of the death of Dyomushka), before his death he prophesies, promising men three roads (tavern, prison and hard labor), and women three nooses (white, red and black silk). Savely is taught to read and write, prays a lot and reads the calendar.

Holy Rus' for the Orthodox is that strong country of the times of Kievan Rus, when the people fought with the enemy “for the Orthodox faith, for the Russian land.” Savely is similar at the same time to both the heroes and the saints of antiquity, born in a free land, living according to Orthodox laws, the true laws of conscience.

Portrait of Savely

Savely is very old. In total, he lived for 107 years, and met Matryona at the age of 100. He is enormously tall, so that Matryona thinks that, straightening up, he will break through the ceiling. Matryona compares him to a bear. His enormous mane, uncut for 20 years, is called gray, and his beard is also enormous (repeated epithets enhance the quality).

Savely's bent back is a symbol of the Russian man who bends, but does not break or fall. In his youth, in the forest, Savely stepped on a sleepy bear, and, being frightened once in his life, he thrust a spear into her, injuring his back in the process.

Explaining his heroic nature to Matryona, Savely gives a generalized portrait of the hero, coinciding with his own: his arms are twisted with chains, his legs are forged with iron, entire scaffolding is broken on his back, Elijah the prophet rides on his chest and rattles his chariot (hyperbole).

The character of Savely and the circumstances that shaped him

At the time of his acquaintance with Matryona, Savely lived in a special upper room and did not allow anyone into it, despite the protests of his family. He built this room after returning from hard labor. Later, he made an exception for his little great-grandson and Matryona, who was fleeing the wrath of her father-in-law.

The family did not favor Savely when he ran out of money accumulated in hard labor. He did not argue with his family, although he could play a trick over his son, who called him a convict and branded. Grandfather's smile is compared to a rainbow.

The old man had the habit of sometimes saying aphorisms related to his past life and hard labor: “To not endure is an abyss, to endure is an abyss.”

He does not repent of his crime, for which Savely was sent to hard labor. From his point of view, it was impossible to tolerate, although patience- this is the property of a Russian hero. But Savely repents that he caused the death of his great-grandson. He crawls to Matryona on his knees, goes into the forests, and then to the monastery to repent. At the same time, Savely is capable support Matryona, sympathize to her.

The history of relations between the Koryozhinsky men and their masters is the history of the enslavement of Holy Rus'. Savely seems to come from those ancient Russian “blessed” times when the peasants were free. His village was in such remote swamps that the master could not get there: “The devil has been looking for our side for three years.” Life in the wilderness was associated with brutal hunting, so Savely “ petrified, he was fiercer than a beast,” and only love for Dyomushka softened him.

The peasants gave the rent to master Shalashnikov only when he tore them. For them it was the same as a military feat: they stood for their patrimony, they defeated Shalashnikov.

Savely is a man simple and direct, to match master Shalashnikov. He could not cope with the cunning of the German Vogel, the managing heir, who quietly enslaved the peasants and ruined them completely. Savely calls this state hard labor.

The men endured for eighteen years: “Our axes lay there for the time being.” And then they buried the German Vogel alive, whom Nekrasov called Khristyan Khristianich (sarcasm). It was Savely who was the first to push the German into the pit, and it was he who said: “Pump it up.” Savely has the qualities rebel.

Savely knew how to use any circumstances to his advantage. In prison he learned to read and write. After 20 years of hard labor and 20 years of settlement, Savely returned to his homeland, having saved money. Starting the story about Savelya, Matryona ironically calls him lucky. Taking the blows of fate, Savely did not lose heart and was not afraid.

• Images of landowners in Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”
• The image of Grisha Dobrosklonov in Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”
• The image of Matryona in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”

The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is the result of N.A.’s entire work. Nekrasova. It was conceived “about the people and for the people” and was written from 1863 to 1876. The author considered his work “an epic of modern peasant life.” In it, Nekrasov asked the question: did the abolition of serfdom bring happiness to the peasantry? To find the answer, the poet sends seven men on a long journey across Russia in search of at least one happy person.
On their way, wanderers meet many faces, heroes, destinies. Savely becomes one of the people they meet. Nekrasov calls him “the hero of Holy Russia.” The travelers see in front of them an old man, “with a huge gray mane, ... with a huge beard,” “he is already a hundred years old, according to fairy tales.” But, despite his age, this man felt enormous strength and power: “...will he straighten up? The bear will punch a hole in the light with his head!”
This strength and power, as the wanderers later learned, was manifested not only in Savely’s appearance. They are, first of all, in his character, inner core, moral qualities.
The son often called Savely a convict and “branded.” To which this hero always answered: “Branded, but not a slave!” Love of freedom, the desire for internal independence - this is what made Savely a real “Holy Russian” hero.
Why did this hero end up in hard labor? In his youth, he rebelled against the German manager sent by the landowner to their village. Vogel made sure that “hard labor came to the Korezh peasant - he ruined him to the bone!” At first the whole village endured it. In this Savely sees the heroism of the Russian peasant in general. But what is his heroism? In patience and endurance, the peasants endured Vogel’s yoke for seventeen years:
And it bends, but does not break,
Doesn't break, doesn't fall...
Isn't he a hero?
But soon the peasant’s patience came to an end:
Happened, I'm lightly
Pushed him with his shoulder
Then another pushed him,
And the third...
The people's anger, having received an impetus, fell like an avalanche on the monster manager. The men buried him alive in the ground, in the very hole that he ordered the peasants to dig. Nekrasov, thus, shows here that the people’s patience is coming to an end. Moreover, despite the fact that patience is a national character trait, it must have its limits. The poet calls on you to start fighting for the improvement of your life, for your destiny.
For the crime committed, Savely and other peasants were sent to hard labor. But before that they kept him in prison, where the hero learned to read and write, and was flogged. But Savely doesn’t even consider this a punishment: “If they didn’t tear it out, they anointed it, it’s a bad fight!”
The hero escaped from hard labor several times, but was returned and punished. Savely spent twenty years in strict penal servitude, twenty years in settlements. Returning home, he built his own house. It would seem that now you can live and work in peace. But is this possible for Russian peasants? Nekrasov shows that no.
Already at home, probably the most terrible event happened to Savely, worse than twenty years of hard labor. The old hero did not look after his great-grandson Demushka, and the boy was devoured by pigs. Saveliy could not forgive himself for this sin until the end of his life. He felt guilty before Demushka’s mother, and before all people, and before God.
After the boy’s death, the hero almost settled at his grave, and then completely went to the monastery to atone for his sins. It is precisely the last part of Saveliy’s life that explains the definition that Nekrasov gives him - “Holy Russian”. The poet sees the great strength and invincibility of the Russian man precisely in morality, the inner core of a simple peasant, largely based on faith in God.
But probably no one can speak better about his fate and destiny better than Savely himself. This is how the old man himself evaluates his life:
Eh, the share of Holy Russian
Homemade hero!
He's been bullied all his life.
Time will change its mind
About death - hellish torment
In the other world they are waiting.
The image of Savely, the Holy Russian hero, embodies the enormous strength of the Russian people, their powerful potential. This is expressed both in the physical appearance of the hero and in his inner purity, love of freedom, and pride. However, it is worth noting that Savely has not yet decided on a complete rebellion, a revolution. In anger, he buries Vogel, but his words, especially at the end of his life, sound humility. Moreover, Savely believes that torment and suffering will await him not only in this life, but also in the next world.
That is why Nekrasov places his revolutionary hopes on Grisha Dobroskolonov, who must understand the potential of such Savelievs and raise them to revolution, to lead them to a better life.

The next chapter written by Nekrasov is "Peasant Woman"- also seems to be a clear deviation from the scheme outlined in the “Prologue”: the wanderers are again trying to find a happy one among the peasants. As in other chapters, the beginning plays an important role. It, as in “The Last One,” becomes the antithesis of the subsequent narrative and allows one to discover new contradictions in “mysterious Rus'.” The chapter begins with a description of the landowner's estate being ruined: after the reform, the owners abandoned the estate and the courtyards to the mercy of fate, and the courtyards are ruining and destroying a beautiful house, a once well-groomed garden and park. The funny and tragic aspects of the life of an abandoned servant are closely intertwined in the description. Household servants are a special peasant type. Torn out of their usual environment, they lose the skills of peasant life and the main one among them - the “noble habit of work.” Forgotten by the landowner and unable to feed themselves by labor, they live by stealing and selling the owner’s things, heating the house by breaking gazebos and turned balcony posts. But there are also truly dramatic moments in this description: for example, the story of a singer with a rare beautiful voice. The landowners took him out of Little Russia, were going to send him to Italy, but forgot, busy with their troubles.

Against the background of the tragicomic crowd of ragged and hungry courtyard servants, “whining servants,” the “healthy, singing crowd of reapers and reapers” returning from the field seems even more “beautiful.” But even among these stately and beautiful people, he stands out Matrena Timofeevna, “glorified” by the “governor” and the “lucky one”. The story of her life, as told by herself, occupies a central place in the narrative. Dedicating this chapter to a peasant woman, Nekrasov, it seems, not only wanted to open the soul and heart of a Russian woman to the reader. A woman’s world is a family, and talking about herself, Matryona Timofeevna talks about those aspects of people’s life that have so far only been indirectly touched upon in the poem. But they are the ones who determine a woman’s happiness and unhappiness: love, family, everyday life.

Matryona Timofeevna does not recognize herself as happy, just as she does not recognize any of the women as happy. But she knew short-lived happiness in her life. Matryona Timofeevna's happiness is a girl's will, parental love and care. Her girlhood life was not carefree and easy: from childhood, from the age of seven, she performed peasant work:

I was lucky in the girls:
We had a good
Non-drinking family.
For father, for mother,
Like Christ in his bosom,
I lived, well done.<...>
And on the seventh for the beetroot
I myself ran into the herd,
I took my father to breakfast,
She was feeding the ducklings.
Then mushrooms and berries,
Then: “Get a rake
Yes, turn up the hay!”
So I got used to it...
And a good worker
And the sing-dance huntress
I was young.

She also calls the last days of her girl’s life “happiness,” when her fate was decided, when she “bargained” with her future husband - argued with him, “bargained” for her freedom in her married life:

- Just stand there, good fellow,
Directly against me<...>
Think, dare:
To live with me - not to repent,
And I don’t have to cry with you...<...>
While we were bargaining,
It must be so I think
Then there was happiness.
And hardly ever again!

Her married life is indeed full of tragic events: the death of a child, a severe flogging, a punishment she voluntarily accepted to save her son, the threat of remaining a soldier. At the same time, Nekrasov shows that the source of Matryona Timofeevna’s misfortunes is not only the “fortress”, the powerless position of a serf woman, but also the powerless position of the youngest daughter-in-law in a large peasant family. The injustice that triumphs in large peasant families, the perception of a person primarily as a worker, the non-recognition of his desires, his “will” - all these problems are revealed by the confessional story of Matryona Timofeevna. A loving wife and mother, she is doomed to an unhappy and powerless life: to please her husband’s family and unfair reproaches from the elders in the family. That is why, even having freed herself from serfdom, having become free, she will grieve about the lack of a “will,” and therefore happiness: “The keys to women’s happiness, / From our free will, / Abandoned, lost / From God himself.” And she speaks not only about herself, but about all women.

This disbelief in the possibility of a woman’s happiness is shared by the author. It is no coincidence that Nekrasov excludes from the final text of the chapter the lines about how Matryona Timofeevna’s difficult position in her husband’s family happily changed after returning from the governor’s wife: in the text there is no story that she became the “big woman” in the house, nor that she “conquered” her husband’s “grumpy, abusive” family. All that remains are the lines that the husband’s family, having recognized her participation in saving Philip from the soldiery, “bowed” to her and “apologized” to her. But the chapter ends with a “Woman’s Parable”, asserting the inevitability of bondage-misfortune for a woman even after the abolition of serfdom: “And to our women’s will / There are still no keys!<...>/Yes, they are unlikely to be found...”

Researchers noted Nekrasov’s plan: creating image of Matryona Timofeevna y, he aimed for the widest generalization: her fate becomes a symbol of the fate of every Russian woman. The author carefully and thoughtfully selects episodes of her life, “leading” his heroine along the path that any Russian woman follows: a short, carefree childhood, work skills instilled from childhood, a girl’s will and the long powerless position of a married woman, a worker in the field and in the house. Matrena Timofeevna experiences all possible dramatic and tragic situations that befall a peasant woman: humiliation in her husband’s family, beatings of her husband, the death of a child, the harassment of a manager, flogging, and even, albeit briefly, the share of a soldier. “The image of Matryona Timofeevna was created like this,” writes N.N. Skatov, “that she seemed to have experienced everything and been in all the states that a Russian woman could have been in.” The folk songs and laments included in Matryona Timofeevna’s story, most often “replacing” her own words, her own story, further expand the narrative, allowing us to comprehend both the happiness and misfortune of one peasant woman as a story about the fate of a serf woman.

In general, the story of this woman depicts life according to God’s laws, “in a divine way,” as Nekrasov’s heroes say:

<...>I endure and do not complain!
All the power given by God,
I put it to work
All the love for the kids!

And the more terrible and unfair are the misfortunes and humiliations that befell her. "<...>In me / There is no unbroken bone, / There is no unstretched vein, / There is no unspoiled blood.<...>“- this is not a complaint, but a true result of Matryona Timofeevna’s experience. The deep meaning of this life - love for children - is also affirmed by the Nekrasovs with the help of parallels from the natural world: the story of Dyomushka's death is preceded by a cry about a nightingale, whose chicks burned on a tree lit by a thunderstorm. The chapter telling about the punishment taken to save another son, Philip, from whipping, is called “The She-Wolf.” And here the hungry wolf, ready to sacrifice her life for the sake of the wolf cubs, appears as a parallel to the fate of the peasant woman who lay down under the rod to free her son from punishment.

The central place in the chapter “Peasant Woman” is occupied by the story of Saveliya, the Holy Russian hero. Why is Matryona Timofeevna entrusted with the story about the fate of the Russian peasant, the “hero of Holy Russia,” his life and death? It seems that this is largely because it is important for Nekrasov to show the “hero” Saveliy Korchagin not only in his confrontation with Shalashnikov and the manager Vogel, but also in the family, in everyday life. His large family needed “grandfather” Savely, a pure and holy man, as long as he had money: “As long as there was money, / They loved my grandfather, they cared for him, / Now they spit in his eyes!” Savely's inner loneliness in the family enhances the drama of his fate and at the same time, like the fate of Matryona Timofeevna, gives the reader the opportunity to learn about the everyday life of the people.

But it is no less important that the “story within a story,” connecting two destinies, shows the relationship between two extraordinary people, who for the author himself were the embodiment of an ideal folk type. It is Matryona Timofeevna’s story about Savelia that allows us to emphasize what brought together, in general, different people: not only the powerless position in the Korchagin family, but also the commonality of characters. Matryona Timofeevna, whose whole life is filled only with love, and Saveliy Korchagin, whom hard life has made “stony”, “fierce than a beast”, are similar in the main thing: their “angry heart”, their understanding of happiness as a “will”, as spiritual independence.

It is no coincidence that Matryona Timofeevna considers Savely lucky. Her words about “grandfather”: “He was also lucky...” are not bitter irony, for in Savely’s life, full of suffering and trials, there was something that Matryona Timofeevna herself values ​​above all else - moral dignity, spiritual freedom. Being a “slave” of the landowner by law, Savely did not know spiritual slavery.

Savely, according to Matryona Timofeevna, called his youth “prosperity,” although he experienced many insults, humiliations, and punishments. Why does he consider the past to be “blessed times”? Yes, because, fenced off by “marsh swamps” and “dense forests” from their landowner Shalashnikov, the residents of Korezhina felt free:

We were only worried
Bears...yes with bears
We managed it easily.
With a knife and a spear
I myself am scarier than the elk,
Along protected paths
I go: “My forest!” - I shout.

“Prosperity” was not overshadowed by the annual flogging that Shalashnikov inflicted on his peasants, beating out rent with rods. But the peasants are “proud people,” having endured a flogging and pretending to be beggars, they knew how to keep their money and, in turn, “amused” the master who was unable to take the money:

Weak people gave up
And the strong for the patrimony
They stood well.
I also endured
He remained silent and thought:
“No matter how you take it, son of a dog,
But you can’t knock out your whole soul,
Leave something behind"<...>
But we lived as merchants...

The “happiness” that Savely speaks of, which is, of course, illusory, is a year of free life without a landowner and the ability to “endure”, withstand the flogging and save the money earned. But the peasant could not be given any other “happiness”. And yet, Koryozhina soon lost even such “happiness”: “hard labor” began for the men when Vogel was appointed manager: “He ruined him to the bone!” / And he tore... like Shalashnikov himself!/<...>/ The German has a death grip: / Until he lets him go around the world, / Without leaving, he sucks!”

Savely does not glorify patience as such. Not everything a peasant can and should endure. Savely clearly distinguishes between the ability to “understand” and “tolerate.” To not endure means to succumb to pain, not to bear the pain and to morally submit to the landowner. To endure means to lose dignity and agree to humiliation and injustice. Both of these make a person a “slave”.

But Saveliy Korchagin, like no one else, understands the whole tragedy of eternal patience. With him, an extremely important thought enters the narrative: about the wasted strength of the peasant hero. Savely not only glorifies Russian heroism, but also mourns this hero, humiliated and mutilated:

That's why we endured
That we are heroes.
This is Russian heroism.
Do you think, Matryonushka,
The man is not a hero?
And his life is not a military one,
And death is not written for him
In battle - what a hero!

The peasantry in his thoughts appears as a fabulous hero, chained and humiliated. This hero is bigger than heaven and earth. A truly cosmic image appears in his words:

Hands are twisted with chains,
Feet forged with iron,
Back...dense forests
We walked along it - we broke down.
What about the breasts? Elijah the prophet
It rattles and rolls around
On a chariot of fire...
The hero endures everything!

The hero holds up the sky, but this work costs him great torment: “While there was a terrible craving / He lifted it up, / Yes, he went into the ground up to his chest / With effort! There are no tears running down his face - blood is flowing!” However, is there any point in this great patience? It is no coincidence that Savely is disturbed by the thought of a life gone in vain, strength wasted in vain: “I was lying on the stove; / I lay there, thinking: / Where have you gone, strength? / What were you useful for? / - Under rods, under sticks / She left for little things!” And these bitter words are not only the result of one’s own life: it is grief for the ruined people’s strength.

But the author’s task is not only to show the tragedy of the Russian hero, whose strength and pride “gone away in small ways.” It is no coincidence that at the end of the story about Savelia the name of Susanin, the peasant hero, appears: the monument to Susanin in the center of Kostroma reminded Matryona Timofeevna of “grandfather”. Saveliy’s ability to preserve freedom of spirit, spiritual independence even in slavery, and not submit to his soul, is also heroism. It is important to emphasize this feature of the comparison. As noted by N.N. Skatov, the monument to Susanin in Matryona Timofeevna’s story does not look like the real one. “A real monument created by sculptor V.M. Demut-Malinovsky, writes the researcher, turned out to be more of a monument to the Tsar than to Ivan Susanin, who was depicted kneeling near the column with the bust of the Tsar. Nekrasov not only kept silent about the fact that the man was on his knees. In comparison with the rebel Savely, the image of the Kostroma peasant Susanin received, for the first time in Russian art, a unique, essentially anti-monarchist interpretation. At the same time, comparison with the hero of Russian history Ivan Susanin put the finishing touch on the monumental figure of the Korezhsky hero, the Holy Russian peasant Savely.”

The reader recognizes one of the main characters of Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” - Savely - when he is already an old man who has lived a long and difficult life. The poet paints a colorful portrait of this amazing old man:
With a huge gray mane,
Tea, twenty years uncut,
With a huge beard
Grandfather looked like a bear
Especially, like from the forest,
He bent over and went out.
Savely's life turned out to be very difficult; fate did not spoil him. In his old age, Savely lived with the family of his son, Matryona Timofeevna’s father-in-law.

It is noteworthy that grandfather Savely does not like his family. Obviously, all members of the household do not have the best qualities, but the honest and sincere old man feels this very well. In his own family, Savely is called “branded, convict.” And he himself, not at all offended by this, says: “Branded, but not a slave.
It’s interesting to observe how Savely is not averse to making fun of his family members:
And they will annoy him greatly -
He jokes: “Look at this
Matchmakers are coming to us!” Unmarried
Cinderella - to the window:
AN instead of matchmakers - beggars!
From a tin button
Grandfather sculpted a two-kopeck coin,
Tossed it on the floor -
Father-in-law got caught!
Not drunk from the pub -
The beaten man trudged in!
What does this relationship between the old man and his family indicate? First of all, it is striking that Savely differs both from his son and from all his relatives. His son does not possess any exceptional qualities, does not disdain drunkenness, and is almost completely devoid of kindness and nobility. And Savely, on the contrary, is kind, smart, and outstanding. He shuns his household; apparently, he is disgusted by the pettiness, envy, and malice characteristic of his relatives. Old man Savely is the only one in his husband’s family who was kind to Matryona. The old man does not hide all the hardships that befell him:
“Oh, the share of Holy Russian
Homemade hero!
He's been bullied all his life.
Time will change its mind
About death - hellish torments
In the other world they are waiting.”
Old man Savely is very freedom-loving. It combines qualities such as physical and mental strength. Savely is a real Russian hero who does not recognize any pressure over himself. In his youth, Savely had remarkable strength; no one could compete with him. In addition, life was different before, the peasants were not burdened with the difficult responsibility of paying dues and working off corvée. As Savely himself says:
We did not rule the corvee,
We didn't pay rent
And so, when it comes to reason,
We'll send you once every three years.
In such circumstances, the character of young Savely was strengthened. No one put pressure on her, no one made her feel like a slave. Moreover, nature itself was on the side of the peasants:
There are dense forests all around,
There are swampy swamps all around,
No horse can come to us,
Can't go on foot!
Nature itself protected the peasants from the invasion of the master, the police and other troublemakers. Therefore, the peasants could live and work peacefully, without feeling someone else’s power over them.
When reading these lines, fairy-tale motifs come to mind, because in fairy tales and legends people were absolutely free, they were in charge of their own lives.
The old man talks about how the peasants dealt with bears:
We were only worried
Bears... yes with bears
We managed it easily.
With a knife and a spear
I myself am scarier than the elk,
Along protected paths
I go: “My forest!” - I scream.
Savely, like a real fairy-tale hero, lays claim to the forest surrounding him. It is the forest - with its untrodden paths and mighty trees - that is the real element of the hero Savely. In the forest, the hero is not afraid of anything; he is the real master of the silent kingdom around him. That is why in old age he leaves his family and goes into the forest.
The unity of the hero Saveliy and the nature surrounding him seems undeniable. Nature helps Savely become stronger. Even in old age, when years and adversity have bent the old man’s back, remarkable strength is still felt in him.
Savely tells how in his youth his fellow villagers managed to deceive the master and hide their existing wealth from him. And even though they had to endure a lot for this, no one could blame people for cowardice and lack of will. The peasants were able to convince the landowners of their absolute poverty, so they managed to avoid complete ruin and enslavement.
Savely is a very proud person. This is felt in everything: in his attitude to life, in his steadfastness and courage with which he defends his own. When he talks about his youth, he remembers how only people weak in spirit surrendered to the master. Of course, he himself was not one of those people:
Shalashnikov tore excellently,
And he received not so much great income:
Weak people gave up
And the strong for the patrimony
They stood well.
I also endured
He remained silent and thought:
“Whatever you do, son of a dog,
But you can’t knock out your whole soul,
Leave something behind!”
Old man Savely bitterly says that now there is practically no self-respect left in people. Now cowardice, animal fear for oneself and one’s well-being and lack of desire to fight prevail:
These were proud people!
And now give me a slap -
Police officer, landowner
They're taking their last penny!
Savely's young years were spent in an atmosphere of freedom. But peasant freedom did not last long. The master died, and his heir sent a German, who at first behaved quietly and unnoticed. The German gradually became friends with the entire local population and gradually observed peasant life.
Gradually he gained the trust of the peasants and ordered them to drain the swamp, then cut down the forest. In a word, the peasants came to their senses only when a magnificent road appeared along which their godforsaken place could be easily reached.
And then came hard labor
To the Korezh peasant
Threads ruined
Free life is over, now the peasants have fully felt all the hardships of a forced existence. Old man Savely speaks about people's long-suffering, explaining it by the courage and spiritual strength of people. Only truly strong and courageous people can be so patient as to endure such bullying, and so generous as not to forgive such an attitude towards themselves.
That's why we endured
That we are heroes.
This is Russian heroism.
Do you think, Matryonushka,
A man is not a hero”?
And his life is not a military one,
And death is not written for him
In battle - what a hero!
Nekrasov finds amazing comparisons when talking about people's patience and courage. He uses folk epic when talking about heroes:
Hands are twisted with chains,
Feet forged with iron,
Back...dense forests
We walked along it and broke down.
What about the breasts? Elijah the prophet
It rattles and rolls around
On a chariot of fire...
The hero endures everything!
Old man Savely tells how the peasants endured the arbitrariness of the German manager for eighteen years. Their whole life was now at the mercy of this cruel man. People had to work tirelessly. And the manager was always dissatisfied with the results of the work and demanded more. Constant bullying from the Germans causes strong indignation in the souls of the peasants. And one day another round of bullying forced people to commit a crime. They kill the German manager. When reading these lines, the thought of supreme justice comes to mind. The peasants had already felt completely powerless and weak-willed. Everything they held dear was taken from them. But you can’t mock a person with complete impunity. Sooner or later you will have to pay for your actions.
But, of course, the murder of the manager did not go unpunished:
– What next?
“Next: rubbish! Tavern... prison 6
Bui-city, There I learned to read and write,
So far they have decided on us.
The solution has been reached: hard labor
And whip first...
The life of Savely, the Holy Russian hero, after hard labor was very difficult. He spent twenty years in captivity, only to be released closer to old age. Savely's whole life is very tragic, and in his old age he turns out to be the unwitting culprit in the death of his little grandson. This incident once again proves that, despite all his strength, Savely cannot withstand hostile circumstances. He is just a toy in the hands of fate.

You are currently reading: Saveliy is a Holy Russian hero (based on the poem by N. A. Nekrasov “Who Lives Well in Rus'”)