What is the name of the narrator's character in Chekhov's Gooseberry? The main character of the story Chekhov's gooseberry

Chekhov. How are the fates of the main characters in the stories of Gooseberry and Ionych similar? and got the best answer

Answer from Liudmila Sharukhia[guru]
Chekhov was an irreconcilable enemy of vulgarity and philistinism, he hated and despised ordinary people living in their own little world, fenced off from everything in the world. The theme of “Ionych” is an image of the dead power of philistinism and vulgarity. Chekhov examines the story of the educated doctor Dmitry Ionych Startsev, who turned into an unsociable and selfish person in the provincial wilderness.
The author himself argued that the philistine environment, vulgar and insignificant, destroys the best that is in a person if the person himself does not have an internal awareness of protest. Startsev's story makes us think about what turns a person into a spiritual monster. In my opinion, the worst thing in life is the fall of the individual into the abyss of vulgar philistinism.
If a person submits to the force of circumstances and his ability to resist gradually fades away, then he ultimately loses everything truly human that was characteristic of him. This mortification of the human soul is the most terrible retribution that life repays for opportunism.
The official Nikolai Ivanovich Chimsha-Himalayan, a kind and meek man, loved rural nature (“Gooseberry”, 1898). But the longing for the village gradually turned into an obsession - to buy a “estate” with gooseberries. His youth was spent on achieving this goal; the life of his wife was sacrificed to her, whom Nikolai Ivanovich married for money to buy an estate (he was no longer capable of love, because all feelings had died out in him, except one - the desire to become a landowner) .
And here is the result - this is no longer the former timid poor official, but a real landowner, gentleman. He has changed in appearance - “he has grown old, plump, flabby.” He also changed internally - he became quarrelsome, arrogant and spoke importantly, like a minister.
Nikolai Ivanovich’s spiritual callousness is all the more striking because by nature he was a kind, gentle man, and at first his longing for the village could even seem poetic and evoke sympathy in the reader: sitting for years in the government ward, he longed for freedom, for fresh air, dreaming of village silence .. .
The measure of a person’s spiritual impoverishment is determined, in particular, by his attitude towards the past. Nikolai Ivanovich, having settled in the estate, forgets that his father was a soldier, and his grandfather was a peasant, and boasts of his nobility: “we, the nobles,” “I’m like a nobleman.”
The lack of spirituality to which Nikolai Ivanovich Chimsha-Gimalaysky and Ionych voluntarily condemned themselves excluded them from the ranks of living people, depriving them of the ability to think and feel.

Chekhov's story "Gooseberry" was created in July 1898 in Melikhovo and published the same year in the Russian Thought publishing house. This work is part of a trilogy consisting of short stories: “The Man in a Case,” “About Love,” and “Gooseberry.” In the essay on the topic ““Gooseberry” (Chekhov): a summary” we will talk about a person who subordinated himself entirely to the material component of life. He dreamed of owning an estate in which he would grow his favorite gooseberries.

Chekhov's trilogy. "Gooseberry"

The plot of the story begins with two friends walking across a field, in the distance from which the village of Mironositskoye can be seen. Suddenly the sky frowned and it suddenly began to rain. Then they decided to visit their acquaintance, the poor gentleman Alekhine Pavel Konstantinich, whose house was located very close, in the village of Sofiino. Alekhine turned out to be a man who looked to be about forty years old, tall, well-fed and with long hair. He didn’t look like a landowner, but more like an artist. He was glad to see the guests and invited them to wash and change clothes. After this, the owner and his guests went to drink tea with jam. At the table, Ivan Ivanovich began to tell a story about his brother Nikolai Ivanovich.

Lifetime dream

And here the plot of Chekhov’s work “Gooseberries” is very temptingly revealed. Summary further it tells that, as children, they lived on the estate of their cantist father, who received the rank of officer and left the children the title of hereditary nobility. When their father died, the estate was given away for debts. From the age of nineteen, Nikolai, working in the government chamber, only dreamed of his own small estate, where gooseberry bushes would certainly grow. He couldn't think of anything else.

Nikolai began to frantically save money, was malnourished and did not allow himself anything extra. He married an ugly rich widow, whose money he put in the bank, and kept her from hand to mouth. She, of course, could not stand such a life and soon died. And Nikolai, without any doubt or repentance, soon bought himself the desired estate and planted gooseberries. And so he lived as a landowner.

Brother's arrival

But this was not the end of the plot of Chekhov’s work “Gooseberries”. The summary continues with the fact that one day his brother Ivan Ivanovich came to him, who saw that Nikolai Ivanovich had aged and become grumpy. He constantly argued and said in ministerial phrases something like that education is necessary for the people, but it is premature. Brother Nikolai treated Ivan to gooseberries, and it was clear from him that he was happy with life. Ivan Ivanovich himself was overcome with dissatisfaction and even despair. That night he did not sleep and kept thinking about how many unhappy people who drink too much, go crazy, and their children die from malnutrition. And how many others live “happily”: they sleep, eat, say all sorts of empty speeches, get married, grow old and complacently bury their dead. He came to the idea that behind the door of every such “happy person” there should be a little man with a hammer, who, with his knocking, would remind them that there are unhappy people, and that sooner or later trouble will happen to those who are now happy, and then Surely no one will hear or see them.

This is how Chekhov sums up his work “Gooseberry”. The summary of the plot ends, like the story itself, with Ivan Ivanovich, summing up his story, saying that life cannot be happy without good deeds. But neither Alekhine nor Burkin delved into the very essence of the story, because they were not particularly interested in it, because it was not about something vital. And all this, as they believed, had nothing to do with their lives. However, Alekhine was still happy to communicate with the guests. But it was already late, and everyone had to go to bed.

Chekhov, “Gooseberry”: analysis of creative ideas

It should be noted that the result was a very original and intelligent work with very good thoughts, which was adequately appreciated by the critic Nemirovich-Danchenko.

Chekhov wrote “Gooseberry” for a long time. Analysis of the plot took him a lot of time. He had many ideas for writing, and they were all different in plot, but the same in meaning. At first he wanted to write about a man who had a dream of saving up for a house, but he is stingy and does not even marry, but then by the age of 60 he still acquires the desired estate and plants gooseberries, but then, as soon as the gooseberries are ripe, he is diagnosed with stomach cancer .

The second story he conceived: one official wanted to buy a new ceremonial uniform with gold embroidery, and also saved on everything, in the end he sewed it, but somehow he could not wear it to a reception or a ball. As a result, the uniform was put away in the closet, and in the fall it turned out that mothballs made the gold dull and unsightly. As a result, the official died six months later; he was buried in this uniform.

With this you can finish your essay on the topic “Gooseberries”. Chekhov (the idea of ​​this story was invented simply wonderfully) makes you think about very important things that are very useful for educating the morality of any person.

The end of the 19th century was a time marked by a period of stagnation in the socio-political life of Russia. In these difficult days for our Fatherland, the famous writer A.P. Chekhov is trying to convey good ideas to thinking people. Thus, in the story “Gooseberry” he asks the reader questions about the meaning of life and true happiness, revealing the conflict between material and spiritual goods.

Included in the “little trilogy” is the story of A.P. Chekhov's "Gooseberry" was published by the publishers of "Russian Thought" in 1898. It was created by a writer in the village of Melikhovo, Moscow region. This story is a continuation of the work “The Man in a Case,” which also tells about a dead human soul with a distorted concept of happiness.

It is believed that Chekhov based his plot on a story that the famous lawyer Anatoly Koni told to the writer L.N. Tolstoy. This story tells about one official who, like N.I. Chimshe-Himalayan, put aside savings all his life to achieve his dream. The official believed that a ceremonial uniform with gold embroidery would bring him honor and respect and make him happy. But during his lifetime, the “lucky” thing was not useful to him. Moreover, the uniform, tarnished by mothballs, was put on the poor fellow only at his own funeral.

Genre and direction

The work “Gooseberry” is written in the genre of a story and belongs to such a direction in literary creativity as realism. A laconic prose form allows the author to express his thoughts as briefly as possible, and as a result, attract the reader’s attention and reach his heart.

As you know, what distinguishes a story from other genres is the presence of only one storyline, the presence of one or two main characters, a small number of secondary characters and a small volume. We see all these signs in “Gooseberry”.

About what?

Veterinarian Ivan Ivanovich Chimsha-Gimalaysky and a teacher at the Burkin gymnasium are caught in the field by the rain. The heroes wait out the bad weather in the estate of Alekhine, a friend of Ivan Ivanovich. Then the doctor shares with his dining companions the story of his brother, whose fate was sad.

Since childhood, the brothers learned one simple truth - you have to pay for pleasure. They came from a poor family and tried to provide for themselves.

The youngest of the brothers, Nikolai Ivanovich, especially sought to enrich himself. The limit of all his dreams was an estate and a garden in which ripe and fragrant gooseberries would grow. To achieve his goal, the Chimsha-Himalayan even killed his wife, albeit not on purpose. He saved on everything, seemed to notice nothing around him except advertisements for the sale of “acres of arable land and meadows with an estate.” Ultimately, he still managed to acquire the desired plot. On the one hand, the main character is happy, he eats his gooseberries with pleasure, pretends to be a stern but fair master... But on the other hand, the current situation of Nikolai Ivanovich does not please his brother, who came to stay. Ivan Ivanovich understands that there are things whose value is much greater than the pleasure of eating your own gooseberries. It is at this moment that the conflict between the material and spiritual reaches its climax.

Composition

The plot of “Gooseberry” is based on the “story within a story” principle. Nonlinear storytelling helps the author deepen the meaning of the work.

In addition to the story of the main character of the story, Nikolai Ivanovich Chimshi-Himalayan, there is another reality in which Ivan Ivanovich, Alekhine and Burkin live. The last two give their assessment of what happened to Nikolai Ivanovich. Their ideas about life are the most common version of human existence. It is important to pay attention to the exposition of the story, which contains detailed description nature. The landscape on Nikolai Ivanovich’s estate confirms the spiritual poverty of the newly minted master.

The main characters and their characteristics

1. Chimsha-Himalayan Ivan Ivanovich- a representative of the nobility who serves in the medical field - treats animals. He is also a character in the stories "The Man in the Case" and "About Love". This hero performs important functions in the story “Gooseberry”. Firstly, he is a storyteller, and secondly, he is a reasoning hero, since from his lips the reader can hear the author’s appeal, his main thoughts. For example, the words of Ivan Ivanovich about the transience of life, the need to act and live here and now.
2. Chimsha-Himalayan Nikolai Ivanovich- a representative of the nobility, a minor official, and then a landowner. He is two years younger than his brother, "a kind, gentle man." The character sought to return to the village - to lead the quiet life of a landowner. I dreamed of feeding the ducks on the pond, walking through the garden, bathing in the rays of the warm sun, picking ripe gooseberries from branches still wet from the morning dew. For the sake of his dream, he denied himself everything: he saved money, he did not marry for love. After the death of his wife, he was finally able to buy the estate of his dreams: he settled down, began to gain weight and put on airs, talk about his noble origins, and asked men to address him as “Your Honor.”

Themes

This work touches on themes of happiness, dreams, search for the meaning of life. All three topics are closely related to each other. The dream of his own estate with gooseberries led Nikolai Ivanovich to his happiness. He not only ate gooseberries with pleasure, but also spoke intelligently about public education, sincerely believing that thanks to him every simple man could become a full-fledged member of society. Only the happiness of the protagonist is false: it is just peace and idleness that lead him to stagnation. Time has literally stopped around him: he does not need to bother himself, try or deny himself anything, since now he is a master. Previously, Nikolai Ivanovich was firmly convinced that happiness must be won and deserved. Now, in his opinion, happiness is a gift from God, and only a chosen one like him can live in heaven on earth. That is, his dubious achievement became only fertile ground for selfishness. A man lives only for himself. Having become rich, he became spiritually poor.

One can also highlight a topic such as indifference and responsiveness. The narrator, discussing this topic, notes that neither Alekhine nor Burkin fully understood his ideas and showed passivity towards a very instructive story about the meaning of life. Ivan Ivanovich Chimsha-Himalayan himself encourages everyone to seek happiness throughout their lives, to remember about people, and not just about themselves.

And thus, the hero admits, the meaning of life lies not in satisfying carnal desires, but in more sublime things, for example, helping others.

Problems

1. Greed and vanity. The main problem in the story “Gooseberry” there are human misconceptions that true happiness is material wealth. So, Nikolai Ivanovich worked all his life for money, lived in the name of it. As a result, his ideas turned out to be wrong, which is why he ate sour gooseberries, smiling and saying: “Oh, how delicious!” In his opinion, only money gives a person significance: being a master, he himself began to extol himself, as if without an estate
2. An equally important problem is selfishness. Main character, like many people on earth, forgot or did not want to remember the misfortunes of those around him. He followed this rule: I feel good, but don’t care about others.

Meaning

The main idea of ​​A.P. Chekhov is expressed in Ivan Ivanovich’s phrase that one cannot rejoice when others feel bad. You cannot turn a blind eye to other people’s problems; it is important to remember that trouble can knock on any home. It is important to be able to respond to requests for help in a timely manner, so that they can help you in difficult times. Thus, the author expresses his contempt for constant peace and stagnation in human life. Happiness, according to Chekhov, is a movement, an action, aimed at doing good and fair deeds.

The same idea can be seen in all parts of the trilogy.

Criticism

Positively assessed the story “Gooseberry” V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko:

It’s good, because there is a coloring inherent to you, both in the general tone and background, and in the language, and also because very good thoughts...

But not only critics and literary scholars spoke about what they read. They actively wrote letters to Anton Pavlovich simple people. For example, one day the writer received a letter from Natalia Dushina, a student at a technical school. Here is her quote:

When I read something of yours, I always feel that I lived with these people, that I want to say the same thing about them that you said, and I’m not the only one who feels this, and this is because you write only the truth and everything said differently from what you said will be a lie...

The most detailed description of Chekhov's creative manner of describing the realities of Russian life was given by B. Eikhenbaum in his article in Zvezda magazine :

Over the years, Chekhov's artistic diagnoses became more precise and deepened. Under his pen, the disease of Russian life acquired increasingly sharp and vivid outlines.<…>From diagnoses, Chekhov began to move on to issues of treatment. This came out with particular force in the story “Gooseberry”.<…>Chekhov never composed - he heard these words in life and was delighted by them, because he himself was this man with a hammer. He knocked on the very heart of Russia - and got through.

He spoke especially emotionally about the story G.P. Berdnikov, declaring that “it is a shame to be happy” in the reality that Chekhov describes. :

The drama... is revealed to us in the story “Gooseberry”.<…>However, under the pen of Chekhov, the dream-passion that gripped the official consumes him so much that in the end it completely deprives him of his human appearance and likeness.

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History of creation

The story “Gooseberry” was first published in the August issue of the magazine “Russian Thought” in 1898. The stories “Gooseberry” and “About Love,” which continued the “little trilogy” begun by the story “The Man in a Case,” were created by Chekhov in Melikhovo in July 1898.

Characters

• Ivan Ivanovich Chimsha-Himalayan- the main character of the work, the narrator
• Nikolay Ivanovich- Ivan Ivanovich's younger brother. Nikolai worked in the government chamber.
• Alyokhin- a poor landowner whom Ivan Ivanovich drops in on
• Burkina- friend and interlocutor of Ivan Ivanovich.

Plot

Ivan Ivanovich and Burkin walk through a field near the village of Mironositskoye and decide to visit a friend, landowner Pavel Konstantinych Alyokhin, whose estate is located nearby in the village of Sofiino. Alyokhin, “a man of about forty, tall, plump with long hair, looking more like a professor or artist than a landowner,” greets guests on the threshold of a barn in which a winnowing machine is noisy. His clothes are dirty, and his face is black with dust. He welcomes the guests and invites them to go to the bathhouse. After washing and changing clothes, Ivan Ivanovich, Burkin and Alyohin go to the house, where over a cup of tea with jam, Ivan Ivanovich tells the story of his brother Nikolai Ivanovich.

The brothers spent their childhood in freedom, on the estate of their father, who served as an officer and left the children hereditary nobility. After the death of their father, their estate was seized for debts. From the age of nineteen, Nikolai sat in the government chamber and dreamed of buying himself a small estate and simply could not think of anything else. He kept imagining his future estate, where gooseberries would certainly grow. Nikolai saved money, was malnourished, and married an ugly but rich widow without love. He kept his wife from hand to mouth, and put her money in the bank in his name. The wife could not bear such a life and died, and Nikolai bought himself an estate, ordered twenty gooseberry bushes, planted them and began to live as a landowner. When Ivan Ivanovich came to visit his brother, he was unpleasantly surprised by how he had become depressed, aged and flabby. He became a real master, ate a lot, and sued neighboring factories. Nikolai treated his brother to gooseberries, and it was clear from him that he was satisfied with his fate and with himself.

At the sight of this happy man, Ivan Ivanovich “was overcome by a feeling close to despair.” The whole night he spent in the estate, he thought about how many people in the world suffer, go crazy, drink, how many children die from malnutrition. And how many other people live “happily”, “eat during the day, sleep at night, talk their nonsense, get married, grow old, complacently drag their dead to the cemetery.” He thought that behind the door of every happy person there should be “someone with a hammer” and remind him with a knock that there are unfortunate people, that sooner or later trouble will befall him, and “no one will see or hear him, just as he is not now.” sees and does not hear others.” Ivan Ivanovich, finishing his story, says that there is no happiness, and if there is meaning in life, then it is not in happiness, but in “doing good.”

Neither Burkin nor Alyohin are satisfied with Ivan Ivanovich's story. Alekhine does not delve into whether his words are fair. It was not about cereals, not about hay, but about something that was not directly related to his life. But he is happy and wants the guests to continue the conversation. However, it is late, the host and guests go to bed.

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Notes

Excerpt characterizing Gooseberry (story)

In the morning, as usual, I went to have breakfast. Before I had time to reach out to the cup of milk, the same heavy glass cup suddenly moved in my direction, spilling some of the milk on the table... I felt a little uneasy. I tried again - the cup moved again. Then I thought about bread... Two pieces lying nearby jumped up and fell to the floor. To be honest, my hair started to stand up... Not because I was scared. I wasn’t afraid of almost anything at that time, but it was something very “earthly” and concrete, it was nearby and I absolutely didn’t know how to control it...
I tried to calm down, took a deep breath and tried again. Only this time I didn’t try to touch anything, but decided to just think about what I wanted - for example, for the cup to be in my hand. Of course, this did not happen, she again just simply moved sharply. But I was jubilant!!! My whole insides simply squealed with delight, because I already realized that sharply or not, this was only happening at the request of my thought! And it was absolutely amazing! Of course, I immediately wanted to try the “new product” on all the living and inanimate “objects” around me...
The first one I came across was my grandmother, who at that moment was calmly preparing her next culinary “work” in the kitchen. It was very quiet, the grandmother was humming something to herself, when suddenly a heavy cast-iron frying pan jumped up like a bird on the stove and crashed onto the floor with a terrible noise... The grandmother jumped up in surprise no worse than the same frying pan... But, we must give her her due, right away pulled herself together and said:
- Stop doing that!
I felt a little offended, because no matter what happened, out of habit, they always blamed me for everything (although at the moment this, of course, was the absolute truth).
- Why do you think it’s me? – I asked pouting.
“Well, it seems like we don’t have ghosts yet,” the grandmother said calmly.
I loved her very much for her equanimity and unshakable calm. It seemed that nothing in this world could truly “unsettle” her. Although, naturally, there were things that upset her, surprised her, or made her sad, she perceived all this with amazing calm. And that’s why I always felt very comfortable and protected with her. Somehow, I suddenly felt that my last “prank” interested my grandmother... I literally “felt in my gut” that she was watching me and waiting for something else. Well, naturally, I didn’t keep myself waiting long... A few seconds later, all the “spoons and ladle” hanging over the stove flew down with a noisy roar behind the same frying pan...
“Well, well... Breaking is not building, I would do something useful,” the grandmother said calmly.
I was already choked with indignation! Well, please tell me, how can she treat this “incredible event” so calmly?! After all, this is... SUCH!!! I couldn’t even explain what it was, but I certainly knew that I couldn’t take what was happening so calmly. Unfortunately, my indignation did not make the slightest impression on my grandmother and she again calmly said:
“You shouldn’t spend so much effort on something you can do with your hands.” Better go read it.
My outrage knew no bounds! I couldn’t understand why what seemed so amazing to me didn’t cause any delight in her?! Unfortunately, I was still too young a child to understand that all these impressive “external effects” really do not give anything other than the same “external effects”... And the essence of all this is just intoxication with the “mysticism of the inexplicable” gullible and impressionable people, which my grandmother, naturally, was not... But since I had not yet matured to such an understanding, at that moment I was only incredibly interested in what else I could move. Therefore, without regret, I left my grandmother, who “did not understand” me, and moved on in search of a new object of my “experiments”...
At that time, my father’s favorite, a beautiful gray cat, Grishka, lived with us. I found him sleeping soundly on the warm stove and decided that this was just a very good moment to try my new “art” on him. I thought it would be better if he sat on the window. Nothing happened. Then I concentrated and thought harder... Poor Grishka flew off the stove with a wild cry and crashed his head on the windowsill... I felt so sorry for him and so ashamed that I, all around guilty, rushed to pick him up. But for some reason all the fur of the unfortunate cat suddenly stood on end and he, meowing loudly, rushed away from me, as if scalded by boiling water.

Chekhov's story "Gooseberry" is based on the story told by Koni's lawyer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. That story spoke of an official who dreamed of a ceremonial uniform with gold braid, and never used it during his lifetime. The purpose of Chekhov's work is to focus the reader's attention on the correct understanding of the meaning of life, to awaken in him responsiveness and concern for his neighbor. Chekhov calls for constant movement forward, driven by the manifestations of the best human qualities. “Gooseberry” is part of a series of short stories created by the writer in 1898.

Characteristics of the heroes “Gooseberry”

Main characters

Minor characters

The main characters of "Gooseberry", Ivan Ivanovich and Nikolai Ivanovich, are completely different people who have different understandings of the meaning of life. The only thing they have in common is their names. Thus, Chekhov continues to develop the theme of “caseness” in his cycle of stories, the list of which includes three stories. With the main theme of this trilogy, the writer is trying to awaken people from a meaningless existence, from their base and petty goals. Through the mouth of Ivan Ivanovich, Chekhov tries to awaken in a person the desire for high moral and ethical values, for the awareness of their insignificant desires. The characteristics of the heroes in Chekhov's work give an idea of ​​the time, which was called the period of stagnation. The writer’s trilogy reflected the course of events taking place in the sphere of socio-political relations. With his works, Chekhov tried to plant a spark in the minds of progressive and thinking people who were capable of radically influencing the events taking place in the country. Understanding the story “Gooseberry” makes you think about life priorities.