Biographies Characteristics Analysis

"Biryuk": analysis of the story, main features. Image of Biryuk

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Russia is shown simply, poetically and lovingly in “Notes of a Hunter” by I. S. Turgenev. The author admires the simple folk characters, fields, forests, meadows of Russia. No matter how one views the stories, this is first and foremost poetry, not politics. The shortest story in the “Biryuk” series was written with great love and observation. The depth of the content is combined with the perfection of the form, which speaks of the writer’s ability to subordinate all the components of the work, all his artistic techniques to a single creative task.

Biryuk in the Oryol province was called a gloomy and lonely person. Forester Foma lived alone in a smoky, low hut with two young children; his wife left him; family grief and hard life made him even more gloomy and unsociable.

The main and only event of the story is the forester’s capture of a poor peasant who cut down a tree in the master’s forest. The conflict of the work consists of a clash between a forester and a peasant.

The image of Biryuk is complex and contradictory, and in order to understand it, let’s pay attention to the artistic means that the author used.

The description of the situation shows how poor the hero is. This dwelling was a sad sight: “I looked around - my heart ached: it’s not fun to enter a peasant’s hut at night.”

The key to understanding the character of Thomas is the nickname that the peasants give him. From them we receive an indirect description of the forester: “a master of his craft”; “the fagots will not be allowed to be dragged away”; “strong... and as dexterous as a devil... And nothing can take him: neither wine, nor money; doesn’t take any bait.”

The plot, consisting of two episodes (the forester met the hunter during a thunderstorm and helped him; he caught the peasant at the scene of the crime, and then set him free), reveals the best features of the hero’s character. It is difficult for Foma to make a choice: to act according to the dictates of duty or to take pity on the man. The despair of the captured peasant awakens the best feelings in the forester.

Nature in the story serves not just as a background, it is an integral part of the content, helping to reveal Biryuk’s character. Combinations of words depicting the rapid onset of bad weather, sad pictures of nature emphasize the drama of the situation of the peasants: “a thunderstorm was approaching,” “a cloud was slowly rising,” “clouds were rushing.”

Turgenev helped not only to see the life of the peasants, to sympathize with their troubles and needs, he turned us to the spiritual world of the Russian peasant, noticed many unique, interesting individuals. “Still, my Rus' is dearer to me than anything else in the world...”, I. S. Turgenev would later write. “Notes of a Hunter” is a writer’s tribute to Russia, a kind of monument to the Russian peasantry.

The main character of the work, included in the collection of stories “Notes of a Hunter,” is the serf forester Foma Kuzmich, popularly nicknamed Biryuk.

The writer presents Biryuk in the image of a tall, broad-shouldered man with a thick beard, bushy eyebrows and small brown eyes, reminiscent of a Russian fairy-tale hero living in a poor forest lodge with two children left to be raised by their father by their unlucky mother.

By nature, Foma Kuzmich is distinguished by strength, honesty, dexterity, severity, justice, but he has a tough and unsociable character, for which he received the nickname Biryuk among the local residents.

Biryuk sacredly observes his own principles of good and evil, which are subordinated to strict service of official duties, careful attitude to other people's property, although in his own family he has complete poverty, lack of basic household furniture and utensils, poor food and children left without maternal affection and care .

Indicative of this is the example of a man caught in the forest by Biryuk, who decided on a stormy night to cut firewood without proper permission in order to feed his large family. A sense of duty prevails among the forester, he is very strict about theft, not allowing himself to commit unseemly acts even out of despair, but at the same time, compassion, pity and generosity towards a beggar, a wretched little peasant who decided to do a bad deed because of hungry children, wins In Biryuk’s soul there is a need to correctly carry out official duties.

Narrating an episode that happened on a rainy night with Biryuk, the writer reveals the character of Foma Kuzmich as an integral and strong nature, adhering to firm principles in life, but forced to deviate from them in order to demonstrate true human qualities.

The entire cycle of stories “Notes of a Hunter,” including the work in question, is dedicated by the writer to a description of the difficult life of Russian serfs, each of whom is a strong, powerful characteristic image, bearing the manifestation of true human qualities, such as love, patriotism, justice, mutual assistance, kindness and sincerity.

Essay about Biryuk

Turgenev is one of those poets for whom love for Russia comes almost first. This can be seen throughout his entire work. The work “Biryuk” is very prominent among Turgenev’s works. This work was not a manifestation of love for the native land and not political issues, but exclusively moral values.

The main character is Biryuk, who is also a forester. Turgenev in the story tries to show that his life is not sweet and there are enough problems for his soul. The main character broke up with his wife, or rather she left him, and the two children remained to live with their father. If you imagine Biryuk, you get the impression of an eternally sad, gloomy person. But how can you rejoice when family life is over? In addition, the place of residence was an old hut. When the author describes the state of the home, it becomes gloomy, poverty is all around. Even when he had a guest at night, he didn’t really want to be in such a terrible hut.

The people who met Thomas were afraid of him, and this is understandable. He is a tall and strong man, his face is stern, even angry. A beard grew on his face. But, as you know, external signs are only the first impression of a person, because, in essence, he is a kind and sympathetic person. Fellow villagers said about Biryuk that he was an honest man and did not like deception. He was an incorruptible forester, he did not need profit, he simply minded his own business and lived honestly.

One day Thomas caught a thief at night and he was faced with the question of what to do with him? The first thing on the forester's mind was punishment for the thief. Biryuk took the ropes and tied up the criminal, then led him into the hut. The thief was a little dumbfounded by the living conditions of the forester. But you can’t deceive your soul and heart. Although Thomas looked stern, kindness won in this situation. The forester decides that the criminal needs to be released, although he has doubts about this. It was difficult for Biryuk to understand that theft is not such a terrible crime. In his concepts, every crime must be punished.

Throughout the story, Turgenev tries to present Foma as a simple man from Russia. He is honest and just lives and does what he is supposed to do. He is not looking for illegal ways to make money. Turgenev describes Thomas in such a way that you really understand that life can throw you into trouble. He is burdened by his existence in poverty and no joy. Nevertheless, the hero accepts what is and continues to live proudly and fight problems.

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One of the types of “good” men is depicted in the story “Biryuk”. He lives in a poor hut with two children - his wife ran away with some tradesman. He serves as a forester and they say about him that he “will not let bundles of firewood be dragged away... and nothing can take him: neither wine, nor money - he does not accept any bait.” He is gloomy and silent; to the author’s questions, he sternly replies: “I’m doing my job - I don’t have to eat the master’s bread for nothing.” Despite this outward severity, he is a very compassionate and kind person at heart. Usually, having caught a man in the forest, he only abuses him, and then, taking pity, he lets him go in peace. The author of the story witnesses the following scene: Biryuk releases the man he caught in the forest, realizing that only extreme need forced this poor man to decide to steal. At the same time, he does not show off at all with his noble deeds - he is rather embarrassed that a stranger witnessed this scene. He is one of those people who at first glance do not stand out, but are suddenly capable of doing something out of the ordinary, after which they again become the same ordinary people.

His majestic posture - tall stature, powerful shoulders, stern and courageous face, wide eyebrows and boldly looking small brown eyes - everything about him revealed an extraordinary person. Biryuk performed his duties as a forester so conscientiously that everyone said about him: “he won’t let a bundle of brushwood be dragged away... And nothing can take it: neither wine, nor money; there’s no bait.” Stern in appearance, Biryuk had a gentle, kind heart. If he catches a man in the forest who has cut down a tree, he will punish him so much that he will threaten not to give up his horse, and the matter will usually end with him taking pity on the thief and letting him go. Biryuk loves to do a good deed, he also loves to fulfill his duties conscientiously, but he will not shout about it at all crossroads, and will not show off about it.

Biryuk’s stern honesty does not stem from any speculative principles: he is a simple man. But his deeply direct nature made him understand how to fulfill the responsibility he had taken upon himself. “I’m fulfilling my duty,” he says gloomily, “I don’t have to eat the master’s bread for nothing...” Biryuk is a good person, although rude in appearance. He lives alone in the forest, in a hut “smoky, low and empty, without floors or partitions,” with two children, abandoned by his wife, who ran away with a passing tradesman; It must have been family grief that made him gloomy. He is a forester, and they say about him that “he won’t let a bundle of brushwood be dragged away... and nothing can take him: neither wine, nor money, nor any kind of bait.” The author had the opportunity to witness how this incorruptibly honest man released a thief he had caught in the forest, a man who had cut down a tree - he let him go because he felt with his honest and generous heart the hopeless grief of a poor man who, out of despair, decided on a dangerous task. The author perfectly depicts in this scene all the horror of poverty to which the peasant sometimes reaches.

Essay on the topic “Characteristics of Biryuk”

The work was completed by a student of class 7 “B” Balashov Alexander

The main character of the story is I.S. Turgenev's "Biryuk" is the forester Foma. Foma is a very interesting and unusual person. With what admiration and pride the author describes his hero: “He was tall, broad-shouldered and beautifully built. His powerful muscles bulged out from under the wet manner of his shirt.” Biryuk had a “manly face” and “small brown eyes” that “looked boldly from under fused wide eyebrows.”

The author is struck by the wretchedness of the forester’s hut, which consisted of “one room, smoky, low and empty, without floors ...”, everything here speaks of a miserable existence - both “a tattered sheepskin coat on the wall” and “a pile of rags in the corner; two large pots that stood near the stove...” Turgenev himself sums up the description: “I looked around - my heart ached: it’s not fun to enter a peasant’s hut at night.”

The forester's wife ran away with a passing tradesman and abandoned two children; Maybe that’s why the forester was so stern and silent. Foma was nicknamed Biryuk, that is, a gloomy and lonely man, by the surrounding men, who feared him like fire. They said that he was “strong and dexterous like a devil...”, “he won’t let you drag fagots of brushwood” out of the forest, “no matter what time it is... he’ll come out of the blue” and don’t expect mercy. Biryuk is a “master of his craft” who cannot be conquered by anything, “neither wine nor money.” However, despite all his sorrows and troubles, Biryuk retained kindness and mercy in his heart. He secretly sympathized with his “wards”, but work is work, and the demand for the stolen goods will first of all be from himself. But this does not prevent him from doing good deeds, releasing the most desperate ones without punishment, but only with a fair amount of intimidation.

Biryuk's tragedy stemmed from the understanding that it was not because of a good life that peasants came to steal timber. Often, feelings of pity and compassion prevail over his integrity. So, in the story, Biryuk caught a man chopping down a forest. He was dressed in tattered rags, all wet, with a disheveled beard. The man asked to let him go or at least give him the horse, because there were children at home and there was nothing to feed them. In response to all the persuasion, the forester kept repeating one thing: “Don’t go stealing.” In the end, Foma Kuzmich grabbed the thief by the collar and pushed him out the door, saying: “Get to hell with your horse.” With these rude words, he seems to cover up his generous act. So the forester constantly oscillates between principles and a sense of compassion. The author wants to show that this gloomy, unsociable person actually has a kind, generous heart.

Describing a forced people, destitute and oppressed, Turgenev especially emphasizes that even in such conditions he was able to preserve his living soul, the ability to empathize and respond with his whole being to kindness and kindness. Even this life does not kill humanity in people - that is what is most important.

The story “Biryuk,” which we will analyze, begins with a description of a thunderstorm that caught the hunter in the forest in the evening. Details specifying the place and time of action create an alarming atmosphere. So far it is only barely felt. But the gloomy colors (“lilac cloud”, “gray clouds”) and the movement that has begun in nature (“a thunderstorm was approaching”, “the trees were raging”, “drops... knocked”, “lightning flashed”) enhance it.

A man appears “at the flash of lightning.” His “figure seemed to have grown out of the ground.” And this is not just a common expression - it speaks of the unity of a given person with nature.

When a person appears, anxiety does not go away. Moreover, it is also fueled, but not by nature, but by man himself. We perceive people, events and nature through the eyes of a hunter-storyteller, that is, detachedly.

The image of Biryuk in the story

The hunter from Turgenev’s “Biryuk” saw both the forester himself and his house. This is a “small hut” in which “a light shone dimly.” In the “smoky” hut there was not a single bright spot - a “torn sheepskin coat”, “a pile of rags” and a splinter that was unable to dispel the darkness. It seems that only traces of a past life remain here, and that life itself has gone somewhere. Even the presence of children does not relieve this feeling.

The appearance of the owner in the hut brightens the atmosphere for a while. The narrator saw a man of “tall stature,” who had “mighty muscles,” “a courageous face,” and “small brown eyes that looked boldly.” Quite a recognizable image. Where is he from? In the story “Biryuk” by Turgenev there is a hint: “Rarely have I seen such a fine fellow.” “Well done” is an epic fairy-tale hero. But then why is he here, in this wretched hut with the unfortunate children? There is a clear discrepancy between the hero’s appearance and his lifestyle. It caused the narrator not only surprise, but also interest: “I... asked his name.”

We gradually learn information about the forester. People talk about him first. Their opinion is known from the forester himself: “My name is Foma... and my nickname is Biryuk.” The narrator also heard something about Biryuk from people. They “feared him like fire,” considered him incorruptible, and more than once “they were going to put him out of the world.”

Is this characterization of Biryuk fair? The narrator has to test her. And what? From a terse conversation, he realized that he saw a correct person, honestly fulfilling his duty. “I’m fulfilling my duty,” Biryuk says about himself. And he is also lonely - his wife “ran away with a passing tradesman,” leaving the children with him. In the characterization of the hero, his loneliness is a very significant component. Lonely means deprived of the support of family and friends and, most likely, an unhappy person. An ordinary story, but Biryuk himself is not entirely ordinary, which will soon be confirmed.

Biryuk and the man

Late in the evening a thief appeared in the forest. The forester’s direct duty is to catch him, which he does.

The man is wet, “in rags”, he has “a worn-out, wrinkled face... restless eyes.” His portrait is straight - the opposite of Biryuk's portrait. The forester evokes admiration, you want to admire him, but the man is just a pity.

In the images of Biryuk and the peasant, not only physical strength and weakness collided, but also two opposing life positions. Biryuk “does his duty,” honors the law, but the man, by stealing, breaks the law. And that’s not all - he also justifies his actions - “from hunger”, “ruined”, “children...” Both his clerk and Biryuk, who is a “beast”, a “bloodsucker”, are to blame. Only he himself is not to blame for anything. And the fact that he drinks is like, “Isn’t it your money, murderer...”

Biryuk’s situation is no better: he is “also a forced man”, he also has children, and there is nothing to eat “besides bread...”, he doesn’t even drink tea, but he doesn’t steal either.

So, the conflict revealed the inner essence of two men. While socially equal, they are morally absolute antipodes. Consequently, one should not count on the objectivity of the assessment that Biryuk received from the thief’s fellow villagers.

The situation unfolds unexpectedly - Biryuk, contrary to his own convictions and professional duty, releases the thief, once again confirming the ambiguity of his personality. But is the conflict settled by his decision to let the thief go? Of course not. This guy isn't the only one breaking the law. “I know you... a thief among a thief,” says Biryuk. Therefore, his collisions with them are inevitable: “Wait, we’ll get to you,” the thief threatens.

Bad weather of human relations

The whole story takes place against the backdrop of rain. It begins with him - even with a thunderstorm, and ends with him. “You can’t wait out the rain...,” Biryuk says to the hunter and sees him off on the road.

The rain, which intensifies and then subsides, creates in the story a mood of some inexplicable sadness that permeates the entire story of Biryuk. But the words “rain” and “thunderstorm” are used in the story not only in a literal, but also in a symbolic sense. Continuous rain is bad weather in human relationships. The sun disappeared from them for a long time, if not forever.

The story is called by the nickname of the main character. It accurately indicates his character and place among people. But it turns out that Biryuk doesn’t have a place. He's alone everywhere. “Their” men call him a “beast” and promise to deal with him. The master has him in bondage. Biryuk's loneliness is emphasized by details: his hut is alone in the middle of the forest, and in the hut he is alone (without his wife) with his children. Biryuk's drama is that, being strong and handsome, courageous and honest, being correct, he should live well, as he deserves, but he lives poorly. And no brightness is expected in his life.

Main features of the story “Biryuk”:

  • genre - story;
  • narration from the narrator's point of view;
  • main character: serf forester;
  • plot: one episode from the life of the hero;
  • image of nature;
  • a reflection of the life of a Russian forced person.

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This story is included in the cycle of works by Turgenev “Notes of a Hunter”. To better reveal the theme of “Characteristics of the Biryuk”, you need to know the plot well, and it revolves around the fact that a hunter, lost in the forest, is suddenly overtaken by a thunderstorm. To wait out the bad weather, he hid under a large bush. But then local forester Foma Kuzmich picked him up and took him to his home. There the hunter saw the wretched shelter of his savior, and at the same time he had two children: a 12-year-old girl and a baby in a cradle. His wife was not in the house; she ran away from him with someone else, leaving him with children.

Turgenev, “Biryuk”: characteristics of Biryuk

People called this gloomy forester the Biryuk. He had a broad figure and a face that betrayed no emotion. When the rain stopped, they went to the yard. And then the sound of an ax was heard, the forester immediately realized where it was coming from, and soon dragged in a wet man who begged for mercy. The hunter immediately took pity on the poor peasant and was ready to pay for him, but the stern Biryuk himself let him go.

As you can see, the characterization of Biryuk is not simple; Turgenev shows a hero, although a beggar, who knows his duty well, and whom “neither wine nor money” can’t be taken away. He understands a peasant thief who is trying to somehow get out of hunger. And here the hero’s conflict is shown between a sense of duty and compassion for a poor man, and yet he decided in favor of compassion. Foma Kuzmich is an integral and strong personality, but tragic, because he has his own views on life, but sometimes he, a principled person, has to sacrifice them.

Characteristics of Biryuk

The author points out that in the middle of the 19th century, the majority of peasant people regarded theft as something natural and commonplace. Of course, serious social problems led to this phenomenon: lack of education, poverty and immorality.

But it is Biryuk who is unlike most of these people, although he is just as poor as everyone else. His hut consisted of one room, low and empty. But still he doesn’t steal, although if he did, he could afford a better house.

Duty and Compassion

Biryuk’s characteristics indicate that he neither steals nor gives to others, since he understands perfectly well that if everyone does this, it will only get worse.

He is sure of this and therefore is firm in his decision. But, as the essay describes, his principles sometimes compete with feelings of pity and compassion, and he will have this hesitation all his life. After all, he understands someone who, out of desperation, goes to steal.

Characteristics of the hero

Biryuk is a solid, but tragic personality. His tragedy is that he has his own views on life, but sometimes he has to sacrifice them. The work shows that most peasants of the mid-19th century treated theft as something ordinary: “You won’t let a bundle of brushwood be stolen from the forest,” the man said, as if he had every right to steal brushwood from the forest. Of course, some social problems played a major role in the development of such a worldview: the insecurity of the peasants, lack of education and immorality. Biryuk is not like them. He himself lives in deep poverty: “Biryuk’s hut consisted of one room, smoky, low and empty, without floors or partitions,” but he does not steal (if he had stolen timber, he could have afforded a white hut) and is trying to wean him from this from others: “But don’t go stealing anyway.” He clearly understands that if everyone steals, it will only get worse. Confident that he is right, he firmly steps towards his own goal.

However, his confidence is sometimes undermined. For example, in the case described in the essay, when human feelings of pity and compassion compete with life principles. After all, if a person is truly in need and has no other way, he often resorts to stealing out of hopelessness. Foma Kuzmich (the forester) had the hardest fate of vacillating between feelings and principles all his life.

The essay “Biryuk” has many artistic merits. These include picturesque pictures of nature, an inimitable narration style, the originality of the characters, and much, much more. Ivan Sergeevich's contribution to Russian literature is priceless. His collection “Notes of a Hunter” ranks among the masterpieces of Russian literature. And the problems raised in the work are still relevant today.

Essay on the topic “Characteristics of Biryuk”

The work was completed by a student of class 7 “B” Balashov Alexander

The main character of the story is I.S. Turgenev's "Biryuk" is the forester Foma. Foma is a very interesting and unusual person. With what admiration and pride the author describes his hero: “He was tall, broad-shouldered and beautifully built. His powerful muscles bulged out from under the wet manner of his shirt.” Biryuk had a “manly face” and “small brown eyes” that “looked boldly from under fused wide eyebrows.”

The author is struck by the wretchedness of the forester’s hut, which consisted of “one room, smoky, low and empty, without floors ...”, everything here speaks of a miserable existence - both “a tattered sheepskin coat on the wall” and “a pile of rags in the corner; two large pots that stood near the stove...” Turgenev himself sums up the description: “I looked around - my heart ached: it’s not fun to enter a peasant’s hut at night.”

The forester's wife ran away with a passing tradesman and abandoned two children; Maybe that’s why the forester was so stern and silent. Foma was nicknamed Biryuk, that is, a gloomy and lonely man, by the surrounding men, who feared him like fire. They said that he was “strong and dexterous like a devil...”, “he won’t let you drag fagots of brushwood” out of the forest, “no matter what time it is... he’ll come out of the blue” and don’t expect mercy. Biryuk is a “master of his craft” who cannot be conquered by anything, “neither wine nor money.” However, despite all his sorrows and troubles, Biryuk retained kindness and mercy in his heart. He secretly sympathized with his “wards”, but work is work, and the demand for the stolen goods will first of all be from himself. But this does not prevent him from doing good deeds, releasing the most desperate ones without punishment, but only with a fair amount of intimidation.

Biryuk's tragedy stemmed from the understanding that it was not because of a good life that peasants came to steal timber. Often, feelings of pity and compassion prevail over his integrity. So, in the story, Biryuk caught a man chopping down a forest. He was dressed in tattered rags, all wet, with a disheveled beard. The man asked to let him go or at least give him the horse, because there were children at home and there was nothing to feed them. In response to all the persuasion, the forester kept repeating one thing: “Don’t go stealing.” In the end, Foma Kuzmich grabbed the thief by the collar and pushed him out the door, saying: “Get to hell with your horse.” With these rude words, he seems to cover up his generous act. So the forester constantly oscillates between principles and a sense of compassion. The author wants to show that this gloomy, unsociable person actually has a kind, generous heart.

Describing a forced people, destitute and oppressed, Turgenev especially emphasizes that even in such conditions he was able to preserve his living soul, the ability to empathize and respond with his whole being to kindness and kindness. Even this life does not kill humanity in people - that is what is most important.

In 1847-1852, Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev created several stories, which were combined into a collection called “Notes of a Hunter.”

Writers of the previous era rarely wrote about peasants, and if they did, they depicted them as a common gray mass. Despite this, Turgenev undertook to note the peculiarities of peasant life, thanks to which the collection “Notes of a Hunter” presented a bright and multifaceted composition of the life of peasants. The stories immediately attracted readers and allowed them to gain special fame.

Features of the stories “Notes of a Hunter”

Each story features one main character, whose name is Pyotr Petrovich. He is a nobleman from the village of Spassky and is actively involved in hunting and hiking. Ivan Turgenev talks about various stories that happened during hunting trips. The main character has acquired such valuable character traits as observation and attention, thanks to which the narrator better understands various life situations and successfully conveys them to the reader.

“Biryuk” is a story included in the collection “Notes of a Hunter.” The work was written in 1848 and corresponds to the general literary composition. The main character again finds himself in an interesting story, which he narrates in the form of a monologue.

The plot of the story "Biryuk"

One evening Pyotr Petrovich was returning from hunting and got caught in a downpour. A further trip turned out to be impossible: we had to wait out the bad weather. Fortunately, Peter saw a forester who invited the master to his house. An important conversation took place in Biryuk’s hut. As it turned out, the forester was nicknamed Biryuk because he has a gloomy and unsociable character. Despite such harsh character traits, Biryuk decided to tell many interesting facts about his life.

After the rain ended, the hospitable owner of the forest hut heard the sound of an ax and decided to catch the offender. Pyotr Petrovich supported the idea, so the two of them went in search of the intruder. The thief turned out to be a beggar man, dressed in rags and with a disheveled beard. Most likely, the violation was due to a difficult life situation. Pyotr Petrovich took pity on the beggar and asked Biryuk for an important favor, or rather, to let the poor peasant go. However, the forester did not agree and led the man into his hut. The offender was released only after repeated requests for mercy from the master.

Biryuk as a person

Biryuk is an interesting and integral person, but, unfortunately, tragic. The main tragedy lies in the presence of special views on life, which sometimes have to be sacrificed. The story noted that many peasants in the mid-19th century considered theft to be commonplace. This was precisely the main tragedy of Biryuk.

It is important to note that the peasants’ worldview was explained by serious social problems:

Insecurity of the peasant people;

Lack of good education;

Immorality of behavior due to lack of education.


Forester Biryuk was different from ordinary peasants. He is ready to live as a beggar even if such a situation turns out to be difficult. Any life circumstances could not motivate theft.

It is important to note that Biryuk’s poor position was confirmed by the description of his house in the forest:

One room;

Smoky;

Low and empty hut;

No floors or partitions.


You can understand how difficult Biryuk’s life turns out to be. It can be assumed that if a poor man sacrificed his principles, he, being in the forest, could build a beautiful hut for himself.

Biryuk understands that if every peasant steals, the overall situation will only worsen. The forester is confident that he is right, so it is difficult for him to deviate from existing principles. Despite such character traits and the desire to walk firmly through life, sometimes you have to face challenges. The situation described in the story clearly demonstrates the struggle between feelings of pity and compassion with clear principles and the desire to improve the world. The essay shows how difficult it is to hesitate between feelings and existing principles, not to know what to choose.

“Biryuk” is a fascinating story that reveals the characters of each participant in the story. Ivan Turgenev understood the peculiarities of peasant life in the 19th century, and therefore successfully reflected them in his works. The logic of life is a worthy basis, without which it is impossible to change realities.

“Biryuk” is a story that reflected the unfair situation of many serfs. Each reader has the right to independently place emphasis on those feelings that arise when comparing heroes from the same peasant environment, but differing in their life principles and character traits.

The plot of the story is based on a direct conflict between the forester Biryuk, who is considered lonely and gloomy, and the poor peasant. Biryuk honestly fulfills his duties and tries to protect the forest. The peasant finds himself in a difficult life situation, so he steals firewood. The master hunter, Pyotr Petrovich, stopped in a forest hut due to a sudden downpour, so he becomes an accidental witness to a conflict situation. He sees how during bad weather Biryuk decides to go into the forest and tries to catch the unfortunate thief.

Biryuk lives poorly and raises his children himself. His wife went to a passing tradesman, leaving her family. Despite such life circumstances, theft still remains the last thing, so Biryuk tries to identify violators and punish them... But you need to understand how fair such behavior turns out to be. Growing up children are hungry and eat bad bread... Biryuk shows distrust and gloominess, says little and behaves insincerely. Biryuk, of course, invites the hunter to his place and is ready to take him home, but still shows a merciless judicial attitude towards the beggar.

Biryuk is ready to justify his actions with the following point: he is a forced laborer, so they can exact a penalty from him... At the same time, during the plaintive explanations of the poor peasant, the forester remains silent. Such moments reflect a serious internal struggle. The forester wants to justify the unfortunate thief, realizing that in bad weather he steals wood from the master to fire the stove and prepare food for a hungry family, but still leaves the offender locked up. The attitude changes only after the unfortunate man at the very end of the story calls Biryuk a “beast,” a “damned murderer.” The offender is ready to accept any punishment, because even death does not frighten him. However, accusing the forester of inhumanity immediately leads to a different effect, because Biryuk lets him go. In an unexpected way, a serious internal conflict was resolved:

Cruelty and duty of service;

Clear life principles;

Sincere sympathy and understanding of the misfortune of a stranger.


At the same time, the master, Pyotr Petrovich, contributed to the successful resolution of the current situation, since he was immediately imbued with the explanations of the unfortunate thief.

The situation is better revealed through detailed descriptions of the landscape. Throughout the story, a thunderstorm rages, personifying Biryuk’s state of mind. In addition, many serfs consider the forester a manifestation of a thunderstorm. But nevertheless, Biryuk is freed from the sense of duty, since he commits a human act and goes to meet the unfortunate person. According to the law that was in force at that ominous time, the forester. who did not catch the thief had to reimburse the entire cost of the illegally cut down trees. If this could not be done, there was a risk of a lawsuit with further exile to Siberia, but the fear of punishment loses... Biryuk nevertheless releases the thief and gives him his horse.

The meaning of the story “Biryuk”

Biryuk is a special hero in Ivan Turgenev’s story, because he has unique life principles and is sometimes ready to sacrifice them. Mental struggle allows you to understand how difficult it is sometimes to make the right decision. A detailed description of bad weather and thunderstorms contributes to a better understanding of the life principles and feelings and emotions of a forester. It is important to understand that a person who is in need and cannot find the right path is forced to decide on hopelessness. The oscillation between feelings and principles is the best reflection of humanity.

The story has numerous artistic merits, which have been confirmed by critics:

Real and picturesque descriptions of nature;

A special style of storytelling;

Unusual heroes.


“Biryuk” is a worthy representative of the legendary collection “Notes of a Hunter,” which made it possible to strengthen the position of Ivan Turgenev in Russian literature.

Composition

I. S. Turgenev was one of the leading people of his time. He realized that in order to win the right to be called a people's writer, talent alone is not enough, you need “sympathy for the people, a kindred disposition towards them” and “the ability to penetrate the essence of your people, their language and way of life.” The collection of stories “Notes of a Hunter” describes the peasant world in a very vivid and multifaceted way.

In all the stories there is the same hero - the nobleman Pyotr Petrovich. He loves hunting very much, travels a lot and talks about the incidents that happened to him. We also meet Pyotr Petrovich in “Biryuk,” where his acquaintance with the mysterious and gloomy forester nicknamed Biryuk, “whom all the surrounding men were afraid of like fire,” is described. The meeting takes place in the forest during a thunderstorm, and the forester invites the master to his house to shelter from the weather. Pyotr Petrovich accepts the invitation and finds himself in an old hut “from one room, smoky, low and empty.” He notices the little things in the sad existence of the forester's family. His wife “ran away with a passing tradesman.” And Foma Kuzmich was left alone with two small children. The eldest daughter Ulita, still a child herself, is nursing the baby, cradling him in a cradle. Poverty and family grief have already left their mark on the girl. She has a downcast “sad face” and timid movements. The description of the hut makes a depressing impression. Everything here breathes sadness and wretchedness: “a tattered sheepskin coat hung on the wall,” “a torch burned on the table, sadly flaring up and going out,” “a pile of rags lay in the corner,” “the bitter smell of cooled smoke” hovered everywhere and made it difficult to breathe. The heart in Pyotr Petrovich’s chest “ached: it’s not fun to enter a peasant’s hut at night.” When the rain passed, the forester heard the sound of an ax and decided to catch the intruder. The master went with him.

The thief turned out to be “a wet man, in rags, with a long disheveled beard,” who, apparently, did not turn to theft out of a good life. He has “a wasted, wrinkled face, drooping yellow eyebrows, restless eyes, thin limbs.” He begs Biryuk to let him go with the horse, justifying that “out of hunger... the children are squeaking.” The tragedy of the hungry peasant life, the difficult life appears before us in the image of this pitiful, desperate man who exclaims: “Knock it down - one end; Whether it’s from hunger or not, it’s all one.”

The realism of the depiction of everyday pictures of the life of peasants in the story of I. S. Turgenev is impressive to the core. And at the same time, we are faced with the social problems of that time: poverty of the peasants, hunger, cold, forcing people to steal.

Other works on this work

Analysis of the essay by I.S. Turgenev "Biryuk" Miniature essay based on I. S. Turgenev’s story “Biryuk” The main character trait of Biryuk. The image and characteristics of Biryuk, the main character of Turgenev's story Biryuk, essay

The main character trait of Biryuk. The image and characteristics of Biryuk, the main character of Turgenev's story Biryuk, essay

The main character of the work, included in the collection of stories “Notes of a Hunter,” is the serf forester Foma Kuzmich, popularly nicknamed Biryuk.

The writer presents Biryuk in the image of a tall, broad-shouldered man with a thick beard, bushy eyebrows and small brown eyes, reminiscent of a Russian fairy-tale hero living in a poor forest lodge with two children left to be raised by their father by their unlucky mother.

By nature, Foma Kuzmich is distinguished by strength, honesty, dexterity, severity, justice, but he has a tough and unsociable character, for which he received the nickname Biryuk among the local residents.

Biryuk sacredly observes his own principles of good and evil, which are subordinated to strict service of official duties, careful attitude to other people's property, although in his own family he has complete poverty, lack of basic household furniture and utensils, poor food and children left without maternal affection and care .

Indicative of this is the example of a man caught in the forest by Biryuk, who decided on a stormy night to cut firewood without proper permission in order to feed his large family. A sense of duty prevails among the forester, he is very strict about theft, not allowing himself to commit unseemly acts even out of despair, but at the same time, compassion, pity and generosity towards a beggar, a wretched little peasant who decided to do a bad deed because of hungry children, wins In Biryuk’s soul there is a need to correctly carry out official duties.

Narrating an episode that happened on a rainy night with Biryuk, the writer reveals the character of Foma Kuzmich as an integral and strong nature, adhering to firm principles in life, but forced to deviate from them in order to demonstrate true human qualities.

The entire cycle of stories “Notes of a Hunter,” including the work in question, is dedicated by the writer to a description of the difficult life of Russian serfs, each of whom is a strong, powerful characteristic image, bearing the manifestation of true human qualities, such as love, patriotism, justice, mutual assistance, kindness and sincerity.

Essay about Biryuk

Turgenev is one of those poets for whom love for Russia comes almost first. This can be seen throughout his entire work. The work “Biryuk” is very prominent among Turgenev’s works. This work was not a manifestation of love for the native land and not political issues, but exclusively moral values.

The main character is Biryuk, who is also a forester. Turgenev in the story tries to show that his life is not sweet and there are enough problems for his soul. The main character broke up with his wife, or rather she left him, and the two children remained to live with their father. If you imagine Biryuk, you get the impression of an eternally sad, gloomy person. But how can you rejoice when family life is over? In addition, the place of residence was an old hut. When the author describes the state of the home, it becomes gloomy, poverty is all around. Even when he had a guest at night, he didn’t really want to be in such a terrible hut.

The people who met Thomas were afraid of him, and this is understandable. He is a tall and strong man, his face is stern, even angry. A beard grew on his face. But, as you know, external signs are only the first impression of a person, because, in essence, he is a kind and sympathetic person. Fellow villagers said about Biryuk that he was an honest man and did not like deception. He was an incorruptible forester, he did not need profit, he simply minded his own business and lived honestly.

One day Thomas caught a thief at night and he was faced with the question of what to do with him? The first thing on the forester's mind was punishment for the thief. Biryuk took the ropes and tied up the criminal, then led him into the hut. The thief was a little dumbfounded by the living conditions of the forester. But you can’t deceive your soul and heart. Although Thomas looked stern, kindness won in this situation. The forester decides that the criminal needs to be released, although he has doubts about this. It was difficult for Biryuk to understand that theft is not such a terrible crime. In his concepts, every crime must be punished.

Throughout the story, Turgenev tries to present Foma as a simple man from Russia. He is honest and just lives and does what he is supposed to do. He is not looking for illegal ways to make money. Turgenev describes Thomas in such a way that you really understand that life can throw you into trouble. He is burdened by his existence in poverty and no joy. Nevertheless, the hero accepts what is and continues to live proudly and fight problems.

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Essay on the topic “Characteristics of Biryuk”

The work was completed by a student of class 7 “B” Balashov Alexander

The main character of the story is I.S. Turgenev's "Biryuk" is the forester Foma. Foma is a very interesting and unusual person. With what admiration and pride the author describes his hero: “He was tall, broad-shouldered and beautifully built. His powerful muscles bulged out from under the wet manner of his shirt.” Biryuk had a “manly face” and “small brown eyes” that “looked boldly from under fused wide eyebrows.”

The author is struck by the wretchedness of the forester’s hut, which consisted of “one room, smoky, low and empty, without floors ...”, everything here speaks of a miserable existence - both “a tattered sheepskin coat on the wall” and “a pile of rags in the corner; two large pots that stood near the stove...” Turgenev himself sums up the description: “I looked around - my heart ached: it’s not fun to enter a peasant’s hut at night.”

The forester's wife ran away with a passing tradesman and abandoned two children; Maybe that’s why the forester was so stern and silent. Foma was nicknamed Biryuk, that is, a gloomy and lonely man, by the surrounding men, who feared him like fire. They said that he was “strong and dexterous like a devil...”, “he won’t let you drag fagots of brushwood” out of the forest, “no matter what time it is... he’ll come out of the blue” and don’t expect mercy. Biryuk is a “master of his craft” who cannot be conquered by anything, “neither wine nor money.” However, despite all his sorrows and troubles, Biryuk retained kindness and mercy in his heart. He secretly sympathized with his “wards”, but work is work, and the demand for the stolen goods will first of all be from himself. But this does not prevent him from doing good deeds, releasing the most desperate ones without punishment, but only with a fair amount of intimidation.

Biryuk's tragedy stemmed from the understanding that it was not because of a good life that peasants came to steal timber. Often, feelings of pity and compassion prevail over his integrity. So, in the story, Biryuk caught a man chopping down a forest. He was dressed in tattered rags, all wet, with a disheveled beard. The man asked to let him go or at least give him the horse, because there were children at home and there was nothing to feed them. In response to all the persuasion, the forester kept repeating one thing: “Don’t go stealing.” In the end, Foma Kuzmich grabbed the thief by the collar and pushed him out the door, saying: “Get to hell with your horse.” With these rude words, he seems to cover up his generous act. So the forester constantly oscillates between principles and a sense of compassion. The author wants to show that this gloomy, unsociable person actually has a kind, generous heart.

Describing a forced people, destitute and oppressed, Turgenev especially emphasizes that even in such conditions he was able to preserve his living soul, the ability to empathize and respond with his whole being to kindness and kindness. Even this life does not kill humanity in people - that is what is most important.

“Notes of a Hunter” appeared in print as separate stories and essays at the turn of the 40-50s of the 19th century. The impetus for starting work on the cycle was a request addressed to Turgenev in the fall of 1846 to provide material for the first issue of the updated Sovremennik magazine.

This is how the first essay “Khor and Kalinich” appeared. I. S. Turgenev wrote almost all subsequent stories and essays in “Notes of a Hunter” abroad: he left in 1847 and stayed there for three and a half years.

Let's remember what a story is.

A story is a short epic work that tells about one or more events in a person’s life.

Prove that “Biryuk” is a story.

This is a small work. It talks about Biryuk, his life, his meeting with a man. There are few characters in the work...

The story “Biryuk” was created in 1847 and published in 1848.

When creating this work, like the entire “Notes of a Hunter” cycle, Turgenev relied on his own impressions of the life of peasants in the Oryol province. One of the former serfs of I.S. Turgenev, and later the village teacher A.I. Zamyatin, recalled: “My grandmother and mother told me that almost all the persons mentioned in “Notes of a Hunter” were not fictitious, but copied from living people, even their real names: there was Ermolai ... there was Biryuk, who was killed in the forest by his own peasants ... "

Guys, how many stories did the writer include in the “Notes of a Hunter” series? (The children remember that there are 25 of them.)

- “Notes of a Hunter” is a kind of chronicle of a Russian fortress village. The stories are similar in theme and ideological content. They expose the ugly phenomena of serfdom.

Creating a picture of Russian reality, Turgenev in “Notes of a Hunter” used a unique technique: he introduced a hunter-narrator into the action. Why do you think?

Thanks to this, the reader can, together with a hunter, an observant, intelligent and knowledgeable person, walk through the writer’s native fields, visit villages with him. He appreciates beauty and truth. His presence does not bother anyone and often goes unnoticed. The image of a hunter helps us to better understand reality, understand what is happening, evaluate what he saw, and understand the soul of the people. Pictures of nature prepare the reader's acquaintance with the main character of the story - Biryuk.

Biryuk appears unexpectedly, the author immediately notes his tall figure and sonorous voice. Despite the fact that Biryuk’s first appearance is accompanied by a certain romantic aura (white lightning illuminated the forester from head to toe, “I raised my head and in the light of lightning I saw a small hut ...”). There is nothing in the hero's life that we learn about.
romantic, on the contrary, it is ordinary and even tragic.

Find a description of the forester's hut.

“The forester’s hut consisted of one room, smoky, low and empty, without floors or partitions. A tattered sheepskin coat hung on the wall. A single-barreled gun lay on the bench, and a pile of rags lay in the corner; two large pots stood near the stove. The torch burned on the table, sadly flaring up and going out. In the very middle of the hut hung a cradle, tied to the end of a long pole. The girl turned off the lantern, sat down on a tiny bench and began to rock the cradle with her right hand and straighten the splinter with her left. I looked around - my heart ached: it’s not fun to enter a peasant’s hut at night.”

What does this description tell you? (The description of the hut’s situation, “smoky, low and empty,” speaks of poverty. But amid this poverty, the life of the hero’s little children glimmers. The joyless picture evokes sincere sympathy in readers for Biryuk.)

What does Biryuk look like? What does the writer emphasize in his portrait? (Tall, powerful muscles, black curly beard, stern, courageous face, wide eyebrows and small brown eyes.)

Let us turn to the portrait of Biryuk. “I looked at him. Rarely have I seen such a young man. He was tall, broad-shouldered and beautifully built. His powerful muscles bulged out from under his wet, dirty shirt. A black curly beard covered half of his stern and courageous face; small brown eyes looked boldly from under fused wide eyebrows...”

How does this portrait express the narrator’s attitude towards Biryuk? (It is clear that he likes Biryuk for his build, strength, handsome, courageous face, bold look, strong character, as evidenced by his fused eyebrows. He calls him a good fellow.)

What do men say about him? Children give examples from the text: “he won’t let the fagots be dragged away,” “... he’ll come like snow,” he’s strong... and as dexterous as a devil... And nothing can take him: neither wine, nor money; doesn’t take any bait.”

Why is the hero called Biryuk? Why does he behave this way with men? His name is Biryuk because he is lonely and gloomy.
- Turgenev emphasizes that the forester is formidable and unyielding not because he is a stranger to his brother, the peasant, he is a man of duty and considers himself obligated to take care of the farm entrusted to him: “I am fulfilling my duty... I don’t have to eat the master’s bread for nothing.”

He was entrusted with the protection of the forest, and he guards the owner’s forest like a soldier on duty.

Find and read the description of Biryuk’s collision with the man. What is the reason for the conflict between the man and Biryuk? What landscape do the events take place against? How do the peasant and Biryuk change in the climax scene? What feelings does the forester evoke in the author and in us, the readers?

The picture of a thunderstorm prepares the central episode of the story: the clash between Biryuk and the man-thief he caught. We read the description of Biryuk’s clash with the men and find out the reasons for the conflict between the man and Biryuk.

Between which characters is there a conflict? Between Biryuk and the man who stole the wood.

Children must understand that the scene of struggle - first physical, then moral - not only reveals the views, feelings, and aspirations of the heroes, but also deepens their images. Author
emphasizes that physically the man clearly loses to Biryuk during their fight in the forest, but later, in terms of strength of character and inner dignity, they become
equal to each other. Turgenev, creating the image of a peasant, captured the features of an impoverished peasant, exhausted by a half-starved existence.

Let’s read the description of the man: “In the light of the lantern, I could see his wasted, wrinkled face, drooping yellow eyebrows, restless eyes...” But it is precisely this kind of man who moves from pleas to threats.

Reading by role of a man's conversation with Biryuk.

How does Turgenev show that the external appearance and internal state of the peasant is changing? Let's return to the text.

At first the man is silent, then “in a hollow and broken voice,” addressing the forester by his first name and patronymic - Foma Kuzmich, he asks to let him go, but when his patience is full, “the man suddenly straightened up. His eyes lit up and color appeared on his face.” The man's voice became “fierce.” The speech became different: instead of abrupt phrases: “Let go... clerk... ruined, what... let go!” - clear and menacing words sounded: “What do I need? Everything is one - to disappear; Where can I go without a horse? Knock down - one end; Whether it’s from hunger or not, it’s all the same. Get lost."

The story “Biryuk” is one of the few stories in “Notes of a Hunter” that touches on the issue of peasant protest. But due to censorship restrictions, Turgenev could not directly depict the peasants' protest against serfdom. Therefore, the anger of a peasant driven to despair is directed not at the landowner for whom he works, but at his serf servant, who protects the owner’s property. However, this anger, which has become an expression of protest, does not lose its strength and meaning.

For the peasant, the personification of the power of serfdom is not the landowner, but Biryuk, endowed by the landowner with the right to protect the forest from robbery. The image of Biryuk in the climactic scene deepens psychologically; he appears before us as a tragic image: in his soul there is a struggle between feelings and principles. An honest man, for all his rightness, he also feels the rightness of the peasant, whom poverty brought to the master’s forest: “By God, from hunger... the children squeak, you know. It’s cool, as it happens.”

Slide 1

Literature lesson in 6th grade The main character of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev's story "Biryuk"

Slide 2

The purpose of the lesson:
help to understand the theme and idea of ​​the cycle of stories by I.S. Turgenev “Notes of a Hunter”, analyze the story “Biryuk”, help students understand the character of the main character through landscape, interior and portrait, identify the level of students’ knowledge of the text of the work

Slide 3

According to his father, Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev belonged to an old noble family, his mother, nee Lutovinova, was a wealthy landowner.
On her estate, Spasskoye-Lutovinovo (Mtsensk district, Oryol province), the childhood years of the future writer passed, who early learned to have a subtle sense of nature and to hate serfdom.
Origin of the writer
It is difficult to imagine more dissimilar people than the parents of the future writer.
Sergey Nikolaevich

Varvara Petrovna

Slide 4
"Notes of a Hunter"
kindness and sincerity in inhuman conditions, and beliefs, fairy tales of the Russian people, and, of course, beautiful pictures of the nature of central Russia.

In all the stories there is the same hero - Pyotr Petrovich, a nobleman from the village of Spasskoye. He talks about the incidents that happened to him during the hunt. Turgenev endowed his narrator with subtle observation, a special sense of beauty, which helps to convey various situations to the reader more accurately and colorfully.

The collection brought the author wide fame.
Slide 5
Slide 4

“Khor and Kalinich” “Ermolai and the miller’s wife” “Raspberry water” “District doctor” “My neighbor Radilov” “Ovsyannikov’s homestead” “Lgov” “Bezhin meadow” “Kasyan with the Beautiful Sword” “The mayor” “Office” “Biryuk” “ Two Landowners" "Swan" "Death" "Singers" "Peter Petrovich Karataev" "Date"

“Tatyana Borisovna and her nephew” “Hamlet of the Shchigrovsky district” “Chertophanov and Nedopyuskin” “The End of Chekrtophanov” “Living Relics” “Knocking” “Forest and Steppe”
Slide 6

The main theme and idea of ​​"Notes of a Hunter"

Topic: depiction of the simple Russian people, serfs, assessment of their high spiritual and moral qualities, showing the moral impoverishment of the Russian nobility Idea: protest against serfdom
Slide 7
The story "Biryuk"
The story “Biryuk” was written in 1847. When creating this work, Turgenev relied on his own impressions of the life of peasants in the Oryol province. On his mother’s estate lived the forester Biryuk, whom his own peasants killed one day in the forest. The writer put this story into the mouth of his narrator, Pyotr Petrovich.

How do you understand the meaning of the word BIRYUK?

Biryuk is a gloomy, gloomy, unsociable, lonely person with a gloomy, gloomy appearance. (Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language by D.N. Ushakov)
Slide 8
Story Conflict

Why was the forester Foma Kuzmich nicknamed Biryuk? What kind of fame spread about him in the surrounding villages and villages? What are the reasons for Biryuk’s isolation and gloominess? Was Biryuk really a misanthrope? Is Biryuk happy with his loneliness? What character traits are you attracted to in the main character?

Biryuk - the main character of the story, the forester, who was so nicknamed by local residents for his gloominess and unsociability - turned out, despite his nickname, to be a merciful and kind person.
Slide 9
What is CONFLICT in a literary work?
The conflict of the story “Biryuk” is inside the main character himself. His sense of duty conflicts with the sympathy and plight of the “thief.” Ultimately, the feeling of pity and compassion wins.
CONFLICT in a literary work is a confrontation, a contradiction between active forces: the characters of several heroes or different aspects of the character of one hero.
Biryuk is a gloomy, gloomy, unsociable, lonely person with a gloomy, gloomy appearance. (Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language by D.N. Ushakov)

Slide 10

The landscape in the story “Biryuk” begins with a description of the forest and an approaching thunderstorm.
Landscape in the story
What is LANDSCAPE? What role does he play in the work? Where does the landscape begin in the story “Biryuk”?
How many moments of the transition of a stuffy evening into a stormy night did the author capture?
1. A thunderstorm was approaching. Ahead, a huge purple cloud slowly rose from behind the forest; Long gray clouds were rushing above me and towards me; the willows moved and babbled anxiously.
2. The stuffy heat suddenly gave way to damp cold; the shadows quickly grew thicker.
3. A strong wind suddenly began to roar above, the trees began to storm, large drops of rain began to knock sharply, splashed on the leaves, lightning flashed, and a thunderstorm broke out. The rain poured down in streams.

Slide 11

Landscape in the story
PRESENTATION OF A STORM
A thunderstorm was approaching. Ahead, a huge purple cloud slowly rose from behind the forest; Long gray clouds were rushing above me and towards me; the willows moved and babbled anxiously.
The stifling heat suddenly gave way to damp cold; the shadows quickly grew thicker.
A strong wind suddenly began to roar overhead, the trees began to storm, large drops of rain began to knock sharply, splashed on the leaves, lightning flashed, and a thunderstorm broke out. The rain poured down in streams.
A THUNDER CONTROLS THE SURROUNDING NATURE
KINGDOM OF THE STORM. THE THUNDERSTORM IN THE STORY IS AN IMAGE, A SYMBOL, IT IS NOT JUST A NATURE PHENOMENON: BIRYUK IS THE STORM OF THIEVES. A THUNDER IS THE PSYCHOLOGICAL STATE OF A MAN, HIS FEAR, DESPAIR, TURNS INTO ANGER

Slide 12

Interior in the story
What is INTERIOR? What role does he play in the work? Find a description of the interior in the story “Biryuk”?
The forester's hut consisted of one room, smoky, low and empty, without floors or partitions. A tattered sheepskin coat hung on the wall. A single-barreled gun lay on the bench, and a pile of rags lay in the corner; two large pots stood near the stove. The torch burned on the table, sadly flaring up and going out. In the very middle of the hut hung a cradle, tied to the end of a long pole.

Slide 13

Interior in the story
The description of the home adds a lot to the portrait of the hero. The decor of Biryuk’s hut, “smoky, low, empty,” speaks of his poverty, wretchedness and at the same time honesty. Among this poverty, the life of two small children of a forester glimmers. The depiction of children sets the reader up for compassion and pity for the forester, whose life is tragic and merciless.

Slide 14

He was tall, broad-shouldered and beautifully built. His powerful muscles bulged out from under his wet, dirty shirt. A black curly beard covered half of his stern and courageous face; Small brown eyes looked boldly from under fused wide eyebrows.
Portrait in a story
What is PORTRAIT? What role does he play in the work? Find the portrait of a forester in the story “Biryuk”?

Slide 15

Before us is a portrait of an unsociable and withdrawn man, who was made this way by his position as a forester, the hatred of men, the departure of his wife, who left him two small children, and loneliness.
Portrait in a story

However, Turgenev believes that a person who loves nature and is close to it cannot become embittered by life. It is the unity with nature and the inner beauty of his hero that the author emphasizes.

Slide 16
Writer's skill

I.S. Turgenev believed that beauty is the only immortal thing, it is scattered everywhere, extends its influence even over death, but nowhere shines as brightly as in the human soul. The writer also endowed nature with a soul. The beauty and harmony of nature in the story is contrasted with an ominous and dead force, hostile to man - serfdom. But this power is not capable of destroying the soul and humanity.

Slide 17
Theme of the work: a) the life of Biryuk; b) relationship between father and daughter; c) the hard life of Russian serfs. 2. Genre of the work: a) legend; b) story; c) story. 3. The climax scene of the work is: a) a description of the forester’s hut; b) the story of a captured man about his life; c) unexpected anger of the peasant. 4. Biryuk’s harsh and unsociable character is explained by: a) the attitude of those around him; b) deceiving his wife; c) understanding the true motives that force men to steal. 5. The author’s attitude towards Biryuk shows: a) sympathy; b) condemnation; c) indifference. 6. When describing a thunderstorm (“... the willows moved and babbled anxiously,” “the clouds rushed”) the author uses: a) comparison; b) antithesis; c) personification. 7. Landscape in Turgenev’s stories: a) only the background against which the action takes place; b) correlates with the state of mind of the author and characters; c) is opposed to this state.

check yourself

Theme of the work: a) the life of Biryuk; b) relationship between father and daughter; c) the hard life of Russian serfs. 2. Genre of the work: a) legend; b) story; c) story. 3. The climax scene of the work is: a) a description of the forester’s hut; b) the story of a captured man about his life; c) unexpected anger of the peasant. 4. Biryuk’s harsh and unsociable character is explained by: a) the attitude of those around him; b) deceiving his wife; c) understanding the true motives that force men to steal. 5. The author’s attitude towards Biryuk shows: a) sympathy; b) condemnation; c) indifference. 6. When describing a thunderstorm (“... the willows moved and babbled anxiously,” “the clouds rushed”) the author uses: a) comparison; b) antithesis; c) personification. 7. Landscape in Turgenev’s stories: a) only the background against which the action takes place; b) correlates with the state of mind of the author and characters; c) is opposed to this state.
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Slide 18

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CD “Virtual school Literature lessons from Cyril and Methodius” Chertov V.F. Literature lessons in 6th grade. Lesson plans. - M.: Exam, 2007. Korshunova I.N. , Lipina E.Yu. Tests on Russian literature. – M.: Bustard, 2000. Portrait of a writer: http://www.pushkinmuseum.ru/pict/foto_vystavok/turgenev/turgenev.jpg Spasskoye-Lutovinovo: http://blog.zvab.com/wp-content/spasskoje2 .jpg Writer's parents: http://im2-tub.yandex.net/i?id=245410689-42-72 http://im2-tub.yandex.net/i?id=193862540-05-72 Book cover: http://www.libex.ru/dimg/1ef26.jpg Illustrations. Types from “Notes of a Hunter” by I.S. Turgeneva (Boehm (Endaurova) Elizaveta Merkuryevna): http://gallerix.ru/album/Endaurova/pic/glrx-949188232 Lebedev K.V. Illustrations for “Notes of a Hunter”: http://www.turgenev.org.ru/art-gallery/zhizn-iskusstvo-vremya/153-2.jpg Zhlabovich A.G. Illustrations for “Notes of a Hunter”: http://artnow.ru/img/612000/612770.jpg Still from the Biryuk farm: http://www.kino-teatr.ru/movie/kadr/543/83886 .jpg Thunderstorm (animation): http://logif.ru/publ/priroda/groza_molnii_i_dozhd/14-1-0-79

I. S. Turgenev spent his childhood in the Oryol region. A nobleman by birth, who received an excellent secular upbringing and education, he early witnessed the unfair treatment of the common people. Throughout his life, the writer was distinguished by his interest in the Russian way of life and sympathy for the peasants.

In 1846, Turgenev spent several summer and autumn months in his native estate Spasskoye-Lutovinovo. He often went hunting, and on long hikes around the surrounding area, fate brought him together with people of different classes and wealth. The result of observations of the life of the local population were stories that appeared in 1847-1851 in the Sovremennik magazine. A year later, the author combined them into one book, called “Notes of a Hunter.” These included a story written in 1848 with the unusual title “Biryuk.”

The narration is told on behalf of Pyotr Petrovich, the hunter who unites all the stories in the cycle. At first glance, the plot is quite simple. The narrator, returning from a hunt one day, gets caught in the rain. He meets a forester who offers to wait out the bad weather in his hut. So Pyotr Petrovich becomes a witness to the difficult life of a new acquaintance and his children. Foma Kuzmich leads a secluded life. The peasants living in the area do not like and are even afraid of the formidable forester, and because of his unsociability they gave him the nickname Biryuk.

The summary of the story can be continued with an unexpected incident for the hunter. When the rain subsided a little, the sound of an ax was heard in the forest. Biryuk and the narrator go to the sound, where they find a peasant who has decided to steal, even in such bad weather, clearly not from a good life. He tries to pity the forester with persuasion, talks about hard life and hopelessness, but he remains adamant. Their conversation continues in the hut, where the desperate man suddenly raises his voice and begins to blame the owner for all the peasant’s troubles. In the end, the latter cannot stand it and releases the offender. Gradually, as the scene unfolds, Biryuk reveals himself to the narrator and the reader.

Appearance and behavior of a forester

Biryuk was well built, tall and broad-shouldered. His black-bearded face looked both stern and masculine; brown eyes looked boldly from under wide eyebrows.

All actions and behavior expressed determination and inaccessibility. His nickname was no coincidence. In the southern regions of Russia, this word is used to describe a lone wolf, which Turgenev knew well. Biryuk in the story is an unsociable, stern person. This is exactly how he was perceived by the peasants, whom he always inspired fear. Biryuk himself explained his steadfastness by a conscientious attitude to work: “you don’t have to eat the master’s bread for nothing.” He was in the same difficult situation as most of the people, but he was not used to complaining and relying on anyone.

The hut and family of Foma Kuzmich

Getting to know his home makes a painful impression. It was one room, low, empty and smoky. There was no sense of a woman's hand in her: the mistress ran away with a tradesman, leaving her husband two children. A tattered sheepskin coat hung on the wall, and a pile of rags lay on the floor. The hut smelled of cooled smoke, making it difficult to breathe. Even the torch burned sadly and then went out, then flared up again. The only thing the owner could offer the guest was bread; he had nothing else. Biryuk, who brought fear to everyone, lived so sadly and in a beggarly manner.

The story continues with a description of his children, which completes the bleak picture. In the middle of the hut hung a cradle with a baby, rocked by a girl of about twelve with timid movements and a sad face - their mother had left them in the care of her father. The narrator’s “heart ached” from what he saw: it’s not easy to enter a peasant’s hut!

Heroes of the story “Biryuk” in the forest theft scene

Foma reveals himself in a new way during a conversation with a desperate man. The latter’s appearance speaks eloquently of the hopelessness and complete poverty in which he lived: dressed in rags, a disheveled beard, a worn-out face, incredible thinness throughout his body. The intruder cut down the tree carefully, apparently hoping that in bad weather the likelihood of being caught was not so great.

Having been caught stealing the master's forest, he first begs the forester to let him go and calls him Foma Kuzmich. However, the more the hope that he will be released fades, the angrier and harsher the words begin to sound. The peasant sees before him a murderer and a beast, deliberately humiliating a peasant.

I. Turgenev introduces a completely unpredictable ending to the story. Biryuk suddenly grabs the offender by the sash and pushes him out the door. One can guess what was going on in his soul during the entire scene: compassion and pity come into conflict with a sense of duty and responsibility for the assigned task. The situation was aggravated by the fact that Foma knew from his own experience how hard a peasant’s life was. To Pyotr Petrovich’s surprise, he only waves his hand.

Description of nature in the story

Turgenev has always been famous as a master of landscape sketches. They are also present in the work “Biryuk”.

The story begins with a description of an ever-increasing and growing thunderstorm. And then, completely unexpectedly for Pyotr Petrovich, Foma Kuzmich appears from the forest, dark and wet, and feels at home here. He easily pulls the frightened horse from its place and, remaining calm, leads it to the hut. Turgenev's landscape is a reflection of the essence of the main character: Biryuk leads a life as gloomy and gloomy as this forest in bad weather.

The summary of the work needs to be supplemented with one more point. When the sky begins to clear a little, there is hope that the rain will soon end. Like this scene, the reader suddenly discovers that the unapproachable Biryuk is capable of good deeds and simple human sympathy. However, this “just a little” remains - an unbearable life has made the hero the way the local peasants see him. And this cannot be changed overnight and at the request of a few people. Both the narrator and the readers come to such gloomy thoughts.

The meaning of the story

The series “Notes of a Hunter” includes works that reveal the image of ordinary peasants in different ways. In some stories, the author draws attention to their spiritual breadth and wealth, in others he shows how talented they can be, in others he describes their meager life... Thus, different sides of a man’s character are revealed.

The lack of rights and miserable existence of the Russian people in the era of serfdom is the main theme of the story “Biryuk”. And this is the main merit of Turgenev the writer - to attract public attention to the tragic situation of the main breadwinner of the entire Russian land.

Composition

I. S. Turgenev was one of the leading people of his time. He realized that in order to win the right to be called a people's writer, talent alone is not enough, you need “sympathy for the people, a kindred disposition towards them” and “the ability to penetrate the essence of your people, their language and way of life.” The collection of stories “Notes of a Hunter” describes the peasant world in a very vivid and multifaceted way.

In all the stories there is the same hero - the nobleman Pyotr Petrovich. He loves hunting very much, travels a lot and talks about the incidents that happened to him. We also meet Pyotr Petrovich in “Biryuk,” where his acquaintance with the mysterious and gloomy forester nicknamed Biryuk, “whom all the surrounding men were afraid of like fire,” is described. The meeting takes place in the forest during a thunderstorm, and the forester invites the master to his house to shelter from the weather. Pyotr Petrovich accepts the invitation and finds himself in an old hut “from one room, smoky, low and empty.” He notices the little things in the sad existence of the forester's family. His wife “ran away with a passing tradesman.” And Foma Kuzmich was left alone with two small children. The eldest daughter Ulita, still a child herself, is nursing the baby, cradling him in a cradle. Poverty and family grief have already left their mark on the girl. She has a downcast “sad face” and timid movements. The description of the hut makes a depressing impression. Everything here breathes sadness and wretchedness: “a tattered sheepskin coat hung on the wall,” “a torch burned on the table, sadly flaring up and going out,” “a pile of rags lay in the corner,” “the bitter smell of cooled smoke” hovered everywhere and made it difficult to breathe. The heart in Pyotr Petrovich’s chest “ached: it’s not fun to enter a peasant’s hut at night.” When the rain passed, the forester heard the sound of an ax and decided to catch the intruder. The master went with him.

The thief turned out to be “a wet man, in rags, with a long disheveled beard,” who, apparently, did not turn to theft out of a good life. He has “a wasted, wrinkled face, drooping yellow eyebrows, restless eyes, thin limbs.” He begs Biryuk to let him go with the horse, justifying that “out of hunger... the children are squeaking.” The tragedy of the hungry peasant life, the difficult life appears before us in the image of this pitiful, desperate man who exclaims: “Knock it down - one end; Whether it’s from hunger or not, it’s all one.”

The realism of the depiction of everyday pictures of the life of peasants in the story of I. S. Turgenev is impressive to the core. And at the same time, we are faced with the social problems of that time: poverty of the peasants, hunger, cold, forcing people to steal.

Other works on this work

Analysis of the essay by I.S. Turgenev "Biryuk" Miniature essay based on I. S. Turgenev’s story “Biryuk”

One of the types of “good” men is depicted in the story “Biryuk”. He lives in a poor hut with two children - his wife ran away with some tradesman. He serves as a forester and they say about him that he “will not let bundles of firewood be dragged away... and nothing can take him: neither wine, nor money - he does not accept any bait.” He is gloomy and silent; to the author’s questions, he sternly replies: “I’m doing my job - I don’t have to eat the master’s bread for nothing.” Despite this outward severity, he is a very compassionate and kind person at heart. Usually, having caught a man in the forest, he only abuses him, and then, taking pity, he lets him go in peace. The author of the story witnesses the following scene: Biryuk releases the man he caught in the forest, realizing that only extreme need forced this poor man to decide to steal. At the same time, he does not show off at all with his noble deeds - he is rather embarrassed that a stranger witnessed this scene. He is one of those people who at first glance do not stand out, but are suddenly capable of doing something out of the ordinary, after which they again become the same ordinary people.

His majestic posture - tall stature, powerful shoulders, stern and courageous face, wide eyebrows and boldly looking small brown eyes - everything about him revealed an extraordinary person. Biryuk performed his duties as a forester so conscientiously that everyone said about him: “he won’t let a bundle of brushwood be dragged away... And nothing can take it: neither wine, nor money; there’s no bait.” Stern in appearance, Biryuk had a gentle, kind heart. If he catches a man in the forest who has cut down a tree, he will punish him so much that he will threaten not to give up his horse, and the matter will usually end with him taking pity on the thief and letting him go. Biryuk loves to do a good deed, he also loves to fulfill his duties conscientiously, but he will not shout about it at all crossroads, and will not show off about it.

Biryuk’s stern honesty does not stem from any speculative principles: he is a simple man. But his deeply direct nature made him understand how to fulfill the responsibility he had taken upon himself. “I’m fulfilling my duty,” he says gloomily, “I don’t have to eat the master’s bread for nothing...” Biryuk is a good person, although rude in appearance. He lives alone in the forest, in a hut “smoky, low and empty, without floors or partitions,” with two children, abandoned by his wife, who ran away with a passing tradesman; It must have been family grief that made him gloomy. He is a forester, and they say about him that “he won’t let a bundle of brushwood be dragged away... and nothing can take him: neither wine, nor money, nor any kind of bait.” The author had the opportunity to witness how this incorruptibly honest man released a thief he had caught in the forest, a man who had cut down a tree - he let him go because he felt with his honest and generous heart the hopeless grief of a poor man who, out of despair, decided on a dangerous task. The author perfectly depicts in this scene all the horror of poverty to which the peasant sometimes reaches.

This story is included in the cycle of works by Turgenev “Notes of a Hunter”. To better reveal the theme of “Characteristics of the Biryuk”, you need to know the plot well, and it revolves around the fact that a hunter, lost in the forest, is suddenly overtaken by a thunderstorm. To wait out the bad weather, he hid under a large bush. But then local forester Foma Kuzmich picked him up and took him to his home. There the hunter saw the wretched shelter of his savior, and at the same time he had two children: a 12-year-old girl and a baby in a cradle. His wife was not in the house; she ran away from him with someone else, leaving him with children.

Turgenev, “Biryuk”: characteristics of Biryuk

People called this gloomy forester the Biryuk. He had a broad figure and a face that betrayed no emotion. When the rain stopped, they went to the yard. And then the sound of an ax was heard, the forester immediately realized where it was coming from, and soon dragged in a wet man who begged for mercy. The hunter immediately took pity on the poor peasant and was ready to pay for him, but the stern Biryuk himself let him go.

As you can see, the characterization of Biryuk is not simple; Turgenev shows a hero, although a beggar, who knows his duty well, and whom “neither wine nor money” can’t be taken away. He understands a peasant thief who is trying to somehow get out of hunger. And here the hero’s conflict is shown between a sense of duty and compassion for a poor man, and yet he decided in favor of compassion. Foma Kuzmich is an integral and strong personality, but tragic, because he has his own views on life, but sometimes he, a principled person, has to sacrifice them.

Characteristics of Biryuk

The author points out that in the middle of the 19th century, the majority of peasant people regarded theft as something natural and commonplace. Of course, serious social problems led to this phenomenon: lack of education, poverty and immorality.

But it is Biryuk who is unlike most of these people, although he is just as poor as everyone else. His hut consisted of one room, low and empty. But still he doesn’t steal, although if he did, he could afford a better house.

Duty and Compassion

Biryuk’s characteristics indicate that he neither steals nor gives to others, since he understands perfectly well that if everyone does this, it will only get worse.

He is sure of this and therefore is firm in his decision. But, as the essay describes, his principles sometimes compete with feelings of pity and compassion, and he will have this hesitation all his life. After all, he understands someone who, out of desperation, goes to steal.

“Notes of a Hunter” appeared in print as separate stories and essays at the turn of the 40-50s of the 19th century. The impetus for starting work on the cycle was a request addressed to Turgenev in the fall of 1846 to provide material for the first issue of the updated Sovremennik magazine.

This is how the first essay “Khor and Kalinich” appeared. I. S. Turgenev wrote almost all subsequent stories and essays in “Notes of a Hunter” abroad: he left in 1847 and stayed there for three and a half years.

Let's remember what a story is.

A story is a short epic work that tells about one or more events in a person’s life.

Prove that “Biryuk” is a story.

This is a small work. It talks about Biryuk, his life, his meeting with a man. There are few characters in the work...

The story “Biryuk” was created in 1847 and published in 1848.

When creating this work, like the entire “Notes of a Hunter” cycle, Turgenev relied on his own impressions of the life of peasants in the Oryol province. One of the former serfs of I.S. Turgenev, and later the village teacher A.I. Zamyatin, recalled: “My grandmother and mother told me that almost all the persons mentioned in “Notes of a Hunter” were not fictitious, but copied from living people, even their real names: there was Ermolai ... there was Biryuk, who was killed in the forest by his own peasants ... "

Guys, how many stories did the writer include in the “Notes of a Hunter” series? (The children remember that there are 25 of them.)

- “Notes of a Hunter” is a kind of chronicle of a Russian fortress village. The stories are similar in theme and ideological content. They expose the ugly phenomena of serfdom.

Creating a picture of Russian reality, Turgenev in “Notes of a Hunter” used a unique technique: he introduced a hunter-narrator into the action. Why do you think?

Thanks to this, the reader can, together with a hunter, an observant, intelligent and knowledgeable person, walk through the writer’s native fields, visit villages with him. He appreciates beauty and truth. His presence does not bother anyone and often goes unnoticed. The image of a hunter helps us to better understand reality, understand what is happening, evaluate what he saw, and understand the soul of the people. Pictures of nature prepare the reader's acquaintance with the main character of the story - Biryuk.

Biryuk appears unexpectedly, the author immediately notes his tall figure and sonorous voice. Despite the fact that Biryuk’s first appearance is accompanied by a certain romantic aura (white lightning illuminated the forester from head to toe, “I raised my head and in the light of lightning I saw a small hut ...”). There is nothing in the hero's life that we learn about.
romantic, on the contrary, it is ordinary and even tragic.

Find a description of the forester's hut.

“The forester’s hut consisted of one room, smoky, low and empty, without floors or partitions. A tattered sheepskin coat hung on the wall. A single-barreled gun lay on the bench, and a pile of rags lay in the corner; two large pots stood near the stove. The torch burned on the table, sadly flaring up and going out. In the very middle of the hut hung a cradle, tied to the end of a long pole. The girl turned off the lantern, sat down on a tiny bench and began to rock the cradle with her right hand and straighten the splinter with her left. I looked around - my heart ached: it’s not fun to enter a peasant’s hut at night.”

What does this description tell you? (The description of the hut’s situation, “smoky, low and empty,” speaks of poverty. But amid this poverty, the life of the hero’s little children glimmers. The joyless picture evokes sincere sympathy in readers for Biryuk.)

What does Biryuk look like? What does the writer emphasize in his portrait? (Tall, powerful muscles, black curly beard, stern, courageous face, wide eyebrows and small brown eyes.)

Let us turn to the portrait of Biryuk. “I looked at him. Rarely have I seen such a young man. He was tall, broad-shouldered and beautifully built. His powerful muscles bulged out from under his wet, dirty shirt. A black curly beard covered half of his stern and courageous face; small brown eyes looked boldly from under fused wide eyebrows...”

How does this portrait express the narrator’s attitude towards Biryuk? (It is clear that he likes Biryuk for his build, strength, handsome, courageous face, bold look, strong character, as evidenced by his fused eyebrows. He calls him a good fellow.)

What do men say about him? Children give examples from the text: “he won’t let the fagots be dragged away,” “... he’ll come like snow,” he’s strong... and as dexterous as a devil... And nothing can take him: neither wine, nor money; doesn’t take any bait.”

Why is the hero called Biryuk? Why does he behave this way with men? His name is Biryuk because he is lonely and gloomy.
- Turgenev emphasizes that the forester is formidable and unyielding not because he is a stranger to his brother, the peasant, he is a man of duty and considers himself obligated to take care of the farm entrusted to him: “I am fulfilling my duty... I don’t have to eat the master’s bread for nothing.”

He was entrusted with the protection of the forest, and he guards the owner’s forest like a soldier on duty.

Find and read the description of Biryuk’s collision with the man. What is the reason for the conflict between the man and Biryuk? What landscape do the events take place against? How do the peasant and Biryuk change in the climax scene? What feelings does the forester evoke in the author and in us, the readers?

The picture of a thunderstorm prepares the central episode of the story: the clash between Biryuk and the man-thief he caught. We read the description of Biryuk’s clash with the men and find out the reasons for the conflict between the man and Biryuk.

Between which characters is there a conflict? Between Biryuk and the man who stole the wood.

Children must understand that the scene of struggle - first physical, then moral - not only reveals the views, feelings, and aspirations of the heroes, but also deepens their images. Author
emphasizes that physically the man clearly loses to Biryuk during their fight in the forest, but later, in terms of strength of character and inner dignity, they become
equal to each other. Turgenev, creating the image of a peasant, captured the features of an impoverished peasant, exhausted by a half-starved existence.

Let’s read the description of the man: “In the light of the lantern, I could see his wasted, wrinkled face, drooping yellow eyebrows, restless eyes...” But it is precisely this kind of man who moves from pleas to threats.

Reading by role of a man's conversation with Biryuk.

How does Turgenev show that the external appearance and internal state of the peasant is changing? Let's return to the text.

At first the man is silent, then “in a hollow and broken voice,” addressing the forester by his first name and patronymic - Foma Kuzmich, he asks to let him go, but when his patience is full, “the man suddenly straightened up. His eyes lit up and color appeared on his face.” The man's voice became “fierce.” The speech became different: instead of abrupt phrases: “Let go... clerk... ruined, what... let go!” - clear and menacing words sounded: “What do I need? Everything is one - to disappear; Where can I go without a horse? Knock down - one end; Whether it’s from hunger or not, it’s all the same. Get lost."

The story “Biryuk” is one of the few stories in “Notes of a Hunter” that touches on the issue of peasant protest. But due to censorship restrictions, Turgenev could not directly depict the peasants' protest against serfdom. Therefore, the anger of a peasant driven to despair is directed not at the landowner for whom he works, but at his serf servant, who protects the owner’s property. However, this anger, which has become an expression of protest, does not lose its strength and meaning.

For the peasant, the personification of the power of serfdom is not the landowner, but Biryuk, endowed by the landowner with the right to protect the forest from robbery. The image of Biryuk in the climactic scene deepens psychologically; he appears before us as a tragic image: in his soul there is a struggle between feelings and principles. An honest man, for all his rightness, he also feels the rightness of the peasant, whom poverty brought to the master’s forest: “By God, from hunger... the children squeak, you know. It’s cool, as it happens.”


The main character of the work, included in the collection of stories “Notes of a Hunter,” is the serf forester Foma Kuzmich, popularly nicknamed Biryuk.

The writer presents Biryuk in the image of a tall, broad-shouldered man with a thick beard, bushy eyebrows and small brown eyes, reminiscent of a Russian fairy-tale hero living in a poor forest lodge with two children left to be raised by their father by their unlucky mother.

By nature, Foma Kuzmich is distinguished by strength, honesty, dexterity, severity, justice, but he has a tough and unsociable character, for which he received the nickname Biryuk among the local residents.

Biryuk sacredly observes his own principles of good and evil, which are subordinated to strict service of official duties, careful attitude to other people's property, although in his own family he has complete poverty, lack of basic household furniture and utensils, poor food and children left without maternal affection and care .

Indicative of this is the example of a man caught in the forest by Biryuk, who decided on a stormy night to cut firewood without proper permission in order to feed his large family. A sense of duty prevails among the forester, he is very strict about theft, not allowing himself to commit unseemly acts even out of despair, but at the same time, compassion, pity and generosity towards a beggar, a wretched little peasant who decided to do a bad deed because of hungry children, wins In Biryuk’s soul there is a need to correctly carry out official duties.

Narrating an episode that happened on a rainy night with Biryuk, the writer reveals the character of Foma Kuzmich as an integral and strong nature, adhering to firm principles in life, but forced to deviate from them in order to demonstrate true human qualities.

The entire cycle of stories “Notes of a Hunter,” including the work in question, is dedicated by the writer to a description of the difficult life of Russian serfs, each of whom is a strong, powerful characteristic image, bearing the manifestation of true human qualities, such as love, patriotism, justice, mutual assistance, kindness and sincerity.

Essay about Biryuk

Turgenev is one of those poets for whom love for Russia comes almost first. This can be seen throughout his entire work. The work “Biryuk” is very prominent among Turgenev’s works. This work was not a manifestation of love for the native land and not political issues, but exclusively moral values.

The main character is Biryuk, who is also a forester. Turgenev in the story tries to show that his life is not sweet and there are enough problems for his soul. The main character broke up with his wife, or rather she left him, and the two children remained to live with their father. If you imagine Biryuk, you get the impression of an eternally sad, gloomy person. But how can you rejoice when family life is over? In addition, the place of residence was an old hut. When the author describes the state of the home, it becomes gloomy, poverty is all around. Even when he had a guest at night, he didn’t really want to be in such a terrible hut.

The people who met Thomas were afraid of him, and this is understandable. He is a tall and strong man, his face is stern, even angry. A beard grew on his face. But, as you know, external signs are only the first impression of a person, because, in essence, he is a kind and sympathetic person. Fellow villagers said about Biryuk that he was an honest man and did not like deception. He was an incorruptible forester, he did not need profit, he simply minded his own business and lived honestly.

One day Thomas caught a thief at night and he was faced with the question of what to do with him? The first thing on the forester's mind was punishment for the thief. Biryuk took the ropes and tied up the criminal, then led him into the hut. The thief was a little dumbfounded by the living conditions of the forester. But you can’t deceive your soul and heart. Although Thomas looked stern, kindness won in this situation. The forester decides that the criminal needs to be released, although he has doubts about this. It was difficult for Biryuk to understand that theft is not such a terrible crime. In his concepts, every crime must be punished.

Throughout the story, Turgenev tries to present Foma as a simple man from Russia. He is honest and just lives and does what he is supposed to do. He is not looking for illegal ways to make money. Turgenev describes Thomas in such a way that you really understand that life can throw you into trouble. He is burdened by his existence in poverty and no joy. Nevertheless, the hero accepts what is and continues to live proudly and fight problems.

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In 1847-1852, Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev created several stories, which were combined into a collection called “Notes of a Hunter.”

Writers of the previous era rarely wrote about peasants, and if they did, they depicted them as a common gray mass. Despite this, Turgenev undertook to note the peculiarities of peasant life, thanks to which the collection “Notes of a Hunter” presented a bright and multifaceted composition of the life of peasants. The stories immediately attracted readers and allowed them to gain special fame.

Features of the stories “Notes of a Hunter”

Each story features one main character, whose name is Pyotr Petrovich. He is a nobleman from the village of Spassky and is actively involved in hunting and hiking. Ivan Turgenev talks about various stories that happened during hunting trips. The main character has acquired such valuable character traits as observation and attention, thanks to which the narrator better understands various life situations and successfully conveys them to the reader.

“Biryuk” is a story included in the collection “Notes of a Hunter.” The work was written in 1848 and corresponds to the general literary composition. The main character again finds himself in an interesting story, which he narrates in the form of a monologue.

The plot of the story "Biryuk"

One evening Pyotr Petrovich was returning from hunting and got caught in a downpour. A further trip turned out to be impossible: we had to wait out the bad weather. Fortunately, Peter saw a forester who invited the master to his house. An important conversation took place in Biryuk’s hut. As it turned out, the forester was nicknamed Biryuk because he has a gloomy and unsociable character. Despite such harsh character traits, Biryuk decided to tell many interesting facts about his life.

After the rain ended, the hospitable owner of the forest hut heard the sound of an ax and decided to catch the offender. Pyotr Petrovich supported the idea, so the two of them went in search of the intruder. The thief turned out to be a beggar man, dressed in rags and with a disheveled beard. Most likely, the violation was due to a difficult life situation. Pyotr Petrovich took pity on the beggar and asked Biryuk for an important favor, or rather, to let the poor peasant go. However, the forester did not agree and led the man into his hut. The offender was released only after repeated requests for mercy from the master.

Biryuk as a person

Biryuk is an interesting and integral person, but, unfortunately, tragic. The main tragedy lies in the presence of special views on life, which sometimes have to be sacrificed. The story noted that many peasants in the mid-19th century considered theft to be commonplace. This was precisely the main tragedy of Biryuk.

It is important to note that the peasants’ worldview was explained by serious social problems:

Insecurity of the peasant people;

Lack of good education;

Immorality of behavior due to lack of education.


Forester Biryuk was different from ordinary peasants. He is ready to live as a beggar even if such a situation turns out to be difficult. Any life circumstances could not motivate theft.

It is important to note that Biryuk’s poor position was confirmed by the description of his house in the forest:

One room;

Smoky;

Low and empty hut;

No floors or partitions.


You can understand how difficult Biryuk’s life turns out to be. It can be assumed that if a poor man sacrificed his principles, he, being in the forest, could build a beautiful hut for himself.

Biryuk understands that if every peasant steals, the overall situation will only worsen. The forester is confident that he is right, so it is difficult for him to deviate from existing principles. Despite such character traits and the desire to walk firmly through life, sometimes you have to face challenges. The situation described in the story clearly demonstrates the struggle between feelings of pity and compassion with clear principles and the desire to improve the world. The essay shows how difficult it is to hesitate between feelings and existing principles, not to know what to choose.

“Biryuk” is a fascinating story that reveals the characters of each participant in the story. Ivan Turgenev understood the peculiarities of peasant life in the 19th century, and therefore successfully reflected them in his works. The logic of life is a worthy basis, without which it is impossible to change realities.

“Biryuk” is a story that reflected the unfair situation of many serfs. Each reader has the right to independently place emphasis on those feelings that arise when comparing heroes from the same peasant environment, but differing in their life principles and character traits.

The plot of the story is based on a direct conflict between the forester Biryuk, who is considered lonely and gloomy, and the poor peasant. Biryuk honestly fulfills his duties and tries to protect the forest. The peasant finds himself in a difficult life situation, so he steals firewood. The master hunter, Pyotr Petrovich, stopped in a forest hut due to a sudden downpour, so he becomes an accidental witness to a conflict situation. He sees how during bad weather Biryuk decides to go into the forest and tries to catch the unfortunate thief.

Biryuk lives poorly and raises his children himself. His wife went to a passing tradesman, leaving her family. Despite such life circumstances, theft still remains the last thing, so Biryuk tries to identify violators and punish them... But you need to understand how fair such behavior turns out to be. Growing up children are hungry and eat bad bread... Biryuk shows distrust and gloominess, says little and behaves insincerely. Biryuk, of course, invites the hunter to his place and is ready to take him home, but still shows a merciless judicial attitude towards the beggar.

Biryuk is ready to justify his actions with the following point: he is a forced laborer, so they can exact a penalty from him... At the same time, during the plaintive explanations of the poor peasant, the forester remains silent. Such moments reflect a serious internal struggle. The forester wants to justify the unfortunate thief, realizing that in bad weather he steals wood from the master to fire the stove and prepare food for a hungry family, but still leaves the offender locked up. The attitude changes only after the unfortunate man at the very end of the story calls Biryuk a “beast,” a “damned murderer.” The offender is ready to accept any punishment, because even death does not frighten him. However, accusing the forester of inhumanity immediately leads to a different effect, because Biryuk lets him go. In an unexpected way, a serious internal conflict was resolved:

Cruelty and duty of service;

Clear life principles;

Sincere sympathy and understanding of the misfortune of a stranger.


At the same time, the master, Pyotr Petrovich, contributed to the successful resolution of the current situation, since he was immediately imbued with the explanations of the unfortunate thief.

The situation is better revealed through detailed descriptions of the landscape. Throughout the story, a thunderstorm rages, personifying Biryuk’s state of mind. In addition, many serfs consider the forester a manifestation of a thunderstorm. But nevertheless, Biryuk is freed from the sense of duty, since he commits a human act and goes to meet the unfortunate person. According to the law that was in force at that ominous time, the forester. who did not catch the thief had to reimburse the entire cost of the illegally cut down trees. If this could not be done, there was a risk of a lawsuit with further exile to Siberia, but the fear of punishment loses... Biryuk nevertheless releases the thief and gives him his horse.

The meaning of the story “Biryuk”

Biryuk is a special hero in Ivan Turgenev’s story, because he has unique life principles and is sometimes ready to sacrifice them. Mental struggle allows you to understand how difficult it is sometimes to make the right decision. A detailed description of bad weather and thunderstorms contributes to a better understanding of the life principles and feelings and emotions of a forester. It is important to understand that a person who is in need and cannot find the right path is forced to decide on hopelessness. The oscillation between feelings and principles is the best reflection of humanity.

The story has numerous artistic merits, which have been confirmed by critics:

Real and picturesque descriptions of nature;

A special style of storytelling;

Unusual heroes.


“Biryuk” is a worthy representative of the legendary collection “Notes of a Hunter,” which made it possible to strengthen the position of Ivan Turgenev in Russian literature.

This story is included in the cycle of works by Turgenev “Notes of a Hunter”. To better reveal the theme of “Characteristics of the Biryuk”, you need to know the plot well, and it revolves around the fact that a hunter, lost in the forest, is suddenly overtaken by a thunderstorm. To wait out the bad weather, he hid under a large bush. But then local forester Foma Kuzmich picked him up and took him to his home. There the hunter saw the wretched shelter of his savior, and at the same time he had two children: a 12-year-old girl and a baby in a cradle. His wife was not in the house; she ran away from him with someone else, leaving him with children.

Turgenev, “Biryuk”: characteristics of Biryuk

People called this gloomy forester the Biryuk. He had a broad figure and a face that betrayed no emotion. When the rain stopped, they went to the yard. And then the sound of an ax was heard, the forester immediately realized where it was coming from, and soon dragged in a wet man who begged for mercy. The hunter immediately took pity on the poor peasant and was ready to pay for him, but the stern Biryuk himself let him go.

As you can see, the characterization of Biryuk is not simple; Turgenev shows a hero, although a beggar, who knows his duty well, and whom “neither wine nor money” can’t be taken away. He understands a peasant thief who is trying to somehow get out of hunger. And here the hero’s conflict is shown between a sense of duty and compassion for a poor man, and yet he decided in favor of compassion. Foma Kuzmich is an integral and strong personality, but tragic, because he has his own views on life, but sometimes he, a principled person, has to sacrifice them.

Characteristics of Biryuk

The author points out that in the middle of the 19th century, the majority of peasant people regarded theft as something natural and commonplace. Of course, serious social problems led to this phenomenon: lack of education, poverty and immorality.

But it is Biryuk who is unlike most of these people, although he is just as poor as everyone else. His hut consisted of one room, low and empty. But still he doesn’t steal, although if he did, he could afford a better house.

Duty and Compassion

Biryuk’s characteristics indicate that he neither steals nor gives to others, since he understands perfectly well that if everyone does this, it will only get worse.

He is sure of this and therefore is firm in his decision. But, as the essay describes, his principles sometimes compete with feelings of pity and compassion, and he will have this hesitation all his life. After all, he understands someone who, out of desperation, goes to steal.

The story “Biryuk” by I. S. Turgenev was written in 1847 and was included in the series of works by the writer about the life, traditions and way of life of the Russian people “Notes of a Hunter”. The story belongs to the literary movement of realism. In “Biryuk” the author described his memories of the life of peasants in the Oryol province.

Main characters

Biryuk (Foma Kuzmich)- a forester, a stern-looking man.

Narrator- master, the story is narrated on his behalf.

Other characters

Man- a poor man who was cutting down trees in the forest and was caught by Biryuk.

Julitta- Biryuk’s twelve-year-old daughter.

The narrator was driving alone from hunting in the evening, on treadmills. There were eight miles left to his house, but a strong thunderstorm unexpectedly caught him in the forest. The narrator decides to wait out the bad weather under a wide bush, and soon, with the flash of lightning, he sees a tall figure - as it turned out, it was the local forester. He took the narrator to his house - “a small hut in the middle of a vast yard, surrounded by fences.” The door was opened for them by “a girl of about twelve, in a shirt, belted with a hem” - the daughter of the forester, Ulita.

The forester’s hut “consisted of one room,” a tattered sheepskin coat hung on the wall, a torch was burning on the table, and “in the very middle” of the house there was a cradle hanging.

The forester himself “was tall, broad-shouldered and beautifully built,” with a black curly beard, wide fused eyebrows and brown eyes. His name was Thomas, nicknamed Biryuk. The narrator was surprised to meet the forester, as he had heard from friends that “all the surrounding men were afraid of him like fire.” He regularly guarded the forest goods, not allowing even a bundle of brushwood to be taken out of the forest. It was impossible to bribe Biryuk.

Foma said that his wife ran away with a passing tradesman, leaving the forester alone with two children. Biryuk had nothing to treat the guest with - there was only bread in the house.

When the rain stopped, Biryuk said that he would see the narrator out. Coming out of the house, Foma heard the distant sound of an ax. The forester was afraid that he would miss the thief, so the narrator agreed to walk to the place where the forest was being cut down, although he did not hear anything. At the end of the path, Biryuk asked to wait, and he went on. Through the noise of the wind, the narrator heard Thomas' cry and the sounds of a struggle. The narrator rushed there and saw Biryuk near a fallen tree, who was tying a man with a sash.

The narrator asked to let the thief go, promising to pay for the tree, but Biryuk, without answering, took the man to his hut. It started to rain again, and they had to wait out the bad weather. The narrator decided “to free the poor man at all costs” - by the light of the lantern he could see “his wasted, wrinkled face, drooping yellow eyebrows, restless eyes, thin limbs.”

The man began to ask Biryuk to free him. The forester gloomily objected that in their settlement everything was “a thief upon a thief” and, not paying attention to the thief’s plaintive requests, ordered him to sit quietly. Suddenly the man straightened up, blushed and began to scold Thomas, calling him “an Asian, a bloodsucker, a beast, a murderer.” Biryuk grabbed the man by the shoulder. The narrator already wanted to protect the poor man, but Foma, to his amazement, “with one turn he tore the sash from the man’s elbows, grabbed him by the collar, pulled his hat over his eyes, opened the door and pushed him out,” shouting after him to get the hell out .

The narrator understands that Biryuk is actually a “nice fellow.” Half an hour later they said goodbye at the edge of the forest.

Conclusion

In the story “Biryuk” Turgenev portrayed an ambiguous character - forester Foma Kuzmich, whose personality is fully revealed only towards the end of the work. It is with this hero that the main conflict of the story is connected - the conflict between public duty and humanity, which occurs within Biryuk himself. Despite the outward severity and integrity of Foma Kuzmich, who closely protects the forest entrusted to him, in his soul he is a kind, sympathetic person - a “nice fellow.”

A brief retelling of “Biryuk” will be useful for familiarizing yourself with the plot of the story; for a better understanding of the work, we recommend reading it in its entirety.

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Essay on the topic “Characteristics of Biryuk”

The work was completed by a student of class 7 “B” Balashov Alexander

The main character of the story is I.S. Turgenev's "Biryuk" is the forester Foma. Foma is a very interesting and unusual person. With what admiration and pride the author describes his hero: “He was tall, broad-shouldered and beautifully built. His powerful muscles bulged out from under the wet manner of his shirt.” Biryuk had a “manly face” and “small brown eyes” that “looked boldly from under fused wide eyebrows.”

The author is struck by the wretchedness of the forester’s hut, which consisted of “one room, smoky, low and empty, without floors ...”, everything here speaks of a miserable existence - both “a tattered sheepskin coat on the wall” and “a pile of rags in the corner; two large pots that stood near the stove...” Turgenev himself sums up the description: “I looked around - my heart ached: it’s not fun to enter a peasant’s hut at night.”

The forester's wife ran away with a passing tradesman and abandoned two children; Maybe that’s why the forester was so stern and silent. Foma was nicknamed Biryuk, that is, a gloomy and lonely man, by the surrounding men, who feared him like fire. They said that he was “strong and dexterous like a devil...”, “he won’t let you drag fagots of brushwood” out of the forest, “no matter what time it is... he’ll come out of the blue” and don’t expect mercy. Biryuk is a “master of his craft” who cannot be conquered by anything, “neither wine nor money.” However, despite all his sorrows and troubles, Biryuk retained kindness and mercy in his heart. He secretly sympathized with his “wards”, but work is work, and the demand for the stolen goods will first of all be from himself. But this does not prevent him from doing good deeds, releasing the most desperate ones without punishment, but only with a fair amount of intimidation.

Biryuk's tragedy stemmed from the understanding that it was not because of a good life that peasants came to steal timber. Often, feelings of pity and compassion prevail over his integrity. So, in the story, Biryuk caught a man chopping down a forest. He was dressed in tattered rags, all wet, with a disheveled beard. The man asked to let him go or at least give him the horse, because there were children at home and there was nothing to feed them. In response to all the persuasion, the forester kept repeating one thing: “Don’t go stealing.” In the end, Foma Kuzmich grabbed the thief by the collar and pushed him out the door, saying: “Get to hell with your horse.” With these rude words, he seems to cover up his generous act. So the forester constantly oscillates between principles and a sense of compassion. The author wants to show that this gloomy, unsociable person actually has a kind, generous heart.

Describing a forced people, destitute and oppressed, Turgenev especially emphasizes that even in such conditions he was able to preserve his living soul, the ability to empathize and respond with his whole being to kindness and kindness. Even this life does not kill humanity in people - that is what is most important.