What are the problems in the story? “Human cruelty in relation to a poor official (based on the novel by N. V. Gogol “The Overcoat”) (1)

The writing

The work of N.V. Gogol had a great influence on Russian literature. Democracy and humanism of his works, appeal to everyday phenomena life, the creation of vivid typical characters, the combination of lyrical and satirical motifs made his legacy truly priceless. Thus, his story “The Overcoat” is filled with enormous social and humanistic content, where he develops the theme of the defenselessness of a person in the unjust and unfair environment that has long worried him. cruel world. The main idea of ​​the work is the idea of ​​a "little" man, crippled and robbed by the state.

The story of Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin, "the eternal titular adviser," is the story of the life and death of a person under the power of social circumstances. The bureaucratic system brings the hero to complete stupefaction, limiting the whole meaning of his existence to rewriting ridiculous government papers. It is not surprising that Bashmachkin, placed in such conditions, experiences a kind of “enlightenment” in the story of the overcoat, which became his “ideal goal”, filled his existence with meaning. Starving in order to save up money for sewing an overcoat, he "on the other hand ate spiritually, carrying in his thoughts an eternal idea." The overcoat was the light of his life. What a blow it was for the hero that he was deprived of this value, this light. "Intolerably misfortune falls" on the poor man's head. An evil, indifferent element is approaching Bashmachkin: the deserted streets become duller, the lights on them flicker less frequently. Akaky Akakievich is in distress because of the rampant elements and wants to find protection from the State. Unwilling to put up with having to take a step back and return to a meaningless existence, he decides to fight. Bashmachkin goes to the “private person”, and then directly to the general, the “significant person”. However, in his old “hood”, he causes discontent and suspicion of the general: the appearance of the victim does not really correspond to the statement about the rich overcoat. With his "baiting" he put the hero in his place, which he could not bear. Thus, in the person of the servants of the law, the hero is faced with complete indifference to his fate. His request for protection only inflamed the proud arrogance of the general: “Do you know to whom you are talking? Do you understand who is standing in front of you? do you understand it, do you understand it? I'm asking you". After such an attitude, Bashmachkin became ill. The indifference of the "significant person" merged with the evil cold of nature, and he returned home completely exhausted and sick.

terrible mental shock from human injustice and cruelty leads to the fact that the hero falls ill and dies: "A creature disappeared and disappeared, protected by no one, dear to no one, not interesting to anyone." But in his dying delirium, he experiences another "enlightenment", utters "the most terrible words" never heard from him before.

With the death of the hero, the plot of the story does not end. Now retribution begins, the elements that have come to the surface of life are raging. The deceased Bashmachkin turns into an avenger and rips off the overcoat from the general himself. The author resorts here to fantasy in order to reveal more deeply the protesting, rebellious principle lurking in a timid and intimidated person, a representative of the “lower class” of society.

Gogol's story is filled with symbolic images that help to most clearly reveal the main idea of ​​​​the work - callousness, indifference, inaction of the authorities in relation to common man. Thus, the image of the general depicted on Petrovich's snuffbox is symbolic, "the general, which one, is unknown, because the place where the face was was pierced with a finger and then sealed with a quadrangular piece of paper." This is a symbol of power that has lost face, that has lost the "image of God." Characteristic is the image of the watchman, who saw with his own eyes, “as it seemed because of one house a ghost ... he did not dare to stop him, but he followed him like that ...” This image is the image of the guardian of power at the lowest, but also its most restless level, passively wandering after the raging elements - is also deeply symbolic.

Gogol later develops the main idea of ​​this story in Selected passages from correspondence with friends. This helps us to better understand the intention of the work: “... a rare of us had so much love for good that he decided to sacrifice because of it both ambition and pride, and all the little things of his easily irritated egoism and put himself in an indispensable law - serve his land, and not himself, remember every minute that he took a place for the happiness of others, and not for his own. Thus, this conclusion, contained in the subtext of The Overcoat, concerns not only little man, a petty official, not only a "significant person", but all Russian State headed by the Emperor himself.

Other writings on this work

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The writing

The great Russian critic V. G. Belinsky said that the task of poetry is “to extract the poetry of life from the prose of life and shake souls with a true image of this life.” It is precisely such a writer, a writer who shakes the soul with an image of sometimes the most insignificant pictures of human existence in the world, is N.V. Gogol. Gogol's greatest service to Russian society, in my opinion, lies not so much in the fact that he brought out true pictures of Russian life in The Inspector General and Dead souls”, and not even that he managed to laugh at once at all the bad things that existed in contemporary Russia, but that he created the immortal image of Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin, the hero of the story “The Overcoat”.
At the heart of N. V. Gogol's plan lies the conflict between the "little man" and society, a conflict leading to rebellion, to the uprising of the humble. The story "The Overcoat" describes not only an incident from the life of the hero. The whole life of a person appears before us: we are present at his birth, naming him, find out how he served, why he needed an overcoat and, finally, how he died. Akaky Akakievich spends his whole life in “rewriting” papers in the service, and the hero is quite pleased with this. Moreover, when he is offered an occupation that requires “to change the capital title, and in some places change the verbs from the first person to the third”, the poor official is frightened and asks to be relieved of this work. Akaky Akakievich lives in his small world, he “not once in his life paid attention to what is done and happens every day on the street”, and only in “rewriting did he see some kind of diverse and pleasant world of his own”. In the world of this official, nothing happens, and do not happen incredible story with an overcoat, there would be nothing to tell about him.
Bashmachkin does not strive for unprecedented luxury. He is simply cold, and by rank he must appear in the department in an overcoat. The dream of sewing an overcoat on wadding becomes for him a semblance of a great and almost impossible task. In his system of world values, it has the same meaning as the desire of some "great man" to achieve world domination. The thought of an overcoat fills the existence of Akaky Akakievich with meaning. Even his appearance is changing: “He has become somehow more alive, even firmer in character, like a person who has already defined and set a goal for himself. Doubt and indecision disappeared by itself from his face and actions... Fire is sometimes shown in his eyes...” And now, having finally reached the limit of his aspirations, the hero of the story once again faces injustice. The overcoat is stolen. But not even that becomes main reason the death of the unfortunate Bashmachkin: a “significant person”, to whom an official is advised to turn for help, “scolds” Akaky Akakievich for disrespect for his superiors and kicks him out of his house. And now “a creature that is not protected by anyone, is not dear to anyone, is not interesting to anyone, does not even attract attention ...” Bashmachkin's death, as expected, almost no one noticed.
The ending of the story is fantastic, but it is precisely such a ending that allows the writer to introduce the theme of justice into the work. The ghost of an official rips off the overcoats from the noble and rich. After his death, Bashmachkin rose to a height that was previously inaccessible to him, he overcame miserable ideas about rank. The "little man" rebellion becomes main theme story, the rebellion of Akaky Akakievich is akin to the rebellion of Eugene from “ Bronze Horseman”, who dared for a moment to become equal with Peter I, only the value systems of these two heroes are different.
The story of the poor official is written in such detail and authenticity that the reader involuntarily enters the world of the hero's interests and begins to sympathize with him. But Gogol is a master of artistic generalization. He deliberately emphasizes: “one official served in one department ...” Thus, a generalized image of a “little man”, quiet, humble person, whose life is unremarkable, but which, however, also has dignity and has a right to his own world. Perhaps that is why we finally pity not Akaky Akakievich, but “poor mankind.” And probably, that is why our anger is provoked not by a robber, but by a “significant person” who failed to pity the unfortunate official.
And at the end of the story, we come to a terrible conclusion: the subject of the narration is by no means the story of how the hero’s overcoat is stolen, but of how a person’s life was stolen. Akaki Akakievich, in fact, did not live. He never thought about high ideals, did not set any tasks for himself, did not dream of anything. And the insignificance of the incident underlying the plot characterizes Gogol's world itself.
N.V. Gogol makes the tone of the narration comical. The text shows constant irony over Bashmachkin, even his daring dreams turn out to be nothing more than a desire to put marten fur on his collar without fail. The reader must not only enter the world of Akaky Akakievich, but also feel the rejection of this world. In addition, there is also an author's voice in the story, and N.V. Gogol thus becomes, as it were, a messenger of the Russian humanistic tradition. It is on behalf of the author that the young man speaks, who, having unsuccessfully joked with Akaky Akakievich, “shuddered many times later in his life, seeing how much inhumanity is in a person, how much ferocious rudeness is hidden in refined, educated secularism, and, God! even in that person whom the world recognizes as noble and honest.
In the story of N.V. Gogol "The Overcoat" two aspects of the author's condemnation of the world are clearly traced. On the one hand, the writer comes out with sharp criticism of the society that turns a person into Akaky Akakievich, protesting against the world of those who “taunt and sharpen their hearts” over “eternal titular advisers”, those whose salary does not exceed four hundred rubles a year. But on the other hand, much more, in my opinion, is the appeal of N.V. Gogol to all mankind with a passionate appeal to pay attention to the “little people” who live next to us.

Other writings on this work

The Little Man" in N. V. Gogol's story "The Overcoat Pain for a person or a mockery of him? (based on the novel by N.V. Gogol "The Overcoat") What is the meaning of the mystical finale of the story by N.V. Gogol's "Overcoat" The meaning of the image of the overcoat in the story of the same name by N. V. Gogol Ideological and artistic analysis of N. V. Gogol's story "The Overcoat" The image of the "Little Man" in Gogol's story "The Overcoat" The image of the "little man" (according to the story "Overcoat") The image of the "Little Man" in the story of N. V. Gogol "The Overcoat" The image of Bashmachkin (based on the novel by N. V. Gogol "The Overcoat") The story "Overcoat" Zealous attitude of Akaky Akakiyevich to the “curl-shaped writing out” Review of the story by N. V. Gogol "The Overcoat" The role of hyperbole in the image of Bashmachkin in N. V. Gogol's story "The Overcoat" The role of the image of the "little man" in the story of N. V. Gogol "The Overcoat" The plot, characters and problems of the story by N.V. Gogol's "Overcoat" Theme \"little man" in the story\"Overcoat" The theme of the "little man" in the work of N. V. Gogol The tragedy of the "little man" in the story "The Overcoat" Characteristics of the image of Akaky Akakievich (N.V. Gogol "The Overcoat") The theme of "The Little Man" in N.V Gogol's story "The Overcoat" Characteristics of the image of Bashmachkin Akaki Akakievich The tragedy of a little man in "Petersburg Tales" by N.V. Gogol

The great Russian critic V. G. Belinsky said that the task of poetry is “to extract the poetry of life from the prose of life and shake souls with a true image of this life.” It is precisely such a writer, a writer who shakes the soul with the image of sometimes the most insignificant pictures of human existence in the world, is N.V. Gogol. Gogol's greatest service to Russian society, in my opinion, lies not so much in the fact that he brought out true pictures of Russian life in The Inspector General and Dead Souls, and not even in the fact that he managed to laugh at everything at once bad that existed in contemporary Russia, as much as that he created the immortal image of Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin, the hero of the story "The Overcoat".
At the heart of N. V. Gogol's plan lies the conflict between the "little man" and society, a conflict leading to rebellion, to the uprising of the humble. The story "The Overcoat" describes not only an incident from the life of the hero. The whole life of a person appears before us: we are present at his birth, naming him, find out how he served, why he needed an overcoat and, finally, how he died. Akaky Akakievich spends his whole life in “rewriting” papers in the service, and the hero is quite pleased with this. Moreover, when he is offered an occupation that requires “to change the capital title, and in some places change the verbs from the first person to the third”, the poor official is frightened and asks to be relieved of this work. Akaky Akakievich lives in his own little world, he “not once in his life paid attention to what is done and happens every day on the street”, and only in “rewriting did he see his own diverse and pleasant world”. Nothing happens in the world of this official, and if the incredible story with the overcoat had not happened, there would be nothing to tell about him.
Bashmachkin does not strive for unprecedented luxury. He is simply cold, and by rank he must appear in the department in an overcoat. The dream of sewing an overcoat on wadding becomes for him a semblance of a great and almost impossible task. In his system of world values, it has the same meaning as the desire of some "great man" to achieve world domination. The thought of an overcoat fills the existence of Akaky Akakievich with meaning. Even his appearance is changing: “He has become somehow more alive, even firmer in character, like a person who has already defined and set a goal for himself. Doubt and indecision disappeared by itself from his face and actions... Fire is sometimes shown in his eyes...” And now, having finally reached the limit of his aspirations, the hero of the story once again faces injustice. The overcoat is stolen. But even this does not become the main cause of the death of the unfortunate Bashmachkin: the “significant person”, to whom the official is advised to turn for help, “scolds” Akaky Akakievich for disrespect for his superiors and kicks him out of his house. And now “a creature that is not protected by anyone, is not dear to anyone, is not interesting to anyone, does not even attract attention ...” Bashmachkin's death, as expected, almost no one noticed.
The ending of the story is fantastic, but it is precisely such a ending that allows the writer to introduce the theme of justice into the work. The ghost of an official rips off the overcoats from the noble and rich. After his death, Bashmachkin rose to a previously inaccessible height, he overcame miserable ideas about rank. The rebellion of the “little man” becomes the main theme of the story;
The story of the poor official is written in such detail and authenticity that the reader involuntarily enters the world of the hero's interests and begins to sympathize with him. But Gogol is a master of artistic generalization. He deliberately emphasizes: “one official served in one department ...” Thus, a generalized image of a “little man” arises in the story, a quiet, modest person whose life is unremarkable, but who, however, also has his own dignity and has the right to own world. Perhaps that is why we finally pity not Akaky Akakievich, but “poor mankind.” And probably, that is why our anger is provoked not by a robber, but by a “significant person” who failed to pity the unfortunate official.
And at the end of the story, we come to a terrible conclusion: the subject of the narration is by no means the story of how the hero’s overcoat is stolen, but of how a person’s life was stolen. Akaki Akakievich, in fact, did not live. He never thought about high ideals, did not set any tasks for himself, did not dream of anything. And the insignificance of the incident underlying the plot characterizes Gogol's world itself.
N.V. Gogol makes the tone of the narration comical. The text shows constant irony over Bashmachkin, even his daring dreams turn out to be nothing more than a desire to put marten fur on his collar without fail. The reader must not only enter the world of Akaky Akakievich, but also feel the rejection of this world. In addition, there is also an author's voice in the story, and N.V. Gogol thus becomes, as it were, a messenger of the Russian humanistic tradition. It is on behalf of the author that the young man speaks, who, having unsuccessfully joked with Akaky Akakievich, “shuddered many times later in his life, seeing how much inhumanity is in a person, how much ferocious rudeness is hidden in refined, educated secularism, and, God! even in that person whom the world recognizes as noble and honest.
In the story of N.V. Gogol "The Overcoat" two aspects of the author's condemnation of the world are clearly traced. On the one hand, the writer comes out with sharp criticism of the society that turns a person into Akaky Akakievich, protesting against the world of those who “taunt and sharpen their hearts” over “eternal titular advisers”, those whose salary does not exceed four hundred rubles a year. But on the other hand, much more, in my opinion, is the appeal of N.V. Gogol to all mankind with a passionate appeal to pay attention to the “little people” who live next to us.