“Human cruelty towards a poor official (based on N.V. Gogol’s story “The Overcoat”) (1). About love and compassion in the story “The Overcoat The Overcoat and Indifference in Gogol”

N.V. Gogol is considered the most mystical writer in Russian literature. His life and work are full of secrets and mysteries. Gogol's story “The Overcoat” is studied in literature lessons in the 8th grade. A full analysis of the work requires familiarity with the work and some biographical information of the author.

Brief Analysis

Year of writing – 1841.

History of creation– the story is based on an anecdote with a similar plot.

Subject– the theme of the “little man”, a protest against social orders that limit the individual.

Composition– the narrative is built on the principle of “being”. The exposition is a brief history of Bashmachkin’s life, the beginning is the decision about the need to change the overcoat, the climax is the theft of the overcoat and the clash with the indifference of the authorities, the denouement is the illness and death of the main character, the epilogue is news of a ghost stealing the overcoat.

Genre- story. It has a bit in common with the genre of “lives” of saints. Many researchers find similarities between the plot and the life of St. Akaki of Sinai. This is indicated by the hero’s numerous humiliations and wanderings, his patience and refusal of worldly joys, and death.

Direction– critical realism.

History of creation

In “The Overcoat,” analysis of a work is impossible without the background that prompted the author to create the work. A certain P.V. Annenkov in his memoirs notes an incident when, in the presence of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, a “clerical anecdote” was told about a minor official who lost his gun, for the purchase of which he had been saving for a long time. Everyone found the joke very funny, but the writer became gloomy and deep in thought, this was in 1834. Five years later, the plot will emerge in Gogol’s “The Overcoat,” artistically rethought and creatively reworked. This creation backstory seems very plausible.

It is important to note that writing the story was difficult for the writer; perhaps some emotional, personal experiences played a role: he was able to finish it only in 1841, thanks to the pressure of M. V. Pogodin, a famous publisher, historian and scientist.

In 1843 the story was published. It belongs to the cycle of “Petersburg Tales” and becomes the final and most ideologically rich. The author changed the name of the main character throughout the work on the work Tishkevich - Bashmakevich - Bashmachkin).

The title of the story itself underwent several changes (“The Tale of an Official Stealing an Overcoat”) before the final and most accurate version reached us – “The Overcoat.” Critics accepted the work calmly; during the author’s lifetime it was not particularly noted. Only a century later it became clear that “The Overcoat” had a huge influence on Russian literature, on the historical understanding of the era and the formation of literary trends. Gogol’s “little man” was reflected in the works of many writers and poets, creating a whole wave of similar, no less brilliant, works.

Subject

The work is structured in such a way that we trace the entire life of the main character, starting from the moment of birth (where the story of why he was named Akaki is mentioned) and until the most tragic point - the death of the titular adviser.

The plot is based on revealing the image of Akaki Akakievich, his clash with social order, power and the indifference of people. The problems of an insignificant creature do not concern the powers that be; no one notices his life, and even his death. Only after death will justice prevail in the fantastic part of the story - about a night ghost taking away overcoats from passers-by.

Issues“The Overcoat” covers all the sins of a well-fed, soulless world, makes the reader look around and notice those who are just as “small and defenseless” as the main character. Main thought The story is a protest against the lack of spirituality of society, against orders that humiliate a person morally, financially and physically. The meaning of Bashmachkin’s phrase “Leave... why are you offending me?

” – contains both moral, spiritual and biblical context. What the work teaches us: how not to treat your neighbor. Idea Gogol's goal is to show the powerlessness of a small personality in front of a huge world of people who are indifferent to the grief of others.

Composition

The composition is built on the principle of the lives or “walkings” of saints and martyrs. The entire life of the main character, from birth to death, is a painful feat, a battle for truth and a test of patience and self-sacrifice.

The whole life of the hero of “The Overcoat” is an empty existence, a conflict with social order - the only act that he tried to commit in his life. In the exposition of the story, we learn brief information about the birth of Akaki Bashmachkin, why he was called that, about the work and inner world of the character. The essence of the plot is to show the need to acquire a new thing (if you look deeper - a new life, dramatic, bold changes).

The climax is the attack on the main character and his confrontation with the indifference of the authorities. The denouement is the last meeting with a “significant person” and the death of the character. The epilogue is a fantastic (in Gogol's favorite style - satirical and terrifying) story about a ghost who takes overcoats from passers-by and eventually gets to his offender. The author emphasizes the powerlessness of man to change the world and achieve justice. Only in the “other” reality is the main character strong, endowed with power, feared, and he boldly says to the offender’s eyes what he did not have time to say during his lifetime.

Main characters

Genre

The story about the titular adviser is built on the principle of the lives of the saints. The genre is defined as a story, due to the scale of the substantive plan of the work. The story of a titular adviser who fell in love with his profession became a kind of parable and acquired philosophical overtones. The work can hardly be considered realistic, given the ending. She turns the work into a phantasmagoria, where bizarre unreal events, visions, and strange images intersect.

Work test

Rating Analysis

Average rating: 4.2. Total ratings received: 2112.

Composition

The work of N.V. Gogol had a great influence on Russian literature. The democracy and humanism of his works, his appeal to everyday phenomena of life, the creation of bright 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 human defenselessness in the surrounding unjust and cruel world, which has long worried him. The main idea of ​​the work is the idea of ​​a “little” man, crippled and robbed by the state.

The story of Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin, the “eternal titular adviser,” is the story of the life and death of a person under the rule of social circumstances. The bureaucratic system brings the hero to complete stupor, limiting the whole meaning of his existence to the rewriting of absurd government papers. It is not surprising that Bashmachkin, placed in such conditions, experiences a kind of “insight” in the story of the overcoat, which became his “ideal goal” and filled his existence with meaning. Starving in order to save money to sew an overcoat, he “but ate spiritually, carrying an eternal idea in his thoughts.” 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. “Misfortune falls unbearably” on the poor man’s head. An evil, indifferent element is approaching Bashmachkin: the deserted streets become more desolate, the streetlights flicker on them less often. Akakiy Akakievich is in distress due to the rampant nature and wants to find protection from the State. Not wanting to accept the need to take a step back and return to a meaningless existence, he decides to fight. Bashmachkin goes to the “private person”, and then straight to the general, a “significant person”. However, in his old “hood” he arouses the general’s dissatisfaction and suspicion: the victim’s appearance does not correspond very much to the statement of a rich overcoat. With his “scolding” 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 general’s proud arrogance: “Do you know who you are talking to? Do you understand who is standing in front of you? do you understand this, do you understand this? I'm asking you". After such an attitude, Bashmachkin felt bad. The indifference of the “significant person” merged with the evil cold of nature, and he returned home completely exhausted and sick.

A terrible mental shock from human injustice and cruelty leads to the fact that the hero falls ill and dies: “A creature has disappeared and disappeared, not protected by anyone, not dear to anyone, not interesting to anyone.” But in his dying delirium, he experiences another “insight” and utters “the most terrible words” never heard from him before.

The plot of the story does not end with the death of the hero. Now retribution begins, the elements that have come to the surface of life are raging. The deceased Bashmachkin turns into an avenger and tears off the greatcoat from the general himself. The author here resorts to fiction in order to more deeply reveal the protesting, rebellious beginning hidden 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, and inactivity of the authorities towards the common man. Thus, the image of the general depicted on Petrovich’s snuff box is symbolic, “which general is unknown, because the place where the face was was pierced with a finger and then sealed with a rectangular piece of paper.” This is a symbol of power that has lost face, that has lost the “image of God.” Also characteristic is the image of a watchman who saw with his own eyes, “how a ghost appeared from behind one house... he did not dare to stop him, but just followed him...” This image is the image of a guardian of power at the lowest, but also its most restless level, passively wandering behind 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: “...rare of us has had so much love for good that he decided to sacrifice for it ambition, and self-love, and all the little things of his easily irritated egoism and made it an indispensable law for himself - to serve his land, and not himself, to remember every minute that he took the place for the happiness of others, and not for his own.” Thus, this conclusion, contained in the subtext of “The Overcoat,” concerns not only a small person, a minor official, not only a “significant person,” but also the entire Russian State, headed by the Sovereign himself.

Other works on this work

Pain for a person or mockery of him? (based on the story “The Overcoat” by N.V. Gogol)

Many writers and artists have addressed the theme of the “little man”. The first writer who touched upon this topic in his works is considered to be A.S. Pushkin. It is his “Belkin's Tales” that are the beginning of the development of the “little man” and the representative of a new, realistic approach to the depiction of a “simple” hero.

Work by N.V. Gogol's "The Overcoat" is connected with Pushkin's story, which was written a decade earlier. Gogol showed it firsthand in his story, leading his hero through ordeals and bureaucratic red tape. It was as if he pitted the little man Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin against the state machine and showed how hostile it was to his interests.

For Gogol, a “little man” is a person on a small social plane, because he is not rich, has no voice in society, does not stand out in any way: “As for rank (for with us, first of all, it is necessary to declare rank), he was what is called the eternal titular councilor...". Gogol's character is just a petty official with a meager salary. He is also “small” because his inner world is quite limited. Akaki is a very diligent and efficient worker, but at the same time he doesn’t even think about what he is doing. In addition, the hero has lost so much faith in himself that he doesn’t even try to change anything or improve.

Akakiy Akakievich’s only purpose is to collect money to buy an overcoat. He becomes happier even at the thought of fulfilling this dream: “From then on, it was as if his very existence became somehow fuller, as if he had gotten married, as if some other person was present with him.” Therefore, it is not surprising that the theft of the wonderful overcoat, which he acquired with such difficulty, became for Bashmachkin the tragedy of his entire life. The people around him only laughed at his loss. No one even tried to understand this man, let alone help. But the most terrible and terrible thing in this story was that no one even noticed his death, and no one remembered him after.

The episode of the resurrection of the main character in the epilogue of the story is also memorable. Now he wanders the streets of St. Petersburg and rips overcoats and fur coats from passers-by. Such is his revenge. The character calms down only when he manages to tear off the overcoat from a “significant person” who greatly influenced his life: “Ah! so here you are, finally! Finally I caught you by the collar! It’s your overcoat that I need! you didn’t bother about mine, and even scolded me - now give me yours!” Only after this does Akaki Akakievich grow in his own eyes.

The author is sure that in the life of even the most insignificant person there are moments when he can become a strong person who can stand up for himself. With his work, he encourages us to treat such people with understanding and compassion. Therefore, we can say for sure that the writer expresses pain for the person, but does not laugh at him.

All mystical works of Nikolai Gogol are of great importance for Russian literature. In his stories, the author refers to various life phenomena that help him create typical characters of that time. They combine lyrical and satirical motifs, making them priceless. Such outstanding works of the writer include the plot of “The Overcoat”, where the author shows a pitiful and defenseless person who tries to survive in a tough world where there is no justice and truth at all.

The main thought and idea is the idea that the state is crippled, giving birth to “little” people who often never find themselves in this world. They are forced to eke out their existence.
The story tells in detail the entire ordinary and amazing story of the life and mystical death of Akaki Bashmachkin, whom the author makes the main and, perhaps, the only character of the short story. All his life, Gogol’s Akaki Akakievich worked as an ordinary adviser of the lowest rank. The society in which Gogol's character lives is mired in bureaucracy.

It is precisely this bureaucratic system that drives the hero to stupefaction, not wanting to enjoy life. The whole point of his life's existence lies in rewriting and copying some completely ridiculous and completely unnecessary documents and papers. Bashmachkin, who is in such a society, himself becomes part of it, and only a new overcoat can still give birth to some feelings and desires in his head.

Only the overcoat becomes its meaning. The hero is starving to raise money for a new purchase. The main thing for him is sewing a new overcoat. The overcoat is the main and important meaning of the entire life of Gogol’s hero. And the real blow for him is that he suddenly loses her. The element of indifference and evil fell upon Bashmachkin. He sees how the street lights burn evilly and unkindly, and how deserted the streets become.

Gogolevsky Akaki Akakievich cannot find protection for himself at all; the state rejects him, as does society. But coming to terms with the theft of his overcoat meant for the hero to return back to the past, where his existence had no meaning. Therefore, Gogol’s hero decides to fight, defending his life goal.

First, Bashmachkin goes to a certain private person who supposedly could help him, but he refuses. Akaki Akakievich does not give up and goes to the general, who is presented in the story as a significant person. But his appearance no longer evokes positive feelings in the general. He is dissatisfied with such a visitor, and when he finds out what business Akaky Akakievich came to ask for, he is at first surprised that such a poor titular adviser could have a rich and new overcoat. Therefore, he even has suspicions about where Bashmachkin could get such an overcoat from.

And this “significant” person decides to scold Bashmachkin for behaving so decisively and so boldly, defiantly. He scolded Akaki Akakievich so much that he could not bear it. And the important person did not think to somehow help or protect the poor official, who had lost not only the only joy in life, but also lost his life purpose.

After visiting a “significant” and important person, Gogol’s Akaki Akakievich soon became very ill. He returned home humiliated, went to bed and fell ill. Bashmachkin dies a few days later. But such an unexpected death of a character does not put an end to this Gogol plot, since now a new stage begins - retribution. The deceased hero turns into a ghost who begins to take revenge. He tears off the greatcoat from the general himself on the bridge.

The author used a large number of symbols in the plot. For example, the snuffbox of Petrovich, who sewed a new and desirable overcoat for the timid and shy Akaki. It depicts a general, but only his face has been erased. And this is symbolic, since the government has long lost its face and did nothing to help the poor official, but only brought him to death. It is not entirely by chance that the author necessarily introduces the image of a baker into his unusual work, since he sees a ghost with his own eyes and even follows him for some time. And he is also a symbol of power, which keeps order at such a low level.

But still, the main and important Gogol idea is that this petty official, a small and seemingly insignificant person, spent his entire short life serving other people. Akaki did not offend anyone during his earthly life, but he always peacefully and timidly withstood all ridicule of himself. He was not happy, but he experienced moments of supreme pleasure when thoughts of the desired overcoat appeared, and this bliss of his became stronger with each fitting. He changed, became a little different, healed, but happiness does not last long. The main character also learned this.

What is indifference? I'll try to think about this. Indifference is one of the lowest and most vile feelings, characterized by a complete lack of compassion and understanding for other people. It seems to me that indifference can be attributed to the main signs of a lack of humanism.

To support this, I will give an example from Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol’s story “The Overcoat”. The main character of the work, Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin, who works as a titular adviser, is constantly mocked by his colleagues for the sake of laughter.

Poor, timid and whimsical Akaki Akakievich endures all this and can only fight back if he is prevented from working. Officials do not think about the pain, suffering and insult they cause to a person, thereby revealing their indifference and heartlessness.

An example of indifference can be found in modern society. Increasingly, videos appear in the news, the Internet and social networks in which passers-by simply walk past a person who has become ill on the street, trying not to pay any attention to him. This whole situation is incredibly terrible!!! After all, a person can die because people do not take any measures to provide help. And the scary thing is that many do not realize the full responsibility in such difficult moments. Unfortunately, over time, indifference penetrates more and more into the hearts of people.

So, we can say that indifference is one of the most important vices of humanity. I would like to believe that in the future people will become kinder and more responsive to each other.

Updated: 2018-10-13

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