Positive qualities of Oblomov. Positive and negative character traits of Oblomov, his inconsistency in Goncharov’s novel What are the distinctive features of Oblomov

Oblomov Ilya Ilyich is the main character of the novel of the same name by I. A. Goncharov, a nobleman of a pleasant appearance, 32-33 years old, with the absence of a specific goal in life. Oblomov has dark gray eyes and a soft gaze, and his facial features lack any concentration. The main meaning of the novel is connected with the image of Oblomov. It would seem that there is nothing important in this story, but it reflects Russian life and the reality of the mid-19th century. It was after this book that the word “Oblomovism” appeared.

Oblomov is a kind of superfluous person in society, symbolizing the typical path of provincial nobles of that time. After serving for several years in the department, waiting year after year for promotion, he decided that such a worthless routine was not for him, deliberately choosing to do nothing. Now he lies on the couch all day long, not thinking about the future and not setting any goals for himself. He is not only unable to manage his estate, but he cannot even get ready and go to a party. This inaction is a conscious choice of the character. He is quite happy with this kind of life, and he is satisfied that there is no depth that touches the living. From time to time, only his friend Stolz, who is his complete opposite, is able to stir him up.

For a while, Oblomov is changed by his love for Olga. He even begins to read books, get out of bed, look through newspapers and put on neat clothes instead of a greasy robe. However, realizing his inability for active love, he himself initiates a break in the relationship so that Olga does not become disappointed in him. As a result, the hero finds an ideal life only surrounded by

The central character of I. A. Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov” is Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, a gentleman “thirty-two years old.” The work is dedicated to revealing his life philosophy, way of existence, his psychology.
Oblomov's main character traits are apathy, laziness, and inactivity. He lies on the couch all day, completely uninterested in anything. But this state of affairs does not bother the hero at all: everything suits him in this existence: “Ilya Ilyich’s lying down was neither a necessity,... nor an accident...: it was his normal state.” On the contrary, Oblomov’s discomfort is caused by intrusive “touches of life.”
However, this hero also has his own dreams. In the chapter “Oblomov’s Dream,” the author outlines them to us quite clearly. We see that my native Oblomovka instilled in Ilya Ilyich a love of home comfort, silence, and peace: “Happy people lived, thinking that it should not and cannot be otherwise.”

r /> This person vitally needed love, care, warmth and affection. Let's remember his dreams about his family life. Oblomov dreamed of a wife-mother, wife-housewife, and not of a passionate lover: “Yes, passion must be limited, strangled and drowned in marriage...” He imagined a very warm pastime - in the peaceful circle of family and loving friends. Here conversations would be held about art, about events happening in the world, etc.
It is precisely the need for such a life - where everyone loves each other, is satisfied with each other and with themselves - that, it seems to me, is Oblomov’s ideal in life. It is for this that Olga Ilyinskaya called the hero a “heart of gold,” because he knew how not only to take love, but also to generously give it and share it.
Of course, Oblomovka cultivated not only this in her Ilyusha. She instilled in him fear of life, indecision, laziness, helplessness, and snobbery. And, in addition, she formed a completely distorted idea of ​​​​adult life.
All this - both positive and negative - manifested itself in the hero’s life later. We know that in his youth, Oblomov, supported by Stolz, dreamed of improving himself, changing himself and the world around him. However, if Stolz began to realize his dreams, then Oblomov’s words remained just words.
Arriving in St. Petersburg, the hero gradually became disillusioned with the service (“When will we live?”), retired from all affairs and lay down on the sofa. Somehow, imperceptibly, Oblomov lost almost all his acquaintances, because in order to maintain communication, you need to make some effort. And this was completely unbearable for the hero.
Only once did Ilya Ilyich perk up and begin to change - by falling in love with Olga Ilyinskaya.
r /> Then the hero was ready to do whatever his beloved wanted. Ilya Ilyich really began to change - he forced himself to be interested in the life around him, move more, eat less. But in this story, Oblomov’s uncertainty and his fear of change played a tragic role. At one point, he felt that he was unworthy of Olga, and wrote a letter to the girl with an explanation: “Listen, without any hints, I will say directly and simply: you do not love me and cannot love me.”
After this, Oblomov’s life took its usual course - he continued to lie in seclusion, communicating only with Zakhar and occasionally with Stolz.

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Essay Oblomov's character traits reasoning

Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov” was written in the mid-nineteenth century and accurately described a bright representative of noble society, who has a consumerist attitude towards life and the people around him, and cannot find application for his knowledge and abilities. This is the fruit of upbringing, accustomed from generation to generation to use slave labor, to live at the expense of another person.

The main character of the novel is called Ilya Ilyich Oblomov. He repeats not only his father's name, but also his habits and lifestyle. A life test for Oblomov was his studies at the boarding school. He studied well, but was more happy when his parents, having come up with dozens of reasons, left him at home. After finishing his studies at the boarding school, and then in Moscow, Ilya Ilyich enters the service. But even there he cannot hold out for more than two years. He finds doing any work boring and uninteresting.

He justifies his passivity by saying that he has big plans for the future. Lying on the sofa, he considers a plan for reorganizing the estate. But things don’t go further than dreams. And even his friend Andrei Stolts cannot stir him up. Going abroad on business, Andrei introduces Oblomov to Olga Ilyinskaya. But this acquaintance only revived Oblomov’s life for a short time. Kind and honest by nature, Ilya Ilyich suddenly realizes that he cannot make Olga happy, that their views on life are very different.

He wants a calm, measured life, without difficulties and shocks, to be surrounded by kind and loving people. The owner of the house where he rented an apartment, Pshenitsyn’s widow, was able to provide him with such a life. Over time, she became his wife, the mother of his son, was his nurse, his guardian angel. Even Stolz, having arrived to Oblomov, realized that he could not change his friend’s life.

After Oblomov’s death, Stolz told the writer about his fate. He wanted readers to appreciate his pure soul and constant struggle with himself and the life around him.

Plan

1. Introduction
2. Conclusion

Introduction

Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov” was written during the period of transition of Russian society from outdated, home-building traditions and values ​​to new, educational views and ideas. This process became the most complex and difficult for representatives of the landowner social class, as it required an almost complete rejection of the usual way of life and was associated with the need to adapt to new, more dynamic and rapidly changing conditions. And if part of society easily adapted to the new circumstances, for others the transition process turned out to be very difficult, since it was essentially opposed to the usual way of life of their parents, grandfathers and great-grandfathers. The representative of precisely such landowners, who failed to change with the world, adapting to it, in the novel is Ilya Ilyich Oblomov. According to the plot of the work, the hero was born in a village far from the capital of Russia - Oblomovka, where he received a classic landowner, house-building education, which formed many of the main character traits of Oblomov - weak-willedness, apathy, lack of initiative, laziness, reluctance to work and the expectation that someone will do everything for him.
Excessive parental care, constant prohibitions, and the pacifying and lazy atmosphere of Oblomovka led to a deformation of the character of a curious and active boy, making him introverted, prone to escapism and unable to overcome even the most minor difficulties.

The inconsistency of Oblomov’s character in the novel “Oblomov”

The negative side of Oblomov’s character

In the novel, Ilya Ilyich does not decide anything on his own, hoping for help from the outside - Zakhar, who will bring him food or clothes, Stolz, who is able to solve the problems in Oblomovka, Tarantiev, who, although he will deceive, will himself figure out the situation that interests Oblomov, etc. The hero is not interested in real life, it causes him boredom and fatigue, while he finds true peace and satisfaction in the world of illusions he himself has invented. Spending all his days lying on the sofa, Oblomov makes unrealistic plans for the arrangement of Oblomovka and his happy family life, in many ways similar to the calm, monotonous atmosphere of his childhood. All his dreams are directed to the past, even the future that he imagines for himself - echoes of a distant past that can no longer be returned.

It would seem that a lazy, lumbering hero living in an untidy apartment cannot evoke sympathy and affection from the reader, especially against the backdrop of Ilya Ilyich’s active, purposeful friend, Stolz. However, Oblomov’s true essence is revealed gradually, which allows us to see all the versatility and inner unrealized potential of the hero. Even as a child, surrounded by quiet nature, the care and control of his parents, the sensitive, dreamy Ilya was deprived of the most important thing - knowledge of the world through its opposites - beauty and ugliness, victories and defeats, the need to do something and the joy of what was gained through one’s own labor.
From an early age, the hero had everything he needed - helpful servants carried out orders at the first call, and his parents spoiled their son in every possible way. Finding himself outside his parents' nest, Oblomov, not ready for the real world, continues to expect that everyone around him will treat him as warmly and welcomingly as in his native Oblomovka. However, his hopes were destroyed already in the first days in the service, where no one cared about him, and everyone was only for themselves. Deprived of the will to live, the ability to fight for his place in the sun and perseverance, Oblomov, after an accidental mistake, leaves the service himself, fearing punishment from his superiors. The very first failure becomes the last for the hero - he no longer wants to move forward, hiding from the real, “cruel” world in his dreams.

Positive side of Oblomov’s character

The person who could pull Oblomov out of this passive state leading to personality degradation was Andrei Ivanovich Stolts. Perhaps Stolz is the only character in the novel who thoroughly saw not only the negative, but also the positive traits of Oblomov: sincerity, kindness, the ability to feel and understand the problems of another person, inner calm and simplicity. It was to Ilya Ilyich that Stolz came in difficult moments, when he needed support and understanding. Oblomov’s dove-like tenderness, sensuality and sincerity are also revealed during his relationship with Olga. Ilya Ilyich is the first to realize that he is not suitable for the active, purposeful Ilyinskaya, who does not want to devote herself to “Oblomov” values ​​- this reveals him as a subtle psychologist. Oblomov is ready to give up his own love, because he understands that he cannot give Olga the happiness she dreams of.

Oblomov’s character and fate are closely connected - his lack of will, inability to fight for his happiness, together with spiritual kindness and gentleness, lead to tragic consequences - fear of the difficulties and sorrows of reality, as well as the hero’s complete withdrawal into the pacifying, calm, wonderful world of illusions.

National character in the novel "Oblomov"

The image of Oblomov in Goncharov’s novel is a reflection of the national Russian character, its ambiguity and versatility. Ilya Ilyich is the same archetypal Emelya the fool on the stove, about whom the nanny told the hero in childhood. Like the character in the fairy tale, Oblomov believes in a miracle that should happen to him by itself: a supportive firebird or a kind sorceress will appear and take him to the wonderful world of honey and milk rivers. And the chosen one of the sorceress should not be a bright, hard-working, active hero, but always “quiet, harmless,” “some kind of lazy person who is offended by everyone.”

Unquestioning faith in a miracle, in a fairy tale, in the possibility of the impossible is the main feature not only of Ilya Ilyich, but also of any Russian person raised on folk tales and legends. Finding itself on fertile soil, this faith becomes the basis of a person’s life, replacing reality with illusion, as happened with Ilya Ilyich: “his fairy tale is mixed with life, and he is unconsciously sad sometimes, why is a fairy tale not life, and why is life not a fairy tale.”

At the end of the novel, Oblomov, it would seem, finds that “Oblomov” happiness that he has long dreamed of - a calm, monotonous life without stress, a caring, kind wife, an organized life and a son. However, Ilya Ilyich does not return to the real world, he remains in his illusions, which become more important and significant for him than real happiness next to the woman who adores him. In fairy tales, the hero must pass three tests, after which he will be expected to fulfill all his desires, otherwise the hero will die. Ilya Ilyich does not pass a single test, giving in first to failure in the service, and then to the need to change for the sake of Olga. Describing Oblomov’s life, the author seems to be ironizing about the hero’s excessive faith in an unrealizable miracle for which there is no need to fight.

Conclusion

At the same time, the simplicity and complexity of Oblomov’s character, the ambiguity of the character himself, the analysis of his positive and negative sides, allow us to see in Ilya Ilyich the eternal image of an unrealized personality “out of his time” - an “extra person” who failed to find his own place in real life, and therefore left into the world of illusions. However, the reason for this, as Goncharov emphasizes, is not a fatal combination of circumstances or the difficult fate of the hero, but the incorrect upbringing of Oblomov, who is sensitive and gentle in character. Raised as a “houseplant,” Ilya Ilyich turned out to be unadapted to a reality that was harsh enough for his refined nature, replacing it with the world of his own dreams.

Positive and negative character traits of Oblomov, his inconsistency in Goncharov’s novel | source

Oblomov's character

Roman I.A. Goncharov's "Oblomov" was published in 1859. It took almost 10 years to create it. This is one of the most outstanding novels of classical literature of our time. This is how famous literary critics of that era spoke about the novel. Goncharov was able to convey realistically objective and reliable facts about the reality of the layers of the social environment of the historical period. It must be assumed that his most successful achievement was the creation of the image of Oblomov.

He was a young man of about 32-33 years old, of average height, with a pleasant face and an intelligent look, but without any definite depth of meaning. As the author noted, the thought walked across the face like a free bird, fluttered in the eyes, dropped onto half-open lips, hid in the folds of the forehead, then completely disappeared and a carefree young man appeared in front of us. Sometimes one could read boredom or fatigue on his face, but still there was a gentleness of character and the warmth of his soul. Throughout Oblomov’s life, he has been accompanied by three attributes of bourgeois well-being - a sofa, a robe and shoes. At home, Oblomov wore an oriental, soft, roomy robe. He spent all his free time lying down. Laziness was an integral trait of his character. Cleaning in the house was carried out superficially, creating the appearance of cobwebs hanging in the corners, although at first glance one might think that the room was well cleaned. There were two more rooms in the house, but he did not go there at all. If there was an uncleaned plate from dinner with crumbs everywhere, a half-smoked pipe, you would think that the apartment was empty, no one lived in it. He was always surprised by his energetic friends. How can you waste your life like this, scattered on dozens of things at once? His financial condition wanted to be better. Lying on the sofa, Ilya Ilyich was always thinking about how to correct him.

The image of Oblomov is a complex, contradictory, even tragic hero. His character predetermines an ordinary, uninteresting fate, devoid of the energy of life and its bright events. Goncharov draws his main attention to the established system of that era, which influenced his hero. This influence was expressed in Oblomov’s empty and meaningless existence. Helpless attempts at revival under the influence of Olga, Stolz, marriage to Pshenitsyna, and death itself are defined in the novel as Oblomovism.

The very character of the hero, according to the writer’s plan, is much larger and deeper. Oblomov's dream is the key to unlocking the entire novel. The hero moves to another era, to other people. Lots of light, joyful childhood, gardens, sunny rivers, but first you have to overcome obstacles, an endless sea with raging waves and groans. Behind him are rocks with abysses, a crimson sky with a red glow. After an exciting landscape, we find ourselves in a small corner where people live happily, where they want to be born and die, it cannot be otherwise, so they think. Goncharov describes these residents: “Everything in the village is quiet and sleepy: the silent huts are wide open; not a soul in sight; Only flies fly in clouds and buzz in the stuffy atmosphere.” There we meet young Oblomov. As a child, Oblomov could not dress himself; servants always helped him. As an adult, he also resorts to their help. Ilyusha grows up in an atmosphere of love, peace and excessive care. Oblomovka is a corner where calm and undisturbed silence reigns. It's a dream within a dream. Everything around seems to have frozen, and nothing can wake up these people who live uselessly in a distant village without any connection with the rest of the world. Ilyusha grew up on fairy tales and legends that his nanny told him. Developing daydreaming, the fairy tale tied Ilyusha more to the house, causing inaction.

Oblomov’s dream describes the hero’s childhood and upbringing. All this helps to recognize Oblomov’s character. The life of the Oblomovs is passivity and apathy. Childhood is his ideal. There in Oblomovka, Ilyusha felt warm, reliable and very protected. This ideal doomed him to a further aimless existence.

The solution to the character of Ilya Ilyich in his childhood, from where direct threads stretch to the adult hero. The character of a hero is an objective result of the conditions of birth and upbringing.

Oblomov novel laziness character

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The main character of the novel is Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, a landowner who, however, lives permanently in St. Petersburg. Oblomov's character is perfectly maintained throughout the novel. It is far from being as simple as it might seem at first glance. The main character traits of Oblomov are an almost painful weakness of will, expressed in laziness and apathy, then a lack of living interests and desires, fear of life, fear of any changes in general.

But, along with these negative traits, there are also major positive ones in him: remarkable spiritual purity and sensitivity, good nature, cordiality and tenderness; Oblomov has a “crystal soul,” as Stolz puts it; these traits attract to him the sympathy of everyone who comes into close contact with him: Stolz, Olga, Zakhar, Agafya Matveevna, even his former colleagues who visit him in the first part of the novel. Moreover, Oblomov is far from stupid by nature, but his mental abilities are dormant, suppressed by laziness; He has both a desire for good and a consciousness of the need to do something for the common good (for example, for his peasants), but all these good inclinations are completely paralyzed in him by apathy and lack of will. All these character traits of Oblomov appear brightly and prominently in the novel, despite the fact that there is little action in it; in this case, this is not a drawback of the work, since it fully corresponds to the apathetic, inactive nature of the main character. The brightness of the characterization is achieved mainly through the accumulation of small but characteristic details that vividly depict the habits and inclinations of the person depicted; Thus, just from the description of Oblomov’s apartment and its furnishings on the first pages of the novel, one can get a fairly accurate idea of ​​the personality of the owner himself. This method of characterization is one of Goncharov’s favorite artistic techniques; That’s why in his works there are so many small details of everyday life, furnishings, etc.

In the first part of the novel, Goncharov introduces us to Oblomov’s lifestyle, his habits, and also talks about his past, how his character developed. During this entire part, which describes one “morning” of Oblomov, he almost never leaves his bed; in general, lying on a bed or on a sofa, in a soft robe, was, according to Goncharov, his “normal state.” Any activity tired him; Oblomov once tried to serve, but not for long, because he could not get used to the demands of the service, to strict accuracy and diligence; a fussy official life, writing papers, the purpose of which was sometimes unknown to him, the fear of making mistakes - all this weighed on Oblomov, and, having once sent an official paper instead of Astrakhan to Arkhangelsk, he chose to resign. Since then, he lived at home, almost never leaving: neither to society, nor to the theater, almost never leaving his beloved deceased robe. His time passed in a lazy “crawling from day to day,” in idle doing nothing or in no less idle dreams of great exploits, of glory. This play of imagination occupied and amused him, in the absence of other, more serious mental interests. Like any serious work that requires attention and concentration, reading tired him; therefore, he read almost nothing, did not follow life in the newspapers, content with the rumors that rare guests brought to him; the half-read book, unfolded in the middle, turned yellow and became covered with dust, and in the inkwell, instead of ink, there were only flies. Every extra step, every effort of will was beyond his power; Even concern for himself, for his own well-being, weighed on him, and he willingly left it to others, for example, Zakhar, or relied on “maybe,” on the fact that “somehow everything will work out.” Whenever a serious decision had to be made, he complained that “life touches you everywhere.” His ideal was a calm, peaceful life, without worries and without any changes, so that “today” would be like “yesterday”, and “tomorrow” would be like “today”. Everything that disturbed the monotonous course of his existence, every concern, every change frightened and depressed him. The letter from the headman, who demanded his orders, and the need to move out of the apartment seemed to him real “misfortunes,” in his own words, and he only calmed down with the fact that somehow all this would work out.

But if there were no other traits in Oblomov’s character other than laziness, apathy, weak-willedness, mental slumber, then he, of course, could not have interested the reader in himself, and Olga would not have been interested in him, and could not have served as the hero of an entire extensive novel. To do this, it is necessary that these negative aspects of his character be balanced by equally important positive ones that can arouse our sympathy. And Goncharov, indeed, from the very first chapters shows these personality traits of Oblomov. In order to more clearly highlight its positive, sympathetic sides, Goncharov introduced several episodic persons who appear in the novel only once and then disappear from its pages without a trace. This is Volkov, an empty socialite, a dandy, looking for only pleasures in life, alien to any serious interests, leading a noisy and active life, but nevertheless completely devoid of inner content; then Sudbinsky, a careerist official, completely immersed in the petty interests of the official world and paperwork, and “for the rest of the world he is blind and deaf,” as Oblomov puts it; Penkin, a minor writer of a satirical, accusatory direction: he boasts that in his essays he brings weaknesses and vices to everyone’s ridicule, seeing in this the true calling of literature: but his self-satisfied words cause rebuff from Oblomov, who finds in the works of the new school only slavish loyalty to nature, but too little soul, little love for the subject of the image, little true “humanity”. In the stories that Penkin admires, according to Oblomov, there are no “invisible tears,” but only visible, rough laughter; By depicting fallen people, the authors “forget man.” “You want to write with only your head! - he exclaims, - do you think that a heart is not needed for thought? No, she is fertilized by love. Extend your hand to a fallen person to lift him up, or weep bitterly over him if he dies, and do not mock him. Love him, remember yourself in him... then I will begin to read you and bow my head before you...” From these words of Oblomov it is clear that his view of the vocation of literature and its demands from a writer is much more serious and lofty than that of a professional writer Penkin, who, in his words, “wastes his thought, his soul on trifles, trades in his mind and imagination.” Finally, Goncharov brings out another certain Alekseev, “a man of uncertain years, with an indeterminate physiognomy,” who has nothing of his own: neither his tastes, nor his desires, nor his sympathies: Goncharov introduced this Alekseev, obviously, in order to show, through comparison, that Oblomov, despite all his spinelessness, is not at all distinguished by impersonality, that he has his own specific moral physiognomy.

Thus, a comparison with these episodic persons shows that Oblomov was mentally and morally superior to the people around him, that he understood the insignificance and illusory nature of the interests in which they were keen. But Oblomov not only could, but also knew how, “in his clear, conscious moments,” be critical of the surrounding society and himself, recognize his own shortcomings and suffer heavily from this consciousness. Then memories of his youth awakened in his memory, when he was at the university with Stolz, studied science, translated serious scientific works, was fond of poetry: Schiller, Goethe, Byron, dreamed of future activities, of fruitful work for the common benefit. Obviously, at this time Oblomov was also influenced by the idealistic hobbies that dominated among Russian youth of the 30s and 40s. But this influence was fragile, because Oblomov’s apathetic nature was not characterized by long-term passion, just as systematic hard work was unusual. At the university, Oblomov was content to passively assimilate the ready-made conclusions of science, without thinking them through on his own, without defining their mutual relationship, without bringing them into a harmonious connection and system. Therefore, “his head represented a complex archive of dead affairs, persons, eras, figures, unrelated political-economic, mathematical and other truths, tasks, provisions, etc. It was as if a library consisting of some scattered volumes in different parts knowledge. The teaching had a strange effect on Ilya Ilyich: between science and life there lay a whole abyss, which he did not try to cross. “He had life on its own, and science on its own.” Knowledge divorced from life, of course, could not be fruitful. Oblomov felt that he, as an educated person, needed to do something, he was aware of his duty, for example, to the people, to his peasants, he wanted to arrange their fate, improve their situation, but everything was limited only to many years of thinking about a plan for economic reforms, and the actual management of the farm and the peasants remained in the hands of the illiterate headman; and the conceived plan could hardly have practical significance in view of the fact that Oblomov, as he himself admits, did not have a clear understanding of village life, did not know “what corvee is, what rural labor is, what a poor man means, what a rich man means.”

Such ignorance of real life, with a vague desire to do something useful, brings Oblomov closer to the idealists of the 40s, and especially to the “superfluous people,” as they are portrayed by Turgenev.

Like “superfluous people,” Oblomov sometimes became imbued with the consciousness of his powerlessness, his inability to live and act; at the moment of such consciousness, “he felt sad and painful for his underdevelopment, the stop in the growth of moral forces, for the heaviness that interfered with everything; and envy gnawed at him that others lived so fully and widely, while it was as if a heavy stone had been thrown on the narrow and pitiful path of his existence... And meanwhile, he painfully felt that some kind of... that good, bright beginning, perhaps now already dead, or it lies like gold in the depths of the mountains, and it would be high time for this gold to be a walking coin.” The consciousness that he was not living as he should, vaguely wandered in his soul, he suffered from this consciousness, sometimes cried bitter tears of powerlessness, but could not decide on any change in life, and soon calmed down again, which was facilitated by his apathetic nature, incapable of a strong uplift of spirit. When Zakhar carelessly decided to compare him with “others,” Oblomov was severely offended by this, and not only because he felt offended in his lordly pride, but also because in the depths of his soul he realized that this comparison with “others” was going far from in his favor.

When Stolz asks Zakhar what Oblomov is, he replies that he is a “master.” This is a naive, but quite accurate definition. Oblomov is, indeed, a representative of the old serf lordship, a “master,” that is, a man who “has Zakhar and three hundred more Zakharovs,” as Goncharov himself puts it about him. Using the example of Oblomov, Goncharov thus showed how detrimentally serfdom affected the nobility itself, preventing the generation of energy, perseverance, initiative, and work habits. In former times, compulsory public service maintained in the service class these qualities necessary for life, which began to gradually fade away since compulsory service was abolished. The best people among the nobility have long realized the injustice of this order of things created by serfdom; The government, starting with Catherine II, wondered about its abolition; literature, in the person of Goncharov, showed its detrimental nature for the nobility itself.

“It started with the inability to put on stockings, and ended with the inability to live,” Stolz aptly put it about Oblomov. Oblomov himself is aware of his inability to live and act, his inability to adapt, the result of which is a vague but painful fear of life. This consciousness is the tragic feature in Oblomov’s character, which sharply separates him from the former “Oblomovites.” They were whole natures, with a strong, albeit simple-minded, worldview, alien to any doubts, any internal duality. In contrast to them, there is precisely this duality in Oblomov’s character; it was brought into it by the influence of Stolz and the education he received. For Oblomov it was already psychologically impossible to lead the same calm and complacent existence that his fathers and grandfathers led, because deep down in his soul he still felt that he was not living as he should and as “others” like Stolz lived. Oblomov already has a consciousness of the need to do something, to be useful, to live not for himself alone; He also has a consciousness of his duty to the peasants, whose labors he uses; he is developing a “plan” for a new structure of village life, where the interests of the peasants are also taken into account, although Oblomov does not at all think about the possibility and desirability of the complete abolition of serfdom. Until this “plan” is completed, he does not consider it possible to move to Oblomovka, but, of course, nothing comes of his work, because he lacks either knowledge of rural life, perseverance, diligence, or real conviction in the feasibility of the “plan” itself. " Oblomov grieves heavily at times, suffers in the consciousness of his unfitness, but is unable to change his character. His will is paralyzed, every action, every decisive step frightens him: he is afraid of life, just as in Oblomovka they were afraid of the ravine, about which there were various unkind rumors.

Introduction

Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov” is a landmark work of Russian literature of the 19th century, describing the phenomenon of “Oblomovism” characteristic of Russian society. A prominent representative of this social trend in the book is Ilya Oblomov, who comes from a family of landowners, whose family structure was a reflection of the norms and rules of Domostroy. Developing in such an atmosphere, the hero gradually absorbed the values ​​and priorities of his parents, which significantly influenced the formation of his personality. A brief description of Oblomov in the novel “Oblomov” is given by the author at the beginning of the work - he is an apathetic, introverted, dreamy man who prefers to live his life in dreams and illusions, imagining and experiencing fictional pictures so vividly that sometimes he can sincerely rejoice or cry from those scenes that are born in his mind. Oblomov’s inner softness and sensuality seemed to be reflected in his appearance: all his movements, even in moments of alarm, were restrained by external softness, grace and delicacy, excessive for a man. The hero was flabby beyond his years, had soft shoulders and small plump hands, and a sedentary and inactive lifestyle was visible in his sleepy gaze, in which there was no concentration or any basic idea.

Life of Oblomov

As if a continuation of the soft, apathetic, lazy Oblomov, the novel describes the hero’s life. At first glance, his room was beautifully decorated: “There was a mahogany bureau, two sofas upholstered in silk, beautiful screens with embroidered birds and fruits unprecedented in nature. There were silk curtains, carpets, several paintings, bronze, porcelain and many beautiful little things.” However, if you looked closely, you could see cobwebs, dusty mirrors and long-opened and forgotten books, stains on the carpets, uncleaned household items, bread crumbs and even a forgotten plate with a gnawed bone. All this made the hero’s room unkempt, abandoned, and gave the impression that no one had been living here for a long time: the owners had long since left the home without having time to clean it up. To some extent, this was true: Oblomov did not live in the real world for a long time, replacing it with an illusory world. This is especially clearly visible in the episode when his acquaintances come to the hero, but Ilya Ilyich does not even bother to extend his hand to them to greet them, much less get out of bed to meet the visitors. The bed in this case (like the robe) is a borderline between the world of dreams and reality, that is, having gotten out of bed, Oblomov would to some extent agree to live in the real dimension, but the hero did not want this.

The influence of “Oblomovism” on Oblomov’s personality

The origins of Oblomov’s all-encompassing escapism, his irresistible desire to escape from reality, lie in the “Oblomov” upbringing of the hero, which the reader learns about from the description of Ilya Ilyich’s dream. The character’s native estate, Oblomovka, was located far from the central part of Russia, located in a picturesque, peaceful area, where there were never strong storms or hurricanes, and the climate was calm and mild. Life in the village flowed smoothly, and time was measured not in seconds and minutes, but in holidays and rituals - births, weddings or funerals. The monotonous, quiet nature was also reflected in the character of the inhabitants of Oblomovka - the most important value for them was rest, laziness and the opportunity to eat to their fill. Work was seen as a punishment, and people tried in every possible way to avoid it, delay the moment of work, or force someone else to do it.

It is noteworthy that the characterization of the hero Oblomov in childhood differs significantly from the image that appears before readers at the beginning of the novel. Little Ilya was an active child, interested in many things and open to the world, with a wonderful imagination. He liked to walk and explore the surrounding nature, but the rules of “Oblomov’s” life did not imply his freedom, so gradually his parents re-educated him in their own image and likeness, raising him like a “greenhouse plant,” protecting him from the hardships of the outside world, the need to work and learn new things. Even the fact that they sent Ilya to study was more a tribute to fashion than a real necessity, because for any slightest reason they themselves left their son at home. As a result, the hero grew up as if closed from society, unwilling to work and relying in everything on the fact that if any difficulties arose he could shout “Zakhar” and the servant would come and do everything for him.

The reasons for Oblomov’s desire to escape reality

The description of Oblomov, the hero of Goncharov’s novel, gives a vivid idea of ​​Ilya Ilyich as a man who has firmly fenced himself off from the real world and internally does not want to change. The reasons for this lie in Oblomov’s childhood. Little Ilya loved to listen to fairy tales and legends about great heroes and heroes that his nanny told him, and then imagine himself as one of these characters - a person in whose life at one moment a miracle would happen that would change the current state of affairs and make the hero a cut above others. However, fairy tales are significantly different from life, where miracles do not happen on their own, and to achieve success in society and career you need to constantly work, overcome failures and persistently move forward.

The hothouse upbringing, where Oblomov was taught that someone else would do all the work for him, combined with the dreamy, sensual nature of the hero, led to Ilya Ilyich’s inability to fight difficulties. This feature of Oblomov manifested itself even at the moment of his first failure in the service - the hero, fearing punishment (although, perhaps, no one would have punished him, and the matter would have been decided by a banal warning), he quits his job and no longer wants to face a world where everyone for myself. An alternative to harsh reality for the hero is the world of his dreams, where he imagines a wonderful future in Oblomovka, his wife and children, a peaceful calm that reminds him of his own childhood. However, all these dreams remain just dreams; in reality, Ilya Ilyich puts off in every possible way the issues of arranging his native village, which, without the participation of a reasonable owner, is gradually being destroyed.

Why didn’t Oblomov find himself in real life?

The only person who could pull Oblomov out of his constant half-asleep idleness was the hero’s childhood friend, Andrei Ivanovich Stolts. He was the complete opposite of Ilya Ilyich both in appearance and in character. Always active, striving forward, able to achieve any goals, Andrei Ivanovich still valued his friendship with Oblomov, since in communicating with him he found that warmth and understanding that he really lacked in those around him.

Stolz was most fully aware of the destructive influence of “Oblomovism” on Ilya Ilyich, therefore, until the last moment, he tried with all his might to pull him into real life. One time Andrei Ivanovich almost succeeded when he introduced Oblomov to Ilyinskaya. But Olga, in her desire to change the personality of Ilya Ilyich, was driven solely by her own egoism, and not by an altruistic desire to help her loved one. At the moment of parting, the girl tells Oblomov that she could not bring him back to life, because he was already dead. On the one hand, this is true, the hero is too deeply mired in “Oblomovism,” and in order to change his attitude towards life, superhuman efforts and patience were required. On the other hand, Ilyinskaya, active and purposeful by nature, did not understand that Ilya Ilyich needed time to transform, and he could not change himself and his life in one jerk. The break with Olga became an even greater failure for Oblomov than a mistake in the service, so he finally plunges into the network of “Oblomovism”, leaves the real world, not wanting to experience any more mental pain.

Conclusion

The author's characterization of Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, despite the fact that the hero is the central character, is ambiguous. Goncharov reveals both his positive traits (kindness, tenderness, sensuality, ability to worry and sympathize) and negative ones (laziness, apathy, reluctance to decide anything on his own, refusal to self-development), portraying to the reader a multifaceted personality that can evoke sympathy , and disgust. At the same time, Ilya Ilyich is undoubtedly one of the most accurate depictions of a truly Russian person, his nature and character traits. It is precisely this ambiguity and versatility of Oblomov’s image that allows even modern readers to discover something important for themselves in the novel, asking themselves those eternal questions that Goncharov raised in the novel.

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