What was the most afraid of belikov. The image of Belikov in Chekhov's work "The Man in the Case": who are the case people and how are they characterized? Yes, what is it

06.04.2019

To the question Why did Belikov die? given by the author Ilya Zhelnov the best answer is "The Man in the Case" The Greek teacher Belikov appears to the reader as a surprisingly unpleasant type. It is disgusting both in itself and in all its manifestations. It turns out that "this little man, who always walked around in galoshes and with an umbrella, held the entire gymnasium in his hands for fifteen whole years." Belikov is absolutely alien to respect for others, love, compassion. He lives in his closed little world among circulars and rules written by no one knows who. Belikov is completely unspiritual, despite the fact that, being a gymnasium teacher, he can be considered an educated person. The man in the case does not even spare himself. He puts many restrictions on his own life.
The author speaks of this as follows: “And at home the same story: a dressing gown, a cap, shutters, latches, a whole series of all sorts of prohibitions, restrictions, and - oh, no matter how it happens! Lenten food is harmful, it’s impossible to eat lean, because, perhaps, they will say that Belikov does not fulfill fasts, and he ate pike perch in cow butter - food is not lean, but it cannot be said that it’s fast.
Even such trifles draw a very colorful image of a man in a case. He is completely unnatural, from driving deep into himself all the natural manifestations of his soul. He is ruthless to others if their behavior does not comply with certain established rules and circulars. He is low, capable of meanness, and evokes neither pity nor sympathy.
The relationship between Belikov and Varenka is interesting. At first glance, it seems that in the soul of a person in a case, at least some human weaknesses and feelings. But it was not there. The episode when Belikov saw Varenka riding a bicycle showed the true nature of the man in the case. He is not able to forgive any inconsistency with the rules of everyone around, and Varenka is no exception. Naturally, Belikov is outraged that the girl rides a bicycle. Although if you think about it, there is absolutely nothing reprehensible in this. Every person is free to dispose own life and do what he sees fit, and even such a trifle as riding a bicycle does not at all deserve such close attention and serious resonance.
True, Belikov has a different opinion about this “incident”. He seeks to subordinate everything around to the established rules, and any discrepancy plunges him into shock. WHY DID BELIKOV DIE? He died of shock, because he had to face something out of the ordinary. Belikov was humiliated, trampled, and then also ridiculed. The death of Belikov caused deep relief among those around him. They felt freer, though not for long.
At the end of the story, the reader is offered the author’s thought about how common the notorious “case” is in the surrounding life: ? And the fact that we spend our whole lives among idlers, quarrelsome, stupid, idle women, talking and listening to all sorts of nonsense - isn't this a case? ".
We have to admit that it is very difficult for a person to influence the boundaries of this very “case”. And life turns out to be unreal, miserable, turns into a gray and useless vegetative existence. Chekhov's story "The Man in the Case" shows how strong vulgarity can be, preventing a person from thinking and acting as his soul longs for. Nevertheless, such an event in the story as the death of Belikov indicates that vulgarity can still be dealt with. It only takes a little effort from a person to turn everything around. For example, in this story, in order to cope with Belikov, it was enough to laugh at him, not being afraid to show true feelings

"The Man in the Case". A Greek teacher, a lonely elderly man, closed from the outside world, cowardly and timid.

History of creation

Anton Chekhov wrote the story "The Man in the Case" in 1898, and in the same year the text was published in the literary and political journal Russkaya Mysl. The story became the first part of the "Little Trilogy" series, which also included Chekhov's texts "Gooseberry" and "About Love".

The author conceived the series in the spring and summer of 1898, when he lived in the village of Melikhovo, Moscow Region. Chekhov wrote his first story in a month, and in early June it was already being prepared for publication. Chekhov was not going to close the series with the story "About Love", but he fell ill with tuberculosis, creative activity the writer fell, and the series was never continued.


Illustration for the story "The Man in the Case"

It is not known whether Belikov had a prototype, but some of Chekhov's contemporaries believed that a certain Alexander Dyakonov, an inspector of a Taganrog gymnasium, became the hero's prototype. According to another version, in the image of Belikov, Chekhov described the then-famous conservative publicist Mikhail Menshikov. However, researchers note that the similarities between Belikov and Menshikov are found to be exclusively external. Most likely, Belikov - collective image.

In 1939, the film "The Man in the Case" directed by Isidor Annensky was released at the "Belarusfilm" studio. The role of Belikov was played by actor Nikolai Khmelev.

The story "The Man in the Case"

Belikov is an elderly Greek teacher whose full name unknown. The hero is over forty, he has a pale little face, similar to the muzzle of a ferret. Belikov wears dark glasses and hides his face behind a raised collar, and plugs his ears with cotton wool. From time to time a weak crooked smile appears on the hero’s face, and Belikov’s figure looks crooked and small, as if he was “pulled out with tongs” from somewhere. Even in warm and clear weather, the hero wears a wadded coat, galoshes and an umbrella and strives to dress warmer even in summer.


The hero prefers loneliness and seeks to isolate himself from the outside world, to create a protective shell around himself, a kind of “case” inside which the hero will be protected from external influences. The writer also calls Belikov's thoughts "case" - narrow. The “case considerations” of the hero make a depressing impression on those around him.

Things belonging to Belikov are also stored in cases. The hero keeps everything in cases - an umbrella, a watch, which he keeps in a case made of gray suede, and even a penknife for sharpening pencils, the hero takes out of the case.

Belikov has a suspicious character. What is happening around causes anxiety in the hero, frightens and irritates. Belikov's favorite phrase; “No matter what happens,” sounds in the speech of the hero for any reason. To take a break from the disgusting and disturbing reality, the hero studies ancient languages, likes to remember the past and praise morals and customs that never really existed.


According to Belikov, "something can come out" from any innocent undertaking. The hero is upset when a new one opens in the city. drama club or tea, because any innovation can end badly. Belikov was discouraged by the deviation from the rules, even if what was happening was not directly related to him. The hero began to worry when he heard about the leprosy of schoolboys or love affairs outside classy lady.

Belikov worked at the gymnasium for fifteen years, and all this time he oppressed those around him with his own presence. The hero creates an atmosphere of heightened anxiety at the teachers' councils, worrying that information about, for example, the students making noise in the classrooms would not reach the authorities. Belikov treats the authorities with great respect and demands the same from those around him. Belikov is feared and listened to by colleagues and even the director of the gymnasium. A suffocating atmosphere is formed around the hero, "like in a police box." Some colleagues consider Belikov an informer.


Frame from the film adaptation of "The Man in the Case"

Outside of work, Belikov behaves no better. The hero goes out into society and visits acquaintances, but these visits are difficult for him and Belikov makes them only for the sake of decency. In the city of Belikov they are afraid, the ladies are afraid to arrange home performances on Saturdays, people are afraid even to send letters or raise their voices. And the hero himself is afraid public opinion and therefore does not keep female servants at home, and even in food he is guided not by his own tastes, but by what people will think if they see him at a meal.

Belikov is constantly afraid of everything and even in his own apartment he cannot sleep peacefully: he fears for his own fate, because he thinks that either a servant will kill him in a dream, or thieves will get into the house. The hero's apartment itself is like a box. Small bedroom, four-poster bed, shutters and shutters everywhere. The hero is afraid of people to such an extent that it is hard for him to walk next to someone, and the crowded gymnasium where Belikov works also causes fear in him.


Once Belikov happened to fall in love. This happened after meeting Varya, the sister of one of Belikov's young colleagues. However, this relationship ends in nothing. The hero is afraid to get married, because “no matter what happens,” and the girl’s brother once kicks Belikov out of the apartment and lowers him down the stairs. This humiliating scene takes place in front of Varya. The humiliated Belikov returns home, goes to bed and does not get up again, and dies a month later, thus ending his sad biography. According to modern experts, Chekhov's Belikov is a classic psychasthenic.

Quotes

"To bury people like Belikov is a great pleasure."
“All this is wonderful, but no matter what happens.”
“You get married, and then what good will you get into some kind of story.”
"The Little Russian language, with its tenderness and pleasant sonority, resembles ancient Greek."

I want to describe the main character, Belikov, in Anton Pavlovich Chekhov's story "The Man in the Case". Belikov occupies the main place in the story, since it is about his life, appearance, and how others treat him.
The most ordinary teacher of the Greek language in the gymnasium, not married, lives in a small room. His room is as small as a bear's den, a table and a canopy bed. He also has a cook named Athanasius, about sixty years old. Going to bed, Belikov always covered himself with his head, was afraid of extraneous noises, heard the ominous sighs of Athanasius ... He constantly thought that the cook could suddenly kill him for no reason at all ... Every night, because of these thoughts, he could not calmly sleep. And in the morning, when I had to go to the gymnasium, I was bored and pale. This is what it means to live a "case life"! Belikov looked very gloomy and monotonous: "he wore dark glasses, sweatshirts, stuffed his ears with cotton wool, and when he got into a cab, he ordered to raise the top. In a word, this man had a constant and irresistible desire to surround himself with a shell, create for himself, so to speak, a case reality irritated him, frightened him, kept him in constant anxiety, and, perhaps, in order to justify his timidity, his aversion to the present, he always praised the past, and that, which never happened; and the ancient languages ​​that he taught were, in essence, the same galoshes and umbrella for him, where he hid from real life. "
By these signs, one can understand that Belikov is an uncommunicative, suspicious, modest person.
- Oh, how sonorous, how beautiful the Greek language! he said with a sweet expression; and, as if to prove his words, screwing up his eyes and raising his finger, he said:
- Anthropos!
But Belikov's favorite phrase was: "No matter what happens!". And also, entering the gymnasium, he constantly repeated to his colleagues: "They make a lot of noise in our classes."
Because of his character, Belikov kept the entire gymnasium in fear, but what is there a gymnasium, the whole city !!! Imagine, because of him, the students could not go out after nine, it was forbidden to write about carnal love in articles. People stopped getting to know each other, sending letters... That's how much he influenced the reality around him.
He was madly in love with his taught language. I gave it my whole life! Once, when his future bride Varenka sang Little Russian romances, he sat down next to her and said, admiring:
- The Little Russian language with its tenderness and pleasant sonority resembles ancient Greek.
As mentioned before, he kept the whole city in fear. But not only the students were afraid of him, but also the teachers, and even the principal! The ladies did not put on performances on Saturdays, they were afraid, what if he finds out! They were afraid to eat or play cards in his presence. Because of people like Belikov, over the past ten to fifteen years, the city has become like a dead village - no one went out into the street, did not talk, did not read books, did not help the poor, did not teach literacy ... Everyone knew that when they saw this, Belikov will definitely say: “All this is good, but no matter how it happened!” These words of his made everyone very upset. And when he died, everyone sighed with great relief!
With this story, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov wanted to show that people like Belikov should not be. What is the joy of the fact that everyone is afraid of you, you are not friends with anyone, you do not talk? And when you go to the next world, then no one pities you, no one misses you, but only everyone rejoices and rejoices!
So get to know each other more often, communicate, and it will be easier on your soul.

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is the author of many innovative works, where the reader sees not only subtle satire, but also a detailed description of the human soul. When you get acquainted with his work, it begins to seem that he is not only a prose writer, but also a very gifted psychologist.

"The Man in the Case" is one of three stories in the "Little Trilogy" series, on which the author worked for about two months in 1898. It also includes the stories "Gooseberry" and "About Love", which Anton Pavlovich wrote in Melikhovka, where he lived with his family. He barely had time to finish working on them, because he already suffered from tuberculosis and wrote less and less.

It is impossible to be sure that Chekhov wrote about some specific person, most likely central image"The Man in the Case" is collective. The writer's contemporaries put forward several candidates that could serve as prototypes for Belikov, but all of them had only a slight resemblance to the hero.

Genre, conflict and composition

It is quite easy for the reader to get acquainted with the work, because it is written plain language, which, nevertheless, is capable of causing a huge number of impressions. Style is expressed in compositions: the text is divided into small semantic fragments, focusing on the most important.

In the story we see conflict between two characters. The author contrasts Kovalenko (life-affirming, active position, positive thinking) and Belikov (passive and lifeless vegetation, internal slavery), which helps him to better reveal the problem. The case becomes artistic detail, which describes the whole essence and meaning of the work, shows inner world hero.

literary genre- a story that is part of a "small trilogy" of three separate stories, but combined with one idea. "The Man in the Case" is written with a clear satirical coloring, with this technique the writer ridicules the very essence of " little man", who is simply afraid to live.

The meaning of the name

In his story, Chekhov warns us that absolutely any person, unwittingly, can imprison himself in a “case”, this is where such a name came from. The case refers to fixation on the unwritten set of rules and restrictions that people shackle themselves with. Dependence on conventions turns into a disease for them and prevents them from rapprochement with society.

The secluded world of prohibitions and barriers seems much better to the inhabitants of the cases, they surround themselves with a kind of shell so that the influence of the outside world does not touch them. However, to live locked up with their own orders and attitudes is cramped, the other person will not fit there. It turns out that a resident of a stuffy, clogged corner is doomed to loneliness, so the title of the story is fundamentally given in the singular.

Main characters

  1. The main character of the story is Belikov Greek teacher at the high school He sets certain rules in his life, and most of all he is afraid that something will not go as planned. Belikov, even in the clearest and warmest weather, is dressed in galoshes and a warm coat with a raised collar, he hides his face behind dark glasses and a hat in order to protect himself from influence as best as possible. environment: not only natural, but also social. It scares him modern reality and irritates everything that happens around, which is why the teacher puts on a kind of case both externally and internally.
  2. Mikhail Kovalenkonew teacher history and geography, who comes to work at the gymnasium with his sister. Michael is young, sociable and cheerful man tall, a big fan of laughing and even laughing heartily.
  3. His sister Varenka- a woman of 30 years old, very cheerful and happy, loves to have fun, sing and dance. The heroine shows interest in Belikov, who, in turn, devotes time to her and agrees to walks in order to argue that marriage is too serious a thing. The woman still does not lose hope to stir up the gentleman, which betrays in her such qualities as perseverance and determination.

Themes

  1. The main theme of Chekhov's story is closed and isolated human life who is shy of the world around him and shuns any manifestation of feeling. He hides his eyes from the people around him, constantly carries all his things in a case, whether it is a small knife designed for sharpening a pencil, or an ordinary umbrella, which is so convenient to hide his face. Many spiritual values ​​were wild to the main character, and emotions were incomprehensible. This expresses his limitedness, which poisons existence.
  2. Love Theme the story reveals Varenka's attitude towards Belikov. The girl is trying to interest the hero and return him to a full life. She believes to the last that he can still change for the better. But he also closes himself from her, because the prospect of marriage and the obsessive conversations of his colleagues about their marriage begin to frighten him.
  3. Chekhov explains to the reader that the worst thing that can happen to a person is indifference to life. Belikov became so self-contained that he stopped distinguishing the colors of the world, enjoying communication, and striving for something. He no longer cares what happens outside of his case, as long as numerous decorums are observed.
  4. The man in the case is a collective image of timid people who are afraid of their own feelings and emotions. They abstract from the world around them and withdraw into themselves. That's why theme of loneliness is also important in the story of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov.
  5. Main problems

    1. Conservative. The author realizes with horror and pity that some of his contemporaries create a shell for themselves in which they perish morally and spiritually. They exist in the world, but do not live. People go with the flow, moreover, they cannot even allow fate to intervene and change something in better side. This fear of new events and changes makes people passive, inconspicuous and unhappy. Due to the abundance of such conservatives in society, stagnation is formed, through which it is difficult for young shoots to break through, capable of developing and developing the country.
    2. The problem of meaningless life. Why did Belikov live on earth? He never made anyone happy, not even himself. The hero is shaking over his every act and constantly repeats: "No matter how something happens." Bypassing fictitious sorrows and suffering, he misses happiness itself, thus, his price of psychological comfort is too high, since it destroys the very essence of people's existence.
    3. looms before the reader the problem of happiness, more precisely, the problem of its achievement, essence and price. The hero replaces him with peace, but, on the other hand, he himself has the right to determine what is the highest value for him.
    4. The problem of fear of love. The people who surround him are just as unhappy, they find themselves on the wrong side of a fictional case, Belikov simply cannot open up and let someone closer. The hero was never able to develop his feelings for the girl he liked, he just got scared of them and was left with nothing.
    5. The Problem of Sociopathy. The teacher is afraid of society, despises it, fences himself off, not allowing anyone from the people around him to help him. They would be happy, but he himself does not allow it.

    the main idea

    Chekhov was not only a doctor by training, but also a healer of souls by vocation. He realized that a spiritual illness sometimes turns out to be more dangerous than a physical ailment. The idea of ​​the story "The Man in the Case" is a protest against the lonely closed vegetation under the shell. The author puts into the work the idea that the case must be ruthlessly burned in order to feel freedom and treat life with ease.
    Otherwise, the fate of a closed person can be deplorable. Yes, in the final main character dies alone, leaving no grateful descendants, no followers, no achievements. The writer shows us how nothing can end earth path"case" person. Colleagues and acquaintances who are present at his funeral are mentally happy that they finally said goodbye to Belikov and his importunity.

    Anton Pavlovich puts socio-political overtones into his work, emphasizing the importance social activity and civil initiative. He advocates a rich and fulfilling life, endows the protagonist with repulsive character traits in order to prove to people how miserable and pitiful the inhabitant of the “case” looks, wasting himself.

    Thus, Chekhov describes the fate of many clerks who lived gray in a stuffy city, sorting out papers that no one needed. He ironically plays on the "little man" type, violating literary tradition portray him in idyllic colors. His authorial position is not contemplative or sentimental, but active, without compromise. The inhabitants of the case should not savor their insignificance and wait for pity, they need to change and squeeze a slave out of themselves.

    What does the author teach?

    Anton Pavlovich Chekhov makes us think about our own lives and wonder interesting question: "But aren't we building ourselves the same case that the main character Belikov had?". Author in literally teaches us to live, showing by example how a person can grow dull and abyss, crawling before conventions and stereotypes. Chekhov was really able to instill in people an aversion to a gray, worthless life, to show that inaction and indifference is the worst thing that can happen to us.

    The fear of discoveries and accomplishments destroys the personality in a person, he becomes miserable and helpless, unable to show even the simplest feelings. The writer believes that human nature is much richer and more capable than what fear and laziness turn it into. Happiness, according to Chekhov, lies in a full life, where there is a place strong emotions, interesting communication and individuality.

    Interesting? Save it on your wall!

The main character of Chekhov's story "The Man in the Case" is the teacher of the Greek language Belikov. Colleague Burkin is talking about him throughout the story.

Belikov appears in the story as a notorious person, full of incomprehensible prejudices. In any weather, he goes out in galoshes, in a coat and with an umbrella. All his items were in a case: a knife for sharpening a pencil, an umbrella and even a watch. This citizen walked around with his collar constantly raised, and from this it seemed that he, too, was hiding his face in a cover. Sitting on a cab, he always asked to raise the top. Belikov constantly had a desire to close himself, to place himself in a certain case and thereby protect himself from any external influences. The real reality instilled in him fear and horror of everything new. As if justifying his misunderstanding of the present, he always talked about the past. In combination with all his behavior, the teaching of ancient languages ​​indicated a certain detachment from reality.

The main life slogan for Belikov is "no matter what happens." Any slightest deviation from the long-established rules can unbalance him. But despite his notoriety, according to Burkin, Belikov managed to keep the whole city in suspense.

Soon a new history teacher Mikhail Kovalenko and his sister Varya moved to the city. Colleagues of Belikov are trying in every possible way to bring him to her. However, he cannot decide on such responsible step and afraid of everything. And when he happened to see Kovalenko and his sister riding bicycles, Belikov generally fell into bewilderment. He couldn't imagine a teacher riding a bike.

What then is left for the children to do?

Just stand on your heads, he reasoned, trying to reason with Kovalenko.

On that day, Belikov’s conversation with Kovalenko was brought to a quarrel, and Belikov was lowered down the stairs, where Varya, who entered the entrance, saw him. The hero could not survive such a shame. He shuts himself off from the world in his room and dies when he falls ill.

Concluding the story, Burkin says that Belikov looked very cheerful in the coffin. Apparently, he was glad that he finally ended up in such a case in which no one would disturb him.

Option 2

In his stories, Chekhov sometimes draws strange images people who are even hard to imagine. Nevertheless, such people do exist, although Belikov is in many ways a grotesque figure. We see some strange metamorphosis human personality, which turns into something strange and even scary.

Belikov has been working for about 15 years as a teacher of Greek in a gymnasium and has weight in this gymnasium. Throughout a significant part of the story, no one can argue with Belikov, they obey him. Therefore, if this hero does not like something, then he can, for example, expel a schoolboy, although such decisions are clearly conditioned by his inertness and excessive conservatism.

Belikov - enclosed in a case. Through this image of the case, Chekhov represents his whole personality, he even describes the thoughts of the hero in the case, he has every object in the case, and besides this, he is figuratively all enclosed in a case. Thus, his closeness from the world and ossification is manifested, perhaps, in some way ignorance is manifested, which opposes everything new and some kind of change.

This hero is clearly afraid of some kind of updates, he is always afraid of any incidents, and such fears are manifested in all the details of his everyday life, from ordering cabbies to raise their tops, to wearing a thick coat even in warm weather. Belikov is a completely ridiculous character, but his beginning is also described as something negative and negative, he is not just ridiculous, but to a certain extent he is an opponent of this world, humanity, positive and progressive. Therefore, the death of Belikov becomes possible only after he is ridiculed, ridicule, as it were, destroys the established world of this hero, subjects him to a kind of censure that devalues ​​the absurdity that this hero has always clung to with complete seriousness.

Also, in fact, we see how Belikova destroys love. Of course, we can consider the illness and sadness of the hero as an outcome after rudeness from Varenka's brother, but in fact his behavior is only part of the relationship with Varenka. In fact, Belikov does not even imagine how much he loved this girl, he does not imagine his marriage, in fact, this case man unsuitable for love, which is something more than its limited nature, therefore love, as it were, cleanses the world of Belikov himself.

Composition Belikov (Man in a case)

More than a decade separates the story of A.P. Chekhov, “The Man in the Case” from the initial humor, but one of the most famous creations the author is a prose writer, she has many contacts with the work of his writing youth. First, it is a combination of one particular social satire, that particular historical era With philosophical motive, with all the time known tasks and solutions. And the title of the story, and the pseudonym of its protagonist, were perceived at once as a vast abstraction.

Belikov, as a fashionable critic at that time told us, is one of the majority of people who, like Oblomov or Chichikov, expressed with their whole essence a huge social environment, or the direction of that time. “Case people”, “Belikovs” - these social indicators that flashed in the title, on the pages scandalous articles, passed into the way of life, became clear formulas for everyone. Six years earlier, Leskov said that, having analyzed another work of Chekhov: “Ward No. 6 is everywhere. This is Russia...” The feelings left in my soul between these stories were similar in many ways: “All Russia seemed to me in a case”, - once a reader wrote to Chekhov, who followed his work.

The image of Belikov goes from the biological, characteristic-psychological, to the social stratum, to the demonstration of the natural beginning of people in society. Yes, and this is not at all surprising: Chekhov is a doctor by profession, who owns a natural scientific view of everything that happens, convinced that a clear understanding of medicine and poetry never conflicted against each other.

A.P. Chekhov, as an artist-musician, often uses techniques from music to express his thoughts;

The problem that Chekhov touches on in this story will always remain urgent for most people. Without noticing for himself, any person can withdraw into himself or close himself into a "case" of his own delusions, ceasing to think, seek out and hesitate in his decisions. And this is the worst thing that leads to the regression of a person as a person, as an entity. A person does not notice absolutely nothing but his prejudices and fears, he cannot adequately think, invent, think out his ideas. A certain painful fear for their own existence constantly raged in the soul of Belikov, an outstanding character in Chekhov's story, "The Man in the Case", which was published in 1898.

Belikov is the same "man in a case", a senseless, miserable creature who thought of one day to instill fear in the whole city. Even the teachers were wary of him. Yes, teachers, absolutely the whole city, from small to great, shied away from him.

The man in the case ... It seemed such a strange expression, but how accurately it personifies human soul. The idea of ​​this work lies in showing the society the essence of fear: “Under the influence of people like Belikov, over the past 10-15 years, everything has become fearful in our city. They were afraid to speak loudly, send letters, make acquaintances, read books, they are afraid to help the poor, to teach people to read and write. Yes, and everything that we set up for ourselves, invented, what we fenced ourselves off from the world with, all this needs to be destroyed, we need to step over all this, discover something new, interesting for ourselves, look at everything with an adequate look and not complicate our lives with what some imagined accidents.

This presentation combines a set of very interesting compositions, which, in spite of everything, do not prevent our writer A.P. Chekhov from sending us an inseparable assessment of the perception of human existence, the assertion of his perfections and worldview.

In exposing the appearance of Belikov, we are helped by a compositional technique that Chekhov often uses in his works - a story within a story. In our case, these are hunters who decided to settle down to spend the night in the shed of the headman Prokofy, they told each other various incidents, stories, fables. One of the narrators was Burkin, he decided to keep up with everyone, to tell the story of one living in his city, a teacher of a foreign Greek language, Belikov, to his friend famous doctor- veterinarian, Ivan Ivanovich. What was this teacher famous for? But the fact that, despite the wonderful sunny, warm weather, he always entered from home in galoshes, with an umbrella in his hands and always in a warm wadded coat. But he had an umbrella in a case, a watch in a case made of gray suede fabric, and even, if necessary, taking out a penknife in order to sharpen a pencil, to all his surprise he kept the knife in the same case. The expression of his appearance to anyone he met, at first glance, it seemed that he, too, was dressed in a case, a face that was constantly hiding behind the turned up collar of a warm wadded coat. According to the narrator Burkin, Belikov walked around all the time in black glasses, a sweatshirt, plugged his ears with cotton wool, and when he got into a cab, he ordered to raise the top, as if he was afraid of something. Was it a whim or some invented way of life of our hero, our narrator does not explain to us. But he notes that this hero there was an endless greedy desire to "surround himself with a shell, create for himself, so to speak, a case" in order to hide himself and protect himself with words, actions and all the dirt of the world around him.

The features that Chekhov designs become symbolic in Belikov's appearance. It is surprising that such an unattractive and narrow-minded person, with such a boring way of life, a person who does not sleep at night, he intimidated not only himself with all his thoughts, but he also managed to intimidate all those people who surrounded him with his whole appearance, and even the entire city. At first, it was amusing and quite harmless for Chekhov to describe the place where Belikov lived, because it looked like some kind of lair. Comparing the hero of the story with a hermit crab or a snail, which will not hurt anyone, and besides, they are always afraid of everything.

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