Man in a case analysis of the work. "Man in a case" analysis

Analysis of the "Man in the Case" contributes to understanding artwork, helps to imbue the idea of ​​the author and clearly define his position.

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov in the story paints a picture of ordinary philistine life, exposes the insignificant essence of small people.

The writer evokes a lot of conflicting feelings and impressions in the soul of the reader.

The history of the creation of the work of A.P. Chekhov "The Man in the Case"

The composition opens the “Little Trilogy”, which includes “Gooseberries” and “About Love”. Anton Pavlovich wrote this series in the summer of 1898 in Melikhovo.

Main characters and their characteristics

In the work there are no heroes in the full sense of the word, people expressing the author's views, revealing the author's meaning.

The protagonist is the Greek teacher Belikov, nicknamed Antropos by his students.

Other actors:

• Chimsha Himalayan- a veterinarian belonging to the nobility;
• Burkin- storyteller, teacher, colleague of Belikov;
• Mikhail Savvich Kovalenko- the character of Burkin's story, a young teacher;
• Varenka- unmarried sister of Mikhail Savvich about thirty years old;
• Cook Athanasius- a sixty-year-old man, who is in the servants of Belikov;
• Maura- the wife of the headman, who has never left the village in her life. And in the last ten years, she leaves her house only at night. The recollection of the Mavra leads Ivan Ivanych and Burkin to talk about the case.

Belikov is a man enclosed in several cases. This is a cover, which is expressed not only externally, consisting of the characteristic attributes of clothing, but also an internal case. Anthropos' life is filled with self-limitations and limitations for others.

The phrase he often repeats, “no matter what happens,” serves as a response to any inconsistency with established stereotypes. Life principles of this person are reduced to protection from the surrounding life, to constant caution, a premonition of danger and the imposition of their restrictions on others.

Chimsha-Himalayan is a lean, tall old man with a long mustache. According to others, he is absolutely not suitable strange last name Chimsha-Himalayan. Therefore, everyone calls him simply Ivan Ivanovich. The fate of Belikov prompts Ivan Ivanovich to think about social evil, injustice and the inability to openly express his position.

In contrast to the doctor Chimshe-Gimalaysky, Chekhov depicts the appearance of the teacher Burkin. This is a bald fat man of small stature with a black long beard. He looks with irony at the story of Belikov, being at the same time a typical representative petty-bourgeois provincial society.

And only one Kovalenko, an energetic, open person, frankly despises Anthropos, accusing him to his face of fiscalism. He does not understand how the surrounding teachers can exist in such conditions, in an atmosphere of "suffocating, filthy".

Mikhail Savvich's sister Varvara has bright, expressive features. The author draws her as a noisy laugher who is not averse to marrying Belikov.

Athanasius appears as a constantly drunk, half-witted old man who, as usual, stands at the door with crossed arms and indistinctly mutters the same incomprehensible phrase.

Very short summary

"The Man in the Case" is a short literary work. It has just over 10 printed pages. The story is not divided into chapters, being a whole narrative.

This is a kind of story within a story, a case from life, told between times on the hunt. Briefly, the plot of "The Man in the Case" fits in a few lines.

In the first paragraph goes description places for spending the night for two belated hunters: Ivan Ivanovich and Burkin. They didn't sleep. remembered various stories. The conversation turns to people hiding in a protective shell, escaping loneliness.

The teacher remembered Belikov, who had died about two months ago. He was notable for the fact that throughout his life he tried to "surround himself with a shell."

The real Belikov was disgusting, he could not stand deviations from the rules and terrorized the whole city. The Greek teacher was afraid of everything and was cautious in everything. He ate pike perch in cow butter, in fear of being accused of non-observance of fasts.

The measured course of the life of the city is disturbed by the arrival of the teacher of geography and history Kovalenko and his sister. These are new people "from crests". The inhabitants are bored out of boredom by the idea of ​​marrying Varvara Kovalenko and Belikov. Suggestion does its job, and Anthropos tends to think that "we must marry." But this whole situation has a depressing effect on the Greek teacher, he is cautious.

There are two decisive cases here. In the gymnasium, a caricature of an "anthropos in love" appears, depicting Belikov with an umbrella in galoshes and rolled up trousers, arm in arm with Varenka. One day, an unlucky lover sees Varvara Savvishna and her brother on bicycles.

This spectacle strikes him to the depths of his soul and leads to indignation. He decides to explain himself to Kovalenko. The conversation turns into a quarrel, and Mikhail Savvich lowers Belikov down the stairs right under Varvara's feet. The girl, seeing the embarrassed and rumpled teacher, believing that he fell by accident, bursts into loud laughter. This ends for Belikov all earthly existence.

He went to bed and didn't get up again. Anthropos died a month later. After the funeral, all residents feel great fun. But after a while, life returns to its former course.

In conclusion, the hunters' reasoning on the topic of case follows. But history leads them to different thoughts and conclusions. Everyone, thinking about his own, goes to bed.

Analysis of the work

Analysis of Chekhov's work will help to identify the features of the work, to explore ways of expressing the author's intention.

The main idea - what does "a man in a case" mean?

The main idea of ​​the story is a protest against the case and a call for a simple open life.

Chekhov expands the meaning of the concept "case". The protective cover can be divided into several layers. Main character He hides not only in an outer case: in any weather he is dressed in a warm coat on wadding with a raised collar and galoshes, wears an umbrella in a case, and dark glasses. He protects his space, closes on all the latches, closes the shutters.

Belikov defends himself from external influences, is afraid of everything new, ambiguous. He only understands circulars and newspaper articles containing prohibitions. The inner layer is designed to hide Belikov from annoying reality.

Why was the whole city afraid of Belikov? Let us turn to the quotation in which Burkin describes Anthropos:

Belikov oppresses everyone with his caution, puts pressure on people, makes them afraid of everything and everything. Thus, the name Belikov becomes a household name, characterizing the phenomenon of human case. This is the meaning of the title of the story.

Composition

The work is distinguished by an unusual compositional technique. The narrative is one story within another. Moreover, the main part of "The Man in the Case" belongs to Burkin. His style is not Chekhovian, it is publicistic and distinguished by pathos.

Genre

The work "The Man in the Case" belongs to the genre of the story.

He has character traits this genre:

• small volume - about 13 pages;
• few actors;
• one significant episode from life is described;
• a big role is given to details;
• the story is told from the point of view of the narrator;
• The title has a key meaning.

Direction

Literary direction of Chekhov's work - realism. The author reproduces typical features life of his time, depicts characteristic personalities.

The "Man in the Case" reflects a historical era. And typical social qualities are embodied in the image of the protagonist.

Plot Features

The plot of the work is based on the clash of two dissimilar people of the same profession, Belikov and Mikhail Savvich. The conflict unfolds against the backdrop of everyday life. And the narrative is framed in a lyrical shell.

It is no coincidence that at the end of the story about the life of Anthropos, lyrical description surrounding nature, silence and serenity of the night.

Issues

In the story, Chekhov raises important issues concerning the individual, his place in society and his role in social life. The writer draws the image of Belikov as a man who fenced himself off from people, hiding in a case of conventions and fears.

And there are many problems hiding here: the problem of loneliness and hostility towards progress, the meaninglessness of life, the fear of love and the search for happiness.

Conclusion

Criticism expressed mixed reviews about the story "The Man in the Case". Most of the writer's contemporaries noted the living image of Belikov, which was an "artistic revelation" and expresses a "whole public environment". And only a few critics did not see the depth of the work, calling it bad and empty.

Aanalysis and summary
Chekhov's short story "The Man in the Case"

Belikov - main character, grammar school teacher of the Greek language. The teacher of the gymnasium Burkin tells about him to the veterinarian Ivan Ivanych Chimshe-Gimalaysky. At the beginning of the story he gives complete description Belikov: “He was remarkable in that he always, even in very good weather, went out in galoshes and with an umbrella, and certainly in a warm coat with wadding. And his umbrella was in a case, and his watch was in a case made of gray suede, and when he took out his penknife to sharpen his pencil, his knife was also in a case; and his face also seemed to be in a case, for he always hid it in his upturned collar.

He wore dark glasses, a jersey, stuffed his ears with cotton wool, and when he got into a cab, he ordered to raise the top. In a word, this person had a constant and irresistible desire to surround himself with a shell, to create for himself, so to speak, a case that would seclude him, protect him from external influences. Reality irritated him, frightened him, kept him in constant anxiety, and, perhaps, in order to justify this timidity of his, his disgust for the present, he always praised the past and what had never happened; And ancient languages, which he taught, were for him, in essence, the same galoshes and umbrella, where he hid from real life.

Belikov's main concern is " no matter what happens". Any deviation from the accepted rules leads him to despair and anxiety. His fear is not only existential, but also social character- he is afraid, as if it did not reach the authorities. Despite his inconspicuousness and dullness, Belikov, according to Burkin, "held in his hands" not only the gymnasium, but the whole city, where, under his influence, "began to be afraid of everything." The case metaphor, acquiring more and more details of Belikov's fear of life, unfolds throughout the story.

With the appearance in the city of a new teacher of history and geography, Mikhail Savvich Kovalenko, and his sister Varenka, who, without expectation, shows disposition towards B., the society decides to marry her hero. He is convinced that marriage is a serious step, that it is imperative to get married, and B. agrees, but the thought of marriage plunges him into debilitating anxiety, so that he loses weight, turns pale and sinks even deeper into his case. First of all, he is embarrassed strange image thoughts” of his possible bride and her brother. He walks a lot with Varenka and often comes to visit them, but he pulls with an offer.

One day, Belikov sees her and her brother riding bicycles, and this leaves him dumbfounded. He goes to Kovalenko, who hates him, and "like an older comrade", warns: such fun as riding a bicycle is "completely indecent for a youth educator." In addition, he warns a colleague that he will have to report the conversation to the director of the gymnasium. In response, Kovalenko declares that he does not like fiscals, and lowers Belikov down the stairs. After all that happened, the hero falls ill and dies a month later. Burkin summarizes: “Now, when he was lying in a coffin, his expression was meek, pleasant, even cheerful, as if he was glad that at last they put him in a case from which he would never leave.”

The image of Belikov - "a man in a case", a comic figure, almost caricatured, but also expressing the tragedy of life, became a household name during Chekhov's lifetime. Burkin is a gymnasium teacher, a character in two more stories - "Gooseberries" and "About Love". "...Short, fat, completely bald, with a black beard almost to the waist." Together with the veterinarian Ivan Ivanovich Chimsha-Gimalaysky, they go hunting and, in moments of rest, share with each other various "instructive" everyday stories.

In The Man in the Case, the teacher of the gymnasium Burkin acts as a narrator, telling about the teacher of the ancient Greek language Belikov. The characteristics that he gives to Belikov, marks, are accurate and close to those of the author, although Belikov refers to this character more as a “comic figure, while the author himself sees in such a deformation human personality deep life tragedy. Nevertheless, in Belikov’s reasoning, the dissatisfaction with life, in which there is little real freedom, is largely shared by the author, “severe, tedious, stupid ... not forbidden circularly, but not completely resolved either.”
School 1226

More than ten years separate the story “The Man in the Case” from early humor, but in this, one of the most famous works Chekhov the prose writer, a lot in common with the masterpieces of his literary youth. First of all, it is a combination of a specific social satire of a certain historical era With philosophical theme, with eternal, universal questions.

Both the title of the story and the name of its protagonist were immediately perceived as a great generalization. Belikov, as he wrote contemporary critic, is one of those types who, like Oblomov or Chichikov, express either an entire social environment or the spirit of their time. “ Case people”, “Belikovs” - these common nouns flashed in the headlines, on the pages of articles, came into use, became commonly understood formulas. Six years earlier, Leskov said, after reading another story by Chekhov: “Ward No. 6 is everywhere. This is Russia...” And now the impression was largely the same: “All of Russia seemed to me in a case,” a reader writes to Chekhov.

This story about the gymnasium and the city, terrorized by the fear that inspires insignificance, has absorbed the signs of the life of the whole country for a decade and a half. Yes, it was all Russia of the era Alexander III, which had just gone into the past, but now and then reminded of itself.

The image of Belikov goes from the biological, characteristic psychological, to the social, to the manifestations of the natural principle in public life. This is not surprising: Chekhov is a doctor who owns a natural scientific point of view, convinced that exact knowledge and poetry have never been at enmity with each other.

The comparison with the village recluse Mavra gives reason to mention those times when the human ancestor “lived alone in his lair”, to mention the phenomena of atavism in human nature. The description of the strange and funny character traits, appearance, behavior of Belikov is at first quite funny and harmless. This person is likened to animals, a snail or a hermit crab - who is harmed by these creatures, who themselves are afraid of everything?

And then a signal sounds, so understandable to Chekhov's contemporaries. Belikov is a teacher of ancient languages, but in the name of what did he teach them? They were for him the same case, "where he hid from real life." This is a direct allusion to an era that has just ended. The teaching of ancient languages ​​in gymnasiums was considered by the ministers of Alexander III as a means designed to distract young people from “harmful” hobbies, from interest in the topic of the day. “And Belikov also tried to hide his thought in a case.”

From the description of a frail gymnasium teacher I grow up! well-marked signs of the era. Thought that they try to hide in a case. Dominance of the circular forbidding. Rampant espionage, spying, denunciation. Newspaper articles with the rationale for prohibitions on everything, even the most ridiculous (“carnal love was forbidden”). And as a result - fear, slavish, voluntary, universal. Belikov “oppressed us”, “pressed on everyone”, “began to be afraid of everything”, “submitted, endured”. Immediately, in parallel with the image of Belikov, in Chekhov's laconic and precise description of the intimidated Russian intelligentsia: “...began to be afraid of everything. They are afraid to speak loudly, send letters, make acquaintances, read books, they are afraid to help the poor, teach them to read and write...” This is how “thinking, decent” intellectuals behave, succumbing to fear of a man in a case.

How does this brilliant, sharply social pamphlet end? A return to where the story began - to nature, to psychology: “... to him, a lonely man by nature ...” Chekhov, a naturalist, physician and artist, constantly in his work comes from a living, healthy life like the norm. He does not oppose the natural, including the biological, to the social, but sees their interweaving, conditionality, mutual influence.

Circular prohibitions, so close and understandable to Belikov, fight precisely with this living life, with nature. The waves of the lapping sea of ​​life break against the circular: the pranks of high school students, love dates, home performances, big words, games, helping the poor, correspondence, i.e. any form of communication. With all the variegation and unequalness, it is various manifestations living life.

Chekhov did not name the most serious, important forms public life and activities, against which bans and circulars were primarily directed (perhaps only a hint in Belikov’s comments about Kovalenki: “a strange way of thinking”, “they argue”, “you will get into some kind of story”). It is impossible to name these forms more specifically, and, perhaps, there is no need for this. The main thing for the writer is to show the incompatibility of Belik's case with living life, with mental health- with everything that was for Chekhov "the holy of holies".

And the description of Belikov is summed up in a key characteristic of Chekhov, everything is controlled by a purely Chekhovian paradox. The person who should feel most at home in the environment he creates, in the customs he inculcates, is the first to suffer from them himself.

Belikov, who held the whole city in his hands, is himself “boring, pale”, does not sleep at night. First of all, he frightened himself, he was afraid in a case, at night under a blanket, he was afraid of the cook Athanasius, the authorities, thieves. This paradox is again prompted by the sudden past - the fear of Alexander III, who was hiding from his subjects intimidated by him in Gatchina. If this is “nature”, just “a variety of human character”, as the narrator Burkin is inclined to explain the phenomenon of Belikovism, then how unnatural, self-destructive, hostile to life itself!

The whole story is the story of Belikov's almost married marriage to Varenka Kovalenko. Red-cheeked, serious or thoughtful, warm-hearted, singing, arguing Varenka, with her song “Vitry Winds”, borscht “with red and blue ones”, is life itself next to the deadly infection - Belikov. Her appearance in art system stories - a reminder of another life, free, filled with movement, laughter. The Ukrainian, "Little Russian" theme also sounded in Gogol's stories - in contrast to the theme of gray and boring life.

The story of Belikov's almost failed marriage ends with his death. And in this, actually plot, part of the story, two specific beginnings collide - life and a deadly infection. Life itself - Varenka Kovalenko. Attributes of life - laughter (caricature), movement (bicycle). And death itself - Belikov, who has grown thinner, turned green, even more deeply drawn into his case.

Chekhov, an artist-musician, actively uses such methods of musical composition as repetition, carrying out a theme through different voice-instruments to express his thoughts. What we learn from the narrator, the gymnasium teacher Burkin, - a description of Belikov and the infection, the disease he spreads - will be said again in a much sharper and more decisive tone. The teacher Kovalenko, who came from Ukraine, will rudely and directly call everything by its proper name: Belikov - “spider, viper, Judas”, the atmosphere in the gymnasium is “suffocating”, “it stinks of sourness, like in a police box” ... Already famous theme as if performed on another musical instrument, in a different key, somewhat sharply clarifying this topic.

“Kolossalische Skandal” is described in such a way that the writer now allows you to see everything through the eyes of Belikov, from the point of view of his concepts. And here he is not afraid to make the reader feel something like pity for his patient. So the doctor carefully and sympathetically listens to the testimony of a patient who is unsympathetic to him. But even ridiculed, horrified and shocked, Belikov remains true to himself to the end (“I will have to report to Mr. Director the content of our conversation ... in the main lines. I am obliged to do this”).

From such a change in point of view, the image became more voluminous, more complete. But the final impression is unequivocal: the pleasure with which the teachers buried Belikov is completely conveyed to the reader.

Burkin's conclusion to the story once again sounded topical for his contemporaries: “... life went on as before... not circularly forbidden, but not completely resolved either; didn't get better." After the death of his father new king Nicholas II called “meaningless dreams” those hopes for granting the most modest rights that were expressed in society, and declared that he would “guard the beginnings of autocracy as firmly and unswervingly as his unforgettable late parent guarded.”

Everything will remain the same, it will not get better - such moods really captured most Russian society at the beginning of a new reign. And the words of the teacher Burkin: “... and how many more such people are left in the case, how many more there will be!” - conveyed this oppressed state.

But sensitive to the present, Chekhov distinguished other voices, other moods. At the end of the story, the public radical temperament of the listener to whom Burkin told his story, Ivan Ivanovich Chimshi-Himalayan, is manifested. “No, it’s impossible to live like this anymore!” he declares, arguing with Burkin's dismal conclusion. IN musical composition stories break in like a trumpet party, the words of a man who does not want to be satisfied with the old truth that everything will remain as it was, everything will pass, but wants decisive changes, breaking around him.

Russia was already on the eve of great upheavals, and it was about this, about the expectation of imminent changes, that Chekhov's heroes were among the first to speak. Ivan Ivanovich and the teacher Kovalenko from the story are unfamiliar, they have never met each other, but they are very similar in their irreconcilable reaction to Belikovism, to the case. It is not by chance that Chekhov writes about such people: in reality, they came across more and more often, life itself gave birth to them more and more.

AND public importance Chekhov's creativity in that period was enormous. “Such stories as your “The Man in the Case” wakes you up well, pushes you apart,” one of the readers wrote to Chekhov. Chekhov's stories aroused in contemporaries, as the young Maxim Gorky wrote in 1900, "a disgust for this sleepy, half-dead life - damn it!"

Of course there is a big difference meanwhile, how the work was read by contemporaries and how it is seen more than a hundred years later. The most topical things for their era may turn out to be given over to indifferent oblivion by the next generation of readers. The meaning of great creations, the riches hidden in them, as always, are gradually revealed in time, they are tested for strength. And “The Man in the Case” is by no means only a picture of the life of the Russian provinces in a certain era. On the basis of contemporary material, Chekhov posed problems of great universal significance, having a universal meaning, remaining relevant at all times.

Cases, templates, stereotypes of thinking and behavior are different in different cases. In “The Man in the Case” the case has a clearly socio-political overtone, for it is “ misrepresentation”, on which life was built whole country in a certain era.

It is known that Chekhov preferred to draw porters of his heroes through the life that surrounds them, through a description of their lifestyle. Wishing to emphasize the unnaturalness and oppression of the hero of his story, Belikov, Chekhov uses the laconicism so close to him and his work.

Laconism of Chekhov in the story "The Man in the Case"

We see the essence and character of Belikov through the principles, conventions and rules that guide him every day. Chekhov's main idea was what exactly made him.

Belikov to lead a life of a case, full of self-restraint and limitation for others. The well-known "conciseness" of the writer in Once again turned out to be the most successful artistic device, with the help of which Chekhov managed to reveal the true depth of the image of the protagonist.

The art of detail

The nuances that Chekhov creates, in appearance Belikov are symbolic. At first we see that his glasses are in a case, and an umbrella in a case, and this subsequently leads us to the idea that everything that Belikov has inside is in a kind of invisible case.

His thoughts, his experiences and feelings, his assessment of the world and people. His life is one continuous box, one continuous limitation and rule.

And the most paradoxical thing is that a lot could change in Belikov's life if one of those around him treated him sincerely, at the behest of his own heart, and did not continue to follow the foundations that Belikov established.

It is surprising that such a plain and limited person as Belikov managed to shackle the whole world around him in his chains, the people around him corresponded to his requirements and ideas.

With small, sometimes imperceptible details, Chekhov leads readers to the main theme and idea of ​​the story about his own view of the all-consuming human vulgarity, which can become a defining moment in life.

Chekhov often pointed out in his work that for him vulgarity main enemy. It, like a poison, penetrates into the consciousness of a person and lowers the value of his life, adopting vulgarity from society, a person ceases to be himself, becomes only a stupid and impersonal element of the world, creating nothing and not experiencing anything.

key part of the story

And the key detail of the story "The Man in the Case" is the death of the protagonist. He dies of shock, of unbearable amazement, caused by an event that is something out of the ordinary for him.

In how exactly Belikov dies, his whole essence, his whole life motivation is revealed. The shock of reality, the shock that finally breaks through his case and shows the present, turned out to be incompatible with the life that Belikov defined for himself.

Chekhov's skill lies in the fact that he does not allow himself to directly reprimand such as his man in a case, he shows his idea of ​​\u200b\u200btheir future, of what awaits them if they continue to crowd and crowd others in their protective and bitter case fear.

Two hunters were telling each other stories. And so, one told the following story about a man who died not so long ago: Once upon a time, he worked with one of the hunters, someone named Belikov. This man held the position of a teacher of the ancient Greek language at the local gymnasium. He had an amazing ability - every thing, and even the body, was enclosed in a case. In warm summer weather, he went around in a wadded coat and galoshes, and even with an umbrella, black glasses closed his eyes, and at home he closed himself with all the bolts. It was as if he had everything in a case, so that it would not deteriorate, not be damaged, and not be damaged himself. The man's favorite phrase was "whatever happens."

Most of all, he was afraid that something would reach the authorities. If something in his understanding did not meet the established standards, a tedious moralizing awaited the unfortunate. But not only in words, but even in silence, this strange man had the ability to oppress people. He often came to the houses of his workmates and simply remained silent. So this man lived in his strange world. But even in his cold heart a feeling for a woman caught fire. The woman was the sister of his colleague at the gymnasium, who did not really like the teacher Belikov.

Meanwhile, Belikov and Varya were not against marriage. But Belikov began to talk to Varenka about the seriousness of marriage, and other moralizing. One of my colleagues started such a joke: they drew Belikov walking with Varenka by the arm, and signed: "Anthropos in love." To Belikov's horror, the cartoon was sent to everyone, and even to the authorities! What a blow it was! But the "trouble" for Belikov does not end there: he meets Varenka and her brother on a bicycle! Needless to say, a person who even puts a penknife into a case sees this - his future wife on a bike! In his understanding, it is not appropriate for a woman to ride a bicycle, it is "indecent"!

In the morning, Belikov comes to the teacher Kovalenko, and begins moralizing. Kovalenko threw his colleague down the stairs in anger, and at that moment Varenka enters. Seeing the groom who fell down the stairs, he bursts into laughter. In horror, Belikov realizes that soon the whole city will laugh at him, and the one killed by this thought dies a week later. From his death it becomes easier for everyone, because for everyone he was a boring and strange person. Even the hunters who told this story do not attach any importance to his life. The narrator and the listener simply went to bed without much thought.

Life strange person, it is enclosed in a protective case from everything. Feet in galoshes - so as not to get wet. The body in a warm coat - so as not to catch a cold, a knife in a case - so as not to inadvertently cut yourself. And there was only one real case - a coffin in which his face shone with genuine joy! What did this man live for? All his precautions were unnecessary. He won neither respect nor love, and in spite of all precautions he died.

And yet, the central thought of the writer revolves around the words that "we are all in a case." Said by the interlocutor of the hunter-teacher. This idea is still important today. Everyone has their own case, but perhaps not as bright as Belikov's.