Summary: The image of the road in the poem n. IN

THE IMAGE OF THE ROAD IN N.V. GOGOL'S POEM "DEAD SOULS"

Roads are difficult, but worse without roads...

The motif of the road in the poem is very multifaceted.

The image of the road is embodied in a direct, non-figurative meaning - this is a flat road along which Chichikov's spring cart gently rides ("The horses stirred and carried, like fluff, a light cart"), then bumpy country roads, or even impassable mud, in which Chichikov falls out , getting to Korobochka (“The dust lying on the road quickly kneaded into mud, and every minute it became harder for the horses to drag the britzka”). The road promises the traveler a variety of surprises: heading towards Sobakevich, Chichikov finds himself at Korobochka, and in front of the coachman Selifan "the roads spread in all directions, like caught crayfish ...".

This motive gets a completely different meaning in the famous lyrical digression of the eleventh chapter: the road with a rushing chaise turns into the path along which Rus' flies, “and, sideways, step aside and give it way to other peoples and states.”

This motif contains the unknown paths of Russian national development: “Rus, where are you going, give me an answer? Doesn’t give an answer”, representing an opposition to the paths of other peoples: “What twisted, deaf, narrow, impassable, drifting roads mankind has chosen ...”. But it cannot be said that these are the very roads on which Chichikov got lost: those roads lead to Russian people, maybe in the backwoods, maybe in a hole where there are no moral principles, but still these roads make up Russia, Russia itself - and there is a big road leading a person into a vast space, absorbing a person, eating him all. Having turned off one road, you find yourself on another, you cannot follow all the paths of Rus', just as you cannot collect the caught crayfish back into the bag. It is symbolic that from the backwoods of Korobochka Chichikov is shown the way by an illiterate girl Pelageya, who does not know where the right is, where the left is. But, having got out of Korobochka, Chichikov gets to Nozdrev - the road does not lead Chichikov to where he wants, but he cannot resist it, although he is making some plans of his own for the future path.

The way of life of the hero is embodied in the image of the road (“but for all that, his road was difficult ...”), and the creative path of the author: “And for a long time it was determined by my wonderful power to go hand in hand with my strange heroes ...”

The road is also an assistant to Gogol in creating the composition of the poem, which then looks very rational: the exposition of the plot of the journey is given in the first chapter (Chichikov meets officials and some landowners, receives invitations from them), then five chapters follow, in which the landowners sit, and Chichikov travels from chapter to chapter in his britzka, buying up dead souls.

The main character's chaise is very important. Chichikov is the hero of the journey, and the chaise is his home. This substantive detail, being, undoubtedly, one of the means of creating the image of Chichikov, plays a large plot role: there are many episodes and plot twists in the poem that are motivated just by the britzka. Not only does Chichikov travel in it, that is, thanks to her, the plot of the journey becomes possible; the britzka also motivates the appearance of the characters of Selifan and three horses; thanks to her, she manages to escape from Nozdrev (that is, the chaise rescues Chichikov); The chaise collides with the carriage of the governor's daughter and thus a lyrical motif is introduced, and at the end of the poem Chichikov even appears as the kidnapper of the governor's daughter. The britchka is a living character: she is endowed with her own will and sometimes disobeys Chichikov and Selifan, goes her own way and finally dumps the rider into impassable mud - so the hero, against his will, gets to Korobochka, who greets him with affectionate words: “Oh, father my, but you, like a boar, have mud all over your back and side! Where so deigned to be salted? » In addition, the chaise, as it were, determines the ring composition of the first volume: the poem opens with a conversation between two men about how strong the wheel of the chaise is, and ends with the breakdown of that very wheel, which is why Chichikov has to stay in the city.

In creating the image of the road, not only the road itself plays a role, but also characters, things and events. The road is the main "outline" of the poem. Only all side plots are already sewn on top of it. As long as the road goes, life goes; while life goes on, there is a story about this life.

The motif of the road, path, movement appears more than once on the pages of the poem. This image is multi-layered and highly symbolic. The movement of the protagonist in space, his journey along the roads of Russia, meetings with landowners, officials, peasants and city dwellers add up to us in a broad picture of the life of Rus'.

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1 THE ROAD IN N.V. GOGOL'S POEM "DEAD SOULS"

2 The motif of the road is central to the creation of the image of Rus'. This image is multi-layered and highly symbolic. The poem was conceived by N. V. Gogol by analogy with the Divine Comedy by Dante A. “On the road! on the road!..” How does Gogol end one of the most penetrating and philosophical lyrical digressions in the poem?

3 The movement of the protagonist of the poem along the roads of Russia add up to a broad picture of the life of Rus'. Almost all phenomena of Russian society pass before the eyes of Chichikov and the reader. The image of the road, tangled, lying in the wilderness, leading nowhere, only circling the traveler, is a symbol of a deceitful path, the unrighteous goals of the protagonist.

4 Another traveler is present next to Chichikov - this is the writer himself. Here are his remarks: “The hotel was ... of a certain kind ...”, “the city was in no way inferior to other provincial cities” ... With these words, Gogol not only emphasizes the typicality of the phenomena depicted, but also makes us understand that the invisible hero, the author, also well acquainted with them.

5 The miserable furnishings of the hotel, the receptions of city officials, lucrative deals with landowners are quite satisfactory for Chichikov, and the author causes undisguised irony. The reverse side of Gogol's satire is the lyrical beginning, the desire to see a person perfect, and the homeland - powerful and prosperous. Different heroes perceive the road differently.

6 Chichikov enjoys fast driving. “And what Russian doesn’t like fast driving?”… He can admire a beautiful stranger… But more often he notes the “throwing up force” of the pavement, enjoys a soft ride on a dirt road or dozes off. The magnificent landscapes that pass before his eyes do not cause him much thought.

7 The author is also not deceived by what he sees: “Rus! Rus! I see you, from my wonderful, beautiful far away I see you: poor, scattered and uncomfortable in you ... nothing will seduce and charm the eye. But at the same time, for him there is “some strange, and alluring, and bearing, and wonderful in the word: the road!” For N.V. Gogol, the road is something more. There are lyrical digressions in the poem expressing the author's poetry. Read them. What is the road for N. V. Gogol?

8 For N.V. Gogol, the whole Russian soul, all its scope and fullness of life, is on the “enthusiastic - wonderful” road. No matter how slavish nets fetter the Russian soul, it still remains spiritually free. Thus, the road for Gogol is Rus'. Where does the road lead, along which it rushes so that it can no longer be stopped: “Rus, where are you rushing”?

9 The real road that Chichikov travels turns into the path of life for the author. "As for the author, in no case should he quarrel with his hero: there is still a lot of way and the road they will have to go together hand in hand ..." By this Gogol points to the symbolic unity of the two approaches to the road, their mutual complement and mutual transformation .

10 Chichikov's road, which passed through different corners and nooks and crannies of the N province, as if emphasizes his vain and false life path. While the path of the author, which he makes together with Chichikov, symbolizes the harsh and thorny, but glorious path of the writer who preaches "love with a hostile word of denial." The real road in "Dead Souls", with its potholes, bumps, dirt, barriers, unrepaired bridges, grows into a symbol of "hugely rushing life", a symbol of Russia's historical path.

11 And now, instead of the Chichikov troika, a generalized image of the troika bird appears, which is replaced by the image of rushing, "God-inspired" Rus'. This time she is on the right path, which is why the filthy Chichikov carriage was transformed into a trio bird - a symbol of a free Russia that has found a living soul.

M.A. Weak-bearded

FESGU, Faculty of Philology, 3rd year

SYMBOLIC SPACE "ROADS"

IN THE POEM "DEAD SOULS"

Many studies have been devoted to the poem "Dead Souls". The work of the classic was considered in a variety of aspects. In the poem, a historical and philosophical plan of narration is singled out, its symbolic ambiguity is noted; attention was focused on the special meaning of lyrical digressions. Of course, it cannot be said that the theme of the road in Dead Souls has remained outside the field of research attention. On the contrary, it is difficult to find works where this topic is not discussed. For a poem, the plot of which is based on the journey, the "wandering" of the character, the image of the road, of course, is key. This article aims to study the symbolic plan of the image of the road in the poem "Dead Souls".

Understanding the image of the road in "Dead Souls" has its own tradition. Even Andrei Bely (1880-1934) in his book “Gogol’s Mastery” included the image of the road in the context of his consideration, connected the motives of Chichikov’s “leaving”, “turning off” the main road with unexpected turns in the logic of the course of events.

In this regard, the work of M. Huss (1900-1984) “Living Russia and Dead Souls” is interesting, where the author traces the history of Chichikov’s journey; proves that in Gogol's poem the reader sees not only a real traveler, but also an invisible one, a kind of lyrical hero who gives his own assessment of Chichikov's deeds.

I.P. most consistently addressed this image. Zolotussky (1930). He devoted two voluminous works to the study of the personality of N.V. Gogol and his work: “In the footsteps of Gogol” and “Poetry of prose”. In the first book devoted to the biography of the writer, the scientist notes that the theme of the road is close to the author of "Dead Souls" also because he himself traveled a lot. In another study, I. Zolotussky draws attention to the ambiguity and ambiguity of the image of the three-bird, subtly analyzes the solar images of the wheel and the penny.

The work of Yu.M. Lotman (1922-1993) "On Gogol's "realism". Yu.M. Lotman approached the study of the meaning of the image of the road in the poem from the theoretical side. He, following M.M. Bakhtin, calls the road a universal form of space organization and draws a thin line between the synonyms "path" and "road", delimiting them.

Before proceeding to a direct analysis of the symbolic image of the road used by N.V. Gogol in Dead Souls, let us recall a small dialogue with which the narrative opens: “Look at you,” one said to the other, “what a wheel! What do you think, will that wheel, if it happens, reach Moscow or not?” “It will come,” answered the other. “But I don’t think he will reach Kazan?” - “He won’t reach Kazan,” answered another.

The dialogue is a dispute between two simple men about the wheel. With such a conversation, Chichikov's journey begins. It may seem that this episode represents a very everyday picture and has nothing to do with further narration, except that the wheel belongs to Chichikov's britzka, has nothing to do with it. However, the dispute that precedes further narration carries an important semantic load. In mythology, various representations are associated with the image of the wheel, the common basis of which is the consideration of the image of the wheel as an image of a cyclic rhythm, the continuity of the universe. In the process of reading, the reader repeatedly encounters the motif of a cyclically closed space: the action of the poem begins in the city of N and ends here, while visiting the landowners, Chichikov has to constantly move off the high road and come back again.

In addition to N.V. Gogol, some other Russian writers resorted to the image of the wheel, among them A.N. Ostrovsky (1904-1936) can be distinguished. In the play Profitable Place, he depicted fortune as a wheel: “Fate is like fortune ... as depicted in the picture ... the wheel, and people on it ... rises up and again falls down, rises and then humbles itself, exalts himself and again nothing ... so everything is circular. Arrange your well-being, work, acquire property ... ascend in dreams ... and suddenly naked! . Chichikov's life path from his arrival in the city of N to his exposure at the governor's ball appears before the reader like a fortune.

Despite the importance of the image of the wheel in the construction of the plot of the poem, the center-forming role belongs to the image of the road. The chronotope of the road is the main way of organizing the artistic space in the work. M. M. Bakhtin (1895-1975) in his work “Epic and Romance”, along with the chronotope of the road, singles out the chronotope of the meeting associated with it and says that the “road” is a predominant place of chance meetings. On the road, the paths of the most diverse people intersect - representatives of all classes, conditions and ages. Here the rows of human destinies and lives are peculiarly combined. The "road" is the starting point and the place where events take place. On the road, the socio-historical diversity of the country is revealed and shown.

And if we turn to Slavic mythology close to Gogol, it turns out that here the “road” is a ritually and sacredly significant locus. Such a definition reflects the multifaceted metaphorization of the path-road: “life path”, “enter on a new road”, “historical path”. The connection of the road with the semantics of the path makes it a place where fate is known, good luck or bad luck is manifested, which are realized during random encounters with people and animals. The mythological semantics and ritual functions of the road are most pronounced at the intersection of two or more roads, at forks. The motive of the road is very close to N.V. Gogol. Many of his works take place on the road. From the road leading to Sorochintsy, his first story opens, and the last story ends on the road (“Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”); "Dead Souls" is Chichikov's road.

The road in the poem is given in several semantic plans. First of all, the chronotope of the road helps the author to most fully reveal to the reader the nature of the Chichikov adventure with dead souls. In addition, the lyrical aspect of considering the image of the road cannot be ignored. The author skillfully introduces lyrical digressions into the structure of the narrative, thanks to which the road comes to life and becomes a full-fledged hero of the poem.

Consider the image of the road as the life path of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov. It would be appropriate to compare the fate of Chichikov, revealed to the reader on the pages of the poem, with the "wheel of fortune" of N.A. Ostrovsky. Indeed, the history of Chichikov is the history of his gradual ascent and loud fall.

From the first pages of the poem, Chichikov's arrival does not make any noise in the provincial town of N. Quietly and imperceptibly, the britzka on soft springs rolled up to the gates of the hotel. Here, in the city, the story begins. Here, the still semi-mysterious Chichikov makes acquaintances, and, as in the prologue, almost all the characters pass by.

The movement starts from the second chapter. Chichikov, warming his insidious plans in his heart, decides to go out of town. The first among the landowners whom he visited was Manilov. Chichikov's departure made much more noise in the city than his recent arrival. chaise with thunder left the hotel. On the way, the carriage drew the attention of the townspeople passing by: “The passing priest took off his hat, several boys in soiled shirts held out their hands, saying:“ Master, give it to the orphan. The orphan's appeal to our hero deserves special attention: "Barin". Here one can see a hint of ambition, Chichikov's cherished dream, striving to make his way from a simple gentleman, as Gogol describes him in the first chapter, from "nothing else" to "master", before whom even hats are taken off. The action develops according to the "law of the wheel".

In parallel, Gogol describes urban and suburban roads. As soon as the britzka left the pavement, she jumped over the stones. The pavement here is compared to flour, the salvation from which the coachman Selifan, like many others, sees in a striped barrier. Having moved off the pavement, the heroes rushed along the soft earth. The description of the suburban road evokes a sharp dissonance: “As soon as the city went back, they started writing, according to our custom, nonsense and game on both sides of the road: hummocks, spruce, low liquid bushes of young pines, burnt trunks of old ones, wild heather and the like. nonsense."

Thus, Chichikov, from the environment of high society, the balls, plunges into a lower environment, the environment of the village, where all the time he will have to see dust and dirt. Significant are the words with which the author characterizes the suburban road - "nonsense and game." The fact is that Chichikov's adventures are not an easy journey along a light high road, on the contrary, he will have to wander, turning off the main road into lanes.

Despite the future success of the deal with Manilov, the path to it turned out to be quite difficult for the character. As soon as he left the city road and onto the highway, Chichikov got lost. He passes the fifteenth verst, then the sixteenth, but still does not see the village. The narrator explains this phenomenon as a typical feature of a Russian person: “if a friend invites you to his village fifteen miles away, it means that there are thirty faithful to it.” The further route to Manilovka was suggested by the peasants met by Chichikov. The description of the road leading to the village is noteworthy: “If you drive a verst, then go straight to the right. There is a master's house on the mountain. Here is a very important detail. Chichikov, driving off the high road, turns right. Turns, ups and downs from now on become the effective beginning of Chichikov's dubious wandering. If we graphically depict Chichikov's turn from the high road and his return to it, then we get a circle, that is, a symbolic image of a wheel, a cyclic rhythm. Repeated repetition of a certain action causes associations with the performance of a certain ritual. It has already been noted earlier that it is at the intersection of the road that its mythological and sacred significance is manifested to a greater extent. It can be assumed that turning Chichikov's carriage to the right before visiting the landowners and making a deed of sale with them is a kind of ritual, a kind of spell for good luck.

So, having made a right turn, Chichikov goes to the village of Manilov. According to the "law of the wheel", this deal, the first for the hero, ended more than successfully. He hurries back to the main road to go to Sobakevich. Being in a contented mood, Chichikov does not pay any attention to the road that rushes past the window. The coachman Selifan is also busy with his thoughts. Only a strong clap of thunder woke them both. Sunny moods are instantly replaced by gloomy ones.

Heavenly colors thicken from the clouds, and the dusty road is sprayed with raindrops, which makes it dirty, clayey and viscous. The result is a very plausible plunge into darkness. Soon the rain intensifies so that the road becomes invisible. Thus, fate, or the imperious hand of the author, forces Chichikov's britzka to turn off the main path to a side one. The coachman Selifan, unable to remember how many turns he has driven, turns right again.

The author draws a clear line between a wide and light high road and a lane into which the characters have moved out. No wonder the soil around the corner is compared to a harrowed field. The collisions of Chichikov's journey were convincingly explained by D.S. Merezhkovsky (1865-1941) in his work "Gogol and the Devil": for Chichikov, the high road is a bright, kind and true path in his life. But, obsessed with the idea of ​​getting rich, he is forced to turn off and move along a different path, a dark one. But even at the turns Chichikov met with trouble: "He [Selifan] began to slightly turn the britzka, turned and turned and finally turned it completely on its side." Chichikov's chaise will be "smeared" with mud more than once. Let us remember the girl whom Korobochka sends along with the carriage to show the guests the high road. She, having stood with one foot on the master's step, "first soiled it with mud, and then climbed to the top." Secondly, the rain that passed the day before also makes itself felt. The author describes how the wheels of the chaise, capturing the dirty earth, "became soon covered with it like felt." Don't these details play the role of a prediction, a warning of Chichikov's adventure? Focusing on such details, Gogol points out that Chichikov achieves his very noble goal - to get rich - by completely ignoble means. This is expressed in the fact that, striving for the heights, he steps into the mud, and this path seems to him the easiest. However, having once committed such an offense, he is no longer able to refuse an easy “profit”, as a result of which he has to plunge into it more than once, as evidenced by the image of a wheel covered with mud, like felt. In the short term, Chichikov will have an almost heroic "fight" with the local landowner Korobochka; and a little further he will fall into the mud, but in a figurative sense, at the governor's ball. This once again confirms that the action of the poem develops according to the “law of the wheel”.

In the poem "Dead Souls", along with "living" heroes, who appear before the reader in human form, there are "inanimate" heroes - the wheel and the road - which, nevertheless, carry a very important semantic load. The wheel acts as an identifier, or litmus test, which very soon indicates changes in the personality of the protagonist, whether they are external or internal. Yesterday, cheerful and dreamy, today the coachman Selifan, leaving Korobochka, “is stern all the way and at the same time very attentive.” Once at Nozdryov, Chichikov and some other characters immediately set off to inspect his possessions. N.V. Gogol describes them in the following ways: “Nozdryov led his guests through a field, which in many places consisted of hummocks. The guests had to make their way between fallows and raised fields. In many places their feet squeezed out the water under them. The author also awards this road with the epithet "nasty". It is noteworthy that the character of Nozdrev himself was similar to this bumpy and "nasty" road.

Soon Chichikov, realizing the mistake of visiting Nozdryov, and most importantly, his initiation into his plans, rushes away from the village at all times. The entire crew, including the horses harnessed to it, turns out to be out of sorts, so few people pay attention to the road. And again we, describing the circle, return to the case when Chichikov, being in a dreamy state of mind, was driving from Manilov. The road does not forgive an inattentive attitude towards oneself - a wisdom known to all. So it was conceived according to the plot of N.V. Gogol. This time, our heroes "came to their senses and woke up only when a carriage with six horses jumped on them and almost over their heads there was a cry from the ladies sitting in it, abuse and threats of someone else's coachman" . Recall that the motive of the meeting is an important detail of the chronotope of the road. MM Bakhtin, as noted above, said that the main place of chance meetings is the road.

Meeting with the ladies plays an important role in the further development of the plot. She prepares Chichikov for the governor's ball, where he will have to rotate among many representatives of high society. Some researchers, in particular D.S. Merezhkovsky, in relation to Chichikov to a beautiful girl, see the main positive idea of ​​the hero - the idea of ​​"women and Chichenki", which, however, is aimed only at the complete assertion of its own existence. However, in Chichikov's admiration, his next desire for a "penny" is manifested. After all, our hero, barely saying “Glorious grandmother!”, Begins to think about her position in society: “And it would be interesting to know whose she is? What, like her father? Is it a wealthy landowner of respectable character, or just a well-meaning person with capital acquired in the service? After all, if, let's say, this girl is given two hundred thousand dowry, a very, very tasty morsel could come out of her.

The trip to Sobakevich was supposed to be Chichikov's last visit for "dead souls", but here he learns about Plyushkin, a local landowner whose peasants are "dying like flies." Gogol does not go into the description of the road from Sobakevich to Plyushkin. The fact is that at this stage of the trip, the reader is distracted by Chichikov's lyrical digression and thoughts about the nickname that the peasants gave Plyushkin. As a result, the author, in an effort to make up for the loss of pace, takes a number of measures to draw the reader's attention to a new cycle. Thus, the description of the road appears before us only at the entrance to the village. Here, the pavement met the heroes with a “pretty push”: “its logs, like piano keys, rose up and down, and the unguarded rider acquired either a bump on the back of his head, or a blue spot on his forehead, or it happened with his own teeth to bite off the tip of his own tongue painfully” . The log pavement is a reminder of the city pavement, which became a real torment for the coachman Selifan. Note that Gogol enhances the description of the village pavement in order to indicate the degree of devastation that reigned in the Plyushkin estate. However, like the first time, Chichikov's torment promises him good luck. We see the successful completion of the transaction and the departure of the cart to the city.

The plot of the poem by N.V. Gogol is built according to the law of ring composition. Chichikov returns to the provincial town N, from which his journey began, however, he returns in a different status: he is famous and "rich". This fact is another reminder that the action of the poem is built according to the "law of the wheel", which we stipulated at the very beginning.

So, returning to the city, Chichikov makes a bill of sale. Like a talisman, Manilov accompanies him everywhere. Sobakevich is present at the signing of the papers. It is noteworthy that none of them mentions that the souls are dead, and the papers are just fiction. Thus, the author in every possible way postpones the time of exposure, thus giving Chichikov, as well as himself, the opportunity to carefully prepare for the meeting. The deal, meanwhile, is successfully completed, and the main setting is transferred to the governor's ball. Both governor's balls (the first - acquaintance with Chichikov, general sympathy for him, the beginning of his success; the second - in fact, farewell to him, scandal, growth of suspicions) form a symmetrical structure in the form of a frame structure. A visit to the chamber, a conversation with its chairman, and the making of a bill of sale form a connecting link that, strictly speaking, does not have an independent compositional significance within the fragment under consideration, but is updated in connection with the theme of the later developed scandal associated with the exposure of Chichikov.

Nozdryov was called upon to dispel the halo of lies around the figure of Chichikov. He planted a seed of doubt in the minds of those present, which changed the attitude towards Chichikov to the diametrically opposite one. Korobochka was called to finish the job, and she came to the city, worrying about whether she had sold cheap with the sale of "dead souls". Exposed, Chichikov soon leaves the ill-fated city N: “Our hero, sitting better on a Georgian rug, put a leather pillow behind his back, squeezed two hot rolls, and the crew went to dance and sway.” It is noteworthy that N.V. Gogol completes the story of Chichikov with precisely the gallery of images of nature with which he opens it: “Meanwhile, the britzka turned into deserted streets; soon there were only long wooden fences, heralding the end of the city. Now the pavement has ended, and the barrier, and the city is behind, and there is nothing, and again on the road. This description, along with other events, forms the ring (or frame) composition of the poem.

Summing up the study of the symbolic meaning of the image of the road in N.V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls", it is necessary to talk about the multifunctionality of this image. First of all, as M.M. Bakhtin noted, the chronotope of the road serves as the main way of organizing the artistic space and, thereby, contributes to the movement of the plot. Along with this, we note that the image of the road within the framework of this poem is closely connected with the image of the wheel, which, in turn, contributes to the formation of certain circles, cycles in the work.

Notes

Bely, A. Gogol's Mastery: A Study. - M.: MALP, 1996. - 351 p.

Gus, M.S. Living Russia and Dead Souls. - M.: Soviet writer, 1981. - 336 p.

Zolotussky, I.P. In the footsteps of Gogol. - M.: Children's literature, 1984. - 191 p.

Zolotussky, I.P. Poetry of prose: articles about Gogol. - M.: Soviet writer, 1987. - 240 p.

Lotman, Yu.M. On the "realism" of Gogol. // Gogol in Russian Criticism: An Anthology / Compiled by S.G. Bocharov. - M .: Fortuna EL, 2008. - p. 630-652

Gogol, N.V. Dead Souls. // Collected works in 7 volumes. / under the general editorship of S.I. Mashinsky and M.B. Khrapchenko. - M .: Fiction, 1978. Volume 5.

Ostrovsky, A.N. Plum. // Collected works in 3 volumes. - M .: Fiction, 1987. Volume 1.

Bakhtin, M.M. Epic and novel. - St. Petersburg: Azbuka, 2000. - 304 p.

Julien, N. Dictionary of Symbols. – Ch.: Ural L.T.D., 1999. – 498 p.

Merezhkovsky, D.S. Gogol and hell. – M.: Scorpion, 1906. – 219 p.

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>Compositions based on Dead Souls

road image

N. V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" is considered one of the author's best works and occupies a worthy place in Russian literature of the 19th century. This work has a deep meaning and reveals several pressing topics at once. The author managed to masterfully show Russia of that period and the last days of serfdom. A special place in the work is occupied by the theme of the road. The main character, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, travels from city to city in search of "sellers" of dead souls. It is through the movement of the protagonist along the roads that a broad picture of life in Rus' is formed.

The poem begins with "dear" and ends with the same. However, if at first Chichikov enters the city with hopes of a quick enrichment, then at the end he runs away from it in order to save his reputation. The theme of the road is extremely important in the work. For the author, the road is the personification of life, movement and internal development. The road along which the main character travels smoothly turns into the road of life. When he wanders along the tangled roads that lie in the wilderness, sometimes leading nowhere, this symbolizes the deceitful path that he has chosen for his enrichment.

There is a remarkable phrase in the work, which the landowner Korobochka drops and which reveals the essence of the road. When Chichikov asks her how to get to the main road, she replies that it is not surprising to explain, but there are many turns. These phrases carry a symbolic meaning. The reader, together with the author, is invited to think about how to get to the "high road" of life. And then the answer sounds that it is possible to get there, only there will be many obstacles and difficulties on the way. Thus, throughout the following chapters, the author acts as a guide and leads his hero along intricate roads from one estate to another.

In the final chapter follows a lyrical digression about the roads of Russia. This is a kind of hymn to the movement, in which Rus' is compared with a rushing troika. In this digression, the author intertwines his two favorite themes: the theme of the road and the theme of Russia. It shows the meaning of the historical movement of the country. For the author, it is in the road that the whole Russian soul lies, its scope and fullness of life. Thus, the road in the work is Rus' itself. It should lead the country to a better, brighter future. Moreover, it must revive a society entangled in the contradictions of life.

A journey through Rus' is impossible without travel impressions. The image of the road in the poem "Dead Souls" is a separate character. Moreover, it is alive, changing, causing passions and suggestive.

The meaning of the image

The road is found in most of the works of N.V. Gogol. Heroes are striving somewhere, moving, rushing. All of Russia is on this. She is in perpetual motion. In the poem, the image of the road contrasts with the main theme - the death of the soul. How can one stop and lose human qualities with such perpetual motion? The philosophical question forces one to look inside a person. Questions start to come up:

• Does the person himself ride or move along the knurled?
• Is he driving or being driven?
• Does he choose a road, a path, or follow the paths that someone has indicated?
• Questions about one person go to the whole country:
• Where is Rus' going?
• What awaits Russia at the end of the road and where is this end?

In the poem, the meaning of the image is multifaceted: it is the history of Russia, a symbol of the development of the human nation, the personification of different destinies, the difference between the Russian character, the epithet of off-road. The main load on the image is the fate of the Russian people, each of its classes: a peasant, an official, a landowner.

Main character's road

The writer's language, rich in images, helps to present the main character Chichikov. The road characterizes its movement. He rides in a britzka, about the wheel of which the peasants are discussing: will he get there? The wobbly device saves the character from Nozdryov. Compositionally, the wheel, like a circle, closes the poem. The doubts of the peasants about the strength of the wheel on the first pages of the book culminate in their breakdown. The author behind every action hides a deep meaning. The reader has to take a break and think. There are no direct answers. Why does the classic keep Chichikov in the city? Maybe he should stop? Chose a different path? Abandoned an absurd undertaking, seeing all the blasphemy, lack of spirituality that is hidden in it?

The roads of the enterprising swindler are chaotic. He himself does not follow the chaise, entrusting this work to the coachman. The road takes Pavel Ivanovich to such remote places that it is scary to be in them on a broken cart.

Is the landowner bold or reckless? Perhaps this and that. The road does not change the swindler, it absorbs him, making him callous and greedy. It turns out that all people have their own path, their own way of life, their own perception of Russia.

Lyrical digression

The author offers several lyrical digressions, which can be recognized as separate works of art. The digression from the text “On the Road” is one of the most lyrical, it helps to understand the image of the road in Dead Souls. Without it, the topic will be disclosed only superficially. Each word thrills the reader, everything is accurate and real:

• "a trembling gripped the limbs";
• "sap of horses";
• “dozing and forgetting and snoring”;
• "The sun is at the top of the sky.

Nature on the road is a friend who becomes an interlocutor. He is sweet, pleasant, knows how to listen, does not distract, does not interfere, but disposes to frankness. How many thoughts flies through the mind of travelers, do not count.

The writer likes silence, loneliness. The radiance of the moon is beautiful, linen scarves hung by hostesses flicker. The rooftops are shining. Behind every word is an image:

• verst with a number;
• cornered neighbor;
• white houses;
• log huts;
• open wasteland.

Even the cold does not scare on the road. It's nice, wonderful, fresh. The night is described in a special way with magic: “what a night is happening in the sky!”, “heavenly forces”. Darkness does not frighten the reader, but fascinates.

The road is the writer's assistant. She endured and saved him when he, "perishing and drowning," clutched at her like "a straw." The road is the writer's muse. On the way, many "wonderful ideas, poetic dreams" were born.

The marvelous impressions of the night distract from the heavy thoughts of the death of the soul of the Russian landowner. It will become much easier to write an essay “The image of the road in the poem“ Dead Souls ”, based on the proposed material.

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