How did serfdom influence the fate of Gerasim? The problem of serfdom in literary works. I. Teacher's opening speech

Subject: The theme of serfdom in the works of Turgenev (based on the story “Mumu”)

Goals:

Show the writer’s irreconcilable attitude towards despotism in any form;

Help children identify social evil and fight it;

Awaken good feelings, to form the personality of a humane and benevolent person.

Equipment: multimedia projector, cards.

Lesson structure:

I Organizational moment

II Check homework

III New topic

Brief biography I.S. Turgenev.

A) place of birth;

B) parents (mother)

C) an episode about the yard girl Lusha, as a prerequisite for writing the story “Mumu”

2. Introduction to Chapter 1

3. Conversation about Chapter 1

IV Generalization

V Homework

Lesson progress:

I Announcing the topic and objectives of the lesson.

Reading the epigraph on the slide.

… his images are not only alive

and snatched from life,

but these are the types I imitated

youth and who

created life themselves.

P. Yakubovich

II Before you start new topic, I would like to check how you completed the task.

You needed to learn an excerpt from the work of M.Yu. Lermontov's "Borodino" and know the meaning of new words. Pay attention to the slide. It reflects words whose meanings you should know. While some of you write the meanings of these words on pieces of paper for me, I will ask one of you to recite a passage by heart.

III Today we begin to study the work of I.S. Turgenev's story "Mumu".

Open your notebooks and write down the date and topic of the lesson.

Before we talk about the work, we need to find out what kind of person wrote it.

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev was born in 1818 into a wealthy noble family. His childhood was spent on the village estate of his parents, Spassky-Lutovinovo.

The main person in the family was the writer’s mother, Varvara Petrovna. She was a very rich woman, had several estates and thousands of serfs.

Here, guys, I want to draw your attention to new and incomprehensible words (on the slide).

SERfdom – the right or permission for a serf owner to own serfs and their property.

SERVE OWNER – a landowner who owns serfs.

FORFERT – forced peasant or slave.

Write these words in your notebook.

These words will help you understand the essence of the work.

Varvara Petrovna, who grew up as an orphan in the house of rich relatives who offended and humiliated her, having become a rich heiress, began to take out her anger on her forced peasants, for which she became known throughout the district as a very cruel and headstrong lady.

But Ivan Sergeevich, despite the fact that his mother was such a wayward woman, was a gentle, honest and fair person.

When I.S. Turgenev was a student at St. Petersburg University, he came home for the Christmas holidays and learned that his mother had decided to sell her serf Lukerya, who was the writer’s childhood friend, and whom he taught to read and write. Lusha, as a literate person, understood that the landowners used the serfs, oppressed and humiliated them, and incited the peasants to rise up against the landowners' tyranny.

Ivan Sergeevich could not allow this. He hid Lusha.

The police intervened in this matter, but Turgenev, with a gun in his hands, stood his ground until his mother agreed to keep Lusha with her.

The fact that the writer himself came to the defense of the serf girl only proves that he was against the oppression of the poor peasants and fought as best he could for the peasants to gain freedom; fought with his actions, protecting the serfs; fought against the arbitrariness of the masters in his works. Many of his works are autobiographical, i.e. the basis of the plots are taken from his real, real life.

Let's return to the epigraph of our lesson.

The images of his heroes are prototypes of the people who lived next to him, i.e. It was they who prompted the writing of many of his works, including “Mumu”.

This work is permeated with hatred of serfdom, of injustice, which the Lady personified; permeated with the desire to evoke sympathy for the Russian people, admiration for their strength and spiritual beauty. An example of this is the main character, Gerasim.

Attaching keywords to a slide.

Lady - serfwoman

(serf owner)

Serfdom

Gerasim - serf

The story Mumu was written by Turgenev in 1852, when the issue of abolishing serfdom through a decree of the tsar was urgent. People expected that the right would be abolished after the Napoleonic War (1812), p.ch. it was believed that the Russian people won the war. But serfdom was officially abolished only in 1861. Those. About 50 years passed before the peasants gained freedom.

With his work “Mumu” Turgenev expressed an act of protest of the serfs against the lawlessness of cruel masters.

Now, open the textbook on page 133.

I will read chapter 1 of the story, and you listen carefully and follow the text.

Reading chapter 1.

Conversation on reading:.

Let's give this chapter a title. (Gerasim's move, Nice guy Gerasim.)

Who is this chapter talking about? (about the lady and Gerasim)

Find a description of Gerasim in the text. (p.133)

How did Gerasim work in the city and in the countryside? Where was it harder for him to work?

How did Gerasim feel? In the city first? How does the author describe the hero’s melancholy and loneliness, and with whom does he compare him?

Where did Gerasim live? Describe. In what words does the author convey his attitude towards the hero? What does "glorious" mean?

Another feature of the writer is that he immediately introduces us to everyone actors at the beginning of the story.

He clearly depicted the evil of serfdom. In several stories he depicted characteristic features this life from a tragic point of view (“Raspberry Water”, “Ovsyannikov’s Odnodvorets”, “Office”) and from a comic point of view (“Lgov”).

Video lecture by D. Buck about “Notes of a Hunter”

In the story “Raspberry Water” the same theme is developed that forms the basis of Nekrasov’s poems: “ Reflections at the front door" And " Forgotten Village" The peasant Vlas, under the pressure of various misfortunes that befell him (mainly the death of his adult son), became poor, was unable to pay the quitrent and went on foot from the village to Moscow to ask the master himself for “mercy,” but “the master not only did not wished to enter into his position - he even “got angry” because the man dared to “bother” him in addition to the clerk, and kicked him out with nothing. Exhausted by many days of walking, heat and hunger, the grief-stricken man, a victim of the landowner's heartlessness, made such a pitiful impression that even the unfortunate Stepushka, an impersonal downtrodden creature, without clan or tribe, felt a surge of compassion for Vlas. The man had already “suffered” all his grief and spoke about it “with a grin, as if they were talking about someone else; but a tear was welling up in his small and shrunken eyes; his lips were twitching.” “Well, are you going home now?” - “And then where? It is known - home. My wife, tea, is now whistling into her fist from hunger.” “Yes, you would...that...” Stepushka suddenly spoke, became confused, fell silent and began to dig in the pot.” This awkward “advice”, however, reflected the immense power of sympathy from one poor man to another - and the downtrodden, silent “fool” Stepushka grew much taller than his heartless “educated” master.

In the story “Ovsyannikov’s One-Palace”, several stories about the unbridled morals of the good old days are put into the mouth of the narrator, Ovsyannikov himself. Turgenev’s grandfather, a tyrant and despot, is depicted especially vividly, taking land from his neighbors by force and punishing innocent people without mercy. In the person of another landowner-reveler, a gentleman-reveler is depicted, drunk and disorderly with his dissolute servants; whips play a prominent role here too.

The story: “The Office” depicts the chief clerk who abuses the trust of his lady and, under her patronage, carries out his “deeds.” The story: “The Burmist” depicts a burgomaster who has full power to deal with the peasants, robs them and enriches himself at their expense.

The story: “Lgov” tells the tragicomic fate of an old courtyard man, nicknamed “Bitch,” who experienced the full force of the tyranny of his masters. At their whim, they not only changed his names, but also ruined his life: he was a coachman, and a cook, and a “coffee shop,” and an “akhter,” and a Cossack, and a “faletor,” and a gardener, and a driver, and a shoemaker and, finally, lived out his gray days as a fisherman in a pond in which there were no fish. After such an everyday “alteration”, we have before us a completely impersonal creature, killed by someone else’s whim. He was being punished because his brother ran away; he remained single because the lady, an “old wench” herself, did not allow anyone to marry - he was beaten, insulted, humiliated - and, in the end, he, resigned and unrequited, thanks God for the fact that in his old age he has free food : “The grub is given out - and then, glory to You, Lord, I am very pleased. Extend, O Lord, the centuries of your mistress!” - says this lonely, downtrodden old man.

Less space is allocated in the Notes to landowners. Turgenev does not dwell on them for particularly long, although he still gives several living types: first the weak-willed Karataev with his soft heart flashes before you, then the good-natured and warm-hearted Tatyana Borisovna, then the honest madman Tchertop-hanov - the Russian Don Quixote, then the liberal Penochkin, sending to the stable to flog his footman for an unheated glass of wine - all these are living faces, drawn in a versatile and truthful way. Turgenev, obviously, does not set out to “convict” the nobility, but simply wants to broadly and freely depict the life of the Russian province - peasant and noble life - which is why he paints both the good and the evil of this life equally impartially. In the story: “Ovsyannikov’s One-Palace” we have before us a whole gallery of lordly images both from the distant past and those contemporary to Turgenev. And again, in the depiction of them all, one can feel the calm objectivity of the artist-author.

I liked it so much that I decided to choose it for my research. The topic of the study is “Condemnation of serfdom in the story “MUMU”. Studying the writer’s biography and working with the text helped me find the answer to the problematic question: “How does serfdom affect a person?” In my work I covered the following questions:

· pages of the writer's biography

CONCLUSION:

The janitor Gerasim was a man of extraordinary strength, this is evidenced not only by his portrait, but also by the description of the room in which he arranged everything to his liking. By nature, he is a hardworking and responsible person, kind and able to sympathize. But at the same time, Gerasim is a deeply unhappy person: he loved Tatyana, but she was married off to the drunkard Kapiton, he became attached to Mumu with all his heart, but the lady ordered her to be drowned.

Who is to blame for the fact that Gerasim is unhappy? The answer is clear: the lady, and in her person is serfdom.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

· Serfdom cripples and disfigures the human soul

· Serfdom destroys families and breaks family ties

· A person cannot control his life, he does not belong to himself, he cannot be happy

· In the story “Mumu” Turgenev shows the first shoots of protest, they are still timid and spontaneous, but they are harbingers of future changes

· The story “Mumu” puts the writer in line with such fighters against serfdom as Pushkin, Gogol, Nekrasov. Honesty and nobility helped him make a bold choice, to join the ranks of defenders of the oppressed people.

MUNICIPAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

KARGASOKI SECONDARY SCHOOL No. 2

ABSTRACT
CREATIVE HISTORY OF CREATION

STORY BY I.S. TURGENEV

"MUMU"
Completed:

Bragina Sveta,

5th grade student
Supervisor:

Bragina G.A., teacher

Russian language and

literature

Kargasok

2011
Content

Introduction page 3
Main part
1. The time of writing the story “Mumu” p.4
2. Turgenev's attitude to serfdom p.5
3. Writing a story and appearing in print p.7
4. Turgenev's childhood in connection with the biography of his mother p.8
5. Real events based on the story p.12
Conclusion p.14
Information resources p.15

1. Introduction

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev is one of the writers beloved by children, although he never wrote specifically for children. The ideological content of his stories, the simplicity and elegance of his language, the liveliness and brightness of the pictures of nature he painted and the deep sense of lyricism that permeates every work of the writer are very attractive not only to adults, but also to children.

My acquaintance with Turgenev began in a literature lesson with reading the story “Mumu”. He struck me with the drama of the events presented, the tragedy of Gerasim’s situation, and the sad fate of the dog.

The purpose of this work is to learn more about Turgenev’s childhood, about the real events underlying the story, about the reasons for its appearance in print, to find out the role and significance of Turgenev for his time as a fighter against serfdom.

Relevance of the work: this work can be used in literature lessons in 5th grade.

3.
2.1. Time of writing "Mumu"

The main issue of the era of the 40-50s of the 19th century was the question of serfdom.

The entire population of Russia was divided into several groups called estates: nobility, clergy, merchants, philistines, peasants. A person could move from one class to another in very rare cases. The nobility and clergy were considered privileged classes. The nobles had the right to own land and people - serfs. The nobleman who owned the peasants could impose any punishment on them; he could sell the peasants, for example, sell his mother to one landowner, and her children to another. Serfs were considered by law to be the complete property of their master. The peasants had to work for the landowner in his field or give him part of the money they earned.

It was here, in such conditions, that the author of “Notes of a Hunter” wrote his famous story “Mumu”. By this Turgenev proved that he was not going to deviate from his main topic- the fight against serfdom, but will further develop and deepen it in his work. From his conclusion, Turgenev wrote to his friends about his future plans: “... I will continue my essays about the Russian people, the strangest and most amazing people there are in the world.”

After serving a month in prison and receiving an order to go to live in his village, Turgenev read “Mumu” for his friends before leaving. “A truly touching impression,” wrote one of the listeners, “was made by this story, which he took from the house he moved out, both in its content and in the calm, albeit sad, tone of presentation.”

Turgenev managed to publish the story with the help of friends. It was published in the third book of N.A. Nekrasov’s magazine “Contemporary” for 1854. The police came to their senses only after the story was published.

7.
2.4. Turgenev's childhood in connection with the biography of his mother
Why did Turgenev, a nobleman by birth and upbringing, rebel against serfdom? It seems that the answer must be sought in the writer’s biography, in his childhood years. It was they who left an indelible mark on the horrors of violence and tyranny.

I.S. was born. Turgenev on October 28, 1818 in the city of Orel, into a wealthy noble family. His childhood was spent among the amazing and unique beauty of central Russia in the Spassky-Lutovinovo estate in the Oryol province.

The writer's parents were the richest landowners in the region. They had over five thousand serfs. Sixty families served the manor house. Among them were mechanics, blacksmiths, carpenters, gardeners, clerks, tailors, shoemakers, painters, and musicians.

Father - Sergei Nikolaevich, in his youth an officer of a cuirassier regiment, handsome, spoiled, lived the way he wanted, did not care about his family or his extensive household. Mother, Varvara Petrovna, nee Lutovinova, a powerful, intelligent and sufficiently educated woman, did not shine with beauty. She was short and squat, with a broad face marred by smallpox. And only the eyes were beautiful: large, dark and shiny.

In childhood and adolescence she suffered many injustices, and as a result her character became very hardened. To understand this, we need to tell a little of her story.

Varvara Petrovna was an orphan. Her mother, the writer’s grandmother, was left without any means of support after the death of her husband and was forced to remarry a widower. He already had children. Varvara Petrovna’s mother devoted her entire life to caring for other people’s children and completely forgot about her own daughter.

Varvara Petrovna recalled: “Being an orphan without a father and mother is hard, but being an orphan with your own mother is terrible, and I experienced it, my mother hated me.” The girl had no rights in the family. Her stepfather beat her, and her sisters didn’t like her either.

After her mother's death, her situation became even worse. Unable to bear the humiliation and insults, the fifteen-year-old girl decided to run away from her stepfather’s family in order to find shelter with her uncle, Ivan Ivanovich Lutovinov, a stern and unsociable man, the owner of the rich Spasskoye estate. She walked more than seventy kilometers. But her uncle himself did not make it any easier for her.

8.
I.I. Lutovinov was a cruel landowner. He oppressed his serfs immensely. He paid little attention to his niece, but demanded slavish submission from her. For the slightest disobedience he threatened to throw me out of the house.

For fifteen years, the niece endured humiliation and bullying from her uncle. The girl decided to run away.

But the sudden death of her uncle unexpectedly made Varvara Petrovna the owner of numerous estates, several thousand serfs, and a huge financial fortune.

Varvara Petrovna became one of the richest brides in the region. Soon Varvara Petrovna married Sergei Nikolaevich. It would seem that the insults, oppression, and humiliation suffered in childhood and youth should make a person softer and more compassionate, but things can be different. A person can become hardened and become a despot himself. This is exactly what happened to Varvara Petrovna. She turned into an angry and cruel landowner. All the servants were afraid of her; with her appearance she intimidated those around her.

Turgenev's mother was a very unbalanced and contradictory person. The main features of her nature were selfishness, despotism, and contempt for the poor. And at the same time, she had the traits of a gifted personality and a peculiar charm. When she spoke to the peasants, she sniffed cologne because the “peasant smell” irritated her. She crippled the lives of many of her serfs: she drove some to hard labor, others to remote villages to settle, and others to become soldiers. She brutally dealt with the servants using rods. For the slightest offense they were whipped in the stables. There are many memories of Varvara Petrovna’s cruelty, both from her son and his contemporaries. The writer close to Turgenev, Pavel Vasilyevich Annenkov, recalled: “As a developed woman, she did not humiliate herself to the point of personal reprisals, but subject to persecution and insults in her youth, which embittered her character, she was not at all averse to taking radical home measures to correct those who were disobedient or not loved by her subjects. ...No one could equal her in the art of insulting, humiliating, making a person unhappy, while maintaining decency, calm and one’s dignity” 3 .
The fate of serf girls was also terrible. Varvara Petrovna did not allow them to get married, she insulted them.

In her home environment, the landowner tried to imitate the crowned heads. Serfs differed among themselves by court ranks: she had a minister of the court, a minister of post. Correspondence to Varvara Petrovna was presented on a silver tray. If the lady was pleased with the letters she received, everyone rejoiced, but if it was the other way around, then everyone fell silent with bated breath. The guests were in a hurry to leave the house.

Varvara Petrovna was terrible in anger, she could get angry over the slightest trifle. The writer, as a boy, recalled such an incident. One day, while the lady was walking in the garden, two serf gardeners, busy with work, did not notice her and did not bow to her when she passed by. The landowner was terribly indignant, and the next day the offenders were exiled to Siberia.

Turgenev recalled another incident. Varvara Petrovna loved flowers very much, especially tulips. However, her passion for flowers was very costly for the serf gardeners. Once someone tore an expensive tulip out of a flower bed. The culprit was not found and all the gardeners in the stable were flogged for this.

Another case. The writer's mother had one talented boy as a serf. He loved to draw. Varvara Petrovna sent him to study painting in Moscow. Soon he was ordered to paint the ceiling in a Moscow theater. When the landowner found out about this, she returned the artist to the village and forced him to paint flowers from life.

“He wrote them,” Turgenev himself said, “thousands of them, both garden and forest, he wrote with hatred, with tears... they disgusted me too. The poor fellow struggled, gnashed his teeth, drank himself to death and died.” 4

Varvara Petrovna’s cruelty extended to her beloved son. Therefore, Turgenev did not remember his childhood years well. His mother knew only one educational tool - the rod. She couldn't imagine how she could raise her without her.

Little Turgenev was flogged very often in childhood. Turgenev later admitted: “They beat me up for all sorts of trifles, almost every day.” 5

One day some old hanger-on gossiped something to Varvara Petrovna about her son. Turgenev recalled that his mother, without any trial or questioning, immediately began to flog him. She flogged him with her own hands, and in response to all his pleas to tell him why he was being punished, she said: you know, guess for yourself, guess for yourself why I’m flogging.

The boy did not know why he was being whipped, he did not know what to confess, so the section lasted three days. The boy was ready to run away from home, but his German tutor rescued him. He talked to his mother, and the boy was left alone.

As a child, Turgenev was a sincere, simple-minded child. He often had to pay for this. Turgenev was seven years old when the then famous poet and fabulist I.I. Dmitriev came to visit Varvara Petrovna. The boy was asked to read one of the guest's fables. He willingly did this, but in conclusion, to the great horror of those around him, he said that his fables were good, but I.A. Krylov’s were much better. According to some sources, his mother personally whipped him with a rod for this, according to others, the boy was not punished this time.

Turgenev admitted more than once that in his childhood he was kept under a tight rein and was afraid of his mother like fire. He said bitterly that he had nothing to remember his childhood with, not a single bright memory.

From his childhood, Turgenev hated serfdom and swore an oath to himself never, under any circumstances, to raise his hand against a person who was in any way dependent on him.

“Hatred of serfdom lived in me even then,” wrote Turgenev, “it, by the way, was the reason that I, who grew up among beatings and torture, did not desecrate my hands with a single blow - but before “Notes of a Hunter” there was far. I was just a boy—almost a child.” 6

Subsequently, having survived the harsh years of childhood, received an education and became a writer, Turgenev directed all his literary and social activities against the oppression and violence that reigned in Russia. This is evidenced by remarkable anti-serfdom stories. Most of them were included in the book “Notes of a Hunter.”

2.5. Real events based on the story
The story “Mumu” is close to them in content. The material for writing was a real incident that occurred in Moscow on Ostozhenka in house number 37.

The prototypes of the main characters of the story are people well known to Turgenev: his mother and the janitor Andrei, who once lived in their house.

One day, while touring her estates, Varvara Petrovna noticed a peasant of heroic build who could not answer the lady’s questions: he was mute. She liked the original figure, and Andrei was taken to Spasskoye as a janitor. From that time on, he received a new name - Mute.

“Varvara Petrovna flaunted her giant janitor,” said V.N. Zhitova. “He was always beautifully dressed and, apart from red red shirts, he did not wear any and did not like; in winter a beautiful sheepskin coat, and in summer a corduroy jacket or a blue overcoat. In Moscow, the shiny green barrel and the beautiful dapple-gray factory horse, with which Andrei went for water, were very popular at the fountain near the Alexander Garden. There everyone recognized Turgenev’s Mute, greeted him warmly and communicated with him by signs.” 7

The mute janitor Andrey, like Gerasim, found and sheltered a stray dog. Got used to it. But the lady did not like the dog, and she ordered it to be drowned. The mute fulfilled the lady's orders and continued to live and work peacefully for the lady. No matter how bitter it was for Andrei, he remained faithful to his mistress, served her until his death and, besides her, was his own

I didn’t want to acknowledge her as my mistress. An eyewitness said that after the tragic death of his favorite, Andrei never petted a single dog.

In the story "Mumu" Gerasim is shown as a rebel. He does not put up with the insult caused to him by his lady. As a sign of protest, he leaves the cruel lady for the village to plow his native land.

A report from a tsarist official from the secret correspondence of the censorship department of that time has been preserved. In it, the official says that readers, after reading the story, will be filled with compassion for the peasant, oppressed by the landowner's waywardness.

This document confirms the great artistic expressiveness and ideological power of Turgenev's work.

I.A. Aksakov saw Gerasim as a kind of symbol - this is the personification of the Russian people, their terrible strength and incomprehensible meekness... The writer was sure that he (Gerasim) would speak over time. This idea turned out to be prophetic.

3. Conclusion

Let us draw the following conclusions:

A person who suffered suffering and pain in childhood, entering adult life, behaves differently: someone, like Varvara Petrovna, becomes angry and vindictive, and someone, like Turgenev, becomes sensitive to human suffering, ready to help people not only in word, but also in deed.
The humiliations, insults to human personality and dignity seen in childhood formed in the future writer an aversion to serfdom. Although Turgenev was not a political fighter, but with the help of his literary talent, social activities he fought against serfdom.
In “Mumu,” two forces collide: the Russian people, straightforward and strong, and the serfdom world represented by a capricious, out-of-mind old woman. But Turgenev gives this conflict a new twist: his hero makes a kind of protest, expressed in his unauthorized departure from the city to the village. The question arises, what is serfdom based on, why do the peasant heroes forgive their masters any whims?

4. Information resources

Great educational reference book. Russian writers of the 19th century. M.: Bustard, 2000
Life and work of Turgenev I.S.: Materials for the exhibition in the children's library school comp. and introductory article by N.I. Yakunin, M.: Children's literature, 1988
Zhitova V.N. From memories of the family of I.S. Turgenev. Literature 5th grade ed. G.I. Belenkogo - M.: Mnemosyne, 2010
Naumova N.N. I.S. Turgenev. Biography. A manual for students. L.: “Enlightenment”, 1976
Oreshin K. History of the story “Mumu” Shift No. 491 November 1947 [Electronic resource]/ Access mode: Smena- online. ru> storiya-Rasskaza-mumu
Turgenev I.S. Complete collection essays and letters in 28 volumes. Letters. M.-L., 1961 T.2
Turgenev at school: A manual for teachers / comp. T.F.Kurdyumova.- M.: Education, 1981- 175 p.
Sher N.S. Stories about Russian writers. Photos. M.: Children's literature, 1982, 511 p.

literature

Kargasok

1. Introduction page 3

2. Main part

2.1. The time of writing the story “Mumu” p.4

2.2. Turgenev's attitude to serfdom p.5

2.3. Writing a story and appearing in print p.7

2.4. Turgenev's childhood in connection with the biography of his mother p.8

2.5. Real events based on the story p.12

3. Conclusion p.14

4. Information resources p.15

1. Introduction

The purpose of this work is to learn more about Turgenev’s childhood, about the real events on which the story is based, about the reasons for its appearance in print, to find out the role and significance of Turgenev for his time as a fighter against serfdom.

Relevance of the work: this work can be used in literature lessons in 5th grade.

2.1. Time of writing "Mumu"

The main issue of the era of the 40-50s of the 19th century was the question of serfdom.

Articles began to appear in newspapers and magazines of that time stating that the feudal economic system was unprofitable.

There was talk in society about the government's work to abolish serfdom. The ruling circles supported such rumors by creating secret committees and minor events. A decree “On Obligated Peasants” was even issued. This document allowed landowners to give plots of land to peasants for use in exchange for “arranged duties.” But the landowner still remained the owner of these plots and could assign whatever “duties” he wanted. Naturally, this decree did not actually alleviate the situation of the serf peasantry.

2.2. Turgenev’s attitude to serfdom

Progressive people advocated the liberation of peasants from serfdom. Hopes for resolving the peasant issue were pinned on the Minister of Internal Affairs.

also decided to take part in resolving the peasant issue. He joins the ministry he heads. Turgenev sincerely wished and believed that something could be corrected and the life and fate of the serfs could be made easier.

At the end of December 1842 he writes a “note”. It was called “A few remarks about the Russian economy and the Russian peasant.” This note was a document for entering the service and was of an official nature. Turgenev relied on his knowledge of the Russian countryside, pointing out imperfections in relations between landowners and peasants, and shortcomings in the law on land ownership. At the same time, he spoke about the natural intelligence of the Russian peasant, his ingenuity, and good nature.

Turgenev's war lasted from June 1843 to February 1845. He served under the command famous author"Explanatory Dictionary", whose work he greatly appreciated.

The question of serfdom became one of the main themes of fiction. Turgenev in his stories depicted the collapse of serfdom. The writer showed that the Russian people are smart, gifted, talented, and such people cannot be kept in slavery. This reflected the progressiveness of the author’s views on serfdom.

In the 40-50s, Turgenev was one of the most advanced writers. The entire progressive public of that time listened to his voice. “Notes of a Hunter,” published by him in 1852, was an incriminating document directed against serfdom.

“In my eyes, this enemy had a certain image, wore famous name: This enemy was serfdom. Under this name I collected and concentrated everything against which I decided to fight to the end - with which I vowed never to reconcile. This was my Annibal oath...”

The writer never, from childhood, looked at the people around him as property. He saw serfs first of all as people, often friends and even teachers. It was the serf who first instilled in him a taste for Russian literature.

recalled: “The teacher who first interested me in the work of Russian literature was a yard man. He often took me into the garden and here he read to me - what do you think? - “Rossiada” by Kheraskov. He read each verse of his poem first, so to speak, in rough drafts, quickly, and then he read the same verse in full, loudly, with extraordinary enthusiasm.”

When the writer inherited half of his mother’s estate, every serf family wanted to come into the possession of Ivan Sergeevich. He set free the servants and transferred from corvée to quitrent all those who wished it.

2.3. Writingthe story “Mumu” and its appearance in print

1852 He died this year. Turgenev had a hard time dealing with the writer's death. He wrote to Pauline Viardot: “For us, he (Gogol) was more than just a writer: he revealed ourselves to us.”

Under the impression, Turgenev published an article about Gogol in Moskovskie Vedomosti, which was banned. For violating censorship rules, the tsar ordered Turgenev to be arrested for a month and then sent to Spasskoye under supervision.

On April 16, 1852, Turgenev was put in a “moving room” - in a special room for those arrested by the police. Next to the cell where the writer was, there was an execution room, where landowners sent their serfs for punishment. The serfs were flogged there. This neighborhood was painful for Turgenev. The whipping of rods and the shouts of the peasants probably evoked the corresponding impressions of childhood. He never stopped thinking about the plight of the common people.

It was here, in such conditions, that the author of “Notes of a Hunter” wrote his famous story “Mumu”. By this, Turgenev proved that he was not going to deviate from his main theme - the fight against serfdom, but would further develop and deepen it in his work. From his conclusion, Turgenev wrote to his friends about his future plans: “... I will continue my essays about the Russian people, the strangest and most amazing people there are in the world.”

Turgenev managed to publish the story with the help of friends. It was published in the third book of the Sovremennik magazine for 1854. The police came to their senses only after the story was published.

2.4. Turgenev's childhood in connection with the biography of his mother

Why did Turgenev, a nobleman by birth and upbringing, rebel against serfdom? It seems that the answer must be sought in the writer’s biography, in his childhood years. It was they who left an indelible mark on the horrors of violence and tyranny.

Born on October 28, 1818 in the city of Orel, into a wealthy noble family. His childhood was spent among the amazing and unique beauty of central Russia in the Spassky-Lutovinovo estate in the Oryol province.

Father - Sergei Nikolaevich, in his youth an officer of a cuirassier regiment, handsome, spoiled, lived the way he wanted, did not care about his family or his extensive household. Mother - Varvara Petrovna, nee Lutovinova, a powerful, intelligent and sufficiently educated woman, did not shine with beauty. She was short and squat, with a broad face marred by smallpox. And only the eyes were beautiful: large, dark and shiny.

In childhood and adolescence she suffered many injustices, and as a result her character became very hardened. To understand this, we need to tell a little of her story.

After her mother's death, her situation became even worse. Unable to withstand humiliation and insults, the fifteen-year-old girl decided to run away from her stepfather’s family to find shelter with her uncle, Ivan Ivanovich Lutovinov, a stern and unsociable man, the owner of the rich Spasskoye estate. She walked more than seventy kilometers. But her uncle himself did not make it any easier for her.

was a cruel landowner. He oppressed his serfs immensely. He paid little attention to his niece, but demanded slavish submission from her. For the slightest disobedience he threatened to throw me out of the house.

For fifteen years, the niece endured humiliation and bullying from her uncle. The girl decided to run away.

But the sudden death of her uncle unexpectedly made Varvara Petrovna the owner of numerous estates, several thousand serfs, and a huge financial fortune.

Varvara Petrovna became one of the richest brides in the region. married Sergei Nikolaevich. It would seem that the insults, oppression, and humiliation suffered in childhood and youth should make a person softer and more compassionate, but things can be different. A person can become hardened and become a despot himself. This is exactly what happened to Varvara Petrovna. She turned into an angry and cruel landowner. All the servants were afraid of her; with her appearance she intimidated those around her.

The fate of serf girls was also terrible. Varvara Petrovna did not allow them to get married, she insulted them.

Little Turgenev was flogged very often in childhood. Turgenev later admitted: “They beat me up for all sorts of trifles, almost every day.”

As a child, Turgenev was a sincere, simple-minded child. He often had to pay for this. Turgenev was seven years old when the then famous poet and fabulist came to visit Varvara Petrovna. The boy was asked to read one of the guest's fables. He willingly did this, but in conclusion, to the great horror of those around him, he said that his fables were good, but much better. According to some sources, his mother personally whipped him with a rod for this, according to others, the boy was not punished this time.

From his childhood, Turgenev hated serfdom and swore an oath to himself never, under any circumstances, to raise his hand against a person who was in any way dependent on him.

2.5. Real events based on the story

The story “Mumu” is close to them in content. The material for writing was a real incident that occurred in Moscow on Ostozhenka in house number 37.

The prototypes of the main characters of the story are people well known to Turgenev: his mother and the janitor Andrei, who once lived in their house.

“Varvara Petrovna flaunted her giant janitor,” she said. “He was always beautifully dressed and, apart from red red shirts, he did not wear any and did not like; in winter a beautiful sheepskin coat, and in summer a corduroy jacket or a blue overcoat. In Moscow, the shiny green barrel and the beautiful dapple-gray factory horse, with which Andrei went for water, were very popular at the fountain near the Alexander Garden. There everyone recognized Turgenev’s Mute, greeted him warmly and communicated with him by signs.”

I didn’t want to acknowledge her as my mistress. An eyewitness said that after the tragic death of his favorite, Andrei never petted a single dog.

In the story "Mumu" Gerasim is shown as a rebel. He does not put up with the insult caused to him by his lady. As a sign of protest, he leaves the cruel lady for the village to plow his native land.

This document confirms the great artistic expressiveness and ideological power of Turgenev's work.

I saw in Gerasim a kind of symbol - this is the personification of the Russian people, their terrible strength and incomprehensible meekness... The writer was sure that he (Gerasim) would speak over time. This idea turned out to be prophetic.

3. Conclusion

Let us draw the following conclusions:

1. A person who suffered suffering and pain in childhood, entering adulthood, behaves differently: someone, like Varvara Petrovna, becomes angry and vindictive, and someone, like Turgenev, is sensitive to a person’s suffering, ready to help people not only in word, but also in deed.

2. The humiliations, insults to human personality and dignity seen in childhood formed in the future writer an aversion to serfdom. Although Turgenev was not a political fighter, with the help of his literary talent and social activities he fought against feudal tyranny.

3. In “Mumu,” two forces collide: the Russian people, straightforward and strong, and the serfdom world represented by a capricious, out-of-mind old woman. But Turgenev gives this conflict a new twist: his hero makes a kind of protest, expressed in his unauthorized departure from the city to the village. The question arises, what is serfdom based on, why do the peasant heroes forgive their masters any whims?

4. Information resources

1. Large educational reference book. Russian writers of the 19th century. M.: Bustard, 2000

2. Life and creativity: Materials for an exhibition in the children's library school comp. and introductory article, M.: Children's literature, 1988

3. From memories of family. Literature 5th grade ed. - M.: Mnemosyna, 2010

4. . Biography. A manual for students. L.: “Enlightenment”, 1976

5. The story of the story “Mumu” Shift No. 000 November 1947 [Electronic resource]/ Access mode: Smena - *****> storiya-Rasskaza-mumu

6. Turgenev collected works and letters in 28 volumes. Letters. M.-L., 1961 T.2

7. Turgenev at school: A manual for teachers / comp. .- M.: Education, 19 p.

8. Cher about Russian writers. Photos. M.: Children's literature, 1982, 511 p.

9. Encyclopedia. What's happened. Who is this? in 3t. vol. 3. M.: Pedagogy - Press, 1999

Biography. A manual for students. – L: “Enlightenment”, 1976

N. Biography. A manual for students. - L.: “Enlightenment”, 1976

Biography. A manual for students. L.: “Enlightenment”, 1976

Turgenev collected works and letters in 28 volumes. Letters. M.-L., 1961, T 2 p.323

There - s. 389

Life and creativity: materials for an exhibition in a school and children's library comp. and introductory article, M.: Children's literature, 1988

From memories of family. Literature 5th grade ed. - M.: Mnemosyne, 2010, p.58