Everyone knows that the plot of "Mumu" has a real source: this story took place in Lutovin's estate, the characters, Gerasim and Kapiton, were not invented. The mistress was immediately recognizable as Varvara Petrovna Lutovinova, who was so subtly able to torture her serfs. However, the meaning of what is told in "Mumu" far exceeds both the content of the plot of the work, and Lutovin's story itself about the janitor Andrey and his dog.

Turgenev's story was immediately perceived as anti-serfdom. Criticism wrote that although its plot is "insignificant", it makes a strong, amazing impression.

At the same time, some researchers believe that there is a broader problematic field in the story than the sphere of purely social conflict in the era of serfdom. In particular, S. Brover connects the image of Gerasim with the characters of Christian mythology and Russian folklore. Incidentally, also Yves. Aksakov, reflecting on Gerasim, wrote that in Turgenev, in the character of the hero, "you can hear ... the presence of another, deep thought that lies beyond the scope of the work and is not exhausted by the work."

How does Gerasim first appear before the reader? He is strong and tall. At the top 4.45 centimeters. But when in Russian folk speech they talk about height in inches, they add them to 2 arshins (arshin - 71.1 cm). Consequently, the growth of Gerasim turns out to be 1.95 m, which, of course, is surprising, but still really possible.

The use by Turgenev in calculating the growth of the hero of the turnover of common speech is quite organic. His Gerasim is a peasant, a plowman. It is appropriate to speak about it in the language of the people. The author's depiction of the plowman hero as a two-meter tall giant is also appropriate. The Slavic tradition is characterized by the exaltation of peasant labor, and with it the image of the farmer.

Previously, his huge palms "leaned" on the plow, strong hands held a scythe, which he crushingly "wielded, and a three-yard flail." Now in his hands is a broom and a shovel, a symbol of the boring prose of urban civilization (S. Brover).

For Gerasim, who took a broom and a shovel in his hands, boredom really becomes a relentless companion, since Gerasim's employment in his new position seemed to him a joke after hard peasant work; in half an hour everything was ready.

The new position is boring for him also because everything associated with it is forced labor, made a duty. Whereas the heavy peasant work, organic to the one born for the earth (which is why the heroic strength was given to Gerasim the plowman), gives him true joy.

It was eternal (“tireless”) joyful labor in the open air, on the vast earth. Nothing hampered the movements of the plowman (no sheepskin coats and caftans!) And he, in a heroic way, "cut up" with a plow huge chunks of land, smelling of herbs, sweepingly mowed, "non-stop" threshing.

In the city, Gerasim is doomed to monotonous activities that do not meet his ideas about work (that’s why it’s boring!): keep the yard clean”, “bring a barrel of water twice a day”, “train and chop firewood for the kitchen and home”, "do not let strangers in and guard at night."

It should be emphasized that in the closed space of the hero's urban life, an exceptional predetermined movement (back and forth) prevails, while the natural cycle (spring-summer-autumn) does not make peasant life monotonous. This especially confirms the spirituality of Gerasim's studies.

The lady is a capricious, tyrannical creature. But at the same time, she is unusually pathetic, if only because she cannot influence much of what is happening in her house, for example, to reason with the drunkard Kapiton. Gavrila and the housekeeper rob her mercilessly, the lady's servants are deceitful and lazy. And her power is manifested exclusively in whims and miserable whims, but which nevertheless distort the fate of people.

Endowed with power, a miserable creature is able to impose its own will on others: doom a girl to a hopeless life with a drunkard, turn a giant, hero into a janitor, and servants into a crowd of slaves (you can steal from the owner, but still remain his slave) ...

Someone else's will makes a person not only powerless. Being unnatural to human nature, it is capable of deforming the qualities of his soul.

The closeness, isolation of Gerasimov's new life brings him, always alienated by his misfortune from the community of people, face to face with those who are called servants in a manor's house.

And yet why is Gerasim the most remarkable person in the mistress's courtyard? To answer this question, it is necessary to draw up a "collective portrait" of the servants of the old lady.

Everyone who was familiar with V.P. Lutovinova and her estate in Spassky could confirm the documentary basis of the picture of courtyard life in the story "Mumu". Like the writer’s mother (there were up to several dozen families in Spassky), the old lady kept “numerous” servants: laundresses, seamstresses, carpenters, tailors and dressmakers, a saddler, maids, a shoemaker, the mistress’s house doctor, who “continuously brought cherry laurel drops to the mistress” ( these drops were also used by the family doctor Varvara Petrovna).

As for the atmosphere in the old lady's house, here, as in Spassky, everything trembled, moved, fussed, cunningly, caught signs of approval or anger. And, right, it was from what. Like Varvara Petrovna, the old lady loved to test the servants for devotion and humility, while playing out a whole theatrical performance: Gerasim is a hard worker; it is labor that constitutes the content of his life both in the countryside and in the city. The servants are depicted by Turgenev as idle. In the story, the household servants are never shown working; they drink, sleep, gossip, hang out in the yard, watch Gerasim and nothing more. In this regard, the image of a yard Brooshka, without a specific occupation at all, is illustrative. At the lady he was considered a gardener. However, the remark of the butler Gavrila is noteworthy when he instructs Broshka to guard the entrance to Gerasim's closet: "... What should you do? Take a stick and sit here ..." - confirming the absolute inaction of this servant at the lady's court. The only exception to the rule established by the servants to remain in idleness is Tatiana, who worked for two. It would not be superfluous to emphasize that in this she is a kindred spirit to Gerasim (in the village he worked for four and diligently fulfilled ... his duty in the city).

It is also significant that even artisans from among the master's servants are either drunkards (like the shoemaker Kapiton Klimov), or who do not know how to do their job, like, for example, the house doctor Khariton.

But, of course, the drunkard-shoemaker Kapiton, who considered himself a creature "offended and not appreciated," especially stood out from among the courtyards. How much arrogance and arrogance this man carries within himself! What is worth only his twitching of his shoulders and complaints about life in Moscow - in some backwater! At the same time, we see in front of us, as the butler Gavrila says, "a tambourine man!", Rampant, carefree, in a tattered and tattered frock coat, in "patched pantaloons", and, most impressively, in holey boots. Truly a shoemaker without boots, by the way, desperately complaining that he lives without work.

But what the servants impeccably owns is the ability to get in time with the mood of the hostess. The behavior of the accustomer, lost in conjectures about the reaction of the lady to the first time she saw Mumu, is indicative. But the apogee of the servants' servility falls on the events that unfolded around Mumu and her master.

The scene is absolutely stunning, in which it is shown with what fantastic speed the zealous servants pass along the chain the news of the nightly barking of the dog Gerasim and, accordingly, the suffering of the mistress. In the picture of the decisive onslaught on Gerasim's refuge, Turgenev depicts such a surge of servile zeal that much in the behavior of the servants is difficult to rationalize.

There are several scenes in the work that cause frank bewilderment and even laughter. For example, if it is possible to explain why a whole crowd of people (footmen and cooks led by the butler Gavrila) are advancing on Gerasim's closet, then it is completely incomprehensible why the butler held his cap during this throw, although there was no wind? Is it only possible to imagine the attack on the Gerasimov shelter so swift that its participants even had their hats torn off on the run.

Or why, standing under the door of Gerasim's closet, Gavrila shouted: "Open ... They say, open!"? Probably, from excessive zeal, he even forgot about the deafness of the janitor. It is also incomprehensible why, when the closet door quickly swung open and all the servants immediately rolled head over heels down the stairs, Gavrila, who was standing, as you know, under the very door of Gerasim, was the first to be on the ground?

In general, from the outside, this whole decisive onslaught on Gerasim's closet resembles the offensive of hordes of Lilliputians on the sleeping Gulliver. But if Swift's hero, accepting the laws of the country of the Lilliputians and its inhabitants, is internally likened to them, in fact, becomes the same midget, then Gerasim Turgenev was and remains the Man-Mountain. Having forcefully opened the doors of his closet and thereby forcing the servants to roll down the stairs, he, the giant, continued to stand at the top and looked with a grin at the fuss of these little people.

The giant and the little people - this is the result of Turgenev's thoughts about the hero-plowman and strangers, among whom he found himself by the master's will.

It should be especially emphasized that if for the author Gerasim is a hero, a powerful man, then among the lady’s entourage he is associated with the unclean (“this, God forgive me, the devil”, “a sort of trait”, “kikimora of the forest”) ..

In the world of people, Gerasim falls into the category of outcasts, outcasts. Following the morality formed by society, "little people" at all times refused to accept people who were not like them. They are constantly spying on the "giants". So in Mumu, the servants are watching Gerasim (“From all corners, from under the curtains outside the windows they looked at him”; “Soon the whole house found out about the tricks of the dumb janitor”; “Antipka peeped through the crack at Gerasim”).

But the most important thing is not even this, but the indifference of the majority of the courtyards to the suffering of Gerasim. When he tries to find Mumu stolen by Stepan, those who knew only laughed at him in response ...! All this is so reminiscent of a scene from Pushkin's fairy tale about the seven heroes, in which the prince Elisha goes to people in search of his bride. "But who laughs in his eyes, who will rather turn away ...". And then Elisha turns to the forces of nature - the wind, the moon, the sun ...

And isn’t the story of Ivan Ivanovich (G. Troepolsky, “White Bim, Black Ear”) described by Turgenev similar to the friendship of a lonely man with a dog, whose loneliness was also shared by a dog, and not by people. But Turgenev shows the hero's attempts to become part of the world into which he was forcibly plunged. For this, the writer needed the story of Tatyana in the story "Mumu".

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev wrote his work "Mumu" under the impression of the events that worried him at that time. After all, everything that excites the writer is reflected in his work. After analyzing the story "Mumu", it is not difficult to find confirmation of this. Turgenev was a true patriot, worried about the future fate of Russia. Therefore, the plot described in his work is a challenge to the era of that time, a challenge to serfdom. The story "Mumu" is not only a story about the events that took place in the Russian village, it is a work that makes us think and think.

What is the point of the story

Analysis of the work "Mumu" shows that in the image of the janitor Gerasim Turgenev symbolically showed the Russian people, their beautiful features. Kindness, heroic strength, love of work and sensitivity - these are the qualities of a person that the author put into the image of Gerasim. He gives Gerasim a description of the most remarkable person of all the servants. Turgenev presents Gerasim as a very strong person who can work hard: "the matter was arguing in his hands." The author loves his hero, responsible and accurate, who constantly keeps the entire master's yard clean.

Yes, he is unsociable, which confirms the way his closet is described, on which he always hung a lock. “He did not like to be visited,” writes Turgenev. Love and sympathy always prevailed over the formidable image of Gerasim. His kind heart was always open.

Gerasim won respect for himself, for his work, from the entire household, despite his gloomy appearance. Although uncommunicative, “he understood them, carried out all orders exactly, but he also knew his rights, and no one dared to take his place in the capital.” Precisely trying to fulfill all the orders of the mistress, Gerasim retains his self-esteem. An analysis of Turgenev's story "Mumu" once again confirms the fact that Gerasim did not have human happiness. It is difficult for him, a peasant from the village, to live in the city, where he will not be able to communicate with nature. He feels that people are trying to bypass him. Gerasim fell in love with Tatiana, but she was married off to someone else. Deep misfortune settles in the soul of Gerasim.

puppy tragedy

And at the moment when it is so hard for him, there is a small hope for happiness - a little puppy. Rescued from the river by Gerasim, he becomes attached to him in the same way as the owner to the puppy. The puppy's name is Mumu. Mumu is always next to Gerasim, guards the house at night, and in the morning comes running to wake him up. It would seem that the man found an outlet for himself, but at that moment the lady finds out about the puppy. She wanted to subdue this little creature, but the puppy does not obey her. Not understanding how you can disobey her, she orders the puppy to be removed. The owner of the dog closes it in his closet, but its barking gives it away. And then Gerasim decides to take a decisive step - he kills his only friend. Why did it happen? “Why did Gerasim drown Mumu? ” – this problem is more deeply disclosed here.

Having made a deep analysis of Turgenev's work "Mumu", we see not only the unfortunate Gerasim, but also in his person the unfortunate serfs who, being "dumb", hope that the time will come when they will be able to defeat their oppressors.

This article is devoted to the work of I.S. Turgenev. It will carefully analyze the motives for the behavior of the protagonist of the story "Mumu" - the janitor Gerasim. Probably, those who read, but did not have sufficient psychological insight, were tormented from school by the question of why Gerasim drowned Mumu. During the "investigation" the answer to it will be given.

Gerasim's personality

The mighty mute Gerasim was uprooted from his native hut in the countryside and transplanted into the urban soil of Moscow, which was alien to him. He was under two meters tall. It had an abundance of natural power. A Moscow lady looked after him and ordered him to be transported from the village to her house. She identified him as a janitor, for he was a noble worker.

No matter how far this information may seem to the reader from answering the question of why Gerasim drowned Mumu, it is very important and is directly related to him. This is the foundation for understanding the inner world of the hero.

Love triangle: Gerasim, Tatyana and Kapiton

The mistress had one simple girl - Tatyana (she worked as a laundress). Gerasim liked the young woman, although the other servants and the hostess herself understood that such a marriage was hardly possible for obvious reasons. Nevertheless, Gerasim tenderly cherished within himself a timid hope, firstly, of reciprocity, and secondly, that the lady would give her consent to the marriage.

But, unfortunately, the hopes of the protagonist were not destined to come true. The absurd and self-centered lady decided in her own way: the shoemaker-drunkard, who had gotten out of hand, was appointed Tatyana's husband by the master's permission. He himself did not mind, but he was afraid of Gerasim's reaction to this news. Then the lord's servants resorted to a trick: knowing that the dumb janitor could not stand drunkards, the servants forced Tatiana to pass drunk before Gerasim. The trick was a success - the janitor himself pushed his sweetheart into the arms of Kapiton. True, the lady's experiment did not end in anything good. Her shoemaker drank himself even in the hands of an industrious and, one might say, meek to the point of slavery laundress. The days of the unhappy couple flowed bleakly in a remote village.

The love triangle is important in the context of answering the question of why Gerasim drowned Mumu, as it reveals the "chemistry" of the janitor's future attachment to his dog.

Gerasim and Mumu

When Gerasim suffered from unspent love, he found a dog. She was only three weeks old. The janitor saved the dog from the water, brought him to his closet, organized a rookery for the dog (it turned out to be a girl), and gave her milk to drink.

In other words, now the love of a simple Russian dumb peasant, unclaimed by a woman, is completely invested in a creature that suddenly appeared in his life. He names the dog Mumu.

Story ending

The protagonist's problems arose when the lady, who had not seen the dog before, suddenly discovered it. Mumu has lived with Gerasim as in Christ's bosom for more than a year. The owner was delighted with the dog. She asked to be brought immediately to the master's chambers. When the dog was delivered, in an unfamiliar environment, she behaved wary and aggressive. She did not drink the master's milk, but began to bark at the mistress.

Of course, the mistress could not bear such an attitude and ordered the dog to be removed from her possessions. So they did. Gerasim searched and searched for her, but did not find her. But Mumu returned to the owner one fine day with a gnawed leash around her neck. Gerasim realized that the dog did not run away from him on its own, and began to hide it from prying eyes in his closet, and he took it out into the street only at night. But on one such promenade night, a drunk lay down at the fence of the master's estate. Mumu did not like drunkards, like her master, and began to bark hysterically and shrillly at the drunkard. She woke up the whole house, including the lady.

As a result, the dog was ordered to be disposed of. The servants took this too literally and decided to take Mumu's life. Gerasim volunteered to move his beloved pet to a better world with his own hands. Then, unable to bear the mental anguish, the janitor returned (actually fled) to his native land - to the village, again becoming an ordinary peasant. At first they searched for him, and when they found him, the lady said that "she does not need such an ungrateful worker for nothing."

Thus, if someone (most likely a schoolboy) decides to write an essay “Why did Gerasim drown Mumu”, he should answer this question in the context of the whole story so that the author’s narrative acquires depth and richness.

Moral of the story

Turgenev specifically draws Gerasim so powerful in order to show, in contrast, at the same time his spiritual indecision and timidity, one might say, slavery. The janitor drowned his dog not because he felt sorry for her: he imagined how she would wander around other people's yards in search of food without him. He killed her, because he could not resist the master's order and the pressure of other servants. And when the reader understands the whole essence of Gerasim's inner world, two things shock him: the skill of the writer and the deep tragedy of the story. After all, no one prevented Gerasim from escaping with the dog, in general, so to speak, from preparing an escape in advance, when he realized that things were bad. But he did not do this, and all because of the servile psychology.

Thus, to the question of why Gerasim drowned Mumu, the answers do not suggest diversity. The key to understanding the work of I.S. Turgenev - in the slavish psychology of a Russian person, which the classic masterfully embodied in the image of a dumb janitor.

(370 words)

It's no secret that society has a strong influence on the individual. A similar trend, for example, underlies fashion, when a person sees what others are wearing and repeats after them. We see the same situation when everyone votes “for”, and they are followed by those who do not want to remain in the minority. Marketers use the same mechanisms of influence, showing huge crowds of people where they need to lure the public. Thus, society influences a person through a herd instinct, embedded deep in the subconscious: if everyone goes, then I will go with them. How exactly this impact is reflected on a particular individual is an open question. The answer can be found in the literature.

In Tolstoy's epic novel War and Peace, Pierre Bezukhov falls under the influence of secular youth. He just returned to his homeland, received a huge inheritance, but he feels lonely and a stranger in the world of high society. Therefore, he becomes an easy prey for those who have been moving in society for a long time and know how to profitably use Pierre's ignorance. He, a kind and highly moral young man, under the influence of tricks, participates in disgusting events. Then his own social circle drives him into marriage with Helen Kuragina. So, the court elite almost spoiled the bright and virtuous personality of the hero.

In Turgenev's novel "Fathers and Sons", society, on the contrary, cannot influence the hero. Bazarov goes against him, recognizing all his values ​​as irrelevant, and sometimes frankly far-fetched. He himself tries to move it forward with his discoveries, seeing the conservatism and ignorance of Russian society. Thanks to his activities, the stagnant society is enriched with new progressive elements like feminists and nihilists, albeit caricatured characters, but still carriers of new ideas. With their deliberate, yet fruitless protest, they attract people to the problem of women's lawlessness and social inequality, and do not exacerbate these social cataclysms like idle nobles obsessed with their personal lives. Thus, if society influences led citizens, then bright, original personalities can influence society themselves.

So, society in many ways shapes the personality, but someone stops there and only supplements the inert mass of people repeating the same thing from century to century, and someone takes the reins of government into their own hands and influences society itself. This means that the inevitable influence of society on people is reflected in different ways: someone is taught only to obey, someone is motivated to act independently. Thus, the result in any case depends on us.

Interesting? Save it on your wall!

1. Choose the correct definition.

1) Arguments are the main idea (of a text or speech), expressed in words, the main statement of the speaker, which he tries to justify.

2) Arguments are reasoning, explanatory remarks about the problem of the text.

3) Arguments are evidence given in support of the thesis: facts, examples, statements, explanations - in a word, everything that can confirm the thesis.

2. Choose from fragments of essays an argument that confirms the thesis. Mark the correct answer. Explain the choice.

Thesis:The irresponsible actions of a person can cause pain to another living being.

Fragments of compositions:

1) As an example, I. S. Turgenev's story "Mumu" can be cited. The serf Gerasim loved his dog very much and took care of it. But when the lady wanted to look at Mumu, the dog, frightened, snapped. Then the mistress ordered to kill the dog. The proof of Gerasim's strong will is his decisive act, when he decided to get rid of the dog himself. Despite all his great love and affection for Mumu, he drowned the unfortunate animal in the water with his own hands, since he himself was a forced person. By this act, he wanted to prove the injustice of the world around him.

2) S. Yesenin tells about human cruelty towards animals in the poem “Song to the Dog”. The tragedy of the creature whose children were taken away is shown through the behavior of the dog: she runs after the owner, who does not want to understand that she has enough milk for seven puppies. This poem, which conveys the suffering of an animal, sounds like a bitter reproach to a person: “The eyes of a dog rolled like golden stars into the snow.”

3) An example confirming my position is the work of the Canadian writer Ernest Seton-Thompson. In his books: "Animals I Knew", "Animals-Heroes", "Little Savages" - he told about the life, habits, customs and habits of animals in such a way that they became interesting in themselves, regardless of their attitude to to a person. For Seton-Thompson, each individual of living nature is a whole world, into which it is given to a humane and patient person who knows how to observe and love the diversity of the surrounding life.

Thesis:Knowledge not backed up by love and humanity can be dangerous.

Fragments of compositions:

1) History knows many examples of the greatest scientific discoveries being used against humanity. People invented gunpowder, dynamite, nuclear, chemical and bacteriological weapons. Thousands of scientists around the world are still inventing new sophisticated means for the mass destruction of people. Unfortunately, not all scientists think about the responsibility to humanity for their discoveries.

2) You can recall the story of M. A. Bulgakov "Heart of a Dog". The good intentions of Preobrazhensky to find a way to rejuvenate a person turn into a tragedy. As a result of the operation, the sweetest dog turns into a rude, undeveloped, arrogant and arrogant human being - Polygraph Poligrafovich. So Bulgakov ridicules the myth of the birth of a new Soviet man and again proves that only gradual development - evolution - can resolve the main contradictions in the life of society.

3) Let's turn to the medical profession. A good doctor knows almost everything about the structure of the human body and therefore can cure, alleviate suffering, that is, use his knowledge in accordance with the Hippocratic oath (“Do no harm”). However, during the Second World War in German concentration camps, it was doctors who carried out inhuman experiments on prisoners (including women and children), who became real fanatics and executioners. Thus, any knowledge can be dangerous if it is owned by people deprived of honor and conscience.

4. Indicate a fragment of the essay that contains an argument that is not a confirmation of the thesis. Explain your choice.

Thesis:Mercy is one of the most important feelings that make a person a Human.

Fragments of compositions:

1) Confirmation of the author's thought can be found by observing the life of human society. By the twenty-first century, mankind has reached a high level of development, but if people did not help each other, did not act together, then perhaps the main tool of labor would still be a stick!

2) Confirmation of this idea can be found in Russian literature. For example, F. M. Dostoevsky reflected in the creative power of mercy in the novel Crime and Punishment. Only Sonya Marmeladova, embodying the idea of ​​Christian forgiveness, was able to understand the tormented soul of Rodion Raskolnikov and lead him to repentance and subsequent rebirth.

3) Recall that the word "mercy" is found more than once in M. A. Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita". Mercy remained in the hearts of Muscovites, spoiled by the housing problem. Mercy moves Margarita, who asks to save Frida from painful reminders of the crime she committed. Finally, Yeshua Ha-Nozri performs a miracle of mercy when he forgives Pontius Pilate.

5. Indicate a fragment of the essay that contains an argument that is not a confirmation of the thesis. Explain your choice.

Thesis:Fiction is the most important source of spiritual development of the individual.

Fragments of compositions:

1) Indeed, since childhood, folk tales, poems by A. S. Pushkin, M. Yu. Lermontov, S. A. Yesenin have entered our lives. All these works teach the child kindness, understanding of what beauty is, and point the way to spiritual heights.

2) Reading fiction should be slow and thoughtful. After all, a work of art is a complex system of intertwined images and motifs, it is a special world that reflects the author's vision of reality. However, only a thoughtful reader who clearly listens to the author's voice and the polyphony of the characters, and is attentive to artistic details, can penetrate into this world, understand its laws.

3) The correctness of the author is confirmed by the journalism of D. S. Likhachev. For example, in the essay “Love to read!” this scientist and public figure writes that the book not only develops the mind, but also improves the soul, awakens emotions, teaches us sympathy, empathy. Likhachev assigns a special role to classical literature, in which one can find answers to eternal questions about the meaning of life, about the purpose of a person, about love and much more that worries each of us.