Content:

Nekrasov's poem "Who Lives Well in Russia" tells about the journey of seven peasants across Russia in search of a happy person. The work was written in the late 60's - mid 70's. XIX century, after the reforms of Alexander II and the abolition of serfdom. It tells about a post-reform society in which not only many old vices have not disappeared, but many new ones have appeared. According to the plan of Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov, the wanderers were supposed to reach St. Petersburg at the end of the journey, but due to the illness and imminent death of the author, the poem remained unfinished.
The work “To whom it is good to live in Russia” is written in blank verse and stylized as Russian folk tales.

main characters

Roman, Demyan, Luka, Gubin Brothers Ivan and Mitrodor, Pakhom, Prov - seven peasants who went to look for a happy man.

Other characters

Ermil Girin - the first "candidate" for the title of lucky man, an honest steward, very respected by the peasants.

Matrena Korchagina is a peasant woman who is known in her village as a “lucky woman”.

Savely is the grandfather of her husband Matryona Korchagina. Centennial old man.

Prince Utyatin is an old landowner, a tyrant, to whom his family, in agreement with the peasants, does not speak about the abolition of serfdom.

Vlas is a peasant, steward of a village that once belonged to Utyatin.

Grisha Dobrosklonov - a seminarian, the son of a clerk, who dreams of the liberation of the Russian people; the revolutionary democrat N. Dobrolyubov was the prototype.

Part 1

Prologue

Seven men converge on the "pillar path": Roman, Demyan, Luka, the Gubin brothers, the old man Pakhom and Prov. The county from which they come is called by the author Terpigorev, and the “adjacent villages” from which the men come from are referred to as Zaplatovo, Dyryaevo, Razutovo, Znobishino, Gorelovo, Neyolovo and Neurozhayko, thus, the poem uses the artistic device of “talking” names .

The men got together and argued:
Who has fun
Feel free in Russia?

Each of them insists on his own. One shouts that the landowner lives most freely, the other that the official, the third - the priest, "fat-bellied merchant", "noble boyar, minister of the sovereign", or the tsar.
From the outside, it seems that the men found a treasure on the road and are now dividing it among themselves. The peasants have already forgotten what business they left the house for, and they go no one knows where until night falls. Only here the peasants stop and, "blaming the trouble on the goblin", sit down to rest and continue the argument. Soon it comes to a fight.

Roman hits Pakhomushka,
Demyan hits Luka.

The fight alarmed the whole forest, the echo woke up, the animals and birds got worried, the cow mooed, the cuckoo forged, the jackdaws squeaked, the fox, eavesdropping on the peasants, decides to run away.

And here at the foam
With fright, a tiny chick
Fell from the nest.

When the fight is over, the men pay attention to this chick and catch it. It is easier for a bird than for a peasant, Pahom says. If he had wings, he would fly all over Russia to find out who lives best on it. “We don’t even need wings,” the rest add, they would only have bread and “a bucket of vodka,” as well as cucumbers, kvass and tea. Then they would have measured the whole "Mother Russia with their feet."

While the men are interpreting in this way, a chiffchaff flies up to them and asks to let her chick go free. For him, she will give a royal ransom: everything desired by the peasants.

The men agree, and the chiffchaff shows them a place in the forest where a box with a self-assembled tablecloth is buried. Then she enchants clothes on them so that they do not wear out, so that the bast shoes do not break, the footcloths do not decay, and the louse does not breed on the body, and flies away “with her darling chick.” In parting, the warbler warns the peasants: they can ask for food from the self-collection tablecloth as much as they like, but you can’t ask for more than a bucket of vodka a day:

And one and two - it will be fulfilled
At your request,
And in the third be trouble!

The peasants rush to the forest, where they really find a self-assembled tablecloth. Overjoyed, they arrange a feast and give a vow: not to return home until they know for sure, "who lives happily, freely in Russia?"

Thus begins their journey.

Chapter 1. Pop

Far away stretches a wide path lined with birch trees. On it, the peasants mostly come across “small people” - peasants, artisans, beggars, soldiers. Travelers don’t even ask them anything: what kind of happiness is there? Toward evening, the men meet the priest. The men block his way and bow low. In response to the priest’s silent question: what do they need?, Luka talks about the dispute and asks: “Is the priest’s life sweet?”

The priest thinks for a long time, and then replies that, since it is a sin to grumble at God, he will simply describe his life to the peasants, and they themselves will realize whether it is good.

Happiness, according to the priest, consists in three things: "peace, wealth, honor." The priest knows no rest: his rank is obtained by hard work, and then no less difficult service begins, the crying of orphans, the cries of widows and the groans of the dying do little to promote peace of mind.

The situation with respect is no better: the priest serves as an object for witticisms of the common people, obscene tales, anecdotes and fables are composed about him, which do not spare not only himself, but also his wife and children.

The last thing remains, wealth, but even here everything has changed a long time ago. Yes, there were times when the nobles honored the priest, played magnificent weddings and came to their estates to die - that was the work of the priests, but now "the landowners have scattered in distant foreign land." So it turns out that the pop is content with rare copper nickels:

The peasant himself needs
And I would be glad to give, but there is nothing ...

Having finished his speech, the priest leaves, and the debaters attack Luka with reproaches. They unanimously accuse him of stupidity, that it was only in appearance that the priestly housing seemed free to him, but he could not figure it out deeper.

What did you take? stubborn head!

The men would probably have beaten Luka, but here, fortunately for him, at the bend in the road, the “priestly strict face” is once again shown ...

Chapter 2

The men continue on their way, and their road goes through empty villages. Finally, they meet the rider and ask him where the inhabitants have disappeared.

They went to the village of Kuzminskoe,
Today there is a fairground...

Then the wanderers decide to also go to the fair - what if the one “who lives happily” is hiding there?

Kuzminskoye is a rich, though dirty village. It has two churches, a school, a dirty hotel and even a paramedic. That’s why the fair is rich, and most of all there are taverns, “eleven taverns”, and they do not have time to pour for everyone:

Oh, Orthodox thirst,
How big are you!

There are a lot of drunk people around. A peasant scolds a broken ax, grandfather Vavila is sad next to him, who promised to bring shoes to his granddaughter, but drank all the money. The people feel sorry for him, but no one can help - they themselves have no money. Fortunately, there happens to be a "master", Pavlusha Veretennikov, and it is he who buys shoes for Vavila's granddaughter.

They sell at the fair and ofen, but the most base books, as well as portraits of “thicker” generals, are in demand. And no one knows if the time will come when a man:

Belinsky and Gogol
Will you carry it from the market?

By evening, everyone is so drunk that even the church with the bell tower seems to stagger, and the peasants leave the village.

Chapter 3

It's worth a quiet night. The men walk along the "hundred-voiced" road and hear snippets of other people's conversations. They talk about officials, about bribes: “And we are fifty kopecks to the clerk: We made a request,” women's songs are heard with a request to “fall in love.” One drunk guy buries his clothes in the ground, assuring everyone that he is "burying his mother." At the road post, the wanderers again meet Pavel Veretennikov. He talks with the peasants, writes down their songs and sayings. Having written down enough, Veretennikov blames the peasants for drinking a lot - "it's a shame to look!" They object to him: the peasant drinks mainly from grief, and it is a sin to condemn or envy him.

The objector's name is Yakim Goly. Pavlusha also writes his story in a book. Even in his youth, Yakim bought his son popular prints, and he himself loved to look at them no less than a child. When a fire broke out in the hut, he first of all rushed to tear pictures from the walls, and so all his savings, thirty-five rubles, burned down. For a fused lump, they now give him 11 rubles.

After listening to stories, the wanderers sit down to refresh themselves, then one of them, Roman, remains at the bucket of vodka for the guard, and the rest again mix with the crowd in search of a happy one.

Chapter 4

Wanderers walk in the crowd and call the happy one to come. If such a person appears and tells them about his happiness, then he will be treated to glory with vodka.

Sober people chuckle at such speeches, but a considerable queue is lined up from drunk people. The deacon comes first. His happiness, in his words, "is in complacency" and in the "kosushka", which the peasants will pour. The deacon is driven away, and an old woman appears, in which, on a small ridge, "up to a thousand raps were born." The next torturing happiness is a soldier with medals, "a little alive, but I want to drink." His happiness lies in the fact that no matter how they tortured him in the service, he nevertheless remained alive. They also come with a huge hammer, a peasant who overstrained himself in the service, but still, barely alive, drove home, a courtyard man with a "noble" disease - gout. The latter boasts that for forty years he stood at the table of the most illustrious prince, licking plates and drinking foreign wine from glasses. The men drive him away too, because they have a simple wine, “not according to your lips!”.

The line to the wanderers does not become smaller. The Belarusian peasant is happy that here he eats his fill of rye bread, because at home they baked bread only with chaff, and this caused terrible pain in the stomach. A man with a folded cheekbone, a hunter, is happy that he survived in a fight with a bear, while the bears killed the rest of his comrades. Even the beggars come: they are happy that there is alms on which they are fed.

Finally, the bucket is empty, and the wanderers realize that this way they will not find happiness.

Hey, happiness man!
Leaky, with patches,
Humpbacked with calluses
Get off home!

Here one of the people who approached them advises “ask Yermila Girin”, because if he does not turn out to be happy, then there is nothing to look for. Yermila is a simple man who has earned the great love of the people. Wanderers are told the following story: once Ermila had a mill, but for debts...
decided to sell it. Bidding began, the merchant Altynnikov really wanted to buy the mill. Yermila was able to outbid him, but the trouble is that he did not have money with him to make a deposit. Then he asked for an hour's reprieve and ran to the market square to ask the people for money.

And a miracle happened: Yermil received money. Very soon, the thousand necessary for the ransom of the mill turned out to be with him. And a week later, on the square, there was an even more wonderful sight: Yermil "counted on the people", handed out all the money and honestly. There was only one extra ruble left, and Yermil asked until sunset whose it was.

Wanderers are perplexed: by what sorcery did Yermil receive such trust from the people. They are told that this is not witchcraft, but the truth. Girin served as a clerk in the office and never took a penny from anyone, but helped with advice. Soon the old prince died, and the new one ordered the peasants to choose a burgomaster. Yermila shouted unanimously, “six thousand souls, with the whole patrimony” - although he is young, he loves the truth!

Only once did Yermil "disguise" when he did not recruit his younger brother, Mitriy, replacing him with the son of Nenila Vlasyevna. But the conscience after this act tortured Yermila so much that he soon tried to hang himself. Mitrius was handed over to the recruits, and the son of Nenila was returned to her. Yermil, for a long time, did not walk on his own, “he resigned from his post,” but instead rented a mill and became “more than the former people love.”

But here the priest intervenes in the conversation: all this is true, but it is useless to go to Yermil Girin. He is sitting in prison. The priest begins to tell how it happened - the village of Stolbnyaki rebelled and the authorities decided to call Yermila - his people would listen.

The story is interrupted by cries: the thief has been caught and is being flogged. The thief turns out to be the same lackey with a "noble disease", and after the flogging, he flies away as if he had completely forgotten about his illness.
The priest, meanwhile, says goodbye, promising to finish telling the story at the next meeting.

Chapter 5

On their further journey, the peasants meet the landowner Gavrila Afanasyich Obolt-Obolduev. The landowner is at first frightened, suspecting robbers in them, but, having figured out what the matter is, he laughs and begins to tell his story. He leads his noble family from the Tatar Oboldui, who was skinned by a bear for the amusement of the empress. She granted cloth to the Tatar for this. Such were the noble ancestors of the landowner ...

The law is my desire!
The fist is my police!

However, not all strictness, the landowner admits that he more "attracted hearts with affection"! All the courtyards loved him, gave him gifts, and he was like a father to them. But everything changed: the peasants and the land were taken away from the landowner. The sound of an ax is heard from the forests, everyone is being ruined, instead of estates drinking houses are multiplying, because now no one needs a letter at all. And they shout to the landowners:

Wake up, sleepy landowner!
Get up! — learn! work hard!..

But how can a landowner work, accustomed to something completely different from childhood? They did not learn anything, and “thought to live like this for a century,” but it turned out differently.
The landowner began to sob, and the good-natured peasants almost wept with him, thinking:

The great chain is broken
Torn - jumped:
One end on the master,
Others for a man! ..

Part 2

Last

The next day, the peasants go to the banks of the Volga, to a huge hay meadow. As soon as they got into a conversation with the locals, music was heard and three boats moored to the shore. They have a noble family: two gentlemen with their wives, little barchats, servants and a gray-haired old gentleman. The old man inspects the mowing, and everyone bows to him almost to the ground. In one place he stops and orders a dry haystack to be spread: the hay is still damp. The absurd order is immediately executed.

Strangers marvel:
Grandpa!
What a wonderful old man.

It turns out that the old man - Prince Utyatin - having learned about the abolition of serfdom, "fooled", and came down with a stroke. His sons were told that they had betrayed the landlord's ideals, that they could not defend them, and if so, they were left without an inheritance. The sons were frightened and persuaded the peasants to fool the landowner a little, so that after his death they would give the village poem meadows. The old man was told that the tsar ordered the serfs to be returned back to the landowners, the prince was delighted and stood up. So this comedy continues to this day. Some peasants are even happy about this, for example, the courtyard Ipat:

Ipat said: “You have fun!
And I am the Utyatin princes
Slave - and the whole story here!

But Agap Petrov cannot come to terms with the fact that even in the wild someone will push him around. Once he told the master everything directly, and he had a stroke. When he woke up, he ordered Agap to be whipped, and the peasants, in order not to reveal the deceit, led him to the stable, where they put a bottle of wine in front of him: drink and shout louder! Agap died the same night: it was hard for him to bow down...
Wanderers are present at the feast of the Last, where he speaks about the benefits of serfdom, and then lies down in the boat and falls asleep in it with songs. The village of Vahlaki sighs with sincere relief, but no one gives them the meadows - the trial continues to this day.

Part 3

peasant woman

"Not everything between men
Find a happy
Let's feel the women! ”-
With these words strange

Iki goes to Korchagina Matryona Timofeevna, the governor, a beautiful woman of 38 years old, who, however, already calls herself an old woman. She talks about her life. Then she was only happy, how she grew up in her parents' house. But girlhood quickly rushed by, and now Matryona is already being wooed. Philip becomes her betrothed, handsome, ruddy and strong. He loves his wife, but soon goes to work, and leaves her with his large, but alien to Matryona, family.

Matryona works for her elder sister-in-law, and for a strict mother-in-law, and for her father-in-law. She had no joy in her life until her eldest son, Demushka, was born.

In the whole family, only the old grandfather Savely, the “Holy Russian hero”, who lives out his life after twenty years of hard labor, regrets Matryona. He ended up in hard labor for the murder of a German manager who did not give the peasants a single free minute. Savely told Matryona a lot about his life, about "Russian heroism."

The mother-in-law forbids Matryona to take Demushka into the field: she does not work much with him. The grandfather looks after the child, but one day he falls asleep, and the pigs eat the child. After some time, Matryona meets Savely at the grave of Demushka, who has gone to repentance in the Sand Monastery. She forgives him and takes him home, where the old man soon dies.

Matryona also had other children, but she could not forget Demushka. One of them, the shepherdess Fedot, once wanted to be whipped for a sheep carried away by a wolf, but Matrena took the punishment upon herself. When she was pregnant with Liodorushka, she had to go to the city to ask for the return of her husband, who had been taken into the soldiers. Right in the waiting room, Matryona gave birth, and the governor, Elena Alexandrovna, for whom the whole family is now praying, helped her. Since then, Matryona has been "denounced as a lucky woman, nicknamed the governor's wife." But what kind of happiness is there?

This is what Matryonushka tells the wanderers and adds: they will never find a happy woman among women, the keys to female happiness are lost, and even God does not know where to find them.

Part 4

A feast for the whole world

There is a feast in the village of Vakhlachina. Everyone gathered here: both wanderers, and Klim Yakovlich, and Vlas the headman. Among the feasters are two seminarians, Savvushka and Grisha, good simple guys. They, at the request of the people, sing a “jolly” song, then the turn comes for different stories. There is a story about the “exemplary lackey - Jacob the faithful”, who all his life went after the master, fulfilled all his whims and even rejoiced at the master's beatings. Only when the master gave his nephew to the soldiers, Yakov took to drink, but soon returned to the master. And yet, Yakov did not forgive him, and was able to take revenge on Polivanov: he brought him, with his legs off, into the forest, and there he hanged himself on a pine tree above the master.

There is a dispute about who is the most sinful of all. God's wanderer Jonah tells the story of "two sinners", about the robber Kudeyar. The Lord awakened a conscience in him and imposed a penance on him: cut down a huge oak tree in the forest, then his sins will be forgiven him. But the oak fell only when Kudeyar sprinkled it with the blood of the cruel Pan Glukhovsky. Ignatius Prokhorov objects to Jonah: the peasant's sin is still greater, and tells the story of the headman. He hid the last will of his master, who decided to release his peasants before his death. But the headman, tempted by money, tore free.

The crowd is subdued. Songs are sung: "Hungry", "Soldier's". But the time will come in Russia for good songs. Confirmation of this is two brothers-seminarians, Savva and Grisha. The seminarian Grisha, the son of a sexton, has known since the age of fifteen that he wants to devote his life to the happiness of the people. Love for his mother merges in his heart with love for the whole vakhlachin. Grisha walks along his edge and sings a song about Russia:

You are poor
You are abundant
You are powerful
You are powerless
Mother Russia!

And his plans will not be lost: fate prepares Grisha "a glorious path, a loud name of the people's intercessor, consumption and Siberia." In the meantime, Grisha sings, and it is a pity that the wanderers do not hear him, because then they would understand that they had already found a happy person and could return home.

Conclusion

This ends the unfinished chapters of the poem by Nekrasov. However, even from the surviving parts, the reader is presented with a large-scale picture of post-reform Russia, which, with torment, is learning to live in a new way. The range of problems raised by the author in the poem is very wide: the problems of widespread drunkenness, the ruining Russian people, the problems of women, the ineradicable slave psychology and the main problem of people's happiness. Most of these problems, unfortunately, to one degree or another still remain relevant today, which is why the work is very popular, and a number of quotations from it have become part of everyday speech. The compositional device of the main characters' wanderings brings the poem closer to an adventure novel, thanks to which it is read easily and with great interest.

A brief retelling of “To whom it is good to live in Russia” conveys only the most basic content of the poem, for a more accurate idea of ​​​​the work, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the full version of “To whom it is good to live in Russia”.

In the poem “To whom it is good to live in Russia”, N. A. Nekrasov shows the life of the Russian peasantry in post-reform Russia, their plight. The main problem of this work is the search for an answer to the question, “who lives happily, freely in Russia”, who is worthy and not worthy of happiness? The author introduces into the poem the image of seven wandering peasants traveling around the country in search of the lucky ones. This is a group portrait, therefore, in the image of the seven "temporarily liable" only general features characteristic of the Russian peasant are given: poverty, curiosity, unpretentiousness. The peasants do not seek happiness among the working people: peasants, soldiers. Their idea of ​​happiness is associated with the images of the clergy, merchants, nobility, and the king. Peasants-truth-seekers have a sense of their own dignity. They are deeply convinced that the working people are better, higher, smarter than the landowner. The author shows the hatred of the peasants for those who live at their expense. Nekrasov also emphasizes the love of the people for work, their desire to help other people. Having learned that Matryona Timofeevna's harvest is dying, the peasants offer her help without hesitation; they also help the peasants of the Illiterate Governorate in mowing.

Traveling in Russia, men meet various people. Disclosing the images of the heroes met by the truth-seekers allows the author to characterize not only the situation of the peasantry, but also the life of the merchants, the clergy, the nobility ... But the author still pays the main attention to the peasants.

The images of Yakim Nagogoy, Yermila Girin, Saveliy, Matrena Timofeevna combine both common, typical features of the peasantry, such as hatred for all “shareholders” who drain their vitality, and individual features.

Yakim Nagoi, personifying the mass of the poorest peasantry, “works to death”, but lives as a poor man, like most of the peasants of the village of Bosovo. His portrait testifies to constant hard work.

Yakim understands that the peasantry is a great force; he is proud of his belonging to it. He knows what the strength and weakness of the “peasant soul” is.

Yakim refutes the opinion that the peasant is poor because he drinks. He reveals the true reason for this situation - the need to work for "shareholders". The fate of Yakim is typical for the peasants of post-reform Russia: he “once lived in St. Petersburg”, but, having lost a lawsuit with a merchant, ended up in prison, from where he returned, “stripped like a velcro” and “took a plow”.

Another image of the Russian peasant is Yermila Girin. The author endows him with incorruptible honesty and natural intelligence.

Having gone against the "peace", having sacrificed public interests for the sake of personal ones, - having given up a neighbor's boyfriend instead of her brother - Yermila is tormented by remorse and comes to the thought of suicide. However, he does not hang himself, but goes to repent to the people.

The episode with the purchase of the mill is important. Nekrasov shows the solidarity of the peasantry. They trust Yermila, and he takes the side of the peasants during the riot.

The author's idea that Russian peasants are heroes is also important. For this purpose, the image of Savely, the Holy Russian hero, is introduced. Despite the unbearably hard life, the hero has not lost his best qualities. He treats Matryona Timofeevna with sincere love, deeply worries about the death of Demushka. About himself, he says: “Branded, but not a slave!”. Savely acts as a folk philosopher. He reflects on whether the people should continue to endure their lack of rights, their oppressed state. Saveliy comes to the conclusion: it is better to “not tolerate” than to “endure”, and he calls for a protest.

Savelia's combination of sincerity, kindness, simplicity, sympathy for the oppressed and hatred for the oppressors makes this image vital and typical.

A special place in the poem, as in all of Nekrasov's work, is occupied by the display of the "women's share". In the poem, the author reveals it on the example of the image of Matrena Timofeevna. This is a strong and persistent woman fighting for her freedom and her female happiness. But, despite all efforts, the heroine says: “It’s not a matter of looking for a happy woman between women.”

The fate of Matrena Timofeevna is typical for a Russian woman: after marriage, she ended up with a "girl's holi" in hell; misfortunes rained down on her one after another ... Finally, Matryona Timofeevna, like the peasants, is forced to overwork herself at work in order to feed her family.

In the image of Matrena Timofeevna, there are also features of the heroic character of the Russian peasantry.

In the poem “To whom it is good to live in Russia”, the author showed how serfdom morally cripples people. He leads us in front of a string of courtyard people, servants, serfs, who, for many years of groveling before the master, have completely lost their own “I” and human dignity. This is Jacob the faithful, taking revenge on the master by killing himself in front of his eyes, and Ipat, the serf of the Utyatin princes, and Klim-Some peasants even become oppressors, receiving little power from the landowner. The peasants hate these slave-serfs even more than they do the landowners, they despise them.

Thus, Nekrasov showed the stratification among the peasantry associated with the reform of 1861.

The poem also notes such a feature of the Russian peasantry as religiosity. It's a way to get away from reality. God is the supreme judge, from whom the peasants seek protection and justice. Faith in God is the hope for a better life.

So, N. A. Nekrasov in the poem “Who Lives Well in Russia” recreated the life of the peasantry in post-reform Russia, revealed the typical character traits of Russian peasants, showing that this is a force to be reckoned with, which gradually begins to realize its rights.

Brief retelling of Nekrasov's poem "Who should live well in Russia"

One day, seven men converge on the high road - recent serfs, and now temporarily liable "from adjacent villages - Zaplatova, Dyryavin, Razutov, Znobishina, Gorelova, Neyolova, Neurozhayka, too." Instead of going their own way, the peasants start a dispute about who lives happily and freely in Russia. Each of them judges in his own way who is the main lucky man in Russia: a landowner, an official, a priest, a merchant, a noble boyar, a minister of sovereigns or a tsar.

During the argument, they do not notice that they gave a detour of thirty miles. Seeing that it is too late to return home, the men make a fire and continue the argument over vodka - which, of course, little by little turns into a fight. But even a fight does not help to resolve the issue that worries the men.

The solution is found unexpectedly: one of the peasants, Pahom, catches a warbler chick, and in order to free the chick, the warbler tells the peasants where they can find a self-assembled tablecloth. Now the peasants are provided with bread, vodka, cucumbers, kvass, tea - in a word, everything they need for a long journey. And besides, the self-assembled tablecloth will repair and wash their clothes! Having received all these benefits, the peasants give a vow to find out "who lives happily, freely in Russia."

The first possible "lucky man" they met along the way is a priest. (It was not for the oncoming soldiers and beggars to ask about happiness!) But the priest's answer to the question of whether his life is sweet disappoints the peasants. They agree with the priest that happiness lies in peace, wealth and honor. But the pop does not possess any of these benefits. In haymaking, in stubble, in a dead autumn night, in severe frost, he must go where there are sick, dying and being born. And every time his soul hurts at the sight of grave sobs and orphan sorrow - so that his hand does not rise to take copper nickels - a miserable reward for the demand. The landlords, who formerly lived in family estates and got married here, baptized children, buried the dead, are now scattered not only in Russia, but also in distant foreign land; there is no hope for their reward. Well, the peasants themselves know what honor the priest is: they feel embarrassed when the priest blames obscene songs and insults against priests.

Realizing that the Russian pop is not among the lucky ones, the peasants go to the festive fair in the trading village of Kuzminskoye to ask the people about happiness there. In a rich and dirty village there are two churches, a tightly boarded-up house with the inscription "school", a paramedic's hut, a dirty hotel. But most of all in the village of drinking establishments, in each of which they barely manage to cope with the thirsty. Old man Vavila cannot buy his granddaughter goat's shoes, because he drank himself to a penny. It’s good that Pavlusha Veretennikov, a lover of Russian songs, whom everyone calls “master” for some reason, buys a treasured gift for him.

Wandering peasants watch the farcical Petrushka, watch how the officers pick up book goods - but by no means Belinsky and Gogol, but portraits of fat generals unknown to anyone and works about "my lord stupid." They also see how a busy trading day ends: rampant drunkenness, fights on the way home. However, the peasants are indignant at Pavlusha Veretennikov's attempt to measure the peasant by the master's measure. In their opinion, it is impossible for a sober person to live in Russia: he will not endure either overwork or peasant misfortune; without drinking, bloody rain would have poured out of the angry peasant soul. These words are confirmed by Yakim Nagoi from the village of Bosovo - one of those who "work to death, drink half to death." Yakim believes that only pigs walk the earth and do not see the sky for a century. During a fire, he himself did not save money accumulated over a lifetime, but useless and beloved pictures that hung in the hut; he is sure that with the cessation of drunkenness, great sadness will come to Russia.

Wandering peasants do not lose hope of finding people who live well in Russia. But even for the promise to give water to the lucky ones for free, they fail to find those. For the sake of a gratuitous drink, both an overworked worker, and a former courtyard stricken with paralysis, who for forty years licked the master's plates with the best French truffle, and even ragged beggars are ready to declare themselves lucky.

Finally, someone tells them the story of Ermil Girin, a steward in the estate of Prince Yurlov, who has earned universal respect for his justice and honesty. When Girin needed money to buy the mill, the peasants lent it to him without even asking for a receipt. But Yermil is now unhappy: after the peasant revolt, he is in jail.

About the misfortune that befell the nobles after the peasant reform, the ruddy sixty-year-old landowner Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev tells the peasant wanderers. He recalls how in the old days everything amused the master: villages, forests, fields, serf actors, musicians, hunters, who belonged undividedly to him. Obolt-Obolduev tells with tenderness how, on the twelfth holidays, he invited his serfs to pray in the manor's house - despite the fact that after that they had to drive women from all over the estate to wash the floors.

And although the peasants themselves know that life in serf times was far from the idyll drawn by Obolduev, they nevertheless understand: the great chain of serfdom, having broken, hit both the master, who at once lost his usual way of life, and the peasant.

Desperate to find a happy man among the men, the wanderers decide to ask the women. The surrounding peasants recall that Matrena Timofeevna Korchagina lives in the village of Klin, whom everyone considers lucky. But Matrona herself thinks otherwise. In confirmation, she tells the wanderers the story of her life.

Before her marriage, Matryona lived in a non-drinking and prosperous peasant family. She married Philip Korchagin, a stove-maker from a foreign village. But the only happy night for her was that night when the groom persuaded Matryona to marry him; then the usual hopeless life of a village woman began. True, her husband loved her and beat her only once, but soon he went to work in St. Petersburg, and Matryona was forced to endure insults in her father-in-law's family. The only one who felt sorry for Matryona was grandfather Saveliy, who lived out his life in the family after hard labor, where he ended up for the murder of the hated German manager. Savely told Matryona what Russian heroism is: a peasant cannot be defeated, because he "bends, but does not break."

The birth of the first-born Demushka brightened up the life of Matryona. But soon her mother-in-law forbade her to take the child into the field, and old grandfather Savely did not follow the baby and fed him to the pigs. In front of Matryona, judges who arrived from the city performed an autopsy of her child. Matryona could not forget her first child, although after she had five sons. One of them, the shepherd Fedot, once allowed a she-wolf to carry away a sheep. Matrena took upon herself the punishment assigned to her son. Then, being pregnant with her son Liodor, she was forced to go to the city to seek justice: her husband, bypassing the laws, was taken to the soldiers. Matryona was then helped by the governor Elena Alexandrovna, for whom the whole family is now praying.

By all peasant standards, the life of Matryona Korchagina can be considered happy. But it is impossible to tell about the invisible spiritual storm that passed through this woman - just like about unrequited mortal insults, and about the blood of the firstborn. Matrena Timofeevna is convinced that a Russian peasant woman cannot be happy at all, because the keys to her happiness and free will are lost from God himself.

In the midst of haymaking, wanderers come to the Volga. Here they witness a strange scene. A noble family swims up to the shore in three boats. The mowers, who have just sat down to rest, immediately jump up to show the old master their zeal. It turns out that the peasants of the village of Vakhlachina help the heirs to hide the abolition of serfdom from the landowner Utyatin, who has lost his mind. For this, the relatives of the Last Duck-Duck promise the peasants floodplain meadows. But after the long-awaited death of the Afterlife, the heirs forget their promises, and the whole peasant performance turns out to be in vain.

Here, near the village of Vahlachin, wanderers listen to peasant songs - corvée, hungry, soldier's, salty - and stories about serf times. One of these stories is about the serf of the exemplary Jacob the faithful. Yakov's only joy was to please his master, the petty landowner Polivanov. Samodur Polivanov, in gratitude, beat Yakov in the teeth with his heel, which aroused even greater love in the lackey's soul. By old age, Polivanov lost his legs, and Yakov began to follow him like a child. But when Yakov's nephew, Grisha, decided to marry the serf beauty Arisha, out of jealousy, Polivanov sent the guy to the recruits. Yakov began to drink, but soon returned to the master. And yet he managed to take revenge on Polivanov - the only way available to him, in a lackey way. Having brought the master into the forest, Yakov hanged himself right above him on a pine tree. Polivanov spent the night under the corpse of his faithful servant, driving away birds and wolves with groans of horror.

Another story - about two great sinners - is told to the peasants by God's wanderer Iona Lyapushkin. The Lord awakened the conscience of the ataman of the robbers Kudeyar. The robber prayed for sins for a long time, but all of them were released to him only after he killed the cruel Pan Glukhovsky in a surge of anger.

The wandering men also listen to the story of another sinner - Gleb the headman, who hid the last will of the late widower admiral for money, who decided to free his peasants.

But not only wandering peasants think about the happiness of the people. The son of a sacristan, seminarian Grisha Dobrosklonov, lives in Vakhlachin. In his heart, love for the deceased mother merged with love for the whole of Vahlachina. For fifteen years, Grisha knew for sure whom he was ready to give his life, for whom he was ready to die. He thinks of all mysterious Russia as a miserable, abundant, powerful and powerless mother, and expects that the indestructible strength that he feels in his own soul will still be reflected in her. Such strong souls, like those of Grisha Dobrosklonov, the angel of mercy himself calls for an honest path. Fate prepares Grisha "a glorious path, a loud name of the people's intercessor, consumption and Siberia."

If the wanderer men knew what was happening in the soul of Grisha Dobrosklonov, they would surely understand that they could already return to their native roof, because the goal of their journey had been achieved.

Nekrasov's poem "To whom it is good to live in Russia", which is part of the compulsory school curriculum, is presented in our summary, which you can read below.

Part 1

Prologue

Seven men from neighboring villages meet on the high road. They start a dispute about who has fun in Russia. Everyone has their own answer. In conversations, they do not notice that they have traveled to God knows where for thirty miles. It's getting dark, they make a fire. The argument gradually turns into a fight. But a clear answer still can not be found.

A man named Pahom catches a warbler chick. In return, the bird promises to tell the peasants where the self-assembled tablecloth is located, which will give them food as much as they like, a bucket of vodka a day, will wash and darn their clothes. The heroes receive a real treasure and decide to find the final answer to the question: who lives well in Russia?

Pop

On the way, the peasants meet a priest. They ask if he is happy. According to the priest, happiness is wealth, honor and peace. But these blessings are inaccessible to the priest: in cold and rain, he is forced to get out to the funeral service, to look at the tears of his relatives, when it is embarrassing to take payment for the service. In addition, the priest does not see respect among the people, and now and then becomes the subject of ridicule of the peasants.

rural fair

Having found out that the priest does not have happiness, the peasants go to the fair in the village of Kuzminskoye. Maybe they'll find a lucky one there. There are a lot of drunks at the fair. Old man Vavila is grieving that he squandered money for shoes for his granddaughter. Everyone wants to help, but they don't have the opportunity. Barin Pavel Veretennikov takes pity on his grandfather and buys a present for his granddaughter.

Closer to the night, everyone around is drunk, the men go away.

drunken night

Pavel Veretennikov, after talking with the common people, regrets that the Russian people drink too much. But the peasants are convinced that the peasants drink out of hopelessness, that it is impossible to live sober in these conditions. If the Russian people stop drinking, great sorrow awaits them.

These thoughts are expressed by Yakim Nagoi, a resident of the village of Bosovo. He tells how, during a fire, the first thing he did was to take out the lubok pictures from the hut - that which he valued most of all.

The men settled down for lunch. Then one of them remained on guard for a bucket of vodka, and the rest again went in search of happiness.

Happy

Wanderers offer those who are happy in Russia to drink a glass of vodka. There are many such lucky people - both an overstrained man, and a paralytic, and even beggars.

Someone points them to Yermila Girin, an honest and respected peasant. When he needed to buy his mill at an auction, the people collected the necessary amount for a ruble and a kopeck. A couple of weeks later, Jirin was distributing the debt in the square. And when the last ruble remained, he continued to look for its owner until sunset. But now Yermila has little happiness either - he was accused of a popular rebellion and thrown into prison.

landowner

The ruddy landowner Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev is another candidate for the “lucky one”. But he complains to the peasants about the misfortune of the nobility - the abolition of serfdom. He was fine before. Everyone cared about him, tried to please. Yes, and he himself was kind with the courtyards. The reform destroyed his habitual way of life. How can he live now, because he knows nothing, is not capable of anything. The landowner began to cry, and after him the peasants became sad. The abolition of serfdom and the peasants is not easy.

Part 2

Last

The men find themselves on the banks of the Volga during haymaking. They see an amazing picture for themselves. Three lordly boats moor to the shore. Mowers, just sitting down to rest, jump up, wanting to curry favor with the master. It turned out that the heirs, having enlisted the support of the peasants, were trying to hide the peasant reform from the distraught landowner Utyatin. The peasants were promised land for this, but when the landowner dies, the heirs forget about the agreement.

Part 3

peasant woman

Seekers of happiness thought about asking about the happiness of women. Everyone they meet calls the name of Matrena Korchagina, whom people see as a lucky woman.

Matrena, on the other hand, claims that there are many troubles in her life, and devotes wanderers to her story.

As a girl, Matryona had a good, non-drinking family. When the stove-maker Korchagin looked after her, she was happy. But after marriage, the usual painful village life began. She was beaten by her husband only once, because he loved her. When he left to work, the stove-maker's family continued to mock her. Only grandfather Saveliy, a former convict who was imprisoned for the murder of a manager, felt sorry for her. Savely looked like a hero, confident that it was impossible to defeat a Russian person.

Matryona was happy when her first son was born. But while she was at work in the field, Savely fell asleep, and the pigs ate the child. In front of the heartbroken mother, the county doctor performed an autopsy on her first child. A woman still cannot forget a child, although after him she gave birth to five.

From the outside, everyone considers Matryona lucky, but no one understands what pain she carries inside, what mortal unavenged insults gnaw at her, how she dies every time she remembers a dead child.

Matrena Timofeevna knows that a Russian woman simply cannot be happy, because she has no life, no will for her.

Part 4

A feast for the whole world

Wanderers near the village of Vahlachin hear folk songs - hungry, salty, soldier's and corvee. Grisha Dobrosklonov sings - a simple Russian guy. There are stories about serfdom. One of them is the story of Yakima the faithful. He was devoted to the master to the extreme. He rejoiced at the cuffs, fulfilled any whims. But when the landowner gave his nephew to the soldier's service, Yakim left, and soon returned. He figured out how to take revenge on the landowner. Decapitated, he brought him to the forest and hanged himself on a tree above the master.

An argument begins about the most terrible sin. Elder Jonah tells the parable “about two sinners”. The sinner Kudeyar prayed to God for forgiveness, and he answered him. If Kudeyar knocks down a huge tree with just a knife, then his sins will subside. The oak fell down only after the sinner washed it with the blood of the cruel Pan Glukhovsky.

The deacon's son Grisha Dobrosklonov thinks about the future of the Russian people. Russia for him is a miserable, plentiful, powerful and powerless mother. In his soul he feels immense forces, he is ready to give his life for the good of the people. In the future, the glory of the people's protector, hard labor, Siberia and consumption await him. But if the wanderers knew what feelings filled Gregory's soul, they would realize that the goal of their search had been achieved.

Before you - summary Nekrasov's poem "Who Lives Well in Russia" The poem was conceived as a "people's book", an epic depicting a whole era in the life of the people. The poet himself spoke of his work as follows:

“I decided to present in a coherent story everything that I know about the people, everything that I happened to hear from their lips, and I started “Who should live well in Russia”. It will be the epic of modern peasant life.”

As you know, the poet did not finish the poem. Only the first of 4 parts was completed.

We have not reduced the main points to which you should pay attention. The rest is given in brief.

Summary of “Who lives well in Russia” chapter by chapter

Click on the desired chapter or part of the work to go to its summary

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

peasant woman

PART FOUR

Feast - for the whole world

PART ONE

PROLOGUE - summary

In what year - count,

In what land - guess

On the pillar path

Seven men came together:

Seven temporarily liable,

tightened province,

County Terpigorev,

empty parish,

From adjacent villages:

Zaplatova, Dyryavina,

Razutova, Znobishina,

Gorelova, Neelova -

Crop failure, too,

Agreed - and argued:

Who has fun

Feel free in Russia?

Roman said: to the landowner,

“Demyan said: to an official,

Luke said: ass.

Fat-bellied merchant! -

Gubin brothers said

Ivan and Mitrodor.

Old man Pahom pushed

And he said, looking at the ground:

noble boyar,

Minister of the State.

And Prov said: to the king ...

Man what a bull: vtemyashitsya

In the head what a whim -

Stake her from there

You won’t knock out: they rest,

Everyone is on their own!

The men are arguing and do not notice how the evening comes. They built a fire, went for vodka, had a bite, and again began to argue about who lives "fun, freely in Russia." The dispute turned into a fight. At this time, a chick flew up to the fire. Pahom caught him. A chiffchaff bird appears and asks to let the chick go. In return, she tells how to find a self-assembled tablecloth. The groin releases the chick, the men go the indicated way and find a self-assembled tablecloth. The peasants decide not to return home until they find out "for certain", "Who lives happily, // Freely in Russia."

Chapter 1

The men are on their way. They meet peasants, artisans, coachmen, soldiers, and travelers understand that the life of these people cannot be called happy. Finally they meet pop. He proves to the peasants that the priest has no peace, no wealth, no happiness - it is difficult for a priest's son to get a diploma, the priesthood is even more expensive. The priest can be called at any time of the day or night, in any weather. The priest has to see the tears of the orphans and the death rattle of the dying. And there is no honor for the priest - they compose about him "funny tales // And obscene songs, // And all kinds of blasphemy." The priest has no wealth either - the rich landlords almost never live in Russia. The men agree with the priest. They go further.

Chapter 2

The peasants see poor living everywhere. A man bathes a horse in the river. The wanderers learn from him that all the people went to the fair. The men go there. At the fair, people trade, have fun, walk, drink. One peasant is crying in front of the people - he drank all the money, and the granddaughter of the guest is waiting at home. Pavlusha Veretennikov, nicknamed "master" bought shoes for his granddaughter. The old man is very happy. Wanderers are watching a performance in a booth.

Chapter 3

People return drunk after the fair.

People go and fall

As if because of the rollers

Buckshot enemies

They fire at the men.

Some man buries the little girl, while assuring that he is burying his mother. Women quarrel in a ditch: who has a worse house. Yakim Nagoi says that "there is no measure for Russian hops," but it is also impossible to measure the grief of the people.

What follows is a story about Yakime Nagom, who previously lived in St. Petersburg, then ended up in prison because of a lawsuit with a merchant. Then he came to live in his native village. He bought pictures with which he pasted over the hut and which he loved very much. There was a fire. Yakim rushed to save not the accumulated money, but the pictures that he later hung in the new hut. The people, returning, sing songs. Wanderers are sad about their own home, about their wives.

Chapter 4

Wanderers walk among the festive crowd with a bucket of vodka. They promise it to the one who convinces that he is really happy. The deacon is the first to come, he says that he is happy that he believes in the kingdom of heaven. They don't give him vodka. An old woman comes up and says that a very large turnip has been born in her garden. They laughed at her and did not give anything either. A soldier comes with medals, says that he is happy that he survived. They brought it to him.

Approached stonemason tells about his happiness - about great strength. His opponent is a thin man. He says that at one time God punished him for boasting the same way. The contractor praised him at the construction site, and he was glad - he took the burden of fourteen pounds and brought it to the second floor. Since then, and withered. He goes to die at home, an epidemic begins in the car, the dead are unloaded at the stations, but he still survived.

A courtyard man comes, boasts that he was the prince's favorite slave, that he licked plates with the remnants of gourmet food, drank foreign drinks from glasses, suffers from a noble disease of gout. He is chased away. A Belarusian comes up and says that his happiness lies in bread, which he can't get enough of. At home, in Belarus, he ate bread with chaff and bark. A man who had been hurt by a bear came and said that his comrades had died while hunting, but he remained alive. The man received vodka from strangers. The beggars boast that they are happy because they are often served. Wanderers understand that they were wasting vodka on " peasant happiness". They are advised to ask Ermil Girin, who kept the mill, about happiness. By decision of the court, the mill is sold at auction. Yermil won the bargain with the merchant Altynnikov, the clerks demanded a third of the cost immediately, contrary to the rules. Yermil did not have money with him, which was required to be paid within an hour, and it was a long way to go home.

He went out to the square and asked the people to lend as much as they could. They got more money than they needed. Yermil gave the money, the mill became his, and the next Friday he distributed the debts. The wanderers wonder why the people believed Girin and gave money. They answer him that he achieved this with the truth. Girin served as a clerk in the estate of Prince Yurlov. He served for five years and did not take anything from anyone, he was attentive to everyone. But he was expelled, and a new clerk came in his place - a scoundrel and a grabber. After the death of the old prince, the new master drove out all the old henchmen and ordered the peasants to elect a new steward. All unanimously elected Yermila. He served honestly, but one day he nevertheless committed an offense - his younger brother Mitrius " shielded”, and instead of him, the son of Nenila Vlasyevna went to the soldiers.

Since that time, Yermil has become homesick - he does not eat, does not drink, says that he is a criminal. He said that let him be judged according to his conscience. The son of Nenila Vlasvna was returned, and Mitriy was taken away, and a fine was imposed on Yermila. A year after that, he walked not on his own, then resigned from his post, no matter how he was begged to stay.

The narrator advises to go to Girin, but another peasant says that Yermil is in jail. A riot broke out, government troops were needed. To avoid bloodshed, they asked Girin to address the people.

The story is interrupted by the cries of a drunken lackey suffering from gout - now he is suffering from beatings for theft. The strangers leave.

Chapter 5

The landowner Obolt-Obolduev was

... "ruddy,

portly, squat,

sixty years;

Mustache gray, long,

Good fellows.

He mistook the men for robbers, even drew a pistol. But they told him what it was. Obolduev laughs, gets down from the carriage and tells about the life of the landowners.

At first he speaks of the antiquity of his kind, then he recalls the old days when

Not only Russian people,

Russian nature itself

Subdued us.

Then the landlords lived well - luxurious feasts, a whole regiment of servants, their own actors, etc. The landowner recalls dog hunting, unlimited power, how he christened with all his patrimony "on bright Sunday."

Now decay is everywhere - " Noble estate // As if everything was hidden, // Died out! The landowner cannot understand in any way why the “idle hacks” urge him to study and work, because he is a nobleman. He says that he has been living in the village for forty years, but he cannot distinguish a barley ear from a rye ear. The peasants think

The great chain is broken

Torn - jumped:

One end on the master,

Others for a man! ..

PART TWO

Last - summary

Wanderers go, they see haymaking. They take the braids from the women, they begin to mow. Music is heard from the river - this is a landowner riding in a boat. The gray-haired man Vlas urges the women - you should not upset the landowner. Three boats moor to the shore, in them the landowner with his family and servants.

The old landowner bypasses the hay, finds fault that the hay is damp, demands to dry it. He leaves with his retinue for breakfast. Wanderers ask Vlas (he turned out to be the burgomaster) why the landowner orders if serfdom is abolished. Vlas replies that they have a special landowner: when he learned about the abolition of serfdom, he had a stroke - the left half of his body was taken away, he lay motionless.

The heirs arrived, but the old man recovered. His sons told him about the abolition of serfdom, but he called them traitors, cowards, etc. Out of fear that they would be deprived of their inheritance, the sons decide to indulge him in everything.

That is why they persuade the peasants to play a comedy, as if the peasants were returned to the landowners. But some peasants did not need to be persuaded. Ipat, for example, says: And I'm a serf of the Utyatin princes - and that's the whole story! He recalls how the prince harnessed him to a cart, how he bathed him in an ice hole - he dipped him in one hole, pulled him out of another - and immediately gave him vodka.

The prince put Ipat on the goats to play the violin. The horse stumbled, Ipat fell, and the sleigh ran over him, but the prince left. But after a while he returned. Ipat is grateful to the prince that he did not leave him to freeze. Everyone agrees to pretend that serfdom has not been abolished.

Vlas does not agree to be the burgomaster. Agrees to be Klim Lavin.

Klim has a conscience of clay,

And Minin's beards,

Take a look, you'll think

Why not find a peasant

Degree and sober .

The old prince walks and orders, the peasants laugh at him on the sly. The peasant Agap Petrov did not want to obey the orders of the old landowner, and when he caught him cutting down the forest, he told Utyatin directly about everything, calling him a pea jester. The duckling took the second blow. But contrary to the expectations of the heirs, the old prince recovered again and began to demand a public flogging of Agap.

The latter is being persuaded by the whole world. They took him to the stable, put a damask of wine in front of him and told him to shout louder. He shouted so that even Utyatin took pity. Drunk Agap was carried home. He died soon after: Klim shameless ruined him, anathema, blame!»

Utyatin is sitting at the table at this time. Peasants stand at the porch. Everyone is doing a comedy, as usual, except for one guy - he laughs. The man is a visitor, local orders are ridiculous to him. Utyatin again demands the punishment of the rebel. But the wanderers do not want to blame. Burmistrova's godfather saves the day - she says that her son was laughing - a foolish boy. Utyatin calms down, has fun and swaggers at dinner. Dies after dinner. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. But the joy of the peasants was premature: “ With the death of the Last, the caress of the lord disappeared».

PEASANT WOMAN (FROM THE THIRD PART)

Prologue - summary

The wanderers decide to look for a happy man among women. They are advised to go to the village of Klin and ask for Matrena Timofeevna, nicknamed the "governor". Arriving in the village, the peasants see "wretched houses." The footman who met them explains that "The landowner is abroad, // And the steward is dying." Wanderers meet Matrena Timofeevna.

Matrena Timofeevna

stubborn woman,

Wide and dense

Thirty-eight years old.

Beautiful; gray hair,

The eyes are large, stern,

Eyelashes are the richest

Stern and swarthy.

Wanderers talk about their goal. The peasant woman replies that she has no time to talk about life now - she has to go harvest rye. The men offer to help. Matrena Timofeevna talks about her life.

Chapter 1 - Before marriage. Summary

Matrena Timofeevna was born in a friendly, non-drinking family and lived "like in Christ's bosom." There was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. Then Matrena Timofeevna met her betrothed;

On the mountain - a stranger!

Philip Korchagin - St. Petersburg worker,

A baker by skill.

Chapter 2 - Songs. Summary

Matrena Timofeevna ends up in a strange house.

The family was big

Grumpy... I got it

From girlish holi to hell!

Husband went to work

Silence, patience advised ...

As ordered, so done:

She walked with anger in her heart.

And didn't say too much

Word to nobody.

Filippushka came in winter,

Bring a silk handkerchief

Yes, I took a ride on a sled

On Catherine's day

And as if there was no grief! ..

She says that her husband beat her only once, when her husband's sister arrived and he asked to give her shoes, but Matryona hesitated. Philip went back to work, and Matrena's son Demushka was born on Kazanskaya. Life in the mother-in-law's house has become even more difficult, but she endures:

Whatever they say, I work

No matter how they scold - I am silent.

Of the entire family of her husband, Matryona Timofeevna was pitied only by her grandfather Savely.

Chapter 3 Summary.

Matrena Timofeevna talks about Savelia.

With a huge gray mane,

Tea, twenty years uncut,

With a big beard

Grandfather looked like a bear ...<…>

... He already knocked,

According to fairy tales, a hundred years.

Grandfather lived in a special room,

Didn't like families

He didn’t let me into his corner;

And she was angry, barking,

His "branded, convict"

He honored his own son.

Savely will not be angry,

He will go into his light,

Reads the holy calendar, is baptized

Yes, suddenly he will say cheerfully;

“Branded, but not a slave!”…

Savely tells Matryona why he is called "branded". In the years of his youth, the serfs of his village did not pay dues, did not go to corvée, because they lived in remote places and it was difficult to get there. The landowner Shalashnikov tried to collect quitrent, but was not very successful in this.

Excellently fought Shalashnikov,

And not so hot great

Received income.

Soon Shalashnikov (he was a military man) was killed near Varna. His heir sends a German governor.

He makes the peasants work. They themselves do not notice how they cut through the clearing, that is, it has now become easy to get to them.

And then came the hardship

Korega peasant-

Ruined to the bone!<…>

The German has a dead grip:

Until they let the world go

Without leaving, sucks!

This went on for eighteen years. The German built a factory, ordered to dig a well. The German began to scold those who dug the well for idleness (among them was Savely). The peasants pushed the German into a pit and the pit was dug up. Next - hard labor, Savelig! tried to run away from her, but he was caught. He spent twenty years in hard labor, another twenty in the settlement.

Chapter 4 Summary

Matryona Timofeevna gave birth to a son, but her mother-in-law does not allow her to be with the child, since the daughter-in-law began to work less.

The mother-in-law insists that Matryona Timofeevna leave her son with his grandfather. Savely overlooked the child: “The old man fell asleep in the sun, // He fed Demidushka to the pigs // Stupid grandfather! ..” Matryona blames her grandfather, cries. But it didn't end there:

The Lord got angry

He sent uninvited guests,

Wrong judges!

A doctor, a camp officer, and the police appear in the village, accuse Matryona of deliberately killing a child. The doctor makes an autopsy, despite the requests of Matryona " without reproach // To an honest burial // To betray the child ". They call her crazy. Grandfather Savely says that her madness lies in the fact that she went to the authorities without taking with her " no tselkovik, no novelty. They bury Demushka in a closed coffin. Matryona Timofeevna cannot come to her senses, Savely, trying to console her, says that her son is now in paradise.

Chapter 5

After Demushka died, Matryona "she was not herself," she could not work. The father-in-law decided to teach her a lesson with the reins. The peasant woman leaned at his feet and asked: "Kill!" The father-in-law retreated. Day and night Matrena Timofeevna is at her son's grave. Closer to winter, my husband arrived. Savely after the death of Demushki

For six days lay hopelessly

Then he went into the woods.

So sang, so cried grandfather,

What a forest groaned! And in autumn

Gone to repentance

At the Sand Monastery.

Every year Matryona has a baby. Three years later, the parents of Matrena Timofeevna die. She goes to her son's grave to cry. Meets grandfather Saveliy there. He came from the monastery to pray for "the dema of the poor, for all the suffering Russian peasantry." Savely did not live long - "in the autumn, the old one had some kind of deep wound on his neck, he was dying hard ...". Savely spoke of the share of the peasants:

There are three paths for men:

Tavern, jail and hard labor,

And the women in Russia

Three loops: white silk,

The second - red silk,

And the third - black silk,

Choose any! .

Four years have passed. Matryona resigned herself to everything. Once a pilgrim wanderer comes to the village, she talks about the salvation of the soul, demands from mothers that they do not feed babies with milk on fasting days. Matrena Timofeevna did not obey. “Yes, it is clear that God was angry,” the peasant woman believes. When her son Fedot was eight years old, he was sent to herd sheep. One day Fedot was brought in and told that he had fed a sheep to a she-wolf. Fedot says that a huge emaciated she-wolf appeared, grabbed a sheep and started running. Fedot caught up with her and took away the sheep, which was already dead. The she-wolf looked into his eyes plaintively and howled. From the bleeding nipples it was clear that she had wolf cubs in her lair. Fedot took pity on the she-wolf and gave her the sheep. Matrena Timofeevna, trying to save her son from a flogging, asks for mercy from the landowner, who orders to punish not the shepherd, but the “impudent woman”.

Chapter 6 Summary.

Matrena Timofeevna says that the she-wolf did not appear in vain - there was a lack of bread. The mother-in-law told the neighbors that Matryona, who had put on a clean shirt on Christmas, called on hunger.

For a husband, for an intercessor,

I got off cheap;

And one woman

Not for the same

Killed to death with stakes.

Don't mess with the hungry!

After the lack of bread came the recruitment. The brother's older husband was taken to the soldiers, so the family did not expect trouble. But the husband of Matrena Timofeevna is taken to the soldiers out of turn. Life gets even harder. Children had to be sent around the world. The mother-in-law became even more grumpy.

Well don't dress up

Don't wash your face

Neighbors have sharp eyes

Vostro tongues!

Walk the street quieter

Carry your head down

When it's fun, don't laugh

Don't cry out of sadness!

Chapter 7 Summary

Matrena Timofeevna is going to the governor. She has difficulty getting to the city, as she is pregnant. Gives a ruble to the porter to let him in. He says to come back in two hours. Matrena Timofeevna comes, the doorman takes another ruble from her. The governor's wife drives up, Matryona Timofeevna rushes to her with a request for intercession. The peasant woman becomes ill. When she comes to, she is told that she has given birth to a child. The governor, Elena Alexandrovna, was very imbued with Matryona Timofeevna, went after her son as if she were her own (she herself had no children). A messenger is sent to the village to sort everything out. The husband was returned.

Chapter 8 Summary

The men ask if Matryona Timofeevna told them everything. She says that everyone, except that they survived the fire twice, had anthrax three times, that instead of a horse she had to walk “in a harrow”. Matrena Timofeevna recalls the words of the holy pilgrim who went to "Heights of Athens»:

Keys to female happiness

From our free will

Abandoned, lost by God himself!<…>

Yes, they are unlikely to be found ...

What fish swallowed

Those reserved keys

In what seas is that fish

Walking - God forgot!

PART FOUR.

Feast - for the whole world

Introduction - summary

There is a feast in the village. Organized a feast Klim. They sent for the parish deacon Tryphon. He came along with his sons, seminarians Savvushka and Grisha.

... Was the eldest

Already nineteen years old;

Now a protodeacon

I looked, and at Gregory

Face thin, pale

And the hair is thin, curly,

With a hint of red.

Simple guys, kind,

Mowed, reaped, sowed

And drank vodka on holidays

equal to the peasantry.

The clerk and the seminarians began to sing.

I. Bitter Time - Bitter Songs - Summary

FUNNY

“Eat prison, Yasha! There is no milk!"

- "Where is our cow?"

Take away, my light!

Master for offspring

I took her home."

It's nice to live people

Saint in Russia!

"Where are our chickens?" -

The girls are yelling.

"Don't scream, fools!

The Zemsky court ate them;

I took another supply

Yes, he promised to stay ... "

It's nice to live people

Saint in Russia!

Broke my back

And the sourdough doesn't wait!

Baba Katerina

Remembered - roars:

In the yard for over a year

Daughter ... no dear!

It's nice to live people

Saint in Russia!

A little from the kids

Look - and there are no children:

The king will take the boys

Barin - daughters!

One freak

Live with family.

It's nice to live people

Saint in Russia!

Then the wahlaks sang:

corvee

Poor, unkempt Kalinushka,

Nothing for him to flaunt

Only the back is painted

Yes, you don’t know behind the shirt.

From the bast to the gate

The skin is all torn

The belly swells from the chaff.

twisted, twisted,

Slashed, tormented,

Hardly Kalina wanders.

It will knock on the feet of the tavern keeper,

Sorrow drowns in wine

Only on Saturday will come around

From the lord's stables to his wife ...

The men remember the old order. One of the peasants recalls how one day their mistress decided to mercilessly beat the one "who says a strong word." The men stopped swearing, but as soon as the will was announced, they took their souls away so much that "Priest Ivan was offended." Another man tells about the serf of the exemplary Jacob the faithful. The greedy landowner Polivanov had a faithful servant Yakov. He was devoted to the master without limit.

Jacob showed up like this from his youth,

Only Jacob had joy:

Gentleman groom, cherish, appease

Yes, the nephew is a youngster to download.

Yakov's nephew Grisha grew up and asked the master for permission to marry the girl Arina.

However, the master himself liked her. He gave Grisha to the soldiers, despite the pleas of Yakov. The serf got drunk and disappeared. Polivanov feels bad without Yakov. Two weeks later, the serf returned. Polivanov is going to visit his sister, Yakov is taking him. They go through the forest, Yakov turns into a deaf place - Devil's ravine. Polivanov is frightened - he begs to be spared. But Yakov says that he is not going to get his hands dirty with murder, and hangs himself on a tree. Polivanov is left alone. He spends the whole night in the ravine, screaming, calling people, but no one responds. In the morning a hunter finds him. The landowner returns home, lamenting: "I'm a sinner, a sinner! Execute me!"

After the story, the peasants start a dispute over who is more sinful - tavern owners, landowners, peasants or robbers. Klim Lavin fights with a merchant. Ionushka, the "humble praying mantis", talks about the power of faith. His story is about the holy fool Fomushka, who called people to flee to the forests, but he was arrested and taken to prison. From the cart, Fomushka shouted: “They beat you with sticks, rods, whips, you will be beaten with iron bars!” In the morning a military team came and pacification and interrogations began, that is, Fomushka's prophecy "almost came true to the point." Jonah talks about Efrosinyushka, the messenger of God, who, in her cholera years, “buries, heals, and takes care of the sick.” Iona Lyapushkin - praying mantis and wanderer. The peasants loved him and argued about who would be the first to take him in. When he appeared, everyone brought icons to meet him, and Jonah followed those whose icon he liked best. Jonah tells a parable about two great sinners.

ABOUT TWO GREAT SINNERS

The true story was told to Jonah in Solovki by Father Pitirim. There were twelve robbers, whose chieftain was Kudeyar. They lived in a dense forest, plundered a lot of wealth, and killed a lot of innocent souls. From near Kyiv, Kudeyar brought himself a beautiful girl. Unexpectedly, “the Lord awakened the conscience” of the robber. Kudeyar " He blew off his mistress's head // And he spotted the Yesaula". returned home with tartsem in monastic clothes y ”, day and night prays to God for forgiveness. A saint of the Lord appeared before Kudeyar. He pointed to a huge oak tree and said: With the same knife that robbed, / Cut him with the same hand! ..<…>The tree has just collapsed, // The chains of sin will fall". Kudeyar begins to fulfill what has been said. Time passes, and pan Glukhovsky passes by. He asks what Kudeyar is doing.

A lot of cruel, scary

The old man heard about the pan

And as a lesson to the sinner

He told his secret.

Pan chuckled: "Salvation

I haven't had tea for a long time

In the world I honor only a woman,

Gold, honor and wine.

You have to live, old man, in my opinion:

How many slaves I destroy

I torture, I torture and hang,

And I would like to see how I sleep!

The hermit becomes furious, attacks the pan and plunges a knife into his heart. At that very moment, the tree collapsed, and a load of sins fell from the old man.

III. Both old and new - summary

PEASANT SIN

One admiral for military service, for the battle with the Turks near Ochakovo, the Empress was granted eight thousand souls of peasants. Dying, he gives the casket to Gleb the elder. Punishes the casket to protect, as it contains a will, according to which all eight thousand souls will receive freedom. After the death of the admiral, a distant relative appears on the estate, promises the headman a lot of money, and the will is burned. Everyone agrees with Ignat that this is a big sin. Grisha Dobrosklonov speaks about the freedom of the peasants, that "there will be no new Gleb in Russia." Vlas wishes Grisha wealth, a smart and healthy wife. Grisha in response:

I don't need any silver

No gold, but God forbid

So that my countrymen

And every peasant

Lived freely and cheerfully

All over holy Russia!

A cart of hay is approaching. Soldier Ovsyannikov is sitting on the wagon together with his niece Ustinyushka. The soldier made his living with the help of a raik, a portable panorama showing objects through a magnifying glass. But the tool is broken. The soldier then came up with new songs and began to play on spoons. Sings a song.

Soldier's Toshen light,

There is no truth

Life is boring

The pain is strong.

German bullets,

Turkish bullets,

French bullets,

Russian sticks!

Klim notices that in his yard there is a deck on which he chopped firewood from his youth. She is "not as wounded" as Ovsyannikov. However, the soldier did not receive full board, as the doctor's assistant, when examining the wounds, said that they were second-rate. The soldier reapplies.

IV. Good time - good songs - a summary.

Grisha and Savva take their father home and sing:

The share of the people

his happiness.

Light and freedom

Primarily!

We are a little

We ask God:

honest deal

do skillfully

Give us strength!

Working life -

Direct to friend

Road to the heart

Away from the threshold

Coward and lazy!

Isn't it heaven!

The share of the people

his happiness.

Light and freedom

Primarily!

Father fell asleep, Savvushka took up the book, and Grisha went into the field. Grisha has a thin face - in the seminary they were underfed by the housekeeper. Grisha remembers his mother Domna, whose favorite son he was. Sings a song:

In the middle of the world

For a free heart

There are two ways.

Weigh the proud strength

Weigh firm will, -

How to go?

One spacious

The road is torn,

The passions of a slave

On it is huge,

Hungry for temptation

The crowd is coming.

About sincere life

About the lofty goal

There thought is ridiculous.

Eternal boils there

Inhuman

Enmity-war.

For mortal blessings...

There are captive souls

Full of sin.<…>

The other one is tight

The road is honest

They walk on it

Only strong souls

loving,

To fight, to work.

For the bypassed

For the oppressed

In their footsteps

Go to the downtrodden

Go to the offended -

Be the first there.

No matter how dark vakhlachina,

No matter how crowded with corvee

And slavery - and she,

Blessed, put

In Grigory Dobrosklonov

Such a messenger.

Fate prepared for him

The path is glorious, the name is loud

people's protector,

Consumption and Siberia.

Grisha sings a song about the bright future of his Motherland: “ You are still destined to suffer a lot, / But you will not die, I know". Grisha sees a barge hauler, who, having completed his work, clinking coppers in his pocket, goes to a tavern. Grisha sings another song.

RUSSIA

You are poor

You are abundant

You are powerful

You are powerless

Mother Russia!

Saved in bondage

Free heart -

Gold, gold

The heart of the people!

The strength of the people

mighty force -

Conscience is calm

The truth is alive!

Strength with unrighteousness

They don't get along

Victim of untruth

Not called -

Russia does not stir

Russia is dead!

And lit up in it

The hidden spark

We got up - nebuzheny,

Came out - uninvited,

Live by the grain

The mountains have been applied!

Rat rises -

Innumerable!

The strength will affect her

Invincible!

You are poor

You are abundant

You are beaten

You are almighty

Mother Russia!

Grisha is pleased with his song:

He heard immense strength in his chest,

Gracious sounds delighted his ears,

Sounds of the radiant hymn of the noble -

He sang the embodiment of the happiness of the people! ..

I hope this summary of Nekrasov's poem "Who Lives Well in Russia" helped you prepare for the lesson of Russian literature.

Wanderers go, they see haymaking. Haven't mowed for a long time, I wanted to work. They took braids from the women, began to mow. Suddenly, music is heard from the river. A gray-haired man named Vlas explains that this is a landowner riding in a boat. He pushes the women, says that the main thing is not to upset the landowner. Three boats are moored to the shore, in them there is an old gray-haired landowner, hangers-on, servants, three young ladies, two beautiful ladies, two mustachioed gentlemen. The old landowner goes around the hayfield, finds fault with one stack that the hay is damp, demands that it be dried. Everyone fawns over him and tries to please. When the landowner and his retinue leave for breakfast, the wanderers pester Vlas with questions, who turned out to be a steward, wondering why the landowner is in charge, although serfdom has been abolished, which means that the hay and the meadow that is being mowed are not his. Vlas says that their landowner is “special” - “he has been acting weird all his life, fooling around, and then suddenly a thunderstorm broke out.” The landowner did not believe. The governor himself came to him, they argued for a long time, and in the evening the master had a stroke - the left half of the body was taken away, lying motionless. The heirs arrived - sons, "black-moustached guards", with their wives. But the old man recovered, and when he heard from his sons about the abolition of serfdom, he called them traitors, cowards, etc. The sons, fearing that he would deprive them of their inheritance, decide in. indulge him all. One of the "ladies" told the old man that the peasants had been ordered to return the landlords again. The old man was delighted, ordered to serve a prayer service, to ring the bells. The heirs persuade the peasants to break the comedy. But there were also those who did not have to be persuaded. One, Ipat, said: “You have fun! And I’m a serf of the Duck princes - and that’s the whole tale! Ipat fondly recalls how the prince harnessed him to the cart, how he bathed him in an ice hole - kunal into one hole, pulled him out into another and immediately gave vodka, how he put him on the goats to play the violin. The horse stumbled, Ipat fell, the sleigh ran over him, the prince drove away. But after a while he returned - Ipat was grateful to the prince to tears that he did not leave him to freeze. Gradually, everyone agrees to deception - to pretend that serfdom has not been abolished, only Vlas refuses to be a steward. Then Klim Lavin is called to be a steward:

Been to Moscow and St. Petersburg, Traveled to Siberia with the merchants, It's a pity I didn't stay there! Clever, but a penny does not hold, Heather, but gets caught in a mess! Fuck man! Heard a lot of special words: Patronage, Moscow, the capital, Great Russian soul. "I am a Russian peasant!" - He bawled in a wild voice And, having knocked on the forehead with dishes, He drank half a bottle in one gulp!

Klim has a clay conscience, And Minin's beards, You'll see, so you'll think, That you can't find a peasant more powerful and sober.

The old order is gone. The old prince walks around the patrimony, orders, the peasants laugh behind his back. The prince gives stupid orders: having learned that one widow's house has collapsed and she is making her way through alms, he orders to fix the house and marry her to the neighbor Gavrila; later it turns out that the widow is under seventy, and the "groom" is six years old. Only the peasant Agap Petrov did not want to obey the old order, and when his landowner caught him stealing the forest, he told Utyatin everything directly, called him a jester, etc. Utyatin had a second blow. But the hopes of the heirs were not justified this time either: the old man woke up and began to demand the punishment of the rebel - a public flogging. The heirs begin to persuade Agap, they persuade the whole world, Klim drank with him for a day, then, having persuaded him, he took him to the manor's yard. The old prince cannot walk - he sits on the porch. Agap was taken to the stable, they put a bottle of wine in front of him, and asked him to shout louder. He shouted so that even Utyatin took pity. Drunk Agap was carried home. But he soon died: “Klim, the shameless one, ruined him, anathema, with a blame!”

Utyatin at this time is sitting at the table - there are obsequious servants around, footmen drive away flies, everyone agrees in everything. The peasants are standing at the porch. Everyone breaks a comedy, suddenly one man can not stand it - he laughs. Utyatin jumps up, demands the punishment of the rebel. But the laughing man - "a rich Petersburger", arrived on time, local orders do not apply to him. The peasants persuade one of the wanderers to obey. They open up. The burmistrov's godfather saves everyone - she throws herself at the feet of the master, says that her son laughed - an unintelligent boy. Utyatin calms down. He drinks champagne, jokes, “pinches beautiful daughters-in-law”, orders musicians to play, makes daughters-in-law and sons dance, ridicules them. One of the "ladies" is forced to sing, falls asleep. They take him away. Klim says that he would never have taken up such a case if he had not known that the “last child” was swaggering at his will. Vlas objects that until quite recently all this was serious, but "not in jest and for money." Here comes the news that Utyatin died - a new stroke was enough just after eating. The peasants breathed a sigh of relief. But their joy was premature:

With the death of the Last, the caress of the lord disappeared:

The Guardsmen did not let the Vahlaks get drunk! And for the pasture meadows Heirs with the peasants Compete to this day. Vlas is an intercessor for the peasants, Lives in Moscow ... was in St. Petersburg ... But there is no sense!

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