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Very often in literature, the authors give only a fragmentary biography of their characters, focusing the reader's attention only on a certain moment in the life of the hero. N.V. Gogol did not follow this trend in his story Dead Souls. He describes in detail the life of his main character in the story, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, allowing the reader to trace all the stages of the formation of this character.
Chichikov's childhood
Chichikov as a child lived in a simple hut, where the windows did not open at all, even in summer. Chichikov had no friends in childhood, which greatly aggravated an already unhappy existence. His father was ill all the time, which also significantly affected the financial condition of the family. The Chichikov family owned only one family of serfs. This did not allow them to provide a comfortable existence. In general, Chichikov himself has too few memories of his childhood.
However, the situation of Pavel Ivanovich was not hopeless - his parents had sufficient finances to send their son to study. Therefore, despite his childhood, bordering on the life of ordinary peasants, Chichikov had the opportunity to escape from poverty.
School education
As Pavel Ivanovich grew older, the main issue was to obtain a proper education and skills that allow him to take a good place in life.
Soon the decision was made, and Pavel Ivanovich became a student of one school. He lived with his distant relative. This made it possible to provide decent living conditions and at the same time save a significant part of the money.
Chichikov was not a particularly gifted student - his knowledge and talent did not allow him to stand out favorably from the crowd of students like him. In this case, Chichikov was saved by his diligence and diligence.
Over time, he learned to please the teachers, which played an important role in his education and created the illusion of a good and exemplary student. Chichikov never saw his father again. They always had a tense relationship - the father did not know how to be affectionate with his son, he always behaved towards his son strictly and harshly, leaving his home only strengthened these feelings of remoteness. Chichikov's father died at a time when Pavel Ivanovich was still a student. There was no special inheritance left from his father, so Chichikov decides to sell everything that was. After the sale, he was able to get a thousand rubles, which, of course, was a small amount, but allowed the economical Chichikov to start in life.
Pavel Ivanovich learned to treat money with care even in his youth. During training, he tried in every possible way to find an opportunity to earn money, he usually did not spend the accumulated money, which allowed Chichikov to make a small personal capital. First, Pavel Ivanovich sculpted birds from wax and painted them, then he trained a mouse and was also able to successfully sell it.
Dear readers! We offer to follow in the poem by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol "Dead Souls"
At the school, Chichikov also failed to find a friend, the reason for this was, most likely, his stinginess and greed. Pavel Ivanovich was not loved in the team.
Service Chichikov
After graduating from college, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov begins the civil service. His first job and position were the most common and simple - with a lot of effort, he got a job as an employee in the state chamber.
However, he did not stop looking for a better place. Soon such a position was found and Chichikov began to serve, where he had the opportunity to make significant savings in a dishonest way. However, nothing lasts forever - the new bosses managed to expose Chichikov.
After this incident, Chichikov has no choice but to start all over again. He works in small, insignificant positions in different cities, until he gets the opportunity to become a customs worker, which Chichikov takes advantage of.
His service begins to take shape quite successfully and Chichikov even gets promoted to collegiate adviser. However, this did not last long.
His unpleasant story at his last job did not teach him anything - Chichikov again gets involved in a scam, this time he interacts with smugglers. This business turns out to be very profitable, and Pavel Ivanovich soon has significant savings, which is true not for long - his scam was cashed out and Chichikov again loses everything.
Left with nothing, he has no choice but to start all over again - Chichikov begins his career for the third time. This time he starts working as an attorney. At the same time, Chichikov has a plan for his next scam, which allows him to get rich from scratch - he plans to buy up "dead souls" in order to get rich by reselling them. Hoping to carry out his plan, Chichikov takes his only two servants, a chaise and all his savings - 10 thousand, and goes to the county to buy.
The creation of the poem "Dead Souls" fell just at the time when in Russia there was a change in the traditional, outdated foundations of society, reforms were brewing, changes in people's thinking. Even then it was clear that the nobility with its old traditions and outlook on life was slowly dying out, and a new type of person had to come to replace it. Gogol's goal is to describe the hero of his time, declare him in full voice, describe his positive and explain what his activities will lead to, as well as how it will affect the fate of other people.
The central character of the poem
Nikolai Vasilyevich Chichikov made the central character in the poem, he cannot be called the main character, but it is on him that the plot of the poem rests. The journey of Pavel Ivanovich is the framework for the entire work. It is not for nothing that the author placed the hero’s biography at the very end, the reader is not interested in Chichikov himself, he is curious about his actions, why he collects these dead souls and what it will lead to in the end. Gogol does not even try to reveal the nature of the character, but he introduces the peculiarities of his thinking, thus giving a hint where to look for the essence of this act of Chichikov. Childhood is where the roots come from, even at a tender age the hero formed his own worldview, vision of the situation and the search for ways to solve problems.
Description of Chichikov
The childhood and early years of Pavel Ivanovich are unknown to the reader at the beginning of the poem. Gogol portrayed his character as faceless and voiceless: against the backdrop of bright, colorful images of landowners with their quirks, Chichikov's figure is lost, becomes small and insignificant. He has neither his own face nor the right to vote, the hero resembles a chameleon, skillfully adapting to his interlocutor. This is an excellent actor and psychologist, he knows how to behave in a given situation, instantly determines the character of a person and does everything to win him over, says only what they want to hear from him. Chichikov skillfully plays a role, pretends to hide true feelings, tries to be his own among strangers, but he does all this in order to achieve the main goal - his own well-being.
The childhood of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov
A person's worldview is formed at a young age, so many of his actions in adulthood can be explained by studying his biography well. What guided him, why he collected dead souls, what he wanted to achieve with this - all these questions are answered. The hero’s childhood cannot be called happy, he was constantly haunted by boredom and loneliness. Pavlush did not know any friends or entertainment in his youth, he did monotonous, tedious and completely uninteresting work, listened to the reproaches of his sick father. The author did not even hint about maternal affection. One conclusion can be drawn from this - Pavel Ivanovich wanted to make up for lost time, to receive all the benefits that were not available to him in childhood.
But do not think that Chichikov is a soulless cracker, thinking only about his enrichment. He was a kind, active and sensitive child, subtly perceiving the world around him. The fact that he often ran away from his nanny in order to explore places never seen before indicates Chichikov's curiosity. Childhood shaped his character, taught him to achieve everything on his own. Father taught Pavel Ivanovich to save money and please bosses and rich people, and he put these instructions into practice.
Chichikov's childhood and studies were gray and uninteresting, he tried in every possible way to break into people. First, he catered to the teacher in order to become a favorite student, then he promised the boss to marry his daughter in order to get a promotion, working at customs, convinces everyone of his honesty and impartiality, and he makes a huge fortune on smuggling. But Pavel Ivanovich does all this not with malicious intent, but with the sole purpose of making his childhood dream of a big and bright house, a caring and loving wife, a bunch of cheerful children come true.
Chichikov's communication with the landowners
Pavel Ivanovich could find an approach to everyone, from the first minutes of communication to understand what a person is. For example, he did not stand on ceremony with Korobochka, he spoke in a patriarchal-pious and even slightly patronizing tone. With the landowner, Chichikov felt relaxed, used colloquial, rude expressions, completely adjusting to the woman. With Manilov, Pavel Ivanovich is pompous and amiable to the point of cloying. He flatters the landowner, uses flowery phrases in his speech. Refusing the proposed treat, even Plyushkin was pleased by Chichikov. "Dead Souls" very well demonstrate the changeable nature of a person, because Pavel Ivanovich adapted to the mores of almost all landowners.
What does Chichikov look like in the eyes of other people?
The activities of Pavel Ivanovich greatly frightened the city officials and landowners. At first they compared him with the romantic robber Rinald Rinaldin, then they began to look for similarities with Napoleon, thinking that he had escaped from the island of Helena. In the end, the real Antichrist was recognized in Chichikovo. Of course, such comparisons are absurd and even somewhat comical, Gogol ironically describes the fright of the narrow-minded landowners, their speculation about why Chichikov actually collects dead souls. The characterization of the character hints that the characters are no longer the same as they were before. The people could be proud, take an example from the great commanders and defenders, and now there are no such people, they were replaced by selfish Chichikovs.
The real "I" of the character
One would think that Pavel Ivanovich is an excellent psychologist and actor, since he easily adapts to the people he needs, instantly guesses their character, but is it really so? The hero was never able to adapt to Nozdryov, because arrogance, arrogance, familiarity are alien to him. But even here he is trying to adapt, because the landowner is incredibly rich, hence the appeal to “you”, the boorish tone of Chichikov. Childhood taught Pavlusha to please the right people, so he is ready to step over himself, forget about his principles.
At the same time, Pavel Ivanovich practically does not pretend to be with Sobakevich, because they are united by serving the “penny”. And with Plyushkin, Chichikov has some similarities. The character tore off the poster from the post, having read it at home, folded it neatly and put it in a chest in which all sorts of unnecessary things were stored. This behavior is very much like Plyushkin, who is prone to hoarding various rubbish. That is, Pavel Ivanovich himself did not depart so far from the same landowners.
The main goal in the life of the hero
And once again money - it was for this that Chichikov collected dead souls. The characterization of the character indicates that he invents various frauds not just for the sake of profit, there is no stinginess and stinginess in him. Pavel Ivanovich dreams that the time will come when he will finally be able to use his savings, live a calm, prosperous life, not thinking about tomorrow.
The attitude of the author to the hero
There is an assumption that in subsequent volumes Gogol planned to re-educate Chichikov, to make him repent of his actions. Pavel Ivanovich in the poem is not opposed to the landowners or officials, he is the hero of the capitalist formation, the “primary accumulator”, who replaced the nobility. Chichikov is a skilled businessman, an entrepreneur who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals. The scam with dead souls failed, but Pavel Ivanovich did not suffer any punishment either. The author hints that there are a huge number of such Chichikovs in the country, and no one wants to stop them.
Composer Alfred Schnittke wrote the suite "Childhood of Chichikov". "Dead Souls", Gogol's poem, from which this passage was taken, is an adornment not only of Russian, but also of world literature.
A small essay on the hero's childhood
A small excerpt from the eleventh, last chapter of the book, written by the creator so vividly and figuratively, inspired the composer to express by means of music a gray, bleak childhood. Chichikov, the protagonist of the poem, remembering his own childhood, all his next life, by hook or by crook, tried to achieve a certain position in society. N.V. Gogol professionally described the wretchedness of little Pavel's existence in his home with a brilliant language in two or three phrases. What can compare with the phrase about how "life looked" at the baby! A sour-uncomfortable look, well, and even through a dull window covered with snow. It immediately becomes clear that the boy grew up without parental affection (his father was ill, and his mother looked after him), lonely, without booming friends and comrades, abandoned. But the most fun and carefree time of life is childhood! Chichikov, one might say, was deprived of it.
Causes that shape temper
In the coming life, the absence of friends did not bother Pavlusha. This was facilitated, on the one hand, by the habit of always being alone, on the other hand, by the instigation of the father, who decided, perhaps, for the only time in his life, to have a heart-to-heart talk with the offspring. Malekhanky Chichikov was taken to the adjoining town to be determined at the school. The Magpie horse only on the 3rd day in the morning delivered the travelers to their destination - to a distant relative. And again, poorly hidden poverty, dullness and wretchedness are around. Years of education begin, childhood lasts. Chichikov perfectly learned his father's advice, the main of which was about the ability to please everyone completely, especially bosses and teachers, rich and useful fellow students. He worked out the ability to subtly flatter throughout the coming life. And, as the creator testifies, Chichikov knew how to produce the most suitable memory for society.
Chichikov's typical talents
The resourcefulness of the protagonist is the driving force behind the plot of the work. Enterprising, enterprising, obsequious and unprincipled - a beautiful future could open before him, in other words, he would be able to achieve what he was striving for. Having no special talents, he graduated from college with honors. For exemplary and trustworthy behavior, he is given a distinctive gift - a book with golden signs. But, despite the praise of teachers, Pavlusha learned to speculate while still in the walls of the school. The hero of the work was no exception, he was a product of the system and society.
Chichikov did not remember his childhood with a painful feeling - he did not starve, he was a well-fed boy, he simply did not need ordinary children's fun. All his energy, all his talents were oriented, according to his father's advice, towards hoarding. Gogol describes how the hero idolized money: when the boy saved up 5 rubles, he put them in a bag, which he sewed up and hid in a mattress, then began to accumulate further. Another of his talents was the ability to sit motionless throughout the lesson and, without blinking, look into the teacher's mouth, no matter how sarcastic fellow students tried to stir him up with pushing and pinching.
The deity to whom the hero prays
Father's farewell speech was dedicated to the power of a penny. She, and only she, - and the most faithful friend, and the most reliable comrade - will never throw and take out of any kind of failure. And all the years of study, Pavlush got a pretty penny without getting tired. He also trained a mouse, and later sold it profitably, and made a bird for the same purpose. Taking advantage of the carelessness of fellow students, Chichikov took pies and bagels in advance, and after waiting for them to get hungry, he sold food at a price depending on the buyer's appetite. In fact, his own, he was an enterprising and professional businessman. Such an image of Chichikov. Childhood certainly left its own imprint on his temper, but society completely shaped his characters.
Chichikov's childhood from "Dead Souls" cannot be called the best period in his life. He did not have serene games, cheerful amusements, joyful memories of family holidays.
Childhood memories
In fact, little Pavlusha did not even have a real family: all he remembered was his always sick, disgruntled father, who forced his son to do literacy and calligraphy, often scolded and punished the boy. Nothing is known about Pavlusha's mother from the story, and the father did not know how or did not want to show feelings towards his son, rarely talked to him. Deprived of affection and love, the child grew up unsociable and withdrawn.
Being already quite an adult, Chichikov will never learn to feel affection for people, because he did not see this in his own family. The miserable situation in a simple house owned by an impoverished nobleman - Pavlusha's father - contributed to the formation of the same limited inner world of the boy. In the memoirs of Pavlusha, there was an uncomfortable house, a miserable environment and the alienation of the only native person - his father. Briefly, Chichikov's childhood can be described as a difficult and joyless time that had a serious impact on his character.
Departure to the city and father's mandate
One day, the father took the boy to the city to enroll in a school. They stayed with a distant relative, which allowed the father to save a lot on housing, which is necessary for the duration of education. Before leaving home, he gave his son instructions for later life. It is in it that the philosophy of life of the “Chichikovs” is revealed.
It should be noted that the father did not really believe in the mind and talent of his child, therefore he directly ordered his son to please the authorities at school, and then even without special talent in the sciences, he will always be the first. Instead of tears at parting, the parent dryly outlined the basic laws of the life of modern society: to be friends with those who are richer, not to treat others, but to behave in such a way that they themselves offer treats to you. An important point is to save money, it opens all doors. After that, he left and never saw his son again. He died when Pavlusha graduated from college.
Years in school
The boy studied well, although he did not achieve much success, but he understood exactly what needed to be done in order to have excellent marks. The teacher demanded silence, discipline, and the ability to sit upright without moving. Pavlusha quickly learned this skill, even when the children pinched him, he kept calm. His notebooks were neat, things were neat and clean, and all his thoughts were aimed at increasing the “capital” that his father had left him.
In order to spend time usefully in long evenings, Pavlusha trained a mouse that he caught in the house in such a way that it carried out some commands. He sold it at the school for very good money. Such ingenuity of the boy is due to his desire to earn money at all costs. He tried his hand at creativity - he sculpted a figurine of a bullfinch from wax, painted it and helped out decent money for a child for such a craft. The boy sewed up his savings in bags and hid them so as not to spend them. Distinguished by observation and enterprise, Pavlusha also earned money by noticing those classmates who were very hungry, offering them to buy a pie from him. Friends happily agreed.
The childhood of the hero taught him completely unchildish things: saving, refusing delicacies, finding ways to earn money, the ability to please, flatter, be insincere. Chichikov never learned to be friends, openness and kindness were not part of his habits, rather they even interfered. Without any relatives, without support and friendships, the boy was guided by his own principles, which became the basis of his life in adulthood. This period ended with his studies and the news of his father's death, his small inheritance became the start-up capital at the beginning of Pavel Ivanovich's adult life.
Artwork test
The origin of our hero is dark and modest. Parents were nobles, but pillar or personal - God knows; his face did not resemble them: at least, a relative who was at his birth, a short, short woman, who are usually called pigalits, took the child in her arms and cried out: “He didn’t turn out at all like I thought! He should have gone to the grandmother from the mother's side, which would have been better, but he was born simply, as the proverb says: neither mother nor father, but a passing young man. At the beginning, life looked at him somehow sourly and uncomfortably, through some kind of cloudy, snow-covered window: no friend, no comrade in childhood! A small firehouse with small windows that did not open either in winter or summer, father, a sick man, in a long frock coat on lambskins and knitted lappers, put on his bare feet, sighing incessantly, walking around the room, and spitting into a sandbox standing in the corner , an eternal seat on a bench, with a pen in his hands, ink on his fingers and even on his lips, an eternal inscription before his eyes: “do not lie, obey your elders and carry virtue in your heart”; the eternal shuffling and slapping around the room of the clappers, the familiar but always stern voice: “I fooled again!”, which answered at a time when the child, bored with the monotony of work, attached some kind of quotation mark or tail to the letter; and the ever-familiar, always unpleasant feeling, when, following these words, the edge of his ear twisted very painfully with the nails of long fingers stretched out behind: here is a poor picture of his initial childhood, of which he barely retained a pale memory. But in life everything changes quickly and vividly: and one day, with the first spring sun and overflowing streams, the father, taking his son, rode out with him on a cart, which was dragged by a mukhorty piebald horse, known among horse dealers under the name of a magpie; it was ruled by a coachman, a little hunchback, the ancestor of the only serf family that belonged to Chichikov's father, who occupied almost all positions in the house. On a magpie they trudged for more than a day and a half; they spent the night on the road, crossed the river, ate a cold pie and roast lamb, and only on the third day in the morning they reached the city. The streets of the city flashed with unexpected splendor before the boy, forcing him to open his mouth for several minutes. Then the magpie flopped along with the cart into the pit, which began a narrow alley, all striving down and choked with mud; she worked there for a long time with all her might and kneaded with her legs, instigated by both the hunchback and the master himself, and finally dragged them into a small courtyard that stood on a slope with two blossoming apple trees in front of an old house and a low, small garden behind it, consisting only of mountain ash, elderberry and hiding in the depths of its wooden booth, covered with shreds, with a narrow frosted window. Here lived a relative of theirs, a flabby old woman who still went to the market every morning and then dried her stockings at the samovar, who patted the boy on the cheek and admired his fullness. Here he was supposed to stay and go daily to the classes of the city school. Father, having spent the night, got out on the road the next day. At parting, no tears were shed from parental eyes; was given half a copper for consumption and goodies, and, much more importantly, a clever instruction: “Look, Pavlusha, study, don’t be a fool and don’t hang out, but most of all please teachers and bosses. If you please your boss, then, although you won’t succeed in science and God didn’t give you talent, you will go all out and get ahead of everyone. Don't hang out with your comrades, they won't teach you good things; and if it comes to that, then hang out with those who are richer, so that on occasion they can be useful to you. Do not treat or treat anyone, but behave better in such a way that you are treated, and most of all, take care and save a penny: this thing is more reliable than anything in the world. A comrade or friend will cheat you and in trouble will be the first to betray you, but a penny will not betray you, no matter what trouble you are in. You will do everything and break everything in the world with a penny. Having given such instruction, the father parted from his son and dragged himself home again on his magpie, and since then he never saw him again, but the words and instructions were sunk deep into his soul.
Chichikov
Pavlusha from another day began to go to classes. He did not have any special abilities for any science; he distinguished himself more by diligence and neatness; but on the other hand, he turned out to have a great mind on the other side, on the practical side. He suddenly realized and understood the matter and behaved in relation to his comrades in exactly such a way that they treated him, and he not only never, but even sometimes, hiding the received treat, then sold them to them. Even as a child, he already knew how to deny himself everything. He did not spend a penny out of the fifty dollars given by his father, on the contrary, in the same year he already made increments to it, showing almost extraordinary resourcefulness: he molded a bullfinch from wax, painted it and sold it very profitably. Then, for some time, he embarked on other speculations, just like this: having bought food at the market, he would sit in the class next to those who were richer, and as soon as he noticed that a comrade began to feel sick - a sign of approaching hunger - he stuck out to him under the bench, as if by chance, a corner of a gingerbread or a roll, and, having provoked him, took money, considering his appetite. For two months he fussed in his apartment without rest near a mouse, which he planted in a small wooden cage, and finally achieved the point that the mouse stood on its hind legs, lay down and got up on orders, and then sold it also very profitably. When he accumulated money up to five rubles, he sewed up the bag and began to save in another.
In relation to the authorities, he behaved even smarter. No one could sit on a bench so quietly. It should be noted that the teacher was a great lover of silence and good behavior and could not stand smart and sharp boys; it seemed to him that they must certainly laugh at him. It was enough for the one who came to the remark from the side of wit, it was enough for him only to move or somehow inadvertently wink his eyebrow, in order to suddenly fall into anger. He persecuted him and punished him mercilessly. “I, brother, will drive out of you arrogance and disobedience! he said. “I know you through and through, just as you don’t know yourself. Here you are on my knees! you will starve me!” And the poor boy, not knowing why, rubbed his knees and starved for days. “Abilities and talents? it's all nonsense,” he used to say, “I'm only looking at behavior. I will give full points in all sciences to those who do not know a thing, but behave commendably; and in whom I see a bad spirit and mockery, I am zero to him, although he plugs Solon into his belt! So said the teacher, who did not love Krylov to death because he said: “For me, it’s better to drink, but understand the matter,” and he always told with pleasure in his face and eyes, as in the school where he taught before, there was such silence that one could hear a fly flying; that not a single student coughed or blew his nose in class all year round, and that until the bell rang it was impossible to know whether anyone was there or not. Chichikov suddenly grasped the spirit of the boss and what behavior should consist of. He did not move an eye or an eyebrow during the whole class, no matter how they pinched him from behind; as soon as the bell rang, he rushed headlong and gave the teacher the first three (the teacher went around in three); giving three, he left the class first and tried to catch him three times on the road, constantly taking off his hat. The case was a complete success. Throughout his stay at the school, he was in excellent standing and upon graduation he received a full honor in all sciences, a certificate and a book with golden letters for exemplary diligence and trustworthy behavior. When he left the school, he found himself already a young man of rather attractive appearance, with a chin that required a razor. At this time his father died. The inheritance included four irrevocably worn jerseys, two old coats lined with lambskin, and a small amount of money. Father, apparently, was versed only in the advice to save a penny, while he himself saved up a little. Chichikov immediately sold a dilapidated courtyard with an insignificant piece of land for a thousand rubles, and transferred a family of people to the city, settling down in it and doing service. At the same time, a poor teacher, a lover of silence and commendable behavior, was expelled from the school for stupidity or other guilt. The teacher, in grief, began to drink; finally, he had nothing to drink; sick, without a piece of bread and help, he disappeared somewhere in an unheated, forgotten kennel. His former students, wise men and wits, in whom he constantly imagined rebelliousness and arrogant behavior, having learned about his miserable situation, immediately collected money for him, even selling a lot of things he needed; only Pavlusha Chichikov dissuaded himself by lack of money and gave him some nickel of silver, which his comrades immediately threw to him, saying: “Oh, you lived!” The poor teacher covered his face with his hands when he heard about such an act of his former students; tears flowed like hail from fading eyes, like those of a powerless child. “At death on a bed, God made me cry,” he said in a weak voice and sighed heavily when he heard about Chichikov, adding immediately: “Oh, Pavlusha! that's how a person changes! after all, what a well-behaved, nothing violent, silk! Puffed up, puffed up a lot ... "
