What the critic Mikhailovsky writes about the Chelkash story. Analysis of the story "Chelkash" (M

Year: 1895 Genre: story

Main characters: Chelkash is a smuggler, drunkard and thief, Gavrila is a peasant guy

"Chelkash" - is the first work of Gorky, which was published in the journal "Russian Wealth" in 1895. The work itself was written in August 1894 in Nizhny Novgorod. The main characters are the complete opposite of each other.

The first is Grishka Chelkash - his author classifies him as a tramp, he is a drunkard and a thief, but at the same time there is something that distinguishes this hero from a crowd like him, the author often compared him with a hawk, his thinness, special gait and predatory look distinguished him from the rest of the people. This hero lives by theft, his main prey is the ships that he cleans and then sells. Apparently, such a life does not bother Chelkash, he enjoys his power, freedom, he likes the risk and the fact that he can do whatever he wants.

The second hero is Gavrila, at first glance it seemed that there would be something similar between them, because they are both from the village and both of the same status, but in fact there is a difference in these two heroes and not small. Gavrila is a young and strong guy who dreams of prosperity in life, but his spirit is weak and pitiful. They, together with Grigory, go to work, and here immediately two different characters appear before us, the weak-willed and cowardly Gavrila and the powerful Chelkash.

The main idea. The main idea of ​​the work is the struggle for freedom and equality, the author tries to convey that tramps have their own values, thoughts and feelings, and to some extent they are even cleaner and more reasonable than people of higher status. The problem of Chelkash as a person is the uselessness of the ideas to which he aspired, and this is what he pays for his freedom.

The story begins in the morning in the port, a description of what is happening around, people are busy with their own business, there is noise, work is in full swing.

All this continues until dinner, as soon as the clock showed twelve, everything calmed down. At this time, the main character, Chelkash, appears in the port, the author describes him as a drunkard, a thief, a thin old man, brave and battered by life, often comparing him with a hawk. He came in order to find his friend and partner Misha, but as it turns out, he ended up in the hospital because of a broken leg. This upsets the hero, because a profitable business was planned for today, for which he needs a partner. Now Chelkash's goal was to find a person who would help him, and he began to look for a suitable person from passers-by. And then his attention was attracted by a guy who looked very naive and simple. Gregory meets guys, pretending to be a fisherman.

The guy's name is Gavrila, he returned from the Kuban with a very small salary, and now he is just looking for a job. Gavrila himself dreams of a free life, but he believes that he will not have one, because he himself was left with one mother, his father died, and a small piece of land remained. Of course, rich people wanted to take him as a son-in-law, but then he would have to work all his life for his father-in-law. In general, Gavrila dreams of at least 150 rubles, believing that this will help him create a successful life, build a house and get married.

Chelkash, in turn, listened to the guy's story and offered to make money on fishing, but such an offer seemed suspicious to Gavrila, because the very appearance of Grigory did not give him reason to trust him, and therefore Chelkash received a dose of distrust and contempt from the guy. But the thief is outraged by what this young man thought of him, because what right does he have to condemn other people. Ultimately, the love of money in Gavrila's soul and the offer of easy money made him decide in the direction of the thief.

Suspecting nothing and thinking that he is going fishing, the guy goes with Chelkash first to the tavern to "wash" the contract, this tavern is full of very strange people. The thief feels complete power over the guy, realizing that life now depends on him, because it is he who will either help the guy or destroy everything in a crash, but still he is full of desire to help the young man.

After nightfall, they went to work. Chelkash appreciated and admired the sea, while Gavrila, on the contrary, was afraid of the dark, everything seemed very scary to him.

The guy asked where the tackle was, because they had come fishing, but instead of an answer, he received screams in his direction. And then he realized that it would not be fishing at all, fear and uncertainty captured the guy, he tried to ask Chelkash to let him go, but he only threatened in response and ordered to row further.

Soon they reached the goal, Chelkash took the oars and the passport and went to get the goods. Gavrila tried to reassure himself that it would end soon, you need to endure and do what the thief says. Then they went through the "cordons", Gavrila tried to call for help, but got scared. Chelkash promised to pay him adequately, and this gave the guy a reason to think about a future luxurious life. At last they reached the shore and went to bed. In the morning, Chelkash was unrecognizable, he had new clothes and a wad of money, from which he allocated a couple of bills to the guy.

All this time, Gavrila was thinking about how to get all the money for himself, as a result, he tried to knock down the thief and take all the money, but nothing came of it, and in the end he still asked for forgiveness for his behavior. After this incident, the paths of the heroes diverged.

A picture or drawing of Chelkash

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The writing

The story "Chelkash" was written by M. Gorky in the summer of 1894 and published in No. 6 of the magazine "Russian Wealth" for 1895. The work was based on a story told to the writer by a neighbor in a hospital ward in the city of Nikolaev.

The story opens with a detailed description of the port, in which the author emphasizes the contradiction between the scope of various works and the ridiculous and pathetic figures of people living in slave labor. Gorky compares the noise of the port with the sounds of the "passionate hymn to Mercury" and shows how this noise and hard labor suppress people, not only withering their souls, but also exhausting their bodies.

We see a detailed portrait of the protagonist of the work already in the first part. In it, M. Gorky especially clearly emphasizes such features as cold gray eyes and a hooked predatory nose. Chelkash treats life easily, not hiding his thieving trade from people. He caustically ridicules the watchman, who does not let him into the harbor and reproaches him for theft. Instead of a sick accomplice, Chelkash invites a random acquaintance as his assistant - a young good-natured guy with big blue eyes. Comparing the portraits of the two heroes (Chelkash, who looks like a bird of prey, and the gullible Gavrila), the reader initially thinks that the young peasant guy became, out of gullibility, the victim of a treacherous swindler. Gavrila dreams of earning some money to live on her own farm, and not go to her father-in-law's house. From the conversation, we learn that the guy believes in God, seems trusting and good-natured, and Chelkash even begins to have paternal feelings for him.

A kind of indicator of the characters' attitude to life is their thoughts about the sea. Chelkash loves him, but Gavrila is afraid. For Chelkash, the sea personifies vitality and freedom: "His seething nervous nature, greedy for impressions, was never fed up with the contemplation of this dark latitude, boundless, free and powerful."

Gavrila understands from the very beginning that the night fishing, to which Chelkash invites him, may turn out to be an unkind deed. Subsequently, being convinced of this, the hero trembles with fear, begins to pray, cry and asks to be released.

After the theft by Chelkash, Gavrila's mood changes somewhat. He even gives a vow to serve a prayer service to Nicholas the Wonderworker, when he suddenly sees in front of him a huge fiery blue sword, a symbol of retribution. Gavrila's experiences reach a climax. However, Chelkash explains to him that this is just a lantern of a customs cruiser.

An important role in the story is played by the landscape, which Gavrila recreates with the help of personification (“... The clouds were motionless and like a doom up and some gray, boring thought”, “The sea woke up. It played with small waves, giving birth to them, decorating with a fringe of foam , colliding with each other and breaking into fine dust", "Foam, melting, hissed and sighed").

The deadening voice of the port is opposed by the life-giving force of the musical noise of the sea. And against the background of this life-giving element, a disgusting human drama unfolds. And the cause of this tragedy is the elementary greed of Gavrila.

M. Gorky deliberately informs the reader that the hero planned to earn two hundred rubles in the Kuban. Chelkash gives him forty for one night trip. But this amount seemed too small to him, and he begs on his knees to give him all the money. Chelkash gives them away in disgust, but suddenly finds out that Gavrila, who a few hours ago was shaking like an aspen leaf during a night trip, wanted to kill him, considering him a worthless, useless person. In anger, Chelkash takes away the money and severely beats Gavrila, wanting to teach him a lesson. In retaliation, the Goth throws a stone at him, then, obviously, remembering his soul and God, he begins to ask for forgiveness. The wounded Chelkash gives him almost all the money and staggers away. Gavrila, on the other hand, hides the money in her bosom and walks in the other direction with wide, firm steps: at the cost of humiliation, and then by force, he finally received the desired freedom that he so dreamed of. The sea washed away the traces of a bloody fight on the sand, but it cannot wash away the dirt that bubbles in the soul of God-fearing Gavrila. Selfish striving reveals all the insignificance of his nature. It is no coincidence that when Chelkash, before sharing the money, asks if he would go to the crime again for two hundred rubles, Gavrila expresses his readiness to do this, although a little earlier he sincerely repented that he had agreed. Thus, M. Gorky, the psychologist, shows in this story how deceptive the first impression of a person is and how low, under certain circumstances, human nature can fall, blinded by greed.

Other writings on this work

Man is the truth!

M. Gorky

"Chelkash" is one of the early romantic stories of M. Gorky. It belongs to the writer's cycle of works about ragged tramps and criminals, whose images in the literature of that time were gloomy and depressingly one-sided. Gorky was the first to try to comprehend the psychology of these "superfluous" people, to understand their morality, to understand the reasons that forced them to sink to the very bottom of life.

Grisha Chelkash is the main character of the story. Despite the fact that he is "an inveterate drunkard and a clever, brave thief," he attracts our attention with his eccentricity. And the point here is not only in the unusual appearance that makes Chelkash look like a predatory steppe hawk. Before us is a brave freedom-loving personality with a developed sense of self-dignity.

Chelkash undoubtedly belongs to the criminal environment and is forced to live according to its laws, theft for him is a way to survive, get his own food, gain authority among the same tramps as himself. However, many human qualities of Chelkash make us feel respect for him.

Having met Gavrila in the port and listened to his story, Chel-Kash is imbued with sympathy for the guy. Gavrila cannot cope with his household, does not know how to earn money, cannot marry, because girls with a dowry are not given out for him. Upon learning that Gavrila needs money, Chelkash offers him the opportunity to earn money. Of course, the thief also has his own interest here, since he needs a partner, but Chelkash’s pity for the young gullible Gavrila is sincere: he “envy and regretted this young life, laughed at her and even grieved for her, imagining that she could once again fall into such hands as his ... And all the feelings in the end merged with Chelka-sha into one thing - something paternal and economic.

Gavrila's dreams of rich farms are close to Chelkash, because he himself was not always a thief. Touching sadness and tenderness are filled with the memories of this stern man about his childhood, his village, parents and wife, about peasant life and military service, about how his father was proud of him in front of the whole village. During this conversation with Gavrila, Chelkash seems to me vulnerable and defenseless, he looks like a snail that hides its delicate body under a strong shell. material from the site

The farther, the more Chelkash wins our sympathies, while the image of Gavrila eventually begins to disgust. Gradually, his envious, greedy, ready for meanness and at the same time slavish service out of fear soul opens up before us. The author repeatedly emphasizes the spiritual superiority of Chelkash, especially when it comes to money. Watching Gavrila's humiliation, Chelkash feels "that he, a thief, a reveler, cut off from everything native, will never be so greedy, low, not remembering himself."

Gorky calls his story "a little drama played out between two people," but it seems to me that only one of them has the right to bear the proud name of Man.

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Title of the work: Chelkash

Year of writing: 1895

Genre: story

Main characters: Chelkash- smuggler, drunkard and thief, Gavrila- peasant boy

Plot

Chelkash meets Gavrila on the seashore in the Southern Port City. There he asks him about life and finds out that the guy has no father, no money, no home and no land. He has a dream to get some land, build a house, start a farm. Then a clever smuggler offers a stupid guy to go with him on business. At night, they quickly and deftly steal bales of fabrics and rent them to a buyer of stolen goods for decent money.

Chelkash settles accounts with the guy, but he begs him to give him all the money. Chelkash, shocked by the greed and humiliation of the young man, throws banknotes at his feet. Then Gavrila admits that he was even ready to kill his accomplice and throw him into the sea. This angered the thief and he took the money. For which he received a strong blow to the head. But then Gavrila, shocked by his act, brought Chelkash to his senses, asked for forgiveness and kissed his hands.

Chelkash again gave the guy the money and left, spitting contemptuously on the sand.

Conclusion (my opinion)

Chelkash is a thief, but a free man and noble in his own way, he is capable of a grand gesture. Gavrila, at first glance, is an honest person, but for the sake of money he is capable of meanness and humiliation.

The story "Chelkash" is the early work of M. Gorky. Gorky finished work on the story in the summer of 1894. But the creation saw the light only in 1895, it was published in the magazine "Russian Wealth" in the June issue.

The impetus for writing the story was a story heard by the author in a hospital ward in the city of Nikolaev. M. Gorky in this story touches on the main problem of that time. In the 1890s, people were consumed by poverty and slavery, such people were called tramps. The author did not feel pity or disgust for them. And I saw them as freedom-loving, able to sympathize with the fate of the same destitute people. Gorky knew well the life of the poor, from whom society turns away. After all, he fully drank such a fate, in his early youth he was called a "tramp".

It must be emphasized that the entire storyline narrated in the story unfolds against the backdrop of a romantic seascape. The author does not just dilute the story with a beautiful seascape, he uses this to display the inner world and characters of the characters. Gorky makes a detailed description of the port, how various kinds of work seethe in it, which absorbs a person with its slavish conditions.

The main characters of the story are two village guys, Gavrila and Chelkash, who are striving to find freedom. Chelkash managed to escape from the village, and he went to the city, where he feels free and not dependent on anyone. And Gavrila was very dependent on his father-in-law, and he can only dream of freedom. The author shows the main characters of the story as two opposites. They are not similar either in appearance or in demeanor.

M. Gorky makes a huge emphasis on the portrait of Grishka Chelkash, an inveterate drunkard, a brave and skillful thief. The writer depicts Chelkash as a hawk, which looks at others with predatory and wary eyes, but there are romantic notes in it. Gavrila, in turn, the author portrays as a rather rustic, village guy with a trusting look.

The author makes a thief and a tramp a positive character of the story, Gorky reflects that the elite of that time suppresses and absorbs any manifestations of human potential. They like people of the Gavrilov mindset, with slavish and mediocre thinking.

Detailed Analysis

The story "Chelkash" refers to the early prose of Maxim Gorky. It was written in 1895. Realism is diluted with elements of romanticism: adventurism, exotic landscape, loneliness.

Chelkash belonged to the class of Bosniaks. This group formed in the last third of the 19th century. These people lived in poverty, because they did not set the goal in life to accumulate wealth. But they were happy. This is what attracted Maxim Gorky.

Chelkash was a thief. He made a living by robbing ships. Vagrancy and theft often became the profession of the heroes of romantic works.

Chelkash was from a village. From the same village came his comrade Gavrila, who wanted to get rich and not need anything. Chelkash and Gavrila had different goals, so they were not good friends. Chelkash invited Gabriel to go on a joint voyage with the aim of robbery. This event will be a test for them.

The voyage was successful, so Chelkash managed to sell all the loot. He brought the money to a friend and decided to give him most of it, since Chelkash felt sorry for him. This characterizes the main character as a merciful, kind and generous person.

In this situation, the face of Gavrila is also revealed. He admits that he used to want to kill Chelkash and take all the money for himself, since that amount would definitely be enough for a well-fed life in the village. This characterizes him as a vile, vile and cruel person, moreover, not very smart, since he revealed his plan.

After that, Chelkash's opinion changes. Colleague causes him only disgust. Chelkash does not want to share with a scoundrel. At this time, Gavrila loses all self-control and begs Chelkash to give him all the money. He completely lost his human dignity, so he threw himself at the feet of a man whom he had wanted to kill yesterday.

No words can affect Chelkash. The disgust that this fallen man arouses in him is higher than anything in the world. Gavrila is left with nothing.

Maxim Gorky did not accidentally choose the Bosniak estate for his work. He wanted to show that really worthy, kind, soft-hearted people (Chelkash) can become outcasts in society, and evil, nasty people with base needs can gain recognition, become someone's friend, live in a society that accepts them (Gavrila). Thus, the writer expresses the imperfection of contemporary society.

Option 3

The famous writer Gorky is famous for many of his wonderful works, one of which is the story "Chelkash". This work was written in 1895. The story is based on a story about a man who is a thief, and society does not perceive him. The concept of "antithesis" is revealed as clearly as possible, the reader can compare the two main characters of the story, Gavrila and Chelkash. The heroes are village people who are trying to find freedom. Chelkash managed to break away from the village and leaves for the city, where he begins to feel his independence and freedom. But Gavrila only has to think about freedom, because he cannot escape and depends on his father-in-law.

Gorky tries to show the difference between the two heroes in almost everything. Reading this story, this can be seen in the description of the appearance and behavior of the characters. The author compares Chelkash with a hawk that looks at the surrounding people with a predatory look.

Gavrila, in turn, is completely opposed to Chelkash. Gorky describes Gavrila as a very simple person from the village with a trusting look. Naturally, such a person as Chelkash feels his complete superiority over a rural guy.

The work consists of three parts and a prologue. At the beginning of the story, the port is very well shown, in which people work for pennies.

Based on the character of Chelkash, it becomes clear that such hard work in the port is not for him, especially for a petty salary. Chelkash decides to engage in smuggling and calls Gavrila as a partner. Gavrila is very afraid of criminal acts, but understands that this is his chance to earn money and gain freedom.

The concept of freedom for people engaged in such activities is somewhat different than for ordinary people. Gorky makes it clear that in the sea Chelkash truly feels independent and free, beautifully describing the beauty of the sea. It is at such moments that one can see that Chelkash has many good qualities, but at the same time one can see more insignificance in Gavril.

By himself, Gavrila is cowardly and is simply afraid to death to participate in illegal affairs. He is ready to run away, hide from Chelkash, but everything changes. When Gavrila saw a lot of money from Chelkash, he became greedy and dangerous. In the lines of the story, the changes in this character are clearly visible. For Chelkash, this is just money, which he likes to spend with ease and without greed.

From the sight of the money, Gavrila decided to kill his colleague, but even here Gorky shows that he is so insignificant and weak that he could not even hit his partner properly. With a wound on his head, Chelkash gives all the money to the vile Gavrila, and the heroes disperse in different directions.

Reading this story, you can initially feel pity for Gavrila because of his poverty and worthless life. But towards the end of the work, the opinion changes and it is clear that even such a person as Gavrila is capable of betrayal at the sight of money.