- Who is Gerasim?
- Appearance of the hero;
- How did he get to the lady;
- His responsibilities;
- Housing;
- Relation to Mumu;
- Character of Gerasim;
- Why is he leaving his lady?
- My attitude towards Gerasim.
Gerasim is the main character of the story “Mumu” by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev. From birth he was deaf and mute, so he could not hear either human speech or the sounds of nature, and he himself could not utter a single word. Gerasim had no one. He lived alone in the village, in his small hut. Like many ordinary people of that time, he was an unfree, serf man and belonged to a certain Moscow feisty lady. He worked for her, meekly doing the hardest peasant work.
This village man was a real Russian hero. Nature generously endowed him with extraordinary physical strength. He was a very tall man - “12 vershoks” or almost two meters tall and of a very strong build. He had big working hands and huge palms. He had no equal in his work; everything came easy to him. He worked tirelessly for four people. And he mowed, and plowed, and threshed, deftly and skillfully. Everyone thought he was a very nice guy.
But fate wanted the lady to take the deaf-mute hero from the village to her place in Moscow. She probably liked his silent hard work. And he could not resist her, because she was his full-fledged mistress. At the Moscow estate, he was given new clothes and assigned to do new work. From a peasant, Gerasim unexpectedly turned into a janitor and watchman.
Working in the city in a new position was too easy for him. After all, he was used to hard field work, and working around the yard was not difficult for him. His range of tasks was very small: sweep the yard, deliver a barrel of water to the estate, provide the household with firewood, keep strangers out, and guard at night. Gerasim completed all the main work in half an hour. He worked very hard, as he was used to in the village. Everywhere and in everything he had exemplary order. But he did not like his new place of residence, he was homesick, his soul was yearning to return to his native village home. He felt like an animal that had been caught and imprisoned in a cage.
His dwelling was very modest and really looked like a cramped cage. He settled in a small room right above the kitchen. The atmosphere there was very simple. There was very little furniture, only the essentials: a bed, a table and a chair. But it was all very strong, made of oak, to withstand the weight of a village hero. Gerasim always locked his closet with a key - he was still unsociable and did not like strangers to come to him.
The courtyard people who lived with the lady were wary of Gerasim. They were afraid of the deaf-mute because his character was too strict and serious, and also because of his extraordinary strength and stern silence. “Who knows what’s wrong with him,” they probably thought. Behind his back, they called the janitor “goblin.”
Once it was the hero Gerasim who saved a little puppy, took him into his closet, warmed him, dried him and fed him. He cared for his pet as “no mother cares for her child.” It turned out that behind the stern appearance and powerful physique lies a very kind, gentle heart. Gerasim named the little dog Mumu, because he could not utter any other word except this moo. Mumu always responded with joy to this simple name. Gerasim cared for the dog with warmth and loved her deeply. He gave all his unspent affection to this little devoted creature. And Mumu followed on his heels, obeyed him unquestioningly and served him faithfully.
But they didn’t have to live happily together for long. Feeling his helplessness, out of hopelessness and despair, Gerasim drowned Mumu. For him it was an irreparable loss. He raised her as his own child, and with his own hands he had to kill her. His heart trembled, heavy tears rolled from his eyes, but at that moment he saw no other way out.
After the death of the dog, Gerasim could no longer endure his imprisonment in the city. He shows determination, which was previously unusual for him, and returns to his native village. Although he understands perfectly well, for such self-will - escaping - he faces severe punishment: hard labor or even death.
I feel sorry for Gerasim. Fate was harsh to him. Deprived of the gift of hearing and speech, he found himself deprived of everything that was dear to his heart and brought him joy and consolation. And yet I don’t quite understand the hero of the story: why he still decided to drown the poor animal. Surely some way out could have been found. For example, give it into good hands. What thoughts and experiences tormented Gerasim and why he committed his cruel act, unfortunately, we will no longer know.
Gerasim - the main character of Mumu's story, essay 5th grade
Plan
1. Briefly about the story.
2. Gerasim is the main character of the story “”.
2.1. Image of Gerasim.
2.2. His relationship with Tatyana.
2.3. His attitude towards the dog.
3. The importance of the image of Gerasim.
“Mumu” is an interesting story that describes the tender feelings of a strong hero for a small dog and raises complex issues of serfdom. The plot is based on real events that occurred on the estate of the writer's mother.
Gerasim is the main character of this work. He is strong and hardworking, touching and sincere. He loves nature very much and has a keen sense of its beauty. But the man is deaf and dumb, and his illness leaves a big mark on all his affairs.
He loved living in the countryside and doing hard work. But the quarrelsome lady summoned Gerasim to Moscow and ordered him to serve as a janitor. The man did not like this kind of work; he languished in the city and longed for the open spaces of the countryside.
Gerasim liked the master's washerwoman Tatyana. She was an orphan, small and thin, ugly and scared all the time. The woman did hard work and was very afraid of not pleasing her mistress. The attention of the deaf-mute at first frightened Tatyana, but then she began to get used to his affectionate glances and warm smiles, and began to accept his sincere gifts and unpretentious friendship.
But the eccentric housewife decided to marry a drunkard shoemaker to a lonely laundress. Tatyana, always resigned and humble, gave her silent consent. To make it easier for Gerasim to bear the grief of her wedding, the woman was forced to pretend to be drunk. Then the deaf-mute janitor rejected his chosen one, because he could not tolerate drunk people.
A year later, Tatyana and her husband were forced to leave Moscow and return to the village. Gerasim saw her off with bitter regret and tender compassion. And on the way back I saw a small dog. The hero was imbued with extraordinary sympathy and tenderness for this little animal. He saved her, began to look after her and loved her with all his lonely heart. “No mother cares for her child as much as Gerasim looked after his pet,” the author writes about this affection.
The deaf-mute janitor took care of the dog, and she, in turn, responded to him with affectionate devotion and trust. But this sublime relationship was destined to be interrupted. The evil lady disliked Mumu and ordered her to be killed. Not allowing anyone to carry out such a dirty deed, Gerasim personally drowned his only friend. This act broke the poor man's heart. He was very depressed and left his mistress for the village without permission.
The image of Gerasim is the image of all serfs, weak-willed, oppressed people. They can love and admire beauty, they have their own preferences and their own personal lives. But poor people are enslaved, forced to obey the whims and whims of others. And if they do not obey, they and their loved ones will be severely punished. It shouldn't be like this!
Lady in the story “Mumu” - the landowner, the culprit of all the troubles and suffering of the protagonist. He interferes in Gerasim’s life three times, breaking it at his own absurd whim. The behavior of the lady is portrayed as a typical example of serfdom, which was noticed by officials of the censorship department, who suspected Turgenev of trying to restore readers against “the attitude of serfs to their owners that exists in our fatherland” (i.e., against serfdom). The heroine’s behavior is motivated by her psychological characteristics: Turgenev takes into account old age, loneliness, melancholy and boredom of a creature that no one needs. But, explaining the capriciousness and irritability of the lady with all this, Turgenev does not justify her - the consequences of her actions are so terrible that the reader is completely deprived of the emotional opportunity to come to terms with them.
Gerasim- the main character of the story “Mumu” by Turgenev. His initial characterization is based on associations that bring Gerasim closer to the epic heroes: he, like them, is unusually strong and is also connected with the land that he cultivates and loves. The impression is complicated by the fact that the hero is deaf and mute from birth. This is perceived as a misfortune that dooms him to complete loneliness. But another semantic connotation immediately appears: the hero’s deafness and muteness impart to his behavior a kind of unfussiness and even greatness (“Constant silence gave solemn importance to his tireless work”).
At the whim of the lady, Gerasim is torn away from peasant work and thrown into the city world, where his existence is meaningless and absurd. But the hero’s patience overcomes this disaster: Gerasim got used to his new fate and even reconciled with it, because he fell in love. He loves the meekest and most unrequited of the courtyard girls, finding the meaning of life in protecting and surrounding with care a human being, like him, deprived of happiness. And again a lordly whim ruins his life: a bored landowner, on an absurd whim, passes off Tatyana as a drunkard servant. Gerasim painfully experiences the loss, but then again finds solace in love for a weak and helpless creature. He becomes attached to the dog he rescued, and this attachment gives his existence meaning. But here, for the third time, the master’s arbitrariness intervenes in his life: the lady orders him to get rid of the dog.
In desperation, Gerasim decides to drown his pet himself and then carries out his decision. However, this time the hero’s grief is so great that his usual humility comes to an end. A rebellion occurs, but an unusual revolt, alien to any kind of aggression. The hero simply ceases to recognize the power of the lady and returns to his village world, from which he was forcibly expelled. Before the force of this silent protest, the lady retreats, not daring to demand Gerasim back. The story “Mumu” was written at the height of the government reaction, but the ending of Gerasim’s story is permeated with a premonition of the liberation of the Russian peasantry from serfdom.
Tatiana- a yard girl whom Gerasim loves. An unhappy, downtrodden and frightened creature. Her whole life passes in labor, hardship and suffering. Gerasim turns out to be the first person who becomes mentally attached to her and protects her from bullying. Forced marriage and exile with her drunkard husband to a distant village completely ruin her life. And only at this moment is some not entirely clear feeling revealed that connected her with the hero of the story (“Tatyana, who had endured all the vicissitudes of her life with great indifference until that moment, here, however, could not stand it, shed tears and, getting into the cart, -Christianly kissed Gerasim three times").
The tragedy and hopelessness of the main character I.S. Turgenev is revealed already in the first lines of the well-known story “Mumu”. The whole idea of the story is that a simple man, mute from birth, turned out to be more eloquent, being disproportionately strong and having a threatening appearance, he was able to show spiritual beauty against the backdrop of cowardice and injustice.
Gerasim, whom the reader recognizes at the beginning of the story, is endowed with an extraordinary appearance, he is huge - “... twelve inches tall...”, extremely strong, which is emphasized. This is a prominent and powerful person, but he is prejudicedly deprived of nature, since he does not have the ability to hear and speak. However, he possesses one of the main human qualities - generosity.
Within the city yard, where he is hired by an old lady to work as a janitor, Gerasim yearns for his native dilapidated house, for his usual village work in the field, but does not show his emotions and spiritual experiences. Due to his heroic appearance, the main character quickly gains the authority of a bouncer among the courtyard servants. What servants are there - even the roosters are afraid of him, who do not dare fight in front of him. The janitor sweeps away his sorrows with his labors, as the author notes - he worked for four. He performed his duties regularly in a short time, the yard was always perfectly clean, and the house was reliably guarded. The new work seemed like a joke to him, compared to the hard peasant work.
Describing the greatness and simplicity of his hero, Turgenev emphasizes: “Constant silence gave solemn importance to his tireless work.” There was sternness and seriousness in his face. Sloppiness was not noticed in him; on the contrary, his priority was order in everything. The author seems to inconspicuously hint at his taste - he arranges the closet allocated to his personal possessions according to his own comfort, installs there a heroic bed, the same table and stool. He does not let anyone into his “corner”, keeping the door locked, always having the key with him, on his belt. His clothes were also neat, but despite all this, the butler called him a goblin, and the rest of the serfs were afraid of his menacing and gloomy appearance, while some rightly “received” from his wide palm.
(Nina Grebeshkova and Afanasy Kochetkov, film "Mumu", 1959)
The essence of Gerasim, behind his external mask, tough and unshakable, hid a sensitive soul from the crafty and cowardly inhabitants of the house. Chelyadintsev was surprised by his sympathy for a certain Tatyana - a modest and timid, inconspicuous washerwoman. For these “little people” it was unnatural that a hefty brute could have the most tender feelings for both a woman and a small animal. The climax of his entire short service with the capricious old lady was the death of the dog, to which he selflessly became attached and which, under the yoke of the dull butler, he had to destroy with his own hands. First, the betrayal of people he trusted. Those who could not break his natural strength suffered mental exhaustion. Gerasim returned to his native village, fortunately for haymaking.
