The image and characterization of Rakhmetov in the novel What to Do by Chernyshevsky essay. Rakhmetov is a special person (based on Chernyshevsky’s novel “What is to be done?”)

Chernyshevsky created his novel “What is to be done?” during the era of the rise of the revolutionary movement in Russia. The hero of the novel Rakhmetov, like no one else, was suitable for revolutionary activities. Rakhmetov is distinguished by toughness, asceticism, iron will, and hatred of the people's oppressors. No wonder the Bolshevik leader V.I. Lenin directed this literary hero as an example to his comrades, saying that only with such people is a revolutionary coup in Russia possible.
Who is this special person who still attracts the attention of those who crave social upheaval for the common good today? Rakhmetov is a nobleman by origin. His father was a very rich man. But the free life did not keep Rakhmetov on his father’s estate. He left the province and entered the Faculty of Science in St. Petersburg.
Without difficulty, Rakhmetov became close in the capital with progressive thinking people. Chance brought him together with Kirsanov, from whom he learned a lot of new and advanced politically. He began to read books voraciously. It seems that he measured out a time period for himself and stuck to it exactly. After just six months, Rakhmetov put the books aside and said: “Now reading has become a secondary matter for me; in this regard, I am ready for life.” In these words of the hero one can discern something beyond the scope of a normally developing person.
Rakhmetov began to accustom his physical essence to obey the spiritual, that is, he began to order himself and carry out these orders accurately and on time. Next, he began to harden the body. He took on the hardest work. He was even a barge hauler.
He did all this in preparation for great revolutionary deeds. He brilliantly managed to create himself as a physically powerful and spiritually strong person. Rakhmetov fanatically followed the path he had chosen once and for all. He ate only what ordinary people ate, although he had the opportunity to eat better. He explained it simply: “This is necessary - it gives respect and love ordinary people. This is useful, it may come in handy." Apparently, in order to emphasize his extreme revolutionary spirit, Chernyshevsky forced his hero to abandon personal human happiness for the sake of the ideals of the revolutionary struggle. Rakhmetov refused to marry a rich young widow. He explained it this way: “I have to suppress in myself Love; love for you would tie my hands, they won’t be untied anytime soon - they’re already tied.”
A democratic writer, Chernyshevsky in the image of Rakhmetov portrayed a revolutionary leader, a special person. The author wrote about such people: “This is the color the best people, these are the engines of the engines, they are the salt of the earth.”
But time has shown the inconsistency of Bolshevik ideas. And now it’s clear to me why the leaders of the October Revolution chose Rakhmetov as their ideal. They developed those Rakhmetov-like qualities with which it was convenient for them to carry out cruel deeds: they did not spare themselves, much less others, they carried out orders with the chilling, thoughtless clarity of an iron engine, they treated dissenters as supermen treat subhumans. As a result, Russia was drenched in blood, and the world was shocked by the brutality of revolutionary actions.
Our society is again on the path to a civilized future. And personally, I dream that in this future of ours there will be fewer “special” people, and more ordinary people: kind, smiling, living their own lives. I want this future to become reality.

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Very important character novel, the chapter “A Special Person” is dedicated to him. He himself comes from a noble rich family, but leads an ascetic lifestyle. By the time of the action indicated in the novel, R. is 22 years old. He became a student at the age of 16, studied natural...

Rakhmetov is a special person

Here is a genuine person who is especially needed now in Russia, take his example and, whoever is able and able, follow his path, for this is the only path for you that can lead to the desired goal.

N.G. Chernyshevsky.

Rakhmetov appears as a character in the chapter “A Special Person.” In other chapters his name is only mentioned. But it is felt that the image is placed in the center of the reader’s attention, that Rakhmetov is the main character of the novel “What is to be done?” The chapter “A Special Person” forms, as it were, a small independent story in a novel, the idea of ​​which would not be complete and understandable without it.

When talking about Rakhmetov, Chernyshevsky deliberately shifts the temporal order of facts, and does not give a definitely consistent description and biography. He uses hints and innuendo, intertwining what was “known” about him with what was “found out” later. Therefore, every stroke of the biography is of fundamental importance. For example, origin. Indeed, why does the commoner Chernyshevsky make the main character of a socio-political novel a nobleman whose pedigree goes back centuries? Perhaps, according to the writer, the image of a revolutionary nobleman made the idea of ​​revolution more convincing and attractive. Since the best representatives of the nobility renounce their privileges to live at the expense of the people, it means that a crisis is ripe.

Rakhmetov's rebirth began in his early youth. His family was obviously a serf family. This is indicated by the terse phrase: “Yes, and he saw that it was in the village.” Observing the cruelty of serfdom, the young man began to think about justice.

“Thoughts began to wander in him, and Kirsanov was for him what Lopukhov was for Vera Pavlovna.” On the very first evening, he “listened greedily” to Kirsanov, “interrupted his words with exclamations and curses on what should perish, blessings on what should live.”

Rakhmetov differs from Lopukhov and Kirsanov not only in his aristocratic pedigree, but also in his exceptional strength of character, which is manifested in the constant hardening of body and spirit, but especially in his absorption in the matter of preparing for the revolutionary struggle. This is a man of ideas in the highest sense of the word.

For Rakhmetov, the dream of revolution is a guide to action, a guideline for all personal life.

The desire for rapprochement with ordinary people is clearly manifested in Rakhmetov. This can be seen from his travels around Russia, his studies physical labor, severe self-restraint in his personal life. The people nicknamed Rakhmetov Nikitushka Lomov, thereby expressing their love for him. Unlike the commoner Bazarov, who spoke condescendingly to the “thick-bearded” men, the nobleman Rakhmetov does not look at the people as a mass to be studied. For him, people are worthy of respect. He is trying to experience at least part of the weight that hangs on the peasant’s shoulders.

Chernyshevsky shows Rakhmetov as a person of a “very rare”, “special breed”, but at the same time as a typical person, belonging to a new social group, albeit a small one. The writer endowed the “special person” with severe demands on himself and others and even a gloomy appearance.

Vera Pavlovna at first finds him “very boring.” “Lopukhov and Kirsanov, and everyone who was not afraid of anyone or anything, felt at times a certain cowardice in front of him... except for Masha and those who were equal to her or superior to her in the simplicity of their soul and dress.”

But Vera Pavlovna, having gotten to know Rakhmetov better, says about him: “...what a gentle and kind person he is.”

Rakhmetovrigorist, that is, a person who never deviates from the accepted rules of behavior in anything. He prepares himself for the revolutionary struggle both morally and physically. Having slept the night on nails, he explains his action, smiling broadly and joyfully: “A test. It’s necessary. Implausible, of course: however, it’s necessary just in case. I see, I can.” This is probably how Chernyshevsky saw the leader of the revolutionaries. To the question: “What to do?” Nikolai Gavrilovich answers with the image of Rakhmetov and the words placed in the epigraph. The figure of this rigorist had a huge influence on subsequent generations Russian and foreign revolutionaries. This is evidenced by the confessions of these people that “Rakhmetov, in particular, was their favorite.”

I like Rakhmetov. He has the qualities that Bazarov lacks. I admire his tenacity, will, endurance, ability to subordinate his life to his chosen ideal, courage, strength. I want to be at least a little like Rakhmetov.

Bibliography

To prepare this work, materials were used from the site http://sochinenia1.narod.ru/

“Rakhmetov is a special person.”

As noted above, nineteenth-century literature actively participated in public life Russia. Writers and poets closely followed any changes in society, tried to generalize them and present them in literary works. Many creative people became publicists and public figures, because they considered their main goal to be the enlightenment of minds and the purification of human souls. Sharp contradictions between different layers Russian society, moral decay nobility, the lack of rights of poverty forced the best people of Russia to look for ways for a just reconstruction public relations in the country. Writers and poets reflected these searches in literature. And sometimes they tried to predict the future direction of movement of social thought. The hero also changed and developed under these conditions.

The appearance of such a hero as Rakhmetov in the literary field was not an accident. On the contrary, it was prepared and became a kind of natural-logical phenomenon in the conditions of the changing nature of the socio-political atmosphere of life and works of the 60s. In order to better imagine the nature of this hero and the thought that the author put into his mouth, it is necessary to trace the evolution of the formation of the ideological position of the literary hero XIX century as a whole.

The first to appear on the historical stage were the so-called “superfluous people.” Aristocrats by origin, having both money and an excellent education, they simply did not fit into contemporary life, did not find use for their numerous talents. This was Chatsky, the hero of the comedy “Woe from Wit.” He saw the stupidity and cruelty of society, but the most that the hero of A. S. Griboedov could do was to prick those around him with his sharp tongue, to hit them with a hail of ridicule. Extra person Evgeny Onegin simply suffered from boredom and idleness. A.S. Pushkin endowed his hero with “heart and mind”, gave him a chance to try himself in various activities, but the feeling of the meaninglessness of any endeavor discourages him from any desire to change even his own life, not to mention the life of society. The hero of his time, described by M. Yu. Lermontov, experiences more vividly expressed feeling aversion to life and morals high society, but he himself is “flesh of his flesh.” Realizing this, Grigory Pechorin protests due to his character. He behaves defiantly and contemptuously, takes revenge on those around him with indifference or contrived cruelty. But this protest is still very far from a creative desire to change life for the better.

By the middle of the nineteenth century, the socio-political situation in Russia was changing. Aristocracy in literature fades into the background. The “new” time reveals new heroes. The first significant personality of this period can be called the Russian landowner Ilya Ilyich Oblomov. Inactivity that has become a way of life and taken to the point of absurdity. Passive protest, described by Goncharov, is magnificent in form (something like a sit-in strike) and very clear in content: “You can’t live like this any longer!” The novel “Oblomov” was read by all more or less literate Russia and realized that he was right.

The “new” heroes—“raznochintsy”—educated children of the middle strata of Russian society—starting from “Oblomovism”, began their existence in life and literature with a sharp negation of all the values ​​of the past. In the novel by I. S. Turgenev eternal conflict fathers and children are transferred from the plane of personal interests to public sphere. Bazarov is categorically convinced that one cannot live the way the “fathers” lived. But his militant “nihilism” again did not bring any constructive proposals. Turgenev's next hero, from the novel "On the Eve", made the first attempt to find an effective solution to the problems of concern Russian society. But many recognized this attempt as “incomprehensible,” as Belinsky put it. Because Insarov was a hero of the national liberation movement of the Bulgarian people, and Russian contradictions were of a different nature. After all, when Russia was threatened by external danger, almost all layers of society found a common patriotic language... This was confirmed by Patriotic War 1812. Therefore, Insarov was not suitable for fighting the internal enemies of freedom.

The real hero of the “new” time was discovered by N. G. Chernyshevsky. Rakhmetov became the first figure of a practicing revolutionary in Russian literature. The range of opinions about him was diametrically opposed - from horror and indignation to admiration and admiration. If we consider how little space Rakhmetov occupies directly in the outline of the narrative, then we can safely admit that society had a presentiment of this hero, no matter how it treated him! Everything that Chernyshevsky left out of brackets due to censorship was thought out and completed by the readers themselves. Rakhmetov consciously renounced his personal life in the name of a brutal struggle against the autocratic-serf system. Even in the author’s laconic sketch, the figure turned out to be significant. It is known that all generations of revolutionaries “made their lives” from Rakhmetov. The Strongest male character, undoubted intelligence, concern for the happiness of mankind, self-denial plus others small parts positive qualities made this image irresistible in the eyes of many people and many generations.

It is known about Rakhmetov that he was from the nobility, had his own estate, about four hundred souls, seven thousand acres of land. His father was very smart and educated person. «<…>“This is a different breed,” Vera Pavlovna says about him, “they merge with the common cause in such a way that from now on it is a necessity for them, filling their lives; for them it even replaces personal life.”

The fact that by origin he is not a commoner, but a nobleman, “from a family known since the 13th century” already distinguishes him from the youth who make up the generation of “new people”, and makes him a “special” person in their eyes and in the eyes of the reader. But most of all, his difference is manifested in his very nature. It is not circumstances, but only the strength of his convictions that forces him to go against his environment. He remakes both his mental and physical nature, maintains “exorbitant strength within himself,” because “this gives respect and love from ordinary people.” He completely renounces personal benefits and intimate life, so that the struggle for complete enjoyment of life should be a struggle “only on principle, and not on passion, on conviction, and not on personal need.” Hence Rakhmetov’s nickname - “rigorist” (from the Latin “rigore” - cruelty, firmness), under which he first appears in section VI of the third chapter of the book. Such ethics of behavior in life are born, first of all, from the thoughts of the hero: “All the great theorists were people of extreme opinions,” Chernyshevsky wrote in the article “Count Cavour.” Rakhmetov serves as a living embodiment of the theory of “calculation of mutual benefits,” realizing the opportunities inherent in “new people.” It is also important that Rakhmetov’s closest literary predecessor is Bazarov from Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons.” However, unlike Turgenev’s hero, Rakhmetov puts his strength into practice and has the opportunity to act among like-minded people. The image of Rakhmetov is built on a paradoxical combination of the incongruous. So, for example, being a minor character, he turns out to be “more important than all... taken together” of the heroes of the novel; an extreme materialist in his views, he lives and fights only for an idea.

The detailed biography of Rakhmetov, which the author cites in the novel, giving it a touch of hagiography, even legend with reference to the “Life of Alexy, the Man of God,” paints an image epic hero or more contemporary author barge hauler Nikitushka Lomov, a kind of universal and quite real superman in everyday life. Among Rakhmetov’s prototypes (according to Chernyshevsky himself), researchers most often name P.A. Bakhmetev, who studied with Chernyshevsky at the Saratov gymnasium and, after unfinished studies at the agricultural institute, went to Europe and then to Oceania to create a new social system there. This is the path of an ordinary, good, kind and honest young student, which for Rakhmetov began with reading books, with developing a new outlook on life. He went through school political education from the common student Kirsanov. Rakhmetov took reading books recommended by Kirsanov to bookstores. After reading such books, he became stronger in his thoughts about the need for a speedy improvement of material and moral life the most numerous and poorest class.

Chernyshevsky’s “special” hero studies and works in his homeland, and not abroad. He learns from Russian people who are busy everyday work. He needs, first of all, to know how financially constrained their lives are compared to his. own life. From the age of seventeen he became accustomed to a harsh lifestyle common people. In his youth, he worked several hours a day as a laborer: he carried water, carried firewood, dug the earth, and forged iron. Rakhmetov finally gained the respect and love of ordinary people during his three-year wanderings around Russia, after he passed the entire Volga as a barge hauler. In this regard, his comrades in the strap dubbed him Nikitushka Lomov. Confidence in the correctness of his political ideals, the joy of fighting for the happiness of the people strengthened the spirit and strength of a fighter in him. He understood that the struggle for new world it will be life or death, and therefore he prepared himself for it in advance. His constant preoccupation with other people's affairs, complete absence personal affairs - the basis of his “asceticism”, the main distinguishing feature his nature. He had many such “special” features. For example, outside his circle, he only met people who had influence on others and had authority. And it was difficult to dismiss Rakhmetov if he decided to meet someone for the sake of business. And with unnecessary people he behaved simply boorishly. He carried out unimaginable experiments on his body, so to speak, “did a test”, lying on nails, to test himself: was he ready for torture, which scared his owner, Agrafena Antonovna, who rented out the room to him, to death. He did not recognize love, suppressed this feeling in himself. He abandoned love in the name of a great cause, realizing that it would inevitably doom him to prison, hard labor, and perhaps death, so he simply does not have the right to bind another person with himself...

"Yes, funny people, even funny ones... There are few of them, but with them the life of everyone around them blossoms; without them it would have stalled, gone sour; There are few of them, but they give all people the opportunity to breathe, without them people would suffocate. There are a great number of honest and good people, but there are few such obsessed people; but they are in it - tea for tea, a bouquet in noble wine; from them its strength and aroma; this is the color of the best people, these are the engines of engines, this is the salt of the earth,” we read from the pages of the novel.

Thus, the figure of Rakhmetov occupies a central organizing position in the novel, performing on the one hand the functions of an intermediary: between the “open” (family) and “hidden” (political-revolutionary) parts of the plot, that is, between the visible and invisible worlds to the ordinary reader: meanwhile light and this (when he gives Vera Pavlovna notes from Lopukhov, who “left for America”); between the past, present and future (when from an “ordinary kind and honest young man”, a nobleman, a man of the past, becomes a “special person” of the future and knows the onset of this future to the nearest year); between in different parts of this world (when traveling around Russia and abroad). The highest manifestation of Rakhmetov’s messianic properties is the anticipation of his arrival on the eve of a “change of scenery.” Rakhmetov and other few “special people”, like mythical deities, descend from the heights of their heavenly standing to the sinful earth to cleanse it. On the other hand, the image of Rakhmetov, as befits any hagiographic image, this is a role model, the standard of a professional revolutionary, as D.I. Pisarev pointed out in the article “The Thinking Proletariat” (1865), calling Rakhmetov a “historical figure”: “In general movement events, there are moments when people like Rakhmetov are necessary and irreplaceable...” In addition, as Chernyshevsky himself explains, Rakhmetov is introduced into the narrative to fulfill the “highest requirement of artistry,” that is, truth, so that the majority of readers do not “go astray.” "confused about "the main ones characters” of the story and did not consider Lopukhov, Kirsanov, as well as Vera Pavlovna to be “superior natures” or, worse than that, - “ideal persons, impossible in reality.” They are ordinary “new people”. You can often find people like this in life. Those who are lower than them are low, therefore, they must rise to a higher level of their development. And there are still very few people like Rakhmetov (the author counted no more than eight, including two women): they are not satisfied with either science or family happiness; they love all people, suffer from any injustice that occurs, experience great grief in their own souls - the miserable existence of millions of people and devote themselves to healing this illness with all their fervor.

Thus, Rakhmetov highlights the reality of the level at which the “new people” found themselves, since he himself belongs to the number of “higher natures”, which differ from the “new people” in many ways, and the achievement of which level is not possible for everyone.

Chernyshevsky showed more high degrees moral and spiritual, social development personality. These degrees are very diverse (as diverse human life) and almost everything - in the future. But one of them, perhaps the most significant, has already emerged. It is that Rakhmetov and other “special people” are able to devote themselves completely and completely to other people - and only to them, not at all to themselves! This is their “salt”. Of course, such dedication can be manifested on the barricades, both in the “underground” and in the legal social activities- everywhere! But Chernyshevsky does not specify this activity; in this way he realizes a special artistic task: show the humanity of “special natures.” An example of this is the description of the assistance that Rakhmetov provided to Vera Pavlovna and Lopukhov in Hard time their lives. We usually don’t think about the deep essence of Rakhmetov’s conversation with Vera Pavlovna, being satisfied with the explanation of the purely “compositional” role of this episode: he handed over a note from which Vera Pavlovna learned that Lopukhov did not die. However, Rakhmetov’s long, somewhat “incomprehensible” conversation with Vera Pavlovna has a more important meaning - a progressive “marriage of three,” this is the only positive resolution to Vera Pavlovna’s torment that can be, Rakhmetov convinces the heroine. This is the only way, Rakhmetov believes, to prevent misfortune from occurring.

Thus, his emotional speech, filled with shocking revelations, helps Vera Pavlovna come to her senses. She gets rid of suffering, from the painful feeling of her “guilt” before Lopukhov. Consequently, Rakhmetov “brings” good! Stern in appearance, Rakhmetov acts kindly. Not violence, not “extreme”! Like all “new people”, he is extremely delicate, not inclined to “command”, to “control” Vera Pavlovna’s consciousness through “training” his pliability. He acts with conviction! Such is this hero, who in his ideological formation goes through three stages known from a positivist point of view, which the author clearly defines in the novel: theoretical preparation, practical involvement in the life of the people and the transition to professional revolutionary activity. And, besides, at all stages of his life, Rakhmetov acts with complete dedication, with absolute intensity of spiritual and physical strength. Along with this, he “loves loftier and broader” and thinks the same way, he is close to the people, which allows him to truly be called historical figure necessary in times of great change.

However, it should be noted that not everyone was blinded by the romantic appeal of Rakhmetov's image. The deep thinker and humanist F. M. Dostoevsky, for example, in many of his works warned against reckless admiration for “ special people" The idea of ​​a “superman” is a double-edged sword. And you need to take it into your hands very carefully, since it often gets out of control and begins to control a person, turning him into a weapon in the fight against any dissent. But still, the positive charge of Rakhmetov’s image is very great. It is thanks to him that the tradition of asceticism continues in Russian literature.

Throwing a bridge into the twentieth century, we can recall the best heirs best ideas N. G. Chernyshevsky. This is the legendary young man Danko by A. M. Gorky, and the “iron” man Pavka Korchagin from N. Ostrovsky’s novel “How the Steel Was Tempered.” In the main thing N.G. Chernyshevsky was right - humanity really cannot do without these people.

Chernyshevsky created his novel “What is to be done?” during the era of the rise of the revolutionary movement in the Russian Federation. The hero of the novel, Rakhmetov, was more suitable for revolutionary activity than anyone else. Rakhmetov is distinguished by toughness, asceticism, iron will, and hatred of the people's oppressors. It was not without reason that the leader of the Bolsheviks, V.I. Lenin, set this literary hero as an example to his comrades, saying that only with such people is a revolutionary coup in the Russian Federation possible.

What kind of special person is this, who even today attracts the sensitivity of those who crave social upheaval for the sake of the common good? Rakhmetov is a nobleman by origin. His father was a very rich man. But the free life did not keep Rakhmetov on his father’s estate. He left the province and entered the Faculty of Science in St. Petersburg.
Without difficulty, Rakhmetov became close to progressive-minded people in the capital. Chance brought him together with Kirsanov, from whom he learned a lot of new and politically advanced things. He began to read books voraciously. One gets the feeling that he measured out a time period for himself and stuck to it exactly. After just six months, Rakhmetov put the books aside and said: “Now reading has become a secondary matter for me; in this regard, I am ready for life.” In these words of the hero one can discern something beyond the scope of a normally developing person.

Rakhmetov began to accustom his physical essence to obey his spiritual one, that is, he began to order himself and carry out these orders accurately and on time. Next, he began to harden the body. He took on the hardest work. Moreover, he was a barge hauler.

He did all this in preparation for great revolutionary deeds. He brilliantly managed to create himself as a physically powerful and spiritually strong person. Rakhmetov fanatically followed the path he had chosen once and for all. He ate only what ordinary people ate, although he had the opportunity to eat better. He explained it simply: “It’s necessary - it gives respect and love from ordinary people. It’s useful, it can come in handy.” Apparently, in order to emphasize his extreme revolutionary spirit, Chernyshevsky forced his hero to abandon personal human happiness for the sake of the ideals of the revolutionary struggle. Rakhmetov refused to marry a rich young widow. He explained it this way: “I must suppress love in myself; love for you would tie my hands, they won’t be untied for me any time soon - they are already tied.”

A democratic writer, Chernyshevsky in the image of Rakhmetov portrayed a revolutionary leader, a special person. The author wrote about such people: “This is the color of the best people, these are the engines of engines, this is the salt of the earth.”

But the time has come to show the inconsistency of Bolshevik ideas. And now it’s clear to me why the leaders of the October Revolution chose Rakhmetov as their ideal. They developed those Rakhmetov-like qualities with which it was convenient for them to carry out cruel deeds: they did not spare themselves, much less others, they carried out orders with the chilling, thoughtless clarity of an iron engine, they treated dissenters as supermen treat subhumans. As a result, Russia was drenched in blood, and the world was shocked by the brutality of revolutionary actions.

Our society is still on the way to a civilized future. And personally, I dream that in this future of ours there will be fewer “special” people, and more ordinary people: kind, smiling, living their own lives. I want this future to become reality.

Chernyshevsky created his novel “What is to be done?” during the era of the rise of the revolutionary movement in Russia. The hero of the novel, Rakhmetov, was more suitable for revolutionary activity than anyone else. Rakhmetov is distinguished by toughness, asceticism, iron will, and hatred of the people's oppressors. It was not without reason that the Bolshevik leader V.I. Lenin set this literary hero as an example to his comrades, saying that only with such people is a revolutionary coup in Russia possible.
Who is this special person who still attracts the attention of those who crave social upheaval for the common good today? Rakhmetov is a nobleman by origin. His father was a very rich man. But the free life did not keep Rakhmetov on his father’s estate. He left the province and entered the Faculty of Science in St. Petersburg.
Without difficulty, Rakhmetov became close to progressive-minded people in the capital. Chance brought him together with Kirsanov, from whom he learned a lot of new and politically advanced things. He began to read books voraciously. It seems that he measured out a time period for himself and stuck to it exactly. After just six months, Rakhmetov put the books aside and said: “Now reading has become a secondary matter for me; in this regard, I am ready for life.” In these words of the hero one can discern something beyond the scope of a normally developing person.
Rakhmetov began to accustom his physical essence to obey the spiritual, that is, he began to order himself and carry out these orders accurately and on time. Next, he began to harden the body. He took on the hardest work. He was even a barge hauler.
He did all this in preparation for great revolutionary deeds. He brilliantly managed to create himself as a physically powerful and spiritually strong person. Rakhmetov fanatically followed the path he had chosen once and for all. He ate only what ordinary people ate, although he had the opportunity to eat better. He explained it simply: “It’s necessary - it gives respect and love from ordinary people. It’s useful, it can come in handy.” Apparently, in order to emphasize his extreme revolutionary spirit, Chernyshevsky forced his hero to abandon personal human happiness for the sake of the ideals of the revolutionary struggle. Rakhmetov refused to marry a rich young widow. He explained it this way: “I must suppress love in myself; love for you would tie my hands, they won’t be untied for me any time soon - they are already tied.”
A democratic writer, Chernyshevsky in the image of Rakhmetov portrayed a revolutionary leader, a special person. The author wrote about such people: “This is the color of the best people, these are the engines of engines, this is the salt of the earth.”
But time has shown the inconsistency of Bolshevik ideas. And now it’s clear to me why the leaders of the October Revolution chose Rakhmetov as their ideal. They developed those Rakhmetov-like qualities with which it was convenient for them to carry out cruel deeds: they did not spare themselves, much less others, they carried out orders with the chilling, thoughtless clarity of an iron engine, they treated dissenters as supermen treat subhumans. As a result, Russia was drenched in blood, and the world was shocked by the brutality of revolutionary actions.
Our society is again on the path to a civilized future. And personally, I dream that in this future of ours there will be fewer “special” people, and more ordinary people: kind, smiling, living their own lives. I want this future to become reality.