Can Ivan Timofeevich be considered a strong person? The image and characteristics of Ivan Timofeevich in the story by Olesya Kuprin, essay

“Olesya” Kuprin A.I.

Ivan Timofeevich (Vanechka) is a storyteller, urban intellectual, and aspiring writer.
I.T. On official business he ends up in Polesie. There, while hunting and lost in the forest, the hero meets the beautiful Alena (Olesya, in Polesie).
After this meeting, the image of Olesya could not leave I.T.’s head: he found in the girl an innate nobility, “graceful moderation.” Attracted I.T. and the girl’s “reputation as a witch,” her “life in the forest thicket.” But most of all the hero was fascinated by Olesya’s “integral, original nature, ... mind.”
During the second meeting, the girl tells fortunes to the hero, naming his main traits: “although kind, he is only weak... Kindness... is not good, not cordial. “I am not a master of my word,” I am “painfully eager” for women. He will not be able to love anyone, because “his heart... is cold, lazy.” As a result, Olesya predicts I.T. “great love on the part of the lady of clubs,” through which “she will accept great shame.” By a fatal coincidence, Olesya herself soon falls in love with the “baric” I.T. The characters begin a relationship. I.T. sets a condition for the girl: either he or her witchcraft. The hero persuades Olesya to go to church. There the village women attack her like a witch. Having come to Olesya, I.T. finds her ill from the fear and humiliation she experienced. The next day after the incident, returning to the girl again, the hero discovers that “the hut was empty.” And only a thread of red corals hung on the window reminded of Oles. I.T. almost immediately comes to terms with what happened.

History of creation

A. Kuprin’s story “Olesya” was first published in 1898 in the newspaper “Kievlyanin” and was accompanied by a subtitle. "From memories of Volyn." It is curious that the writer first sent the manuscript to the magazine " Russian wealth”, since before that this magazine had already published Kuprin’s story “Forest Wilderness”, also dedicated to Polesie. Thus, the author hoped to create a continuation effect. However, “Russian Wealth” for some reason refused to publish “Olesya” (perhaps the publishers were not satisfied with the size of the story, because by that time it was the most a major work author), and the cycle planned by the author did not work out. But later, in 1905, “Olesya” was published in an independent publication, accompanied by an introduction from the author, which told the story of the creation of the work. Later, the full-fledged “Polessia Cycle” was released, the pinnacle and decoration of which was “Olesya”.

The author's introduction is preserved only in the archives. In it, Kuprin said that while visiting a friend of the landowner Poroshin in Polesie, he heard from him many legends and fairy tales related to local beliefs. Among other things, Poroshin said that he himself was in love with a local witch. Kuprin will later tell this story in the story, at the same time including in it all the mysticism of local legends, the mysterious mystical atmosphere and the piercing realism of the situation surrounding him, difficult fates Polesie inhabitants.

Analysis of the work

Plot of the story

Compositionally, “Olesya” is a retrospective story, that is, the author-narrator returns in memories to the events that took place in his life many years ago.

The basis of the plot and the leading theme of the story is the love between the city nobleman (panych) Ivan Timofeevich and the young resident of Polesie, Olesya. Love is bright, but tragic, since its death is inevitable due to a number of circumstances - social inequality, the gaps between the heroes.

According to the plot, the hero of the story, Ivan Timofeevich, spends several months in a remote village, on the edge of Volyn Polesie (the territory called Little Russia in tsarist times, today the west of the Pripyat Lowland, in northern Ukraine). A city dweller, he first tries to instill culture in the local peasants, treats them, teaches them to read, but his studies are unsuccessful, since people are overcome by worries and are not interested in either enlightenment or development. Ivan Timofeevich increasingly goes into the forest to hunt, admires the local landscapes, and sometimes listens to the stories of his servant Yarmola, who talks about witches and sorcerers.

Having gotten lost one day while hunting, Ivan ends up in a forest hut - the same witch from Yarmola’s stories lives here - Manuilikha and her granddaughter Olesya.

The second time the hero comes to the inhabitants of the hut is in the spring. Olesya tells fortunes for him, predicting a quick, unhappy love and adversity, even a suicide attempt. The girl also shows mystical abilities - she can influence a person, instilling her will or fear, and stop bleeding. Panych falls in love with Olesya, but she herself remains distinctly cold towards him. She is especially angry that the gentleman stands up for her and her grandmother in front of the local police officer, who threatened to disperse the inhabitants of the forest hut for their alleged sorcery and harm to people.

Ivan falls ill and does not come to the forest hut for a week, but when he comes, it is noticeable that Olesya is happy to see him, and the feelings of both of them flare up. A month of secret dates and quiet, bright happiness passes. Despite the obvious and realized inequality of lovers by Ivan, he proposes to Olesya. She refuses, citing the fact that she, a servant of the devil, cannot go into church, and therefore, get married, entering into a marriage union. Nevertheless, the girl decides to go to church to please the gentleman. Local residents, however, did not appreciate Olesya’s impulse and attacked her, beating her severely.

Ivan hurries to the forest house, where the beaten, defeated and morally crushed Olesya tells him that her fears about the impossibility of their union have been confirmed - they cannot be together, so she and her grandmother will leave their home. Now the village is even more hostile towards Olesya and Ivan - any whim of nature will be associated with its sabotage and sooner or later they will kill.

Before leaving for the city, Ivan goes into the forest again, but in the hut he finds only red olesin beads.

Heroes of the story

Olesya

The main character of the story is the forest witch Olesya (her real name is Alena - says grandmother Manuilikha, and Olesya is the local version of the name). A beautiful, tall brunette with intelligent dark eyes immediately attracts Ivan's attention. Natural beauty the girl is combined with a natural intelligence - despite the fact that the girl does not even know how to read, she has, perhaps, more tact and depth than the city girl.

Olesya is sure that she is “not like everyone else” and soberly understands that for this dissimilarity she can suffer from the people. Ivan doesn’t really believe in Olesya’s unusual abilities, believing that there is more to it than a centuries-old superstition. However, he cannot deny the mysticism of Olesya’s image.

Olesya is well aware of the impossibility of her happiness with Ivan, even if he makes a strong-willed decision and marries her, so it is she who boldly and simply manages their relationship: firstly, she exercises self-control, trying not to impose herself on the gentleman, and secondly, she decides to separate , seeing that they are not a couple. Savor would be unacceptable for Olesya, her husband would inevitably become burdened with her after the lack of common interests became clear. Olesya does not want to be a burden, to tie Ivan hand and foot and leaves on her own - this is the heroism and strength of the girl.

Ivan Timofeevich

Ivan is a poor, educated nobleman. City boredom leads him to Polesie, where at first he tries to do some business, but in the end the only activity left is hunting. He treats legends about witches as fairy tales - a healthy skepticism is justified by his education.

(Ivan and Olesya)

Ivan Timofeevich - sincere and a kind person, he is able to feel the beauty of nature, and therefore Olesya at first interests him not as beautiful girl, but as interesting person. He wonders how it happened that nature itself raised her, and she came out so tender and delicate, unlike the rude, uncouth peasants. How did it happen that they, religious, although superstitious, are ruder and tougher than Olesya, although she should be the embodiment of evil. For Ivan, meeting Olesya is not a lordly pastime and a difficult summer love adventure, although he understands that they are not a couple - society in any case will be stronger than their love and will destroy their happiness. The personification of society in in this case it doesn’t matter - be it the blind and stupid peasant force, be it the city dwellers, Ivan’s colleagues. When he thinks of Oles as future wife, in a city dress, trying to make small talk with his colleagues - he simply reaches a dead end. The loss of Olesya for Ivan is as much a tragedy as finding her as a wife. This remains outside the scope of the story, but most likely Olesya’s prediction came true in full - after her departure he felt bad, even to the point of thinking about intentionally leaving this life.

Final conclusion

The culmination of events in the story occurs on a big holiday - Trinity. This is not a coincidence; it emphasizes and intensifies the tragedy with which Olesya’s bright fairy tale is trampled by people who hate her. There is a sarcastic paradox in this: the servant of the devil, Olesya, the witch, turns out to be more open to love than the crowd of people whose religion fits into the thesis “God is Love.”

The author's conclusions sound tragic - it is impossible for two people to be happy together when the happiness for each of them individually is different. For Ivan, happiness is impossible apart from civilization. For Olesya - in isolation from nature. But at the same time, the author claims, civilization is cruel, society can poison relations between people, destroy them morally and physically, but nature cannot.

Dramatically, but, above all, lyrically, Alexander Kuprin managed to show the fate of an ordinary Russian intellectual. These are people of a special kind, sensitive, searching, knowing a lot, but at the same time never interfering with anything and not wanting to really change anything in their lives. The Russian intellectual of the century before last is an ironic person, at the same time attentive, understanding that his life could be more productive, but he is not able to make it meaningful.

Such heroes in Russian literature began with light hand Goncharova. His Oblomov revolutionized ideas about the intelligentsia of Russia in the 19th century. And Ivan Timofeevich from Kuprin’s “Olesya” is no better. He, of course, does not lie on the sofa, but his passive desires have the same destructive power as the laziness of Vasily Oblomov. When you need to act decisively, Ivan Timofeevich only asks: “What about me? You don’t even want to think about me!”. But it’s much harder for the woman to whom this question is addressed and whom he sincerely and passionately loves than it was for him at that moment.

Alexander Kuprin somehow managed to draw his hero for the reader on the line between a positive attitude towards him and contempt. Literate, clever man, which refers to the word “noble” and its derivatives as something unpleasant and shameful: “In all her movements, in her words... there is something noble (of course, in in the best sense this is a rather vulgar word)...", out of boredom, he doesn’t know what to do during his forced stay in Polesie. This is what leads to trouble.

Without judging or ridiculing anyone, Ivan Timofeevich tries to heal people, write stories, give lessons, and even makes attempts to establish relationships with representatives of local society. However, a person of fine mental organization wants something real, interesting and exciting. He is ready, ignoring recommendations, to meet the local witch. Why he needs this, he himself cannot say. And here the Russian intellectual is fully visible in every action and gesture, the description of which was so accurately and vividly given by the forest resident Olesya: “You are not master of your word. You like to have the upper hand over people, but although you don’t want to, you obey them.”.

Olesya turned out to be right in everything. And the fate of the hero Kuprin is not happy, and he could not or did not want to change it. But the most important thing is that Ivan Timofeevich, smart and well-read, subtly notices the smallest details, suddenly wanted to combine the incompatible. How was it possible to receive such a gift from Olesya as her desire to go to church? How could it be possible, after communicating with her for so long and already starting to feel like her, not to listen to yourself! “Suddenly a sudden horror of foreboding seized me. I uncontrollably wanted to run after Olesya, catch up with her and ask, beg, even demand, if necessary, that she not go to church.”. But Ivan Timofeevich did not do this. And the innocent Olesya paid for everything in full.

Such softness of nature, weak character and some eternal feeling of the Russian man of submission to fate are complemented by Alexander Kuprin with subtle remarks about how his hero does not like it when his hand is kissed. Moreover, he himself writes: “... I was only surprised by the same clerk from the non-commissioned officers and the sergeant, looking with what imperturbable importance they thrust their huge red paws into the lips of the peasants...”. The author notes that Ivan Timofeevich pities the first drunkard in Perebrod, Yarmola, or rather, not even himself, but his large family: “The only thing that stopped me was a feeling of pity for his huge, poor family, for whom Yarmolov’s four ruble salary helped not to die of hunger.”.

Without running away from fate, he actually destroys the poor girl, indirectly being the cause of her trials. However, in fairness, it is worth noting that he does not justify himself in this situation. The entire narrative, written in a light, sometimes ironic style, is told from the perspective of the main character. Ivan Timofeevich colorfully conveys his emotions and thoughts. Sincerely loving Olesya, he admits that conventions are still more important to him. In this situation, the opinion of the world: “...I didn’t even dare to imagine what Olesya would look like dressed in fashionable dress, talking in the living room with the wives of my colleagues, torn from this charming frame of the old forest ... ".

How I would like Ivan Timofeevich’s romance with Olesya to end like Vladimir Vysotsky’s with Marina Vladi, who became famous after the role main character in the film of the same name based on the story by Kuprin:

Let the bird cherry trees dry like laundry in the wind,
Let the lilacs fall like rain,
I'll take you away from here anyway
To the palace where pipes are played.

Ivan Timofeevich (Vanechka) is a storyteller, urban intellectual, and aspiring writer.
I.T. On official business he ends up in Polesie. There, while hunting and lost in the forest, the hero meets the beautiful Alena (Olesya, in Polesie).
After this meeting, the image of Olesya could not leave I.T.’s head: he found in the girl an innate nobility, “graceful moderation.” Attracted I.T. and the girl’s “reputation as a witch,” her “life in the forest thicket.” But most of all the hero was fascinated by Olesya’s “integral, original nature, ... mind.”
During the second meeting, the girl tells fortunes to the hero, naming his main traits: “although kind, he is only weak... Kindness... is not good, not cordial. “I am not a master of my word,” I am “painfully eager” for women. He will not be able to love anyone, because “his heart... is cold, lazy.” As a result, Olesya predicts I.T. “great love on the part of the lady of clubs,” through which “she will accept great shame.” By a fatal coincidence, Olesya herself soon falls in love with the “baric” I.T. The characters begin a relationship. I.T. sets a condition for the girl: either he or her witchcraft. The hero persuades Olesya to go to church. There the village women attack her like a witch. Having come to Olesya, I.T. finds her ill from the fear and humiliation she experienced. The next day after the incident, returning to the girl again, the hero discovers that “the hut was empty.” And only a thread of red corals hung on the window reminded of Oles. I.T. almost immediately comes to terms with what happened.

Special place The theme of love occupies the work of A.I. Kuprin. The writer gave us three stories united by this wonderful theme - “ Garnet bracelet", "Olesya" and "Sulamith". Kuprin showed different facets of this feeling in each of his works...

Kuprin's story "Olesya" cannot leave the reader indifferent. The love story of a beautiful witch girl and a young gentleman is both tragic and beautiful. Kuprin creates fairy tale image Polesie beauty. There is nothing artificial about Olesya, she...

Filled with sin, without reason and will, a person is fragile and vain. Everywhere you look, only losses and pains torment his flesh and soul for a whole century... As soon as some leave, they are replaced by others, Everything in the world is continuous suffering for him: His friends, enemies, loved ones,...

In the works of A. I. Kuprin, the theme of love is embodied in many ways. human destinies and experiences. Not just by interest and psychological process this rich world was born. Love in Kuprin’s works appears as great and natural,...

Having become acquainted with the work of A.I. Kuprin, I noted for myself the main theme of his works - this is the glorification of pure, immaculate, generous love. I turned the last page of the story “Olesya” - my favorite story by A. I. Kuprin. "Olesya"...