Characteristics of the main characters of the work Chelkash, Gorky. Their images and description

"Chelkash" is one of the first significant works of Gorky, which became one of the most significant creations of late romanticism. It combined the features of several trends and anticipated the emergence of a special trend in literature - socialist realism, within which the author would develop in the future.

The story was written in 1894 in Nizhny Novgorod. V.G. reacted very favorably. Korolenko to this essay and in 1895 contributed to its publication in the journal "Russian Wealth". From that moment on, Gorky was seriously talked about in literary circles as a talented young writer, and in 1898 his stories were published in two volumes.

The plot is based on the revelation of one tramp, heard by the writer in the hospital. Having known many hardships and difficulties in his life, Gorky understood well what his neighbor in the ward told him about. Inspired by what he heard, he wrote Chelkash in two days.

Genre and direction

Gorky is the founder of a new trend in Russian prose. It was different from the line of Tolstoy and Chekhov, which was characterized by puritanical selectivity in favor of good manners and correctness. This applied both to the plot and to the vocabulary. Peshkov (the real name of the writer) significantly expanded the possible themes of the works and enriched the vocabulary of the literary language. The leading trend of his work was realism, but the early period was characterized by features of romanticism, which also manifested itself in Chelkash:

Firstly, the poetization of the image of a tramp, a clear sympathy for his life principles.
Secondly, images of nature, a variety of colors of the water element: "the sea was calm, black and thick as butter."

Such updates in prose were welcomed by many of Gorky's contemporaries. For example, Leonid Andreev, because the same influence was reflected in his early stories ("Angel", "Bargamot and Garaska").

Composition

The story consists of an introduction and 3 chapters.

The introductory section is an exposition that describes the scene. Here the author gives the reader an idea of the environment of the protagonists. The first chapter contains a description of Chelkash, introduces him to the present, to his usual way of life.
In the second chapter, we learn about the past of the protagonist, his inner world is revealed to the reader even more deeply, and his partner becomes the catalyst for this revelation. Here is the climax of the story. In the finale, another hero shows his character - the peasant Gavrila.
The story ends with a picture of the sea, which allows us to talk about the ring composition of the work.

Conflict

The space of the story "Chelkash" contains many conflicts of various meanings and scales.

The conflict of man and scientific progress. This is where the story begins. It would seem that scientific progress should make life easier, make it more comfortable, but Gorky contrasts the shining and luxurious courts of the poor, emaciated people who serve them.
Vagrancy and peasantry. The main characters do not come to the final conclusion which is better: the expanse of a tramp or the need of a peasant. These destinies are opposite. Chelkash and Gavrila are representatives of different social groups, but both see each other as relatives for themselves: Chelkash finds a dreamer of freedom in a poor young man, and Gavrila finds the same peasant in a tramp.
The internal conflict of Chelkash. The protagonist feels his superiority over the world, freed from attachment to a particular home, family and other universal values. He is outraged that a typical person who has not overcome this system can love or hate the same thing as him.

Main characters and their characteristics

Chelkash is a romanticized tramp, a real romantic hero. He has his own moral principles, which he always follows. His ideology looks more stable and well-formed than Gavrila's position in life. This is a young peasant who has not yet decided what he wants to achieve. Uncertainty unfavorably distinguishes him from the protagonist. Gavrila, who agreed to the "dark deed" without much desire, looks like a more impartial hero than Chelkash. This inveterate thief causes even some sympathy in the reader. He has a more complex inner world, behind his smile and lightness one can feel the pain of memories of the past and the severity of the need that haunts him hourly.

The work is built on antithesis and paradox: here an honest thief and a deceitful peasant are opposed to each other. The meaning of this opposition is to take a fresh look at the positive and negative qualities of a person, as a representative of a certain social group, and at various models of behavior. A tramp can be principled and moral, and a peasant can be not only a humble and honest hard worker.

Themes

Meaning of life. The main characters talk about the meaning of life. Chelkash, one might say, has already passed his life path, but Gavrila is still at the beginning. Thus, we are presented with fundamentally different views: a young man, and one who is wiser by experience. Gavrila's thoughts are still subject to the generally accepted value system of a peasant: to get a house, to start a family. This is his purpose, the meaning of life. But Chelkash already knows well what it means to be a peasant in the countryside. He deliberately chose the path of a tramp, not burdened with debts, a starving family and other everyday problems.
Nature. It is presented as an independent, free element. She is eternal, she is certainly stronger than a person. She resists the attempts of people to curb her: “The waves of the sea, clad in granite, are crushed by enormous weights.<…>they beat against the sides of ships, against the shores, they beat and grumble, foamed, polluted with various rubbish. In response, she does not spare people, burning with the scorching sun and chilling with the wind. The role of the landscape in the work is very great: it embodies the ideal of freedom and creates a colorful atmosphere.
Freedom. What is freedom: the comfortable life of a family man, burdened with a house, household and responsibility, or free vagrancy with a daily search for funds for food? For Chelkash, freedom means independence from money and peace of mind, while Gavrila has only a romantic idea of a free life: “Walk, know how you like, just remember God ...”

Problems

Greed. The heroes have different attitudes towards money, and the problems of the story "Chelkash" are tied to this opposition. It would seem that a tramp who is in constant need should have a greater need for funds than a peasant who has work and housing. But in reality it turned out to be quite the opposite. Gavrila was seized by the thirst for money so much that he was ready to kill a man, and Chelkash was glad to give everything to his partner, leaving himself only a part of the proceeds for food and drink.
Cowardice. The ability to show cold judgment in the right situation is a very important quality of a person. This speaks of willpower and a strong character. Such is Chelkash, he knows what money is, and warns the youth: "The trouble is from them!". The hero is opposed to the cowardly Gavrila, trembling for his life. This feature speaks of the weakness of the character, which is revealed more and more in the course of the work.

Meaning

Since Gorky himself spent half his life in need and poverty, he often touched on the topics of poverty in his works, which the reader did not see, because he was mostly stuffed with stories about the fate and life of the nobles. So, the main idea of the story "Chelkash" is to force the public to take a different look at the social stratum, the so-called outcasts. The work sounds the idea that if you are a peasant with some income, then you can be considered a person, "you have a face." And what about "staggering"? Are they not human? Gorky's author's position is the defense of people like Chelkash.

The hermit is hurt by the phrase thrown by Gavrila: “Unnecessary on earth!”. Gorky puts the heroes on equal terms, but during the "walker" each one manifests himself in different ways. For Chelkash, this is a common thing, he has nothing to lose, but he does not particularly seek to gain. To eat and drink - that's his goal. What happens to Gabriela? The hero, who spoke about how important it is to remember God, loses his moral character and tries to kill the "owner". For a young man, Chelkash is a miserable tramp, whom no one will remember, and yet he calls his accomplice a brother! Is it fair after that to consider Gavrila a full member of society, and deprive Chelkash of the right to call himself a man? It is precisely this that makes Gorky think, which is why he makes the image of a thief and a vagabond sympathetic to the reader, and Gavrila is seen as an exclusively negative hero.

Of course, we must not forget that it is Gavrila who falls under the destructive influence of a robber and a drunkard. But not his strength is the most terrible, but money. They are evil, according to the author. This is the main idea of the story "Chelkash".

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

I

Grishka Chelkash appeared in the port, "an inveterate drunkard and a clever, brave thief", well known to the people of the port. This barefoot, bony man in tattered clothes, with a thick and long mustache, stood out among the other port bums by his resemblance to a steppe hawk.

Chelkash was looking for his friend and accomplice Mishka. A profitable business was planned for tonight, and the thief needed an assistant. From the customs guard, Chelkash learned that Mishka had been taken to the hospital - his leg was crushed with a cast-iron blank. Then the angry watchman escorted Chelkash to the port gate.

Sitting nearby, Chelkash was thinking about a business that requires "a little work and a lot of dexterity."

He was sure that he had enough dexterity, and, screwing up his eyes, dreamed of how he would go on a spree tomorrow morning, when credit papers appeared in his pocket ...

Then the thief remembered Mishka and swore to himself - without an assistant, he, perhaps, could not cope with this matter. He looked around the street and noticed not far from him a broad-shouldered, fair-haired guy in peasant clothes and with a scythe wrapped in straw.

Chelkash spoke to the guy, calling himself a fisherman. He said that he was coming from the Kuban, where he worked as a hired mower. It was not possible to earn much - a lot of starving people came to the Kuban, and prices fell.

Chelkash asked the guy if he loves freedom. The guy replied that he loves - "walk know how you like, just remember God." But the guy himself, who called himself Gavrila, will never have freedom. His father had died, leaving his old mother and a patch of depleted land, but he had to live. They call Gavrila as a son-in-law in a rich house, only the father-in-law does not want to separate his daughter, which means that the guy must work for his father-in-law for many years. If only he had 150 rubles! He would build a house, and buy land, and take a girl as his wife, which one he likes. He thought he would get rich in the Kuban, but it did not burn out.

Trusting and good-natured, like a calf, Gavril awakened a feeling of annoyance in Chelkash. However, he needed an assistant, and the thief suggested that the guy go “fishing” and earn good money overnight. At first, he was frightened - as if not to get into something, Chelkash seemed to him a very dark personality. The thief was offended by Gavrila's opinion of him, and he immediately hated the guy for his youth and health, because somewhere they want this calf as a son-in-law, and he dares to love freedom, which he does not need.

It is always unpleasant to see that a person whom you consider inferior and inferior to yourself loves or hates the same thing as you, and thus becomes like you.

Greed in Gavrila's soul, meanwhile, overcame fear, and he agreed, naively thinking that he and Chelkash would go fishing. The agreement was washed in a dim tavern full of strange personalities.

Chelkash understood that now the guy’s life was in his hands, he felt like his master, he thought “that this guy would never drink such a cup as fate gave him to drink,” and from this he envied Gavrila a little. Finally, all the feelings of Chelkash merged into one, "paternal and economic."

II

At night they went out to sea in a boat. Chelkash loved the sea, which was now black, calm, thick as butter. Gavrila, on the other hand, was frightened by this dark mass of water, which seemed even more terrible because of the heavy lead clouds.

The guy asked Chelkash where the fishing tackle was. It was embarrassing for the thief to lie to this boy, he got angry and shouted fiercely at Gavrila. He realized that they were not going to go fishing at all, he was very frightened and began to ask Chelkash to let him go, not to ruin his soul. The thief again yelled at the guy, and then he rowed silently, only crying and fidgeting with fear on the bench.

Meanwhile, Chelkash brought the boat close to the granite wall of the pier going into the water. Taking the oars and Gavrila's passport so that he would not run away, Chelkash climbed the granite wall and soon lowered bales of stolen goods into the boat. Having survived such a great fear, the guy decided to follow all the orders of the thief in order to quickly part with him.

Chelkash was pleased with his luck, himself and this guy, so much intimidated by him and turned into his slave.

Now the accomplices had to take the boat through the customs cordons. Hearing the word "cordons", Gavrila decided to call for help and had already opened his mouth, when suddenly a fiery blue sword rose out of the water, "lay down on the chest of the sea" and its wide strip illuminated ships invisible in the darkness. From fear, Gavrila fell to the bottom of the boat. Chelkash picked it up and angrily hissed that it was just an electric lantern from a customs cruiser.

The cordons were passed. Relaxing a little, Chelkash said that in one night he “bitched five thousand”. Gavrila dreamed of a household that could be done with this money.

Chelkash also got carried away, remembered his father, a wealthy peasant. Gavrila sincerely took pity on him, who arbitrarily left the earth and "suffered due punishment for this absence." Anger flared up in Chelkash - his "vanity of a reckless daredevil" was hurt by someone who had no value in his eyes.

They sailed on in silence. Chelkash recalled his childhood, his mother and father, his beautiful wife. He recalled how the whole village met him from the army - a handsome and tall guardsman, how proud of him his gray-haired father, hunched from work.

Memory, this scourge of the unfortunate, revives even the stones of the past, and even pours drops of honey into the poison once drunk...

Chelkash felt lonely, forever thrown out of the order of life in which he had grown up.

Soon the boat landed on a low craft. Non-Russian, swarthy people took the goods and put the accomplices to bed.

III

In the morning, Gavrila did not recognize Chelkash - so different, a little shabby, but still strong clothes changed him. The guy recovered from his fright and was not averse to working for Chelkash again - after all, you can’t ruin your soul, but you will definitely become a rich man.

Getting into the boat, they went to the shore. On the way, Chelkash gave Gavrila his share, while the guy saw how much money he had left.

Gavrila went ashore very excited. He fell at the feet of Chelkash and began to beg to give him all the money. The thief will skip them, and he, Gavrila, will manage the household and become a respected person in the village. Amazed and embittered, Chelkash took out banknotes from his pocket and threw them to Gavrila.

- On the! Eat ... - he shouted, trembling with excitement, sharp pity and hatred for this greedy slave. And throwing money, he felt like a hero.

Chelkash felt that he, a thief and a reveler, "will never be so greedy, low, not remembering himself."

Gavrila collected money and admitted that he was ready to hit the thief with an oar, rob and drown in the sea - anyway, no one could miss such a lost person. Hearing this, Chelkash grabbed the guy by the throat, took the money and turned to leave. And then Gavrila strongly launched a large stone at the head of the thief.

Chelkash fell. Mortally frightened, Gavrila rushed away, forgetting about the money, but soon returned and began to bring the thief to his senses. He kissed the hands of Chelkash, asked for forgiveness, but he spat in the guy's eyes, then contemptuously threw him money and left, staggering along the shore. Gavrila sighed, collected the banknotes and with firm steps went in the opposite direction from Chelkash.

Soon the rain and the tide washed away the footprints and the bloodstain on the sand, and there was no longer any reminder of "a little drama that played out between two people."

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" opens with a picture of a dirty, disgusting port, symbolizing a generalized image of the world that is hostile to man: the bulk of the port suppresses a person with noise, roar, dirt and stink, and "dusty figures of people" fill the deep holds of steamships with "the products of their slave labor."

The main character of the story is Grishka Chelkash, an inveterate drunkard and a clever, brave thief. The author gives a close-up portrait of him, which combines both romantic and realistic features: a romantic halo is given to him by proud,
independent appearance, the ability to behave with self-respect, courage, outward resemblance to a bird of prey. He was barefoot, in old, worn-out plush trousers, without a hat, in a torn shirt. This description emphasizes the vitality of this character and his belonging to a certain social stratum.

The plot of the conflict is the meeting of Chelkash, who is looking for a replacement for his assistant, a rower (an old and experienced comrade Mishka broke his leg), with a village boy Gavrila. The portrait of Gavrila contrasts with the portrait of Chelkash: he has “tanned and
weather-beaten face, big blue eyes, trusting and naive look”, It seems that this particular hero will be the bearer of the moral principle. But Gorky shows his complete inconsistency. First, during the description of the theft, when Gavrila
mortally frightened, the author emphasizes his cowardice, inability to control himself, cowardice (“he quietly sobbed, cried, blew his nose, fidgeted on the bench”). Gavrila dreams of only one thing: to get to the shore as soon as possible. But recovering from fear, realizing that
the deed is done, Gavrila immediately forgets about everything when she sees the money, and greed lights up in his eyes. ("Gavrila saw the colorful papers, and everything in his eyes took on bright, iridescent hues"). Money would give him everything he dreamed of. And in order to achieve his petty, selfish dream, Gavrila tries to kill Chelkash (climax). Horrified by what he had done, Gavrila nevertheless asks for forgiveness from his accomplice, and the heroes part forever (denouement).

Thus, the bearer of the moral principle is not a good-natured village guy, but the thief Grishka Chelkash, who ultimately acted nobly and generously (in the end he gave the money to his partner and forgave him for his misdeed). It should be noted that all the events described in the story are shown against the backdrop of a romantic seascape. And the landscape here performs not just a background, decorative function, but is also a means of depicting the psychology and worldview of the characters. (Let's recall how the characters relate to the sea element - Chelkash loves the sea, feeling an inner kinship with it, and Gavrila is terribly afraid of the element unknown to him). The landscape also acts as the third hero, accomplice and witness to the crime. It is not for nothing that the writer often resorts to impersonation here: “the sea slept in a healthy, sound sleep of a worker ...”, “the sea woke up, the sea howled, threw large, heavy waves onto the coastal sand ...”. Despite the author's obvious sympathy for the tramp hero, the writer shows. ambiguity, inconsistency of this image: on the one hand, such qualities as love of freedom, self-esteem, generosity, even nobility are manifested in his character, on the other hand, cruelty, unpredictability, the desire to rule over the person who trusted him, contempt for people.

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