In the story "Ionych", written in 1898, A.P. Chekhov turned to a topic that Russian literature had long studied - the spiritual degradation of the individual. It was painful for Chekhov to see how everyday vulgarity and dullness cripple human souls, gradually entangling a person with their networks, depriving him of activity, purposefulness, and interest in life. In his work, he described the fall of a man, visually depicting his “road down”.
The story “Ionych” is the story of the life of a talented young doctor who came to the provincial town

C. to work. All visitors who see in Everyday life and the manners of this city boredom and monotony, they tried to dissuade them and, as proof, they introduced them to the Turkin family, “the most educated and talented” in the city.
This family really shone with “talents”. The owner of the house, Ivan Petrovich Turkin, entertained the guests, speaking “in his unusual language, worked out by long exercises in wit and, obviously, which had long become his habit…”. His wife, Vera Iosifovna, read her tiresome novels to the guests about "what does not happen in life." And the daughter of the Turkins, whom everyone affectionately called “Kotik”, was rumored to be going to become a great pianist and “surprised” the guests with her ability to “hit with all her might” on the keys. Against this background, in the highest degree“Intelligent” and “gifted” family, the life of the rest of the inhabitants of the city of S. flows monotonously in idleness, idleness and empty talk while playing whist. However, looking at the way of life and inner world of the Turkin family, we see how small, narrow-minded and vulgar people they really are. Under their destructive influence, a young doctor Dmitry Startsev falls.
At the beginning of the story, we have a nice young man, active, full of strength and energy, passionate about his work. He perfectly sees the stupidity and narrow-mindedness of local residents, they annoy him with “their conversations, views on life and even their appearance”, because he himself has quite serious interests and high aspirations, is interested in literature, art (music). He was looking for an interesting company and therefore reached out to the Turkin family, believing that he would be able to talk with them about art, freedom, and the role of labor in human life. Soon, however, Startsev understands what the Turkins are, but does not run away from them, on the contrary, he remains and soon becomes one of the inhabitants.
The first sprouts of degradation appeared, oddly enough, in Startsev's love for Kotik. He watched as Kitty, playing the piano, "stubbornly hit everything in one place, and it seemed that she would not stop until she drove the keys into the piano." But Startsev was pleased “to look at this young, graceful and, probably, pure creature.” And he stopped noticing the home-grown entertainments of the Turkins.
During his love for Kotik, Startsev experiences the only emotional upsurge for himself: he admires nature, loves people, endows Ekaterina Ivanovna best qualities: "she seemed to him very smart and developed beyond her years." He admires the girl’s erudition, considers her intelligent, worthy of respect, but fright is mixed with his “tender, joyful, painful feeling ...”. Where will this novel lead? - Thinks Startsev, having received a note from Kotik; and besides, “what will the comrades say when they find out?”. Going to propose to his beloved girl, our hero thinks not so much about the joys of family life, but about the benefits, that the Turkins “must give a lot” for their daughter. The received refusal does not lead Startsev to despair, but only offends. For “three days” Startsev “did not eat, did not sleep,” and then he began to forget his love, only occasionally lazily recalling how much trouble it caused him: “how he wandered around the cemetery or drove around the city and looked for a tailcoat.” We see that Startsev's love was in fact shallow, although it was only love that kept him from spiritual degradation.
As the material well-being of Dr. Startsev grows (at first he walks, then he has a pair of horses, and then a “troika with bells”), he spiritual development stops, and by the time of the final meeting with Ekaterina Ivanovna, he drops completely. Now the inhabitants of the city of S. no longer see him as a stranger, their interests become the same. Continuing to complain about the environment, Ionych, as they now call him in a related way, lost everything that distinguished him from other residents. “We are getting old, we are getting fat, we are sinking ... life passes dully, without impressions, without thoughts ... During the day, we make money, and in the evening the club, a society of gamblers, alcoholics, wheezing, whom I can’t stand. What's good? - he complains to Ekaterina Ivanovna, who, having matured, has become smarter, more serious.
The hero's attitude to work is also indicative. We hear from his lips good and correct reasoning “about the need to work, that it is impossible to live without work…”. And Ionych himself at first works every day. However, his work is not inspired by the “general idea”, the purpose of the work is in one thing - “in the evenings, take out the pieces of paper obtained by practice from the pockets” and periodically take them to the bank.
Chekhov makes it clear that the hero's spiritual development did not just stop, it went in the opposite direction. Ionych has a past, a present, but no future. He travels a lot, but on the same route, gradually returning him to the same starting point. His whole existence is now determined only by the thirst for enrichment and hoarding. He fences himself off from space and from people. And this leads him to moral death. In fact, Startsev does not even resist these disastrous circumstances. He does not fight, does not suffer, does not worry, but simply concedes easily. Losing at the same time his human appearance, soul, Ionych ceases to be a good specialist.
As you can see, activity, devoid of a lofty goal, very quickly had a detrimental effect on Startsev. Only four years have passed, and he no longer regrets youth, love, unfulfilled hopes, he is no longer embarrassed by the vulgarity and meaninglessness of life around him. The "bourgeois swamp" finally sucked him in. Everything died for him, even his only poetic memory died. But inversely proportional to these human losses, the degree of wealth increases, interest in money and real estate becomes the main content of life. Now only money received from patients can please Ionych. And he continues to work only for the sake of "papers". The rest of the time he plays cards and has "small" conversations with other townsfolk. There is absolutely nothing positive left in Startsevo. Deformed and it appearance: Ionych “has become even more stout, fattened”, has acquired an outward disgrace, and when he, “chubby, red”, drives by on his troika with bells, “it seems that it’s not a man who is riding, but a pagan god.”
In the story “Ionych”, A.P. Chekhov, with his inherent skill, showed how a gray philistine environment has a detrimental effect on a person if he refuses to resist it, follows public opinion, lifestyle, his own weaknesses and does not strive for spirituality. growth. If the inclinations, high aspirations are not realized, then there is a wormhole in the person himself, which means that such a person did not have inner strength and firm convictions, which means that he was initially ready to come to terms with the outside world and merge with it.
It seems to me that the problems that Chekhov touches on in this story will always remain relevant. The writer warns of the dangers of philistinism and worldly vulgarity. After all, imperceptibly for ourselves, each of us can fall into the “case” of our own prejudices, ceasing to think and work, love and dream, seek and doubt. And this is really scary, as it leads to spiritual devastation and degradation.

You are now reading: Spiritual impoverishment Dr. Startsev in A.P. Chekhov's story "Ionych"

Chekhov succeeded in most clearly focusing the reader's attention on the implementation of the process associated with changes in the human soul, which is directly influenced by the lived years and the environment. Almost everyone dreams of ideals in their youth: honor, brotherhood, freedom, equality and work. Although after a while, many people change almost completely within themselves. They want to be in a state of peace and satiety, and at the same time choose a prosperous life. Chekhov was the first to reveal the social causes of this pathological phenomenon by writing the story "Ionych".

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A talented young doctor named Dmitry Startsev, after graduating from the university, arrives to carry out his activities as a medical worker of the highest category, on the territory of the provincial city of S. He throws all his strength into bringing the maximum benefit to people. Work becomes the main reason for his existence. Therefore, the doctor does not stop working all the time. The monotony of everyday life, filled with endless visits of patients, does not cause irritation in him at first. Startsev is introduced to the Turkin family, the most talented and extraordinary, according to the inhabitants of the local area. Chekhov strives to draw such “talent” as skillfully as possible, presented in the form of flat witticisms of the head of the family, Ivan Petrovich, mediocre piano playing by a daughter named Katerina, and novels written by her mother. Although you still need to pay tribute to this house - after the hospital walls, dirty men were calm and pleasant enough to sit in easy chairs, not thinking about anything. Soon Startsev fell in love with Katerina and decided to propose to her. The girl refuses. But the doctor did not worry about this for long. The hero was "a little ashamed" because of the stupid and vulgar end of the story.

Startsev had no family. Apparently not knowing what to do with the money, he bought real estate for fun. Chekhov tells readers: "Do not succumb ... to the influence of the environment, ... take care of the person in yourself." Having succumbed to the process associated with spiritual death, Startseva with a painful feeling realizes what a vile swamp is pulling him in, but he does not even strive to fight this phenomenon.

Updated: 2017-02-04

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Chekhov A.P.

Essay on the work on the topic: Spiritual degradation of the personality in the story of A. P. Chekhov "Ionych"

The great Russian realist writer, denouncer of the world of vulgarity, philistinism and philistinism, A.P. Chekhov said his new word in dramaturgy and raised the short story genre to an unattainable height. The writer always considered the main enemies of man to be lies, hypocrisy, arbitrariness, the thirst for enrichment. Therefore, he devoted all his work to the decisive struggle against these vices. The story "Ionych", like many of his other works, became a response to the most pressing and acute issues of our time.

In the story "Ionych" we see a typical picture of the philistine life of a provincial town, in which all visitors were oppressed by boredom and the monotony of existence. However, those who were dissatisfied were assured that it was good in the city, that there were many pleasant, intelligent people. And the Turkins have always been cited as an example of an interesting and educated family. However, peering into the lifestyle, inner world and customs of these characters, we see that in fact they are small, limited, insignificant and vulgar people. Under their pernicious influence, Startsev falls, gradually turning from an intelligent and talented doctor into a layman and money-grubber.

At the beginning of the story, Dmitry Ionych Startsev appears before us as a sweet and pleasant young man looking for an interesting company. He reached out to the Turkin family, because you can talk with them about art, about freedom, about the role of labor in human life. And outwardly, everything in this family looked attractive and original: the hostess read her novel, Turkin repeated his favorite jokes and told jokes, and their daughter played the piano. But all this is good, new and original for the first time, but in fact, the Turkins do not go beyond this monotonous and meaningless pastime.

As the plot develops, we are more and more immersed in the philistine vulgarity of the society into which the Chekhov hero finds himself. The author, step by step, reveals to us the life story of a young talented doctor who chose the wrong path of material enrichment. This choice was the beginning of his spiritual impoverishment. The main object of the writer's critical analysis is not only the deadly force of vulgarity and narrow-mindedness, under the influence of which he turns into a disgusting Ionych, but also the hero himself.

The inner evolution of the hero is clearly revealed in his love for Ekaterina Ivanovna Turkina. Startsev really fell in love with Ekaterina Ivanovna. However, in his feeling there is no life, no soul. The romance of love, its poetry, are completely alien to him. “And does it suit him, a zemstvo doctor, an intelligent, respectable person, to sigh, to receive notes,” he reflects. And we see how his heart hardened, how he spiritually and physically grew old.

The hero's attitude to work is also indicative. We hear from his lips good and correct speech“about the need to work, that without work it is impossible to live.” And Ionych himself works constantly, every day. However, his work is not inspired by the “general idea”, he has only one goal - “in the evenings, take out the pieces of paper obtained by practice from his pockets” and periodically take them to the bank.

Chekhov clearly makes it clear that the spiritual development of the hero stopped and went in the opposite direction. Ionych has a past, a present, but no future. He travels a lot, but on the same route, gradually returning him to his original

point. His whole existence is now determined only by the thirst for enrichment and hoarding. He fences off both from space and from people. And this leads him to moral death. In just a few years, the hero was completely defeated by the philistine vulgarity that he so hated and despised at the beginning. In fact, Startsev does not even resist these disastrous circumstances. He does not fight, does not suffer, does not worry, but simply concedes easily. Losing his human appearance, soul, Ionych ceases to be a good specialist.

So, gradually a person, personality, talent perishes in Startsevo. At the end of the story, even the Turkins, whose mediocrity and limitations the author makes fun of all the time, turn out to be spiritually superior to Ionych. In them, despite all the vulgarity and pettiness of their interests, there is still something human left, they at least evoke pity. There is absolutely nothing positive left in Startsevo. “It seems that it is not a man who is riding, but a pagan god,” the author says about him, summing up his complete moral degradation.

I option

In 1898, Chekhov wrote a story, the essence of which is outlined in his notebooks. Two motives are recorded in the notes: the immobility of provincial life and the coarsening of a person who was “overcome by greed”. The spiritual impoverishment of the personality, its degradation, according to the author, lies in the fact that a person loses all his highly moral ideals and merges with the gray mass of society. The meaning of life is lost.

In the city of S., the atmosphere is conducive to a monotonous and hopeless life. In search of at least some entertainment, visitors come to the home of the “educated and talented” Turkin family. Of course, after the moral fog that reigns in the streets of the city of S., this family will seem like just the last center of culture. But their life is surprisingly still monotonous and monotonous. Mom is a graphomaniac, daughter is mediocrity, and dad works out his jokes in front of the mirror even before the guests arrive.

Chekhov gradually refutes the general opinion expressed at the beginning about the Turkin family, which is considered “the most educated and talented” in the city of S. The young doctor who arrived in S. has his own high ideals, strives for beauty, and has kind and tender feelings for Kotik. But the first stage of the destructive influence of vulgarity on Startsev begins. It is noteworthy that Startsev does not resist all this. He is a conformist. He understands everything perfectly, but does nothing. This, according to Chekhov, is the main fault of the zemstvo doctor. With spiritual degradation, the appearance of the hero changes: he becomes more and more fat, shortness of breath appears. At first he went to the sick on foot, then he rode a pair of horses, and then a troika with bells. And now, Startsev, suppressing contempt for the townsfolk, brushing aside disgust, folds the papers obtained by medical practice, "which smelled of perfume, and vinegar, and incense," to be taken to the bank. Startsev himself knows that he is “getting older, getting fatter, falling”, but he has neither the desire nor the will to fight the philistine. The doctor's name is now simply Ionych. Life path completed.

It is difficult for an extraordinary person to survive in this gray world. Chekhov strictly evaluates his heroes, acutely sees the danger of delusions, but rejoices at the ability to preserve the remnant of feelings in his soul, even if for a moment he rises to a poetic view of the world.

II option

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov wrote about “what he saw and how he saw ... The dignity of his work is that it is understandable and akin not only to every Russian, but to every person in general” (L.N. Tolstoy). In the foreground in his works is a person, his inner and external world, his individuality, because "then a person will become better when you show what he is."

Gray everyday life, filled with endless patients, at first does not irritate the young zemstvo doctor Dmitry Startsev, who settled in the city of S. He, like any local intellectual, considers it his duty to get acquainted with the Turkin family, according to the city inhabitants, the most talented and unusual in S. With small strokes, the author draws this "talent". The flat witticisms of the head of the family, Ivan Petrovich, the incompetent play of Katerina's daughter and the far-fetched novels of her mother are understandable to Startsev, but after all, after the hospital, dirty peasants, it was pleasant and calm to sit in easy chairs and not think about anything. In the end, Startsev discovers that he is in love with the daughter of the Turkins, who is called Kotik in the family circle.

Upon closer examination, it turns out that Dmitry Startsev's love for Katenka seems strange, half-hearted, not quite "real". She did not come suddenly, but as a matter of course, and it is not entirely clear why Catherine is special for our hero. This love seems to be devoid of individualization. One gets the impression that Startsev simply felt the need to love. to love someone. His own thoughts can serve as proof of this: "... He wanted to scream that he wants, that he is waiting for love at all costs." So, at a time when a “normal” lover will go crazy, completely abstract thoughts swirl in Dmitry’s head: “Oh, you shouldn’t get fat!” or “And they will give a dowry, it must be a lot.” All this speaks, if not about his initial spiritual callousness, then about the prerequisites for it to further development. In the end, Ionych appears before the reader as an egoist, incapable of love at all. So, when he, "an ardent lover", found out that the object of his adoration had left the city, he "calmed down and lived in peace."

Now he no longer sympathizes with his neighbor, as before, and allows himself to shout at the sick, and knocks with a stick. In the city it's already at home they call Ionych, thereby accepting into their environment. The process of spiritual dying of Startsev is all the more painful because he is fully aware of what a vile swamp he is plunging into, but does not try to fight. Complaining about the environment, he puts up with it. Even memories of love cannot awaken Startsev's half-asleep soul. He does not at all regret what he has lost and even partly rejoices that everything turned out exactly like this: “It’s good that I didn’t get married then.” He does not feel sorry for youth, unfulfilled hopes. Physical laziness eventually turned with Startsev into laziness of feelings, into laziness of sensations and aspirations for some kind of change. It was not in vain that Chekhov gave his character the surname Startsev: this person had innate signs of old age - laziness, indifference, apathy. There is work, food, karst, some kind of respect for others. What else does? Love? For what? She has so much extra trouble.

"The history of the degradation of the human soul in the story of A.P. Chekhov "Ionych"

Goals:

Analyze Chekhov's story "Ionych" and consider the degree of personal responsibility of the hero for his life;

To reveal the tragedy of everyday life and the spiritual impoverishment of the individual in the story;

Improve the ability to analyze a work of art, apply the acquired knowledge to create a coherent text (oral and written) on a given topic.

During the classes.

Teacher's word.

The well-known Russian literary critic D. Ovsyaniko-Kulikovsky wrote that

Chekhov's work "Ionych" tells about a normal person.

Who is a normal person in your opinion?

(Ordinary, simple, average, mediocre, that's us).

Here is how the famous scientists of the 19th century, contemporaries answered this question

writer. (The teacher shows slides with the statements of scientists, reads them.)

(“It is not difficult to see that art has such an opportunity with success

study the psychology of a "normal" person...

The artist can idealize the “average” person and find certain positive qualities in him…

Chekhov treated the “average” person negatively, severely, almost cruelly, and the essence of his negative outlook can be reduced to the idea that a society consisting of only “average”, so-called “normal” people, is a society hopeless, hopeless, representing a picture of complete stagnation, a dark routine from which there is no way out. (Ovsyaniko-Kulikovsky D.N. Literary and critical works. In 2 vols. M., 1989, vol. 1, p. 475-476))

What do you think the purpose of the lesson should be?

For what purpose will we study the story "Ionych"?

(Love in the lives of the characters, the author's attitude to the characters, can Ionych be considered a normal person, etc.)

As an epigraph to the lesson, I took the words famous writer- N.V. Gogol's classic:

Take it with you on the road, leaving the soft

youthful years into the most severe and fierce courage,

take with you all human movements, do not

leave them on the road, do not pick them up later.

N.V. Gogol

How do you think the epigraph relates to the topic of the lesson?

(One of the most important topics for Chekhov is the theme of a person's moral responsibility for everything that happens to him. It is much easier to sink, degrade, capitulate to life, to the environment than to resist and defend one's views).

Chekhov's story "Ionych" explores the process of a person's spiritual surrender to the dark forces of life. The topic of spiritual impoverishment was one of the most acute social and political problems of his time.

How can one explain such close attention of Chekhov to the question of the spiritual degradation of man?

He sharply perceived the new trends of the times and foresaw the changes ripening in the country. Only in 1898 did he create the stories “Ionych”, “The Man in the Case”, “Gooseberry”, “About Love”, “Case from Practice”, “For Service”, “Darling”, “New Cottage”. In these stories, critics of Chekhov's time noticed changes in the author's manner. “Everywhere behind the figure of the narrator,” A. Izmailov wrote in Birzhevye Vedomosti on August 28, 1898, “the subjectivist author is visible, painfully feeling life’s awkwardness and not having the strength not to speak out ... An objective, calm image of reality gives way to an anxious philosophical discussion of the evils of life, speaks on the stage, not a fact, but the philosophy of a fact.

To understand this, one must turn to the history of the creation of the story "Ionych" and its content.2. Message (presentation) of the student "History of the creation of the story by A.P. Chekhov" Ionych ""

The story was written in 1898. In society, material interests become the main priority. A person as a person, the self-worth of a person become unnecessary and fade into the background. One of Chekhov's admirers wrote about "Ionych": "It's scary, scary to think how many good, only weak-willed people are ruined by vulgarity, how strongly it drags on and then you won't break out." The moral problem posed in this story in different forms arises before each generation.

Chekhov worked on "Ionych" from about February 1897 to mid-1898. Notes and sketches appear in his notebook at the same time, which will then be associated with the image of the main character - Dr. Dmitry Ionovich Startsev ("The wallet smells of blubber from credit cards") and with the Turkin family , who at first bore the name of Filimonov: “Boy lackey: die, unhappy!”, “Hello to you, please. What full Roman law do you have? Then a note appears: “The Filimonovs are a talented family, they say so throughout the city. He, an official, plays on the stage, sings, shows tricks, jokes (“hello, please”), she writes liberal stories, imitates: “I am in love with you ... oh, my husband will see!” She says this to everyone in front of her husband. Boy in front: die, unfortunate! For the first time, in fact, all this in a boring gray city seemed funny and talented. The second time too. After 3 years, I went for the 3rd time, the boy already had a mustache, and again “I’m in love with you ... oh, my husband will see!”, again the same imitation: “die, unhappy”, and when I left Filimonov, it seemed to me that there are no more boring and mediocre people in the world.

This is the grain of the first idea: the most interesting and talented family in the gray city turns out to beboring and useless . However, given this initial grain, it is impossible to reduce the entire rich and branched artistic “tree” to it: one grows out of the other, but is in no way identical with it. After all, Chekhov did not just write a story on ready theme outlined in a notebook - the original idea grew, developed and became more complicated. The last draft entry to the story: “Ionych. Obese. In the evenings, he dine at the club at a large table and, when it comes to the Turkins, he asks: “What kind of Turks are you talking about? About those whose daughter plays the piano? He practices very much in the city, but he does not abandon the Zemstvo either: greed has overcome.

3. Work on the story.

Reading the story, we understand that a life drama is unfolding before us and the question naturally arises: what is its cause? We see that Dmitry Startsev is failing both publicly and personally: he is losing his ideals, love, and even his human appearance. But how, why do losses occur? And what exactly is lost? And was there, finally, what to lose? Let's try to figure it out.

- How is Startsev depicted at the beginning of Chapter I?

( Filled with great aspirations, energy, strength, a young doctor Dmitry Ionych Startsev arrives in Dyalizh, at the Zemstvo hospital. He has an exciting future ahead of him. interesting job, the noble goal of life is "to help the sufferers, to serve the people." He is young, healthy, cheerful, full of hope, causeless youthful joy, expectation of happiness. Everything seems to him interesting, entertaining, new.

As soon as Startsev was appointed zemstvo doctor in Dyalizh, 9 versts from S., he, like any visitor, was recommended to get acquainted with the Turkin family. But, apparently, Startsev was in no hurry to do this - apparently, he did not really believe the recommendations, and most importantly,was busy and passionate about his work.

“One winter on the street he was introduced to Ivan Petrovich ... an invitation followed.” But Startsev remembered him only a few months later: “In the spring, on a holiday - after receiving the sick”, being in the city on other business, “he decided to go to the Turkins, see what kind of people they were”).

Startsev visits the Turkins for the first time "in the spring, on a holiday." And this spring festivity is not so much around the hero, but in himself. The spring holiday fills him with happiness, invigorates and pleases: he walks among the green fields, walks slowly, enjoying himself, goes to the city to relax and have fun, and all the time he sings M. Yakovlev’s romance to the words of A. A. Delvig’s elegy: “When else I did not drink tears from the cup of life ... "

When, soul, you asked

Die or love

When wishes and dreams

You were crowded to live,

When I didn't drink tears

From the cup of life, -

Why then, in a wreath of roses,

I did not go to the shadows!

- What did Startsev see at the Turkins?

( The protagonist plays the role of a kind of spectator present at a home concert. The head of the family, Ivan Petrovich Turkin, acts as a table entertainer. He leads the concert confidently and habitually. First, he “gives the floor” to his wife Vera Iosifovna, who wrote the “most novel”, then a musical number follows - their daughter Katerina Ivanovna, “Kotik”, plays the piano. And at dinner, Ivan Petrovich already showed his talents. He, laughing with his eyes alone, told jokes, joked, offered ridiculous problems and solved them himself. And at the end of this whole concert - Pavlush's lackey, who depicts something tragic: "Die, unfortunate!" Such is this homeparade of talents).

- What is the talent of Ivan Petrovich Turkin?

(The whole talent of Ivan Petrovich lies in the fact that he speaks “in his extraordinary language, worked out by long exercises in wit and, obviously, has long become a habit with him: Bolshinsky, not bad, I thank you most humbly ...” This is a man with invariably laughing eyes and funny words - his whole speech consists of jokes, anecdotes, sayings... The reputation of Turkic talents cracks at the first mention of Ivan Petrovich, who "staged amateur performances for charitable purposes, he himself played old generals and at the same time coughed very funny" All the boredom and monotony of life and society in the city of S., even in the "most educated and talented" family, are already guessed in this certification of both Ivan Petrovich's acting "gift" and the level of his audience: after all, it was her enthusiasm that was reflected in the assessment: " coughed very funny, "- you just hear the voices of local ladies and young ladies!)

Describe the novels that Vera Iosifovna writes. How does Chekhov emphasize the literary mediocrity of her novel?

(The wife of Ivan Petrovich, Vera Iosifovna, writes novels about what is not and cannot be in reality. Her novel begins with the words “The frost grew stronger ...” - a mannered and banal literary cliché. Vera Iosifovna is not a writer, she only tries to be one When Vera Iosifovna finished reading and “Luchinushka” sounded, a song about “what was not in the novel and what happens in life”, as if “the curtain fell”, and the characters from a kind of literary performance returned to life. ”, which came from the garden, in comparison with the novel, seemed to the listeners a piece of real life and, as it were, defended the truth from Vera Iosifovna’s false verbiage).

- What two worlds appear before us in the scene of Vera Iosifovna reading her novel?

( In this scene, two worlds stand before us: one is real, with the clatter of knives and the smell of fried onions from the kitchen, with soft deep armchairs and Luchinushka, the smell of lilacs and the singing of nightingales, and the other is fictitious, not real, but reminiscent of “such good , dead thoughts. And the whole romance of Madame Turkina, which followed tea with delicious cookies that melted in the mouth, turns out to be something like a pleasant tea party for the guests).

- Support your conclusions with examples from the text of the story.

(“In their large stone house,” Chekhov writes about the Turkins, “it was spacious and cool in summer, half of the windows overlooked an old shady garden, where nightingales sang in the spring; when guests were sitting in the house, knives were banging in the kitchen, the yard smelled of roasted onions - and this always foreshadowed a plentiful and tasty dinner. " This transition from the nightingales singing in the garden to the smell of fried onions cannot be called indifferent to the developing romance of the characters. Speaking of how the guests listened to Vera Iosifovna, Chekhov will not forget to say again about the smell of fried onions: “The windows were wide open, you could hear the clatter of knives in the kitchen and the smell of fried onions ... when voices came from the street, laughter and lilacs sipped from the yard, it was hard to understand how the frost was getting stronger and how the setting sun illuminated with its cold rays the snowy plain and the traveler walking alone along the road; Vera Iosifovna read about how the young, beautiful countess arranged schools, hospitals, libraries and how she fell in love with a wandering artist, read about what never happens in life, and yet it was pleasant to listen, convenient and all such good, calm thoughts went into her head - she didn’t want to get up ").

Chekhov does not interrupt the story when he first talks about Kotik and then about tea drinking: “She still had a childish expression and a thin, delicate waist; and the virgin, already developed breasts, beautiful, healthy, spoke of spring, real spring. Then they drank tea with jam, honey, sweets and delicious biscuits that melted in your mouth.” All this is in the same value range in the Turkins' house, and the hero takes all this for granted.

- Why does Vera Iosifovna not publish her works anywhere?

( Vera Iosifovna does not print her works anywhere, “she will write and hide in her closet.” “Why print? she explained. “Because we have the means.” Indeed, why print if there are means? What else can literature be for, if not for domestic use? If the Turkins had a cramped financial situation, then one could still think about publishing novels. And so - why? Literature, from the point of view of Vera Iosifovna, is something created for oneself or, in extreme cases, printed for money. She does not see any other goal and purpose in the literature).

- How does Chekhov emphasize the similarity of the Turkins' daughter Ekaterina Ivanovna with her mother Vera Iosifovna?

( The next in the program is the daughter of the Turkins, Ekaterina Ivanovna (her parents call her “Kotik”). She is going to be a pianist. Alas - her art is in the same row. Describing her appearance at the beginning of the story, Chekhov speaks of "an eighteen-year-old girl, very much like her mother, just as thin and pretty." And when she sits down at the piano, the resemblance does not disappear, but rather, on the contrary, increases. It is impossible not to hear the echo in the descriptions of how Vera Iosifovna’s novel and her daughter’s piano playing were perceived: the mother read about something that never happens in life, but still it was “pleasant, convenient” to listen to; daughter plays loudly, even somehow annoyingly, her art is reduced to a purely technical performance, but sitting in the living room after the sick and the peasants, looking at her is “so pleasant, so new ...” Kitty, playing the piano, “hit on keys”, “hit with all her might”, “stubbornly hit everything in one place, and it seemed that she would not stop until she drove the key inside the piano”, as if it were not about art, but about some kind of hard and meaningless work , the purpose of which is “to drive the keys into the piano”).

- How does Chekhov feel about the Turkins?

( So, gradually getting to know the members of this family, we realize how they, in essence,useless and boring . The reader immediately becomes uncomfortable in the company of this "smart, interesting, pleasant family", in the world of idleness, boredom, stagnation of their lives and worthlessness of existence. The question naturally arises: if these are the most talented people in the whole city, then what should the city be like? Behind the Turkins is the provincial city, they are its personification, the environment that surrounds Ionych is advancing on him to the drum sounds of Kotik playing the piano. Without losing real everyday and everyday scales and outlines, the Turkin family somehow imperceptibly grows to a great generalization, to a symbol that does not lose figurative concreteness. This is a kind of little world - with its own theater, entertainer, literature, music, and even tragedy, reduced to the antics of a lackey in front of guests dispersing home.

Empty and monotonous are the entertainments of well-fed and well-to-do inhabitants, freed from the need to work: receiving guests, tea parties, cards, fruitless conversations. The meaninglessness of their lives becomes the cause of boredom. The inhabitants of the city of S. seem to be calm, devoid of any criminal inclinations, and benevolent. Meanwhile, their existence is so monotonous, boring, ordinary that it is incompatible with the concept of "life").

- How did Startsev treat the Turkins in Chapter I?

(A stream of courtesies and jokes falls upon the guest. Startsev’s hearing is cut off by the appeals of the owner of the house, with which he regales the audience: “hello, please”, “he has no Roman law”, “most Romance”, etc. Or, say, the address of the hostess of the house to to the man she sees for the first time: "You can court me. My husband is jealous, this is Othello, but we will try to behave in such a way that he will not notice anything."it was nice , convenient, "despite the fact that he notices both the mediocrity of his mother's novels and the mediocrity of Kotik's game. Vera Iosifovna's long and boring novel awakens some vague, but "good" thoughts. The noisy and monotonous game of Kotik captivates, and Kotik herself delights him. And even Turkin's tedious, flat witticisms and Pava's absurd performance do not "irritate" (as will be later), but "occupy" him.

This is not surprising: a young, intelligent, a little tired from a year of tedious and monotonous work, the doctor rests in soft and comfortable armchairs, he likes both conversations and Ekaterina Ivanovna herself: “After the winter spent in Dyalizh, among the sick and peasants, sit in the living room, looking at this young, graceful and probably pure creature and listening to these noisy, annoying, but still cultural sounds - it was so pleasant, so new ... "

His perception of the Turkins is a kind of mirror of himself, a young, benevolent, cheerful zemstvo doctor, who, moreover, pretty much missed the intelligent society in his backwoods. He saw intelligent people, homeliness, a well-served table, a delicious dinner, heard cheerful conversations, the sounds of the piano - in a word, something that was not in Dyalizh - and everything seemed to him new, interesting and entertaining. And the most eye-catching thing that delighted him was this charming, charming creature, promising so much, so much joy ahead.

At the Turkins, everything is subject to a predetermined routine, all the actions of the owners have long been rehearsed and designed for a certain effect: here they are treated to a delicious dinner, and a beautiful daughter, and music, and novels. And now a fresh person, falling under the influence of this rhythm, does not notice how he finds himself at the mercy of the whole atmosphere that reigns here. Startsev begins to succumb to the general mood. "Wonderful!" - he repeats after everyone, praising Kotik's game. The first meeting of Ionych with Ivan Petrovich's family goes peacefully and safely. Looking at the footman boy, he thinks: "It's interesting," and when he returns home, he laughs, remembering the owner's word "not bad." Vulgarity gradually envelops, fascinates a person, deprives him of the strength to resist, subjugates him. And all this happens in a comfortable environment, and not at all scary. The inner state of a fresh person clearly contrasts with the unnatural, poseur "intelligence" of a provincial family).

- How is it depicted Startsev at the end of Chapter I?

( The entire first chapter, where the main place is given to the demonstration of Turkic talents and the style of their house, much more “depicts” Startsev himself, his"spring", youth, mobility, energy, naivety, goodwill, ecstasy of rarely falling to his share an hour of rest, comfort, cultural atmosphere. The smell of lilacs outside the window, the echoes of songs evoke elegiac sadness. And the delight of meeting a young girl, and the feeling of his own youth - all this makes Startsev happy. Having said goodbye to the Turkins, he still “went into a restaurant and drank beer”, and then went to Dyalizh. The visit of the Turkins caused a surge of energy in the Startsev, it was not for nothing that he, excited and joyful, all embraced by the sweet languor of the spring night, all the way back sang A. Rubinstein's romance to the verses of A. S. Pushkin "Night": "Your voice is for me, and affectionate, and languid ... ". Arriving home, he does not feel the slightest fatigue, but, on the contrary, in a surge of vigor, he is ready to walk like that and sing another twenty miles. Finally, he goes to bed, but in his dormant imagination the impressions of the day arise, and he laughs, falling asleep).

- How did the author manage to convey all this aroma of youth?

(The entire first chapter is filled with spring freshness, the smell of lilacs, the expectation of happiness: both the shady garden, where "nightingales sing and lilacs bloom in the spring", and the spring holiday, and the young girl, in which everything "talks about spring, about real spring", and songs and laughter from the street, and the choir of songwriters in the city garden, and the sounds of the piano in the house, and sensitive romances, and the spring night - everything that is connected with youth. Truly, we have before us the spring of life).

- How is Startsev depicted at the beginning of Chapter II?

( The second chapter is separated from the first by a fairly large time distance:"It's been over a year." “Startsev kept going to the Turkins, but there was a lot of work in the hospital, and he could not choose a free hour. More than a year passed in this way in labor and loneliness ... "The mere fact that Startsev, after the first visit, was not with the Turkins all this time ("he could not choose a free hour"), also indicates that he continued to be captured by his medical activity, and that this “most educated and talented” family did not make such an irresistible impression on him as it did on the city dwellers.His work was so exciting that it was difficult to tear yourself away from it and it is a pity to sacrifice at least one hour for the sake of a small, personal, personal one.But youth took its toll loneliness took its toll, and Startsev visited the Turkins a second time only after a special invitation from him as a doctor. And since then, he "began to visit the Turkins often, very often." Already in these emotionally colored words, the state of excitement and enthusiasm of Startsev is conveyed. There is a plot love story with Kotik - the beginning of a new stage in his life.

At the beginning of Chapter II, there is a place for the ascending line of the doctor's well-being: Vera Iosifovna "already told all the guests that this is an extraordinary, amazing doctor." This was the beginning of his reputation in society, a sure guarantee of a wide practice in the future. Startsev has risen to another level of worldly well-being, the author, as it were, has set another milestone in life path hero: "he already had his own pair of horses and the coachman Panteleimon in a velvet waistcoat").

- How is the development of Startsev's feelings for Kotik depicted?

( The love of the hero blossoms every day, as he himself blossoms. Before us is a "zemstvo doctor, an intelligent and respectable person," doing a great, necessary thing. His head is full of lofty aspirations, and his heart is full of love. He is looking for private meetings, heartfelt conversations, his language is the language of love: “I beg you”, “I conjure you”, “do not torment me”, “if you knew what suffering it is! ..”)

- How does time flow during the story of Startsev's love for Kotik?

(The rise of a young man’s feelings reaches its climax within almost two days: a day in the Turkins’ family, a night in anticipation of a date, the next day is an evening with the Turkins, later in the club. During this short period, time stretches painfully long for Startsev. Now it is counted not years, but minutes. "Give me at least a quarter of an hour, I beg you! "- says Dr. Kotika. And further: "Stay with me for at least five minutes!" With a provincial little world where everyone does not know what to do with themselves, such the state is incompatible, and the monotonous background against which it arises reinforces the feeling of this incompatibility).

- How did Startsev treat Kotik during his love?

( “She admired him with her freshness, the naive expression of her eyes and cheeks. Even in the way her dress sat, he saw something unusually sweet, touching in its simplicity and naive grace ... ”In the captivating child of love, Startsev did not see the truth and could not understand that before him was the most ordinary, county young lady, capricious and spoiled, attractive only by the all-conquering charm of youth, and not a friend and not even a real interlocutor to whom you can open your soul. He did not notice her frivolity, lavished before her the treasures of his mind and heart. “With her, he could talk about literature, about art, about anything, he could complain to her about life, about people,” and, fascinated, he listened to her naive babble, enjoying more the sound of her voice than the meaning of her speeches. “I crave your voice. Speak." For the sake of this alone, he forgave her everything: both her insulting inattention (“during a serious conversation, it happened that she “suddenly started laughing inappropriately or ran into the house”), and her inappropriate remarks (“what a funny name Pisemsky was - Alexei Feofilaktych”) . He suffered, looking for dates alone, and she continued to play the piano "for three, four hours" and received the same guests. It was at this time that the hero experiences the only emotional upsurge for himself: he admires nature, loves people, endows Ekaterina Ivanovna with the best qualities: “she seemed to him very smart and developed beyond her years.” The word "seemed" comes very important nuance in the relationship of the main characters. The reader sees Kotik's limitations, the boredom that prevails in her house, and understands that Startsev is mistaken, inventing the image of a girl. However, the growing love for Kotik even more distinguishes Startsev from tediously ordinary people).

The student reads an excerpt from Chapter II of "The Elders at the Cemetery" to the accompaniment of "Autumn Song" by P. I. Tchaikovsky "The Seasons".

The student analyzes the episode "The Elders in the Cemetery".

The cemetery appears to him from a distance as a large garden bathed in soft moonlight. At first, the motive of passing time arises in the mind of the hero: time runs inexorably, a person does not have time to look back - and life has already passed. Then, before Startsev, the world opened up as he had never seen it: he was “struck by what he saw now for the first time in his life and which, probably, will no longer happen to be seen: a world unlike anything else, a world where the moonlight is so good and soft, as if here is its cradle, where there is no life ... but in every poplar, in every grave, the presence of a secret is felt that promises a quiet, beautiful, eternal life. Startsev is shaken by this picture, and in his excited mind arise and, like a bizarre play of white and black around him, thoughts about being and non-being, about life and death, about reconciliation and despair, also whimsically intertwine, and everything is resolved by penetration into the mystery, “promising quiet, beautiful, eternal life”, but not “there”, somewhere in mysterious world non-existence, but "here", on earth.

The poetic picture of the night cemetery contrasts sharply with Startsev's love. In this world, where everything is shrouded in mystery, eternity, "forgiveness, sadness and peace," Startsev could not save the mood of light sadness that appeared in him in the first minutes. Soon he felt fear, imagined himself buried, “it seemed to him that someone was looking at him, and for a moment he thought that this was not peace and silence, but a deaf melancholy of nothingness, suppressed despair ...”. And this one unusual world evokes in Startsev's soul a storm of feelings, passionate, earthly, unwilling to put up with the peace of the dead. In essence, this is a rebellion against his boring and lonely life. Thoughts of eternal rest are replaced by pictures of passionate love, kisses, hugs that arise in the heated imagination of the hero. And it begins to seem to Startsev that everything around him comes to life: a long-extinguished lamp on Demetti’s grave lights up, the desert world is inhabited by charming ghosts, and because of the branches “someone is looking at him”, he is seized by a thirst for earthly love, “as if the moonlight warmed up in him this passion. In Startsev, exhausted by the quick and painful change of hopes and doubts, passion awoke, as if warmed up by moonlight (after all, he came on a date!): he “drew kisses, hugs in his imagination”, “he wanted to scream what he wants, what he is waiting for love through thick and thin; in front of him there were no longer pieces of marble, but beautiful bodies. There is nothing reprehensible in this passion that tormented Startsev among the graves. But it is just as out of place here as his steps, which were heard "so abruptly and inappropriately." In essence, we have before us a man with an insufficiently sensitive soul, capable of imagining passionate embraces in a cemetery.

But this impulse is weak and short-lived. This flash, the rise of feelings fades away along with the moonlight, everything disappears, becomes mundane, vulgar. Minutes pass, Kotik, of course, is gone, everything that he dreamed about, dreamed about in the cemetery, disappears like a mirage: “And it was as if the curtain fell, the moon went under the clouds, and suddenly everything went dark around.” This line contains a direct meaning: the moon hid, it darkened around; and along with this direct meaning, we catch another: not only around, but in the soul of Ionych himself, it darkened, some kind of bright light went out. The words “as if the curtain had fallen” have another figurative and semantic connotation: everything that Ionych dreamed about ended like a performance, like a performance. Now the footlights are off, the hero returns to life as it is, without fanfare, with the coachman Panteleimon in a velvet waistcoat and a carriage in which to sit as comfortably as in the Turkins' living room. Love, dreamed up, as if even dreamed of by Ionych at night in a cemetery, is something fragile, unreliable, unreal and quickly disappearing. It has something of a performance, of implausible art. The illusion ended, the most inspired page of Startsev's life closed, and reality came into its own. “It was already dark, like an autumn night,” and Startsev “wandered for an hour and a half, looking for the lane where he left his horses.” He, who had just experienced wonderful, unique moments in his life, got into the carriage with pleasure! And what a dissonance his sober, such prosaic words and thoughts sound like: "I'm tired ..." - he said and thought: "Oh, you shouldn't put on weight." And the reader becomes sad, offended and sorry for that Startsev, who so recently, on a beautiful spring night, walked with a cheerful gait to Dyalizh, smiling carelessly and singing all the way. And one does not want to forgive him either his prudence or his solidity, and one becomes annoyed at the thought that he has lost his former freshness and immediacy.

- How is Startsev depicted at the beginning of Chapter III?

( Only one day ("The next day in the evening") separates the events of the third chapter from the second. But this new chapter in the short story - a new and turning point in Startsev's life: the beginning of the decline of his youth, the collapse of his faith in his happiness ("he did not expect refusal"), cooling to his work, the first signs of mental laziness. It is already clear to the reader that the time is not far off when the gray reality will put out his fire, lull his conscience, embitter and devastate his soul. And Startsev himself is new - he is full of contradictions, his thoughts and feelings are doubled. And the composition of the entire chapter is based on the rapid change of moods of the hero in collisions with petty obstacles of tedious, sometimes vulgar and rude reality. Moreover, in both big and small, Startsev is losing ground without a fight).

-What prevents Startsev from making an offer to Kotik at the beginning of Chapter III?

(“The next day in the evening he went to the Turkins to propose,” he burned with impatience, but met the most unexpected and strange obstacle: “Ekaterina Ivanovna was combed by a hairdresser” (?!). And “I had to again (like yesterday) sit in the dining room for a long time , drink tea "and listen to the nonsense that Ivan Petrovich wove. What prose!)

- What is Startsev thinking about at this time? How does this characterize him?

( Startsev thinks about his own, but his thoughts become gray and prosaic. “And they will give a dowry, it must be quite a lot.” Who would have thought that after everything experienced that night, such thoughts would wander into Startsev's head? “After a sleepless night, he was in a state of stupefaction, as if he had been drugged with something sweet and soporific; my heart was foggy, but joyful, warm, and at the same time some cold, heavy piece in my head reasoned: “Stop before it's too late! Is she a match for you? She is spoiled, capricious, sleeps until two o'clock, and you are a deacon's son, a zemstvo doctor ... Besides, if you marry her, then her relatives will force you to quit the zemstvo service and live in the city. "Well? he thought. - In the city so in the city. They’ll give him a dowry, we’ll set up a situation…” Two voices are arguing in his soul: but if earlier, before going on a date, love helped him to discard rational and sober arguments, now the voice of love sounds muffled, he is interrupted by the voice of reason).

- How is Ekaterina Ivanovna depicted in the scene of refusal to Startsev? What character traits does she show here?

( The naive, ardent confession of Ekaterina Ivanovna, repeating the thoughts inspired by Startsev himself in long intimate conversations under an old maple tree, sounds much more cordial than his love outpourings. And she herself “with a very serious expression” on her face, with tears in her eyes, somehow grows up in front of us. “A person should strive for the highest brilliant goal,” she exclaims with inspiration, “and you want me to continue living in this city, continue this empty, useless life, which has become unbearable for me.” This young, naive young lady, as we will learn later, really found the strength in herself, despite the "fits" of her mother and the exhortations of her father, to go to the conservatory to devote her life to her beloved art. True, she was mistaken, but nevertheless she took a decisive step, and Startsev remained. "You'll understand..." she finishes, confident of complete unanimity. She is far from the idea that Startsev is capable of compromise, she does not even suspect what thoughts wandered in his head a few hours ago. "Dmitry Ionych, you are kind, noble, clever man, you are the best, ”she says sincerely, with conviction. This is how he once was, in the first days of their acquaintance, and she saw him like this even now, and this is how he will remain in her memories. She alone will carry in her heart his image, high and pure, as his author would like to see, and she alone of all will not notice in him those terrible destructions that time will produce).

- What happened to Startsev after Kotik's refusal?

( Ekaterina Ivanovna does not accept Startsev's proposals. And what? And nothing - characteristic, purely Chekhov's "nothing".The hero does not try to defend his love , he returns to his former normal existence. “Startsev’s heart stopped beating restlessly.” “He was a little ashamed, and his pride was offended,” that's all. But where is the protest? Where is the struggle for happiness? It cannot be considered an expression of protest that “he first of all tore off his stiff tie and sighed with all his chest ...”)

- How does Chekhov feel about Startsev's behavior after Kotik's refusal?

(The author cannot hide his secret annoyance at his hero, she even peeps through the warm lyrical lines of Startsev’s woeful reflections: “And I couldn’t believe that all his dreams, longings and hopes led him to such a stupid end, just like in a small play at an amateur performance ". Something petty, pitiful is heard in this comparison: "And it was a pity for his feelings, this love of his, so sorry that, it seems, he would have taken it and sobbed or with all his might would have grabbed Panteleimon's broad back with an umbrella." Not insulting whether this completely unexpected comparison sounds - “sobbed” or “grabbed”! His explanation takes place against the backdrop of the rough, uncomfortable life of the city of S., from which there is nowhere to hide. The personification of this impenetrable stupidity, satiety and well-being for the young doctor is the coachman Panteleimon, and in at the same time, Panteleimon is a part of his own "I", in which everything that was petty and vulgar in it is concentrated. Grabbing him with an umbrella on the back is like hitting yourself, trying to break the established way own life. But Startsev is not capable of this: time has taken its toll).

- How long did Startsev worry after Kotik's refusal?

( “For three days, things fell out of his hands, he didn’t eat, didn’t sleep ...” Only three days! Didn't he just say: "My love is limitless" (?!). And when a rumor reached him (apparently he himself did not directly try to find out about her) that Ekaterina Ivanovna had left for Moscow, he calmed down and healed as before).

What part of the experience on this disturbing and significant day in his life was preserved in Startsev's memory? And how often did he remember this day?

( “Sometimes, remembering how he wandered around the cemetery, or how he drove around the city and looked for a tailcoat, he stretched lazily and said: “How much trouble, however!” Memory retained only troubles, and everything experienced at night in the cemetery no longer stirred either in his lazy brain or in his empty heart. All this, together with youth, has gone forever into the irretrievable past. Startsev entered a new phase).

- Why did the love of Ionych and Kotik not take place?

( The love of Ionych and Kotik, two intelligent people who felt sympathy for each other, did not take place at the beginning of the story because the heroine was afraid of ordinary family life, she wanted something different, unusual. She arrogantly rejected Startsev's proposal, arguing that she was created for art, that she wants to be an artist, wants fame, success, freedom and does not imagine herself as a wife. The environment became smaller, vulgarized human feelings. Education in the Turkin family could not but inspire Kotik with frivolity, unfounded claims, etc. Startsev’s moral weakness, cowardice ruined love at the very beginning, and the rapid vulgarization completed the destructive process - it was reflected in the fate of Ekaterina Ivanovna).

- But what would Ekaterina Ivanovna gain by marrying Startsev?

(Of course, we cannot know how the life of the Startsevs would have turned out. But the love that Ionych “flamed” does not bode well. Love, combined with reflections on the size of the dowry, with doubts: “What will the comrades say when they find out? ”, heartache, subsiding in three days - all this looks a little funny, a little wretched and testifies to the fake feeling of Ionych).

- How is Startsev depicted in Chapter IV?

(Four years later, Startsev “went out no longer in a pair, but in a troika with bells,” he became stout, mellow, reluctant to walk, as he suffered from shortness of breath. “Every morning he hastily received patients in Dyalizh [this is a secondary matter], then went to the city patients [this is the main thing!]". Startsev moves further and further away from the zemstvo hospital. His attention is absorbed by a large private practice and the calculation of the daily fee. free hours he already gives back to food, cards and money).

- How does Startsev characterize his hobby - examining and counting banknotes earned per day?

( This hobby - examining and counting banknotes earned per day - speaks both of Startsev's expanded private practice, and of his indifference to where exactly the money flows into his pockets (indiscriminately from people of different professions and positions - from noblemen, merchants houses or huts of the urban poor), and about the inattention of Ionych as a doctor, the haste with which he goes around his patients).

- How does Startsev treat the townsfolk in Chapter IV? How does this characterize him?

(In four years, Startsev lost everything that distinguished him from the inhabitants of the city. S. Startsev does not stand out among the townspeople, although they “irritated him with their conversations, views on life, and even their appearance.” He did not get close to anyone, avoided talking about "something inedible" with the townsfolk, avoided such entertainments as the theater and concerts, only silently ate and played vint with pleasure. Startsev listened with disgust to the stupid and evil speeches of the townsfolk, "and everything was uninteresting, unfair, stupid, he felt irritation, he was agitated, but he was always sternly silent and looked at his plate", and for this "he was nicknamed in the city" the puffed-up Pole", although he was never a Pole" (the anger of the townsfolk always seeks nationalist justification). Of course, to make angry speeches in it was pointless to the circle of stupid and vicious philistines. But the whole trouble is that Startsev endured, got used to, humbled himself. Gradually, his anger against the world of philistine vulgarity grows, however, it does not grow into an open protest, but settles in the depths of his soul, making Startsev gloomy and unsociable. All this time he was oppressed by philistine stupidity, narrow-mindedness, vulgarity. Now Startsev consciously opposes himself to the provincial society, because he seeks to isolate himself from any influences, to live "only entertainment" - to count the money received from clients. Indignation at philistinism pushes him into the arms of the same milieu. Petty-bourgeois needs, meanwhile, bring him closer to the townsfolk. Complaining about the environment, he puts up with it. His interests become the same as the interests of other inhabitants: he willingly plays cards in the evenings, and when he comes home, he counts with pleasure the money received from the sick).

- What is left of the former Startsev and what has changed in him over the past four years?

( What remained, first of all, was his sober mind, strengthened by years and life experience, the mind that Kotik valued so highly. Mind, as before, put it much higher environment ordinary people, but did not push him to protest, to fight against their "stupid and evil" philosophy, but only embittered against people, aroused contempt for them and cooled him to life. And Startsev lost his taste for life!

His convictions, which so captivated Kotik, remained, but they no longer met with either a response or sympathy in anyone - and he buried them in the deep recesses of his soul and did not like to look there. Startsev began to look at everything indifferently.

His industriousness remained, for which Kotik so respected him, but it was now stimulated not by lofty aspirations to be useful to people, but by base interests of profit from these people. And Startsev lost interest in the real thing.

His energy remained, which infected Kotik, but it was now put to idle, turning into a feverish fuss in pursuit of profit.

He still had the ability to "enjoy", but what? In his youth, he enjoyed nature, conversations with Kotik, love for her, later - comforts, and now vices: gluttony, playing cards and accumulating money).

This is how Startsev appeared before Kotik after a four-year separation. For all four years, Startsev did not see Ekaterina Ivanovna even once, although she came home every summer, but somehow it did not happen to meet. Obviously, Startsev was not looking for this opportunity. “But now four years have passed,” the author repeats, returning to the presentation of events. “One quiet, warm morning, a letter was brought to the hospital,” in which Vera Iosifovna asked “to ease her suffering,” just like once upon a time. Startsev thought about it and in the evening went to the Turkins.

- What did Ionych see at the Turkins four years later?

( When, after a long break, he again visited the Turkins, he found everything the same, but he took it with annoying boredom and hostility: “Ah, hello, please!” Ivan Petrovich met him, smiling with his eyes alone. "Bonjurte" - just like then.

Then, with a mannered sigh, Vera Iosifovna joked: “You, doctor, don’t want to look after me,” as if she continued yesterday’s conversation. Then they “drank tea with a sweet pie”, and then “with jam, honey and sweets”. “Then Vera Iosifovna read a novel aloud, read about what does not happen in life, and Startsev listened, looked at her gray, beautiful head and waited for her to finish.

“Untalented,” he thought, “not the one who cannot write stories, but the one who writes them and cannot hide it.”

- Not bad, - said Ivan Petrovich.

Then Ekaterina Ivanovna played the piano noisily and for a long time, and when she finished, they thanked her for a long time and admired her. “It’s good that I didn’t marry her,” thought Startsev.

And at parting, "portrayed" Pava, now a "young man with a mustache."

You read these repeated “later”, “later”, and it begins to seem that you are re-reading the already read pages again, that the events have returned back and will be repeated in the same order. Has time really done nothing to the Turkin family? The “most talented family” of the Turkins has changed only outwardly. Vera Iosifovna, by the end of the story "greatly aged, with white hair ...". The footman Pavel (Pava), whom the owner does not get tired of demonstrating to the guests, has turned from a 14-year-old boy into a mustachioed man. Kitty first lost "the former freshness and expression of childish naivety", and then "visibly aged." But for many years they all continue to live as before. Almost a symbol of this general immobility is the invariably gallant appearance of the head of the family, Ivan Petrovich, uttering the same flat jokes. But the program of life in the Turkins' house remained the same, like a long-boring gramophone record. It repeats itself, and, worst of all, it will continue to repeat itself until life itself in this house ends.)

- How has Ekaterina Ivanovna changed?

( "And Kitty? She lost weight, turned pale, became more beautiful and slimmer; but it was already Ekaterina Ivanovna, and not Kotik; there was no longer the former freshness and expression of childish naivety. There was something new in her eyes and manners - timid and guilty, as if here, in the Turkins' house, she did not feel at home. Yes, this is not a spoiled Kotik, but a woman who has already drunk “tears from the cup of being”, if we recall the naive romance that the young Startsev sang, and introducing her own, bitter, but sincere human sound into the monotonous chirping of the mechanism of this toy house. She became more mature, serious, realized that she could not be a pianist, on this score she would no longer be mistaken: “I am the same pianist as my mother is a writer ...” But along with the collapse of the dream of art, of fame, in her soul awakened that interest, attraction, sympathy for Ionych, which she had previously drowned out in herself, intoxicated with thoughts about music. Ekaterina Ivanovna has only one illusion left, with which she also has to part - this is Startsev's love. When they meet again, she "intently, with curiosity" looks into his face, as if trying to make out that former Ionych, who begged her to go out into the garden with him and so trustingly rushed on a date. But before her is another person who "did not like her pallor, the new expression on her face, a weak smile." Startsev immediately felt that before him was not the old Kotik, but a completely new one: it was already Ekaterina Ivanovna. And although he liked her even now, “something was missing in her, or something was superfluous,” something “prevented him from feeling as before.” He was perplexed, finding no excuse for his coldness, and transferred his annoyance to the pallor of her face, to her voice, then to the dress, to the armchair, and, finally, to everything that surrounded her. Startsev was uncomfortable with the memories of “my love, dreams and hopes” that had once worried him, and he cautiously protected himself from them: “It’s good that I didn’t marry her.” And he was silent, stubbornly silent).

- How did the roles of the characters change during their last date?

( Now Ekaterina Ivanovna and Dmitry Ionych seem to have changed roles. Ekaterina Ivanovna, who previously rejected him, returning home after the collapse of her unfulfilled artistic hopes, is full of grateful memories of whom she had previously neglected with the egoism of her youth. Ekaterina Ivanovna was worried, looked inquisitively into his eyes, “waited that he would offer her to go to the garden”, continue the conversation interrupted four years ago, and she would again hear the last magic words: “My love is limitless ... I beg you, I beg you - be my wife!" These words still sounded in her heart, and neither time nor life's disappointments drowned them out. In sorrowful moments of doubt and loneliness, they awakened a vague hope for happiness. Ekaterina Ivanovna often thought of Startsev even in Moscow, and when she arrived home she thought about him all the days, and was agitated, and wanted to go to him herself, and wanted to send him a letter. Ekaterina Ivanovna languished, suffered, she wanted to speak with him alone, but Startsev was silent. And she herself called him into the garden, called him with the same words that he called her four years ago: “For God's sake, I beg you, don’t torture me, let’s go to the garden! .. I haven’t seen you for a whole week ... I need to talk with you, I have to explain myself ... ”, - said the“ spring ”Startsev. And, as an echo of these confessions, he now hears his former enamored prayers repeated almost verbatim: “I have been thinking about you all these days ... I was expecting you with such excitement today. For God's sake, let's go to the garden... I need to talk to you." She missed five words: "I beg you, do not torture me," but her look finished them.)

- What is the similarity and difference between this landscape and the landscape in Chapter II?

(In this landscape, there is again an echo of the past, experienced, and at the same time a distinct feeling of a change that has taken place: once there was “spring”, then “it was getting dark early”, now it is “dark”. It is also dark in the soul of Ionych. A cemetery flooded with moonlight light, it seemed to the enamored Startsev a big garden, but now, when they went out into the garden, they sat down on their favorite bench - everything is dead for him and already the garden seems like a cemetery).

A wave of memories of better days washed over Startsev. “And he remembered everything that happened, all the smallest details.”

What did Startsev remember during his last meeting with Kotik?

(In the darkness, he saw her “brilliant eyes”, felt her closeness, and the former Kotik appeared before him with a “childish expression on his face.” In front of him, so close to him, was again his dear companion, his best friend, only person to whom he could open his soul. Imagination vividly drew a picture of their farewell evening for him: Kotika in a ball gown, and his delight, and her fright, and his kisses and her sudden disappearance, he even remembered that it was raining then and it was dark, as now. “The fire kept burning in my soul, and I already wanted to talk, complain about life,” about people, just like then. And at first, Kotik liked him because he could "complain to her about life, about people." Chekhov imperceptibly emphasizes in his hero one outwardly insignificant, but in fact decisive feature: Ionych kept complaining, everything was just complaining. And now, during their last conversation, along with the flaring “fire”, there comes a feeling of dissatisfaction with life as it is, as it flows from day to day: “Oh! he said with a sigh. - You ask me how I'm doing. How are we doing here? No way. We grow old, we grow fat, we fall. Day and night - a day away, life passes dully, without impressions, without thoughts ... During the day, profit, and in the evening a club, a society of gamblers, alcoholics, wheezing, whom I can not stand. What's good?")

- How did Ekaterina Ivanovna react to the words of Startsev? How did he appear to her in her dreams?

( Ekaterina Ivanovna now understood his words more clearly than before, listened to him more attentively, was full of sympathy and anxiety for her beloved; it never crossed her mind to merge Startsev with the coarse, vulgar, petty environment about which he complained. He, as before, in her eyes was above this environment, and his words sounded to her like a protest against the gray philistine).

- For a moment, the heroes found mutual language, experienced the general feeling : she wanted love, which she had previously pushed away, and he remembered the past. She freed herself from the self-hypnosis of an artistic career, and in his soul, hardened and well-fed, an alarming and joyful light suddenly lit up. It seemed that one more word - and they would understand each other, forgive and go hand in hand to work, forgetting forever "an empty, useless life in this city." Love and joyful, creative work will atone for their mistakes, delusions and even vices, purify them and make worthy great, real happiness, which Chekhov always dreamed of, whose pictures Startsev painted with such enthusiasm four years ago, and in the possibility of which Kotik believed with the same enthusiasm then and Ekaterina Ivanovna continued to believe now.

- What does Ekaterina Ivanovna say to Ionych? How does this characterize her?

( Ekaterina Ivanovna objects to Ionych, his bitter complaints about life: “But you have a job, a noble goal in life. You loved talking about your hospital so much.” It is as if we have a completely different person in front of us, who has understood a lot, who has begun to see clearly. She had enough sobriety and strength to understand that she was not a pianist, just as her mother was not a writer. But she is unable to free herself from blind naivety, thinking about Ionych. After all, these words about ideal service, helping “sufferers” are almost a quote from the same mother’s novel, where the young countess arranged “schools, hospitals, libraries” in her village. Ekaterina Ivanovna, who had begun to see clearly, still remained a sweet, poor Kotik, the daughter of her parents, a product of her environment. She was proud of her chosen one and enthusiastically painted his perfect portrait: “What a happiness it is to be a zemstvo doctor, to help the sufferers, to serve the people. What happiness! When I thought about you in Moscow, you seemed to me so perfect, sublime...”)

- Why does Startsev reject Ekaterina Ivanovna's love?

( Startsev could no longer be alone with Ekaterina Ivanovna: her words disturbed his conscience, urged him to some action, and worse than any reproach exposed the impotence of his will, his mental devastation, his moral decline ... And when Startsev “saw her face and sad, grateful eyes in the evening lighting,” he again could not say anything, he just thought: “It’s good that I didn’t get married then.” He was seized with anxiety, he vaguely understood that before him was the voice of his conscience, his judge, who called him to a decisive answer. He could not stand this test and "began to say goodbye" - to say goodbye forever. His anxiety turned into irritation with everyone and everything, and even a parting glance at “the dark garden and house that were so sweet and dear to him once” did not soften his bitterness and did not calm him down.

Startsev offends the feeling of Ekaterina Ivanovna with his inattention: he does not answer the note, he casually passes it through the footman: "I will come, tell me, so in three days." And he doesn't keep his promise. He ceases to visit the Turkins, despite the insistent invitations of his former lover: they now only annoy him).

"And he never visited the Turkins again." This is how the author ended the last page of Startsev's novel with Kotik and the fourth chapter of the novel. It summed up all the results, but it also posed all the questions. But why didn't the denouement of the novel lead to the desired end? Why did Startsev stop loving his job? What was the reason for the impoverishment of thoughts in the feelings of Startsev? The author answered all these questions in the fifth chapter - the epilogue of the novel.

Listening to an audio recording of an excerpt from the fifth chapter of the story "Ionych": "Several more years have passed ... - ... That's all that can be said about him."

- How is Ionych depicted in Chapter V?

(The fifth chapter, like the previous one, begins with an indication of the deadline: “A few more years have passed,” and then the author sums up Ionych’s life - this is “deaf longing for nothingness,” slow dying. By about 35-36 years, the hero turned from Dmitry Startsev into Ionycha - became obese, lost his conscience and became like not a man, but a pagan god.

Ionych's life is completely devastated and impoverished, devoid of events. He got rich, fat and flabby. “Startsev has become even more stout, fat, breathes heavily ... wipes sweat from his forehead ... walks with his head thrown back ... probably because his throat is swollen with fat, his voice has changed, it has become thin, sharp. His character also changed: he became heavy, irritable. He directs his abilities and energy to the senseless accumulation of money and the acquisition of houses that he does not need at all (“there is already an estate and two houses in the city, he chooses a third, more profitable one”). Passion in youth for a favorite thing, the desire to bring public benefit degenerates into selfish chores, interest in people - into complete insensitivity.

Importance, greed and rudeness have developed in him to ugly proportions. “He has a lot of trouble, but still he does not leave the Zemstvo place; greed has overcome, I want to be in time here and there. Unceremoniously, not paying attention to people, he enters the apartments of the houses he is buying, yelling angrily at his patients. Poetry almost completely disappears from his life, the only joy in which for all this time was his love for Ekaterina Ivanovna, which became a memory. “He is lonely. He is bored, nothing interests him. “In the evenings, he plays vint in the club and then sits alone at a large table and has dinner.” The fact that Ionych is “alone at the big table” is the embodiment of his greed, loneliness, misanthropy. "And comes home late at night." This is the way of his life.

Startsev acquired wealth for himself, but lost a man in himself, and at the same time lost his name: “In Dyalizh and in the city, he is simply called “Ionych”. What an abyss of man's fall! With each chapter, it becomes clearer and clearer that the life of the hero will have to end with an inevitable fatal ending. The higher he went up - to the enrichment of the pocket, the lower he fell down to the impoverishment of the spirit

The story ends with a picture of the complete fall of Ionych. Previously, he was frightened and jarred by the rudeness of the surrounding life. Now he is the personification of this rudeness. A characteristic detail: we remember how, after a kiss in a carriage, the “disgusting voice” of a policeman was heard shouting at the coachman Panteleimon. Now Panteleimon himself, like Ionych, chubby, red, rudely shouts to those he meets: “Hold on!” Gradually, Ionych lost his human appearance: when he, “chubby, red,” rides on his troika, “it seems that it’s not a man who is riding, but a pagan god.”

Startsev has been working all his life (“He has a huge practice in the city, there is no time to breathe”). But activity devoid of a lofty goal turns out to be detrimental to the worker-intellectual as well. He dies, keeping the understanding of what is happening. And as an experienced doctor, probably, he could diagnose himself: the destruction of the personality as a result of the loss of bright life goals, meaning, the high goal of life.

Ionych dies, sinks, but he himself knows about his tragedy. And as if summing up the final result of his life, Chekhov writes: "That's all that can be said about him").

- Does Ionych remember his love for Kotik?

(“For the entire time that he lives in Dyalizh, love for Kotik was his only joy and, probably, his last.” But she could not leave a bright, joyful trace in his soul, he could not keep even this inviolable in his memory “ the only "and unique feeling in life - he vulgarized him too:" Are you talking about which Turkins? Is it about those that your daughter plays the pianos? "Not that his memory, like a throat, swam with fat and did not save the most precious page of life , otherwise he wants to viciously ridicule this page, humiliate both this memory itself and the heroine of his young novel).

So the author closes the circle of his hero's life. She passed among tedious work and petty affairs, among boredom and vulgar everyday bustle. The city met Dmitry Ionych young, full of strength, entangled him in a mire of trifles from which there is no return, turned him simply into Ionych.

And forever saying goodbye to his hero, Chekhov ends the story with a mention of the Turkins: “And the Turkins?” This sad and kind intonation is already familiar to us: “And Kotik?” And here and there it is the threshold of a different attitude, a reassessment.

“Ivan Petrovich hasn’t aged, hasn’t changed at all, and continues to joke around and tell jokes; Vera Iosifovna reads her novels to the guests willingly, as before, with sincere simplicity. And Kotik plays the piano every day, for four hours. She has visibly aged, is getting sick, and every autumn leaves with her mother for the Crimea. Seeing them off at the station, Ivan Petrovich, when the train starts moving, wipes away his tears and shouts:

- Farewell, please! And waving a handkerchief.

- How is Ivan Petrovich depicted at the end of the story? How does Chekhov feel about the Turkins in this episode?

(Even in Ivan Petrovich, with his habitually run-in speech, uniformly laughing eyes, annoying words, there is some kind of human gap. He loves his family; seeing his wife and daughter off at the station, “when the train starts, he wipes away his tears and shouts: - Farewell, And he waves his handkerchief." Of course, this is still funny in some ways, but it's even more scary: life is broken - and the gayer "Farewell, please!" , and only tears suddenly wash off the “make-up” and reveal a living, suffering human face, the face of life, distorted by pain, and not shackled by dead peace or mechanical animal greed. last words the story is not only a mockery, but even some shadow of the author's sympathy, condolences to a character who could be a man, if not for the dull, monotonous philistine life).

- Is it possible to say that Ionych sank to the Turkic environment?

(No, he is worse than the Turkins. Ivan Petrovich Turkin, as he was, has remained so. He, if I may say so, is equal to himself. And Ionych renounced his culture, intelligence, his work and his love).

- How did Chekhov's attitude towards Ionych change throughout the story?

(In the story, the environment attacked the hero, and the more he put up with it, the more the author retreated from him, the sharper he judged him. Chekhov is merciless to Ionych - no longer a man, but a swollen creature with a throat, swollen with fat, who no longer remembers about nothing but money. According to contemporaries, Chekhov, as a doctor, was sensitive and attentive to patients. Therefore, he so severely condemns Startsev's rudeness towards patients).

Teacher's conclusion: so, a careful reading of the text convinces us, readers, that Chukhov's artistic thought moves in the story from the particular to the general: the fate of Startsev, who turned into Ionych, is a manifestation of general disorder. The writer shows that the solution of disorder, personal problems is impossible without solving social problems. The author masterfully portrays the moral image of a person. And it all started, it would seem, with minor flaws in the character of the hero: the desire for profit in love, lack of sensitivity to people, irritability, inconsistency in one's convictions, inability to defend them, laziness and unwillingness to fight vulgarity.

The soulless life, to which Startsev deliberately doomed himself, excluded him from the ranks of living people, deprived him of the ability to think and feel. The conclusion follows from the story: if a person is replaced by the force of circumstances and the ability to resist gradually fades away in him, the necrosis of the human soul comes - the most terrible retribution that life pays for opportunism. Protecting oneself from active life turns into a disaster for Startsev: he retreated before reality, he grows into evil with his whole being, comes to those from whom he leaves at the beginning and whom he hates. At the end of the story, the Startsev and the Turkins are frankly placed side by side, equated with each other as people who have equally failed in life: the Turkins' idle undertakings are senseless and immoral, the immoral and disgustingly soulless money-grubbing of Ionych.

But nevertheless, creating the image of Startsev, Chekhov poses the problem of a person’s personal responsibility for his life: after all, the environment that raised and shaped Ionych put forward other people, like doctors Kirillov (“Enemies”) and Dymov (“The Jumper”). The image of Ionych shows what a person becomes if there is no resistance to vulgarity, laziness, philistinism, selfishness.

5. Reflection:

What expressive means carry the greatest artistic and aesthetic load in the story “Ionych” and tell the main idea of ​​the work?

How are artistic details used in revealing the image of Startsev?

With the help of what visual means the author creates a collective image of the inhabitants of the city of S.

Why is the story a protest against the destruction of the human personality?

How do you understand the call: “Take care of the person in you!”?

What do you think: the transformation of Startsev into Ionych is a tragedy of an intelligent person who could not cope with the surrounding philistine, or is it a satire that exposes a weak and weak-willed hero?

6. Homework:

Write a miniature essay on the topic “Is there real life in the story“ Ionych ”.

Spend comparative analysis two episodes: the first and last meeting of Ekaterina Ivanovna and Startsev. On the basis of the analysis, prove that Ekatarina Ivanovna's development was ascending, and Startsev's was descending. (Tasks 1,2 to choose from).