A sportsman sketches, by Ivan Turgenev, tells several short stories about himself traveling around Russia. In some of these short stories, he writes about the treatment of the serfs. In the short story called The Agent, Turgenev tells us about an acquaintance of his named Arkady Pavlitch Pyenotchkin. A landowner and retired officer of the Guards, Arkady like many nobles of the time spends his life looking after his estate. In the treatment of his peasants he considers himself harsh but just, believing that peasants behave like children and need a good beating once in a while. He cultivates many French goods and speaks some French phrases but has a dislike for German philosophy. Turgenev prefers not to get involved with the man and only visits the area for the quality of the game to hunt. One night he was forced to stay at Arkady Pavlitch estate while traveling to Ryabovo. While their Arkady asks to accompany …show more content…
The general in Turgenev worlds was an odd man who could not treat nobles of no wealth or status as equals. He never looks at people of lower standing when talking to them. Instead, he begins talking by repeating the question what your name several times. When he meets with higher ranking nobles he tends to keep quite but tends to speak more to people of lower rank and play cards with them even though he despises them. However, his neighbors say that he a fine country gentleman because he has principle and was an old soldier. The other landlord is Mardary Apollonich Stegunov. A man that is the complete opposite of the general both in physical and mental ways. He has an old fashion estate with around 500 serfs working on it. He live is the style of the past centuries and has his estate and serfs all dress in that style. Turgenev has a poor opinion of the man who forces his serfs to live on a hill surrounded by
For Ivan Illych, climbing the social ladder of entrenched Russian bourgeois society was the ultimate goal. Particularly, Ivan would use his career in the law to allow him to obtain such heights. This led to Ivan placing his family on the back burner whilst his own career and ambitions would enter the limelight. Once the end is near however, Ivan begins to feel regret take hold of himself. “It occurred to him that what had appeared perfectly impossible before, namely that he has not spent his life as he should have done, might after all be true … his professional duties and the whole arrangement of his life and of his family, and all his social and official interests, might all have been false” (Tolstoy ...
What is the author’s main argument in “How and how not to love mankind” The main argument in the essay, How and how not to love mankind is about how alike, yet how different Ivan Turgenev and Karl Marx are. They were both born the same year in 1818 and they both passed away the same year in 1883 and they were both European writers as well. They studied the same things, attended the same university, and wrote about the same topics although they both had different personalities and distinct beliefs also different views on the world around them, especially in humans. Their perspective in While Turgenev saw man, Marx saw classes of man and while Turgenev saw people, Marx saw the people. They both were so alike yet so different in so many different
“As actors we must rejoice in the possession of our physical faculties. We must experience joy in the use of our hands, arms, body etc. Without this appreciation and realization of the body and its many possibilities, we cannot perform as artists”, A statement by the actor, director and teacher of the theatre, Michael Chekhov. What does it mean to experience joy within our hands, arms and body? After all, joy is an emotion triggered from the mind. Chekhov’s somewhat enigmatic statement can seem confusing to actors or persons without the knowledge of his teachings. What does it mean to rejoice in the possession of our physical faculties?
Main Characters: Ivan Ilyich (protagonist), Gerasim (Ivan’s peasant servant – a young healthy man), Peter Ivanovich (Ivan’s closest friend and colleague – attends his funeral), Praskovya Fëdorovna (Ivan’s terribly selfish wife – she is more upset about a loss of income, than losing her spouse)
Ivan Fyodorovich Sponka The short story, “Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt”, explicates the life of a man named Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka. We see him briefly in his young years, followed by his life in the army, and his return to the farm where his strong characterized aunt resides. We can see immediately that this man lives in constant cleanliness and dutiful paranoia; these are some of his desires that he wishes to exhibit to others. We can also see his fears, which reside in the confiscation of his masculinity and independence.
The following paper will focus on one of the most characteristically types of work for Chekhov: “The Lady and the Pet Dog”. Our aim is to portrait the character of Dmitry Dmitrich Gurov, in the context of the story, extracting those elements that are characteristic for the period in which Chekhov wrote the story.
In the late 19th century Russia had been notably behind Europe economically, they weren’t in possession of the modern farming technologies that could efficiently provide for a large country. As a result 90% of the Russian population were peasants (Massey, 4). The serfs lived in deep poverty; they didn’t have the appropriate apparatus to produce enough crops and most of their landlords had unbelievably high demands. In an effort to reform the economy’s recession tsar Alexander II liberated the serfs. However this created more bad for both the serfs and the nobles. In the beginning the serfs saw this is a great victory and another reason to be thankful for their tsar. But as timed pass by the peasants saw this life of liberty and freedom to be increasingly difficult. The government directly compensated the nobles, while the less desirable land was sold to the peasants at a much higher price. They monthly rent they paid the nobles was replaced with paying the state (Massey, 5). And while the population nearly doubled between 1861-1917 poverty increased not only with the peasants but with the nobles as well. Nobles found it hard to assimilate them to a new life style where they would have to trade their lavish goods with farming tools and as result many of them acquired a large amount of debt. This period signifies a time where the people of Russia opened their eyes to the deep poverty and lives of oppression they were living. This is the point where the feelings of peasants who previously worshiped the tsar turned bitter. After consistent resistance to industrialization the tsar had finally given in, aggressive approaches were put in place and railroads grew more than 15,500 miles in 1880 (Massey,6). As the Industrial production con...
This story may seem solely comedic, but within it is a darker tale of a Russia where, in the current times and those prior to it, social rank and position were key. ...
Ivan Ilyich, a decorous man with a life deemed perfect by society, gradually becomes aware of his life’s dark secrets, which cause him to feel excluded from his family and society. The tone is set by Tolstoy in the very beginning of the novella - as Ivan Ilyich’s colleagues receive the news of Ilyich’s death, the first thing they can think about is whom amongst them will receive a promotion. Moreover, at the funeral, Ilyich’s wife worriedly asks his colleague for some advice about her pension. These events foreshadow how “Ivan Ilyich’s life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible” (1427). Ilyich leads the life society tells him to lead, which first becomes clear before he decides to marry - “The marriage gave him personal satisfaction, and at the same time it was considered the right thing by the most highly placed of his associates” (pg. 1430). And even though he is disgusted with law, he considers it righteous and honorable when he see...
In the novel, Crime and Punishment, the principle character, Raskolnikov, has unknowingly published a collection of his thoughts on crime and punishment via an article entitled "On Crime." Porfiry, who is trying to link Raskolnikov to a murder, has uncovered this article, read it, and tells Raskolnikov that he is very interested in learning about his ideas. Porfiry brings Raskolnikov into this conversation primarily to find out more about Raskolnikov's possible involvement in the crime. Raskolnikov decides to take him up on the challenge of discussing his theory, and embarks into a large discussion of his philosophy of man.
The poverty-stricken conditions of Russia during the time of which Crime and Punishment was written was a vital factor in bringing out the main protagonists from the novel and revealing the true nature of the protagonist. Further more, his apartment and its desolate condition serves as a metaphor to the poor conditions of Russia. The transformation of Raskolinokov from his false sense of thought of being superior or the urbermensch of the society was all brought out due to the desolate conditions of which the book took place in, proving that such background knowledge of the poor conditions is an essential contributor in character development in the novel.
From youthfulness, to abusiveness, to persecution of the already downtrodden, horses in literature are able to reveal many things to us. They symbolize and give vitality, through their importance, love, and companionship; they show inner personality of their owners and the dreadful interpersonal reactions and relationships, and they even teach us things about history. Horses truly were not just important to the Russian population, but still remain important to us, through their use in literature.
Nikolai Gogol has been widely recognized as one of the most inspiring and remarkable authors of the Russian Empire and the one who produced an enormous impact on literary work of countless contemporaries and successors, both in the Tsarist Russia and abroad. Particularly, Gogol’s literary legacy is praised for his exceptional ability to deploy humor as a means of expression and the way to convey the message. In this respect, the short story The Overcoat written during the St. Petersburg period of Gogol’s activity is a very important work which balances between tragic and humorous elements and presents a brilliant specimen of satire. In this work, Gogol builds up the powerful criticism of the contemporary Russian society with its social hierarchy,
Dostoevsky’s noteworthy literary works each contain similarities in theme, character development, and purpose when analyzed beyond face value. Dostoevsky’s early life and ideals, intertwined with life-changing events that shifted his ideologies, and critiques of fellow Russian writers during his time period lay the groundwork for Dostoevsky’s recurring arguments for the way which Russian society would be best-off, as well as ways in which the people of Russia would be suited to live the most fulfilling, non-corrupt lives.
Alongside with these historical events, Tolstoy describes the different classes of Russian society in terms of their participation in the war and what kind of an impact war had on their lives. In the beginning of the novel, the Russian aristocratic class, which was in the czar’s circle, wanted Russia to participate in the war. They wanted a quick victory and pride for the Russian nobility. They did not anticipate that the war would destroy homes, agriculture, and take many Russian lives. This class is shown in Anna Pavlova Sharer’s salon, with it’s upper class aristocracy, who talk only in French, viewing the Russian language as uncivilized and useful only for peasants. They adopted French culture and wear French style clothing, and at the same time they want to fight Napoleon. However, the majority of this class doesn’t want to participate themselves in the war, but want to win the war with the hands of the peasants. These aristocrats, despite their high education and power, will do nothing to help win the war. They live like parasites on the body of Russia’s society. This is how Tolstoy describes this class in general, but he also depicts two representatives of this upper class, Andrew Bolkonsky and Pierre Bisuhov, who were the more intellectual ones, and whose lives and views of war and life changed as the result of the war.