Analysis of "Chelkash" Gorky. "Chelkash". Analysis of the story The main characters of the story Chelkash Gorky

Realism and romanticism are surprisingly harmoniously combined. Short stories, the direction of which critics have defined as socialist realism, occupy a special place in the writer’s work. The work “Chelkash” is one of them.

History of creation

The essay was written in 1894. As a basis for the story, Gorky took a story given to him by his roommate in a hospital in the city of Nikolaev. A year later, the story was published by the magazine “Russian Wealth”.

The work is permeated with the spirit of romance hidden in the description of nature. This move is characteristic of all the author’s early works. The main character is the homeless thief and drunkard Chelkash. The tramp has an unkempt appearance. In its appearance it resembles a bony hawk. The hero appears before the reader in high spirits, as he anticipates earning money. He and Gavrila, a strong village guy, decided to commit a night robbery. Gorky gives a detailed description of each image before describing their actions.

In contrast to Chelkash, Gavrila is a believer and a kind guy, whose greed crosses out all life values. At first, it seems that the proud and freedom-loving Chelkash is leading the young man astray, but later the true background is revealed. Chelkash recalls his past, his wife and parents. Partly, he sees himself in Gavril, so he decides to help the guy who is returning home, having failed to earn money.

Illustration for the story "Chelkash"

Chelkash loves the sea very much, which gives him a feeling of freedom. The sea allows you to forget about worries and appreciate the real nature of each hero. Chelkash loves the power and freedom of the sea, but Gavrila is afraid. The peasant, accustomed to the land, is afraid of the manifestation of the boundless power of the waves, and a special fear appears in his soul when searchlights illuminate the distance of the sea.

Gavrila regards the light of the ship as a sign from above and renounces ordering a prayer service. But the morning division of the spoils shows that the guy’s fear of God is temporary. He was not happy with how the money was distributed and was ready to kill Chelkash for profit. The hero wounds his accomplice, takes away all the money and washes away traces of the crime. But the sin cannot be washed away from Gavrila’s soul.

Describing the guy’s action, Gorky shows how easy it is to lose humanity, how quickly you can become a low creature when it comes to money. The question of fidelity and betrayal, which Chelkash, who trusted a stranger, faced, is raised here.

The story "Chelkash"

An analysis of the characters is provided at the beginning of the story, following the description of the port. Chelkash is a heavy drunkard, famous for his thieves' instincts and dexterity. He is not young, but age and addiction to the bottle do not affect the success of his enterprises. The hero appears as a non-trivial personality, whose fate and character are unique. Gorky's works are characterized by the presence of such characters. They often have an inexplicable craving for the amazing beauty of something all-encompassing. In the case of Chelkash, an unbridled love for the sea is described.

The man has a difficult fate. His childhood was successful, but life was not easy. From a military officer, proud and freedom-loving, he turned into a poor man. The peculiarity of the hero's character lies in the combination of opposing qualities. Gorky described the traits inherent in people who find themselves in difficult situations, revealing the real essence of the character’s soul. A person's principles and vices are tested in such circumstances.

Chelkash has lost his purpose in life and steals to support his existence. He spends his money on booze and essentials. Gavrila has a dream of his own household and family, so theft for him is a crime for a good purpose. Gorky allows the reader to independently choose which of the heroes is a positive character and which has lost human dignity. The complexity and contradictory nature of the characters depicted do not allow us to answer the question unambiguously. Both men combine negative traits and positive qualities.

The beggar Chelkash, accustomed to walking dirty, ragged and barefoot, is lonely. He has no one, so the man cares little about his own future. He lives in the present day, not caring about work and not recognizing his plight. Having become the scum of society, he drove away thoughts about this, drowning them out with drink. Only the sea gave the hero peace, because in it he was the king of the situation.

The former officer retained the qualities cultivated by years of service. Despite the lot of thieves, Chelkash retained his humanity. He steals not to get rich, but to maintain a thin but familiar lifestyle. Having deceived Gavrila, luring him into robbery, Chelkash took the guy’s passport. The newly minted accomplice found himself hostage to a man who was pleased with his luck.

Chelkash is attracted by the taste of freedom, so he goes for theft. He is a person lost to society, who, having everything he needed, did not appreciate it. Having lost his family and status, he prefers not to think about what happened, not to change the situation. An alcoholic and a tramp, the man numbs his heartache to avoid admitting his distress. The hero was disgusted with his own life, but he could not get through to another.

Quotes

Despite the plight of the protagonist, his negative image, sins and misdeeds, Gorky endowed Chelkash with a great character comparable to the greatness of the sea:

“He, a thief, loved the sea. His seething, nervous nature, greedy for impressions, was never satiated by the contemplation of this dark breadth, endless, free and powerful.”

Chelkash realized the seriousness of his fall. He was afraid to remember his past, because the thoughts were oppressive and gave no peace, corroding the man’s soul:

“Memory, this scourge of the unfortunate, revives even the stones of the past and even adds drops of honey to the poison once drunk...”

The man’s spirit was broken by life’s ups and downs; only nobility and human principles remained intact in him. Pride and nobility glowed in his soul, allowing him not to reach the bottom of the abyss into which his human being was rapidly falling. Therefore, Gavrila aroused his dislike.

“It’s always unpleasant to see that a person whom you consider inferior and inferior to you loves or hates the same things as you and thus becomes like you.”

Year: 1895 Genre: story

Main characters: Chelkash is a smuggler, drunkard and thief, Gavrila is a peasant guy

“Chelkash” is Gorky’s first work, which was published in the magazine “Russian Wealth” in 1895. The work itself was written in August 1894 in Nizhny Novgorod. The main characters are the complete opposite of each other.

The first is Grishka Chelkash - his author classifies him as a tramp, he is a drunkard and a thief, but at the same time there is something that sets this hero apart from the crowd like him, the author often compared him to a hawk, his thinness, special gait and predatory look distinguished him from the rest of the people. This hero lives by theft, his main prey are ships, which he cleans and then sells. Apparently, such a life does not bother Chelkash, he enjoys his power, freedom, he likes risk and the fact that he can do whatever he wants.

The second hero is Gavrila, at first glance it seemed that there would be something similar between them, because they are both from the village and both have the same status, but in fact the difference in these two heroes is present and not small. Gavrila is a young and strong guy who dreams of prosperity in life, but his spirit is weak and pitiful. Together with Gregory, they go to work, and then two different characters immediately appear before us, the weak-willed and cowardly Gavrila and the powerful Chelkash.

The main idea. The main idea of the work is the struggle for freedom and equality; the author is trying to convey that tramps have their own values, thoughts and feelings, and to some extent they are even cleaner and more intelligent than people of higher status. Chelkash’s problem as a person is the uselessness of the ideas he strove for, and this is what he pays for his freedom.

The story begins in the morning at the port, a description of what is happening around, people are busy with their own business, there is noise, work is in full swing.

All this continues until lunch, as soon as the clock showed twelve everything calmed down. At this time, the main character, Chelkash, appears in the port; the author describes him as a drunkard, a thief, a thin old man, brave and battered by life, often comparing him to a hawk. He came with the goal of finding his friend and partner Misha, but as it turns out, he ended up in the hospital due to a broken leg. This upsets the hero, because a profitable business was planned for today, for which he needs a partner. Now Chelkash’s goal was to find a person who would help him, and he began to look for a suitable person from passers-by. And then his attention was attracted by a guy who looked very naive and simple. Grigory meets the guys, introducing himself as a fisherman.

The guy's name is Gavrila, he returned from Kuban with very little income, and is now looking for a job. Gavrila himself dreams of a free life, but believes that he will not have one, because he himself was left with only his mother, his father died, and a small piece of land remained. Of course, rich people wanted to take him in as a son-in-law, but then he would have to work all his life for his father-in-law. In general, Gavrila dreams of at least 150 rubles, believing that this will help him create a successful life, build a house and get married.

Chelkash, in turn, listened to the guy’s story and offered to make money by fishing, but such a proposal seemed suspicious to Gavrila, because the very appearance of Grigory did not give him a reason to trust him, and therefore Chelkash received a portion of mistrust and contempt from the guy. But the thief is outraged by what this young man thought about him, because what right does he have to judge other people? Ultimately, the love of money in Gavrila’s soul and the offer of easy money made him decide in favor of the thief.

Suspecting nothing and thinking that he is going fishing, the guy goes with Chelkash first to a tavern to “wash” the agreement, this tavern is full of very strange people. The thief feels complete power over the guy, realizing that life now depends on him, because it is he who will either help the guy or ruin everything, but still he is full of desire to help the young man.

After waiting until nightfall, they went to work. Chelkash appreciated and admired the sea, but Gavrila, on the contrary, was afraid of the dark; everything seemed very scary to him.

The guy asked where the gear was, because they came for fishing, but instead of an answer he received shouts in his direction. And then he realized that this would not be fishing at all, fear and uncertainty captured the guy, he tried to ask Chelkash to let him go, but he only threatened in response and ordered him to row further.

Soon they reached the goal, Chelkash took the oars and passport and went to get the goods. Gavrila tried to reassure himself that this would end soon, he had to endure it and do what the thief said. Then they walked through the “cordons”, Gavrila tried to call for help, but got scared. Chelkash promised to pay him decently and this gave the guy a reason to think about a future luxurious life. Finally they reached the shore and went to bed. In the morning, Chelkash was unrecognizable; he had new clothes and a wad of money, from which he allocated a couple of bills to the guy.

All this time, Gavrila was thinking about how to get all the money for himself, in the end he tried to knock down the thief and take all the money, but nothing worked out for him, and in the end he still asked for forgiveness for his behavior. After this incident, the heroes' paths diverged.

Picture or drawing of Chelkash

Introductory part

At the port, under the hot sun, the porters laid out their simple and simple food. The well-worn thief Grishka Chelkash approached them and learned that his friend and constant partner Mishka had broken his leg. This somewhat puzzled Gregory, because that night there was a profitable business ahead. He looked around and saw a stocky village guy, broad-shouldered, with blue eyes. He looked innocent. Chelkash quickly met Gavrila and persuaded him to take part in the night adventure. Familiarity with the story is required for the analysis of the work “Chelkash” to be clear.

Night voyage

At night, Gavrila, shaking with fear, sat on the oars, and Chelkash ruled. Finally they reached the wall. Grigory took the oars, passport and knapsack from his cowardly partner, and then disappeared. Chelkash appeared suddenly and handed his partner something heavy, oars and his things. Now we need to return to the harbor and avoid the lights of the patrol customs cruiser. Gavrila almost lost consciousness from fear. Chelkash gave him a good kick, sat down on the oars, and put Gavrila behind the wheel. They arrived without incident and quickly fell asleep. In the morning, Gregory woke up first and left. When he returned, he woke up Gavrila and gave him his share. Knowledge of the action taking place in the story will help to analyze the work “Chelkash”.

Denouement

When Chelkash was counting out the money, he was unpleasantly struck by the greedy village guy. The peasant begs to give him everything. The hero, with disgust for such greed, threw away the money. Gavrila began collecting them and telling them that he wanted to kill his accomplice because of them.

Grishka simply went wild, took the money from him and went. The stone whistled and hit Chelkash in the head. He fell onto the sand, motionless. The peasant, horrified at what he had done, ran to revive his partner. When Grishka came to his senses, he took a hundred for himself and gave the rest to Gavrila. They went in different directions. Now, having familiarized ourselves with the content of the story, we can analyze the work “Chelkash”.

Heroes: Chelkash and Gavrila

The spirit of romance and connection with nature permeates all the early works of M. Gorky. Chelkash is free from the laws of society.

He is a thief and a homeless drunk. Long, bony, stooped, he looks like a steppe hawk. Chelkash is in an excellent mood - he will earn money at night.

Gavrila, a strong village guy, returns home. He made no money in Kuban. He is in a sad mood.

Gorky describes in detail the thoughts of each of them before they agree on the robbery at night. Chelkash is a proud person; he remembers his former life, his wife, and his parents. His thoughts wander to the downtrodden country boy he can help. The main character loves the sea immensely. In his element, he feels free, and thoughts of the past do not bother him there. We are looking at the heroes of the story “Chelkash” (Gorky). An analysis of the work without their characters will not be complete.

Gavrila

Gavrila is not like that. He is immensely afraid of the sea, the darkness, and possible capture. He is cowardly and greedy. These qualities push him to an outright crime when in the morning he saw big money for the first time in his life. First, Gavrila falls to her knees in front of Chelkash, begging for money, because he is just a “vile slave.”

The main character, feeling disgust, pity and hatred for the little soul, throws him all the money. Upon learning that Gavrila wanted to kill him, Chelkash becomes furious. This is the first time he's been so angry. Gregory takes the money and leaves. Gavrila, unable to control her greed, seeks to kill her accomplice, but this makes the insignificant soul afraid. He again begs for forgiveness from the main character - a man of a broad soul. Chelkash throws money to the pathetic Gavrila. He staggers and leaves forever. Having examined the main characters, you can analyze the story as a whole.

Analysis of the work “Chelkash” (Maxim Gorky)

First there is a detailed description of the port and its life. Then the heroes appear. Gorky emphasizes cold gray eyes and nose, humpbacked and predatory, and a proud free disposition. Gavrila is a good-natured guy who believes in God, and, as it turns out, is ready to do anything for money. At first it seems that the villain Chelkash is forcing the simple-minded Gavrila to turn from the straight path onto the thieves' path. The sea is an important and significant component of the story. It reveals the nature of the heroes.

Chelkash loves its strength, power, vastness and freedom. Gavrila is afraid of him, prays and asks Gregory to let him go. The peasant becomes especially frightened when searchlights illuminate the distance of the sea. He takes the light of the ship as a symbol of retribution and promises himself to order a prayer service to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. In the morning, a drama plays out due to the greed that has gripped Gavrila. It seemed to him that Chelkash gave him little money. He is on the verge of murder, and no thoughts about God bother him. Wounded by him, Chelkash disgustedly gives away almost all the money, which Gavrila quickly hides. All traces of blood are washed away by the rain. Water is unable to wash away the dirt from the soul of Gavrila, who fears God. Gorky tells how the peasant loses his human image, how low a creature who considers himself human falls when it comes to profit. The story is built on the principles of antithesis. This is where Chelkash ends. The work is briefly analyzed.

Most of M. Gorky's works are written in the style of realism, but his early stories have a romantic spirit. The main characters of these stories live in close connection with nature. The writer identifies nature and man. In his works, he gives preference to people who are free from the laws of society. These heroes have interesting views and behavior. The main character always has an antagonist - a hero who has an opposite view of the world. A conflict arises between these characters, which forms the basis of the work; it reveals the plot of the work.

Like most of Gorky's stories, "Chelkash" tells about human relationships; the work depicts nature and its relationship with the mental state of the characters.

The events that Gorky talks about in Chelkash took place on the seashore, in a port city. The main characters are Chelkash and Gavrila. These characters are opposed to each other. Chelkash is a rather middle-aged thief and drunkard who does not have his own home. Gavrila is a young peasant who came to these places after a failed attempt to find a job to earn money.

Grishka Chelkash is known to everyone in the port as an avid drunkard and a clever thief. His appearance was similar to other “tramp figures” encountered in the port, but he was surprising in his resemblance to the “steppe hawk”. He was a “long, bony, slightly stooped” man, “with a humpbacked predatory nose and cold gray eyes.” He had a thick and long brown mustache that “twitched every now and then”; he kept his hands clasped behind his back and constantly rubbed them, nervously twisting his long, crooked and tenacious fingers. At first glance, his gait was calm, but vigilant, like the flight of a bird, which Chelkash’s entire appearance was reminiscent of.

Chelkash lived in the port as a theft, sometimes his deals were successful and then he had money, which he immediately drank away.

Chelkash and Gavrila met when Chelkash was walking along the harbor and thinking about how he could carry out the “task” that lay ahead that night. His partner broke his leg, which greatly complicated the whole matter. Chelkash was very annoyed.

Gavrila was returning home after a failed attempt to earn some money in the Kuban. He also had reason to be upset - after his father’s death, he could only get out of poverty in one way - “to become a son-in-law in a good home,” which meant becoming a farm laborer.

Chelkash quite by chance saw a young, strong guy, dressed in a tattered red cap, shod in bast shoes and sitting right next to the sidewalk.

Chelkash touched the guy, got into conversation with him and unexpectedly decided to take him with him to the “case”.

The meeting of the heroes is described by Gorky in detail. We hear the conversation, inner experiences and thoughts of each character. The author pays special attention to Chelkash, noticing every detail, the slightest change in the behavior of his character. These are reflections about his former life, about the peasant boy Gavril, who, by the will of fate, found himself in his “wolf’s paws.” Either he feels dominance over someone, while feeling proud of himself, then his mood changes, and he wants to scold or hit Gavrila, then suddenly he wants to feel sorry for him. He once had a house, a wife, and parents, but then he turned into a thief and an inveterate drunkard. However, to the reader he does not seem to be a complete person. We see in him a proud and strong nature. Despite the fact that he has an unpresentable appearance, the hero has an extraordinary personality. Chelkash can find an approach to everyone, can come to an agreement with everyone. It has its own special relationship to the sea and nature. Being a thief, Chelkash loves the sea. The author even compares his inner world to the sea: “a seething nervous nature,” he was greedy for impressions, looking at the sea, he experienced a “broad warm feeling” that covered his entire soul and cleansed it of everyday filth. Among the water and air, Chelkash felt the best, there his thoughts about life, and, indeed, life itself lost value and poignancy.

We see Gavrila completely differently. First, we are presented with a “downtrodden”, distrustful village guy, and then a slave, scared to death. After the successful completion of the “case,” when Gavrila saw big money for the first time in his life, it seemed to “break through” him. The author describes the feelings overwhelming Gavrila very vividly. Undisguised greed becomes visible to us. Immediately, compassion and pity for the village boy disappeared. When, falling to his knees, Gavrila began to beg Chelkash to give him all the money, the reader saw a completely different person - a “vile slave” who had forgotten about everything, wanting only to beg more money from his master. Feeling acute pity and hatred for this greedy slave, Chelkash throws all the money at him. At this moment he feels like a hero. He is sure that he will never become like that, despite the fact that he is a thief and a drunkard.

However, after Gavrila’s words that he wanted to kill Chelkash and throw him into the sea, he experiences burning rage. Chelkash takes the money, turns his back to Gavrila and leaves.

Gavrila could not survive this; he grabbed a stone and threw it at Chelkash’s head. Seeing what he had done, he again began to beg for forgiveness.

And in this situation Chelkash was superior. He realized that Gavrila had a mean and petty soul, and threw the money right in his face. Gavrila at first looked after Chelkash, who was staggering and holding his head, but then he sighed, as if freed, crossed himself, hid the money and headed in the opposite direction.

Title of the work: Chelkash

Year of writing: 1895

Genre: story

Main characters: Chelkash- smuggler, drunkard and thief, Gavrila- peasant guy

Plot

Chelkash meets Gavrila on the seashore in the southern port city. There he asks him about life and finds out that the guy has no father, no money, no house and no land. He has a dream to get some land, build a house, start a farm. Then the clever smuggler invites the stupid guy to go on business with him. At night, they quickly and deftly steal bales of fabric and hand them over to a buyer of stolen goods for decent money.

Chelkash settles accounts with the guy, but he begs him to give him all the money. Chelkash, shocked by the greed and humiliation of the young man, throws bills at his feet. Then Gavrila admits that he was even ready to kill his accomplice and throw him into the sea. This angered the thief, and he took the money. For which he received a strong blow to the head. But then Gavrila, shocked by his action, brought Chelkash to his senses, asked for forgiveness and kissed his hands.

Chelkash again gave the guy the money and left, contemptuously spitting on the sand.

Conclusion (my opinion)

Chelkash is a thief, but a free and noble man in his own way, he is capable of a broad gesture. Gavrila, at first glance, is an honest person, but for the sake of money he is capable of meanness and humiliation.