The work was completed by a student of class 7 “B” Balashov Alexander
The main character of the story is I.S. Turgenev's "Biryuk" is the forester Foma. Foma is a very interesting and unusual person. With what admiration and pride the author describes his hero: “He was tall, broad-shouldered and beautifully built. His powerful muscles bulged out from under the wet manner of his shirt.” Biryuk had a “courageous face” and “small Brown eyes", which "looked boldly from under fused wide eyebrows."
The author is struck by the wretchedness of the forester’s hut, which consisted of “one room, smoky, low and empty, without floors ...”, everything here speaks of a miserable existence - both “a tattered sheepskin coat on the wall” and “a pile of rags in the corner; two large pots that stood near the stove...” Turgenev himself sums up the description: “I looked around - my heart ached: it’s not fun to enter a peasant’s hut at night.”
The forester's wife ran away with a passing tradesman and abandoned two children; Maybe that’s why the forester was so stern and silent. Foma was nicknamed Biryuk, that is, a gloomy and lonely man, by the surrounding men, who feared him like fire. They said that he was “strong and dexterous like a devil...”, “he won’t let you drag fagots of brushwood” out of the forest, “no matter what time it is... he’ll come out of the blue” and don’t expect mercy. Biryuk is a “master of his craft” who cannot be conquered by anything, “neither wine nor money.” However, despite all his sorrows and troubles, Biryuk retained kindness and mercy in his heart. He secretly sympathized with his “wards”, but work is work, and the demand for the stolen goods will first of all be from himself. But this does not prevent him from doing good deeds, releasing the most desperate ones without punishment, but only with a fair amount of intimidation.
Biryuk’s tragedy stemmed from the understanding that it was not the good life that drove peasants to steal forests. Often feelings of pity and compassion prevail over his integrity. So, in the story, Biryuk caught a man chopping down a forest. He was dressed in tattered rags, all wet, with a disheveled beard. The man asked to let him go or at least give him the horse, because there were children at home and there was nothing to feed them. In response to all the persuasion, the forester kept repeating one thing: “Don’t go stealing.” In the end, Foma Kuzmich grabbed the thief by the collar and pushed him out the door, saying: “Get to hell with your horse.” With these rude words, he seems to cover up his generous act. So the forester constantly oscillates between principles and a sense of compassion. The author wants to show that this gloomy, unsociable person actually has a kind, generous heart.
Describing a forced people, destitute and oppressed, Turgenev especially emphasizes that even in such conditions he was able to preserve his living soul, the ability to empathize and respond with his whole being to kindness and kindness. Even this life does not kill humanity in people - that is what is most important.
The story “Biryuk” by I. S. Turgenev was written in 1847 and was included in the writer’s series of works about the life, traditions and way of life of the Russian people “Notes of a Hunter”. The story refers to literary direction realism. In “Biryuk” the author described his memories of the life of peasants in the Oryol province.
Main characters
Biryuk (Foma Kuzmich)- a forester, a stern-looking man.
Narrator- master, the story is narrated on his behalf.
Other characters
Man- a poor man who was cutting down trees in the forest and was caught by Biryuk.
Julitta- Biryuk’s twelve-year-old daughter.
The narrator was driving alone from hunting in the evening, on treadmills. There were eight miles left to his house, but a strong thunderstorm unexpectedly caught him in the forest. The narrator decides to wait out the bad weather under a wide bush, and soon, with the flash of lightning, he sees a tall figure - as it turned out, it was the local forester. He took the narrator to his house - “a small hut in the middle of a vast courtyard, surrounded by fences.” The door was opened for them by “a girl of about twelve, in a shirt, belted with a hem” - the daughter of the forester, Ulita.
The forester’s hut “consisted of one room,” a tattered sheepskin coat hung on the wall, a torch was burning on the table, and “in the very middle” of the house there was a cradle hanging.
The forester himself “was tall, broad-shouldered and beautifully built,” with a black curly beard, wide fused eyebrows and brown eyes. His name was Thomas, nicknamed Biryuk. The narrator was surprised to meet the forester, as he had heard from friends that “all the surrounding men were afraid of him like fire.” He regularly guarded the forest goods, not allowing even a bundle of brushwood to be taken out of the forest. It was impossible to bribe Biryuk.
Foma said that his wife ran away with a passing tradesman, leaving the forester alone with two children. Biryuk had nothing to treat the guest with - there was only bread in the house.
When the rain stopped, Biryuk said that he would see the narrator out. Coming out of the house, Foma heard the distant sound of an ax. The forester was afraid that he would miss the thief, so the narrator agreed to walk to the place where the forest was being cut down, although he did not hear anything. At the end of the path, Biryuk asked to wait, and he went on. Through the noise of the wind, the narrator heard Thomas' cry and the sounds of a struggle. The narrator rushed there and saw Biryuk near a fallen tree, who was tying a man with a sash.
The narrator asked to let the thief go, promising to pay for the tree, but Biryuk, without answering, took the man to his hut. It started to rain again, and they had to wait out the bad weather. The narrator decided “to free the poor man at all costs” - by the light of the lantern he could see “his wasted, wrinkled face, drooping yellow eyebrows, restless eyes, thin limbs.”
The man began to ask Biryuk to free him. The forester sullenly objected that in their settlement everything was “a thief upon a thief” and, not paying attention to the thief’s plaintive requests, ordered him to sit quietly. Suddenly the man straightened up, blushed and began to scold Thomas, calling him “an Asian, a bloodsucker, a beast, a murderer.” Biryuk grabbed the man by the shoulder. The narrator already wanted to protect the poor man, but Foma, to his amazement, “with one turn he tore the sash from the man’s elbows, grabbed him by the collar, pulled his hat over his eyes, opened the door and pushed him out,” shouting after him to get the hell out .
The narrator understands that Biryuk is actually a “nice fellow.” Half an hour later they said goodbye at the edge of the forest.
Conclusion
In the story “Biryuk” Turgenev portrayed an ambiguous character - forester Foma Kuzmich, whose personality is fully revealed only towards the end of the work. It is with this hero that the main conflict of the story is connected - the conflict between public duty and humanity, which occurs within Biryuk himself. Despite the outward severity and integrity of Foma Kuzmich, who closely protects the forest entrusted to him, in his soul he is a kind, sympathetic person - a “nice fellow.”
A brief retelling of “Biryuk” will be useful for familiarizing yourself with the plot of the story; for a better understanding of the work, we recommend reading it in its entirety.
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I. S. Turgenev spent his childhood in the Oryol region. A nobleman by birth, who received an excellent secular upbringing and education, he early witnessed the unfair treatment of the common people. Throughout his life, the writer was distinguished by his interest in the Russian way of life and sympathy for the peasants.
In 1846, Turgenev spent several summer and autumn months in his native estate Spasskoye-Lutovinovo. He often went hunting, and on long hikes around the surrounding area, fate brought him together with people different classes and welfare. The result of observations of the life of the local population were stories that appeared in 1847-1851 in the Sovremennik magazine. A year later, the author combined them into one book, called “Notes of a Hunter.” These included a story written in 1848 with the unusual title “Biryuk”.
The narration is told on behalf of Pyotr Petrovich, the hunter who unites all the stories in the cycle. At first glance, the plot is quite simple. The narrator, returning from a hunt one day, gets caught in the rain. He meets a forester who offers to wait out the bad weather in his hut. So Pyotr Petrovich becomes a witness to the difficult life of a new acquaintance and his children. Foma Kuzmich leads a secluded life. The peasants living in the area do not like and are even afraid of the formidable forester, and because of his unsociability they gave him the nickname Biryuk.
The summary of the story can be continued with an unexpected incident for the hunter. When the rain subsided a little, the sound of an ax was heard in the forest. Biryuk and the narrator go to the sound, where they find a peasant who has decided to steal, even in such bad weather, clearly not from a good life. He tries to pity the forester with persuasion, talks about hard life and hopelessness, but he remains adamant. Their conversation continues in the hut, where the desperate man suddenly raises his voice and begins to blame the owner for all the peasant’s troubles. In the end, the latter cannot stand it and releases the offender. Gradually, as the scene unfolds, Biryuk reveals himself to the narrator and the reader.
Appearance and behavior of a forester
Biryuk was well built, tall and broad-shouldered. His black-bearded face looked both stern and masculine; brown eyes looked boldly from under wide eyebrows.
All actions and behavior expressed determination and inaccessibility. His nickname was no coincidence. In the southern regions of Russia, this word is used to describe a lone wolf, which Turgenev knew well. Biryuk in the story is an unsociable, stern person. This is exactly how he was perceived by the peasants, whom he always inspired fear. Biryuk himself explained his steadfastness by a conscientious attitude to work: “you don’t have to eat the master’s bread for nothing.” He was in the same difficult situation as most of the people, but he was not used to complaining and relying on anyone.
The hut and family of Foma Kuzmich
Getting to know his home makes a painful impression. It was one room, low, empty and smoky. There was no sense of a woman's hand in her: the mistress ran away with a tradesman, leaving her husband two children. A tattered sheepskin coat hung on the wall, and a pile of rags lay on the floor. The hut smelled of cooled smoke, making it difficult to breathe. Even the torch burned sadly and then went out, then flared up again. The only thing the owner could offer the guest was bread; he had nothing else. Biryuk, who brought fear to everyone, lived so sadly and in a beggarly manner.
The story continues with a description of his children, which completes the bleak picture. In the middle of the hut hung a cradle with infant, she was rocked by a girl of about twelve with timid movements and a sad face - her mother left them in the care of her father. The narrator’s “heart ached” from what he saw: it’s not easy to enter a peasant’s hut!
Heroes of the story “Biryuk” in the forest theft scene
Foma reveals himself in a new way during a conversation with a desperate man. The latter’s appearance speaks eloquently of the hopelessness and complete poverty in which he lived: dressed in rags, a disheveled beard, a worn-out face, incredible thinness throughout his body. The intruder cut down the tree carefully, apparently hoping that in bad weather the likelihood of being caught was not so great.
Having been caught stealing the master's forest, he first begs the forester to let him go and calls him Foma Kuzmich. However, the more the hope that he will be released fades, the angrier and harsher the words begin to sound. The peasant sees before him a murderer and a beast, deliberately humiliating a peasant.
I. Turgenev introduces a completely unpredictable ending to the story. Biryuk suddenly grabs the offender by the sash and pushes him out the door. One can guess what was going on in his soul during the entire scene: compassion and pity come into conflict with a sense of duty and responsibility for the assigned task. The situation was aggravated by the fact that Foma knew from his own experience how hard a peasant’s life was. To Pyotr Petrovich’s surprise, he only waves his hand.
Description of nature in the story
Turgenev has always been famous as a master of landscape sketches. They are also present in the work “Biryuk”.
The story begins with a description of an ever-increasing and growing thunderstorm. And then, completely unexpectedly for Pyotr Petrovich, Foma Kuzmich appears from the forest, dark and wet, and feels at home here. He easily pulls the frightened horse from its place and, remaining calm, leads it to the hut. Turgenev's landscape is a reflection of the essence of the main character: Biryuk leads a life as gloomy and gloomy as this forest in bad weather.
The summary of the work needs to be supplemented with one more point. When the sky begins to clear a little, there is hope that the rain will soon end. Like this scene, the reader suddenly discovers that the unapproachable Biryuk is capable of good deeds and simple human sympathy. However, this “just a little” remains - an unbearable life has made the hero the way the local peasants see him. And this cannot be changed overnight and at the request of a few people. Both the narrator and the readers come to such gloomy thoughts.
The meaning of the story
The series “Notes of a Hunter” includes works that reveal the image of ordinary peasants in different ways. In some stories, the author draws attention to their spiritual breadth and wealth, in others he shows how talented they can be, in others he describes their meager life... Thus, different sides of a man’s character are revealed.
The lack of rights and miserable existence of the Russian people in the era of serfdom is the main theme of the story “Biryuk”. And this is the main merit of Turgenev the writer - to attract public attention to the tragic situation of the main breadwinner of the entire Russian land.
Russia is shown simply, poetically and lovingly in “Notes of a Hunter” by I. S. Turgenev. The author admires the simple folk characters, fields, forests, meadows of Russia. No matter how one views the stories, this is first and foremost poetry, not politics. Written with great love and observation short story cycle "Biryuk". The depth of the content is combined with the perfection of the form, which speaks of the writer’s ability to subordinate all the components of the work, all his own artistic techniques a single creative task.
Biryuk in the Oryol province was called a gloomy and lonely person. Forester Foma lived alone in a smoky, low hut with two young children; his wife left him; family grief and hard life made him even more gloomy and unsociable.
The main and only event of the story is the forester’s capture of a poor peasant who cut down a tree in the master’s forest. The conflict of the work consists of a clash between a forester and a peasant.
The image of Biryuk is complex and contradictory, and in order to understand it, let’s pay attention to the artistic means that the author used.
The description of the situation shows how poor the hero is. This dwelling was a sad sight: “I looked around - my heart ached: it’s not fun to enter a peasant’s hut at night.”
The psychological portrait of the forester testifies to Biryuk’s exceptional strength; it becomes clear why all the surrounding men were afraid of him. “He was tall, broad-shouldered and beautifully built. ...A black curly beard covered half of his stern and courageous face; Small brown eyes looked boldly from under fused wide eyebrows.” In appearance this man is rude and formidable, but in reality he is good and kind. And the narrator clearly admires his hero.
The key to understanding the character of Thomas is the nickname that the peasants give him. From them we receive an indirect description of the forester: “a master of his craft”; “the fagots will not be allowed to be dragged away”; “strong... and as dexterous as a devil... And nothing can take him: neither wine, nor money; doesn’t take any bait.”
The plot, consisting of two episodes (the forester met the hunter during a thunderstorm and helped him; he caught the peasant at the scene of the crime, and then set him free), reveals the best features of the hero’s character. It is difficult for Foma to make a choice: to act according to the dictates of duty or to take pity on the man. The despair of the captured peasant awakens the best feelings in the forester.
Nature in the story serves not just as a background, it is an integral part of the content, helping to reveal Biryuk’s character. Combinations of words depicting the rapid onset of bad weather, sad pictures of nature emphasize the drama of the situation of the peasants: “a thunderstorm was approaching,” “a cloud was slowly rising,” “clouds were rushing.”
Turgenev helped not only to see the life of the peasants, to sympathize with their troubles and needs, he turned us to the spiritual world of the Russian peasant, noticed many unique, interesting individuals. “Still, my Rus' is dearer to me than anything else in the world...” I. S. Turgenev would later write. “Notes of a Hunter” is a writer’s tribute to Russia, a kind of monument to the Russian peasantry.
The story “Biryuk,” which we will analyze, begins with a description of a thunderstorm that caught the hunter in the forest in the evening. Details specifying the place and time of action create an alarming atmosphere. So far it is only barely felt. But the gloomy colors (“lilac cloud”, “gray clouds”) and the movement that began in nature (“a thunderstorm was approaching”, “the trees were raging”, “drops... knocked”, “lightning flashed”) enhance it.
A man appears “at the flash of lightning.” His “figure seemed to grow out of the ground.” And this is not just a common expression - it speaks of unity this person with nature.
When a person appears, anxiety does not go away. Moreover, it is also fueled, but not by nature, but by man himself. We perceive people, events and nature through the eyes of a hunter-storyteller, that is, detachedly.
The image of Biryuk in the story
The hunter from Turgenev’s “Biryuk” saw both the forester himself and his house. This is a “small hut” in which “a light shone dimly.” In the “smoky” hut there was not a single bright spot - a “torn sheepskin coat”, “a pile of rags” and a splinter that could not dispel the darkness. It seems that only traces remain here past life, and she herself went somewhere. Even the presence of children does not relieve this feeling.
The appearance of the owner in the hut brightens the atmosphere for a while. The narrator saw a man of “tall stature,” who had “mighty muscles,” “a courageous face,” and “small brown eyes that looked boldly.” Quite a recognizable image. Where is he from? In the story “Biryuk” by Turgenev there is a hint: “Rarely have I seen such a fine fellow.” “Well done” is an epic fairy-tale hero. But then why is he here, in this wretched hut with the unfortunate children? Clear discrepancy between appearance hero and his way of life. It caused the narrator not only surprise, but also interest: “I... asked his name.”
We gradually learn information about the forester. People talk about him first. Their opinion is known from the forester himself: “My name is Foma... and my nickname is Biryuk.” The narrator also heard something about Biryuk from people. They “feared him like fire,” considered him incorruptible, and more than once “they were going to put him out of the world.”
Is this characterization of Biryuk fair? The narrator has to test her. And what? From a terse conversation, he realized that he saw a correct person, honestly fulfilling his duty. “I’m doing my job,” Biryuk says about himself. And he is also lonely - his wife “ran away with a passing tradesman,” leaving the children with him. In the characterization of the hero, his loneliness is a very significant component. Lonely means deprived of the support of family and friends and, most likely, an unhappy person. An ordinary story, but Biryuk himself is not entirely ordinary, which will soon be confirmed.
Biryuk and the man
Late in the evening a thief appeared in the forest. The forester’s direct duty is to catch him, which he does.
The man is wet, “in rags”, he has “a worn-out, wrinkled face... restless eyes.” His portrait is straight - the opposite of Biryuk's portrait. The forester evokes admiration, you want to admire him, but the man is just a pity.
In the images of Biryuk and the peasant they collided not only physical strength and weakness, but also two opposites life positions. Biryuk “does his duty”, honors the law, but the man, by stealing, breaks the law. And that’s not all - he also justifies his actions - “from hunger”, “ruined”, “children...” Both his clerk and Biryuk, who is a “beast”, a “bloodsucker”, are to blame. Only he himself is not to blame for anything. And the fact that he drinks is like, “Isn’t it your money, murderer...”
Biryuk’s situation is no better: he is “also a forced man”, he also has children, and there is nothing to eat “besides bread...”, he doesn’t even drink tea, but he doesn’t steal either.
So, the conflict revealed the inner essence of two men. Being socially equal, they are morally absolute antipodes. Consequently, one should not count on the objectivity of the assessment that Biryuk received from the thief’s fellow villagers.
The situation unfolds unexpectedly - Biryuk, contrary to his own convictions and professional duty, releases the thief, once again confirming the ambiguity of his personality. But is the conflict settled by his decision to let the thief go? Of course not. This guy isn't the only one breaking the law. “I know you... a thief among a thief,” says Biryuk. Therefore, his clashes with them are inevitable: “Wait, we’ll get to you,” the thief threatens.
Bad weather of human relations
The whole story takes place against the backdrop of rain. It begins with him, even with a thunderstorm, and ends with him. “You can’t wait out the rain...,” Biryuk says to the hunter and sees him off on the road.
The rain, which intensifies and then subsides, creates in the story a mood of some inexplicable sadness that permeates the entire story of Biryuk. But the words “rain” and “thunderstorm” are used in the story not only in a literal, but also in a symbolic sense. Continuous rain is bad weather in human relationships. The sun disappeared from them for a long time, if not forever.
The story is called by the nickname of the main character. It accurately indicates his character and place among people. But it turns out that Biryuk doesn’t have a place. He's alone everywhere. “Their” men call him a “beast” and promise to deal with him. The master has him in bondage. Biryuk's loneliness is emphasized by details: his hut is alone in the middle of the forest, and in the hut he is alone (without his wife) with his children. Biryuk's drama is that, being strong and handsome, courageous and honest, being correct, he should live well, as he deserves, but he lives poorly. And no brightness is expected in his life.
Main features of the story “Biryuk”:
- genre - story;
- narration from the narrator's point of view;
- main character: serf forester;
- plot: one episode from the life of the hero;
- image of nature;
- a reflection of the life of a Russian forced person.
