Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev is a remarkable Russian writer of the 19th century, who already during his lifetime gained a reading vocation and world fame. His work served the cause of the abolition of serfdom and inspired the fight against autocracy.

Turgenev's works poetically capture pictures of Russian nature, the beauty of genuine human feelings. The author knew how to deeply and subtly comprehend modern life, truthfully and poetically reproducing it in his works. He saw the true interest of life not in the severity of its external manifestations, not in intrigue, but in the complex world of human psychology, which ultimately determines the true drama of relationships between people.

The story “Bezhin Meadow” introduced into Russian literature the problem of depicting the children's world and child psychology. The appearance of this story meant a new turn and expansion of the theme of Russian peasant world. His children's representatives show his talent, beauty and at the same time the tragedy of the situation.

In the story “Bezhin Meadow” Turgenev describes five heroes: Fedya, Pavlusha, Ilyusha, Kostya and Vanya. Talking in detail about the appearance and clothing features of the boys, the author shows the difference in their characters. Fedya, a boy of fourteen, “was a slender boy, with beautiful and delicate, slightly small features, curly blond hair, light eyes and a constant half-cheerful, half-absent-minded smile. He belonged, by all accounts, to a rich family and went out into the field not out of necessity, but just for fun.” Pavlusha “had disheveled, black hair, gray eyes, wide cheekbones, a pale, pockmarked face, a large mouth,” but at the same time one can feel his character: “he looked very smart and straight, and there was strength in his voice.” . Ilyusha was completely different: “his face... was rather insignificant: hook-nosed, elongated, slightly blind, it expressed some kind of dull, painful solicitude; his compressed lips did not move, his knitted eyebrows did not move apart - it was as if he was squinting in the fire.” Kostya was about ten years old, “his whole face was small, thin, freckled, pointed downwards, like a squirrel’s; lips could barely be distinguished; but his large, black eyes, shining with a liquid brilliance, made a strange impression; they seemed to want to express something for which there were no words in the language—in his language at least.” Vanya, a boy of about ten years old, “lay on the ground, quietly huddled under the angular matting, and only occasionally stuck his brown curly head out from under it. This boy was only seven years old.”

Turgenev’s night spiritually liberates a person, disturbs his imagination with the endless mysteries of the universe: “I looked around: the night stood solemnly and royally... Countless golden stars seemed to flow, all flickering in competition, in the direction Milky Way, and, really, looking at them, you seemed to vaguely feel the rapid, non-stop running of the earth...”

Night nature suggests beautiful stories from legends to children, offers riddles and itself talks about their possible resolution. Explaining the mysterious phenomena of nature, peasant children cannot get rid of the impressions of the world around them. Nature disturbs human thought with its riddles and makes it possible to feel the relativity of any discoveries and solutions to its secrets. She humbles a person's strength, showing her superiority.

With love and tenderness, Turgenev draws in the story “Bezhin Meadow” peasant children, their rich spiritual world, their ability to subtly sense the beauty of nature. The writer sought not only to awaken in the reader a feeling of love and respect for the village children, but also made him think about their future fate.

The author has always been attracted to people who are spiritually and emotionally gifted, honest and sincere. Such people live on the pages of his works, and their lives, just as it happens in reality, are very difficult, because these are people of high moral principles, high demands on themselves and others.

Images of boys - the heroes of the story - are fanned lyrical mood sadness and sympathy. But it ends with a life-affirming, festive picture of the coming morning.

Turgenev's landscapes represent the embodiment of the author's, Turgenev's perception of nature, the heroes who are close to him and appear in the story as his representatives.

Ilyusha talked about the brownie he heard at the paper mill, where he worked with his brother and once stayed overnight; the second story was about the dog dog Ermil, who was returning home drunk at night and picked up a lamb at the grave of a drowned man, and the lamb spoke to him, repeating his words: “Byasha, byasha.” The third story was that in Varnavitsy they saw a late gentleman looking for a gap-grass in order to rise from the grave. The fourth story is about Baba Ulyana, who on Parents’ Friday went to sit on the church porch to see who would die this year and saw one boy and herself. The fifth story is about Trishka, who will come in the “last times”, will be invulnerable and will incline people to sin. I remembered about the goblin, how he scared a man in the forest at night, about Akulina the fool, who wanted to drown herself out of unhappy love.
Kostya told the story about the suburban carpenter Gavril, who got lost in the forest and met a mermaid there, about the boy Vasya, who drowned in the river and whose voice Pavel heard when he went to get drunk.

Ilyusha talked about the brownie he heard at the paper mill, where he worked with his brother and once stayed overnight; the second story was about the dog dog Ermil, who was returning home drunk at night and picked up a lamb at the grave of a drowned man, and the lamb spoke to him, repeating his words: “Byasha, byasha.” The third story was that in Varnavitsy they saw a late gentleman looking for a gap-grass in order to rise from the grave. The fourth story is about Baba Ulyana, who on Parents’ Friday went to sit on the church porch to see who would die this year and saw one boy and herself. The fifth story is about Trishka, who will come in the “last times”, will be invulnerable and will incline people to sin. I remembered about the goblin, how he scared a man in the forest at night, about Akulina the fool, who wanted to drown herself out of unhappy love.
Kostya told the story about the suburban carpenter Gavril, who got lost in the forest and met a mermaid there, about the boy Vasya, who drowned in the river and whose voice Pavel heard when he went to get drunk.

Ilyusha talked about the brownie he heard at the paper mill, where he worked with his brother and once stayed overnight; the second story was about the dog dog Ermil, who was returning home drunk at night and picked up a lamb at the grave of a drowned man, and the lamb spoke to him, repeating his words: “Byasha, byasha.” The third story was that in Varnavitsy they saw a late gentleman looking for a gap-grass in order to rise from the grave. The fourth story is about Baba Ulyana, who on Parents’ Friday went to sit on the church porch to see who would die this year and saw one boy and herself. The fifth story is about Trishka, who will come in the “last times”, will be invulnerable and will incline people to sin. I remembered about the goblin, how he scared a man in the forest at night, about Akulina the fool, who wanted to drown herself out of unhappy love.
Kostya told the story about the suburban carpenter Gavril, who got lost in the forest and met a mermaid there, about the boy Vasya, who drowned in the river and whose voice Pavel heard when he went to get drunk.

Ilyusha talked about the brownie he heard at the paper mill, where he worked with his brother and once stayed overnight; the second story was about the dog dog Ermil, who was returning home drunk at night and picked up a lamb at the grave of a drowned man, and the lamb spoke to him, repeating his words: “Byasha, byasha.” The third story was that in Varnavitsy they saw a late gentleman looking for a gap-grass in order to rise from the grave. The fourth story is about Baba Ulyana, who on Parents’ Friday went to sit on the church porch to see who would die this year and saw one boy and herself. The fifth story is about Trishka, who will come in the “last times”, will be invulnerable and will incline people to sin. I remembered about the goblin, how he scared a man in the forest at night, about Akulina the fool, who wanted to drown herself out of unhappy love.
Kostya told the story about the suburban carpenter Gavril, who got lost in the forest and met a mermaid there, about the boy Vasya, who drowned in the river and whose voice Pavel heard when he went to get drunk.

Ilyusha talked about the brownie he heard at the paper mill, where he worked with his brother and once stayed overnight; the second story was about the dog dog Ermil, who was returning home drunk at night and picked up a lamb at the grave of a drowned man, and the lamb spoke to him, repeating his words: “Byasha, byasha.” The third story was that in Varnavitsy they saw a late gentleman looking for a gap-grass in order to rise from the grave. The fourth story is about Baba Ulyana, who on Parents’ Friday went to sit on the church porch to see who would die this year and saw one boy and herself. The fifth story is about Trishka, who will come in the “last times”, will be invulnerable and will incline people to sin. I remembered about the goblin, how he scared a man in the forest at night, about Akulina the fool, who wanted to drown herself out of unhappy love.
Kostya told the story about the suburban carpenter Gavril, who got lost in the forest and met a mermaid there, about the boy Vasya, who drowned in the river and whose voice Pavel heard when he went to get drunk.

The image of Pavlusha in the story "Bezhin Meadow"

Characteristics of Fedya

Description of Ilyusha from the story "Bezhin Meadow"

Kostya

Vanya

Turgenev's story "Bezhin Meadow" was first published in 1851 in the magazine Sovremennik. The work was included in the series of stories by the author of “Notes of a Hunter”. The essay refers to literary direction realism, but it also contains features of romanticism (vivid descriptions of nature, legends and beliefs that are intertwined with real life heroes).

The work is studied in the 6th grade literature program; on our website you can read a summary of “Bezhin Meadow” online.

Main characters

Narrator- a hunter, the story is told on his behalf.

Ilyusha- a boy of about 12 years old, who knows many popular beliefs and stories about evil spirits.

Pavlusha- a boy about 12 years old, “he looked very smart and direct, and there was strength in his voice.”

Other heroes

Fedya- a 14-year-old boy, the eldest of the children, by all accounts, from a wealthy family. I went with other guys for fun.

Kostya- a 10-year-old boy.

Vanya- a seven-year-old boy who slept almost all night.

On one of the warm July days The narrator was hunting for black grouse in the Chernsky district of the Tula province. He shot “quite a lot of game” and returned home in the evening. Lost in the twilight, the narrator first walked past an aspen tree, then found himself in an unfamiliar plowed ravine.

Without trying to make out the roads, he followed the stars and suddenly found himself in front of a “huge plain” called Bezhin Meadow, which was surrounded by a wide river. At the foot of the hill, the man noticed two fires and people.

The narrator went down to the fires - near them were peasant children from neighboring villages, guarding a herd of horses with two large dogs. The narrator asked them to spend the night, lay down by the fire and, watching the night nature, listened to the boys’ conversations.

There were five boys in total: Fedya, Pavlusha, Ilyusha, Kostya and Vanya. The narrator describes the boys' appearance. Fedya is “a slender boy with beautiful and delicate features.” Pavlusha - with black hair, gray hair, a pockmarked pale face and an awkward, squat body. Ilyusha - with a hook-nosed, elongated, dim-sighted face that “expressed some kind of dull, painful solicitude.” Kostya is a boy with a thoughtful and sad look, his eyes “seemed to want to express something, why in the language,<…>- there were no words." The youngest, Vanya, slept under the matting all night.

The narrator pretended to be asleep and the boys started talking by the fire. Ilyusha told how once he spent the night with the guys at a paper factory, they heard a brownie. At night, someone knocked and walked above them, and then came down the stairs towards them, opened the doors, but the guys did not see anyone at the door. Here the shape of one vat began to move, and of another, the hook was removed from the nail and snapped back into place. “Then it was as if someone went to the door and suddenly started coughing and choking.” The boys were very scared.

Kostya told the following story - about the suburban carpenter Gavril. Once a man went into the forest to get lost, got lost and decided to spend the night in the forest. But as soon as he dozes off, he wakes up as if someone was calling him. Finally, Gavrila saw a mermaid sitting on a branch, who was calling him to her. The man crossed himself - immediately the mermaid, who had previously laughed merrily, burst into tears: “You should not be baptized,” he says, “man, you should live with me in joy until the end of your days; but I cry, I am killed because you were baptized; Yes, I won’t be the only one who will kill myself: you too will kill yourself until the end of your days.” Then she disappeared. And from then on Gavrila became gloomy.

In the distance a “lingering, ringing, almost moaning sound” was heard. The boys shuddered, Ilya whispered: “The power of the cross is with us!” .

After the guys calmed down, Ilyusha started talking about a recent incident at a broken dam - an “unclean, remote place” where a drowned man was buried. The boy said that once the clerk sent the huntsman Yermil to the post office, but the man was delayed and returned at night. While crossing the dam, he noticed a lamb on the grave of a drowned man. The man took the animal with him, but while he was driving, he noticed that the lamb was looking intently into his eyes. He began to stroke his fur like that, and said: “Byasha, byasha!” And the ram suddenly bares his teeth, and he too: “Byasha, byasha...”.

Suddenly, “both dogs stood up at once, rushed away from the fire with convulsive barking and disappeared into the darkness. All the boys were scared." Pavlusha ran after the dogs, but soon rode up on a horse and said that he thought that the dogs had smelled a wolf, but there was nothing there.

The boys continued their conversation. Ilyusha said that in Varnavitsy they often met a late gentleman who was looking for a gap in the grass, because the grave was pressing hard on him. Kostya was surprised - he thought that the dead could only be seen on parental Saturday. Ilyusha replied that on Parents' Saturday you can also find out who will die soon: you need to sit on the church porch and see who will pass by you. So Baba Ulyana, sitting on the porch, saw herself walking.

The boys became quiet. A white dove flew over them. The guys remember the “heavenly foresight” that recently happened in Shalamov - solar eclipse. Ilyusha retells the belief about Trishka - a crafty man who will appear during an eclipse and who can neither be caught nor put in prison.

Suddenly, the sharp cry of a heron was heard twice over the river. The boys started talking about the goblin - Kostya thought he somehow heard his screams. Ilya objected: the goblin does not scream, he is mute - “he only claps his hands and cracks.”

Pavlusha got up and went to the river for water. At this time, Ilyusha told the boys that when a person draws water from the river, a merman can grab him by the hand and drag him away. The guys remembered Akulina the fool, who was “spoiled” by the merman, and also about Vasya, who, while playing on the shore, accidentally drowned. When he returned, Pavlusha said that when he was getting water, Vasya’s voice called to him as if from under the water.

By morning, the boys' conversation gradually died down, and the narrator dozed off. The man woke up before dawn and, nodding to the awakened Pavlusha, walked “along the smoky river.” “Unfortunately, I must add that Pavel passed away that same year. He did not drown: he was killed by falling from his horse. It’s a pity, he was a nice guy!”

Conclusion

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev’s story “Bezhin Meadow” reveals to the reader the world of folk poetic signs and tales about all kinds of “evil spirits”: brownies, mermaids, goblins, water creatures, ghosts. In the work, legends and beliefs are harmoniously complemented by pictures of picturesque nature, and the composition of the essay itself refers the reader to the colloquial genre of “scary stories”, the characteristic features of which are elements of mysticism and an inexplicable, mysterious tragic end.

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Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev is one of the galaxy of remarkable Russian writers of the 19th century who received worldwide recognition and the love of readers during his lifetime. In his works, he poetically described pictures of Russian nature, the beauty of human feelings. The work of Ivan Sergeevich is a complex world of human psychology. With the story “Bezhin Meadow,” the image of the child’s world and child psychology was first introduced into Russian literature. With the appearance of this story, the theme of the world of Russian peasants expanded.

History of creation

Peasant children are depicted by the writer with tenderness and love; he notes their rich spiritual world, ability to feel nature and its beauty. The writer awakened in readers love and respect for peasant children, and made them think about their future destinies. The story itself is part of a large cycle under the general title “Notes of a Hunter.” The cycle is notable for the fact that for the first time in Russian literature, types of Russian peasants were brought onto the stage, described with such sympathy and detail that Turgenev’s contemporaries considered that a new class had emerged that was worthy of literary description.

In 1843 I.S. Turgenev met the famous critic V.G. Belinsky, who inspired him to create “Notes of a Hunter.” In 1845, Ivan Sergeevich decided to devote himself entirely to literature. He spent the summer in the village, giving everything free time hunting and communicating with peasants and their children. Plans for creating the work were first announced in August September 1850. Then, notes containing plans for writing the story appeared on the draft manuscript. At the beginning of 1851, the story was written in St. Petersburg and in February it was published in the Sovremennik magazine.

Analysis of the work

Plot

The story is told from the perspective of the author, who loves to hunt. One day in July, while hunting for black grouse, he got lost and, walking towards the fire of a burning fire, came out into a huge meadow, which local residents called Bezhin. Five peasant boys were sitting near the fire. Having asked them for an overnight stay, the hunter lay down by the fire, watching the boys.

In the further narrative, the author describes five heroes: Vanya, Kostya, Ilya, Pavlusha and Fyodor, their appearance, characters and stories of each of them. Turgenev was always partial to spiritual and emotionally gifted people, sincere and honest. These are the people he describes in his works. Most of them live hard lives, but they adhere to high moral principles and are very demanding of themselves and others.

Heroes and characteristics

With deep sympathy, the author describes five boys, each of whom has his own character, appearance, and characteristics. This is how the writer describes one of the five boys, Pavlusha. The boy is not very handsome, his face is wrong, but the author notices in his voice and look strong character. His appearance speaks of the extreme poverty of the family, since all his clothes consisted of a simple shirt and patched trousers. It is he who is entrusted with monitoring the stew in the pot. He speaks knowledgeably about a fish splashing in the water and a star falling from the sky.

It is clear from his actions and speech that he is the most courageous of all the guys. This boy evokes the greatest sympathy not only among the author, but also among the reader. With one twig, unafraid, at night, he galloped alone towards the wolf. Pavlusha knows all the animals and birds very well. He is brave and not afraid of acceptance. When he says that it seemed to him that the merman was calling him, the cowardly Ilyusha says that this is a bad omen. But Pavel answers him that he does not believe in omens, but believes in fate, from which you cannot escape anywhere. At the end of the story, the author informs the reader that Pavlusha died after falling from a horse.

Next comes Fedya, a boy of fourteen “with beautiful and delicate, slightly small features, curly blond hair, light eyes and a constant half-cheerful, half-absent-minded smile. He belonged, by all accounts, to a rich family and went to the field not out of necessity, but just for fun.” He is the oldest among the guys. He behaves importantly, according to the right of his elder. He speaks patronizingly, as if afraid of losing his dignity.

The third boy, Ilyusha, was completely different. Also a simple peasant boy. He looks no more than twelve years old. His insignificant, elongated, hook-nosed face had a constant expression of dull, painful solicitude. His lips were compressed and did not move, and his eyebrows were knitted together, as if he was constantly squinting from the fire. The boy is neat. As Turgenev describes his appearance, “a rope carefully tied his neat black scroll.” He is only 12 years old, but he already works with his brother in a paper factory. We can conclude that he is a hardworking and responsible boy. Ilyusha, as the author noted, knew well all the popular beliefs, which Pavlik completely denied.

Kostya looked no more than 10 years old, his small, freckled face was pointed, like a squirrel’s, and his huge black eyes stood out on him. He was also poorly dressed, thin and short in stature. He spoke in a thin voice. The author's attention is drawn to his sad, thoughtful look. He is a slightly cowardly boy, but, nevertheless, he goes out with the boys every night to graze horses, sit by the night fire and listen to scary stories.

The most inconspicuous boy of all five is seven-year-old Vanya, who was lying near the fire, “quietly huddled under the angular matting, and only occasionally exposed his light brown curly head from under it.” He is the youngest of all, the writer does not give him a portrait description. But all his actions, admiring the night sky, admiring the stars, which he compares to bees, characterize him as an inquisitive, sensitive and very sincere person.

All the peasant children mentioned in the story are very close to nature, they literally live in unity with it. From early childhood they already know what work is, they independently learn the world around us. This is facilitated by working at home and in the field, and during night trips. That is why Turgenev describes them with such love and reverent attention. These children are our future.

The writer's story does not belong only to the time of its creation, to the 19th century. This story is deeply modern and timely at all times. Today, more than ever, a return to nature is required, to the understanding that we must protect it and live with it in unity, as a beloved mother, but not a stepmother. Raise our children on work and respect for it, respect for the working person. Then the world around us will change, become cleaner and more beautiful.