Satirical Techniques in Saltykov-Shchedrin's Tale “The story of how one man fed two generals. What makes Saltykov Shchedrin laugh in his fairy tales? What is ridiculed in the tales of Saltykov Shchedrin

> Compositions based on the Wild Landowner

What is the author laughing about

Instructive tales occupy a significant place in the work of the satirist M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. Some of them are part of the school curriculum, and some parents even read to their young children. Yet not every child will fully understand what meaning the author actually put into his “funny” works. Speaking out against social injustice and social evil, Saltykov-Shchedrin ridiculed the vices of the "masters of life" who oppressed the common people.

In the fairy tale "The Wild Landowner" he shows the life of a landowner who was left without the help of peasants. At first, he himself begs the Lord to remove the “muzhik” from his life, and with their disappearance he finds himself in a difficult situation. In fact, the author notices and raises to the surface a huge variety of human vices. This is laziness, hypocrisy, hypocrisy, and cowardice. All this is included in the list of topics that he touches on in his tales. Making fun of individual flaws in people, he illuminates a wide range of socio-political, ideological and moral issues.

It should be noted here that Saltykov-Shchedrin condemns the very idea of ​​serfdom. It cannot be said that he only takes the side of the peasants and laughs at the "wild landowner." Peasants who lack their own goals and desires also seem ridiculous to him. They are strongly dependent on the landowners, since they absorbed the desire to obey with their mother's milk. The satirical genre of fairy tales helped the writer to most vividly and vividly express his views on society.

The question arises, how did he manage to clothe such serious ideas in such a fascinating shell? The manner of writing played an important role in this. Indeed, in his fairy tales Saltykov-Shchedrin often jokingly uses traditional fairy-tale phrases, such as "in a certain kingdom", "lived-were", "drank honey-beer", etc. This manner simultaneously immerses the reader in the atmosphere of a fairy tale and grotesque. It is ridiculous to observe how an ordinary landowner, due to his ridiculous claims, gradually turns into a wild beast.

Left without the hateful peasants, he begins to dream of how he will take care of his own farm. However, not having the proper skills, he soon abandoned the garden and himself to such an extent that he became like a feral beast. As the author writes, he began to run on all fours, hunt hares and made friends with a bear. Thus, the author shows that the people are the support of the state. It is ordinary people who create those moral and material values ​​that the nobility uses. Therefore, having expelled the "muzhik", the landowner became powerless and quickly degraded.

after the reform of 1861 - the remnants of serfdom, rooted in the psychology of people.

Shchedrin's work is connected with the traditions of his brilliant predecessors: Pushkin ("The History of the Village of Goryukh-na") and Gogol ("Dead Souls"). But Shchedrin's satire is sharper and more merciless. Shchedrin's talent was revealed in all its splendor. the accuser in his tales. Fairy tales were a kind of ito hom, a synthesis of the ideological and creative quests of the satirist. With foil clor they are connected not only by the presence of certain lips but poetic details and images, they express the people's worldview. In fairy tales, Shchedrin reveals the theme of exploit ation, gives devastating criticism of nobles, officials - all those who live by national labor.

Generals are not capable of anything, they do not know how to do anything,believe that "the rolls in the same form will be born as ... their in the morning they serve coffee. "They almost eat each other, although around the mass of fruits, fish, game. They would have starved to death if the man had not been around. No doubt at all In their right to exploit the labor of others, the generals let the peasant work for them. And here again the generals are fed up, their former self-confidence and complacency return to them. "That's how good it is to be generals - you won't be lost anywhere!" they think. In St. Petersburg the generals "money raked in ", and sent the peasant" a glass of vodka and a nickel of silver: have fun, man! "

Sympathizing with the oppressed people, Shchedrin opposesautocracy and its servants. The king, ministers and governors youlaughs the tale "The Bear in the Voivodeship". It shows threeToptygin, successively replacing each other on howl leadership, where they were sent by the lion to "pacify the internal former adversaries. "The first two Toptygins were engaged in of a different kind of "villainy": one - petty, "shameful" ("chiZhika ate "), the other - large," shiny "(lifted from the cross

a horse, a cow, a pig and a couple of sheep, but the peasants came running and killed him). The third Toptygin did not thirst for "bloodsheds". Learned from the experience of history, he acted with caution and led a liberal policy. For many years he received piglets, chickens, honey from the toilers, but in the end the patience of the men ran out, and they dealt with the "voivode". This is already a spontaneous explosion of discontent of the peasants against the oppressors. Shchedrin shows that the cause of the people's misfortunes lies in the abuse of power, in the very nature of the autocratic system. This means that the salvation of the people lies in the overthrow of tsarism. This is the main idea of ​​the tale.

In the fairy tale "The Eagle the Patron" Shchedrin exposes the activities of the autocracy in the field of education. The eagle - the king of birds - decided to "start" at the court of science and art. However, the eagle soon got tired of playing the role of a philanthropist: he destroyed the nightingale-poet, put shackles on the learned woodpecker and imprisoned him in a hollow, ravaged a raven. Began "searches, investigations, destinies", came the "darkness of ignorance." The writer showed in this tale the incompatibility of tsarism with science, education and art, concluded that "eagles are harmful for enlightenment."

Shchedrin also makes fun of the townsfolk. The tale of the wise gudgeon is dedicated to this topic. The gudgeon all his life thought about how he would not be eaten by a pike, so he spent a hundred years in his hole, away from danger. Gudgeon "lived - trembled and died - trembled". And while dying, he thought: why did he tremble and hide all his life? What were his joys? Whom did he comfort? Who will remember its existence? “Those who think that only those minnows can be considered worthy citizens, who, mad with fear, sit in holes and tremble, are wrongly believed. No, these are not citizens, but at least useless minnows. None of them is warm or cold. ... they live, they take a place for nothing, "the author addresses the reader.

In his tales, Saltykov-Shchedrin shows that the people are talented. The guy from the tale of two generals is smart, he has golden hands: he made a snare "from his own hair" and built a "miracle ship". The people were subjected to oppression, their life is endless hard work, and the writer is bitter that he is winding a rope with his own hands, which

they threw it around his neck. Shchedrin calls on the people to reflect on their fate, to unite in the struggle for the reconstruction of an unjust world.

Saltykov-Shchedrin called his creative style Aesopian, each fairy tale has a subtext, comic characters and images-symbols act in it.

The peculiarity of Shchedrin's tales is also in the fact that in them the real is intertwined with the fantastic, thereby creating a comic effect. On the fabulous island, the generals find the well-known reactionary newspaper Moskovskie Vedomosti. From the extraordinary island not far from St. Petersburg, to Bolshaya Podyachnaya. The writer introduces details from the life of people into the life of fabulous fish and animals: the gudgeon "does not receive a salary and does not keep servants", dreams of winning two hundred thousand.

The author's favorite techniques are hyperbole and grotesque. Both the agility of the peasant and the ignorance of the generals are extremely exaggerated. A skilful man cooks soup in a handful. Foolish generals do not know that bread is baked from flour. The hungry general swallows his friend's order.

In Shchedrin's tales, there are no accidental details and unnecessary words, and the heroes are revealed in actions and words. The writer draws attention to the funny sides of the depicted. Suffice it to recall that the generals were in nightgowns, and the order hung around their necks. In Shchedrin's tales, a connection with folk art is visible ("there was a gudgeon"% "he drank honey-beer, flowed down his mustache, but did not get into his mouth", "neither say in a fairy tale, nor describe with a pen"). However, along with fairy-tale expressions, we meet book words that are completely uncharacteristic for folk tales: "sacrifice life", "gudgeon completes the life process." The allegorical meaning of the works is felt.

Shchedrin's tales also reflected his hatred of those who live off the workers, and his belief in the triumph of reason and justice.

These fairy tales are a magnificent artistic monument of a bygone era. Many images have become household names, denoting social phenomena in Russian and world reality.

It is no coincidence that Saltykov-Shchedrin's “Tales” are called the author's final work. In them, those problems of Russia in the 60-80s are raised with all their sharpness. XIX century, which worried the progressive intelligentsia. Many points of view were expressed in disputes about the future paths of Russia. It is known that Saltykov-Shchedrin was a supporter of the struggle against the autocracy. Like many thinking people of that time, he was carried away by the "popular" idea and complained about the passivity of the peasant. Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote that despite the abolition of serfdom, it lives in everything: “in our temperament, in our way of thinking, in our customs, in our actions. Everything, whatever we turn our eyes to, everything comes out of it and rests on it. " The journalistic and journalistic activities of the writer and his literary work are subordinated to these political views.
The writer constantly tried to make his opponents funny, for laughter is a great power. So in "Tales" Saltykov-Shchedrin ridicules government officials, landowners, and the liberal intelligentsia. Showing the helplessness and worthlessness of officials, the parasitism of the landowners and at the same time emphasizing the diligence and dexterity of the Russian peasant, Saltykov-Shchedrin expresses his main idea in fairy tales: the peasant is powerless, downtrodden by the ruling classes.
So, in “The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals,” Saltykov-Shchedrin shows the complete helplessness of two generals who found themselves on a desert island. Despite the fact that there was an abundance of game, fish, and fruit, they almost starved to death.
The officials who were “born, brought up and grown old” in some kind of registry did not understand anything, and did not know “not even any words”, except perhaps the phrase: “Accept the assurance of my complete respect and devotion”, the generals do nothing they did not know how and quite sincerely believed that rolls grow on trees. And suddenly a thought dawns on them: they must find a man! After all, he must be, he just “hid somewhere, shirks away from work”. And the man was really found. He fed the generals and immediately, on their orders, obediently twists a rope with which they tie him to a tree so that he does not run away.
In this tale, Saltykov-Shchedrin expresses the idea that Russia rests on the labor of the peasant, who, despite his natural intelligence and ingenuity, obediently obeys helpless masters. The same idea is developed by the author in the fairy tale "The Wild Landowner". But if the generals from the previous history ended up on an uninhabited island by the will of fate, then the landowner from this fairy tale all the time dreamed of getting rid of unbearable peasants, from whom a bad, servile spirit comes. Therefore, the columnar nobleman Urus-Kuchum-Kildibaev oppresses the peasants in every possible way. And then the muzhik world disappeared. And what? After a while, “he… grew all over with hair… and his claws became iron”. The landowner has gone wild, because without the peasant he is not even able to serve himself.
Saltykov-Shchedrin's deep faith in the latent forces of the people is visible in the fairy tale "The Horse". The tortured peasant nag amazes with its endurance and vitality. Her whole existence consists in endless hard work, and meanwhile the well-fed empty dances in a warm stall are surprised at her endurance, talk a lot about her wisdom, hard work, sanity. Most likely, in this tale Saltykov-Shchedrin meant by empty dance the intelligentsia, pouring from empty to empty, talking about the fate of the Russian people. Obviously, the image of Konyaga reflects a peasant-worker.
Animals, birds, fish often become heroes of "Fairy Tales". This suggests that they are based on Russian folklore. Addressing him allows Saltykov-Shchedrin in a laconic form and at the same time satirically sharply convey the deep content. Take, for example, the fairy tale "The Bear in the Voivodeship". Three Toptygins are three different rulers. By nature, they are not alike. One is cruel and bloodthirsty, the other is not evil, "well, you bastard," and the third is lazy and good-natured. And each of them is not able to provide a normal life in the forest. And their style of government has nothing to do with it. We see that nothing has changed the general unfavorable order in the forest slum: the kites of the crows pluck, and the wolves tear the skin from the hares. “Thus, before the mental gaze of the third Toptygin, a whole theory of unfavorable well-being suddenly arose,” the author sneers. The hidden meaning of this tale, in which the real rulers of Russia are parodied, is that without the abolition of autocracy, nothing will change.
Speaking about the ideological content of Saltykov-Shchedrin's “Tales”, it should be noted that many talented writers of the 20th century (Bulgakov, Platonov, Grossman, etc.) showed in their works what happens when a person violates the eternal laws of the development of nature, society ... We can say that the literature of the 20th century, which experienced the upheavals of social revolutions, argues with the literature of the second half of the 19th century, including the work of Saltykov-Shchedrin. The events of the beginning of the 20th century led the thinking intelligentsia to disillusionment with the people, while “popular thought” in the 19th century was decisive for many Russian writers. But the richer our literary heritage is that it contains different points of view on the path of development of society.

(Option 1)

In the final period of his work, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin turns to the allegorical form of a fairy tale, where, describing everyday situations in "Aesopian language," he ridicules the vices of the modern writer of society.

The satirical form became for M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin the opportunity to speak freely about the pressing problems of society. In the fairy tale "The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals", various satirical techniques are used: grotesque, irony, fantasy, allegory, sarcasm - to characterize the depicted

Heroes and descriptions of the situation in which the main characters of the tale found themselves: two generals. Grotesque is the fact that the generals got to the uninhabited island "at the behest of the pike, at my will." Fantastic assurance from the writer that "generals have served all their lives in some kind of registry, there they were born, brought up and grew old, therefore, they did not understand anything." The writer also satirically depicted the appearance of the heroes: "they are in nightgowns, and they have an order hanging around their necks." Saltykov-Shchedrin ridicules the generals' elementary inability to find food for themselves: both thought that "the rolls will be born in the same form as they are served in the morning for coffee." Depicting the behavior of the heroes, the writer uses sarcasm: “They began to slowly creep up to each other and in an instant became furious. Shreds flew, screeching and groaning rang out; the general, who was a teacher of calligraphy, bit off the order from his comrade and immediately swallowed it. " The heroes began to lose their human appearance, turning into hungry animals, and only the sight of real blood sobered them.

Satirical techniques not only characterize artistic images, but also express the author's attitude to the depicted. The writer treats the peasant with irony, who, frightened by the mighty of this world, “climbed first and foremost up a tree and picked ten of the ripeest apples for the generals, and took one sour one for himself”. Making fun of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin the attitude of the generals to life: "They began to say that here they live on everything ready, and in St. Petersburg, meanwhile, their pensions are still accumulating and accumulating."

Thus, using various satirical techniques, the allegorical form of the "Aesopian language", M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin expresses his own attitude to the relationship between people in power and the common people. The writer ridicules the generals' inability to live, and the muzhik's stupid execution of all the whims of the masters.

(Option 2)

The generals who had sat in the registry all their lives could not have been sent to an uninhabited island, it was enough to lead them into a field or into a forest, leaving them alone, as in fairy tales, and it was possible to abolish serfdom, as in life.

Of course, a fairy tale is a lie, the writer exaggerates, and there were no generals so stupid and unfit for life, but in any fairy tale there is a hint. The author hints both at the weakness and dependence of the peasant, and at the helplessness of the "generals" who would have died of hunger and cold if the peasant had not been around. There are many conventions, fantasy in the tale: an unexpected movement of two generals to an uninhabited island, and a peasant showed up there very opportunely. Much is exaggerated, exaggerated: complete helplessness of the generals, ignorance of how to navigate in relation to parts of the world, etc. The author of the tale uses the grotesque: the enormous size of the peasant, the eaten order, the soup cooked in the palms of the hands, the woven rope that prevents the peasant from escaping.

The fabulous elements themselves used by the author are already a satire on the society of that time. The uninhabited island is a real life that the generals don't know. A man who fulfills all desires is a self-assembled tablecloth and a flying carpet rolled into one. Saltykov-Shchedrin scoffs at the generals who were born and grew old in the registry, at the registry as a public institution, which was "abolished as unnecessary" and at the peasant who weaved a string for himself, and is happy that “he, a parasite, was also given peasant labor did not disdain! ". Both the generals and the peasant with Podyachnaya, but how different they are in St. Petersburg and on the island: on a deserted island a peasant is needed, his significance is enormous, and in St. Petersburg “a man is hanging outside the house, in a box on a rope, and smears the wall with paint, or on the roof walks like a fly, "small, inconspicuous. Generals on the island are as powerless as children, and in St. Petersburg they are omnipotent (at the registry level).

Saltykov-Shchedrin laughed heartily at everyone, at those whom he called "children of fair age", since sometimes adults need to be explained again what is good and what is bad, where is the border between good and evil.

Traditions of a folk tale. It should be noted that we are talking primarily not about a magic, but about a social, everyday, satirical fairy tale: the characters of such a fairy tale are stupid generals, landowners who do not know and cannot do anything.
However, it is significant that the characterization of a peasant is not the same as in a folk tale. There he is always smarter, braver, stronger, always fools the mighty of this world, leaves the oppressors in the fools. Saltykov-Shchedrin emphasizes a paradoxical mixture of valuable, vital qualities of a peasant and obedience, patience, bordering almost on dementia. A typical antithesis for the writer: a sharp contrast between physical strength, ingenuity (and exaggeration of these qualities) and patience, humility, he allows himself to be oppressed.
The general style is in many ways also fabulous (“in a certain kingdom”), but there are no plots directly borrowed from fairy tales. The plots are essentially as allegorical as in the latest, more original fairy tales, and therefore unique. Only outwardly, these tales are associated with folk tales (heroes, style).
One of the main techniques of Saltykov-Shchedrin is grotesque (the generals wear nightgowns with orders; the man himself weaved a rope "from wild hemp" so that the generals would tie him up).
The tales of the 1880s were written during the years of political reaction, so it is advisable to compare them not only with the works of Gogol, Krylov, but also Chekhov, who had just begun his writing career. The difference lies in the fact that in the tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin the emphasis is placed on social problems (the relationship between the people and the authorities, the phenomenon of Russian liberalism and education, the socio-psychological type of "liberal", etc.), while in Chekhov's - on the "universal" , ethical and existential (vulgarity, philistinism, routine of life, etc.).
In accordance with this, the basic pictorial principles also differ: for Saltykov-Shchedrin, allegorical generalizations of the state scale, for Chekhov, everyday trifles. What unites them is their adherence to the only form of free thought allowed in that era - laughter, which both writers combine with allegory. At the same time, the laughter of Saltykov-Shchedrin is distinguished not only by fun, but by anger, it is satirical in nature. His later tales are gloomy, devoid of optimism. In them, he relies on the traditions not so much of a folk tale as on fables, where allegoricality is set from the very beginning, constituting a structure-forming genre type.
The heroes of the fairy tales of the 1880s are reminiscent of the heroes of fables. Animals often perform in a typical fable function, and not in a fabulous one. In addition, as happens in a fable, animals sometimes suddenly turn from characters into "themselves": for example, a fish - the character can be fried at the end of the tale.
Saltykov-Shchedrin uses “ready-made” roles assigned to some animals; traditional symbolism is found in his tales. For example, the eagle is a symbol of autocracy; therefore, the tale, where the main character is an eagle, is immediately understood by the reader in an appropriate way (thinking about eagles and their essence is undoubtedly perceived in an allegorical sense).
Saltykov-Shchedrin demonstrates his adherence to the fable tradition, in particular, he includes morality in some fairy tales, a typical fable device ("this may serve as a lesson for us").
The grotesque, as a favorite means of Saltykov-Shchedrin's satire, is expressed in the very fact that animals act as people in specific situations (most often associated with ideological disputes, socio-political issues relevant to Russia in the 1880s). The portrayal of these incredible, fantastic events reveals the peculiarity of Shchedrin's realism, noting the essence of social conflicts and relations, the characteristic features of which are exaggerated.
Parody also belongs to the methods typical of Shchedrin; the object of parody can be, for example, Russian historiography, as in The History of a City, or the history of enlightenment in Russia.