He and she.

Loving means looking not at each other, but together, in the same direction.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

• Approximate topics, problems in the direction.

• Quotes on the topic.

Direction "He and she"- very multifaceted in nature. There are many topics that can be suggested here that cover different shades of relationships between men and women. This is love (mutual and unrequited), family relationships, devotion, betrayal, betrayal, the desire to use the feelings of another for selfish interests.

I offer a list of some problems and topics in this direction, list of 10 works for arguments, quotes on this topic.

This material will help in preparing for an essay and will guide students in choosing works.

Approximate topics and problems in the direction.

Themes.	Problems.
	What role does love play in a person’s life? How does it change him?
Unrequited love.	What is unrequited love? How does it change his attitude towards life, towards people? Does unrequited love elevate or humiliate a person?
Power of love.	What is love capable of? What is the power of love, how does it manifest itself in a person’s actions, in relationships with others and with life itself?
	What is the responsibility to a loved one? What can a person sacrifice for the sake of a loved one?
Treason and love.	Is betrayal possible in love? Is it possible to forgive betrayal?
Selfish love. Selfishness in love.	Why is it so easy to use love for selfish, selfish purposes? Does a person who plays with the feelings of another deserve respect?
Family, family relationships.	Love as the basis of family happiness and prosperity. What relationships should a family be built on? Why is love the basis of family happiness? Why is mutual respect and trust so important in a family?

List of works for arguments.

Quotes on the topic.

Love as the meaning of life, the source of happiness.

• It's easier to live without love. ...But without it there is no point. (L.N. Tolstoy, Russian writer).
• When you love, you discover such wealth in yourself! I can’t even believe that you know how to love so much.(A.P. Chekhov, Russian writer and playwright).
• Love is the only thing that sharpens the mind, awakens creative imagination, the only thing that cleanses us and frees us. (Paulo Coelho, contemporary Brazilian novelist and poet).
• The best love is the one that awakens the soul and makes you strive for more. It sets our hearts on fire and calms our minds. (Noah Calhoun, hero of the novel “The Notebook” by modern writer N. Sparks).
• To love means to find your own happiness in the happiness of another. Gottfried Leibniz

Unrequited love.

• Unrequited love does not humiliate a person, but elevates him. (A.S. Pushkin, Russian poet and writer).
• Of all the mockery of fate over a person, none is more deadly than unrequited love.. (A.M. Gorky, Russian writer and playwright).
• What a pity that what your existence became for me, my existence did not become for you. (I.A. Brodsky, Russian and American poet and writer of the 20th century).

• All love is happiness, even if it is not shared.(I.A. Bunin, Russian writer and poet).
• For a person who loves with unrequited love, there is no joy in anything. (John Irving, contemporary American writer and screenwriter).

Power of love.

• True love will never die. (Stephen King, modern American writer).
• Love is a force that can move mountains.(Dean Koontz, contemporary American science fiction writer).
• True love helps you endure all hardships. (F. Schiller, German poet and playwright of the 18th and early 19th centuries).
• The forces of love are great, disposing those who love to difficult feats and enduring extreme, unexpected dangers. (D. Boccaccio, 14th century Italian poet and writer).
• By giving love to others, you get rid of fears; with the power of love you illuminate the space around you, dispelling the darkness. (Osho, 20th century Indian religious figure).

Responsibility to your loved one.

• He who loves must share the fate of the one he loves. (M.A. Bulgakov, Russian writer).
• If you truly love someone, then in addition to the serene happiness that this love gives you, you should also feel responsible for your loved one. (Charlotte Brontë, pseudonym of Currer Bell, an English poet and novelist of the 19th century).
• Great love is always responsibility and care, protection and fear, thoughts about how to arrange and make life easier for the most precious creature in the world. (I.A. Efremov, Soviet science fiction writer of the 20th century).
• Caring and responsibility are the building blocks of love, but without respect and knowledge of the loved one, love degenerates into dominance and possessiveness. (Erich Z. Fromm, 20th century German philosopher and psychologist).
• Love is a fruitful form of relating to others and to oneself. It involves caring, responsibility, respect and knowledge, as well as a desire for the other person to grow and develop. (Erich Z. Fromm, 20th century German philosopher and psychologist).

Treason and love.

• A noble heart cannot be unfaithful.(O. Balzac, French writer of the 19th century).
• To preserve love, you must not change, but change. (K. Melikhan, modern Russian writer and humorist).
• If you are betrayed and your love is cleverly turned into profit, then what kind of humanity can we talk about here? (Georgy Alexandrov, scientist-philosopher of the 20th century).
• Is a changeable person worthy of love? (Saadi, 13th century Persian poet).
• A house is a fortress, and there is no forgiveness for those who are persuaded by flattery, promises or deception to open the gates to a stranger. (Elena Ermolova).

Selfishness in love.

• There is only one love, but there are thousands of counterfeits. (François La Rochefoucauld, 17th-century French moralist writer).
• Let romantics argue about whether love exists. People practically use it for their own purposes. (Stephen King, modern American writer).
• Perhaps we are unable to love precisely because we long to be loved, that is, we want something (love) from another, instead of giving ourselves to him without any self-interest, being content only with his presence. (Milan Kundera)
• Sometimes we mistake people around us for lottery tickets that only serve to make our absurd dreams come true. (Carlos Luis Zafon, contemporary Spanish writer).
• Self-interest is insatiable. (Pittacus, ancient Greek sage 7-6 centuries BC)

Family. Family relationships.

• “All happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” (L.N. Tolstoy, great Russian writer, philosopher and teacher).
• “Family is the most important thing in the world. Family is the strongest bond of your life.” (Johnny Depp, modern American actor, film director, screenwriter).
• “To create a family, it is enough to love. And to preserve it, you need to learn to endure and forgive.” (Mother Teresa, a 20th century Catholic nun, was dedicated to helping sick and poor people.)
• “In family life, one must take into account the thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and aspirations of a loved one. While preserving your dignity, you must be able to give in to each other.” (V. Sukhomlinsky, Soviet innovative teacher, children's writer of the 20th century).
• “In family life, the most important screw is love.” (A.P. Chekhov, Russian writer, playwright).

Note.

How to work with quotes?

• Can learn short quotes that will be used in the essay. During the school year, memorize 10 quotes ( By two for each direction) - this, you see, is not so difficult.
• Quotes contain very interesting thoughts, in which the authors beautifully express themselves on a particular topic. These are kind of essay prompts. Think about the meaning of quotes, learn to paraphrase them, highlight the main thing in them and use them in your essay.
• Pay attention to the highlighted quotes. They can be remembered.

Material prepared by: Melnikova Vera Aleksandrovna.

egoism in literature? In which books is this the most important question? and got the best answer

Answer from Lyudmila Tumanova[guru]
Is it acceptable to put your interests above the interests of other people? This problem is posed by K. Akulinin in his story. The author describes an incident at a clinic: the main character Nikitin stood in line for a long time to see a doctor and, when he got tired of it, decided to give a bribe to skip the line. However, sympathy for other people who were also waiting in line prevented him from taking advantage of his ill-gotten privilege. The author expresses his attitude to the problem not directly, but through an artistic narrative: a person should not put his own interests above the interests of others. As a literary example, we can cite Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment.” According to Raskolnikov’s theory, the interests of some people (“those with the right”) are higher than the interests of everyone else. Raskolnikov decides to test whether he can step over human life for the sake of his goals. However, he could not bear the severity of what he had done, and he could not use the stolen money of the old woman-pawnbroker. The hero of Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” - the peasant Ermil Girin - took advantage of his position as headman to exempt his brother from conscription duty, and signed up another village resident as a recruit instead. After this, Yermil was very remorseful, wanted to give up his position and even tried to commit suicide - it was so unacceptable for him to neglect the interests of another person. Despite the fact that people sometimes act immorally, stepping over other people for their own goals, they tend to experience pangs of conscience and repent of their actions. The main character of the novel “Eugene Onegin,” a representative of the noble intelligentsia, is depicted realistically. His life's trouble is in isolation from the Russian people. He knows neither the country, nor the life of ordinary people, nor their work. Evgeniy is a man of light, but a man with remarkable inclinations. He is smart, selfless, noble. “The inactivity and vulgarity of life choke him, he doesn’t even know what he needs, what he wants, but he knows that he doesn’t need, what he doesn’t want,” writes Belinsky. Belinsky calls his egoism suffering from egoism, egoism involuntarily, due to historical circumstances.
It is unlikely that anyone will object to the statement that Grushnitsky from “A Hero of Our Time” is an egoist. Chernyshevsky considered his egoism to be the lowest, false, growing out of idleness. “As an example of a person who has very developed imaginary, fantastic aspirations, which are in fact completely alien to him, one can point to the excellent face of Grushnitsky... This funny Grushnitsky is trying with all his might to feel what he does not feel at all, to achieve what he wants essence is not necessary at all. He wants to be wounded, he wants to be a simple soldier, he wants to be unhappy in love, to fall into despair, etc. - he cannot live without possessing these seductive qualities and benefits for him. but with what bitterness fate would have struck him if it had decided to fulfill his desires! He would have given up love forever if he thought that any girl might not fall in love with him. He is secretly tormented by the fact that he is not yet an officer, does not remember himself with delight when he receives news of the desired production, and with contempt throws away his former suit, which he was so proud of in words.
We cannot help but see that Pechorin is head and shoulders above the people around him, that he is smart, educated, talented, brave, and energetic. We are repulsed by Pechorin's indifference to people, his inability for true love, for friendship, his individualism and SELFISHNESS. But Pechorin captivates us with his thirst for life, the desire for the best, and the ability to critically evaluate his actions. He is deeply unsympathetic to us because of his “pathetic actions,” the waste of his strength, and the actions by which he brings suffering to other people. But we see that he himself suffers deeply.
Molchalin in Griboyedov’s “Woe from Wit” is a typical representative of the Famus era, the personification of veneration, lies, flattery, selfishness, self-abasement for selfish purposes. Chatsky is absolutely the opposite of him.

In the texts for preparing for the Unified State Exam, we have repeatedly encountered the problem of selfishness in its various manifestations, each of which is a heading on our list. Literary arguments from foreign and domestic books have been selected for them. All of them are available for download in table form, link at the end of the collection.

1. In the modern world, the trend of selfishness is increasingly gaining momentum. However, one should not say that this problem did not exist before. One of the classic examples can be Larra - the hero of the legend from the story M. Gorky “Old Woman Izergil”. He is the son of an eagle and an earthly woman, which is why he considers himself smarter, stronger and better than others. His behavior shows disrespect for others and, in particular, for the older generation. His behavior reaches its apogee when Larra kills the daughter of one of the elders only because the girl refused to satisfy his whims. He is immediately punished and expelled. As time passes, the hero, isolated from society, begins to experience unbearable loneliness. Larra returns to the people, but it is too late and they do not accept him back. Since then, he has been wandering the earth as a lonely shadow, because God punished the proud man with eternal life in exile.
2. IN Jack London's novella "In a Far Land" selfishness is equated with instinct. It tells the story of Wetherby and Cuthfert, who by chance were left alone in the North. They went to distant lands to look for gold and were forced to wait out the harsh winter together in an old hut. Over time, real natural egoism begins to appear in them. Ultimately, the heroes lose the fight for survival by succumbing to their base desires. They kill each other in a fierce struggle for a cup of sugar.

Selfishness is like a disease

1. Two centuries ago, the great classics described the problem of egoism. Eugene Onegin is the main character of the novel of the same name written by A.S. Pushkin, is a prominent representative of people suffering from “Russian blues”. He is not interested in the opinions of others, he is bored by everything that happens around him. Because of his cowardice and irresponsibility, the poet Lensky dies, and his insensitivity offends the feelings of a young noblewoman. Of course, he is not hopeless; at the end of the novel, Eugene realizes his love for Tatyana. However, it is already too late. And the girl rejects him, remaining faithful to her husband. As a result, he dooms himself to suffering for the rest of his days. Even his desire to become the lovers of the married and respected Tatiana betrays his selfish motives, which he cannot get rid of even in love.
2. Selfishness is like a kind of disease; it destroys a person from the inside and does not allow him to adequately interact with the people around him. Grigory Pechorin, who is the central character in novel by M.Yu. Lermontov "Hero of Our Time", constantly pushes away people dear to his heart. Pechorin easily understands human nature, and this skill plays a cruel joke on him. By imagining himself higher and smarter than others, Gregory thereby isolates himself from society. The hero often plays with people, provokes them to different actions. One of these cases ends with the death of his friend, the other with the tragic death of his beloved girl. The man understands this, regrets, but cannot throw off the shackles of the disease.

Self-deprecation of an egoist

1. A striking example of a selfish person is a hero novel by F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment", Rodion Raskolnikov. He, like many of his friends, lives poorly and blames others for everything. At one point, he decides to kill an old woman, a pawnbroker, in order to take her money and distribute it to poor townspeople, freeing them from their debt obligations to Alena Ivanovna. The hero does not think about the immorality of his actions. On the contrary, he is sure that it is for a good purpose. But in fact, just for the sake of his whim, he wants to test himself and check what type of people he can classify himself as: “trembling creatures” or “those with the right.” Still, having violated one of the commandments because of a selfish desire, the hero dooms himself to loneliness and mental torment. Pride blinds him, and only Sonya Marmeladova helps Raskolnikov get back on the right path. Without her help, he would probably have gone crazy from pangs of conscience.
2. Despite the fact that sometimes a person crosses all moral and legal boundaries in order to achieve his selfish goals, it is common for us to experience pangs of conscience. So is one of the heroes of the poem A.N. Nekrasov “Who Lives Well in Rus'” realized he was wrong. Peasant Yermil Girin uses his position as headman to free his brother from conscription duty. Instead, he writes down another villager. Realizing that he ruined the life of a man and his family, he regrets his selfish act. His sense of guilt is so great that he is even ready to commit suicide. However, he repents to the people in time and accepts his sin, trying to make amends.

Female selfishness

1. Selfish people are never satisfied with what they have. They always want to have something more. Material wealth for them is a way of self-affirmation. Fairy tale heroine A.S. Pushkin “About the Fisherman and the Fish” not happy with her life in poverty. When her husband catches a goldfish, all the woman needs is a new trough. However, each time she wants more, and ultimately the old woman wants to become the mistress of the sea. Easy prey and selfish morals cloud the old woman's reason, which is why she ultimately loses everything and again finds herself with nothing. The magical power punishes her for the fact that the lady, in pursuit of self-gratification, did not value either her husband or the benefits that she received.
2. Women are often called selfish because they like to spend a lot of time taking care of themselves. However, real selfishness is much worse. Heroine epic novel by L.N.. Tolstoy "War and Peace" Helen Kuragina proves to the reader that true egoists are characterized by heartlessness. The princess was a beautiful girl and had many admirers, however, she chooses an ugly and awkward gentleman, Pierre Bezukhov, as her husband. However, she does not do this out of love. She needs his money. Literally immediately after the wedding, she takes a lover. Over time, her impudence reaches incredible proportions. Helen, with the onset of war, when she needs to worry about the fate of her homeland, thinks only about how to get rid of her husband and remarry one of her admirers.

The ruthlessness of selfishness

1. Lack of sympathy, pity, compassion - these are the traits that are characteristic of egoists. It is not for nothing that they say that such people are ready to do the most terrible things for the sake of their whim. For example, in I. Turgenev's story "Mumu" The lady takes away from her servant the only joy in his life. One day Gerasim picks up a homeless puppy, raises him, and takes care of him. However, the puppy irritated the lady, and she ordered the hero to drown him. With bitterness in his heart, Gerasim fulfills the order. Just because of a simple whim of a selfish man, he loses his only friend and ruins the life of an animal.
2. Obeying selfishness, people lose control of themselves and make irreparable mistakes. For example, Hermann in A. S. Pushkin’s work “The Queen of Spades” learns about the secret of three cards, which guarantees a win in any card game. The young man decides to get him at any cost, and for this he pretends to be in love with the pupil of the only keeper of the secret - the elderly countess. Making his way into the house, he threatens to kill the old woman, and she actually dies. After this, she comes to Hermann in a dream and reveals the secret in exchange for an oath to marry her pupil. The hero does not keep his promises and wins victory after victory. But having put everything on the line, he miserably loses the decisive game. An ambitious young man went crazy, paying for his crimes. But before that, he poisoned the life of an innocent girl who believed his words.

Does a person who loves only himself have a conscience? How does this love manifest itself in his actions? These and other questions are asked by the Russian Soviet writer E.A. Permyak.

This text raises the problem of selfishness and pride. In it, three brothers received happy hours, thereby gaining the opportunity to manage their time, which could only be obtained by helping and paying attention to others. However, they did not do this and continued to live for their own pleasure, subsequently completely losing the time given to them. “What can he say if he also has no conscience left to start a happy watch with?” This problem is relevant. Nowadays, selfishness has become widespread. People stopped seeing the world around us, they often began to think only about themselves, their work is aimed only at transforming and improving their own lives. “It’s not for nothing that one wise man said: “A man is learned through work.”

All his work, all his deeds and thoughts are aimed at creating a better future for himself.

This problem is found in a large amount of fiction. For example, in N.V. Gogol’s work “Dead Souls” one can see a large number of selfish landowners. One of them is the main character, the landowner Chichikov. From early childhood it was instilled in him that he had to live richly. This gave rise to feelings of pride in him. Chichikov, despite the great big problems of society, poverty and hunger of the peasants, continued to increase his own financial condition. Other landowners did the same. They all worked only for the good of their own lives.

If you turn to B. Vasiliev’s work “My Horses Are Flying,” you can see a completely opposite picture. Dr. Jansen was a sincere and sympathetic person. He was always in a hurry to visit his sick patients, but never in a hurry to leave them. Jansen wanted to help everyone with all his heart. This was shown by his last act. When the little boys fell into a sewer well, Jansen, without thinking about the consequences for himself, rushed to their aid; he understood that he himself was about to die, but this did not stop him. Soon the boys were saved, but Dr. Jansen gave his life for this.

There is no present behind egoism, which means there is no future. Such love does not carry anything valuable; on the contrary, it has a great negative impact on the world as a whole.

Updated: 2018-05-17

Attention!
If you notice an error or typo, highlight the text and click Ctrl+Enter.
By doing so, you will provide invaluable benefit to the project and other readers.

Thank you for your attention.

The central person of the work “Hero of Our Time” is Pechorin. This is exactly what we will talk about.

The first thing to do is to understand the semantics of the word egoism. Selfishness is a type of behavior in which a person exalts his own interests above the interests of other people, selfishness, an attempt to benefit and benefit for himself, despite the needs of others. The antonym of this word is “altruism”.

And what do we see in Lermontov’s poem? We can see this restless, goal-less, selfish soul of the protagonist. The depiction of the sharply negative qualities of the hero was not the author’s goal in itself; he simply did everything possible to show this character without embellishment. Nothing should be hidden from the reader's eyes.

For Pechorin, everyone and the people around him are just cards in a playing deck. Toys and nothing more. His goal is purely to amuse himself, regardless of the feelings and desires of those he plays with. His restless soul is cruel and straightforward. He seems to be looking for peace, satisfaction, but nothing in this life can have such an effect on him.

He receives only a temporary lull, and then the game bores him, and our hero again finds himself in a painful search for entertainment.

But, despite this, many can fall in love with our hero with all sincerity, which often turns out to be fatal. Only one of the women was able to carry this load with dignity - Vera. This woman sees the good in the hero, and sees all his shortcomings. His ambition, his neglect and dabbling with the most serious aspects of this life, be it love and friendship, life and death - all this, undoubtedly, hurts her. But his charm, his martyrdom from dissatisfaction with life, his fatalism and will inexorably attract and only strengthen her love. Vera knows Pechorin’s attitude towards himself: “You loved me as property, as a source of joys, anxieties and sorrows, replacing each other; without whom life is boring and monotonous...” And this quote once again emphasizes such a flaw of our hero as selfishness.

Pechorin's interest in Bela turns out to be disastrous. He calls this interest love. And to satisfy his feelings, he kidnaps her from home. But in order to win love, it is not enough to tear a person away from home, and the hero sets a new goal - to win Bela’s heart, which he successfully succeeds in. Indicative in this case is the dialogue with Maxim Maksimych, who asked Pechorin why he stole the girl, but the answer was full of bewilderment: “I like her.” But this toy does not bring him pleasure either, because the love of a savage is no better than the love of a society young lady, and she is just as boring to him.

In the poem we see Pechorin’s disdain even for friendship. This is striking in the episode with Maxim Maksimych, with whom we experienced so much, who so wanted to see our hero and talk to him. And in response to this he receives only a cold, albeit friendly, handshake. This cannot but hurt, but Pechorin does not notice what scars remain from his actions in the souls of people.