The essay “Khor and Kalinich” is a real gem of Turgenev’s collection of stories and essays “Notes of a Hunter.” It incorporated both the writer’s personal observations and his views on the social structure of the Russian “outback”. This story is deeply truthful, as evidenced by its brief content. “Khor and Kalinich” is a real depiction of folk life for a wide readership.
Problems of the work
This essay was relevant and timely. The fact is that during Turgenev’s time there was no unity in society in understanding the problem of “closeness to the people.” It was interpreted differently by Slavophiles (who argued that the peasants were committed to the “old times” and were in opposition to reforms) and bourgeois ideologists (who argued that the relationship between the landowner fathers and the peasant children was harmonious). The characterization of Khor and Kalinich clearly refutes these views.
Prototypes of the characters in the essay
As is known from the plot of the story, a certain landowner of the Kaluga province, Mr. Polutykin, met the author of the story on the basis of a mutual passion for hunting. The heroes of the story “Khor and Kalinich” are real. In fact, the hospitable owner of the hunting grounds was called Nikolai Aleksandrovich Golofeev. Ivan Sergeevich actually met him while hunting and stayed with him for several days. Moreover, having read Turgenev’s story and recognizing himself in it, Mr. Golofeev became angry with Ivan Sergeevich.
The image of the wealthy serf Khor, a strong owner, an educated man, is real down to the smallest detail. The current village of Khorevka, Ulyanovsk district, Kaluga region, has grown from the former farm of Khorya. Years later, Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet visited Khorya, noting the cordiality and “Herculean build” of the eighty-year-old owner, who “doesn’t care about the years.” The owner of the farm always proudly showed Turgenev’s work to guests. He, of course, knew its summary by heart. “Khor and Kalinich” thus reflects real people and real facts.
Friendship between Khor and Kalinich
Khor is a calm, reasonable family man. But he has no servants. The big, friendly Khorya family: six sons, as powerful as their father, build tall, spacious huts, run the household, and help each other. Once upon a time, the landowner Polutykin allowed him to leave the rural community, establishing a quitrent of 50 rubles. Khor, who founded his farm, developed his economic activities in such a way that he considered it fair to pay the landowner 100 rubles. If he wanted, he could pay off and become free, but he doesn’t want this. For what? His elements are earth and labor, and so they are always with him. He is by nature a rationalist, a business executive. Khor is well oriented socially and legally.
This strong owner, ironically, has Kalinich, who, oddly enough, is completely opposite to him. The latter lives as a bob. Kalinich does not know how to run a household, earn and save money. However, it has other advantages. He understands animals, knows how to handle bees, and has them, which he uses for treatment. Khor and Kalinich are completely different people. The summary of the story, however, testifies to their close friendship. The practical and reasonable Khor, thanks to Kalinich, receives, if necessary, help in handling domestic animals, treatment with traditional medicine, and Kalinich receives support from Khor on everyday issues, where he is a layman. In addition, both of them are interesting conversationalists. Turgenev wrote in the story that he left their company with great reluctance.
Khor's views on Russian society
The educated worker Khor refutes the views of the “experts of the people,” the Slavophiles, who extol pre-Petrine Rus' and talk about the patriarchal nature of the Russian peasantry. The competent farm owner enters into a debate with them. He believes that Peter I, in his reforms, acted exactly as a real Russian man should have acted. The essay included this lively popular view, as evidenced by the summary. “Khor and Kalinich,” through the mouth of this real “owner of the land,” says that if a peasant needs to change something, he, seeing the practical benefits of it, is not afraid to make changes.
On the other hand, the philosopher Khor, in his development, views and spiritual world, has long felt superior to the landowner Polutykin. He feels that he thinks more deeply and runs his household more confidently. However, thanks to his natural intelligence, he is always respectful towards his “master”, although at his leisure he is not averse to making fun of him. Understanding the relationship between Polutykin and Khor, one must admit that the state of affairs, to put it mildly, does not fit in with bourgeois views on landowner fathers.
Conclusion
What should you note after reading this summary? “Khor and Kalinich” is a story written at the right time and place. It caused great public outcry and controversy. Belinsky, Herzen, and Annenkov were delighted with the work. However, the story was not accepted by the Slavophiles, the Aksakov brothers. But the reaction of the censor E. Volkov is especially indicative, who saw a “harmful idea for the peasantry”, claiming that in freedom he could be better than even the landowner.
Comparative characteristics of Khor and Kalinich
“Khor and Kalinich” is the first story from the series “Notes of a Hunter” by I. S. Turgenev. It appeared in Sovremennik magazine in 1847. The author’s main idea was to show what morals, foundations and life values were in one of the provincial corners of Russia. With this story, Turgenev actually refuted the prevailing opinion about the peasants, that they did not know how to properly manage the farm, did not make friends, were not hospitable hosts, but only pleased the landowners, did not know how to admire nature. To describe the main characters, the author used the technique of comparison. So, two completely different peasants, Khor and Kalinich, are bound by bonds of strong friendship.
Khor was a rational and businesslike man. He lived away from the master and was completely independent. At the same time, he paid him his dues on time and was on good terms with him. He traded in oil and tar, which brought him profit and financial independence. Khor's house was no worse than a landowner's estate. Harmony and prosperity always reigned in his large family. His sons, although of different ages, were all stately giants, very similar to each other. Particular attention in the story is paid to the active mind and ingenuity of Khor. He is often compared with great people, for example, Socrates, or Peter the Great. This man had a sense of his own dignity, spoke little, but to the point, was interested in public and state affairs and was generally closer to people.
Kalinich, in contrast, was “close to nature.” He was the complete opposite of Khor. Kalinich's house was small, there was no family. This hero spent all his time in nature, either hunting with the master or taking care of the apiary. By nature he was a romantic and a dreamer. Being not a very practical person, he needed the support of Khor. At the same time, Khor also needed Kalinich’s openness and cheerful disposition. Neither Khor nor Kalinich fawned over the master. Both were friends with him, but in different ways. While Khor saw right through Polutykin, Kalinich sacredly believed everything he said and always followed him wherever he went. The story also notes Kalinich’s poetic soul. He loved to sing songs and admire nature. He could come to visit a friend with a bunch of strawberries. Also, this hero had special abilities, he knew how to charm blood, relieve fear, etc.
Such different characters, but they complemented each other so harmoniously. There were no conflicts between them, but only love, respect and mutual assistance. Kalinich's gentleness and independence were organically complemented by Khor's pragmatism. At the end of the story, they sing a song together that reveals the soul of ordinary Russian peasants. These heroes once again confirm the richness of soul, cordiality and talent of Russia.
“- Turgenev gave a psychological parallel, depicting two completely opposite natures in the types of the common people: in the Choir he brought out a realist-practitioner, a positivist in worldview, in Kalinich - an idealist-dreamer, a poet at heart; the first lives primarily by mind and will, the second by feeling.
Even in the difficult times of serfdom, Khor knows how to arrange his earthly existence safely. He achieves this due to the fact that he has a critical and practical mind, knows life, knows how to adapt to it and, thanks to endurance and sobriety of mind, knows how to get out of the difficult struggle of life. He “sees right through” his master and does not idealize people; armed with distrust of them, he is careful in handling them, has a strong tongue and, richly gifted with experience and calculation, knows how to understand them. He always calmly weighs the benefits and disadvantages of his position and lives “wisely”, without making mistakes in life. He settles down in the forest, in a swamp, with his family, in order to be “away from the master’s court”; he is rich, but does not want to buy his way out, because he has decided that in his freedom he will be deprived of the protection of his master, and then every official will be “greater” to him.
Khor and Kalinich. Audiobook
As a worker, he is hardworking, energetic and home-loving. So is his large family, working cheerfully and amicably. The old man himself and his sons, the “Ferrets”, are an example of a prosperous peasant family, for which work is the meaning of their whole life. In family terms, Khor is also curious: living under the same roof with his married sons, he managed to keep several families in obedience with his firm hand, establishing a strictly patriarchal way of life: - ancient Russian life “according to Domostroy”, - life “decorous, calm, with subordination younger to older - a well-fed and homely life, moderately despotic, allowing in family relationships not only fear and respect, but also love (his relationship with his youngest son Feda) - this was the way of life that Khorem supported in his family . But he not only borrowed the good and the bright from antiquity - from there he inherited the traditional contempt for women, and the view of her as a silent slave (“a woman is a man’s servant”), and a belief in omens, and a tendency towards superstitions.. .
But, with the exception of these characteristic Old Testament features, Khor cannot be called a “conservative” in any way - he looks rationally and critically at all sorts of “innovations”, but does not blindly stand for the old days; everything useful, even something new and foreign, evokes complete approval on his part. Turgenev tells how this uneducated but intelligent man was interested in stories about the state life of Western European states; how, trying on different features of the political life of foreign countries to Russian life, he confidently approved one, rejected another, saying that the first “would work for you”, but the second “wouldn’t work”!.. Looking at this smart, calm, confident himself a man, a “minister,” as Khor’s landowner jokingly called him, Turgenev involuntarily remembered, in his words, Peter the Great, who also knew how to understand what was foreign, knew how to take what his homeland needed, since “he was primarily a Russian man “, the Russian is precisely in his transformations...” - “The Russian man,” continues Turgenev, “is so confident in his strength and strength that he is not averse to breaking himself: what is good - give him that, and where it comes from - that’s all to him.” equals". Thus, the image of Khor makes Turgenev remember Peter the Great and talk about the foundations of the Russian soul. Obviously, the image of Khor is “meaningful” in the historical sense.
However, the stern, somewhat harsh image of Khor, a practitioner, crafty and calculating, is softened by some traits of good nature, even sentimentalism - it turns out that in his spare time from work, he loves to sing sensitive folk songs - and treats his beloved son with touching cordiality - Fedya and my friend Kalinich.
One of the best literary works of I.S. Turgenev is a cycle of stories or essays (experts have not yet decided on the genre of the works included in it) “Notes of a Hunter”. In them, the writer touches on important issues relating to the life of peasants and serfdom. Ivan Sergeevich was known for his liberal views, so it is not surprising that he decided to make ordinary people the main characters of his works. Below is an analysis of “Khor and Kalinich”.
Publication history
The analysis of the story “Khor and Kalinich” should begin with the fact that it is the most famous of the entire cycle. This story opens "Notes of a Hunter", it was published in 1847 in the magazine "Contemporary". “Khor and Kalinich” was posted on a page with advertisements for the sale of agricultural items.
The writer compared the life of peasants in the Oryol and Kaluga provinces. The author paid great attention not only to how ordinary people live, but he was interested in the personality of these people. The writer's favorable attitude towards the peasants, a detailed examination of their habits, life beliefs - all this was new to the reader.
In the analysis of "Khor and Kalinich" it should be noted that Turgenev's decision to make peasants the central characters was perceived by readers as a progressive view of life, as a new direction in literature. Therefore, the story became the most famous in the “Notes of a Hunter” series.
Main characters
The analysis of “Khor and Kalinich” should be continued with a brief description of the characters in the story.
- Hunter - the story is told on his behalf. He loves not only hunting, but also studying the habits and way of life of other people. Sympathizes with the common people.
- Khor is a wealthy peasant. A practical and rational person, hardworking.
- Kalinich is a peasant, trained to read and write. Idealist, romantic. Loves nature, animals, responds to everything beautiful.
- Mr. Polutykin is the owner of Khor and Kalinich. He is a good man, but his idle lifestyle spoils him.
Description of the peasants
In the analysis of “Khor and Kalinich” it is necessary to describe the main characters in more detail. The hunter informs the reader that he noticed that the standard of living of the peasants in the Kaluga province is higher than that of the Oryol ones. And as an example, the author cites two peasant friends, Khor and Kalinich. Despite the difference in character and their outlook on life, they are friendly.
Khor is a wealthy peasant. Thanks to his pragmatic and rational mindset, he was able to separate himself from all the other peasants and live apart from them. He could become free, but he deliberately does not do this, so he pays a large rent to his master on time. During conversations, he avoids answering the hunter’s questions, so the hunter decides that Khor is a man on his own.
Kalinich is the complete opposite of his friend. He pays much more attention to his master than Khor. Because of this, he does not have time for other things. Even Kalinich’s appearance shows some sloppiness; he wears bast shoes all year round, even on holidays. He is a simple and honest person with a keen sense of human nature and the beauty of nature.
conclusions
In the analysis of “Khor and Kalinich” Turgenev I.S. It is necessary to briefly note the conclusions drawn by the main character from observations of two peasants. During a conversation about what the hunter has seen, Kalinich is interested in details related to the description of nature and the customs of other people. Khorya is more interested in questions of a practical nature: how people’s lives work, the peculiarities of the political system.
Khor has a large family, but only one child is literate. Kalinich is lonely, but he has learned to read and write. And this helps him better perceive some life phenomena and expand his horizons. Before us are people who do not have the same rights and freedom as Mr. Polutykin. However, they find themselves closer to the world around them and understand simple things more deeply. And an idle lifestyle is the reason for Polutykin’s quirks. Work allows a person to train not only the body, but also the mind.
In the analysis of the work "Khor and Kalinich" it is worth noting that in the story there is a place for a certain amount of romanticization of the common people. But this does not contradict the real image of the peasants. Author I.S. Turgenev for the first time made serfs the central characters, showing that they feel and perceive the world in the same way as rich people. Work and closeness to nature helped them better and more subtly understand the world around them and human character.