S altykov-Shchedrin "The Wise Gudgeon". Summary

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

This article will consider one of the pages of the work of the famous Russian writer Mikhail Efgrafovich S altykov-Shchedrin - the story "The Wise Gudgeon". The summary of this work will be considered in conjunction with its

historical context.

S altykov-Shchedrin is a famous writer and satirist who created his literary creations in an interesting style - in the form of fairy tales. The "Wise Gudgeon" is no exception, the summary of which can be told in two sentences. However, it raises acute socio-political problems. This story was written in 1883, during the period of the beginning of the repressions of Emperor Alexander III, directed against the intensified opponents of the tsarist regime. At that time, many progressive-minded people already understood the full depth of the problems of the existing system and tried to convey this to the masses. However, unlike anarchist students who dreamed of a coup by force, the advanced intelligentsia tried to find a way out ofprovisions by peaceful means, through appropriate reforms. Only with the support of the entire public could it be possible to influence the situation and prevent the existing disorder, S altykov-Shchedrin believed. "The wise gudgeon", a brief summary of which will be given below, sarcastically tells us about a certain part of the Russian intelligentsia, which in every possible way evades public activities out of fear of punishment for freethinking.

"Wise Gudgeon" Summary

Once upon a time there was one minnow, but not simple, but enlightened, moderately liberal. From childhood, his father instructed: "Beware of the dangers that lie in wait for you in the river, there are a lot of enemies around." Minnow decided: "Indeed, at any moment you are either on the hook

will be caught, or the pike will eat. But you yourself can’t harm anyone.” And he decided to outwit everyone: he built himself a hole where he lived without getting out, “lived and trembled”, went to the surface only at noon to catch some midge, which was not always possible "But the minnow was not upset, the main thing is that he was whole. And he lived all his life like this, and he had neither family nor friends, and he lived in constant fear for his life, but he was very proud of the consciousness that he would not die in ear or in the mouth of a fish, but by his death, like his venerable parents. lived, did nothing useful orharmful … Only food translated. If you die, no one will remember you. For some reason, no one even calls you wise, only a fool and a dumbass. "And then the minnow understood that he himself had deprived himself of all joys, that his place was not in this artificially dug semi-dark mink, but in a natural environment. But it was too late, he lay and fell asleep. And suddenly the minnow disappeared, no one knows how Most likely, he died and floated to the surface, because no one would eat him - old, and even "wise".

This is the summary. "The Wise Gudgeon" tells us about people who are useless for society, who live in fear all their lives, avoiding struggle in every possible way, presumptuously considering themselves enlightened at the same time. S altykov-Shchedrin once again cruelly ridicules the miserable life and way of thinking of such people, urging them not to hide in a hole, but to boldly fight for a place in the sun for themselves and their descendants. Not only respect, but even pity or sympathy in the reader is not caused by the wise gudgeon, the summary of whose existence can be expressed in two words: "lived and trembled".