"The Legend of Larra", M. Gorky: analysis, ideological content and meaning of the story

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

There are works that remain relevant for centuries. Their value cannot be overestimated either for philologists or for readers, each of whom can draw on the wisdom carried through the epochs. These include "Old Woman Izergil" by M. Gorky and the legend of Larra, included in the story.

M. Gorky: briefly about the writer

M. Gorky is a writer with an unusual fate and unusual, sharp creativity. His works leave an indelible mark on the minds of readers. He was born in Nizhny Novgorod in Russia in 1868. Gorky is a pseudonym, the real name of the writer is Peshkov. And the name Maxim took in honor of his father, who died when he was still a child. From the age of eleven, the future classic was forced to work at the level with adults.

Maxim Gorky begins to write at the age of twenty, his first works were written under the influence of romanticism. These are "Old Woman Izergil" and "Song of the Petrel". Despite the fact that romantic works were a huge success, growing up, the writer is getting closerbecomes realism and socialist realism. M. Gorky writes most of his works in this vein. The legend of Larra, included in the story of an old woman who describes her eventful youth to the young author, has provided food for researchers of the writer's work for years.

“Old Woman Izergil” by M. Gorky is a hymn to love and romanticism

Gorky's story, written by the writer in his youth, is filled with the insane fire of romanticism, love, spiritual quest of man. The old woman's memories are framed by two legends about the anti-hero Larra and the hero Danko. Between these legends is the whole life of the old woman Izergil, her search for herself, her place and her love. The love of this once young, living woman is not platonic and innocent - it is sensual, earthly, filled with passion, strength. Almost everyone she loved dies. In the death of a boy - the son of a Turkish nobleman - Izergil considers himself guilty, her love turned out to be too overwhelming a burden for a weak greenhouse flower. She opposes the author to her young self, her violent feelings and inner strength, reproaching him that he "as if he was born old." The old woman's memories are interrupted by the legend of Larra. Its meaning is ambiguous and requires serious attention.

This story is worth reading for many, it seems to fill with vitality and strength, and amazing legends are organically woven into the plot, complementing it.

The Legend of Larra

This legend, like the legend about Danko, was included in the story "Old Woman Izergil". The work begins first, the second completes it.

Authortalking with the old woman Izergil. Upon seeing the shadow, she names it "Larra". When the author asks who this Larra is, the narrator begins an ancient story.

In one village, an eagle stole a girl. They searched for it for a long time, but could not find it and forgot it. And two decades later, this girl returned very emaciated and aged, and next to her was an insanely beautiful young man, only his eyes were cold and insensitive. The girl said that the eagle stole her and lived with her as with his wife until he grew old and threw himself on the rocks. And this young man is their son.

The elders began to talk to him, but he acted as if people were below him. Ignoring the people around him, he walked towards the beautiful girl standing nearby. She was the elder's daughter, and fearful of her father, she pushed him away. This infuriated Larra and he brutally killed the girl in front of people. His act shocked the people, they wanted to immediately kill the son of an eagle, but the elders stopped, wishing to listen to him. They wanted to understand why he behaved the way he did. Larra said that he has the right to whatever he wants. And the elders realized that he did not understand human laws, did not accept them.

Legend of Larra. Punishment for pride

And having consulted, the wise elders decided not to kill, but to expel him from the tribe, he will punish himself with his madness and loneliness. Larra laughed in their faces and left with his head held high.

But in the free steppes he did not find happiness, the proud son of an eagle sometimes returned to people, he stole the girls of the tribe and their cattle. Arrowsflying away from his stone heart, knives breaking against his body.

Many years passed and one day people saw Larra in the settlement. But he did not defend himself, did not run away from them. The old people realized that he wanted to be killed, and did not touch him, laughing in his face. So he left, rejected by everyone, and now he wanders the steppe, turning into a shadow, because even a stone heart can exude loneliness. Pride is a terrible sin, but the punishment prescribed for Larra is commensurate with his crime.

Larra image analysis

Larra is the embodiment of one of the deadly human sins - pride. Against the background of his unwillingness to reckon with his mother's tribesmen, even a brutal murder does not seem so monstrous. Larra was raised by his father, a proud eagle. But he was a free bird, not a man. His son is at least half human. And people are social, they cannot exist separately from their environment. But even if not exiled, Larra would not have found his place among people. His pride gives rise to punishment, and only punishment is able to show him that he cannot be alone, and the laws of society must be reckoned with. The ideological content of the legend about Larra is the emphasis on the fact that a person's place is among his own kind. But if there is no place in his heart for sympathy, regret and empathy, society will sooner or later push him away. Humanity can live without an individual, but the individual in ninety-nine percent cannot.

The legend of Danko as the end of the story and a separate work

Legend of Larrabegins the story, and the legend of Danko sounds like the final chord of the story. It tells about the young man Danko, who led his people through a storm and a terrible forest. He was the only one who believed that people could come to a better life, get out of the swamps and forests. In the middle of the journey, they began to blame him for leading them to their death. A terrible thunderstorm and storm began. In gusts of wind and lightning, the people lost their faith even more. In order for people to reach their cherished goal, Danko pulled out his burning heart and raised it high above his head. There was so much love for people and faith in it that it lit up the whole forest and showed people the way. They followed the light and left the forest. Danko's heart was still on fire, but out of superstitious fear, someone stepped on it with their foot and extinguished it. People settled in a new place and forgot about Danko.

The question of what is the meaning of the legends about Larra and Danko had a variety of interpretations in the works of researchers. Let us leave it open, but the indisputable fact is that both legends, despite their seeming independence, will be incomplete without one another. Like the story about the life of Izergil without legends, it would sound dry and incomplete. Danko and Larra are antagonists. One loves people with all his heart and sacrifices himself for them, the second is unfamiliar with love, but both turn out to be rejected by people.

Finally

Some works do not lose their sharpness, time only adds value to them. Such is the legend of Larra. The analysis of the work has already been carried out before us by many literary critics. Therefore, we will not repeat ourselves. Let us just say that such worksa must read, they contain many ideas and moral lessons that are better to learn by reading, and not from a teacher who does not forgive mistakes - life.