The relationship between Oblomov and Stolz is the leading storyline in Goncharov's novel

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

The famous Russian writer I. A. Goncharov in 1859 publishes his next novel "Oblomov". It was an incredibly difficult period for Russian society, which seemed to be divided into two parts. A minority understood the need to abolish serfdom and stood up for improving the lives of ordinary people. The majority turned out to be landowners, gentlemen and we althy nobles, who were directly dependent on the peasants who fed them. In the novel, Goncharov invites the reader to compare the image of Oblomov and Stolz - two friends who are completely different in temperament and fortitude. This is a story about people who, despite internal contradictions and conflicts, remained true to their ideals, values, their way of life. However, sometimes it is difficult to understand the true reasons for such trusting closeness between the main characters. That is why the relationship between Oblomov and Stolz seems so interesting to readers and critics. Next, and we will get to know them better.

Stolz and Oblomov: General characteristics

Oblomov is undoubtedly the main figure, but the writer pays more attention to his friend Stoltz. Main characters -contemporaries, however, are not at all similar to each other. Oblomov is a man in his 30s. Goncharov describes his pleasant appearance, but emphasizes the absence of a definite idea. Andrey Stolz is the same age as Ilya Ilyich, he is much thinner, with an even dark complexion, with practically no blush. The green expressive eyes of Stolz are also opposed to the gray and hazy look of the protagonist. Oblomov himself grew up in a family of Russian nobles who owned more than one hundred serf souls. Andrey was brought up in a Russian-German family. Nevertheless, he identified himself with Russian culture, professed Orthodoxy.

The relationship between Oblomov and Stolz

One way or another, the lines connecting the fates of the characters in the novel "Oblomov" are present. The author needed to show how friendship arises between people of polar views and types of temperament.

The relationship between Oblomov and Stolz is largely predetermined by the conditions in which they were brought up and lived in their youth. Both men grew up together, in a boarding house near Oblomovka. Stolz's father served there as a manager. In that village of Verkhlev, everything was saturated with the atmosphere of "Oblomovism", slowness, passivity, laziness, and simplicity of morals. But Andrey Ivanovich Stolz was well educated, read Wieland, learned verses from the Bible, recalculated the illiterate summaries of peasants and factory workers. In addition, he read Krylov's fables, and with his mother he analyzed sacred history. The boy Ilya sat at home under the soft wing of parental care, while StoltzI spent a lot of time on the street talking to the neighbors. Their personalities were formed in different ways. Oblomov was the ward of nannies and caring relatives, while Andrei did not stop doing physical and mental labor.

The secret of friendship

The relationship between Oblomov and Stolz is amazing and even paradoxical. Differences between the two characters can be found a huge amount, but, of course, there are features that unite them. First of all, Oblomov and Stolz are connected by strong and sincere friendship, but they are similar in their so-called "life dream". Only Ilya Ilyich is dozing at home, on the sofa, and Stolz falls asleep in the same way in his life full of events and impressions. Both of them do not see the truth. Both are unable to give up their own way of life. Each of them is unusually attached to their habits, believing that such behavior is the only correct and reasonable one.

It remains to answer the main question: "Which hero does Russia need: Oblomov or Stolz?" Of course, such active and progressive personalities as the latter will remain in our country forever, will be its driving force, will feed it with their intellectual and spiritual energy. But it must be admitted that even without the Oblomovs, Russia will cease to be the way our compatriots have known it for many centuries. Oblomov needs to be educated, patiently and unobtrusively awakened, so that he, too, would benefit the homeland.