Remember together: "Old Woman Izergil", summary

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

The work of Maxim Gorky is a bright page in Russian Soviet literature. From the very first steps in the artistic field, he declared himself as a talented nugget, passionately protesting against the ugly and cruel manifestations of life. The ideals of the early Gorky are the freedom of the human spirit, independence from any shackles, whether it be the framework of the law or the bonds of kinship, as well as passionate love for people, a thirst for serving them, a thirst for achievement.

Romantic features of Gorky's prose

Early Gorky is a romantic, thanks to which such heroic, sparkling images entered the reader's world as a remarkably beautiful gypsy couple - Rada and Loiko, who love each other with all their hearts, and even more - personal freedom. They preferred to die rather than submit to one another, however, the memory of their beauty and liberty remained in legend and ignites the human imagination.

Or two more heroes, complementary and shading characters, deeds and lifeposition - Lara, the son of the Eagle, and Danko, the son of a once free tribe. Both characters symbolize a certain philosophy, which the writer introduces us to in the story "Old Woman Izergil".

“Old Woman Izergil”, the summary of which boils down to reflections on the meaning of life and the nature of the Feat, has a three-part composition and is written in the form of a “story within a story”. The first short story is a story about the proud and selfish Lara, from whom people turned away, and even Death itself, as a punishment, refused to come after him. Being the son of a woman and an Eagle, he imagined himself superior and better than all the people of his own tribe. Handsome as a god, Lara looked down on the elders with eyes as cold as ice floes. When the girl pushed him away, he killed her by crushing her chest with his foot. The whole tribe shuddered - for the first time a woman was killed so cruelly and indifferently in their presence. And Lara calmly looked at the indignant people, independently and arrogantly answered the questions of the leaders. He was not afraid of anyone and did not think to repent. To such exorbitant pride, the elders could not find what to answer. They came up with a punishment for the hero - not to kill, but to expel him, like a renegade, from their ranks and never accept people into society.

As the work “Old Woman Izergil” tells further, a summary of it, centuries have passed, some generations of people have been replaced by others, and Lara still wanders alone in the steppe. He did a lot of trouble to people - at first just like that, having fun or for the sake of food: he stole women, cattle. Then, tired of himself, he did evil so that his fellow tribesmen would kill him. The hero himself tried to kill himself, hitting the ground with all his might - but the ground did notshe wanted to take into her bowels someone who could not, in fact, be considered a person. And death bypassed him. The sun and time dried up Lara, turned it into a disembodied shadow, which even now wanders restlessly on the earth, finding no shelter and rest. The first part of the story "Old Woman Izergil", a summary of which we remembered, ends with the conclusion: this is how a person was punished for pride.

This legend is told to the author-narrator, on behalf of whom the story is being told, by Izergil herself, a Bessarabian old woman dried up and hunched under the burden of years, whom Gorky encounters in the steppes near Akkerman. She is a connecting compositional work, in many respects an exponent of the author's ideas and views. And the second part of the story "Old Woman Izergil", a brief summary of it boils down to a description of the heroine of her life.

Izergil spent a stormy youth, loved a lot, went on various adventures. She was beautiful, strong in body and spirit, somewhat selfish, like Lara. However, in her heart there lived a thirst for a feat, bright, eventful events, and she was also attracted to people by unusual, strong and courageous, real heroes. She prefers a Pole wounded in battles to rich gentlemen, because. he did heroic deeds in his life. For the sake of love and the salvation of those who are dear to her, Izergil risks himself and even kills a guard soldier.

Summary of "Old Woman Izergil", its second part, comes down to the words of the heroine that in our life there is always a place for exploits. It is only important to want to make them. And those to whom it is notgiven, lazy at heart, living dead, like Lara.

And in the third part, Izergil tells another very interesting and instructive legend - about Danko, a brave and strong handsome man who led his tribe from rotten swamps, dense forests to the open space and light of a free life.

Being a hero is hard. Indeed, in addition to overcoming his own fears, the hero also needs to overcome the "resistance of the environment": the disbelief of his contemporaries, ridicule and contempt, their frank persecution. Danko faced all this when he led the exhausted and disillusioned people to a new life. In order to inspire people with hope and confidence in victory, loving them with all his being, Danko tears out his heart from his chest and illuminates the path for them in pitch darkness.

The story "Old Woman Izergil", even a summary of it, expresses a deep and important philosophical thought. First, as it is rightly said, one cannot find a prophet in one's own country. So the brave young man died, and the tribe did not notice this. And only a cautious person stepped on the sparks from the heart and extinguished them. Why? Probably so that they would not inflame anyone else with such madness. After all, living in a philistine, philistine style, quietly and calmly, is much more convenient than enduring torment and deprivation, even for the sake of a brighter future.

And secondly, the memory of the altruist Danko and his warm heart overflowing with love still remained. It excites people and calls them to a feat. And it is precisely in this - to live and burn for the sake of people - that Gorky sees the highest vocation of Man.