"Hero of Our Time": "Taman", summary

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

"Taman" is the first short story from "Pechorin's Diary", allegedly written by the main character of the work himself - Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin. It plays a rather important role in the plot and the fate of the character, on the one hand, complementing the psychological portrait of the hero, revealing many of his important qualities and character traits, and on the other, helping to compare Pechorin with “natural” people living far from the shackles of civilization and secular conventions. – “honest” smugglers.

So, "Taman", summary. The name itself refers us to a small geographical point called Pechorin (we repeat, Lermontov writes most of the "Caucasian" chapters of the novel on his behalf) a nasty town, where he was robbed and even nearly drowned.

Departing to Pyatigorsk according to the order, Pechorin is forced to stay in Taman, waiting for transport. The search for an apartment leads him to the outskirts of the city, where the hero meets a strange boy: he is blind, which is clearly visible from his whitish eyes, but moves along steep winding paths deftly and boldly, as if everything is finesees. The blind man speaks quite stupidly, interfering with Russian words with the Little Russian dialect, and in general, he does not make a very pleasant impression. The whole short story "Taman", a brief summary of it, in many ways resembles a detective work. A master of intrigue, Lermontov captivates the reader from the very beginning and keeps them on their toes throughout the story.

And Pechorin's adventures continue. The hut where he had to lodge was without an icon in the red corner, and, as the hero himself writes in his diary, the place is clearly “unclean”. But on the roof of the barn, he sees a girl in a striped dress, who sings a mysterious song. "Ondine" is remarkably pretty, and therefore Pechorin is trying to make acquaintance with her. The hero also overhears a conversation between a blind man and a girl, which looks more like a secret conversation between two accomplices.

Further on, "Taman", a summary of the story, becomes more and more intriguing. Pechorin craves adventure, but here fate itself takes care that he is not bored. The hero tracks down the secret paths along which the boy and the undine make their way to the seashore at night. It turns out that they are smugglers, and are engaged in criminal trade. On the one hand, Pechorin's curiosity is satisfied, on the other hand, he wants to penetrate the riddle to the end. He himself is brave no less than smugglers, there is an adventurous streak in the character of the hero. And therefore, he simply cannot miss the chance to diversify his boring existence at least a little.

Of course it's betterread the entire "Taman" - a summary cannot fully betray the plot. However, it is clear that the novella will not end on a positive note. The smuggler girl almost drowned the young officer. A blind boy stole a box of money and a saber from him. But he also disturbed the peace of these people, who live according to their own laws. As a result, the Undine and Yanko left those places, leaving the unfortunate blind man to beg and starve, as well as his grandmother, a lonely ancient old woman. Pechorin heard how desperately the boy spoke about his fate, and how indifferently and heartlessly the beautiful undine answered him, throwing miserable pennies for his services. And for us, the readers, this episode makes a painful impression. Yes, and Pechorin is no longer glad that he got involved in this adventure. We understand this even when we read a brief summary - “Taman” ends with the sad conclusion of the hero that he fell to play the role of an ax in the hands of fate, destroying the fate of those with whom his life collides. And Pechorin's comparison of himself with a lonely brig plowing the sea is very accurate - a brig that is set free by the wind and waves and wanders aimlessly on the horizon.

For Lermontov, in general, the novel “A Hero of Our Time”, “Taman”, the brief content of which we recalled, in particular, is an important work that occupies a central place in creativity. In it, the author tried to draw a portrait of his generation - people of the 30s-40s of the 19th century, smart, educated, talented, but not in demand either by their country or era.

With no life goals, high aspirationsand deep spiritual thoughts, people like Pechorin waste their lives on trifles and, in the end, become “superfluous”, “egoists involuntarily”, hated by themselves.