I.S. Turgenev "Biryuk": description, characters, analysis of the story

The story of I.S. Turgenev "Biryuk" is included in the collection of short stories "Notes of a Hunter". It is generally accepted that the time of its creation is approximate - 1848-50s, since the writer began work on the stories in the 1840s, and published a complete collection in 1852.

The collection is united by the presence of one "off-screen" protagonist-narrator. This is a certain Pyotr Petrovich, a nobleman, who in some stories is a silent witness to events, in others he is a full-fledged participant. Biryuk is one of those stories where events take place around Pyotr Petrovich and with his participation.

Story analysis

plot, composition

Unlike most writers of that time, who depict peasants as a faceless gray mass, the author in each essay notes some special feature of peasant life, therefore all the works combined in the collection gave a vivid and multifaceted picture of the peasant world.

A genre work stands on the border of a story and an essay (the title “note” emphasizes the essay character of the work). The plot is another episode from the life of Pyotr Petrovich. The events described in Biryuk are described by Pyotr Petrovich in the form of a monologue. An avid hunter, he once got lost in the forest, in the evening twilight fell into a downpour. The forester he met, a figure known in the village for his gloominess and unsociableness, invites Pyotr Petrovich home to wait out the bad weather. The rain subsided, and in the silence the forester heard the sound of an ax - someone was stealing the forest he was guarding. Pyotr Petrovich wanted to go with the forester "for detention", to see how he works. Together they caught the "thief", who turned out to be a beggar little man, disheveled, in rags. It was evident that the peasant began to steal the forest not from a good life, and the narrator began to ask Biryuk to let the thief go. For a long time Pyotr Petrovich had to persuade the principled forester, intervening in a scuffle between Biryuk and the detainee. Unexpectedly, the forester released the caught, taking pity on him.

Heroes and problems of the story

The protagonist of the work is Biryuk, a serf forester who zealously and fundamentally guards the manor's forest. His name is Foma Kuzmich, but people in the village are hostile to him, for his harsh unsociable character they give him a nickname.

It is no coincidence that the nature of the forester is drawn from the words of a nobleman witness - Pyotr Petrovich still understands Biryuk better than the villagers, for him his character is quite understandable and understandable. It is also understandable why the villagers are hostile towards Biryuk, and why no one is to blame for this enmity. The forester mercilessly catches the "thieves", claiming that in the village there is a "thief on the thief", and they all climb into the forest from hopelessness, from incredible poverty. The villagers still attribute to Biryuk some kind of imaginary "power" and threaten to take it away, completely forgetting that he is just an honest performer of work, and "does not eat the master's bread for nothing."

Biryuk himself is as poor as the peasants he catches - his dwelling is miserable and dull, filled with desolation and disorder. Instead of a bed - a bunch of rags, the dim light of a torch, the absence of food, except for bread. There is no hostess - she ran away with a visiting tradesman, leaving her husband and two children (one of them is quite a baby and, apparently, sick - he breathes in his cradle “noisy and soon”, a girl of 12 years old is taking care of her baby).

Biryuk himself is a real Russian hero, with powerful muscles and a hat of dark curls. He is a correct, principled, honest and lonely person - this is repeatedly emphasized by his nickname. Loneliness in life, loneliness in one's convictions, loneliness on duty and being forced to live in the forest, loneliness among people - Biryuk causes sympathy and respect.

A man caught by a thief causes exceptional pity, because, in contrast to Biryuk, he is petty, miserable, justifying his theft with hunger, the need to feed a large family. The men are ready to blame anyone for their poverty - from the master to the same Biryuk. The forester, in a fit of evil sincerity, calls him a murderer, a bloodsucker and a beast, and rushes at him.

It would seem that two socially equal people - both poor, both serfs, both with the duties of a family man - to feed the children, but the peasant goes to theft, and the forester does not, and therefore one can not believe in the description given by fellow villagers to the forester. "Beast", "murderer", "bloodsucker" he can be called only by the one to whom he did not allow to steal.

The title of the story contains the nickname of the protagonist, which indicates not at all the nature of the forester, but the circumstances in which he lives hopelessly; to his place, which was assigned to him by people. Serfs do not live richly, and honest serfs in the service of the master are also forced to be alone, because they are not understood by their own brethren.

Biryuk releases the peasant out of compassion - feeling has taken precedence over reason and principles. Pyotr Petrovich offers to reimburse the cost of the tree felled by the peasant, since the foresters, who did not keep track of the theft, had to pay for the damage from their own pockets. Despite the fine that threatens him, Biryuk performs a human act and it is clear that he feels relieved.

Biryuk, like the rest of the stories in the Hunter's Notes, is a collection of images of peasants, each of whom is famous for some side of his character, his deeds or talents. The horrifying plight of these talented and strong people, which prevents them from opening up, taking care of at least something other than finding food and pushing them to crime - this is the main problem of the story, voiced by the author.