“The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals” Saltykov-Shchedrin
Analysis of the work - theme, idea, genre, plot, composition, characters, issues and other issues are discussed in this article.
1) The history of the creation of satirical tales by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin.
The cycle of Saltykov-Shchedrin fairy tales is considered the result of his satirical creativity. His appeal to the fairy-tale genre is due to the fact that social evil in the era of the 80s of the 19th century penetrated into all spheres of life, grew into everyday life, and a special satirical form was required. The first fairy tales appeared in 1869, the rest were published throughout 1880-1886. They include all the main satirical themes, they intertwine the fantastic and the real, combine the comic with the tragic, they widely use the grotesque, and display the amazing art of Aesopian language.
2) Features of the genre. Fairy tale by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin’s “The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals” belongs to the genre of satirical literary fairy tale.
A literary fairy tale is an epic narrative, predominantly of a prosaic nature, with a focus on fiction; reflects the ancient ideas of the people about life and death, about good and evil; created by a specific writer and reflects the peculiarities of his attitude to the world. The tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin in no way contradict the spirit of Russian folk tales. They are completely original phenomena, not mixed with any other well-known literary and folk tales.
“A fairy tale,” wrote Gogol, “can be a lofty creation when it serves as an allegorical garment, clothing a lofty spiritual truth, when it reveals, palpably and, apparently, even to a commoner, a matter accessible only to a sage.” These are precisely Shchedrin’s fairy tales; their high ideological content is expressed in publicly accessible artistic forms. They are written in real vernacular language - simple, concise and expressive. Based on the rich imagery of folk tales, proverbs and sayings, Shchedrin created images in the artistic interpretation of complex social phenomena, each image contains a satirical meaning. The fairy tale, as a genre, gradually matured in the writer’s work and was formed from such elements of his satire as hyperbole, fantasy, imagery of folk speech, and the use of zoological comparisons.
3) Characteristics of the heroes of the fairy tale.
Images of generals. Mikhail Evgrafovich satirically depicted the images of generals. Ironically characterizing the appearance of the heroes, the author draws the reader's attention to their frivolity. “Soon, at the behest of the pike, at my will,” finding themselves on a desert island, the generals “at first did not understand anything and began to talk as if nothing had happened to them.” Characterizing the actions of the characters, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin writes about the lack of simple knowledge about objects and phenomena among gentlemen. This is how the writer grotesquely depicts the characters’ inability to determine the cardinal directions: “We started looking for the north, stood this way and that, tried all the countries of the world, but since we served in the registry all our lives, we found nothing.” The judgment of one of the generals is that: “Who would have thought, Your Excellency, that human food in its original form flies, swims and grows on trees?” - evokes both ridicule and pity for those who, having lived life, know so little about it. When describing the image of generals, artistic details are important, which also have a grotesque nature. For example, the only object reminiscent of a past life was one issue of the Moskovskie Vedomosti newspaper on a desert island, but even there, “no matter what they turned their gaze to, everything indicated food.” The only thing the generals knew how to do was make a man work. Therefore, having found a man evading business under a tree, the generals immediately attacked him. Here, in the speech of the gentlemen, the lust for power appears; they remembered the skill that they mastered so well: “Sleep, couch potato! “You probably wouldn’t even realize that two generals here have been dying of hunger for two days now!” Now go to work!” Having become “cheerful, loose, well-fed, white,” the generals again began to reason, thinking about the Babylonian pandemonium, about the global flood. Having returned to St. Petersburg with the help of a peasant, the gentlemen “went... to the treasury and how much money they raked in.”
How did two generals end up on a desert island? (“at the command of the pike, at my will”)
Give a brief description of the two generals (frivolous, have served all their lives in some kind of registry, do not know or understand anything)
What was comical about the appearance of the generals who found themselves on a desert island? (“they are in nightgowns, and there is an order hanging on their necks”)
What surprises the generals the most? (“that human food in its original form flies, swims and grows on trees”)
Who did the hungry generals decide to find? (man)
How did the man behave when he saw the generals? (began to serve them)
How did the generals and the man leave the desert island? (the man made a boat and they sailed away from the desert island)
How did the generals thank the man? (“they sent him a glass of vodka and a nickel of silver”)
The image of a man.
The very appearance of the man in the fairy tale is fantastic: he suddenly appears on an uninhabited island, on which the generals also ended up “at the behest of a pike.” The man’s appearance presents a contrast in comparison with the appearance of the two generals: “a huge man was sleeping with his belly up and his fist under his head.” The man became so accustomed to his own lack of will that, having seen the gentlemen even on a desert island, he immediately began to fulfill their slightest desires: “First, he climbed a tree and picked the generals ten of the ripest apples, and took one sour one for himself.” The man is interested in whether the gentlemen generals are satisfied with his diligence.
The hero even weaves a rope for himself, with which the generals will later tie him to a tree so that he does not run away: “The man just picked wild hemp, soaked it in water, beat it, crushed it - and by evening the rope was ready. The generals tied the man to a tree with this rope so that he would not run away.” The whole behavior of the man tells the reader about his slavish essence: he has no desire to resist, to stop listening to the worthless generals who cannot do anything. The writer wholeheartedly sneers at the man, calling him “a lazy man”, “a parasite”. The character’s very thoughts are absurd: “... the man began to speculate on how he could please his Generals for the fact that they favored him, a parasite, and did not disdain his peasant work!” The leitmotif in the description of the man becomes an ironic statement about the hero as a parasite who is constantly scolded by two generals.
4) Satirical techniques used by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin in his fairy tale. The satirical form became for M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin with the opportunity to speak freely about pressing problems of society. In the fairy tale “The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals” various satirical techniques are used: grotesque, irony, fantasy, allegory, sarcasm - to characterize the characters depicted and describe the situation in which the main characters of the fairy tale: two generals find themselves. The very landing of the generals on a desert island “at the behest of a pike, at my will” is grotesque. The writer’s assurance is fantastic that “the generals served all their lives in some kind of registry, were born there, raised and grew old, and therefore did not understand anything.” The writer also satirically depicted the appearance of the heroes: “they are in nightgowns, and an order hangs on their necks.” Saltykov-Shchedrin ridicules the basic inability of the generals to find food for themselves: both thought that “the rolls would be born in the same form as they are served with coffee in the morning.” Depicting the behavior of the characters, the writer uses sarcasm: “they began to slowly crawl towards each other and in the blink of an eye they became frantic. Shreds flew, squeals and groans were heard; the general, who was a teacher of calligraphy, bit off the order from his comrade and immediately swallowed it.” The heroes began to lose their human appearance, turning into hungry animals, and only the sight of real blood sobered them up. Satirical techniques not only characterize artistic images, but also express the author’s attitude towards the depicted. The writer treats with irony the man who, frightened by the powers that be, “first climbed a tree and picked the generals ten of the ripest apples, and took one sour one for himself.” Makes fun of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin attitude of the generals to life: “They began to say that here they live on everything ready, but in St. Petersburg, meanwhile, their pensions keep accumulating and accumulating.”
Satire- a type of comic, merciless ridicule, criticism of the existing reality of man and phenomena.
satirical devices, which are used by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin in his fairy tale:
Grotesque- an extreme exaggeration based on an unusual combination of the fantastic and the real.
Sarcasm- a caustic expression of ridicule.
Aesopian language- a special language, allegory, with the help of which the writer expresses his attitude towards the depicted.
Allegory- an allegorical depiction of an object in order to identify the most significant features.
Hyperbola- a gross exaggeration.
Fantastic- a way of depicting reality in an unrealistic form.
Irony- a way of expressing ridicule.
What, in your opinion, is M.E.’s fairy tale? Saltykov-Shchedrin's "The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals" - satirical or humorous? Prove your point. (The fairy tale by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin is satirical, since it ridicules the vices of the writer’s contemporary reality and man.)
The work of the great Russian writer M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin is distinguished by its high ideology, extraordinary nationalism, genuine realism and artistic perfection. He was highly appreciated by I. S. Turgenev, L. N. Tolstoy, M. Gorky.
Fairy tales occupy a worthy place in the literary heritage of satire. Many of them are dedicated to the fate of the common people in Tsarist Russia. The writer contrasts it with the life of the privileged strata of society. He also touches on this topic in “The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals.”
The heroes of the fairy tale - the generals - due to their frivolity find themselves on a desert island. Incapable of anything, they almost die of hunger amid the abundance of fruits, game and fish. Realizing that their salvation lies in the man, the emboldened generals rush to search for him. Having found a sleeping “lounger”, the generals force him to work for themselves. It is no coincidence that the author calls a man a man. He emphasizes in his appearance physical power, enormous strength. And yet the man cannot, does not know how to fight back
pathetic enslavers.
The man is a jack of all trades. He is resourceful, skillful, dexterous. Everything turns out smoothly for him. Getting apples from a tree is easy, getting potatoes in the ground is also easy, making a snare for catching hazel grouse from your own hair is not a problem. Getting a fire, cooking food on it to feed the voracious parasites - the peasant can do all this without difficulty. And the writer admires and is proud of this.
With some joy the man accepts the demands of the generals to take them home, to St. Petersburg, to Podyacheskaya. “And the man began to play tricks on how he could please his generals because they favored him, a parasite, and did not disdain his peasant labor!” - the satirist says with caustic mockery.
The great craftsman is building a real ship, on which it turns out to be possible to “swim the ocean-sea,” and for the convenience of the general, he carefully laid its bottom with swan’s down. On a difficult journey, the man also does not forget about the master’s well-being: “he feeds the generals with herring.”
The general's gratitude is very modest: a glass of vodka and a nickel of silver. But a man doesn’t require more than that.
In “The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals,” Saltykov-Shchedrin simultaneously shows the strength and weakness of the ordinary Russian people in the era of autocracy. The satirist points out the enormous potential hidden in the masses, and the peasant passivity, humility, and patience. In the fairy tale, the writer’s pain for the Russian peasant sounds. “The Tale...” is full of bitter thoughts about the fate of the native people, the native country.
M. Gorky rightly wrote about Shchedrin: “The significance of his satire is enormous both in its truthfulness and in the sense of almost prophetic foresight of the paths along which Russian society should have and did go... This foresight is explained by the fact that that Saltykov knew perfectly well the psyche of representatives of the cultural society of his time, this psyche was taking shape before his eyes. He was smart, honest, stern and never hid the truth, no matter how regrettable it was...”
The main characters of the fairy tale “The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals” are, surprisingly, one peasant and two generals.
Both generals are former officials who devoted their entire lives to working in the registry, and, therefore, did not know or understand anything in this life. The generals live in St. Petersburg, both are 4th class officials, have excellent pensions and do not need anything.
The generals are uneducated, stupid people, they are absolutely unadapted to life. They haven't read books, they have a small vocabulary, and they don't even know where the food on their tables comes from.
At some point, the generals find themselves on a desert island. There’s not a soul around, but I want to eat like a general. Suddenly they find a peasant and force him to work for them. The peasant, being a submissive and downtrodden person, completely submits to the fanatics. He is unable to fight back against his new masters.
The generals rested, the generals ate, the generals became bored, and they decide to return to their homes. They force the peasant to build a small boat, and they all sail home together. Of course, the generals do not even think of helping their “servant”; they only eat the herring that he catches and scold him for parasitism. Like, what a stupid and lazy man he is, he can’t even calm the wind.
In the end, our heroes finally sailed to St. Petersburg. And here the reader may think that the generals again showed themselves to be bad people and did not thank the peasant for their salvation. But no - they sent him as much as a glass of vodka. And the whole five cents! Have fun, man!
With this tale, Saltykov-Shchedrin wanted to show all the abomination of Russian society of that time. The generals, being dark, ignorant people, incapable of anything, find themselves a simple peasant and make him their slave. And the man, in turn, being a timid person, cannot say no to the evil generals. Although it is they who are dependent on the peasant, and not vice versa.
Description of the heroes
Several interesting essays
- What does the story "Prisoner of the Caucasus" teach us, 5th grade essay
What did this story teach me? The story Prisoner of the Caucasus is based on a real incident that happened to Colonel F.F. Tornau. The officer was captured during the war, which was written about by the Russky Vestnik magazine.
- The image and characteristics of Alexander Aduev in the novel Ordinary History
In Goncharov’s novel “An Ordinary Story,” the main character is the young nobleman Alexander Fedorovich Aduev. He is from a family whose estate is located one and a half thousand miles from St. Petersburg.
- Really thoughtful friend
Friendship is an invisible part of every person’s life. Perhaps, people don’t know, how many friends are not small. Friendship even helps in every person’s life, no matter how many friends you have.
- Essay based on Vasnetsov's painting The Princess of the Nesmeyana
Russian painter Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov painted his painting “Nesmeyana-Princess” in the period from 1916 to 1926. Some critics express the opinion that the painting reflects the situation in Russia at that time.
Summer is my favorite time of the year. Because every day of the summer holidays is filled with vivid impressions, new events, and interesting acquaintances.
What is the main idea of Saltykov-Shchedrin's work - the story of how one man fed two generals? and got the best answer
Answer from Kk pke[newbie]
Answer from Lyosha Avsetsin[newbie]
1. Once upon a time there were two generals, and since both were frivolous, they soon, at the behest of a pike, at my will, found themselves on a desert island.
2. - Lord! what the hell is this! Where are we! - both exclaimed in a voice that was not their own.
3. “That’s it,” answered the other general, “you, Your Excellency, go to the east.” and I will go west... ; maybe we'll find something.
4. One general went to the right and saw trees growing, and all sorts of fruits on the trees. The general came to the stream and saw: the fish were teeming there, just teeming.
5. - Who would have thought that human food, in its original form, flies, swims and grows on trees?
6. Suddenly both generals looked at each other: an ominous fire shone in their eyes, their teeth chattered, and a dull growl came out of their chests.
7.The generals bowed their heads. Everything they looked at was evidence of food.
8.- .the man is everywhere, you just have to look for him! He's probably hidden somewhere, shirking work!
9. - Sleep, couch potato! - they attacked him, - I suppose you wouldn’t even realize that two generals here have been dying of hunger for the second day! Now go to work! .
10. The generals looked at the peasants’ efforts, and their hearts played merrily.
11.By evening the rope was ready. The generals tied the man to a tree with this rope so that he would not run away.
12....the man got so clever that he even started cooking soup in a handful
Answer from Nikita Bogatov[newbie]
about the fact that the generals are slackers and that’s all
Answer from Ѝduard Alekseenko[expert]
There are several of them:
1. Generals can get through everywhere without soap
2. Generals don’t have the impudence
3. The generals are fattening at the expense of the people
4.If you are not a general, then it sucks.
..Oh, how good it is to be a general...
Answer from Anna Simonyan[newbie]
Thanks a lot
Answer from Alena Kuznetsova[newbie]
1. Once upon a time there were two generals, and since both were frivolous, they soon, at the behest of a pike, at my will, found themselves on a desert island.
2. - Lord! what the hell is this! Where are we! - both exclaimed in a voice that was not their own.
3. “That’s it,” answered the other general, “you, Your Excellency, go to the east.” and I will go west... ; maybe we'll find something.
4. One general went to the right and saw trees growing, and all sorts of fruits on the trees. The general came to the stream and saw: the fish were teeming there, just teeming.
5. - Who would have thought that human food, in its original form, flies, swims and grows on trees?
6. Suddenly both generals looked at each other: an ominous fire shone in their eyes, their teeth chattered, and a dull growl came out of their chests.
7.The generals bowed their heads. Everything they looked at was evidence of food.
8.- .the man is everywhere, you just have to look for him! He's probably hidden somewhere, shirking work!
9. - Sleep, couch potato! - they attacked him, - I suppose you wouldn’t even realize that two generals here have been dying of hunger for the second day! Now go to work! .
10. The generals looked at the peasants’ efforts, and their hearts played merrily.
11.By evening the rope was ready. The generals tied the man to a tree with this rope so that he would not run away.
12....the man got so clever that he even started cooking soup in a handful
The work “The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals” was written by the famous Russian writer Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin in 1869. By this time, the satirist had already been sent into exile for freethinking, but even after returning from exile, Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote works that were quite bold for that time. It was possible to publish the story in Russia with great difficulty, overcoming censorship restrictions. Thanks to the efforts of I. S. Turgenev, Saltykov-Shchedrin’s work was published in Paris in French already in 1881.
Despite the fact that “The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals” contains fantastic elements, this work belongs to the literary movement realism. One of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s favorite genres was fairy tale, and the writer created amazing works that contain magic. But these are truly unique stories: in them the author exposes the true essence of the landowners of his time, mocks their inadaptability, and exposes the essence of such a social phenomenon as bribery. Therefore, “Fairy Tales for Children of a Fair Age” are considered realistic. If before Saltykov-Shchedrin, writers turned to fairy tales to escape reality into a fantasy world, then this grandiose satirist shows the world around us without embellishment. This gloomy reality is smoothed over only by the fabulous style of writing.
Composition The work “The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals” is very similar to the composition of most folk tales. It consists of three elements: fabulous the beginning "Once upon a time they lived" foreshadowing the development of fantastic events; climax, that is, a meeting of generals with a man; denouement, "happy" the end in which the generals receive a large sum of money, and the man receives a glass of vodka and a nickel of silver. The author, ironically, notes the injustice of life: the authorities, who have not lifted a finger, are swimming in gold, while the ordinary people, who do all the work, are left with nothing.
In a fairy tale we can roughly distinguish two storylines: before the man appears and after. In the first line, Saltykov-Shchedrin reveals images of generals. We see that the heroes are similar, but the author still endowed each of them with a special character: if the first general is simply stupid and lazy, then the second is also rude. This fact indicates the author's intention: to portray generals as typical people with power, but not faceless creatures.
In the second storyline, the central place is occupied by the image of a man, as well as the relationship between him and the generals. The writer contrasts the peasant efforts with the laziness and helplessness of people above him in rank.
Having analyzed the main plot lines of the fairy tale, it can be argued that “The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals” shows two opposing social layers: the people and the authorities. In the relationship between these two camps lies the main problem works.
The second camp is represented by two generals who served their entire lives “at some kind of registry”, “they didn’t understand anything” and they couldn’t do anything. From the first lines of the work, Saltykov-Shchedrin begins to ridicule representatives of the authorities with their exorbitant pride and at the same time extreme inability. An image of exclusively negative characters is created, selfish and lazy. The author does not specifically give them names in order to show the typicality of such intellectuals.
In the first camp, the author places only one hero: a nameless peasant who silently obeys all the orders of the generals. The writer endows him with fabulous abilities: he either makes a snare from his own hair, or bakes provisions on a fire made from two pieces of wood. Saltykov-Shchedrin emphasizes that no matter how the generals scolded him, the man never said a word against him. The author sadly draws a literary image of hardworking people who is accustomed to unquestioningly obeying authority figures.
Why did Saltykov-Shchedrin choose fairy tale genre, although he raises such complex themes in the work as social inequality, abuse of power, and injustice in life? In this way, the writer circumvented strict censorship laws. If Saltykov-Shchedrin tried to publish his thoughts as part of a journalistic article, he would immediately be sent into repeated exile. Thus, writing fairy tales, under which a terrifying reality is hidden, helped him allegorically express his attitude to the most important problems of that time, making him an innovator in the field of Russian realistic prose.
“The story of how one man fed two generals” is satirical tale, which raises the most important problems that have not lost their relevance in our time.
- “The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals”, summary
