Description of the village of Manilov in the poem "Dead Souls"

To work on his main work - the poem "Dead Souls" - N.V. Gogol began in 1835 and did not stop it until his death. He set himself the task of showing the backward pomestno-serfdom Russia with all its vices and shortcomings. A great role in this was played by artistically created images of representatives of the nobility, who constituted the main social class in the country. The description of the village of Manilov, Korobochka, Sobakevich, Nozdrev, Plyushkin makes it possible to understand how different, but at the same time typical, poor were the people who were the main support of power. This despite the fact that each of the landowners represented himself considered himself the best among the rest.

The role of the interior

Five chapters of the first volume, dedicated to the landowners, Gogol builds on one principle. He describes each owner through a description of his appearance, his manner of behaving with the guest - Chichikov - and his relatives. The author tells about how the life in the estate was arranged, which is manifested through the attitude towards the peasants, the whole estate and their own house. As a result, there is a generalized picture of how the "best" representatives of serf Russia lived in the first half of the nineteenth century.

The first is a description of the village of Manilov - a very nice and benevolent, at first glance, landowner.

Long road

Not a very pleasant impression leaves the way to the estate. When they met in the city, the landowner, who invited Chichikov to visit, noted that he lived about fifteen versts from here. However, we drove all sixteen and even more, and there seemed to be no end to the road. The two peasants who had met indicated that there would be a turn in a verst, and then there was Manilovka. But even this was little like the truth, and Chichikov made the conclusion that the owner, as it often did, cut the distance by half in conversation. Perhaps in order to lure - remember the name of the landowner.

Finally, the estate still appeared ahead.

Unusual location

The first to notice was the two-storeyed manor house, which was built on an elevation - "on the Jurassic", as the author points out. It is with him to begin the description of the village of Manilov in the poem "Dead Souls".

It seemed that a lonely house stood on all sides blowing winds, which just happened in these places. The slope of the hill on which the building stood was covered with a trimmed turf.

The absurd arrangement of the house was complemented by flower beds with yellow acacia and lilac bushes, broken in English style. Next to it grew stunted birches - no more than five or six - and there was a gazebo with a ridiculous name for these places called "Temple of Solitary Reflection." A small pond was completed by a small puzzle, which, incidentally, was not uncommon in the estates of the landowners, who were fond of the English style.

Absurdity and impracticality - this is the first impression of the landowner's business seen.

Description of the village Manilova

"Dead Souls" continues the story of a series of squalid, gray peasant huts - Chichikov counted them at least two hundred. They were located along and across the bottom of the hill and consisted of only logs. Between the houses, the guest did not see a tree, or any other greenery, which made the village not attractive at all. In the distance, the pine forest was somehow boring . This is the description of the village of Manilov.

"Dead Souls" contain a subjective assessment of what Chichikov saw. At Manilov, everything seemed to him to be somehow gray and incomprehensible, even "the day was not that clear, not that gloomy." Only two cursed women, dragging along the pond wanderer with crayfish and roach, and a rooster with torn wings, screaming all the way, some revived the picture.

Meeting with the owner

Description of the village of Manilova from the "Dead Souls" will be incomplete without getting to know the master himself. He stood on the porch and, recognizing the guest, immediately blurred in the most cheerful smile. Even at the first meeting in the city, Manilov struck Chichikov by the fact that his appearance seemed to have a lot of sugar. Now the first impression only intensified.

In reality, the landowner at first seemed very kind and pleasant to the person, but after a minute this impression completely changed, and now the thought arose: "The devil knows what!". The further behavior of Manilov, excessively ingratiating and built on the desire to please, this fully confirms. The host kissed the guest, as if they were friends for a century. Then he invited me into the house, trying in every possible way to show respect to him by not wanting to enter the door before Chichikov.

Internal environment

Description of the village Manilova from the poem "Dead Souls" evokes a sense of absurdity in everything, including the decoration of the master's house. Let's start with the fact that next to the road and even elegant furniture, standing in the living room, there were a couple of armchairs, on the lining of which at one time there was not enough cloth. And for several years the owner has warned the guest that they are not ready yet. In another room the furniture was not at all here for the eighth year - since the marriage of Manilov. Similarly, at dinner, a luxurious bronze candlestick made in antique style and some "disabled" from copper, all in fat, could be placed on the table. But none of the domestic people paid any attention to this.

The host's office looked ridiculous, too. He was, again, an incomprehensible gray-blue color - something similar to what the author had already mentioned, giving a general description of the village of Manilov at the beginning of the chapter. On the table of the year two lay a book with a bookmark on the same page - nobody had ever read it. But on the whole room tobacco was spread out, and on the windowsills rows of slides, laid out of ash, remained in the tube. In general, dreaming and smoking - these were the main and favorite activities of the landowner, who was not interested in his possessions at all.

Getting to know the family

Manilov's wife is like him. Eight years of marriage have changed little the relationship between the couple: they all also treated each other with a slice of apple or interrupted their studies to capture the kiss. Manilova received a good upbringing, taught everything that was necessary for a happy family life: to speak French, play the piano and embroider with beads some unusual cheholchik to surprise her husband. And anyway, that the kitchen was not cooked well, there was no stock in the storerooms, the housekeeper steals a lot, and the servants are more and more asleep. The pride of the couple was their sons, called strange Greek names and promised to show great abilities in the future.

Description of the village of Manilov: the situation of peasants

Of all the above, one conclusion already suggests: everything in the estate went somehow like this, in its turn and without any interference from the owner. This idea is confirmed when Chichikov starts talking about peasants. It turns out that Manilov does not even know how many souls he has died in recent times. Can not give an answer and his clerk. He only notes that there are a lot of things the landowner immediately agrees with. However, the word "much" does not surprise the reader: the description of the village of Manilov and the conditions in which his serfs lived, make it clear that for an estate in which the landlord does not care about peasants at all, this is a common thing.

As a result, an unattractive image of the protagonist of the chapter appears. It was not for a mundane dreamer to go out into the fields, to find out what the people depending on him needed, or at least to count how many of them he had. And the author adds that the man could easily deceive Manilov. He owed money ostensibly to earn some money, but he was calmly drunk, and before that nobody was concerned. In addition, all the servants, including the clerk and the housekeeper, were unclean in their hands, which did not bother either Manilov or his wife.

conclusions

Complete the description of the village of Manilov quotes: "there is a kind of people ... neither that nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan nor in the village of Selifan ... they should join Manilov". Thus, it is a landowner, from whom, at first glance, there is no harm to anyone. He loves everyone - even the most inveterate swindler is his most excellent man. Sometimes he dreams about how to set up shops for peasants, but these "projects" are very far from reality and will never be translated into reality. Hence the common understanding of "manilovism" as a social phenomenon - the propensity to pseudo-philosophy, the lack of any benefit from existence. And this is the beginning of the degradation, and then the collapse of the human personality, as Gogol draws attention, giving a description of the village of Manilov.

"Dead Souls", thus, become a verdict to a society in which the best representatives of the local nobility are like Manilov. After all, the rest will be even worse.