The work of Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov “Oblomov” was written many years ago, but the problems raised in it remain relevant today. Main character The novel has always aroused great interest among the reader. What is the meaning of Oblomov’s life, who is he and was he really lazy?
The absurdity of the life of the main character of the work
From the very beginning of the work, Ilya Ilyich appears before the reader in a completely absurd situation. He spends every day in his room. Devoid of any impressions. Nothing new happens in his life, there is nothing that would fill it with any meaning. One day is like another. Absolutely uninterested in and uninterested in anything, this person, one might say, resembles a plant.
Ilya Ilyich's only activity is lying comfortably and serenely on the sofa. Since childhood, he has become accustomed to being constantly taken care of. He never thought about how to ensure his own existence. I always lived with everything ready. There was no such incident that would disturb his serene state. Life is simply convenient for him.
Inaction does not make a person happy
And this constant lying on the sofa is not caused by some incurable disease or psychological disorder. No! The terrible thing is that this is the natural state of the main character of the novel. The meaning of Oblomov’s life lies in the soft upholstery of the sofa and a comfortable Persian robe. Every person from time to time tends to think about the purpose of his own existence. The time comes, and many, looking back, begin to reason: “What useful have I done, why am I even living?”
Of course, not everyone is given the opportunity to move mountains or accomplish any heroic deed, but anyone can make their own life interesting and full of impressions. Inaction has never made anyone happy. Perhaps only up to a certain point. But this has nothing to do with Ilya Ilyich. Oblomov, whose life story is described in novel of the same name Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov, is not burdened by his inaction. Everything suits him.
Main character's home
The character of Ilya Ilyich can be judged from some of the lines in which the author describes the room where Oblomov lived. Of course, the decoration of the room did not look poor. It was luxuriously furnished. And yet there was neither coziness nor comfort in it. The paintings that hung on the walls of the room were framed with drawings of cobwebs. Mirrors, designed to allow one to see one's reflection in them, could be used instead of writing paper.
The whole room was covered in dust and dirt. Somewhere there was a randomly thrown thing that would remain there until it was needed again. On the table there are uncleaned dishes, crumbs and leftovers from yesterday's meal. All this does not evoke a feeling of comfort. But Ilya Ilyich does not notice this. Cobwebs, dust, dirt and uncleaned dishes are natural companions of his daily reclining on the sofa.
Dreaminess in the character of Ilya, or Like in the village
Often Ilya Ilyich reproaches his own servant, whose name is Zakhar, for sloppiness. But he seemed to adapt to the owner’s character, and perhaps he himself was not far from him from the very beginning; he reacts quite calmly to the untidiness of the home. According to his reasoning, there is no point in cleaning the room from dust, since it still accumulates there again. So what is the meaning of Oblomov’s life? A man who can’t even get his own servant to clean up the mess. He cannot even control his own life, and the existence of those around him is completely beyond his control.
Of course, sometimes he dreams of doing something for his village. He is trying to come up with some plans, again - lying on the sofa, in order to reorganize village life. But this person is already so divorced from reality that all the dreams he has built remain just that. The plans are such that their implementation is almost impossible. They all have some kind of monstrous scope that has nothing to do with reality. But the meaning of life in the work "Oblomov" is not revealed only in the description of one character.
A hero opposite to Oblomov
There is another hero in the work, who is trying to awaken Ilya Ilyich from his lazy state. Andrey Stolts is a man filled with boiling energy and liveliness of mind. Whatever Andrey undertakes, he succeeds in everything, and he enjoys everything. He doesn’t even think about why he does this or that thing. According to the character himself, he works for the sake of work.
What is the difference between the meaning of life of Oblomov and Stolz? Andrey never lies idle, like Ilya Ilyich. He is always busy with something, he has a huge social circle with interesting people. Stolz never sits in one place. He is constantly on the move, meeting new places and people. But nevertheless, he does not forget about Ilya Ilyich.
Andrey's influence on the main character
Oblomov's monologue about the meaning of life, his judgments about it, are completely opposite to the opinion of Stolz, who becomes the only one who was able to lift Ilya from the soft sofa. Moreover, Andrei even tried to return his comrade to active life. To do this, he resorts to some trick. Introduces him to Olga Ilyinskaya. Realizing that pleasant communication with beautiful woman, perhaps, will quickly awaken in Ilya Ilyich a taste for a life more varied than existence in his room.
How does Oblomov change under the influence of Stolz? His life story is now connected with the beautiful Olga. Tender feelings for this woman even awaken in him. He is trying to change, to adapt to the world in which Ilyinskaya and Stolz live. But lying on the sofa for a long time does not pass without a trace. The meaning of Oblomov’s life, associated with his uncomfortable room, is very deeply rooted in him. Some time passes, and he begins to feel burdened by his relationship with Olga. And, of course, their breakup became inevitable.
The meaning of Oblomov's life and death
Ilya Ilyich’s only dream is the desire to find peace. He doesn't need ebullient energy Everyday life. The world in which he is closed, with its small space, seems much more pleasant and comfortable to him. And the life that his friend Stolz leads does not attract him. It requires fuss and movement, and this is unusual for Oblomov’s character. Finally, all of Andrei’s ebullient energy, which constantly collides with Ilya’s indifference, has dried up.
Ilya Ilyich finds his solace in the house of a widow, whose last name is Pshenitsyna. Having married her, Oblomov completely stopped worrying about life and gradually fell into moral hibernation. Now he is again dressed in his favorite robe. He's lying on the sofa again. Oblomov leads him to a slow decline. IN last time Andrei visits his friend under the watchful eye of Pshenitsyna. He sees how his friend has sunk and makes a last attempt to pull him out of the pool. But there is no point in this.
Positive traits in the character of the main character
Revealing the meaning of Oblomov’s life and death, it is necessary to mention that Ilya Ilyich is still not negative hero in this work. There are quite bright ones in his image positive features. He is an infinitely hospitable and cordial host. Despite constantly lying on the sofa, Ilya Ilyich is very educated person, he appreciates art.
In his relationship with Olga, he does not show rudeness or intolerance, he is gallant and courteous. He is very rich, but destroyed by excessive care since childhood. At first you might think that Ilya Ilyich is infinitely happy, but this is just an illusion. A dream that replaced the real state.
Oblomov, who turned into a tragedy, seems to be happy with his situation. And yet he understands the futility of his existence. Moments of awareness of his own inaction come to him. After all, Ilya Stoltz forbade Olga to come to him, he did not want her to see the process of his decomposition. An educated person cannot fail to understand how empty and monotonous his life is. Only laziness prevents you from changing it and making it bright and varied.
Among the large and small questions that give rise to headaches for a literature teacher, perhaps the last in importance may be this: what to do with a good student essay? Not with the bad, the helpless - here everything is clear: return for revision, having first discussed with the student what can be corrected and how to do it. And with a truly good one: imperfect, of course, but intelligent, incorporating much of what was discussed in class, and at the same time independent.
It is clear that by independence we do not mean “ own opinion” like the notorious “I agree with the author”, “hero - real man, we need to take an example from him” or “I don’t like this hero” - we’ll leave this level of conversation primary school. And here the student seriously masters and comprehends a work of considerable length, analyzing pages for which there was no time in class, reading articles about the work, and not only in order to find a suitable quote, but in order to think about someone else’s point of view and accept it or disagree; is looking for words and constructions that would more accurately express his thoughts and feelings. And then logically builds own composition. And suddenly something comes out that you really like, but which, it seems, you could not teach, because perhaps you yourself could not produce.
Of course, first of all, let's give it a five. But this is not enough.
frame from the film “A few days in the life of I.I. Oblomov" (director N.S. Mikhalkov)
Shall we read in class? Classmates will be surprised, envious, admired - but they are unlikely to hear it quite adequately.
Show it to your colleagues? But they are already tired of constant checking.
I have this method of encouragement good authors: “Type on the computer and come. Let's do something about it."
Having received the essays of tenth and eleventh graders about Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov,” which delighted me, I decided, using personal connections, to try to publish student works. Maybe they will give their colleagues food for thought about the novel - after all, there was a column in the newspaper “Learning from students.” Or maybe they will strengthen us in our determination to continue what we started - to seriously teach literature, no matter what, and, by offering homework, give children a chance to slowly, calmly and seriously understand what they wrote a hundred and fifty years ago great writer and a wise man.
Oblomov and Stolz
At first glance, Stolz and Oblomov seem opposed to each other. One loves to lie on the sofa and can neither write a letter to the landlord nor force Zakhar to conscientiously tidy up the room. The other is constantly on the move, he needs work like air, and compilation business papers is not at all perceived by him as an insurmountable difficulty. But then I remember that while living at a country dacha, Oblomov was able to write long letters to Olga, and Oblomov could not lie down all day, but found the strength in himself, even if only to climb the surrounding hills; that is, it is clear that some goal may appear in front of him and life with its worries may replace apathy.
Having discarded the idea that Oblomov and Stolz are complete opposites of each other, let’s also discard the idea that Stolz is Oblomov’s protector from everyday storms and the one whose advice Oblomov had to follow and learn from, so as not to fall into complete indifference to everything. Of course, it was Stolz who introduced him to Olga and his request to ensure that Ilya Ilyich did not spend whole days in idle inaction, sowed the seed of future love between him and Olga; of course, it was Stolz who saved Oblomov from false debt obligations to his “brother” and Tarantiev; of course... But is Ilya Ilyich really so pathetic in those moments when he is deprived of Stolz’s assistance and the influence of his guiding hand? During Oblomov’s dialogues with Volkov, Sudbinsky or Penkin, one gets the feeling that in the words of Ilya Ilyich there is significantly more rightness than in the words of those who drop in for a couple of minutes to see him; Living in a country dacha, Oblomov, even in the absence of Stolz, himself resolved, or at least tried to resolve, the difficulties that his love for Olga confronted him with; finally, when Oblomov, after many days spent on Vyborg side, buries himself in everyday routine and indifference to everything even more strongly than when he lived on Gorokhovaya, then even Stolz is unable to revive him to life.
There is something in Oblomov that, with its soporific and movement-repelling force, overcomes all friendly attempts to lift him from the sofa and bring him out of apathy, but there is also something in Oblomov that at first, breaking through indifference, painted him his ideals and dreams, and in the end, amid the triumph of laziness and indifference, still overcoming the deadness and sleep of the soul, it made him realize his fall and, in a fit of self-contempt and repentance for the aimlessness of his life, fearfully beg Stolz not to let Olga into his room. It is this second side of Oblomov that is what Stolz lacks and the absence of which deprives him of his superiority over him.
Now let us trace how the opposite traits developed in the character of Ilya Ilyich and how the formation of Stolz’s personality took place. One thing is worth noting here: both of them spent their adolescence against the backdrop of sharply contrasting phenomena. Indeed, Ilya Ilyich, on the one hand, was influenced by Oblomovka with its idle calm, closed outlook, huge pies and all-encompassing afternoon naps, and on the other hand, by Verkhlevo, where it was necessary to learn lessons and make translations on time - in a word, to work. In the same way, there was a contrast in those around young Stolz. The father's practicality, his earning money and his straightforward outlook on life were opposed by Hertz's melodies, played on the piano by his mother, and the impressions made by the luxurious interiors of the princely house.
However, the consequences caused by these contrasts were different. The only similarity is that neither Stolz nor Oblomov achieved a final victory over the other.
In the character of Andrei Ivanovich, practicality and directness harmoniously merged with a love of art and the ability to feel beauty. As a result, he became neither a limited entrepreneur and businessman interested only in profit, nor a dreamer who could not provide for his own existence. And who did he become then? He did not “greedily cherish the remainder of the feeling in his chest,” but, apart from the uncertainty before the explanation with Olga, he avoided the influence of strong passions; he never considered himself the embodiment of the best, but at the same time, everything he did, he did for himself. He helped Oblomov, of course, not for selfish purposes and not at all counting on personal benefits, but only because he could not do otherwise, that his ideas about duty and friendship did not allow him otherwise. And as soon as his conscience allowed him to leave Oblomov, he, although with sincere sorrow, although he accepted the responsibilities of raising Andrei, still abandoned Oblomov. And Stolz loved Olga only because he suddenly couldn’t live for himself alone and it became necessary for him to live for her too. Thus, one gets the impression that Stolz became nothing more than a practitioner, limiting himself to a certain amount of feelings and affections and directing all the rest of his forces to movement and work without high goals.
The result of the contrasting influences of Oblomovka and Verkhlev on Ilya Ilyich turned out to be even more unexpected than the result of the influence of his father and mother on Stolz. The impact of learning from his father-manager, although it complemented the impact of the parental home, did not lead to the resolution of some contradictions, as happened with Stolz, who learned to combine the ability to make a profit with the ability to feel the beautiful, but to a strengthening of the gap between the Oblomov-baibak, who was indifferent to everything and that Oblomov, whom Olga loved and wanted to revive. Despite the changes in the situation and in the way of life, during absences for studying in Verkhlev, the same thing developed in Ilya Ilyich, which began in Ilya Ivanovich’s house. Young Oblomov, not accustomed to long work, was forced to study for a long time in class, which strengthened his dislike for activity; but besides this, his dreamy nature, which had previously found food for his imagination only in fairy tales about goblin or Militris Kirbityevna, was widely developed due to the fact that he learned about the existence of a world outside the immediate surroundings and received at least some information about the sciences and arts.
The inconsistency of adolescence grew into the inconsistency of life. Oblomov, having ideals that are no longer similar to the ideals of his grandfathers, and being completely unaffected by vanity, but at the same time not having sufficient mental strength to fulfill his dreams and step over his apathy, and gradually plunging deeper and deeper into cold indifference, he turns out to be unable, unprepared for real life.
Thus, the main difference between Stolz and Oblomov is visible. One needs movement, sees objective reality and achieves almost everything he wants to achieve, but, not giving free rein to dreams, does not have a high ideal of life to strive for, and therefore dooms his activity to some aimlessness. Another, on the contrary, sees only bright dreams of calm happiness, but is almost unable to do anything on the way to achieving them, which is why, however, his ideals do not cease to be bright and pure, and the aimlessness of his life becomes even more tragic. It’s not that “he was not created for people,” but he was not created for reality...
Nikolay Lysenko, 10th grade
Women in Oblomov's life
And it is I. Goncharov’s women in “Oblomov” who determine the turning points in the fate of the main character Ilya Ilyich and play a huge role in his life.
The women who surrounded him in childhood had a great influence on the formation of Oblomov’s personality. Little Ilya, who was in the care of his mother and nanny, grew up in an atmosphere of love and care: “And the whole day, and all the days and nights of the nanny were filled with turmoil, running around: now torture, now living joy for the child, now the fear that he would fall and he'll break his nose..."
It is no coincidence that the motives of Oblomov’s retrospective “dream,” which reflected the hero’s childhood impressions, are partly repeated in the dreams of Ilya Ilyich, which we can judge from his conversations with Stolz. The ideal life, according to Oblomov, reminds the reader of Oblomovka’s life, but, in addition to reproducing the hero’s childhood impressions, there is another important component in it - an idea of what the relationship between spouses should be like: “Then, putting on a spacious frock coat or some kind of jacket , hugging his wife by the waist, go deeper with her into the endless dark alley; walk quietly, thoughtfully, silently or think out loud, dream, count the minutes of happiness like the beat of a pulse.”
As is easy to see, one of the main components of this ideal is spirituality. And it is precisely this that Oblomov finds in Olga Ilyinskaya, who is not accidentally introduced into the novel along with the motif of the sublime. Without knowing anything specific about the heroine, the reader learns that she sings the aria “Casta diva”. “Do you love this aria? I am very glad: Olga Ilyinskaya sings it beautifully.”
Love for Ilyinskaya is strong feeling, which changes Oblomov and turns his life upside down. It becomes clear that Ilya Ilyich is capable of love. Absorbed by this feeling, Oblomov ceases to be sleepy and apathetic; This is how Goncharov describes his condition: “From the words, from the sounds of this pure girlish voice, my heart beat, my nerves trembled, my eyes sparkled and filled with tears.”
Such a change in Oblomov is not a miracle, but a pattern: for the first time his life took on meaning. This suggests that Ilya Ilyich’s previous apathy is not explained spiritual emptiness, but by reluctance to participate in the “eternal game of trashy passions” and lead the lifestyle of Volkov or Alekseev.
However, the relationship between Oblomov and Ilyinskaya is not cloudless. Ilya Ilyich is capable of tenderness and love, but sublime feelings They require him to do anything but romantic troubles: before making an offer, he needs to improve the estate. These troubles frighten Oblomov, and everyday problems seem insurmountable to him. In the end, his indecision leads to a break with Olga.
It was at this moment that Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna appears in Oblomov’s life - a very limited, economical, homely woman. Unlike Ilyinskaya, who tried to remake Oblomov, Pshenitsyna loves him for who he is and treats him as a deity. the main objective her life is to provide Oblomov with the most comfortable existence possible. This is what she, despite financial constraints, cares about most: “How suddenly this gentleman,” she wondered, “will begin to eat turnips with butter instead of asparagus, instead of hazel grouse - lamb, instead of Gatchina trout, amber sturgeon - salted pike perch.”
Speaking about Agafya Matveevna, it should be noted that it was she who was next to Oblomov when he, having survived the break with Ilyinskaya, returned to his old life, the symbol of which was the newly appeared robe. This made it possible for the critic A. Druzhinin to call Pshenitsyna “Oblomov’s evil angel”: “She (Pshenitsyna. - D.Kh.) piled a gravestone over all his aspirations, plunged him into the gaping abyss of Oblomovism abandoned for a moment.”
It is necessary to add to this thought that life with Pshenitsyna is the other side of Oblomov’s ideal. If in Olga Ilyinskaya Oblomov saw its spiritual component, then in Pshenitsyna - the comfort and regularity that he dreamed of in a conversation with Stolz. As we see, both of these women embodied different qualities close to the main character, but he was not happy with any of them.
Daniil Kharlamov, 11th grade
Women in Oblomov's life
Without a doubt, women played a very important, if not the main, role in Oblomov’s life. Speaking about the people who had the greatest impact on him, it is necessary to mention those mothers and nannies whose concerns, on the one hand, and stories, on the other hand, influenced Ilya Ilyich’s ideal of a woman.
First, this ideal includes spirituality and poetry; secondly, it is a source of comfort, care and warmth, such as Oblomov was surrounded by in childhood. However, in the novel these qualities exist separately.
Some are embodied in Olga Ilyinskaya - a woman whom Oblomov really loved (though, according to Dobrolyubov, “he did not know how to love and did not know what to look for in love, as in life”; I can only note that exactly with the appearance of Olga Ilya in his life Ilyich stopped even wondering where life was; and, it seems, he not only knew what to look for in love, but was also convinced that he had found it - but more on that below).
Love gave new meaning his life, opened, or rather, awakened in him a storm of feelings and discovered best qualities; “life plays” in it. One can recall such symbols as an abandoned robe or an “animate” letter to Olga, contrasted with a letter to the headman, no more successful than the adventure of sending a beer recipe to Philip Matveich.
Olga, as Druzhinin notes, “by nature is not carried away by the tinsel and empty secular youths of her circle”; but Oblomov, who also does not see life in this “tinsel”, the vanity of secular dandies (just as he does not see it in the vanity of a writer or official), sees in Ilyinskaya young lady not so much a kindred spirit as your ideal: “...this ideal was exactly Olga! Both images converged and merged into one...” - but, it seems, they merged in vain. The fact is that ideal image, dreamed by Ilya Ilyich, was characterized by one more important feature: “In his dreams the image of a tall, slender woman floated before him,<...>with a quiet but proud look,<...>as an ideal, as an embodiment whole life, filled with bliss and solemn peace, like peace itself.”
I don’t know how much Olga loves Oblomov; but one way or another, her feeling is to a large extent mixed with pride expressed in the desire to turn Ilya Ilyich into the ideal that she had already imagined for herself: “She liked this role guiding star, a ray of light that it will pour over the stagnant lake and be reflected in it.”
So her goal is somewhat outside of Oblomov: she rather wants, for example, that Stolz “not recognize him when he returns.”
Therefore, she not only does not embody blissful peace, but, on the contrary, encourages Oblomov to activity; This is not so much, as Dobrolyubov claims, “not part of his habits” (everything is not so small), but rather forces him to constantly step over himself (it is no coincidence that Ilya Ilyich remembers her “with a shudder”), to be not himself, but someone else , - and Oblomov is not capable of this, at least for a long time. And no matter how much Stolz assures his friend that he can change himself, one can even imagine how he struggles with himself - but it is very difficult to imagine how Oblomov truly changes his nature.
And in the break, however, the initiative ultimately belongs to Olga. However, it’s not that “Olga’s will is obedient to her heart” and “she continues her relationship and love for Oblomov<...>until she is convinced of its decisive worthlessness”: then Olga’s heart is more likely to obey her will; again, I don’t know how much a truly loving heart can be ordered to stop loving. And Oblomov’s “decisive trashiness” cannot but be questioned: would a decisively trashy person really slap Tarantiev in the face when he mocks a woman who, in the opinion of the same author, “destroyed [Ilya Ilyich] with her act, no matter how one of Oblomov’s men was not destroyed by a woman”? In the end, why does Goncharov himself talk about his hero far from the intonation of destroying contempt with which one should speak about a decidedly trashy person - out of condescension? No, apparently, what happened is better explained by Stolz’s words: “... deceived pride, a failed role as a savior, a little habit... So many reasons for tears!”
In contrast to Olga, Agafya Matveevna, loving Oblomov completely unselfishly, does not demand anything from him: she sees in him, as he is, a supreme and beautiful being, before whom all others are nothing (this is how the awkward word spoken by Zakhar suddenly returns: another).
Oblomov himself finds in Agafya Matveevna the personification of the ideal of convenience and peace, living, interested participation. And as if confirming that this still childhood ideal was found correctly, Ilya Ilyich dreams of a nanny pointing to the image of the mistress: here is your Militrisa Kirbitevna. Now, it seems, the dreams have come true, and fate turned out to be a “good sorceress,<...>who will choose some favorite, quiet, harmless - in other words, some lazy person, whom everyone offends, and showers him, for no reason at all, with all sorts of good things, and he knows he eats for himself and dresses up in a ready-made dress , and then marries some unheard-of beauty, Militrisa Kirbityevna,” - not quite an unheard-of beauty, of course, but one on whose “full neck and round elbows” he “willingly fixes his eyes.” A wonderful ideal has been achieved - but the kingdom of love and care, Oblomovka, with all its “charming details,” easily turns into the kingdom of the dead. Agafya Matveyevna does not need everything that the affair with Olga awakened in Oblomov - and she falls asleep; Moreover, all the hopes that Ilya Ilyich had even before meeting Olga on Gorokhovaya Street disappear. It turns out that the peace embodied in his existence with Agafya Matveevna on the Vyborg side, which Oblomov contrasted with “vanity,” is akin to her, like back side medals: he is just as hopeless and meaningless.
But despite the sleep of his mind, no matter how Oblomov sank, he, his heart, as shown by almost his previous impulses in a conversation with Andrei, remain the same. And although it can be said that mistress completely ruined him, but I would simply repeat after Druzhinin: “Agafya Matveevna, quiet, devoted... heaped a grave stone over all his aspirations, plunged him into a yawning abyss, but everything will be forgiven to this woman because she loved a lot.” .
Evgenia Sechina, 10th grade
The heroes became friends in childhood, when Ilya’s parents were forced to send their son to study at the boarding school of the German Stolz. The teacher's son, Andrei, always looked after his friend and tried to influence his beliefs and his way of life. He helped Oblomov during his studies both at the boarding school and at the university, but after their paths went separately, they rarely met.
One day Andrei came to a friend’s rented apartment in St. Petersburg. They talked about life, about Oblomovka, and Andrei reproached his friend for inaction, told him about the need to change his life, to take care of business on the estate. Then Stolz invited Oblomov to “complete the ideal of life...”. Ilya Ilyich dreams out loud, talking about a pleasant pastime, which is an idyll of idleness. He never mentioned any activity, since work was not part of his plans. Even the wife should read a book out loud when he is relaxing on the sofa.
The lordly habits appear in everything in his dreams: all his desires are served by serfs, about whose work he has unrealistic ideas, drawing the idyll of their labor. During the day, Oblomov’s routine included a large place in eating; Ilya Ilyich had meals six times: in the house, on the veranda, in the birch grove, in the meadow, and again in the house in the evening. No activities except contemplation of nature, conversations on pleasant topics or relaxation with the sounds of music. And then Andrei began to convince Ilya to change the painted picture in order to return to an active life, not to fade away in his young years.
Until the next meeting, two years later, some changes took place. Stolz is still very active, he came to St. Petersburg “for two weeks on business, then went to the village, then to Kyiv...” He stopped by a friend’s name day, on Elijah’s day. At this time, Ilya Ilyich was already living in the apartment of the widow Agafya Pshenitsyna. He broke up with Olga, entrusted the affairs of the estate to Zaterty (a friend of the mistress’s brother), and now he is being robbed by fraudulent means by Tarantyev and his friend.
Stolz is upset by his friend’s affairs, reminds Oblomov of his words spoken in their last conversation, “Now or never!” Oblomov sadly admits that he did not succeed in reviving life, although there were attempts: “... I do not lie idly, ... I subscribe to two magazines and books...”. However, he broke up with the woman he loved because his laziness and inaction did not disappear even in the best time of his life, during the period of love. Stolz summarizes: “Please note that life and work itself is the goal of life...”. He calls on Ilya Ilyich to action for his own sake, so as not to perish completely: to go to the village, arrange everything there, “tinker with the peasants, get involved in their affairs, build, plant...”. Oblomov complains about his health, but Andrei tells him about the need to change his lifestyle, “so as not to die completely, not to be buried alive...”.
Stolz learns that Oblomov is being robbed by people who call themselves his friends. Andrei forced Oblomov to sign a power of attorney to manage the estate in his name and “announced to him that he was renting Oblomovka” temporarily, and then Oblomov “himself would come to the village and get used to the farm.”
There is a conversation between friends again about their attitude to life. Oblomov complains about life, which “touches him, there is no peace!” And Stolz urges him not to extinguish this fire of life, so that it is a “constant burning.” Ilya Ilyich objects to these words, saying that he does not have the same abilities and talents as Stolz, who is endowed with “wings.” Andrey has to remind his friend that he “lost his skills as a child”: “It started with the inability to put on stockings and ended with the inability to live.”
Roman I.A. Goncharov's "Oblomov" permeates the pathos of social criticism. The collision of two heroes (Ilya Oblomov and Andrei Stolts), two opposing lifestyles can be viewed in a broad social sense.
Oblomov in this regard symbolizes the inert feudal nobility, which has flourished everywhere in the vastness of the Russian land. Most he spends time on the sofa. Any work does not attract him: he cannot even finish reading a book he has started for years. The author constantly emphasizes the gentleness both in the character of the hero and in everything that surrounds him.
The image of the sleeping Oblomov symbolizes the ruined mind, inertia and inertia of the Russian nobility. The hero harbors some abstract plans for reform, but with his immaturity, these plans are never destined to come true. Oblomov seems to be “quietly and gradually settling into the coffin of the rest of his existence, made with his own hands, like desert elders who, turning away from life, dig their own grave.”
Andrei Stolz (this is evidenced by the German origin of the hero) is an adherent of the active capitalist mentality that came to us from Europe. An active, economic rationalist breaks into the sluggish life of Oblomovka in order to shake up the existing way of life and revive Ilya Ilyich to a different existence. It is no coincidence that Stolz reminds Oblomov of his youthful dreams of going on a trip.
Andrey introduces Ilya Ilyich to Olga, hoping that love can change a friend. At some point, the heroine was able to awaken sparks of living life in her admirer. However, Oblomov and Olga - different people. And the heroine soon realized this. She exclaims: “I loved the future Oblomov! You are meek and honest, Ilya; you are gentle... like a dove; you hide your head under your wing - and don’t want anything more; you’re ready to coo under the roof all your life... but I’m not like that: this is not enough for me, I need something else, but I don’t know what!”
In the end, Olga chooses Stolz. This indicates that the future belongs to such active and enterprising people. “He was all made up of bones, muscles and nerves, like blood english horse"- writes I.A. Goncharov. Stolz's ideal is material wealth, comfort and well-being, which he achieves through his own labor: the hero lives by reason, and his inert friend lives by feelings and dreams.
Oblomov sees wonderful dreams, but this does not change anything in his real life. Looking at this, Stolz derives his own term denoting landowner idleness and inertia, leading to death - “Oblomovism.”
Why didn’t A. Stolz manage to change Oblomov’s lifestyle? The fact is that Ilya Ilyich is not just afraid of change: he has protected himself from a living and diverse world and also has a special life philosophy to justify your inaction and laziness. Oblomov is soaring in the clouds of his own illusions, claiming that he has no empty desires and thoughts. He despises vanity and is proud that he can afford not to engage in trade, not to go to the office with a report or papers - to be above all the base problems of everyday life. Oblomov is satisfied with himself, so he does not strive to change. The hero refuses to grow up and understand that no miracle that suddenly descends on him will solve all the pressing problems either in the household or in his personal life.
However, gradually a belated insight still comes to Ilya Ilyich. He confesses to Stolz: “From the first minute, when I became aware of myself, I felt that I was already extinguishing... Either I did not understand this life, or it is no good, and I didn’t know anything better, I didn’t see anything, no one showed it to me.” ..." Although Oblomov has not changed, he at least belatedly admitted his mistakes. The trouble is that he did not see a life ideal in front of him, and due to the nature of his soul, he could not become like Stolz.
Olga Ilyinskaya's love did not change Oblomov, although it temporarily brought him out of his usual apathetic state. The reader of the novel can observe the evolution of Olga’s feelings: curiosity, the desire to “awaken” led to passion, the feeling that flared up in her makes her more persistent and stubborn. In Olga’s mind, a comparison arises between her situation and Pygmalion’s: “This is some kind of Galatea, with whom she herself has to be Pygmalion,” she thinks with annoyance.
What does Olga offer Oblomov in exchange for him lying on the sofa? Alas, the program for awakening the “statue” in Olga’s clever head is completely exhausted by Stoltsev’s horizon: reading newspapers, books, working on organizing the estate, going to the order. But St. Petersburg life for Ilya Ilyich is “an eternal game of trashy passions”, “an empty shuffling of days”, far from his ideal.
For him, happiness is freedom, rest and peace, which are the goal of human vanity, passions, wars, trade and politics. This understanding of happiness is characteristic not only of Goncharov’s hero. One can recall Tsar Dadon from Pushkin’s “The Tale of the Golden Cockerel,” who “in his old age wanted to take a break from military affairs and arrange peace for himself,” or Lermontov’s “I would like freedom and peace.” In the epilogue of “War and Peace” L.N. In Tolstoy, we see Natasha Rostova plump, sagging, having lost her former fire, but acquiring an expression of calm softness and clarity on her face, and we learn that all her impulses “had their beginning only in the need to have a family, to have a husband.” Therefore, Oblomov cannot be remade by empty vanity and painful worries that deprive a person of integrity.
Gods in ancient myth revived Galatea, seeing the boundless and reckless love of Pygmalion. But Olga Ilyinskaya’s love is too rational: she reflects on her feelings, on her influence on Oblomov, on her “mission” - to save Ilya Ilyich. In her thoughts about love there is vanity and narcissism (“She instantly weighed her power over him, and she liked this role of a guiding star, a ray of light that she would pour over a stagnant lake and be reflected in it”), calling into question the absoluteness of her feelings. Such love cannot be reckless. This is also one of the reasons that Olga-Pygmalion never manages to revive Galatea-Oblomov.
Oblomov is more naive in his feelings, simpler than Olga, despite the fact that she is much younger than him. But dependence on a woman of this type results in the need to constantly prove one’s intellectual and business worth, and this is painful for Ilya Ilyich. This is largely why he chose to stay in the house on the Vyborg side.
Marrying Olga would not have changed Oblomov; in the end, she herself understood this. A person cannot be remade, and Olga did not want to accept Ilya Ilyich as he is, and this made their marriage, for which there were no external obstacles, impossible.