This story is included in the cycle of works by Turgenev “Notes of a Hunter”. To better reveal the theme of “Characteristics of the Biryuk”, you need to know the plot well, and it revolves around the fact that a hunter, lost in the forest, is suddenly overtaken by a thunderstorm. To wait out the bad weather, he hid under big bush. But then local forester Foma Kuzmich picked him up and took him to his home. There the hunter saw the wretched shelter of his savior, and at the same time he had two children: a 12-year-old girl and a baby in a cradle. His wife was not in the house; she ran away from him with someone else, leaving him the children.

Turgenev, “Biryuk”: characteristics of Biryuk

People called this gloomy forester the Biryuk. He had a broad figure and a face that betrayed no emotion. When the rain stopped, they went to the yard. And then the sound of an ax was heard, the forester immediately realized where it was coming from, and soon dragged in a wet man who begged for mercy. The hunter immediately took pity on the poor peasant and was ready to pay for him, but the stern Biryuk himself let him go.

As you can see, the characterization of Biryuk is not simple; Turgenev shows a hero who, although a beggar, knows his duty well, and whom “neither wine nor money” can’t take. He understands a peasant thief who is trying to somehow get out of hunger. And here the hero’s conflict is shown between a sense of duty and compassion for a poor man, and yet he decided in favor of compassion. Foma Kuzmich is an integral and strong personality, but tragic, because he has his own views on life, but sometimes he, a principled person, has to sacrifice them.

Characteristics of Biryuk

The author points out that in mid-19th centuries, the majority of the peasant people treated theft as something natural and commonplace. Of course, this phenomenon was caused by serious social problems: lack of education, poverty and immorality.

But it is Biryuk who is unlike most of these people, although he is just as poor as everyone else. His hut consisted of one room, low and empty. But still he doesn’t steal, although if he did, he could afford a better house.

Duty and Compassion

Biryuk’s characteristics indicate that he neither steals nor gives to others, since he understands perfectly well that if everyone does this, it will only get worse.

He is sure of this and therefore is firm in his decision. But, as the essay describes, his principles sometimes compete with feelings of pity and compassion, and he will have this hesitation all his life. After all, he understands someone who, out of desperation, goes to steal.

Composition

I. S. Turgenev was one of the leading people of his time. He realized that in order to win the right to be called a people's writer, talent alone is not enough, you need “sympathy for the people, a kindred disposition towards them” and “the ability to penetrate the essence of your people, their language and way of life.” The collection of stories “Notes of a Hunter” describes the peasant world in a very vivid and multifaceted way.

In all the stories there is the same hero - the nobleman Pyotr Petrovich. He loves hunting very much, travels a lot and talks about the incidents that happened to him. We also meet Pyotr Petrovich in “Biryuk,” where his acquaintance with the mysterious and gloomy forester nicknamed Biryuk, “whom all the surrounding men were afraid of like fire,” is described. The meeting takes place in the forest during a thunderstorm, and the forester invites the master to his house to shelter from the weather. Pyotr Petrovich accepts the invitation and finds himself in an old hut “from one room, smoky, low and empty.” He notices the little things in the sad existence of the forester's family. His wife “ran away with a passing tradesman.” And Foma Kuzmich was left alone with two small children. The eldest daughter Ulita, still a child herself, is nursing the baby, cradling him in a cradle. Poverty and family grief have already left their mark on the girl. She has a downcast “sad face” and timid movements. The description of the hut makes a depressing impression. Everything here breathes sadness and wretchedness: “a tattered sheepskin coat hung on the wall,” “a torch burned on the table, sadly flaring up and going out,” “a pile of rags lay in the corner,” “the bitter smell of cooled smoke” hovered everywhere and made it difficult to breathe. The heart in Pyotr Petrovich’s chest “ached: it’s not fun to enter a peasant’s hut at night.” When the rain passed, the forester heard the sound of an ax and decided to catch the intruder. The master went with him.

The thief turned out to be “a wet man, in rags, with a long disheveled beard,” who, apparently, did not turn to theft out of a good life. He has “a wasted, wrinkled face, drooping yellow eyebrows, restless eyes, thin limbs.” He begs Biryuk to let him go with the horse, justifying that “out of hunger... the children are squeaking.” The tragedy of the hungry peasant life, the difficult life appears before us in the image of this pitiful, desperate man who exclaims: “Knock it down - one end; Whether it’s from hunger or not, it’s all one.”

The realism of the depiction of everyday pictures of the life of peasants in the story of I. S. Turgenev is impressive to the core. And at the same time, we are faced with the social problems of that time: poverty of the peasants, hunger, cold, forcing people to steal.

Other works on this work

Analysis of the essay by I.S. Turgenev "Biryuk" Miniature essay based on the story “Biryuk” by I.S. Turgenev

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

The collection is united by the presence of one “off-screen” main character-narrator. This is a certain Pyotr Petrovich, a nobleman who in some stories is a mute witness to events, in others 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 portray peasants as a faceless gray mass, the author in each essay notes some special feature peasant life, therefore all the works combined in the collection gave a bright and multifaceted picture of the peasant world.

A genre work stands on the border between a story and an essay (the title “note” emphasizes the sketchiness of the work). The plot is another episode from the life of Pyotr Petrovich. The events described in Biryuk are presented by Pyotr Petrovich in the form of a monologue. An avid hunter, he once got lost in the forest and got caught in a downpour in the evening twilight. The forester he meets, a figure known in the village for his gloominess and unsociability, invites Pyotr Petrovich home to wait out the bad weather. The rain subsided, and the forester heard the sound of an ax in the silence - someone was stealing the forest he was protecting. Pyotr Petrovich wanted to go with the forester “to detention”, to see how he worked. Together they caught the “thief,” who turned out to be a poor little peasant, disheveled and in rags. It was clear that the man began to steal timber not because of 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, getting into a fight between Biryuk and the detainee. Unexpectedly, the forester released the caught man, taking pity on him.

Heroes and problems of the story

Main character works - Biryuk, a serf forester, zealously and fundamentally protecting the lordly forest. His name is Foma Kuzmich, but people in the village treat him with hostility and give him a nickname for his stern, unsociable character.

It is no coincidence that the forester’s character is drawn from the words of a nobleman witness - Pyotr Petrovich still understands Biryuk better than the villagers, for him his character is quite explainable and understandable. It is clear why the villagers are hostile to 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 upon a thief,” and they keep climbing into the forest out of despair, out of incredible poverty. The villagers keep ascribing some kind of imaginary “power” to Biryuk and threatening to take it away, completely forgetting that he is just an honest performer of work and “doesn’t eat the master’s bread for nothing.”

Biryuk himself is as poor as the peasants he captures - his home is miserable and sad, filled with desolation and disorder. Instead of a bed - a pile of rags, dim light from a torch, lack of food except bread. There is no mistress - she ran away with a visiting tradesman, leaving her husband and two children (one of them is just a baby and, apparently, sick - he breathes “noisily and quickly” in his cradle, takes care of infant girl about 12 years old).

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

The man who is caught as a thief evokes only pity, because, in contrast to Biryuk, he is petty, pathetic, justifying his theft by hunger and the need to feed a large family. The men are ready to blame anyone for their poverty - from the master to the same Biryuk. In a fit of evil sincerity, he calls the forester 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 responsibilities of a family man - to feed children, but the man steals, and the forester does not, and therefore one may not believe in the description given by fellow villagers to the forester. Only those whom he prevented from stealing can call him a “beast”, “murderer”, “bloodsucker”.

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

Biryuk lets the man go out of compassion - feeling has prevailed over reason and principles. Pyotr Petrovich offers to reimburse the cost of the tree the man felled, 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 relief.

“Biryuk,” like the rest of the stories in “Notes of a Hunter,” is a collection of images of peasants, each of whom is famous for some aspect of his character, his actions or talents. The appalling plight of these talented and strong people, which does not allow them to open up, to care about at least something other than the search for food and pushes them to commit crimes - this is the main problem of the story, voiced by the author.

Russia is shown simply, poetically and lovingly in “Notes of a Hunter” by I. S. Turgenev. The author admires the simple folk characters, fields, forests, meadows of Russia. No matter how one views the stories, they are primarily poetry, not politics. Written with great love and observation short story cycle "Biryuk". The depth of the content is combined with the perfection of the form, which speaks of the writer’s ability to subordinate all the components of the work, all of his artistic techniques a single creative task.

Biryuk in the Oryol province was called a gloomy and lonely person. Forester Foma lived alone in a smoky, low hut with two young children; his wife left him; family grief and hard life made him even more gloomy and unsociable.

The main and only event of the story is the forester’s capture of a poor peasant who cut down a tree in the master’s forest. The conflict of the work consists of a clash between a forester and a peasant.

The image of Biryuk is complex and contradictory, and in order to understand it, let’s pay attention to the artistic means that the author used.

The description of the situation shows how poor the hero is. This dwelling was a sad sight: “I looked around - my heart ached: it’s not fun to enter a peasant’s hut at night.”

The psychological portrait of the forester testifies to Biryuk’s exceptional strength; it becomes clear why all the surrounding men were afraid of him. “He was tall, broad-shouldered and beautifully built. ...A black curly beard covered half of his stern and courageous face; Small brown eyes looked boldly from under fused wide eyebrows.” In appearance this man is rude and formidable, but in reality he is good and kind. And the narrator clearly admires his hero.

The key to understanding the character of Thomas is the nickname that the peasants give him. From them we receive an indirect description of the forester: “a master of his craft”; “the fagots will not be allowed to be dragged away”; “strong... and as dexterous as a devil... And nothing can take him: neither wine, nor money; doesn’t take any bait.”

The plot, consisting of two episodes (the forester met the hunter during a thunderstorm and helped him; he caught the peasant at the scene of the crime, and then set him free), reveals the best features of the hero’s character. It is difficult for Foma to make a choice: to act according to the dictates of duty or to take pity on the man. The despair of the captured peasant awakens the best feelings in the forester.

Nature in the story serves not just as a background, it is an integral part of the content, helping to reveal Biryuk’s character. Combinations of words depicting the rapid onset of bad weather, sad pictures of nature emphasize the drama of the situation of the peasants: “a thunderstorm was approaching,” “a cloud was slowly rising,” “clouds were rushing.”

Turgenev helped not only to see the life of the peasants, to sympathize with their troubles and needs, he turned us to the spiritual world of the Russian peasant, noticed many unique, interesting individuals. “Still, my Rus' is dearer to me than anything else in the world...” I. S. Turgenev would later write. “Notes of a Hunter” is a writer’s tribute to Russia, a kind of monument to the Russian peasantry.

The main character of the work, included in the collection of stories “Notes of a Hunter,” is the serf forester Foma Kuzmich, popularly nicknamed Biryuk.

The writer presents Biryuk in the image of a tall, broad-shouldered man with a thick beard, bushy eyebrows and small brown eyes, reminiscent of a Russian fairy-tale hero living in a poor forest lodge with two children left to be raised by their father by their unlucky mother.

By nature, Foma Kuzmich is distinguished by strength, honesty, dexterity, severity, justice, but has a tough and unsociable character, for which he received among local residents nickname Biryuk.

Biryuk religiously observes own principles about good and evil, which are subordinated to strict service of official duties, careful attitude towards other people’s property, although in own family he has complete poverty, lack of basic home furniture and utensils, poor food and children left without maternal affection and care.

Indicative of this is the example of a man caught in the forest by Biryuk, who decided on a stormy night to cut firewood without proper permission in order to feed his large family. A sense of duty prevails among the forester, he is very strict about theft, not allowing himself to commit unseemly acts even out of despair, but at the same time, compassion, pity and generosity towards a beggar, a wretched little peasant who decided to do a bad deed because of hungry children, wins In Biryuk’s soul there is a need to correctly carry out official duties.

Narrating an episode that happened on a rainy night with Biryuk, the writer reveals the character of Foma Kuzmich as an integral and strong nature, adhering to firm principles in life, but forced to deviate from them in order to demonstrate true human qualities.

The entire cycle of stories “Notes of a Hunter,” including the work in question, is dedicated by the writer to a description of the difficult life of Russian serfs, each of whom is a strong, powerful characteristic image, bearing the manifestation of true human qualities, such as love, patriotism, justice, mutual assistance, kindness and sincerity.

Essay about Biryuk

Turgenev is one of those poets for whom love for Russia comes practically in first place. This can be seen throughout his entire work. The work “Biryuk” is very prominent among Turgenev’s works. This work was not a manifestation of love for the native land and not political issues, but exclusively moral values.

The main character is Biryuk, who is also a forester. Turgenev in the story tries to show that his life is not sweet and there are enough problems for his soul. The main character broke up with his wife, or rather, she left him, and the two children remained to live with their father. If you imagine Biryuk, you get the impression of a person who is always sad and gloomy. But how can you rejoice when family life ended. In addition, the place of residence was an old hut. When the author describes the state of the home, it becomes gloomy, poverty is all around. Even when he had a guest at night, he didn’t really want to be in such a terrible hut.

The people who met Thomas were afraid of him, and this is understandable. He is a tall and strong man, his face is stern, even angry. A beard grew on his face. But, as you know external signs This is only the first impression of a person, because, in essence, he is a kind and sympathetic person. Fellow villagers said about Biryuk that he was an honest man and did not like deception. He was an incorruptible forester, he did not need profit, he simply minded his own business and lived honestly.

One day Thomas caught a thief at night and he was faced with the question of what to do with him? The first thing on the forester's mind was punishment for the thief. Biryuk took the ropes and tied up the criminal, then led him into the hut. The thief was a little dumbfounded by the living conditions of the forester. But you can’t deceive your soul and heart. Although Thomas looked stern, kindness won in this situation. The forester decides that the criminal needs to be released, although he has doubts about this. It was difficult for Biryuk to understand that theft is not such a terrible crime. In his concepts, every crime must be punished.

Throughout the story, Turgenev tries to present Foma as a simple man from Russia. He is honest and just lives and does what he is supposed to do. He is not looking for illegal ways to make money. Turgenev describes Thomas in such a way that you really understand that life can throw you into trouble. He is burdened by his existence in poverty and no joy. Nevertheless, the hero accepts what is and continues to live proudly and fight problems.

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