Chelkash main characters list. The story of the character. Composition Characteristic of Chelkash
Chelkash and Gavrila are heroes opposed to each other.
Their dissimilarity is manifested primarily in appearance... Grishka Chelkash, "an old poisoned wolf, an inveterate drunkard. He was barefoot, in old worn plush trousers, without a hat, in a chintz shirt, with a torn collar, revealing his dry, angular bones, covered with brown skin." The whole appearance of Chelkash was predatory, the author compares him to a steppe hawk, his eyes are sharp, his eyes are cold. The author describes Gavrila as follows: “... a young guy in a blue checkered shirt, in the same trousers, in bast shoes and a torn red cap. The guy was broad-shouldered, stocky, fair-haired, with a tanned and chapped face and big blue eyes that looked at Chelkash trustingly and good-naturedly.
Appearance reflects Chelkash's life experience and Gavrila's naivety.
The first reaction of Chelkash: "... he immediately liked this good-natured hefty guy with childish bright eyes."
What led to such a terrible quarrel between the heroes?
The heroes have different ideas about freedom, Gavrila's - everyday, primitive, “do whatever you want”. Chelkash does not comment on his words, but spits it out beforehand. You can guess that he has other ideas.
The difference in worldview is also obvious when the heroes agree on a case. "The guy looked at Chelkash and felt the owner in him." Chelkash, on the other hand, had mixed feelings: “Feeling himself the master of another, he thought that this guy would never drink such a cup, which fate gave him, Chelkash, to drink. And all Chelkash's feelings merged into one - something paternal and economic. It was a pity for the little one, and the little one was needed. "
So, the roles are assigned. Further, the heroes are compared in relation to the sea. Grishka, “a thief, loved the sea. His ebullient, nervous nature, greedy for impression, was never satiated with the contemplation of this dark breadth, boundless, free and powerful. "
Gavrila said about the sea: “Nothing! Only scary in him. " It is clear that in this too they are opposite natures.
Gavrila's cowardice is evident at sea against the backdrop of Chelkash's fearlessness. Gavrila helps to commit the theft. On the way back, they talk about peasant labor. Chelkash experienced strange emotions for readers, “an annoying burning sensation in the chest,” the author reveals Chelkash's past to the reader. It was this past that drew him to Gavrila.
Attitude towards money is another difference between heroes. “You are greedy,” Chelkash says to Gavrila. His, Chelkash, idea is: "Is it possible to torture yourself like that because of money?"
Alexandrova Victoria 7A class MOU<<СОШ с УИОП>>
Aleksandrova Vika, a student of grade 7A, created scientific work on literature as a result of studying the work of M. Gorky. She presented a report on the topic: "Grishka Chelkash-hero or victim?" (Based on the story of M. Gorky "Chelkash".)
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MOU "Secondary School No. 95
with UIOP "
School conference "Mariinsky Readings"
"Tramp Grishka Chelkash - a hero or a victim?"
(Based on the story of M. Gorky "Chelkash".)
Performed
Alexandrova Victoria,
student of grade 7A, MOU "Secondary School No. 95 with
UIOP ",
Leader -
Kolesnikova Tamara Vasilievna,
teacher of Russian language and literature
MOU "Secondary school No. 95s UIOP",
address - 2 Sadovaya, 23,
phone 20-37-80.
2016 year
Introduction. ... ……………………………………………………….. 3
Chapter 1. The history of the creation of the story "Chelkash". . ………. 4-5
Chapter 2. The fate of the main characters in M. Gorky's story ………………………………………… .. ……… .. 6-8
Chapter 3. Images of "tramps" in literary criticism. .. 9-10
Chapter 4. So who is Chelkash? Hero or Victim? .............................................. ............................ 11
Conclusion. .…………………………………………………... 12
List of used literature.....………………… 13
Introduction.
Life is gray, and Russian life in particular, but M. Gorky's keen eye brightened up the dullness of everyday life. Full of romantic impulses, Gorky managed to find a picturesque brightness where one colorless mud had been seen before him, and brought before the amazed reader a whole gallery of types, past which they had indifferently passed before, not suspecting that there was so much exciting interest in them. Nature invariably inspired him. Almost every successful story has beautiful and extremely distinctive descriptions of nature. This is not an ordinary landscape associated with purely aesthetic emotion. As soon as Gorky touched nature, he succumbed to the charm of the great whole, which he least of all seemed impassive and indifferently cold.
In whatever basement fate has thrown the heroes of Gorky, they will always spy on "a piece of the blue sky." A sense of the beauty of nature captures the author and his heroes, this beauty is the brightest pleasure available to a barefoot. Gorky's love for nature is completely devoid of sentimentality; he always portrayed her in major, nature encouraged him and gave meaning to life. With such a deep relationship to beauty, the writer's aestheticism cannot be limited to the sphere of artistic emotions. Surprisingly for a "barefoot", but through beauty Gorky comes to the truth. At the time of almost unconscious creativity, in his earliest works - "Makar Chudre", "Old Woman Izergil" - a sincere impulse for beauty takes away from Gorky's work the main drawback of any pretentiousness - artificiality. Of course he is a romantic; but this is the main reason why the writer turns to the topic of vagabond in his work.
Interest in unusual heroes, in unusual destinies led me to choose the topic of this research.
The purpose This work is a study of the psychology of people thrown to the "bottom" of life.
Tasks:
1. to give an analysis of the images of romantic heroes;
a) how they are shown in the critical literature;
b) how I imagine them to myself;
2. to identify universal human values inherent in people rejected by society.
Chapter 1. The history of the creation of the story "Chelkash".
Maxim Gorky (Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov) was born on March 16, 1868 in Nizhny Novgorod, died on June 18, 1936. Gorky is one of the most significant and famous Russian writers and thinkers in the world. The story "Chelkash" was written in 1895 and published in the journal "Russian wealth". It describes the fate of Grishka Chelkash, a tramp, a thief and a drunkard. He meets Gavrila, a simple-minded peasant, after which they embark on a dangerous business that dramatically changes the course of this story.
The story says that tramps are people like us, they are not greedy and will not kill for their own benefit. Others, who have quite a lot of wealth, are willing to go to any lengths to get money. Why does Gorky turn to the topic of vagabondage?
Because in the 80s there was an industrial crisis, the most severe economic oppression came, when the writer went to his "universities" in Kazan, there were 20,000 tramps per 120,000 of the population. Wandering people attracted Gorky with their freedom-loving mood, unwillingness to submit to the bourgeois system, spontaneous protests, but he shows that this is an imaginary liberty, not a fight against bourgeois society, but a departure from it.
The writing of the story is connected with the following event: in July 1891, Alexey Peshkov stood up for the tortured woman in the village of Kandybovo, Kherson region, for which he himself was beaten half to death. Considering him dead, the men threw him into the bushes, into the mud, where he was picked up by passing people (this story is described in Gorky's story "Conclusion"). In a hospital in the city of Nikolaev, the future writer met with a tramp lying there, about whom he later recalled: “... I was amazed at the good-natured mockery of the Odessa tramp, who told me the case I described in the story“ Chelkash ”.
Three years later, Gorky was returning from the field, where he had been walking at night, and met the writer V.G. Korolenko at the porch of his apartment.
“It was already nine o'clock in the morning,” writes Gorky, “when we returned to the city. Saying goodbye to me, he reminded me:
- So, try to write a big story, is it decided?
I came home and immediately sat down to write "Chelkash" ... I wrote it in two days and sent a draft of the manuscript to Vladimir Galaktionovich. A few days later, he cordially, as soon as he knew how to do, congratulated me.
- You wrote a not bad thing, even a downright good story! ..
Walking around the cramped room, rubbing his hands, he said:
- Your luck pleases me ...
It was unforgettable for me at this hour with this pilot, I silently watched his eyes - so much sweet joy about a person shone in them - people so rarely experience it, and this is the greatest joy on earth. "
I think that, although this is a fairly common incident, it was very significant, because otherwise Maxim Gorky would never have written the story "Chelkash".
Chapter 2. The fate of the main characters in the story of M. Gorky.
After reading the story "Chelkash", I became interested in the fact that Gorky refers to the life of tramps. I wondered why? To find out the answer to it, I made an analysis of this work and turned to the opinion of critics.
There are two characters in the story: Grishka Chelkash and Gavrila. It would seem that they are of the same origin. Although Chelkash is a tramp, he was also a peasant in the past, but he could no longer be in the village and left for a seaside town to live an independent life, and now he feels absolutely free. And Gavrila only dreams of freedom, and the price of his freedom is one and a half hundred rubles in order to have his own farm and not depend on his father-in-law. They are the complete opposite of each other. The main problematic of the work is the antithesis of the main characters; developing and changing it in every possible way, the author presents the contradiction of characters from different sides. Chelkash is freedom-loving and wayward, he is compared to a "poisoned wolf", because he is a thief and has already taken part in various dangerous cases in his life, he is already quite famous for thefts, which is prosecuted by law. Chelkash is compared to a "predatory hawk", this reveals his nature and attitude to other people, "he peers into the crowd, looking for his prey", those around him have no value for him, he can easily choose a "comrade" in smuggling. At the beginning of the work, the author, as it were, creates a negative attitude towards Chelkash.
Gavrila is completely different: he comes from a fairly good peasant family. "The guy was broad-shouldered, stocky, fair-haired, with a tanned and chapped face ...", unlike Chelkash, with his not very pleasant appearance, a collar that revealed his dry and angular bones, covered with brown leather. " And Gavrila himself is naive and gullible about those around him, probably due to the fact that he never doubted people, nothing bad has ever happened to him. Gavrila is shown as a positive hero.
Chelkash feels his superiority and understands that Gavrila has never been in his position and knows nothing about life. Taking advantage of this, he tries to lure him into his unclean deeds. Gavrila, on the contrary, considers Chelkash his master, because he inspires confidence in himself with his words and actions, besides, Chelkash promised a reward for his work, which Gavrila could not refuse.
Heroes also differ in their understanding of freedom. Although Chelkash is a thief, he loves the sea, so vast and immeasurable, it is in the sea that he can be free, it is there that he is independent of anyone or anything, he can forget about grief and sorrow: , a warm feeling, - embracing his entire soul, it slightly cleansed it of everyday filth. He appreciated this and loved to see himself as the best here, in the midst of water and air, where thoughts about life and life itself always lose - the former - their sharpness, the latter - the price. The sea evokes completely different feelings in Gavrila. He sees it as a black, heavy mass, hostile, carrying mortal danger. The only feeling that the sea evokes in Gavrila is fear: "There is only fear in it."
For Chelkash, the main thing in life is freedom: “The main thing in peasant life is, brother, freedom! You are your own master. You have your house - it's not worth it - but it's yours. You have your own land - and that is a handful of it - yes it is yours! You are a king on your own land! .. You have a face ... You can demand respect from everyone ... ". Gavrila has a different opinion. He believes that freedom lies in wealth, in the fact that you can spend your time in idleness and celebration, not work and do nothing: “And if I could earn a hundred and a half rubles, now I would get up on my feet and - Antipu - n-mow, take a bite! Want to highlight Martha? Not? Do not! Thank God, the girls in the village are not alone. And I would, therefore, be completely free, on my own ... ". Love for freedom is an integral part of Chelkash's nature, so he feels hatred towards Gavrila. How can he, a country boy, know anything about freedom ?!Chelkash also feels anger towards himself, because he allowed himself to get angry at such a trifle. Here we can already see that he is rather proud.
Having overcome many dangers, the heroes safely return to the shore. It is at this moment that their true natures manifest themselves. They are already changing places. The "young heifer" annoys Grigory, he does not accept his philosophy of life, his values, but, nevertheless, grumbling and swearing at this man, Chelkash does not allow himself to be mean or mean in relation to him. Gavrila, a kind and naive person, turned out to be completely different. He turned out to be greedy and selfish, so hungry for money that he was even ready to kill Chelkash. Later, he also manifests itself as a weak person who has no dignity of his own, begging for money from Gregory. Gavrila already puts himself above Chelkash, in contrast to what was at the beginning of their acquaintance, he thinks: “Who, they say, will miss him? And they will find, they will not try to find out how and who. He is not the kind of person, they say, to make noise because of him! .. Unnecessary on earth! Who will stand up for him? " For Gregory, such behavior causes only disgust and disgust, he would never have fallen so low, especially for the sake of money, he would never have killed a person for it. Although Chelkash is a tramp, and he has nothing - no home, no family - he is much more noble than Gavrila.
Chapter 3. Images of "tramps" in literary criticism.
After analyzing the story of M. Gorky, I turned to critical articles.
Here is what the critic N. Mikhailovsky writes about the story: “M. Gorky is developing, if not entirely new, then a very little-known mine - the world of tramps, barefoot crews, gold-makers. The tramps lagged behind all the banks, but did not stick to any. Gorky is ready to see them as a special class. Among the tramps there are both evil and not very evil, and even very kind, there are, of course, stupid ones, there are all kinds. They are worthy of attention as a social phenomenon, but in order for tramps to form a "class", it is permissible to doubt this. Gorky's heroes are extreme individualists, all social relations in which they enter are random and short-lived. They are bad workers, and the vagrant instinct does not allow to stay in one place. To "throw yourself wherever you want and carry yourself wherever you want ... you need freedom ... freedom from any permanent responsibilities, from any bonds, laws." Chelkash considers himself free, he enjoys, feeling himself the master of another person. Gorky, as it were, declares: "No matter how low a person may fall, he will never deny himself the pleasure of feeling stronger, smarter, even brighter than his neighbor."
Based on the above, Mikhailovsky does not sympathize with tramps, does not see anything prosperous in Chelkash's nature, let alone heroic.
Then I turned to the opinion of another critic, E. Tager. She writes: “The liberal-bourgeois criticism declared Gorky to be the“ singer of the vagabond ”. It is not difficult to show that trampled anarchism was always not only alien, but also hostile to Gorky. But, revealing in his tramps, the heroes of the "bottom", the consciousness of proud human dignity, inner freedom, high moral exactingness, Gorky did not just decorate the tramp with an undeserved halo. A deep artistic truth is inherent in these exceptional, romantically pictorial images. In the article "How I Learned to Write," Gorky says that, from childhood, having hated the "mosquito life of ordinary people, similar to each other, like copper dimes of one year's minting," he saw "extraordinary" people in barefoot. “What was extraordinary about them was that they, people who were“ declassed, ”- cut off from their class, rejected by them, - lost the most specific traits their class appearance ... I saw that although they live worse than "ordinary" people, they feel and realize themselves better than them, and this is because they are not greedy, do not strangle each other, do not save money. " You cannot blame the poor man Gavrila for longing for money in order to avoid the bitter fate of a farm laborer. But when he crawls at Chelkash's feet, begging for this money, and Chelkash, with a sudden outbreak of a feeling of acute pity and hatred, shouts:“Eh, felt! A beggar! .. Is it possible to torture yourself for money? " - we understand: Chelkash is more human than Gavrila. "
Chapter 4 So who is Chelkash? Hero or Victim?
Having become acquainted with the articles of famous critics, I was faced with the question: how do I feel about tramps, in particular, Chelkash? I agree with the opinion of E.M. Tager. I think that tramps, although cut off from a rich life, are often forced to steal and cheat, they have more humanity than well-to-do people who, it would seem, are neat and decent. Tramps are not greedy, they do not strive for wealth, they are not selfish, and even more so they would not kill a person for the money that Gavrila wants to do. I think that it is wealth that makes a person greedy, because the more goods a person has, the more he craves for more. But then it turns out that a person does not need this wealth, these are all secret desires that spoil him, suppress him.
However, another question arises: Grishka Chelkash - a hero or a victim? I think he is both a hero and a victim. On the one hand, he is a victim, a victim of fate, poverty and, in the end, the greed of people. On the other hand, he is a hero. Chelkash turned out to be a hero, because, despite the fact that he is a tramp and a thief, he loves the sea, he has something to appreciate and love, he is not selfish and not greedy, he remained a real person.
Conclusion.
As a result of the conducted research, I came to the following conclusions:
- The story "Chelkash" is romantic-realistic. Gorky idealizes his hero, he wants to rehabilitate the thief and murderer Chelkash, seeing in him disinterestedness, freedom from the power of money over an individual. This is the author's position.
- Using the example of the story, Gorky showed the injustice of a society where money rules, as well as the unpredictability of our life, false and real, because often a person's appearance does not correspond to his inner content; gave an answer to the question: what is the meaning of life.
- In my opinion, the objective meaning of the story is that the world is terrible in which people, having obeyed its wolf laws, cynically begin to survive each other, up to attempted murder.
The practical focus of my work isthe opportunity to use these materials in literature lessons, in circle work.
List of used
Literature
- Gorky M. "Makar Chudra and Other Stories", Volgo-Vyatka Book Publishing House, 1975.
- Tager E.B. "Young Gorky", M., "Children's Literature", 1970.
- Mikhailovsky N.K. "About Mr. Maxim Gorky and his heroes", [Electronic resource], http://az.lib.ru/m/mihajlowskij_n_k/text_0101.shtml
The story "Chelkash" by Gorky was written in 1894. First published in 1895 in the journal "Russian wealth". Literary critics attribute the work to late romanticism with elements of realism. With his story "Chelkash", Gorky anticipated the appearance of the socialist realism trend in Russian literature. In the work, the author touches upon the themes of freedom, the meaning of life; opposes vagrancy and the peasantry, but does not come to an exact conclusion which way is better.
main characters
Grishka Chelkash- “an inveterate drunkard and a clever, brave thief”, “long, bony, a little stooped” with a hunchbacked, predatory nose and “cold gray eyes”.
Gavrila- Chelkash's assistant, a country guy, "broad-shouldered, stocky, fair-haired, with big blue eyes, looking trustingly and good-naturedly."
Harbor. The ringing of anchor chains, the roar of carriages, the whistles of steamers, the cries of the workers "merge into the deafening music of a working day." People running are "funny and pathetic." "What they created enslaved and depersonalized them."
"There were twelve measured and resonant bells." It was lunch time.
I
The loaders, hiding in the shadow of the pavement, were having lunch. Grishka Chelkash appeared - "among hundreds of sharp tramp figures like him, he immediately attracted attention by his resemblance to a steppe hawk." It was evident that he was "his" here. Chelkash was not in the mood. The thief was looking for his friend and accomplice Mishka. However, the customs guard Semyonich said that Mishka had his leg crushed with a cast-iron bayonet, and he was taken to the hospital. Despite the annoying news, the conversation with the watchman amused the thief. “Ahead of him a solid salary was smiling,” but he needed an assistant.
On the street Chelkash noticed a young peasant guy. He began to complain that he really needed money, but he could not earn it. He was on the "Kosovitsa" in the Kuban, but now they pay very poorly. Recently, the boy's father died, and his old mother and house in the village remained. If he earned somewhere "one hundred and a half rubles", he could get on his feet. Otherwise, you will have to go "in-law" to a rich man.
When the guy asked what Chelkash was doing, the thief replied that he was a fisherman. The guy doubted that Chelkash earns money legally, and admitted that, like vagabonds, he loves freedom very much. After a little thought, the thief invited the guy to work with him that night - he would only need to "row". The guy began to hesitate, fearing that he might "fly into something" with a new acquaintance.
Chelkash experienced hatred for the guy for "that he has a village somewhere, a house in it", "and most of all for the fact that this child dares to love freedom, which does not know the price and which he does not need."
However, the guy agreed to earn some money, and they went to the inn. The guy introduced himself - his name was Gavrila. In the tavern Chelkash ordered food on credit. The guy immediately felt respect for the new owner. Chelkash made Gavrila very drunk. The thief "saw in front of him a man whose life fell into his wolf's paws." Chelkash felt sorry for the guy, all his feelings finally merged into something “paternal and economic. It was a pity for the little one, and the little one was needed. "
II
Dark night. Chelkash and Gavrila set sail, go out into the open sea. The thief was very fond of the sea, the guy was scared. Gavrila, suspecting something was wrong, asked where the tackle was. The thief became “offended to lie in front of this boy” and he shouted at the guy. Suddenly from afar were heard the shouts of the "devils" - the guards. Chelkash, hissing, ordered Gavrila to row as quickly as possible. When they sailed away, the thief said that if they were caught up, they would be finished.
Frightened Gavrila began to beg Chelkash to let him go, burst into tears and continued to sob until they swam to the harbor wall. To prevent the guy from escaping, Chelkash took his bag with a passport from him. Disappearing in the air, the thief soon returned and lowered something cubic and heavy into the boat. All they had to do was to "swim between the devils' eyes" one more time, and then everything would be fine. Gavrila began to row with all his might. The guy wanted to go ashore faster and run away from Chelkash.
The men swam up to the cordons. Now the boat was going completely soundless. Realizing that there might be people nearby, Gavrila was already about to call for help, when suddenly a "huge fiery-blue sword" appeared on the horizon. Frightened, the guy fell to the bottom of the boat. Chelkash swore - it was the lantern of a customs cruiser. Fortunately, they managed to pass unnoticed.
On the way to the shore, Chelkash shared with Gavrila that today he managed to "bite half a thousand", and maybe more - how lucky he was to sell the stolen goods. Gavrila immediately remembered his wretched economy. Trying to cheer up the guy, Chelkash started a conversation about peasant life. Gavrila even managed to forget that he was a thief when he saw the same peasant in Chelkash. Lost in thought, the thief remembered his past, his village, childhood, mother, father, wife, as he was a guard soldier, and the father was proud of his son in front of the whole village.
Having sailed to the barque of the accomplices, they went upstairs and, lying on the deck, fell asleep.
III
Chelkash woke up first. After leaving for a couple of hours with the prey, he returned already in new clothes. Chelkash woke up Gavrila and they swam to the shore. The guy was no longer so scared and asked how much Chelkash had rescued for the stolen goods. The thief showed him five hundred and forty rubles and gave Gavrila's share - forty rubles. The guy greedily hid the money.
When they came ashore, Gavrila suddenly threw himself at Chelkash's feet and threw him to the ground. The thief just wanted to hit the guy, when he began to beg to give him the money. "Frightened, amazed and embittered" Chelkash jumped to his feet and threw bills at Gavrila, "trembling with excitement, acute pity and hatred for this greedy slave."
Gavrila was delighted to hide the money in his bosom. Looking at the guy, Chelkash thought that he would never be so greedy and low. Gavrila, with joy, said that he had already thought to hit Chelkash with an oar and take the money - all the same, no one would miss the thief.
Angry and grabbing Gavrila by the throat, Chelkash demanded the money back. Taking away the earned, the thief walked away. Gavrila threw a stone at him. Chelkash grabbed his head and fell. Having abandoned the thief, Gavrila fled. It started to rain. Gavrila unexpectedly returned and began to ask the thief for forgiveness. Exhausted Chelkash chased him away, but he did not quit. The thief kept one bill for himself, and gave the rest of the money to Gavrila.
The men left in different directions. "On the deserted seashore, there is nothing left in the memory of a small drama that played out between two people."
Conclusion
The main character of the story, Grishka Chelkash, appears before the reader as an ambiguous personality, he has his own moral principles, his own life position. The outward appearance of an inveterate thief and a vagabond hides a complex inner world... A man sadly recalls the past. However, freedom, independence from money and peace of mind are more important for him than his own home, family. Gorky contrasts the noble Chelkash with the greedy Gavril, who can even kill for the sake of money.
The retelling of "Chelkash" will be useful for schoolchildren in preparation for testing, as well as for everyone who is interested in the work of Maxim Gorky.
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Average rating: 4.4. Total ratings received: 1570.
Drawing by D. Bogoslovsky
Morning at the southern port. Huge cars are noisy around and people who have generated this noise are scurrying about. Miserable and fussy human figures, bent under the weight of loads, "are insignificant in comparison with the iron colossus surrounding them." They fill the deep holds of the ships with "the products of their slave labor" in order to buy some bread.
But then the brass bell struck twelve times, and the noise died down - it was time for dinner.
I
Grishka Chelkash appeared in the port, "an inveterate drunkard and a clever, brave thief," well known to the people of the port. This barefoot, bony man in stripped clothes, with a thick and long mustache, stood out among other port tramps by his resemblance to a steppe hawk.
Chelkash was looking for his friend and accomplice Mishka. A profitable business was planned for tonight, and the thief needed an assistant. From the customs guard Chelkash learned that Mishka had been taken to the hospital - his leg had been crushed by a cast-iron blank. Then the angry watchman escorted Chelkash to the port gate.
Sitting nearby, Chelkash was thinking about a case that requires "a little work and a lot of dexterity."
He was sure that he had enough dexterity, and, squinting his eyes, dreamed of how he would go out tomorrow morning, when the bills of credit appeared in his pocket ...
Then the thief remembered Mishka and swore to himself - without an assistant, he probably would not be able to cope with this matter. He looked around the street and noticed a broad-shouldered, fair-haired guy in peasant clothes and with a scythe wrapped in straw nearby.
Chelkash spoke to the guy, calling himself a fisherman. He said that he was coming from the Kuban, where he worked as a hired mower. It was not possible to earn much - a lot of starving people came to the Kuban, and prices fell.
Chelkash asked the guy if he loved freedom. The guy replied that he loved - "walk, know how you like, just remember God." But the guy himself, who called himself Gavrila, will never have freedom. His father died, his old mother and a piece of depleted land remained, but he had to live. They call Gavrila as a son-in-law in a rich house, only the father-in-law does not want to separate his daughter, which means that the guy must work for his father-in-law for many years. That would have been 150 rubles! He would have built a house, bought some land, and took a girl as his wife, whatever he liked. He thought he would get rich in the Kuban, but it didn't work out.
Trusting and good-natured like a calf, Gavrila awakened a feeling of annoyance in Chelkash. He needed an assistant, however, and the thief suggested that the guy go "fishing" and earn good money overnight. At first, he was frightened - as if not to get into something, Chelkash seemed to him a very dark person. The thief was offended by Gavrila's opinion about him, and he immediately hated the guy for his youth and health, for the fact that somewhere this calf is wanted as a son-in-law, and he dares to love freedom, which he does not need.
It is always unpleasant to see that a person whom you consider inferior and inferior to yourself, loves or hates the same as you, and thus becomes like you.
The greed in Gavrila's soul, meanwhile, overcame fear, and he agreed, naively thinking that he and Chelkash would go fishing. The treaty was washed in a dim tavern full of strange personalities.
Chelkash understood that now the guy’s life was in his hands, he felt like his master, he thought “that this guy would never drink such a cup as fate gave him to drink,” and this made Gavrila a little jealous. Finally, all the feelings of Chelkash merged into one, "fatherly and economic."
II
At night they went out to sea on a boat. Chelkash loved the sea, which was now black, calm, thick as butter. Gavrila was frightened by this dark mass of water, which seemed even more terrible because of the heavy leaden clouds.
The guy asked Chelkash where fishing tackle... The thief was embarrassed to lie to this boy, he got angry and fiercely shouted at Gavrila. He realized that they were not going to fish at all, he was very frightened and began to ask Chelkash to let him go, not to ruin his soul. The thief again poked at the guy, and then that rowing silently, only cried and fidgeted around the bench with fear.
In the meantime, Chelkash brought the boat close to the granite wall of the breakwater leaving the water. Taking the oars and Gavrila's passport so that he would not run away, Chelkash climbed the granite wall and soon dropped bales of stolen goods into the boat. Having experienced such a great fear, the guy decided to follow all the orders of the thief in order to quickly part with him.
Chelkash was pleased with his luck, himself and this guy, so much intimidated by him and turned into his slave.
Now the accomplices had to take the boat through the customs cordons. Hearing the word "cordons", Gavrila decided to call for help and had already opened his mouth, when suddenly a fiery-blue sword rose from the water, "lay down on the chest of the sea" and its wide strip illuminated ships invisible in the darkness. From fear, Gavrila fell to the bottom of the boat. Chelkash raised it and hissed angrily that it was just an electric flashlight from a customs cruiser.
The cordons were passed. Having relaxed a little, Chelkash said that in one night he "snatched half a thousand." Gavrila dreamed of a farm that could be spent with this money.
Chelkash also got carried away, remembered his father, a wealthy peasant. Gavrila sincerely took pity on him, who arbitrarily excommunicated from the land and "incurred due punishment for this absence." Anger flared up in Chelkash - his "pride of a reckless daredevil" was hurt by those who had no value in his eyes.
Then they sailed in silence. Chelkash recalled his childhood, his mother and father, his beautiful wife. He recalled how the whole village met him from the army - a handsome and tall guard, how proud of him his gray-haired father, hunched over from work.
Memory, this scourge of the unfortunate, revives even the stones of the past and even adds drops of honey to the poison once drunk ...
Chelkash felt lonely, forever thrown out of the order of life in which he grew up.
Soon the boat landed on a low vessel. Non-Russian, swarthy people took the goods and put the accomplices to bed.
III
In the morning, Gavrila did not recognize Chelkash - this is how the other, a little worn out, but still strong clothes changed him. The guy recovered from his fright and was not averse to working for Chelkash again - after all, you can not ruin your soul, but you will definitely become a rich man.
Having got into the boat, they went to the shore. On the way, Chelkash gave Gavrila his share, while the guy saw how much money he had left.
Gavrila went ashore very excited. He fell at the feet of Chelkash and began to beg to give him all the money. The thief will skip them, and he, Gavrila, will manage the farm and become a respected person in the village. The amazed and embittered Chelkash took out bills from his pocket and threw them to Gavrila.
- On the! Eat ... - he shouted, trembling with excitement, acute pity and hatred for this greedy slave. And by throwing the money, he felt like a hero.
Chelkash felt that he, a thief and a reveler, "will never be so greedy, low, not remembering himself."
Gavrila collected money and admitted that he was ready to hit the thief with an oar, rob and drown in the sea - anyway, no one would miss such a lost person. Hearing this, Chelkash grabbed the guy by the throat, took away the money and turned to leave. And then Gavrila violently threw a large stone into the thief's head.
Chelkash fell. The mortally frightened Gavrila rushed away, forgetting about the money, but soon returned and began to bring the thief to his senses. He kissed Chelkash's hands, asked for forgiveness, but he spat in the guy's eyes, then contemptuously threw money at him and left, staggering along the coast. Gavrila sighed, collected the bills and with firm steps walked in the opposite direction from Chelkash.
Soon the rain and tide washed away the traces and stain of blood on the sand, and nothing reminded him of "a little drama between two people."
