What role does Oblomov’s dream play in Oblomov’s novel?
Oblomov’s mother was more active than her husband, she watched the servants, walked around the garden with her retinue, and assigned various tasks to the servants. All this was reflected in the character of Ilya Ilyich. Since childhood he was raised like an exotic flower, so he grew slowly and got used to being lazy. His attempts to do something on his own were constantly thwarted. The only time when Oblomov was free and could do whatever he wanted was the time of general sleep. At this time, Oblomov was running around the yard, climbing into the dovecote and gallery, observing and studying various phenomena, and exploring the world around him. If this initial activity had begun to develop, then perhaps Oblomov would have become an active person. But his parents’ prohibitions on doing anything on his own led to the fact that Oblomov later became lazy and apathetic; he could not go to Oblomovka, change apartments, lived in a dusty, unwashed room and was completely dependent on the servant Zakhar.
In Oblomovka, the nanny told Ilya Ilyich fairy tales, which he believed in throughout his life. Fairy tales shaped the poetic character of Russian people. This character manifested itself in his relationship with Olga. For some time he was able to drown out Oblomov’s laziness and apathy, and return Oblomov to an active life. But after a while, due to everyday trifles, the poetic spirit began to weaken again and gave way to Oblomov’s laziness.
The Oblomovs did not like books and believed that reading was not a necessity, but a luxury and entertainment. The Oblomovs also did not like teaching. And so Ilya Ilyich attended school somehow. The Oblomovs found all sorts of excuses not to take Ilya Ilyich to school and because of this they quarreled with teacher Stolz. His son Andrei Stolts became friends with Oblomov, who became his friend for life. At school, Andrei helped Oblomov do his homework, but this developed laziness in Oblomov. Subsequently, Stolz fought long and hard against this laziness, but to no avail. I believe that the role of this episode is to show how Oblomov’s Russian poetic character is formed, the reasons for the appearance of Oblomov’s laziness and apathy, the environment in which Ilya Ilyich was brought up, the emergence of Oblomov’s multifaceted image. Oblomov could not be “lifted from the couch” because Oblomov had money and prosperity from birth and he did not need Stolz’s activities. Oblomov needed a poetic ideal, which Olga Ilyinskaya gave him for a while. But after Oblomov broke off relations with her, he returned to his usual apathy and laziness. With whom he died a few years later.
