Maxim Gorky entered literature as an author of romantic stories. Among them was the work “Old Woman Izergil”, written in 1894. In it, the author tries to evaluate a person based on an analysis of his actions. Their measure is their benefit to other people. In this way, the concept of ideal and anti-ideal characteristic of romanticism was realized.
The writer focuses on three heroes: Izergil, who acts as a narrator, Larra, who was condemned to eternal immortality and gave his life to save the Danko tribe. A comparative analysis of all three stories (the legends are successfully intertwined with the fate of the old woman herself) is the key to understanding the answer to the question that never loses its relevance: what is the meaning of human existence on earth? In this regard, it is interesting to speculate on why Larra was punished. And is he the only one to blame for everything that happened?
Background to the legend of Larra
The story takes place in the evening on the seashore - a typical backdrop for a romantic work. The majestic free nature that surrounds the narrator and the old Moldavian woman lives according to its own laws and at the same time reflects a person’s aspirations and helps to understand his inner world.
The old woman Izergil remembers the legend telling about who Larra is not by chance. She points out to her interlocutor the shadows floating across the endless sky. One of them was “darker and denser,” and moved faster than the others. “He lives for thousands of years... This is what God can do to a man for pride!” - these words became the beginning of a fairy tale about the incredible pride of the eagle man, which became the reason for his curse and immortality.
The image and characteristics of Larra in the story “Old Woman Izergil”, description in quotes
Larra is one of the central characters in the story “The Old Woman Izergil” by Gorky.
This article presents a quotation image and characterization of Larra in the story “Old Woman Izergil”, a description in quotes.
The legend of Larra can be found in the 1st chapter of the story.
The image and characteristics of Larra in the story “Old Woman Izergil”, description in quotes
“Many thousands of years have passed since this happened.”
“And this young man, who has now received the name Larra, which means: rejected, thrown out. "
“Once, during a feast, one of them, black-haired and tender as the night, was carried away by an eagle, descending from the sky. But twenty years later she herself came, exhausted, withered, and with her was a young man. "
". beautiful and strong, just like she herself twenty years ago.”
“Everyone looked in surprise at the eagle’s son and saw that he was no better than them, only his eyes were cold and proud, like those of the king of birds.”
". stood alone against everyone, next to her, and was proud - he did not lower his head. "
“He was dexterous, predatory, strong, cruel and did not meet people face to face.”
Living among people, Larra behaved proudly, defiantly and insultingly:
“And they talked to him, and he answered if he wanted, or was silent, and when the elders of the tribe came, he spoke to them as to his equals. This offended them. "
“And he, boldly looking at them, answered that there was no one else like him. "
". Finally they saw that he considers himself the first on earth and sees nothing but himself.”
“She pushed him away and walked away, and he hit her and, when she fell, he stood with his foot on her chest, so that blood sprayed from her mouth to the sky, the girl, sighing, writhed like a snake and died.”
“Everyone even became scared when they realized what kind of loneliness he was dooming himself to. He had no tribe, no mother, no cattle, no wife, and he didn’t want any of this.”
“Stop! There is punishment. This is a terrible punishment; You wouldn’t invent something like this in a thousand years! His punishment is in himself! Let him go, let him be free. This is his punishment!”
". the young man laughed loudly after the people who abandoned him, he laughed, remaining alone, free, like his father. But his father was not a man... And this one was a man. And so he began to live, free as a bird. He came to the tribe and kidnapped cattle, girls, whatever he wanted.”
“They shot at him, but the arrows could not pierce his body, covered with the invisible veil of the highest punishment.”
“He can't die! – people said with joy.”
“He has already become like a shadow - it’s time! He lives for thousands of years, the sun dried his body, blood and bones, and the wind scattered them. This is what God can do to a person for pride. "
Source
The story of the birth of a hero
Understanding why Larra was punished begins with his origins. One day, a mighty eagle stole a girl from a strong and mighty tribe. She returned only twenty years later, and next to her was a beautiful young man - a son born from an eagle. The king of birds, who began to weaken, rose up and, folding his wings, rushed onto the sharp rocks.
Now his descendant stood in front of the people - outwardly appearing like them, but still distinguished by his proud and cold eyes. And all his actions emphasized that he felt superior to others - even with the elders the young man spoke as an equal to them. The reason is simple. The young man from birth was distinguished by a different psychology, making him unlike people, therefore he has no place among them. This is the first characteristic of Larra, the son of a powerful and freedom-loving eagle and an earthly woman.
Memoirs of the old woman Izergil
The old woman Izergil dozed off, and the narrator sat on the shore, listening to the sound of the waves and the distant songs of the grape pickers.
Suddenly waking up, the old woman Izergil began to remember those whom she loved in her long life.
She lived with her mother in Romania on the banks of a river, weaving carpets. At fifteen she fell in love with a young fisherman. He persuaded Izergil to leave with him, but by that time she was already tired of the fisherman - “he just sings and kisses, nothing more.”
Having abandoned the fisherman, Izergil fell in love with a Hutsul - a cheerful, red-haired Carpathian youth from a band of robbers. The fisherman could not forget Izergil and also pestered the Hutsuls. So they were hanged together - both the fisherman and the Hutsul, and Izergil went to watch the execution.
Then Izergil met an important and rich Turk, lived in his harem for a whole week, then got bored and ran away with his son, a dark-haired, flexible boy much younger than her, to Bulgaria. There she was wounded in the chest with a knife by a certain Bulgarian woman, either for her fiance or for her husband - Izergil no longer remembers.
Izergil left at the convent. The Polish nun who looked after her had a brother in a nearby monastery. Izergil fled to Poland with him, and the young Turk died from an excess of carnal love and homesickness.
The Pole was “funny and mean”; he could hit people with words like a whip. One day he greatly offended Izergil. She took him in her arms, threw him into the river and left.
I never met those I once loved. These are not good meetings, as if they were with the dead.
People in Poland turned out to be “cold and deceitful”; Izergil found it difficult to live among them. In the city of Bochnia, a Jew bought it, “not for himself, but to trade.” Izergil agreed, wanting to earn money and return home. “Rich gentlemen” came to feast with her and showered her with gold.
Izergil loved many, and most of all the handsome nobleman Arcadek. He was young, and Izergil had already lived for four decades. Then Izergil broke up with the Jew and lived in Krakow, she was rich - a big house, servants. Arcadek sought her for a long time, and having achieved it, he abandoned it. Then he went to fight the Russians and was captured.
After that, Izergil went to Bessarabia and stayed there. Her Moldavian husband died, and now the old woman lives among the young grape pickers, telling them her tales.
A thundercloud drifted in from the sea, and blue sparks began to appear in the steppe. Seeing them, Izergil told the storyteller the legend of Danko.
Murder of a girl
Immediately pitting herself against the entire tribe, Larra calmly deals with the daughter of one of the elders. She first attracted him with her gaze, and then pushed him away, afraid of her father. Everyone around was gripped by fear—it was the first time before their eyes that a woman had been killed so brutally. And the eagle’s son stood proudly over his victim, without lowering his head and feeling his superiority over the others, for which he was punished.
Larra embarrassed the elders with his behavior. For a long time they tried to understand the young man’s action. Not finding an answer to their questions, they turned to him himself. But for Larra everything was simple: “I killed her because... she pushed me away.” Thus, the reason for the opposition of one person to the crowd, characteristic of a romantic work, was the exorbitant pride and individualism inherited from the royal bird.
Part I
The narrator says that he heard these stories near Akkerman, not far from Bessarabia - on the seashore. There he picked grapes with the Moldovans, and one evening he stayed on the shore with Izergil, an ancient old woman. Time bent her in half, and her voice creaked as if the old woman was speaking with bones.
The night landscape was mesmerizing: the air smelled sharply of the sea, and the sky, dotted with golden specks of stars, was lost among lush and soft fragments of clouds. This atmosphere was conducive to fairy tales, and the old woman Izergil began to tell stories that were more reminiscent of legends. Pointing into the distance, she said that Larra was coming there. The narrator did not see anything, but Izergil, complaining that he, the young man, was more blind than her, the old woman, told the story.
Everyone began to look at the eagle’s son: he had cold eyes, and he behaved like equals, even with elders. This offended them and they kicked him out of the tribe. He approached the daughter of one of the elders he liked, but she pushed him away. Then he hit her and stood on her chest so that she died.
People got scared and wanted to punish the insolent man, but they couldn’t figure out how. Then they decided that he needed to be punished with freedom, and they drove him away, calling him Larra - “outcast.” For many years he lived near the tribe and did what he wanted: he stole cattle, stole the most beautiful girls. Tired of loneliness, Larra decided to die, but no one helped him, and he became a shadow. “So the man was punished for his exorbitant pride,” Izergil finished her instructive story.
Alienation from people
The elders thought for a long time about what punishment Larra deserved. The old woman Izergil said that they went through many options until the young man himself, with his speeches, suggested the answer to them. He considered himself the first on earth, and therefore, as one of the elders noted, the most terrible punishment for him would be freedom. Suddenly, “thunder from heaven” that struck at that moment convinced them of the correctness of the decision. Larra was released, and since then he has become an “outcast” - this is the meaning of his name.
More than a thousand years have passed, and his shadow still wanders the earth alone. At first he lived freely, like a bird, doing whatever he wanted. Nobody paid any attention to him. But one day the proud son of the eagle himself came to the people: he stood for a long time and did not move from his place. Someone guessed that he was looking for death. However, everyone remembered why Larra was punished, and therefore they only laughed, looking at him. Then Larra grabbed a knife and hit himself in the chest with it. But he bounced off his body as if from a stone.
His flesh has long since dried up, and he, having turned into a shadow, is still looking for death, which he will never find.
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The image of Larra: assessment and meaning
The author condemns his hero for his extreme individualism, for daring to oppose himself to the entire tribe. According to M. Gorky, the main goal of human existence is serving people. This is exactly how Danko is presented in the story. Larra is an anti-ideal, whose behavior and actions have no justification.
However, we should not forget that Larra is not an ordinary person. He is the son of an eagle, who grew up away from people and was not accustomed to human laws. But his trouble is that he is not a bird like his father. Therefore, Larry deserves not only condemnation, but also sympathy. His tragedy was predetermined at birth.
The Legend of Danko. M. Gorky
Author: Maxim Gorky
The chapter titles are arbitrary and do not correspond to the original. The story is told from the point of view of the narrator, whose name is not mentioned in the story. The memoirs of the old woman Izergil are presented on her behalf.
The narrator met the old woman Izergil while picking grapes in Bessarabia. One evening, while relaxing on the seashore, he talked with her. Suddenly the old woman pointed to the shadow of a low-floating cloud, called it Larra and told “one of the glorious tales told in the steppes.”
