- Essays
- On literature
- Turgenev
- Characteristics and image of Mr. N. from the story Asya
One of the main and significant characters of Turgenev’s story “Asya” is Mr. N.N. It is on his behalf that the story of his acquaintance and love relationship with a girl named Asya comes.
Mr. N.N. is a wealthy nobleman, a young, cheerful young man. When he met Asya, he was 25 years old. He often travels abroad, he observes with interest the behavior and life of foreigners. The young man loves freedom, does not deny himself anything, and enjoys great success among women. Arriving in any city, he gets himself another lady of his heart.
Before meeting Asya, he takes care of the widow. But she does not accept signs of attention and refuses him. Of course, the young man plays at love with this woman, as he himself later admits.
A trip to a small German town located near the Rhine brings him together with a young and slightly strange girl Asya. They became friends, and Mr. N.N. began to visit her and her older brother (Gagin). Gradually, close communication brings the young people together, and they fall in love with each other. Asya is ready for Mr. N.N. for any actions. And he, in turn, does not want to take responsibility for these feelings because of fear of the future.
These contradictions in his soul, the desire for balance and tranquility lead to their separation. Gagin takes her to another place and Mr. N.N. will never be able to meet her again. Having come to his senses, he bitterly regrets the break with Asya, but nothing can be fixed. The girl writes about the lost chance for reunion in her farewell letter. It was important for her to hear from him those cherished words that would make her stay with him forever. But without receiving any reciprocal feelings, Asya decides to leave forever.
At first, Mr. N.N. is going through a difficult period of separation. After some time, he again begins to become interested in different women, all the time convincing himself that Asya is not the right girl for him. There will be many hobbies in his life, but Mr. N.N. will never forget Asya.
Essay about Mr. N.N.
The work “Asya” tells us the story of a man whom the author calls Mr. N.N. In the work, various events occur that reveal his character, giving us the opportunity to fully become familiar with the character.
Mr. N.N. The work describes him as a stately man, aged, who has seen so much in his long life that after everything he has seen, almost nothing can surprise him. He reveals himself as a man looking for new sensations that can return him interest in his indifferent life.
The author characterizes him as a character who never truly believed in love, who denies any manifestation of it in his environment, categorically criticizing the source of its manifestation. That was until he met Asya. After this episode, the author begins a period of sharp change in the character of Mr. N.N., allowing the reader to be convinced of the power of love. But because of his alienation, Mr. N.N. Loses his happiness, missing Asya.
In the second half of the work, we reveal the character's image in a radically new way. This is no longer an insensitive person who does not care about those around him, on the contrary, he becomes much more sensual, open, with a will to live, which seems to hint to us that these traits were once present in him, however, under the yoke of routine , he was completely hardened.
Through his image, the author talks to the reader about the problem of people’s excessive callousness towards each other. He thinks of a person as a source of emotions, a source who can spread his emotions to the environment, making others feel the same way as himself. If you pass the image of Mr. N.N. through this point of view, the following becomes clear:
Mr. N.N. Once upon a time he was also a cheerful person, full of strength and energy. However, under the influence of some factors, he lost his fighting spirit towards life, after which he became the way Turgenev showed him in the first half of the work.
I believe that it was precisely this idea that the author tried to convey through the image of such a character as Mr. N.N. Having revealed the problems associated with this character, he completely builds a complete and generalizing image for the character.
Mr. N. N. from the story “Asya”
One of the pearls of the literary heritage of the great Russian writer Turgenev was the short story “Asya”. Honed in form, deep in content, it reflected the entire depth of the writer’s soul, his sad reflections on human destinies, on that time in a person’s life when he is young, full of hope and faith in love...
The story tells about the love of two young people. Russian Romeo and Juliet. But if in Shakespeare’s tragedy the reasons that separated the young people are clear, then in Turgenev’s story everything is mysterious and confusing.
The idea for a new work arose by chance. N.A. Ostrovskaya conveys Turgenev’s story about an accidental “Sinzig” impression that prompted the writer to sit down to work again: “In the evening... I decided to go boating... We passed by a small ruin; next to the ruins there is a two-story house. An old woman is looking out of the window on the lower floor, and the head of a pretty girl is sticking out from the upper one. Then suddenly a special mood came over me. I began to think and invent who this girl was, what she was like and why she was in this house, what her relationship was with the old woman - and so right there in the boat the whole plot of the story came together for me.”
The story “Asya” was written for about five months, during which Turgenev managed, in addition to Sinzig, to visit Baden-Baden, again in Paris, Boulogne, Courtauneuil, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Genoa and, finally, in Rome, where he and completed it on November 27, 1857.
In Rome, Turgenev received the first news of preparations in Russia for peasant reforms. The peasant movement contributed to the creation of a revolutionary situation in the country, but it had not yet led to a revolutionary explosion, because, as V.I. Lenin wrote, “the people, who had been slaves to the landowners for hundreds of years, were not able to rise to a broad, open conscious struggle for freedom."1
Turgenev then wrote to his friends: “What is happening here in Russia? There are various contradictory rumors circulating here. If it weren’t for literature, I would have returned to Russia long ago; Now everyone needs to be in their own nest. In the month of May I hope to arrive in the village - and I will not leave there until I have arranged my relations with the peasants. Next winter, God willing, I will be a landowner, but no longer a landowner or a gentleman.”
At this time, Turgenev was worried about the same questions: what to do and who will do it? Only now old problems, arising in a new situation, required a new approach to them. It was necessary to give a new assessment to the driving forces of history at the moment of maturation of the socio-economic revolution. Various aspects of these problems were reflected in a number of Turgenev’s works of that period. He partially touched on them in “Ace”. Here his reflections on the role of those same “extra people” in the upcoming social changes are reflected. However, this large theme in “Ace” turned out to be limited to the depiction and criticism of “a person fiddling with himself,” which Turgenev himself considered insufficient. “I am very glad,” he wrote to Nekrasov, “that you liked Asya; I wish that the public will like it, although time now seems to be looking in the wrong direction.”
This story is the story of Mr. N.N., these are memories of days long gone. Anonymity makes it possible to assume that this hero will have a lot of personality from Turgenev himself. The absence of a first and last name may have forced Turgenev to convey to the reader the idea that the hero is very close to him, that the writer himself may be the prototype of his hero. Indeed, they have a lot in common, both have money, both travel abroad. But already at the beginning of the story, a sad note sounds, a certain mournful chord, which says that the person is dissatisfied with something, that he did not realize his dreams, although it seemed that he had everything. Now the hero’s position is not so brilliant, and the time of “gilded gingerbread” is long gone.
“I traveled without any purpose, without a plan; I stopped wherever I liked, and immediately went further as soon as I felt a desire to see new faces—namely, faces. I was occupied exclusively by people; I hated curious monuments, wonderful collections, the very sight of a footman aroused in me a feeling of melancholy and anger; I almost went crazy in Dresden's Grüne Gewölbe. Nature had an extraordinary effect on me, but I did not like its so-called beauties, extraordinary mountains, cliffs, waterfalls; I didn’t like her to impose herself on me, to disturb me. But faces, living, human faces - people’s speech, their movements, laughter - that’s what I couldn’t do without.”
This episode reflected the meaning of life of a worthless person, traveling without a “goal” and “plan”, therefore, living without socially significant goals in life, without active participation in the social process. Why does he go abroad to have fun? Doesn't he have anything to do with Russia? “It is better for a person not to develop than to develop without the influence of thoughts about public affairs,” writes Chernyshevsky. Conclusion - the writer outlines the character traits of the hero for which the reader should condemn him. And at the same time, he reveals the best features of his hero, who craves new acquaintances, new experiences. He is open to the world and wants to get to know people, their joys and sorrows... He is interested in people (this is especially emphasized), and not in wealth. Turgenev emphasizes the indifference the hero experiences in the royal castle of precious stones. And this is a traditional feature of Russian writers - a positive hero must stand above mercantile interests. Conclusion - the writer likes his own character.
“So, about twenty years ago I lived in a small German town 3., on the left bank of the Rhine. And I was looking for solitude: I had just been struck in the heart by a young widow whom I met on the waters.” This young man has a very vulnerable heart and is very receptive to love stories. This is most likely a young man prone to romantic feelings. Rather, he is close to Lensky, who, by the way, was in Germany, where he studied philosophy and acquired his romantic aura as a poet. Mr. N.N. paints a beautiful picture of a picturesque German town, which speaks of his aesthetic feelings; he admires the Rhine, “not without some tension, dreaming of a treacherous widow.” And then sounds reach him from the other side of the river: in the city of L. they were playing a waltz; The double bass hummed abruptly, the violin sang vaguely, the flute whistled briskly. The hero wants to see the fun of the Germans. The desire to know what “commercial” is gives impetus to subsequent events. If he had stayed on this shore, his fate would probably not have been as tragic as it turned out. There he meets his compatriots - Gagin and his sister Asya, to whom he quietly becomes attached. N.N. has friendly relations with these people, but rather difficult ones. The fact is that our hero notices that the brother and sister are not exactly related. And in connection with this, throughout the entire narrative, Mr. N.N. has the idea more than once that Asya is not Gagina’s sister. And such thoughts of the hero make the reader completely confused. This is a kind of author's trick that works immediately. In fact, the heroes turn out to be brother and sister, although only on the father's side. Nevertheless, they develop a certain kind of relationship. Gagin loves his sister so much that his feelings force him to stand between Asya and N.N., who falls in love with Asya, but does not understand this until a certain time and at the decisive moment does not utter the main words to clarify the current difficult situation. He does not leave them alone, he tries not to bring them closer, but, on the contrary, to distance them. Moreover, he predicts the actions of Mr. N.N. And our hero becomes a toy in the hands of a cruel and calculating man. As a result, being one step away from his happiness, he is deprived of it forever? The hero betrayed his love. But he realized it! And repentance did not come years later, like Onegin’s, no, he immediately realized the depth of the wrongness of his behavior, he realized that he could not give up on Asya, he could not betray his love. N.N. understood, realized, and most importantly, he is now ready to correct his mistake, this is what is most valuable in the development of the hero’s character. Turgenev did not depict a diagram, but a living person, with his weaknesses and delusions. It seems to him that now everything will be different, he just needs to find Asya, and happiness will become possible. He was blinded for a moment, but now he has seen. Now he is in a hurry to find Asya in order to explain to her. What happened can be assessed from several points of view.
The author of the story “Asya”, I. S. Turgenev, believed that a person lives not only in the sphere of public life; he is also under the power of the ahistorical, eternal elements of universal life, under the power of the elemental forces standing above man. Turgenev saw love as one of the elemental forces, before whose power people are defenseless. The impossibility of personal happiness in love and the naivety of aspirations for it are precisely what is heard in the story “Asya”, where love manifests itself as an element beyond the control of man; Man cannot master it, subjugate it to himself. It is impossible to guess the moment when this power can be given into your hands; A word not spoken in time turns an almost happy person into a lonely loon.
In the article “Russian man at rendez-vous,” Chernyshevsky, arguing with Turgenev, showed that the misfortune of the hero of the story “Asya” is not to blame for spontaneous forces, but for his own spinelessness, generated by the social conditions of life. Of course, Turgenev was far from such a view. In his story, the hero is not to blame for his misfortune. The reason for his misfortune is not mental flabbiness, which manifested itself at the moment of the decisive explanation, but also circumstances that are beyond his will. The consciousness of love awakened in him and “flared with uncontrollable force” when it was already too late.
In general, Chernyshevsky was more attracted to “Ace” by its social significance. The critic used this story, which, in his words, had “a purely poetic, ideal direction, not touching on any of the so-called black aspects of life,” in order to raise the most important socio-political question. Analyzing the image of Mr. N.N. and drawing an analogy between him, on the one hand, and Pechorin, Beltov, Agarin (the hero of Nekrasov’s poem “Sasha”), Rudin, on the other, Chernyshevsky severely condemned the indecision and cowardice shown in matters of love “our Romeos,” who came from among the educated nobility, made it clear that the behavior of these people in matters of great public importance would probably be the same. The critic also established the social typicality of his behavior and revealed the essence of the “superfluous man” type, who had already lost its progressive meaning and was unable to become a figure in a new historical period. Thus Chernyshevsky pronounced sentence on the noble liberalism of the late fifties. This article is one of the most striking political speeches of revolutionary democracy against liberalism, with which Chernyshevsky then called for disengagement.
Annenkov, analyzing the love conflict of “Asia,” which became the subject of special attention from Chernyshevsky, came to the conclusion that, despite his obvious weakness, the man who received the mocking nickname “our Romeo” from Chernyshevsky is deeply decent in personal terms and the only promising one in in public terms; that “the circle of so-called weak characters is the historical material from which modern life itself is created.” Therefore, Annenkov believed, aiming at Chernyshevsky, “to reject this class of people or talk to them proudly, replacing a light shade of contempt with a light shade of compassion, means not understanding where the true grain of many events of the present and many phenomena of the future is hidden.” This is how Annenkov’s claim to the leading role of a “weak” person in the most important events of public life was justified.
All of the above points of view are correct to one degree or another. But one more thing also has the right to exist: Mr. N.N. became a victim of an intrigue, which was conceived and carried out with the help of his brother Asi, who pretended to be a friend of our hero. This can be seen throughout the story. Gagin is a constant barrier between N.N. and his sister. He arranges a disagreement between them, and then a speedy departure, planned in advance. In general, Gagin appears before the reader as a lover vying for the girl’s heart. Thus, Mr. N.N. turns out to be a completely decent person who can fully realize himself both in his personal and public life.
Vladimir's first love
In “First Love,” Turgenev reaffirms the understanding of love as a cruel and formidable force over which man has no control. She, this force, gives a person happiness, and she also shows his fragility, his tragic essence. A person must, according to Turgenev, go through a long chain of aspirations and disappointments until life experience prompts him to the need to abandon claims to happiness, to abandon the personal for the sake of impersonal goals of what he considers his moral duty. Only by putting on himself the “iron chains of duty” will he find, if not happiness, then at least satisfaction, albeit bitter, from the consciousness of the fulfilled duty imposed on himself in return for unrealizable egoistic aspirations.
It is absolutely clear that Turgenev’s pessimistic ideas could not be accepted by his revolutionary contemporaries, and first of all by Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov, who were staunch supporters of the theory of “reasonable egoism.” The essence of this theory was that for an internally integral, reasonable, that is, normal, person, moral duty is not “iron chains”, not something imposed on him from the outside, but his personal need, his “egoistic” desire. Therefore, for supporters of the morality of “reasonable egoism,” there was and could not be any contradiction between a person’s personal happiness and his social duty. It was also clear to the theorists of revolutionary democracy that Turgenev’s ethical views had a very definite political meaning - the unattainability of complete happiness in personal life meant for Turgenev, in essence, the unattainability of complete freedom in public life.
But at the same time, in “First Love,” as, indeed, in most of Turgenev’s other stories and short stories, devoted, it would seem, exclusively to the personal destinies of the heroes, love is by no means just one of the most intimate human feelings. For Turgenev, love is always a strong passion, which he equates to the most powerful human passions, capable of reforging a person, making him strong and strong-willed, capable of feat and sacrifice. “...love,” he says, “is one of those passions that breaks our “I”, makes us forget about ourselves and our interests... Not just love, every strong passion, religious, social, even passion for science, breaks our egoism. Fanatics of ideas, often absurd and reckless, also do not spare their heads. That’s what love is.”
Love for Turgenev is a feat. And he praises her as a force capable of resisting everything - even death, and even selfishness, in which he always saw the main enemy of humanity. Love in Turgenev’s works is the greatest test of life, a test of human strength and, above all, mental and moral strength. It was precisely in order to lead a person through the greatest test of life - through the test of love and thus show what he can be capable of, that Turgenev created such works as “First Love”.
In 1863, Turgenev wrote the ending for the French edition of First Love, in which he directly said that the cause of the misfortunes of his heroes was not just “immorality,” as reactionary critics tried to claim, but that in modern Russian society “there is something something spoiled,” breaking people’s destinies. “Strange times,” Turgenev argued here, gave birth to “strange people.”
In this sense, not only the image of the heroine and her fate are characteristic, but also the image and fate of Volodya’s father, Pyotr Vasilyevich. He, like Zinaida, is far from an ordinary person. In an effort to emphasize the significance of his personality, the writer even surrounds it with an aura of some mystery. He draws attention to Pyotr Vasilyevich’s characteristic lust for power, his despotic egoism. But Pyotr Vasilyevich, this strong and unusual person in his own way, also does not find his happiness, wasting his strength and abilities in vain.
It is interesting to note that the prototype of Pyotr Vasilyevich, according to Turgenev himself, was his father - a man whom the writer knew very well, whom he admired and whom he always pitied very much. This is what Turgenev once said about his hero and his prototype: “In “First Love”... I portrayed my father... My father was handsome... He was very handsome - real Russian beauty. He usually behaved coldly and unapproachably, but as soon as he wanted to be liked, something irresistibly charming appeared in his face, in his manners...”
Turgenev once said: “My entire biography is in my writings.” But, perhaps, not one of his works was as autobiographical as “First Love.” “This is the only thing,” he said, “that I myself still enjoy, because it is life itself, it is not composed... “First love is experienced.” Another time he said: “... in “First Love” a real incident is described without the slightest embellishment, and when re-reading, the characters stand up as if alive in front of me.”
These faces appear as if they were alive before us, the readers. From all the pages of this story, which takes us into the writer’s youth, from all the events and experiences of its main character depicted in it - Volodya, under whose name Turgenev, by his own admission, portrayed himself, breathes such truth of life that it is impossible to doubt it . His portrait is not given, since the story is told in the first person. But one can judge the young man’s inexperience, he is still just a child: only a month ago his tutor left him, the boy shoots crows in the garden, imagines himself as a knight, thought, was sad and even cried. And one day Vladimir sees a girl among the greenery, in the garden - this reveals Zina’s connection with nature, the harmony of her image. Everything about her is good, and Vladimir is ready to give everything so that “those fingers will slap him on the forehead.” Fans crowd around the girl, who is not yet familiar to the main character - it is clear that Turgenev seems to see her as a mystery, and he, perhaps, would submit to her will. Some time after meeting, Vladimir falls in love with Zinaida. The young man’s feeling is obvious: he is trying to stand out from the mass of fans in front of her, fulfills many of her desires, which Zinaida unconsciously expresses, he fulfills her whims: jumping from a high wall, participating in ridiculous games; in the end, this is only his first love, and “what’s in the soul is what’s on the face.”
Zinaida sees this love; she is torn between Vladimir and his father, who is also infatuated with her. Turgenev emphasizes Zina’s ability to understand other people’s experiences, her prudence. She carefully weighs the situation before coming to a decision: to become the mistress of a married man, destroying his family, or to love his son, still a boy?
Turgenev, whose view of love for a woman was always romantic, very poetically, with great lyricism, conveyed in this work the flowering of this feeling and the sincerity of the impulse of a young man who fell in love for the first time. The delight and sorrow he experienced. With deep emotion, he told here about the subtlest movements of the young soul, thirsting for happiness.
The boy Volodya, experiencing the first real feeling of love in his life, is in a contradictory state: between this feeling and his upbringing. And Vladimir cannot violate his upbringing, but his father does this. First love was a serious test for the young man. But, despite the tragedy of the situation, he managed to remain as pure in soul as he was before. This is evidenced by the following lines: “I did not feel any angry feelings towards my father. On the contrary, he, so to speak, has grown even more in my eyes.” This suggests that, despite the difficult relationship between this boy’s parents (it was a family without love), Vladimir received a good upbringing. His father, whatever he may be, remains an unquestioned authority for him. Vladimir sincerely loves and respects him. For a boy, he is an undeniable ideal.
In his attitude towards the hero, Turgenev demonstrates sympathy and empathy - problems have fallen on his head that sometimes even an adult cannot resolve. The author emphasizes the depth of Vladimir’s feelings by his complete lack of egoism - the young man only wants the happiness of his beloved, he wants her not to suffer and to be with the one who is dear to her.
Thus, only love causes the flowering of the whole being, which nothing else can cause. His Vladimir is already an adult who has experienced a lot in his years, but it is precisely the feeling he experienced then, at the age of 16, that he calls bliss and claims that it will not happen again. But it was his first love that in some way formed such a character in him. This is a sensible person who looks at life objectively. He is a fully formed personality of his time. And therefore Vladimir is not an “extra” person.
Option 3
Turgenev’s story “Asya” maximally reflects the theme of difficult love, a strange and incomprehensible couple. It is considered that this is one of the best works in world and Russian literature. Turgenev wanted to convey the emotions, excitement, and feelings of the main characters as accurately as possible.
Mr. N.N. is the narrator himself in this story, he narrates on his own behalf. He tells readers about the beautiful and young girl Asya. Mr. N.N tells us what happens in this story. You can see that Turgenev and the main character are similar, behavior and character in particular. The main character is a young and ambitious man, 25 years old. He himself is a wanderer, it’s nice to learn something new, to discover something that no one else knows, he loves traveling where there are secrets and mysticism. He himself is very rich and young, his interest is observing the activities of people, how they behave, what they say. It produces positive emotions. You can see that his personality is harmony itself, and that his life was a success. He thirsts for knowledge, in search of new acquaintances, and occasionally starts short-lived affairs with girls.
In one of the German cities he meets Asya, the sister of the artist Gagin, after which she develops a warm and friendly relationship. Often visiting Gagin, Mr. N.N. shares his experiences of love for a young widow.
Asya is a young, charming girl. We are shy and secretive, but sometimes we can surprise. Her demeanor is reminiscent of a teenager. She's like a child in a big world. True, her main weapon is telling it like it is without hiding anything. It is easy for a simple reader to understand Asya, as well as Mr. N. They convey positive emotions, such as care and tenderness. She was lonely since childhood, as she was deprived of parents, and her brother was too kind to everything and could not teach her about life. It was also very difficult for her to admit to Mr. N. her sincere feelings. He was always afraid of global changes in his life, did not want to change anything, he was satisfied with the lifestyle that he led. He was not ready to lose his calm and measured life for something else.
Very little time will pass and Mr. N. will begin to experience tender feelings for Asya, and she will reciprocate his feelings in return. But due to his indecision, he will never have time to propose to the girl. Soon she will leave the city with her family, leaving no address where they went. Mr. N. will live alone for the rest of his life, retaining warm feelings for Asya.
Is Mr. N. to blame for his fate (based on Turgenev’s story “Asya”)
I. A. Turgenev’s story “Asya” is one of the best works of Russian literature dedicated to love. In general, love, to a greater or lesser extent, is present in all of Turgenev’s works. According to the writer, this is a fundamental feeling in human life. All the writer's heroes pass the test of love. It is this test that turns out to be the most important and most difficult. But it is precisely this that determines the moral basis, the essence of man. Thus, in the story “Asya,” love arises between the main character, Mr. N.N. and the girl Asya. Having met in a provincial town in Germany and starting to communicate in a friendly manner, these heroes realize that they have fallen in love with each other. Emotional and courageous in her feelings, Asya sees no obstacles to her happiness with Mr. N.N. The hero becomes a victim of his own weakness, fear, and prejudices. During the events described, the twenty-five-year-old hero travels around Europe, studies people's lives, enjoys his youth, freedom, and wealth. In almost every town he has a lady of his heart, but he himself understands perfectly well that all these hobbies are frivolous. But unexpectedly, in a German town, Mr. N. meets his love. She turns out to be a strange girl Asya. Born of a nobleman father and a servant mother, she stood out among her surroundings with her wild, original character, intelligence, emotionality, and impetuosity: “Asya was extremely understanding, she studied well, better than anyone; but she didn’t want to fit in with the general level, she was stubborn and looked like a beech...". The author emphasizes the girl’s originality. And indeed, Mr. N.N. I immediately noticed this: her artistry, plasticity, impetuosity, enormous emotionality, desire to live a bright and memorable life. Such a heroine could not help but attract the attention of the hero. Having met Asya, he feels in his heart love for one beautiful widow who rejected him. But we understand that these feelings are largely feigned. And the hero himself admits this. Only Asya managed to evoke a sincere feeling in him. Turgenev depicts to us the origin of love, its formation and the separation of the heroes. The separation, in my opinion, was the fault of Mr. N. Although he loved Asya very much, he was afraid of responsibility. We remember that Gagin came to Mr. N. with a story about his sister’s love. He gave the hero an ultimatum: either he marries Asa, or they leave. A little later, the hero meets Asya herself. She confesses her feelings to Mr. N., but the hero betrays both the girl and his love. Prejudice and fear of the opinion of society and the opinion of Gagin force him to push away Asya, who was ready to follow Mr. N. to the ends of the earth. Later, the hero regrets his betrayal and wants to fix everything, but he missed his chance. Asya will tell him about this in a farewell note. Having recognized Mr. N. well enough, Gagin and his sister decided to leave without waiting for an answer. They understood that Mr. N. was not yet ripe for such an important decision and that as time passed he would regret it. And so it happened. In a fit of feeling, the hero rushed to catch up with Asya, but fate decreed that he would not catch them. As Mr. N. himself later admitted, this was the best ending for him: “However, I must admit that I was not sad for her for too long; I even found that fate was good in not uniting me with Asya; I consoled myself with the thought that I probably would not be happy with such a wife.” From the last chapter of the story we learn that the hero never met his love, he lives as a lonely little boy and still keeps the memory of Asa. Among the numerous series of women he had, only this girl left a deep mark on his soul. Perhaps this was his only love, and having missed it through his own fault, he remained lonely and unhappy for the rest of his life. Or maybe the hero still had a chance to fall in love, to become happy, but he passed by. Because by his nature, Mr. N. has not matured to love, he is afraid of strong emotions and drastic changes in life. Thus, in my opinion, Mr. N. did not pass the test of love. He lost Asya's love only through his own fault. We understand this by reading the scene of THEIR date. Here the hero appears before us not yet matured into deep and serious Love. Unlike Asya, Mr. N. is afraid of difficulties, so he follows the easiest path, which, however, does not bring him happiness. The hero refuses new strong, high feelings, intense spiritual experiences. The lifestyle of a social slacker taught Mr. N. to fleeting hobbies, superficial experiences, and a frivolous attitude towards life and feelings. Therefore, at the first serious test, when the hero is required to make a choice, he retreats. Mr. N. appears to us as incapable of making independent decisions and life changes. This indecision and weakness is especially clearly visible against the background of Asya, one of the ideal “Turgenev girls”. She is ready for the highest manifestation of love - self-sacrifice.
The relationship between Asya and Mr. N.N.
The verbal characterization of Asya in the story “Asya” predicts the tragic outcome of the emerging relationship between the heroine and Mr. N.N.
By nature, Asya is a contradictory person from her very roots. One has only to remember the girl’s attitude towards her mother and her origins:
The girl loved to be paid attention to, and at the same time was afraid of it, since she was quite timid and bashful.
Asya dreams of a hero who will become for her the embodiment of happiness, love and thought. A hero who can meekly oppose himself to “human vulgarity” in order to save love.
Asya saw her hero in Mr. N.N.
The girl fell in love with the narrator from the first moment they met. She wanted to intrigue him and at the same time show that she was a well-born young lady, and not some kind of daughter of Tatyana’s maid. This behavior, unusual for her, influenced the first impression formed by Mr. N.N.
Then she falls in love with N.N. and begins to expect from him not just actions, but an answer. The answer to the question that worries her: “What to do?” The heroine dreams of a heroic deed, but never receives it from her lover.
But why? The answer is simple: Mr. N.N. not endowed with the spiritual wealth inherent in Asa. His image is quite meager and a little sad, although not without a touch of edification. This is how he appears to us according to Chernyshevsky. Turgenev himself sees him as a man with a trembling, tormented soul.
