Yermil: a simple man and a famous mayor
Ermil Ilyich Girin is a simple Russian man. He is respected by his fellow villagers due to his sharp mind and honesty. Yermil has a courageous and strong-willed character, which also earns him respect from those around him: six thousand people appoint him as their mayor. This appointment was not an accident. People value Ermil for such qualities as reliability, determination and kindness. He is always ready to help the weak, easily achieves justice, and can give useful advice. The peasants also note selflessness in their mayor: Yermil never takes money for services rendered.
Features of happiness
Ermil (Ermilo) Ilyich Girin is young and smart beyond his years.
By social status, the hero is a simple man. He has neither princely nor count roots. His decisive character allowed him to become a respected person. An estate of 6 thousand souls unanimously chose him as mayor. It is difficult to gain trust from peasants, but Yermil was able to do so. How did Girin deserve such an attitude: “...with the strict truth”; “intelligence and kindness”; responsiveness and selflessness.
Yermil knew how to give advice and found out the necessary information for ordinary people. He did not demand gratitude and did not take money for help. According to the people, a man had everything to be happy: peace, honor, money.
Psychological image of a hero
The image of Yermil reveals all the best character traits that, according to N. A. Nekrasov, made up the portrait of a real Russian peasant. This hero is endowed with extraordinary intelligence. He knows how to quickly make the right decisions, has a great understanding of people and easily guesses their bad intentions.
In addition, Ermil has excellent communication skills: he is able to conduct a calm dialogue even with ill-wishers, and is not influenced by flattery.
Important character traits of Ermil are honesty and sincerity. The calls for justice coming from his lips do not diverge from his thoughts and personal worldview. This hero of the poem is fair towards other people: he does not divide them into ranks and titles, which is especially noticeable in the episode telling about Yermil’s work at the mill.
It is significant that the hero also has healthy self-criticism. Thus, having committed a bad deed, he does not try to “cover his tracks,” but repents before all people and asks for severe punishment for himself.
“Who lives well in Rus'”
Ermil Ilyich Girin is a simple peasant man, but a proud and determined man. The hero runs a mill, where he works honestly, without deceiving anyone. The peasants trust Girin, and the landowner treats the hero with respect. The surname “Girin” probably refers the reader to the physical and mental strength of the hero.
Girin is young, but smart and trained to read and write, thanks to which he served as a clerk in the office for five years. When it comes to choosing a mayor, the peasants unanimously choose Girin for this position. The hero remained in this post for seven years and proved himself to be a fair and honest person, earning the respect of the people.
The hero is well off for a peasant, but those around him value Girin not for his wealth, but for his kindness to people, his intelligence and truthfulness. When peasants turn to Girin for help, he invariably helps with advice or action, acting as a kind of people's intercessor. At the same time, the hero does not demand gratitude from people and refuses to accept payment for his own good deeds.
Girin does not appropriate someone else's property. One day the hero has an “extra ruble” left, with which Girin goes around everyone to return the money to the owner, but never finds the owner. At the same time, the hero himself is not naive and sees when another person is trying to play around and deceive, and does not buy the flattery.
Girin is conscientious and truthful, he is indignant towards peasants who “extort a penny” from other similar men, and judges those around him by the conscience. A heightened sense of justice does not allow Girin to let the guilty go or offend the right. The hero is also very self-critical and is ready to call himself a villain when he acts against his conscience.
There was only one case in which the hero betrayed his soul in Girin’s life. Girin “shielded” his own younger brother from the “recruit” (helped to avoid the army). The hero himself considers this act dishonest and suffers from the fact that he committed it, almost committing suicide as a result. Ultimately, the hero gives up his own brother as a soldier, and the other peasant son returns home from the army.
Not feeling that his guilt has been atoned for, Girin resigns from the position of “burgist”, rents a mill and begins to work there. The hero works honestly and takes the grind according to his conscience. Girin believes that people are equal, and therefore releases the flour in order, without looking at who is in front of him - a poor man or a manager. The hero is respected in the area, so those who approach him honestly, regardless of status, adhere to the queue established by Girin.
Later, a certain merchant Altynnikov begins to “take over” the mill. They decide to sell the mill, and the lively Girin participates in the auction, which he wins. However, the hero does not have the money on hand that is needed to post bail. Here the love of the common people for Girin was manifested, because the peasants present at the bazaar collected a thousand rubles for Girin in just half an hour - a huge sum at that time.
The hero has everything he needs to be happy, but Girin harbors a grudge against those who tried to take the mill away from him. Resentment pushes the hero to abandon his happy fate and quiet life and support the popular uprising that broke out in the patrimony. The hero refuses to pacify the peasants and eventually ends up in prison. Girin's further biography is unknown.
There are other notable characters in the poem, for example, Yakim Nagoy, the antipode of Girin. This is a man who drinks half to death with a sunken chest and a brown neck, the hero’s skin looks like tree bark, and his face looks like a brick. Nekrasov portrays an exhausted man whose drunkenness and exhausting work have deprived him of health and strength.
Yakim drinks because he finds nothing good in life. The hero once lived in St. Petersburg, but went broke, ended up in prison and was forced to return to the village, where Yakim had no alternatives except the exhausting work of a plowman. The image of Yakim embodies the tragic side of the peasant way of life.
The image of a “governor” and a “good-witted” woman, about whom those around her think that her life is fun and at ease, is also interesting. The heroine herself has a different opinion and believes that “the keys to women’s happiness” have been lost in Rus'.
The image of the priest’s son and poet, who dreams of raising the common people from their knees, is also bright. Grisha grew up in extreme poverty and almost died of hunger, so he sees the meaning of his own life in serving the peasants and in alleviating the plight of the common people, whose life is full of troubles and hardships.
Personal history and tragedy of the hero
From the poem you can learn that the hero worked as a mayor for seven long years, after which he still could not stand the test of the power given to him. Saving her younger brother from recruit service, Ermila sends the son of a poor widow in his place. It is significant that after some time, his conscience begins to torment him with such force that he thinks about suicide.
Fortunately, this story ends with the return of the widow's son, and Yermil goes to work at the mill, which is being prepared for sale. Only a general collection of funds organized by the peasants prevents the destruction of the mill. This episode is very significant: people who have forgiven Yermil for his mistake are ready to come to the aid of their former mayor, since after seven years of faithful service to the people, the hero has found universal trust and respect. However, this is quite understandable, because Yermil does not lose his honesty to the end. When there is an extra ruble left from the collected funds, he tries by all means to return it to the owner.
Unfortunately, Nekrasov ends the story about this character on a tragic note: Yermil goes to prison, refusing to suppress the peasant revolt. Thus, the author shows how difficult it is for good people to achieve happiness in life. But what kind of happiness are we talking about? In Nekrasov, the emphasis is on happiness as the acquisition of material wealth, while the entire fate of Yermil, filled with human love and respect, serves as an example of spiritual happiness, of which the hero has more than enough.
Ermil Girin: characteristics
This character appears already in the first part of the poem. However, the reader does not get to know him personally, but only hears a story about him. Yermil Girin (the characterization according to the plan must include this point) is the chairman of the village, who is nominated as a candidate for the lucky ones. Ermila was elected to his position for his honesty and intelligence by the mayor. And the man fully justified the hopes placed on him, performing his duty regularly and fairly for seven years, for which he earned the respect and love of the entire community.
Only once did Girin abuse his power. When they came for his younger brother to recruit him, he gave the son of a local peasant woman instead. But even here the best moral qualities of the hero appeared. His conscience began to torment him. And he brought himself to the point that he almost hanged himself. The situation was saved by the master, who returned his son, who had been unfairly sent to serve, to his mother.
But after this incident he no longer felt entitled to be chairman, so he left the service and then became a miller. However, despite everything, Girin continued to enjoy the trust and respect of other peasants. The case of the sale of the mill is illustrative in this regard. The fact is that he rented the mill where Yermil worked. And so the owner decided to sell his property. The bidding began, and Girin won it. However, he did not have the required amount of deposit with him. Then some men came to his aid, and in half an hour they managed to collect quite a large sum - a thousand rubles. Only their help saved Girin from ruin.
However, this joyful story ends when Yermil was arrested for refusing to pacify the riot that happened in his village.
Nekrasov specifically shows the strength and height of the hero’s moral principles (Ermila Girin’s quotation confirms this). However, the injustice of power does not allow even such a person to live happily.
Characteristics of Ermil Girin
It is worth saying that the work tells about wanderers who were looking for a person who would really have a good life in Rus'. It was just such a touching and interesting story that was told by the author, who tried to show the story quite vividly and heartfeltly. When wanderers were looking for a person who lived happily, they learned about a man to whom fellow citizens could entrust their last money. In the characterization of this hero, it becomes clear that there are still the most honest and fair people left in Rus'. Also, it is worth noting that this peasant lived an absolutely sincere and interesting life, trying to live according to the principles of justice and openness.
The image of Ermila Ilyich Girin shows a person who had a very simple origin. His image is based on the fact that, in addition to his honesty and sincerity, he had a strong and persistent character, which helped him defend his own mill. The merchant tried in every way to take it away from the common man, and at the same time attracted officials and other influential persons. However, the cunning man did not succeed, and the mill remained with Girin. It is worth saying that other ordinary people respected him extremely much, because he always tried to defend the fair interests of the people, and took into account the people who suffered due to the dishonest actions of officials. When he was elected mayor, he began to show his best qualities. Even though he held such a position, he did not develop into an arrogant person, and was always willing to listen to ordinary people. That is why he became known among the people as their favorite.
It is worth saying that the author idealized this image and endowed the hero with very unique qualities that combined openness, justice and honesty. He always tried to show his selflessness, and always understood what kind of person stood in front of him. The hero had an extremely negative attitude towards giving bribes, and was a supporter of the most severe sanctions and measures against those who tried to break the law. At the same time, the social or financial status of a person was not important to him. Girin tried to treat everyone equally, and believed that the word of the law concerns absolutely every resident of his area. Based on the principles of freedom and justice, the hero made the most important decisions that helped him strengthen the economy of the region.
